Title: A Break in The Bleak
Prompt: #3: Light
Pairings: Ash/Misty
Rating: K
Warnings: Not the greatest, but at least it's something.
Notes: So I haven't been updating. Yeah, I'm a bad person. I've been suffering from major writers' block. Reviews, requests, challenges, and prompts are the only way to get me out of this slump, so get to work! ;)
I've never owned Pokemon, but I imagine it feels amazing.
--
"There are two kinds of light…" – James Thurber
--
He is sprawled out over the sand, arms stretched wide over his head and legs twisted uncomfortably. He will regret it later when he must shake the particles from every crevice on his body, and force his limbs back into a normal position, but at this moment Ash is too exhausted to care.
May and Dawn beckon him, knee-deep in lake water, and Max has been calling his name for the past eight minutes, but Ash can't seem to bring himself to move.
Never before has he felt so tired or depressed; he usually leaves the mood swing thing to Misty, but now nothing seems better than lying here, comatose in the warm sand.
He wonders what it is that feels wrong.
His lack of recent battling competition? His inability to find a good meal? No more than five minutes of break time over the past eight weeks?
All he knows is, journeying to be a Pokemon master hadn't ever seemed difficult or tiring or anything other than exciting; at least until recently. He isn't quite sure what caused the sudden pressure on his upper abdomen - the place he usually feels excitement - but it's weighing down on his ability to feel happiness. He doesn't know what's changed… Maybe it'll go away if he just takes a break.
And he has to admit that it feels good; slowing down for once. He's always been the hyper one, the one anxious to get up and get moving. He's never really taken a few hours to just close his eyes and forget about the world.
So that's exactly what he does. He closes his eyes and enjoys the sharp orange-yellow glow of the sun burning pleasantly against his eyelids. The heat of sand against his back as well as the burn coming from the sky is surprisingly soothing, and he concentrates solely on the gentle rasp of his breathing.
And then the color of his eyelids changes. Something has adjusted itself to block his sun. He glares up at the figure leaning over him; is unsurprised it's Misty.
"Hey, Sleepy," she taunts. Her swimsuit is orange with pink and yellow polka dots and it's not wet yet. She's come straight from changing to annoy him. He feels so special (note the sarcasm).
He tilts his chin up as he considers a snappy retort, eager to show her up, but his breath catches thickly in his throat.
A small smirk plays on her thin pink lips and her hair tumbles around the curve of her chin. Her pale, smooth skin shimmers in the light that she is blocking, the blinding intensity blossoming behind her like a giant glowing flower. She moves a tendril of flaming hair behind her ear and raises a delicate eyebrow. He can see she's talking, but the incandescence floating around her is a bit too distracting for words.
"Well?"
"W-well what?"
"Are you gonna lay here all day like a lump or do you wanna do something interesting?"
"Uhh..," he stammers, wondering if she would like to hear about the sparkle of her skin under the sparkle of the sky. Probably not. "Yeah, sure."
He resists to urge to tell her that she's glimmering. He lifts himself to his feet and brushes the sand from his bare legs, ignoring her snickers as he dances a bit to release all the pieces from beneath his swim trunks. He realizes slowly as she leers at him, hands splayed across her hips, that he's not tired or spacey anymore.
"Get a move on, Ketchum, we haven't got all day."
It's a lie. They do have all day.
He shoves her teasingly into the sand and makes a break for the water before she can catch up.
--
["…the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures."]
--Lunamire