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The stadium lights shine into Ash Ketchum’s eye for a split second and the world goes silent.
The smell of ozone and electricity being the only thing he can catch a whiff off before the world explodes into noise.
Ash can barely register the announcer and the cheers that envelop the stadium, his attention fully on pikachu in front of him before a smile as bright as the sun itself rises on his face and a joyous laugh bubbles out from his throat.
He opens his arms wide and not even a second later his dearest partner is being held gently against his chest as he expresses his heartfelt joy at winning the Pokémon World Coronation Series at long last.
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The first person he sees tears up the moment they catch sight of him and he barrels into his mother’s arms as she cries tears of joy and kisses the crown of his head, pride and love for her son conveyed with all of her being. When she lets go of him, Professor Oak clasps a hand on Ash’s shoulder as he wipes away his tears with a handkerchief and brings Ash in for a hug along with pikachu.
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Ash is called to the prize giving ceremony soon after that and he and his partner take their first steps on the stage of what they’ve been working towards since their fateful first meeting.
The weight of the trophy is a long overdue one in his hands and as he stands there on that stage with the trophy in his hands and his partner on his shoulder, he couldn’t feel more grateful to all the amazing people he’d met on his journey to get to this point in time.
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After excitedly receiving calls and messages congratulating him on his win from the people he met from all around the world and long after the stadium goes dark and the sky flickers with starlight, Ash and Pikachu find themselves perched on their accommodation’s roof gazing up into the cosmos.
Ash’s voice pierces the silence of the night,
“Hey pikachu, what do you think we’ll do now that we’ve won?”
Pikachu’s ears twitch from where it lays on Ash’s stomach and it gazes up into its partner’s eyes with confusion.
Ash rises into a seating position and clarifies, “I mean, we’ve basically achieved our goal of becoming a pokemon master that we had when setting out on this journey.” to the tired mouse sprawled in his lap.
He pets pikachu’s ears as he waits for his partner’s answer and he’s rewarded with a chirp of “pikapi” and an unwavering trust in his pikachu’s eyes that tell him all he needs to know.
Ash barks out a laugh as he settles back down on the roof, pikachu trotting over to its previous position at Ash’s stomach and laying down where it belongs.
Home has always been where the other is.
So what does it matter what is going to happen after this win, they’ll face it head on together, Ash and Pikachu.