I don't know about the rest of you, but I for one am HYPE AF for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. The day before I started writing this (so 10 days before publishing), I watched the latest English trailer on Nintendo's YouTube channel (the "Master Class in Strategy" trailer). Now, one downside to being SO HYPE for what is essentially a remake of a Famicom game is that there are some spoilers that you just cannot avoid, like who ends up hooking up with who at the end, for instance.

Anyway, from there, that ol' schoolyard jingle came to me, and my brain spit this out. I changed it to Pokémon characters because A) I know Ash and Misty better than Fire Emblem Gaiden characters, and, B) Ash x Misty was my first OTP and I've always wanted to write a story with them but a variety of things usually prevented that until now.

Ash: 15

Misty: 16

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. I tried to come up with a clever/amusing way of saying that, but I got squat.

Sittin' in a Tree

"Ash, get back here!"

"You're just gonna hafta come get me, Mist!"

"ASH!"

Ash Ketchum was running through Professor Oak's ranch, Misty hot on his heels…

"Aw, come on, Mist! It was one chip!"

"It was the LAST chip!"

... Yeah, this is about a singular potato chip. Ash's most recent escapades in Kalos left him a bit more exhausted than his previous adventures abroad, so he decided to stay home for a while longer than he usually did between Leagues (his mom sure wasn't about to complain). This being Ash we're talking about, the boy wasn't about to start slacking off on his Pokémon training, but he needed a training partner. His first choice, almost instinctively, was Misty.

Misty was more than happy to oblige, of course, and it only seemed natural to Ash that after their first training session that he and Misty could hang out and catch up. Before long they were together nearly every day, about as inseparable as during their travels through Kanto and Johto. Then, about 3 weeks ago, Ash surprised, well... everyone (and yet simultaneously no one) when he asked Misty out on a date. As in a "DATE-date".

To say that Delia was absolutely ecstatic about this would be an understatement. In fact, the only reasons she didn't launch fireworks off the roof when she saw the two teenagers holding hands when Ash brought Misty over for dinner recently were A) that would risk burning the house down, B) she didn't actually have any fireworks, and C) Mimey didn't know any moves –Psychic or otherwise- that could be used instead of actual fireworks.

Anyway, circling back around to that one potato chip, Ash and Misty were helping Professor Oak take care of the Pokémon. Delia had to do grocery shopping, so they had lunch at the Professor's place. All Professor Oak had to offer them were sandwiches with some chips on the side. Naturally, being a growing young lad, Ash pretty much inhaled his sandwich and chips before Misty was even half-done.

Being the nice guy he is, Ash stayed in Prof. Oak's kitchen to keep his friend and now-girlfriend (a title they were both still getting used to) company while she finished eating. Unfortunately, however, Ash –being Ash- was still hungry. You can probably guess what happened next. Ash was being playfully sneaky about it (or at least trying to be), so Misty didn't mind too much... at least until they reached the last whole chip in the bag. Ash just happened to be a little bit faster, and now we're all caught up.

Anyway, Ash managed to climb up a large tree just before Misty caught up with him.

"Really, Ash? Climbing up a tree to get away?" Misty teased.

"Aw, don't be like that, Mist! Hey, come up here! You can see the whole ranch," Ash replied from the branches.

Misty hummed in response and climbed up the tree. Sitting down next to Ash on a thick tree branch, Misty saw that he was right. The tree did offer a great view of the ranch and the Pokémon that resided there.

Ever the bold one, Ash –albeit nervously- snuck his hand on top of Misty's. Misty felt the gesture should be rewarded. Purely on impulse, Misty kissed him on the cheek, an action that left her blushing as much as Ash. Ash looked her in the eyes and started to lean in.

It was a simple kiss, lasting no longer than 3 seconds. The two separated, blushing. They looked into each other's eyes in silence for several seconds, and then, they leaned in again. This kiss was much deeper, hormones taking over their actions. Running on hormonal autopilot, the two teenagers wrapped their arms around each other, pulling each other deeper and deeper into the kiss...

THUD!

... And since nature doesn't have any built-in guardrails, they fell out of the tree.

"Oooww... Well, that certainly killed the mood, eh, Ash?" Misty mused as she pushed herself up off of Ash. Worry filled her instantly when she looked and saw Ash's face contorted in what could only be described as indescribable pain.

"Ash? Ash, what's wrong?!" Misty's voice was filled with concern.

"... Kn... Kn... Kneeeee..." Ash managed to squeak out, his voice several octaves higher than normal (possibly even higher than when he was ten!).

"'Knee'? Did you hurt your knee?" Misty was about to turn to look at Ash's legs when he shook his head.

"No... Yours," Ash squeaked out.

"My knee? Wha...?" Misty looked down to see the cause of Ash's agony: her knee was jammed quite far up between his legs. Misty immediately jumped off of Ash, while Ash –like a spring pulled as far as it can go- instantly coiled up into a ball with his hands on his private area.

"Oh my gosh, Ash, I'm so sorry!" Misty apologized.

"It's okay, Mist," Ash wheezed.

"Oh, my poor Ash," Misty cooed as she scooted closer and rested Ash's head on her lap. Absentmindedly playing with his hair, Misty could only sigh.

"Yup. Definitely a mood-killer."

-FIN-

Not my best work, but I wasn't really aiming for that anyway.

Truth be told, for a hot second I'd considered filing this as a crossover and making a collection of oneshots just like this one, but, y'know, with characters from other works. But I immediately decided against that because they'd all be pretty much identical; sure, you'd obviously change the characters and the location of the tree, but the basic structure and beats of the story would stay virtually the same, and aside from changing 'knee to the nuggets' to 'crash-landing on his spine', not much can be done with the punchline.

So, anyway, thank you for reading. If you'll excuse me, I think I might give the Battle Tree a shot (and likely get spanked) as a swan song for my Pokémon Moon save file before my life gets taken over by Fire Emblem Echoes. See you next time.