Hey everyone! Thanks for the the reviews and comments about this story so far! The more critique I get, the better I write, so thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Pokemon, the characters, etc.
It was a peaceful afternoon at the National Kanto Pokemon Academy. Was. Past-tense. The tranquility of flirting teenagers and a calming spring wind was rudely interrupted by two shrill screaming voices.
"MY SANDWICH!"
"Sandwich? Oh no way..." started Gary.
"Sandwich, what the...Dawn?" mumbled Misty.
"Yeah my mayonnaise sandwich! That I was looking forward to at ALL day! Then I got your piece of crap FAKE BLT! Everyone knows any sandwich with Bacon, lettuce, and tomato has mayonnaise in it too!" Dawn screamed.
"FAKE BLT? Better a FAKE BLT than a FAKE SANDWICH! All you had on that bread was mayonnaise!" Ash retorted.
"A mayonnaise sandwich is good for everyone, it doesn't need other ingredients!"
"Mayonnaise sandwich? With how much you put in, it was more like sandwiched mayonnaise! And it's obviously NOT good for everyone, I'm frickin ALLERGIC to mayonnaise! I broke out in hives spent my lunch hour in the Nurse's Office! Not just that, but I threw up over my desk and the entire sophomore class was talking about it!"
"Wow, what a coincidence! I threw up too! Except I had the stomach strength to make it to the bathroom before throwing up! At least from what I tasted, it was butter-free or else the calories would've..."
They looked up.
A Butterfree flew by next to it's trainer.
…
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Dawn and Ash broke out in laughter. Gary and Misty sweatdropped.
"Really guys?"
"That was maybe the lamest-"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, whooooooooooooooooooooooo!" They slowly caught their breath. Ash stretched out his hand to this interesting girl.
"I'm Ash Ketchum, sophomore." The girl looked at the hand and did likewise.
"Dawn Berlitz, sophomore. Pleased to meet you sandwich-thief."
"All right kids, let's get going," Gary said tiredly.
"Gary we're the same age," said Ash. Gary look at him deadpanned.
"'Ash, you guys just laughed at 'butter-free'."
"Hey now, that joke is for all-ages 4 and up!" Dawn and Misty laughed.
"Everyone in the car, we're going downtown!"
There was an awkward silence as everyone sat down in the car. Leave it to Ash to draw out the Donphan in the room.
"Gary, it smells."
"..."
"Gary why does it smell like that?" Misty asked hesitantly.
"It smells like...chicken, of the fried variety," Dawn suggested.
"All right! I know we're not allowed part-time jobs while we're in school but I've been delivering for Kansas Fried Chicken after school. Don't tell my dad!"
"Yeah, yeah, just get an air freshener and roll down the windows," said Dawn.
"Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz." Dawn felt her phone vibrating and checked the caller ID. She gave an exasperated sigh and picked up.
"What do you want now? No, I'm fine, I'm just going out with some friends. No, you don't need to check up on me all the time. Goodbye." She closed the phone.
"Sorry about that." She said to the group. Gary decided to help Dawn out by starting the car and blasting the radio.
As they were going down the highway, Dawn continually looked out the window, obviously offput by the phone call. Ash noticed and pulled out his phone and typed.
"You all right?" He passed the phone to Dawn. She turned and read the message, then typed back.
"Yeah, it happens all the time."
"Family problems?"
"...how did you know?"
"Same thing used to happen with my dad."
"Used to?"
"He's gone. Just me and my mom now."
"I'm sorry."
"I came to terms with that a while ago. Just let me know if you ever want to talk." She turned to him and smiled.
"I will, thanks." Before handing it back, Dawn entered herself into Ash's contacts.
"You named yourself 'Youowemeasandwich'? I'm surprised that even fit." Ash asked out loud.
"Well I don't want you to forget, cause you do owe me."
"Well in that case!" Ash grabbed Dawn's phone.
"Hey, give it back, jerk!" She snatched it.
"Ash-is-the-best. Really? Aren't we original?"
"Well, I wanna be the very best," Ash said wistfully, "Like no one ever was. To catch them-"
"Ash, what are you talking about?" Gary turned around to Ash.
"Gary! Focus on the road!" Misty yelled. Gary's necked snapped back and the car swerved, narrowly avoiding a ditch.
"Phew!"
"I can see the city!" Dawn shouted.
Massive shopping malls, attractive banners, and billboards filled up the space downtown. A myriad of things to do, places to go, and people to meet.
"Good thing you bought that parking permit, Gary. We would've had to park outside the town" Dawn remarked.
"Well some exercise might do you some good" Ash murmured. Dawn spun around.
"Did you say something, Ash?" She smiled, and while it was still beautiful, there was an underlying message of, "Youdidn'tjustsaythati'mnotfatidareyoutosayitagainsoicanpunchyouintheface." Ash sweatdropped.
"Uhh, I just said some exercise might do Gary some good."
"Hey!"
"Haha, I agree, look at these baby cheeks!" Misty grabbed Gary's cheeks. Dawn and Ash cracked up and Gary straggled along, feeling emasculated.
"So what do you guys want to do?" Misty asked.
"Some shopping might be nice," said Dawn.
"Whatever," yawned Ash. They took a left and headed to the mall.
"I think this one looks nice, what do you guys think?" Misty asked, holding up a bikini.
"It's really cute!" said Dawn.
"Looks great," said Gary.
"Zzz..." Gary walked over and shook his best friend back to consciousness.
"Mmm? Oh, hey guys." Gary took him over to the side.
"Come on, Ash, that's the third time you've fallen asleep in here. They're going to think you're boring."
"I'm trying! You know how much I've been lacking on sleep. And there's so many nice things to fall asleep on."
"You fell asleep on a shelf of women's swimsuits."
"My favorite so far is a combination of nylon and lycra." Gary sighed.
"Can you just try a little harder, I really want to have Misty leave this thing with a smile." Ash became suddenly animated and pulled open Gary's eyelids.
"Ow! What the hell?"
"Just making sure you were Gary. You're really serious aren't you?"
"Yeah. So can you just promise to make some sacrifices for me today?"
"Sure."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Gary extended his pinky.
"Really?" Gary looked on solemnly. Ash relented and they locked pinkies.
"You're my bro, let's keep this date going."
The mall's endless distractions kept them well occupied and the four continued through the jungle of merchandise. Ash turned to Dawn.
"You're not buying anything."
"Maybe later, I'm not really into buying things, just looking."
"Window shopper? Me too. Except when it comes to Pokemon." Dawn pointed to a Pokemon trainer store.
"Wanna go in here then?"
"Yeah, sure, Gary and Misty, you wanna come-" Ash turned around to see no one.
"Maybe they got lost," Dawn said worriedly. Ash was about to start looking when his phone buzzed. A text from Gary.
"Me and Misty are going to sneak off and watch a movie! Have fun with Dawn!"
"That asshole!" He was about to call Gary and complain when he remembered the pinky promise.
"Curse the power of the pinky promise..." he thought. He put his phone away and turned to Dawn.
"Well I guess we've been ditched," he said.
"I guess I was kind of expecting it, Misty's been complaining about how she never has alone time with him in school," Dawn said.
"So is there anything you want to do? Dawn?" Dawn had started nodding off. Ash put his mouth right next to her ear and said in a very breathy voice, "Dawn." She jerked awake then pulled away at the close proximity. Ash laughed.
"Sorry, before today I haven't gotten much sleep, with all the time-zone changing and such. Misty wanted me to come along and make friends before I started school, but I'm just too tired."
"I forgot you just transferred, where are you from?"
"Sinnoh, Twinleaf Town and proud."
"Well, Dawn of Sinnoh, let me show you the best place in the mall." Dawn looked at him quizzically and followed him up to the eleventh floor.
"Furniture. You made me walk up all those stairs to look at furniture."
"You'll see, you'll see."
Ash led her through the menagerie of dressers, tables, chairs and eventually they got to the side of the store, where the glass walls overlooked the city. It was also where the beds were located. Dawn looked confused until Ash jumped on one of the beds.
"Whenever people would drag me downtown, most of the time, I was just too tired, like you. Then one day, I found this place. This store is famous for its table-chair sets so the employees almost never come back to the bed section. It helps to have those tall dressers kind of blocking the view." Dawn looked hesitant.
"I dunno about this."
"You're sleepy, I'm sleepy. And it's not like we have to try impress each other if we both know the other person is tired too." Dawn smiled at his simplicity and lay down on the bed adjacent to Ash's.
"Well thanks for this, Ash Ketchum, I guess I'll see you in a few hours."
"Good night, Dawn."
And the two drifted off to sleep above the busy city. Their relaxed breathing synchronized with the quiet jazz playing over the furniture store, and for the first time in a while, Ash and Dawn were finally able to get some sleep.