A/N: Yeah, I can understand why Imaginationshipping is pretty rare. In fact, it's the rarest I believe. There's only three romance fanfictions with Ash and Bianca period on this site. There's maybe that or even less on AO3. But I'd like to see how I can make the forth Imaginationshipping story here really good when I get to 'Ash B&W'.
"So Barry, what do you think?" Ash asked his rival, Barry, whom he was walking with through Jubilife City. By the time Barry heard Ash had returned, he had earned his seventh badge, though gladly stopped his speeding rerun so that he could hang with his best rival friend.
"Eh, I don't know. You got her jewelry from the fanciest store in Sinnoh, got her a starter Pokémon from the Hoenn region, and every day is like a date considering we're rich as heck. Honestly, I think you've done all you can do romance wise, good buddy." Barry shrugged his shoulders and sighed. "Why not go for the classic flowers and chocolates? At this point the only perfect gift left to give her is a diamond ring and we know none of us are old enough for that." Ash looked uncomfortable at doing something considered a typical move for his girlfriend.
"...Maybe. But, Dawn is so amazing and special to me. She's-"
"-Kind, cheerful, beautiful, I get it Ash!" Barry cut him off with an annoyed face. "You say basically that every time we hang out! I think she's amazing too but you don't have to bring it up every time we hang out! I mean, when even was the last time we had a bro day?! I'm not saying it has to be now but I miss hanging out with my rival! Hey, I know!" He gasped at a sudden thought. "Let's have a battle!"
"Yeah?" Ash asked, his spirits lifting instantly from hearing that.
"Well duh! I hope you haven't been slacking off in Hoenn, cause going through the gauntlet again made my team super strong!" Barry excitedly challenged while getting into Ash's space. The level headed black haired trainer leaned forward, their foreheads pushing strongly against each other both smiling.
"It's not like I've been laying in the sun all day! You want a battle, you got one!" Pushing as hard as they could with their heads with ferocious eyes and playfully bloodthirsty grins, it was a stalemate as they grunted from the effort until Barry ran off, leaving the stumbling Ash in the dust.
"Meet me on the field!"
"Hey!" Ash called out as he ran after Barry.
Falling to the ground, Floatzel and Infernape were on the ground, fainted. A random referee announced,
"Both Floatzel and Infernape are unable to battle. It is a tie!" The audience surrounding the two boys went into an uproar from such an epic battle. Returning their Pokémon, the two rivals returned their members, walked up to each other, and shook hands.
"Well, glad to see my rival is in no way weaker than I remember." Barry complimented.
"And I could definitely tell your Pokémon were stronger. I haven't been pushed into such a corner since..." Remembering Cyrus, Ash shook his head to forget him and rebounded with, "...uh, no. Not that time. It was like our last fight but more intense. Impressive Muncher turned into a Snorlax." Barry chuckled but also sweated.
"Yeah... but food bills are crazy. Good thing I'm rich but he's slowly yet steadily eating through my dollars. You'd be surprised what almost 900 lbs. of food costs per day."
"How much?" The black haired trainer asked, slightly nervous.
"Nearly a couple grand a day!" Barry yelled out in exasperation. "Mom says I can only keep him on us until the end of the end of the Pokémon league because an accountant says he'll eat through our millions in four years! I don't want to depart with my Snorlax that quickly! Do you know how many trees I had to slather in honey and sleep next to?! Honey ain't cheap either!"
"Oh, I'm sorry." Ash gave his apologies. After calming himself from his stomping tantrum, Barry scratched his head.
"Yeah, well... you can't always get what you want. Some things are just too awesome I guess."
"Yeah. Although..." Ash led off, getting the blonde's attention. "...that battle actually helped give me an idea for today."
"Oh yeah? Well what's that?"
Ash has gotten himself prepared for his first Valentine's date. Instead of his typical hat he wore what he thought was a fancy black fedora. Aside from that, he wore a grey double breasted waistcoat with a black button up fleece shirt underneath it and a white dress shirt under that finalized with a maroon colored tie. He also wore black dress pants and brown wingtip dress boots. Finishing the touch was a striped white and grey scarf that helped cover his neck, but didn't obscure what was underneath the coat.
"You've certainly got more class than usual, Ash. Pretty snazzy." He talked to himself, glad he looked up a website on what to wear on a Valentine date.
"Ash, Dawn is here!" Delia called from downstairs.
"Coming Mom!" He responded. Making sure he had the right Pokeball assortment and Zappy sleeping in bed, everything was set. Walking down the stairs, he got bombarded by bright light and had to cover his eyes with a grunt of annoyance as his mother took rapid fire snapshots of her son.
"My baby boy... looking like the handsome young man he's grown to be. I'm so proud of you." Delia cried joyfully, content with her 13th picture.
"Mom, I can barely see with that flash." Ash complained in response. "Where's Dawn anyway?"
"She's in front of the door." Blinking and rubbing his eyes to get rid of the flash, the trainer was eventually able to see his date, and was taken aback by her beauty. Wearing a thin white coat, underneath she wore a cute woven pink sweater jacket with big white balls to act as the hoodie pullies. She wore white winter pants and thick, black, fuzzy boots. The only things that stayed the same was her scarf and beanie.
"Well, aren't you a dressed up gentleman? You clean up nice." Dawn complimented him. He chuckled and blushed.
"I could say the same for you. Excluding your coat and boots, I've only seen you in your regular clothes or that dress in the Hearthome City contest a couple of times.
"I'm easily chilled by the cold. I only wear light clothing in late spring and summer months." Dawn defended herself, somewhat embarrassed but still smiling regardless.
"I can't wait then." Ash retorted, making her giggle. "Come on, let's get this started." Draping his right arm over her shoulders, he opened the door and they exited the house into the chilled night air.
"Don't stay out too late! It's freezing deep at night!" Delia called out to them. Ash merely raised his left arm in acknowledgment without looking back.
"So, where are we going?" The female researcher asked.
"You'll see." He mysteriously replied as he took out a pokeball and brought out an Alakazam. Dawn blinked her eyes rapidly.
"Did you get one of those recently?"
"Nah, I'm borrowing him from Lucas. He's going to be our teleporting escort." Turning to Alakazam, he requested, "Hearthome City." Glowing white, Alakazam hummed before they teleported to the place Dawn entered the contest. Returning the psychic type, Ash escorted Dawn to a café that looked like it had 80's vibes to it. Inside, it was wildly colorful with haphazard shapes pattering the floor Memphis style, neon blue cushioned seats, pictures and stickers on every wall, and at least one guitar on every wall. A jukebox was playing Sweet Love by Anita Baker. Going up to the counter, they saw a woman with shoulder length brown hair wearing a pink waitress dress and a black apron covering most of the skirt welcomed them.
"Hello. What would you like?"
"The most romantic milkshake you can shake up."
"Very good. Just take a seat and I'll have it ready in just a moment." Taking a seat at a yellow oval table, Ash was pleased to see his girlfriend was highly impressed.
"Wow. I wouldn't have expected our date to be at an 80's themed cafe." Dawn admitted.
"Nah, this isn't the date. It's just getting a quick snack before our real date. I'm actually lucky to have found this place."
"Oh. Okay." She uttered, intrigued by what he could be planning. After a few minutes of waiting, the waitress came over with a strawberry milkshake in a medium cup with whipped cream on the top covered with red sugar and a cherry on top.
"Enjoy, and since it's the heroes of Sinnoh, it's on the house."
"Nah, I'd rather pay for it. Whatever it costs, this should cover it. Keep the change." Ash responded as he handed her a twenty without taking his eyes off of Dawn.
"Thank you so much, Mr. Ketchum. Enjoy at your leisure." She said gratefully before walking back to the counter.
"Mr. Ketchum? Ain't that formal?" Dawn commented as she stuck a red straw into the milkshake.
"Probably how I look currently. I mean, if I didn't recognize my face, I'd say I'm a handsome wealthy stranger." They both softly laughed from his description. Putting his own straw in, they sipped at the milkshake while gazing lovingly into their eyes. When they finished it after several straight minutes of sipping and staring, they went outside of the café so that Ash could bring out Alakazam. "Lake Verity please." Teleporting to the Western Lake at the edge, this made the researcher confused.
"What are we doing here?" She asked.
"You'll have to wait and see." He replied. After a little bit of waiting, they heard a mythical voice echo through the air shortly before the legendary Pokémon Mesprit appeared. Dawn has witnessed the lake guardians before, but now that she was seeing it in a peaceful setting, she could truly appreciate its beauty.
"It's so... beautiful." Mesprit smiled from the compliment.
"Mesprit, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. I'd like to capture you for data, and then immediately release you so that you can continue guarding this lake. What do you say?" Ash requested the being of emotion. Mesprit merely nodded. "I'd say that was a yes. Okay then." Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a Pokeball that upon contact with the legendary Pokemon, it was absorbed and wiggled a bit before clicking, capturing it. "Dawn, how about you have Rotom analyze it?" He asked. Dawn was flabbergasted that Mesprit just let itself get captured, but shaking off the shock, the question registered in her head and was exhilarated from the opportunity.
"Oh, sure!" Bringing out her Pokedex, she scanned the Pokeball.
Mesprit, the Emotion Pokemon; It was the birth of emotions, known as the 'being of emotion'. It taught humans the nobility of sorrow, pain, and joy. Legend has it that those who touch it will have all their emotion drained away. Sucks for physically affectionate beings if they're alone with it.
Pressing the button, blue energy released Mesprite from the ball Ash held, setting it free.
"Thank you Mesprit. I'm sure we'll meet again." The trainer stated, sounding pleased.
"Take care." Dawn told the legendary Pokémon. With a nod, Mesprit backflipped through the air before disappearing from their sight.
"One down, two to go."
"Ash, is the date recording the data of the lake guardians?" She questioned in wonder.
"Part of it."
"Only you would think up something like this." The female remarked as she hugged his right arm. "And that makes me so happy you're my boyfriend." She then kissed his smiling face. "I love you."
"I love you too."
The best friends did the same thing at Lake Valor and Lake Acuity, gathering the data of the respective lake guardians. For the final stop, they teleported into Amity Square.
"Wow. Not only did we get to see the lake guardians again, now Professor Rowan has the information he requested for. This is the best Valentine's Day I've had." Dawn sighed contently.
"Mine too. You know, since he threatened all of the lake guardians, I wonder why they didn't just expose their power to Cyrus? He'd become emotionally dead with no will left in his body and no memories of anything. He'd just be reduced to a living meat bag at that point." Ash wondered out loud. She looked down uncertain.
"I... don't know. That seems a bit too excessive. I know Cyrus was planning on destroying the universe, but I don't think I'd be comfortable if he was just mentally and spiritually destroyed like that."
"Well, whatever. Let's not think about it anymore." The trainer shrugged. "Anyway, let me show you the last bit of our date."
"Okay." Dawn accepted as she took hold of his left arm and they walked to the small island that resembled the Sinnoh region, but what she didn't expect was not only a picnic with chocolates and a small cake, but also freshly grown grass and a tree with covered hanging candles to make it especially romantic. "Ash, it's beautiful. Did you plan this?"
"I had a little help from Gardenia to make this. You're welcome." Unable to contain her joy, the girl grabbed his face and passionately kissed him, Ash returning it by hugging her body close to his.
"I love you so much." She said after the kiss.
"I love you too."
And that was the final fluff chapter. Sorry if the ending feels a bit rushed. I was running out of ideas. Anyway, what did you think of this Pearlshipping mini arc? I know one of you liked Zappy, so what about when Ash gave Dawn a Torchic on her birthday? And what did you think of this Valentine's Day idea? Let me know in the reviews below. We'll be back into the game plot next chapter.