“I can’t believe all the stores!” May said, her voice getting squeaky with excitement. “I’m in shopping heaven!”

“Save it, May, we gotta find Amy first,” said Max.

May pouted. “We’ve been looking for her a half hour already.” She sighed. “I guess we’ll have to find her if I’m going to get any shopping done today.” Then she looked around and saw that only three of them were there. “Hey, where’s Brock?”

“I think we lost him about three or four pretty girls ago,” Max deadpanned. He sighed. “I’ll go get him.”

“Nah,” said May. “He’ll catch up. Besides,” she said, putting her arm over Ash’s shoulder, “I think Ash’ll do better with me helping him than Brock.”

“Hey, there she is!” said Ash, suddenly stopping.

“You sure, Ash?” said May, looking around. Then she spotted the back of Amy’s hat at an outside restaurant patio. “Oh yeah, I see her.” She then started pulling Ash along, and Pikachu went back to be with Max again. “Now remember what I said, Ash: be polite, compliment her, and she’ll eat it up. Trust me.”

“Let me show you how it’s done, Ash,” said Brock, appearing out of nowhere and scaring the group. He ran up to a beautiful young woman laden down with shopping bags standing a few feet away, hearts in his eyes. “Helllooo, my charming beauty! I am your humble and devoted servant. Let me help you to your car, and then I can treat you to-“

“Oh, thanks!” said the woman, and dropped her armload of packages in Brock’s arms, making him strain under the pressure. “My car’s just up the block. I really appreciate it.”

“No… problem,” said Brock, doing his best to follow her without dropping everything. The others just stared.

Ash, May, and Max headed inside the restaurant where Amy was at, which to Ash’s delight was a hamburger place. He loaded up his plate with two hamburgers, a good helping of French Fries, and a drink, while May, Max, and an exhausted Brock just went with drinks since they were still full from lunch. Ash then headed outside, where he found Amy sitting with two other girls, another redhead and a girl with purple hair. The girls had apparently just finished lunch and were just chatting, because there were used napkins and almost-finished drinks on the table.

“Hey there, Amy!” said Ash, trying to sound casual, blushing a little.

“Hi Ash,” said Amy warmly. “I’m glad you came.”

“Uh… you guys looked a little lonely, I thought I’d join ya,” said Ash, trying to reach for a pickup line like Brock suggested. Brock didn’t look too thrilled with his effort.

“We’re not lonely,” said Amy. “Come on, sit with us.”

“Uh, sure,” said Ash, feeling awkward. May, Max, and Brock decided to sit nearby to see how Ash fared.

“These are my friends, Janie and Amanda,” said Amy, pointing to the redhead and the purple-haired girl. “Guys, this is Ash Ketchum. We had a pokemon battle earlier.”

“Oh yeah?” asked Janie, looking Ash over. “Is he any good?”

Ash raised his chin. “Of course I am. I’m going to be the world’s greatest pokemon master someday.”

“Ash,” said May in a loud whisper, giving him a look.

Ash sweatdropped. “Uh… but… Amy was pretty good too. I mean, her pokemon were really good against mine.”

Amanda hmphed. “Doesn’t sound like you’re that good a trainer.”

“Am too!” said Ash, getting angry.

“How can you be any good if you’re saying she creamed you?” asked Amanda.

Ash got red in the face. “She didn’t cream me. I was just being nice, that’s all.”

“He’s blowing it,” murmured May to herself, resting her head on her arms on the back of her seat.

“If you’re so hot stuff, we can have a rematch later,” said Amy, giving him a wicked grin as she stood up with her friends. “One hour, okay? In the park, down the street. Hope you’re ready for a good battle this time.”

“This should be good,” said Janie to Amanda as the girls turned to leave.

Ash quickly got up. “Wait. Amy, could you stay here a bit? I, uh, I wanna talk.”

Amy looked surprised. “Oh. Okay.” She then turned to her friends. “I’ll meet up with you guys down the street, okay?” May and Brock gave Ash a thumbs up while her back was turned, then shot each other a look. The girls agreed and headed off.