"You know, Misty, if the world was suddenly overrun by zombies…I'd protect you."

And thus began another humid summer night. Ash had decided to stay home for a few months to spend time with his mother and friends who no longer traveled with him. Too hot and sticky to be outside, Ash and Misty were lying next to each other on the floor of his bedroom staring at the glow in the dark stickers on the ceiling.

She sighed and chose to ignore his strange statement, "We could go outside and look at the stars. The real stars."

"It's too hot," Ash whined, "Besides, Prof Oak and Mom mapped the sky out on my ceiling. It's exactly the same, just with A.C."

"That's true," Misty paused for a moment, "Look, it's the big dipper." she pointed up at a dipper shaped cluster.

"I think the big dipper is my favorite constellation," he commented absentmindedly.

His friend was confused, not only was it a random statement, but she wasn't aware that Ash knew words like constellation, "Why?"

Ash shrugged, "Dunno, just is."

"That's weird," it was her automatic response, but she felt his body sag next to her and felt she needed to ammend her statement, "But…whenever I'm outside and you're gone I always look up at the stars and feel happier. I like to know that no matter how far away we are from each other, we're looking at the same sky. It makes me feel close to you."

"Oh." It was all he could think of to say, it wasn't very often that she said something heartfelt and he didn't know how to respond.

"Now, whenever I see the big dipper, I'll think of you."

The couple fell into an easy silence, both staring up at the same fake sky. Ash reached over slightly intertwining his fingers in hers as she smiled into the darkness.

"I meant what I said earlier, about the zombies," he commented.

"I know you did."

"Even if I had to shoot my own zombie mother, I'd do it…for you,"

Misty knew that it was sweet. Ash had a hard time voicing his feelings and this was just his way, but she had to tease him a little, "You were watching Shaun of the Dead again weren't you?"

"Yeah, I love that movie."

"I know you do…" she sighed, maybe she'll just be nice this time.