I am unable to keep up with Pokeshipping week on time, but I will do what I can to contribute! This is a silly oneshot for Day 2: Rivalry

I thought I might as well make a selection of oneshots instead of multiple stories.

No Competition

"Please. Please. Please." Ash mumbles to himself breathily. "Go away…"

"Ash!" a feminine voice calls shrilly from outside.

"Come out here, Ash!" a second woman calls.

"You need to choose once and for all!" A third person shouts pitchily.

"Yeah!" the first voice agrees. "We know you were talking about one of us!"

Ash groans as he leans against the front door of his house. How did everything get so out of hand?

"You said it was a traveling companion!" One of them yells. "It has to be one of us!"

It was a week ago that Ash realized his greatest dream; to become a Pokemon master. The battle had been exhausting and the biggest challenge of his life, but he had prevailed.

Then, he made the biggest mistake of his life.

When the cameras chased him down after the battle, he had been so overwhelmed by the press that he told half a truth that wasn't meant to be shared with the whole world.

"Is there a special person you are looking forward to celebrating with?" a reporter had asked him, pushing a microphone into his face.

There were flashing cameras and many reporters gushing at him at the same time asking different questions. It was overwhelming and confusing.

"Yes," he shared without a second consideration. He quickly covered his mouth when he realized what the reporter really meant by that question.

"Ah, so the new monarch does have a special someone back home?" she continued pushing.

"I guess… I um-" Ash stuttered like a Deerling in headlights, "well, she is… um - yes?"

"I assume this special lady is someone who you met on your travels?" the reporter asked.

"Yes." Ash answered shortly, trying to wave the woman away.

"I bet there are a lot of ladies out there wondering if you are talking about them. Can you give us a little more, Mr. Ketchum?" the reporter requested.

"Oh no! She's not just some random girl I met," he corrected defensively.

"We're getting somewhere now!" the reporter giggled. "So she is a close friend, then?"

"Uh," Ash froze, realizing that he outed part of his biggest secret to the entire technological world.

"Is it safe to assume you're talking about one of your traveling companions?" the reporter continued to push the microphone into his face.

"Wha-" he gaped at the question. "No, wait! I take it back! Don't show that!"

"You heard it straight from the Monarch himself!" the reporter announced as the camera centered back on her. "The Monarch has a special lady waiting at home! We are excited to find out who said lucky woman is. Stick around because we're going to give you all the details of Ash's known companions so that you can guess for yourself!"

The interview had been airing nonstop for the last week. The news stations were focused on two things: the journeys of the new monarch and the women that he had traveled with. The faces of his companions were constantly cycling on the television.

This mistake led to Ash's present predicament. Three of his closest female friends had shown up at his house in Pallet Town and demanded that he tell them which of them he was talking about. He couldn't tell if they wanted to know because they each hoped he was talking about him or hoped he wasn't. Either way, they all wanted an answer and an end to the rumors.

"Ash, open this door!" May demands.

"You can't just say that sort of stuff on camera!" Dawn yells angrily.

"I have random people on the street coming up to me asking if I am the monarch's girlfriend! No one even recognizes me for my Showcase records anymore!" Serena whines.

"You have to tell us who you were talking about!" Dawn barks. "We deserve to know!"

"Better yet - tell the world so our lives can go back to normal!" May pounds harder on the door.

"Who is it, Ash?!" Serena pleads.

Ash bangs his head against the door not caring if his friends can hear him.

"You get yourself into these messes, you know." An unexpected voice rings from the kitchen just feet away.

"Wha-" Ash asks, stunned to see a familiar redheaded woman sipping tea at his kitchen table.

"Hi Mr. Pokemon Master," she greets, smirking playfully.

"H-hi, Misty," Ash stutters in surprise. "What are you doing here? How did you even get in?"

"You became the world's champion, and you didn't think I'd come by to congratulate you?" Misty asks skeptically. "I feel like I deserve some credit for how far you've come. Also, I have a key."

"So you're not here to yell at me about what I said to the reporter?" Ash asks nervously, scratching the back of his neck.

"Please," Misty rolls her eyes, "the media will forget about it in another week or two when they realize that you're the densest person on the planet."

"Hey!" Ash snaps at her remark. "I've grown up a lot since we traveled, you know!"

Her gaze softens at him as she observes his full figure. He wears simple blue jeans and a black T-shirt. His hair is messy and uncouth. Surely, he has grown in height and character since the days of Kanto and Johto.

"I know." she admits gently, surprising him.

Ash eyes her cautiously. Her red hair is brushed out and cascading down her shoulders in natural waves. She wears a simple light blue camisole, blue jeans, and her classic red trainers.

"Aren't you going to even ask?" Ash wonders aloud.

"Ask what?" Misty questions, shrugging her shoulders.

"Aren't you going to ask who I was talking about?"

The air remains light between the pair as Misty's head tilts to the left and she furrows her brows together.

"No," she says simply, shaking her head slowly.

"I have three girls outside this door screaming at me to tell them who I was talking about, and somehow you're inside my house and you don't even care to ask?" Ash asks incredulously.

"What should it matter to me?" she asks quizzically.

"I just thought-" Ash starts but is interrupted.

"You just thought I was another girl that would just fall all over you?" Misty asks in irritation, standing to gain better ground against him. "Let me tell you, Ash Ketchum, that I came here to tell you that I'm proud of you for winning the competition not because of some silly interview you royally fucked up."

While Ash is now inches taller than her, Misty is still just as intimidating as her Gyarados when she stands eye to eye with him.

"That's not what I-" Ash tries to explain.

"Then what did you mean?" Misty asks pointedly.

"I was kind of hoping you might ask," Ash admits softly.

"What?" she asks, suddenly taken aback.

"Ask me," he urges her gently, "please, ask me."

"Wha-" she stumbles, eyes widening like the full moon, "who?"

"Ask me, Mist," he encourages, gripping her arms and drawing her slightly closer.

"Who were you talking about?"

She barely whispers the question before Ash's hands are cupping her cheeks and his lips are pressed squarely against her own.

"I knew it!" May screams from outside the living room window.

"The lure girl?" Dawn asks, squinting to get a better look at Misty.

The two girls high five at the revelation.

"Hrumph," Serena grunts, not enjoying the sigh at all.

"Sorry, Serena," May whispers, patting her back comfortingly.

The rivalry was between the girls not between Ash and Misty. *Okay it wasn't that much rivalry but I couldn't stand to change May and Dawn's characters. To me they always saw Ash as a great friend and I couldn't go against that.

I really like Serena, but not Amourshipping. Like, when I watched X and Y a few years I genuinely liked her. Ash was a great friend to her and she definitely crushed hard on him. She was sweet and smart. A great friend.

However, I will always ship Ash and Misty due to their rocky relationship that blossomed into a beautiful friendship and rivalry. She was far from perfect and he was a rookie out to prove himself. They are truly two sides of the same coin. They taught each other so much throughout the original series and no other character had as much of an impact on his character development.

Love, Alert, Review