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Leave me be
Disclaimer: Standard AAMR
belongs to other authors, the Pokèmon cast belongs to Nintendo and some other
people, the plot belongs to Alnykleo because she actually was the one who came
up with it and told me to write it and finally, the title is a line from the
song Devil & the Deep Dark Ocean by Nightwish, which is more or less the
only music I listen to right now. Did I mention that I suck at coming up with
titles?
Also a thank to my pal Togepi, who helped me come up with some of the
girls on Misty's list.
Rating: Pg-13, because of what Brock gets James
to learn him... or rather why.
Notes: I still can't say that
Ash/Misty is my favourite pairing in the world, and I still find most of it
unbearably occ... but it's still nice to know that I'm able of doing it.
As
always, Brock and Tracey does miraculously appear at the same place at the same
time, Ash still has the pokemon from a long time ago and is somewhere in Kanto,
and nobody could care less.
********
Misty was away. Were she had
left to Ash wasn't really sure about, but truth to be told he as grateful for
it. When the baby pokemon wasn't around he did at least not have to listen to
"Toke - tokeprii!" the entire day... or spend it yelling at the master. Now, it
wasn't always Ash really had anything against yelling at the master... it was
just that today he needed to think. As if that wasn't hard enough, with Misty
around it would become totally impossible.
Brock and Tracey at least knew
how to keep their peace. They had been doing a lot of pokemon studying together
the last weeks and thus spent most of the time away from the younger kids, but
the last few days had mostly been Brock running away alone, and not saying
anything about the rare Weedles in Viridian forest which was the camp at the
moment. Funny that.... Ash had always thought Weedles were common
pokemon.
"I..." Ash looked up at Brock, who had stopped brushing his Vulpix
and raised up, "I have an appointment." He announced and glanced at his
watch.
"In the middle of Viridian forest. Of course." Tracey muttered acidly
without looking up from his book. The comment made Brock look a little
uncertain, but he shrugged and turned to leave.
"Brock!" Ash suddenly shouted
and leapt to his feet, "I need to talk to you!"
His friend looked a bit
nervous.
"Ash, I really need to go now... look, why don't you talk to Tracey
about whatever it is?" Brock said hurriedly and walked off into the forest
faster than Ash had seen anybody walk without actually running. Sighing, he
turned to see Tracey smack the book shut and grab his sketchpad, and then
started drawing something in a rather violent way, his face set in an angry
scowl.
"Uh..."
"What?!" the pokemon watcher snapped back, his eyes still
set at his drawing.
"Uh..." Ash intelligently repeated, most of his brain
busy figuring out how to step around Tracey, more grumpy than Ash had ever seen
him before.
"If you didn't have anything to say..."
"Well..."
"Well
what?!" Tracey groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I thought I'd ask Brock this but
he ran away..."
"So..." Tracey actually looked dangerous... or as dangerous
as Tracey could manage to look, which was quite impressing taking in the fact
that he was a 17 year old, male, wore a pink headband and at the moment had a
bit of rubber sticking out between his front teeth.
"How is it like to be in
love?" Ash at last blurted. The tip of Tracey's pencil broke with a sharp crack,
as his friend suddenly was completely silent, his face contorted in pushed-back
emotions, before he at last gave in to the angry glare again.
"It sucks." He
spat and reached for his pencil sharpener, his words blurred by the
rubber.
"Oh." Ash replied, more than a bit disappointed. That was not the
answer he had hoped to get...
Ash was greatly confused. Not confused in the
usual way when he could get somebody to explain things over again and then he'd
get it, because this was... just a thing he didn't really thing anybody at all
could get.
Misty was not really that far away. Actually, a few hundred
meters into the forest she sat and performed the beautiful art of chucking cones
into a little lake while she considered her life situation.
Misty appreciated
her friends, all of them, nice guys and good in their own special ways. Of
course Brock was too girl-crazy, but he was also smart and caring. Of course
Tracey was a bit wussy, but he had a lot of knowledge and determination. Of
course Ash was dense, but he also was brave, and zealous, and... cute.
The
last thing bugged Misty. A lot.
The thing was that Misty wanted love. Sure,
everybody wanted love, and sure, Misty had three boys to choose between.... But
she also acquired certain... qualities... from a possible future lover, which
none of her best buddies could show up with.
And that was why she now
wondered why Ash was considered 'cute' in her mind.
"One thing is that
girl use to fall for gay boys....And it is right that giving that impression
might help. But when it comes to straight crossdressing you have to be
careful... I was extremely lucky with that one..."
"I am not going
to..."
"Most girls gets turned off by crossdressing, that is the main point.
And no makeup can actually hide the fact that your eyes are not at all like
officer Jenny's..."
"What I am going to do is none of your
busyness!"
James gave him a pitying look.
"Look, I a just trying to help
you here! And I would suggest you rather take that silent fem-boy mode, grow
your hair a bit longer and start using..."
"Just show me and stop your damn
fashion advises!" Brock snapped, and the older boy shrugged.
"Well, if that's
what you say, so..."
Ash knew that he would return to Pallet town within
the next week. He knew this probably would mean he also would run into Gary. He
knew this most likely would turn into Gary whooping his butt like he had done
all times before. What Ash didn't know, was why he for some reason wanted
Gary to whoop his butt...
Ash was a confused boy. Somewhere in his 14 year
old mind he knew that he was not supposed to want to battle somebody he
would most likely loose too, but it couldn't be denied that he actually did.
For some reason, he also wanted to battle Misty. Or at least to talk more to
her. Now, as they already spent 99% of the time together he couldn't really
figure why he wanted to talk to her, but somehow, he did.
Perhaps he just
wanted to talk to Gary as well. That could be nice. Yeah. Ash could like to talk
with Gary...
He groaned and threw his body backwards on his sleeping bag, and
stared up at the clouds whirling over the sky.
"Tracey?" he said silently,
hoping not to make his friend's obvious bad mood worse.
"What?"
"You see,
when I asked how it was being in love, I didn't really mean it that way..." he
didn't move his eyes from the ever-changing pattern over his head, but heard the
annoyed sight from the older boy. Ignoring it he continued, "I meant... how do
you know you are in love?"
"Oh great..." Tracey muttered, "Ash, you just
know, okay?"
"But how does it feel when..."
"Can we
please not talk about this?!" Tracey actually yelled by now.
"Uh..."
Ash looked over at him, "Sure..."
Misty was making a list over her last
crushes.
Prima.
Melody.
Jesse.
Cassidy.
Lisa.
Casey.
Officer
Jenny.
Sakura.
Jesse.
Ash.
It wasn't hard to see where the pattern
broke. This was disturbing. Very so.
Misty had settled with the fact that
boys weren't her path to walk a long time ago, and never in her wildest
imaginations fallen for somebody who thought that The Art of War was a better
movie than Titanic. She had never been interested in boys like that.... And if
she was falling for one, wouldn't it be somebody like James? Or maybe even like
Tracey... but not somebody like... Ash.
Yet, it was not to be denied....
Whatever feelings she had nursed for about every other girl, she now also felt
when the thought of her Pokèmon master to be took over her brain. Which, as
already mentioned, was disturbing, confusing and impossible to explain.
"Ash
is a moron." She told herself as she buried her face in her hands, "He is
stupid, annoying, ignorant, reckless, and not to mention..." she sighed,
"Totally adorable when he does that little.... NO!" she got to her feet and
started pacing around the stone she had been seated on.
"Ash is NOT adorable!
Ash is just your stupid best friend who you do NOT love because true love is not
like that and...." She slumped down again.
"Jesse." She though, "Think about
Jesse. She has so many other great things than Ash does... she is beautiful...
she has breasts... she..." Misty suddenly realized how hard it was to come up
with good qualities about a person who daily tried to steal your pokèmon, "At
least she is female!"
"Tracey?"
"Yes...?" his voice was laced with
sugar, and Ash started regretting that he spoke again.
"If you want to....
um... talk to somebody, does that mean you are in love with them? Okay, it
sounds stupid, but... I mean... Uh..."
"You wonder if you're in love, is that
so?"
"No! Girls are gross and... I mean..." his head slumped down, "Yes, I
do."
Tracey rolled over on his back and placed a hand over his eyes and
muttered something that sounded like "Damn you straight to hell,
Brock."
"Does that mean you are not going to tell me?" Ash asked.
"It
means that if it shuts you up, yes!"
"So, um..."
"Let's get over with it.
Tell me everything and I'll see what I get out of it."
Why Ash? There
was nothing likeable with Ash! Ash was... Ash.
Okay. Then there probably
wasn't completely without reason she had joined in with him that time in the
exact same place a long time ago. Ash was a likeable kid except during
his worst ego-trips, and Misty did consider him her best friend. But when she
got a crush on her best friend... it was like if she was straight and got a
crush on her best friend of the same sex. The though had made her shudder when
she was eight and her best friend changed about twice a week. It didn't feel any
better now.
Tracey looked wearily at the young trainer sitting across of
him. What he needed at the moment was a huge stack of chocolate, not a boy with
love problems.
"You think you are in love with both Misty and Gary at once?"
he asked once more, and Ash nodded.
"I don't really want to be in love... I
mean if I am in love then it feels sort of funny, but..."
"It's either your
rival or your best friend, and you are not sure." Tracey ended, and Ash nodded
again. For about the 50th time that day Tracey cursed Brock for picking that
moment to run away, but when he looked at the utterly confused boy he drew a
deep breath and started talking again.
"I think..." Ash was fourteen. It was
about time he started being interested in something else than pokèmon, and there
was nothing to do but accept it, and as his friend, help him decide what was
best for him.
Tracey stopped talking there and bitterly looked back at his
own experience about love. Really, he didn't want that to happen to Ash, so that
way the advice looked clear. But he wasn't sure how good he could handle it if
Ash and Misty became a couple now, right after this...
"I don't know what to
tell you. But you know, boys are not to be trusted, they run away with the first
and best they get the opportunity to..." he suddenly realized what he sounded
like and bit his tongue, "You have to decide for yourself, okay?" Ash nodded,
and Tracey sat back down to sulk some more. He really needed that
chocolate.
James giggled giddily as he walked through the forest and
counted the bills in his hand. The horny twerp had paid well for his little
favor, and now he could afford that new dress with that delicious embroidery and
pretty lace sleeves and all those...
A stab of guild went through his mind as
he remembered that it was his partner's birthday in two weeks, and that she had
been drooling over that dress as well.
There was basically two reasons to get
her a birthday present. One was that if he didn't, she would kill him or at
least give him a severe trashing. Number two was that if he got her something
really nice, then maybe she would think he cared for her, and not only be happy
because she got something expensive. But James really wanted that dress
for himself... he knew he would look gorgeous in it, and it matched his hair way
better than hers anyway.
"...and we can have two perfect children, a
daughter and a son... the son can be named Steve and play football at the school
team, and his sister is Lara, who is a cheerleader and has lots of pretty
friends, and when she gets older and start dating..." Misty was lost in a
reverie about her and Ash's children, telling Togepi absent-minded about how
their life would be,"... and in our wedding he is wearing a white tuxedo, and
Brock is his best man and I will walk down the isle when the..." she suddenly
realized what she was doing and screamed as she clutched her head.
"No! Not
Ash! Not Ash! Jesse! Jesse! JESSE!"
"Um... Tracey?"
Ash looked up to
see Brock come out from the forest again, carrying a paper bag in one
hand.
"Oh, hi, Brock... I hope you had fun with whoever you was meeting."
Tracey said flatly without looking up at him. Brock looked hurt.
"I really
need to talk to you..." he tried.
"I don't think you and I have anything much
more to say to each other."
"That is really nice, because I need to ask you
something, Brock..." Ash peeped in.
"This is not what it looks like, and I
only did it for you!"
"If that is so, then why couldn't you tell me why, and
who?" Tracey yelled back.
"Because if I did it would ruin it all, and..."
Brock shot Ash a nervous glance, "Just let me explain, okay?"
Tracey snorted
in reply and crossed his arms angrily over his chest as he glared in the other
direction.
"Look, Brock, I need to talk with you...."
"Please!" Brock took
Tracey's hands and looked pleadingly at him, "I... I only wanted to make you
happy..."
"Funny way of doing that, by..." Tracey glared at him and yanked
his hands away as he paused, "Studying pokèmon with other people."
"But I
didn't ... study pokèmon with anybody else!" Brock desperately cried and
took his hands again.
"It won't take long, I swear..." Ash's comment was
promptly ignored.
"Really?" Tracey looked at Brock, his angry scowl now
gone.
"I would never study pokèmon with anybody but you!" Brock told
him.
"Really?" Tracey repeated, a tiny smile starting to light up his
face.
"Really."
"Brock?" they looked back at Ash who looked puzzled at
them.
"What?" Brock pulled his hands to himself again and took a step away
from Tracey, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"Tracey couldn't really give me any
answer, so I think I'll rather talk to you about it." Ash said, giving them an
odd look.
Brock looked back at Tracey, then took his paper bag and grabbed
Tracey's wrist as he started walking into the forest again.
"Later, Ash, I
have to show Tracey some... um... really fancy Oddishes I saw back there!"
"And I really think that is something you need to figure out yourself!"
Tracey added and barely managed to snatch his sketchpad from the ground as Brock
hauled him past it.
Ash looked confused after them, and then sat back down,
patting Pikachu as he wondered if Oddishes were hard to catch.
James
looked at the redhaired girl in front of him screaming his partner's name, and
then picked up a stick and walked over to her, poking her in the side with
it.
"Ah!" she screamed and jumped in the air, before she saw that it was him
and her face was sat in an angry scowl.
"Why did you do that?!" she yelled
and tried to take the stick away from him, but he held it out of her
reach.
"Why are you screaming Jesse's name?"
Misty looked a bit more
friendly, and then got an annoyed glare.
"Because I am suddenly falling for
stupid best friends which I don't want to fall for when I thought I loved other
stupid people with partners and talking Meowths and I really don't want to love
my best friend like that but I do and..." she screamed once again, and he looked
a bit scared at her.
"You have a crush on Jesse?"
"No I don't anymore
though I really wish I still did!" she cried and took the stick and hit it into
the stone beside her with all force she could muster, barely missing her baby
pokèmon.
It looked at her as its small black eyes filled with water, and then
it burst into tears.
"Toke -priiiiiiiii!" it wailed, and she immediately
clamped her hands in front of her mouth and gasped.
"Togepi!" she exclaimed,
and picked up the crying pokèmon and dropped to her knees as she cradled it in
her arms, "I'm sorry, Togepi... Mommy is just having a bad day, that is
all..."
James looked down at her as she continued to cuddle it, and the
turned back to camp.
It was either Misty or Gary. That was the choice.
Misty, friend, or Gary, rival. Misty, girl, Gary, boy.
If Ash was to date
somebody he would probably pick Gary. One thing was of course that Gary was
better than him... but at least Gary wouldn't want to go to stupid romantic
movies, or eat at expensive restaurants, or run into the bathroom to fix his
makeup five times every hour.
But then there was the fact that Gary was
better than Ash. He could of course try to deny it, but if he did, it
would probably only cause problems... but if he did admit it Gary would
probably spend all the time talking about how much better than Ash he was. No,
he corrected himself, if Gary really cared about him he would not.
All over
the choice seemed pretty simple.
And Gary's hair looked way better than
Misty's anyway.
It was settled. James knew his partner, and if that
little redhaired brat would start hitting on her his position could be
threatened. It wasn't like he didn't know about Cassidy or anything
either...
Tracey somehow managed to look guilty as he looked up at
Brock.
"I'm really sorry..." he said with a pout, "I have been a bad
boy..."
"You sure have." Brock sternly replied, "I think I need to take you
to jail." He smirked and loosened the handcuffs from his side, "You shouldn't
mess with Officer Jenny, you know." He said and shook his head.
Tracey was
too busy not grinning to wonder where he got that outfit from.
Misty
returned to camp to find Ash alone, rubbing Pikachu's stomach. He didn't notice
her at all, and she didn't notice that she smiled as he broke in laughter as the
pokèmon jumped up on his shoulders and started messing up his hair. He then at
last managed to Pikachu down from his head again, and turned to look at her.
Surprisingly, he didn't say anything at all, just stared, and Misty found
herself staring back at him, his hair ruffled and cheeks still a bit red from
the laughing fit... looking... just adorable.
And all her decisions went down
the drain as she walked over to him, bent down, and pressed her lips to
his.
James admired himself in the mirror. He really did look
gorgeous.
The dress was full length in dark blue, the bottom and neckline
decorated with embroideries in silver thread and small glass pearls, and the
sleeves reaching down to the elbow done in only lace.
With a last wistful
sigh he stepped out of it and left the changing room and hung it up again, and
took down another in a size smaller as he went over to the counter to pay for
it.
Well, he comforted himself, if he couldn't have it himself then at least
the second best option was no loss either. She was going to love him for it...
James figured he could sacrifice the dress for
that.
"So..."
"Uh..."
"Yeah..."
Misty and Ash looked at each
other, blushed, and looked away again, what they had spent the last hour doing.
Yet, Misty was holding Ash's hand, and he didn't have any intentions of letting
go either.
They looked up when Brock and Tracey returned, Tracey franticly
sketching something and Brock whistling on a Vengaboys tune as he stuffed the
paper bag into his backpack.
"Where have you been?" Misty asked.
"Studying
Pokèmon." The replied in unison as Brock seated himself beside Tracey and took
his sketchpad, looking down on it, meeting Tracey's eyes. Then they both broke
down giggling.
Ash and Misty exchanged glances, and Ash tried to pull his
hand away from Misty, but she tightened her grip and he gave up, and instead
reached out for his pokèdex. After some intense typing he looked up at Brock and
Tracey again.
"There are no Oddishes in Viridian forest." He stated.
"Oh,
there are." Tracey assured him.
"Definately." Brock agreed.
"Are you
wearing lipstick?" Misty asked and narrowed her eyes at him.
"No…"
Tracey
started rubbing his neck.
********
"So, ehrm, write a twerpshippy
comedy thing. Preferably with Ash desperately trying to figure out WHY he wants
to have a pokémon battle with Gary so much, and with Misty having problems to
decide whether she should stay with her stupid pokémon master wannabe or go find
something... bustier. You can even have a Brock/Tracey subplot, to mess things
up. With splatters of delicious rocketshipping. Or something. It would be fun. A
"queershipping" AAML fic, if you know what I mean. If you wrote this I'd be
eternally grateful, of course... ^^"
So, Sara, you got what you wanted:
I'm sorry it didn't get more rocketshippy, but it was hard getting that into a
plot like this, but I think the rest is what you asked for.
