Chapter 3: Wake Up and Battle Already!

[Roark's POV

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you can't tell if it's real or... well, a dream? Waking up from dreams like that had always annoyed me, especially when the cause of my awakening (man, that sounds like something out of some cheesy fantasy... thing.) was the annoying weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh sound of my alarm ringing at 6:15 in the morning.

But for some reason, I couldn't remember hearing that earsplitting noise when I drifted into my usual, half-asleep morning daze. I quickly dismissed it as one of those 'Whatever, couldn't care less' situations, because I sometimes turn the thing off in my sleep. As I sat up and began to fumble around for my glasses, I caught a glance at that infernal clock.

Hm... 8:30...

8:31...

Cue clever visual metaphor used to personify the concept of someone being hit with the realization that they should have been up over two hours ago. (If you didn't understand that, just imagine a giant boulder with the word "REALIZATION" chiseled into it being dropped on my head.)

Within half a second of my mind screaming "YOU'RE DEFINATLY NOT DREAMING, YOU DOLT." at me, my simple little 'fumble around for my glasses' action turned into a spastic 'SHITSHITSHIT WHERE ARE THEY' flail-type thing as I lost my balance and plunged head first onto the floor. The funny thing is, they fell off the little table next to my bed and onto my head about three seconds after my face smashed into whatever it was that just happened to be in that exact spot on the floor (oh, the irony.).

After about a minute of just laying there, face down on what I later found out was my pair if steel-toed boots (painful...) and cursing my usually nonexistent clumsiness, I sat up and slid my glasses onto my face. Then after another minute of just sitting there wondering what fate had in store for me if my day was already going this bad, I noticed something odd.

The distinct scent of breakfast-type foods was present in the air.

Now, that normally doesn't happen unless I'm actually in my kitchen making said foodstuffs. So, needless to say, that raised a red flag in my head and I proceeded to quickly throw on some regular clothes and rush through my doorway.

I remembered 'Oh yeah, Ashura's here' when I saw her standing in front of my stove, cooking what smelled like scrambled eggs.

"Mornin'." She said, turning around and smiling. "I made you breakfast." She used the spatula in her hand to point to a plate on the table containing typical breakfast food. You know, scrambled eggs, toast, and the like.

"No offense, Ashura..." I said, laughing slightly as I sat down. "But last I checked, your cooking was borderline radioactive."

"I was ten the last time you sampled my cooking." She replied. "Just eat it." Her voice had a kind of stern-but-still-somewhat-polite tone as she fixed herself a plate and sat down across from me. I kinda just looked at the food for a second, until she gave me one of those looks that says either 'Eat it or die' or 'Try it... I don't think it'll be that bad'. Once I saw her begin eating, I decided I had nothing to lose (except maybe the proper function of some of my organs) and did so as well. After I took a few bites, she looked at me with the most eager look I had ever seen.

"Well?" she asked, her words oozing the distinct 'please tell me it doesn't taste like crap' tone.

I swallowed, then let out one of those content sighs. "...Marry me."

She gave me one of those horrified, 'What the hell?!' looks and just stared at me for a few seconds after that.

"You can cook." I clarified. "That's one of the best qualities for a girl to have in my opinion."

For a good minute we just stared at each other, caught in the awkwardest (I don't care if that's not a word...) of silences, until we both just kind of exploded into a fit of hysterical laughter.

"You should have seen the look on your face!" I said in between gasps for air. "Priceless!"

"Well excuse me, princess! Had you not had such a serious look on your face, I wouldn't have believed you!" she replied, as she also tried to breathe properly.

After that little laugh fest, we proceeded across the city toward my Gym, and after about 15 minutes walked through its automatic sliding doors (god, I never tired of those when I was a kid. Something about them just fascinated me...). I said hi to Ian, my referee, and caught the slightest hint of a grin as he greeted me back.

"Couldn't get enough of that beauty sleep of yours, could you, Roark?" he asked half-jokingly. I laughed a bit as I began to explain why I was late (my alarm not going off for one, and I didn't get much sleep to begin with...). I stopped though, because I noticed him looking around me and at Ashura, who just waved shyly at him with one of those 'I have no idea who you are, please stop looking at me' looks on her face.

"Oh, right. Ian, this is-" I began, before he cut me off with one of those laughs people do when they realize something that only they would find humorous.

"So, you finally scored, huh?" he asked, grinning as he calmed himself. I instantly felt my face heat up and turn a color similar to that of a tomato, and I could tell by the squeaky gasp-type noise she made that Ashura's did the same.

"No! That's not... I, uh... No!" I protested, fumbling for words that just didn't want to come out. I looked at Ashura (whose face was getting redder by the second), then at Ian, then back at Ashura for a decent amount of time, until my brain finally decided to function properly and allow me to speak in complete sentences.

"Ashura's just here for a Gym battle..." I said. He opened his mouth to say something (most likely a smart-ass comment that I really wasn't in the mood to hear), but I cut him off. "Just... Come do your job." That provoked a silent nod out of him, and the three of us proceeded to our spots at the arena.

"This will be an official Oreburgh City Gym battle between Roark, the Leader, and Ashura, the challenger." Ian began, the way he always does (and has to) before all my battles. "The battle will end when all three of either trainer's Pokemon are unable to battle. In addition, only the challenger may substitute Pokemon."

"Ready, Ashura?" I called as Ian finished his statement.

"I-I guess..." she replied, and I could tell just by the tone of her voice that she had never been in a serious battle before.

"Begin!" Ian shouted.