"Mommy, let goooo!" little Ash whined as he pulled on the hand his mother held as soon as his sandals hit the grass of the Pallet Town park. "Lemme goooooowah!"
Delia giggled and crouched down to her son's height, "OK, OK," she said, getting Ash's hopes up. "But first, let's put some sunblock on the pudgy face of yours!" she cooed, pulling the dreaded white bottle from her bag. Ash groaned as he extended his arm, squealing when the cool cream hit his skin. Once he was properly coated in sunscreen and Delia had gone over the rules of strangers for the umpteenth time, Ash was set free.
He bolted off toward the swings, his little legs propelling him forward as quickly as they could. Unfortunately, the swing Ash was aimed straight for was taken by another little boy just before Ash could get to it. Ash skidded to a stop, nearly faceplanting just to keep from running over the other kid.
"Hey!" Ash shouted once he had righted himself, "I was gonna get on that swing!"
The other little boy pushed back his purple bangs, tucking them behind his ear as he picked up his feet. "Too bad, so sad," he said as he pulled himself forward. "My vacation, my swing."
Ash puffed his cheeks and narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms as he tried to think of something he could do to get this kid off the swing. Yes, there were others free, but it was the principle of the thing. So, with a bit of an evil grin, Ash snuck around to the boy's behind. He quickly grabbed the chains and jumped, placing his toes under the boy's bottom.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" the boy shouted, flopping off the seat and landing on his back.
"You didn't wanna get off," Ash said sweetly, sitting on the swing and smiling cutely down to the other boy.
This boy smiled, then got to his feet before extending a hand, "My name's Paul," he said.
Ash looked at the hand, then glanced up confusedly at Paul. "Um, I'm Ash!" he greeted, crawling off the swing and placing his hands behind his head. Paul sighed and dropped his hand, jamming his hand in his shorts pocket only to produce a binky. Ash wrinkled his nose and stepped closer, "Aren'tcha a little old for a paci?"
Paul took the binky out for a moment only to say, "No," before jamming it back between his teeth.
"How old are you?" Ash asked, crossing his arms. He thought this kid was going to be cool and fun, not a baby. Which was saying a lot coming from someone who just turned five.
"I'm five and three-quarters," Paul said. He pushed his hair behind his ear once again and stepped off to head away from Ash.
"Wait, don't go!" Ash whined, jogging to keep up with the slightly taller boy. "Don't go, Paul-y!"
Paul stopped and turned to face Ash, removing his binky just to say, "It's just Paul." With that, he took off running toward the sprinklers set up near the trees. Ash groaned and took off running after Paul, eventually seeing the boy lay down with a strange-looking Pokémon under the sprinklers. Paul and the strange brown Pokémon both had popsicles, and the new sunglasses on Paul's face had him looking, once again, quite cool.
"What's that Pokémon, Paul-y?" Ash asked, sliding down on his knees in front of the purple-haired boy.
Paul glared, reminding Ash once again that his name was not Paul-y. Ash waved off the boy, and asked again about the Pokémon. With a sigh, Paul said, "It's a Bib-ral," Paul explained. "They come from Sinnoh like me and big brother."
"Oh, so cool!" Ash cooed, scooting closer to pet the Pokémon.
"Paul, who's your friend?" a new boy asked.
Paul groaned and rolled his eyes, hopping to his feet. "He's not my friend, Reggie!"
Reggie laughed and bent down to Ash's height, handing the boy a popsicle. "Paul's not much on friends, so you're doing pretty good!" he said with a snicker that made Paul fuss even more.
"My name's Ash!" Ash greeted, moving away from Reggie to pet the Pokémon. "Bib-ral is really cool, Mr. Reggie!"
"It's actually called Bibarel," Reggie explained. "Paul just can't say it quite right."
"I can, too!" Paul whined, stomping over and tugging Reggie's ponytail. "You just make it comp'icated!"
Ash snickered, hiding his laughter behind his hand. Though, that did nothing to keep Paul from hearing him. "What are you laughing at, Ash?!"
"Nothing, nothing," Ash waved him off, nonchalantly finishing off his popsicle before walking toward the sprinklers. Paul growled and bolted after him, tackling Ash to the ground. Ash rolled so he was on his back, then grabbed handfuls of Paul's hair and yanked.
Paul let out a cry, then punched Ash's cheek and dug his toes into the boy's knee.
"Boys, boys!" Reggie grabbed his brother and lifted him straight up. "Paul, that was not nice!"
"He laughed at me…" Paul grumbled, crossing his arms. Ash stuck out his tongue, only for Paul to copy.
"OK, OK, Ash why don't you go find your mommy. I'll take Paul back to the hotel…" Reggie sighed as he settled his brother on his hip, helping Bibarel pick up all their supplies. In that time, Paul jammed his binky back in his mouth, so Ash took the opportunity to stick his tongue back out at Paul before marching away.
"Ash, how did you get that big bruise?!" Delia fussed when her son plopped down beside her.
"Stupid Paul-y…" Ash grumbled, cuddling her arm.
"Who's Polly?" Ash never answered, instead he buried his nose in her elbow and fell asleep. Fighting could take a lot out of a boy, especially fighting a big baby like Paul.
Because if Serena can magically be apart of Ash's childhood for a hot-second, so can Paul.