It was early in the morning, and many of the residents of Solaceon town were setting up their stalls and attractions, getting ready for the annual Solaceon Festival which would take place that day. A grand battle arena was being set up for the main attraction: the battle tournament. Among the people setting up stalls were the usual three from Team Rocket. Strangely, Jessie, James and Meowth weren't up to their usual antics, but had taken a rather different approach to the day.
"So wait, we're not going to steal anything today?" Jessie asked while she was unpacking some special pokemon treats.
"Nope, we're doing this one by the book," James replied with a small smile.
"But why James, what's up with this plan, eh?" Meowth questioned.
"Well, I've noticed that every time we do things without stealing, we end up with lots of cash, and with no blast off as well! A win-win situation don't you agree?"
"I guess you're right," Jessie replied gloomily.
"So let's get to it," James declared in an upbeat way.
"Hurry up you slowpoke," Angie insisted as she waited outside impatiently for Ash.
"Just wait a few seconds; I doubt this festival's going anywhere anytime soon." Ash said in return from behind their front door.
"Well our festival only happens once a year, and I don't want to miss any of it, so get out here now," Angie ordered.
"Well we'd better get going then," he said as he came through the door, whilst putting on his cap.
It wasn't long before the two of them arrived at the festival grounds, eagerly awaiting the various attractions and rides. Although before that, there was something very important to take care of.
"Ash, you're signing up for the tournament, right?"Angie asked.
"What tournament?" he replied.
"The festival tournament silly,"
"Well how was I meant to know," said Ash to the side.
"Well, are you signing up then?" Angie repeated.
"Sure am, we're always up for a challenge, right buddy?"
"Pika pi," Pikachu agreed.
So they headed over to the registration stall, where Ash registered for the tournament with great anticipation. After this however, he remembered that Angie could also enter.
"Angie, aren't you entering too?" he enquired.
"I thought I'd give my pokemon a rest and sit this one out."
"Okay," he said in a sad tone, "I'll just have to win it for the both of us then."
Meanwhile, back at Angie's house, the rest of the group were about to leave for the festival. They had got up much later as they lacked the amount of energy that Ash and Angie had, and had therefore decided to leave late in the morning.
"So Brock, Ash and Angie should already be there right?" Dawn asked Brock.
"They should be there, those two sure can move when something interesting comes up," Brock commented.
"Those two are like peas in a pod," Dawn thought aloud.
"It is rather strange," Brock said curiously, "it usually isn't a long time before Ash moves on from a place, but it seems that he's not thinking about leaving here anytime soon."
"I wonder why," Dawn said whilst trying to figure out why.
"Yes, I wonder," Brock agreed with a small grin, "but I heard something quite interesting from Nurse Joy when I visited her yesterday.
"What is it?"
"Apparently, Anabel from the Hoenn Battle Frontier's Battle Tower has come to Sinnoh and is competing in today's tournament during the festival."
"Really? Well I've never heard of her," said Dawn.
"Well Ash knows her, and he had some problems countering her strategies last time they battled. Ash has probably entered the tournament, so if they meet in battle it should be good to watch," Brock told Dawn.
"Looks like we'll just have to wait and see," Dawn confirmed before they headed in the direction of the festival.
"Ash," Angie looked around, "where'd you go?"
"Over here," called Ash while stuffing himself full of food, "you've got to try this stuff, it's amazing."
Angie headed over towards where Ash had decided to stop and eat. The pair of them had managed to eat as much food in the morning as it would take a normal person to eat in a few years. Ash had decided that instead of getting ready for this tournament, he would try to enjoy himself as much as he could, which meant eating to his heart's content. Although, just before they proceeded to devour yet more snacks, Ash unexpectedly met an old friend of his.
"Ash, is that you," said a voice from behind Ash.
"Huh?" he turned around, "Anabel?"
"That's right, it's good to see you again Ash," Anabel replied.
"Same here, but why are you in Sinnoh?"
"Well, I decided that I wanted to train a bit and decided that coming here would be a good place to do it," she explained.
"That's great," Ash said in return.
'Ash, I sense that you're as good of a person as you were last time. Even after so long, I am glad that you've managed to keep your kind ways. The thing is, I sense something different in you this time, you seem to be stronger through your experiences, but there's something else there…' Anabel thought.
It was then that Angie arrived at Ash's side, after she had eaten most of the food at the previous stall.
"So who's this," Anabel asked.
"This is my friend Angie, we met a while back in a summer academy, and she lives here in Solaceon town," he answered.
"Nice to meet you," Anabel said,
"Good to meet you too," Angie said back to her.
Anabel glanced into Angie's eyes.
'Hmm,' Anabel thought, 'her attitude and outlook seem very similar to Ash's. I know that she must be a good friend of his, but I wonder if it means anything more…'
"So," Ash said to break the silence, "are you entering the tournament Anabel?"
"Yes, and I'll be the winning it you know," Anabel replied confidently.
"You'll have to get past me first," Ash told her.
"We'll see about that."
It was now midday, and Brock and Dawn had arrived at the festival. At this moment in time, they were with Ash and Angie while who kept on devouring everything in sight. The problem was that they were now nearing Team Rocket's stall, and this was not good news. When James saw them approaching, he started to panic.
"Oh dear, the twerps are coming!"
"We'll be fine," Jessie assured him, "those twerps wouldn't recognise us if we just put on some sunglasses."
"I hope you're right," James said nervously.
Ash and Angie approached the stall, eyeing the goods available.
"How can I help you?" James asked nervously.
"Um, what do you have?" Angie asked in return.
"It's your lucky day," Jessie chirped, "because today, we can give you twe… I mean, customers, the most tasty pokemon food ever!"
"Really?" Ash said sceptically, "and anyway, haven't I seen you before?"
"NO, no you definitely have never seen us before, anyway, maybe a free sample would convince you, yes?"
Jessie handed over a small amount of the food to pikachu, who ate it. A few seconds later, Pikachu gave his verdict.
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu exclaimed with delight.
"Looks like you weren't lying," Ash admitted.
Ash and company purchased the snacks and left, leaving a very flustered James.
"Phew, thank goodness that's over." James sighed
"I told you that we'd be fine," Jessie said.
The tournament started in the early afternoon. All the trainers who had entered gathered for their matches, as well as their shot at first place. Among these people were: the residents of Solaceon city, those who happened to be passing though, Anabel and Ash. It was set to be an exciting tournament full of intense battles. It had been decided by the organisers that all matches, except from the last, would consist of one pokemon each, with the finals having three pokemon per trainer.
Then, the tournament began. The festival was now alive with the sound of many battles taking place. People gathered to watch the battles take place, seeing all that the participants had to offer. After each round, the battles became fiercer, stronger and much more exciting.
Angie watched Ash from the sidelines whilst cheering him on. She saw him win battle after battle with his pokemon that he had been with for so long now. She also noticed his winning attitude: how he never gave up or gave in.
It reminded her of why she liked him so much.
After the afternoon had passed, the two competitors for the finals were confirmed. Unsurprisingly, it would be a match between Ash and Anabel, who had dominated the whole event. Everyone gathered as the event was about to start. Silence fell upon the crowd when the announcer got onto the stage.
"Ladies, gentlemen and children of Solaceon," he announced, "we have reached the final battle for today."
The crowd cheered.
"The battle will be between two young travellers, both of whom will use three pokemon. The battle will end when all three of a trainer's pokemon are unable to battle. Is that clear?" asked the referee.
Ash and Anabel nodded.
"Then will both trainers please send out your first pokemon."
"Go, Torterra!" Ash called.
"Espeon, my friend, come on out!"
"Anabel will have the first attack," the referee stated.
"Well I guess it is ladies first," Ash remarked.
"So let the battle begin!"
At this, the battle started. Anabel gave the first attack.
"Espeon, quick attack, now!"
"Torterra, brace yourself," Ash said.
At the side of the stage, Brock and Dawn were discussing the match.
"This should make for a good battle," mentioned Dawn.
"Right, with the huge difference in speed it'll be a struggle for Ash," Brock explained.
Brock was right; it was an extreme struggle for Ash. Torterra just couldn't hit Espeon, and kept on getting pounded by psychic and iron tail. The attacks kept coming, wearing down Torterra until it was on the brink of collapse. It wasn't long before Torterra reached its limit.
"Espeon, let's finish this with psychic," said Anabel.
"Torterra, try and block it with rock climb."
But it was too late. Torterra's body was surrounded by a blue light; it was lifted up and then thrown down onto the floor. Torterra lay there, motionless.
"Torterra is unable to battle," the referee announced.
Ash stepped back a little before calling back Torterra.
"Torterra, you did a good job. Pikachu, do you think you can show her some real speed?" Ash asked.
Pikachu nodded confidently and jumped onto the field.
"So you're using Pikachu," Anabel said, "this time, let's see if you can defeat Espeon without breaking any lights."
"We've become a lot stronger since then," replied Ash.
Pikachu provided a much bigger challenge for Espeon. The two pokemon moved swiftly around, rarely hitting the other. For a while, it seemed as though neither of them would ever faint and that a conclusion wouldn't be reached. Fortunately, after one or two traded hits, one attack spelled the end for Espeon.
"Pikachu, use volt tackle,"
"Try to stop it with Psychic,"
But Anabel's call came too late. Pikachu had already gathered speed, meaning that the usual blue light from psychic was destroyed and Espeon was struck by the full force of volt tackle. Espeon fell down onto the ground, too tired to continue. Anabel recalled Espeon and then sent out her next pokemon.
"Metagross, I need your help."
"We can do this Pikachu," said Ash, "Let's try a thunderbolt first."
"Metagross, iron defence," Anabel said quickly.
The thunderbolt flew threateningly towards Metagross, but bounced right off in a different direction. The reflected bolt hurtled into over the crowd and into three very unfortunate people.
"Oh come on," Jessie screamed as the three from team rocket went flying off into the distance.
Back at the stage, Ash and Pikachu were trying their hardest to take down Metagross, but to no avail. Metagross relentlessly hit pikachu with meteor mash and psychic. Soon, Pikachu was on its last legs.
"Metagross, end this with hyper beam," the Salon Maiden said.
Pikachu just stood there, unable to move out the way due to being too tired. Hyper beam its target, throwing up a cloud of smoke while doing so. Ash knew that it was too much for Pikachu to take and after the dust had settled, picked up an exhausted Pikachu.
"You did well Pikachu," he said kindly.
While Ash picked up Pikachu, Dawn asked Brock a question:
"Brock, do you think Ash can still win this?"
"Well," Brock replied, "he now has to take down two pokemon with only one. Ash is in a pretty dire situation now."
Ash knew this all too well. He was looking down at Pikachu in a gloomy manner, obviously downhearted at this turn of events. Although while he was still like this, he heard a certain voice from the crowd; it was Angie.
"Ash," she shouted, "you can still win, don't give up now! Keep fighting for both of us!"
Ash first looked up and then straight at Angie. After a few seconds, he straightened his cap, stood back up straight again and now he had a look of determination in his eyes.
"Right, we can still win this," he said with a new found confidence, "come out and help me win this Garchomp."
From the other end of the stage, Anabel had watched what had just happened. What she saw helped her to understand what had eluded her before.
'It all makes sense now,' she thought, 'Those two are more than just friends. They share their strength, helping each other in ways more then any friends could. Their feelings affect the other's and the bond between them is unbreakable. I've learned this through what I just saw; one cheer from a special person can make all the difference in the toughest of times, and that encouragement from Angie just now gave Ash a second wind. I guess that means I've still got this battle to win then. I wish you two the best of luck, but I'm still going to win this battle no matter what'
The final part of the battle had started. Ash and his Garchomp were a tough force, a force which Anabel was about to be on the receiving end of.
"Garchomp, use dig," called Ash
Garchomp jumped into the air before diving into the ground. Metagross stayed still while trying to sense where Garchomp was, but before it could, Garchomp came out of the ground to score a direct hit into Metagross. More successful hits followed, with Metagross unable to keep up. After a surprisingly short battle, Metagross was defeated by a powerful fire fang.
'I know that part of a pokemon's power comes from its trainer, but this is so overwhelming. There's no doubt about anything now,' thought Anabel.
"Alakazam my friend, turn this around." Anabel said.
The final pokemon were out, and the battle continued. The two trainers and the two pokemon fought hard. Neither side would stop fighting, and neither side showed signs of defeat. Finally, after an extreme battle, the final hit was made. It was Garchomp who had triumphed and brought victory to Ash.
As the day was ending, Anabel had decided to leave Solaceon and keep travelling. The group of trainers decided to meet in front of Angie's house to say their goodbyes. Also, the newly appointed winner of the tournament was joined by Angie who also wished to say her farewells to her new friend.
"Goodbye Anabel," said Ash.
"Nice to have met you," Angie added.
"It's been great to see you all," Anabel said in return.
As Anabel turned and walked off underneath the night sky, she thought about the two she had just left behind.
'When I came here, I would have never expected any of today's events to happen. Although, I guess with Ash you can never know what will happen. So, this most likely means I'll no longer have a chance with him, but it doesn't matter. I think that the feelings I sensed in Ash will bring him far with Angie. It's rare to sense true love between people, no matter how apparent it may be.'