Ash had woken up to some bizarre sights in his time.

There was the one time where Pikachu had gotten into May's makeup kit. Both Ash's face and wallet had suffered a severe beating that day. Then there was May trying to make pancakes. It had taken him two hours to scrape them off the ceiling. He wasn't even going to go into the incident where he'd left a wonderful dream to be greeted with his girlfriend trying on a Gengar Halloween costume.

Yet even after all of that, he hadn't been expecting May's face glued to the window.

She was still dressed in her pyjamas. Her hair pointed in all directions. She was shivering gently, but heat didn't seem to be a concern of hers right now. Her head moved back and forth, as if searching for something hidden from sight. Her hands pushed against the glass, to the point where Ash thought she might slip through the transparent window.

"May?" he finally spoke up, slipping out of bed and sitting by her side, "What's up?"

She finally broke away from the window, grinning briefly at the (undoubtedly) rough morning face of her boyfriend. The coordinator tapped the floor beside her, inviting Ash to sit. He did so, immediately pulling her head onto his shoulder.

"You're up early," the trainer pointed out, "Pokéball for your thoughts?"

She didn't reply at first, only wrapping a pair of arms around Ash. Her gaze had turned back to the window, eyes continuing to look for… something. Yet as much as the raven-haired teen tried to figure it out, he couldn't spot it. Just what was she searching for?

Before Ash could ask, she provided the answer:

"There hasn't been much snow, has there?"

Ahh, there it was.

Snow. Light, fluffy flakes that fell from the heavens and somehow made life a million times better. Sure, they'd had to fight through a snowstorm about a month ago, but since then there'd been nothing. And they certainly hadn't had the chance to enjoy it beforehand. Believe it or not, snowstorms weren't the best place to throw snowballs at each other.

"I guess not," Ash agreed, "still, winter isn't over yet."

Still, they were halfway through. The deadline was fast approaching. If another batch of white didn't arrive soon, Ash wasn't certain it would come at all. And May loved snow more than anything. Maybe even more than himself.

Okay, maybe he wasn't certain about that last one.

Either way, he wasn't going to leave her like this. He had to do something to stick a smile back on her face. If he left her by the window, he knew she'd end up feeling sad all day. He had to take her mind away from what might not happen.

And he had just the idea for it.

"How does pancakes and a hot chocolate sound?"

"You're pretty good at this," May grinned as she sipped from her mug, the plate in front of her bearing no signs that two stacks of pancakes had inhabited it not a few moments ago.

"It's easy. You just have to avoid sticking them to the ceiling."

She stuck her tongue out at that, to which Ash replied by flicking some batter in her direction. May slipped under the attack, closing the distance between her and Ash. Face-to-face with her boyfriend, there were several avenues Ash knew she should take. She could hug him. Kiss him. Rub his hair. All of the above.

May went with option five: a pancake to the face.

Ash immediately staggered backwards. Maple syrup glued the food item to his face. As the raven haired trainer attempted to remove it, he felt the downpour of pancake batter slip down his face, shirt and many other places.

And so, the battle was on.

The Battle of Ash's Kitchen was a remarkable conflict, one still talked about a hundred years after its time. It was said the stains of battle remained weeks after, and that General Ash could never truly remove the flour stains from his pyjamas. Many pancakes joined the ones left by Lady May on the ceiling, and many trips to the store were needed to replenish the stores of maple syrup.

"That was quite the battle," Ash grinned, to which May slapped him with the towel she was using to dry her hair. The two were seated in their living room. The TV was on, but the attention directed towards it was minimal.

"I think it's fair to say I won it," May replied. Although Ash could provide her with fifty-two and a half reasons as to why that was false, he decided to let her have the victory. She was in such a happier mood. There was no chance he was taking that away.

Sure, it was a shame the snow had come and gone. But there was always next year. And the year after. And the year after that. And each time it refused to visit, Ash Ketchum would always be there to provide hot chocolate and an amazing food fight if ever his girlfriend felt down.

"Hey Ash… look!"

He moved over to the window, where like before, May had her face pressed against the glass.

"What is it Ma-"

The words caught in his throat, and a grin formed on his face.

Snow. Tiny droplets of frozen water at first, only to quickly form into a powerful downpour of white petals. In less than the span of a minute, the pavement was painted a soft, clear color and the cars lined up along the street were buried. Not a few seconds later, Ash and May had both dashed outside.

In theory, heading outside in nothing but your pyjamas and socks with snow pouring down probably isn't the best idea if you're concerned about your health or general sanity for that matter. But it quickly became apparent that the couple making snowmen, throwing snowballs and enjoying all that the winter times had to bring, honestly couldn't care less about a little bit of cold.

Xannytoes: I thought a nice contrast from the evils of winter would be good for this chapter. Rather than trying to escape the cold, here they're looking to embrace it. Thanks for reading :)