"Well look who it is" said a voice. Ash turned to see Brock leaning with his back against the wall of the hotel outside with his arms folded. The pain was written all over Ash's face. "Not now, Brock" he croaked. "Now's not the time to say "I told you so."

Brock raised a hand to his forehead and let out an inaudible groan. "What did she say?"

"She…took someone else"

"Oh." Brock assumed she would be too upset to enter the battle at all

"Yea. Some guy named Josh." Ash's fists fell to his side and started trembling. "I told her I'd take her"

"You also told her you'd follow her back to our room last night." Brock pointed out dryly.

"That's true…" Ash trailed off.

"Look it can't be helped now. Mistakes are there for you to learn from them. You just have to learn from this particular one and never let her down like this again in future." He decided to use this opportunity to question Ash "How do you feel right now?"

Ash looked at him with a slight frown and a look of bewilderment on his face "what's with this third degree?" "I feel cold, what kind of a stupid question is that?"

Brock shook his head. "No, deep down. How do you feel?"

Ash stared at the frosty pavement and watched his breath slowly condensate. "really low"

Brock continued to get more out of him "now I'm getting somewhere" "and why do you feel like that, Ash?"

Ash sat on the curb and arched up his knees to rest his head on them "Because it upsets me to see her get hurt..." He turned and raised his head to meet Brocks eyes "But it upsets me even more to know that I'm the one who hurt her."

"and wouldn't you feel better if you could make it up to her?" Asked Brock

Ash shifted his eyes away from Brocks challenging stare "Yeah, but-"

Brock caught Ash as the wrist. "Come with me" He commanded "Follow us, Pikachu"

"pii!" it squeaked, leaping beside them.

Knowing that he and Ash wouldn't both fit on the Mukkuru, he hailed a cab. Ash struggled to release himself from Brock's grip "What do you think you're doing, Brock?"

A nearby cab driver pulled up to them "where to?"

Brock leaned in the window "Here's a 20. If you can get us to the gym at the other side of town in less than an hour that would be great." The cab driver grabbed the note and stuffed it in his pocket "Will do" said the cab driver "hop in" Brock jumped into the back seat and Pikachu climbed onto his lap. Ash remained on the curb shaking his head defiantly "Oh no, I'm not going back there, Brock. You can't make me!" Brock opened the door for him "Are you sure? Because I have the key to our hotel room so if you don't come with us you'll have to wait in the lobby for me to return with it and I could be gone for hours you know." Ash rolled his eyes and got into the back seat of the cab, giving the door a hard slam as Brock smiled and slid over to make room for him. "Atta boy" he chuckled.

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A roar of cheers came from the audience as Misty's Corsola headbutted Furret, the last pokemon on the other team. She and Josh had just defeated their opponents in the semi finals with no difficulty at all for getting to this point. Misty took a glimpse at all the spectators with excitement and turned to Josh "I can't believe we got to the finals! Isn't this exciting?" she squealed. Josh linked his arm in hers "Yes and when we win, my reputation will skyrocket! You'll help me reach that goal because you're a gym leader" Not the encouraging words of praise Misty was expecting, but she couldn't object and drive Josh away, she couldn't afford to lose now. "Here's our opponents" said Josh pointing to a team of two girls opposite them. Misty felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Not them!"

It was the two girls from the reception earlier. The two girls who made her feel awful about herself when she already felt like she hit rock bottom. Now she was more determined to win this final battle than ever before, knowing that she'd have something to throw in their faces, not to mention Ash.

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The cab skidded through a puddle as Ash leaned against the cold icy window of the taxi and his cheek felt damp. Brushing the moisture away with his sleeve, he turned to Brock with a sigh. "remind me why we're doing this" Brock ignored him and tapped the cab driver on the back "you don't have a muzzle by any chance, do you?" He asked jokingly. Realising that it was aimed at him, Ash gave Brock a sharp blow to the arm "Hey! stop that! You're not answering me" He sulked. "You'll see when we get there." Brock said simply.

The announcer's voice broke through the speakers lined all over the gym in slight distortion. "Everyone please be seated as the final battle is about to commence." The excited rabble of the audience toned down. "On the left side of the Gym we have Misty Waterflower and Josh Blazer." A burst of cheers and applause rose from the audience as they walked to the centre of the room to bow gracefully.

The speakers continued with the announcement "and to the right side of the gym we have sisters Rebecca and Karen Primavera." Everyone cheered and applauded in unison as they marched out to the centre arm in arm, looking confident and waving to the crowd with a smug complacent look plastered on their faces.

Misty and Josh locked eyes on their opponents, reaching out to shake hands with them. Josh shook hands with Rebecca, she had auburn hair that trailed down her back into waves and she was wearing an orange dress. "May the best trainers win" she smiled, releasing her hand from his grip "but you know its going to be myself and Karen anyway" she finished. Josh narrowed his eyes at Rebecca's arrogant attitude. Misty hesitated at Karen's open hand and shook it cautiously. Karen's face was round and framed by her shoulder length spiked blue hair. She was very short compared to her sister Rebecca "So, you took a different guy?" Asked Karen as Misty's hand was firmly in her grip. "What happened, did your boyfriend reject you? I'm surprised you even got this far." she snorted. Misty gave her a glare and almost broke Karen's fingers while they were still in her grasp before sharply turning her back to follow Josh to their places.

And the speakers boomed with "Let the battle begin!"

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Brock jumped out of the cab as it reached the gym and led Ash back to the reception desk. "We'd like to compete." said Brock, with his hand still tightly clutching Ash's wrist and holding it firmly.

Ash's eyes widened in horror and he tried to protest. "Hey wait a minute Brock! I didn't agree to-" his sentence was cut off with a muffled sound as Brock tightly clasped his hand over Ash's mouth to keep him from objecting. "If its not too much trouble." finished Brock.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow and questioned the lack of enthusiasm Ash was showing. "You both want to team up?" she asked.

Ash broke himself away from Brocks grip "NO!" he protested shaking his head furiously. Brock gave him a kick into the ankle "err.. I mean yes" said Ash followed by a quick glare at Brock.

"Well I think the final battle has already started but if you'd like I can still give you seats to view the tournament" she suggested. "Its half price because its almost over"

"Deal" said Brock handing her the admission fee for their tickets.

"Oh great, not only do I get to see Misty when she clearly doesn't want me around but I get to pay to do it!" groaned Ash with sarcasm.

Brock continued to ignore his complaints and dragged him down the hallway to the seating area.

A bouncer stood at the entrance next to a Machoke assisting him with security "tickets please."

Brock handed him their orange cards "Hey, is it true the final battle has already started?" he asked

The bouncer examined the tickets and glanced at Brock "yes" he replied "you're pretty late."

"Oh?" said Brock astonished, he didn't think the tournament would end so fast. "Who are the finalists?"

The bouncer stood aside to let them pass "Rebecca and Karen vs. Misty and Josh. Each team are down to four pokemon on each side I think. I check up on the battle every 2 minutes or so."

Ash stared at him in disbelief. He knew Misty was strong but he honestly didn't think she should ever get this far without him.

"Ok thanks!" said Brock hurrying Ash inside with an insistent push.

Ash looked around the gym. The seating area was dimly lit and there was a big spotlight down on the floor in the centre where the pokemon battles took place

As they tried to find some empty seats, Ash was too busy focusing on something else "Look, there she is!" He pointed down to a red haired girl in a defensive stance next to a taller blonde boy facing their opponents.

"Woah, that's her partner? Talk about uptight." commented Brock.

Ash suddenly felt bitter "Yeah, that's Josh" his eyes narrowed as he stared down at him.

"…can we sit at the back row?" Pleaded Ash, pointing to some empty seats.

Brock shrugged his shoulders "fine by me, but if we sit here, Misty won't be able to see you"

Ash frowned at him. "Yeah that's the point" he retorted.

Brock followed Ash into the back row and sat next to him "Do you know why I brought you here?" He asked.

"To make Misty even more annoyed with me than she already is?"

"No" chuckled Brock patting Ash lightly on the back "You have no idea how much I've been trying to the help the two of you lately."

Ash got curious at the intriguing complaint "Me and Misty?"

Brock replied with a nod "No matter how hard I try to fix things I only make it worse, but I'm gonna keep up. I made you follow me… so that you could cheer for her. Even if she's mad at you right now, the least you can do is support her. That way she'll know that you'll stay at her side her through thick and thin." He turned to Ash "and she is your best friend, right?"

Ash's face lifted into a smile "Yeah, you're right Brock! She'll always be my best friend no matter how bad things get between us. She's…important to me" and blushed, a little surprised at his own sudden remark

"Glad to hear that. Things will work out between the two of you, I know it" he reassured him with another comforting pat on the shoulder

Ash turned his attention from the crowd and looked up at Brock again "How do you know these things? What makes you so certain of it?"

"You have much to learn Ash…" Brock put his hand to his forehead in a dramatic pose and gently exhaled a sigh while shaking his head with disbelief. "Its simply because she's been friends with you since day one. You had only started your journey to become a pokemon master and you just happened to bump into her and you've been inseparable ever since. Its fate."

Ash went silent at Brocks explanation, "It's fate?" it was almost as if he knew too much. Brock turned to look at Ash who was now staring blankly into the crowd with his chin resting on his hand. Seeing what he just told Ash was making him think, Brock grinned and finished with "Let me put it this way, do you really think the only reason Misty spent all these years with you was so she could get her bike back? Even though she returned to Cerulean to help her sisters out, why do you think she visits you so much? Think about it."

"What are you trying to say?" he asked, now getting even more confused.

Brock was enjoying this. "You're still young and naïve, Ash. I'll give you time to figure this one out for yourself"

But now Ash's mind was focused on the battle. He tugged at Brock's sleeve. "Hey, those two girls Misty and Josh are up against, I think I saw them picking on her earlier." Ash's face hardened "I really hope Misty wins this"

Brock merely answered with "hmm" and kept concentrating on all the competitors sitting in the rows of seats opposite them who failed to reach the final, scanning the crowd for cute girls.

Misty cheered as her politoed crashed into her opponent's hitmontop with a tackle

Ash peeked out slowly from behind a tall man sitting in front of him and smiled down at her

"you can do it mist…"

"Argh, its so hard to see the battle clearly from up here!" Ash squinted "But there's no way I'm getting closer. Can you see anything, Brock?... Brock?!?"

He turned to Brock only to see him distracted by a nurse joy a few rows down who was keeping her eyes peeled for injuries she could take care of.

"Forget it" Ash grumbled.

"Xatu, finish off politoed with psychic!" shouted Rebecca

Rays shot from Xatu and penetrated deeply into Politoed, slowly weakening it and causing it to let out a weak croak before fainting.

"Come back politoed!" called Misty "You did great. Time for me to switch..."I'm counting on you, Starmie!"

Ash's fingers curled tightly around the sides of his chair.

Brock noticed Ash's concerned expression "Don't worry, Misty's an experienced trainer. She'll find a way out of this"

Josh pointed forward. "Jumpluff! use leech seed on Hitmontop"

Jumpluff fired into the air but Hitmontop evaded the attack

"Xatu, use fly on Jumpluff!" commanded Rebecca furiously.

Xatu swooped into the air and hurled itself downwards, giving Mistys team a powerful blow due to the type advantage. Jumpluff stumbled, leaving out a feeble cry before collapsing. Josh started to grit his teeth. "This is my last one... Go, Quilava!"

Quilava Bounced out and snarled furiously at his strong opponents. "Quilava, you're my last chance. If you can do this then I'll win this battle and I'll become famous!

Misty started to feel a strong resentment towards him "what does he mean, "I'll become famous?!?" Its almost as if I'm not even here"

But she had bigger things to stress over now, and she was determined to get through this, even if her partner did seem arrogant and hungry for glory.

"Starmie, use hydro pump on Xatu!"

Starmie began to spin rapidly, shooting forceful blasts of water at Xatu.

Rebecca let out a shriek as Xatu was hurled to the other side of the room hitting against the wall and collapsing to the floor. "Alright, return Xatu!"

Rebecca reached into her pocket to select her last choice and gave Misty a sly grin while doing so.

"I choose... Dragonite!"

Misty felt helpless as it emerged from the pokeball, towering over her. "there's no way I can beat that"

Josh was desperate to finish them off "Quilava! get Hitmontop with flame wheel" He wasn't going to risk his last pokemon on Dragonite and assumed Misty would take care of that for him.

Quilava breathed in deeply and exhaled a blast of fire. "Good! now close in on hitmontop using quick attack"

Karen reacted fast "Hitmontop! Use selfdestruct!"

And in a defensive move, Hitmontop exploded itself, catching Quilava in the blast.

Josh shielded his eyes because he couldn't bear to look at his last desperate attempt blow up right in his face. But after he heard a scream of anger break from Karen, he slowly opened them. Her Hitmontop was out cold and Quilava was still hanging in there. "keep it up, Quilava!" he ordered

Karen paused before deciding on her last pokemon. "Its all up to you now, Slowking!"

Misty groaned with exhaustion "They really know how to save the best for last, don't they?"