Hello everyone! I'm so excited to share this new story with you all. It's one I started working on a few weeks ago, and was going to wait on sharing for a while, but considering everything that's going on in the world right now, I figured I would begin sharing it in the hopes of bringing everyone some much needed distraction. I know that writing and reading stories during this unprecedented time has brought me a lot of joy, so I hope that reading this will do the same for you all!

This story was inspired by the ending song from Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. It's very beautiful, and listening to it while the gorgeous painted portraits of Ash, Misty, and Brock made me super emotional and inspired me to write something. Each chapter's title (with the exception of this one, of course) are lyrics from the song itself.

Prologue

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the finals of the Indigo Plateau Conference! This has been a tournament full of thrilling battles, and we expect another one here for you this afternoon to close things out. Today's match up will be between Raphael Tovia of Vermilion City and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

Misty clapped along with everyone else in the stadium, but instead of her eyes being glued onto the battlefield down below, they were wandering around the stands.

"There sure are a lot of people here," she remarked, sounding quite impressed.

"Of course, it's the League finals!" Brock crowed, gaining Misty's attention. "It's only the biggest battle event in the Kanto region."

"Well yeah, I know that," Misty sighed, finally looking down at the field. "I just can't imagine battling in a huge stadium like this, with so many people watching! I feel like I'd be so anxious. Then again, Ash seems to thrive in this kind of environment."

Brock chuckled lowly. "Something tells me you're more nervous for him than he is for himself."

Misty scoffed, but didn't deny it. The fact of the matter was, she'd had a crush on Ash for years. She was pretty sure Brock knew that, although they'd never actually discussed it, which was fine by Misty. This battle today, however, was a very big deal for Ash. It could make or break the dreams Misty had known he had since they met at 10 years old. They were now 21, and before this tournament, Ash had expressed his fears to Misty that this could be the end of the line for him in terms of those dreams.

"If I don't win now, I don't know if I ever will," he'd admitted on a cool night outside of the Cerulean Gym. "I'm not sure how many more times I should try."

Misty was shocked by that admission. Ash was always so confident, and he never gave up. She had always just assumed he'd keep on going, even if he failed. It was what he always did, after all.

"Well, don't go into it thinking like that," Misty gently scolded him. "You've been training with your Pokémon for so long…as long as you all believe in each other, there's nothing you can't do!"

Ash blushed at this, although Misty wasn't able to see it in the dark. "Thanks, Mist. I appreciate it! I just…hope that's enough."

"Of course, it's enough!" Misty cried. "Come on, Ash, this isn't like you. There's no reason for you to start doubting yourself all of a sudden."

"It's been 11 years," Ash snappily responded. "This isn't all of a sudden."

A slightly uncomfortable silence settled between the two. Fortunately, they had been friends long enough where such a thing wasn't really enough to deter either of them or cause any serious upset. Smirking to herself, Misty turned her head to look at Ash, her sea green eyes glinting in the moonlight. It was just enough to cause Ash's heart to skip a bit, though he had no idea why.

"Then don't let it go any longer than this," Misty decided. "You go out there and you win every single battle that comes your way. Don't let anyone stop you."

It was such a simple directive, but adrenaline was suddenly coursing through Ash's veins. It was like he could hear the crowd around him…like he could sense exactly what was waiting for him once he entered that stadium. Suddenly, any fears or doubts he had were gone, and all Ash could think about was achieving his goal, once and for all.

All because of Misty's encouragement.

"I will," Ash breathed, slowly nodding his head as a big smile broke out on his face. "That's exactly what I'm going to do! My Pokémon and I are gonna battle together until the very end!"

Misty giggled and tilted her head back, though she kept a sideways glance on the young man sitting beside her. "There's the Ash I know!"

She was glad she had been so poised back then, because now she felt like she was about to crawl out of her own skin.

"Oh, look! Here comes Ash!"

Misty was jolted back into reality by the shrill cry of Ash's mother. Delia was sitting on Misty's other side and had whipped out a digital camera at some point. She was holding it up to her face, snapping away as the crowd went wild. Down on the field, Misty could see Ash emerging from the farther tunnel, Pikachu dutifully sitting on his shoulder as the two of them waved to their enthusiastic audience. Giggling to herself, Misty rested her head in her hand, watching as he made his way to his designated box.

"Come on, Ash," Misty muttered to herself. "Don't let anyone stop you."

Her phone suddenly started to buzz in her pocket, causing Misty to straighten up. Brock noticed this and raised an eyebrow, asking, "is everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's just my phone," Misty grumbled, shaking her head.

"You don't want to see who it is?" Brock questioned.

"No," Misty quickly refuted. "Nothing is more important right now than Ash's battle. Whoever it is can wait."

Ash's opponent Raphael had now taken his place across the field from the raven-haired man. His back was to Misty, but on the stadium's big screens, she could see the smug look on his face, setting off a fire in her stomach.

Do not let him stop you.

Ash, however, was not afraid. Instead, he challenged Raphael with his own smirk before reaching to his waist, Pikachu knowingly hopping off of his shoulder and onto the ground.

"Charizard, I choose you!"

The flame Pokémon burst forth from his poke ball, letting out a ferocious roar before blasting a flamethrower into the air.

Raphael was unaffected by Charizard's bravado and pulled out his own poke ball, flippantly pushing its center button to enlarge it.

"Blastoise, let's go!"

Charizard's water type counterpart appeared across from him, eyes narrowed as the cannons in its shell extended outwards.

"Ah, a showdown between the fully evolved forms of two Kanto starter Pokémon!" Professor Oak marveled from Delia's other side. "An interesting matchup to start the battle indeed."

"Except Blastoise has the advantage," Brock mused, scratching his chin.

"It doesn't matter," Misty quickly refuted. "Charizard is one of Ash's strongest Pokémon! He can take on Blastoise with no problem."

The referee looked between the two trainers and held his arms up, screaming, "Ash will have the first move. Battle…begin!"

XXX

It was impossible to see anything on the field thanks to the thick cloud of dirt floating around it other than the occasional residual sparks of electricity.

Ash and Raphael were both down to their final Pokémon, and neither side was giving an inch. Misty waited with bated breath, terrified by what she might see once the dust finally settled.

She would soon find out, as the battlefield started to come back into view. Misty leaned forward in her seat, her heart pounding in her ears. The view down below quickly became clearer and clearer, until finally, she could see Raphael's Umbreon sprawled out on the ground, a battered and exhausted Pikachu standing over it.

The referee waited a few seconds before throwing up his left arm, calling, "Umbreon is unable to battle; Pikachu is the winner! Which means the victory goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

The crowd erupted into fervent cheers, while the stadium announcer shouted, "he's done it! Ash Ketchum is your new Indigo Plateau Conference Champion!"

Everyone around Misty had jumped to their feet, but she was still sitting down, feeling frozen in shock. She simply watched with her mouth hanging open as Ash ran towards Pikachu, scooping the tired Pikachu up into his arms and holding the mouse high up above his head.

It wasn't until Ash approached Raphael to shake his hand that Misty had enough mind to stand up, though she still looked positively stunned.

"Can you believe it?" Brock asked her, having decided to wait until she joined him on her feet. "Ash did it! He really did it!"

Misty watched the scene down below; Ash and his defeated challenger speaking words of encouragement to each other before breaking apart, with Raphael headed back to the locker room while Ash and Pikachu waved fervently to their adoring crowd.

At long last, all of her senses came back to her, and she smiled confidently at Brock.

"Of course, I can believe it. No one was going to stop him this time."

XXX

In the bowels of the arena, Ash found himself sitting in front of a sea of reporters, cameras flashing all around him. It had been disorienting at first, especially after the big award ceremony on the field; he was slowly beginning to get used to the chaos, but it still felt like an out of body experience.

Pikachu, on the other hand, was quite enjoying all of the attention. He was more than pleased to pose for photographs, earning the adoration of all the photographers around him.

"This doesn't phase you, huh?" Ash playfully asked his partner.

"Pi," Pikachu refuted, shaking his head.

Ash chuckled at the mouse's pride. "Well then, everyone just might like you more than me! This is all still a little strange…"

"Attention, everyone! Quiet, please!"

Ash blinked and leaned forward in his seat. A woman had stepped up to the podium in the front of the room, with stick-straight honey blonde hair and dressed very professionally. Ash didn't recognize her from anywhere…at least from the back or the sound of her voice. He could only see her face reflected in some of the nearby camera lenses, but it wasn't a clear enough view for him to point out any other specific features.

"For those of you who don't know me, I'm Zanna Zupan, Charles Goodshow's executive assistant," she continued once the room had fallen silent. "I know you're all eager to ask our newest Indigo Conference champion all of your pressing questions, but before you do so, I would like to outline the next steps of our champion's quest so you may all ask the most relevant questions."

Right outside of the press conference room's doors, Misty raised an irritated eyebrow as her phone began to ring again. "Next steps? What does she mean by that?"

"I believe they usually offer the regional league champion the option of moving onto the Champions League," Brock responded before glancing down at Misty and pointing towards her pocket. "You're sure you don't want to answer that?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Misty tersely replied, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "It's not important right now."

"That's what you said before," Brock chuckled.

"Right, and it wasn't important then either," Misty calmly reminded him. "Voicemails exist for a reason, you know."

Smirking, Brock quipped, "you sure are touchy when it comes to anything involving Ash today. You know if you miss a minute of his press conference, it wouldn't be such a big deal, right?"

Misty whipped her head around and glared at Brock, who laughed nervously and started to sweat a bit. She was quickly distracted, however, when Zanna began speaking again.

"As many of you know is traditional following the completion of the Indigo Conference, Mr. Goodshow has extended an invitation to Ash to compete in the Champions League," the executive assistant noted. "I am pleased to announce that this invitation has been accepted, and that Ash intends on challenging Kanto's Elite Four, and, should he be successful in those battles, the Kanto champion."

Ash grinned excitedly as the sound of cameras snapping ramped up again. Misty, who saw this on the television, smirked. She knew it wasn't because of the added attention; it was because he was thinking about his future battles with a group of highly formidable trainers.

"With that established, I shall now open the floor to questions for our new conference champion," Zanna concluded, motioning her hand towards Ash.

The young man kept the big smile on his face, inviting the gathered reporters to "fire away!"

He quickly regretted that, however, as they all began shouting their questions at the exact same time. Ash chuckled nervously and sunk back in his chair, while Pikachu quickly jumped off of his trainer's shoulder and hid beneath the chair instead.

"One at a time!" Zanna barked, immediately getting the media back in line.

Ash let out a sigh of relief, turning towards Zanna and offering a relieved, "thanks!"

Zanna looked towards Ash and smirked, finally giving him a good look at her face: slender with hazel eyes and painted with apparent make up. "These people can smell fear like a Sharpedo smells blood. Don't let them eat you alive, kid."

XXX

"Man, I thought that would never end!"

"Piii-ka!"

Delia giggled as her son came trudging towards her and the others who had been waiting for his press conference to wrap up. "Oh, but you were wonderful, dear!"

"You think so?" Ash asked, straightening up as he blushed a bit. "I was so nervous!"

"Well, that certainly makes sense," Professor Oak concurred. "You're not used to that kind of attention! I imagine anyone who's unfamiliar in such a situation would feel the same as you."

"Not to mention those journalists were pretty rowdy," Brock remarked with a chuckle.

"I just hope I didn't come across as stupid," Ash sighed.

"Don't worry, Ash; you don't need a big audience for that!"

Ash turned around to glare at whoever had just made that snide remark, but quickly dropped his annoyance when he saw who it was. "Misty!"

He swooped forward and wrapped his arms around her, somewhat surprising the others. Misty, meanwhile, blushed a bit and tried to free her arms to return the gesture, but it was futile. Ash had gotten a lot stronger with age. "Seriously, how do you have this much energy left?"

"I'm so glad you're here!" Ash cheered, completely ignoring her question. Staring deeply into her sea green eyes, Ash asked, "did you see the whole thing?"

Misty smiled and nodded her head. "Of course, I did. You were great!"

"I just thought about what you told me the entire time I was battling," Ash continued, finally releasing Misty from his grip.

"I didn't know anything about that," Delia murmured, causing Ash to turn around. "Misty, dear, what on Earth did you say to Ash that got him so fired up?"

"It wasn't a big deal," Misty refuted with a nervous laugh. "I just told him to not let anyone get in the way of him reaching his goal! He seemed to have taken it to heart."

"Sure did!" Ash confirmed. "It was like I could hear your voice in my head during the whole battle. That's what kept me going!"

Misty's blush intensified, causing Ash's grin to widen. Pikachu, meanwhile, who had been on the floor during this entire exchange, let out a frustrated whine and pawed at Misty's ankle, gaining her attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Pikachu!" Misty apologized, lifting the electric mouse into her arms. "You were wonderful too! I don't think Ash could've done it without you!"

"Chu!" Pikachu squeaked, rubbing against the side of Misty's neck.

Ash smirked at the two before announcing, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm starving."

"There's a lovely restaurant nearby that would be wonderful for a celebration," Delia suggested. "And you most definitely deserve it!"

"Hey, as long as there's food, I'm in!" Ash laughed.

"And everyone is free to join us, of course!" Delia added.

"That sounds wonderful!" Professor Oak crowed. "Thank you, Delia!"

"Yeah, what a generous offer!" Brock agreed.

Looking over his shoulder, Ash prodded, "what about you, Misty? You're gonna come with us, right?"

Misty was so busy staring into Ash's warm brown eyes that she failed to recognize the buzzing of her phone until it trailed off. Ash noticed her eyes shift, and his promptly followed suit.

"Everything okay?" He asked timidly.

"Yeah, just fine!" Misty assured him, shaking her head out. "I would love to join you guys. Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum."

Delia beamed at Misty and replied, "of course, dear!"

"I just have to check my phone," Misty sighed, handing Pikachu over to Ash. "It's been going off nonstop, but I wasn't going to answer it while you were battling."

"Or while you were doing that press conference…" Brock muttered.

Misty glared at him, but Ash just started laughing all over again. "Aw, thanks, Mist! I really appreciate it. Go on and check! We'll wait up for you."

"Thank you," Misty breathed, offering Ash a genuine smile.

She pulled out her phone as the rest of the group walked away, activating the screen and wincing when she saw just how many missed calls she had…all from the same number.

"Whoever this is sure is persistent," she muttered before noticing the latest call had resulted in a voicemail. Selecting the message, Misty held her phone up to her ear and listened carefully to its words.

By the end of the succinct memo, she had gone pale and was death gripping her phone to prevent it from slipping to the floor.

Thank you for joining me for this exciting new story! I can't wait to share the rest of it with you as a small way to help us get through these crazy times.