Hello again everyone! Here's Ch. 20 of Champions. Sorry it took so long to get it up but I was really busy on Thursday and Friday and, of course, X and Y released. AND OH MY GOD ITS BEAUTIFUL AND AWESOME AND EVERYTHING AND MORE THAN I WANTED! So I played that A LOT yesterday. I was spot on with my guess of Shauna (hell yea) and since I'm playing as the male character, my name is Court and I'm thinking that I like Shauna and Calem (it's suggested in the game a bit if you are playing as Calem, at the palace with the fireworks, that's a I'll say cause I don't want to spoil anything and I might be already O.o don't kill me!), so I guess that's a thing. Anyways, I haven't started on 22 yet but 21 is done and I like it. So get X and Y cause it is fucking amazing. If you liked the story, drop it a follow and a favorite and a review if you want. A word of warning, don't expect a lot of updates cause I will be playing Y when I would usually write, so don't kill me!

Thanks a ton for reading,

Court

Chapter 20

Jealousy and a Meeting of Chance

The wind blew through the trees, rustling them as the first round of guests arrived at the Sinnoh League Champion's Villa. The weather had turned from the balmy summer sun to the chill of autumn. The gym leaders from the entire region were arriving at dawn, the sun shining behind them. The group of friends and champions stood at the door, greeting the new arrivals. For the first time, Dawn stood at the front while Ash and May stood next to her, slightly buzzed already. The blunette sighed inwardly with relief. It was the final party out of the five. Ash had hosted the first three, the first three weeks after the interview. Apart from a number of gym leaders, elite four members, and other guests getting completely wasted, they had been rather uneventful. The next party, the Hoenn party, certainly was a change of pace.

May had thrown a massive reception, inviting everyone who was someone, the people from Hoenn being honored guests. For the first half of the dance, the champions all had to mingle with the other guests and dance with them. To only make matters worse, Kenny was there, pestering Dawn about the Judge's ticket. As she made excuses and tried to get away from her childhood friend, Ash had a similar problem with another old friend. Angie had grown her hair out since they last saw her five years ago in Solaceon Town. She had taken to battling after the week at the Trainers' School that she, Ash, Brock and Dawn had attended together. She too was pestering Ash about the special ticket that he had yet to give out. When he shook her off of that subject, she asked him if he was going with anyone to the upcoming Wallace Cup. Before thinking out the possible consequences, he began to speak.

"Yeah, I'm going with D-"

May suddenly ran up out of nowhere.

"Ash! We have to make a stage appearance! NOW!"

The sweating boy let out a grateful sigh and ran off with May to rescue Dawn from Kenny and his increasingly sexual topics. Behind them, Angie followed the two champions, intent on going to the Walllace Cup with the boy that she had fallen head over heels for that one fateful week, five years ago. Dawn noticed the odd group approaching, Ash and Dawn rushing towards her as Angie followed at a 'safe' distance. When May pushed past her childhood 'friend' who was getting more and more perverted by the minute, she almost laughed as he stumbled from the push and got back up, only to be stopped by Ash's strategically placed backside. He growled with frustration when the group of champions ran off. He was setting off after them when he ran into a girl with long turquoise hair and a rather revealing dress. He spluttered with anger. He opened his mouth to yell at the newcomer. He wanted to give her a piece of his mind, even if she was rather attractive. Before he spoke, she beat him to it.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

She glared at him, forcing herself to stay strong despite the dangerous glare the handsome stranger was giving her. Without missing a beat, he yelled right back.

"You watch where you're going!"

With that, he disappeared into the crowd, following a familiar raven haired trainer whose hair stuck up above most of the crowd. In front of him was a pair of shorter hairdos colored brown and blue who were pulling him along, oblivious to the two jealous adults following them. Dawn had grabbed Ash's hand for comfort, knowing that there was no way anyone could see their subtle touch as a touch between two people who were hopelessly in love with each other. If they could see the contact between the champions at all. May led her two friends up to the stage, waving to various people she ran into as she pulled her convoy up to the stage. They ran past a security guard who, once they'd passed, blocked the door which led into the backstage. Seconds later, Kenny had pushed his way out of the sea of bodies that had blocked his way as he chased Dawn and the brunette who had stolen her from him along with Ash. He looked at the massive security guard and turned around with fright. He let out a huff of anger and closed his eyes briefly to think out another plan. Right as he opened his eyes, the attractive, turquoise haired lady who had run into him before burst out of the crowd and run right into him. Her momentum drove her and the auburn haired man onto the floor, her turquoise hair falling onto his face as their faces drew dangerously close together. Subconsciously, their lips drew closer and closer until they were barely touching. Then their feelings for the people they were chasing kicked in and they pulled apart, blushing slightly. As they rose to their feet, a man cleared his throat. The two exchanged a worried glance as the security guard they had landed in front of opened his mouth to speak. He never got the words out, as the two started yelling at him and each other.

"IT WAS HER FAU-"

"NO IT WAS HIS FAULT!"

The security guard pulled out his radio and spoke quickly into it. The two guests in front of him were still yelling at him and, quite honestly, irritating him. He heard heavy footsteps as two more guards showed up. The yelling suddenly stopped.

"I'm going to have to ask you two to leave if you don't quiet down. You're disturbing the other guests."

This, of course did exactly the opposite of what it was meant to. The two guests began yelling again. The first guard nodded and the other two walked over and grabbed the irate guests. Protesting, they were pulled out before the speech started.

The door slammed behind them as they landed on their butts. Cursing, Kenny stood up. He checked the door which was now locked. He turned around to face the woman who was also kicked out with him. He held out a hand, not forgetting his manners. She raised an eyebrow at the offered hand, confused as to why he wanted to help her. Shrugging she took it and Kenny pulled her up. She jumped as Kenny pulled her up and her momentum once again brought their lips dangerously close. Just like the last time, they moved closer, subconsciously, their bodies recognizing something their brains would not. They once again broke apart, this time blushing furiously. They turned their backs' on each other.

"So, why did you follow me?"

Kenny spoke as he walked over to a window, beckoning the confused trainer over. He saw May, Ash and Dawn, his Dawn, on stage each holding a microphone. They were smiling broadly at the crowd. The beautiful turquoise haired woman walked up next to him.

"Him." She said simply.

Kenny nodded. He'd expected that. He stole a glance at her face as she gazed at the stage, where Ash was playfully flirting with May and Dawn for the crowd. Her eyes were shining with tears as Ash pulled his two best friends close to him, a hand on each of their hips. Kenny put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, it's okay." He closed his eyes, marveling in his own stupidity. Of course it's not okay! She's crying and Dawn is flirting with Ash! This is horrible. He felt a warm body put its arms around him, hugging him close for comfort. He opened one eye, noticing the turquoise haired woman had buried her face in his chest, crying. He slowly returned the hug, patting her on the back as he did so, letting her sob into his shirt.

The group of friends were on stage, cracking jokes at each other's expense while the auburn haired coordinator was comforting the heart broken, turquoise haired trainer.

"Well, at least it didn't take me four regions and six years to win my first league!"

Dawn stuck her tongue out at her secret boyfriend while May was doubled over, laughing at the 20 year old's expression. The crowd chuckled too, causing the already embarrassed trainer to flush bright red. He tried to splutter out a retort when he noticed a pair of people huddled together and talking, shooting glances up at the stage.

"Well, I didn't have me to he..."

Is that Kenny and Angie? What are they doing out there? And together? I didn't know they knew each other.

He shrugged and looked back at the crowd who was waiting for him to continue.

"Uhhhh..." He had lost his train of thought! Dawn recognized this and quickly improvised. She walked over to him, flaunting the light orange dress she was wearing. There were multiple wolf whistles from the crowd which quickly went silent under the fierce gaze that Ash shot out at them. As she reached the raven haired man, her arm shot out and grabbed the ball cap that he wore on his head, despite the very classy tuxedo he wore. She ran off stage before he registered what had happened. The crowd stared at Ash's hair in awe, having never seen it before. It stood up every which way and had an attractive disheveled look to it which made many girls in the crowd swoon with delight. He ran off the stage, chasing Dawn and his hat who had managed to get away from him. Despite the absence of the three region champion, the big screen still showed him, frozen and without his hat. May silently brought her hand up to her face with a confused air.

Ash tore down the hallway, following the distant footsteps of his girlfriend. As he neared a corner, he heard a door slam shut. He slowed his pace as he walked into the hallway with all of the dressing rooms. He heard giggling coming from one of the doors. He began patrolling the hallway, walking up and down as he methodically knocked on each door. When he heard a small gasp from one of the doors, he froze. Seconds later, the door opened and his tuxedo coat was grabbed by a pair of small hands which pulled him into the dressing room which had the name, 'Dawn Berlitz' on a plaque, mounted on the door. The hands that had grabbed him brought him into a hug and together, the blunette and her raven haired beau melted into each other's arms, their lips meeting in a tender kiss.

Instead of the massive party that May had thrown, Dawn kept the invitee list to just Sinnoh Gym leaders, the elite four and the top ranked coordinators in the region, which, annoyingly included Kenny. She greeted everyone who was coming; Zoey, Barry, Lucas, Paul, and Lyra. When Kenny walked up, Ash placed a protective hand on her back. She had told him how oddly Kenny was acting at the last party and he wasn't amused by it, not one bit. The zealous coordinator had taken her hand and lightly kissed it, similar to the customs of old. Ash cleared his throat, an unspoken threat lingering in the air which was heavy with tension.

As the night wore on, Kenny made several moves on Dawn. He tried to get her under a piece of mistletoe which she was rather sure had not been there before. He also asked her to dance which she had accepted only because she felt obligated to. Every time they spun in a circle, she shot the brooding master a look which said, Either come and save me or kill me. Please! He picked up on her plea for help and started making his way over to the pair. Ash signaled to the DJ to start a song he had previously requested just for this occasion.

(For best effect, listen to Applause by Lady Gaga during this scene.)

Ash walked up with a hop in his step, boxing out the claim-jumper who was very confused by this sudden change of music. He raised an eyebrow at the blunette. He kissed her on the lips, lingering just enough to make her wanting more. He started backing away, beckoning her forward with a single, slim index finger.

To the outrage of the auburn haired coordinator, she followed him and they made their way over to May and Drew, who were dancing so violently, the crowd had parted around them, effectively forming a dance circle. They realized that they were now the center of attention. May blushed heavily, bowing out of the circle. However, Drew stayed. He tapped his foot to the beat and suddenly started dancing, spinning around like a Baltoy. (lol) May was watching in awe of her boyfriend when a strong hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned and saw Ash who had Dawn by the hand. He pushed his way into the circle, joining Drew, while Dawn walked up next to her best friend.

In the circle, Ash held his hands together, clasped at waist level. Drew ran up, placing a foot on the makeshift platform. Ash pushed his foot up, launching him into the air. The crowd went silent and time slowed as Drew did a backflip. He slowly flipped, his legs straight. He touched the ground and time returned to normal as he formed a platform with his hands. Ash ran up, getting a boost from Drew as he too launched into the air, doing a front flip over the green haired man. Once again, time slowed and the crowd gasped as he rotated past the normal flip. He finished the second flip, falling into a roll. He stood up from the unplanned roll just as the song ended, straightening his coat. For a tense second, the crowd was silent, still processing what had just happened. The two men in the circle looked at each other and clasped hands, congratulating each other on a flawless performance. Around them, the crowd erupted.

As the crowd cheered Ash and Drew on, a disgruntled pair stood apart. His auburn hair clashed spectacularly with her turquoise hair as they put their heads together.

"Angie, that's not going to work."

"Why? They aren't together yet."

"Yes they are. Since a day before the first Court."

"What?! Are you sure?"

"Saw it with my own eyes. Albeit my extremely bleary eyes, cause I was woken up early by Leona."

At the mention of another girl, Angie's heart shook and she spoke without thinking.

"WHO'S LEONA?"

She blinked with confusion as Kenny jumped.

"Just a childhood friend. Why?"

He somehow was able to maintain his cool, despite having the slightly crazy trainer yell at him.

"...sorry."

"What?"

"Sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that."

She hung her head as she apologized. Kenny put a hand under her chin, raising it so he could look her in the eyes.

"Angie, I understand. I've just had more practice with keeping calm."

She rested her head against his chest, enjoying the comforting arms that pulled her close. She was very confused.

Kenny is so nice to me, I wish Ash would do something like this... But Kenny is. He cares for me. But how much?

She had no idea that Kenny was having similar thoughts.

I'm not sure of how I feel now. I want Dawn, but this, this feels... right.

The night slowly wound down, the music becoming slower and slower. The final party was coming to an end. As a slow song began to play, Ash held a hand out to Dawn, who was sitting at a table.

"Would you like to dance?"

He smiled broadly at her, melting her heart with his gleaming smile. She blushed heavily as she took his hand.

"Of course, Ashy Boy."

She playfully used Ash's nickname that he hates just to get under his skin. His smile faltered briefly. He lead her out to the dance floor and they began to dance. He leaned forward.

"Well, I'm honored DeeDee."

She slowly shook her head at him, but couldn't stay mad at him. They kept dancing, enjoying each other's presence. When the music finally stopped, they slowly broke apart and leaned their foreheads together. They were alone in the ballroom, the lights dimmed. Ash spoke.

"I love you."

"I love you too."