"Hurry up, you guys!" A raven haired teen shouted, excitement clear in his voice. "The Pokémon Center is just around the corner!"
The teen jumped into a dead sprint, nearly knocking his pointy-earned, furry companion off of his shoulder. This was nothing new to Pikachu, of course, as through all of the journeys he and Ash had been on, this was hardly the first time that his trainer had suddenly run off. Besides, Pikachu could not wait to get some chow, as it seemed like it had been centuries since they had stopped for lunch, and he knew that there was a bottle of ketchup waiting for him with his name on it.
Left behind in the Ash's dust were his two travelling companions, Dawn and Brock. Dawn, who was just a year younger than Ash, could only sigh and shake her head at his silly antics. She looked up at Brock to see that he too was having a similar reaction, and asked, "Even after all these years, Ash never seems to change much, does he?"
Brock chuckled lightly, and as he ran his hand through the spikey hair atop his head, he answered, "Trust me Dawn, Ash has and always will be like that. Even when I first traveled with him, it was always non-stop; there never was a dull moment with that kid, but isn't that what we love about him so much?" Though Brock's voice was laced heavily with sarcasm, Dawn could not help but smile inwardly, as she thought to herself 'Yes, that is exactly why I love him.'
"Well, we better go run after him," Brock said as he started to make his way towards the Pokémon center. "The center is providing an all you can eat buffet dinner for travelers, and I want to at least get a plate of food before those two eat all of it." Dawn knew that Brock was right, and followed quickly behind him.
Entering the Center, Brock and Dawn looked around till they spotted Ash and Pikachu already waiting in line for the buffet, each eagerly twirling a plate between their hands. Looking at the line and noticing the dwindling number of vacant tables the three could sit at, Brock muttered something to Dawn about saving a booth for the three of them and left Dawn in line. Now alone, Dawn let herself retreat into her mind, and thought about what she had crossed her mind when she was talking to Brock outside of the center; her love for Ash. Dawn first became aware of her feelings toward the trainer during the latter part of her first journey with him through Sinnoh a few years ago. Ash had been so supportive and caring towards her, and he always knew what to say when she was feeling low or not doing well in her contests, it would have been hard for any girl to not fall for Ash. The only thing that Dawn worried about was his feeling towards her.
As Dawn finally reached the buffet table, and proceeded to fill her plate with food, she could not help but steal a glance at Ash. He was about to sit down at the booth Brock had saved, but Dawn took the opportunity to really look at Ash. Ash was considered to of average height by the standards of other male's his age, and though he had grown a few inches over the years, he was still only a couple inches taller than Dawn, something she giggled at but also found to be very cute. Eye's travelling downward, Dawn admired Ash's frame; while Ash was not a meat head or 'Mr. Biceps', he did have a nice toned figure, something Dawn would occasionally daydream snuggling up against.
'Snap out of it, Dawn,' Dawn told herself. 'This isn't the time or place for that.'
Plate filled with food and drink in hand, Dawn made her way to the booth that Ash and Pikachu sitting and eating at; Brock had gone to wait in the significantly smaller line for the buffet. As she crossed between the seemingly endless tables and chairs, Dawn was careful to not disturb any of the patrons. When she was closer to the table, Ash looked up and flashed a smile at her, which slightly distracted Dawn. The smile quickly turned into a look of slight terror, which puzzled Dawn, but before she could check to see if something was going on behind her, something crashed into her, sending her straight to the ground and her plate full of food straight into the air. Bracing herself for the worst, Dawn closed her eyes and tried to cover her clothes with her arms as best as she could, as she was sure the mess would be absolutely horrendous. Hearing a loud thud, but not feeling anything, Dawn slowly opened her eyes, and quickly realized that the food had completely missed her. Confused, Dawn glanced around, and found where the food had landed. In horror, Dawn looked on as Ash and Pikachu were completely covered in her would-be dinner: mashed potatoes with gravy, a pasty soup, and chocolate pudding. While Pikachu start to nonchalantly lick the food from his fur, Ash could only sit there stunned, apparently not wanting to accept the mess that was now all over him.
A loud laughter broke out on the other side of the dining area, as the usually composed Brock utterly lost it; it had been a long day of traveling, after all. A few of the other dinners joined in the laughter, though not as enthusiastically as Brock, while others went to Dawn to help her up. One of the men that had helped her up mumbled something of an apology, Dawn assumed he was the 'something' that had knocked her over, but his voice was one that Dawn recognized, but could not fully identify. Deeming it as something not important, she looked to Ash, who was trying his best to clean off with the napkins at the table, until Pikachu started licking some of the food off his arm. Swatting Pikachu away, Ash got up, grabbed his back pack, and went straight to the rest room to change clothing.
After Ash got cleaned off, Dawn got a new plate of food, Pikachu got a bottle of ketchup to suck on, and Brock got scolded for laughing so loudly, the group decided to talk plans. They were currently in Goldenrod City; Ash had gotten an invitation to challenge the Johto gyms for a second time, and not wanting to go by himself, Ash had asked Dawn and Brock to accompany him. Brock and Dawn had both said yes for their own reasons: Brock because he felt the itch to travel again after being stuck in Pewter City, and Dawn because she wanted to see what the Johto Contests were like. At least that's what she had told Ash and Brock, she also wanted to travel with Ash again, but she could not have told them that, not yet anyway. While in Goldenrod, Ash planned to face off against Whitney for the Plain Badge, a battle he knew would be tough, as he had barely managed to beat Whitney the first time he faced her. Brock wanted to check out a new breeder's store that had popped up in Goldenrod, and Dawn planned to spend a lot of time at the Department Store and check out the National Park as well.
"Well, we already know that Whitney won't be available to battle for a few days," Brock said, pausing for a moment as an exaggerated groan emitted from Ash. Whitney was apparently away on "Official Johto League" business, and while he understood she had responsibilities other than the gym battles themselves, Ash still did not like having to wait.
"Which means that we'll need to book rooms here for the rest of the week," continued Brock. "I'm going to go talk to that absolutely beautiful Joy at the counter about securing the rooms; you two should talk about what we're going to during our free time this week."
Getting up from the booth, Brock headed towards the counter, leaving Ash and Dawn behind as they shook their heads. But Brock had a point; they really should come up with a plan for the week. As Ash started discussing how he wanted to train, Dawn slipped into the recess of her mind. She watched as Ash starting thinking aloud, deciding what were the best ways to mix free time and battle preparation time during the week. A look of determination was etched across Ash's face, something that Dawn could not help but blush at.
'I don't think he realizes how cute he is when he gets determined like that,' Dawn thought to herself. 'The only downside to his determination is that he doesn't have time for distractions, and he's so dense that he doesn't even realize that I could be a distraction.'
Dawn inwardly berated herself for the lame joke, but she did have a point. There were many times that Dawn had given Ash plenty of opportunity to show any interest in the bluenette; from smaller, subtler things like asking his opinion on how she looked that day to bigger, blunter things like asking him if there were any girls that he had his eye on. One time in the Slowpoke Cave, she had even jumped into his arms when she had let a Slowpoke creep on her, and not even that earned a response from Ash. Dawn sighed, what more could a girl do?
"Is everything alright Dawn?" Ash asked with a concerned look. "That didn't exactly sound like a happy sigh."
Stuttering, Dawn quickly spat out, "N-no! I was just thinking about how bored this week is going to be."
Ash was not convinced, and gave Dawn a questioning look, but decided to drop it. An awkward silence fell between the two, but before it could become unbearable, Brock sat down at the table. Relief swarmed through Dawn, she would have to thank Brock later.
"Well, I've got some good news and some bad news. I'll start with the bad news first, which is that the Pokémon center only has one room available to us for the week, and even worse, there's only one bed in the room."
Disbelief spread across the faces of both Ash and Dawn, but before they could vocally react, Brock finished up by saying, "But the good news is that I won't have to deal with that; I received a message from my younger brother Forrest, and long story short, I'm jumping on the Magnet Train tonight to Saffron City and heading straight to Pewter City from there, so I'll be gone for the whole week!"
So, that's chapter one! I've had this idea in my head for a while now, and although it didn't turn out exactly as I thought it would, I finally was able to turn that idea into the beginning of this story. Anyway, thanks for reading, and please leave a review! ~SatoshiUnlimited