Chapter 5 For a moment, Ash just stood there. He blinked. Turning, he looked down at his constant little yellow companion Pikachu who leapt into his arms, cheering with the crowd. Before Ash could move he was knocked sideways as Misty, Brock, Max, May, Tyson and, with a thud, Morrison all bowled into him, sending them all flying into the water. They all surfaced, laughing like mad people. Ash made sure all were out of the water safely before making for his most victorious pokemon who had not fallen in battle. Before he could pull himself out of the water, two dragon like claws grabbed him from behind and soared into the air before throwing him sky high and catching him on its back. Thus the victorious trainer and his victorious pokemon soared around the arena to the cheers of the crowd before alighting next to Samantha. Jumping from Charizard, Ash offered his hand to Samantha who shakily took it in a sign of good sportsmanship. "That was an awesome battle Samantha" Grinned Ash, his hair dripping from being in the water. "I hope we can meet again some day" Shocked by a degree of sportsmanship not often shown towards her, Samantha took a moment to recover and warmly shook his hand. "Of course Ash." she replied with a smile. "You had me tricked so many times. You are truly a great trainer." she added with a wink before leaving to heal her pokemon and praise them for their fine efforts. Ash looked back to Charizard, returning him to his ball to rest after such an epic battle before turning back to his friends. "Well now, Ladies and Gentleman, we now have our champion! I ask you all to return here this evening for the presentation ceremony" called the announcer over the loud speakers as the crowd began to filter out of the arena. Together, the group made their way towards the pokemon centre, grateful for the Officer Jenny escort through the hyper crowds. "Ash that was an amazing battle! Your Charizard is so strong, but I bet he's not stronger than my Metang!" said Morrison. "What?" cried Max, "Charizard has just won on a water field, against a water type opponent against a type disadvantage and you think your Metang with a type disadvantage to Charizard can beat him?" "Oh, stop arguing!" butted in May. "Ash that was really a great battle, the best I've seen from you!" said Brock, walking behind his young friend. "Thanks Brock" smiled Ash, still in a state of shock himself. "Well, Ash, what do you think you'll do now that you've conquered the Hoenn League?" asked Tyson, causing the others to all stop talking and reliving parts of the battle to hear Ash's reply. After a pause he said, "Well, I guess I'll head back to Pallet Town. I haven't seen my Mum or my other pokemon for almost two years. Maybe Professor Oak will have heard of a new region to go to. You're all welcome to come with me if you want." "Thanks Ash, but I think Max and I will go back home to Mum and Dad. Plus, Max can now get his first pokemon as of 10 days from now so I recon he wants to be back before then so he can begin trying to choose his first pokemon." said May speaking for both her and her brother who nodded in agreement. "I think I'll head home also. I think everyone should every once in a while and it's been too long since I last visited. Such is the cause of being a trainer" said Tyson. "I can come with you part of the way" said Morrison, "But then I'll head back to Verdanturf Town. I have to show my Dad how strong all my pokemon are. He didn't really want me to leave..." he trailed off and silence covered the group til Brock tactfully broke the silence. "I've gotta help Forrest with the gym for a while, see how he's coping and to find out if he's been able to rid the gym of that reputation my mother gave it!" mentioned Brock. "Well, what about you Misty?" Ash turned to his best friend as she walked beside him. "I'll come with you to Pallet. You'll need someone to make sure you don't get lost!" she glanced mischievously at her best friend from under her fringe as he turned towards her. "Hey, I think I know my way to my own home!" he retorted. Snorting she added to the others, "Yeah, and how many times have I heard that before?" sending them all into fits of suppressed jubilation. "Congratulations Ash that was quite some battle!" "Thank you Nurse Joy, could you heal my pokemon for the presentation ceremony later?" he asked, holding out his five pokeballs and Pikachu on a pokeball tray. They had reached the main desk where Nurse Joy stood. At the mention of Ash's name, what seemed like the whole stadium engulfed the little group all shouting. "ASH, ASH!!! That was an amazing battle! Please can you show me how to train my Charizard to be as strong as yours!!" asked one little boy. "Ash, will you trade your Grovyle for my Gloom? Please!!" asked a girl of about 20 years, holding forward her Gloom's pokeball. "Ash, Ash, would you care to give us an interview?" asked one woman with glasses, a suit and long red hair, a man with violet, shoulder length hair holding a camera with a Moewth in a blue suit and a moustache, holding a microphone. "Yeah, and maybe we can see some of those winning pokemon!" chipped in the Meowth. "Errrr..."replied Ash, in shock so rubbing the back of his head with his right arm. “Sure, but I don't have my pokemon with me right now, I just gave them to Nurse Joy!" "What?" asked the woman, obviously disappointed before turning to her colleagues and whispering "The twerp hasn't got his pokemon, what shall we do?" "Well, there's no point trying to steal Pikachu if it's not with him, let's come back later!" replied the Meowth before they ran out at a sprint without saying anything to Ash. "Um....that was weird..." stated May, looking after the "Camera crew" "Yeah, well, let's get out of here before Ash gets eaten alive!" stated Misty, trying to forge a path through Ash's fans to get them out, but instead became separated from the group. "Hey, get out of my way!" she shoved a girl before realising the others weren't behind her. "Ash, Brock I'm over here! OW!" she landed on the floor as the girl she had previously pushed shoved her to the ground before "accidentally" stepping backwards hard on her ankle. "Oops, sorry" she said snootily at Misty on the floor as she clutched her foot. "Argh, you'd better feel lucky that I haven't got my mallet with me!" she glared as the girl turned her back to her, trying to shove her way through the throng to Ash. "ASH, ASH!!" screamed Misty, suddenly realising how perilous her situation was, now that she was on the floor, unable to get up with what seemed like hundreds of people (mostly girls for some reason) jumping up and down to see the new Hoenn champion. "No, I will not trade my Pikachu for your Wurmple! Misty, where are you!" he could barely hear her over the clamour of the fans, "Misty!" "Argh, this isn't working!" she growled, holding the frightened Azurill closer. A sadistic grin crossed her face as she formulated an eye catching plan. "Gyarados, go!" "RAAAAAAAAAAAWRRR!!!!" The fans scattered, terrified as the sea lizard roared from behind them, leaving Ash a clear way to Misty who was now doubled up on the floor laughing her head off. "Sorry, sor...sor...ha ha ha!" she struggled to contain herself while Ash and the others struggled to contain their mirth as they approached the injured girl. "Some girl pushed me over and stood on my ankle, can you help me up?" she offered her hand to Ash who grasped it and helped her up, allowing her to rest part of her weight on his arm before she returned Gyarados before he caused more trouble. Together they made their way out of the pokemon centre while Brock and Tyson, the only two old enough to know much about love (if you think Brock has any) smiled to themselves at the site. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Ladies and Gentleman, President Goodshow will now award the League trophy to our champion, Ash Ketchum!" It was now evening and the crowd roared for Ash as he was presented with the trophy, the pokemon used in his final battle along side him. Pikachu on his shoulder, Charizard, Glalie and Swellow on his right, Cawphish and Grovyle on his left. All the participants of the festival stood facing Ash, each with one of their pokemon with them. Out of the crowd, Ash could see the various people he's fought against and beaten on his way to the top...Genki and his Hitmonlee...Tomono and his Swalot...Clark and his Quilava...Katie and her Golduck ...Morrison and his Metang...Tyson and Meowth in Boots...David and his Vibrava...Samantha and her Poliwrath. His eyes wandered up to the stands to where May, Max, Brock and Misty were seated, Azurill jumping on Misty's lap. He thought with sadness than now his adventures in Hoenn had come to an end after two years of travel. It pained him to realise that soon, he would have to say goodbye to May and Max, who had journeyed with him through their home region. Brock would also be one to leave after many, many years of travel, but he had a feeling that their paths would cross again, they always did. And then there was Misty. He was sure there was something different in her attitude. She had changed since he had last seen her, as though something inside her had been resolved. Catching his eye she gave him a broad smile and a wave. He found himself blushing and averted his gaze to alight on the burning Flame of Moltres mounted over the stadium. While admiring how the flames reminded him of her hair a thought entered his mind, 'She had come back. But how long would she stay?' "Pika pi pika chu pichu pi!" (Will you cheer up, everyone's watching!) Chirruped in his ear, bringing him back to the occasion to wave at the crowd. "Pika pi chu pika pi chu pikachupi, pi pika chu pika pika pi pikachu PIKA pikachu pi chu!" (and if you have to stare at Misty, at least wait until the whole world ISN'T looking at you!) "Pikachu!" he snapped his head round to glare at the cheerful rodent on his shoulder who was waving at the crowd, ignoring his agitated trainer, just letting off a bit of static to wake him up and pay attention. "And now, Ladies and Gentlemen, please turn your attention to the Flame of Moltres as it is about to be extinguished, finalising the end of this years thrilling Hoenn League final!" as one, the crowd turned to observe Samantha who had the honor of extinguishing the flame after coming second to Ash. All other lights in the stadium went out so that the flame was the only source of light. She and Poliwrath reached the Flame and took a moment to stare into the orange and gold blaze before bending down and extinguished the flame.