In the middle of the arena:
"AND HERE ARE OUR TOP 16 TRAINERS!"
The announcer boomed through the hexagonal stadium as the entire crowd cheered at the sight of the sixteen trainers in the middle of the field. The stage was small, but it was big enough so that all sixteen trainers could stand with pride in the middle. It was actually the same battlefield mechanism that made it so that the stage could raise to be in between the dugouts. The stage consisted of a concrete floor in which the sixteen trainers aligned themselves. Ash found himself in between Tierno and Calem in one of the ends. Calem held the edge of the stage as Ash noticed that the other edge of the stage was occupied by the cloaked man.
Ash shifted his gaze among the trainers and noticed that Damian was five trainers to the right of Calem which made Ash flinch a little, but Ash did not really care much instead of the fact that he still felt the effects from the last battle with Hau. Ash was still trying to understand what was paining Hau so much that he had to win, it was like if Hau was trying to save someone at the same time by winning the prizes that came from winning the match.
"Ash, don't be so down, you won," Ash's thoughts were interrupted by Professor Sycamore who was in front of him. "Here you go Ash, congratulations." With this Ash was handed a check with 200 thousand Kaleuros. Professor Sycamore then moved from Ash to Calem and towards the other end of the stage. Ash shifted his gaze down on the check and thought about what this means. True, it was his problem some time ago, but now he knew that he could somehow even afford to have a roof over his head and maybe an endless supply of the most exquisite cuisine that can be offered.
"Pikapi?"
Ash looked down to see Pikachu looking at him with some worry in his eyes, Ash then forced a smile, "It is alright Pikachu, I am just a little conflicted about this."
"Pika…" Pikachu replied with a soft smile back at his trainer.
"Ash, what are you going to do with all of this money?" Ash heard from his left to see Tierno holding his check with a jumpy attitude. Ash chuckled at this as Tierno continued talking through the large amounts of cheering. "I am thinking of maybe buying myself a new step meter so I can check how healthy I am as I move and grove!"
"Hehe," Calem replied from Ash's right and then responded with: "I am sure that with you jumping around and dancing about, you could be able to stay healthy no matter what!"
"Guys alright, let me think," Ash said with a slight chuckle before turning his attention back to the check and then made a plan that would hopefully help him get what he needed to get done easily and quickly, but first he would need to find something out. "Alright guys, I know what I have to do, but first we should make sure that we enjoy our time here."
"Oh man Ash, what are you talking about?" Calem asked with a sarcastic smile before putting his arm over Ash's neck and smiling. "It is true, we are going to enjoy ourselves tonight!"
"Now to announce the event to celebrate our best 16 trainers of the region!"
"Celebration?" Ash asked as Pikachu got on his shoulder and the entire stadium quieted down. The announcer had caught everyone that was standing in the stage off guard except apparently Professor Sycamore, who had the brightest smile on his face. "I wonder what this is all about…"
"The celebration consists of a festival East of the stadium on the streets. The twist is that only the trainers may come and they are only allowed to have one guest, so pick wisely who you will bring to the celebration! There will be music, dancing, games, and this is also the time where we will make the first match ups of the next round which will be a battle of 6 on 6!"
At this the entire crowd began to cheer. Calem though, he seemed to already have a plan in his head, "I am going to bring Shauna along! YES!"
"Hey Calem?" Tierno asked with a shy expression. Calem turned to the big dancer and then the latter asked a question, "Can you get Shauna to get me a girl to go with?"
Calem quirked an eyebrow, "Are you sure that Shauna will even be able to get you a girl? What happened to Trevor?"
"Trevor… Well, he…" Tierno then trailed off a bit before sighing. "Just after Ash's match he went back to the hotel room, he said something about feeling sick to his head." Tierno then shrugged his shoulders. "He did look a little green after the battle so I guess what he ate was not sitting right."
"Alright Tierno," Calem said while looking down with a smile. Ash though, he was on his own world: Who would he bring to the festival?
"The event starts at 8:00 tonight and you can go there in your casual clothes! So if you are one of our 16 trainers, be there!"
It didn't really matter to the raven haired trainer as he watched the people in the stands begin to clear out of the stadium as Ash noticed the other trainers also begin to move out of the stage. Ash noticed as Calem and Tierno left next to each other to go find Shaun which left Ash and Pikachu alone in the stage except with a man with a lab coat. Ash decided to approach this person and have a talk with him.
"Professor Sycamore?" Ash asked as he approached the professor.
"Huh? Oh Ash," Professor Sycamore said with a bright smile in realization of the raven haired trainer. "How may I help you?"
The two humans and the electric rodent began to walk down the dugout and down the stairs that lead to the hexagonal shape corridor as Ash spoke up, "That last battle I had against Hau, do you know anything else from the trainer?"
"Huh?" Professor Sycamore asked in a little bit of a confusion before then turning back to Ash and saying, "Hau is a boy from Alola. I spoke to him when I first saw him here, in fact I offered him a pokemon to use for his journey, but apparently he was already an amazing trainer, he cleared the island challenge back at his home region and was just about to go face the elite four of Alola after defeating the Kahunas, as they are called."
Ash's eyes widened a little as he heard this, Hau was no ordinary trainer, in fact he was none other than near champion material in his own region which is amazing. Professor Sycamore then continued, "I heard him mention something about an incident that happened to his sister or something, but I do not really know much."
Ash then put his eyes down at the ground before he then looked at the check in his hands and folded it to put it in his pocket. Ash then looked back at the professor and said, "Is there a way in which I can get in contact with someone from Alola?"
Professor Sycamore put a hand to his chin, "Actually…" Professor Sycamore then took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ash. On the paper was the words: "Pokemon School" and on the bottom there was a number. Professor Sycamore then spoke back to Ash as the group arrived to the walkway outside of the stadium. "This is the number to an institution down in Alola, maybe you would find it helpful to ask them to help you with this."
Ash looked at the number as Pikachu also gasped his name out loud from Ash's shoulder. Ash then smiled at Professor Sycamore, "Thanks! I think this will do!"
"No problem," Professor Sycamore replied as Ash picked up the pace and began to run in the direction of the pokemon center north of where they were. Ash then reached the entrance and the doors of the pokemon center opened with great speed as Ash then looked around and saw what he was looking for:
The video phones.
A/N: Festival? Dance? One guest to bring? Who will Ash choose to bring to this event? I am extremely hyped up for what I have planned in this chapter. The beginning may be a little emotional as we still have yet to know what Ash is doing calling to Alola: All we know is that it has to do with Hau.
Anyways, I know that the next round of the Kalos League is coming soon and that battle is going to be a two parter so keep that in mind… I mean, last battle I went above 10k words and now I will not have enough time to write in around 20k words per chapter, that is INSANE!
Anyways, I know that was a little long of an introduction, but it was really the least important part of the entire chapter. The most important part has to be the festival…
Where Ash begins to continue to grow as a character… This time in an unexpected way…
So yes, let's continue on with the story!
PS: I don't know what is wrong with me, hopefully I can update more frequently now that I am in Summer Vacation xD! Sorry for the wait!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 38- A Malasada of friendship! A zing between two individuals!
With Ash in the Pokemon Center:
"Come on, pick up… pick up," Ash muttered to himself as he saw as the screen kept flashing different colors.
"Hello? Hau?" Ash heard a feminine voice calling out to him as Hau and Ash watched as the static then turned into a room with a nice tropical view to the outside where there was a large necked pokemon that looked like an Executor. Ash then shifted his gaze to the girl that was talking to him. She was a tanned girl with green long hair and dark green eyes. Ash then noticed that she had a light gray outfit on from the view he was getting and she also had her hands around her heart. The girl then flinched as she saw Ash and looked down sadly as she said the next words: "Hey, you are that guy that beat Hau aren't you?"
Ash and Pikachu both flinched a little as they heard this, but then slowly nodded their heads while saying, "Yea, I actually wanted to talk to someone that knows Hau… It appears I kind of knocked him out of the tournament at the worst time."
The girl sighed when she looked up at Ash and said, "Yea, my name is Mallow by the way."
Ash smiled at the girl named Mallow with a very reassuring smile, "Nice to meet you, my name is Ash Ketchum, and this is my partner Pikachu!"
"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu replied with a smile that mimicked his trainers. Mallow seemed to like this and smiled herself. Ash could still see the sadness in the smile though as he then spoke up:
"I kind of wanted to know a little more about what Hau likes to do, I kind of want to approach him and become friends with him." Mallow flinched as she saw what Ash said, "I notice him walking with his head down and with a large amount of sadness radiating through him… That also seems to be what cost him the battle with me." Ash then sighed, "Please Mallow, just tell me what Hau likes."
"Well," Mallow blushed a little at this since she considered herself to be the one that knows Hau the most. "Hau is very energetic and nice, he always, well used to, have a positive attitude and is a great battler. I kept up with him every step of the way in the Kalos League, but he lost when he battled you. I could not help feel great melancholy for him because of how much pain he has been lately… After the Incident…"
"Incident," As muttered to himself as he cut Mallow off. "Look Mallow, I see that you are also in emotional pain as you recall what is going on, so let me help you guys out, and Hau as well." Mallow cocked her head a little bit in surprise at this as Ash then spoke up with a little bit of a excitement, "Do you know something that Hau really likes?"
Mallow just smiled, "Well he likes it when I make him malasadas, they are his favorite thing to eat!" Mallow then sighed as she bit her lip and said, "Sadly you are in Kalos, so I don't think there is any way that you can get them, but they are basically a bread with a filling inside that is dipped in a large layer of sugar."
Ash sighed, he did not know how to cook or did not know how to get ahold of one, but then he thought of a certain combination that could be bound to do the trick: It had filling inside and all he had to do was dip it in sugar. "You know," Ash said with a confident smile. "I think I know just how to get a Kalos version of a malasada." Mallow looked up at Ash with a sense of admiration as she smiled. "I have to go quickly, I need to do this before Hau returns to Alola."
"Alright Ash, goodbye," Mallow said as she cut off the call. Ash pumped his fist as the screen showed nothing but a blank screen.
"Pikachu, let's go, we have to be quick!" Ash exclaimed as he and Pikachu began to race out of the room with the intent of reaching their hotel, most importantly the room in between the trio of rooms in the floor that he has.
With Serena:
"Alright," Serena said with a smile after she finished filling the basket with macarons. "I hope Ash likes these, I made them for him as a congratulations for making it to the top 16!" Serena then opened the basket to expose the many colors of the macarons she made. Serena smiled at herself as she made her way towards the door, but Bonnie caught her with a serious smirk.
"Why don't you hand them to him personally?" Bonnie taunted.
"Huh? Oh because I… Well…" Serena trailed off before she then heard a loud knock on the door. "Oh someone is here!" Serena then set the basket of macarons down as she went to the door to be surprised to see who was standing behind the door. "A-Ash?"
Ash was panting on his knees as if he had been running, but he then caught his breath and looked back at Serena while saying, "Please tell me you made macarons…"
"Pika pika…" Pikachu sweatdropped as he looked at the raven haired trainer.
"I did…" Serena said with a confused tone, but then she slightly blushed and put a hand over her ribbon. "In fact, I kind of made them all for you, since you were awesome today!"
Ash ignored the last part as he ran towards the basket and said, "Thanks Serena, but now tell me, where is the sugar that you use to make the macarons?"
Serena fell flat as she noticed that Ash did not really get her hint. Bonnie also face palmed at Ash's stupidity as she watched Pikachu also getting to the basket like his trainer with a great amount of energy. Serena though, she recovered herself as she grabbed a large jar of sugar that she had in one of the cupboards. "Uh, here is the sugar Ash," Serena said with an unsure tone as she handed the sugar jar towards Ash.
Ash then took the jar and went to the open macaron basket. As soon as he reached the basket he poured all of the sugar on top of the macarons thus making a large white sparkling mess around him. Serena flinched and sweatdropped as she saw this as Bonnie put a hand over her mouth in shock. Serena then watched as Ash closed the basket with the macarons and gave it a big shake. "Alright, now every macaron should be coated in sugar!" Ash declared with triumph.
"Ash! Wait, if you eat them like that you could-"
"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu replied with a fist in the air with a great attitude as Ash and the electric rodent made their way back out the door.
"Thanks Serena for cooking these! I will love eating them!" Ash waved with a smile and the basket on one hand. Pikachu mimicked his trainer's action and then Ash went out the open door and closed it behind him.
"Get hyperactive…" Serena finished with a sigh before smiling. "Well, if he is going to the festival then he will be fine."
"Hehe, he might actually ask you to go to the festival with him," Bonnie joked.
"Whhhhaaaattt?" Serena asked with a slight blush. "That won't happen, it is a festival and nothing more… Also, why would he want to ask me out to it?"
"Oh man Serena," Bonnie replied as she left the room with a smirk to go to the room next door. Bonnie turned around and saw that Serena had turned on the television while helping herself to some spare macarons that she had made for herself, so Bonnie decided to go next door. "Brock? Clemont?" Bonnie asked as she entered the room to see Clemont and Brock covered in soot.
"What is it Bonnie?" Clemont asked while wiping down his glasses.
"Well, I was thinking…" Bonnie then put her hands out and said, "Can us three go get something to eat tonight at around seven thirtyish?"
Brock then quirked and eyebrow and asked, "Why Bonnie? Why just us three?"
"Weeeeellll…" Bonnie smirked as she pointer her head in the direction of the room that she and Serena were sleeping in.
"Oh, I see," Brock replied with a smirk back at the lemon blonde girl before the latter's brother decided to speak up.
"What do you mean by, 'oh I see?' ?" Clemont asked.
"Maybe next time we see Korrina you will understand," Bonnie taunted as she made her way back to her room leaving the young inventor with a large blush on her face.
"Now… I think I might understand…" Clemont said with an extremely embarrassed tone to then catch a sight of Brock turning to him.
"So, who is this Korrina chick that Bonnie taunted you with?"
"Ummmmmm…" Clemont felt as his face began to heat up. "She is this one gym leader that… I'll tell you later!" Clemont pretty much shouted that last part to avoid losing circulation to his legs. At this Brock chuckled as Clemont sighed and blew out his intense blush.
With Ash:
It did not take long for Ash and Pikachu to find Hau, in fact, Hau was up the staircase near the hotel sitting under a tree with his head hung down. Ash flinched at seeing someone so depressed as he came up to the green haired trainer, "Hau?" Ask asked as he approached the boy.
"Pika?"
"Huh?" Hau looked up and saw the raven haired trainer and his electric rodent in front of him. Ash noticed that Hau had a very tired look on his face. Looking closer, Ash noticed some red on Hau's eyes which probably indicated that the Alolan native was probably having a hard time coping with his loss. Ash sat down with his back slumped against the tree and as Hau noticed this gesture, he just monotonically asked: "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be celebrating?"
Ash shook his head and put the basket in between him and Hau, "I just wanted to see if you wanted a malasada."
"Malasada?" Hau asked with a bit of recoil at the proposal. He had to admit, he did not expect someone to offer him a malasada at this time, but he was not eager to have his favorite food, in fact, his mouth started to water at the thought of a malasada. "Sure, I guess I could have a couple…"
Ash then opened the basket and signaled for Hau to try some out as he grabbed one of the sugar coated macarons and put it on his mouth. Ash choked a little as he tasted it because of all the excess sugar he had put on top of the macarons, but they were very sweet. Hau reached into the basket and grabbed one with the thought of having a great time with trying a malasada so he put it into his mouth. As soon as the malasada interacted with his tastebuds he noticed the weird taste of a macaron that had excess sugar on it, but still swallowed it. "So…. ummm, are they alright?" Ash asked kind of nervously. Pikachu grabbed one, put it in his mouth and then felt himself feel a lot amount of electricity build up in him as he then collapsed with the electricity shocking himself.
Hau began to laugh a little at this as he then looked at Ash and Pikachu trying not to admit that the malasadas tasted terribly, in fact Hau knew that this was just a macaron covered in a lot of sugar anyways, but he just spoke up by saying, "Thanks for the thought, but seriously, you don't know anything about a malasada don't you…"
"Of course I do," Ash said with pride and relief knowing that Hauw as opening up to him, "It is a bread with filling and a sugar coating!" Ash then scratched his head, "Of course since this is Kalos I did not know where to find a malasada so I got my friend to make me some macarons and then I put sugar all over them."
"You still know nothing," Hau said with a weak smile while putting his hands behind his head, "The fact is that malasadas are made of bread, not different flavored pastry, also let's not forget that the filling can be anything from chocolate to coconut. Probably the biggest thing is that malasadas are fried, not baked." Hau then looked at Ash with a nervous face and asked, "Who told you anything about the fact that I liked malasadas?"
"Mallow did," Ash admitted as a gust of wind made his scarf blow a little. "I gave her a call to ask her of ways so that I could get you to open up, I asked her about something you liked as she responded with the fact that you like her malasadas, so I asked her what it was and she told me to get bread and cover it with sugar… so I tried my best."
Hau sighed at this as he then looked down and gave a smile at the ground, "Yea, Mallow is a very close person to me… But don't tell her this," Hau said as he saw Pikachu come close to him. Hau then scratched behind Pikachu's ear and made the electric mouse coo in pleasure as Hau then shifted his gaze at Ash, "The macarons that are supposed to be malasadas you gave me taste better than what she cooks... In fact, I don't like her cooking at all."
"What?" Ash asked in disbelief.
"Yea," Hau then laughed. "I tell her that I like the malasadas because she is a very close person to my heart… Well, she has been throughout the time I have met her and now she has declared herself to me… I didn't know she felt that way for me this whole time, but I guess she likes it alot when I compliment her cooking," Hau admitted. "Anyways, I get my malasadas at the nearby shop and feed my pokemon her malasadas because they seem to like it more."
"But then," Ash asked. "How can she make malasadas so bad?"
"You should have seen it when I did her cooking challenge," Hau laughed responding to Ash's question. "She made my two friends and me run out of the jungle with fire in our mouths because of how spicy the food was."
"Oh wow, so Alola must be a great home for you, isn't it?" Ash asked the Alolan native.
Hau nodded as he smiled, "Yea, but when I went to challenge the pokemon league, they did not have a conference, it was just an elite four challenge with someone of the kahunas, one of the trial captains and a different trainer that plays golf." Hau then sighed as she turned his gaze back at Ash, "I should not underestimate her though, I have heard that her flying types are extremely powerful."
Ash nodded at this, but then made his face get a little serious as a gust of wind passed through both trainers, "Hau, I just want to know." Hau looked at Ash with some curiosity and then Ash let the question rip: "Who is Lillie?"
"Oh," Hau said with a sad tone as he engaged his view down at the ground, "My sister, lately she has been asleep in a coma under life support because there was not enough money to get the resources necessary for the surgery to be done." Hau then sighed, "I attempted the Kalos League not with the intent of winning, but getting past the top 16. I knew eventually I would meet my match, but I did not expect to reach him right at the finish line…"
"Hau, I am so sorry," Ash said with sympathy after learning about Hau's true reason for needing to win the battle.
"It's alright Ash," Hau said with a sad smile. "I did what I could and it was not successful in the end. I guess my friends back in Alola are proud of me for doing so well, but now I don't know what to do next… I guess I could try and get this all behind me and head back to Alola and meet back up with my friends and see Lillie one last time."
"When are you leaving?" Ash asked with a serious tone.
"I guess as soon as possible," Hau said as he stood up on his feet. Ash did the same and looked at Hau in the eye as Pikachu got on Ash's shoulder. "I think being so far away from home for so long has really caught up to me…" Hau then shook his head, "Anyways, thank you for sharing with me you malasadas, they were a nice way of bringing me light after such a dark time."
"Hau…" that was all Ash could say as he saw the green haired boy smile and begin to walk away. Ash's eyes widened as his mind gave him a great idea. Before Hau could even get too far away, Ash put his hand on Hau's shoulder and Hau flinched at this as he turned around. "Hau, here," Ash said as he began to dig into his pocket.
"Huh?" Hau asked himself as he noticed Ash unravel a piece of paper within his hands and revealed the check for 200 thousand kaleuros. "Ash, what are you doing?"
"What do you think I am doing?" Ash asked with a smile as he then extended the arm with the check towards Hau. "Take this to Alola, you need it."
Hau put his arm out and pushed away Ash's arm, "I am sorry, I can't, you battled and deserved it, there is not a way I could just take this much money…"
"Pikachu," Pikachu said sadly as he saw this action. Ash though, he did not back down and resisted Ash's push.
"Hau, listen to me," Ash said as he then put the check into Ash's hands and closed it tight with this hands. "I lost someone in my life once, and I don't want you to go through that. I also had problems with money before, and I know what it was like to live in the streets." Ash then took a deep breath as he then looked at Hau in the eyes and kept talking: "I am battling in this league not for the money, but for the passion that I have in , on the other hand, you battled here for someone, you went through so much pain and work just to get here and that is more than enough to say that you deserve it…" Hau could not believe what he was hearing until Ash finally said one last thing: "If you won't take it for yourself, take it for Mallow so that she can see the same smiling and energetic boy she likes, and if not for that… Then at least take it for Lillie so that you can see her live another day."
"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded his head agreeing with his trainer who was looking at Hau with a strong and serious face.
Hau then pulled his hands back to himself and looked back down at the check as tears started to form in his eyes. "Ash…" Hau said with a thankful tone: "thank you."
Ash smiled as he then began to see Hau walk away from him, and through the setting sun, Ash and Pikachu saw as Hau began to walk down the stairs and up towards the corner of the hotel with the exit down back towards the skyline of Lumiose City that radiated in the distance. Hau then turned around once more and looked back at Ash before he took the path down to the city. Ash could have sworn he saw Hau mouth one last thank you before he then turned back and began to walk away. His long green hair waving in the wind as he got farther and farther away. Ash then looked at Pikachu and then back at the smaller figure of Hau and muttered to himself: "You are very welcome Hau."
Ash then looked at the setting sun and went back down to the walkway in time to see that there was a clock at the top of a lamp post. It said 7:25 and Ash then made his eyes widen as he began to walk into the hotel remembering all about the festival. Ash then got on the elevator to go up to the floor the rooms were in. Just as he reached his floor, he was met with Brock, Clemont and Bonnie in front of the elevator opening, "Hey guys, what's up?"
"Nothing much, we are going to go get something to eat," Brock said with a smile.
"But the festival-"
"One guest allowed, and we suggest you go with Serena," Bonnie said quickly. "You still have to thank her for the macarons that she baked for you."
"Oh yeah," Ash replied sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head and Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder to get in front of him. "I guess I should ask her to go then, have fun!" Ash finished this by allowing the others the space to get into the elevator as they then descended towards the first floor. Ash then went towards Serena's room, which was the one in the middle and knocked on it. He noticed that there was no response, so he tried to see if the door knob would open, and sure enough it did, "Hello?" Ash said in a weird tone as he entered.
"Pika pika!"
Ash saw the trash can and looked around, he did not see Serena so he opened it and deposited the entire mountain of macarons into the trash can while putting the basket on top of the counter. Ash then flinched as he heard a voice behind him: "So it was too sweet for you after all?"
Ash flinched as he turned around to see the honey blonde girl in the red vest and blue ribbon standing behind him with her hands on her hips. "Well, you see I was trying to make malasadas, but since this is Kalos there was no way that I would be able to find one, so I kind of used your macarons as a template and then put the sugar on top."
Serena sighed as she walked up to the basket and said, "So, why did you want to eat malasadas?"
Ash just took a deep breath and said, "Just me wanting to inspire someone that has been having a hard time, that's all." Ash then turned his gaze back to Serena and said, "But the macarons were good by the way, just my stupidity that ruined them." Serena laughed at this as Ash then took a deep breath, "Well, now I want to tell you the real reason as to why I am here."
"Huh?" Serena cocked her head at this as she noticed Pikachu running up to her and getting on her shoulder while rubbing his cheeks with Serena's.
"Well, you see," Ash said nervously as he then noticed Serena's full attention on him. "I was wondering if you would like to come to the festival with me."
"Huh?" A red boiling Serena squeaked in a nearly inaudible voice as she then said with a shy smile, "Sure, I would love to…" Serena then looked down and smiled shyly again while saying, "Bonnie told you to ask me, didn't she?"
"Well, in reality she 'suggested' that I would ask you," Ash noticed that Serena got a little depressed at this, so he decided to mix in a little bit of what Bonnie had told him earlier to try and cheer her up, "I was going to ask you to go anyways, you see I still need to thank you for the macarons, without them, I would not have been able to give light to someone that has been going through so much pain."
"Ash," Serena said in awe at the last part before putting on a bright smile. "Alright then, we should get going shouldn't we?"
"Then it is settled," Ash exclaimed as he had Pikachu jump from Serena and into Ash's shoulder. "Let's go!" Ash responded as he took Serena by the hand and began to lead her out of the hotel room. "We should be able to hit the other side of the stadium if we begin running right now!"
"A-Ash!" Serena squeaked again as she was lead out the door and out of the hotel to the now night sky that was over the Lumiose Stadium.
With Hunter, Leaf, and Night:
"Alright, we made it!" Hunter shouted with a fist in the air as they saw the festival decorations. The entrance was nice and there was a large section of the walkway just shut off. Hanging above the air were small lanterns that gave off light, similarly the walkway was filled with stands of food and games and in the middle of everything there were people dancing with others and their pokemon. At the entrance, Diantha was with a list of the people that were allowed to come in, and the trio approached the woman. "Hey Diantha, my name is Hunter, this is Eevee and it is a pleasure to meet you," Hunter said as he shook the Kalos Champion's hands.
"Eevee!" Eevee cried with a pridal position on Hunter's shoulder.
"Very nice to meet you too Hunter," Diantha replied as she shook the boy with the emerald green attire's hand. "And you must be his friends aren't you," Diantha said as she turned to Night and Leaf.
"I am Leaf, the pleasure is all mine," Leaf said with a small courtesy.
"And I am Night," Night replied with a smirk. "This is Jolteon here, nice to meet you!"
"Jol Jolteon!"
"Alright then," Diantha said as she eyed Night curiously. Diantha then turned her direction back at Hunter and said, "Well you are in the list, but you can only have one guest."
"I know, that is why I am bringing Leaf," Hunter said with a smile as he put his arm around the silver haired girl. Leaf blushed a little at this as Diantha then let the two into the festival.
"Enjoy you two, and I am guessing you are here to say goodbye to them?" Diantha asked as she turned her attention at Night and his Jolteon. Night and Jolteon let out a chuckle, but before Diantha could respond, Hunter came back:
"Um, I think you should let him in," Hunter said. Diantha turned back at Hunter with a cocked face as Hunter then said, "Well, I don't know, but that is the champion of the Soul Stadium you are talking to."
"Soul Stadium?" Diantha asked curiously. "Are you seriously the Night Shock?"
"The one and only, am I right?" Night said with a sheepish face as he then turned to his Jolteon. "Jolteon and I would be honored if you let us stay."
Diantha sighed as she then said, "I guess I can make an exception." This made Hunter and Leaf have wide eyes of excitement as Diantha then turned back to Night that was not standing behind Diantha with his two friends, "But under one condition…" Diantha then pumped her fist and said, "Promise to have a battle with me."
"Eh?" Night asked with a little bit of a sigh as he then nodded his head with a smile, "I accept your challenge Diantha, but I won't go easy on you."
"I don't expect that from a champion," Diantha said as the other three began to walk into the party with their pokemon.
As soon as the group found a corner, Hunter then turned to Leaf and said, "Come on Leaf, let's go dance!" Leaf blushed a little as Hunter took her hand and dragged her away into the party with Eevee coming up behind the two.
Night sighed as he watched Leaf and Hunter dancing, "Guess love is something that I will never understand, even as I am a champion of my entire archipelago of islands." Night then turned to Jolteon and saw that the latter was interested in something, so he told Jolteon, "Go right ahead Jolteon, I plan to use Decidueye to face off against Diantha anyways." At this Jolteon nodded and headed off into the dancing crowd with a smile on his face. Night then pulled out Decidueye's pokeball and said, "Alright Decidueye come on out."
"Dueye," Decidueye said as he appeared in front of his trainer. The shiny Decidueye did not really attract any attention from anyone because Night figured that an Alolan pokemon is not really common here in Kalos. Night then went on to look at Decidueye and noticed the hooded owl had his hood tightened so that no one could see into the hood.
"Why are you so shy all of the sudden? I know you are a nerdy pokemon with your glasses, but come on? Why are you always like this?" Night asked his pokemon with a slight chuckle.
"Dueye," Decidueye said while looking away with an embarrassed look on his face.
"Oh brother," Night facepalmed at this obviously knowing that Decidueye's shy personality was something he could not get rid of.
Meanwhile, not too far away, Jolteon was scouting around as he saw a blue pokemon. He edged closer to see what it was and was shocked to see a Glaceon dancing in the middle of the dancefloor. Jolteon instantly grew heart shapes over his eyes as he began to approach the female Glaceon. "Jolteon?" Jolteon asked the Glaceon with a nervous blush.
"EMOL!" An Emolga landed next to Glaceon and began to charge up electricity in his cheeks while directing Jolteon to back off…
Jolteon sighed at this as he began to walk away with waterfall tears on his eyes. Jolteon then heard Emolga laughing behind him which caused the spiky electric type to look back at the Emolga and charge up a Shadow Ball on his mouth. Emolga looked slightly intimidated but then the Glaceon's trainer and the Emolga's trainer came near the commotion. Knowing he was a champion's pokemon, Jolteon reduced his dark spheric beam from launching and instead made it dissipate into thin air. "Jolteon teon Jolteon…" Jolteon said as he began to walk back towards where Night was.
Night noticed Jolteon look so depressed and asked him, "Jolteon, are you alright?"
"Teon Jolteon..." Jolteon looked back at the dance floor to where there was the Glaceon and Emolga dancing.
Night seemed to understand and sighed as he picked Jolteon up in his arms, "Alright Jolteon, you seriously need to tell me what is up with your addiction to Glaceons. You have already taken three shadow balls, a blizzard, and even gotten frozen by an ice beam… You really need to chill out…-I mean warm up."
"Jolteon… Jol Jolteon…" Jolteon replied while looking down with a sigh and a small blush because his trainer could notice his obsession with Glaceons.
With Ash and Serena:
"Hey Diantha," Ash said as he approached the champion. Serena was a bit nervous behind Ash, but she managed to hold in a smile as she stood next to Ash.
Diantha looked at the two with a smile, almost like if she was expecting them to come, "Welcome you two, I just saw Calem and Tierno come with their guests as well, so I am guessing that this is your guest?" At this Ash nodded with a very eager attitude. "Enjoy your time here," Diantha said as she allowed the two in.
"Thanks!" Ash and Serena said in unison as they walked into the party with great amounts of excitement to then see the people dancing to the music and the great amounts of food being given out throughout the festival.
Ash was the first to see a stand that was handing out cookies and his mouth instantly watered, "Serena over here!" Ash chanted as he led Serena through the crowd of people to get to the stand. As Ash began to order, Serena felt something bump into her near her feet.
"Eevee!" It cried as it grabbed the attention of Ash as well. Serena and Ash both bent down to see the Eevee in front of them recoil at seeing them, but then ran back to jump on the shoulder of another person that was in a green attire. Ash and Serena took a good look at this person and noticed that he had jet black hair kind of like Calem's, the duo also noted that had an emerald green suit and green eyes.
"I'm sorry about that, Eevee and I got a little carried away," The boy said with a slight amount of embarrassment as another girl came up behind him.
Serena noted that she also had green eyes, but she had a fedora that had a pokeball symbol on it. Other than that, Serena also noted that she had a long pink blouse with a white skirt which then shifted Serena's gaze to the girl's long green hair. The girl then sighed as she looked at the boy and said, "Hunter, how could you even be such a klutz?" The girl then noticed the duo and the electric rodent staring at them and she put on an embarrassed smile, "Sorry you had to see that, my name is Leaf." The girl named Leaf then looked on at the boy that she had just called Hunter and said, "That here is my friend Hunter."
"Hi there," Hunter made a small wave as his Eevee also waved at Pikachu from shoulder to shoulder.
Ash then sighed as he got the cookies he ordered and said as he tried not to choke on the cookies, "My name is Ash, and this is my partner Pikachu!"
Serena then spoke up while putting out a nervous smile, "My name is Serena, nice to meet you!"
"It is great to meet all of you guys," Hunter said as he put his arms behind his head. "This conference has had me fired up for every battle! I am going to try my hardest and win this!"
"Not if I can't help but defeat you on the way," Ash smirked as the two initiated a rivalry immediately.
"Hey Ash!"
"Serena!"
The attention of the four trainers was then brought to Calem and Shauna who were walking with Tierno who had a girl next to her… She had a similar chubby body much like Tierno's, her hair was green and she also had brown eyes. Her clothes where a yellow top that had a large red ribbon along with an orange skirt while on her head she had a small magenta top hat.
"Calem! Tierno!" Ash exclaimed with excitement as he saw the two boys approach them.
"Shauna!" Serena shouted with glee as she then turned to the other girl and her eyes went wide with disbelief, "Nini! What are you doing here?"
Nini was the first to speak up, "I was actually here to be Tierno's guest since Trevor was sick today."
"Poor Trevor," Serena said with a sad smile. "Anyways, I am glad you guys could make it."
"Oh, by the way guys, this is Hunter and Leaf," Ash said as he motioned to the two foreign individuals. Hunter and Leaf put on smiles as they smiled back at the group who was now smiling. Ash then saw as for a second, the man with the cloak was staring right at him. "Not again…" Ash muttered this with slight intimidation. It was like if the man had been wanting to come to Ash and say something, or maybe even... battle him?
"You see him too, right?" Hunter said to Ash which gathered everyone's attention. "He is the same guy that knocked me out of the last league, of course I was not as strong as I am now, but he is definitely powerful, in fact I was taken down by his Darkrai and Aegislash."
"Darkrai?" Ash asked with a bit of intimidation. He recalled the last time he had battled a Darkrai and became extremely nervous by the fact of battling one again.
"He is only really using Aegislash now though," Hunter replied before he then narrowed his eyes and said, "Rumor has it that the man in the cloak was able to sweep Lance, champion of Kanto with only a Dragonite."
"A Dragonite is very powerful obviously, but to sweep a champion?" Calem asked with uncertainty. "I doubt it…"
"Anyways…" Serena said as she tried to get the conversation out of battles to which the other girls agreed. "How about we go enjoy-"
"Ladies and gentlemen!" A voice boomed through the entire festival grabbing everyone's attention. At that very moment the music stopped as the Champion Diantha walked among the crowd of people at the festival and then put herself in the middle of the dance floor, which was just concrete, but the area where people were dancing and then the voice grew again. Looking around, Ash noticed that it was a person in refereeing clothes standing next to Diantha and making a large space so that everyone can gather around. "We will be having an exhibition match between Champion of Kalos Diantha!"
The crowd then cheered, even Ash himself as he got Serena and the others to get front row vision of the battle. "Go Gardevoir!" Diantha shouted with glee as she threw a pokeball into the air that then revealed the psychic and fairy type bipedal pokemon.
"Devoir!" Gardevoir said with grace as she danced around and her mega stone glistened in the light of the lanterns.
Ash and Serena then saw as another teenager with a Jolteon. Ash noticed he had black hair with blue spiky outlines and dark gray pants. Along with that, Ash saw that the teenager also had a black undershirt with a black blazer like jacket with blue streaks running through it. Ash saw as he began to walk towards the battlefield. "And Night, the champion of Soul Stadium!"
"Yea! Go Night!" Hunter and Leaf chanted in unison as Ash then noticed Night to be the same guy that Ash had ran into a couple of days ago. Ash went wide eyed at this as he then noticed that the crowd was not cheering for him, but mostly laughing as Jolteon stood next to him. Ash noticed the laughs coming mostly from an Emolga who was on top of some trainer's head, but he ignored it as he then saw the teenager dressed in black and blue to look around with an awkward look on his face and then facepalm.
Ash heard as the boy sighed and walked out of the battlefield to a sweat dropping Jolteon. Ash could not believe that this Night person was a champion so he turned to Hunter and asked, "This guy is actually a champion?"
"He is really strong, you will see…" Hunter then trailed off to see Night bringing an owl like pokemon that had a turquoise and black coloring that sort of matched his trainer's by the wing.
"Uhhhh…" everyone as murmuring to themselves as Ash could see that the pokemon that Night had brought into the area where the battle would take place was using his other wing to pull on two vines that were closing the opening between the inside and outside of the feathered hoodie.
"Come on Decidueye," Ash heard Night chant with pride as he then noticed that Decidueye shook his head as in no. "Oh man, not the shyness again…" Night said as he facepalmed at the owl like pokemon.
"What pokemon is that?" Ash asked Hunter.
"It is Decidueye, believe it or not, that is actually a shiny pokemon, in fact, this is one of Night's strongest, but," Hunter then trailed off as he looked on ahead. "Decidueye is very adamant when his shyness kicks in. That is why his attack power goes beyond the limits." Ash turned to his right and noticed Serena almost like she was chuckling at Night's embarrassment. To Serena though, Decidueye was a carbon copy of herself in many ways as she recalled being known as a shy person as well.
Night then went wide eyed as Diantha smirked, "Let the battle!" The referee started.
"Oh no…" Night gasped.
"BEGIN!"
Battle music begin! Diantha (Gardevoir) vs Night (Decidueye):
"NO!" Night shouted in panic as he looked at the ref. "You have to let Decidueye snap out of it, come on!"
Diantha just smirked, she thought this was going to be an easy win for her, "Check mate! Use shadow ball!" Gardevoir began to charge up her dark ball of sinister power in front of her in between her arms and then shot it in the direction of Decidueye.
Night narrowed his eyes as he watched the attack collide with Decidueye. The owl like pokemon fell back in a small explosion in front of Night and with his wing then letting go of the vines thus causing the hoodie to open up to expose the dark face of the owl with red glasses. Decidueye then stood up and shook of the pain as he narrowed his eyes at the psychic type in front of him. "Use spirit shackle!" Night commanded with a fist out and a confident tone.
"DUEYE!" Ash watched in awe as the hooded owl then began to make a dark glowing arrow quill with the vines and then launched it like a bow using the vines as a string. The arrow was about to collide with Gardevoir when suddenly Ash noticed Diantha nod her head like she did with her battle with him and then Gardevoir dodged the attack with the blink of an eye. Ash watched as Night flinched a little at this, but he kept his cool a little more than Decidueye did that legitimately jumped at seeing the way Gardevoir dodged.
"Keep it together Decidueye," Night told his pokemon who then instantly calmed down and looked back at the field.
"Use shadow ball once more!"
"Sucker punch!" Night commanded with a fist in the air. Ash and Serena's mouth went agape as they saw how as Gardevoir began to charge up the attack, Decidueye looked like he teleported in front of Gardevoir and slammed his black glowing wing into Gardevoir's abdomen thus causing the latter to stumble back instantly with her fist on the ground to stop herself. When Gardevoir looked up she looked extremely amused by what happened as for Diantha, Ash noticed her looked a little shocked.
"Use moonblast!" Diantha commanded with her hand out.
"Garde…" Gardevoir then began to power up a colorful beam and then instantly shot it in the direction of Decidueye with great power.
"Go right through it with brave bird!" Night ordered with a confident smile. Ash watched in amazement as Decidueye then made himself glow bright blue and then begin to charge through the bright beam of energy that was headed in his direction. Ash then watched with wide eyes as Decidueye began to over power through the beam and start to creep up on Gardevoir to the point that the psychic type had wide eyes of the flying type attack colliding.
"Reflect!" Diantha shouted as Gardevoir put the shield in front of her with both of her arms only for Decidueye to increase his speed and go right through the shield and slam into Gardevoir once more. Diantha gritted her teeth at this as she noticed that the reflect had not done anything at all. "What? How did it not work?"
Night laughed in amusement at this as Decidueye landed in front of him with a very powerful stance, "I am surprise you don't know that Decidueye is a grass and ghost type, not a grass and flying type." Diantha recoiled at this as Night and Jolteon smirked.
"A ghost type huh?" Ash asked in awe as he watched Decidueye then put a wing over his two vines and smirk.
"Yea," Hunter said next to Leaf. "Night still has not shown his full power yet which is amazing."
"That is amazing," Calem and Tierno said in unison as the two girls that were accompanying them all face palmed.
Diantha looked like she was having the battle of her life as she was reaching for her keystone, only for a random electro ball to slam into Decidueye. Night and Jolteon both looked at the direction to where it came from to see the Emolga just laughing on top of the lines that contained the lanterns. Decidueye, with a red irritated mark on his forehead then turned his vines around and shot a spirit shackle at the Emolga as Jolteon also launched a shadow ball at the flying squirrel. Both attacks hit and then the Emolga landed on the battlefield as Jolteon went out from his side next to Night and pounced next to the electric and flying type.
"No, guys, come on…" Night said as he fell flat.
Hunter and Leaf could not believe it either as they also fell flat along with everyone watching the battle. Diantha just stood there in confusion as she then noticed a Glaceon jump from the crowd and target at ice beam at Jolteon. The electric type dodged in the last second, but the beam kept going and struck Night.
Everyone just stood there silently as the ice beam froze over Night's body and caused him to look like a frozen popsicle.
"Jolteon…"
"Decidueye…"
Night's pokemon stood in front of his trainer's ice cube with a worried look on their faces until Decidueye's shyness took over again and caused the grass and ghost type to use his wing to close his hoodie.
"Jolteon teon!" Jolteon commanded at Decidueye to help him break his trainer out of his trapped state.
"Decidueye," Decidueye responded with a nod only to walk forward and through his blindness slam his head into the ice and fall on his back completely dazed like a cold piece of metal.
The entire festival was silent of that one moment trying to comprehend what just happened…
A little later:
After Night was allowed to thaw out, he let his pokemon have a rest which ended the battle with an inconclusive result, not like Diantha minded really, she understood how the battle was interrupted in the first place.
At that very moment, the monitors on the lamp posts also displayed the matchups for the next day. Ash saw that Tierno and Calem landed the same spot which meant that they would have to go against each other. Ash turned his head as he watched his two friends nod at each other. Ash then noticed how Damian and the Satoshi guy had their battles as well against some other trainers that Ash did not know.
"Ash look, you have the battle right after Tierno and Calem," Serena told Ash from the side. Ash looked to see who he had landed a battle with and could not help but smile to see it was against Hunter. At this Ash turned to see the jet black haired boy also with an amused face looking at him with an interested face as both trainers smiled at each other.
"Yea, I think that Hunter and I will hopefully have a memorable battle," Ash said as he then noticed that Pikachu got off of his shoulder to run around Ash's feet. Ash smiled nervously as he looked into Serena's eyes and then noticed that the music actually changed, it was a lot slower now and looking around, Ash saw as couples began to pair up. Ash then turned to Serena noticing as her bright blue eyes glistened in the moonlight and as Serena's honey blonde hair shone with the light given from the lanterns. Ash found it hard to speak at first, but then he said, "Serena?"
Serena smiled at Ash and asked, "Yeah?"
Ash found it hard to talk with Serena's bright smile, but then he found his heart beginning to race as he scratched his cheek, "Why are people dancing together like that?" Serena's mouth went agape a little as Ash's eyes widened thinking that he probably should not have asked that. At that moment, Ash hid his mouth and the bottom of his nose on his scarf and said, "Sorry, I should not have asked that…"
"Ash…" Serena said nervously as he noticed that she began to have a tint of red on her cheeks. "Can you dance with me before we go back to the hotel?"
"Huh?" Ash asked in distraught as he then shook his head with a smile and said, "Sure." With that, Ash and Serena found a spot in the dance floor and Ash began to see that he was having trouble knowing what to do: "so… Now what?"
Serena chuckled a little as she put her hands over his shoulders and began to away from side to side at a rhythm that was easy for Ash to follow. "Allow me to lead," Serena then said as she reached for Ash's hands and put his right hand on her hip and then reached to keep holding his left hand. "Dancing is not hard, just relax."
"O-ok," Ash said nervously as he relaxed his muscles and began to sway in the direction that Serena swayed to at the tempo of the music. Ash could barely take his hands off the honey blonde haired girl that now had a lot of pink around her cheeks. Ash noticed that the pink splotches then became red lines that ran from her cheeks and up and above the bridge of her nose to then begin to turn her pink shade into a bright crimson. Ash found this adorable as he began to scan around and decided to risk everything he was doing as he then let go of the hand he had on Serena's hip and gave the girl a twirl around.
"Huh?" Serena gasped aback taken back by surprise at the sudden twirl as she ended back in Ash's arms staring at his bright auburn eyes. She then recalled that day in Pallet Town where she first met those pairs of eyes and she gave a shy smile to the ground.
"Hehe, I am not so bad, am I?" Ash asked as he kept swaying with Serena.
"I guess not, you are actu-"
Ash noticed as Serena tripped on her brown boot and she began to fall back. Ash was quick and with a quick motion he put his arms around Serena and caught her right before she hit the ground. Ash then noticed he was staring at her eyes as he noticed a shiny glint in Serena's fluid sapphire eyes.
Then it happened: Ash and Serena both felt as a glint of pink light shined through their eyes in a loop manner and then disappeared with a quick zing. A sound that both of them heard and then made their heart rates pick up.
Ash put Serena back up to her feet as the two had a little chuckle. At that moment Serena then said to Ash, "I had fun, why don't we head back?"
"Yea, sure," Ash said with a smile that made his heart rate pick up. Ash then began to walk with Serena back to the hotel that was at the other side of the stadium it was a long walk, but one that Ash was now looking forward to.
After saying their goodbyes to everyone that they knew, Serena and Ash began to walk next to each other through the night sky and quiet, empty concrete. Ash now found himself sneaking glances at Serena… Which he sometimes caught her sneaking glances back at him. It made his heart race a little as both of their hands mingled next to each other. Ash snapped red as his hand almost brushed upon Serena's thus causing his hand to open in shock… Of nervousness.
He did not understand why, now he was feeling so nervous around her…
It was like, that zing changed him to look at his friend in a way that he never understood…
And he still didn't.
A/N: Hotel Transylvania ZINGGED! Well it was an Amourshipping story! What did you expect? Anyways, it will happen soon enough give it his time, Ash had some subtle feelings for Serena with the hints he was giving, but thanks to what just happened… He is starting to develop a crush and the best part is… HE DOESN'T KNOW IT!
Anyways, this chapter was long xD!
Remember to R & R and I will see you guys next time!
Responding to some reviews:
Nexxus176: :D
Guest 1: Of course I will continue this trend "Guest Reviewer"! Glad you enjoyed!
Guest 2: Happy with the result BB? 3
NinjaFang1331: Thanks for enjoying the battle xD Sorry for the wait!
TrainerKSlord: Or let's all cheer for how Ash pretty much saved Lillie! HIP HIP HOORAY!
ArmorshippingFan: Hau didn't, Ash did though :)
Alex Ho: Well, that was sad bro, you wanted Ash to win but Lillie to die? Anyways, Ash wins and Lillie lives :)
RedAce16: I had this planned for a couple months now, so I hope you liked how it went out!
Also thank you guys who followed and kept up with the story! You guys are the best!