Chapter 12: The Date

Today is Saturday, you know what that means right? It's time for Ash's date with Melody! One problem though, they're both still asleep… then again, it is only six in the morning and Ash's alarm should be going off right about-

Ring! Ring!

"Ugh. I want to sleep some more. Ten more minutes clock," Ash said sleepily as he hit the snooze button. But after five more minutes it rang again. "Well, guess I should be getting up anyway… and wake Melody up." He then got up out of the middle of the bed and went to the restroom first before waking her up.

"Ash? What is it," she asked with a sleepy face, "it's only six fifteen in the morning."

"Well, in case you forgot," he started, "our first actual date's today."

"Oh yeah. I was so excited that I forgot that it was today and couldn't get a lot of sleep. Just wait by the door okay? I'll be there in a minute or two." She then got up quietly so she wouldn't wake Flannery up and went to the restroom with a change of clothes. A few minutes later she came out in a pair of blue jeans and a pink top.

"Has anyone ever told you that you look good in pink and blue?"

"Yeah, one person."

"Who?"

"Flannery. Well mister Ash, so what's on the start of the list?"

"Well, how about some breakfast in the lounge in the lobby first?"

"Okay," she said as they started out the door to the lounge.

As soon as they got there, they started to eat seeing as how it was a buffet setting and all. There was eggs, rice, bacon, bread, sausages, you name it and it was most likely there… depending on what you're thinking of anyway. By the time they finished and Ash was about to pay for the food, something odd happened.

"Oh. Is your name by any chance Ash Ketchum sir," asked one of the employees.

"Uhh, yeah. Why do you ask," he replied.

"Oh, it's just that a lady came by not too long ago and said that she'd pay for your meal and left us with some cash to pay for the food and that we could keep the change."

"Oh, so how much is the balance from that?"

"Well, nothing. You pretty much had a free meal."

"Well, ain't that something," said Melody as they left the lounge, "I get the feeling someone's doing something to make this go as smoothly as possible. This just doesn't seem right."

"I know what you're saying. I mean how many people do you know that would do something like this for strangers," replied Ash. "Well, anyway. Next up is the mall."

"Are you sure about this? You know I can spend hours in that place."

"I'm sure I can handle it. By the way, I'll be treating you on this shopping spree of yours up to two hundred dollars worth anyway."

"You sure you're not going overboard with this date Ash?"

"Nope, surprisingly I know how to save money and this is most of my allowance money that I've been saving for the past few months."

"How much money do you get per month?"

"I'd say maybe fifty dollars a month."

With that the shopping began. Knowing that she had a budget on how much she could spend, Melody went to some clothes shops and make-up stores for some cheap things. The last place was probably the most memorable place they'd ever be going too this entire date.

"Hey Ash let's go to that photo booth," Melody said, "that way we won't forget this date and how special it was right? Cuz things happen but so long as we have memories, we're sure to remember the good times that've happened."

"By the sound of it you make it sound like one of us is about to die you know," Ash said with a scared look on his face, "but I know you mean well so sure, let's do it."

They couple then walked to the booth to get a few pictures taken, but the most memorable one would be the first one they took. It wasn't one of those goofy pictures people normally take; it was just a simple picture of them smiling and holding hands. The next few pictures however, ended up just like what I said earlier, goofy and funny.

"Hey Ash, it's almost time for lunch, where to now," she asked.

"I say we head over to where you want to go," he replied, "after all, this date was planned out for you, I did most of the planning, now how bout you just do the simple task of picking the place to eat."

"Oh," she stuttered, "umm, how about we head over to the hotel lounge again? After all, the food there was great and it doesn't take long to get back when you think about it."

"Well, it's your call so okay, let's go."

When they were just about to leave Ash noticed that someone was following them. However due to his care-freeness he decided to ignore it and continued on to the hotel with Melody. When they got there and sat to eat, they didn't notice at the time but the same person who followed them had walked over to the cashier, pointed to us, then gave him some cash and walked away.

"Oh boy," Ash said as he huffed, "I am full."

"Same here," agreed Melody, "I'm surprised that they had another buffet set-up for lunch though."

"You know, I was just thinking that too. I mean after all, places like this need to earn money right?"

"Oh well, say, we should pay the bill now and head over to our next destination shouldn't we?"

"Yeah, we should. Oh but before that just to let you know, it's the arcade!"

"Time Crisis here I come… if you're there anyway," stated a happy Melody.

"Ah, guess I better go pay now then," Ash said as he walked over to the register, "hello there, we just finished and would like the bill."

"Oh, no need to worry about that, a young lady with a scarf in black came by and gave us some cash for you to pay for your meal," the worker replied.

"Oh, is that so?"

As soon as they left Ash began to pay more attention who was around them. Sure he was happy he didn't have to spend more money, but to him, that just took out some of the meaning in the date. It wasn't that long before they got to the arcade at the hotel and hit the games. Thankfully for them, the games were free if they were staying at the hotel. They ended up playing Time Crisis 4 and Street Fighter the entire time.

"Hey, Melody, where to for dinner," asked Ash.

"I don't know, how about we just head over to the mall and eat at 'Mr. Blaine's Bar-B-Que'," she said, "hmm, now that I think about it, isn't that our math teacher's name?"

"Your right, how about that?"

"Well, anyway, I hear that they have the best ribs around here."

"Wait, how'd you find that out, we've only been here for five days."

"My sister."

"Well, that makes more sense then."

When they got to the mall and got to the restaurant Ash made sure no one went up to the register in black with a scarf before they sat. As soon as they ordered and started to eat, Ash was still watching the register for signs of that person who kept paying for them.

"That was good. Thanks Ash," said Melody.

"You're welcome," he replied, "while you were still eating, I went and paid the bill so we can leave when we want to okay?"

"Okay. How about we go now then?"

"Next place on the list is the beach for a-"

"Oh, I need to get the room for my swim clothes then."

"No need for that I was just about to say 'for a walk'."

"Oh, okay."

As soon as they left and looked up at the sky, they saw a beautiful full moon in the starry night. As they took their walk, they found themselves talking about how this trip was and how well it was going as well as the nice memories they made. By the time they got back it was almost ten at night.

"Well, you cab shower first," said Ash.

"Okay, but be sure to pack up, remember, tonight was the last night that we're staying here so don't forget anything," stated Melody.

After a few minutes they were showered and went to sleep. One odd thing was that Flannery wasn't around though… until they discovered she was hanging out with the other boys in their room with Ms. Carol partying when she opened the door and just fell on the bed falling asleep.