Anabel quietly looked at him. He finished his story: needing to be stronger, to be better, to be alone. Alone. That's how Anabel felt without him. She hugged him, and he returned it. No more words were shared. The story about Giovanni shook her. Anabel had never seen death like that. She could not imagine how he felt about it.
"What now?" Anabel asked as they split.
"I win."
She laughed lightly. "Win? You know you will?"
"Absolutely, I did not spend five years in isolation from the world to lose. I win, we win. My Pokemon and I will win this, together."
She looked at him. "You're different."
Ash gave a small smirk, "I have been hearing that a lot." He gave a long pause. "I'm sorry for how I spoke to you and how I treated you. In our first battle here in Vertress. It was rude, inappropriate. You deserve better than that."
Anabel gave a small wince, but gave a small smile. "It's okay, you were protecting your identity. You wanted a private battle to show who you really are." She lightly pushed his arm. "Just don't let it happen again, I was going easy on you," Anabel said, both jokingly and seriously. She walked up to him and traced along the scarring on his face. "Will you tell me what happened with these?"
"Eventually, you'll meet the culprit," Ash said, a little embarrassed but with a grin. A small silence blanketed them. Not awkward, but comfortable, just like how things always were between the two of them.
The two returned their Pokemon, except for Raichu. "Aren't you going to walk me back?" Anabel asked, feigning weakness.
"If that's what you want," Ash said, a fake tone of chivalry in his voice. He did walk her back to the hotel area of the Vertress conference site. She bid a farewell, and he smiled at her.
Raichu nudged his leg as they walked back to their campsite. "Quit it," Ash said playfully. Raichu shrugged his shoulders. "Yes we were flirting, don't make it awkward," Ash said to his faithful partner.
The next day turned to be one that was hotter than the past few days. The September air felt more like summer than fall, but sometimes that just happened. Ash didn't complain, out loud at least. HIs campsite was quiet as his Pokemon were still asleep by the time he awoke. Stretching, Ash was thinking about the coming days. This tournament continued today. He hoped to watch some matches.
The 256 preliminaries were being worn down to 128 by the start of the next week. This way, maximum amount of advertisement could be done, tourism shopping could be accomplished, and battles were in just enough to keep the crowds truly satisfied. Given his crushing defeat of Max at the start, Ash just had to wait.
After gathering himself and Raichu, they went to the stadium named after Shauntal in the south west. Finding a seat at long last, he was watching a match between Lieutenant Surge and a trainer named Samara. Samara was making quick work of the electric gym leader, as her ghost type Gengar played with them like toys. Ash was happy to see strong competition.
The crowd cheered as Samara easily defeated Surge's Raichu and Electrode with just her Gengar. Her gothic style black dress flowed in the warm wind, as her pale skin peeked out beneath the sunhat and long black gloves. A bright smile shown on her face though, happy to move on in the tournament.
Another battle was beginning in ten minutes, Ash merely stayed. Raichu tugged on his coat. Ash gave him some money, "Whatever you want buddy." Raichu's eyes widened and gave a sinister laugh. He was going to get a lot of ketchup.
Ash intently stared at the field, thinking. The two new competitors were two trainers, no one that he was aware of. He suddenly felt a new presence next to him: Anabel. She had come to watch matches with him. Despite there being no words spoken to each other, minor actions shown where their hearts were.
Ash and Anabel were intently watching a match between two trainers from Johto: one was using a Typhlosion and the other was using a Donphan. Despite the type match up, the Typhlosion unleashed a devastating fire blast against the tapir, which eliminated it from contention and thus the trainer won. The announcer made it known the winner's name was Gold.
It was two in the afternoon at this point. Ash and Anabel were walking together when they ran into Paul, who was getting ready for his match.
"Hey Paul!" Ash called out with a smile. Raichu was also eager to see a friend.
"Hey Ash, and this is?" Paul spoke with a raised eyebrow.
"Anabel, Salon Maiden of the Kanto Battle Frontier, pleasure to meet you," Anabel said with a grin.
"You're one of them, the Battle Frontier?" Paul asked, turning his body toward her.
"Yes! It's a dream of mine to battle for a living, especially against such strong trainers that come through. Ash is technically one of us, but he declined Scott's offer. But our invitation is always open!" Anabel said, her blush not going unnoticed by Paul when she mentioned Ash's name.
"So I've heard," he said as he turned his gaze to Ash.
"Well maybe after this, I might revisit his offer," Ash gently mused. "I definitely feel more confident in my battle ability, and my bonds have gotten stronger than ever before. So yeah, we'll see what happens. I think you've got a battle coming up Paul?" Ash deflected.
"Yeah, it's in the Marshall arena," Paul pointed his thumb to the area that was next to the one Ash and Anabel came from. The three made their way into the hallway, splitting up as Paul headed to the trainer locker room as Ash and Anabel went to the stadium seats.
Paul's opponent was a trainer from the native Unova region. Paul used his Drapion while his opponent was using an Excadrill.
"Paul's got this, that Excadrill is untrained," Ash said as soon as the battle began.
"Plus, that Excadrill doesn't seem to listen to it's trainer. How did someone like this get into this competition?" Anabel questioned.
"Don't know, but that is going to cost this kid a lot."
Paul made quick work of the wild Excadrill. His trainer thanked the mole and brought forth his last Pokemon, a Chandelure.
"Now that is what I want to see! A well trained Pokemon!" Anabel said with glee.
A will-o-wisp attack landed on Drapion, who did not look pleased. Paul soon began ordering commands. Drapion was trying to get close but Chandelure was keeping a distance with it's incredible special attacks.
"Paul can do better than this," Ash said, confident in his friend. He knew Paul was stalling, this was a mismatch.
Ash saw a glint in Paul's eye. He tapped Anabel's arm, "Watch what's about to happen.'
Suddenly, Drapion got an opening and closed in, a lot faster than most anticipated. With a combined attack of cross poison and night slash, Drapion defeated the Chandelure with just those attacks.
The crowd erupted into cheers at the incredible display of strength. Ash smiled as after returning their Pokemon, Paul talked with the challenger he beat. Anabel and Ash got up quickly to go meet with Paul. Trying as it was to get through the people, they discovered that there were already people talking with Paul.
Ash cursed to himself when he saw who it was, and Anabel gently grabbed and squeezed his hand. There were his old friends, and he tried to hide his smile as he saw Dawn kiss Paul's cheek.
Well, shit.
AN: I wanted to get this chapter out so you all know it is still going. Next chapter is going to be a bit dialogue heavy I believe. This story will be finished. I am hoping to become more active again. Thank you for your patience, Read and review!
PS: I am working on a new story too, which will be OC oriented