"And I never spoke to her again after that," finishes Hugh.

There's a long silence.

He and Nate have arrived at the Gear Station. Being late evening, it's empty, with the exception of the staff and the guy obsessed with stats.

Without warning, Nate launches himself at Hugh and punches him in the face.

Wham!

"What the – " begin Hugh, but Nate doesn't let him finish.

"You. Idiot." snarls Nate.

Hugh blinks in shock. What just happened?

"Nate, what – "

Wham!

"You. Blithering. Idiot!" yells Nate, shaking his fist.

Hugh's rage is building up. Nate is being surprisingly violent. "Can you stop hitting me and tell me what's going on?"

"SHE LIED!" screams Nate. "She lied, you idiot! God. Do I have to spell out everything for you? ROSA LOVES YOU. AND YOU LOVE HER. Now go tell her that!"

"I – " Hugh is out of words. "It's too late. I don't – "

"Do you want me to punch you again?" cuts in Nate.

"No!" Hugh replies. "Look, Nate, you're obviously living in some sort of fantasy where everything works out and there's rainbows and Skitty and – "

"Call her," commands Nate. "Call her right now and ask her where she is."

Hugh sighs. Nate just doesn't get it.

"Nate, stop it," he says irritably. "Rosa and I are never going to happen. Deal with it."

Nate grits his teeth.

"Fine." He smiles maniacally, then throws himself on Hugh and tugs at his hand.

"Hey!" barks Hugh. "Get off me! Get off – hey!"

Although Hugh is strong and tall for his age, Nate's slight build has helped him wriggle out of Hugh's clutches. Finally, after wrestling for a while, he manages to tease Hugh's Xtransceiver off his wrist.

By now, Hugh is more than mildly annoyed. With a roar, he pounces on the thief, only to have the latter kick him squarely in the stomach. He keels over in pain.

Nate scrolls through Hugh's contacts, stopping when he reaches to 'R'. He taps on the 'Voice Only' button next to Rosa's name and waits.

Within seconds, a feminine voice answers. "Hello?"

Nate clears his throat. "Rosa," he says, trying to mimic Hugh's Super Saiyan voice. "It's me. Hugh."

Rosa doesn't answer immediately. "Why can't I see you?" she demands. "And where's Hugh?"

Nate sighs. Busted. "Okay, I'm not really Hugh." he admits. "I'm a friend of his. Where are you right now?"

Rosa is hesitant to answer. "I'm not sure I want to tell a stranger that."

Nate clicks his tongue impatiently. "Fine. Don't tell me. Tell Hugh where you are." He walks over to Hugh and places the Xtransceiver near his mouth. "Hugh, ask her where she is." he instructs.

The injured boy makes a feeble attempt at grabbing the device. But one look at Nate and his raised fist make him rethink his choices. He succumbs.

"Where are you?" he asks her weakly.

"Hugh?" Rosa sounds concerned. "What's going on? Are you alright? Where have you been? I mean, you haven't answered my calls since – "

"Ask her where she is." repeats Nate.

Hugh sighs. "Rosa, please tell me where you are."

Rosa stops rambling. "Well, my new movie is premiering in an hour at Pokéstar Studios, so I'm in my dressing room – "

"Perfect." says Nate. With an evil smile, he ends the call and sticks out his hand to help Hugh up.

Hugh is seething. "I'm so going to unleash my rage on you." But a jolt of pain in his stomach causes him to double over, wincing. "But not right now."

Nate grins and hands him a Fresh Water and his Xtransceiver back. "So I guess you're going to Pokéstar Studios now!"

Hugh scowls at him. "Fine. On one condition."

"Name it," smirks Nate.

Hugh crosses his arms over his chest. "You're going to call Yancy and fix things with her. Now."

He watches Nate bite his lip, sinking into deep thought. "Alright," he says finally. "I'll do it. I'll meet up with Yancy."

The two boys walk out of the station in silence. Nate stops before a flyer pasted to a lamppost, advertising some sort of sci-fi movie starring the new Champion.

"We should register each other on our Xtransceivers," he suggests. "I want to know what happens next."

Hugh shrugs. They exchange their devices and register themselves.

"You know what to do now," says Hugh gravely.

Nate nods. In a swift motion, he releases his Flying-type, a Braviary. The magnificent bird spreads his wings and screeches loudly.

Hugh whistles. "That's one fine-ass bird."

"Thanks," grins Nate. "The previous hero of Unova – the one who defeated N – gave it to me."

Hugh's eyes nearly bulge out of their sockets. "You know the ex-Champion?"

Nate laughs. He pats the bird on his neck. "Hugh, I'm the ex-Champion's little brother." He pushes the flyer he had ripped off the lamppost into Hugh's hands. "And you're about to become the current Champion's new boyfriend."

He jumps on the bird's back and flies off, leaving a stunned Hugh behind.

Nate races around Mistralton City, desperately trying to get a signal. When he doesn't get one, he sighs. "This is a lot harder than I thought," he mutters.

He has visited two cities and six routes so far in his quest to hold up his end of the bargain and call Yancy. His Braviary is tired and annoyed. But he doesn't want to give up. Not yet.

"Come on, Brav" he begs the bird. "Please. Just one last time. I know it's going to work. I have a good feeling about this. Please."

The bird gives him a haughty look, but nods. Nate hugs him hard, and wastes no time in jumping on his back.

Within minutes they are at Lentimas Town. Nate quickly gets off and consults his Xtransceiver. Sure enough, he was right – Yancy's name is in there. He taps on it and makes a call.

"Hi," he says when the ringing stops. "I need to see you. Can we meet at the Ferris Wheel again?"

Half an hour later, Hugh's Unfezant lands at Virbank City.

He still can't believe that he let Nate con him into doing this. It was stupid. He was stupid. Nate was stupid. He was expecting Hugh to just go up to the Champion – how he missed that news, he had no clue – and confess his love to her. There's bound to be a joke somewhere he can make about Nate and an infusion of Weedle, but he's not in the mood to think about it right now.

He makes his way to Pokéstar Studios, which is crowded a lot more than it was the last time he was here. Hugh slaps his forehead. Of course. Everyone was probably here to watch Rosa's new movie. How would he even find her?

The studio has been lit up brightly, illuminating it against the evening sky. Everywhere he looks, people are whispering excitedly about the new movie. Some of them have even dressed up in lab coats and robot costumes.

The huge billboard outside the theater is covered with Rosa's face, next to a smiling orange robot. Below it, a large number of people have gathered.

Hugh swallows hard. He can guess why everyone was surrounding the building – in fact, the scene was giving him a serious feeling of déjà vu. He shakes his head, trying to ward off those thoughts and slowly makes his way towards the crowd.

He pushes towards the center, trying to get a glimpse of what is happening. Sure enough, he's right – Rosa is at the entrance of the theater, looking beautiful in a long pink gown with her hair loose. She's being interviewed by Pokémon Idol Nancy. Again.

Hugh growls to himself, annoyed.

Someday in the future, if he and Rosa get together, and if Nate and Yancy get together, Nate will introduce him to Yancy. And there and then, he will unleash all his rage on that woman and tell her why he does not like her.

With a deep breath, he storms forward.

"Hugh?" Rosa is staring at him like she can't believe he's here. A lot of people around them are snickering. He can feel his ears turn red.

There are so many things wrong with this scenario:

1. Hugh was at a fancy movie premiere dressed in his training outfit.

2. He had spent his day training at the Battle Subway and he reeked. He's also sporting a black eye from where Nate had punched him in the face.

3. Not to mention, he has also arrived uninvited.

4. He has interrupted an interview between two celebrities and stolen the mike from them, à la Kanye PokéWest.

5. And finally, one of them is the love of his life, and he hasn't spoken to her properly in over a month (four, if you count the awkwardness between them since they kissed).

All in all, he's in a very embarrassing position right now. But Hugh, being Hugh, does not think about any of that. For at that moment, the only thing that matters is that Rosa is in front of him.

"You." He points at Nancy. "Get out of here."

"Excuse me?" Nancy places her hands on her hips. "Young man, I am conducting an interview with the star of this movie – "

"And Nate's busting his ass all over Unova looking for you." finishes Hugh. "To tell you that even though you lied to him and didn't tell him about 'your secret life', he still loves you."

Nancy's hands fly to her mouth. Gasps echo all around them.

"Hugh, are you insane?" hisses Rosa. "What are you talking about?"

Hugh holds up his hand to silence her, just like she'd done at the Giant Chasm. "What are you waiting for?" he continues. "Leave. Now."

With a strangled sob, Nancy hurries out of the crowd, followed by her crew.

Hugh gives a satisfied smile. "That was easy." He turns towards Rosa. "Now, where were we?"

Rosa crosses her arms. "You were about to explain why you interrupted my interview and drove Nancy away. After not speaking to me for months."

Hugh scratches his head. "I have a good reason for that. I think."

"I'm listening," says Rosa flatly.

After the adrenaline rush that had propelled him to drive Nancy away, Hugh finds himself at a loss for words. "I'll just cut to the chase then, I guess." he says awkwardly. Leaning forward to grasp Rosa's hands, he announces, "Rosa. I love you."

The audience echoes with gasps again. Rosa's eyes widen. She opens her mouth to speak, but Hugh cuts her off.

"And I want to apologize again for everything I've done." he continues. "I'm sorry for not speaking to you all this while. I was going to tell you this at the Giant Chasm, but then I heard you tell Yan – I mean, Nancy that you didn't want to date anyone, and I couldn't take it. But Nate – he's my new friend, by the way – told me not to give up. So I came here. And I'm also sorry I rejected you at the Plasma Frigate. And that I left you at Undella Town to chase after Team Plasma. I don't know what I was thinking. Team Plasma isn't the most important thing in my life. You are."

A collective "awww" issues from the audience. Rosa looks like she's close to tears.

"I can't believe it took you so long," she says softly.

Hugh rubs the back of his head. "Yeah." he replies. The people around them are muttering among themselves. Some of them have their cameras out and are filming the scene before them. A few people have even bought some popcorn.

"This is way better than any movie," he hears someone say.

"Say yes, Rosa!" yells someone else.

He waits for her to say something, anything, to break the awkward silence between them.

Finally, she pulls out a blue, Ducklett-print handkerchief. "You're ruining my makeup," she says, dabbing the corners of her eyes.

Hugh sighs. "I guess I should leave, then. Good luck with your, um, movie thing." He turns around to make his way out of the studio.

"No!" cries the audience. They surge forward and block his path, preventing him from leaving.

"You can't leave!" says an old man in an orange robot costume. "She hasn't accepted your confession yet!"

"It doesn't matter," he replies. He just wants to be somewhere, anywhere but here. "You can't stop me. I have Pokémon. I'll just fly out of here."

"Take his Poké Balls!" orders a woman, and a horde of Poké Romantics grope him eagerly, searching for his Pokémon. Hugh yelps and flails his legs in the air like a Magikarp out of water, but in vain. He is outnumbered. They relieve him of his Pokémon and stand before him like a wall.

Hugh sinks to his knees. He feels helpless and naked without his Pokémon. Why did he even come here? His efforts were of no use. Rosa isn't saying anything. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do next.

Fortunately, the audience has thought of that for him. "Kiss him!" they chant, circled around Hugh and Rosa like they're performing some kind of ritual. The horde has grown since he came here, and not a single one of them is quiet.

"Now, what's going on here?" The producer has arrived and is trying to make his way into the theater. But Rosa's rabid fans are blocking the entrance, chanting, "Kiss him!"

"Oh, for God's sake," the producer facepalms. "Rosa, dahling, just kiss the boy."

But Rosa cowers at the theater entrance, sobbing. Since she's the Champion and the star of the movie, no one has dared touch her, like they did Hugh. Hugh wonders if he should go comfort her, but at this point he has no idea what he is to her. So he remains where he is, on his knees at the theater stairs, contemplating on his life choices.

"Kiss him!" The people around them show no signs of stopping. Hugh is sure the movies has been delayed by now, but no one is saying anything about it.

If he were a Pokémon, he could use the move Dig and get this over with immediately, without having to embarrass both him and Rosa.

"Kiss him!" says a familiar voice, and Hugh looks up to find Nancy and Nate smiling at him, holding hands.

Nancy holds out a hand to help him up. "Thank you, Hugh," she says. "Although you were a bit harsh," she winces at the memory, "you helped me realize my mistake and get back together with Nate."

Nate grins at him. Hugh wants to smile back, but he can't. He tries to tell Nancy she's welcome, but he can't do that, either. His mouth has gone dry.

"Kiss him!" chant Nate and Nancy with the crowd. "Kiss him! Kiss him! KISS HIM!"

"SHUT UP!" A shrill voice pierces through the chanting.

Rosa's face is red, and she's heaving. "All of you," she croaks. "Shut up."

Everyone is silent.

Rosa marches forward to where Hugh is standing. At first Hugh thinks she's going to comply with everyone's demands and kiss him, but instead she raises her hand and slaps him directly on the face.

"That's for all the times you hurt me," she whispers, her voice breaking. "You do realize that the only reason I lied to Nancy was because I didn't want everyone in Unova to find out about you."

"Hey!" says Nancy indignantly.

"And this," whispers Rosa, tugging the collar of his jacket. "Is for everything else." She leans forward and kisses him.

Suddenly, he isn't at the studio anymore. He is floating; rising slowly above the ground, up, up towards the sky. Into the clouds. Towards the heaven and beyond.

But he isn't alone. He is with Rosa. He loves her, through infinity and beyond. At that moment, he promises himself that he will never do anything to hurt her again.

He can hear applause all around them. Nate yells, "Go, Hugh!" while everyone else cheers. Somewhere, someone has lit fireworks, and they are shooting to the sky, splattering the inky canvas in color. Hugh guesses it's probably the producer, celebrating the premiere. But that isn't all to be celebrated.

He pulls away from her. "I love you," he says again, as if to make sure she knows. Because he can't believe it. After everything that he and Rosa have been through, they are together. It's a miracle.

Rosa smiles. "I know," she whispers, and leans forward to kiss him again.

Hugh is finally complete. His journey is over.

Author's Note:

So, I wrote this as a happier alternative to the original ending's grim turn of events.

I guess Hugh got abused a lot during this chapter. Someone give him a hug!

Also, the first scene turned out a lot more yaoi then I thought it would.

Imma go write another ending where Hugh ditches Rosa for Nate. (LOL JK)