Authors Notes: Happy New Year!
My new years resolution: Finish this f**king fic!
Speaking of fics, I'd like to draw attention to two of my other Pokémon fics that haven't got much attention. A Deal in Romance and Observations. Both are one-shot, Pokeshipping fics. Check 'em out. I also have an Ethan/Whitney one-shot, A Bad Idea if anyone's interested in that.
CONTEST!: Well we have a winner! (At end notes)
(practically gave it away by the end, but hey, somebody had to win!)
Soundtrack:
Cara Dilllion: The Parting Glass
Ludovico Einaudi: I Giorni And Reverie
Megaherz: Augenblick
Pyramaze: Legacy in a Rhyme
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"People of the world! I present you the sixth Pokémon Grandmaster; Ash Ketchum!"
Around him the entire world seemed to erupt into applause, the hailing for its new Grandmaster.
Ash did not smile. He suddenly felt troubled. A strange sense of emptiness was rising from within him.
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The light slowly faded.
The final blow of the unseen battle, between the Fifth and Sixth Grandmasters came to its end.
Ash Ketchum. Whose reign had spanned less than 30 full days, the youngest to ever ascend to the title. Near him, was his Pikachu.
They were down.
Quentin Gelden. Whose reign had spanned, by this day, a full quarter of a century, the Grandmaster whose reign had been thus far the longest. Near him, was his Smeargle.
They were down.
The Talon of Ho-Oh sparked with the remnants of power that had struck, and been unleashed atop it. The lasts of the grey clouds above parted, leaving all below to the rays of the sun.
"Ugh..." Ash took a breath, his eyes slowly opening. He grunted, pained as he tried to move his battered body. "No..." He moved his arm, every inch stinging. "No...This can't...be it." He clenched his hand, whitening the skin around the object he held. "Dammit, this can't be it!" He started raising his back. "I-ack!" He hit the ground again. He gasped for breath, forcing himself, up to his elbows, finding three others across the field. Quen- Smeargle was down! He was down! But...so was Pikachu..."Shit. This can't be it." All this, and this is what it had come down to. All this, and he'd leave with..."It cant..."
"Pi..."
Ash looked, Pikachu was-Pikachu was moving! His paw moved, slowly, across the ground. "Ka..." He gripped the ground, scratching it. "Pi...ka...chu..."
Ash grunted, forcing himself, through the pain, through everything in his body telling him to just pass out.
Pikachu put a paw flat on the ground. "Piiiiiiii."
Ash moved his leg, putting his foot flat on the ground. He put his weight on it...
Pikachu pushed himself up, his second paw joining the push. Ash threw his weight on his legs, he was on his feet-no-no, wait, he got it. He stopped, trying to stop his head spinning. Before him, Pikachu was up as well
They stumbled, but did not fall. Their bodies marked with wounds and exhaustion, their strengths near their ends. Panting, desperate to regain breath, they found their foes down, unmoving. Smeargle was down, Quentn was down, they were standing, they were the last one standing. Ash felt something in his chest well up,"We did it. We beat Quen-we-!"
Their fists clenched, their backs arched, and the pair roared, their cry echoing from the tops of the Talon.
They'd done it.
They'd won.
Ash smiled, looking up at the relics which had given him strength. "That was for you, everyone." He caught a flash of familiar green. "Especially you. Misty." He looked up at the relics only for a moment before he lowered his arm, now full only with a strange sense of emptiness. There was no-one, anywhere, left for him to fight..."What is the point of me now?"
He didn't dwell. Instead he only walked forward, his body aching with every step, his adrenaline thinning with every breath as he reached, kneeling to grab an exhausted Pikachu. He was rewarded with a brief lick. "Are
you okay?"
Pikachu nodded. "Chaaa."
Ash smiled. "We did it buddy, we actually did it." He leaned in, letting Pikachu hug his face. "You were amazing!"
Pikachu nuzzled against Ash. "Pi pika pikachu. Pi ka pi chuka pika." You were amazing. You were you again.
His grip on Pikachu loosened slightly. "'I was me again?'" He softly smiled. "Yeah. Guess I was." Eventually their moment ended, and Ash turned his attention to Quentin, who had finally picked himself up, slightly dazed. "Is Smeargle okay?"
Quentin placed a hand on Smeargle's shoulder, rolling him over on his back. He was rewarded with a rather amusing sight involving Smeargle's tongue hanging out. "Well he wont be fighting for a while. But he'll be fine." He shrugged, smiling. "We were supposed to be retired anyway. This was our last true battle. I'm glad it was against you. Grandmaster Ketchum."
Ash smiled too. "I'm glad my first as Grandmaster was against you."
Quentin's eyebrow raised. "No shuddering this time?"
Ash shook his head. "Doesn't feel weird anymore." He felt a sudden tug on his shirt, and looked down to find Pikachu looking up at him.
"Pikachu Pikapi." Grandmaster Ash.
"...it got weird again."
Pikachu smiled.
Ash pushed against the ground, trying to force himself back up...but failing. He took a breath, and finally noticed his own breathing. Every breath scraped his lungs, his every heartbeat stung slightly. He felt a droplet run down his back, sweat or blood, he couldn't tell. "Dammit." His body throbbed in protest, against his very conciousness. "If I'd kept going like that...how long...?" He could feel the answer. "You really did save me, didn't you? Misty..."
Across from him, Quentin hit the ground with a thud. Ash watched, as he dug into a pocket, extracting several objects. He opened a box, putting something from it into a small wooden pipe. He lit a match. "You smoke?"
Quentin took a deep breath from his lit pipe. "As far as my wife knows, no. And that's the way it's gonna stay, am I clear?" He leaned back, taking his pipe in mouth again, pondering.
"It's done." He expelled, filling the air before him with smoke, and his mind with memories, forty long years, from start, to finish. It had been so long, since he'd walked out of that town of Ecruteak, Smeargle at his side. So many places, so many things he had seen, and did. The good times, the bad, the fun... and the things that still found home in his nightmares. So many battles, so many glorious battles. So many successes...and mistakes. But in the end... He smiled. "'Whoever it is that stands above, shapes the world beneath their feet.' Masato, everyone, I have left one worthy in our place." He reached up, removing his Fedora. "My reign is over."
Ash looked around, something finally occurring to him..."Umm, Quentin? What were the plans for getting off here?"
"Alakazam. I did give her a time..." He pulled up the sleeve of his left arm, suddenly giving a frustrated grunt. "And my watch is broken, wonderful." He arced a hand over his eyes, briefly gazing up at the sky. "I don't think we're far off though. Feels like that one went on forever."
Ash chuckled "Yeah...", as it started, as he started, it felt like so long ago, now. Now, now it was like he had been reborn, and what a fitting place to do it. Here he stood, at the top of the world. His eyes looked around, the scarred grounds, the busted middle talon, the other two damaged ones, and the one that-
The very top.
"Ugn, damm..." He forced himself to his feet, lungs stinging with every breath, Pikachu still in his arms as he put the lure and handkerchief in his pocket.. He took a step forward...his bones felt so heavy. He took another, and could feel the thud through his entire leg. He continued walking forward, step by step. Quentin watched, but did not question.
He didn't have to.
He advanced, step by step on the lone claw, the only claw not to have taken extensive damage in the battle. His vision quivered, but he kept walking, he had to keep walking, keep going, just a bit longer. He came before the claw, after what felt like countless miles to his body.
"Pikapi?"
He outstretched a hand...
"I wanna see it. I wanna see the world from above."
He gripped the stone.
He pulled himself forward, finding firm footing on the claw. He looked up, trying to-he found a place to grip.
"Pikapi..." Pikachu forced himself to sit up, before jumping from Ash's arm. He gripped the claw, before jumping again. He watched as Ash gripped with his other hand, forcing himself up again...
Step by step, pull by pull, Ash made his way up. Strange, not too long ago, Ash had forced himself up the side of a mountain, and even that very long climb didn't finish him. But this, every breath felt like it could be his last, every grip the one that could shatter his bones under the pressure, every metre climbed the final the last he would ever climb.
But he couldn't stop.
After and eternity, and a bit longer, he finally pulled himself up, to the tip of the claw. He stood up, careful of his footing as he grabbed onto the peak for support. He slipped the mementos from his pocket again, staring far below, upon the world.
What a sight.
He had such things before, such heights, from which, it was if the whole world could be seen from. Yet now, it was different. Now his place was so much more than physical. Here he stood, above all, the strongest the walk the earth.
This was not how it was supposed to end. He sighed, heavily.
It was not supposed to end on a mountain. It was not supposed to end far from the eyes of the world. It was not meant to end, for him to reach the ending alone. He closed his eyes...There.
He could see it. The true ending.
The crowds were roaring, rejoicing in the victory of their new Grandmaster. All around, were the countless, ready to accept their new world champion. Even the most adorning fan however could only hang their head in shame next to them.
The ones who truly mattered. The ones who, in the end, this had been for, as much as it had been for himself. There they were, in the stands. His Mom was starting to tear up, Brock already had. May and Dawn seemed to be in competition to see who could cheer faster. Max and Ralts were grinning. One was not among them, but that was okay. He turned, finding her.
She was running towards him "You did it, Ash!"
Misty threw herself at him, and he captured her in his embrace, filling his nose with her scent, and his ears with her laughter as she put her arms around his neck. He twirled them around, laughing with her. After a moment, they pulled back, and she was looking at him, the way only she could, awakening from his heart the feeling only she did. Maybe, maybe it was the same. Maybe what she brought out in him was the meaning behind her gaze.
What were the words?
The warmth in his heart was-it was replaced with something else. He felt it in his heart. Then his bones, and his muscles, lastly in his very skin.
"It-It hurts."
His eyes opened, and rolled back. He felt it, as suddenly everything gave way. A feeling found its way to him...
He saw the sky, he saw yellow, as it turned to face him, fear in its eyes as he got further away, as the sky got further away. He saw the peak he climbed, somehow growing faster and faster before him.
A feeling of falling...
He saw his own body, much of it above him, and he felt his hand, he felt something moving across it, something soft, and something else, something warm, moving across his open hand.
He was falling. Falling into reality.
Falling into darkness...it was coming too fast...all sound was quickly fading away...
He saw them, above him as the feeling vanished form his hand. A familiar flash of color met his eye.
"It's all..."
"PIKAPI!"
"ASH!"
He closed his eyes, the world around him fading...
"Wrong."
Darkness.
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End of Chapter
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Author's Notes: Thus ends the Grandmasters Arc.
I'd called it a cliffhanger ending, but...the crappy joke writes itself.
P.S.
I know Ecruteak is a city, that was not a typo. However, in this fic's cannon, it was a town when Quentin was a kid.
(Short chapter I know, but this was just to wrap up the aftermath of the battle.)
Contest:
We have a winner! Congratulations: Popopoyotl!
The only entrant to get the detail I was asking for, and the number itself right.
So, some of you are likely asking..."What the f**k?!"
Let's go over what I asked for. I asked for a fact (IE, something objective) that only applied to Ash (and logically, could only apply to him) Numbers were what you were actually looking for all along. But, like I later said (and in retrospect, probably could have hinted at before), I didn't point any numbers directly at him. Instead I had a numbers hovering mainly over other Grandmasters.
Chapter 7: Ash visits Charles Goodshow, the Grandmaster's draw has only a few folders in it. Ash's was at the front, the newest one.
Chapter 10: Quentin mentions "the select few" who have become Grandmaster.
Chapter 17: Quentin makes a jab about "Worthy Grandmasters" being countable on one hand, and says the title "spans a century". The "Worthy Grandmaster" jab could have either meant there have been many Grandmasters, but only a select few were worthy, or another way of saying Ash was the only unworthy one so far.
The idea with these hints was to stress the number of Grandmasters there have ever been is a low number
Now, logically, Quentin should have had the number 5 linked to him, right? Surely there was the number staring you in the face somewhere...
Chapter's 11-16: I mention the exact same thing every chapter. It's Quentin's equivalent of Ash turning his hat, though his takes the course of a battle to get done.
A bit in-your-face, I admit. But that isn't the biggest hint. It wasn't the one I mentioned in the original contest announcement. So, some of you may be wondering...what was the thing that was hiding in plain sight? What was the biggest hint of all? The one which, if found, would have bought you the contest in a heartbeat? What I typed over 200 times and you didn't even question it? What could I slip by that many times without it being questioned?
I've discovered nobody questions a name.
I'd say "it was in his name", but it literally was his name. Take a minute, go to wikipedia. (Get a brick) My little pondering about meanings during the Contest Author's Note Chap was in itself a hint.
I'm a westerner who likes anime, and because of that I've taken particular notice of the fact that names (at least in dubs that don't fuck with the names) tended to mean something that somewhat related to the character. Not always, but it happens. I figured why not follow the hint, but my doing it was actually accidental. I named Quentin before looking if the name had any kind of meaning, and there it was...
Naming Quentin fleshed out a plot point I was originally going to leave vague; how many Grandmasters there have been, and how long the title has been around. Leave both to the imagination of the readers. Now...well, I have plans to mention them all in a chapter later, that should give you an idea how far I fleshed it out.
Now, anyways...
Popopoyotl, your trophy!
-hands over a Pikachu plushie wrapped in tinfoil and painted gold.-
(Fanfiction writing is not exactly a paying profession, gimmie a break! Not that my hit levels would get me decent money even if it was. I should write for Naruto or something.)
I'll be in contact to discuss the prize.
Consolation Prize!
Since it took so fucking long for me to get to this point since starting the contest, I wanna give a consolation prize to a certain reader, one of the very first entrants: Sitting on the Event Horizon, for a damn excellent answer. (Seriously, so frigging close! But alas, I was only drawing a not-so-subtle comparison between Ash and Red, given they are counterparts.) If you're still reading this fic, please drop me a PM. You get to name a second Grandmaster, after Popopoyotl has named his.
Honorable Mentions:
Winnow: Also getting the right answer (well, agreeing, but for different reasons), but sorry, Winnow; first come, first win.
GaruAlpha: Great effort, and real out-of-the-box thinking on your answer.
Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta shit something out for my Tordora fanbase.