Ash X korrina chapter no.5

Ash leaned in closer to the campfire he had created, glancing into a small pot sitting above the flames. He smiled a bit when he saw what was inside. "Alright, the water's boiling. Now we can start cooking."

He heard an encouraging murmur from his Pikachu from down at his feet, lightly praising him for the admittedly meager cooking accomplishment. The Pokémon continued eating his own bowl of food as Ash reached into his backpack, pulling out a wrapped bag filled with dried pasta noodles. He used his hands to measure out roughly a third of the pasta, before dropping it into the pot. Another figure, sitting on the opposite side of the campfire, leaned in and watched it boil.

"So how long is this going to take?" Korrina asked curiously.

"About ten minutes," he answered, sitting back. "Until there's no more white in the middle of the noodles, and then… maybe another few seconds after that." She nodded and leaned back, hungrily focused on the pot as it cooked their dinner.

This was Ash and Korrina's first day of traveling together, as they both made their way to Camphrier Town from Lumiose City. This was the first time they had both been going in the same direction at the same time, and they had leaped at the chance to travel together for once. They joked about how often they were running into each other now, but in truth, both of them were subconsciously changing their travel plans in small ways, in order to ensure that they would keep seeing each other. This unwitting coordination meant that they would be together all the way until their gym battle in Shalour City, for Ash's eighth and final badge.

After leaving Lumiose City early that morning, the two of them had set up camp on Route 5 just as the sun was setting, and let their Pokémon out for fresh air. Korrina's Lucario and her recently-evolved Mienshao were sitting cross-legged on the ground, meditating, while her muscular Machoke was doing push-ups. Ash's Froakie had quickly evolved into a Frogadier, having gained plenty of battle experience before joining the trainer's team, and he was now eating next to Pikachu. The egg that Ash had found had hatched into a bat-like Noibat, and the young Pokémon was now following around Fletchinder like a lost puppy, wanting lessons on improving his flying skills.

"So what do we do with the noodles once they're done?" Korrina asked.

Ash cocked his head and looked back at her. "We… eat them? What do you mean?"

"Just by themselves?" she clarified. "Noodles and some salt? We're not going to add anything?"

He shook his head. "I never really learned how to cook all that well. Noodles and rice are pretty much all I can do."

"Really?" She sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. "You traveled through five and a half regions and you never learned anything else?"

"I was traveling with people who already knew how to cook really well," he insisted, in his defense. "Brock and Cilan made awesome food, so I never had to learn how to make anything myself. I didn't even know how to boil noodles until I got here. I nearly starved on the way to Santalune City."

"Huh…" She continued watching the pot for a few moments, until her eyes suddenly lit up. "Well, the best way to learn is to try, right?" She sat up on her knees and turned around to reach for her backpack, unzipping it and starting to rifle through its contents.

"Try?" He sat up as well, craning his neck to try and see what she was looking for. "Try what?"

"Try cooking, of course!" She pulled out a carrot, a potato, and a sheathed knife. "We can fancy this meal up right now."

He blinked in surprise. "Wait, when did you get all those?"

"Before we left," she answered, setting her bag aside. "I have more. I thought some veggies would make good snacks, but I bet they'll be great here, too!"

He felt a grin spread across his face. "Sounds good to me!" He scooted closer to the pot and watched as she unsheathed the knife. "Have you done this before?"

"No, but I've watched people cook before. How hard can it be?" She rested the carrot on the edge of the pot with one hand, using the other to chop increasingly large slices off the end so that they fell into the water with the pasta. She proceeded to do the same with the potato, cutting much larger discs out of it, with greater difficulty.

"There, that's in." She dipped the knife into the water, swirling it around to clean the carrot residue off of it, before setting it on top of its sheath. "Do you have any other seasoning we can use?"

"All I have is salt."

"Hm… I guess we should add some more salt to season these veggies," she surmised. "That sounds right, doesn't it?" Ash shrugged, not having any reason to disagree, and he reached for the plastic tub of salt he had brought with him. He peeled the top off of it and pinched some salt between his fingers, adding several pinches to the crowded pot. The two of them watched in anticipation as the ingredients all cooked together, trying to imagine the flavorful dish that awaited both of them when it was done.

Once the noodles were to his satisfaction, Ash used the lid of the pot to strain the water out of it, as Korrina grabbed two plastic plates from his bag, along with forks. Soon, each of them was sitting with a full plate of pasta on their laps, nearly salivating, ready to dig in.

"This looks great!" Ash looked back at his companion with excitement in his eyes. "Thanks for this, Korrina!"

She grinned back at him. "Come on, let's dig in!" They both wound some pasta around their forks, spearing a vegetable for good measure, before eagerly placing their forkfuls in their mouths. Both of them instantly froze, not moving, not chewing, not looking up to meet the other's eyes. After recovering from the shock, and summoning their resolve, both of them started to chew their food, battling against tough, half-boiled vegetables and an onslaught of salt. With difficulty, they managed to swallow their mouthfuls, finally looking back at each other.

"Well, it's… flavorful," Ash offered, reaching for some sort of positive feedback.

"Hah…" Korrina slumped forward, a defeated and embarrassed look on her face. "I guess cooking is harder than it looks."

They both took a moment to work up the strength to continue, forcing the overly salty food into their stomachs until they had eaten as much as they could stand.

One hour later, both of them were in their pajamas, climbing into their sleeping bags; they weren't quite ready to sleep, but talking to each other while they were both in bed was something they had gotten used to over the past couple of months. Ash was lying on his side, Pikachu curled up next to him, watching as Korrina took her hair out of its ponytail, letting it spill out behind her.

"How do you take care of all that hair?" he asked, unable to stop himself.

"Very carefully," she answered matter-of-factly. "Washing it takes a while, I can tell you that." She took the three hair ties that had been holding her ponytail in place, and started wrapping them around her hair in order to keep it bunched up as it was before.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You took it down just to wrap it up again?"

"I took the ponytail out so I could lie on my back." She held her hair in front of her as she applied the second hair tie. "But I don't want it getting too dirty, so I'm keeping it tied up. If I were at a Pokémon Center in a bed, I'd just leave it out."

"Right…" He kept his eyes on her as she applied the final hair tie, before kneeling down and starting to slide into her sleeping bag. "It seems kind of like a lot of work to take care of it."

"Eh." She shrugged. "It's not that bad when you get used to it. And I like how it looks."

He grinned at her. "I do, too."

"Thank you, Ash." She smiled back at him as she rested her head on her pillow, before changing the subject. "So, do you think you're ready to take on Grant in Cyllage City?"

"I think so, but I'm still going to do a lot of training anyway," he answered. "Frogadier's the only Pokémon I have with a type advantage. For the rest of them, it's an uphill battle."

She nodded. "Sounds like the fight you had in Coumarine City, where Fletchinder carried the team."

"Pretty much. Frogadier's going to do great, but I need to make sure all of my Pokémon can do well against Rock-types. Otherwise, if Frogadier gets knocked out, I'm just going to embarrass myself."

"Well, we can't have that." She smirked at him. "I'd never let you live it down if that happened."

Ash snorted. "I don't need you teasing me any more than you do now."

She giggled. "You had better win, then. And after that, you and I are finally going to have our battle in Shalour City."

"I know!" His eyes were shining with excitement. "I can't wait. I've been thinking about it since my gym battle against Clemont."

"Me, too," she replied, grinning from ear to ear. "I've been planning battle strategies in my head all this time. I keep trying to imagine how my Pokémon will fare against yours."

He chuckled, turning to lie on his back. "You might be taking this more seriously than I am."

"What, are you surprised?" she shot back.

"Nah. That's just what I would expect from you." He let his eyes droop for a moment. "You really want to make sure you beat me, huh?"

"I want you to win."

His eyes shot open, not sure he heard her correctly. "Wait, what? You want me to beat you?"

She nodded, eyes locked on his. "I want us both to have the best Pokémon battle we've ever had, and when it's over, I want to give you a Rumble Badge. And then I want you to take on the Kalos League and win it all."

"You… mean it?" He found himself at a loss for words. The sincerity of her words, and the intensity of her belief in him, was flustering him somewhat. He could feel his heart beating a bit faster.

"Absolutely." Her smile shifted to a grin. "But if you want to beat me, you're going to have to earn it. So you had better not let me down, got it?"

He grinned back, energy suddenly coursing through him at her words. "No problem. If you believe in me that much, there's no way I can lose!"

The two gazed into each other's eyes silently for a few moments, letting themselves bask in their mutual respect and admiration, before the conversation returned to the Cyllage City Gym, and Ash's strategy for battling Grant.

Late that night, Korrina felt herself stirring, shaken out of a deep sleep by what sounded like crunching leaves. She let out a light groan as she rolled onto her side from her stomach, letting her eyes open just a crack. Looking around, she was able to confirm that it was still the middle of the night, and that she had no business being awake.

She grumbled and let her eyes droop, internally cursing whatever Pokémon had to walk by and wake her up. Before her eyes closed all the way, however, she was able to spot something moving in the trees beyond their campsite. She could barely make out the shape of it, as its dark-colored body was blending in well with the darkness of the forest at night. The only thing she could clearly see was a pair of ice-blue antlers, looking like a crown or a chandelier atop the Pokémon's head.

She squinted at the figure in the darkness, trying to remember where she had seen a picture of this Pokémon in the past, before her eyes suddenly shot open wide. She immediately sat up, her heart pounding, as she tried to get a better look, wanting to get a better look at the Pokémon's frame. This couldn't possibly be who she thought it was, could it? Could she really be in the presence of one of Kalos's legendary guardians?

An idea flashed through her head like a bolt of lightning, and she scrambled over to Ash's bag and started digging through it. She worked frantically, not bothering to keep quiet; if she really was seeing who she thought she was seeing, Ash would want to wake up and see it anyway. She finally found what she was looking for, pulling out Ash's red Pokédex triumphantly. She aimed it at the mysterious Pokémon in the forest and opened it up like a book, ignoring the piece of paper that fell out as it opened. The screen lit up brightly, and she winced and closed her eyes at the painful light, as the device tried to identify the creature in front of her.

"Data unavailable," the Pokédex reported.

She paused for a moment, not expecting that answer. The Pokédex should have been able to recognize any Pokémon that existed in Kalos, rare or otherwise. After a second, her tired brain recognized the mistake she had made: she had grabbed Ash's Kanto Pokédex instead, which would naturally have no information about the legendary guardians of Kalos. She bit off a cry of frustration as she put the device down, lunging for the bag again and searching for the square-shaped, metal-and-glass device she recognized.

After another second of searching, she managed to dig it up, and she turned to aim it at the creature with the ice-blue antlers. Unfortunately, the Pokémon had turned and was starting to gallop away, seemingly startled by the voice of the first Pokédex. She panicked and sat up more, extending her arms, trying to get the Pokédex as close as she could, in hopes of confirming the sighting. Her efforts were in vain, however, as the Pokémon vanished into the darkness of the forest before the machine could identify it.

Korrina groaned again as the creature fled from her sight, lowering the Pokédex. She had no chance of chasing after it at this point; even if she could navigate the forest in the dead of night, the sound of her running was certain to alert the Pokémon and cause it to run away even faster. She'd missed her one and only opportunity, by stupidly grabbing the wrong Pokédex. She sighed, deeply disappointed in herself, not sure she would ever get this chance again.

After a moment of stewing in her disappointment, she turned back to the bag and placed the Kalos Pokédex in it. She grabbed the other device as well, handling it carefully, remembering how much sentimental value Ash's first Pokédex held for him. As she started to place it in the bag, she remembered that a piece of paper had fallen out of it. She set the machine down for a moment and looked for the paper, placing her hands on the ground and trying to feel for it. She soon felt it underneath her fingers, and she carefully grasped it and lifted it up, intending to put it where she had found it.

As she moved to put the slip of square paper back into the Pokédex, her curiosity got the better of her. She brought the paper closer to her face, wondering what was so important that he had to store it with such an invaluable item. Grabbing the Pokédex again, she opened it up and aimed the screen at the paper, bathing it in a soft blue light. When she saw what it was, she had to suppress a gasp. In her right hand was the photograph of herself and Ash from the Lumiose City fair.

She could feel her heart swelling as she stared at the photograph, eyes running it over and over to make sure she wasn't simply seeing things. The image, however, was unmistakable. It was the photograph of just the two of them, no Pokémon in sight, each of them with one arm around the other, the blush clear in both of their faces. This was the picture that Ash had chosen to store inside one of the most important and sentimental things he owned. She covered her mouth with her other hand, overcome with emotion, needing a moment to regain her composure.

She eventually felt a wide smile spread across her face, lowering her hand and grasping the Pokédex once again. She carefully placed the photograph back where she had found it, closing the device gently, not wanting to bend or damage the picture. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she placed the machine back into Ash's bag, her heart soaring.

As she turned back toward her bag, her eyes drifted over her travel companion as she slept, and she paused, watching him for a few moments. She could feel an enormous rush of affection for him, clasping her hand over her heart. After a minute, she scooted over next to him and leaned in close, leaving a gentle kiss on his cheek before sitting back up. She was beaming as she crawled back to her sleeping bag and slipped inside, her racing heart not allowing her to go back to sleep for several minutes.