Oh, He's a Poet All Right.

Dawn had been pleasantly surprised when they ran into each other in Mauville City; more so when he had asked her out on a date.

He was doing some research project, near route 111. Apparently, some old fossils of the ancient Pokémon, Lileep and Anorith, had been found.

She, well, she working on getting her third Hoenn ribbon. The next contest was in a week or so in Verdanturf Town. Luckily, it was less than 10 miles away from Mauville, and she could easily be there in two days. She had time to spare.

Ash had always said Gary was quite the lady killer, claiming he used to have a pack of cheerleaders following him around in Kanto and Johto. She had laughed that notion off—she was quite sure Ash was exaggerating, as usual. She had to admit, though, Gary was quite the charmer, and he was an expert when it came to knowing how to treat a lady.

"Shut up," Dawn giggled. "You can't be serious."

"Oh yeah," Gary smiled. "It's true. That Aerodactyl was almost the death of me. It was a big turning point for me, but man…"

They laughed again; Dawn was totally at ease. Initially, she had been very shy about it all, fidgeting in her seat and tugging at the end of her skirt, but he'd managed to get her to relax.

"Oh, by the way," Gary began, suddenly changing the subject. "I wanted to let you know, I wrote a poem while on the way here, just for you.

"No way. Didn't you spend forever insisting you weren't a poet?"

"Psh, I'd gladly become a poet for you," he said, winking at her, and she died a little inside—in a good way. He was so cute. "You want me to read it?"

"Is that even a question? Of course!"

"All right," Gary smirked as he pulled a scrap piece of paper of out his jacket. "Ahem! OK, here we go:

Charmanders are red.
Squirtles are blue.
If you were a Pokémon, Dawn,
I'd certainly choose you."

Dawn went from flushed to pink to red within a matter of seconds, and buried her face in her hands, embarrassed but beyond flattered. She was internally screaming, which was so unlike her; she normally didn't get woozy around guys, but Gary had a certain kind of magic. Maybe the rumor that hordes of girls had followed him around in Kanto and Johto was true.

"T-That's really, really adorable," she finally managed to stammer out. What was wrong with her?

"You like it?"

"I love it. Thank you."

"Good. I hoped it'd make you happy." He took another sip of his coffee, and she mimicked him. She was so pleased with how well this seemed to be going; she was really enjoying herself, and he seemed to be enjoying himself, too.

The first wasn't even over, and she was already hoping there would be a second date.