Short chapter after a long wait. Nobody likes to see this, including myself. I have a bit of an explanation. First off, school is starting back up. I'll be relatively inactive. Second, I've re-found two shows I really like. I rediscovered F•R•I•E•N•D•S, which took a while because Netflix is awesome. Then, a little show called Gravity Falls came walking back into my life. So that too.


Once again the unwelcome droning noise of Ash's alarm rudely awoke him in the morning. The man almost yelled at the incessant noise, stuffing pillows by his head to act as mufflers for the sound.

Needless to say, the tactic didn't work.

After dragging himself out of bed and sluggishly making his way to the kitchen, Ash found himself with a fully stocked fridge. He inwardly thanked his past self for having the insight, even after the incident in the field, to actually do what he set out to do and buy a fridge's worth of food.

Grabbing a gallon of milk and a few random fruits, Ash headed towards the table.

The breakfast routine for Ash generally consisted of a fruit, a large bowl of cereal, and at least a quart of milk for the whole thing. Sometimes, if he was feeling fancy, he'd add in orange juice.

So, as he gathered all these fruits, he realized with a twang of sadness he'd have to pick one. It was like picking a favorite child; nearly impossible.

He considered the apple, then the orange, and finally the pomegranate. He eliminated the pomegranate just because he wondered how he even got it. He didn't like pomegranates.

Next it was the apple versus the orange. After settling on the apple, Ash poured himself some breakfast.

He sat down quietly, munching on the wheat cereal. Pikachu walked into the room, drowsy and incredibly tired. Ash couldn't help but smirk at his companion, who seemed to mimic him a lot.

He checked the digital clock on the oven. It was nine in the morning. His date was at noon.

His date.

The two words seemed foreign. He'd known May for just a day or so. The events of the past night ran through his mind like a movie, perfectly displaying every detail over and over again.

"My date's today; Pikachu." He found himself saying. Outwardly, it wasn't even a date. He tried not to get his hopes up. The last date he had crashed and burned– and was now married to Tracy Sketchit.

But inwardly, he couldn't help but be excited. It had been years since his last date, and that was back when he was writing books like he had something to say.

Something to say...

He reached his spoon down for another bite of cereal and realized there was none left. Soundlessly, he made his way to the sink and washed out his bowl. Setting the empty item on the counter for the washer later, he rushed upstairs to his writing room to try and write some more. Such had been the routine for days.

He sat down at his desk and turned on the light. Grabbing a pencil and a sheet of paper, he began to think. Quickly he scrabbled down a title.

"Something to Say," Ash spoke aloud as he wrote. It sounded like the perfect name for a title. He smiled as thoughts of different plots and characters flowed through his head.

He hovered his pencil above the paper. "Who's the main character?"

He thought for a little bit. Should they be a guy? A girl? Maybe a creature, like a Pokémon?

His pencil flowed along the paper, his thoughts moving from his mind to the paper.

"April... Pines..." Ash thought aloud. "Yes. That's it!"

Without knowing it, Ash had subconsciously named his main character after May. He began to write more about the character.

"...a beautiful young brunette, with a perky attitude and soft side..." He wrote.

The woman he was picturing wasn't April Pines, though.

Suddenly, the pencil stopped moving. One whole sentence had been written.

Ash looked down and groaned in disappointment and anger. He reached down to crumple it up, but was interrupted by a sound.

He reached for his phone, noticing the noise was the familiar marimba he'd set as his ringtone, and looked at the caller ID.

"Dawn." He read aloud. He sighed before answering. Talks with Dawn could last hours if she was the one calling.

"Hey, Ash!" Dawn greeted from the other side of the phone, chipper as always.

"Good... morning?" Ash answered, checking his watch to make sure it was still morning. His little writing escapade had only lasted twenty minutes.

Dawn giggled on the other side. "I'm guessing you just woke up. You're such an idiot."

"Hey..."

"That's not why I called." Dawn pointed out firmly, ending any form of fighting that would have happened. "I called because I wanted to tell you that I'll be in Pallet real soon and I wondered if I could stay over."

Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Sure, Dawn. The guest room is open, as it always is."

Dawn giggled again on the other side. "You really need a girlfriend, Ash."

Ash facepalmed. "Ugh. I'll, have you know, I got myself a date today."

His voice wavered, as if he wasn't sure he should call it a date. Dawn caught onto him, though.

"Oh, really?" She asked sarcastically.

Ash groaned. "Why are you even in town, anyway?"

She took a second, Ash guessed to flip her hair or check her nails or something stereotypically girly. "It's for a college class. We're studying the wildlife there."

"Okay." Ash nodded, still confused at why she needed to travel to Kanto just to study its wildlife. Instead of questioning, however, he decided to just end the conversation there rather than give Dawn a reason to talk for hours and execute him with his phone bill.

"Yeah, well, I'll see ya then Dawn." Ash hurried, finger covering the end call button.

"Wait, Ash–" her voice sounded urgent. Some tone in there made him halt.

"You've got thirty seconds." He said darkly. "Use it wisely. I don't want to talk for hours this time."

She sighed on the other end of the phone. "Actually, no. I'll tell you when I get there. You wouldn't understand now."

And then she hung up.

Ash stood in place for a few seconds, pondering what she might have wanted to say. Slowly, he set the phone down and returned to the page. That didn't last long either.

Instead, he turned to his closet, open with multiple articles of clothing strewn everywhere like a couple linoones made nests in there. Ash groaned, carefully wedging himself inside to try and find something to wear.


Lunch soon arrived, and the young man found himself sweating in droves. Armored with only a blue tee shirt, jeans, his worn out shoes, and the hat he never took off, Ash felt fairly casual.

And dumb.

He made his way to her doorway, knocking once, then twice. There was no reply.

He tried again. Three knocks this time.

Still no reply.

"I got stood up." He thought aloud, frowning as he took a step back from his friend's former house.

Just as he turned to walk away, the door opened. "Oh, Ash! Sorry sorry sorry! I wasn't ready, I needed to do my hair, and–"

"You didn't need to do that..." Ash said as he turned around and noticed the woman.

He could see why she needed to do her hair. It cascaded down her back in a way that seemed too much like an ocean to be anywhere near hair. She looked very nice.

"So you wanna come on in?" She asked quietly after the long silence.

Ash nodded hurriedly.

Don't mess this up, Ashy-boy.