With Ash:
Ash was about to head out of his room… But something stopped him.
"Pikachu, look at this," The raven haired trainer said as he reached from the remote and sat in his bed. He heard some slight mentions of his own name, so Ash decided to turn up the volume. Just as Ash and Pikachu engaged in front of the television with decent volume, Ash saw as the broadcast room put its attention on the screen behind the three talking members to see that there was going to be an announced match.
"Pika!" Pikachu said in excitement as he saw himself appear on the screen while taking on the Florges and the Aggron.
"Ash has just proven that his team, especially his little friend Pikachu has power, but he must now face a strong challenge," the narrator said in a very dark and intense tone that got Ash's attention just as he saw Charizard once again slam Trevor's Charizard down into the top of the mountain to cause a large cloud of dust to form from the intensity of the move used.
Suddenly, the screen shifted to show a green haired trainer with a black top and a tanned skin commanding a large tiger like pokemon that Ash did not know too much about. The boy that Ash talked to earlier that day, which was Hau, was causing the Incineroar to make his claws glow a dark black color before rushing the opponent. "Hau will be fighting in this battle against Ash in an attempt to make it to the battles of 6 on 6 as well."
The screen then portrayed Ash with his team on the left while Hau was portrayed on the right with his Incineroar. Ash looked at the screen carefully to then see the "VS" symbol appear between him and Hau which made the raven haired trainer go a little wide eyed. He did not expect to be going up against such a strong opponent this early in the league, so it was surprising.
"The two trainers along with the other 30 trainers in the fourth round will be battling this battle for the 200k Kaleuros that gets awarded as prize money for being able to reach this far into the conference. The winners of round of top 32 will be the ones that will pass on to the last four 6 on 6 battles, we wish Ash and Hau the best of luck as well as the other trainers that we have just announced for the matchup," the narrator concluded as Ash was brought back to consciousness on the money that could be won.
Ash shut off the television as he sighed and looked down.
"Pikapi?" Pikachu asked with some distress as he noticed his trainer acting so privately to himself.
Ash turned to Pikachu and petted the electric mouse behind the ears to which the electric mouse cooed, "Pikachu, it is really just the fact that… Here we are…"
"Pika?"
"You see," Ash said through clenched fists. "I can't believe that not too long ago, we were in the streets of this city stealing to survive… and now…" Ash took a deep breath as he said the next part, "If we win the next round against Hau we might never have to live that way ever again for the rest of our lives."
"Pika Pikachu," Pikachu cooed as he rubbed his cheek against Ash's.
Ash smiled at this and petted his electric mouse back, "Pikachu, let's go with the others and prepare for the next battle… I think I have an idea of who I want to battle in this matchup."
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted with glee and excitement as he jumped from Ash's lap, out of the bed and towards the door. Ash chuckled a little as he jumped out of the bed himself and ran after the rodent he called his best friend.
A/N: Uh oh… Things just got a little… Or should I say… EXTREMELY complicated.
Ash may not know this, but the fate of someone's life relies on the outcome of this battle…
Coming up we will see how Hau is reacting to being put up against Ash.
Again, I know you guys will probably call me out by how OOC I made Hau in this fic, but relax, I know his character and I have been able to give hints of his normal and usual character, specially in this chapter… I did not plan on making this chapter extremely dark. Specially that ship with Mallow, I totally knew I had to give Hau some sort of awesome motivation from Alola, but who knew it would be this emotional? Me neither, all I did was put pen to paper- I mean fingers to keyboard.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy this prep chapter for the next battle, we will also get to learn about how Lillie is Hau's sister, I mean, do you think I am stupid? Gladion, Lusamine, and Lillie are the family… Right?
Questions will be answered this chapter, so without further ado, let's get right into it!
Real quick: Sorry for taking a while to update, I have been busy with AP exams xD!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 36- A burden of two hearts… Which one outweighs?
With Hau (Hau POV):
I walked through the walkway of the stadium passing the many people that were walking by with great excitement. I had just watched his matchup get announced to be against Ash.
"Ash of all people, huh?" I asked myself as I walked with my head down and sat on a bench that was unoccupied.
Watching the people walk by, I could only imagine the happiness that would be brought to my soul and my family if I won the battle against Ash. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a picture. It was just a picture of three people, one person was me, I was standing next to my sister… Well, I call her my sister because we grew up together.
To be honest, no one knows, not even my grandfather, Hala, who was behind us with a hand around both of our shoulders. Hala was a fighting type Kahuna in Alola. He had tan skin, like me, but he was a lot bigger in size and had a yellow shirt on always. His stature was strong though, being a fighting type trainer has gained him respect on Melemele island and I look up to him… One day, I hope to surpass him too…
Anyways, next to me is my sister, Lillie. She has pale skin which can tell that we are not blood related, also her short hair is pale blonde which wraps up into a ponytail and her eyes are emerald green. I never would have thought she would be my sister either, but we always acted like siblings for each other and that is why I am on this mission…
I'm sorry Lillie… I should not have allowed Team Skull members to get near you like that. You fell into a coma, but that was not what sent me into this mission. It was the fact that your heart was hurt as well to not be able to deliver enough blood to keep you conscious. If you do not have his surgery done… Well, we will have to take you off life support, and I know I don't have enough time…
Why didn't Lusamine or Gladion even donate anything for the surgery? They are rich and I am still here trying to get the money!
I just shake my head… This will all change tomorrow, I will defeat Ash and I will save you Lillie!
I crush the picture in my hands as I gritted my teeth and shadowed my eyes… I have to win this battle no matter what.
I take a deep breath and then look up with a small smile on my face. I watch as everyone walk by me without caring to look and see if I was alright… But I don't care!
I smile brightly as I begin to walk from the bench I was sitting on with one thought on my head: I am this close to saving her and I will!
I then see energy surge through me as my inner rainstorm turns into a bright sunny day. I look up at the afternoon sun and spread my hands out.
People might be looking at me like if I was crazy, but the truth is that I am excited, I can feel happiness start to go through my veins once again. The finish line is right there and I will reach it, I know I will!
I then begin to walk…
But my motivation tells me to pick up the pace.
I am running…
No- SPRINTING!
I feel the wind brush against my long green hair as I run with excitement down the walkway and then I see a set of stairs to my right and I just smile even more as I dared myself to go through the stairs to run past a jet black haired trainer that was walking with a brunette girl by his side and a Chesnaught.
"Hey! Nice day we are having!" I greet while putting one hand behind my head as I pass them. They look at me weird, but I just smile and shake my head as I see the sidewalk I got on take a turn. I see my chance and I begin to sprint more! More!
…
Next thing I know, I am on the ground with a concrete looking back on my face and some sore scratches on my face. I take my time as I sit back up and then I begin to laugh at my stupidity as I put my hands behind my head.
Oh man, I miss the old me… In fact, I can't believe I am acting like this!
I look around and noticed that there are trees and a nice clearing so I lean back on my back and lie back down while looking up. I noticed every single detail of the sky and could finally see the clouds begin to take shapes of different pokemon: I see a Rowlett! I see a Cutiefly! Check it out, this one looks like a Trumbeak! I chuckle slightly as I sit back up and notice as I look around the world. There was light, the sun was up and it was a beautiful day… For once I did not see gray.
I got back up to my feet and then ran back through the sidewalk somewhere. I don't know where the road will take me, but I will battle tomorrow with determination!
I will battle with a smile on my face!
I will battle with a strong bond with my pokemon!
I will battle a battle that I will win!
…
But… If I lose?
I stop running and notice my vision change the bright color I saw around me to gray and black again…
"I… I can't lose tomorrow…" I say to myself as I feel my energy shift from being happy to..
Stressed, I am stressed. I feel as my muscles tense to have alarmed muscle tone because I changed from a stance of happiness, to caution. It is obvious: Losing tomorrow may- no will be the end of Lillie.
I have to stay strong and extremely alert, because one move and I may be the one that is sent to a living hell for the rest of my life. I see myself walking lifelessly as I go back to the main walkway and see the people that are walking around the stadium with great movement. I shift my gaze to the left and I see the same bench that I was on before I began having my little…
My little what?
Oh yea, my little break to act a little childish because I am totally not stressed out for tomorrow's battle and the race to the 200k Kaleuros that it will take to save my sister.
I barely think to myself as I begin to walk towards the pokemon center, which oddly enough was not far from where I was. I go inside and I shift my gaze to the left to see the video phones. I look around and notice that everyone inside the pokemon center seems to be kind of busy with whatever they were doing. I find my feet slowly walking to the video phone that was closest to me… It was like if something was telling me that I needed to call back to Alola and check.
I sit down and sigh as I stare at the black screen in front of me. I look down to see keys that were right bellow my fingers and I look up to see the screen light up: There was only a line that said "dial" and following it was a blinking line. I eyed the blinking line as it taunted me to press the keys to Alola. I hover my fingers to lightly touch the keys. They were cold and frigid to the touch, but I set my fingers down with a swift motion and typed in the number that dialed to Alola…
Then it told me to confirm the number to make the call.
I had my right index finger hovering over "enter" and stopped myself from touching the key. I looked away from the monitor while gritting my teeth. I just want to escape this reality… It is too painful for me. My friends, my family, Lillie… Mallow…
I should probably apologize to the girl, she did not deserve this much pain from me. I should have watched out for myself more… Maybe I should have even brought Mallow with me, this journey would have been easier for me with a shoulder to lean on, or a person to talk to. Maybe someone to just cheer me up when I felt down -which was all the time- but it would probably have alleviated the stress.
I then feel a rush of energy surge through my right arm as my right index finger crushes the key that was under it and made the call dial towards Alola. I sat there with slight nervousness as I waited for someone to pick up:
"Hello? Wait Hau?" I heard a masculine voice say as I notice the screen light up. I eyed the male and noticed he had extremely dark skin and black and red hair. He had no shirt on and I could see his detailed upper body in front of the video phone.
"Kiawe," I respond slightly surprised to see the fire type Alolan trainer. "Hey, man, how have things been going?"
Kiawe sighed as he looked down, "Lately, I have noticed that Mallow has had a worrying attitude. She has been stressing out all the time. Sophocles attempted to talk with her at one point during dinner, but she stormed off after Sophocles mentioned your name…" Kiawe then trained off. "Her cooking has also been off lately, something I never saw on the impulsive girl."
"Kiawe, I…" I began with lamentation as I said the next part: "I know she has been worrying about me. Last time we talked, she said something that seemed like it came out of her deepest secrets."
Kiawe then put on a small smile, "So, she did tell you what she felt, didn't she?"
"Yea, at least that is what I think," I say sadly as I nod my head slowly. Kiawe apparently knew what Mallow meant, but I was still trying to decipher the code to Mallow's secret. Still, I knew I had to do something, probably to make it up. "Hey Kiawe?"
"Huh?"
"Make sure you tell Mallow that I will win the next battle and get the 200k Kaleuros for Lillie's surgery…" I then look at Kiawe with determined eyes. "And make sure she knows that I will also be battling for her. I could not have gotten through this journey without her keeping me here, so please tell her that I will win this for her."
Kiawe looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, but then smiled and looked down, "Alright then, I will tell her Hau…"
"Thanks."
"Oh, yea, one last thing," I hear Kiawe tell me as I turn my attention to the fire type trainer. "You better win tomorrow."
"I will," I say with a serious voice as it press the "hang up" button. With that, the screen went all black leaving me reflecting on what I just said. "I will not just win this for Lillie's survival, but for Mallow too!"
"Good," Kiawe replies to me with a slight bow and then smiles at me once more. "Good bye Hau, and best of luck!"
"You too Kiawe," I said while forcing a smile. At the same time, I pressed the button that ended the call and Kiawe's face was replaced with a black screen where I could see some of my reflection on it. I look down at my belt and I see six pokeballs. I felt them with my hands and I felt the strong and raw power that these monsters had and I instantly felt the motivation. Inside these six pokeballs were my most powerful pokemon. Incineroar being my strongest and the other two being able to give out a huge amount of power when I needed.
I get up from the video phone and I watch as I walk towards to the door how a group of five people walk through the door. I see one of them and recognize him as the person I am going to be battling tomorrow:
It was Ash.
I watched as the raven haired trainer with a light blue scarf and a Pikachu on his shoulder walked next with his two lemon haired friends, a honey blonde girl, and a taller tanned person walked past me. Ash's companions seemed to not see my presence, but Ash did… He turns his head as he walks and gives me a short nod with a smirk.
I slightly recoil at that…
Something about Ash… He has so much inside of him, I could sense it just by his presence. The amount of passion he had for battles amazed me, despite only seeing only his first two matches.
It was like if he had something for me…
Like if he would be my strongest opponent.
I noticed Ash turn his gaze away from me and walk towards Nurse Joy with the others. Nurse Joy happily offered to take care of his pokemon for him. As I then walked through the door to be outside.
I shook my head. There was no way Ash would be my strongest opponent, that implication sounds like complete bull crap to me…
I will win tomorrow… For Lillie's sake… and so that Mallow can stop worrying about me.
With Calem:
"Gaaaaa! LADE!"
"TOXIC!"
"CLASH!"
Calem watched closely as his Gallade and Toxicroak exchanged blows. It was a collision of poison jab against leaf blade and every time the attacks collides, it caused sparks to shoot out in all directions. Calem watched as another teenager with a Jolteon came up near him and watched his two bipedal fighting types spar with each other in the middle of the battle field. Calem turned to his right and saw the teenager also smiling down at the battle.
"Like what you see?" Calem asked as he turned to the teenager.
The teenager smirked and nodded silently as his Jolteon kept making electricity on his spikes spark around with a little bit of excitement. The boy that Calem noticed was wearing a mostly black and blue attire, looked at Calem and spoke up, "Yea, it looks powerful, specially with how your Gallade is able to avoid getting poisoned despite coming into contact with a poison jab like that."
"Jol," Jolteon remarked as he looked interested in the sparring. He also thought the collision was very interesting between the two bipedal fighting types.
"Really?" Calem replied as he felt a smirk coming on. Calem then decided to ask something to the person next to him, "So, are you participating?"
"Not really," The boy replied as he sighed. "I wish I would though, but I already did my share of battling at a league." The person then scratched his face and turned to Calem, "I didn't even bring my full team."
"Too bad," Calem sighed slightly as he then had a little lightbulb go off in his head, "Hey, how about a battle, just a one on one, you use Jolteon and I go with one of my other pokemon."
The person and his Jolteon exchanged a slight glance. Then Calem watched as the person with spiky black hair looked at the field and then looked at the ground with a slight chuckle before turning back to Calem. "You are an eager one, tell you what, if that pokemon can defeat my Jolteon in a race around the battlefield, then you can get a battle."
Calem smiled as he then turned to his two sparing pokemon, "Toxicroak, Gallade, come over here!" The two fighting types stopped sparing and looked at Calem. They then began to walk towards Calem and had a curious expression as they noticed the foreign trainer that was talking with Calem. Toxicroak went up to Calem and the later talked a little with the frog pokemon, but Gallade instead went close to the other person. Gallade cocked his head a little as he watched the person smile at the blade pokemon.
"Yo Gallade, get over here," Calem said with a slight bit of amusement. Gallade turned away from the other trainer and then went up to Calem.
"Alright Jolteon," the other trainer said as he kneeled down in front of Jolteon. "You just run as fast as you can alright, not many can stand a chance against you, despite them supposed to be faster, just remember your training."
"Teon!" Jolteon nodded with a warm smile as his trainer passed a hand through his spiky fur.
"Alright Manectric, come on out," The trainer heard Calem say. The pokeball Calem had opened to reveal a yellow and blue pokemon that sparked electricity.
The trainer saw this and smiled, "So, that will be what you are racing me with today?"
"Yes indeed," Calem responded with a grin.
"Alright then, Jolteon, stand next to Manectric," The teenager said. Calem watched curiously as Jolteon went up to his Manectric and stood next to it. Calem then noticed the boy look at Manectric for a second and simply say: "This race is over before it even began."
"Gallade?"
"Toxic?"
"Mane?"
"Huh?" Was all Calem could say with a perplexed tone as he saw Jolteon return to his trainer. "Wait, what was that all about?"
The teenager smirked as he turned his back towards Calem and his pokemon and simply said: "Your Manectric has so much to learn. One thing you should probably try is getting him to take laps around the battlefield in order to build up his speed." The teenager then took a couple steps out before nearing the corner he was going to make and then said, "Also, your Gallade should probably work on using psycho cut, but instead of actually firing off the disk like he should do, make it so that his psycho cut is charged up to an immense size."
"W-wait, how do you k-know that Gallade knows…?"
The person and his Jolteon were gone before that even happened and Calem just turned back to his pokemon and shook his head. "Alright, Manectric, start running! Gallade try making that super charged psycho cut, I want to see what that is all about!"
"Gal!"
"Mane!"
With Hunter and Leaf:
"Leaf?" Hunter asked as he sat back on his bed with Eevee on his hands. The silver haired girl was in the bed next to him, but she was sitting up, and at the same time she was reading a book she had in her hands. Hunter did not know what she was reading, but Leaf looked up and cocked her head telling Hunter that he was listening. "You know… If I win the next match, I will win 200k Kaleuros… What do you think I should use them for?"
Leaf just sighed as she heard this and then smiled at Hunter. "You have to be wise with it, remember to not spend it all at once on something stupid."
"Yea, maybe I should just get a ticket to go to a far away region and maybe become champion and settle there," Hunter replied with a small smile appearing on his face.
"Settle? Hey, what is in it for me?" Leaf pouted as she leaned forward slowly inching towards Hunter.
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Hunter suddenly asked slightly perplexed by what Leaf was implying.
"Uuuuhhhh," Leaf replied embarrassed as she felt her face turn very red. Hunter did not see it, but Eevee looked at Leaf and jumped on her lap. "H-hey, Eevee? What's up?"
"Eeveee!" Eevee replied as she snuggled his head with her neck. Leaf was seeming to enjoy this because very easily, her blush began to be replaced from embarrassment, to fun.
"Eevee, cut it out," Leaf replied between laughter as Hunter sat back up in the bed and smiled at the two as the door to the hotel room opened and in came two individuals.
"Jolteon!"
"Hey guys! I am back!" Night said as he walked into the room and went to the duo that were still in bed. Night then looked at the book that Leaf was reading and smiled at her as he said, "Looks like a good book."
"Yea," Leaf said while putting a hand behind her head. "It's a nice story, about the legend of Groudon and Kyogre, and how they struggled against each other for so long until Rayquaza shed the light among both pokemon."
"Just what I would expect you to read, Leaf," Night responded with a chuckle as he sat next to Hunter. "Alright Hunter, so what is the plan for the next match?"
Hunter just sighed, "I am just going up against some guy with only steel types. I am just going to use Blaziken during this match."
Night just sighed as he heard this, "Are you sure that Blaziken can take down three pokemon on his own like that?"
Hunter looked down at the bed and said, "I am just sweeping the rounds of three on three with all my power, and then in the rounds of 6 on 6 expect me to be more on the switching game, that is my main strategy." Hunter then got up and petted his brown furry pokemon. "Isn't that right Eevee?"
"Eevee!" Eevee replied with glee as he got up and embraced his trainer.
"Alright Eevee, chill dude!" Hunter laughed as he returned the embrace with a slightly startled appearance. At this, Leaf and Night smiled, but the former held a slight blush in her face as she saw it.
With Ashura (At around Midnight):
Ashura kept his cloak on as he kept himself binding behind the hotel under a bush. He looked both ways and noticed the coast was clear so he slowly made his way towards the pavement through which no one was walking on because it was the middle of the night at this point.
Ashura removed his cloak and let his brown hair get exposed to the air of the dark night sky for once. He then felt something tickle him as he then looked to his side to notice a small electric rodent with a thunderbolt shaped tail hop out of his tail and down into the ground.
"Pikachu pika?" The small mouse called out while quirking his head.
"Not now Pika, I am just taking a small stroll by myself," Ashura said with a sigh as he petted the electric mouse. The rodent cooed a little to Ashura's action, but then understood that Ashura was feeling like taking some fresh air.
"Pika?" Pika then looked outward to then notice a green haired trainer pacing around a bench. Around him was darkness, but then in the center was a street lamp that was the only thing illuminating him.
"Sigh," Ashura told himself as he began to walk in the direction of the green haired trainer. Stepping into the light, the trained flinched and looked at Ashura with awe as the later revealed his identity to the person. "Hey, what are you doing at this time of night?" Ashura asked the boy.
"Uhhhh," The trainer replied with a slight intimidation.
Ashura noticed this and signaled for Pika to comfort the boy. Pika did just that as he skipped up the bench and into the trainer's hands with a coo. The boy petted the Pikachu with care, but Ash noticed there was a lack of emotion. "What is your name, son?" Ashura asked as he sat down next to the boy.
"... Hau," the green haired trainer with the Incineroar partner replied shyly. Seeing Ashura sit down next to him, Hau scooted slightly away from the raven haired man. Hau did not understand what the man he was talking to at this time, but he was not feeling completely safe.
"My name is Satoshi, pleasure to meet you," Ashura said with a chuckle as he called himself out for the nickname he was given.
Hau went wide eyed at this and then asked, "Wait, are you the guy that wears the cloak and sweeps battles easily?"
Ashura gave a small chuckle at this and said, "I was not expecting to be recognized in such a weird way, but yes… I am that guy."
Hau sighed, at least he would only have to face Ash instead of Ashura for the battle that mattered to him, so he was not worried about Ashura potentially knocking him out. "Anyways, why are you even talking to me?"
"I thought you needed someone to talk to," Ashura said with a genuine voice. "It's been awhile since I sat down and did this for my son." Ashura then looked down, "Maybe this league conference will be the way I am able to reconnect with him after all of this time."
"Wow, I didn't know you had a reason to come here, specially your son, he must be hurting for you to try and fix a mistake you made," Hau replied with a chuckle. "I have to win the next battle, if I lose, then I will lose so much."
Ashura went wide eyed as he heard this, he then stood up while looking down in understanding as Pika hopped on his shoulder. Ashura then looked back at Hau and nodded as in knowing the struggle that the green haired trainer was going through. Ashura then turned his back towards Hau and said, "Good luck against my son, you will need it…"
"Wait? What?" Hau asked in perplexity.
At that very moment a gust of wind blew as Ashura stepped into the darkness that made a chill go up Hau's spine.
"Mr. Satoshi wait!" Hau called out into the darkness….
There was no response.
A/N: Alright, we have a large battle coming up next chapter.
Lillie's fate will be revealed next chapter: Will she live? (Hau win). Or will she die? (Ash wins). This will all be uncovered next chapter.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but remember that this chapter sets up the next one, so I hope you are hyped for that!
Remember to R & R and I will see you again next time!