The next day started exactly how Ash wanted and needed it to. After heading out of the house for the day, he stopped by Kimberly's house a few doors down. Ash hasn't known Kimberly for that long, as she had only moved to Ember City around the time Ash was eight years old. Kimberly is a year younger than Ash, but that didn't stop them from becoming the best of friends.
He knocked on her door and took a step back while he waited for her to come to the door. He could hear some stumbling noise from inside, and in a few seconds, Kimberly opened the door and greeted Ash with a smile. "Morning Ash! So, your new friend showin' up today?" she asked him.
"She actually came by after you left. Well, maybe not immediately, but she still agreed." he explained to her, looking at her with a normal expression. "So, shall we get going?" he asked her.
"Yeah, let's get going." Kimberly said, closing the front door behind her and taking Ash's hand before pulling him along at a run. This was a normal occurrence, ever since they were kids in fact, but Ash never minded it one bit. In fact, he took it as a sign that Kimberly was really in a cheerful mood. He smiled a little and followed along as best as he could without overtaking her.
After a while of running, they reached the train station to wait for a train that would take them directly to the park. They were both huffing slightly because of all the running, but they just looked at each other and laughed it off. As the train pulled up, they stepped into a slightly empty train car, with the exception of a couple of people in there. They sat down next to each other, and the train departed.
A few minutes into the train ride, Kimberly moved to the seat opposite Ash and started speaking. "Hey, isn't your birthday coming up?" she asked him. Ash looked at her, as his gaze was directed at the city from the window. He smiled a little and nodded in response.
"Yeah, that's right." he said. "Why do you ask?" Kimberly thought for a few seconds before shrugging.
"Well, I haven't done any present shopping yet, so I figured maybe we can go search for something together. I obviously won't buy anything while you're around, but you can give me ideas, yeah?" she explained then asked.
"Yeah, that'd be fun to do." Ash said to her, to which she nodded then looked out the window.
"Oh look, we're nearly there! Come on, get up!" Kimberly quickly shot up from her seat and rushed over to the train door. Ash got up and followed her at a casual pace. The doors opened as the train slowed to a stop, and they both stepped onto the platform.
Ash sat there waiting on the park bench for Pyre, while Kimberly remained standing and keeping a look out for someone that looked like how Ash described them to look. This gave Ash some time to think on his own. 'This whole thing is kind of a mess, but at the same time... it feels kind of awesome that this happened. I actually feel like I can be put to good use besides being late to school all the time.'
"What'cha thinking about, Ash?" came the sound of a voice he'd been waiting to hear. He turned around in his seat to find Pyre standing there in an entirely different attire to the firefighter outfit. It was a more simple attire, consisting of a black and red striped t-shirt and black jeans with sneakers.
"Nothing much, just thinking about whether you lied to me or not." Ash joked, then stood up as Kimberly turned back to see her as well. She smiled at Pyre, going over to her first and holding her hand out to her.
"Hi, I'm Kimberly. And you must be Pyre, if what Ash said was true." Kimberly said, looking back at Ash with a mischievous smile.
"Hey, don't discredit everything I tell you." he joked back, walking over to the two and standing next to both of them. "So, Pyre, this is Kimberly, obviously. And Kimberly, this is Pyre, again obviously." They all had a small laugh before Pyre decided to speak up.
