Sorry this took so long. I've been doing other things, as well as planning out OC appearances. Also, even though it doesn't apply to this chapter, I'd still like to address a question I've been asked more than a few times:
Q: is Jake based off of you?
Short answer: no
Long answer: The only similarities we share are the Pokémon he uses being my favorites. Everything else about him is nothing like me, including his appearance and personality.
Onto the chapter.
Ash woke up, and groggily opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was that Dawn wasn't all cuddled up to him, since she was in her own bed. Why is that the first thing that comes to mind? he wondered. He got up, careful not to wake Pikachu, who was at the foot of the bed fast asleep. He went over to his bag to get clothes out, then went into the bathroom to begin his morning routine.
When he came out thirty minutes later, he saw that Dawn had left the room. He sat down on his bed, and for the first time in his life, he didn't feel like eating breakfast. Ash grabbed the TV remote and turned it on. He flipped to one of his favorite channels, Battle Center, and it was starting the top ten KOs segment. Ash watched with interest.
"This week's Top Ten is gonna feature clips from the Pokémon World Tournament. Many of these clips come from the double battle rounds. Let's get straight into it."
The camera then went to a clip of a battle. It was almost over, and there were two Pokémon left standing.
"The first play we have took place in Nimbasa City. We have Ben Argus facing Eva Wiesel. Let's have a look."
On the battlefield, a Salamence was on the ground, panting heavily. He was green, with orange wings instead of the usual turquoise body with dark red wings. He faced a Zoroark, which looked to be in only slightly better condition.
"Zoroark, finish with Night Slash!" Eva shouted.
Zoroark started to run towards the dragon type with his two paws glowing with a dark energy.
"Salamence, hit it with a Dragon Claw!" Ben said desperately.
Just as Zoroark was about to hit the shiny Salamence, Salamence lashed out with a glowing claw and connected with his target. Zoroark was sent flying back, and landed in a heap in front of his trainer. He did not get back up.
"So there it is, number ten. Moving on we have number nine. This battle took place in Sinnoh. It is between Kara Jenkins and Clerim Bowser, let's have a look."
The camera showed a battlefield that was torn up. Needless to say, an intense battle had taken place. On one side, in front of Kara, stood a Kadabra. Opposite of her stood a Flareon in front of Clerim. Both Pokémon showed signs of fatigue, yet neither of them were willing to give in.
"Flareon, Smoke Screen into Flare Blitz!" Clerim shouted.
Flareon coughed up a ball of smoke, and it dispersed in front of him, masking his movements. All that could be seen through the smoke was a faint red glow.
"Kadabra, Calm Mind! Find that Flareon and grasp it with your Psychic!" Kara commanded.
Kadabra quickly cleared his mind, allowing him to sense where Flareon was at. Just as Flareon emerged from the smoke, his flaming body soon stopped moving and became surrounded by a blue energy.
"Now slam him into the ground!"
Kadabra complied, and raised the immobilized fire type higher into the air. Once he was satisfied, he used his mind to slam Flareon into the ground, which kicked up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, Flareon was knocked out cold.
"That was number nine. Now we move on to number eight. This match was between fan favorite Eclipse Silverline and rookie trainer Bob Sanchef in the first rounds where one on one battles took place. Let's have a look."
The camera showed two Pokémon. In front of Eclipse was a powerful looking Garchomp. Across from him stood a Girafarig, who looked to be scared out of her wits.
Ash's eyes widened at what he saw. He noticed that the battle hadn't even started yet.
Once the ref raised his flags, Eclipse made his move. "Dragon Impact!" he said in a deep voice.
Immediately, Garchomp started to glow with a blue energy. He flew up into the air, then started to glow orange as well. The two colors mixed together, giving off the impression of both a Dragon Rush and a Giga Impact. He then aimed his body at the poor normal type, then flew down and slammed into her. She went flying back and slammed into the far wall of the stadium. Bob immediately ran over to her, while Eclipse recalled his Garchomp and walked away, not even waiting for the ref to make his call.
"So that was brutal. An impressive but brutal display of one of his signature combo moves. Here's number six, something a little more tame. We have Tyler Harrison versus Earl Martin, both are from Kalos."
The camera cut to a battle scene. Currently, a Dratini had a Skrelp immobilized in a Wrap attack. The Skrelp was struggling, and the Dratini showed no signs of letting up.
"Keep ahold of him Dratini," Tyler said calmly.
Tyler's calm demeanor was the polar opposite of Earl. He was worried, and it was evident on his face. "Skrelp, get out of there! Use Play Rough!"
The Skrelp stopped struggling, but only for a moment. He started to glow pink, and he started struggling once more. His movements became more erratic, and eventually, the Dratini had to let go. He tried to slither away, but Skrelp quickly bit down on his tail and dragged him back. Skrelp used his tiny body to senselessly beat the Dratini up. The dragon type soon succumbed to the super effective attack and fainted.
"Number five is next. We go to the Hoenn region for this one. It's a battle between Jake Smith versus Zack Oliver."
The camera cut to the battle. The battlefield was full of sand, and there were a couple of holes scattered around the field. All of this was fairly hard to see, thanks to there being a raging sandstorm.
A Swampert stood in front of Jake, and he was taking a beating from a Buizel using hit and run tactics with an Aqua Jet.
Jake looked to be in thought, when a roar of pain from the Swampert snapped him out of it.
"Juggernaught, into the air! Riptide, you know what to do!" Jake shouted.
Suddenly, an Excadrill came flying out of the ground. Just as the Excadrill appeared, the Swampert reared back and slammed his fists into the ground, which started to shake. Then the sandy ground began to cave in. Buizel used an Aqua Jet to move her body upwards above the battlefield.
"Linoone get out of there!" Zack shouted frantically.
After a few seconds of fast forwarding, Zack started to look worried. Jake looked impartial, but nodded his head. "Juggernaught, go get him!" He crossed his arms and watched as his ground type jumped up and dug into the ground.
Nurse Joy was then seen running towards the side of the battlefield with a stretcher, flanked by two Chansey.
After a few more seconds of fast forwarding, the Excadrill reemerged carrying an unconscious Linoone over his shoulder.
"And there we have it. A great show of sportsmanship by Smith. Up next is number four. It is—"
Suddenly the TV was shut off.
"What happened?" asked Ash.
"Come on and get ready for the day. We're gonna explore the ship." Ash turned around to find Dawn holding the remote in her hand. She had apparently come back in unnoticed while he was watching TV.
"Great. Now I can't even see the Top KO this week. Thanks Dawn." He then mumbled something to himself and got up. He grabbed clothes out of his bag, then headed into the bathroom. Just as he got to the door, he stopped. "Wait, I'm already ready for the day. What am I thinking?" He turned around and went back over to his bag to put back in the clothes he took out.
"Figure it out yet?" Dawn smirked.
"Yeah. What are we doing today? You seem to have a plan."
"I do."
"It can wait until after I eat breakfast," Ash said. Pikachu quickly hopped onto his shoulder, then he walked out the door with Dawn following close behind.
After waiting for Ash to finish eating a "quick" breakfast, Dawn began dragging him to an undisclosed location.
"Where are we going?" Ash asked.
"You'll see once we get there."
"Where's Brock?"
"He's out with his 'date.' Although I haven't even seen her yet," Dawn said.
As the couple passed by an arcade, Ash stopped. "Go where you wanna go. I'm staying here." He then walked inside.
Dawn sighed. She was about to make an argument, but instead decided against it. She then continued on her way.
Ash looked around, taking in his surroundings. There were games everywhere. He saw that a few of them were taken by some kids, but one game had a man there. A man Ash recognized as Styles Kaizu. Ash walked over to him and got a better look at the game. It looked like a simulator. There was a small pixelated character at the center of the screen, and a flat world around him. The character appeared to have white hair, which was held up with a red headband.
"Can I help you?" Styles asked. He turned away from the game after pausing it to look at Ash face to face. His bandana was currently around his neck, so when he spoke, sharp canines were visible inside his mouth. He looked directly into Ash's eyes with his own cold, piercing ones.
Ash was a bit taken aback that Styles had noticed him. "I just wanted to say hi. We battled in the first round."
"I remember."
"What are you playing?" Ash asked.
"A Pokémon simulator." After a few moments of Styles not saying anything more, he turned back around to continue his game. Ash watched him walk around for a bit, until he walked in front of another person. An exclamation point appeared over his head, and a battle started.
"How does the battling work?"
"It's turn based. The fastest Pokémon goes first." Ash watched as Styles knocked out a Linoone with a Blaziken's Sky Uppercut. The opposing trainer then sent out a Banette, so Styles switched to a Mightyena. The Mightyena used Crunch, and the Banette fainted.
"Why was that Banette taken out in only one move?"
"Because that's how the game works." Styles went back to playing his game.
Ash sighed. "Is there a reason why you're not talking to me? Last I checked you beat me, so there's no reason for you to be mad at me."
"I'm not mad, I'm just not saying anything because there is nothing to talk about."
Ash sighed. He was obviously going to have to try harder if he wanted to have a conversation with Styles. "There's plenty to talk about. You can't just stand here saying that there's absolutely nothing to talk about."
Styles let go of the controls of his game, and turned around to face him once more. He once again met Ash's gaze with his piercing eyes. "Battle me," he said.
"What?"
"Battle me. Your starter against my starter. You win, and I'll talk. Otherwise, you leave me alone." Suddenly, a Glaceon seemed to appear out of nowhere. She then hopped up onto Styles's shoulder and sat down.
"Deal." Ash turned to Pikachu, who had remained silent during the whole conversation. "You ready to win?" he asked.
"Pika!"
"Follow me." Styles then headed out the door, leaving Ash to have to run to catch up to him.
"One on one, no substitutions. Think you can handle that?" Ash nodded. "Then let's get this show on the road. Glaceon, let's go!"
Glaceon jumped down from Styles's shoulder onto the field. She shook her body as if it were wet, and waited.
Ash turned to Pikachu. "You ready to do this bud?" He asked. Pikachu nodded. "Then I choose you Pikachu!"
Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulders and began expelling sparks from his cheeks. He met Glaceon's gaze, and they both waited for their trainers' commands.
"I'll let you have the first move," Styles said simply.
"Much obliged. Pikachu, Quick Attack!"
Pikachu immediately dashed off into a streak of light towards his opponent.
"Block with Iron Tail," Styles said calmly.
Glaceon's tail glowed with a metallic gleam, and she held it in front of her body. Pikachu slammed into it, and he cried out in pain. He recovered rather quickly and awaited his next order.
"Ice Beam."
Glaceon opened her mouth and fired a beam of ice at the electric type.
"Counter with Electro Ball! Make it quick!"
Pikachu quickly formed a ball of electricity near his tail, and sent it to meet the impending attack.
The ice and electricity met, and caused an explosion. The shockwaves produced sent the two Pokémon skidding back towards their trainers.
"Don't give in! Use Thunder!"
"Counter with Blizzard!"
Pikachu jumped into the air and let loose a massive amount of electricity from his body. At the same time, Glaceon opened her mouth and blew a storm of frigid air at Pikachu.
Both attacks hit their targets at the same time, and both Pikachu and Glaceon succumbed to the assaults. They collapsed at the same time, resulting in a draw.
Ash immediately went over to where Pikachu was and picked him up. After a few minutes, Pikachu came to.
"You alright Pikachu?" Ash asked.
"Pika," he said woozily. Ash then turned around to see Styles doing the same thing with Glaceon.
"So what does this mean?"
"It means nothing. We had our battle, and we drew." Styles got up, careful not to move too suddenly. "Until we meet again," he said. He then walked away leaving Ash alone on the battlefield.
"Okay..." Ash trailed off. After a few minutes of going over what just happened, he went to go and find Dawn.
After searching for Dawn for almost an hour, Ash finally found her sunbathing on the upper deck. She was on her back in a sun chair wearing a navy blue bikini, with a pair of large sunglasses on her face. Even though he didn't realize it, he was blushing slightly at the sight.
"What are you doing?" Ash asked.
Dawn sat up slowly and took her sunglasses off. She then looked Ash in eye. "Sunbathing," she said.
"Why?"
"Why not? In fact, why don't you join me so we can spend some time together?"
"Uhh..."
"Come on! It'll be fun!"
"What's so fun about sitting here next to you half naked?"
Dawn face palmed. Ash obviously missed the hint, and she was getting nowhere. She had one last attempt to make. "We could talk about battle strategies if you want."
"Okay!" Ash quickly ran off in the direction of where their room was.
Once she was certain he was gone, Dawn leaned back into her chair. Why does he have to be so dense? she asked herself. She sighed and spent the next thirty minutes thinking of various things they could talk about. Most of them included Ash declaring his love for her, yet she knew it wouldn't be that simple.
"I'm back," Ash said. He sat down in the sun chair next to her and laid on his side so he could face her.
Here goes nothing, she thought. Dawn turned her body so she was face to face with her crush. She saw that he was wearing a pair of blue swim trunks, and that Pikachu was sleeping near the foot of the seat. "Tell me Ash, what would you do if you had a girlfriend?"
"I thought we were gonna talk about battle strategies?"
"Answer the question first. We can talk about that stuff later."
"Okay..." Ash trailed off and thought for a minute. He was wondering why Dawn was asking such a strange question, but he put it past him. "I'm not exactly sure Dawn. I've never really been in that situation before."
"That's it, nothing?"
"Alright then, if you had a boyfriend, what would you want him to do?"
The tables turned and Dawn started to get a bit nervous. Her cheeks started to heat up a bit as well. She hadn't expected Ash to ask that, so she wasn't entirely sure how to handle the situation. She decided to just say what felt natural. "Well, I'd want y—him to hold my hand whenever we walk together. I'd want him to cheer me up when I'm feeling down. I'd want him to go shopping with me and help me pick out what I would look best in." She stopped for a second, making sure she was ready to say what she was about to say. She looked down and away to hide the huge blush that had just begun to form on her cheeks. "Most importantly though, I'd want—"
"Excuse me." Both Ash and Dawn turned around to see who interrupted them. Dawn felt her heart beat a mile a minute, thanks to what she was about to tell Ash. Ash didn't notice Dawn's flustered look, and instead sized up who had interrupted.
Standing there was a man with blue hair next to a woman with long red hair, causing Ash to feel a sense of déjà vu. Both of them were wearing formal clothes, and the man held a large camera, while the woman had a microphone in her hand.
"Yes?" Asked Ash. He sat up and leaned forward so he had a better sitting position.
"Sorry if we were interrupting a moment there, but we'd like to ask you a few questions for an interview Mr. Ketchum. Is that alright?"
Ash was a bit skeptical, but he still went with it. "Yeah, go ahead."
"Thank you. Jason, start the camera!"
"It's rolling Janette."
"Mr. Ketchum, how did you first learn about the Pokémon World Tournament?"
"I learned about it back when I was traveling in Unova. Clay, the gym leader, told me about it."
"When did you decide to enter?"
"When I got back home to Pallet. I had just finished traveling in Unova, when I saw an advertisement for it. I decided to test my luck, and here I am."
"Thank you, just a few more questions. Out of all the trainers competing, who do you want to battle the most?"
Ash thought for a moment. "Well, there are a few out there that are really strong."
"Such as?"
"Such as Eclipse Silverline. He won the Sinnoh League this year." Ash stopped and thought for a moment, before continuing. "Now that you mention it, any of the league champions would be a challenge. I'm sure they're all entering."
"Thank you Mr. Ketchum that is all." Before Ash could say anything else, Jason and Janette were gone.
"That was... random?" Ash said with a confused look on his face.
"Yeah... I guess..."
"What's wrong Dawn? You were fine a minute ago."
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it," she replied.
"If you say so."
After a few minutes of silence, Ash broke it.
"So what now?"
"I don't know. Let's head to the pool I guess."
"Okay. I need to take my mind off a few thing anyways."
Ash got up and woke Pikachu up, who had been sleeping peacefully the whole time. Once he was up, he hopped onto Ash's shoulder. After waiting for Dawn to get up as well, he started to head towards the pool.
Ash and Dawn were going to the buffet to meet up with Brock and his date for dinner. He had met them at the pool earlier, and told them to meet him at the buffet to meet her.
They were walking in silence, but Dawn soon broke it. "What do you think she's like?" she asked.
"I don't know. Brock hasn't really said anything about her."
The two had just arrived at the doors of the small restaurant, and walked in. They looked around, and finally spotted Brock sitting at a table next to a woman. The couple headed over to their direction.
"...yeah." The woman had just finished speaking, and looked up to see the two teens looking at her. "I'm assuming you two must be Ash and Dawn. I'm Valerie."
Valerie, by most standards, was fairly attractive. She had long blond hair that stopped at her shoulders, and she looked at them with blue eyes. She then stood up, revealing her full height. She stood at about 5'7, and had a slim figure. She extended her hand out to the two teens. "Nice to meet you."
Ash shook her hand. "You too Valerie," Ash said.
"Same," said Dawn. She stood back a bit and avoided eye contact with Ash and focused on Valerie, something she took notice of.
Ash released Valerie's hand. "I'm gonna go get some food, be back in a bit."
"I'll go with him," Brock added. The two men then headed off to go find some food.
"Oh, you have it bad, don't you?" Valerie's asked Dawn.
"What?"
"Sit. We have some things to talk about while the boys are gone."
"So what happened today?" Brock asked.
"I saw Styles in the arcade. We had a battle."
"That's not what I meant. I saw the way Dawn was looking at you. What did you say to her?"
"Nothing! We were talking and got interrupted. After that she started acting weird."
"What were you talking about?"
"Dawn asked me what I would do if I had a girlfriend. I didn't have an answer, so I asked her the same question."
Brock stopped walking and motioned for Ash to do the same. He led him over to an empty table and pointed at a seat. "Sit," he said.
"Um, okay?" Ash sat down, and Brock sat next to him.
"Tell me what she said in detail. I need to hear this."
Ash then recalled what Dawn had said. From her stuttering in the first few words, to her lowering her head right before she had been interrupted, Ash told it all. Once Ash finished, Brock leaned back in his chair to think.
After a few minutes, he broke the silence. "Repeat back exactly what she said during that last part. Include body language."
"Well, she stopped for a moment, and then started to get really nervous. Then she said, 'most importantly though, I'd want. And then she stopped."
Something inside of Brock's head clicked, and he immediately figured everything out. He thought for a moment, making sure that he was going to say what he wanted to say in terms Ash could understand. "Listen, I'm not gonna tell you what the problem is. What I can tell you is that it would be a good idea to give her some alone time tomorrow. Did you get that?"
"Yeah, I got it."
"Good. Now let's go get some food and get back to the girls."
"Okay."
Ash was lying in bed thinking over the day's events. He heard snoring from his right, indicating that Dawn was already asleep.
He had already decided that the best way to take Brock's advice would be to do some training on the on board training facility. Now, he was simply going over the conversation he'd had with Dawn before they had been interrupted. His mind lingered on the final part, when Dawn got all nervous. He contemplated in his mind what that could possibly mean, but he wasn't getting anywhere. After almost an hour had passed, he started to feel tired and closed his eyes one final time.
Interpret that sunbathing scene however you want to. It'll come into play soon.
Please note: if your OC appeared during the top ten, that doesn't mean that they won't make another appearance again, unless they lost.
That's all. Time for the credits:
Ben Argus belongs to ThirteenMoney
Kara and Clerim both belong to Psychic Karate.
Zack Oliver belongs to White-Falcon-06
Saiyan Styles owns Styles Kaizu.