No cute intro this time, just straight to the fanfic. ^_^

Announcer: As you may remember, Ash and Co. recently defeated Team Rocket and earned Jessie and James their freedom. However, James was hit by some sharpnel and was hospitalized for a week. Thankfully, he pulled through and is now ready to travel again. As the scene fades in, it is the morning of the day that Ash and Co. have decided to leave for Cinnibar Island.

As she had done every day since beginning her travels with Ash, Erika woke before anyone else. She sighed as she drug herself out of bed. "Why do I have to be the mature one?" she asked herself jokingly. She knew that she was far from being the most mature person in Ash's group. "Then again...none of us are very mature." She shook her head as she headed for the bathroom to take a shower.

After twenty or so minutes in the shower, Erika was fully awake. She then changed into her traveling clothes. 'Time to wake up everyone else,' she thought wearily. She poked Jessica, who was still snoring. "Jessica? Wake up, Jessica," she said. *SNORE* A vein popped out of Erika's head. *BONK* "WAKE UP!" Jessica was awake and rubbing her head. "Ow, what was that for? I was having a great dream," she complained. Erika snorted. "That's what you get for ignoring your first wake-up call," she teased. "Oh, go wake everybody else up and leave me alone," Jessica said as she rolled back over. "Alright, but if you're asleep when I get back..." she let her voice trail off in an implied threat. "Yeah, yeah," Jessica replied without even rolling over to face Erika. She reached behind her and shooed Erika with her hand, but she was already out the door.

'Guess I'll wake up Jessie and James next,' she thought. She strode over to Jessie's hotel room. *knock knock knock* "Jess? Time to wake up!" she called through the door. She heard a pathetic, sleepy moan, then a crash as someone lost their balance trying to crawl out of bed. "Oh, my head," said a whiny voice that belonged to James. A few moments later he opened the door and motioned for Erika to come in. She walked over to the bed and looked down at Jessie. Her mouth was wide open, drooling, and her right arm and leg were slightly hanging off of the bed. Without hesitation, she grabbed the appendages and gave Jessie a sharp tug, causing her to come crashing to the floor.

*SNORE* Jessie wasn't phased in the slightest, continuing to snore and drool. Erika began to get peaved. "I don't know which of these sisters is harder to wake," she complained to James. James shrugged and started making some coffee. Erika took ahold of Jessie's night shirt and shook her awake. "Hey! What's going on?" Jessie asked angrily as she woke up. Erika released her hold on Jessie's shirt, and Jessie fell to the floor again. "Hmph, you don't have to be so rough, Erika," Jessie complained groggily. "I wouldn't be rough if you'd just wake up," Erika retorted. Jessie continued griping, but Erika didn't stick around to listen to it. She had four more people to wake up.

She walked to Brock and Daisy's room next. *knock knock squeEEeak* The door opened as Erika began knocking on it. She peered into the room to find Brock already awake, sitting on the edge of the bed gasping for breath and sweating heavily. "B-B-Brock? W-what are you d-doing?" she asked, embarassed at what she may have walked in on. Brock looked at her and blushed like a schoolgirl with a crush. "Uhhh...K-kendo," he said, pointing at a bamboo training sword that was propped against the wall. {Hehe, what were you thinking?} "Oh, okay. I-was-just-coming-to-tell-you-it-was-time-to-wake-up-but-you're-already-awake-so-bye," she said quickly as she shut the door and powerwalked to Ash and Misty's door. 'Man, he's hot when he's all sweaty...what am I thinking!? He's a pervert!' She shook her head to clear her thoughts before she knocked and called through the door, "Ash? Misty? Wakey-wakey!"

There was no answer. *knock knock knock* Pause. Still no answer. *knockknockknockknockknock* Pause. Nothing. *BOOM BOOM BOOM* Frustrated Pause. Jessie shrieked in frustration and stormed off to Brock's room to get the spare key. {Ok, I don't know why Brock has the spare key to Ash's room, but he has to have it because he used it to get in Ash's room in the last episode, ok?} When she knocked on Brock's door this time, Daisy answered it, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "Oh, morning Erika. Brock's taking a shower, so we're both up." Erika nodded. "I know he's up. I already came by. I just need the spare key to Ash's room. He and Misty don't seem to want to get up this morning," she said. Daisy rummaged through the desk and located the key, then handed it to Erika. "Thanks. I'll see you at breakfast," Erika said cheerfully before turning and marching triumphantly to Ash and Misty's door.

Erika inserted the key into the lock and opened the door...to find Ash and Misty in the same bed. She stared at them for a few moments. "Hmm, they weren't like that when we checked last night. Oh, well." She grinned evilly as she thought up a nasty way to wake them both up. She shut the door and crept as close to the bed as she could get. Then she leaned over and kissed Misty on the cheek, followed by a peck on Ash's cheek. She quickly backed away from the bed a step and let them wake up.

Ash yawned and stretched, then froze as he saw Misty's eyes staring at him. He felt a slight warmth and wetness on his cheek from a recent kiss and smiled at her. She smiled back, having a similar feeling on her own face. "Finally. I thought you two would never stop making out. Were you both asleep?" Erika asked coyly. They both jumped six feet into the air and landed in sitting positions on the bed. "Umm, uhhh, umm," was all Ash could say. Misty just blushed. Erika let them grill a few moments longer. "Oh, I was just kidding. Actually, I kissed both of you to wake you up. Seems it worked," she said, grinning coquettishly. "You KISSED ASH!?" Misty shrieked. Then she fully comprehended Erika's statement. "YOU KISSED ME!?" she shrieked louder.

Erika nodded once then sprinted out the door, laughing all the way back to her own room. "What's so funny?" asked Jessica as she shut and locked their door. "Oh, nothing," she replied slyly. Jessica gave her an annoyed look. "Yeah, whatever. Talk." Erika giggled again, then calmed and told Jessica, "I just woke up Ash and Misty with a kiss." Jessica started giggling as well. "Which one did you kiss?" Erika laughed harder. "Both," she choked out. Jessica began rolling around, causing her to fall out of bed. "Ow...hehehe...well, that got me up I guess." Erika nodded and began packing. "Are you packing already? We're not leaving until after breakfast," said Jessica. "Yeah, but I want to be ready when we leave. You remember last time?" Jessica remembered well how they had waited and waited for Brock and Daisy to return from Celadon just after she joined the group. "Yeah, whatever. We're all hear, so there'll be nobody to wait on." Erika smirked at her. "I'm not worried about waiting on somebody to show up. I'm worried about waiting on somebody who isn't packed yet," she said meaningfully. Jessica threw up her hands. "Alright, alright! I'll pack already! ((Sheesh, some people.))" Erika looked up from her packing. "What was that?" Jessica quickly looked away and started twiddling her tumbs. "Oh, nothing..."

"Is everyone packed?" asked Brock after they had finished breakfast. "Mmmff...Misty, are we packed?" Ash inquired as he finished the last bite of his pancakes. She sweatdropped and nodded, which drew giggles from Jessica and Erika. "Ohhhh! Ash, don't talk with your mouth full!" Misty fussed. After Ash apologized for several minutes, everyone gathered their traveling gear, and they set off on the road to Cinnibar Island.

At least, they set off on the road that led to the ferry that traveled to Cinnibar Island, but you get the idea. Anyway, a few hours later, they were well on their way. They had followed the trail through a beautiful, open meadow, and they were now in a peaceful forest. As Ash's stomach began to growl, Brock declared that it was time for lunch.

The traveling companions took a break to rest their weary feet as they eagerly awaited lunch. Brock broke out his apron and cooking utensils and began to cook a meal consisting of stir fried chicken and curry rice. As everyone prepared to dig in, a loud crash rang out from a nearby bush as someone tripped and fell through it. Without stopping, they boy half-walked half-crawled toward the group, heading straight for Ash.

"Ketchum! Loser, quick, hide me!" Gary yelled as he collapsed near Ash's feet. Ash could only stare down at him in surprise. Misty was the first to get over the initial shock. "Why should we hide you, Gary?" she asked critically. Gary rose to his knees and pleaded. "Please, Ketchum! I'll never call you a loser again! Just HIDE ME! They're psychopaths, they're after me! Please!"

It only took Ash a moment to consider never being called "loser" again before he turned to Misty. "Hide him!" Misty sighed and motioned for Daisy to help her. They drug Gary toward the bushes on the opposite side of the clearing. Just as they disappeared into the underbrush, a group of girls broke through the bushes where Gary had first appeared.

"Look, it's that loser-boy. Hey, Ketchup, where's Gary?" one of them sneered. Ash growled. "It's Ketchum! Ash Ketchum!" He pointed off in a direction that would lead them away from where Misty, Daisy, and Gary were hiding. "The pain went that way," he said in disgust. The girls didn't respond, but simply ran off in the direction that Ash pointed. When they were out of sight, Ash walked over to Gary's hiding spot and said, "All clear." Gary peered out of the bushes cautiously before emerging.

Misty and Daisy shoved him from behind, causing him to stumble back out into the clearing. "They're...gone?" he asked nervously. "Yes, they're gone. Off in that direction," Ash said as he pointed. Gary sighed in relief and slumped to the ground, sitting down and crossing his legs. "Whew. Thanks a lot Ketchum. Those creepy cheerleaders are getting worse and worse. They're trying to kidnap me now." Ash blinked in disbelief. Brock laughed, "I thought you liked your cheerleaders." Gary nodded, "I did, until they got all clingy and went psycho. If they catch me, they'll be the death of me."

This comment drew laughs from everyone, except Jessica. She walked over to Gary and sat down, looking concerned. "Are you okay now?" she asked. Gary looked at her and gulped. "Y-yeah, I'm okay...You're not...one of them, are you?" he said. She laughed, "No, no. I'm not one of the cheerleaders. I'm Jessie's sister." It was then that Gary noticed Jessie and James were in Ash's group. He jumped to his feet and stammered, "Ketchum..T-team Rocket..wh-what's going on here!?" Ash grinned, "You've been running for a while, haven't you? We wiped out Team Rocket about a month ago, with Jessie and James' help. Giovanni got killed when his biggest "toy" exploded."

Gary's head spun. "So...Team Rocket's gone? So, you two are...what are you now?" Jessie thought for a moment before responding, "Hmmm, I don't really know what we are now...Ash's friends I guess?" Gary's jaw dropped. "This is too weird. Last time I saw you los...errr, Ketchum and his group, there were four of you (including Daisy). Now there are EIGHT!" Ash shrugged, "I'm just popular I guess."

Before the conversation went any further, Gary's stomach growled loudly. "Ummm...hehe, would you mind if I joined you for lunch? I...sorta haven't eaten in a while." Before anyone else could respond, Jessica grabbed a plate, put some food on it, and shoved it into Gary's hands. "Eat," she commanded. Gary blinked a few times, then smiled at Jessica. "Thanks," he said, then he dug into his food with reckless abandon.

Ash and Co. watched as most of their lunch disappeared into Gary's mouth. Misty elbowed Daisy in the ribs and giggled, "I think he eats more than Ash does." Daisy snickered and whispered back, "Nah, he's just really hungry. I'm sure on a normal day they eat about the same amount." Ash's jaw dropped. "My...lunch..." Brock sighed and put his apron back on. "Daisy, break out the rice again...it's gonna be a long lunch break..." He sighed to himself as he prepared to cook a second course of lunch for everyone else.

Well, that's it for this episode of Love Pallet...wonder if Gary's going to stick around? And what's up with Jessica? I guess we'll have to find out next time on LOVE PALLET!

(Hope that closing wasn't over-the-top, but I'm working on writing things in more of an anime-style. Three things: Read it, Review it, Check back for updates. That's it.)

Sayonara,
Kenshin