Don't look back!

I’d never really given much thought to what was worse: an electric rat with intent to kill or a Snorlax stomach.

Or at least – I’d never thought about it until the day my alarm clock became a thunderbolt.

Thanks, Pikachu. -_-

Cue the cute little scene of myself and a rat glaring daggers at one another.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” I fumed, leaping to my feet.

“I – I . . .” May stuttered out, although her entire group looked utterly ashamed of themselves.

When they refrained from explaining why I had been so rudely awoken and why smoke was now spiraling from my singed form, my rage only grew.

“Well . . .?” I inquired, cocking a brow and stomping a foot in quite the cliché manner.

“I-IT WAS MAY’S FAULT!” Ash roared suddenly, desperate to save his own hide.

May Maple went utterly slack-jawed at his betrayal.

“ASH!” She bellowed in disbelief.

Before she had time to thoroughly explode, Max saw fit to intervene.

“Yeah, Delaney. May wouldn’t stop complaining about your snoring and-”

Max agreed, nodding his head.

At this May turned to give her brother the same look she’d given Ash.

Before he had time to continue, I was the one to interrupt.

“Listen here, dude. I do not snore – EVER!” I assured them, my tone deathly serious.

When Ash opened his mouth next, it was almost as if he wanted to die.

“You do too, Delaney! And man – are you a heavy sleeper!” He retorted, grinning cheekily.

At this point I was inclined to reconsider his “non-jerk” status.

“I was tired, stupid!” I protested, resisting the urge to punch him in his handsome face.

“But I still don’t snore!” I added, just for good measure.

Before Ash had any chance to reply, Brock decided to speak.

“Look – that’s not the point. The point is, we’re sorry that Pikachu used thunderbolt on you, but May really couldn’t stand your “non-snoring” and Ash has been really impatient to get to Mauville City for awhile now . . .” Brock informed, deciding to step up and be the Peacemaker of the group.

I was still oddly furious, but Brock’s statement made me curious.

“What’s so important about Mauville City . . .?” I drawled.

Immediately Ash perked up.

“THAT’S WHERE MY NEXT GYM BATTLE IS!!!” He all but screeched.

.

.

.
“That’s nice.” I replied with a careless shrug.

“Is that all you can say?” Ash questioned, clearly disappointed.

“What do you mean?” I retorted, quirking a brow at him.

“You’re supposed to get excited for Gym Battles! All trainers do ~” Ash explained to me like I was a three year old.

“Unless you’re a Coordinator!” May pointed out.

“. . . Are you?” Max ventured, raising a dark brow at me.

Honestly, I was a bit put off by all the questions coming at me so soon after I’d woken up.

“Iunno – maybe I lost some brain cells after that electric attack . . .” I elaborated loosely, deciding to use that for an excuse since I honestly had no idea anymore.

“Speaking of attacks – where’s Ditto? Isn’t it supposed to protect me from that kind of thing?” I inquired, glancing around for any sight of my partner and skillfully changing the subject.

I expected it to have run away or something, but what I eventually saw made me nearly face-plant into the grass.

My Ditto in cahoots with that – that Pikachu and Torchic.

“Ditto! How could you betray me like this?!” I cried, sinking to my knees.

In response it merely turned to glance at me with a guilty although rather vacant expression.

“ . . . Di?” It asked, and I’m guessing if it had shoulders it would have shrugged.

“Don’t you Di me! I thought what we had was special – I thought you – I thought you loved me!” I wailed, tugging at the ends of my hair.

A bead of translucent pink sweat rolled down Ditto’s body comically as Ash and co. could only blink.

“You’re acting like it’s your boyfriend or something . . .” May pointed out as she gave me an incredulous glance.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly offended.

“You know what? If I wanted a boyfriend I could do much better than a Ditto . . .” I assured her promptly as thoughts of Rafe swam through my mind.

I should really consider giving him a call or something >_>

Anyway, at my last statement I could have sworn Ditto’s expression fell.

“Di – Ditto ~” It muttered quietly.

“. . . no offense, pal.” I murmured quickly to the despondent Jello cup.

When my partner Pokémon made a noise as if to assure me that no offense was taken by my statement, of course it would be Ash Ketchum who let out a snort of laughter . . .

“Are you sure you could do better than a Ditto?” He challenged, raising a brow.

“Maybe, Maybe not . . . but at the very least – I could do better than you!” I snapped, glaring pointedly at him.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” He cried out.

“It-” I began only to be rudely interrupted.

“And it’s not as if I’d ever date you, anyway.” He added hastily.

“Naturally – aren’t you dating May?” I shot back curiously causing all of my traveling companions to sputter.

“NO/ HE WISHES!” Was the split response I received.

“Besides – May likes Drew ~” Max stated, grinning smugly at the disgusted expression that quickly overtook May Maple’s face.

. . . Did I hear him correctly? Drew?

Meh, there’s no way it’s my Drew.

I mean, there has to be more than one guy with that name in Hoenn, right?

Riiiiiiight.

“I don’t like Drew – he’s the biggest – most conceited jerk . . .!” May rambled, clenching her fists.

Huh, maybe she is talking about my brother?

At any rate, I decided to shake that thought out of my head.

Mainly because I was focused on something much more important:

“Has Ash ever even had a girlfriend?” I mused aloud causing said trainer to trip over absolutely nothing at all and face-plant into the grass.

“Shuttup, Delaney . . .” He murmured as his cheeks visibly darkened.

Ahah, interesting ~ ♥

-♥-

“On the roadddd ~ to Mauville City!” I sang expertly as my shoes squeaked against the dew covered grass that I was strolling through.

“On the roadddd ~ to Mauville City!” I repeated, just as enthusiastically.

The group of four that accompanied me merely looked at me as if I was a rogue Mankey.

“Delaney . . .” Max whined, clapping his hands over his ears.

“Un – wrong, this is where you come in with I’m on my way I’m on the road ~” I instructed wagging a finger at him.

“Actually, Delaney. We really shouldn’t come in at all – copyright infringement is already into play here, anyways . . .” Brock piped up causing me to halt mid-step.

“What Copyright infringement?” I exclaimed dumbly.

In response, Max cleared his throat and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

“Well – you are more or less ripping off one of the old theme songs.” He explained curtly.

“Oh yeah? Which one?” I inquired rather indignantly if I do say so myself.

“You know which one, Delaney! The one that goes – on the road to Viridian City!”

Ash added, acting as if I was completely unaware.

In response, I only blinked innocently at him.

“How does it go after that?” I questioned, placing my arms behind my back.

“Uhm - . . . I’m on my way I’m on the road?” Ash sang rather off-key.

In response I broke into a fit of cute giggles.

“Nice singing there, Ash . . .” May noted, cringing.

I couldn’t help but snicker at Ash’s embarrassed expression.

“You knew how it went, didn’t you?” Ash accused skeptically.

“Yep.” I replied, popping the “p” for emphasis.

“And you just wanted me to sing the back up thing – right?” He asked, letting out an overly exaggerated mushroom sigh.

“That about sums it up.” I agreed with a careless shrug.

After that, silence was all that resonated through the air.

Well, until May and Ash’s demon Pokémon broke it with their aimless chatter.

And of course – that little orange bird still had not relinquished my hat back to me, even after all of this time.

By all this time – I’m not hyperbolizing, honestly. We’ve legitimately been walking for hours with one destination in mind.

As our feet came to a halt in front of a cheery little sign that read “Welcome to Mauville City♥” after what seemed like an eternity I was incredibly thankful.

“I’m gonna get my Mauville City badge!” Ash proclaimed confidently as his Pikachu let out an exclamation of agreement.

Meanwhile, I was not half as enthusiastic.

“We totally had time for one more verse, guys.” I insisted, slightly put off that I didn’t get to finish my song.

“. . . What?” May asked as if she couldn’t believe I was still stuck on the song.

Failing to answer her, I threw my hands up in the air and did a nifty little twirl.

“Ohhhh~myyyy~God! We’re in Mauville freakin’ City! Bum Bum Bum!” I finished in quite the impromptu manner.

My companions merely looked at me in disbelief before, much to my surprise . . .

Max clapped dryly.

“Congrats, Delaney. You’ve successfully wasted precious seconds of my life. -_-*”

“Max – you’re not even ten yet, I’m pretty sure every second of your life is a waste . . .”

May replied, thoroughly sending the pair of siblings into a heated argument and myself into a wave of amused laughter.