A/N: Masterclass is starting this chapter. This will be an interesting chapter as Ash gets noticed. By this I mean, by the region. Even though Ash had jumped from Prism Tower, no one would have been expecting what happened recently.
Also, we get introduced to Paula. The female version of Paul (get it). She is not Ash's rival though. She gives Serena a hard time not only as a performer, but also as a love rival. Paula is also known to have a bad temper and be rude to Serena. This will be a great debut for her to prove how Serena and Paula get along.
AmourshippinngCanon gets credit for the plot twist idea :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 12- Are you Sure He answered correctly?
Exiting a pokemon center the next day:
"Serena wait for me!" Ash shouted completely out of breath. He was trying to run up to Serena with a bunch of food in his hands while also trying not to stain his precious scarf.
"We have to hurry up and get to the lobby of the auditorium as soon as possible!" Serena said urgently. "Registration ends soon and I have to get ready for the beginning of the masterclass!" The duo and Pikachu was running through Glorio City passing streets, people, and buildings while also ignoring the beautiful landscape of the city. They were urgent to get to the showcase as it was starting soon.
At the showcase:
"Man, where is Serena and Ash?" Tierno asked as he sat on a couch in the lobby. The lobby was very bright with sky lights and there was also a lot of couches to sit at. Tierno was with Trevor and Calem while Shauna was registering.
"I think they are getting here, let's hope they do," Trevor said with a slightly panicked voice. Suddenly, the door burst open with a large bang turning heads in the direction of the doorway.
"Speaking of the devil, there they are now!" Calem started as he stood up from his seat recognizing the raven haired trainer and honey blonde performer. "Ash, Serena!"
Ash and Serena noticed the trio and walked up to them. "Hey guys," Ash wheezed with an out of breath voice.
"Sup!" All three boys replied in unison making them all chuckle at being able to think of the same greeting.
Trevor then spoke up with eyes widened as he remembered a crucial fact, "Serena get to registration! Shauna is already doing it!"
"I agree Serena, go now I still have to eat," Ash replied looking at the food in his hands as he sat down next to Calem with his mouth watering.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu agreed as he took a ketchup packet from Ash and cracked it open to expose the tomato contents that made the electric mouse crave.
"Alright I will see you guys later!" Serena stated with a slight chuckle while shifting her gaze out of Pikachu as she left for the desk to meet up with Shauna and register for the contest of her lifetime. Ash watched her walk off and disappear behind the counter before turning back to his food. He then started gobbling down the food whole which made the others nervous.
"How hungry are you Ash?" Tierno asked with a shocked expressions as he looked at Ash. He had to admit, he had never expected Ash to look this hungry in his life, and here he was gobbling down what seemed to be a large sandwich that he must have bought on the way to the auditorium.
"Extremely, I overslept this morning and Serena had to use Pikachu to wake me up with thunderbolt," Ash said sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head and then continued to look back down and eat his food.
"Ok, now, just how much do you guys sleep together?" Calem asked Ash with a sly look on his face. Ash nearly choked on his food at this as he was obviously not stupid to know what Calem was talking about. Calem was surprised to know that Ash even understood, but it was definitely the next part that told Calem how dense Ash really was:
"Umm, we slept in different beds, you know?" Ash responded rather embarrassed. "And sleeping with a girl? That is…" Ash then shivered like if he was afraid of 'cooties'. "I don't know, what it is, but I don't think it is good…"
"Mhm, keep telling yourself that," Everyone else smirked and muttered to themselves making sure that Ash would not hear, which he didn't by lack of response.
"Anyways, I am sure Serena will win this!" Ash exclaimed as he pumped a fist into the air trying to change the topic.
"Wanna bet? I am going with Shauna!" Calem pressured while sticking out his hand as if a challenge.
"Deal!" Ash responded with a smirk sas he shook Calem's hand and shook it with determination.
At that moment, a girl with magenta hair and fancy clothes came up to the boys, "Hello, I am 'Ariana', I came to tell you guys that if you are good at quizzes, you should get ready and sign up over there."
"Quizzes, why?" Ash asked slightly perplexed at the statement. Why would anyone even want to take a quiz if they were not participating?
"You'll see," Ariana winked and walked towards the desk and disappeared from the sight of the other trainers.
"Doesn't she look like Aira?" Tierno said in a low voice to make sure that not many people heard.
"Now that you mention it, she does," Trevor replied slightly confused.
Ash and Calem seemed to like the idea so Ash was the first to shift his gaze to the smiling jet black haired trainer. "Well, quizzes are fun, Calem what do you think?" Ash said with enthusiasm.
"I agree Ash, want to sign up?" Calem asked with a shrug of his shoulders. At this, Ash nodded confirming the response and both trainers got up and walked towards the desk to sign up.
On the other side of the pokemon center, there was a woman with a white attire that seemed to have wings. She had short hair and a necklace with a keystone shaped like a music note. This woman eyed Ash with curiosity. "It's him, the boy with that Sceptile…" She whispered to herself while trying not to get noticed by the many people that were in the lobby.
Serena POV:
I had just finished registering and my pokedex was being returned to me.
"All done!" the woman told me with a smile. "Good luck and try your best!"
"Thanks!" I reply back. "I won't lose!"
I put away my pokedex and walk towards the door behind me expecting to see Shauna. Instead, I got shoulder slammed by a girl with purple hair and an aggressive attitude… Paula.
"... Pathetic," Paula replied.
I look at her in the eyes and become infuriated, "What did… you say…?"
"Oh please, after this is over I will be the Kalos Queen and have Ash under my wing," Paula smirked at me. My cheeks became warm with sexual embarrassment and pure anger.
"I'll show you!" I retaliate and walk back towards the room Paula came out from, not looking back. I sit down and grab my hair in frustration. "Uuurrgghh!"
"Serena, are you alright?" I hear a familiar voice. I look up and am relieved.
I smile trying to hide my anger and speak up in a relax tone, "Hey Shauna…"
"Don't let her get to you like that, remember to never give up…" Shauna started.
I exhaled and replied, "Until the very end…" I felt more relaxed now that Shauna was here and I did not feel any more intimidated by the competition around me. All the other girls were putting on makeup or dressing up, so I went over to the dressing room and started to change.
I put on a red dress like the one I used at the dance party. I also put beads on my hair and I tied the ribbon Ash gave me where I normally put it: my chest.
I was ready.
With the boys in the lobby:
A woman came into the lobby and walked up to the boys, she had brown hair and a gold hair clip, "Hello boys, did Serena already go to change?"
"Mrs. Grace!" Everyone else exclaimed at the sight of Serena's mother.
"Serena went to change and get ready," Ash said with a smile.
"That is great," Grace responded back with a smile. She did find Ash as a nice boy so she trusted him well. Specially since Ash ran a Rhyhorn race for Grace before he went to Lumiose City for his fifth gym battle against Clemont.
After some chatting, a person got on the loudspeaker so that everyone could hear, "The showcase will begin in thirty minutes… We are going to need all spectators to go to the stands and I am going to need all of the males that are participating in the quiz to go to the fitting rooms to change."
Ash and Calem went to the changing room while Tierno, Trevor and Grace went to the stands. Trevor and Tierno offered to take care of Pikachu.
"Good luck to both of you," Grace told Ash and Calem as she went to the stands.
Ash and Calem walked through the halls at a loss of where to go. They eventually got to where they had to go, but found out there was only two suits left. Both were tuxedos with a black bow tie and underneath was a white dress shirt. Both of them put the clothes on, but Ash left on his gloves and scarf.
"I'm not used to dressing up like this," Ash said sheepishly.
"Me neither," Calem responded. "By any chance, are your pokemon with you?"
"Yea, all but Pikachu who is in the stands," Ash said as the duo walked to where all the other males were. They were all dressed up the same way, some of them were picking who they wanted to be partnered with. The room they were in was very large, but bland too as there was no furniture. Apparently, the wall was behind the stage so they would be chosen by a performer.
"This Samantha girl is really hot," one boy said.
"Shauna is the prettiest, I am going for her!" another boy with spiky hair said gaining Calem's attention. Calem started to look like he was going to intervene, but Ash stopped him.
"Calem, the performers choose, not us," Ash whispered. Calem was still tense, but relaxed his blood boil.
Someone in a security outfit then came up to Ash, "Hello, your scarf, can you take it off?"
Ash recoiled, but in a defeated way took off his beloved scarf and hid it in his shirt as it was too big for the pocket of his dress pants. It was also to stiff to tuck in so he wrapped it around his shoulder inside the tuxedo.
Suddenly, a screen appeared where the wall would open and Monsieur Pierre started to talk.
Serena POV:
I was in a small confined space. Inside there was three keyholes. I figured that this was how i would use my three princess keys. Suddenly, the crowd roared as the door where I would exit through had a television screen portraying Monsieur Pierre.
"Hello! And welcome to ze Masterclass Showcase! I'm your host Monsieur Pierre! And who will win this Tiara or defend it?" Pierre said making the crowd roar as Klefki showed off the Tiara. I could barely hear through the crowd as Monsieur Pierre began to talk again. "Alors, let's begin! First, let's show off our beautiful performers taking part in this competition! May our performers use ze three princess keys they have gathered to open a gate to their future!"
"Un!" the crowd roared as I put my first key in. I remembered the moment I cut my shredded dress using the motto Ash taught me when we first met.
"Deux!" I put the second key in. I remember how I pushed through and won through everything with a spectacular performance from Braixen and Floette.
"Trois!" I put the key in and remembered using Sylveon to wrap up the performance and ended up winning with determination against all odds.
The door started to glow as the screen stopped showing Monsieur Pierre.
At that moment I felt my pulse begin to pick up as I felt a gust of small breeze brush my hair to the sides. I felt my agape mouth slowly curve upwards into a smile as I saw what I was going to go up against.
Then, the door slid all the way down. I looked around and saw the cheering crowd. Lot's of people watching and cheering for everyone on stage. I look to my left and see Shauna smiling. I look around the stage and see Klefki with a Tiara in hand which is supposed to be given to the Kalos Queen. There was thirty performers on stage and I knew I had to do my best.
Monsieur Pierre then looked at the crowd and stared at the performers and me and began to speak. "We now have thirty performers that can become ze new Kalos Queen, while we also have Aria trying to defend her title. Who will win? It is up to you and ze way they perform! So let's get into ze first challenge!"
The crowd again gave a deafening cheer for everyone as three podiums went up in front of an obstacle course. A starting line that went into three separate rock climbs and then at the top was three balls for the three routes. Then a tight rope back and finally a track with hurdles going around the stage. The finish line then also was for the three paths. I was intimidated by the fact that I would need a pokemon to do that and I really only had Braixen.
"Our first round is a pokemon quiz!" Pierre exclaimed. The next part got my attention: "It will be a partner activity which means you will choose a partner and one of his pokemon to do ze course. Ze partner will also answer ze second part of now two part questions… Now, ze first pokemon to cross ze finish line with ze ball earns the question for the team… If a team gets ze question wrong, then ze second place team gets to steal!" the crowd roared at the instructions. They were ready. "First to get three right moves on! Now… choose a partner from ze fine selection of males!"
Partner… I saw as the wall behind the stage opened up. Suddenly, I saw him… ASH! I looked at him and he looked at me. Ash smiled and I started to walk up to him.
"Ash, would you-" I started when I reached him.
"Ash, be my partner!" I heard Paula screech as she took Ash's hand. This maneuver made me steam up in anger. I looked at Ash and began to feel hopeless… Paula was the one that would get him…
I guess I should get another partner then…
Wait...
"Sorry Paula, but I want to do this with Serena."
"That slob?" Paula asked in a somewhat very irritated tone of voice. "She is ugly, her hair is too short and that ribbon is disgusting!" Paula retaliated as she motioned to the ribbon on the chest of my dress.
My heart rate quickened… I felt a million dagger start to rush my chest.
I then gritted my teeth, I felt like I was about to say something back, but Ash beat me to it: "Serena is not a slob, she is very pretty in my opinion. Her hair is just above her shoulders so it is somewhat longer than normal hair and it looks great as well… and just so you know… I gave her that ribbon!" Ash's outburst surprised me, but by looking at Ash, I could tell HE was just as surprised. Was he telling the truth? He did say he gave me the ribbon which is true, but am I really pretty to him?
"Fine then!" Paula grunted as she walked off to another person in a sour mood. I saw Calem with Shauna and became a little intimidated, but other than that I knew I had a great partner.
"Serena, would you be my partner?" Ash asked nervously. After all he said, he was still recovering and I could see it in the tone of his voice… It was quite shaky.
I felt my cheeks heat up a little as a blush came in, "I'd love to Ash." At that time, the entire crowd started cheering. Why is the crowd cheering? I just mentally shrugged my shoulders and was happy to be partners with Ash.
At the stands (Normal POV):
Grace was watching in awe as Ash defended Serena. Little did Ash and Serena know that Ash's outburst against Paula was broadcasted all over Kalos and the microphone picked up every word. Of course Ash and Serena were unable to figure out what happened as when Serena accepted Ash to be her partner, the crowd roared in approval.
"Ash with Serena!" Trevor shouted. "And Calem with Shauna!"
Tierno was looking hype at the showcase, "Good luck to all of you!"
"PIKAPI!" Pikachu shouted with excitement. He was sitting between between Grace and Trevor enjoying the scene.
"Serena, best of luck," Grace muttered to herself.
Normal POV a little later:
"Serena, we are up next," Ash started. "I will use Frogadier in the obstacle course since I want to train his agility."
Serena sighed, "You and your training." Calem and Shauna had swept the quiz like if nothing. Serena had no intention to lose this early.
A woman then went up to the duo, "Serena, Ash, you guys are up now, best of luck."
"Right!" the duo responded.
"Whoa!" Ash shouted as the floor started to move. Serena giggled as the floor moved to be in front of a podium. There were two other pairs on the stage, both were foreign to Ash and Serena, but they had to work their best.
"Now, gentlemen, please show us ze pokemon you will use to compete!" Pierre instructed as the crowd watched intently for the pokemon to be showed.
"Frogadier I choose you!" Ash exclaimed as a white light sparkled Frogadier.
"Espeon!" One other guy said showing off an Espeon.
"Makuhita!" the other teenager said as Makuhita came out.
Pierre looked at the competition and seemed confident, "Alright then, our first part of the first question is: What is the berry that cures sleep? BEGIN!"
Battle music can start
"Alright Frogadier use your frubbles to get up the rock climb quickly!" Ash ordered.
"Dier dier dier!" Frogadier said as he climbed the rocks at the speed of a ninja.
The others were surprised at how Frogadier moved. Frogadier got the ball and passed through the tight rope with ease. After that, Frogadier got to the hurdles and simply jumped over them. Frogadier finished first leaving the other pokemon still at the rock climb.
"Ze first question is for Serena," Pierre started. "Ze question was, what berry cures sleep. What is ze answer?"
Serena took a deep breath and thought of her answer. After that she looked at Pierre and said, "Chesto berry."
"Correct!" Pierre called out. "One point for Ash and Serena!" The crowd cheered at the victory of the first question. Then Pierre turned to Ash, "To assure you get the point, Ash, what pokemon would you find in the wild that can be woken up by a pokeflute?"
Ash thought about his answer, "Snorlax!"
"Correct!" The other pokemon now got to the starting line again, ready for round two. "Ze next question is: What move is able to assure a pokemon gets paralyzed?"
The same thing happened this time. Frogadier used his frubbles to make things easier for himself and with ease made it to the finish line.
"Ash and Serena again, Serena, ze answer s'il vous plaît?" Pierre asked.
"The answer is Thunder Wave!" Serena responded.
"Very well Serena," Pierre said as he turned to Ash. "Ash, name one of ze two gym leaders zat have zis move and in which pokemon do zey use it?"
Ash thought about his answer, but quickly responded, "Clemont, the Lumiose City Gym Leader, and his Heliolisk knows Thunder Wave and Olympia also has a Meowstic that knows it!" Ash recalled how he used Goodra's hydration and rain dance to cure his paralysis during his battle against Clemont.
"Correct! I was only expecting one, but you managed to give both," Pierre responded with a chuckle. The crowd was excited. Ash and Serena smiled to each other, they were leading and only needed one more question left to respond.
The other two males were getting desperate, they did not want to disappoint their performers.
"Ze next question will be kind of… hard." Pierre eyed the teams while then sneaking a glance at Ash, but it was obvious that the audience had gone quiet just to know what was going to be the question. "If a trainer were to give an item for his pokemon, what pokemon would you think would have a twig in his mouth?" Pierre asked. "BEGIN!"
Ash tensed at the question, he definitely knew the answer. He ordered Frogadier to do the same as before, but this time the others were very desperate. One went as far as to attack Frogadier:
"Makuhita use arm thrust!" one of the teenagers exclaimed. Everyone gasped as they saw the attack for Frogadier.
Ash's eyes widened, but he kept his cool, "Frogadier counter with aerial ace!"
"Fro...ga...DIER!" Frogadier made one of his limbs glow white before turning around and colliding with the orange glowing fist headed in the direction of Frogadier. Suddenly, aerial ace overpowered and sent Makuhita to the ground unable to battle forcing the teenager to recall Makuhita.
"Ash's and Brannon's teams do not get to answer first for what just happened, since Frogadier caused more illegal damage in ze long run, Ash and Serena will only have a chance to answer if ze other two contestants get ze answer wrong!" Pierre snapped.
Brannon and the other teenager smirked at Ash. Serena looked at Ash and got worried as she saw rage building up on Ash. She out hand on Ash's shoulder and told him to relax. Effectively, Ash did calm down and Serena felt it by the tension built up on Ash's shoulder.
"Zendaya, you get to answer first, what is ze answer?" Pierre asked with an unsure expression.
"Ummm… Trevenant?" The performer called Zendaya replied, it was almost like a question, obviously a guess at the pokemon.
"Wrong, Cali, you get to steal!" Pierre informed with a disappointed tone on his voice.
"Ummm… Sudowoodo?" Cali responded unsure with her answer as well as it also came out as a question.
"Wrong, I am surprised we got to Ash and Serena again," Pierre remarked with a slight chuckle as he eyed the duo in front of him. "Serena, ze answer?"
Ash was tensed up completely, he hoped Serena would not know for once. His worries were confirmed when Serena thought about exactly what she saw a couple days prior when she asked Ash about an evolution. "The answer is Sceptile!"
Ash looked at Pierre who looked at Serena surprised, the raven haired trainer could not help but feel his heart rate rise. Ash hoped Serena somehow got it wrong…
Ash felt as the heart in his chest began to bang his rib cage:
Bum bum
"Correct!" Pierre exclaimed making the crowd roar.
Ash wanted to die at this point, he knew his Sceptile had to be the only one that wore a twig in his mouth.
Bum bum
"Ash, recently there some leaked footage of a Sceptile that evolved from a Grovyle and then defeated a Darkrai at a base zat exploded some time ago," Pierre started. "Zis Sceptile had a twig on his mouth…"
Bum bum
At the side of the stage:
Calem was completely tensed up, he knew where this was going.
"Calem is something wrong?" Shauna asked worried.
"Yes…"
"What is it?"
"... Just watch," Calem replied in an alarmed tone.
Back at the stands:
"Come on Ash make Serena proud!" Grace shouted through the crowd with clenched arms and definitely a very stressed out tone. "Bring the girl to home base, hit the grand slam!"
"Pikachu…" Pikachu was worried for his trainer though, he sensed the tension in Ash.
On the top of the stands with Aria:
"It has to be him," A woman muttered.
"What is it Diantha?" Aria asked from her seat while looking to her left to see the champion of Kalos looking down at the stage with great interest.
"Just watch," The woman called Diantha replied to her right with a smile. Diantha had grown some interest on the raven haired trainer that was down in the stage. It was, in fact, interesting for her to see that he was right in front of her. Diantha turned her attention to Serena and then sighed as she whispered something: "That girl is very attached to him… I think she might be crucial to how this boy performs in the future."
Back at the quiz:
"Ze Sceptile's trainer had an article of clothing around his neck, can you describe it?" Pierre asked. Frogadier instantly tensed up at this as well.
Ash put his hand on his shoulder and through his tuxedo felt it, the answer. Ash was debating whether to answer or not. 'Should I answer? Come on for Serena!' Ash thought. The crowd had become dead silent.
Bum bum
Serena noticed Ash having trouble and talked with him, "Ash, just guess if you need to." Serena then forced a reassuring smile. "We can get another question right anyways…"
Ash looked at Serena's blue eyes and knew he needed to do it despite the bad memory of being reunited with his father persisted.
Bum bum
Ash took a deep breath and answered, "A blue scarf with two ends that suspend in mid air."
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
"Correct, but may I ask, the footage was only leaked to some individuals… Only those that have the power of mega evolution, how do you know?" Pierre asked.
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Bum bum
Ash feared this, but he had to do it. He took a deep breath and spoke into the quiet auditorium, "First off, I have the power of mega evolution." Ash showed off his keystone, but then reached for his scarf and pulled it out before speaking again making others gasp. Ash put the scarf around his neck the way it was always worn and looked at a distressed Pierre. "Secondly… That trainer was… me."
Then the clip of the leaked footage was played for everyone to see on the large screen. Serena was shocked as she looked at the distressed Ash.
The auditorium cheered as they saw the battle.
"Serena is the one that advances to ze next round!" Pierre announced in amusement with the crowd.
A/N: Wow, well done Ash. Also, there was also a hint about Trevor in this episode. Tell me if you found it in reviews, it is not that bad of a spoiler.
Nice addition of the heart beat huh? OK, I know it might be weird when it was in 3rd person POV, but at least you felt it when Ash was revealing a secret...
Things get real next time, believe me...
Remember to R & R and I will see you guys next time!
Responding to some Reviews:
Ninjafang1331: Thanks, glad you enjoyed the battle.
AmourshippingFan: They will! Glad you liked the battle and the chapter itself!
TheLegendaryGuy: It was Garchoo, that is the nickname in the anime… Thanks Remo! Anyways, Serena is not Mairin, she will come in later into the story, but don't worry about the ship xD! You are VERY accurate about the Pichu thing, but the scene is supposed to foreshadow something else ;)... See if you can guess that. Anyways, glad you enjoyed!
Guest 1: I am glad you enjoyed the chapter! Hope to see you in the next one!