#so blegh

“I heard you were at Kiawe’s Yesterday,” Ash blinked slowly, lazily setting his gaze on Mallow as she scooted a plate of Curry to him. “He told me that his mom and dad were raving about you for hours.” 

“Was that before or after they had me doing physical labor,” He leaned back, wincing as his shoulders burned in agony. “I’m so sore!” 

Pikachu snickered at his side, crawling over him and letting his electricity dance across his skin for the briefest of moments, pulling away to dart across the floor. 

“Yeah, they’ll do that.” Mallow grinned at him, pulling up the chair across from him as he started to eat. “All of us except Soph have done at least one chore. He always draws the long straw- how coincidental.” 

He snorted, leaning away from his plate and rolling his eyes. The lil genius was also, evidently, a little cheat. 

“I can see that,” Ash chuckled, eyes rolling as he took another spoonful. 

He then pointed the empty spoon at Mallow, watching the girl’s green eyes cross to look at it. 

“What’s up?” a pause, and he swallowed, waving the spoon around as mallow followed the object with her eyes. “I feel like you have a question.” 

Ash pulled back, watching Mallow’s eyes trace the spoon for one final moment before looking at him, giving him a few rapid nods as she placed both her hands onto the table. 

“A couple.” She admitted, her right hand dragging over to her left, fingers tracing her knuckles as her eyes continued to bore into him. “I wanted to wait for you to finish eating first.” 

“Nah, go ahead,” He rotated the spoon lazily, already scooping up more rice and curry. “It’s easier while you have me sitting.” 

She paused, before inhaling loudly and pulled her hands away from each other.  

“Kiawe... Well,” She started off unsure, looking away from Ash as onto the table like a scorned child. “He let us know that you had a bruise from the whole fight thing... I wanted to know if you were, okay? If you needed any help?” 

“I’m fine,” Ash shot off quickly, pausing and watching her wilt slightly. “I appreciate the offer, really, it’s just... I dunno, it'll fade really fast. I promise.”

 Mallow still looked a touch dejected, rubbing her upper arm sheepishly. 

 “I get it,” Mallow's hand curled against her forearm. “But you don't need to be scared if you are.”

 Okay something was definitely up, and while Ash was curious, he refrained from asking. 

 For now, anyway. 

 “I’m not,” Ash grinned, shrugging one shoulder aimlessly. “What was your other question?” 

If she was thrown off with the way he brushed it off, she didn’t mention it. This time, Mallow looked shy, hesitantly standing up and splaying her hands out as if she were telling him to stay or to calm down. 

“One moment,” the Green haired teen grinned, already rushing off to the front counter and practically bodily throwing herself over it. 

Ash watched, blinking as her legs flailed for a moment before she practically threw herself back onto the floor, wiggling off the counter as she held a piece of paper in her hands. 

“This!” She held it proudly in her hands, like a trophy she just won at the 4th grade science fair. 

“Amazing.” And Ash paused, squinting to try and see the finer text from where she was standing. “What is it?” 

“This,” Mallow repeated, taking quick strides around the tables to place in front of him. “Is the Pancake race.” 

“Pancake?” Pikachu perked up, squealing in outrage when the Bounsweets’ slammed into him. 

“Pancake race?” He pulled the page in front of him, eyes tracing the oddly familiar girl and a Pokémon that looked strangely like a Deddene but… Yellow and big? Maybe a Raichu? “Like an eating contest?” 

 “Nope!” the green haired student chirped back, moving to forward with one foot before dashing back to the kitchen. “Hold on! I can show you!!” 

“What’s the point of a pancake race if you can’t eat it?” Rowlet chirped, sticking his feathery little head outside the bag. “Pancakes are the sweet food we eat in the morning, right?”

“You can use em for racing!” Mallow’s Bounsweet countered, looking at Rowlet, then Pikachu, before eyeing up Ash. “It’s really fun!” 

“I don’t doubt it Bounsweet.” Ash grinned, reaching down and gently brushing his fingers underneath her leaves. “Mallow seems so excited about it.” 

“Mhmm! She’s been talking about it for a week now since the announcement came up!”  

“How come we never heard of it?” His own Bounsweet frowned. 

“Cause Ash is a homebody who trains all the time.” Pikachu nudged his leg, using his tiny little claws to climb up. “Plus, we don’t usually pay attention to posters.” 

“Isn’t a homebody someone who stays at home all the time?” Ash swiped up his plate, sticking his tongue out when Pikachu let out a squeak of annoyance. “Sides I may be able to read just fine, but usually those are always for like… furniture and stuff. I don’t wanna read a poster about a 50% sale on couches, again.” 

 “Posters are meant to show good things.” Rotom cut in, giving Ash a sideways glance. “You should pay attention.” 

“I think I'd rather train.” Ash sniffed, passing a glance back as the door to the kitchen clicked open. 

It was almost comical how fast he whipped his head to the side, already standing as Mallow held a decent sized plate of...

“Are those pancakes?” He pointed out lamely, hearing Rotom mimic a facepalm. 

“Yup!” Mallow grinned, already nudging to the front door. “Come on, I’ll show you!” 

He watched as she stepped outside, using her leg to awkwardly hold open the door and do a one-foot shimmy to almost roll her way outside. She gave him a bright-eyed look, her face practically glowing as she made it out successfully. 

“Come on!” 

His Pokémon followed out obediently, with only Pikachu clinging to his shoulder before he sheepishly followed along, making sure to take his plate with him. 

And that’s how he ended up on the Restaurants porch steps, eating curry and watching a Bounsweet balance a large stack of fluffy pancakes on her head. 

Honestly, not the weirdest thing he’s done, but it did feel oddly domestic for his tastes. 

“So, is the race to just balance?” Ash pointed when Bounsweet rushed off to the opposing end. 

“Yup!” Mallow nodded, turning to look at him. “An annual race every year just to win a year’s supply of pancakes.”

“Year Supply?” Pikachu perked up, small ears twitching and brushing Ash’s hair aside. “Satoshi, we must compete.”

“We are not competing for Pancakes.” Ash batted Pikachu away, snorting when the mouse dramatically fell. “How would we even eat all of that?”

And how much was a year’s worth of pancakes anyway? Was it 2 pancakes per day? A stack of pancakes was usually three or four, unless it was the fluffy pancakes which was 2. If they went by the first half...

“Rotom, what’s 365 times 4?” Ash prodded, ignoring Mallow’s odd look as the Dex turned to him.

“365 times 4 is.” Rotom’s screen clicked in place, the numbers appearing in a table like form and very slowly being drawn out with 365 at the top and the 4 being on the bottom left with a tiny little x on the far left. “One thousand four hundred and sixty, even. Why do you ask?”

“See that, that’s too many pancakes.” Ash pointed, glancing at Pikachu who snorted.

“Kabigon can eat like half of that on his own.” the mouse shot back, bouncing off his shoulder and nearly spilling his plate. “With the entire team, I think we can eat it all in a week.”

“Pancakes aren’t as good when they’re reheated.” He jabbed his spoon towards Pikachu’s direction, huffing when the mouse turned his nose at him. “You are all my bad impulses, stop it.”

 “I am all your good choices; you just don’t like listening to me.”

“Hold on a second, I'm a bit lost.” He turned, slightly surprised to see the slightly twisted expression on Mallow’s face. “What do you mean too many pancakes? What am I missing?”

“I have to agree,” Rotom dipped its body, almost like a bow instead of the nod it was aiming for. “Why would you need to reheat the pancakes?”   

“You win a year’s supply if you make it no? How many pancakes are they gonna give you for that, where would you even keep them all?” He paused and pointed at the restaurant behind them. “Do you guys even have a big enough fridge for that?”

“It would fit better in a freezer, no?” Pikachu’s face scrunched up, placing a paw on his chin. “It would keep better too.”

“Not pancakes, freezer burn sucks!”

“Woah, woah, wait.” Mallow crossed her arms, giving him an odd look that Ash mimicked back. “Ash, you do know that a year’s supply of pancakes doesn’t mean you get them all at once, right?”

“Seriously?” He twisted his head, left brow scrunched uncomfortably tight that he had to remember to relax. “Then why call it a year’s supply.”

“That would be due to the nature of how the place see’s it.” Rotom offered, tapping its screen a tad bit impatiently. “It’s illogical for companies to give out an entire year’s worth of product when it comes to consumable items. This particular competition is based off a local restaurant, more than likely offering free pancakes for an entire year every time you enter in and order. This prevents, not only waste, but allows the winner to pace themselves with said consumption so they do not become sick of it.”

“That’s lame.” “What a Scam!”

“It’s how all supply chain’s work with actual food.” Mallow offered. “Unless it’s canned or is prepackaged, this is how it goes. But most of us join just to have fun.”

Ash tilted his head, watching Pikachu’s ears twitch to the right, then droop left.

Oops.

“Neh, it does sound fun.” Ash reassured, eyes moving over from Pikachu to the slightly put out green haired student. “Most of the festivals I've joined are usually items and stuff, I've never really seen one that gives out food... Which would have been hard for me to join anyway. Traveling with a compactor only does so much.”

“You’ve joined other festivals?” Mallow blinked, and it seemed her spark returned as a smile split across her face. “You should think about joining, maybe not for the- eh- pancakes- But you can still have a lot of fun just participating!”

She thrust out her arms, seemingly ignorant of the way both of their Bounsweets knocked into each other, dropping the stack of practice cakes on the floor and smooshing them awkwardly into the dirt.

Ash hid a snort, lips twisting despite his best effort as he glanced at Mallow, giving her an enthusiastic, if angled nod.

“I’ll think about it.” He promised.

---

Thinking about it was the hardest thing Ash had to do.

Okay, maybe not literally, but amidst correcting papers in a worksheet- and having to remember that Unovian spelling wasn’t always the same way it sounded- definitely took up a majority of his brain space.

 Ignoring the fact that Ash wasn’t exactly the best academically, sitting still for hours on end for papers that required all his attention just left so little to think about.

“Is this word misspelled?” Bulbasaur grumbled, pointing at a word that Ash had been debating

“I don't know, Unovian is complicated.” Ash pointed at the word. “Call-oh-nel. Callonel- that's a weird word, what's it even mean?”

 “It’s actually pronounced Ker-nel.” Kukui grinned at him, bearing a shit eating grin with the way Ash deflated on the table.

“But- but there's no r?”

 “Unovian.” Kukui shrugged, as if THAT explained everything.  “What a language we have.”

If Ash wasn’t stressed before- he sure was now, why did it have to all be so complicated?

“I believe, Ash is experiencing a brain break.” Rotom buzzed by his ear, having already read through the paper with ease. “Perhaps a break is in order before he enters a meltdown.”

Kukui snickered, again, sitting up and reaching over to ruffle Ash’s hair. Ash shot him a look, which only made the professor grin even more.

“You look like Torkoal.”

“Come on, let’s go get some brunch,” Kukui offered. “There’s a shop up by the plaza that has great lunch options.”

Ash grumbled, dragging his body off the chair and moved to follow behind the professor, brightening considerably when fresh air hit his face in place of the stuffy stale air of the home.

“Dramatic much?” Rotom buzzed at him, it’s personality beginning to shine more and more as days crawled by. “It is just the outside.”

“I’m a trainer,” Ash argued back, pointing at the floating red Pokémon as it lazily made its way to Kukui’s shoulder. “Being indoors isn’t exactly something I'm used to, you little traitor.”

“You are human, humans are raised indoors.” Rotom shot back, swiveling to squint at him. “You have a natural desire for indoors.”

“I have a desire for indoors.” Pikachu shot back, scrambling up Ash’s legs and onto his rightful shoulder perch. “But I am not human.”

“Circumstantial-”

“I was raised as a starter and, therefore, raised indoors.” Bulbasaur huffed, trotting past them with a side-eye glance back. “But I prefer the outdoors.”

“Again, Circumstantial.” Rotom shot back. “Biology overcomes all-”

“Humans made indoors.” Kukui raised a hand, head tilting to the side and not looking as Rotom swiveled to face him in despair. “Technically, we were born outside and only made a safe place to hide, it’s no different than a den or a cave.”

“It absolutely is- humans-” oh this was too easy.

“Behold!” Ash grabbed Pikachu from his shoulder, fighting back a grin at Pikachu’s squeak of defiance that bled into cackles. “A HUMAN!”

The professor snorted, leaning away from him to try and fight back his cackles as Rotom fumed quietly in his spot. Bulbasaur broke into cackles, curling into himself so that his face was pressed against the floor at an awkward angle.

“That’s not how the quote went!” Rotom wailed at him, a subtle record scratch echoing its tone. “That was cheating!”

“Bold of you to assume I know that.” Ash grinned back at him, tossing Pikachu up once, before letting his partner crawl down his arm and back to his spot. “I heard Professor Oak and Gary talking about that once, Professor won that argument pretty fast.”

He moved down the steps of their beach home, waiting for Professor Kukui to wipe the non-existent tears out of his eyes before the older man moved to follow, breathless laughs escaping him as he tried to pull himself together.

“It wasn’t an argument.” Rotom argued. “I was stating facts.”

“Your facts, my facts, pish posh.” Ash waved a hand, turning to stare at the plastic Pokémon to point at it. “It was wrong, and you just gotta go outside to prove it.”

“That and people experience things differently.” Kukui hummed, breathing out harshly through his nose to center himself. “There are plenty of people that want to stay indoors, but many other that would fight tooth and nail to be outside and stay outside.”

“That makes no logical sense.”

“Living Beings don't make a lot of sense to us yet.” Kukui shot out, taking a left towards the district. “But that’s the joy of being alive. Figuring things out.”

“Radical.” Ash nodded, watching Kukui’s face twist again into a snort.

“I think it’s called Existential.” Pikachu brought up offhandedly.

“Eggs have nothing to do with life.” Bulbasaur shot back, before pausing. “Well- that’s how all creatures are born- so maybe it’s the truth.”

“Is it called Eggs-is-tential because Eggs came first?’

“Even following along both sides of the conversation, I still cannot follow your line of thought,” Rotom grouched, a soft low tone beep echoing its casing. “Do you not think linear?”

“That’s considered rude.” Kukui scolded before Ash could get a word in. “It's not something anyone should say out loud.”

“I think about lines.” Ash countered back, taking a step to Kukui’s left when he turned down a smaller street. “Pokemon move in lines sometimes and their moves follow, it’s easy.”

The Professor opened a door with a hum, almost contemplative as Ash darted under his arm, glancing around the retro-styles restaurant with wide eyes.

The waitress walked up to them with a smile, leading them over to a table and setting down a set of menus before walking away, giving them a moment of hunger filled contemplation as they searched through the menu.

Pancakes, huh? Well, Kukui did say it was a brunch spot...

“This one,” Ash pointed at a hefty stack of pancakes that reminded him the most of Johtonian pancakes.

“Great choice.” Kukui hummed as he set down his own menu. "Pancake sales no doubt go up around this time of year.”

“Why would it go up?” He handed the professor the Menu, blinking curiously when the professor offered a hum.

“That would be due to the Pokémon Pancake Race.” Another Waitress slipped on in, holding up a paper pad and a pen. “With the race just around the corner, pancake sells go up for people looking to practice and eat. What would you two like today?”

Ash blinked again, taking in the red haired lady a bit more than usual.

She seemed so familiar....

“Nina, hey,” Kukui glanced up, dragging the waitress’s attention to him. “He’ll have the Alolan Stack, I’ll take my usual.”

“You got it Professor,” She jotted it down quickly, tossing them both a wink before turning to announce the order loudly to the chef. “One Lola Loa and one Timbur Meal!”

“Uh-” Ash blinked again, watching as she swung back to smile brightly at him. “I feel like i know you from somewhere.”

“Don’t think I've seen you before stranger,” She admitted breezily, but jut out her hand anyway. “The names Nina Loa, Welcome to my diner!”

“Ash.” He reached out to shake her hand, unsurprised by her firm grip as he pulled away. “I guess I’m confusing you for someone else, sorry about that.”

“Confusing, or not, I think we’ve seen her.” Pikachu chittered, one paw under his chin. “I swear we have. Maybe just wandering about?”

“Maybe you saw her on a poster?” Kukui offered, pausing to let the duo turn to her, before he raised a hand to gesture vaguely towards Nina. “With the Pokémon Pancake Race upcoming, she’s been this year’s literal poster child.”

Poster?

Poster.

“OH!” Ash clicked his tongue, slamming a closed fist into his open palm. “You’re the Lady I saw on the poster! That’s why I recognized you!”

She shot him a grin, chin jutted up and eyes closed. The epitome of a proud trainer.

“I figured but didn’t want to assume.” She admitted. “I’ve never seen you on the island before, and when i saw you with Mr. Kukui, I thought that maybe i was too busy at work to notice you hanging around.”

“Ash is my teacher’s assistant.” Ash offered a tiny wave, “He only started this year, but he’s originally from Kanto.”

Her eyes widened, turning to look at him in surprise. Her eyes darted to his face, then to Pikachu at his side.

“Hold on- You're not THE Ash Ketchum, are you?”

“The one and only.” He nodded, watching the Professor tilt his head in confusion and Nina go slackjawed in awe.

“Holy- I need to tell my Fiancé this,” She turned, almost frazzled, before smoothing out her expression, inhaling deeply and letting it go. “Sorry about that, I hadn’t expected it. My Fiancé is from Sinnoh, we know quiet a bit about you.”

“I think this is something i need to ask about later.” Kukui shook his head, near fond when Nina looked away like a chastised child. “Ash, this is Nina, she was Last Years Pokemon Pancake Champion with her Raichu.”

“And don’t you forget it.”  Ash turned, surprised to see the Dedene looking Pokemon float in.

Well- guess now it was confirmed that it was a Raichu and not an evolved Dedene.

“Here are your meals,” Nina cleared her throat, back to smiling sweetly. “This is my pokemon partner, Raichu.”

“He Floats.” Ash blinked dumbly, looking below and then up as Raichu slid his plate in front of him. “Is he a Flying type?”

Psychic Maybe?

“Surfer, maybe water.” Pikachu