The path to Viridan City was short, just a few short miles away. The last time they were here, Ash battled Team Rocket for the Earth Badge. Why were they even at that gym? Were Jesse and James really the leaders of that gym?
It was peculiar, didn't seem right. But, that didn't really matter now, to Ash, as they accidentally exploded the gym. He and Brock planned to make a quick trip through Viridian and head toward the forest.

"Excited to be visiting Pewter soon, Brock?"
Brock nodded. "You bet I am. I'm just hoping my father kept his promise to uphold the gym as a purely Rock type gym.."
"Yeah, I remember what you told me about what happened with your mom. Well, at least you had Forrest on your side there, I'm sure he reminds your dad everyday."
Brock laughs, "Yeah, that's true. That kid is so passionate. It makes me really proud, and glad he's not into Water pokemon.."
"So," Brock continues, "you gonna challenge the Pewter Gym Leader while we're there?"
Ash shrugs. "I guess! I mean, I made pretty quick work out of the last one.."
Brock shoves him, "Yeah right! I gave you that badge. You had an advantage."

Pikachu pulls on Ash's pant leg. "Piiika.." he points to a small restaurant. "Piiiii.."
"Oh! Are you hungry Pikachu?"
Pikachu nods, "Cha!"
"Yeah, I could sure use a bite to eat before we hit the Viridian Forest." Brock adds.
They make their way toward the restaurant, stomachs growling.

The boys take their seat at a booth, Pikachu next to Ash and Brock by himself across from them. Brock pulls some food out of his backpack for Pikachu, who accepts graciously, knowing he'll also get some of Ash's food. Ash already knew what he wanted.
"Wow, I can't wait to have the biggest cheeseburger right now," he said, "I feel like I haven't had one in ages!"
Brock, head down, is looking at the menu still. "I'm not really sure what I want.."
"How about the pulled pork?" he hears, and looks up. His heart stops at the sight of the angel in front of him. Light brown hair all tied in a bun aside from a bit of bang wisped across her forehead, sparkling green eyes bore into his soul. As soon as his jaw dropped, he threw it back up, but not before she noticed. She giggled. "Hello. I'm your server today. The pulled pork is very popular here, I hear great things."
"Would recommend it personally?" he asked, lowering his voice to sound suave. He raised an eyebrow.
The girl made a face that would frighten even the ghastliest of Gengars. "Oh gosh, definitely NOT. I would NEVER eat it."
She immediately covered her mouth, and laughed. "Not because it's gross or anything. Well, I mean, it is, to me, I don't eat meat."
"WHAT!" Ash exclaims. He slams his hands on the table. "You DON'T eat meat?"
The girl shrugs. "I never have. I'm strictly herbavore."
"That's incredible," Brock says, scooting closer to where she was standing at the end of the table. "It must take so much dedication to refrain from such things."
"Not really," she shrugs again. "It just doesn't look good to me." She looks down at him. "So? Do you want that?"
Brock moves back to his spot, realizing she wasn't catching on. "Uh, sure, I guess I'll have the pulled pork."
"Alright. Burger and pulled pork with a side of fries, it'll be up soon."
"Wait, uh, we didn't order fries.." Ash says, confused. The girl smiles. "Yes, I know. It's on the house." and walks away.
Ash kicks Brock's leg under the table after noticing where he was staring.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"Stop that!"
"Stop what?"
"Staring at her ass," Ash says quietly, leaning in, "you're not very discreet."
"Neither is her perfection.." Brock looks back at her, talking to another waitress. Pikachu rolls his eyes. "Piiika.."
"Yeah, Brock, you say that about every girl we've ever come across."
"Yeah, but, I mean, look at her." Brock looks at him. "I think she's into me."
Pikachu drops to the floor. Ash furrows his eyebrows. "I don't think so, bud.."
"Well, even if she isn't. She could be. I could make it happen. C'mon. I can."

Pikachu climbs back up onto the seat, and sits. This conversation was a little ridiculous.
"If you say so.." Ash says, and lets his eyes wander about the restaurant. It was a cozy place, well lit, all the windows let in a ton of light, all lined with booths, and tables in the center. It was all one big room, on one side the cash register and a small bar. Behind it was the door to the kitchen, where he could see a waiters and waitresses flow in and out. He had been here before; they really did have the best pulled pork. It wasn't dry, like most places, and they gave you a large bun to make a sandwich with it.
It was unbelievable that a person could choose not to eat meat. How could you live without cheeseburgers? Juicy, succulent cheeseburgers. Steak, chicken, ham and turkey. What did she eat? Grass? It's impossible to just not eat meat. That was crazy. She must be insane. There was no way Ash could live without meat. It was the best part of any meal, the greatest thing to ever put into your mouth. The only section of the food pyramid that mattered beside sweets.
Grains weren't bad either. Without the grains section, you would have no bun.
Meats were still the top section.

"Alright," the girl returned with a large platter. "One cheeseburger for you," she put the plate down in front of Ash. Pikachu popped his head up, startling the girl, causing her to drop the tray, spilling the food all over the place. Pulled pork flew everywhere.
"Oh Christ," she said under her breath, "just my luck." she crouched down, picking up the tray. Brock jumped out of his chair and onto the floor faster than lightning, picking up the plates for her. They stood at the same time, food at their feet. He handed her the plates. "Here," he said, smiling. She smiled back, "I'm so sorry you guys, your Pikachu came out of no where!" she laughed. "I'm sorry about the food," she looked at Brock, "I'll be back with more in two seconds, on the house." she scurried away.
By the time Brock sat down, Ash was finished with his burger. He and Pikachu licked their lips and belched in unison. A man in an apron came over, and started to clean the mess on the floor.
"I feel bad Pikachu scared her," Ash said. "I mean, sometimes when I look at 'em, I get scared too, but I didn't think she got that good of a look at his face!" he started laughing. Pikachu growls, and shocks him.
Ash's face, charred, and hair sticking up everywhere, made the girl laugh again when she came back. "Hahaha! Did the burger's greatness shock you?" she laughed again at her own joke, handing Brock his plates of pork and fries. Pikachu laughed with her. "Cha ha ha!"
"Aw! He is too cute! It is a boy, right?" she asks, kneeling down. Pikachu gets angry with this question, furrowing his eyes. "Pikaa.."
Ash pats him on the head, making him happy again. "Yeah, he's my bud."
"Hi, Pikachu, it's nice to meet you." She smiles. Pikachu smiles back, and extends his hand to shake. She shakes it with the three fingers that surround his whole hand.
"Chaaa-aaa!"
She stands again, "Well, I'll leave you to finish, just call me over whenever you want me to clean up!" once again, she walks away, and Ash follows Brock's eyes to her backside. He kicks him again. "Stop that!"

Brock sighs, taking the last bite of his pulled pork sandwich. He and Ash begin eating the fries.
"So," Brock starts, "what's the agenda, do you think? Where are we headed after Pewter?"
"Well, we have to stop in Cerulean City. Misty would kill us if she found out we were home and didn't go visit her." Pikachu jumps up, excited.
Brock nods. "Good point. Then what?"
"Not really sure." He shrugs. "I guess see where things take us. I would eventually like to get to go everywhere again in Kanto, and revisit everything. It's been a long time, you know?"
Brock nods again. "It really has. It feels like it's been ages since we've both been home."

Pikachu relaxes in the booth, stomach full. "Stuffed, Pikachu?" Ash inquires. Pikachu nods, eyes closed.
"Yeah, I'm pretty stuffed myself." Brock says. They were halfway done with the fries. Ash pops a few more into his mouth before waving his arms frantically to get the waitress's attention. She skipped over happily. "Finished guys?"
The nodded. She smiled at Brock. "How was the pulled pork?"
"Amazing," Brock grinned back, "you should try it sometime."
She rolled her eyes playfully, walking away. Brock didn't watch her this time. He looked at Ash. "Do you think she would give me her number?"
"What?" Ash exclaimed, looking at him as if he had five eyes. "Are you crazy? She's a waitress at some restaurant."
"So? Look at her!"
"I'm sure you'll see someone you think is much better." Ash says. He looks over just as she is walking toward their table, check in hand.
"You can pay this at the register. Thanks for coming, guys, have a great night." she nods, and walks away after giving Ash the check.
They pick it up, pay at the register, and leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Brock sighs, feeling a bit shot down. That girl was beautiful. Her emeralds were etched into his mind. Incredible.
Maybe he should go back. Not act so infatuated, but ask if she'd like to go out sometime. Exchange numbers. Give him a call or something.
He shook it out of his mind. They weren't sticking around, there was no point. Plus, Ash was right; he saw girls all the time. Maybe another will come by to make his heart race like it took two seconds for her to do.
What was going on with him? This was weird. Usually when he wanted a girl, he either got her for a night or didn't. They were all hot, but, she wasn't even like that. She wasn't plain old hot like the rest. She was different. Uniquely gorgeous. Looking into her eyes (even if it was for just a moment) was like getting lost in a tropical rainforest, and never wanting to find your way out.
Whatever. Forget about it, Brock. You'll never see her again anyway.

"Woah! Brock, Pikachu, look!" Ash points straight ahead. In front of them was a newly erected, differently built, Viridian Gym.
"Wow, that looks awesome." Brock says, enthused. Pikachu jumps up, small sparks coming from his cheeks. Ash laughs. "Wanna go check it out, Pikachu?"
Pikachu nods. "Piiiikaaaaaa!"
The boys shrug, why not? They head up to the doors, and as before, two large guards stood blocking the way.
"No entry." one grunts. Ash stomps a foot. "Not again! I want to challenge the leader of this gym!"
"Do you have all the Duo Kanto badges?" The other grunts in reply. Ash is taken aback. Duo Kanto bages? What the hell were those?
"Uh, Duo what?" Brock asks, puzzled himself. The guards laugh at them. "Children." one says. The other looks down at them. "No entry until all Duo badges are presented. Until then, get the hell out of here."
Pikachu growls. "Piiii.." sparks begin to fly everywhere before Ash tells him to stop. "No point in sticking around here. I guess we'll just have to figure out what these Duo Kanto badges are, then.."
They look around. It had begun to get dark outside. There was no way they'd make it through the Viridian Forest before the sky was completely black, and there was no way he was going to get stormed by Beedrill again, especially in the dark. It made him think back to the first time he went through that forest, when his Metapod, the first pokemon he ever caught, was stolen by a wild Beedrill, and got so mad at him that it refused to go back into his pokeball, when finally found. That was before the Beedrill swarmed again, and both Ash and Metapod showed how much they cared. That was when Metapod evolved, into Butterfree. He missed his Butterfree.
I hope he's doing great.

Still not going into that forest at this hour. They had to find somewhere to stay the night. There weren't any friends they had in Viridian, so they popped into the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy was pleased to see them. "Hello! Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" she smiles. Brock drools over her beauty, and immediately runs up to the front desk. "Hello, Nurse Beautiful- I mean Joy, my apologies, I'm very tired tonight.. I hope you're doing well, you're looking wonderful."
Nurse Joy smiles again, and nods. "Why, thank you sir, can I help you with something?"
Ash walks up to them, and steps on Brock's foot behind the desk, as Joy can't see. Brock snaps back into reality. "We were wondering," Ash starts, "if there was any way we could spend the night here. We don't really have anywhere to stay tonight, but we can't go through Viridian Forest when it's this dark.."
Nurse Joy hops up. "Absolutely! Just come this way, please." She begins to walk down the hallway, and her Chansey follows. "Follow me!"
"Chansey!" she waves her small arms as she bops behind Joy. The boys all follow as well.
They get to a small room, and Joy turns the lights on. There sat two beds on either side of the room, blankets and all.
"You can only stay here one night, as we usually lend this room to people who don't have homes." says Joy. "But, no one has come forth to ask, so, you're both welcome to stay the night."

Ash and Brock both nod. "Thanks so much." Brock says. Nurse Joy and Chansey smile in unison. "Have a good night you two." she says, turn, and walk away, Chansey at her heels.
"You as well!" Brock shouts back, and Ash rolls his eyes. "What?" Brock asks.
"Told you that you'd find someone else to swoon over."
Brock didn't forget about that girl from the diner. Right? Of course Joy was beautiful, how could he not tell her she was? That'd be like lying, even though no one asked him to say the truth. Both the girl from the diner and Nurse Joy were beautiful, but in completely different ways.
He chose a bed and flopped onto his back, sighing. Ash got into the other bed, Pikachu curled up at the foot, cuddling a blanket.
Brock lets his mind wander. Thoughts of that girl, of Nurse Joy, of Pewter City. What was it like? How was the gym? How were his parents, his brothers and sisters? How was Forrest, mostly, was he still chasing after girls, like he was the last time Brock came to town? Was he up right now, thinking about a girl just as Brock?

Her eyes were amazing.

Ash starts to snore. Brock looks over, seeing both Ash and Pikachu drooling, dead asleep. He sighs, gets up, and turns off the light. Getting back in bed, he pulls the blanket to his chin. He often went to bed alone, not always, but often, and he drifted off to sleep wishing the diner girl was beside him.

"Chansey Chans!"
The pokemon's call jostled Brock out of his slumber. He looked out the window. The sun had already come up. He looks over to the bed on the other side of the room. Ash was already dressed, sitting up with Pikachu. Nurse Joy was standing in the doorway. Brock blushes.
"Sorry to have to throw you guys out the door," Joy says to Ash, "but I'm really not supposed to let people sleep all day here. Sort of the rules around here." she laughs, though nothing she said was at all funny. Ash nods. "It's alright. We have to make an early start anyway. Gotta get to Pewter as soon as we can."

Oh yeah, Pewter. They were leaving Viridian today. Nurse Joy turns and leaves, Chansey following. Once she's gone, Brock jumps out of bed, having tried to hide what would have probably caused Nurse Joy to physically toss them out.
"Ahhhh," Brock sighs, "seems like a beautiful day."
"Yeah, a beautiful day you were sleeping through. I couldn't wake you up!"
"I was having a nice dream." An inappropriate dream, as usual, hence not jumping out of bed with Joy in the room. Girls like her, probably would have sued for sexual harrassment.
"Ready to go get some breakfast?" Ash cracks his knuckles. Pikachu jumps up, signaling he was ready to eat. Brock nods, picking up his backpack. "Let's go."

They bid adue to Joy, walking outside into the crisp air. They all take a deep breath, taking it in.
"Amazing." Brock says.
"You can say that again."
"Chaaaaaaa."
"To the diner?" Brock asks, and Ash gives him a look that read Are you serious?, but shrugs. "Sure, I guess."

They walk down the dirt path and into the doors. The large fan inside greets them with a low hum before the waiter does.
"Good morning fellas! How are you this fine day? Follow me please." he walks them to a booth and they sit. Brock's eyes wander, searching for the girl fro mthe night before. Was she working? He looks up at the waiter.
"Do you already know what you would like?" he asks them.
Ash nods. "Blueberry pancakes and a side of sausage, please!" Pikachu looks overjoyed. The waiter turns to Brock, who quickly grabs the menu.
This diner had everything and anything. Pancakes, eggs, biscuits, scones, bagels, calamari?
No thanks.
"I'll just have the same." he says finally, the waiter nodding. "Two blueberry pancakes, side of sausage, yes?"
The boys nod. "Be back in a jiff."
A jiff? What the hell is a jiff? Brock is irritated. Where is she? He looks around the diner, somewhat frantic.

"She's probably not working, stalker."
Brock looks at him. "Thanks."
They sit quietly for a while before the waiter brings them their pancakes, and two glasses of milk.

The pancakes were huge. The fluffiest pancakes you could ever imagine. Like clouds, sprinkled with little blueberries - little raindrops in the clouds of dough.
They both dug in like they've never eaten before. They were done within minutes. How could you not scarf down the most delicious pancakes ever made?
The waiter watches afar, eyes bugged. What pigs.

The boys didn't notice, but they couldn't care less anyway. They'd probably never see any of these people again anyway. What they thought of them didn't matter.
The waiter saunters over, somewhat nauseated from watching them basically swallow their meals whole. "All done, guys?" he nods.
The boys nod back. Ash pats his stomach. "That was amazing."
"Best pancakes I've ever had." Brock adds.
The waiter smiles fakely. "We've got some great cooks in the back." he hands them the check. "Just pay up at the register. Have a great day!" he takes their dishes and walks away. They stand, and split the tab. Brock gives Ash some money, and says he'll meet him outside. Ash walks up to the register as Brock steps outside.

I'd like to see her at least more time. He thought to himself, at least.

He'd like to do more than see her, but he didn't want to think about that. Getting an erection in public was more than embarrassing. Then imagine if, during, he saw her? That'd be worse!
Ash opens the door behind him, Pikachu on his shoulder. "Ready?"
Brock nods. And they're off to Viridian Forest at last.

BROCK
I honestly can't stop thinking about that damn girl. She's so much hotter than any other I've seen. In a nonchalant way, though. I don't think she knows how good looking she is. She's probably one of those humble girls, on the outside, but a real freak when you get them locked in a bedroom. All the shy girls are. Not that I suspect she's like all the rest, but, they usually are like that. I wouldn't mind if she was; the freaky ones are my favorite. They go along with more. They let me do the weird shit, and do it right back. That's good. Gets me off just by thinking about it.
But, really, she was gorgrous.
I'm still very excited to be going home. I've missed everyone so much, especially (can you believe it) Mom. Seeing Ash and his mom together has made me miss being a child. I wish I could still be a child, go home to Mommy, have her make me dinner and cuddle me while I tell her about all my adventures around the world.
But, my family just isn't like that. Sure, they're loving, and we all care about each other, we'd give our lives for one another, but we've (they've) never been the type to go all ape shit when I did something awesome, hug me when I got straight A's, hold me when I was scared of the monsters in my closet. No, they got me a pokemon for protection. That's the one thing I would change about my family if I could. I love them, and I know they love me, but I wish they'd be more showing, aside from my parents, who are pretty much down each other's throats at any given moment. Like when they left me with all the kids. I was too young to do that shit, but I did it anyway. They needed me. And, that's all helped me get where I am today. Aspired me to be the caretaker of not only people, but pokemon as well. I like to take care of people.
Especially when they show they appreciate it.

ASH
Brock's acting like a little baby. We're on our way to Pewter, so he can see his family, but all he cares about is girls. It's annoying. He focuses on his food recipes, on helping pokemon, and making them happy, but other than that it's like he has no room in his brain for anything except girls. Get over it dude. He's awesome but, it gets on my nerves when he'd rather talk about girls than anything else. So dumb.
Like that girl at the diner. He keeps talking about how he wants to find her again. Who cares? She's just a girl. Yeah, I thought she was cute, but really, it's not like she was a goddess, he'll find some other girl he likes better, sweep her off to somewhere secluded, screw her, then we'll be on our way. It happens all the time, never ends. I think he liked the girl at the diner because she was average. Like, not average looking, but, she was just a normal girl. She's not anything great or anything. Not a breeder, not a cop, just a normal girl working a normal job doing normal things. He hasn't had many of those. He probably has fantasized about her in bed already. He woke up with a boner this morning. Gross.

PIKACHU
Pika pikachu pi cha. Cha pika pi ka ka pi. Chu pika pi chu pikacha pika pi. Pika pika pi, cha pikachu.
Ka.. pikachu. Chaaaa..