Pokemon Journeys: Masters 8 Tournament

Bonus 5 - Ash vs Goh and Horace

Meanwhile, Ash was having a difficult time against Team Rocket and the remnants of Project Mew...

Giovanni spread his arms and glared at Ash, "Where are my manners? Congratulations on winning the Tournament, Mr. World Champion. But you are outnumbered today."

Ash pointed at him and his Team Rocket, "Team Rocket! You have to stop having any ideas about my Pikachu!"

Meowth said with his cat voice, "Surrender yourself, and we will let Pikachu go, meow!"

Ash shook his head, "Over my dead body!"

Jessie and James wanted to argue, but Giovanni stopped these goons. He turned to the three Project Mew Chasers, "Handle him. Show me how strong you guys are. We need Ash alive."

Quillon, Horace, and Goh stepped forward, with pokeballs ready in their hands.

Ash gulped. 3 against 1. He was massively outnumbered. Qullion, he didn't know. Horace, he met just a few times, an acquaintance at most.

But Goh...was one of his best friends.

Used to be, now no longer. Still, it didn't have to come down to this...

Ash yelled, "GOH! What do you think you're doing?"

"Ash, I...I..." Goh sweated. He vowed to PsychicMagic that he would sweep away all the obstacles that prevented him from reaching his goal, which included Ash. Now, his goal of catching Mew was complete, at the expense of Ash being his enemy.

The tan-skinned kid could no longer tell Ash that he loved him. Everyone could feel the depression in Goh's eyes, no matter how he acted in front of Team Rocket and the Project Mew Chasers.

Horace saw the instability in his boyfriend, as he held Goh's free hand and spoke on behalf of him, "I'm sorry, Ash...Goh is taken."

Being dense, Ash remained as calm as ever, "What do you mean taken?"

Horace gently pulled up Goh's hand along with his own, "We are lovers now."

Since the day Goh became an official Chaser, Horace had been spending more time with him. Being the active one, Horace recently confessed to Goh. The introverted boy accepted Horace's confession and enjoyed his company all this time, but deep down inside, Goh knew he loved Ash more.

The tanned-skinned boy hated himself for lacking the courage to confess to Ash first. There were so many chances back in the days when he could have done it. But after becoming a part of Project Mew and doing all the bad stuff for the team leader, he knew confessing to Ash was no longer possible. Now, he could only take the second-best option, which was to be Horace's boyfriend.

Horace knew what Goh was thinking. The way Goh looked at him, versus the way he looked at Ash, was pretty different. He sounded excited and uplifted whenever he talked about Ash. But on their date, he was calmer and smiled less often. That's why today, Horace was seizing the opportunity to show Ash who was the boss.

However, Ash was indifferent to Horace's statement, "Ok? Congrats, I guess?"

Horace realized Ash was much denser than Goh had described, "Goh and I will fight you together."

Goh turned even redder in his face: one part came from the need to fight his true lover, Ash, and another part came from doing this alongside his current lover, Horace. He just wanted to dig a hole and avoid all this, but with Team Rocket watching, forfeiting the battle wasn't the ideal option. Even Quillon decided to step aside to watch him and Horace fight Ash.

"I will fight both of you then!" Ash turned serious as he threw a pokeball out, "Double Battle! Let's do it! Pikachu, I choose you! Lucario, come out now!"