Eeeee, wow! Since RespectShipping doesn't seem like a very popular ship (probably due to the ContestShippers, AdvanceShippers and lack of canon hints?), I didn't expect many people to read it. Thank you to everybody who read, favourited and/or followed my fic. I'm really grateful! ; u ;
(Also, especially thank you to Name Under Construction, FMAForge, Diamonti and ben4kevin -is that a Ben10 ship? /shot- for reviewing!)
By the way, for those of you who may have thought Ash was a tad bit aggressive in the beginning of both chapters, JUST WATCH THE EPISODES THEY'RE BASED ON. HE IS SO SASSY IN DREW'S PRESENCE I JUST.
Anyway, this chapter probably won't be as grand as the first one, since the episodes I'm basing it on (Disaster of Disguise and Disguise Da Limit) didn't have much Drew in it at all, and virtually no time skip, which made it difficult to incorporate my own scenes. That said, I suppose the challenge is the main point?
(For anybody wondering, the first chapter was based on the episodes Pros and Con Artists and Come What May.)
(Oh my goodness, is it bad that the only reason I knew that 'come what may' is a line from Macbeth because I read it in the trivia section of the bulbapedia article on that episode? When my English teacher quoted it today I thought of that episode before anything else. It made me both revel in fangirlness and question my own general knowledge… Okay I'll shut up now.)
Word prompts: Honesty. Traits. Confessions.
2: Thorns
-Verdanturf Town, January 29th, 2004-
"Rats… now what?"
Drew's roselia struggled to stay conscious as its trainer stood at the edge of the battlefield, mind racing and refusing to slow down.
"With the reputation you have as a pokemon coordinator, Drew, I'd have thought you would put up a better fight," Drew's opponent called, voice brimming with confidence. "Now it's time to finish you off!"
"Shit," Drew muttered under his breath, quiet enough for his opponent to miss. Roselia was not in a good place right now, and this dusclops was far from backing down. As it launched a shadow punch attack, Drew urged for his roselia to dodge the incoming blows… but it was too late.
Followed on top quickly with a will-o-wisp attack, it wasn't long before his roselia was too weak to sit up.
"Are you alright, Roselia?!"
Drew wasn't one to give up before the battle was officially over, but he could also admit when he'd been defeated. This was essential when dealing with the event of the morning before the Verdanturf Town pokemon contest, when he'd been challenged by a mysterious coordinator known as Phantom, who wore a getup similar to a Tuxedo Mask costume and battled using a dusclops.
In the beginning, Drew had the upper hand. The battle had started out fine, with Roselia confusing the opponent using its petal dance attack and camouflaging in between the flurry of movements. However, as time went on Phantom studied his tactics carefully and countered them, using the ghost-type moves and properties to his advantage and shadow-punching Drew's roselia into submission.
Eventually, he was forced to pick up what was left of his severely battered and bruised roselia as Phantom disappeared in a whirlwind of black petals.
"It'll be okay, Roselia," he murmured to it, hugging his pokemon close to his chest. Usually he wouldn't show such an unguarded face in public, but nobody was around, and Roselia needed him.
"You did great," he continued. "Lets go and heal you up now…"
He headed towards the pokemon centre, fingernails digging into Roselia's skin nervously.
As he approached the front desk, Nurse Joy glanced up and gasped.
"What happened?" she cried. He handed over Roselia, hands unusually clammy.
"A dusclops wiped it out pretty bad," he explained, shivering slightly. "Do you think it'll be alright?"
"I'll see what I can do," she assured him. "Name, please?"
"Drew Blakeslee. From LaRousse City."
"Got it… Let me just take down your name…" She grabbed a notebook from the pocket on the front of her apron and scribbled down his name. "Okay, I'm sure it'll be fine in a few hours. Why don't you swing by then?"
"Sure… I hope you can help it, Nurse Joy," he sighed, stroking his roselia's head. At that moment, a voice called out to him. An annoyingly chirpy voice he knew all to well.
"Drew! I knew you'd be here," May grinned. He shoved his hands in his pockets quickly and turned his head to half-face her and her annoying friends.
"Oh. Hello, May," he replied flatly, making no effort to mask his displeasure upon seeing his main rival. The group of trainers in front of them didn't seem to take the hint, smiling stupidly as though their conversation hadn't already died.
"I take it you'll be entering the big contest tomorrow?" Brock chimed in, to keep the conversation going. Drew couldn't hide the disappointment showing in his face as he answered, so he abruptly turned away from them.
"I was, but I'm not anymore," he muttered sulkily. It was at this point the gang finally seemed to notice the poor condition Roselia was in.
"What's wrong with Roselia?" May cried, peering closer.
"It got hurt battling," Drew said, choosing to leave his answer as vague as possible. Then his other rival spoke up.
Ash took this chance to say something he'd been itching to ever since his loss against Drew back in Fallarbor Town in November.
"You mean you lost?"
This seriously irked Drew, for some reason.
Not only was Ash Ketchum such a sore loser from their first battle he'd taken the first opportunity he could to gloat that Drew lost, he was being totally unsympathetic to Roselia's condition and didn't even seem to care that Drew wouldn't be taking part in the contest.
Now, he understood from their last conversation that Ash wasn't big on the idea of guys in contests, but he thought that after the mutual truce they'd made on the balcony that night he'd at least be a little understanding.
Then again, Ash was very self-centred and thick-skinned.
Like a baby, he thought to himself.
Biting back his anger towards a certain Ash Ketchum, Drew spoke again.
"I don't think that Roselia will be well enough to battle tomorrow. I'll have to skip the contest this time…"Admitting this part hurt, because he'd been looking forward to this one. He thought he'd been training well, with his pokemon in ship-shape, up to date and ready to win a new ribbon. Alas, bad luck had betrayed him once more. He'd have to apologise to his folks later, who had declined an invitation to a dinner party in order to watch him compete.
At the time of their last phone call he'd asked them why it was such a big deal for them to watch him in the contest, to which his parents had replied, "You rarely come home as it is. If we can't see you as our son, the least we can do is see you as the person you've made of yourself."
It had been a touching moment, but it was in the past now, and there was nothing he could do about it at this point.
So he spoke again.
"Here's a little advice for all of you: watch out for a masked coordinator who goes by the name 'Phantom'."
Without another word, he turned his back and left the pokemon centre, disappointment still weighing heavily on his mind.
When the group left the pokemon centre, they found a spot outside large enough for May's pokemon to roam free and settled down as May furrowed her brow in determination.
"Time to practice!" May declared, clenching her fists. "I can't believe there's a coordinator that much stronger than Drew!"
This really struck a nerve in Ash.
He could take Drew apart within seconds, and yet May refused to see his brilliance, as she had done when they'd first started travelling together. Ever since his loss during their first battle, Drew seemed to be all May could think about nowadays. What was so great about Drew Blakeslee, anyway? He was just some pretty boy coordinator that stepped all over her.
Ash was so much better than him.
Deciding to voice these thoughts aloud, Ash folded his arms tightly over his chest and retorted, "Please, if I knew where this Phantom guy was, I'd battle him myself."
Brock noticed this, cracking a grin.
"Getting a little competitive, Ash?" he asked. Ash turned to glare at him, visibly bristling.
"No!" he snapped. "I just don't see what makes that guy so special, is all."
May turned to stare at him, frowning a little. "Ash, what are you getting so upset about? I was just saying he's a good coordinator, is all." Her frown grew deeper. "And don't give me that look. You can't be jealous, cause you're not a coordinator! Gym battles and coordinator battles are totally different!"
He opened his mouth to snap back at her, before deciding against it. After all, if he kept shooting Drew down whenever he came up in conversation, the group would start to suspect more had happened between them than just the argument after their battle. And as much as he hated to admit it, he still didn't want the group to figure out that Ash and Drew had come to some sort of agreement to be rivals the last time they'd met.
He still looked at the rose sometimes, in those rare moments where he was alone, after dark when the others were asleep. He'd stare at it and wonder what it meant. He knew Drew liked to give roses to May when he teased her, so did that mean Drew was making fun of him too? He hoped not. Then again, May was a girl, so perhaps it was some sort of crush that had grown between the two coordinators? Even if that wasn't the case, Ash was still a guy, and guys generally didn't exchange flowers as mementos of trainer rites of passages, such as settling an old score or proclaiming a new rivalry.
Not that he'd ever tell Drew that.
After holding Ash's glare for a few seconds, May sighed and retreated, selecting a pokeball from her bag.
"Whatever, I'd better get on with some training," she muttered. Then, turning her back on Ash, she threw the pokeball into the air. "Go, Skitty! Come on out and take the stage!"
-Verdanturf Town, January 30th, 2004-
Well, the contest had come to an interesting turnout, that was for sure.
Drew wasn't entirely certain about what he was more surprised about; the fact that May had won or the fact that she'd somehow scraped a victory against the coordinator that had defeated him the day before. Even though his roselia was fine now, Drew was still frustrated that she'd managed to coin a win out of this kid, especially since whispers throughout the contest hall said this was allegedly his first contest.
And now it was late at night and he found himself wandering aimlessly around the high street in Verdanturf, looking for something to do. Since he'd been unable to contact his parents, he figured he'd give his old friend Solidad a call instead. Once he'd picked out a decent-looking café with a video-phone he placed an order for the soup of the day and set up the small 'reserved' plaque upright on the table, before wandering over to the green video-phone in the corner of the room and dialling up. After three rings, there was an answer.
"Oh, hi there, Drew." The face of his old rival spilled onto the screen and he smiled lightly, noting from the beige-coloured walls that she was in a Kanto pokemon centre.
"Hi, Solidad. Did you watch the Verdanturf Town pokemon contest today? It was on during the Contesta Central block on Hoenn Channel 4."
She nodded. "Yeah, I did. I spotted you in the crowd a couple of times. I take it you didn't compete?"
Drew frowned. "Roselia got hurt badly during a practice match. Did you see the coordinator Phantom?"
Her face perked up. "Yes, I did! He was strong, and his dusclops looked well raised. I was impressed."
"I was overconfident with the Phantom," Drew sighed. "And Roselia paid the price."
Solidad's face flashed with sympathy. "There there, Drew. There will be other contests. At least now you know, for future reference." She paused for a moment. "Do you remember the girl who won? What do you think of her?"
Drew shrugged. "Well, that's May. Remember her? The weak one with the beautifly that I told you about a few months ago?"
"Oh, that's right. So that was May? She was pretty cute, Drew. Is she a rival of yours?"
Drew groaned and rubbed his temples. "That's a terrifying thought. She's such an amateur."
Solidad laughed. "I don't know, Drew. She reminds me a lot of you when you first started out. I was surprised when I first saw her. Even if she seems to make a few mistakes here and there, she seems to have a lot of potential."
"Whatever you say," he shrugged. "How have things been in Kanto? Have you been entering any contests? I've been on the road a lot so I haven't really had the chance to tune in."
"Things have been… quiet. I won a couple here and there, but I keep battling new coordinators so they don't pose much of a challenge." She seemed eager to change the subject. "But enough of that, anyway. During the few times I saw you on screen there were moments when you were… not all too focused on the battle."
"Huh? There was?"
"Yeah! You were staring at a kid with a pikachu sat in the crowd." Her face split into a teasing grin. "Were your thoughts occupied or did you know him?"
Drew willed back the colour threatening to rush to his cheeks and coughed slightly. "He's one of May's annoying friends. We battled back in December."
"Oh? So he's a coordinator too?"
"Not quite. A trainer. One who challenges gyms and stuff." He reached up to touch his hair unconsciously, before realising what he was doing and withdrawing his hand. As the coordinator he looked up to most, Drew had always felt like Solidad didn't deserve any of the façades he put up to unnerve May and the other trainers he met. It didn't feel fair to pull that crap in front of Solidad, since she still seemed to think of him as a squirt no matter how much she'd grown.
Besides, the last time he'd played the hair-flick card she'd seen straight through it anyway.
Solidad grinned. "Sounds interesting. It's not like you to battle just anybody, Drew, especially when it's not even for show."
Drew shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "Well, he wouldn't stop going on about it. He was so convinced he was going to win, it almost looked like fun."
"Well, be careful, okay?" she laughed. "Don't want your head getting too big."
"Whatever you say," he sighed, trying to look haughty. "He's… a new project of mine."
"Oh? And what're you planning to do?" Solidad asked with a smile. It had been a small game of theirs to take a coordinator they met on their journeys and aid them to success, calling them 'projects', and Drew's usually involved harsh training and hours on end of grinding. Of course, he'd been popular since his debut as a coordinator, so usually the new coordinators would look up to him and be eager to follow his training methods, even if they were too worn out to speak after he was done.
Solidad usually took coordinators under her wing and urged them to talk with their pokemon, aiding them in decisions and striving to strengthen the bond between the team, rather than put them through workouts and hard labour.
This time seemed different, however, and Solidad was intrigued as to what Drew's plan was.
After all, he'd never selected a trainer who was so set on battling before.
"I'm winding him up," he explained with a confident smirk. "Riling him up seems to get him to work harder, so I figured that'd be the quickest way to start a rivalry with him. He doesn't seem to seriously dislike me for it, so I'm just going to get him to realise maybe he'd be better in contests after all."
"That's a tall order," Solidad said, raising her eyebrows. "How long has he been a trainer for?"
"Two years, I think?"
"Then yeah, I'd say that's a really tall order," she deadpanned. "Are you sure about this?"
"About as sure as I'll ever be," he replied. "If it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter, right?"
He turned around as a waitress tapped him on the shoulder.
"Um, table six? Your soup is waiting on the table…"
"Oh, okay. Thanks." He turned back to Solidad. "I have to go. I'll see you soon…"
"Got it. See you around, Drew."
As her smiling face was swallowed up by the darkness of the screen, he got up and wandered over to his table. He stopped in his tracks as he saw a certain Ash Ketchum sitting opposite his soup.
Drew frowned as Ash noticed him and waved enthusiastically.
"Drew! Over here!"
Drew struggled not to let his anger show.
"What are you doing here…?"
"The others are at Tim- I mean, Phantom's house. We were celebrating, but his mother is still a bit… iffy about Pikachu staying outside its pokeball." He scratched behind his pikachu's cheek, earning a happy cry in response. "She means well, it's just a little pet peeve of hers. So I told her me and Pikachu would eat somewhere else. The others said they'd come too but I told them it was fine, and that I'd just meet back up with them at the pokemon centre instead."
His face then broke out into a grin. "It's not all bad though, since I ran into you here."
"More like you ran into me," Drew said warily, eying his soup. Cream of tamato berry, his favourite.
The waitress from earlier approached their table and nodded towards Ash. "Do you want anything?"
He pointed at something on the panini list. "This one please. And can I have some water for my pikachu, please?"
"Of course. I'll be back in a moment." The waitress bowed her head before disappearing back behind the counter.
"I'm surprised you don't have your pokemon out though, Drew," Ash voiced nervously. "I figured since this is a café that allows pokemon out, you'd be all for it."
"What about you, then?" Drew shot back. "You say that, but it's only your pikachu that's out. I feed all of my pokemon back in my room at the centre. It prevents the risk of any of them causing trouble for the other customers."
"That's the same as me," Ash shrugged. "That's why I'm not buying anything for Pikachu except some water. He's my partner, but I can't treat any of my other pokemon unfairly, so…"
Drew watched him as he took his first spoonful of soup. Even if the tamato concentrate had been diluted greatly, it was still quite a spicy soup to choke down and although he was able to tolerate spicy foods, he could tell his nose was beginning to flood with red.
"Your nose is all red," Ash grinned. "It looks strangely fitting on a smug face like yours."
"Shut up, or I'll hit you."
The dark-haired boy sat opposite him simply looked amused.
"You're better with tamato-berry-flavoured stuff than I am," laughed Ash. "If I do so much as look at one my mouth puffs up. When I was a kid my mom seriously thought I had an allergy to them, but as it turns out, I just can't handle spicy food well."
Fascinating.
The two lapsed into an awkward silence as Drew continued to eat and Ash fidgeted uncomfortably, the din of the café feeling oddly quiet.
Then Drew heard a loud growl and looked up to Ash's embarrassed face. He smirked.
"You're honestly that starving? I saw you practically swallow two hot dogs whole outside the contest hall earlier."
"High metabolism," Ash retorted, glaring at him through his embarrassment.
"Well, your order will be here soon. Unless you'd like some of my soup," Drew smirked. Ash pouted.
"Very funny."
As the two were beginning to bicker again, the waitress approached their table and handed Ash his food with a little bow, placing a water bowl down for Pikachu too.
"Finally! I'm starving!" Ash hastily took a bite as Drew watched with a bemused expression. Then suddenly, his eyes widened.
"Umfff… dis cheese…!" Ash took the panini away from his lips, several gloopy strings of cheese threaded between the two like a cobweb. Drew found his face reddening despite himself.
Does this guy even realise how wrong this looks?
He opened his mouth but found himself unable to speak as Ash began attempting to detach the stringy cheese threads from his mouth. Pikachu watched with an exasperated "Pikapi…", yet decided not to do anything about it, leaving his trainer to flail uselessly with his meal.
"Stop being a moron, you're making a scene," Drew frowned, glancing around quickly. People were beginning to stare with puzzled expressions as Ash continued to wrestle his panini.
In one swift motion, Drew snatched the panini out of his hands and took a bite of it himself, before forcing it into Ash's mouth.
"Mmff!"
When he'd finished swallowing, Ash removed the half-eaten panini from his mouth and glared at Drew, who was still chewing.
"What did you do that for?!"
"You were being a nuisance to the other customers," he replied once he'd finished swallowing. He eyed Ash coolly. "What's the problem? You wanted to eat it, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah, but…!"
Ash groaned loudly before taking another bite. "I just don't understand you, Drew. You're always acting so composed and haughty around May but when it comes to me, you do stuff like this! Do you really not respect me that much?"
A smile tugged at the corners of Drew's eyes.
"Quite the contrary. You, May and your other dorky friends… you're all interesting." He flicked a strand of hair out of his eyes with a short chuckle. "But May's my rival, right? I can't disappoint her by being easy."
He glanced at Ash with a smirk. "However, we're only rivals… behind the scenes, should I say? For that reason, what's the need for me to act the way I do in front of May? Everybody hypes themselves to be better than they really are to appeal to others around them - much like in pokemon contests. For all you know, half the people - and their pokemon - competing could have rotten personalities, but they're putting on a show, aren't they? It's that factor that entices the audience, similarly to how my façade entices May to accomplish things she wouldn't feel so eager to do otherwise. Am I wrong?"
Ash stared at him, mouth gaping like a magikarp.
"Did you really just compare socialising to an appeals round of a pokemon contest?"
"What of it? Are you going to say what I just pointed out has never applied to you?"
Ash went to retort, but then stopped. He glanced down at his plate, wide-eyed and deep in thought. At last, he dropped his gaze and said sulkily, "…No…"
"What are you thinking about? A past rivalry being a lie? Your friends all having hidden natures? Your pikachu plotting against you?"
At this, Pikachu looked up curiously, hearing its name, and gazed up quizzically at Drew.
"No… I was thinking about how similar you are to your roselia."
Drew blinked.
"Huh?"
"You both carry roses around. Your hair is the same colour as Roselia's leaves. You're both kind of prissy. Not to mention you always have a smug air around you." Ash drummed his fingers on the table, deep in thought. "So I guess the pokemon really do affect the antics of the trainer…"
Drew stared at him for a few seconds, before chuckling loudly.
"What brought that on?" he asked in between laughter. "I seriously don't understand your train of thought." Then, reaching into his bag, he added, "But is my likeness to Roselia really such a bad thing?"
Ash could only stare as Drew pulled out a rose and lifted Ash's hat, placing the rose on top of his head before cramming the cap back down again.
"What's it for this time?" Ash asked, dumbfounded, as Drew finished off his soup. He shrugged.
"What else? Your analysing skills have gotten better since the last time I saw you, as you're no longer claiming the point of contests to be 'all about the sparkles'." He looked up at Ash and smirked. "You just proved yourself worthy as my rival by pointing out the similarities between trainer and pokemon, Ketchum. So well done."
His grin deepened.
"You've finally grasped what contests are all about."
The panini scene is something I was inspired by after reading an awesome web comic called Grass Nest. Go check it out, you won't regret it!
Also, even though I understand Solidad wasn't officially introduced until Battle Frontier, (dub)canon states that they've been friends for a long time and that they often used to compare coordinators, battling styles, rivals etc… which is why I figured it would be a good time for somebody to get suspicious of Ash and Drew's *controversial* rivalry.
(IT MAY BE EARLY DAYS BUT THEY ARE BOYFRIENDS OKAY. /cries)
Sorry this isn't a similar length to the first chapter, but I seriously didn't know what to write. I was stuck, but in the time I was writing this chapter you guys reviewed and it made me happy to know there were people out there reading my fic and respecting this ship (again, no punintendo). So thank you, guys! Here's hoping chapter three won't take me as long to accomplish!
