I'm honestly surprised at how well received this story is already. Honestly, I've had the idea for this story for a long time, so to see it work makes me really happy. I'll work real hard on it from here on out. Thanks again!
I'm always open to questions, so if you have any, leave them in or with a review. It helps bunches!
It took May giggling for Ash to finally realize he'd been staring.
He snapped back to his senses. "Oh, I'm sorry. Welcome to Pallet! If you're new here, I mean..."
Mentally, he cursed himself for his stuttering.
She giggled again. "It's fine. Yeah, I'm new here. And thank you!"
She shoved her hand out to shake, and Ash took it. He ignored the awkward feeling in his chest and stepped back.
He rubbed the back of his head. "Well, uh, if you ever need anything, then I'm here."
May smiled. "Why, thanks, Mister..." Her eyes squinted as she tried to remember if she caught his name.
"Ash," he answered. "My name is Ash."
"Thanks," she said again while walking off the front porch. "I'll see you later. Ash."
She gave a little wave, and was off. Ash waved back awkwardly before shutting the front door behind him.
He stared at the back of the door mere inches from his nose. So many things were running through his mind he had no idea how to deal with.
He turned slowly to see Pikachu staring at him with a look of concern.
"No, Pikachu," Ash said, hands waving. "I'm not sick."
Still, Ash put his hand to his forehead. No temperature. "What?"
The mouse cocked his head, curious. As if sighing, the mouse made a little sound and bounded towards the couch. Sitting on it like a human would, the mouse patted the spot next to him.
Ignoring the slightly familiar alien feeling, Ash laughed. "Sure bud. I'll pet you."
Deciding to skip supper, sleep came like a thief in the night for Ash. His thought-laden head was glad to have a place to rest in the darkened room filled with the paper balls that almost objectified themselves as failures.
Still, it didn't allow him to sleep anywhere past nine in the morning.
Groaning, Ash awoke and grimly detached himself from the bed. A short walk downstairs reminded him of his lack of food.
Groaning more prominently this time, the man grudgingly put on his blue jacket and hat and slammed his front door behind him, awaking Pikachu.
The morning was cold. The sun had been up for about thirty minutes, and the grass was gleaming with dew. Any normal person would graciously bask in the picture.
Ash just pushed on through. It was a shame, he may have found inspiration from that. Nope.
Eyes downward a few feet in front of his shoes, Ash slowly made his way off of his driveway and onto one of the many sidewalks that populated Pallet.
He eyed the sidewalk, indifferent to the many cracks that painted them. It wasn't that he was being melodramatic; quite the opposite. For some reason he was really happy.
But it was the simple fact that he was a young man who was woken up too early for himself.
Again, he groaned.
The cold air was enough to wake him up completely, though.
On his way to the store halfway across town, the road he walked along stretched along another open field that dipped down in a hill that had a distinct treeline about two miles away. At the bottom of the hill, it was flat for about a mile. It was a common spot to see kids playing sports or racing.
"Maybe I should try to get that spark again." Ash thought aloud to himself as he stopped.
As he reached down for his pencil, he noticed something else down in that field. With a second look, Ash learned it was someone. They appeared to be kneeling in the direction of the treeline.
Curious, Ash yelled at the person. "Hey! What are you doing?"
They didn't seem to hear. Ash sighed. He turned to leave, but his intrigue as to why someone would be kneeling in an open field kept him standing there.
Eventually, the man's internal fighting ended and he hopped over the fence.
"What are you doing?" He thought aloud, as if the person down there could actually hear him.
He kept his eyes on the person, who now stood up and moved to a different spot, only to kneel down again.
"What?–" Ash asked himself quietly. Suddenly, his foot found no dry ground under him and he was sliding down the wet hill on the seat of his jeans.
"–!" He made a little yelp, not very loud, but enough of a cry if surprise to scatter the Pidgey around him.
He slid down the rockless hill until the steel ground underneath him leveled out.
"Ouch..." He rubbed his head as he stood up. He looked around, not finding any of the field familiar.
His eyes caught the figure in the field. It was May, wearing a red vest, a white long sleeved undershirt, jeans, a red beanie, and boots. She kneeled down again, producing a camera from her hands and shooting a few pictures of the pokémon from the forest that had come out into the field.
Ash heard a few of the pidgeys coo overhead. May turned to take a picture of them, but found Ash instead.
Startled, she put her hand to her chest and backpedaled a step. Ash was caught in the way her hair flipped.
"Oh... my gosh. Hello Ash. I didn't see you there, you startled me!" She said, voice broken, obviously having her feathers ruffled.
Ash put his hands up in embarrassment. "I'm sorry, really, I am. I was just wondering what you were doing."
"Oh." May turned back to the forest. "I'm just taking a few pictures of the pokémon for the newspaper. I moved in from Hoenn because I accepted a job here as the new photographer here."
Ash nodded, taking in the information. "Why would a newspaper need pictures of pokémon?"
She waved a hand dismissedly. "Some article."
"Oh. Got any good pictures there? We've got some pretty different pokémon here in Kanto." Ash gestured to her camera.
She laughed, nodding profusely. "Yep, sure do. Anyway, what are you doing? You look like you just slid down that hill there."
Sheepishly, Ash put his hand behind his head. "Well, I may have lost my footing... but I was just going to the market to get some food when I noticed you down here. I called out to you, but I guess you didn't hear."
"Oh. That's nice." May said before losing focus and taking a picture of a Pidgey that landed a few feet behind Ash.
"Um, so..." Ash rubbed his nose. "I guess I'll see you later then...?"
May stood back up, unaware of her lapse in focus. "Oh! Yeah, definitely. Some other time." She put her hand up in a little wave. "It was nice talking to you!"
Ash grinned sheepishly. "Thanks. Yeah. See ya."
He waved, turning to leave, before stumbling over a rock and looking over his shoulder to make sure she didn't see. Seeing she didn't, he embarrassedly made his way back up the hill to do the now-boring job of getting the groceries.
"So that's what happened, Gary." Ash explained to his friend Gary, who Ash had been talking to for ten minutes about what happened.
He could hear Gary laugh on the other end. "Seems like you need to watch your step when ogling girls, Ash."
"Shut up." Ash said flatly.
"No, no, really. She seems like a nice girl... you should get to know her."
Ash groaned. "Really Gary? The last girl you set me on happened to be a Parisian model who promptly slapped me in the face."
Gary tried to contain his laughter. "How was I supposed to know Serena was that famous? ... And overly protective of her privacy bubble?"
Ash glared at the wall as if it was Gary. "Really."
Gary seemed to feel the eyes, because he kept the conversation moving. "Okay, okay. Sorry. But really. If I were you, I would get to know her. Hey, if she's single..."
Facepalming, Ash blew air into the receiver.
"Hey!" Gary yelped. "Your last girlfriend was in college. That's a while ago Ash."
Ash groaned again. "Not really, Gary... you know what? I'm done talking to you."
"All right then. Call me later if you start to consider it." Then the friend him up.
As the call ended, Ash looked back on the encounters he'd had with Miss Maple already, and began to actually consider it.
After staring at the wall for another thirty seconds, his heart beat out his logic as he furiously typed Gary's number back.
"I knew you'd call back!" Gary yelled through the line. It was like he just stayed by the phone. The more Ash thought about it, he probably did.
"Yeah, yeah." Ash answered, annoyed. "Just tell me what to do now."
Ash could hear Gary's knuckles crack on the other end of the line. "I thought you'd never ask. But I, Gary Freaking Oak, will tell you how to become friends with this girl! Then you will become close enough to ask if she's single, and then, if she is, you've got yourself a girlfriend Ashy-boy!"
Ash groaned. This was going to be a long night.