Red lights flashed from an anonymous source. The alarming accent became terrifying as the cave began to tremble and quake. Large rocks and boulders dislodged themselves from the wall's cracks, tumbling down to the surface and shattering on impact. A faint roar was heard in the distance, echoing louder as it traced itself against the narrow halls and widened openings. Monstrous sounds similar to gigantic footsteps tumbled and crashed towards the main crevice of the red-lit caverns.

Two figures stood at the area's center, readying themselves for the incoming threat.

Standing firmly to face the challenge, a female covered in shards of diamond and precious metals swiftly compared and contrasted her held swords – seeking the perfect weapon. "I have a good idea of what's coming. So make sure you do everything I say and we'll get out of this alive. Got it?"

"Uh huh." the other responded with nervous doubt. Dressed in a suit of varying blues, the male scanned their surroundings with worry. "Are you sure it's better that we don't run from this one? We're running low on… well, everything."

The female glared at him angrily. "And where would we run off to, Ash? It took us two hours just to get this far in. There's no chance we would make it out of here in time! Besides, we wasted all our rations because you kept asking to take breaks! So it's your fault we're running low!"

Ash waved his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! I'm sorry! I'm just… I just wasn't used to this. I'm a Trainer, not a hero. Having to go this far without any pokémon is uncomfortable for me. I'm not really used to fighting by myself."

His apology had no effect on her disappointment. "Or maybe you're just not treating our situation seriously enough. We're saving a village from the threats in this cave, not going on some grand heroic adventure! That makes us hired guards – professionals, not heroes. Second, you're not fighting by yourself. You've got me. So quit trying to run in there as if you've got something to prove!"

The ground shook significantly, knocking the two warriors to the ground. With a deafening bellow, a giant beast of browned red flesh and melted steel armor stumbled into the opening. Its eyes glowed and shifted like magma, its toad-like body flexed and wobbled as if it was a flaring flame, and a terrible heat breathed from its massive mouth. Fury burned in its every being, angered by the intruders of its realm. It stared at the two miniscule creatures before it and growled lowly – shaking the very air itself.

"Wh-What is that thing?!" Ash crawled backwards and was ready to run.

"A Mega Heatran!" the female barked as she jumped to her feet and readied her swords. "Just as I thought. Don't you dare run, Ash! We're taking this thing down!"

"Are you serious? Look at the size of that thing!"

"Big or small, everything has a weakpoint." She pulled out a strange-glassed monocle and placed it up to her eye, peering into the massive creature's form. "There! Its mouth! We need to launch attacks into its mouth when it opens!"

"Attack it with what?! All you have are swords!"

"That's why I'm going to be the bait! You're going to have to blast at its mouth. Wait for my signal."

"You have got to be kidding…"

"HYAAAAAA!" the female warrior roared as she charged forward. Skidding to a halt, she spun and swung her swords repeatedly at the beast's unprotected belly. Her attacks bounced away harmlessly, only succeeding to annoy the creature. Despite this, she continued her onslaught, hoping the repeated strikes would cause a dent to form.

Agitated, the Mega Heatran kicked away the woman with ease. Knocked against a corner and struggling to get to her feet, the warrior was vulnerable – encouraging the Ultra Lava Dome Pokémon to land the finishing blow. Opening its mouth wide, a furious orange and red fire swirled at its center.

"TH-THERE! DO IT NOW, ASH!"

"HERE GOES NOTHING!" Ash twisted his right arm forward and targeted at the Mega Heatran's mouth. A ball of blue Aura formed and grew in size at the end of his palm. "EAT THIS! AURA SPHERE! HRAAA!" With a flex of his senses, he launched the swirl of blue energy towards its intended target and hoped for the best.

The Aura Sphere was snuffed out as it came into contact with the far more powerful Magma Storm, and all hope had snuffed out with it.

"That's not good…"

"Not good at all…"

"Well, it was nice knowing you, Aura Guardian." the female sighed in accepted defeat. "We got pretty far together. It's sad that this is where it all ends…"

"I think we did pretty good, considering…" Ash laughed sadly.

With a burst of terrifying sounds, the Magma Storm released. A tornado of flames engulfed the female and quickly spread throughout the area, swallowing and incinerating all that had been unfortunate enough to exist within the Mega Heatran's vicinity. The two cried out in desperation as they vanished into a spray of dust and ash.

In their defeat, a dark melody played and a draining font blinked the words 'GAME OVER' repeatedly across the screen.

Ash and Giselle sighed in unison and dropped their controllers.

…

"Well, I still had fun." Ash laughed. "And I think that's the furthest I've gotten in that game."

"I've gotten further." the Tech Student bragged as she shrugged her shoulders. "…but that was with Joe." she grumbled her last words.

"Oh yeah! Joe! I remember him! Where is he now?"

"…dating some pretty exchange student…"

"Haha, nice. He's gained some confidence, huh?"

Giselle frowned in irritation as she turned off the television. "Yes. Enough to dump his girlfriend that's been helping him out for years with his studies."

"He had a girlfriend before this one?"

"You're pretty dense, aren't you?" she growled and tilted her head towards a collection of photographs on her room's wall – many of them featuring her and the male student smiling and laughing together. "I was the girlfriend he dumped."

Ash's eyes widened in shock. "Y-You?! …Isn't he a little young for you?"

Her face blinked pink, embarrassment quickly passing in reaction to his surprise. "Doesn't matter. We're not dating anymore. Ever since he got further than me in our last League Entrance, he's been acting as if he's too good for me. Tch. He wouldn't be what he is if it weren't for me."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that he treated you like that. He seemed like a nice kid."

"Yeah. I thought he was too."

…

Giselle sat up and straightened her back. She turned towards Ash and smiled. "Anyways, thanks for agreeing to play the game with me today. It's something I always did with Joe on the first day of summer vacation. It became a sort of tradition to see how far the both of us could go without any saves. But the jerk didn't want to do it with me this time. I mean, I know we're not a couple anymore, but we could at least continue it as friends."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Sorry, I'm making this about me again. I'm just glad you had fun. And really, I'm thankful that you took time away from your badge-earning to hang out with me just for today."

Ash waved away her apologies and gratitude, and returned her smile. "It's okay. I decided to take the season off anyways. Wasn't doing so well this time around…" his words trailed off in self-disappointment. He stared down at Pikachu at petted his sleeping body. "By the way, why did you invite me to play with you? You could have asked anyone else to come over, right?"

"Yeah, I could have." The Pokémon Tech student pulled herself to her feet and sat on her bed. "But I saw you on a Tourney a few weeks ago on the news. And I thought, 'Hey, I haven't seen whats-his-face in a long time. Why not catch up with him?'" She shrugged. "So I called you. And to my surprise, becoming a big name in the League hasn't changed you a bit. Agreeing to spend a day to play a silly video game with a small-time like me? I'm honored, really."

"Big name?" He scratched at his nose in nervous questioning. "I'm the one that's a small-time. I haven't beaten a single Pokémon League yet… which is pretty embarrassing."

"Humble too. Cute."

Ash's face turned pink. Leaning down, he picked the sleeping pikachu from the floor and placed it on his shoulder. "A-Anyways, it was fun playing with you, Giselle. We should do it again sometime." He nodded as he adjusted his cap. Turning, he headed for the door.

"Wait."

His hand froze at the knob. "Yeah?"

"I'm…" Giselle timidly stared down, playing with the creases on her skirt. She realized that her confidence wasn't brimming like it usually was, and disappointingly blamed it towards her breakup. But I'm not going to let that keep me down. With a push of her will, she continued her sentence, "…hungry. You want to… go out for lunch, maybe?"

Ash stiffened at the request. "L-Lunch?" Why is she asking me out for lunch? This isn't a… His thoughts ended blankly, refusing to go further. Though the Pokémon Trainer was well-aware of his previous crush for the undeniably beautiful girl, his experience throughout his most recent travels had made him uncaring and wary of any curious ideas outside of friendship. The very possibility of having a relationship, whether serious or simply out of infatuation, was a troubling prospect for him.

I'm already having a hard time staying focused on my goal of becoming a Pokémon Master. I don't have time to think about this stuff… Besides, why would she…? His thoughts ended blankly once again, forced to a halt by his instincts.

"Yeah…" Giselle nodded. "Just a lunch. Nothing fancy. I'll pay if you want."

"Um, sure." He turned towards her and smiled strangely, nerve-wracked at the situation. In all his denial, he was convinced that he was doing this out of friendliness and nothing more. "But I can pay! Or – Or you can pay, if you want. Or – Or we can both pay? Whatever works. Where do you want to eat?"

His awkward smile and response gave her an aggressive sense of confidence. She looked up at him curiously. "Anywhere's fine. You pick. Preferably somewhere out of town? I want to try a new place."

"New place…?" Ash mumbled to himself as he pulled out a pocket book. He ruffled through several of its pages, deep in thought. "I think there's…"

Giselle raised her brow and held back a scoffing laugh. "You need a guide book for Kanto? I thought you lived here."

"I do. I just… I haven't been here in forever." he admitted quietly. "I had to buy a new map just to remember how to get here in the first place."

She eyed him in interest, wondering of his journeys and adventures of his time outside of Kanto. "Well-traveled. Another bonus." she noted audibly to herself.

Her insinuation made Ash's cheeks flare red. He continued to bury his attention into his held pocket book. "Th-There's a restaurant in Saffron City that I've been meaning to try. Sabrina, the Gym Leader there, wanted to show me the place a few times when I visited Kanto before."

"Experience with older women? Intriguing."

Ash nearly fell over. "I-IT'S NOTHING LIKE THAT!"

Giselle simply laughed at his reaction. He's really cute… "I'm just teasing you. Let's go with that restaurant then. I'm starving." With a cheerful skip, she playfully wrapped her arms around his elbow and leaned against his shoulder – curiously snuggling against Pikachu's fur. "Lead on, Mr. Ketchum. I expect to be treated well, but equally. So I'll be helping with the payment, if you don't mind."

"O-Okay." he stuttered as his skin burned pink in response to her closeness.

As the two walked stiffly out of the room and down the stairs, the Pokémon Tech student casually yelled out, "Mom! Dad! I'll be back! Ash is taking me on a date!"

"I'M WH-WHAT?!"