Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 85: The Hearts of People and Pokemon

As Ash sat down at the large dinner table that had been set up in Professor Oak's lab, he started to feel very awkward. He was happy and grateful that so many of his friends had come over to Pallet Town for this, but he couldn't help but think it was a bit much. Did his accomplishments matter that much to everyone?

"What's wrong?" Serena asked, nudging Ash with her elbow as she made herself comfortable in the seat next to him. Ash glanced over to her, surprised that she'd seemed to notice, although he realized he should have known at this point that she could read him like that. She looked back with concern, looking like she was getting worried about something. "Do you not like how the food smells?"

Ash laughed at that and then inhaled deeply through his nose. The smell of the food was far from bad. The fact that it smelled so good was part of what made him feel awkward, though. All this trouble, just for him. "It's all great, Serena. Everything looks, smells and sounds awesome." He paused and looked at her, noticing her eyes were narrowed suspiciously as she waited for his next words. "I just don't get why you all did this for me."

Serena rolled her eyes and playfully punched Ash in the shoulder. "Don't talk like that," she said, mock anger in her voice. "You deserve this. Look at how hard you worked. It's finally paying off. You won the Kalos League! You beat Diantha!"

Ash looked away uncomfortably, still not used to being known as the trainer who beat Diantha. "It was an unofficial match, remember that."

"Was it really just an unofficial match to you?" Ash jumped at the sound of the voice behind him, and whipped his head around, shocked to see who was standing there. He was so stunned by Diantha's arrival, that he just stared at her, eyes wide. Diantha smiled in amusement, and then proceeded to sit down, taking the seat next to Ash. "Professor Oak invited me for your party," she explained, as the still surprised Ash and Serena looked at her. "I hope that's alright. I thought it would be nice to have a little vacation and this seemed like the perfect place to come."

"Um...yeah," Ash croaked, before shaking his head to try to get back to his senses. "Yeah, of course it's alright," he said more enthusiastically. "It's awesome, actually."

"Good," Diantha said, smiling happily at his answer. "Now, about what you were talking to Serena about. I apologize for eavesdropping, but I'm curious. What did you really think of our battle?"

"I...well it was amazing," Ash answered truthfully. "Each battle was a tougher challenge, but it just seemed to get more and more fun as we went along."

Diantha nodded, and then glanced down towards her key stone on her necklace. "So it wasn't really an unofficial battle to you?" she asked, after a couple of moments.

"It couldn't have been," Serena said quickly, looking seriously at Ash. "Look at what you proved."

Ash closed his eyes in thought for a moment. All the emotions he'd felt during that battle seemed to come back to him. The satisfaction of taking the early lead, the frustration when Diantha battled back, the confidence of taking her to the edge of defeat, the fear when Greninja had been defeated and...the exhilaration when Pikachu had downed the mighty Gardevoir.

As the smoke began to clear in front of him, Ash could almost sense what had happened. As Pikachu was straining against Gardevoir's Shadow Ball, Ash could feel his partner Pokemon's raw determination. No matter what, Pikachu was never going to let Gardevoir win. Both Ash and Pikachu knew that to come this far and lose would have been far more of a disappointment than any of their other losses. It didn't matter if it was official or not.

Despite feeling it in his gut that the result was favourable, Ash couldn't help but stare in shock at the scene in front of him. Both Pikachu and Gardevoir were standing, but it was clear, despite both being battered and bruised, who was in rougher shape. Gardevoir stood still, now in her regular form. Her body was shaking, and smoke seemed to be billowing up from her body. She looked disappointed, but not angry. Gardevoir stared at Pikachu, and Ash noticed a small smile on her face, before her eyes shut tight, and she fell forward, not moving once she hit the ground.