Hey, guys! It's been a long time, hasn't it? University's keeping me busy! I made a little note about it on my profile, so you can check it out if you want. Basically, I'm just really busy these days, with so little time to write out these chapters.

But you guys probably want to head right into reading, don't you? I won't hold you back any longer! Enjoy!

Today's topic was suggested by IcyRhapsody!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Crazy for Ketchup

Grade Two

Ash (7), Gary (7), Leaf (7)

"Pichu! Hey, Pichu! Where are you?" Ash yelled.

No response. He frowned. He strolled deeper into the forest, meandering amongst the trees and shrubbery, swinging his arms as he did. The apple in his hand nearly flew out of his fist, and he stilled his arms, in case he accidentally lost his grip and sent the fruit flying. Couldn't have that. Then he wouldn't have a treat for Pichu.

"Pichu!" he called again.

He searched behind a few bushes where he sometimes found the little Pokemon snacking on berries. No luck. He sighed, walking farther. There was no danger of getting lost; he'd been here countless times before, on Professor Oak's ranch. Especially in this forest. This was where Pichu lived, a buddy he'd made quite some time before. Sure, sometimes Pichu 'greeted' him with an unpleasant electric shock, but he'd discovered a certain fruit the tiny mouse Pokemon couldn't resist.

And that very fruit was in his possession right now. Maybe Pichu needed a little motivation to come out of hiding….

"Hey, Pichu! Guess what I have?"

He waited, a triumphant grin on his face as the leaves of a tree he was standing next to started rustling.

"Pichupi." A small, yellow rodent hurried down the tree trunk, stopping at his feet. It looked up at him expectantly, its eyes fixated on the apple in his hand.

"Hey, Pichu! Nice seeing you again," Ash said, squatting down. "Look what I have for you!"

In an instant, the apple was in Pichu's tiny paws, juice dribbling down as nibbled its way to the core.

"You like it?" Ash said, sitting in the grass. "Man, I wish I'd brought an apple for myself too. But this was the last one."

Suddenly, Pichu stopped. It stared at the apple for a moment before abruptly dropping it to the ground.

"What's wrong? You full?"

"Pi pichu." It pointed at the apple. At picked it up to examine it. From the looks of it, a lot of it was rotting from the inside.

"Aw! I'm going to have to throw this away…." Or give it to Professor Oak. The scientist knew which of the Pokemon on his ranch didn't mind eating fruit that had gone slightly bad. But Ash knew who did mind: Pichu.

"Chuuu," Pichu whined.

"Sorry," Ash apologized, standing up. "I know! I'll bring you two next time! But I'm gonna hafta wait until my mom buys some more."

"Pi chuuuu!" Pichu crossed its arms and turned away, sticking its nose up in the air.

"Aw, come on, Pichu! Don't be like that!"

"Chu!" Pichu ran off, darting up a tree and sitting on a branch, glaring down at Ash with an expression clearly indicative of a grudge.

"Pichu!" Ash called up. But when it made no move to return, he sighed, the guilt slowly welling up in him. His eyes brightened as he thought of an idea. "Hey, wait here! I'll go check one more time, just in case!"

He ran back, not just out of the woods, but all the way to a house. Not his own, but Gary's. He rang the bell, and, huffing and puffing, waited for someone to answer. Finally, an older girl opened up and peered down at him. "Ash?"

"Daisy," he said through gasps.

"Sorry, Gary isn't here right now," she said. "He and Leaf went off to the park or something."

"Yeah, I know."

"Oh? So what's up?"

"Can I borrow your fridge?"

Daisy raised her eyebrows all the way up to her hairline. "Huh?"

"I need an apple. It's an emergency! Pichu might never talk to me again if I don't get it an apple!"

"Oh." Daisy smiled. She knew all about Pichu and Ash from her grandpa, who was surprised that the usually unfriendly Pichu had found a friend in Ash. "I don't think it will never talk to you again, but if you want an apple, go right ahead."

"Thanks!" Ash ran in, straight to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator, pulling open one of the drawers. There were quite a few apples to choose from! Ash hurriedly grabbed at a bright red one and ran out the same way he'd come in, yelling, "Thanks, Daisy!" behind him. Daisy waved after him, wondering just where he got all that energy from.

Soon, Ash was back on Professor Oak's ranch, slowing down to a walk as he entered the forest.

"Pichu!" he called out when he arrived at the tree the little Pokemon was perched on. "Pichu, guess what I have for you!" He grinned gleefully, holding out the fruit. "A nice, juicy—"

He stopped mid-sentence, really seeing what he was holding. It was red, it was round, but it was not an apple. Nope, definitely not an apple.

It was a tomato.

"Pi?" Pichu had come down from the tree and was now at his feet.

"Uh…" Well. This certainly wasn't a nice position to be in. Pichu was looking forward to an apple; a tomato, however, was not an apple. If Ash had to admit it was a false alarm, maybe Pichu would be so disappointed, it would never ever forgive him!

"Um…" Ash hesitantly crouched down, trying to think of some way to fix the situation. "Um… You know, Pichu, I think you're an awesome Pokemon. Totally cool. And I wanted to get you an awesome treat too. So… well, I didn't get an apple, but this thing is super-good! You have to try it. I really love it!" He held out the tomato to the little Pokemon.

Pichu stared at the tomato dubiously, taking a moment to give it a sniff. It tilted its ear curiously, puzzled by the new scent. Tomatoes didn't grow in the forest. Finally, it took it from Ash's hand. It didn't start eating immediately, giving Ash an unsure glance. Finally, it bit into it.

Its ears perked up.

Before Ash knew it, Pichu was in the process of speed-snacking, tomato juice dribbling down its chin.

"You like it?" Ash said, grinning broadly. Although the most dominant emotion was probably relief.

Pichu was too engrossed in eating to answer.

A few days later, Ash was back at the ranch, this time accompanied by Gary and Leaf. Leaf was happily swinging a basket in her hand while Gary was managing a folded picnic mat. Ash was bringing along a single apple.

"Ash, your turn to hold the tablecloth," Gary said, shoving the mat at his friend.

"But I have to hold Pichu's apple," Ash whined.

"I'll hold that. It's not fair that you have to hold the easy thing!"

They made the swap, and finally, Leaf skipped to a spot next to the forest. "Here!" she declared. "We'll have our picnic here!"

They settled down, Gary and Ash laying out the picnic mat and Leaf emptying the basket. She handed everyone cups and plates, and pulled out a box of cupcakes, a jug of orange juice, a pack of chips, a tray of French fries, and a bottle of ketchup.

"Wow," Ash murmured, his stomach grumbling. "Can we start eating right now? I can give Pichu its apple later."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Gary chimed in.

Leaf looked at them thoughtfully for a minute, probably wondering why they were asking her. Maybe it was because she'd brought the basket, so she had power over all the food that had been inside.

"Um…" she said, tapping her chin. "You can start eating… now!" They began quickly piling up their plates and got started on the snacks.

"Hey, where did Pichu's apple go?" Ash said, frowning. "I gave it to you, Gary."

"I don't know," said the latter, munching on some chips. "I think I dropped it when we were putting down the mat."

"But I needed it!"

"There it is!" Leaf said, pointing into the forest. A Rattata was scurrying into the bushes with a large, red fruit held between its teeth.

"Rattata, come back!" Ash called after it. "That's not yours."

"It's too late," said Leaf. "Its gone."

Ash was about to get up to go look for it when he noticed something else. Gary was eating the French fries. A lot of them.

"Hey, save some for me," Ash said, reaching for some himself.

"I'm gonna eat however many I want!"

"Yes, Ash, you better hurry up!" Leaf giggled as she squirted some ketchup into her plate to go with her fries. "They're gonna be all done if you don't hurry!"

On a nearby tree, a certain yellow Pokemon was watching the trio from a high branch. It had seem the Rattata steal the apple, but there was something else of more interest at the moment. On the picnic mat was a bottle filled with something red with a picture of a tomato on it. Pichu could remember the tomato from a while back. There was no way the contents of the bottle could be a tomato, but the picture had made Pichu very curious.

Slowly, when it was sure the seven-year-olds weren't looking, it headed down the tree and got as close to the picnic as it could. Then, like lightning, it snatched the bottle and ran off. It could hear Ash yelling something after it (caught red-handed—literally!) but it didn't stop until it was a safe distance away in the forest.

When Pichu was sure no one was around, it opened the lid, and was surprised to find only a tiny hole. There was no way a tomato could fit in there. Tilting its ear curiously, it tried to reach into the bottle with its finger. No luck in getting a tomato. Only something red on its paw. Pichu licked it away, but froze mid-lick. Its ears perked up.

Yup, definitely no actual tomato in there. Instead, there was something even better….

"Pichu! Hey, Pichu! We need the ketchup!" Ash called, searching through the forest. The other two had sent him to go find his little friend. They were staying with the food to guard it from other Pokemon thieves. At least, that was what they'd told him.

Finally, he located the tiny mouse Pokemon, comfortably ensconced atop a tree branch, squirted ketchup onto its tongue, relishing the flavour.

"Hey, Pichu!" Ash called up. "Can we have that back?"

Pichu looked down for just long enough to say, "Pi!" in refusal before going back to treating its taste buds.

The next morning, while out feeding the Pokemon, Professor Oak discovered an empty ketchup bottle in the middle of the forest.

And that's that! The story behind Pichu's love for ketchup!

Hm, I haven't written about the whole group for a while, have I? I had a chapter about May and Max, last chapter was about Gary and Leaf, and this chapter was about Ash…. I really miss writing about the others, though. Maybe next chapter, I'll try to include everyone!

Bye bye for now! Have a great day, and smile all the way! :)