The first thing Harry was aware of was the voices. He couldn't make out any words, it sounded more like buzzing to him, but he did recognize some of the voices. He opened his eyes, unable to see very clearly at first. He could make out several colored blurs. Harry tried to sit up, with got everyone's attention.

"Harry!" Multiple voices cried out in surprise, relief and joy.

"That's my name….anyone want to hand me my glasses?" He croaked out, voice still hoarse and trying to sit up. Several pairs of hands helped him sit up against numerous pillows. His glasses were placed on his face while someone held up a glass of water.

Savoring the cool liquid, Harry finally looked around the room. He was in a large hospital room, nothing spectacular about it. Though it was filled with several people either standing or sitting in chairs. Iriana, Ash and Delilah on one side, Giovanni, Persian and Oak on the other. At the foot of his bed was Naomi who was holding a Pokémon, and behind her was the Gym Leaders and the three Rockets.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Harry asked with a grin.

"Not much, you just scaring the crap out of all of us." Naomi said with a smirk, cuddling her Pokémon. To Harry it looked like a blue and cream beach ball with a face. Naomi laughed when she saw him staring. "This is Arctic, a Spheal. She hatched a few days ago on my way up here."

"You had us all very worried Harry." Oak said. "They had to operate on you for several hours, working to get the burnt and dead skin off."

"They said that you'll be fine, though very sore and weak for a few days. You'll also have the scars for the rest of your life." Delilah added.

Seeing their sad faces, Harry was quick to reassure them, "So what if I got a couple new scars, it was worth it to see them going down like that." This seemed to perk them up a bit. Harry turned to Ash. "How was your battle? Sorry I missed it."

The older teen just laughed, "Don't worry about it, I won easily and then came straight over here, same as everyone else." Just then, his stomach, along with Harry's, started to growl. Everyone laughed at the faces the two made.

"Come on Ash. You and the kids will help me with getting food for everyone, Oak, you're coming too." Delilah said, standing up.

"Why me?" He mock-whined.

"Who else is going to pay?" She asked sweetly, causing everyone to snicker. Pouting, he followed Delilah and the teens out the door. At the mention of food, the Rocket trio chased after them, waving goodbye to Harry.

"Harry, we'll be back in an hour, there's something we need to do." Spectra said, leading the Leaders out.

So now only Giovanni and Persian were with Harry. After a minute of silence, Harry cleared his throat. "So…there was something you wanted to ask me?"

"Yes…" Giovanni started. He almost looked nervous, but Persian gently prodded him. "I know, I know. Harry…I've grown quite fond of you. So have Persian and all my Rockets. And….well…"

"Yeah..." Harry said, wondering where this was going.

"So, I wanted to know…wanted to ask you…" The man seemed to be having trouble finding the words.

"Oh for heaven's sake." Persian shook her head at her Trainer. She turned to Harry. "He wants to know if you wouldn't mind being adopted by him."

Speechless, Harry turned to Giovanni, and shakily asked, "Is what she said…true?"

Even without understanding his Pokémon, the Rocket Boss nodded, "It would make me the happiest man on earth, if I could call you 'son'."

Shocked, though grinning ear to ear, Harry launched himself at Giovanni, who wrapped the teen up in a hug, mindful of his injuries. "I take that as a 'yes'." He laughed out.

Their bonding moment was broken by the sound of clapping and the flash of a camera. Blinking, the two looked over at the door to see everyone was back with food, Iriana holding up a camera. "I told you revenge is a dish best served cold! Blackmail!" She cackled.

Everyone there just had an anime sweatdrop at the girl's antics.

"Anyway, everyone sit down and I'll pass out the food." Delilah said. Grabbing either a chair or just sitting on the floor, the Ketchum Matriarch dished out some pasta for everyone. Thankfully, Harry's bed wasn't that high off the ground, so he could see the people on the floor. He noticed four new comers.

"Hey, aren't you guys the Champions?" Harry asked, petting Meowth and Pikachu (who had jumped up onto the bed almost immediately when they returned).

The one with spiky red hair laughed, "Yeah, I'm Lance."

The teal haired one went, "I am Wallace."

"Cynthia." The blonde one said.

And finally the silver haired one went, "Astra's my name."

"We went and got them, they were eager to meet you and Iriana." Bolt said between bites.

Wallace nodded, "We've heard a lot of good things about you two from the Leaders."

"Plus, we wanted to make sure you were alright after what had happened." Cynthia said, concern showing in her visible eye.

"I'm alright, though every time I move I get a twinge of pain, but that should go pretty soon."

"I hope so," Astra said. "We got the Tournament postponed until tomorrow. They needed to fix up the arena, plus to give you time to relax and heal."

"So what should we do for the rest of the day?" Ash asked.

Everyone thought for a minute, then Oak grinned, "I know! I spy with my-"

"NO!" Everyone but Harry and Iriana yelled, shocking the two. Seeing their confused looks, Lance explained, "Never, ever let that man play 'I spy', he gives the hardest names he can to the simplest of items." Everyone shuddered at some shared memory.

"Well…how about you guys tell some stories?" Naomi suggested, feeding Arctic from a bottle. "I'm sure, as Champions and Gym Leaders, you guys have great stories to tell."

And that's how the rest of the day passed. Some stories got them gasping from excitement, others laughing so hard they had tears coming out their eyes.

"Like this one time," Lance was explaining. "I was trying to teach my Aerodactyl how to use Flamethrower. But the poor guy couldn't get it and we were both getting frustrated. I told him 'Just aim and fire! Destroy the stupid target!' I didn't realize that I was standing next to the target…"

Laughter from everyone, "So, did Aerodactyl use Flamethrower?" Ash asked, snickering between words.

"Oh yeah he did. Burnt my hair right off! It took me ages to grow it back." Lance waved his arms dramatically, causing several people to fall out of their chairs at the scene, laughing until tears fell from their eyes.

All in all, the Trainers and guests all had a great time. Finally after several hours of storytelling, they left to let Harry get some sleep.

Once the room was empty, Harry's Pokémon came out of their Pokeballs. Medieon, Ninetales and Froslass all cuddled up with him on his bed. Serperior curled around it, laying his head near Harry's. Absol and Metagross took position on either side of his bed.

"Hey guys, sorry about the scary I gave you." Harry said, petting the Pokémon on his bed.

"Just don't do it again.." Serperior ordered, staring at him.

"I don't think I've ever been that scared Pops." Ninetales said softly, nuzzling his stomach.

Absol fixed him with a piercing glare, "If you ever do something like that again, I'll never let you get off my back or out of my sight. You'll have to stay there for the rest of your life, putting up with me being a mother-hen." At Harry's incredulous look, all his Pokémon started to laugh.

"We love you Harry and we don't like seeing you hurt." Medieon said, curled up by Harry's side.

"I promise I will try my best to stay out of trouble guys. Though usually trouble always finds me."

"Then we'll just have to keep a closer eye on you." Metagross replied, a warm tone in his robotic voice.

"Thanks guys." Harry yawned out. "Bedtime I think…see you tomorrow."

Harry woke up early the next morning, his Pokémon still sound asleep surrounding him. Moving experimentally, he was pleasantly surprised to find only a dull ache, nothing like the pain he was in yesterday. Leaning back against his pillows, Harry turned to look out the window and watch the sunrise. The few clouds on the horizon took on a reddish glow, making them look like fire against the multicolored sky. The mountains that surrounded the League turned gold in the morning light.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

Startled by the voice, Harry turned towards the door to see the Champions walking into the room, Cynthia holding a package while the others held trays filled with food for breakfast. Lance started to speak, making Harry realize it was him that asked the question. "We wanted to surprise you when you woke up, but you beat us to it."

"Yeah, I usually wake up because of the sun, but I haven't enjoyed a sunrise in a long time." Harry explained, gratefully taking one of the trays from Wallace. As the group started eating, the emerald eyed Trainer asked, "Hey Cynthia, what's in the package?"

The blonde-haired Champion laughed, "A present for you when you're done eating."

Before he could question more, Nurse Joy walked into the room. "Good morning everyone."

"Morning Nurse Joy." Was chorused right back at her.

Giving a smile, she turned to Harry. "Would you mind if I took your Pokémon to get them checked over? I never got to come over yesterday; it was busy at the Center."

"No problem Nurse Joy." Harry said. Thankfully, all his Pokémon were awake because of the smell of food. "Can you guys go with Nurse Joy? I'm sure you'll find breakfast at the Center." Nodding, the Pokémon followed the Nurse out of the room.

Another nurse came in, her arms full of bandages, "Okay Harry. I'm going to change your bandages. Would you like to shower before I put on the new ones?"

"Yes please ma'am." Harry said.

Nodding, she placed the new bandages on the end of his bed and started working on his old ones. They wrapped completely around his torso. "When you shower, don't use soap on your wounds or they will sting. Just take a washcloth and gently pat them down. When you're done, just push the 'Call' button over on the wall. I'll be back to put on your new bandages." And with that, the nurse left taking the old bandages to be disposed of.

Looking down, Harry could see the ugly marks that circled his body. At the moment they were a flaming red, the edges almost black in color.

Lance whistled, "Man that got you good Harry." Wincing in sympathy, the other Champions nodded.

"Oh well, I'm still here aren't I?" Harry said cheerfully, slowly getting out of bed towards the bathroom.

"Here Harry." Cynthia handed him the package. "It's some new clothes; your other ones were burnt and torn beyond repair."

"Thanks guys." Harry said with a grin and went into the bathroom. Quickly doing his routine, Harry stepped out of the shower. Wrapping a towel around his waist, he stood in front of the mirror, somehow not having fogged up because of the steam from the water. His front was covered in whip marks, a darker color because the whip wrapped around him, and he knew the ones on his back would be lighter but there would be a lot more of them.

Shaking his head, he opened up the package. After putting on everything but the shirt, he admired the new outfit. The shirt was a white muscle shirt etched with tribal Pokémon in different colored threads all over. The pants were blue jeans with a golden tribal Arceus running up the lower left pant leg, and black boots. He also put on the gold belt that came with the outfit. He even got white and gold wrist bands, which he slapped on.

Harry finally stepped out of the bathroom and saw that they were a more people in his room. Everyone from yesterday was in the room except Iriana and thankfully the nurse was back along with Nurse Joy with his Pokémon in their Pokeballs. With practiced precision, she bandaged Harry up, who put on the new shirt gratefully. "Okay, the doctor said as long as you take it easy, you may go. Good luck with your battles." The nurse said and left.

"Looking good Harry." Ash grinned.

"They look great; we were worried that they wouldn't fit." Astra said happily.

Harry smiled and nodded, "They fit perfectly, thanks guys." He took the Pokeballs from Nurse Joy, who gave him a swift hug for good luck and she left to go back to the Center. Harry looked around, "Anyone seen Iriana?"

Cynthia laughed, "She's changing into her new outfit. She got blood on her outfit yesterday so we got her a new one as well."

Harry just rolled his eyes, "We'll be here for a while, if I know Iriana like I think I do."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Iriana's voice came from the doorway. Her hair was the in the same style as always. She now wore a lilac, single strap shirt with only one sleeve that flared at her wrist. It had silver flower petals falling across it, black ankle length pants with flower petals in different colors falling across the bottom part of her pants, and black shoes. Her Pokeballs were on the silver belt she wore.

Harry answered her question with a smirk, "It's just that you have an addiction to shopping, so you always take forever to try something on." Those who knew Iriana like Harry started laughing at the true statement.

"Oh ha ha. Remember Harry, revenge is a dish best served, in this case, very cold." She warned, causing Harry to gulp slightly.

"Anyway…come on guys. We got Semi-Finals to win!" Harry cheered, making Ash and Iriana cheer as well.

Fifteen minutes later found Harry and Iriana back in the locker rooms. "This is it, we beat them, and we get to battle the Champions." Harry said, fiddling with his bracelet. He was grateful that it managed to avoid the whip and not get destroyed.

"I feel like there should be dramatic music playing or something." Iriana joked. "Anyway, let's give it our all."

They were about to head out of the room, when they got a sudden chill down their spine, like they were being watched.

"Uh, Iriana, do you feel that?"

"What? The feeling of impending doom? The feeling that we might not make it out alive? The feeling of unimaginable horrors about to be unleased?"

"Yeah, that feeling."

The two shared a loo, then slowly turned around. Staring at the doors leading back out into the main League building, they jumped when the doors started to shake, furious pounding on the other side. Looking on either side of them, they saw the rows of lockers starting to shake with all the vibrations.

They slowly started to back away, when it happened. A horror beyond all other horrors was unleashed.

Fangirls.

"There he is!" "Harry we love you!" "Marry me!" "I want his gorgeous eyes!" "Have my child!"

"WTF? I'm just a kid!" Harry yelled, backing up with Iriana. They were surrounded by dozens of fangirls, each with hearts in their eyes.

Iriana turned to Harry, "Harry, I love you like a little brother, but sacrifices must be made." She grabbed Harry's arm. "HERE YOU GO LADIES!" And she tossed him into the Sea of Fangirls, laughing as she ran out of the room.

Harry meanwhile, shivered in terror at the look in their eyes. "Oh crap." And he ran, ravenous fangirls on his heels.

Iriana meanwhile, had made it outside and went straight to the referee and explained what had happened. Wincing in sympathy he nodded before raising his mic. "Ladies and Gentlemen, the battle will be postponed until we can save Harry." Gasps around the audience. "It seems that he is currently being chased by fangirls." The audience cringed. "We'll send a search and rescue party."