At the stadium
Hilbert, Bianca, Ash and Stephan were in a crowd of competitors in the Unova League. There were about over two hundred trainers entering the Unova League. The four trainers were amazed about on how many Pokemon Trainer were competing in this one Pokemon League. Ash couldn't believe that this league had so many trainers in one place.
Ash looked around for Trip and Hilbert was looking for Cheren. Both of them found their rival and walked up to them.
"Hey Cheren!"Hilbert greeted to his friend and rival.
Cheren was a thirteen year old that had short black hair, wore a white shirt, a blue jacket with a tie and blue jean. He also wore red glasses.
"Oh Hilbert! It is good to see you!" Cheren said to him.
Trip greeted and complimented him for making it this far and then he noticed Cheren and Hilbert. He walked over to them with Ash behind him to speak to them. It has been almost five months when they last spoke to each other before their journeys began.
"Hey there Cheren and Hilbert!" He said.
"It is a pleasure to see you again Trip" Cheren said to him.
Trip respected Cheren for his quiet personally and being the only one that didn't have a loud or strange personally like Bianca or Hilbert. The two rivals shook hand and wished each other good luck in the tournament.
The tournament began with fireworks and the announcer who was Freddy O' Martian who was the announcer from all the Don George tournament and the World Tournament Junior Cup skydived down and welcomed all the competitors that made it to the Unova League.
"Welcome one and all to the biggest tournament of the year! It's Freddy the Scoop here and I'm ready to roll" He said to all the competitors. "If everyone could turn your attention to the flame base. Vertress City very own Officer Jenny will light the Unova League's flame."
The crowd cheered loudly as the flames were lit on the base.
"Now with that done, we can show who is facing who in the qualifying rounds" Freddy told them as he pointed at the big screen where it had two hundred and fifty six cards that were shuffled around and revealed the opponent that everyone would be facing.
"The round will be split into four blocks of sixty four challenges and which color you're in that block will determine who you'll be fighting in tomorrow!" Freddy explained to them
Ash and his other friends were looking for their opponents that they would be facing in the qualifying rounds. Hilbert found who he was going to be facing in the qualifying round in block green and it was Trip. Ash was going to face off against Cheren in the red block. Bianca and Stephan were facing off two trainers that enter the Don George tournament in the yellow and blue blocks. Most of the trainers were from the previous tournaments that they competed before. The opponents that Bianca and Stephan were facing are Antonio and Emmanuel.
Ash and the others looked at each other then smiled. Facing off powerful opponents on the first day of the tournament. Ash hoped that Trip would win the battle so they could face off in the final round, but also wanted to see how strong Hilbert was. He couldn't wait to see this battle and couldn't wait for all the battles he was going to face as well.
Cheren walked up to Ash and shook his hand. "Good luck Ash. I hope you can being me a real challenge in this League" he smiled at him as Hilbert walked up to them.
"Cheren and Ash, good luck to you guys and I hope you will give us a great battle" Hilbert said. 'I hope that I can beat Trip so I can get to the next round and face Ash or Cheren next time.' he thought.
The three smiled knowing that this was going to be the greatest tournament of their lives.
Ash and others went to the cafeteria, The three rivals Ash, Hilbert and Stephan had a big plate of food stacked to the top. Iris sighed at the three for having an eating contest as they scarfed down the food like a Snorlax with Speed Boost. She was about to call them little kids, but Iris decided not call them that today. Clian was happy that the three had healthy appetites.
"So Ash, what's your plan to battle Cheren?" Iris asked him.
"I don't have a clue!" he answered her as she knew that Ash wouldn't have a plan of tomorrow's battle.
"You should come up with something or you're going to lose in the first round" Iris said worriedly about Ash.
"Don't worry Iris I'll win my battle for sure!" he said with a grin.
Iris sighed and started to eat again. She was wondering if Ash was strong enough for the Pokemon League. She wanted Ash to win because she was his friend, but deep down inside Iris felt something different about Ash. It was like his determination to win made her want him to win. It was weird, but after the last gym she went all the way for him by bringing her drum to cheer him on then put paint on on her and Cilan faces to support him.
Ash won the eating contest and the two trainers congratulated him on his victory. Iris gave Ash a small smile which hid under her 'your such a little kid' face. Ash looked at her then sightly tilted his head wondering what she was smiling about.
She walked away before Ash could ask her why she was smiling at him. Normally she would just tease him and call him a little kid for eating so much food. It was strange to him, but it didn't bother him. He'd rather not being called a kid all the time.
Later that night, Ash and the others went to their rooms to sleep for next big day tomorrow. Iris and Cilan fell fast asleep, but Ash wasn't asleep. He was leaning against the balcony looking at the Unova region's stars. It was like the same time he saw those stars when he first came the Unova Region. It was also the same stars when he first was with Iris. His body began to shake with excitement. The League! The excitement! The many trainers Ash would have to in order to become a stronger trainer. This made him unable to sleep for tomorrow's first round.
"Pikachu, we worked really hard to get where we are today." He said to his partner. "And tomorrow we'll show them how strong we're really are." Pikachu smiled at his partner and couldn't wait for the battle that would be coming soon tomorrow.
Iris woke up from her bed and saw that Ash was awake. She walked up to him to tell him to go back sleep so he can have more energy for tomorrow, but Ash turned around and look at her.
"Iris? What are you doing still up?" he asked to the dragon trainer.
Iris didn't know why she woke up, but she wanted Ash to get some sleep so he would be ready for the Pokemon League. Ash looked at the stars and asked Iris to come look at them with him. Iris walked over to him and stared at the beauty night sky.
"Thank you Iris" he said making her confused why he said that to her.
"Why are you thanking me?" she asked him.
"For you and Cilan cheering me on when I was about to give up at Roxie's Gym" he said.
"It's no problem Ash! It was just that I didn't want you to lose and I wanted to see you battle in Unova League" Iris explained to him.
"Well we should gets some sleep now. We've a big day of ahead of us and I don't want to be to tired for my big match for tomorrow." Ash walked back to his bed while Iris walked behind him. Ash lay down in his bed and Iris sat next to him and smiled.
She looked at his sleeping face and though it was a little bit cute. Iris was shocked to think that Ash was cute. She never thought he was cute before, but why did she though about that? She took another look at Ash and she blushed at the small smile on his face. Was she gaining a small crush on Ash? Why were those feelings are popping up now? Even though, she thought Ash was as cute as her Axew sleeping. The dragon master in training went back to bed and thought about what was she going to do about this crush on Ash.
Her Axew woke up and looked at it trainer and wondering what was wrong with her. He slowly moved to his trainer's side.
"Oh Axew! Did I wake you?" she asked her little dragon Pokemon.
The Axe Jaw Pokemon shook his head saying no and looked into Iris' eyes. Iris petted the dragon Pokemon's head and told him that everything was alright. Both of them then went back to sleep. Iris couldn't wait for tomorrow's battles.
