Just a little something written during the beginning of Hurricane Sandy.
Movie Night
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"What about this one buddy?"
Ash Ketchum leaned against the Poke-themed couch, a monster of a thing patterned with the original one-hundred and fifty, and flipped through the disks once again for the final time. He had finally convinced his mother to go out for the night, an idea that hadn't even crossed her mind since he'd left for his Pokemon journey four years prior, and now had the whole of the house to himself. But hopefully not for long. It had been quite sometime since he'd seen her, one of his first companions, and possibly one of his very best friends. She happened to be in town on leader business and arranged to make time and stop by for a quick flick. The original eleven-year-old Ash, would've turned up his nose at such a thought of spending alone time with a girl, but now, fifteen years later, he found himself rather excited for the arrival of his red-haired friend.
"Chu~" the rodent-like creature mewed from it's perch on his shoulder. Ash sighed and placed the disk, a horrific film about a bunch of rampaging Charizards, into the chu pile. The chu pile had grown quite large over the course of an hour, despite the fact that Ash still wasn't exactly sure what chu meant, though from the bored look on his partner's face, he decided it was probably a no.
"I don't get it Pikachu, you've 'chu-ed' every one so far, what am I doing wrong?" Pikachu huffed as if it should've been obvious, before hopping from it's place and sifting through the remaining DVDs. Ash reached for a soda, (he had gotten both regular and diet despite his mother's advice on the diet. Ash knew Misty better than anyone, and had a feeling she'd get insulted if he'd only had diet, besides he preferred regular anyway). "Should I start the popcorn, Pikachu?"
"Pika," came a muffled reply from beneath the pile.
"Is that a yes?"
He received no other reply, save the occasional chu disk thrown his way. Ash shrugged, took it as a yes, and stood to place a bag in the microwave. He was a growing boy, he could always make another bag when Misty arrived later. As he ripped the small paper bag from it's plastic, the phone beside him released a shrill ring. "One moment," the trainer called, forgetting for the moment that the person on the other end couldn't hear him. Overhead, the lights flickered, and for the first time that night, Ash thought of lightning one or two candles just incase the lights happened to go out (good thing his mother had left some out, he could never find those things despite how hard he tried). Outside thunder rumbled, but Ash paid it no mind, as the current phone situation held his attention. He popped the bag in the microwave, clicked the popcorn button, and grabbed the receiver at the final ring.
The popcorn began it's usual popping as the bag filled with warm air. Ash watched, despite the directions on the bag saying never to stare into a working microwave.
"Hello?"
"-sh."
"Uh, wrong number?"
Noises gargled on the other side, as if the speaker was speaking from beneath the water, "-o, you, dolt. It's –e, Mis-y."
"Misty?"
"Yah."
"Are you in a tunnel or something? It's hard to hear you."
"S-no. I c-lled, because I –n make it. Storm."
"What?"
"I c- make it?"
"Huh?"
"I CAN'T MAKE IT."
Time seemed to slow, even the popcorn whose timer ticked down the seconds until it was ready at an alarmingly fast pace, seemed to understand the circumstances, and ceased. Misty couldn't make it. She wasn't coming.
Their movie night was cancelled.
"Oh."
"I'm r-ally sorry, -sh."
"It' s'kay."
"G-tta go. Bye."
"Bye."
Ash replaced the receiver with a hollow click. His throat felt tight and itchy, and his eyes seemed a little blurred. But he wasn't going to cry, no he wasn't. Not over something so simple and so stupid. Misty couldn't come because of the storm, that was understandable. She was just taking precautions. Outside, the sky lit with a crack as if to further prove the point. Still, despite his attempts he felt the salty tears slip down his cheeks. He didn't bother rubbing them away, there was no one to impress. The popcorn stopped with a beep, but he made no moved to pull it from the microwave. Instead, with heavy feet, he trudged back into the living room, and slumped down against into the couch cushion. He pulled his knees into his chest, and leaned his head back into the pillows. Little pikachus and charizards glanced back at him with smiling faces; still he rolled over and put his face to a pillow.
"Pika-Pi!"
The original starter popped forth from the pile of rejects, sending DVDs flying here and there. In its paw he held tightly Must Love Magikarps, a sappy romantic comedy that originally belonged to Ash's mother.
"What Pikachu?" responded the trainer turning his head to face his Pokemon, "What do you have?" Spying the disk, he sighed, and turned again, "Forget it. Misty's not coming."
"Pika?"
"I said she's not coming. The storm and stuff.
"Ow, what are you doing?"
Ash turned his head again to find Pikachu sitting near his head. The small rat-like Pokemon then jumped onto the raven-haired boy's back and proceeded to burrow itself into the collar of his jacket. "I'm so not in the mood for this Pikachu. Get out of there."
"Chu."
"What do you mean no? I'm the trainer you listen to me."
"Pi-Pika-chu." The Pokemon twisted in his collar until it was facing out towards the piles of disks, "Pikachu." Pikachu raised a paw and pointed at the chu pile.
"What? You won't get out until we watch a movie?"
"aCHU."
"Wait, AND eat popcorn?"
"Pika."
"I'm sorry, who's the trainer here?"
Pikachu answered that question easily. It closed it's eyes, and within seconds spark flew wildly from the small red dots on it's cheeks until a large enough current flew from it's body into Ash's, sending him spiraling backwards into the couch.
"Alright," coughed the trainer, "Point taken."
Pikachu gave a light purr and snuggled deeper into Ash's collarbone, "Pika-pi."
"Okay, okay, I'm getting the popcorn. But I'm still not happy about it. God, you're pushy."
.
The end.
.
They ended up watching Rampaging Charizards. :)