Approach of a Stranger

"I'm coming Ash, I'm coming………."

The stadium filled up quickly with roars of excitement as Ash entered the arena, determined to win his final battle. The previous trainers have been tough, but as usual, Ash's amazing strategies have pulled him through. As Ash continues walking to his position in the arena, the bright lights almost blind him and he could hardly hear himself think from all the surrounding noise. He enters proud and excited; not the least bit nervous.

He looks around and in the front row notices his friends there to support him all the way. He sees Brock, May, Max, Tracey, Professor Oak, and his mother which is crying with joy. They all smile at him and he of course smiles back with an even wider grin of happiness. Then he notices an empty seat right next to Brock and stares blankly at it. He knows who this seat was reserved for and he gives out a deep sigh of both disappointment and astonishment. However, he continues walking with an emotional pain in his heart; a pain that he had never experienced before, a pain of love. He reached his battling station and smiles to the crowd and notices the determination in his buddy's eyes and the wide smile of pikachu on his right shoulder. He tried hard, but couldn't clear his mind off Misty and he wondered how he could succeed without her company.

The Battle commences. The rival proves to be an excellent and worthy opponent and leaves Ash stunned with fear and worry.

Meanwhile……. In the front row Brock and May themselves begin to doubt Ash's victory by looking at him during the long battle. He used defensive attacks more than ever and his attacks usually missed. Both May and Brock started to worry.

"Brock, I'm starting to think this is impossible for Ash to win", May said looking terribly troubled and on the verge of bursting into tears. "He only has Pikachu left and Pikachu is starting to look exhausted from dodging all those attacks." May had to scream out at the top of her voice in order to cover up all the crowds' loud encouraging roars.

"I'm afraid you're right. It seems Ash lacks concentration and his attacks fail most of the time. If he keeps up with dodging all those attacks, Pikachu will only become weaker and even more tired.", Brock sighed heavily as he watched. He could not believe his eyes as Ash continued the battle looking helpless.

"Hmmm, his mind seems to be somewhere else, but where?" Brock ponders on this mystery then glances to the empty seat next to him and the idea strikes him. With an undecided expression he blurs out "Misty."

"Misty?" May gently speaks out flabbergasted. This time the crowd is no longer as loud, everybody seems stunned at Ash's progress.

Brock doesn't answer her, but gives her a nod without taking an eye off of Ash. May now seems to start to understand what Brock means, and rapidly turns her eyes toward Ash with a worried grin. Both May and Brock were pondering on the idea of Misty and Ash. Meanwhile, Ash's mother was crying this time from sadness, and Max covered his eyes taking only a slight peek once in a while to know what's going on in the battle. Ash was going to lose any second right before everyone's eyes and nothing could be done to help him.

The stadium was dead silent. The judges stopped talking, the crowd stopped talking and everyone's attention was entirely on Ash. Only little gasps of horror could be heard once in a while. Brock was the only one that peered for a moment to the corner where he noticed a dark, mysterious figure which was running toward the stadium. After a simple peak, he directly locked his eyes on Ash once again.

The mysterious stranger was running closer and closer to the stadium. Finally the figure burst the huge glass entrance doors open and caught the attention of the whole stadium, even Ash and his rival.

Ash was stricken with confusion as the stranger was getting closer and closer to him. The crowd gasped with fear and started to murmur about who this person might be. The figure finally reached Ash and he was astounded. The figure before him was none other than Misty. Seeing her beautiful face yet again filled him with strength and beatitude.

Misty wanted so eagerly to jump right into Ash's arms and hold him and tell him how much she loved him. She didn't want to rush into things and was shy and embarrassed so to break the silence and amazement, she reached for Ash's hand and shook it firmly as saying a simple "hello."

Ash also wanted to grab Misty and kiss her passionately and never let her go as soon as he saw her face, but he was also shy and scared of rejection. He returned the hand shake and gave her a nice wide smile.

"Misty, I'm so glad you could come. I was starting to……." Ash began but he was soon cut off by Misty's calming voice which shocked him since he was always used to her yelling. "Ash, I'm glad too but I believe your battle is waiting."She pointed to the battle arena where his opponent was waiting eagerly for the battle to continue.

Ash didn't utter another word but gave her a smile she would never forget. He turned directly to Pikachu and with the most determined voice said "Ready buddy? Let's win this!"

The whole arena was shocked and amazed as Misty arrived. Brock gave a wide grin of satisfaction and Ash's mother stopped her crying. The stadium was already filled with excitement and chatter as the battle continued. Misty stood in back of Ash, watching him the whole time, never getting tired of standing. She cheered for Ash and gave him shouts of encouragement the whole time while trying hard to put on her best smile and blushing deeply. She thought to herself; Ash I love you and I want to do more than just cheer for you. I really wish I could. I wish I was stronger like you and not such a weakling. I really love you and I'll tell you soon, I promise.

Ash took quick glances at Misty from time to time and saw her beautiful smile and heard her cheers, and could not stop smiling. He thought to himself; Misty, you don't have to cheer for me. Seeing your beautiful, radiant smile is enough to keep me going. Thank you for coming, I couldn't have done it without you. I love you and I promise I will tell you one day….

With his last bit of strength in his voice he shouted "Pikachu, use thunderbolt attack." The battle was over.