Election Week

Uh, yes. It has been a while. The semester kicked my butt, but I'm back and with about nine or ten chapters left, this story will be completed sooner than later. Believe it and enjoy this chapter, which will get me back into the story.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon, a creation of one Satoshi Tajiri, and is produced domestically (in the United States) by Pokemon USA/The Pokemon Company, and internationally by Shogakukan and OLM. I personally own nothing and make nothing by writing this. Please do not flame.

(Chapter 21- Clips Don't Lie)

"Who am I?" That is the question posed to Brock sitting in a chair just in front of the television in the den of the beach house. Reggie and Zoey, both masters of entertainment and leisure have come up with a home game, which is essentially a spin off of the popular game 'Who am I' melded with elements of '20 Questions' and 'Musical Chairs' in a round robin format. As the pair sits at a table with a stack of bills amounting to a few hundred dollars in between them, they moderate the game this Thursday morning. Joining Brock in chairs from left to right is Brianna, Richie and Jack Walker. Drew, Grace, Katie, and Sandra have already been eliminated from the game and are sitting down waiting to find out the winner.

"I am very outgoing." As obscure a hint that is that Reggie gave Brock, it wouldn't benefit him to even consider a guess as an incorrect one means that he's out of the game.

"Pass," Brock says a split second after hearing the hint. Despite this, he keeps the hint in his head for later and awaits the next hint given to Brianna by Reggie.

"My world is the ultimate reality show."

'Hell, given all of those out there, that could be anyone,' Brianna quips silently. "I'll pass."

"Richie," Zoey opens, informing him to pay attention to the next clue, "Most people know that where I live, it's cold up there."

"Okay, that might lead somewhere," Richie gathers. "This person could live in either Russia or Canada."

"Stop deliberating out loud," Reggie warns Richie. "You know how dumb that is? You could be tipping off the other players."

"Sorry, I…I just don't want to be eliminated for a wrong guess, so I'll pass."

"Jack…I put Richard Hatch and all those after him to shame."

'Okay, definitely Survivor related,' he concludes in a more intelligent manner than his predecessor, 'but how?' Jack gives it a bit more thought and then remembers a program that the other rangers watched during a down day that fit the hints and descriptions of this round quite well.

"Oh, wait! I think I know it!"

"Fifteen seconds, J.W." Reggie gives him this heads up so that he does not get the chance to rest on this supposed knowledge for long. Anything of the sort would warrant that, but no matter what, each contestant in this game has thirty seconds to come up with an answer.

"Uh," he says, biding time and hoping that he can get this and move a step closer to winning the beach house pool. "I'm gonna say…you are Les Stroud?"

"You would be," Zoey responds, "absolutely correct! Les Stroud, from Canada, hosts the series Survivorman on Discovery Networks where he lives off of few provisions and supplies in remote parts of the world one week at a time all by himself. With that you stay in the game and remain in the running for that money."

"All right, the next clue goes to Jack," Reggie says, restarting the process once more. "Who am I? I am the procrastination station of this century."

"WPOV news time, 8:38," says the radio anchorwoman on the news station. Using Kelly's laptop to check up on the latest news, she gets an online stream of a radio station to kill multiple birds with one stone. The anchorwoman continues, "it's time to get those weather reports for Porta Vista and all points east from our meteorologist Allen Raile, and we expect sauna-like conditions all day, say it ain't so, Allen!"

"I wish I could, Kirsten, but this day was meant for staying inside if there ever was such a day. A heat advisory is in effect until six o'clock tonight. Temperatures will rise to near triple digits with the humidity at a staggering eighty-five percent. The youth and the elderly are advised to not go outside on this day. All are encouraged to drink plenty of fluids, apply sunscreen frequently and stay cool out there as the sun is expected to blaze the Porta Vista beach sand all day long…" May can't stand to hear anymore about this heat wave for fear that she might actually believe the hype and call off the date for later in the evening as a common sense measure. She turns the radio station on the computer off.

Despite inert fears, May holds to her principles and decides to take all necessary precautions and make sure that Ash does the same when they leave for their destinations at noon today by getting sun block and other essentials before the end of this morning. Considering that she and Ash will not be alone for this date, Solana and Max just got a text message from their sister about protecting themselves during the day so they can watch out for any and all of the Pallet Town trainer's activities this Thursday.

Ash's itinerary incorporates more of the competitions and team activities that are prevalent on the beach. Time is allotted for speed sandcastle and sand sculpture building contests, mixed beach volleyball and soccer, among other more active things to do today. Having looked at two of her e-mail accounts and updated her weblogs for the day, she was about to exit out of the browser and send the laptop back over to Kelly, she hears a chime coming from the machine, meaning that one of her accounts has gotten one additional e-mail while online.

The e-mail tells her about a big concern that the sender has about a certain video concerning her and her brother, Max, on YouTube. While she does know that these e-mails can be lethal to a computer system, she sees that the link appears to be legitimate and decides to click it and see just what the big deal is. The title of the video with the words Professor Oak on there confuse May for a moment, as she wonders what problem the good professor would have with her and Max. She doesn't have to wait long for the flash player to load as it is audio but it can be heard clear as day. The voice on the other end can only belong to Pallet Town's own and from this point forward, May Maple is an attentive audience to the words being spoken.

Checking the mirror for the twentieth, maybe even the thirtieth time that day lends Ash the same look as it did the first time he did it at about a quarter after eight that morning. Whereas Kelly used the card of having May's family essentially endorse her, despite her denial of such an allegation, Ash is confident that he can impress this afternoon and evening, and the first step to doing just that lies in his dress.

Ash, for this date, was told, like Kelly, that the affair would be a casual one, unlike what's being planned for tomorrow evening at one of the beach destination's four-star restaurants. Taking full advantage of the casual day out, Ash gives May yet another reminder of the fun they once had as young kids when they were in their early training and coordinating days.

Currently on his person, aside from the slight dab or so of cologne and cocoa butter for his skin, is an outfit similar to the one worn during his days going through the Hoenn region and Kanto's Battle Frontier. The only exceptions to this being that he's wearing shorts in preparation for a very hot and hazy day, he has no hood with his blue shirt, and the hat he's wearing that has the top half of a Poké Ball as an emblem is yellow otherwise, looking at him one would probably get flashbacks of a time almost a decade ago. Turning around not once but twice in the bathroom, he wants to get a good look at himself from all sides, and to be quite frank, he loves what he sees.

"This is sure to leave a good impression in her mind," Ash believes. Finally exiting out of the bathroom, he's fortunate that no one else was waiting in a line to go inside and equally fortunate that there are other restrooms throughout the beach house. "If nothing else, the day that we've planned can do that as well. I want this to be fun for you, May," he admits while making the trek to his room so he can get his cell phone, mp3 player and wallet for this afternoon.

When he gets the items he wants from out of his shared room for the week along with a backpack to carry other essentials, he makes his way to the kitchen. Before going there, he comes across most of the houseguests in the den. He knew that Reggie and Zoey were holding one of their many party games for money, but decided against participating in order to prepare himself for his date. He notes that Kelly is not amongst the group, but also sees that they aren't really doing much playing. That's his feeling as he goes into the refrigerator to pour out a glass of orange juice.

Once he drinks it and puts the glass into the sink, he heads back into the den to see May amongst everyone else in the room, including Solana, Max and Kelly, who he didn't remember seeing the first time he came through. Everyone is looking at Ash right now and he gets the feeling as if he's being put under a microscope and being examined. "Guys…what-what's going on?"

"Ash," May begins, as many in the room feel is only appropriate, "I think it's only appropriate that you know that I've just heard something from Professor Oak from a radio show he just did." She says this while a laptop, Kelly's laptop, is on the table of the den. "One thing he kept talking about was how my family was crazy for allowing us to date who we want, as if it's his business what we do with our private lives."

"Whoa, wait a minute. Professor Oak said…what?"

"Along with that, he thinks that he can just trample on my brother's marriage and think like he's some kind of Nostradamus predicting how his situation will end."

"In all fairness, Ash," Max interjects, "I've got nothing against Professor Oak. He said what he said, but I just need to know do you agree with him at all?"

"What? Hell, no!" he answers. "I don't agree with whatever he said whenever he said it in the least bit! You know I was one of the first ones who supported you getting together with Solana, Max."

"Okay, then I have another question, and I think everyone else here in the house has one as well," Solana opens. "How do you explain the fact that Professor Oak actually says in the clip here that you'd never involve yourself in such drama or people who allow it to happen?"

"Allow—he actually spoke for…" Ash inquires; not believing that a man he's trusted for several years would say these things and not even consult him once when he brought up his name. "The nerve of that…I don't believe in any of that crap! Who'd send something like that?"

"What difference does it make, Ash?"

"Well, Kelly probably thought that it would drive some sort of wedge in between us and make you not want to choose me because of it."

Before Kelly can even open her mouth in protest, May, of all people, comes to her defense, saying, "It can't be, because that wasn't Kelly's e-mail."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, because I traced the account to a profile that didn't match Kelly's stats from some of her other online profiles like MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. The only common bond being that this person listed her hometown as Lilycove City."

Though he didn't really want to think of Kelly actually stooping as low as planting a bomb into May's e-mail account as a means of foiling his shot as love this week, May has essentially closed that door and left Ash with fewer options on how to combat this onslaught of criticism from his peers. "I wanna hear this myself! Is it on there right now?"

"Yes, go ahead and listen for yourself," May replies. "It's about six minutes in all." So Ash goes over to the computer and presses play on the box getting a look at the face of his mentor before the host of this show asks a question concerning his personal life. This is apparently where the discussion evolved into the Maples dating and relationship rules and how Delia Ketchum, the mother of one of his protégées, would be more considerate of her boy's involvements with others and as such, would not continue a relationship for so long only to break it up suddenly with no explanation or find the love of his life when he's still quite immature. All of these points are further clarified when the radio host gives him more than one time to reconsider or recant these remarks to no apparent avail in the week-old broadcast.

"I don't believe this. I can't believe he'd go that way," Ash says, very downtrodden. "I don't agree with him, May. I don't, and I don't know how that came out, but in a way, I'm glad it did. You just have to take my word here on this and know that I don't approve at all of what he said. Your love life is your business and your parents did a great job."

May nods her head. She isn't mad, or doesn't appear to be from Ash's perspective. She just seems to take hearing everything in stride by not jumping to any sort of conclusion and hearing as many sides to the equation as she can. "I can only take you on your word right now."

"Do you believe me when I say I don't agree with him, May?"

"I do," answers, not May, but Solana and Max in unison. "If he were not telling the truth, then I don't get why he'd come to our wedding and give us that wonderful tribute and toast," Max adds.

"Thank you, you two."

"Make it three, Ash," May counters. "They convinced me with that evidence that you wouldn't come out with this."

"Thank you, May," Ash says, feeling vilified by the fact that the most important people in this equation are on his side, for what it's worth. "Is that it until we have our date this afternoon?"

"Yeah," she answers. "Thanks for clearing this up," and after standing up, she addresses the rest of the room telling everyone, "and thank you all for being here so this could be out and in the open. Kelly had nothing to do with this and if I can trust Ash, which I do, he didn't, either, so until I can speak to Professor Oak, then there's really nothing to this." Walking towards the stairs she says that she'll see him at noon time and is looking forward to what he's got planned. Ash thanks May once more before telling the rest of the room that he has to make a private phone call, heading up the stairs following after his date to be.

After this, there is not much left for the other houseguests in the living room, so they disperse out of the house and up to their rooms to leave the house. Brock ended up winning the game and earning almost four hundred dollars in the process by matching the clue 'the art of bending' to soccer star David Beckham. With the money, he promised the house something good to drink for the remainder of the week, which received no arguments from the other guests.

The back and forth bickering that has taken place over the past several days would drive a teetotaler to take to the bottle, but given that the week is soon to come to a close along with the rift between Kelly and Ash and the formal night out on May coming Friday night, things are looking up for the many people that have come for vacation and found much more in a love triangle of unique proportions.

A/N: Reports of my death made no difference. I updated between now and December, never forgot this, though! Hope you didn't, either! Stay tuned for more within the week!