Regardless of whether this site is giving me views, the show must go on. If you like this story, make sure to check out my other current project, Dominion. And don't forget to review, favorite, and/or follow this one so that I know people are enjoying it. We're into the double digits now in terms of chapters, and I'm pretty excited to continue this tale.

So yeah. Please enjoy.

Current music: That Ain't Me No More - Matt Stell

The day had finally come. All of that hard work, whether it be pounding the pavement constantly to get the message out, calling the right number of donors to the campaign, or simply filming ads and watching the views come in, was about to pay off.

At least, that's what Ash hoped for.

The black-haired young man sat on his bed, staring blankly at the wall across from him. In all honesty, whoever had booked the hotel room might have done well to add some padding to the walls, because Ash felt certain he'd go insane before long if nothing changed.

In his right hand, Ash held his smartphone that he was currently scrolling on. In his left, he held a tall bottle of root beer. He wasn't one for alcohol, especially when he had to be at the top of his game today.

The phone rang, not for the first time that day. Ash would have loved nothing more than to kick back, relax, and ignore it, instead spending the day watching a sitcom or two. (Or maybe that would be unethical, considering that his campaign platform opposed the treatment of Pokémon on those shows.)

But today was not one of those days. He stood up from the king bed and headed over to the hotel phone.

Let's see… the number is room 547. I guess that means it's Brock.

Ash's heart skipped a beat at that realization. He knew exactly what it meant. After all, he and Brock had rehearsed what would happen when Kodai's UDC (Unova Democratic Convention) speech had begun, and step one involved a phone call.

Ash picked up the phone. "Hello?" he asked in a rather cagey tone.

"Hey, Ash, it's Brock. Kodai's about to take the stage, and you'd better hurry to the main ballroom. You'll need to rebut it if you want to present your own case."

The candidate sighed. Sometimes being right sucked.

"I'll be there in five minutes," Ash promised his friend.

"Can you make it more like three?"

"I'll try!" Ash exclaimed, hanging up the phone. Hey, if Brock wanted Ash to be at the convention site soon, he wasn't making it easy.

As the black-haired candidate shook off his slippers, stripped his pajamas off his body, and donned some more appropriate clothing for his plea to the UDC, he reflected on how he'd gotten here.

Although Senator Chilacoth had withdrawn from the race, he'd remained on the ballot in the Crown City primary. Ash had certainly gotten more of Chilacoth's supporters than had Kodai, but it hadn't been enough to get him any further than a tie in the delegate count.

Yes, you read that right: A tie.

A contested convention it is, then, Ash thought bitterly as he jogged down the hallway toward the elevator. On second thought, the elevator might not be fast enough; the stairs were better, since he could take them two or three at a time.

Once on the ground floor of the hotel, Ash pushed his way through the crowd, jostling a few reporters aside. He knew this would get him some bad press - as in, why did he want to avoid the press so much? - but it was better than being late for the speech.

Ash's smartphone vibrated in his pocket. Again?, he thought, accepting the call before he saw who it was from.

"I'm on my way, Brock!" the candidate exclaimed, somewhat indignantly. "You don't need to call me again!"

"It's Serena, actually," the female voice from the other end of the phone said, though she could barely be heard over the organized chaos at the UDC. "And I'm near the door to the ballroom, just a little to the left of it. Kodai will take the stage any minute!"

"How infuriating is it," Ash snarled, "that I have to hurry up and wait for Kodai? Kodai, the man who treats Pokémon like shit!"

"Well, that's just how it is!" Serena pointed out.

After Ash hung up on his girlfriend, he entered the ballroom, a cavernous chamber with walls that had been lit up with a bright tint of royal blue. Balloons in a veritable rainbow of colors hung from the ceiling, as did any number of ribbons in a similarly wide array of shades.

Where are you, Serena…?

Of course, it didn't really matter if Ash was next to his girlfriend right now, because the attention was not on him. At that very moment, the lighting in the room dimmed, and everything was silent. And then…

"Please welcome Candidate Grings Kodai to the stage!"

The spotlight turned to the stage, and none other than Kodai strode up to the podium. The businessman carried himself with perfect posture, yet didn't look robotic at all. Every movement was natural, yet perfectly choreographed.

When Kodai reached the podium, he grinned.

A few weeks ago, after their last debate, Ash's rival had seemingly moved heaven and Nexus to avoid the press' attention. He'd been offered interviews, yet turned all of them down. No more; now, Kodai seemed to have given himself over to the idea that all publicity was good publicity.

"Good afternoon, everyone!" the businessman exclaimed, casting his gaze over the convention's attendees. It seemed that Kodai expected them all to clap, eager to hear from one of their final two candidates.

By and large, however, this did not happen. A few people clapped, but there were a few boos as well.

That sounds good for me, but then, it could just be that Kodai's opponents are very vocal. Each of them only got to vote once, though.

"Now, the general election is right around the corner. Although it may look like it's a few months away, believe me when I say that time flies when something important is about to happen. And this is the most important election of my forty-eight years. That's said every time, but I truly believe it this year.

"Are we going to let Senator Michael Rowan, the Republican Party's nominee, become President and ruin this region? Are you all willing to take that risk, and what a risk it is? Or are you going to make the right decision at this convention and nominate a businessman who's proven himself capable of delivering results?"

Kodai clasped his hands together as though praying for something to happen. Whatever he'd been appealing to Arceus for, however, didn't happen. In fact, nothing seemed to happen until the businessman continued his speech.

"I want to address the baseless allegations Candidate Ketchum levied against me a few weeks ago."

The chamber grew silent, and Ash was acutely aware of just how many people were listening to Kodai. That didn't mean all of them agreed with the businessman, of course. But the younger candidate kept scanning the crowd, searching for the familiar blonde head of hair that belonged to Serena.

Where are you this time?

Ash recalled that his girlfriend had given him a vague description of where she'd be, but the beginning of Kodai's speech had driven that from his mind. In any case, the speech was far from over; indeed, perhaps the most heavily anticipated part of it was about to begin.

"It's become clear that ignoring them won't make them disappear, and if I am your nominee, especially if I become your President, I don't want the people of Unova to have any trust issues with me. Nobody likes a President who hides from the public, do they?"

He's not even denying it, at least not yet. The way he's saying it, he's implying that he just wants to ride this out until people forget about it! But then why would he bring it up at all?

"I just want to make it clear to all of you that this is a politically motivated witch hunt. That's all it is. Today is 1692, and Team Ketchum is acting like we're in the Unovan town of Salem. Constant investigations into my conduct have turned up nothing, and it's foolish to believe that they'll turn up anything in the future.

"And you have to wonder, why is that? After all, the police have been analyzing the so-called 'Kodai Files' for weeks, and they haven't been able to indict me. And there's a reason for that - the 'Kodai Files' are not evidence of anything. They're merely claims. Claims that I committed heinous crimes against Pokémon, our best friends."

At the words best friends, Kodai spread his arms as though he wanted to hug the whole world. Ash, on the other hand, wanted to puke at the sight.

"To be clear, if I'd actually done those things, I would deserve to be locked away. The actions I've been accused of are very serious, and if there's evidence, then there should be an investigation. But as they say, if my grandmother had wheels instead of legs, she would be a bicycle.

"The point is, that's not the case. Weeks of investigations into my businesses have yielded nothing, because they'll never yield anything. This is all a complete and total witch hunt, a scam of the highest order. I can promise you this: There was no collusion."

A few people laughed at that, but the overall tension in the chamber was so thick that one would have needed a chainsaw just to make a dent. Even then, it would have required some elbow grease, too.

"Quite frankly, Ash Ketchum's also a wealthy man. But compared to me, he hasn't been on the campaign trail nearly as much. That's because he's hiding from the people he hopes to represent, both domestically and globally. If you can't trust him to be honest, when he's running for President, how can you trust him once he's got the nuclear codes and sits in the Crimson Chamber?"

Ash felt his blood boil at that. Yes, his assets were worth a good amount, but equating his wealth to Kodai's was pretty disingenuous.

"And you might call that whataboutism. You can say whatever you want. But I've never claimed to be perfect. I've always been honest with the people of Nimbasa City, and I've never tried to hide my assets. The same cannot be said of my opponent.

"Now, Ash Ketchum's not as squeaky-clean as he looks. His scandals just haven't been uncovered yet. And yes, maybe some of them might not be so bad with context, but guess what? The Republican attack ads don't give context; that's why they're called attack ads."

By this time, Ash's hands were balled up into fists. Engaging in fisticuffs with Kodai would only serve to damage his reputation, though. (Not that he could reach the stage anyway, not until it was his turn.)

"In conclusion," Kodai continued, "I just want you all to think about it. When we go into the general election against Senator Rowan, I want us to have the strongest possible candidate, one who's been vetted. I've always been up front about my business practices: What you see is what you get. The same cannot be said about Ash Ketchum. I yield the floor."

There was some applause, which made Ash's stomach turn inside out. How anyone could applaud Grings Kodai was mind-boggling to the younger candidate. But Ash had to give his opponent credit: He was very polished, and even if he was completely insane, he was good at pretending that he wasn't completely insane.

Okay. It's time for my speech now. A shame I didn't spend too much time writing it - Brock did that for me.

Oh well. I guess a teleprompter's better than nothing.

Ash sat backstage, sipping from a water bottle that his girlfriend had handed him. His head was in his hands as he tried to rehearse his remarks.

"Brock already has them there for you," Serena reminded Ash. "You don't need to memorize them."

"Maybe not, but it looks better if I'm not constantly glancing down at the podium. I don't want them to think I'm not… that I'm not trying to hear their concerns."

Serena frowned. "What does that have to do with anything? Just get on stage and give him hell, Ash. And by 'him', you know who I mean."

The candidate snorted. "Yep, I sure do."

"Attention, everybody. Ash Ketchum's speech will begin in one minute. If you wish to hear it, please report to the ballroom immediately. Thank you."

"You'd better head there," Serena stated matter-of-factly. "One last kiss, though?"

Ash shook his head. A kiss would do nothing but scramble his brain, make it so that he couldn't think of anything else. And that would only result in him choking onstage, the last thing he wanted.

So Ash marched through the door that led onto the stage. He felt the eyes of thousands of people and Pokémon trained on him, much like searchlights. Although the room was quite cavernous, he couldn't help but feel very trapped indeed.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Candidate Ash Ketchum!"

As he strode towards the podium, Ash waved at the audience. He couldn't spot Brock anywhere, but per the plan he'd laid out with Serena, Ash's campaign manager should have already placed a printed copy of the speech on the podium, right beneath the microphone. It didn't matter that Brock was nowhere to be found (or rather, that the crowd was so densely packed that he couldn't be found.)

Sure enough, the document itself was right where he'd been promised it would be. It was printed on several sheets of simple white computer paper, the type mass-produced to total perfection.

And at that moment, Ash felt well and truly alone. But not in a way that made the speech easier to give; on the contrary, it felt like the whole room was against him.

Time for me to make my case.

"Good afternoon, Democrats of Unova!" Ash exclaimed, waving his arms wildly. He'd rehearsed this action with Serena; if he could project excitement, he'd show that he was genuine. Isn't that what voters want to see in their candidate?

Turning to his notes, the candidate continued without waiting for the audience's reaction.

"I speak to you today in order to persuade you all to make me your nominee. Of course, not all of you are voting tonight; I understand that most of the delegates are pledged to either Grings Kodai or myself. But a few of you are on the fence; you are the people I hope to persuade."

Here, Ash went off-script briefly. After clearing his throat, he said the following: "I don't know why Candidate Kodai spent his UDC speech attacking me instead of making the case for himself. The fact that he felt the need to engage in whataboutism makes me think he has something to hide.

"And indeed, he's been hiding a lot from you people. Some of this is out in the open now, thanks to my excellent team of opposition researchers, and they are excellent indeed. I would like to extend my thanks to Cyrus Damasen tonight; where are you, Cyrus?"

Someone in the crowd probably waved, but Ash was too far away to make out where it was. It might not have even been Cyrus, but Ash had a bigger Magikarp to fry.

"Now, the case against Grings Kodai. Right before tensions in Hoenn reached their boiling point, right before that cold war got hot, he sold his stock in the region's hospitality industry. There's a word for people who do things like that: Corrupt. It seems likely that he knew something we didn't.

"The Kodai Files are truly horrific. The Pokémon Candidate Kodai experimented on tended to die in brutal, sometimes gruesome ways. Now, Pokémon are our equals - that's something I fervently believe. But even if they weren't, isn't it troubling that a man who could be our nominee, who could be President of Unova, would treat them so terribly?"

There were some nods in the crowd, which worked their way along the expanse of the ballroom like the "wave" at a sporting event. Ash didn't want to be caught smiling while talking about such horrendous crimes, but he couldn't help but experience slight satisfaction at this.

Many in his audience agreed with him. Ash just had to get Senator Chilacoth's delegates on board, and then the nomination would be his.

Ash deviated from the teleprompter further. Over the course of the campaign, he'd gotten better at improvising his message on a dime, which always had its advantages.

"Candidate Kodai claims he's been vetted. But bear this in mind - the Kodai Files are just what we know about. I shudder to think of what else might be there if President Fiddlesticks had actually spent his time looking.

"So what I am asking all of you is this: If we nominate Grings Kodai, are we truly playing it safe? Just because we didn't find more evidence doesn't mean the Republicans won't. And they'll deploy it without any hesitation, because they play dirty.

"So trust me, if we nominate Grings Kodai, we will get destroyed. And we will deserve it. To those of you who support Candidate Kodai, I am not here to attack you, but I want to point out that you're all making a grave mistake. And our party, and thus our region, will all pay the price for it."

"No, we won't!" someone in the crowd yelled.

"What the -" Ash stammered. "I didn't ask for anyone's opinion here! I just want order in the ballroom! Is that too much to ask?"

Evidently, the answer was yes. It wasn't long before the food and drink attendees had brought into the room was hoisted into the air. For all Ash knew, this could have been some bizarre salute, though what exactly they were saluting, the candidate didn't think he wanted to know.

Seconds later, a hot dog flew through the air, its trajectory right on track to hit Ash right between the eyes.

The candidate instinctively stepped out of the way, which resulted in the food item slamming onto the podium. With a squishing noise, the ketchup on said hot dog stained the paper containing Ash's prepared remarks.

Well, there goes the rest of my speech. Thankfully, there wasn't that much of it left.

Ash had a sinking feeling that his time in the spotlight at the UDC would be remembered not for the substance of what he'd said, but rather for the utter chaos that had just ensued. That wouldn't help his chances at the nomination, nor would it help his historical reputation, not that he cared about the latter too much right now.

And then all hell broke loose. The audience made the room hell on Nexus with their wonton killing (and yes, that's spelled correctly; dumplings were tossed, some of them finding their targets.)

"Ash, get backstage! Be careful!"

Somehow, the candidate's reflexes, honed through years of being a Pokémon trainer, failed him here. Ash understood this plea from Serena a second too late.

With a stabbing pain, Ash's left hand was sliced open. The candidate grimaced as the serrated knife fell to the stage, bouncing up again after it hit the ground.

The sight of his own blood didn't have the power to make Ash feel dizzy, but it still hurt like a bitch. What also hurt was that violence had broken out at the UDC; the sacred small-d democratic process had been violated.

"Ladies and gentlemen, stand down!" came a desperate command from the loudspeaker. "Or else we will not hesitate to move security in and arrest all who are being disorderly!"

Ash returned to Serena's side. His girlfriend must have seen the evident fury in the candidate's face, because the first thing she said was, "That bad, huh?"

In response, the candidate brandished his left hand, from which a steady stream of blood (a strange, dark red color) was flowing. "I don't know why," he said simply.

"I don't either. Political violence is unacceptable, no matter how high emotions run. And I do believe that attitudes are charged, but that doesn't excuse acts like that."

"No," Ash moaned, allowing Serena to lead him into a back room where his Secret Service detail waited in the wings. "Where's Pikachu when you need him?"

"He probably would have made it worse," Serena pointed out. "Electricity is a great way to escalate a situation, not to defuse it."

The candidate snorted. An image of the yellow mouse leaping all over the ballroom, launching Electric attacks every few seconds at random unruly attendees, entered his mind. But it wouldn't have been a panacea for the rioting; if anything, as Serena said, it would've been the opposite.

A little over an hour later, Ash sat in his hotel room once more. Once more, he was in his pajamas, and clutched a root beer bottle in his right hand.

His left hand, on the other hand, still stung. Thankfully, it was no longer bleeding; one of the medics on the candidate's Secret Service detail had seen to that. The back of Ash's left hand was now adorned with several stitches, bandages having proven insufficient to close the wound.

Ash sighed as he turned the TV on. Switching between channels, he searched for something that would take his mind off the chaos unfolding several stories below.

Unfortunately, that was easier said than done. The UDC was one of the biggest news stories of the year, and to cut away from it would be criminal. In fact, it was likely literally against the law. So no matter what channel Ash tuned to, some story surrounding the convention was being covered.

"Arrest all those asshats," the candidate muttered, clicking the remote again with his right hand. He resented the fact that he needed to put the device down each time he wanted a sip of root beer; it was yet another minor inconvenience that added insult to injury.

There was a knock on the door. Ash pretended not to hear it, reclining further on his bed. Perhaps the knocker would give up soon.

But the knocking did not stop. "Ash? It's me, Serena!"

"You can let yourself in," the candidate muttered. "I'm too busy watching TV."

"You know, Ash, you're good at a lot of things, but lying isn't one of them! Open the goddamn door!"

With a deep sigh, the candidate slowly rose, careful not to make himself woozy. And then he donned the hotel's slippers and shuffled over to the door.

On the other side stood Serena, who was still in her formal dress that she'd donned for the event. Contrary to the manner in which she'd called for the door to be opened, she did not appear that angry, just concerned.

"Hey" Ash said softly, smiling with relief.

Serena frowned. "Ash, if you're just going to retire to your room after every bit of intrigue, you're not going to be a very good President. Yes, I know you want to win, but that won't help you do so."

"Everyone needs a break now and then," Ash pointed out, gesturing to the TV. "Besides, I'm not taking one. Just look at what I'm watching."

His girlfriend turned her attention to the screen, at which time she gasped at the sight. The channel was currently tuned to OUNN, and the caption read Breaking: Giant Food Fight at Unova Democratic Convention, Ballroom Evacuated.

"I knew it was serious," Serena mouthed. "I just didn't know it was that serious. If they wanted everyone to leave…".

"That's just common sense. We don't want anyone getting hurt, though I didn't come away unscathed either," Ash said, gesturing to the stitches on his left hand.

Serena gave off a slightly sad smile. "No matter what, Ash, I'll stand by you until the very end. No matter what happens in this race."

"You too, Serena," Ash replied, reaching out with his good hand in order to wrap it around his girlfriend.

The blonde-haired woman's smile grew in size. She wrapped both her arms around Ash's chest, and her grip was stronger than it looked.

The couple embraced for a good few minutes. In moments like this, they might as well have been alone. Of course, they really were alone here; their hotel room was mercifully free of cameras. Here, they could display affection however they wanted.

For those few blissful minutes, nothing else mattered but the hug. Nothing mattered except for the bliss Ash felt when he was with his best human friend. Even amidst all the turmoil occurring on the ground floor of the hotel, Ash and Serena were one another's rocks, the most important constant in one another's lives.

As Serena went in for the kiss, the candidate looked away for a split second. Ash hoped his girlfriend wouldn't notice, but dodging her gaze was like trying to dodge rain during a thunderstorm; it just couldn't be done.

"What are you looking at, Ash?"

"Uh… nothing," the man replied, quickly and near-automatically. "I just… can't win a staring contest to save my life. That's all."

Serena frowned. "It doesn't look like nothing. Are you hiding something from me, Ash?"

"What?" the candidate all but bellowed, wondering in that moment whether everything in his life was about to come crashing down. A relationship without trust, after all, was like a car without gasoline; you could keep it all you wanted, but it wouldn't go anywhere.

"Never mind," Serena responded, returning to the hug. This was something Ash was more than happy to participate in.

At some point during their embrace, the couple rolled over onto their sides. If someone else had walked in on them at that moment, there would have been a lot of explaining to do. But since the door to the room remained firmly locked, nobody needed to know that the couple was cuddling. And if they did find out, why would that be a scandal?

After a while, content merely to be in one another's company, the couple fell asleep in each other's arms.

Ash opened his eyes some time later, realizing that there was a weight on his chest, much like a baby Phanpy was lying on top of him.

At first, the candidate's heart began racing. Was this some medieval punishment he was being subjected to?

Of course, it only took a few seconds for Ash to realize that this was not a punishment at all. In fact, it was the greatest gift he'd ever received in life.

Nonetheless, the candidate wriggled himself out of his girlfriend's grasp. Serena thus flopped down onto the bed, which was enough to shake her awake.

Seconds later, the couple glanced at one another, and as they processed what must have happened, the laughter began.

"Did we really just…" Serena began groggily, a hint of a giggle entering her voice.

Ash nodded. "It seems like we did."

"Oh my Arceus, I hope nobody else was watching," the blonde-haired woman replied, somewhat frantically.

"Why would they be?" Ash enquired. "This room is secure, and probably close to sound-proof, too. Unless we invited them in, why would anyone know we fell asleep cuddling?"

"I don't know. Maybe Pikachu found out?"

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Pikachu is still in his Pokéball, and has been ever since I got back from that food fight. He doesn't know about this, so let's keep it that way."

As this conversation went on, Ash was still acutely aware of that small box in his room. To some, its contents meant nothing, but to Ash, it meant the world.

It's just a material item. Don't freak out about it, even if it was stolen. Which it wasn't.

"Whatever," Serena muttered, though with a hint of affection still present in her voice. "Anyway, if it's been a few hours, we should check for the latest updates. What time is it, anyway?"

Ash touched his smartphone, which revealed that it was almost two in the morning. They'd slept right through dinner, but at that moment, the candidate hardly cared that he couldn't get room service. The events of the previous day came roaring back like a freight train.

"It's 2 AM," Ash said. "Of course, given our 24-hour news cycle, there's bound to be some coverage even at this hour."

As it turned out, Ash was correct. It didn't take long for him to realize that he'd neglected to turn off the TV prior to his extended cuddling session with Serena, meaning that it still displayed a view of what was happening outside the hotel.

The OUNN anchor, a white-blonde woman with circular glasses, spoke directly to her audience with a rather grave tone. She looked livid.

"One Unova News Network is reporting that a former presidential candidate, Senator Robert Chilacoth, has endorsed his rival Ash Ketchum for the Democratic nomination, in a blow to businessman Grings Kodai's bid for the nomination; a blow, moreover, that is likely to be fatal."

Serena gasped. Her boyfriend, meanwhile, just sat there in disbelief, his eyes open to the size of the largest coins he'd ever seen. Was the anchor really saying what it sounded like she was telling them?

"Of course, there are many questions regarding this endorsement. Is it evidence that we had a corrupt, stolen primary process? Was there a covert operation to deny Grings Kodai the nomination? Or was there, as outgoing President Fiddlesticks loves to say, no collusion?"

"It's yours, Ash! The nomination is yours!" Serena exclaimed joyfully, bouncing on the bed like a kid who doesn't want to go to sleep.

"Whoa, Serena. Be careful - you might hurt yourself."

"Sorry," the young woman said breathlessly. "It's just - you understand what she's saying, right? Senator Chilacoth's delegates are going to line up behind you, and you'll face Senator Rowan in the fall."

Yes, that is true.

As he processed this news, Ash felt his pulse quicken to no small degree. His palms sweated as he understood that, although this was good news, it also meant that the difficulties he'd been facing for the last year would only grow.

From the standpoint of media coverage, he would be heading out of the frying pan and into the fire. And he'd need to adjust to the heat, or else he'd get burned.

"How are you feeling, Ash?" Serena enquired.

"I'm feeling amazing!" the candidate all but yelled, not caring that Serena had to cover her ears. "I might actually win this thing!"

"Yep," his girlfriend responded, backing away. "I love you so much, Ash, and I'm very proud of you. You're the bravest person I've ever met."

A few seconds later, the two embraced once more, and both went in for the kiss. During this extended smooch, Ash kept one eye on the dresser atop which the small box still sat.

The candidate knew exactly what said package contained. Ever since he'd purchased the contents, he had envisioned taking the item out of the box, kneeling in front of Serena, asking her a question, and slipping it on her finger.

But that would have to wait a few more hours.