For The Longest time

Chapter 18: A Clash of Ideals Red Vs Leaf

The sun rose over Pallet town as Red lay in his bed, half asleep.

He rolled over on his back, when suddenly something poked at his cheek "Hmm….five more minutes Pikachu…." He mumbled and pushed the pokemons small hand away.

Pikachu narrowed its eyes and gave Red a small jolt of electricity that made him jump out of bed.

"OWW!" He yelled "OK! I'm up! I'm up!"

Pikachu smiled and jumped on its trainers shoulder "Pika! Pika!" It called out to him.

Red glanced over at his partner, still half asleep "Huh? What was that?" His eyes suddenly widened as he remembered what he was going to do "Oh Right! Leaf! Today's the day!" He exclaimed with glee as he petted his partner on the head "You think I should tell her now?"

Pikachu happily nodded and motioned him towards her door "Ok! Ok!" Red chuckled as he got up "This will be a big surprise to start her day!"

Red then quietly crept to her door and gave it a soft knock "Oh Leaf?" He announced, but there was no answer. Red proceeded to knock on her door again "Leaf? Hello! Time to get up!" He called out, but still there was no response. Red worryingly looked down at Pikachu and then grabbed the door knob "Hey! Decent or not! I'm coming in!"

He opened the door and saw that nobody was there; no Leaf and no jigglypuff.

"I guess…..she went out this morning?" Red stated as he crossed his arms "Strange….she usually tells me if she's going out….."

Pikachu worryingly jumped on Reds shoulder and he petted its head "It's ok, last night I was thinking of making a surprise for her….and since she's out, this is the perfect time to do it! Come on!"

Red ran downstairs and worked on his surprise for a few hours, when he heard a knock on the door.

"That must be her!" He happily thought as he looked over at the door "It's open Leaf! Come In!" Red yelled out.

"Leaf?" A voice responded as the door opened to reveal Blue standing there "Nope! Not her! Just me!" He remarked.

"Oh Blue it's you…." Red greeted with a hint of sadness in his voice "Sorry….I've been waiting for Leaf to get back."

Blue looked at his friend confused "She's not with you? I thought you two were inseparable?"

"She's not tied to me Blue! She can do what she wants!" Red shot back.

"Fair enough." Blue chuckled and then pointed to Reds shirt "What the hell are you doing wearing that stupid apron?"

Red looked down at the white apron around his waist "Cooking! What does it look like I'm doing?" He retorted "I wanted to cook Leaf a fancy meal for tonight….but…well…all I know how to make is cold cereal…and maybe toast….so I'm following a cookbook…"

Blue started to stroke his chin "….that's right! I have seen you make toast before!" He chuckled "You can't butter it! But you can make it!"

Red glared at him "THANKS!"

The two talked for a few minutes before Blue finally brought it up.