I Wanna Be The Very Best

Chapter 38: Semi Final Showdown!

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Intro

Ash and Serena return home to the professors house and head up to bed. After an hour of trying to sleep, Ash finds himself lying awake, contemplating his thoughts while Serena sleeps soundly with her head resting on Ash's chest.

Ash looks to the ceiling and whispers "What if I fail? What will everyone say? The amount of people I'll let down. All my friends I've met along the way and all my pokemon too."

He looks down at his sleeping beauty and continues "What will she think of me? She'd be a winner and I'd just be a loser. Would she be out off my league? would she move on and leave me?

He looks back up at the ceiling and continues "The media as well, if I lost to Hau Kalos fraud would be the least of my worries. It would be the most embarrassing loss in league history. Also my pokemon, what would they do? They'd probably be better off with a stronger trainer. Why would they want to stay with me if I lost again?"

Ash sighs as he feels his body starting to shake with nerves as he feels the weight of the world resting on his shoulders. He shakes his head and questions "Why am I like this, why am I panicking so much?"

Serena begins to stir as she feels a disturbance in her sleep. She flutters her eyes open and looks up to see Ash staring into space. Concern breaks onto her face as she asks "Ash something's wrong. Your nervous right, maybe feeling pressured."

Ash looks down at his girlfriend with an apologetic look on his face, having woken her up. He shakes his head and replies "It's nothing Serena, just coming up with a strategy"

Serena hears Ash's words and can tell he doesn't mean them. She feels conflicted on what to do. A part of her wants to press Ash for answers and see if she can help him through this. However she doesn't want to cause a full blown argument and take Ash's focus away from his upcoming battle. As much as she's worried about his mental state, Ash usually figure things out and if he won't talk then she'll respect that for now.

Serena fakes a smile and leans her head towards her boyfriend. She plants a sweet loving kiss on Ash's lips that contains nothing but love. She leans away and remarks "You need to rest Ash, and don't worry. No matter what happens tomorrow I'll always support you."

Ash feels a little less nervous thanks to his girlfriend's words. He pecks her on the forehead and replies "Thanks Serena I know you will." The two drift off to sleep with a conflict of emotions and feelings in their heads. Ash is really scared to fail while Serena is concerned for her boyfriend's mental state.

The next day, everyone heads back to the stadium as they await the semi final battles. The proceedings get underway quickly as Gladion vs Nanu kicks off. The battle is an intense one with a tone of back and forth action, between two edgy trainers. Eventually Gladion prevails as Sivally hits a strong multi attack on Krookadile, ending the battle in a close 2-0 win for Gladion.

The crowd erupts into applause as the commentator shouts "Gladion is the first ever Alola league finalist. What a performance by the young member of the Aether family.

Gladion celebrates as he raises a fist to the sky in celebration. He shakes hands before leaving the battlefield, with a place in the finals secured. His end of the deal is complete. Now all he needs is Ash to complete his side of the deal.

In the VIP box, Lillie and Lusamine celebrate loudly as they high five. Lille squeals with excitement and shouts "Yes, big brother did it! He's in the final!