Guys

2007 words is NOT short

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After five days of continuous practice, the day was finally here.

"Go all of you! I am sure you'll make everybody proud!" Delia said as she wished the kids good luck.

Delia, Aiden, and Rose had come back from their business event two days before. Even Gary's parents, Amelia and Jack Oak had come with them, pleased to see their son, and all his friends. Not to forget Professor Oak. Misty had moved back to her house.

Though even Gary's parents were sad about Ash's failure in making Misty remember the past, they were still happy that they were friends, happy and alive. They got to know about the attack that happened to Misty too, and praised her and Ash for being so brave.

Right now, everybody was out of the Wisdom Stadium, where the yearly Grand Pokemon League was gonna take place. In just a few minutes, everybody had to go inside the cheering crowd, the parents to settle down and the participants to take their positions for the march.

"Do your best, okay?" Rose said as she hugged Misty, she hugged back.

"I will." Misty replied, and pulled back, hugging her dad too.

"Go get it, my princess!" Aiden said, pecking Misty's forehead.

"I'll surely get it, again." Misty confidently told her dad.

Everybody then dispersed. The adults went to the bleachers, Yellow following them, and our squad went to their respective positions. After a wait of five minutes, the competition started. The Legendary Moltres' flame was glowing brightly, and the battles began soon after.

[I am not good at writing battles so please bear with me.]

Today was the trainer's first and second round. All of our trainers, Ash, Misty, Gary, Red, Paul, Brock, Leaf, and Clemont. Clemont's Luxray won perfectly, while Brock's Onix destroyed the battle area. Paul's Aggron worked a treat, and Red's Charizard burned the stage, Gary's Umbreon shined brightly with her sparks, Leaf fought fearlessly, Misty's Gyrados' fierce attacks were enough to make her opponent's Marill run around in fear. Pikachu, even though was small, smartly defeated his opponent very easily.

They all decided to let their pokemon's rest at the Pokemon center, while they enjoyed their dinner with their families.

"What did it feel like, to battle again?" Aiden asked Ash.

"Amazing, I loved to battle today." Ash replied, smiling. Aiden did too.

"Are you three nervous for tomorrow?" Caroline asked May, Dawn, and Drew.

"Kind of." Dawn answered. The other two nodded.

"Don't worry, you all will do good." Norman said, smiling at the three teens. They did the same in return.

"You'll be great, guys!" Serena exclaimed.

"Grace, how come George's not here?" Delia asked curiously.

"He's still in USA. Had some clients to attend to, there. He said he'll come back soon, though. Also that he wanted to have a small talk with you." Grace explained.

"Sure." Delia said, nodding.

Ash turned his gaze to Misty, only to see her feeding a bite of steak to Red, of course. He became unbelievably silent after that, and ate his dinner without bothering anything else. After a while, he finished.

"I'll get going." Ash said as he got up.

"Oh? Why? And where?" Delia asked, wanting her son to stay longer. Ash turned his gaze to Misty, who locked her eyes with him.

"Somewhere...far." Was all he said, before breaking his and Misty's eye contact and walking away. Misty raised an eyebrow, and looked at Red, oblivious to the reason for Ash's leave.

"Why did he leave?" Misty asked.

"I think I might know." Red said, looking at the direction Ash went out in.

* * *

The league was going well for everyone. Clemont unfortunately had to battle against Tim, and lost, considering Tim was the second winner in the trainer's section. Brock was against Paul, and Paul defeated him. It was a tough win. Drew and Dawn hadn't lost, and May was on the edge of losing but won. Ursula didn't. Serena was doing good.

The fourth round was up. Since there were many contestants, there was a fifth round before the semi-finals. For the fourth one, Ash was up against Paul. Paul and Ash both did their best, and Ash won against him. It was pretty easy for him, with his so supporting and loving pokemon, he was winning. Leaf lost to Misty. Red and Gary won their battles too.

[For dumbos like me, who didn't understand the stat, let me show it to you.

Trainer's section-

Clemont vs Tim- Tim [3rd round]

Brock vs Paul- Paul [3rd round]

Gary vs someone- Gary [4th round]

Red vs someone- Red [4th round]

Misty vs Leaf- Misty [4th round]

Ash vs Paul- Ash [4th round]

Trust me, it was confusing for me too. Took me a while to sort it out.]

Until, the trainer section's battling list for the fifth round was up. Ash was teamed up against...Red.

He was surprised at first, but regained himself quickly, a sudden feeling of anger and determination going down his body. He saw Red at the other end of the crowd, looking at the board too, and then at him. There was tension between them, no doubt, but Ash was indeed filled with rage for he was thinking Red was stealing his Misty from him. He didn't wanna care, because Misty was only his friend and can be with anybody she desired, but he just couldn't stop.

He turned around and went away, leaving Red there. Misty approached and also saw Ash going away, then to the battle board. She caught up with the situation quickly and face-palmed herself. She had told Red about her talk with Mason and Red understood it. He was the only one to know, she still didn't wanna tell anyone. After Red stated his opinion on the situation at the hotel, she couldn't help but be surprised at what Red had thought was going on.

"Do you really think that's the problem here?" Misty asked Red.

"I'm damn sure." Red said, and then waved Misty, bidding her bye and walking into the waiting room for his next match, with Ash.

~

"And our next match is between one of our old champions, RED." The commentator announced, and the crowd started cheering. Red entered the stadium and stood at his position with a hand in his pocket.

"Against him is our new champion. Well, seems like he'll win this league. ASH KETCHUM!" the commentator said again, and Ash, with both hands in his pocket and cap hung a bit down to hide his eyes, entered the stadium to his position. The crowd cheered for both their favorite boys.

Red looked at Ash, more like, his hat. He knew the reason for Ash's behavior.

Jealousy.

His ability to observe was the same as Sarah's. He observed Ash, and after getting to know that Misty loved Ash, he joined all the pieces together. He already knew that Ash loved Misty from the beginning. Nobody even thought of doing what he had done for Misty, that is enough for yelling out that Ash loved Misty.

He understood that Ash would play his best, to show Misty he was better than Red. But he wasn't gonna fall into his plan. He wanted to win too, and just because Ash was his close friend didn't mean he would lose, for him.

He wanted to test Ash.

"On our right, we have Ash, and on our left, we have Red. Start!" The judge gave his call, and Ash and Red called out their pokemon.

Ash re-adjusted his hat, so his eyes were seen, letting the crowd see his complete face. The crowd cheered again, when both of them called out their pokemon. 

Ash went for Heracross, and Red went for Jolteon. Since Pikachu was tired from all the matches before this one, Ash let him rest, not picking him for this match. He trusted his other pokemon too. Seeing the match, no one could tell who would win, but soon Red was succeeding with his Joltoen. Heracross passed out, and Ash called him back. Heracross was strong, but Jolteon was stronger.

Thinking for a second, Ash called out Bulbasaur. He knew his pokemon would have an advantage against the electric fox, and he was right. After a couple of attacks, Jolteon was out, also because he was a bit tired from fighting with Heracross a while ago.

"Pidgeotto, come out!" Red said as his Pidgeotto came out of his pokeball. Red also knew, now he had an advantage against Ash, and the match continued. Pidgeotto dodged all of Bulbasaur's attacks and knocked it out too. Ash called him back.

"Charizard, GO!" Ash yelled as he called his charizard out. Charizard came out of his pokeball and roared loudly.

"Smart." Red said, and the match continued. Charizard wasted no time going hard on Pidgeotto and soon it was out. Red called his poor Pokeemon back, and Ash smirked a little, satisfied.

"Go...charizard." Red said as he called out his charizard. The crowd was surprised, including Ash.

Two charizards fighting against each other?

"I know what he's trying to do." Misty said to nobody exactly, her friends heard her over the crowd.

"What is it?" Clemont asked. Misty kept looking at the match.

"Red's trying to fire back Ash's moves, whatever it will be. It's somewhat like fighting a ditto, but the only difference is, both pokemon here are original. No way to determine who will win, only the strong one will, as per what I think." Professor Oak answered Clemont's question, exactly what Misty was thinking.

The match had paused for a while, no move was made. Both the charizards were glaring at each other, while Ash and Red did the same. Ash was thinking what he should do. He understood Red's strategy, and knew, whatever he would do, he would get it back, the same, or maybe with more energy.

He thought of giving it a shot. "Charizard, Ember attack." He instructed.

"Charizard, Ember attack." Red repeated Ash's words and smirked. Ash groaned.

Both the ember attacks created a bit of smoke on the field. Ash quickly made his move. "Dragon claw."

"Dragon claw." Red repeated him again. Even the dragon claw was a waste. They tried several attacks, but they didn't knock even one of both the pokemon out, but Ash's as well as Red's charizard were hurt, one move on the other and the victim of the attack will be out.

Ash and Red both knew this. Ash was thinking what he should do, but then Red spoke, for the first time before Ash since Charizard was called out.

"Charizard...seismic toss." He instructed. Before Ash could process anything, his charizard was trapped by Red's charizard and he flew into the air, gripping on the raven haired boy's charizard, hard. All the audience looked up to see what was happening. Red's charizard came down in full force, and Ash's charizard groaned when they finally hit the ground.

This was an attack where both the pokemon could get hurt, so the decision wasn't still determined. Both the pokemon's trainers, the judges, the commentators, the crowd, everyone was silent, waiting for the dust and smoke to clear and see who the winner was.

It finally cleared, and a faint shadow of a charizard was seen on the screen. It was standing on the right side, which was Ash's, making Ash think it was his.

But he was wrong.

It was Red's charizard, looking down at Ash's beaten up charizard who was knocked out on the ground. Both were breathing hard, and soon Red's charizard collapsed too.

Red called his pokemon back, while Ash was still processing what had happened.

He...lost.

He didn't care about his loss but only for his pokemon right now, so he ran up to his charizard, and looked at him, rubbing soothing circles on his pokemon's body.

"You did great. Thank you." Ash said, as Charizard looked at his trainer's eyes. He knew Ash was sad, but just nodded with his little strength.

"Come, rest now." Ash said as he called his pokemon back. He stood up, and lowered his hat again. The crowd was silent too. His friends, his parents, uncles and aunts, everybody looked at him, concerned. Especially Misty.

"You did great." Ash heard Red say coming towards him. He didn't look up, nor gave a response.

"You might have thought I was stealing Misty away from you," Red said, and this caught Ash's attention, making him look up. "But that's not true." He added.

"What?" Ash was shook till his core.

"Come on. I know you were jealous of me thinking I would take Misty away, isn't that right?" Red asked Ash, who sighed.

"Yeah, right."

"Ash, she considers me only as her best friend. She doesn't have romantic feelings for me and neither do I...though I did, once. But that's not the point. The truth is, I just wanted to test you, to see if you deserve her. Though I have had much evidence from you in the past that you deserve her the most, I still wanted to, 'cause you were acting a bit strange." Red explained.

"I failed, didn't I?" Ash asked, looking down and chuckling sadly.

"No. You passed." Red said, Ash looked at him, confused.

"I always saw the love in your eyes for her. Today too, you had this determination to defeat me whatsoever. That kind of passion to win her was in your eyes, clearly visible. You're perfect for her." Red stated whatever he observed. Ash was shocked, again.

"Thank...thank you." Ash thanked Red. Red nodded, turning around. They had been talking for a while, and the crowd was wondering what was going on, thinking maybe just formalities of 'good game' and stuff after the match.

"Also, I didn't tell her that you love her. That's for you to let her know, and I hope you do it right." Red said, stopping in his tracks and turning around again. Ash, not having anything to say, just nodded.

"And remember, even though I believe you won't ever hurt her, if you do, just know that I'll always be behind her back, and hunt you down." Red said, a hint of seriousness as well as playfulness in his voice. Ash chuckled.

"I'll make sure to not hurt her." Ash said. Red nodded and turned again, walking away. Ash did the same.

"What were they talking about so much?" Dawn asked the others.

"Seemed like it was very important." Gary said.

"Maybe we'll know later." Clemont said.

* * *

The other matches took place as well. Gary won against his opponent, Misty did too.

The semi-finals were gonna take place. Misty was up against Gary and Red was up against Tim.

Misty won with ease against Gary, and Gary congratulated her, being happy for her. Red, who was one of the champions of the league for years, defeated Tim, who was one of the winners too.

Now, it was Red against Misty the next day. The performer's as well as coordinator's tournaments had ended perfectly, with a girl winning the cup, Drew second, and this time it was May who ended up being the third winner. She was too happy about it. Serena was in the top eight.

Only the finals for the trainer's section remained, and everybody was looking forward to it. Two of the most strongest trainers in the whole school against each other. Most of the people knew Misty would win, and some fangirls debated that the winner would be Red.

"Where's mom?" Ash asked as they walked out of the stadium.

"Went to talk with my dad. He's back, finally!" Serena exclaimed. Ash nodded. He looked over at Misty.

"Who do you think will win tomorrow?" Ash asked her. She tore her gaze from the ground and looked back at him.

"Depends." Was all she replied.

"You can do it." Ash said, cheering up for her. She chuckled at his cute behavior.

"I can, and I will." 

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I still remember when this story had only one vote~