Destiny Rebirth

An Amour Moment (Ash's P.O.V.)

The platform descended to the corridors below while carrying Ash and his two faithful Pokémon with it. To their surprise, the halls were empty, not a reporter in sight. Ash smiled underneath his mask as he made his way to the locker room, to collect his things. Ash entered the room and sat down on one of the benches.

"Another solid victory, guys," he said turning to his two Pokémon. "Nice job out there, Pikachu. You were great today, buddy."

"Pikapi, Pikachu pika pi chu," Pikachu chirped with a little pride.

"You're kidding me!" Lucario stated as his eyes began to widen at what the electric mouse Pokémon had just said. "That wasn't seventy percent out there! No way, Pikachu!"

"You asked what I whispered in his ear," Ash responded with a chuckle. "I told him to just use seventy percent of his power. Quite frankly, we could have won with just fifty."

"Pika pi chu," Pikachu added with a nod.

"But master, you scolded Giovanni for toying with his opponent," retorted Lucario with a confused look on his face. "I don't understand why you would say that to him, and then, do the same thing. Isn't that a little hypocritical?"

"Giovanni gives his opponents false hope. I, on the other hand, didn't mess around. I just didn't want Pikachu to display his full abilities, just yet," Ash responded calmly to his aura Pokémon.

"If you say so." Lucario looked hesitantly towards Ash.

"One match at a time, Lucario," Ash said as he grabbed his bag. "When we need to, we'll pull out all the stops."

"You mean the other four, don't you?"

"Yes," Ash stated. "I want to keep them in my back pocket, for later. Everyone knows about you and Pikachu. I don't need them to know about the other four, right now."

Lucario looked towards Ash's bag as he began to sense the aura, coming out of four Pokéballs, all shining with passion and desire to fight. "They're getting restless, Ash." Lucario pointed out.

"I'm quite aware," Ash gazed at his bag. He could sense their frustration mounting as well. "I will let them out of their Pokéballs tonight, to get some exercise. A little time to stretch their legs and get moving will do them some good."

"You don't plan on using them until the finals, right?"

"Again, Lucario, one round at a time," Ash gave Lucario another soft chuckle. "If the situation demands it, then I will use them; but to answer your question, I don't believe we will need to use them until Giovanni. Until then, they'll just have to wait. Maybe, they'll come out ten times stronger because of having to be pent up and watching their friends battle, while they sit in their Pokéballs, all day."

The group chuckled at the idea of the four Pokémon being frustrated sitting in their Pokéballs. They were, after all, Ash's remaining four pokémon from his top team of six. Between Lucario, Pikachu and the other four, Ash was confident that no one would be able to make a stand against him.

"Come on, guys. Let's get out of here." Ash said as he made his way to the door.

---

The door opened and they entered the hallway. Ash and company made their way down the corridor. Ash held his head down and kept his hands in his pockets. He didn't want to talk to anybody, and by keeping his eyes low, he hoped to escape conversations with those passing by. When he was about halfway to the stairs, he heard a yelp, coming from in front of him.

His head popped up, to see who it was that made the noise, to find Serena, regaining her footing, before turning her head to a corner that she was standing by. She said something, but Ash couldn't hear or see whom it was directed towards. Serena's eyes quickly shifted from the corner to the figure walking towards her. She blushed and gave a tentative wave. Ash began to smile, under his mask, before pulling his right hand out of his pocket and returning the wave. He decided to make his way over to her, and with each step, he saw her smile kept getting bigger.

He was about to reach Serena; when suddenly, he felt a tug, on his arm, that leads him into a different direction. He looked to the figure, who was attempting to drag him away from Serena, to find the same assistant, who got him before his first match. The man held a clipboard, with a headset resting, awkwardly, on his head. The man seemed to be in a panic. Ash made an abrupt stop, causing the assistant to stagger back a bit.

"Sir, we have to get to an important meeting, right now!" the assistant said frantically. "Those, in charge, aren't exactly happy that their two Cinderella stories haven't made a single press conference and they expect you, to make this one!"

"But I-uh," Ash began as he took his eyes off the man and focused them back on Serena, who looked a little confused and saddened by his sudden change in direction. "Y-you see there is someone. . . . I-er, I want to talk to and-"

"It'll have to wait, Aaron!" the assistant interrupted as he began to drag the trainer into a different room. "The interview is about to begin and this is not an option!"

Ash looked back to see Serena's head looked down, in disappointment, before being dragged into a room, full of reporters.