BETS
FURTHERSHIPPING ONE-SHOTAsh and Leaf always had bets. And likewise, there was always a punishment awaiting the loser. This bet was no different, however, unlike the previous ones, this punishment could also be a little rewarding.
"Red Trainer!"
"Green Trainer!"
"Red!"
"Green!"
"No way, Leaf! The green trainer is going to win!"
"Are you kidding, Ketchum! The red trainer has a clear advantage. "
"Wanna bet, Greene?"
"You bet I wanna bet, Ketchum."
"What does the winner get?"
"The loser has to take the winner to the Annual Festival in Viridian City-and they have to cover all the costs."
"Bring it on."
They shook hands and continued to watch the semi-finals of the Indigo League on T.V. Ash had just returned from his journey from Sinnoh and had reunited with one of his oldest and best childhood friends-Leaf Greene. The last time they saw each other was before Ash left for Sinnoh, and Leaf went to Johto. They had decided that they wanted to catch up with each other and the two were sitting in Ash's house, watching T.V, sharing stories, teasing each other and joking and laughing at every little thing.
When the green trainer lost, Leaf jumped up and cheered.
"See that, Ketchum? The green trainer lost. You know what that means? It means I won the bet-and you have to take me to the Viridian Festival" Leaf said proudly. Ash face-palmed. He should have remembered-every time the two had a bet, he had somehow or the other always lost.
Leaf dragged him off the couch. "Com'on Ash, hurry. I want to get going as soon as possible."
"Okay, okay, hold your Rapidash."
"But I am holding my Rapid-Ash." Leaf said. "Get it?" she said hopefully. Ash blushed at the "my".
He then face-palmed. "Worst. Pun. Ever."
Leaf pouted. "Well hurry up already." The two made their way to Professor Oak's lab.
"Hey there, Professor Oak." Ash said. "Think I can borrow Charizard for a while?"
"Sure, why not?" he replied. "He is yours after all, but where are you going?"
"To the Viridian City Festival." Leaf answered.
"Ah, I heard that it will be very good this year. You two have fun." And with that he went inside into his laboratory.
Ash climbed onto his Charizard, followed by Pikachu. "Hey there, buddy." He greeted it. He then extended his hand to Leaf who grabbed it and climbed on. Charizard then spread his strong wings and took off into the sky.
Leaf held oto Ash tightly. She had never expected Charizard to fly this fast.
"Woah, woah, slow down." She called over the wind whipping through her hair.
"But I thought that you wanted to get there as soon as possible?"
"I did, but it was more of a 'I want to hurry up and spend the day with my best friend sort of thing', you know." She said shyly. Thankfully Ash didn't find anything wrong with that. He beckoned Charizard to slow down, and yet it barely took 20 minutes to get there, compared to the four hours it would have taken had they walked.
They landed just outside Viridian City, the urban built up land clearly distinguished from the surrounding forest. Ash jumped off the fire Pokémon's back. Leaf climbed closer to Charizard's neck and looked above Charizard's head at the city in front of her.
"Wow" she said. "It sure has changed since I last got here."
"Yeah" Ash agreed.
"Here, Ash." She said suddenly. "Catch." And without a warning she jumped off the Pokemon's back as Ash rushed to catch her. He stumbled a bit as she jumped into his arms, bridal style. "Whew." She said casually. "Nice catch" and she smiled. She jumped off and started sprinting towards the festival. "Come on!" she called out.
Ash turned to return the fire dragon when he noticed that both he and Pikachu were looking at him, smirking. "What?" he asked. His Pokemon snorted and shook their heads. They knew their master was dense, but to be unable to realize one's own feelings was beyond density. Ash returned Charizard as Pikachu hopped onto his shoulder. Then they followed Leaf to the festival.
"Well, what do you want to do?" Ash asked his friend, who was waiting for him to catch up to her.
"Alright, I want to-"she started as she grabbed his arm.
"-Eat food!" Ash cut off. He began dragging her to a pizza stall. Leaf looked at him, eyebrows raised. "What? I'm hungry." He stated, scratching the back of his head.
"Guess some things never change." Leaf sighed. Then she shrugged. "I'm hungry too. 'Kay, I'll have a slice of cheese pizza!" She said enthusiastically. Ash ordered a pepperoni pizza for himself, and paid for his own. Leaf received her slice, and Ash just stood there, innocently.
"Cough. The bet, remember? Cough" she said reminding him sarcastically. Ash smacked his forehead.
"Oh yeah."
He paid and the two began strolling down the street, which was filled with people of all ages and Pokemon of all kinds. It seemed like everyone was having a good time. Ash finished his pizza in literally two bites, and Leaf had just started. After a while she gave the rest to the boy next to her, who seemed to have a bottomless pit in his stomach. She marveled at her friend. She loved food, and yet even she couldn't eat anywhere near as much as he could. Then they bought ice-cream and were happily eating that, while Pikachu would occasionally lick Ash's cone.
Leaf approached a stall. "Look, these are so cool!" she said pointing to a key ring that had a Jirachi dangling from it. "I want to buy this one." She looked at Ash.
"What, do I have to pay for it?" he asked pointing to himself.
"Of course, who else?"
"Wha-you never said that you'd want to buy this kind of stuff!"
"We made a bet, and you lost it, Ketchum. Now pay up."
Ash grumbled. "No."
Leaf made a sad face. "Pleeeeeaaaassseee. Look, I even forgot my money at home because I thought that you'd buy everything."
Ash couldn't take it anymore. "Fine, fine, just enough with the Growlithe eyes." He pulled out some money and handed it to the salesman, who in return handed Leaf the key chain. She took it excitedly and pulled Ash into a sudden, quick hug. It ended as quickly as it had started.
"Thanks!" she said, gratefully. Ash smiled nervously.
"Anytime, I guess."
The two turned to leave when the salesman behind them chuckled, and said something about young love. The two blushed and turned away, pretending that they hadn't heard him. Pikachu jumped into Leaf's arms and nuzzled her. She giggled, and Ash thought that it was nice to hear her giggle. He was too dense to realize what that meant though. They continued on till they approached the center of the city, where there was a large crowd. The two pushed their way to the middle of the crowd, where there was a battle going on a temporary battlefield drawn on the floor using temporary paint for the festival. Ash watched in fascination and Leaf noticed how interested he was.
One of the Pokemon on the field fainted as the other roared in victory.
"Is there anyone else who would like to challenge me?" the victorious trainer called out. His Tyranitar roared in front of him.
"He would!" Leaf called out, as she held Ash's hand up for everyone to see.
"Leaf?" Ash hissed. "What are you doing?"
"Come on, Ketchum." Leaf encouraged him. "I know you want to battle. Go ahead and show him what you can do." She pushed Ash onto the field as Pikachu encouraged him from Leaf's arms. Ash smiled at her and walked up confidently to his side as his opponent smirked at him.
"This will be easy, like the others. Let's go, Tyranitar!"
Ash thought for a moment, then pulled out a Pokeball. "Torterra, I choose you!"
The Continent Pokemon emerged from his Pokeball and roared. His opponents looked dumbstruck, because they had never seen this Pokemon before. They shook it off and ordered the first attack. Despite his opponent's strength, Ash easily won. Unfortunately, his opponent didn't like losing, and his friends came behind him and released their own Pokemon. Ash realized it was a 4-on-1 and gritted his teeth. Nobody was even trying to stop them! Must be some dumb jerk who always got his way. He noticed a figure next to him. It was Leaf!
"A four-on-one is never fair!" she called out loudly, but coldly. Pikachu jumped down and joined in. Leaf took out two Pokeballs from her bag. "Emolga, Sylveon, it's time to shine!" she said as she released some of her best-trained pokemon. The four Pokemon engaged in a fierce battle with their opponents, and Ash realised that their Pokemon worked well together, especially Pikachu and Emolga . "Gosh, they're hilariously weak" she said as she saw their own Pokemon stand victoriously over their opponents. Ash chuckled when he saw the other side return their Pokemon and storm off.
"Thanks for the help, Leaf, although I didn't really need it." Ash said, smirking.
"Yeeeeaahh, riiight." Leaf responded with an eye-roll, returning her Pokemon, except Emolga
The two continued walking, Emolga and Pikachu walking together in front of them, till they passed a photo booth. They hadn't noticed it till the man who owned it called out to Ash.
"Hey, kid! Why don't you and your girlfriend take a couple of pictures together here?"
The two blushed. 'Wha-no" Leaf said stammering. "We-we aren't like that, we're ju-just friends." The man shrugged.
"Whatever, help a man get some money, will ya?" Leaf made a face. Way to go with the advertising, she thought.
Ash and Leaf shrugged and paid some money to the man, then entered the booth. They stood next to each other comfortably, and posed simply, making a peace sign with their fingers, their Pokemon following their trainers from on top of their heads. Soon they got more comfortable, making goofy faces, and having more fun. They took a picture with Leaf having a piggy-back ride on Ash, then one with her arms wrapped around her neck and her legs off the ground, and his arms around her waist. Then Ash, did something daring, something impulsive. He never thought that he'd do it, but he did it. He kissed her on the cheek.
Leaf's eyes widened, and above them their Pokemon smirked. The camera flashed.
"Alright, kids, your time is up." the cameraman said as he beckoned the two out of the photo booth. Ash went after him, and Leaf followed uncertainly. Had it really happened. Had her childhood best friend and crush really kissed her? She unconsciously brushed her cheek where she was kissed. While the man began to print their pictures, the two teens didn't exchange any words.
Ash felt uneasy. Did he do the right thing? What if Leaf didn't like it, what if she thought it was weird? He looked at her from the corner of his eyes. She looked uncomfortable and Ash sighed. He was never good at this stuff. Good job, idiot. Now you've blown it. He thought to himself. As the man finished printing the pictures and was about to hand them to Leaf, Ash jumped in and snatched them. He didn't want Leaf to see the last picture.
"Here, you can keep the first five, and I'll keep the last five" he said.
"But, I think I want the last one." Leaf said, smirking. Realising what she had said, a blush crept up her face.
Ash was taken aback at what she had just said, his mind trying to process those words. Heat rose to his cheeks.
"I made an extra copy of the last one" the cameraman said smirking. "And I thought you two said you weren't a couple." The teens eyes went wide, and Leaf snatched the photograph from the man's hands.
"We-we're gonna go now, thanks." she said and started walking away quickly. Ash followed her, and Emolga and Pikachu face-palmed. Geez, how stupid could a human be?
The two were silently flying back to Pallet on the back of the infamous fire dragon, the yellow squirrel gliding beside them happily.
"Hey, Ash."
"Yeah."
"I had fun today."
"Yeah, me too."
"Although, I'm pretty sure you would have lost to those losers if I hadn't helped you."
"Oh yeah, you want a bet?"
And at that Leaf just grinned.