I Wanna Be The Very Best

CHAPTER 1: What Is This Feeling

The woman stopped is Ash's mom Delia, who stops to catch up with the other woman. She mentions that her son is still at home after his last adventure and although she enjoys having him around, she is concerned that he is not himself as this is the first time he has been home for more than a month since he was 10 years old.

The neighbour mentions that he may be tired out after all the time he has been travelling, especially after what happened in the Kalos region with team flare. Delia smiles and says she hopes so but thinks this may be deeper than that, she knows her child better than anyone and his recent behaviour is unlike him. They say their goodbyes as Delia heads back to the poke mart as she remembers she forgot to buy some berries to make Pikachu's favourite pokepuffs.

Well, she thinks there his favourite anyway. Little does she know Pikachu has a new favourite chef.
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Now we cut to Ash who is watching a broadcast on the pokemon league news channel. The broadcast seems to be building up to the upcoming match between Diantha and Alain for the title of Kalos champion. The show is hosted by Alexa, and she is joined by 3 former league competitors all who have placed in the top 4 in previous leagues and elite 4 wikstrom from the Kalos region. While discussing Alain, they show clips from all his elite 4 battles and his battle against Ash. The clips they show from that battle are specifically the clips of the final match up, Greninja vs Charizard.

As ash watches the clips, he closes his eyes and has a flashback to how he saw the battle through Greninja's eyes. He can replay everything up to the point of the blast burn, that was his demise that day hits as him and Greninja drop to the floor. When he opens his eyes he says "I still can't spot what we did wrong, maybe I'm just not strong enough to win a league."

He closes his eyes again to see Greninja battling a bunch of Zygarde vines which he is able to beat easily. Ash smiles and says "Hey Greninja, how's it going today buddy." Greninja answer ash back with a nod as he is happy to hear off his old trainer. Greninja and Ash have been in contact every week or so for the past few months. They are able to do this through their synchronised hearts and both of them know exactly what the other is doing at all times. Ash thanks his old friend as he exclaims "Don't worry Greninja, I'm going to get stronger for both of us. Next time we will beat Alain, I promise"

Ash then turns his attention back to the broadcast where the panel are talking about how Alain's match with Diantha is a formality and the real championship match was the battle between Ash and Alain that took place 6 months ago. This gets the pannel discussing what has happened to Ash, as no one has seen the young boy from pallet since he defeated team flare and was dubbed the hero of Kalos by the media for his heroics that day. Wykstrom and the others are convinced that he has given up after another crushing league loss and has released his Greninja to protect the region as it has been sited around the santalune area, fighting off wild vines created in the aftermath of team flares attack. Alexa is quick to deny this and insists that Ash must be planning his next move, while releasing Greninja to protect us all as it is the right thing to do knowing he couldn't relax leaving the Kalos region in a compromised state. Ash laughs at this giving up suggestion as he shouts "What are they talking about? It's my dream to become a pokemon master. I'll never quit, we never give up till it's over!"

Ash stops and thinks for a second about the words he Just used. They seem to trigger something in Ash as he remembers using those exact words before to inspire someone else. This triggers a flashback to the day he met Serena at professor Oak's summer camp where he told her those exact words after she fell and hurt her knee. He then turns to a picture of her and the rest of the Kalos crew by his bed side and says "I sure hope she is okay, it's been so long since we last spoke, I hope she's doing well, maybe she's still in Hoenn. Wait why am I thinking about her again!?"