Road to Master

Road to Master Ch38- A Malasada of friendship! A zing between two individuals!

In the middle of the arena:

"AND HERE ARE OUR TOP 16 TRAINERS!"

The announcer boomed through the hexagonal stadium as the entire crowd cheered at the sight of the sixteen trainers in the middle of the field. The stage was small, but it was big enough so that all sixteen trainers could stand with pride in the middle. It was actually the same battlefield mechanism that made it so that the stage could raise to be in between the dugouts. The stage consisted of a concrete floor in which the sixteen trainers aligned themselves. Ash found himself in between Tierno and Calem in one of the ends. Calem held the edge of the stage as Ash noticed that the other edge of the stage was occupied by the cloaked man.

Ash shifted his gaze among the trainers and noticed that Damian was five trainers to the right of Calem which made Ash flinch a little, but Ash did not really care much instead of the fact that he still felt the effects from the last battle with Hau. Ash was still trying to understand what was paining Hau so much that he had to win, it was like if Hau was trying to save someone at the same time by winning the prizes that came from winning the match.

"Ash, don't be so down, you won," Ash's thoughts were interrupted by Professor Sycamore who was in front of him. "Here you go Ash, congratulations." With this Ash was handed a check with 200 thousand Kaleuros. Professor Sycamore then moved from Ash to Calem and towards the other end of the stage. Ash shifted his gaze down on the check and thought about what this means. True, it was his problem some time ago, but now he knew that he could somehow even afford to have a roof over his head and maybe an endless supply of the most exquisite cuisine that can be offered.

"Pikapi?"

Ash looked down to see Pikachu looking at him with some worry in his eyes, Ash then forced a smile, "It is alright Pikachu, I am just a little conflicted about this."

"Pika..." Pikachu replied with a soft smile back at his trainer.

"Ash, what are you going to do with all of this money?" Ash heard from his left to see Tierno holding his check with a jumpy attitude. Ash chuckled at this as Tierno continued talking through the large amounts of cheering. "I am thinking of maybe buying myself a new step meter so I can check how healthy I am as I move and grove!"

"Hehe," Calem replied from Ash's right and then responded with: "I am sure that with you jumping around and dancing about, you could be able to stay healthy no matter what!"

"Guys alright, let me think," Ash said with a slight chuckle before turning his attention back to the check and then made a plan that would hopefully help him get what he needed to get done easily and quickly, but first he would need to find something out. "Alright guys, I know what I have to do, but first we should make sure that we enjoy our time here."

"Oh man Ash, what are you talking about?" Calem asked with a sarcastic smile before putting his arm over Ash's neck and smiling. "It is true, we are going to enjoy ourselves tonight!"

"Now to announce the event to celebrate our best 16 trainers of the region!"

"Celebration?" Ash asked as Pikachu got on his shoulder and the entire stadium quieted down. The announcer had caught everyone that was standing in the stage off guard except apparently Professor Sycamore, who had the brightest smile on his face. "I wonder what this is all about..."

"The celebration consists of a festival East of the stadium on the streets. The twist is that only the trainers may come and they are only allowed to have one guest, so pick wisely who you will bring to the celebration! There will be music, dancing, games, and this is also the time where we will make the first match ups of the next round which will be a battle of 6 on 6!"