Trip's Game Plan
Chapter One
Trip and Bella are making out like mad.
I want to throw a rock at something. Perhaps a Geodude. Then it shouldn't hurt it much.
I roam around the beach, willing to have the power to separate those two. Why can't Bella see that I'm a suitable boy? At least I'm kind to my Pokemon, unlike Trip, who basically treats them like slaves.
No, I shouldn't compare myself to Trip. All Pokemon trainers strive to be the best they can be, and the way some attempt this is just different from my way, that's all.
But to take Bella Swan out from under my hair…that is cold. Frigid, even.
It happened like this. One day I was attending the fair with my old girl pal, Misty. Brock was there too, and it was just like our old adventures, except with Pokemon not native to Kanto around us, such as Brock's Shieldon and Misty's Lumineon.
Misty had gone to "the room," and Brock was busy rolling bowling balls to try to win a Pokeball good for catching Pokemon in caves, and I was standing all by myself, when I saw the most gorgeous girl emerge from a tent. Straight black hair, rosy red lips, and pale as moonlight. A Vulpix was following her, and I was smitten.
I approached but an Excadrill blocked my path. I had never cared for that Pokemon. Ground and Steel is a terrible combination. I'm glad Brock's Onix never evolved into a Steelix for this reason.
The girl was gone by the time I maneuvered my way around the Excadrill, and I was heartbroken.
I didn't see her again until I went to the refreshments table, where she was sipping punch. "Rather tasty, huh?" I asked her.
"I would prefer strawberry soda, but as they don't have it here …" she said, waving her hand.
"No tomato juice either, huh?"
"Yuck! Tomato juice would make me vomit."
"I'm Ash Ketchum."
"Pleased to meet you," she said.
"Aren't you going to tell me your name?"
"I'm not sure that's wise."
"Well, if you don't want to…"
"I'm called Bella Swan," she said. "Happy now?"
"Your name is as beautiful as you are," I said, inwardly congratulating myself on my suavity.
"I'd better go," she said, and though I'm sure I only had eyes shut for a second, she was gone.
The next time I saw her was a week later, at the Pokemon Center. She was sitting on a couch, completely relaxed. I thought of putting my arm around her ahoulders…I really did. But I hardly knew her. I just knew that I found her quite attractive.
"So, uh, how's Vulpix?"
"Do I know you at all?" she asked, squinting at me.
"It's Ash. We met at the fair last week."
"Oh yes. That place. Hi." She did not seem pleased to see me.
"Is this seat taken?" Trip asked, taking the seat next to her.
"It is now," she said. She had a goofy look on her face. I thought for a moment that she despised Trip interrupting our conversation. And then her took her hand and begin kissing her without a word being exchanged further.
And I have proof that they did not know each other before this event, for afterwards, she said, "You kiss pretty well for a guy I just met."
"You kiss even better for a girl without a clue about me."
And then they went on kissing, like they would both die if they didn't continue.
It was revolting. And now here it is, the fifth day since this all began, and they are still at it!
I keep walking till I have left the beach, seething with rage. How dare she take in that hipster like he was Elias Devong or something. Sure, she's gorgeous enough to wow even Elias Devong, but Trip is not an internationally renowned movie star. He's a Pokemon trainer who only began his journey a year or so ago. Darn him for wooing away my girl!
I lift a rock and am angry enough to hurl it at something, when I see a form shaking in the bushes. Out of it jumps an Eevee. If Pikachu were with me, I wouldn't be doing this, but Pikachu is with Dawn in a contest that she said only Pikachu could work for…and as her friend I am willing to help her with anything, even loaning my favorite Pokemon out to her.
And thus, there is no one to keep me from releasing the rock. And the Eevee is right in the line of fire.
A girl wearing a gray-bluish shirt comes rushing forth.
The girl encircles her arms around the Eevee. "I won't let you hurt it," she says, with bloodshot eyes.
"I don't want to hurt it," I say. "I love Pokemon."
"You looked like you were plotting murder."
"Well, yeah, it can seem that way when the girl a guy wants is hanging all over his rival."
"That's no reason to take your wrath out on a poor creature like this."
"Believe me, miss. I have no desire to harm any Eevee, now or in the future."
"The future…" the girl muses. "What do you know of the future?"
"That it'll be here eventually?:"
"You must know a Colress. Tell me you've heard of him."
"Yeah, he's the mad scientist who wouldn't hesitate to inject the Eevee you're clutching with all kinds of horrid chemicals."
"Isn't he overlord of the future?"
"I bet he wishes he was. But no. He's just some bloke that was arrested for his association with Team Plasma."
"Oh."
"And I don't know why you call this the future. It's the present."
"Not to me, it isn't," the girl says.
"Shouldn't it be the present if it is the present?"
"I suppose that in a sense, it is the present no matter what time you're in."
The girl stands up, and I watch her go. Her back is showing…she is wearing an odd shirt that comes over it in an arch. I'm used to bikinis but not girls showing off that much skin off the beach.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm looking for…a friend of my sister's. And it's obvious I won't find her here."
"You do know you still have a wild Eevee in your hands, don't you?"
"Need to keep it from having rocks thrown at it by slimeballs."
She says it in such a way that invites me to laugh, which I subsequently do. I wish I could ask her for her name at least, but she is already gone by the time I muster up the courage to voice the question.
