Rayquaza45: Hey there, readers! I hope you're ready to read another chapter and review it when you're done. I'm sorry it took a while to get this up, but if you want faster update, you need to review more. I know fans of Ash & Leaf have been waiting for this, so without further ado.
Chapter 13: Olivine City Oyster
After their discussion, Leaf walked away as Ash continued to train with his pokemon. Both of them were occupied with their thoughts about their upcoming date. Ash managed to keep his thoughts aside long enough for him to train with Pikachu, and Sceptile while his Heracross proved to be more difficult as it kept doing things to mention Ash's upcoming milestone.
Eventually, Leaf and soon after, Brendan, took the field for their own training. Ash never told anyone about his date, though Dawn and May seemed somewhat sly around him. Eventually, Leaf and then Brendan came back and ended the day.
The next day, Ash called Brendan and Gary to his room and began telling them the story.
"Seriously?" The future researcher asked. "You didn't ask her, she asked you?"
"Yeah, is that so hard to believe?" The raven haired trainer aggressively shouted. Was he implying that he was something less of a man for her to have asked him?
"Calm down, Gary." The trainer in the hat told him. "I was there when she and Ash were talking."
"What?" Ash shouted. "No you weren't, Brendan!"
"Oh yeah, I was just listening from afar." He said in a joking manner, despite telling the truth.
"Leaving that aside, why are you only telling us now?" Gary asked Ash directly.
"Because I don't know how to go on a date!" Ash told them in anguish.
Brendan was confused. "You went out on that first date with Leaf." He pointed out.
"Yeah well I didn't figure out what it was until half way through!" Ash reminded them. "But I agreed to it this time, I'll know what's going on right from the start."
"So you're afraid that she'll be calm but you'll be nervous and act weird?" Brendan asked.
"I guess." Ash shrugged.
"I get that." Gary smiled. "She's always been a lot smarter than him."
"Exac- hey!" Ash shouted.
"Calm down Ashy, you know she's smart." Gary reasoned.
"Don't call me Ashy!" He shouted.
"Alright, alright you two." Brendan said with his palms in the air. "Take it easy. Ash, why are you only telling us now?"
"I thought I could get over the nerves myself, but I couldn't." Ash explained. "And Brock's still sleeping."
"I say you should just keep your mind off it and keep reminding yourself how much you like her." Gary advised him.
"Yeah, focus on that…a lot." Brendan said in a tone that would make anyone's eyes widen.
"Don't even go that far." Ash said. "Brock's the only one who gets away with that kind of stuff."
"I guess I can understand that." Brendan said. "Now that he's out of his depression after all."
"I guess." Ash said.
"What're you talking about?" Gary wondered aloud.
"Remember when Brock was all depressed after the final preliminary round?" Brendan asked.
"Yeah." Gary answered. "What about it?"
"Turns out the local gym leader he was hitting on had a boyfriend." Brendan explained. "She said no to him and he came back all depressed and Ash got him out of it after his last date."
"How did he get him out of it though?"
"With the same story he told us back when we opened the safe."
"I never told Brock about my history with Leaf and for some reason or another, he never questioned it." Ash went on. "When I talking to him about Jasmine rejecting him since she was taken, I told him about Leaf, how we took that picture and everything that had happened till that point."
Gary was quite surprised. "And all of that made him come out of it?"
"No matter how bad you've got it, there's someone who's got it worse than you." Brendan stated.
"True enough." Gary admitted.
"Brock's pretty much promised not to get involved with this thing and I'm not even sure if Dawn and May know that he knows." Ash said. "But now, I've gotta get myself ready."
At precisely 12:00pm, Ash was outside the front door, getting ready to ring the doorbell and take Leaf on their date in true boyfriend-like fashion. But suddenly, as he was preparing himself, the door opened and there stood someone other than Leaf.
"Brock, what're you doing?" Ash asked.
"Just checking up on you." He responded. "Why are you wearing that?"
"What's wrong with it?" He asked, looking down at his clothes. He was wearing a blue hooded sweater with blue jeans and a red and black hat with a green pokeball symbol on it.
"They're the same clothes you wore in Hoenn." Brock pointed out. "It's not very romantic to go on a date like this."
"On the last date, I was in my Sinnoh region outfit." Ash pointed out. "I even tried to change but Leaf stopped me before I could."
"Well I guess if you think you know what she likes, I'll leave it to you." Brock decided.
"Thanks now leave me to my thoughts 'cause I'm nervous enough." Ash pleaded.
"Alright, then." Brock smiled. "Lemme go get your date." He laughed as he closed the door.
"Brock, wait don't do tha-" He stopped as the door shut. "Dang."
It took a few more minutes for Leaf to get herself ready. She'd spent a lot of her post-training time yesterday talking to May and Dawn about what she should wear. Ash struggled with his decision to leave Pikachu with Gary and Dawn for the day, since he knew he and Leaf may not get around as much as they like with him tagging along. The decision was a long and tough one to make and he needed to talk to everyone about it so they'd take care of him, everyone except Leaf, that is.
"Hi Ash." The trainer's date said as she came out of the house, ready to leave.
"Leaf…hi." He responded in a dazed way.
The brunette was dressed in a turquoise skirt, red sleeveless top and a brown hat. The look appeared to be an inverted image of what she normally wore if it had become much fancier, but what did Ash know about inversion?
"Are you ready?" She asked him as she held out her hand.
"Yeah." He told her as he took her hand. "I'm ready."
The Olivine City lighthouse was the destination. It was also known as the 'Glitter Lighthouse', supposedly because of the way the sun shines in through the roof at the very top during the peak noon hours. It's considered a beautiful sight and the lighthouse is one of Olivine City's landmarks, which makes it a major tourist attraction.
"This place is huge!" Leaf exclaimed as she and Ash walked through the front entrance, still holding hands.
"Yeah, it's been while since I was here." Ash told her. "I'd really forgotten."
The floor and walls were made of stone which had some visible cracks in it here and there. The bottom was round in shape and had a wooden staircase circling up to the next level. Pictures of various periods in the history of Olivine City were hung up on the walls, representing the time of founding to the present.
"There isn't much here, how about we go to the next floor?" Leaf suggested, lightly tugging on Ash's arm.
"Sure." Ash agreed.
The two teens ran up the stairs side-by-side almost as if in an adventure movie. When they arrived at the next floor, they saw numerous information desks spread all around the floor. People in tour guide uniforms were walking around distributing pamphlets while some others were at the desks, explaining the various statistics of the lighthouse such as its 189 foot stature.
"Hello there." A young lady dressed in the guide uniform approached Ash and Leaf. "Are you looking to tour the lighthouse?"
"No, we were just looking around." Leaf told the guide.
"Well feel free to take as much time as you need." She advised them. "We guides are here if you need anything."
"Thanks for letting us know." Ash said.
Information available on the Olivine City lighthouse stated that the monument was still functional. The light had a focal point at 165 feet above the water mark. It had endured a number of attacks such as natural tidal waves, heavy winds and a storm started by a gang of enraged Gyarados and later calmed down by some Wailord and Corsola
"This place is really interesting." Leaf commented.
"I had no idea you were intrigued by history." Ash tried to say in the coolest possible way, something Leaf took notice of.
"I didn't know that Ash Ketchum was such a flirt." She smiled.
"What?" Ash sarcastically asked. "Me? Flirting?"
"I knew it, Ash." She said as she walked up the stairs to the third floor.
"Leaf, come back!" The raven haired trainer shouted as he ran after her on the stairs.
The third floor of the lighthouse was an observation deck. They were about 85 feet above the ground now and binoculars were surrounding the windows. Ash looked over to see Leaf looking through a pair of binoculars as he slowly crept up behind her, intent on scaring her. He continued to tiptoe forward until…
"Don't even think about it, Ash." She said with her eyes still occupied by the binoculars.
"How'd you know I was coming?" He asked.
"I guess I just know you really w-WHOA." She shouted.
Ash immediately ran to her side. "What is it?"
"Articuno!" She told him.
"You can see an Articuno?" He asked her disbelievingly.
"Well something big and blue is flying around far out there." Leaf said. "I can't think of anything else that fits that description."
"How far away is it?" Ash asked.
"Really, really far." Leaf responded. "I can barely even see it."
"So how can you tell that it's really an Articuno?" Ash inquired.
"I like to be optimistic." She smiled as she finally got off the binoculars. "Go ahead, you try finding it."
Ash immediately had his eyes glued to the machine, looking every which way to identify the flyer which Leaf claimed to be a legendary pokemon. Though the sky was very sunny and the clouds were few, Ash could find no trace of the legendary freeze pokemon or of the snow that was said to be created when it flapped its wings. After a few more moments of looking, Ash gave up.
"Leaf, I really can't see anything." Ash complained.
"I guess you've missed it, no sweat." She laughed. "Legendary pokemon wouldn't be legends if everyone saw them."
"You don't even know the half of it." Ash satisfactorily thought.
"So I say we go to the next floor?" Leaf suggested.
"I guess I won't be the one controlling the pace here." Ash thought before giving his answer. "Yeah."
The fourth floor of the lighthouse was completely bare. A few pillars were present for support but nothing noteworthy seemed to be on this floor. That was, until a girl a few years older than Ash and Leaf came out from behind a pillar. She wore a small white blouse over a knee-length blue dress and a red ribbon on her chest. Her long brown hair went down to her back and had small orange clips in it.
"Leaf Green?" The girl asked as she saw Leaf and Ash.
"Jasmine!" Leaf immediately recognized the girl as the Olivine City gym leader.
"What are you doing here?" She asked. "You said you'd leave after winning the mineral badge."
"I stuck around for the Battle Spirits Tournament." Leaf informed her. "And…for one other reason."
Jasmine took the subtle indication to refer to Ash, the raven haired boy in the sweater.
"Hello Ash Ketchum." The gym leader greeted him. "It's been a while."
"Hey there, Jasmine." Ash responded. "You're right, it's been a while."
Suddenly, a man at least a year or two older than Jasmine came from around the pillar and drew the attention of the three. He had light blue hair and blue eyes. He wore black shoes and black pants with a black full-sleeved shirt with purple lines, cufflinks above his elbows, a red undershirt and white collar.
"Ash?" The man asked with a tone of familiarity.
"Steven!" Ash asked in a bout of surprise.
"I thought that was you, how've you been?" He asked.
"I've been…what are you doing here?"
"I come to Olivine City a number of times these days." The former Hoenn champion stated. "There are a large number of rare stone to collect and something even rarer." As he said the latter, he put his arm around Jasmine.
"I get it; Steven's the rock collecting boyfriend!" Ash realized. Jasmine turned down Brock's advances because she said that there was someone from Hoenn who came to Olivine to collect rocks, but nobody seemed to guess that the guy was the wealthy son of the Devon co. president as well as the former Hoenn region champion.
"Steven and I decided to visit the lighthouse today." Jasmine explained as she subtly turned to her boyfriend with glaring eyes. "But he seems more interested in checking out the foundations of the building."
"This lighthouse is a historical site the likes of which are not replicated anywhere in this world." Steven defended himself.
"Jasmine, can I talk to you?" Leaf asked.
Looking back and forth from Leaf to Steven, she nodded her head. "Sure."
"Leaf, I-" Ash started before he was cut off.
"Sorry Ash, girls only." Leaf said. She and Jasmine went to the second floor to make sure Ash and Steven couldn't hear them. Ash and Steven went up to the windows and stared outside at the sky for a while. Well, Ash did but Steven couldn't get his eyes off the rock formations in the distance.
"You know, Leaf said she saw Articuno through the binoculars downstairs." Ash mentioned.
"Would you like to know something Ash?" Hoenn's former champion asked.
"Sure!" The raven haired trainer eagerly responded.
"There were curiously large numbers of Altaria in the area earlier today." The blue haired trainer revealed. "But don't tell her."
"So…she was just imagining it?" Ash wondered.
"Most likely, she just wanted you to take an interest in her." Steven suggested.
"Take an interest?" He made it seem like Ash was being forced on the date. Surely he was mistaken, if Ash didn't really like Leaf, he wouldn't have gone on the date.
"Not necessarily just interest, but an initiative." He answered. "Tell me Ash, why her?"
"What do you mean?"
"I still remember the time we met back in the Granite cave, you traveled with that girl in the red bandana." Steven recalled. "What separates that girl from Leaf?"
"What separates May from Leaf?" Ash asked.
"Not just her, but any girl." Steven went on. "She has to be unique to you in order for you to really value her influence in your life."
"Well I've knew her back when we were kids and she was my first kiss." Ash told Steven.
"Well that's something right there!" Steven exclaimed. "You have a history which already involved romance."
"Well I wouldn't say-"
"Are you comfortable being romantic around her?" Steven asked, cutting Ash off.
"Am I comfortable being romantic around her?" Ash repeated. "Well, I mean, I've never really been interested in romance before I met her again…and I'm not exactly smooth and confident about it."
"I see." Steven acknowledged. "You know Ash, there's a saying in the Hoenn region."
"A saying?" Ash asked.
"So long as you possess courage, the world shall be your oyster." Steven recited.
"What does it mean?" Ash asked.
"It means that as long as you have courage and believe in yourself, there's nothing you can't do." Steven explained. "If you want something, you have to go for it."
"So if I was interested in Leaf…"
"Don't deny it Ash, you like her and she likes you." Steven laughed. "Right?"
There were several moments of silence before Ash decided to answer. He'd just met Steven for the first time in two years and he was already giving him advice on his love life. If he'd wanted corny advice, he'd listen to Brock. But the strange thing was, Stevens's advice wasn't corny, it made a lot of sense, something which made Ash wonder.
"Steven?" Ash asked. "How come you take this kind of interest in other people's affairs?"
"Well let's just say if someone had tried to help me like this, I'd have had an easier time when I was your age." Steven explained.
"So you had a lot of problems?" Ash tactlessly asked.
"I guess you can say that." Steven submitted. "As the son of the Devon corp. president, you can imagine the wealth I grew accustomed to. Girls were easily submissive because of it and I couldn't bring myself to use money to my advantage."
"I think that just proves you're a decent person." Ash said to the former champion.
"Thanks Ash but it doesn't quite end there." Steven revealed. "I decided to completely shrug off communication with the opposite gender until I could find a way to get over myself. I now greatly regret that decision."
"So Steven, why Jasmine of all girls?" Ash asked in the same tone Steven had earlier used on Ash.
"Because she doesn't care about my money." Steven told him. "After we met and I felt like I could trust her, if only a little, I've tried every trick in the book to spend money but she always finds a way to limit my spending."
"She really manages to outsmart you?" Ash asked, not realizing the deeper issue.
"That's not the point!" Steven furiously blushed.
"But it is a point?" Ash snickered.
"Do you want me to continue or not?" Steven furiously asked.
"Yes, I'm sorry, continue." Ash said.
"Well she genuinely doesn't care about my money or any aspect of my life surrounding it." Steven explained.
"Seems too good to be true." Ash thought.
"She knew a lot about me before I even arrived in Johto and we're both steel-type trainers." Steven went on.
"Compatibility?" Ash asked. Of course it had to be. She wasn't too good to be true; she was exactly the good he deserved.
"That's right." Steven said. "And I gather that you can admit to her being good looking."
"Well…I…"
"No need to answer, your silence speaks louder than yours words." Steven laughed.
Ash gave Steven an 'are you serious' look before turning back to the window. He and the former champion of the Hoenn region were silent for a few more minutes until their significant others returned. Leaf stood next to Jasmine as they came off the stairs.
"Hello boys, weren't discussing us were you?" Jasmine taunted them, but Steven more directly.
"You know me better than that." Steven told the brown haired gym leader.
"Ash, ready to go upstairs?" Leaf asked.
"You mean were…"
"We've got a lot more to see and do here." Leaf told him. "Steven and Jasmine have some other business to take care of, right."
"What?" Steven asked.
"Yes Leaf, we do." Jasmine said. "Hope you and Ash enjoy yourselves."
"Oh we will, I know it." Leaf laugh, grabbing Ash's arm and running up the stairs to the fourth floor.
"B-bye Steven, Jasmine.' Ash waved goodbye as Leaf took hold of him and they ran upstairs. Both steel-type trainers waved goodbye to the two young trainers as Jasmine forced Steven to go down the stairs with her following later on.
The fifth floor of the lighthouse was quite spacious. There were very few pillars like the third floor had and there were large numbers of trainers roughly the same age as Ash and Leaf hanging around. One such trainer's eye caught Ash as he entered.
"Hello there, Ash." The trainer said as he approached.
"…Who are you?" Ash asked, causing the trainer to sweatdrop in comical fashion.
"What the…k…you don't…remember me…" The trainer stuttered.
"Now, I'm sorry, I don't." Ash stated.
"I'm Landon, the guy you teamed up with in the preliminaries!" The boy told him furiously.
"Oh yeah, I remember now!" Ash slowly came to realize.
"How'd you forget me!" He shouted.
"Come on, a lot's happened since then." Ash reasoned. "How've you been?"
"Well after I lost in the second preliminary round, I've been here training." Landon explained. "And I've been watching you on the TV broadcast, you've been doing great!"
"You well, you know…" Ash laughed as he kept his hand behind his head.
"Ahem." Leaf pretended to cough as it looked more and more like Ash was ignoring her.
"Oh…uhh…yeah, Landon, this is Leaf." Ash told his former partner.
Without even hesitating, Landon took Leafs hand and started shaking it like a fanboy. Leaf looked on with a very confused look as Ash developed a growing touch of jealousy.
"Hello Miss Green!" Landon said in the utmost polite tone. "I'm sorry for not recognizing you! I need to say, I think you'll be the one to wins the Battle Spirits Tournament!"
"What was that?" Ash asked.
"You have exactly what it takes to win it all." Landon continued. "I'm sure you defeat Gary Oak and then Ash or Brendan whom so ever comes next!"
"Oh wow, I've never heard compliments like that." Leaf blushed.
"I've never heard crap like that before." Ash thought.
"Well I mean it!" Landon said. "I'll be rooting for you all the way!"
"Landon!" Ash shouted.
"Oh come on Ash." Landon said lazily. "Don't be so uptight."
"I'm not being uptight, she's with…"
"You?" Landon asked. Ash didn't respond, but he kept staring into Landon's eyes, hoping he'd get the message.
"Landon." Leaf said softly.
"You guys…I'm really sorry." He said. "I didn't know."
"Well you do now." Ash told him.
"I'll see you guys later." Landon said as he walked away.
"Ash, come on." Leaf whispered to her date. "You've already partnered with him before."
"Hey, Landon!" Ash shouted after his former partner.
"Yes?" The trainer asked as he came back to their side immediately.
"So…you know this lighthouse pretty well?" Ash asked.
"Oh, you bet I do!" Landon exclaimed. "Want me to show you around?"
"If you can show us the sixth floor, that'd be good." Leaf told him.
"I'll do that!" Landon said. "And I'll show you how great it is up there!"
Ash's former partner immediately signaled the two trainers as he ran up the stairs to the fifth floor. Ash and Leaf followed quickly after and arrived as well. Landon was holding out his right hand in a tour guide-like manner to show them what lied ahead. The sixth floor was a small room with an Ampharos in the centre, hooked up to a strange device that was producing light.
"Is that Jasmine's Ampharos?" Leaf asked.
"That's right." Landon said. "It's the pokemon that produces the light that comes from the lighthouse at night, so as you cam imagine, it's quite powerful."
"So what does it do when it's not nighttime?" Ash asked.
"Generally, Jasmine takes care of it and visits it every day." Landon explained. "Today, she and a man with blue hair came to see it."
"That'd be Steven, no doubt." Ash thought.
"So other than that, there's really not much on this floor?" Leaf asked. "Is there?"
"Truthfully, no." Landon answered.
"So the-" Ash started before he was cut off.
And how can the world want me to change,
They're the ones that stay the same.
They can't see me;
But I'm still here.
"Hello, it's Landon." Ash's former partner said as he answered his cell phone. "Seriously? Gotcha!"
"What's the problem?" Leaf asked.
"I gotta go take care of something or another, I'm really sorry guys but I gotta go." Landon revealed.
"Hey don't be sorry, it was great seeing you again." Ash said.
"You two Ash, good luck in the semi-finals, both of you." Landon said as he ran off.
"See ya!" Ash said as he waved goodbye as his former partner ran down the stairs.
"Ash?" Leaf asked after Landon was gone and the two of them were alone on the floor with only Ampharos around.
"Yes Leaf?"
"You know the next battles are gonna be the most important yet." Leaf said.
"I know." Ash said. "At this point either you, me, Brendan or Gary will end up being the winner."
"You're right." Leaf said. "At this point, audiences get crazier and we all get more tense."
"I guess we just deal with it as it comes." Ash suggested.
"Ash, I wanna tell you something."
"…Yes?"
"I want you to meet me…" Leaf started. "Meet me in the finals."
Meet in the finals. Will he manage that? Can he guarantee her that he'll defeat Brendan in the semi finals? Is she so sure that she can defeat Gary?
"I…I'll see you there, Leaf." Ash told her. "And we won't hold back, will we."
"No, we won't." Leaf assured him as she held her palm out, face down. "Shall we go home?"
"Let's." Ash said as he gently took her hand and they walked down the stairs.
Ash and Leaf proceeded back to the vacation house together, still holding hands all the way back. They took the front entrance to prevent anyone training in the back from seeing them. Both of them got to the front step and opened the door into the house.
"Hello, you two." A voice called out as soon as they entered the door.
"What?" Leaf asked as she twisted her head in every direction looking for the source of the sound.
"It's just me." Dawn said as she revealed herself to have been hiding around the corner.
"Why are you waiting in ambush?" Ash asked.
"Don't think of it like that." Dawn laughed. "Think of it like…anticip-YOU'RE HOLDING HANDS!"
They were. Leaf looked at Ash and then back at Dawn. Ash looked at Leaf and back at Dawn too. The both of them shrugged at Dawn simultaneously, doing their best to keep their cool and avoid blushing.
"Oh!" Dawn squealed as she ran up the stairs, presumably to gossip to someone else.
Ash and Leaf noticed that they were alone on the inside now that Dawn had gone upstairs. They both went to the kitchen to see the outside training ground. Brendan's Swampert was in a training battle against Gary's Scizor and Brock was the acting referee.
"Ash, wanna check out the attic?" Leaf asked.
"The attic?" Ash wondered. "What's in there?"
"It's where I usually hang out and talk to Dawn and May." Leaf revealed. "There's a lot of cool stuff up there."
"I…guess." Ash submitted.
As Ash and Leaf walked up to the attic, Ash remembered something; the safe in which the picture of Leaf kissing him had come from the attic. If that was up there, he'd likely have to deal with it. And if that was that, what else from their past was?
The attic was only accessible by pulling on a rope to bring down a staircase which would allow you to walk into the attic. Ash found the rope and was able to bring down the staircase with surprisingly little effort. He and Leaf walked up and noticed two figures in the corner.
"Hello lovebirds." One voice said.
"What were you planning to do up here?" Another asked.
"Expose you!" Leaf asserted, pulling on a chain with turned on a very bright light in the centre of the attic. The light eliminated the darkness and exposed the two figures as May and Dawn sitting on a safe, the exact safe where the picture was kept.
"Oh, you're no fun." May complained.
"What do you think you're doing here?" Leaf asked. "Least of all with the entrance blocked."
"You said we could come here if we wanted." Dawn said. "And you know that the stairs can be opened from up here."
"Not if someone locks them from the bottom."
"You're joking."
"Try me." Leaf smiled, making Dawn and May realize the predicament they could've been in. Both girls stood up, Dawn turned to Ash and Leaf as May picked up the safe they were sitting on. Ash started sweating uncontrollably.
"We all know what's in here, right?" May asked, holding up the safe.
"Yeah." Leaf said, eliciting a nod from Ash and Dawn.
"We wanna hear the story." May told her.
"Of that picture?" Leaf asked.
"Please Leaf."
"Ash."
Leaf looked over at Ash for a minute before answering May. She knew that Ash wouldn't have remembered the circumstances surrounding the kiss but she did. Ash looked at her, curtly nodding to give her his approval.
"May…Dawn." Leaf started. "Get comfortable."
(Pallet Town, Kanto Region)
(Roughly Six Years Ago)
On top of an average sized tree, a brown haired boy roughly eight years old was doing his best to balance one of the branches near the top. He was wearing black sweatpants and a blue shirt with a small green medallion hung around his neck.
"Hey Leaf, you gotta check this out!" The young boy shouted to a girl below.
Down below the tree, there was a girl roughly the same age as the boy. She had brown hair which was slightly lighter than the boys. She wore a black dress and brown shoes.
"Wow Gary, you're so high!" The girl exclaimed.
"Garyyyy! Leaf!" A voice called out from the distance.
From out of nowhere, a young boy with raven hair appeared behind Leaf. He was wearing blue pants and a yellow shirt. He had brown eyes and was acting quite hyper.
"Hi Leaf!" He greeted as he arrived.
"Hi Ash, how are you?" Leaf asked.
"I'm fine!" He responded. "You guys are never gonna believe what I saw!"
"You're right, Ash, so don't bother telling us!" Gary shouted from the tree.
"What was that!" Ash furiously shouted.
"Oh Ash, come on, don't get so worked up." Leaf advised him, trying her best to avoid a confrontation.
"Let him, he could use the motivation!" Gary taunted him.
"You get down here!" Ash shouted at Gary as he began climbing the tree.
"Ash, come on!" Leaf shouted. "You've never climbed a tree in your life!"
"Yeah, well I'm doing it now!" He shouted back. "I'm gonna look so cool."
"Get down before you hurt yourself!" Leaf pleaded.
"Oh, let him learn the hard way." Gary laughed, sitting comfortable on the branch with his legs dangling.
"Gary!" Leaf shouted.
"Hmp…hrgh…dang…uhh." Ash continued to grunt as he climbed the tree.
"Ash, give up, you can't get this high without practicing!" Gary told him.
"I can and I will!" He stubbornly shouted.
"Ash, watch out for that broken branch there!" Leaf warned him.
But it was too late, Ash stepped on the semi-broken branch without realizing it and it snapped instantly under his weight. Ash struggled to keep his hold on the other branches but he was unable to do so and ended up letting go of them, falling backwards with his arms in the air.
"Waaaarghhh!" Ash screamed as he fell back to the ground.
"Ash!" Gary worriedly shouted.
"No!" Leaf shouted.
A small 'thud' was heard as Ash hit the ground with his back. Gary immediately began climbing down as Leaf rushed to the fallen boy's side.
"Ash, are you alright?" Leaf asked as she knelt down next to him.
"Aaargh!" Ash shouted as he began trying to get up.
"Don't get up." Gary advised him, having come down from the tree.
"Man!" Ash whined, still lying on the ground.
"Lemme go get your mother, Ash." Gary suggested.
"Do it." Leaf told him.
"But...what...no." Ash stuttered as he tried to stop Gary. But it was too late as the tree climber had already gone.
What was his mother going to do when she found out Ash had tried to climb the tree? She was sure to be mad.
"Ash, why'd you climb the tree?" Leaf asked him as they were now alone.
"I just wanted to beat Gary?" Ash told her.
"At what?" Leaf asked. "Being stupid? Because I don't think either of you can ever beat the other."
"Hey!" Ash shouted.
"Sorry, sorry." She laughed. Her laugh was the most beautiful sound Ash had heard in his life. For a long time; Gary, he and Leaf had been friends. They'd gone to movies together, spent their afternoons and most available moments with one or the other.
"It's alright." Ash said softly, still staring into the sky from the ground.
"What's your mom gonna say when she finds out?" Leaf asked.
"She'll be upset." Ash said. "Maybe she'll lecture me about being responsible."
"How boring." Leaf joked.
"Yeah…"
It was a few more minutes before Ash's mother managed to show up. Ash and Leaf kept talking for a while longer. Ash's jokes kept both of them laughing and passed the time until Ash's mother AND Professor Oak showed up.
"Ash, what happened?" His mother, Delia Ketchum, shrieked.
"Well…" Ash started before her managed to…get up! "It was just some tree climbing."
"Now hold on." Professor Oak said, stroking his chin. "I thought you hurt your back."
"Oh well…" Ash laughed, stroking the back of his head. "I guess it's good now."
"How careless." Delia said. "Ash you could've been hurt."
"I'm sorry mom." Ash told her.
"Well… I guess as long as you're alright." She reasoned.
"Alright kids, I'd like you to go to the tree and strike a pose." Professor Oak said.
"Oh professor, not again!" Delia whined.
"What is it?" Leaf asked.
"The professor has been documenting everything these days." Delia explained. "He's taking pictures and making copies."
"Alright now, everyone go to the tree." Professor Oak pleaded.
Gary managed to get to the top branch of the tree before anyone else had noticed. Not wanting to waste time, Professor Oak allowed him to stay up there since it'd also give him an interesting angle to take the picture. Leaf stood on Ash's left ad Ash stood on the ground, beneath Gary in the tree.
"Alright now…three…two…one…cheese!" Professor Oak called out.
At the exact second that the professor said 'cheese', Leaf turned her head towards Ash and planted one on his left cheek. Ash suddenly got a very blank look on his face; he clearly hadn't been expecting that. Delia saw the ordeal but managed to keep her mouth shut for once and decided not to embarrass Ash.
"Well then…" Professor Oak said, somewhat stunned by the display. "Thank you all."
(Leaf's Vacation House, Johto)
(Present Day)
"Oh wow, that's the most romantic story I've ever heard!" Dawn squealed. "Affections touching through time."
"Really?" Leaf asked with a touch of sarcasm.
"It'd make a decent name for a movie." Ash thought.
"If that was how it ended, how did Leaf get the picture?" May asked.
"Professor Oak had quite a few copies; he doesn't mind giving extras out." Leaf explained.
"So Ash managed to get up without even realizing that he'd hurt his back?" Everything was coming together for Dawn. "The power of love!"
"Power of love?" Leaf sarcastically repeated.
"I never did remember who took that picture, or even that my mom was there." Ash realized.
"Didn't your mom ever do anything to embarrass you about it?" Dawn asked.
"…No, not that I remember." Ash said.
"So…that's the story?" May asked.
"That's how it happened." Leaf proudly said, putting her palm on Ash shoulder.
"Yeah…that's how it was…I guess." Ash submitted.
There were a few minutes of silence before Dawn and May made their move.
"We're leaving." Dawn told them.
"Yeah, we kinda wanna go check out Gary and Brendan's training." May explained. "Ash, you should probably get to training too."
"Thanks." Ash sarcastically said. "I'll do that."
"Take it easy!" Dawn waved, stepping on the staircase and opening it to the bottom, allowing her and May to walk out of the attic.
"She's right Ash." Leaf reminded him. "You and I should both get to training."
"You wanna train together?" Ash asked.
"No." Leaf said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I just think we need to train, but if we see each others styles too much, we won't have as good a fight as we'd like in the finals."
"Yeah, the finals." Ash realized.
"Remember Ash, we will meet." Leaf told him.
"…Yeah." He agreed.
"Alright then." Leaf said as she stepped on the staircase, causing it to open up to let her out.
While both she and Ash left the attic, Leaf went to her room while Ash went to the outside training area. Ash noticed Brendan's Swampert still going at it with Gary's Scizor and Brock continuing to referee, though May and Dawn were not with them. Ash immediately went outside to talk to Gary.
He'd made the decision to leave Pikachu with him and Dawn, but Dawn didn't have Pikachu with her and so Gary must've.
"Gary!" Ash called out as he came out.
"Yo! Ash!" Gary shouted back as his Scizor landed a steel wing on Brendan's Swampert.
"Where's Pikachu?" Ash asked from afar.
"He's in the chair!" Gary told him.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ash noticed a chair which had two yellow and black ears sticking out from the top. Ash slowly approached the chair, careful not to make any noise. As he approached the chair, he held his arms out and prepared to make the swipe. As he got closer and closer, he saw Pikachu's full form from behind and, after getting a little closer, he made the grab from behind!
"Pikachu, it's me!" Ash said as he waved his buddy around in the air like father waving his child.
"PikaPi!" The electric rodent called out, smiling as it flew through the air safely in Ash's arms.
"When these guys are done, we're gonna get some training done buddy." Ash told Pikachu. "You can be sure!"
"Pikachu!" The electric rodent gleefully shouted.
"Scizor, return!" "Swampert, return!" The two trainers called out as Ash continued to talk to Pikachu.
"Are you guys done?" Ash asked.
"Yup, at least for today." Brendan said.
"We're gonna go to the pokemon centre and have them healed quickly." Gary explained. "The field is all yours, Ashy."
"I told you not to call me Ashy!" Ash shouted.
"PikaPi!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Gary shrugged. "See ya later."
With that, Gary and Brendan took off for the pokemon centre. With Leaf presumably with May and Dawn, Brock was the only one available for discussion. Of course, considering who Ash met on his date, Brock may be the ideal person to talk to.
"Hey there, Ash." Brock said, having come over.
"Hi Brock."
"So?"
"So what?" Ash asked.
"So how was the date?" Brock asked, his face nearing Ash's personal space and his back bent over.
"It was…fine." Ash told him. Of course, knowing Brock, he couldn't go into details about them holding hands and since nothing really noteworthy happened, he couldn't say much.
"So how was the lip gloss?" Brock jokingly asked.
"She doesn't wear any!" Ash told him.
"So you know that for a fact?"
"I have eyes, don't I?"
"True enough." Brock submitted, figuring that if Ash had actually kissed her, he'd have lipstick on his face too. "So what happened, exactly?"
"PiPikachu! The electric rodent on Ash's shoulder shouted.
"Nothing much, but I met up with my partner from the preliminaries." Ash told him.
"Right, uhh…Landon was it?" Brock remembered. "How is he?"
"Well…he's fine." Ash said. "But…uhh…what happened here while we were gone?"
"I'm getting the feeling he doesn't wanna talk." Brock thought about Ash before answering. "Not much, Brendan and Gary just trained."
"Well I gue-"
"Oh wait." Brock cut him off. "I was watching TV; it said Steven Stone, the former Hoenn region champion, is in Olivine City."
Of course he was. His girlfriend was the city's gym leader, after all. But he'd apparently been coming to the city before, so why was this visit mentioned on TV?
"Do you think he's gonna show up in the Battle Spirits Tournament?" Brock asked. "Hoenn's former champion and their current champion, Wallace! What a show!"
"Well…it's possible." Ash answered. He'd never exactly asked Steven anything about the tournament; he assumed that Steven didn't even know he and Leaf were participating, let alone that they were both in the semi finals.
"Well I guess we'll have to wait and see." Brock reasoned.
"Probably."
"Pika-chu."
While Brock soon went inside, Ash called out Heracross and Sceptile to begin his training. Setting up his previously made wooden targets on trees once again, Ash decided to focus on Sceptile's accuracy first.
"Alright Sceptile, this time, we're working on leaf storm!" Ash told it. "Fire at the middle target on my count."
"Sceptile!" The forest pokemon said as it assumed a fighting stance.
"3…2…1…fire!" Ash shouted. "Let's see if it can stick to the one target only." He thought.
"Tile!" The final form of the grass-type starter from Hoenn shouted as the seeds on its back started to glow light green, and it released a cyclone of wind and glowing light green leaves from the seeds towards the hanging target. The wooden target was completely shredded by the powerful attack.
"Awesome!" Ash cheered. "You did it perfectly!"
Ash did the same with Pikachu's thunderbolt and Heracross's megahorn attacks. As expected, the destroyed the targets they were assigned to and not a single other thing in the trees. The training continued for a while longer until Leaf showed up there with May. They both knew that Ash had been there for a while but now Leaf needed to have the facility for her own training.
"Yeah, no problem." Ash said.
"Thanks Ash." May said on Leaf's behalf for some reason. "Everyone needs their own training time."
"Pika!" The electric rodent shouted.
"Good luck, Leaf." Ash said as he turned his back and left.
Back on the inside, Ash began going up the stairs until he heard a door open up. Quickly turning his head, he saw Leaf approaching him. As he saw the beautiful girl approaching him, he started staring at her, still wearing the same clothes from their date; he continued to stand there, not moving a muscle.
"Ash." He called out from a few feet away. "Good luck tomorrow against Brendan."
"Thanks Leaf." Ash said. "Good luck to you too tomorrow."
Nothing else immediately happened so Ash began to turn and almost began going up the stairs. But before he did, Leaf quickly approached him and did something he hadn't expected. With his arms at his side, he stood there, unprepared.
She kissed him full on the mouth.
He'd never expected that. They hadn't kissed on their first date, but who did? Their second date had ended when they got back to the house, right? Both their eyes were closed so they couldn't see the others facial expression. It was Ash's first kiss in this manner and he'd never even considered what he was supposed to do.
He started getting nervous. It had actually been a while since it began but not so long that Ash was getting hurt. He didn't even know exactly how much time had passed since it began.
He nerves were being channeled all throughout his body. His feet began shaking. His knees were getting weak. His stomach was rumbling, but this could've just been his hunger. Why didn't they get anything to eat!
His left arm was bearing the brunt of the nerves. It began shaking little by little. Eventually, almost through no fault of Ash's own, it started moving upwards. In a 'cupped' formation, his left arm was moving from his side inch by inch up. Eventually, it started moving past some very thin material and began feeling something soft, something that was most definitely not an arm.
"Oh…Ash!" Leaf softly said as she deepened the kiss.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Ash pleaded as he broke the kiss, having realized that his arm was grazing her thigh, and going somewhere else fast. "I got nervous, I'm sorry!"
"What…what?" Leaf asked, honestly not disapproving of what had been happening.
"No...I didn't mean…I…it was an accident!" Ash told her.
"Ash…it's o-"
"I'm sorry!" Ash cut her off. He immediately tried to run up the stairs but before he could, Leaf grabbed his arm and brought him back down next to her. But before Ash realized what to do, something even more unexpected happened than the first kiss.
She kissed him once more.
But this kiss on the lips was a lot shorter. Ash was still in shock from what he'd done to her and for this to happen again, was unbelievable. As soon as it began, it ended.
"Leaf."
"Don't worry about it…" She started. "…boyfriend."
"Boy…friend?"
"Goodbye!" She said as she headed back outside, turning her head and using her heart-melting smile on Ash as he looked on.
"Pi-Ka!" Pikachu exclaimed.
"Does this mean what I think it means?" Ash asked his buddy.
"Pika!"
"I guess." He concluded.
"Pika Pikachu." The electric rodent believed.
"I have a girlfriend." He thought to himself as he ran up the stairs, jumping his own height as he reached the top with Pikachu at his side.
"So buddy." Ash said to his friend. "I guess now I have two reasons to fight tomorrow."
"Pika?" Pikachu asked him.
"I need to get ahead in the tournament." Ash told it. "And I'm gonna have someone to impress in the audience."
"PikaPi!"
Out of nowhere, Ash heard a noise from the outside, a heavy female shriek. Somehow knowing who it was and why they did it, Ash realized he'd done possibly the most mature thing he'd ever done. He recalled the words of the former Hoenn champion, realizing he was right, he needed to take initiative and have courage.
"So long as you possess courage..." Ash recited. "...the world shall be your oyster."
Rayquaza45: Alright so what did you think? Spicy enough for you? I hope so cause I really want you guys to enjoy this story. So make me happy and increase my confidence in my writing ability; review the chapter now that it is over. The more reviews I get, the faster the next chapter gets here.
Next time: Chapter 14: Hats Off!
The semi finals begin with Ash's battle against Brendan. Who will come out victorious and get through to the finals? What will their girlfriends do?
Till next time!