Author's Note

With this chapter, I think we've gotten to see every main girl (with a completed anime series) at least once! Thanks to the many of you who requested Iris - I didn't know much about her when I set out to write this, so I hope you give me your honest thoughts about how it came out. Also, please continue to review and vote in the poll on my profile page about how you want this collection to end; the vote distribution have been really interesting to see so far, and I want to leave it open a little longer for people to weigh in. Just a heads-up: because we're in the final stretch, the format will probably be more free-form from here on out so I can include some more wildcard requests. Hopefully you guys have seen enough of the main girls that you don't mind!

My gratitude to mohidafzal458, FanficFan920, Shane, TheManTheMythTheMeme, Murtaugh, Brightwizard21, UltimateCCC, magic135, Cray82z, goldenfox444, Ale15, Reader, Ashpool, and MjrGenMatt for a great round of feedback!

Ash stared up in wonder at the Opelucid Gym. It was his second time here, but the magnificence of the structure still struck him: twin dragon heads stood on either side of the Gym's entrance, lending the already solemn pyramid further gravity. He wasn't here for a Gym battle, but just standing in front of the building got his blood pumping.

Ash shook his head and walked through the entrance. An involuntary smile spread across his face at the sight of a girl with puffy purple hair sitting in the middle of the Gym battlefield. He was about to call out to her when the rest of his surroundings registered.

Iris was sitting at a plain, four-legged wooden desk, the type students normally used in classrooms. Her hands were in her hair in clear exasperation; in front of her, the powerful, imposing figure of Drayden – Opelucid City's Gym Leader – stood with his arms crossed and an unreadable expression. Ash let his call for Iris die in his throat, approaching the two slowly to try to figure out what was going on.

"This is not the standard of knowledge I would expect from an aspiring Dragon Master," Drayden stated in his gravelly voice. Iris removed a hand from her hair and clutched her pencil, pushing it against her paper silently.

"I've administered this same test to you four times, Iris," Drayden continued. "I know you've passed your practical, but I can't put Opelucid City in the hands of a Gym Leader who doesn't pass the written exam."

Iris's head was still bowed at her desk, but Ash could feel her frustration without seeing her face. The pencil snapped in her hand, and she shot up from her desk belligerently.

"Then don't!" Iris turned heel and strode away, fists clenched. She raised her head as she reached the side of the field and stopped in her tracks as she saw him.

"Ash?"

He smiled nervously. "Hey, Iris... Uh, good to see you."

"What are you doing here?" Iris's face showed her suspicion, and Ash braced himself as he was forced to tell the truth.

"Drayden called me –"

"I should have known." Iris seethed, turning around and raising her voice at the Gym Leader still standing at the center of the battlefield. "Keep Ash out of this!"

Ash put his hands up. "Listen, Iris –"

Iris spun back around to him, her voice gentler but still firm. "This is my problem, Ash. I'm happy to see you, but please... not now."

Ash would've felt hurt by her words, but he could see a film of liquid growing over Iris's brown eyes, and he immediately understood just how badly she must be feeling. Iris never cried.

Without another word, Iris stalked out of the Gym. Ash stared at the exit, wondering whether to go after her. He was so lost in thought he didn't notice Drayden walk up to him.

"Thank you for coming."

Ash nodded glumly. "Sure, Drayden, but I'm not sure what I can do."

Drayden crossed his arms. "Iris couldn't tap into her potential until she began traveling – I hoped that by meeting you again, she might find what she needs to tackle her latest challenge."

"Iris is more independent than maybe anyone I've ever met," Ash said after a long pause. "I don't think I'm the reason she learned how to use her talent."

"Maybe not," Drayden replied. "But you may still be able to spark her back to a mindset where she feels capable. If you disagree, then I apologize for calling you here."

Ash scratched his head. "Nah, I'm glad to be here either way. Even if she refuses to hear me out, I have to at least try."

If Ash didn't know better, he would've sworn he saw the hint of smile underneath Drayden's bushy facial hair. If it was there, it quickly disappeared.

"So, do you need my assistance to track her down?" Drayden asked.

"I think I'm good," Ash replied confidently, already striding toward the Gym exit. "It's Opelucid City, and Iris is upset. I know where she is."

Ash remembered the city layout fairly well from his last visit, and he made it to the radio tower in less than five minutes. Its pink trusses climbed into the sky, topped by a red and white antenna. Even from the ground, Ash could make out Iris's form on the platform below the antenna, her legs dangling over the side as she stared out over the city, her eyes turned toward the Village of Dragons.

Ash cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath. "IRIS!"

The girl's head leaned out over the side of the tower, looking down at him. Ash brought his hands up at his sides, trying to gesture that he wanted to talk to her.

"Go away, Ash!" Iris's voice floated down. Ash sighed and looked toward the girders of the radio tower. Decorative hemispherical projections on the beams could double as hand- and foot-holds, and he assumed Iris had used them to climb the structure. She was a much nimbler climber than him, but he wasn't bad either.

Ash hoisted himself onto the tower, taking the first few footholds carefully. Once he felt comfortable, he started increasing his pace. He had a feeling his maximum speed was still far slower than Iris's, but he chugged away, feeling her eyes on him as he climbed.

When he finally reached the level of the platform, he breathed a sigh of relief at the feeling of Iris's calloused hands pulling him onto the ledge. That meant her anger had subsided at least somewhat.

"Not bad, huh?" Ash boasted, collapsing face-up on the cool metal of the platform. The sides of Iris's lips twitched.

"Not bad," Iris conceded, "for a kid."

Ash rolled his eyes, and Iris giggled. Her laugh quickly died, though, and she returned to staring out over Opelucid City, her chestnut eyes brooding.

Ash sat up, crossing his legs. He was afraid whatever he said would set her off, but he wasn't about to stay silent because of that.

"You can do it, Iris. I know you can."

"I took the test four times, Ash. I just can't do written exams, they're not how I think." Iris laid down, one arm across her eyes. "Drayden knows it, too! It was the whole reason I dropped out of Opelucid Academy in the first place. I'm beginning to think he doesn't even want me to succeed him as Gym Leader."

"You know that's not true, Iris," Ash rebuked gently. "He's had his eye on you to take over basically since he met you. He asked the elder to let you go on a journey because he understood you needed a different way to bring out your talent."

"Then why is he doing this?" Iris argued. "Shouldn't he know this isn't how I learn? That it doesn't really reflect how much I know about Dragon types or being a Gym Leader?"

Ash set his jaw, looking up at the sky. "Maybe there are rules he can't –"

"I already looked into it," Iris interjected. "He can waive the written portion if he feels I meet his standards for being the Gym Leader. So what am I supposed to think when he keeps putting the same test in front of me, knowing I'm going to fail?"

Ash fidgeted. He knew Iris was being somewhat unreasonable, and it wasn't like her to wallow in self-pity. But he couldn't bring himself to be severe with her. "Maybe he –"

"Did you come all this way just to defend him?"

"No, of course not," Ash assured. "I'm sure you've been doing your best, Iris, but maybe if we work together –"

"Yeah, like you're the expert on book learning?" Iris retorted.

There was a pause, and Iris groaned and covered her face with both hands. Ash just blinked, letting her words sink in. She was right, he was the farthest thing from an expert on book learning. He was probably more lost than her in the classroom and on written exams.

So why had Drayden called him?

"I am... so sorry, Ash." Iris sat up and placed a hand on his knee. "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"No – you're right," Ash said slowly, realization setting in.

"No, that was wrong of me to say. I shouldn't be around you right now, Ash. I'm angry at myself, and you're going to keep getting caught in it."

Before Ash could respond, there was the screeching of a loudspeaker down below. Ash and Iris looked down to see a crowd gathered in front of the radio tower and a lady in front of the group, barking into the speaker.

"You are not allowed to be up there without the proper authorization," Officer Jenny blared. "Come down at once."

Iris made it to the bottom first, with Ash not too far behind. As Ash stepped off the tower, breathing hard, he was surprised to see Officer Jenny already mounting her motorbike and driving off.

"Wow, I didn't expect her to take it that easy on us," he marveled as he walked up beside Iris.

"She took one look at my face and took pity on me, I think." The girl sighed. "I need to go be by myself before I lash out at you again, Ash. I'm sorry."

Iris had barely taken a step when Ash grabbed her hand, stopping her. She looked back at him, surprised.

"I think I know what I can do, Iris," Ash said confidently. "Give me a chance?"

Iris stared at him, clearly taken aback by his sudden clarity.

"Ok."

Ash led Iris to the southern outskirts of Opelucid City, where he knew there was a sizable but isolated patch of forest. She followed him silently, clearly still upset but willing to hear him out.

"This is it," Ash said, stretching his limbs.

"This is what?" Iris's expression was already loosening as she looked over the greenery of the forest. But her eyes quickly snapped back to Ash, somewhat indignant. "You think a nature walk is going to solve my problems?"

"Not a walk. A race." Ash cracked his neck, and Iris raised an eyebrow. "This patch of trees here stretches south for about a mile. Whoever gets to the other side first, wins. What do you say?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "You're such a little kid. I don't have time to play games with you, Ash."

She turned heel to walk away, but Ash didn't protest or pause his stretching. He continued to face the forest, letting her take a few steps away before he spoke.

"Scaredy-cat."

Ash smirked at the sound of Iris's footsteps pausing. "What was that?"

He shrugged, finally turning around and walking back toward the city as she had been. "It's probably for the best, you couldn't handle failing at something else right now."

Iris's face grew dark, and she moved in front of Ash, placing a hand on his chest to stop him. He raised his brow.

"Turn around, Ash. You're on."

After Iris got a few stretches in, the two crouched near the edge of the trees, their legs ready to spring them into the forest at a moment's notice.

"Three," Ash counted. "Two."

"You are so going to regret this," Iris muttered, lowering her shoulders and pushing her hands into the ground.

"One. Go!"

They both sprung forward, their feet pounding against grass and moss as they entered the forest. Their paths separated quickly as they dodged tree trunks and jumped over logs, but Ash could see that Iris was essentially running parallel to him.

He had this won.

Ash turned his full focus onto his path through the woods, observing the obstacles on the forest floor ten to twenty feet ahead of him and adjusting accordingly. He hopped, ducked, and weaved through the underbrush, accelerating as much as he could, when he could.

When he finally spotted the opposite edge of the forest, he poured all his energy into a last sprint, nearly clipping the side of a tree in his enthusiasm. He burst out into the clearing and slowed to a stop, looking to his sides to confirm that he had indeed won the race. He bent over, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

"Take that –" Iris burst through to the clearing, but her victory cry was cut short by the sight of him. Her eyes widened as she came to a stop, almost falling over in surprise.

"Not bad for a kid?" Ash quipped.

Iris ignored him, mumbling to herself. "I lost?"

"Why do you sound surprised?"

Iris gritted her teeth, turning back to the trees. "Again."

Ash shrugged, lining up next to her and taking deep breaths. "Fine with me."

Iris set her jaw and pulled at the big pink ribbon that kept her skirt in place above her tights. The garment fell down her legs, and she stepped out of it, discarding it to the side emphatically. Ash fought the heat in his cheeks at the sight of her toned lower body in the now fully-visible skintight white leggings.

"Won't help," he said flatly.

"We'll see."

Ash counted down, and they both took off, fit enough to be near their speeds on the first run despite the short rest. Again, Ash noted Iris running parallel to him on the forest floor, only ten feet over or so. And again, he won.

"I guess it wasn't the skirt," he goaded as she emerged from the trees, several seconds after he had arrived at the other side.

Iris shot him daggers before sitting down hard on the grass, her breathing still elevated. "Why are you doing this? You came here just to humiliate me?"

Ash took a knee in front of the aspiring Dragon Master. "No way. You know better."

Iris looked up, hurt in her eyes. "Then what, you thought I'd win the race and that'd make me feel better? Sorry for disappointing you."

"I know you can win, Iris."

"I thought I could, too! I mean, I know you're as athletic as they come, but still... I mean, I climbed the radio tower way faster than you!"

Ash shrugged. "I'm a faster runner."

Iris threw her hands up. "If you knew that, why would you challenge me to a race? You're just like Drayden, setting me up to fail."

Iris said the words half-heartedly, without any real venom, and Ash knew she didn't believe them. Her frustration and anxiety over repeatedly failing the written exam were sending her into a spiral; he'd experienced something similar when he went up against Brandon at the Battle Frontier. He didn't know what the answer to Iris's dilemma was, but he knew how she could find it.

"I did challenge you to a race. But I didn't say you had to beat me at running."

Ash stood up and extended a hand to Iris, and the girl took it hesitantly, standing and dusting the grass off her leggings.

"Then how can I –" Iris stopped herself, her eyes drawn to the treetops. "Wait, what are the rules? Can I climb the trees?"

"I never said you couldn't," Ash replied, already assuming position at the edge of the forest. "Again?"

Iris took her stance next to him. For the first time all day, he sensed her characteristic confidence and energy.

"Again."

This time, as Ash cut across the forest floor, he didn't see Iris trying to do the same. Instead, he observed her loose purple ponytail whip wildly as the girl streaked through the treetops above him, harnessing her climbing brilliance and agility to its fullest.

Ash redoubled his pace. He already knew the outcome, but that didn't mean he wouldn't give it his all. He emerged from the thicket breathing harder than he had on either of the previous runs – but Iris was already there, standing tall with her head held high.

Ash knew his point had made an impression because Iris didn't even gloat.

"I got such tunnel vision," she mused. "I thought there was only way to tackle the exam, and I thought I had to become the student I never could at Opelucid Academy. But the minute I started thinking like that, I doomed myself. I left the academy because I tried hard and figured out that wasn't who I was."

Ash wiped the sweat from his brow as he listened to Iris. He couldn't believe she had already caught her breath after beating him through the forest. Though he supposed that just attested to how much more efficient she'd been taking the race her way.

"I get now why Drayden wouldn't waive the test. I have to pass it, because as a Gym leader I'm going to come up against challenges I'm not suited to plenty. The test isn't about classroom learning – it's about proving that I can adapt my strengths to overcome my weaknesses."

Ash looked over Iris's form curiously. She was glowing with inspiration and self-confidence, and it was the Iris he was more used to seeing. Her chestnut eyes glimmered with energy, and her body language was far crisper than the dullness he'd seen earlier.

His eyes moved lower, and he flushed at the sight of holes in Iris's leggings that he assumed branches and tree trunks had inflicted in the girl's excitement to win the race. Iris's taut, supple almond skin peeked out of rips in the fabric that extended up as the sides of her hips.

Ash picked up Iris's pink skirt from where she'd discarded it earlier, beating the grass off it and walking up to the girl. In a rare moment of cooperation, Iris simply lifted her arms, and Ash leaned in and tied the skirt around her hips, finding it easy to recreate the large bow at her side that he was so used to seeing. All the while, Ash felt Iris's eyes on him.

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you understand all of that when you brought me out here?" Iris asked him the question earnestly, and he was taken aback by the humility and vulnerability she didn't normally show him.

"No, I wouldn't say I understood everything," he admitted honestly. "I've just always known you have a unique way of doing things. I mean, I do, too. And they're really different, and that's probably why when we travelled together we got on each other's nerves sometimes."

Iris snorted, and Ash laughed. "Ok, all the time. But we also got good at supporting each other's independence. And as soon as I saw you today, I could tell that you weren't doing things your way. I don't know about all the other complicated stuff, but I felt like if I just did something about that, the rest would fix itself."

Iris stared at him with tender but mischievous eyes. "Spoken like a true –"

"Don't you dare say it," Ash said in mock warning.

Iris giggled and changed course. "– man."

Ash reached his arms out to the side and looked up at the sky jokingly. "Finally."

When he faced forward again, Iris's face seemed closer than before. He could practically feel her chest touching his, and she was batting her big brown eyes at him. Was he reading that right?

Ash leaned forward, tilting his head slightly and ducking in. His eyes had just closed when he felt the warmth in front of him vanish, and he opened them again to see that Iris had disappeared. His eyes tracked the shifting of leaves in the trees at the edge of the forest, and he sighed.

He should have known better.

Ash chuckled to himself and walked into the forest, heading back across toward Opelucid City. He had barely passed the first tree when the one in front of him rustled, and he was stopped in his tracks by Iris's svelte figure flipping down in front of him. She was suspended from a branch by her knees, her face upside down an inch in front of his.

"Sorry about that."

Iris placed her small hands on Ash's cheeks and pressed her lips against his, her nose tickling his chin. It was a rough, bruising kiss, filled with a defiant passion and an unapologetically wild spirit.

Iris eventually pulled away, winking.

"This is more my style."