My whole family has been going through a stressful time lately. My dad got a really good job offer, so I'm moving up north in a few months. Overall, I'm actually looking forward to that, though I could not get any inspiration to write this chapter since I've been thinking about the move. Of course, my uncle who's still recovering from bipolar depression can't handle the stress, and he's probably going to take several weeks longer to recover. I'm not too happy about that.

This idea is my own idea. It was not suggested by anybody.

Anyways, after a really long wait, I finally have this chapter ready. I hope you guys enjoy this one.

Prank #3: Clean Up Your Face

Ash's POV

This was it. This was the day I'd finally get to challenge the Castelia City Gym. In fact, after I gave Iris a heart attack last night by pretending to be a ghost, I had a lot of trouble getting back to sleep.

Still, I wasn't tired.

I bolted out the front doors of the hotel with a big smile on my face. Luckily, the big storm from last night had ended, but the skies still remained overcast. The streets and sidewalks were still quite damp. The smell of rain penetrated the air. Of course, I wasn't about to let the gloomy weather ruin my gym battle.

"All right! Time to challenge the Castelia City Gym! You ready, Pikachu?"

"Of course I am!" Pikachu cheered.

"Then let's go right now! Come on!" I began to bolt down the busy street in the direction of the gym.

Although, I didn't make it very far before a familiar female voice yelled, "Ash, wait up!"

Darting my eyes in the opposite direction, I spotted Iris and Cilan near the front door. They were standing there breathing very heavily.

"Oh for Arceus's sake Ash!" Iris yelled in-between breaths. "Please wait for us!"

"Yeah, not everyone is a fast runner!" Cilan agreed.

I giggled slightly. "Uh, sorry guys! I'm just excited for my gym battle!"

"Aren't you always excited for your gym battles?" Axew questioned.

"Of course!" I cried out. "I love gym battles!"

"Oh, I had no idea," Iris said with a strong sarcastic tone.

I simply rolled my eyes. Sometimes, I swore that sarcasm was Iris's second language. "All right, are you guys ready to go?" I asked.

Cilan exhaled sharply. "Yes, I am. But can you please go slower this time?"

"Ugh, do I have to?" I groaned.

"Well, it's not like we're your friends or anything..." Iris said as more sarcasm poured out of her mouth.

"I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Iris."

"Well, I don't appreciate your stupid, Ash!"

I flared up with anger at that comment. "Hey! I am not stupid!"

Iris giggled slightly. "Okay, okay. You're not stupid."

"Thank you," I uttered as I turned around and resumed the journey to the Castelia City Gym for the gym battle I was so excited about.

Just then, much to my dismay, Iris began to giggle like a schoolgirl even more. "Well, I still think you're a little kid, though."

I angrily spun around, about to say something back at her. Unfortunately, Cilan interrupted me before I could say anything back to that dragon master. "Guys! Is there ever a time when you two aren't fighting?"

Iris snickered for the zillionth time in the last five minutes alone. "Well, technically yes. When I'm asleep."

"Ha!" Cilan exclaimed. "I have to admit, that is pretty funny."

However, I soon became quite confused. Cilan and Iris continued to snicker and giggle like little kids (which was kind of ironic considering the fact that Iris is constantly calling me a little kid). I heard the laughter of Axew from within Iris's hair, and I even thought I heard Pikachu snicker at one point. In fact, the snickering soon intensified into full-on laughter. What was even more distressing for me is that Iris and Cilan were looking right at me as they were laughing, almost as if they were laughing at me.

"Guys, what on earth is so funny?" I asked, feeling pretty offended.

"Uh... nothing!" said Cilan suddenly. "I'm just in such a good mood today!"

"Why?" I asked.

"Uh, well-"

"Are you guys excited to watch my gym battle?" I interrupted the connoisseur.

"Yes!" Iris suddenly blurted out loud. "Ash, you know I love watching your gym battles."

I could feel my cheeks heat up a little bit. "Yeah, of course I do."

"Hey!" Cilan spouted out with no warning. "I just remembered that I wanted to go shopping before your gym battle!"

That one word caused me to completely freeze in horror. Shopping. Every time I heard that word now, I always got reminded of how my mom used to drag me on her shopping trips before I became a Pokémon trainer. You would think that a lot of people would rather just go in the store, grab what you need, and get out. Unfortunately, my mom was different. A simple trip to the grocery store could take up to two or three hours at the worst. My mom would wander through every single aisle, looking at pretty much everything, even the things we didn't need. When we finally got to the items we needed, my mom would take ages to decide which brand of the product she wanted. This was the kind of thing that made me grateful to be a Pokémon trainer. I didn't have to put up with that nonsense anymore.

I didn't know if Iris and Cilan would be like that, but I sure wasn't about to take chances, especially before my gym battle.

"Ash looks pretty upset about shopping," Iris said.

"Why can't we go after my gym battle?" I asked.

"I really need some Antidotes and Paralyz Heals!" Cilan pleaded, "and I want to make sure I don't forget!"

"You guys don't seem to have a bad memory," I said, "and I have a lot of Paralyz Heals and Antidotes!"

Cilan panicked a little bit. "I'm not taking chances!" he spat out frantically before he and Iris bolted into a nearby Department Store.

"Unbelievable," I scoffed as I followed my two human friends into the store.

The store wasn't actually that busy. Probably because it wasn't even ten o'clock yet. At least the line-up to the cashiers wouldn't be that long.

Suddenly, I felt a slight tug on my shoulder, and I turned to face the source of it: my very own electric mouse Pokémon.

"You okay?" Pikachu asked.

I sighed slightly. "Yeah. I'm just annoyed that I'm being dragged into a store before the gym battle."

"Hey, I know you're excited—I am too—but don't you think Iris and Cilan should get what they need? I'm sure they won't take long. Plus, some more Paralyz Heals would be so useful. Being paralyzed really sucks!"

Just then, a big group of teenage girls exited the nearby elevator and began to head towards the front doors while they were giggling and talking loudly. However, when they came near me, they all suddenly burst into extreme laughter. One of them grabbed her cell phone, snapped a picture of me, and then they all fled the building while they continued to laugh their guts out.

I decided not to worry about it too much as I got onto the escalator to head to the second floor. Although, I thought I heard Pikachu snicker after the girls left.

When I got to the second floor, I was greeted to a rather promising sight. Iris and Cilan were already lined up at the checkout with a bag full of different status healers. Clearly, they weren't like my mom when it came to shopping. Not even close.

"See, buddy?" Pikachu cheered. "I knew they wouldn't take long!"

I approached Iris and Cilan quickly. Suddenly, the cashier burst into laughter just like the girls from earlier.

"What happened to your face?" the cashier said while laughing.

"Umm, nothing?" I was utterly confused. Why was everybody laughing at me?

The cashier simply shrugged it off and continued to work behind the counter, while Iris and Cilan burst into giggles again.

"Why's everyone laughing at me today?" I asked my friends.

Iris simply shrugged. "Not sure. Maybe people just really like you here."

"But why? This has never happened to me before."

"Well, people in a big city tend to know each other well."

"I thought that was in a small town."

Iris suddenly tensed up. "Um, so are you ready for your gym battle, Ash?"

"Of course I am! Let's go!" I cheered, running down the escalator and out the front doors.

The Castelia City Gym stood in front of me like a magestic statue. The building seemed to look even better by the lone ray of sunlight peaking through the clouds that struck the building.

"All right! The Castelia City Gym! Ready, Pikachu?"

"Of course! I'm always ready!" Pikachu shouted cheerfully.

"Then let's go right now, come on!"

"Hmph," another male voice that wasn't Cilan said. "You might want to clean up your face first."

I turned around to see another sight that aggravated me. My rival Trip was standing three feet away from me, and he also had his teal-coloured digital camera pointed right at me. "Heh heh," Trip said with a mischievous smile. "I definitely won't be forgetting this one anythime soon."

"What are you doing here?" I asked rudely.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to challenge the gym."

"I was here first!" I yelled.

Trip snickered again. "Seriously. You really shouldn't challenge the gym until you clean up your face."

"If this is another witty comment about how ugly I am, I don't really want to hear it."

"Are you even aware of how ugly your face is?"

Now Trip was getting on my very last nerve. "I don't think this is funny."

"Oh come on! It looks like a baby drew all over your face!"

"Wait, what!?"

Trip scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Go look in a mirror or something! Jeez..." Then, Trip simply ran into the gym, probably to have his gym battle before I had mine.

Still, I needed to find out why Trip said a baby drew all over my face. I walked into the gym behind Trip; although, instead of going to the gym leader like Trip did, I walked into the bathroom to inspect my face. And then I looked in the mirror.

What I saw completely horrified me.

There were tiny little scribbles covering my entire face. Fake glasses were drawn around my eyes, and a fake moustache had been drawn over my mouth. Also, right across my forehead, the words 'IRIS WAS HERE' were clearly visible.

Pikachu burst into laughter so hard I thought he would black out.

"I am going to kill that dragon master!"

Quickly, without saying another word, I stormed out of the gym to see Iris and Cilan standing there in the open, and they were both laughing very hard.

"IRIS!" I boomed.

"Hey, what's up?" Iris said while she tried desperately to keep a straight face.

"You drew all over my face!?" I shouted.

"Well, well, well. It only took you," Iris checked her watch, "64 minutes to realize that I drew all over your face."

"I can't believe you!" I growled.

"I told you I'd get you back, Ash!" Iris laughed even harder.

"How long was this on my face?"

Iris snickered. "Since six o'clock this morning!"

I froze in place as I came to a terrible and horrifying realization. "You mean that I was walking around all morning with these drawings on my face?"

"Yep!" Cilan said.

"No wonder everyone was laughing at me!" I whined.

"You're such a little kid!" said Iris. "I can't believe it took you over an hour to notice!"

"This isn't permanent, right?"

Iris and Cilan both sweatdropped as their laughter ceased. "Well..." Iris started.

"It's permanent?"

"Yep," said Iris.

"Iris..." I grumbled.

"Don't worry!" Cilan said. "Permanent marker will wash off; don't worry about that."

"I can still have my gym battle, right?"

"Of course!" said Cilan. "But, um... you might want to clean up your face first."

"I am going to kill both of you," I scoffed.

As you can see, I took this prank in a different direction, since the prank didn't actually occur during this story. What did you think?

Please review, as I do appreciate feedback. Hopefully I can get the fourth prank out quicker than this one.