Rayquaza45: Hey there people. Chapter 4 is now available for you to read. I know I said I wanted 25 chapters last time but a good friend of mine told me it was unreasonable. So there is no review limit now. Ofcourse, I still want as many reviews as I can get. I want to always know what people think of my story. Now on to Chapter 4.

Chapter 4: Six Days Grace

With the 'Battle Spirits Tournament' coming up soon, Ash and the gang begin training harder than ever before in order to become the victor. The prize was unknown and would likely remain so until the winner was announced. This only made everyone more eager to find out what it was.

(Saturday – In the afternoon)

Ash himself was eating lunch alongside everyone else. As had become standard since yesterday, he stayed silent when Leaf was around.

"Hey, Ash?" Brock asked, just trying to get Ash to talk. "Wanna train together after lunch?"

Ash hardly even looked up from his cereal bowl. "Yeah….sure."

May seemed concerned. "Are you feeling alright, Ash?"

"Yeah. Why?" He asked, once again, not looking up from his bowl.

May shrugged. "No reason."

Soon after, everyone had finished and left their dishes in the sink for the helper pokemon to clean.

Ash and Brock went to the outside field and released their pokemon. Ash chose Glalie while Brock chose Marshtomp.

"Glalie! Use Ice Beam"

"Marshtomp! Use Protect!"

The sapphire colored beam of ice was perfectly aimed by Glalie but the green protection barrier put up by Marshtomp prevented the attack from doing any damaged. Marshtomp smiled and danced after blocking the attack, if only to anger Glalie. Glalie, angered by Marshtomp's discourteous behavior, head butted him without Ash having given the order to do so.

Ash seemed surprised that it had done that. "Glalie!"

Marshtomp was struggling to get back on its feet. Brock didn't want to intervene just and stayed back. Marshtomp finally managed to get up and used mud shot on Glalie. Glalie started shaking around, trying to get the mud out of its eyes, and rubbed its face into a tree in order to do so. Finally managing to clear itself, Glalie used Ice Beam once again. Marshtomp tried to use protect once again, but having already used it recently, it failed and the attack was successful.

Marshtomp was knocked out immediately and recalled by Brock.

"Thank you Marshtomp. Rest for now." Brock said.

"I'm sorry about Glalie, Brock." Ash said.

"Uhh…never mind that for now." Brock answered. "I'm gonna take Marshtomp to the pokemon centre."

"Alright." Ash said. "I'm gonna stay out here with Glalie a while longer."

Back on the inside, Brendan and Gary seemed to be getting along better than before. Both being related to famous personalities meant that they had a lot in common. The expectations of them seemed to be rather high since they'd been born. Having so much in common gave them a lot to talk about and they had similar personalities. They'd been on the couch, talking.

Brendan was trying to hold in his laughter. "So then I'm like: 'Maybe we should start drinking 'hard lemonade''!'"

Gary and Brendan broke out into hysterical laughter. Gary held it in long enough to talk. "Man!"

Brendan started to calm down. "I still can't believe he told me something so pointless."

Gary started calming down as well. "Well it won't be a problem for us as long as we have girlfriends."

In the attic of the house; Leaf, May and Dawn were rummaging around to see if there was anything interesting. The attic itself had a hot tub and various other things that paled in comparison.

"Hey, Leaf!" Dawn called out. "What's in this thing?"

Dawn showed her a large metal safe. It was locked tight and required a combination as well as a key to open.

"I dunno." Leaf answered. "I've never been able to open it."

"Have you thought about forcing it open?" May asked.

"Yeah. But I don't wanna damage whatever might be in it."

Dawn looked puzzled. "So just what is in it?"

Leaf looked like she was trying to hide something. "Ohh…nothing important. Okay then. I'm gonna go downstairs."

Leaf went down the stairs as fast as she could while Dawn and May stayed there in the attic.

"That's strange." Dawn said.

"She says she doesn't wanna damage what's in the safe and yet she says it's nothing important." May proclaimed.

"What do you think it is?"

"I dunno, but let's ask Brendan or Gary to find out."

(Sunday)

After May and Dawn discovered Leaf's safe, they gave it to Gary and Brendan to see if they could open it up and discover its contents. Brock returned from the pokemon centre with his Marshtomp fully healed from its aggressive battle with Ash's Glalie yesterday. Ash himself, on the other hand, had started training with Snorlax after finishing up with Glalie.

On the outside, Ash continued to train with Snorlax. He'd set up wooden targets with Brock's help for Snorlax to punch.

"Okay Snorlax, this is an accuracy improvement test.!" Ash yelled. "Use Mega Punch on the left target."

The super heavy pokemon bellowed. "SNOOORE!" The target was easily destroyed by the powerful hit.

Back on the inside, Brendan and Gary were playing poker on the kitchen table just as something unexpected happened.

Leaf, wearing a lime green bikini, May, wearing a pink bikini and finally, Dawn, wearing a sky blue bikini came up from the basement and walked right by Brendan and Gary. They knew of the effects they'd have on them. But they said nothing.

"Okay. Now I don't need any lemonade." Brendan said after they were out of his view.

Dawn and May went upstairs while Leaf did not. Instead, Leaf took the exit that lead to the outside training area. Upon opening up the door, she noticed Ash training.

"Hey! ASH!" She called out to him.

"Uhh...yeah." He said, turning around before knowing what Leaf was wearing. "WAAHGH!" He screamed as he nearly fell.

"We're going to use the hot tub!" She said. "Wanna join us?"

Ash started stammering. "Huh? What? Me? No it's alright, I'm good."

"Okay." She said while winking at him. She then went back into the house. "I guess that almost confirms it."

"Snorlax, return." Ash said sticking out the pokemon with took Snorlax back. "Go! Sceptile!"

Sceptile started looking around and finally fixated itself on Ash.

"Sceptile. Now its time to train for the tournament." Ash said. "Use your bullet seed on the leftover targets hanging down."

As Sceptile started attacking the targets, Ash turned around to see Gary and Brendan holding the safe that Dawn gave them.

"Guys?" Ash asked.

"Ash." Brendan started. "Take this thing." He said as he handed the safe to Ash.

Ash was puzzled. "What is this thing?"

"Dawn gave it to us yesterday but we couldn't open it." Gary told him. "Why don't you give it a try?"

Ash took the safe, placed it on a tree stump near the targets and walked back towards Gary and Brendan.

"Okay I'll….." Ash said before he was cut off by the sound of branches snapping.

Brendan started looking around. "What was that?"

Gary pointed to the left edge of the house which was covered by trees. "Over there."

As the three of them and Sceptile ran to the trees, they noticed Brock's Croagunk staring up into one of them, unable to climb it. Up in the very top of the tree was Brock, moving his head all over.

"Brock!" Brendan shouted. "What're you doing up there?"

Brock started looking down at the guys. "Ohh uhh hi guys. I was just looking for something…that I lost. Yeah."

"Why is Croagunk out of its pokeball if you weren't training?" Ash asked.

"He came out by himself." Brock explained.

"But he only comes out like that if…." Ash suddenly got a crazy look on his face. "The girls are in the hot tub in the attic!"

"Brock!" Brendan shouted.

Gary started climbing the tree. "Get down from there!"

Ash pointed at the branch that Brock was on. "Sceptile! Use Leaf Blade."

(Monday)

After all the craziness of the previous day; Ash, Gary, Brendan and Brock had decided to take the day off. Brock's antics had been kept a secret from the girls out of a fear of revenge as well as being kicked out of the house, though Brock claimed that he didn't see anything. After their hot tub usage yesterday, the girls decided to train their pokemon after Ash had finished.

Ash gave the safe back to Gary and Brendan, telling them that he'd help them open it up later.

The Brock, Ash and Gary were currently sitting on the couches, watching the TV. There was an entire channel created in order to promote the upcoming 'Battle Spirits Tournament'. The programs featured on the channel often involved trainers battling and trading. Occasionally, a noteworthy trainer would come forward and battle. Brendan, meanwhile, was in the kitchen squeezing a large bag of lemons, trying to make lemonade.

The most noteworthy to date was a battle between Dome Ace Tucker's Arcanine and a Milotic owned by the Hoenn champion, Wallace. Despite the type disadvantage, Arcanine put up a good fight but in the end, Wallace won the battle. This would later be a problem as he was soon chased around by dozens, if not hundreds, of fangirls screaming and wanting to be with him, even the security force as overwhelmed.

It was a huge relief when the gang heard on TV that no Frontier Brains or Elite Four members would be in the tournament. Considering the distance between Olivine and many other cities, gym leaders were unlikely to be participating as well, with the obvious exception of Brock. Soon afterwards, Brendan joined the guys on the couch.

Brendan hung his head back. "This tournament's gonna be insane."

"But one of us is so gonna win this." Ash proclaimed.

"Settle down." Gary said. "We've still gotta find out the official rules of this thing."

"Maybe I should go back to the Battle Tower and get a copy of the rulebook?" Brock suggested.

"Sounds like a plan." Brendan said.

"Pika!"

"Pikachu!" Ash said in a surprised voice. "I'd almost forgotten you were here. You've been so quiet."

Soon afterwards, Brock went to the Battle Tower. The girls soon joined the boys on the couches. Dawn and May sat next to Gary and Brendan of course, while Leaf decided to have more fun and sat next to Ash. He never did tell any of the other guys about Leaf in the bikini from the previous day, feeling that it was best that it stay a secret.

"What're you guys watching?" Leaf asked.

"It's the 'Battle Spirits Tournament' channel." Brendan explained. "There's supposed to be a special guest on the show soon."

"Who is it?" Dawn asked.

"They never mentioned who it was." Gary said. "Only that it was an elite trainer."

"Wallace and Tucker have already been there so it couldn't be them." Ash stated.

May looked around but it seemed the room was missing something. "Where's Brock?"

"He left to get a tournament rulebook" Brendan said.

"But I have one of those here." Leaf said.

The guys were all surprised. "WHAT?"

"I got it the day before I saw you guys. That was when I registered." She explained.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Gary asked.

She put on an 'isn't it obvious' look. "You never asked."

"I'm gonna go call Brock." Ash eagerly said, running to the phone and leaving Leaf on the two person couch alone.

(Tuesday)

Brock had already arrived at the Battle Tower by the time Ash called him. He decided not to waste the trip and picked up an extra copy of rulebook anyway. While there he tried hitting on the receptionist, which failed miserably as usual. Croagunk came out of its pokeball and used its poison jab on Brock as had become standard by this time. It even took the liberty of dragging him all the way back to Leaf's family vacation house. Though how it knew the directions was beyond anyone.

After calling, Ash didn't go back to the couch and instead went out to train even more. This time, he trained with Torterra. The fully evolved Sinnoh grass starter had no trouble with the extra wooden targets Ash had set up. Next up was Infernape, the fully evolved Sinnoh fire starter. Leaf's words to Ash were still ringing in his ears, he just couldn't get rid himself of them:

"But be careful with fire-types. If you burn this place down, I'll burn you down."

Ash took more care while training Infernape than he usually did. But in the end, Infernape's training was like Snorlax's. Good.

Eventually it became lunch time and he decided to go inside and make himself a sandwich. Inside, he saw Brendan and Gary.

"Hey, Ash." Brendan called to him across the room. "We've got extra pork. Hungry?"

Ash smiled. "Yeah. Always."

Brendan's sandwich was loaded with pork slices, sliced cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, a curiously large amount of tuna and was dripping in barbeque sauce. Gary's sandwich, on the other hand, was more basic only consisting of pork slices and cheese. Ash took a neutral approach and copied Gary's sandwich, only adding the barbeque sauce.

"Can I get you some lemonade?" Brendan asked in a mocking tone. He and Gary started snickering.

Ash had his usual clueless look on his face. "No thanks. I'm good."

At that moment, Brock entered the room.

"Hey guys." He said.

"Hey." They all replied.

Brock came up to the table and put his hand on it. "I was looking through the rulebook and I thought we should go over it."

"After lunch." Ash said.

After lunch, everyone sat on the couches in order to hear the rules. The arrangements were the same as the night Brendan and May told the gang their story, so naturally, Leaf sat with Ash and made him uncomfortable again.

"I'm just going to give you guys the basics of it all." Brock told them.

"Got it." May said.

"Okay." Brock started. "It seems that a really huge number of people signed up for the tournament. Therefore, we have to compete in a series of preliminaries before we can get to the actual fighting. The prelims are there to narrow down 32 trainers."

"How many people signed up for the tournament?" Dawn asked.

Instead of Brock, Leaf answered this. "256."

"Wow." May said. "So how is the battle segment going to go?"

"The top 16 trainers will compete in the actual tournament." Brock started once again. "32 trainers will be left after the preliminaries and it seems that the 16 trainers with the most notability will be put into the top 16."

"What do they mean by notability?" Ash asked.

Gary decided to answer this. "It means those trainers with the highest rankings in other tournaments and competitions."

"Battle Tower, Pokemon Contests, League Tournaments and all that stuff." Brendan said.

"Maybe even status." Leaf suggested.

"Could be." Brock said. "Anyway, the first battle of the top 16 is a double battle. The battles in the top 8 and the semi finals are three-on-three battles."

"And the finals?" Ash asked.

Brock's voice got slightly more serious. "A full six-on-six battle."

"Sounds intense." Dawn said.

"I wouldn't expect much less from a tournament getting this much notice." Brendan stated.

Gary then sat up. "The notability requirement must be a ploy for higher attendance."

"Alright then!" Ash got up and yelled. "I'm sure I meet the notability requirement. I won the Kanto Battle Frontier! But notability isn't gonna help me win! I'm gonna go train!"

Ash ran out of the room as fast as he could. He planned to train as much as he could.

Gary then got up. "I'm going too." He got up and followed Ash outside.

(Wednesday)

After discussing the rules yesterday, Ash and Gary went outside and trained for several hours. Torterra vs. Blastoise and a battle between Electivire vs. Infernape had taken up a lot of their training time. After they stopped to eat, Leaf had taken up the field for several more hours until it turned dark. That night, nothing happened.

On Wednesday morning, Ash was out in the field training. This time, it was Pikachu who was having no trouble against Ash's usual wooden target setup. Everything seemed okay, for now.

But the day was sure to reveal much.

On the inside of the cabin; Leaf, Dawn and May were watching the 'Battle Spirits Tournament' channel. It is said that the 'special guest' was to appear today in the afternoon. Brock, Brendan and Gary joined them on the couch later..

"Is the special guest here yet?" Gary asked.

"Almost." Leaf replied.

May started jumping up in her seat. "Here they are."

The TV host got into the middle of the screen, trying to address the audience.

"Okay, viewers." He said. "Meet our show's special guest."

The TV screen started showing an image of the Battle Tower's top roof opening up. A very small shadowy figure appeared in the distance and got closer to the screen as time passed.

At its closest, the pokemon was a Dragonite shown with its full body on screen. A pair of legs was present standing on the Dragonite's back. As the camera scrolled up, the rider could be identified as Lance; the Johto Elite Four Champion. As the Dragonite landed and Lance got off, the TV host went up to him and put the microphone in his face.

"Hello, Champion Lance!" He said in a super fast voice. "How does this tournament look to you?"

Lance swiped the microphone from the host's hand faster than he could react and proceeded to speak.

Meanwhile on the outside, Ash and the electric mouse were still training. Pikachu was tired but insisted on working harder.

"Okay Pikachu!" Ash said. "Use thunderbolt on the final target."

"CHUU." Pikachu started screaming as it launched its attack. The wooden target was decimated.

"Awesome job, Pikachu." Ash said as Pikachu came back to him. "You take a nice long rest now."

As Ash walked back towards the cabin, Gary came out.

"Hey, Ash!" He said. "Lance, the Johto Champion, is on TV."

Ash was totally caught off guard by this news. "What?"

The both ran back into the cabin, but by the time they managed to get there, it was over. Lance had already left.

"That was Lance, folks." The TV host said. "What a guy."

"No!" Ash said. "I missed it."

May got up and tried to comfort him. "He'd didn't say anything we didn't already know."

"We already knew he recently became the champion, right?" Dawn said, trying to convince Ash not to feel too bad.

"Fine."

Leaf, May, Brock and Dawn soon left the room while Brendan and Gary stayed.

"Did you get it opened?" Brendan asked.

Ash was confused. "Get what opened?"

Gary slapped himself in the forehead. "The safe we gave you!"

"Oh that." Ash remembered. "No. I don't have a key or anything."

"Well can you break it open?" Brendan suggested.

"With one of my pokemon?" Ash asked.

"Yeah."

"I'll do it tomorrow. I'm finished for the day."

"Good cause the girls and Brock already went outside to train."

(Thursday)

Forgetting what he told Gary and Brendan yesterday, Ash went outside to train first thing in the morning. Sceptile was his choice to train with once again. Rather than use wooden targets, Ash set up several empty aluminum cans in a row.

"Okay Sceptile." He said. "Try to use a single bullet seed on each can without missing."

"Sceptile!"

All cans were knocked down with a single bullet seed without one miss. While Ash congratulated Sceptile, Gary and Brendan came outside to talk to Ash.

Brendan looked mildly ticked off. "Hey. Ash!"

"Yeah?" He replied.

Gary was holding the metal safe in his hand. "I thought you said you'd help us open this thing."

"Oh yeah." Ash replied while stroking the back of his head. "Let's do it now."

Gary set the safe on a stump. Brendan, Ash and Gary all looked at the safe, each one trying to think of how to open it up.

"May said we can't damage it too badly." Brendan revealed.

Gary started inspecting it. "When we were moving it around, I didn't hear any noise. It must be pretty small and light."

Ash's face started to glow. "I've got it!"

"Got what?" Brendan asked.

"I'll have Sceptile use Leaf Blade on the very top of the safe to slice it open." He said.

Gary seemed surprised. "That might actually work."

"Let's do it." Ash yelled. "Sceptile! Use Leaf Blade!"

Sceptile's bladed arm began to glow as it approached the safe. It glided right by the safe, slicing the top of in the process. Gary, Brendan and Ash then went up to the stump and looked inside the safe.

"What is it?" Brendan asked.

Ash looked inside the safe, seeing a picture that was all too familiar to him. He decided to pick it up before Gary or Brendan could get a good look.

"Ash, what was that?" Gary asked.

"Nothing."

Brendan gave him a sarcastic look. "If it's nothing why does it exist?"

"It just does!" Ash yelled.

"Let us see it." Gary said in a serious tone.

"Leave me alone!" He screamed as he ran back inside. Sceptile and Pikachu were left on the field.

As Ash lay in bed, he set the picture on a table. Several minutes later, he heard a knock on his door.

He simply closed his eyes. "I said leave me alone."

"Ash, come on!"

"We weren't trying to hurt you, dude."

"Just let us in."

He suddenly gave up. He couldn't stay mad at them for wanting to know what was wrong with him.

"Alright come on in." He called out.

Brendan, Pikachu and Gary walked into the room. Sceptile could be seen out in the hall. Gary sat on the end of Ash's bed while Brendan sat in a chair placed up against a wall. Pikachu came up to Ash's head on the bed.

It looked unbearably sad. "Pika!"

"What was that thing you took out of the safe?" Brendan asked.

Ash had no emotion in his face. "Right to business, huh?"

"That's how I operate under these conditions."

Ash took the picture off of the table and passed it to Gary. Ash stayed where he was while Brendan got out of his chair to look at the picture. Pikachu went too. Brendan was surprised by it, but Gary had a more personal connection and remained calm.

It was a picture taken in Pallet Town when Ash, Gary and Leaf were all friends who played together on every possible occasion. In this picture they all appeared to be about eight years old and they were posing near a tree. Gary was noticeably sitting on a branch relatively high up while Leaf and Ash were standing together at the bottom of the tree. But rather than posing together, the picture showed Leaf kissing Ash on the cheek. Ash had a rather vacant expression on his face since he hadn't been expecting that. In the picture, Gary didn't seem to notice what was going on as he was staring right at the camera.

"I was right there!" Gary exclaimed. "How is it I didn't notice this?"

"You were too busy fixing your hair and trying to look cool." Ash joked.

Gary stayed silent as Brendan started smiling. "So that was your first kiss, Ash?"

"That's right." He replied.

Gary looked even more confused than ever. "So why didn't you want us to see that?"

"Well, get comfortable. This is a long story." He said.

"We're good." They both said at the same time.

"Suit yourself." He started. "So ever since I met Leaf since when we were 4 years old I'd had a crush on her. Some call it 'puppy love' but I digress. I was nervous just being in the same room as her as time went on."

"Seriously?"

"Then what?"

"Well..." He started again. "I didn't even remember the picture until we saw it today. I don't remember the basis of it or even who took it. I only ever remembered my first kiss and not even the circumstances surrounding it."

"You think she likes you?" Brendan asked.

Before Ash got a chance to answer, Gary interjected. "How can any guy know what a girl thinks?"

"Good point." Brendan admitted. "Uhh…sorry Ash. Why don't you go on?"

Ash started once again. "Even after we turned 10 and got our pokemon and went on our journeys, I still thought about Leaf on a regular basis. She was in my head all the time. I never approached another girl in my life with any kind of romantic intention since I couldn't stop thinking about her."

"For like four years?"

"That's intense."

"Yeah." He agreed. "Misty, May and Dawn are some of my best friends ever. But I've never thought of them as anything more. Or at least I've never come on to them even when I had the opportunity."

"You avoided relationships with other hot girls because you couldn't get over your childhood crush?" Brendan asked.

"Yeah." Ash replied.

Brendan just shrugged. "Well….I've never dealt with anything like that."

"Well anyway…." Ash continued. "When I saw her again for the first time in so many years everything just came rushing back in my head."

"But you didn't even recognize her till she took off her hat." Gary pointed out.

"Yeah I know. But she may very well have been wearing a full body disguise." Ash said. "The mind sticks to a first impression. I kept imagining her looking the same as she'd been all those years. When she took off the hat and I saw who she was, how different and mature she looked, I was shocked."

"So that why you've been so quiet lately." Gary realized.

"Yeah." Ash admitted. "She seems to know something about me thought. She seemed comfortable teasing me on Sunday."

"Teasing you….on Sunday?" Brendan was piecing everything together.

"In the lime green bikini?" Gary asked.

"Yeah." Ash said. "How did you know?"

"The girls walked right by us wearing them on Sunday while we were playing poker." Brendan explained.

"They used the hot tub that day." Gary pointed out. "Leaf must've come to you before going in."

"Yeah I remember the hot tub business." Ash said. "I'm sure Brock does too."

After brief laughter and several minutes of silence, Gary finally spoke up.

"I still have a few questions." Gary said. "Why didn't you want us to see the picture?"

"I just got embarrassed by it." Ash revealed. "I'm sure you can understand."

"Yeah." Gary answered. "But why haven't you ever mentioned Leaf to anyone. Misty? May? Dawn?"

"Same reason." Ash said. "Embarrassment and fear. Everyone has a few things they want to hide"

"That makes sense." Brendan said. "I know if anyone found….."

Ash, Pikachu and Gary started staring at him.

He got uncomfortable. "…..never mind."

"Whatever." Ash said. "If that's all, I think I'm gonna lay low here for a while."

Brendan nodded. "Alright, man."

"Tomorrow is the start of the tournament, Ash." Gary pointed out. "Let's do our best. Try to figure out this situation of you can."

"Okay well…" He started. "I guess we'll have to wait and see how everything unfolds."

"We won't tell anybody else about this." Gary promised. "Right, Brendan?"

"Right." He replied.

"Thanks guys." Ash said in a thankful tone. "I'm gonna call it quits for the day."

"Sure, dude." Brendan said.

Gary got off the bed. "We're here if you need anything."

"I know." Ash said. "Bye guys. And Thanks."

Brendan and Gary then left the room and Pikachu went back to Ash.

"Brendan, let's give them the safe back." Gary said. "We'll have to tell them that it was empty."

"I'd prefer not to lie to them but I guess it can't be helped." Brendan answered.

Outside, Brendan and Gary talked to Dawn and May while Leaf and Brock weren't around. The top of the safe that Sceptile had completely sliced off was welded back together.

"We didn't find anything in this." Brendan said, handing the safe back to May.

May was shocked. "Really? Nothing?"

"Yes." Gary said. "Nothing."

"That's alright." Dawn said. "Thanks for trying."

Dawn and May went back to train with Leaf while Gary and Brendan went back into the house.

"Think they know we lied?"

"Wouldn't put it past them."

Ash, laying on the bed and staring up at the ceiling, opened his mouth before any words came out.

"Tomorrow. The 'Battle Spirits Tournament' begins."

"Pika."

Rayquaza45: Okay people, so what did you think? Like it? I hope so. If you did, write a review and bug me about my story and how great you think I am for writing it. JK lol. If you didn't like it, write a review to tell me how I can improve. Till next time.