You have fifteen minutes to live. What will you do? Go!
00:15
As Ash read the text message, a small smile came to his face. It had been the third text this month, but Ash knew if he followed the instructions, he was sure to have a memorable night. The hardest part was coming up with something, but the point of the challenge was to get him to do something spontaneous without thinking too much about what he was doing.
Granted, his brain already worked this way, but when May had created the game long ago, it was meant to get Ash to do spontaneous things that didn't involve Pokémon training. What he did as a result of these challenges didn't have to be crazy or daring stunts. They could be silly little things or kind things he did for other people. After all, fifteen minutes isn't a whole lot of time to do grandiose things. And thanks to the challenges May had issued him over the years, he'd done things like pulled a pretty good prank on Gary, gotten a girl to go out on a date with Brock and even dyed his hair a crazy blue.
00:13
When he completed whatever he'd decided to do with his fifteen minutes, he reported back to May. Since the challenges went both ways, he even issued her the same challenge on occasion. In fact, just last week, he'd challenged her and she'd texted him back that she'd finally told Drew she liked him and that they had a date planned for that weekend.
It'd been a pretty big accomplishment for May, but since he was competitive by nature, he had to outdo May's final act. May probably wouldn't care. She was more interested in what Ash actually did. He'd promised her what he did next time would blow top her own victory, but he couldn't actually do anything until she officially issued him a challenge, and tonight was his lucky day. He was ready for this one. Maybe even born ready! Then again, that could be the excessive amounts of caffeine running through him talking. Regardless, he had to come up with something great like he promised.
Since Ash was in the Pokécenter, there wasn't a whole lot he could do. Plus, it was late and he didn't want to worry Iris and Cilan by just vanishing. But time was ticking away and he had to think of something. He couldn't report back to May that in the last fifteen minutes of his life, he'd just sat there and did nothing. She would force him to do something embarrassing. It was part of the deal if the person issued the challenge couldn't come up with anything. It'd only happened to him once, but May had made him pay for it when she changed his ringtone to a rather embarrassing song.
00:11
As he thought back to the results of the challenge he'd issued for May, Ash wondered if he'd have the guts to do what May had done. Just like May, there was a special someone in his life that he liked to imagine himself being with, but he knew he could never do it. He was pretty sure he didn't have the guts to do what May did, plus he was pretty confident he'd either A. Ruin the perfectly good friendship he had or B. She'd laugh at him and call him a dense idiot for thinking she would feel the same about him. It had been quite some time since he'd called her, so she might be angry with him for not calling in so long. But his life was ending in fifteen minutes. Or at least, that was the idea and the mentality he needed to have. He could die never having tried, or, if he failed, at least he would be dying soon
So, with the mentality that he would be dying anytime now, he sorted through his contacts until he found the name he was looking for. As he pressed the call button he suddenly felt like he'd entered a free fall. The chills of the adrenaline rushing through his veins made him dizzy and light headed. He couldn't believe he was really going to do this. He was pretty sure he was sweating despite the fairly comfortable temperature of the Pokémon Center. It didn't help when the phone started to ring and all he could sense was his body shaking and his hands clamming up. When she answered, would he even be able to talk?
00:10
"Hello?" The voice on the other end answered. Hearing it, Ash's nerves spiked to near passing out levels. He could barely remember the last time he'd been this nervous. "Ash? Hello? Is that you?"
"Ye-s," he croaked, stumbling over his words. He felt like an idiot, but he couldn't really seem to calm down. He couldn't think of what to say now either. "Yeah. It's me. Ash."
"You okay?" To her, Ash sounded really out of it. He could be awkward at times, but normally he never talked like this on the phone. "Are you crying?"
"Crying? What? No," he quickly corrected her.
"So…what's up? Everything okay?" It had been a while since Ash had called her, so his phone call was very unexpected. It didn't help either that he was calling so late. These kinds of phone calls, out of the blue and late at night, often led one to the conclusion that something terrible had happened."You do realize it's one in the morning here in Cerulean, right?"
"It is?" he gasped, completely forgetting about the time difference. "I'm really sorry Misty! I won't keep you long."
"It's okay," she assured him. She was already awake anyway. "So, what are you calling about?"
"I'm dying…" he told her.
"What?!"
Realizing what the real meaning of what he had said was, he quickly found his voice. "No! That's not what I meant! I'm sorry!" He felt like a complete idiot. This was going nothing like he had originally planned. It was a disaster. "I'm sorry," he apologized once more. "This is a disaster."
"What do you mean?" Misty asked. Now past the mini heart attack Ash had given her, Misty was curious about what in the world Ash's plan was. Although, she would be lying if she didn't say she was also growing more and more frustrated and impatient with Ash. This phone call was costing her money. "C'mon Ash, I don't have all night!"
"Right, right," he huffed. He could sense Misty was quickly growing annoyed with him. Taking a deep breath, he attempted to once more start over. "I called because…because…"
"Because…?" Misty tried to push him to keep going.
"Because I…"
"You…?"
Misty was going to explode. Trying to get Ash to talk was like listing to nails on a chalkboard or trying to pull teeth. Mind numbing and excruciating to sit through.
"I…really like…"
If she could reach through the screen and shake the words out of him, she would. He was seriously going Slowpoke pace now.
"ASH!" she finally yelled. "If you don't tell me what's up in five seconds, I'm going to hang up on you."
00:05
Cringing at the sound of Misty yelling, Ash sighed in defeat. Misty was going to hang up on him before he could even get the words out. And it would all be because he was too nervous to say anything. He was too afraid to tell her how he really felt for fear of all the ways he'd imagined she could reject him. How May had done it, he didn't know. He was a lost cause at this point. He wondered if he should just give up and accept whatever punishment May gave him. After all, it couldn't be much more embarrassing than the humiliation he was putting himself through now.
"I'm sorry," he finally apologized for what felt like the hundredth time that night. "I'm sorry I bothered you. I'll just talk to you some other time. Goodnight, Misty. Sorry to wake you."
Pressing the end call button, Ash let the phone fall to his side as he slumped down into the couch feeling both humiliated and like a complete failure. What did he think was going to happen? Glancing at his phone, he saw he had five minutes left until he "died". He had some time to try and come up with something new, or he could continue to sit there and wait out the five minutes and accept whatever punishment May dealt him.
He knew if he didn't do something now, he would be kicking himself later. If this was real thing-if he was actually dying-he would have died a failure. And a failure is how Ash Ketchum refused to be known as. Ge hated failure and he hated giving up. It just didn't feel right. It wasn't him. He could jump off a waterfall to rescue a Pokémon without any hesitation about what might happened to him. Yet, he couldn't even call the girl he liked and ask her on a date. And it was all because a bruised ego hurt more to him than broken bones.
But death! his brain yelled at him. A last chance to do something crazy!
00:03
Determined and knowing he still had five minutes, Ash hit the redial button on his phone and waited for Misty to pick up. If she wasn't already too mad at him from the phone call a few seconds ago that is.
"What no-"
"Go out on a date with me," he blurted, cutting her off before she could yell at him or hang up on him. And to his own surprise, the words that followed seemed to just flow naturally. "I really like you and I think you're beautiful and I can't stop thinking about you. I've liked you for years now and I may even love you, I don't know. But I want to find out. So, please, go on a date with me?"
There, he had done it. He'd let it all out before he could clam up again and fall to pieces. Now what happened next was in her hands and his heart beat with anticipation. Whatever happened happened. He'd tried. He'd lived as if his life was ending in fifteen minutes and he'd done something completely crazy.
"Misty?" Ash called as he started to panic. It'd been a few seconds of complete silence without any sound from the other line.
"Sorry, I'm here. Yes."
"Yes?"
"Yes, stupid," she teased him. "I'll go out on a date with you. "
"Really?" He couldn't believe it.
"Yes!" she shouted, laughing at his complete surprise. "I would love to."
"Okay, yeah," he replied, calming down from the high he felt. "I'll um…call you when I'm home next week?"
"Sounds good," she replied. From her voice, he could tell she was genuinely happy about it. "But don't you dare stand me up Ash Ketchum!"
"No, never," he quickly replied. He'd just gotten a once in a lifetime chance. He'd be stupid to screw it up like that.
"Good." A brief pause fell between them as neither was sure what to say next. "Well, I've got to get to bed. Busy day as usual…"
"Okay," he sighed. He'd hoped to talk to her longer, but she was right. It was pretty late and he had already taken enough of her time. "Goodnight, Mist."
"Goodnight Ash."
Hanging up the phone, he paused to take a moment to collect himself and his thoughts. Looking around the center, he saw there was nobody there-even Nurse Joy had stepped away to tend to the Pokémon in the back. So, with the center quiet and nobody around to make fun of him, Ash couldn't help but jump up in the air in celebration.
"She said yes!" he cheered, thrusting his fist into the air. What had started out as a disaster had turned into a night he would never forget.
Sliding open his phone once more, he quickly composed a message to May detailing how he had spent the last fifteen minutes of his life. Within seconds of sending the message, his phone buzzed loudly to indicate he'd received a new message.
From: May
:) :) :)