All for You

Chapter 6

Serena turned to the boy sitting beside her. "Excuse me?"

The boy turned to her. He looked to be fifteen or sixteen and had long purple hair. He had a rather disdainful expression. He didn't seem to care that Serena had asked him a question as he just as quickly turned away.

Serena asked the boy again, "Excuse me? Did you say something?"

The boy turned to her again and glared. Serena was taken back by his rudeness. She realized after a moment she shouldn't rude as well. "I'm Serena, by the way." She almost stuck out her hand before deciding against it. This guy would probably just deny it.

The boy looked at her for a moment, then curtly replied, "Paul."

Serena smiled. She was making progress. Kinda. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said, Paul." She probably should have just left the matter alone, but the situation was so awkward she didn't want it to end that way.

Paul mumbled something indiscernible before replying. "I said, pathetic. I know the trainer. He won't last a minute against a Champion."

Serena was taken aback. This guy-er-Paul knew Ash? She knew Ash traveled a lot, but the odds that she would sit next to someone who knew Ash was just as high as Ash being selected to battle Diantha. Serena started to reply. "Well I know Ash as well, and he-"

Serena was cut off by the jumbotron speaker amplifying Ash shouting, "I choose you!"

________........________

Ash half-heartedly listened to the referee as he called out the rules. Yeah, yeah, yeah, all I need to know is one-on-one. He excitedly threw out a pokeball and on the field appeared Gengar.

An announcer floated over the battlefield, riding an aeglislash. "This looks like it'll be a heck of a battle, folks! A ghost and poison is a very interesting matchup against a fairy and pshycic, since ghost is strong against phsycic while poison is weak to psycic and strong to fairy!"

Diantha smiled.

Ash grinned. "Alright Gengar, lets start things off with shadow ball!" Gengar sent a shadow ball flying at Gardevoir.

Diantha and Gardevoir shared a glance and a smile, and Gardevoir let out a shadow ball as well. Both shadow balls connected, causing a large explosion that sent up a little dust. "Huh," Ash noted. "All right Gengar, now use dazzling gleam!" Gengar sent out a dazzling gleam rippling throughout the field.

Gardevoir simply glanced at Diantha and used its incredible speed to doge the fairy-type move.

Ash pulled his hat a little tighter on his head. He loved a good battle, and he already had an idea. "Alright Gengar, use lots of small shadow balls on the field!" Gengar let loose multiple shadow balls, each one kicking up dust until the field was much harder to see.

Half the audience roared for Ash and Diantha while the other half moaned since they could no longer see the battlefield.

Ash shouted across the pitch at Diantha. "Now you can't tell Gardevoir what to do without saying it out loud!"

Diantha smiled. "Nice try, Ash, but we won't quit that easily! Gardevoir, use psychic! Clear away the dust!"

"Gardevoir!!" Gardevoir used psychic on the clouds of dust and started to move them away.

Ash grinned. Diantha could keep him on his toes, but this might work to his own advantage. "Alright then Gengar, use phantom force!" Gengar grinned and slunk underground.

Diantha stalled for a second, caught off guard. Gardevoir was fast, but couldn't dodge a move she couldn't see. She wasn't sure what to do. Her hesitation, however, confused Gardevoir, who had already glanced at Diantha and waiting for a command. In the brief period where Diantha and Gardevoir weren't in sync, Gengar floated through the ground and landed a powerful and super-effective phantom force on Gardevoir.