Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or anything related to it.

A/N: I posted this fic in the wrong place because I didn't know that Pokemon was categorized here, but since I found it, I'm going to post it here now ) Hope you like it! And please R&R!

Chapter 1

It was a perfect day. The sky was cloudless, the sun was warm, and the breeze was just cool enough to make the day look promising. Ash, May, Brock and Pikachu had just woken up and were headed toward Lilycove City. May insisted on going shopping and to go see the pokemon contests. Of course, she was the first one to get up and started to wake up everyone. First up was Ash who was still asleep with Pikachu in his sleeping bag.

"May…wha…what are you doing up so early?" asked Ash as he yawned.

"Well get up silly! Don't you know that we have to get to Lilycove as soon as possible? I've waited all my life to go there! All of the shops, and sites to see!"

She sighed looking up at the sky dreamily, and then she looked back at Ash.

"We're only a couple days of hiking away and the more daytime we get, the faster we'll get there!" said May excitedly.

"Well, I don't see why I can't just sleep for…for…"

And with that Ash was sleeping again. May sighed and looked at Pikachu expectantly. He would sometimes wake Ash up with a jolt of a thunder shock but today Pikachu just yawned and crawled back into Ash's sleeping bag. That was it for May. She sighed and stomped over to the stream that was flowing near their campsite. She took a jar and filled it with the icy cold water that was in the stream and stomped right back to find a snoring Ash. She smirked and poured the water on his head.

"AHHHH! MAY!" Ash became more awake than he had ever been and then he looked at himself and his wet shirt. He started fussing over himself and went to get a towel so he could dry off.

May chuckled at Ash's defeat and called after him, "Now you don't have to take a shower, so that means… we'll get there even faster!"

She chuckled again, but that was cut short when she looked at Pikachu. He was looking at her as if she had just hurt Ash.

"Pikachu don't give me that look…I just did it so he would wake up…"

Her smirk turned into a frown because she never got that kind of a look from Pikachu before. But that suddenly went to the back of her mind as Ash came back. He headed toward his sleeping bag to clear his things up and Pikachu jumped up on his shoulder.

"May, that wasn't a nice way to wake me up…next time could you possibly think about someone besides yourself? Just a little? I know you want to go to Lilycove, but we also need our sleep if we ever want to get there."

He looked at her and gave her something that seemed like a smile, but it really wasn't.

"We should go eat; I already smell Brock's cooking from here. Let's go."

May smiled and gave a little chuckle as her stomach grumbled. They walked to see Brock enjoying himself at his portable stove. He was smiling, as always, cooking in his apron.

"Hey guys! For today we will be serving Brock's famous oatmeal. Yes, my famous oatmeal. Nothing beats it, so eat up!"

"Brock, if your oatmeal is so famous what makes it different than everyone else's?" asked May curiously.

"Well that's an easy one," said Ash, "its different and special because he labeled it as his! It's Brock's oatmeal; it's not just ordinary oatmeal. Yup, you are eating Brock's oatmeal, it's very rare and uncommon and that is why it's famous!" replied Ash with laughter.

Ash and May started to laugh and soon enough Brock had had enough.

"Oh, well…you just try it! See then what you think! Hmph…"

He folded his arms and waited for them to try his delicious breakfast. They stopped laughing and tried Brock's oatmeal. It turned out to be pretty good; but of course it was; it was Brock's cooking.

"Brock, this is so delicious!" said May.

"HA! I knew it! No one can deny that it should be famous, right Ash?" Brock smirked and looked to Ash for a comeback.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's great…now can we go?"

Ash got up and went back to get his things. May and Brock looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces. They both thought that something was up with Ash, and it came so suddenly that they didn't know what it was. May had gotten up too and started to run after Ash. Brock shrugged his shoulders and said to himself, "Oh, so they love my cooking but they don't care to finish it…hmph…"

Pikachu was still there but Brock hadn't noticed.

"Pika!"

"OH, Pikachu, you startled me! … Ok, ok, I'll clean up and go after those two."

Pikachu smiled and started to dash off somewhere.

"Ash…Ash, are you okay?" asked May with a worried tone in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He was almost done packing his stuff. He found his hat and put it on. "You should get your stuff if you want to get going."

"Ash…umm…was it something I said?"

He looked at her and his eyes widen a bit, but as quickly as he did that, they became normal and he said, "No, no it's nothing. I just want to get going, that's all." He left her just standing there with the most confused look on her face. Didn't he just say that they should rest before going? She shook her head and started to pack.

It was sometime before the group had actually left the campsite because Ash was looking everywhere for Pikachu. That's at least what he had said to May and Brock. When Ash got back to Brock, he saw that Brock had gotten everything ready to go.

"Good. You got everything ready. We should go soon."

Ash tried to smile and then he just sighed. He looked away at had a dazed looked on his face, as if he was thinking about something totally different. At that point Brock asked him, "Ash, is everything alright with you? You got so sad and defensive all of a sudden."

"NO! EVERYTHING IS FINE! WHY DO GUYS KEEP ASKING ME THAT?" Ash yelled back at Brock. He was taken aback by Ash's response. Ash had never been like this before. Ash realized that too and said, "Sorry Brock. I don't know what's wrong with me. Maybe when we get to a new city I'll feel better." Brock's expression returned back to normal and he smiled at Ash.

"I'm sure it will be. Oh! Hey Ash!"

"Yeah Brock?"

"Pikachu ran off somewhere a while ago, you should go get him."

"Thanks. We'll be back soon. Oh, and since your done with your things, can you help May get ready to go? She has so much stuff…" Ash sighed and started to head deeper into the forest. A few minutes hadn't even passed by before he had found his friend. Pikachu ran up to Ash and jumped into his arms.

"Pika Pika!"

Ash smiled and sat down on a tree stump. He looked up at the cloudless sky and lost himself in his thoughts. Before he knew it twenty minutes had passed by and he jumped up. The two ran back to the campsite thinking that May and Brock would have gone looking for them and that would delay their journey even longer. When Ash and Pikachu got back to the campsite it was empty, except for Brock and May, who were trying tirelessly to get all of May's stuff into one bag. Ash put his hand on a tree and started to catch his breath so that he could talk.

"Guys, are you still working? Didn't you realize how long I was gone?"

Brock and May had looked at him and then back at the bag. They gave one final effort and the bag zipped close. Now it was their turn to catch their breath. Brock looked at him and said, "No, I guess we didn't. But since your back and we've got everything closed up, we should start getting a move on!"

For the first time since breakfast, Ash smiled and sighed with relief, "Good! Good. Let's go then."