Chapter 23

A bipedal white pokemon materialised. It had green hair, red eyes, graceful figure and red fin impaled in its chest. The psychic type opened its eyes and gave a elegant cry.

"And Ash has chosen Gardevoir as his first and last pokemon," Pierre said.

The crowd looked at the embrace pokemon with awe. Never in their life they've seen a Gardevoir that beautiful. Anyone could tell it was very well taken care of and powerful as well.

"I must say that I haven't seen a Gardevoir like that one in a while," said Aria.

"That's even more graceful than Lady Diantha's. I'm impressed Ash," Wallace said with a nod.

People were taking out their phones and took pictures of the embrace. Some started to record the battle as well.

The performers and coordinators were commenting on its coting.

"Anyone can mistake it with a Contest Champion's pokemon," said May with admiration. Pikachu was already ready to take a nap, because Ash was going to win it anyways, even with the odds.

Gardevoir looked a bit confused and looked back at Ash with a look.

Ash knew what she was thinking.

"We are having a contest battle," Ash explained. "It's a 2 vs 1 format, think you handle it?" he asked. Gardevoir looked at its two opponents who were already in a battle stance. She looked back at Ash with a smile and gave a confident nod, before taking her stance as well, ready for battle.

"Let this long waited momentary battle, begin," Pierre declared as the audience cheered.

Drew was jealous to the fact how people were admiring Ash and his pokemon, but still, he couldn't help but agree that his Gardevoir is a really beautiful one.

'Let's see. Absol is at a disadvantage and Roserade is with an advantage. But Gardevoir has advantage over both of them. I have to be careful,' Drew thought before giving his first command.

"Both of you, use Shadow Ball."

Absol and Roserade charged up the super effective Ghost type move and shot it at Gardevoir, who just stood there unfazed, as the attack hit the target. There was a small explosion.

Drew along with everyone else were shocked that Ash didn't gave any command and let the Psychic/Fairy type take those critical hits.

"If he is trying to show off Gardevoir's endurance by letting it take the attacks, that's really unacceptable," Kenny said frowning as most people agreed with him and commented something like that.

"Ash is not that type of trainer," May muttered to herself reassuringly.

Ash heard the comments too and sweatdropped.

'C'mon people, let the smoke clear up first,' he thought annoyingly.

The dust cleared up. Everyone gasped as they saw the embrace holding some sort of shield in front it, not taking a single damage.

Pierre immediately understood what happened.

"It seems Gardevoir used Reflect to defend against the upcoming attack without a command," he explained as people started cheering.

'Oh yeah. The without command shit,' Drew thought sarcastically. 'Lets try something else.'

"Roserade use Petal Blizzard and Absol, Icy Wind," he commanded a combination.

Roserade summoned the storm of petal on the battlefield. Absol added Icy Wind to it, resulting in a beautiful sparkling storm around the room. Gardevoir was taking a bit damage as well. Everyone applauded on the combination and started praising it, while some took pictures of it. Even May was impressed.

Drew smirked and flicked his hair noticing the reactions.

"See Ash? We coordinators not only battle but also show the beauty and elegancy of our pokemons and their moves with appeals like this one. That's what makes us special," Drew said to Ash and received cheers from some of the coordinators.

Ash just smiled and gave his command.

"Dazzling Gleam."

Gardevoir who was trapped in the middle of the storm, released a blinding flash of light causing Drew and everyone to close their eyes. When they reopened their eyes, they saw a seemingly magnificent glow of beautiful sparkling light around the battlefield.

The force of the Psychic energy stopped the storm and created another gorgeous combination that felt like heaven.

"I know exactly what you mean Drew," Ash said, still smiling as everyone started cheering even louder.

"Amazing. It seems like Ash used Drew's combination to create his own beautiful one, such a rare technique," Pierre said impressively.

"That's unique alright," said Zoey with a sigh.

"It just shows how skilled he is as a pokemon trainer, to create influence on each and every field," said Wallace.

"The combination was so mind blowing," said Aria with stars in her eyes.

"Even unpredictable in coordinating, why am I not surprised? " May said with a sigh, but impressed as well.

'Well, he is the protagonist duh,' thought Pikachu.

"You'll be a tough one to defeat," said Drew surprisingly smiling, "But the battle is not over Ash."

"Of course. Give me your best shot." Ash said.

"Roserade, use Sunny Day."

The bouquet pokemon shot a sphere above the field and created a warm atmosphere in the room. Fire type moves are powerful in its presence.

"Now Absol, get close to Gardevoir using double team," Drew said as the disaster pokemon created copies of itself and surrounded Gardevoir. The embrace looked around for the real one.

Drew smirked. "Use Will-O-Wisp," he commanded as the real Absol shot the sinister, bluish white flame at Gardevoir and hit it. Due to the sunny day in effect, it did more damage as Gardevoir cried in pain.

Drew didn't waste any second.

"Now Roserade, Solar Beam."

Ash's eyes widened. He completely forgot about the other pokemon. Absol was just a distraction while Roserade could take time to charge up the Solar Beam. Ash was impressed with the strategy. But he has made it out of tight spots before and this was no exception.

"Teleport."

Gardevoir heard the command and instantly disappeared from its spot before the powerful Grass type move could hit.

'Shit. It knows teleport?!' Drew thought as he looked around the battlefield for any sign of the embrace.

"Use Moonblast," Ash commanded suddenly as Gardevoir appeared behind Absol. It already had charged up the move before Ash's command. Drew's eyes widened.

"Absol behind yo---"

Before the salad head could warn, Absol was blasted across the battlefield with the super effective fairy type move.

Not giving any chance, Gardevoir teleported again. Before Drew could say anything, it appeared in front of a startled Roserade and hit it with a Psyshock. The super effective Psychic type move send it flying towards Absol. Both pokemon grunted in pain as Gardevoir teleported back in its previous position.

The crowed gasped, clapped and also cheered at the shunning display of skill and power.

"Ash is good," said Solidad.

"Too good," added Lisia.

"Two critical hits in a row, that is ought to be tough," said Fantina.

"You two alright?" Drew asked. The two pokemon shook off the pain and gave a cry, ready to fight once more.

"Absol use Shadow Claw and Roserade, use Petal Dance," Drew commanded once more.

Both pokemon launched their moves at Gardevoir, who stood there calmly waiting for its orders.

"Use Confusion on Absol."

Gardevoir nodded and used a telekinetic force on Absol, confusing it. Due to being confused, Absol accidently used the Shadow Claw on Roserade, making it take damage.

Before the disaster pokemon could recover Ash commanded.

"Finish Absol with Draining Kiss."

Gardevoir used the Fairy type move on Absol, sucking all of its energy and finally, fainting it.

"Absol is unable to battle," Pierre declared as the crowd cheered.

Drew was stunned for a moment. He returned Absol with a thanks and focused on the battle once more.

'I am going to fight like a battler as well.'

"Use Leaf Storm along with Toxic," Drew said. Roserade summoned a storm of leaves at Gardevoir. It also released the poison towards the Fairy type.

"Teleport away from it," Ash said as Gardevoir avoided the attack. But Drew was ready.

"Use Magical Leaf," Drew said. Roserade shot the move just when Gardevoir teleported to the other side, and the embrace took damage.

"Sleep Powder," Drew smirked as Roserade released the powder. Ash knew there wasn't any way to avoid that, so he thought of something.

"Counter Shield," he said. Gardevoir understood what to do. It started spinning in one spot releasing Psychic energy and Gust. Gardevoir sure looked beautiful while doing that, so people looked at her. But they didn't notice that the move resulted in sending the Sleep Powder towards Roserade instead. The bouquet pokemon felt drowsy and finally fell asleep, shocking Drew. Ash knew the battle was over.

"Dream Eater."

Gardevoir released a holographic version of itself towards the sleeping Grass/Poison type. Drew could only watch as Roserade started twitching in its sleep and then finally, its closed eyes were switched with swirls.

"Roserade is unable to battle, Gardevoir wins. So the winner of this battle is Champion Ash," Pierre announced.

The audience erupted into cheers and applauded the trainers for the outstanding battle. Drew thanked Roserade and returned it. Ash walked upto Gardevoir. He put an arm around the embrace and gave an affectionate hug. Gardevoir cried happily and returned the hug as well.

"You were amazing," Ash said petting her head.

"Thank you master," Gardevoir replied in his mind, not wanting to grab attention using telepathy.

"I hate to admit it, but you were good," Drew said walking upto them. "But next time I will win," he said while putting out a hand.

Ash smiled and shook his hand, "We will see," he said and Drew walked away, not before flicking his stupid hair.

Gardevoir looked annoyed at the fact how much her hair looked like his. She cringed and shoved the thought away.

Ash returned Gardevoir and walked to the sides. People cheered and applauded him. Some girls were drooling on him, but he didn't pay much attention. Suddenly, a familiar brunette hugged him from the crowd. Ash smiled and hugged her back.

"You were amazing Ash," May said, beaming.

"Thanks May," Ash said. Pikachu jumped and repositioned himself on its trainer's shoulder.

"Excellent battle," a voice said with a clap as Ash turned towards it. Wallace was there along with Fantina.

"You still held onto that strategy you used against me, didn't you?" Fantina said reminiscing their gym battle.

"You could say that," Ash said chuckling.

The rest of the party went in a flash. Some of the coordinators were actually taking advice from Ash on how to take care of your pokemon so perfectly or techniques used in battling. Ash was totally caught off guard. Even May wanted to know more about the Counter Shield.

The party gradually ended with few other battles, as Pierre finally announced the departure time. One by one, everyone started to leave for the airport.

Ash and May had the return tickets as well, so they boarded the same airplane they had before, and flew off towards Lumiose City.

***

"I never got the chance to tell you, but you have gotten really good at dancing," May said.

"Why, thank you. To be honest, I was surprised myself," said Ash.

Both of them were already reaching the academy. They took a taxi after landing on the airport. They soon reached it and got off the taxi. They thanked the driver and payed him off.

It was already afternoon.

"Ah today was amazing," May said stretching her arms. "Thank you so much for coming with me," May said smiling sweetly.

"Anything for you cutie," Ash said and immediately bit his tongue.

May took some time to process what she heard.

"Wa-wait. W-what?" she asked incredulosly, slightly blushing.

'Stupid stupid,' Ash scolded himself.

"O-oh umm, look at the time, I have something to do sooo....see ya May," he said quickly and ran to his dorm leaving a screaming May behind.

"A-ash WAIT?!" she yelled but the boy was already gone.

May huffed.

'Bummer. Here I was thinking I could steal another kiss from him. Well next time maybe,' May smiled and walked towards her dorm as well.

"Phew, that was a close one," Ash thought as he walked towards his dorm.

"Pika chu pi?"

"Crap. I totally forgot to check on Anabel. Thanks for reminding me buddy," Ash said as he took a U-turn towards the girl's dorm.

***

Anabel was sitting on the couch, watching TV. She was really bored. She rested in her dorm the entire day doing nothing. And to make things worse, Ash didn't even come to check on her. Not that she was mad, but a little upset.

She was thinking about this stuffs when suddenly there was a knock on her door.

She looked at the time.

'Who could it be now?'

"Espeon, will you open the door for me please?" Anabel requested. The Sun pokemon nodded and used her Psychic powers to open the door. The person was a bit startled when he saw the door open by itself, but entered anyway.

Once Anabel saw who it was, she immediately shot up from the couch, smiling brightly.

"Ash."

The trainer got closer. "Uh hey Anabel sorry for--"

Before he could say anything, Anabel embraced him, shutting him up. Ash returned the gesture.

"It's fine Ash. I know how busy you are. I am just glad you came," she said, completely recovering from the dullness of the whole day.

Ash smiled. "Thanks Annie," he said, unknowingly calling Anabel with a nickname.

She turned red in embarrassment from the nickname Ash gave her just now. She just looked away.

'Geez, what is wrong with me today?' Ash thought desperately as Pikachu stifled a laugh.

Ash then noticed her bandaged head and immediately changed the subject, breaking the awkward silence.

"How are you feeling now?" Ash asked as Anabel turned a bit normal and looked at him.

"I am feeling great actually. I took a quick check up this morning from Brock and he told me I should rest for today. I will be good as new by tomorrow," she said as Ash sighed in relief.

"That's good to hear."

Pikachu noticed something odd and asked Ash, "Pika pika chu pi?"

Ash looked at him. "How Brock checked up Anabel despite being a pokemon doctor? Hmm... I don't know? Plot convenience, maybe?" Ash said as Pikachu jaw dropped at how Ash broke the wall this time rather than him.

Anabel ignored the weird conversation and asked Ash a question that's been nagging her, "Say Ash, what have you been upto today?"

Ash looked at her, thinking a bit before answering.

"Well, when I got up this morning, May showed up at my dorm and requested me to come with her to a dance party in Snowbelle city. So I was there the whole day," he explained cutting out the date part.

Ash noticed Anabel looked a bit sad at what he said. She quickly shook it off and smiled, "Good for you then," she said smiling fakely.

Ash was lost in his thoughts.

'According to Rule no.27 of Gardevoir, a girl gets upset when you mention another girl in front of her, either if they don't get along, which is not true in this case. Then that leaves the option of....,' Ash froze in his thoughts.

'It can't be, can it?' Ash thought while looking at Anabel distantly.

"Ash?" Anabel asked interrupting his thoughts.

"Oh yeah, well, I will go back to my room then. I will see you later Anabel," Ash said taking his leave.

"Okay, bye Ash," Anabel said bidding the boy as he closed the door behind him.

Anabel placed her hand on her heart, which was beating fast.

***

Ash started to walk towards his dorm, not wanting to do anything else but take a nice long nap before dinner.

But Arceus have planned something else for him.

Suddenly Ash's phone rang.

He frowned and took it out. He saw it was an unknown number and received it.

"Hello?"

"....."

"Yes?"

"..."

Ash's eyes widened alertly.

"I will be on my way," Ash said and cut the call.

'So much for a nap,' Ash thought sighing mentally.

"Pika?" the mouse asked.

"Another mission buddy," Ash replied as he dashed outside of the academy.