And this is the third installation of Natural Disturbances, in which I realize that the name of this entire fanfic is the lamest ever!
Prominent Pairings of This Chapter:
DrewxMay
BrendanxMay
AshxGary
Newly Introduced Main to Side Human Characters in This Chapter (Order of Appearance):
Harley Davidson
Professor Samuel Oak
Tracey Sketchit
Misty Waterflower
Dawn Hikari
Lucas Hikari
Tyson Haste
Paul Samuels
Marina Clearwater
Jimmy Tekan
Silver Smith
I implore everyone to review… even if you hated it. If you hated it, please tell me why, so I can change it. - And I can boost my review number… five is just sad, peeps.
Chapter Three—On the Ship and Not
Indigo Power Plant, Kanto
"I have you," Giovanni cackled quietly to himself as the Clone Pokemon, easily employing its powerful psychic abilities, forced the God of Electricity into a corner, pressing it down, draining the Legendary Bird of all its energy until it collapsed onto the floor, shaking feebly. Sparks of static flew wildly from all around the fallen bird, and its once revered intimidation effect that was known to diminish the amount of times a Pokemon could perform a move was destroyed completely.
The man fingered a band-like instrument—embedded with a small, glittering ruby, perhaps the fragment of a larger one—in his hand before throwing it the way one might through a Frisbee at the crumpled bird-like Pokemon. It sprang open in mid air and clasped onto the electric-typed Pokemon's left wing, speedily shrinking and beeping mechanically. Zapdos finally gave way to the power of the device, and a few moments later rose into the air with an oddly blank look on its angular face, ready to obey Giovanni's orders.
"One legendary down in less than an hour," Team Rocket's Leader muttered self-satisfactorily. He considered informing the various Administrators of his success, but decided to amaze them when he had collected the rest of the well-known Bird Trio. Leaping back onto the floating emerald Dragon, Giovanni ordered his Pokemon to follow as they flew forwards through the large hole they had created in the ceiling when entering, flying due west.
Petalburg, Hoenn
Half an hour after Maya Sapphire Maple hurriedly excused herself from the bathroom, she was sitting down at breakfast staring with a bored expression at the once-full bowl of milk and cereal. She thought if she should perhaps help herself to a fourth serving, but didn't choose to do that as she thought her brother would not take it so kindly when he found out that May had consumed all of his Froot Loops.
Her parents were stirring—May could hear that, and Drew had just turned off the shower faucet; May could also hear that. She wondered vaguely where her Skitty disappeared off to after being chased around the house wildly by her father's Vigoroth and crashing into an antique china stand (much to her mother's dismay); probably resting in her father's greenhouse.
May appreciated the outfit Brendan had made her—she thought it miraculous that he had guessed her size perfectly. It was far more comfortable that she thought it would have been, although slightly flashier than she would have preferred—her shorts, although sleek and stylish, were half an inch too short for her to completely adore it, but like her friend Marina, incidentally whom May had met while traveling in Johto, had said, May didn't really know fashion.
She hated, despised that fact even about her—her far too small outfits Brendan had designed and tailored for her so kindly half a decade ago were embarrassingly revealing and on more than one account she had to borrow one of Marina's friend, Jimmy's, extra large sweatshirt, much to the cerulean-haired girl and jet black-haired boy's amusement. Indeed, throwing a Pokeball when your sleeves were a feet too long was a tricky business, and May had learned to roll them up whenever she tried to.
Thankfully her hair had grown long, then—in fact, she had allowed it to grow so mainly for hiding her body. Where areas if she had cut it regularly it would have only fallen to her shoulders, now it neared mid-waist. May had consulted Max about whether or not her longer hair made her look stupid, and when he responded with fervent laughter, had asked Marina about the matter, and she had said that yes, it kind of did.
So shortly after she came back to Petalburg she had asked her mother to cut her hair shorter for her, and so Caroline had complied. Thinking back, May had rather liked her long hair despite how it might have made her look a little dumb. Lost in her thoughts about short and long hair, May once again bumped into Drew in the hallway, after he had changed.
The brown-haired Coordinator could instantly smell her rival's hair. It smelled as good as it usually did—all fresh and minty. May herself didn't like washing her hair, much—and after she had grown it long showering became an almost hazardous experience, and so she usually disguised her odor with lots of perfume. It was a good thing, then, that she had taken a bath the previous night; in any other case her own body smell would be only too obvious amidst invisible clouds of grassy freshness.
Perhaps she had revealed a little too much on her dreamy expression while she continued to smell Drew's lovely hair, because soon he asked, "Are you feeling okay, May?"
May jerked back to reality, suddenly aware of how idiotic she had looked. Then she was immediately acute of the fact how Drew, Drew, seemed to have revealed care for her. Then she realized that if she had come down sick he would not be able to attend the party (and she knew all too well that he liked parties). Then she noticed a faint blush on Drew's lightly tanned face, and became very much embarrassed.
"May? Are you okay?" Drew asked again, laying his right hand caringly on her shoulder, a stern expression on his face. The brown-haired Coordinator was highly sensitive to his touch, and instead of acting normal she jumped backwards, nearly crashing into the other antique china stand.
"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine," May said hurriedly, readjusting her green bandana. This gesture seemed to draw Drew to notice her change of outfit, because he soon commented on that.
"What's up with your new outfit? It looks hideous, as usual." He said smoothly, although May could not help but wonder if he was thinly disguising awe, because his green eyes kept darting to her shorts.
"Hey! Brendan made it for me!" May retorted defensively, but somewhat meekly, as she fiddled with her bottle green waist bag. Drew merely raised his eyebrows.
"He sews?" Drew asked in disbelief, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Um, yeah, what's wrong with that?" May shot back, even more defensively.
"Oh, nothing… Just that, why does he sew? There's something wrong with a guy sewing, if you ask me." He flipped his hair; May glowered.
"Well, if you couldn't go out all the time in risk of fainting if you didn't apply enough sunscreen—and this was before the days anyone gave a damn about UV rays or whatnot—you would stay inside! And maybe you would learn how to sew!" May huffed, a certain edge now crawling into her voice. Drew seemed to note that she did not stand for blatant insult of her friend Brendan, and so didn't mention the topic further.
Instead, as they stared at each other without so much as making a noise, her Skitty decided to streak down the hallway, chased now by May's Beautifly, who was making odd hissing noises as it attempted to shoot down the kitten-like Pokemon. May sighed and proceeded after her Beautifly and Skitty, shouting 'stops!' after them.
Drew sighed as well, but May did not see him anymore as she proceeded down the hallway—and into the dining room—and into the hallway again—and then outside in a shameless attempt to stop her two Pokemon. After tripping over her front steps and landing very much painfully on her buttocks, May employed her father's two choiciest swearwords and punched the air pathetically as her Skitty decided to chase its tail and Beautifly shot periodical 'String Shots' at the blur of pink and orange.
"Woah, lady, careful with the language." A familiar voice, not the cynical one of Drew's, but rather the subtly sarcastic of Brendan's, spoke. May glanced up to see her white-haired friend towering above herself, a bemused expression etched onto his face. She blushed in shame, breaking the crimson/sapphire gaze and looking elsewhere—at the tips of her sneakers-wearing toes.
"Seriously, May, what's up?" Brendan asked, and as May pointed feebly towards her maniacal Skitty and Beautifly Brendan seemed to realize how silly his question was. Sighing importantly in an attempt to cheer May up, which hazily succeeded, Brendan flung out a Pokeball attached onto his own emerald belt—and it was then that May realized how their outfits seemed to match—and from the open hood sprang a cherry silhouette that solidified into one of a humanoid Pokemon.
The Gallade flexed his shoulders, looking around wildly for an opponent, and then realizing that the problem was right in front of him let his right eye twitch. May giggled at Brendan's Pokemon's comical expression, but before she could orally point this out, the Gallade had already caused the outlines of both Beautifly and Skitty to freeze in motion, with a well-placed and undetectable 'Psychic' attack.
The Pokemon directed the bug-type and normal-type to in front of May, and then broke his concentration. As a result, Skitty looked politely bewildered and Beautifly's hissing sounds subsided. May could not help but laugh again, and Brendan's mouth formed the shadow of a grin.
"Of course, Brendan can always solve the problem." Brendan said daintily, addressing himself in third person. May giggled again, and just as she did Drew exited the door, a careful frown on his face and with a gray rucksack slung over his left shoulder, undoubtedly containing his extra clothes and toothbrush among other personal items..
"Brendan." Drew said, not revealing anything in his neutral tone of voice.
The white-haired Trainer seemed to struggle for a moment to erase his own voice and face of any emotion, and then replied with a perfect poker face, "Drew."
The sight of the two staring at each other caused May to laugh inside, but she did not laugh out loud, to prevent from hurting anyone's feelings. Drew and Brendan might have suspected this, though, and soon broke their angry glare-contest.
Unexpectedly, Max tumbled out of the door, fully dressed although slightly tired-looking. The young blue-haired Trainer opened his mouth and said, stifling a yawn as he did so, "Um… Dad woke up and he said we have to go, like, really soon."
May reluctantly got up and stretched, fully ridding herself of any weariness in her act. She did not seem to notice her two peers' eyes follow her movements carefully, and perhaps wander places where it should not go, but May was not one for such nonsense and soon she had marched back inside to grab the two tickets she had put on the counter the previous night, as well as stuff inside her already crammed bag some prepared clothes (again, too tight for herself but she didn't really care) into her green bag and five random Pokeballs. She realized that two of them were empty and thus had to be her Beautifly and Skitty's, and so returned the two respective Pokemon.
"All right!" She said energetically, contaminating her friends and brother with her excitement. "Brendan, go grab Wally! C'mon Max, we're going to Slateport!"
It then suddenly struck all of them just how they were going to achieve that. Slateport was many miles away, to the best of May's knowledge. There was certainly panic infecting her mind now, and her expression showed it. Brendan seemed to know what to say, however, and remarked, "It's okay, I can lend you guys some of my Dragons."
Just what Pokemon exactly were all of Brendan's 'Dragons' did not become apparent when Drew sent out his Flygon, climbing up its back with a somewhat stubborn air. May was at a loss for actions and words—she quickly realized that she was short of a capable flying-typed Pokemon, since her Beautifly surely could not sustain her weight.
Wally walked out of his house on his own accord, appearing bubbly and energetic and changed into his usual outfit, although to the best of May's memory it had been modified by undoubtedly Brendan. His T-shirt had lost a sleeve, perhaps for the sake of style, and the sleeve that was still there had elongated slightly, up to Wally's elbow. The golden-green-haired Trainer's olive green pants seemed to be newer upon closer inspection. He seemed to note that everyone was getting ready to fly, and so hurriedly looked to Brendan.
The white-haired Trainer absorbed May and Max's expressions—all wide-eyed with the realization that they had no means of transportation. He sighed and proceeded inside the Pokemon Center, to emerge a short minute later clutching two more Pokeballs in his hands, not a very difficult act.
May aimlessly selected one Pokeball, as her brother plucked the one remaining. She whipped her Pokemon out, only to hurry backwards as an oddly colored Dragonite sprang out of the Pokeball—where areas normal Dragonite would have yellow scales and skin, this Dragonite had a peculiar shade of pink. Shrugging, she crawled onto the gentle Pokemon's lowered back, careful to avoid stepping on its relatively small wings.
Wally sent out another Flygon that seemed to compliment his as well as Drew's hair, although this particular Dragon seemed to be substantially smaller than Drew's, most likely owing to an age difference, May thought. It was not unusual of her green-obsessed friend to own such a green Pokemon, though. As he clambered on, Max sent out a middle-sized Altaria, who squawked energetically. Brendan shrugged when Max shot him a confused look as he tried to calm his borrowed Dragon Pokemon.
The azure-haired Trainer then shrugged and carefully seated himself between the large bird Pokemon's two wings. As Brendan sent out his own Dragonite and nodded approvingly to the rest while Drew maintained a patronizing glare, all four Pokemon took flight.
There seemed to be a competition in mid-air to see who would take the lead—among Brendan and Drew, at least. First May would see a flash of yellow in front of herself, since she was too preoccupied with not falling off and not looking down to observe more carefully, and then she would see green, then yellow, then green again. This was not of her concern, however, and she averted her gaze, disobediently downwards.
May gasped involuntarily as the pink Dragonite flew even higher, minimizing the trees and ponds and sparse houses. She thought that if she continued to look down, she would fall and so May squeezed her eyes shut, shivering with the slap of cold wind on her exposed face and clothed back, wishing that she had thought to brought one of Jimmy's sweatshirts that she hadn't returned.
Five hours they flew like this, and it took all of May's concentration not to fall asleep and slip off of her Pokemon. She was pretty sure that her pink Dragonite—so careful in aerial maneuvers to make their ride as comfortable as it was long—could catch her if she did fall, but she didn't want to test its true ability. All she could do was waiting in pure boredom.
Slateport, Hoenn
Finally, they touched down after what seemed like eons to May. She very gladly returned her Dragonite and promptly gave it to Brendan, who had to juggle his Flygon and Fearow's Pokeballs as well. The white-haired Trainer rushed to the red-roofed Pokemon Center—quite prominent among the various clay-built buildings—and the rest looked around for the ship.
They had arrived somewhat awkwardly in the middle of the city, which was convenient for Brendan to deposit his Pokeballs but made it harder to find the ship, as they were overwhelmed by the noon horde. Before May could say anything, though, Brendan had slipped back into their midst, much to Drew's disdain (and May suspected that he had hoped for the white-haired Trainer to be lost in the large crowd), and with a wink of his eye told everyone to follow.
May wound her way through the throng, meticulously avoiding trodding on anyone's feet or stumbling. Behind her was her brother, and then Max, and finally a very reluctant-looking Drew, who drew looks from people as he passed, undoubtedly with his unusually colored hair and renowned image as a top Coordinator. May did not stop to wallow in her self-pity regarding fame, and soon enough Brendan had led them to the large and noble-looking S.S. Tidal.
There was a wide wooden plank leading up to the entrance of the ship, and they tentatively proceeded up it. A guard was checking the tourists' tickets, and May held her breath as she handed over her two.
The ticket-checking man raised his eyebrows, and glanced at the five in puzzlement. "Um, ma'am, you only have two tickets," He said, pointing out the obvious. Drew glared insolently at the guard, flipping a strand of green hair pompously over the whole mass. Brendan looked as if his throat felt dry. Wally opened his mouth to speak, and as if on cue, an old, white-haired man passed by, a captain's cap upon his head.
"Oh, Mr. Briney!" Wally called out eagerly, waving his thin left arm in the air. Mr. Briney turned around, a small Wingull flapping on his right shoulder, and widened his eyes in surprise.
"Wally boy, is that you?" The old man asked in a wheezing voice. Wally nodded multiple times, causing Drew to scoff quietly in disapproval. Soon, however, after the old captain spoke to the ticket-checking man for a few moments, the five were let on board.
May looked around wildly—she had never been on such an exquisite ferry. She indistinctly noted Wally chatting animatedly with Mr., or should she say, Captain Briney, who boomed randomly with cheerful laughter. Brendan darted forwards towards a room with a golden plaque hanging above the door that read 'Pokeblock Blending Center', and after a while Drew followed through, Max curiously drifting behind.
Before she followed the three inside, however, the brown-haired Coordinator stole more glances around herself. Dotted around the four corners of the ship, which by May's reckon was at least forty yards in length and fifteen in width, although she wasn't very good with numbers, were various plotted plants that offered moderate shade for some tourists. Some looked to be Trainers, and seemed to look around as if seeking a battle; others were simply aged men and women, undoubtedly looking for a small reprieve from their lives.
She then realized that going to Pallet Town was going to take a while—traveling to a different region always took time, after all. May sincerely hoped that Ash was not expecting them to arrive until evening, and then wondered how surprised he might be to find out that Max had gotten Pokemon. He was always a bit on the slow side after all, and this caused quite a bit of trouble on their journeys, but she never said that, explicitly, anyways, for fear of insulting him.
Striding across the wooden floor, May pushed open the door Max, Drew, and Brendan had just entered and walked inside.
On the S.S. Tidal, from Slateport, Hoenn, to Pallet Town, Kanto
Andrew Rosalind was more than a little surprised to see that the ferry harbored a Blending Center. These places, based on his own colorful experiences at least, were usually only on the larger ships, such as that one which came yearly to Vermillion, called the S.S. Anne if he was not mistaken. And although the S.S Tidal certainly did not match the Anne in grandeur, it compensated in coziness.
It was also a lot less crowded than he had expected; whenever he was on a cruise of some sort, Drew would go to the Blending Center, if they had one, at least. He also knew that all the Coordinators and Pokeblock Blenders would flock to the Blending Center, undoubtedly under the impression that they would be matched with a good Blender and be able to nab a good quality Pokeblock or two.
He snickered at such actions. Right now, however, Drew was sauntering contentedly down the aisle, looking for a vacant Blending Machine—others had already been taken by various other Coordinators, and had they spared him a glance Drew knew that they would undoubtedly be frozen in shock at the sight of him. It was not everyday, after all, that one meets someone quite as famous as Drew.
Registering May's renewed presence among the crowd satisfactorily, Drew pushed past a rather large Coordinator and found himself, finally, an empty Blender. Placing his gray rucksack on the platform where one traditionally placed finished Pokeblocks, he extracted several yellow-and-coffee Chilan Berries, intending to make several blue Pokeblocks to enhance his Roselia's Beauty.
However, before he could plop the berries inside the machine, Brendan had arrived. Drew smirked disdainfully as the white-haired Trainer slammed his backpack on the Blender, pulling out several blue-striped Ganlon Berries. Despite himself, Drew was impressed that Brendan was able to lay hands on such prestigious Berries, and the green-haired Coordinator was pretty sure that Brendan felt that way towards his Chilan Berries, for he saw the albino raise his eyebrows.
Then, before Drew could open his mouth to make a snide comment about the Ganlon Berries, May had rushed to his side and pulled out a few purple-blue Berries Drew identified immediately as Cornn Berries and spread them into a circle on the small platform in front of herself. Then, even before Drew could remark rudely about May's comparably cheaper Berries, Max had appeared by Brendan's side and withdrawn a handful of pink Magost Berries.
"I take it, then, that we are blending berries together." Drew said dryly, not quite feeling to criticize the others' various berries. With keen nods of approval from May and Max and a reluctant one from Brendan, Drew pushed in one Chilan Berry into his Berry slot; Brendan dropped one Ganlon Berry into his; May lovingly flicked one of her Cornn Berries inside; and Max threw with unnecessary force his own inside his slot.
Drew punched a large red button in the center of the Berry Blending Machine to start it up. As it began to whirl, he suddenly realized if perhaps he should have explained Berry Blending to Max, but the thought was whisked away from his mind when it became his turn to punch the green button in front of himself. He did so, perfectly timed, and the Blender tuned up its speed a little; it was Brendan's turn, and to Drew's dismay he also timed his punch perfectly—
Now it was Max's, which he missed, and the Blender continued on at the same speed; May's, and her timing was mediocre—the Blender continued slightly slower; Drew punched in another perfect timed one; Brendan did too—Max missed, May missed, Drew hit it impeccably, as did Brendan—Max almost got it; May hit another mediocre one—Drew hit it again—the speed was getting faster and faster until after a few dozen more rounds—
The Blender slowed to a stop, and four Pokeblocks were regurgitated out of each of the four slots. Drew carefully took out his own, marveling at the flawless turquoise coloring and the unexpected smoothness. He looked upwards to see the small screen in the center of the Blender lift up to display the scores—his name and Brendan's continuously swapped places, a phenomenon Drew had not witnessed before. May was below the two, and Max was at the very bottom.
"It's a turquoise Pokeblock," Max said, apparently marveling at the texture. May, too, was enraptured by the Pokeblock, but Brendan simply scanned it quickly with a flick of his dark red eyes and then stored his into his Pokeblock Case, stowing that away in his green backpack. Drew was slightly surprised that Brendan didn't observe the Pokeblock further, like Max and May were doing, but then decided that perhaps the white-haired Trainer was more seasoned than Drew had thought him first to be.
Shrugging, the green-haired Trainer stored his own Turquoise Pokeblock into his Pokeblock Case, and, gracefully throwing his Case into his rucksack, strode out of the room, meandering between each Coordinator blocking his way.
The noon sun glared down Drew's exposed neck, and he began wondering if he should rub on some sunscreen, and then winced as he realized he forgot to pack it. May appeared by his side freakishly quickly, and then Brendan by May's. Max seemed to have evaporated into thin air, then reappeared somewhere in front of Drew, joining the conversation with Wally. Drew listened out of pure boredom and noticed that the talk was something to do with Breeding and Natures, but he didn't stay to listen.
The green-haired Coordinator instead headed towards another room entitled 'Resting Area'. May tagged along, although Drew suspected this was merely because she had nothing to do. Realizing that he himself had nothing to do as well, the Coordinator decided to abandon going inside the 'Rest Area' and instead do what he liked best—the art of May teasing.
"May." Drew said simply. The brown-haired girl looked at him questioningly, her large blue eyes widening. He took a moment to dwell on May's puzzled look and Brendan's of loathing, and then continued.
"Why is that you cannot even design your own outfit?" The words flowed like liquid out of the green-haired boy's mouth, and he delighted in watching her eyes continue to widen with rage and her face grow steadily redder—and had Drew glanced at Brendan's face, he would be surprised at how scarlet the white-haired Trainer's milky white skin could go.
"What?" May demanded angrily.
"I was merely wondering."
"Well, for your information, I—" The brown-haired Coordinator trailed off, not knowing what to say.
"I what?"
"I—I—I'm scared of needles."
"Note how I said, 'design', and not 'make'."
"I—I—I—I'm not good at designing clothes!" May huffed angrily, crossing her arms over her chest. Drew did manage to glance at Brendan, and was a bit startled by the shade of purple on the Trainer's face.
"I—I—I see." Drew finished, imitating May's stammering voice. The brown-haired Coordinator replied with an indignant huff and Brendan hissed something under his breath.
Before May or Drew could say anything, or Brendan could repeat what he had muttered under his breath louder, a particular tall, lanky figure approached the three. May turned around wearing a startled expression as the footsteps approached, only to groan quietly.
"Like Oh Em Gee! May!" A high, feminine voice squealed. Drew distinctly saw a swish of stringy lavender before a huge, slightly tanned face loomed over the three at such close a proximity the green-haired Coordinator could almost hear the gender-confused man breathe.
"Oh… crap." Drew heard May whisper quietly, and Brendan raise an eyebrow disbelievingly as Harley Davidson clutched at the air above his heart with his two spider-like hands, crying words strung together so closely it was hard to differentiate each from the other.
"Hey, who's this?" Brendan hissed to May, obviously confused as Harley began twirling around maniacally, drawing the attention of the people around them. Drew felt himself becoming slightly embarrassed, although he did not leave.
"Just Harley Davidson. One of my rivals. Who's always been trying to make my life living hell." May answered matter-of-factly, her eyebrows too rising into her brown bangs.
"I see." Brendan replied, still under his breath, then paused and added, "He doesn't look like he can do much harm, though," as Harley now mimed a ballerina, twirling so extravagantly that he nearly crashed into a potted plant.
Drew considered leaving, and he was pretty sure May was about to abandon the scene when a crowd began gathering—Brendan still seemed slightly befuddled, although Drew couldn't really care much for the white-haired boy—but Harley had untimely stopped twirling and grabbed May's right wrist. Apparently he grabbed pretty hard, too, since the brown-haired Coordinator winced at the contact, even if her wrist was protected by her long fingerless dandelion gloves.
"Oh, May, where do you think you're going?" Harley asked in a sly but disgustingly sweet voice. May winced again in reply.
"Dearie, you weren't trying to escape me, weren't you?" At the end of his question, the lavender-haired gender-confused man gasped in mock surprise. Drew was acute of the fact that the crowd was starting to thicken, and Brendan seemed to be aware of this as well, since he stirred a little—not too much, but enough to attract moderate attention.
Harley's sharp eyes noticed Brendan's movements, and he continued to the white-haired boy in the same gross, sweet voice, "May, who's this?" The lavender-haired man was obviously indicating Brendan—and the white-haired Trainer began looking uncomfortable.
"That's Brendan." May said grudgingly, as if she did not want to talk to Harley, which, Drew reckoned, was probably the last thing on earth she wanted to do.
"Brendan, eh? Could he probably be the son of Richard Birch, the esteemed professor? I heard the Prof had an albino son." Harley asked, batting his eyes unnecessarily. His actions freaked out the three younger Trainers.
"Yeah, that'd be me." Brendan answered defiantly, rescuing May from the horrible prospect of answering Harley. The brown-haired Coordinator seemed excessively grateful, and Drew instantaneously felt an odd, jealous feeling well up inside of himself.
Harley's attention seemed to snap back to Brendan, and Drew heard a faint gulp coming from the white-haired boy. "And what exactly, is your relationship with young May?"
Before Brendan could open his mouth to answer, however, the lavender-haired man had steamrollered on. "Oh, I know! Are you another one of May's boyfriends? They seem to be multiplying! Oh, and you even have matching outfits!" Harley giggled. May looked very much indignant, and Drew resisted the impulse to smack Harley across the mouth. Brendan seemed to be struggling to do the same. Again, before any of the three could retaliate, Harley had continued on, drawing murmurs from the crowd.
"Tsk tsk, I knew you were a player, May! First that Ash boy, then you stole that weird Jimmy guy from that blue-haired girl, Marina, and all the while you were cheating on Drew!" Harley giggled again, and the crowd's mutterings grew louder and more in number. May's look of indignant turned quickly to one of horror, and both Brendan and Drew's faces purpled. All three were too shocked to speak, and Harley only used the temporary silence to his advantage.
"Oh, just wait until I tell Ash!" Another giggle, and Brendan was visibly shaking. "And Marina!"
May opened her mouth, as if intending to insult Harley. Again, before she could, Wally and Max had pushed their way through the throng, finished with their conversation with Mr. Briney and wearing very bewildered looks. May enlarged the opening of her mouth, as if intending to explain things, but once again, before she could, Harley had interrupted her before she had said anything.
"Oh, Maxie dear!" Harley exclaimed; Max recoiled. Wally looked politely confused. "Long time no see, eh? I believe it was a week we last met, at the Grand Festival! Ah, a bit embarrassing how I lost to your sister, but I believe I have now completely forgiven her for her little spot of cheating! I am a very understanding w—err, I mean man, you know!"
May managed to say something this time. "What the"—and then something that made Wally gasp and Brendan murmur, 'how unladylike of you, May'—"I didn't cheat! I always won fair and square!"
"Fair and square, right!" Harley giggled again, causing all five of them to recoil fearfully. "Ah, I'll let you slip through again,"—he emphasized the word 'again' as if his life depended on it—"May, but next time, I swear I won't be so nice!"
Sighing, Harley then continued on before Drew could bark a long-suppressed curse word, "Where're all of you going?"
There was dead silence, until Wally, confused and unsure of himself, answered, "Err… we're going to May's friend's house in Pallet Town, Ash? I don't know if you know him or not…"
May, Brendan, Max, and Drew shot Wally death glares, at which the golden/green-haired boy simply shrugged and continued looking confused.
"Aww! How sweet of you, May, to care about your ex!"—May resumed a look of indignity—"But, how come I wasn't invited? This is an atrocity!" Harley gasped again, clamping his right hand over his mouth.
Wally, clearly very wrong footed, supplied, "I'm sure they can accommodate another person, if you just made some changes in your schedule…"
The four shot Wally death glares again, but Harley seemed to be on the verge of tears. "Oh, is that really, May?"—before May could say 'No,' Harley had continued—"That's wonderful! Simply wonderful! I'll have to make a few phone calls and then I'll be all set!"
Harley disappeared through the crowd, evidently looking for a phone he could borrow or find an elevated area to make a Match Call. The crowd dissipated, although not with much under-breath exchanges of gossip, and several people cast May looks of intense dislike. The brown-haired Coordinator looked both enraged and crestfallen, and seeming unable to control her anger, vented it on Wally.
"Wally!" May exploded. Wally shrunk back, clearly fearful of his own mortality as May's face turned red with fury. "HOW COME YOU TOLD HARLEY THAT HE COULD COME? NOW OUR REUNION WILL BE RUINED!" At the end of her small rant, May let out a desperate shriek of anguish, drawing attention from several others.
"I'm sorry." Wally said, sounding sincere and bewildered at the same time. "I thought he was your friend…"
"More like stalker!" May barked.
"Er… I'm sorry." Wally repeated, as if trying to get the point across.
May's head seemed to deflate and Brendan dared look again, while Drew approached closer and Max sighed with relief. She then seemed to realize just how much of a barbarian she had sounded and said quickly, "I shouldn't have yelled at you… it was my fault I didn't interrupt Harley."
"No, it was really my fault." Wally apologized again, and the matter seemed to have been resolved. In terms of apologies, in any case, Drew thought.
"But what are we going to do now?" Max blurted out, looking scared at the prospect of Harley accompanying them on their journey.
The group did not have time to worry and had plenty of time to wish themselves dead when Harley sauntered over, done with his suspiciously short 'phone calls', and engaged them in conversation about May's love life.
Pallet Town, Kanto
Garrison Blue-Green Oak continuously mulled over a certain conversation he had had with his rival, Ash Ketchum, six hours ago. The one about the girlfriends, to be exact. The whole conversation made him jumpy in ways more than one—although seeing his rival after so long was enough to make him jumpy.
He was rather surprised that Ash had been date-less for sixteen years, but then again, was surprised that he himself had been. Of course, Gary could always phone one of his cheerleaders and ask them out, but he had personally never liked them nor taken the trouble to get to know them.
Gary had 'abandoned' them for six years, already. Well, actually he had just filed for one of those 'stay at least 300 yards away from me' legal declarations, and thankfully, he had gotten it. Those cheerleaders were getting really annoying, after all, and he hated paying for all of them at restaurants… not to mention how they always insisted on taking showers with him. Thankfully, Gary had declined each of these kind offers.
The auburn-haired Researcher was pretty sure it would have scarred him for all eternity, had he accepted.
Abandoning the troubling thought, Gary repositioned himself on his bed. It was getting rather small for himself—shooting up three inches over the year hadn't helped him much. The seventeen year old was plenty tall enough already. Hovering at six feet five made him highly uncomfortable around others, although the auburn-haired Trainer always masked this awkwardness over a fatigue of patronization.
Gary glanced through the window opposite of his bed, right at the other house—identical in every way to his own, except for its occupants. He wished he could see into Ash's room, but curtains had been drawn over carefully. Then Gary wondered why he thought that.
Shrugging, the auburn-haired Researcher sat up, and then left his bed, deciding that he would sleep on the floor until Gramps bought him a new one. God knows the old man had enough money—Gary had seen it with his own eyes, one day when he was five on the screen of his Grandfather's computer. He recalled being pushed away rudely after that incident.
Then deciding he was hungry, Gary trotted down the stairs, only to notice dissatisfactorily that there was no lunch on the table. His brain, always sharp, registered this immediately and he shouted angrily, "Gramps! How come there's no food!"
The wizened professor peeked out from behind the kitchen door, wearing a pink apron that caused Gary to raise an eyebrow at him. He wondered what happened to the normal cyan one they wore when cooking, but his hunger was getting the better of him. "Have patience, Garrison; can't you see I'm in the process of making it? It's a bit embarrassing how you, a full-grown seventeen-year-old, can't fix a proper meal for nothing. I recall all that you ate on your Pokemon journeys were sandwiches."
"Don't call me that." Gary snapped; face reddening with the attack on his pride. He placed his head on his hand, and slammed his elbow onto the surface of the unclothed oak table.
"Fine, Gary." His grandfather answered, rolling his eyes before shutting the door. Gary distinctly heard the sound of the oven ringing, and Gramps exclaim "ahh!" but not in a 'help-me-I'm-dying'-Ahh that he used every so often. It was more an exclamation of delight. Whatever the food is, it better be good, Gary mumbled inwardly, picking up his silverware.
The door opened again, and his grandfather emerged, wearing large pink kitchen gloves and clutching the two sides of a large tray. Inside, lay a neatly-sliced two-inch thick brownie-sheet. Gary could practically taste the food in his mouth already, and couldn't care less if it looked like it should be for dessert.
Without thinking much, the auburn-haired Researcher reached out his left hand for a large brownie in the middle, but instead cursed loudly when his grandfather smacked his hand away.
"Language, Gary." The professor said mildly.
"Why can't I eat it?" Gary demanded incredulously as he watched with wide, muddy-brown eyes his grandfather proceed to wrap the cover with a transparent filament that Gary forgot the name off.
"Because it's for the dinner party tonight," The old man explained matter-of-factly, with all the slowness of a teacher explaining to a first-grader that one plus one equaled two. Gary reddened. "At Ash's. You know, right?"
"Wha? Of course I do!" Gary retorted angrily, face reddening again. Fortunately, his grandfather was one of the few people that ever witnessed Gary in such moments of embarrassment. "But what are we eating for lunch?"
A certain black-haired Pokemon Drawer—his hair split into two adjacent parts that Gary always thought looked geeky—hurried untimely onto the scene, bursting in through the front door, although thankfully Tracey Gilmore did not see Gary's face color. Instead, the Drawer seemed intent on saying something, which he did.
"Professor! There's some new people coming to Ash's house!" Tracey exclaimed, jumping up and down in a way that made him look absolutely ridiculous.
"Oh, there is?" Laying down the batch of brownies in the middle of the table, the old man began walking towards the door. Gary, however, did not eat the now-exposed food as he might have done in any other circumstance—not that he really wanted to, his grandfather's cooking was bad enough, but the auburn-haired trainer was ravenous—but instead bolted in front of the Professor and was the first out the front door, although he didn't know why he felt such a sense of urgency.
Tracey had not been incorrect. A small group of people was congregating outside the Ketchums' house. Among them were several Gary instantly recognized: Ash (of course), Ash's mother, that new Dawn girl Gary was forcibly introduced to the previous day not to mention that Paul guy who Gary didn't really like… it was the purple-haired boy's attitude.
There were some new people, though… quite a lot, actually. There was a rather short boy with curly blond hair, wearing a striped white-and-orange T-shirt as well as gray jeans, and a green scarf, engaged in conversation with Dawn, who seemed to be laughing frequently, and a short-haired boy wearing an artist's hat that seemed to share Dawn's exact hair color.
The annoying redhead Misty seemed to be exchanging gossip with a girl with teal hair a shade bluer than Dawn's, whose hair was also tied up in two odd pigtails that Gary thought looked far too childish. Next to the two girls was a black-haired boy wearing a backwards baseball cap and clutching a pool pole, and a maroon-haired boy, who seemed to be sulking and whose bangs covered his right eye—both boys, seeming to be around fifteen or sixteen, in accordance with the blue-haired girl's age, were looking bored..
Before Gary could swagger into the midst of the group, though, Delia Ketchum had caught someone between himself, his grandfather, and Tracey's glance—most likely the middle one—and had hurried over, her terracotta hair pulled into a casual ponytail.
"Oh, hello, Professor Oak!" She beamed, clasping her hands together. The Professor nodded politely in greeting, and Gary mumbled a 'hi, Ms. Ketchum' half-heartedly, wanting to talk with Ash, although he would never admit that to anyone.
Surprisingly, Gary's grandfather let him slip through between Delia and Tracey, who were previously blocking his way. The auburn-haired Researcher breathed a sigh of relief and then swaggered over to Ash, declaring his presence with a loud, "Hey Ashy-boy!"
Unsurprisingly, everyone stopped talking and all heads turned towards Gary, and Ash, whose cheeks pinked. The latter pulled on a mock sad face, and purred without even considering her actions, "What now, Ash, not even a hello?"
The blond boy turned, confused, to Dawn and whispered something along the lines of "Is he—?" but Gary did not hear the rest.
"Hello Gary." Ash said, struggling to keep his voice non-squeaky and normal-sounding. He failed at both.
"Who're all these people, Ash?" Gary asked, bending backwards as if trying to get everyone in full view. Ash continued to pink.
"Err… I guess I should introduce everyone, huh?" Ash asked dully, turning around to look at all the people gathered. Misty rolled her eyes, as if saying 'duh', but Gary couldn't care less about the annoying redhead.
"That's Dawn and Paul, and for everyone who doesn't know, Dawn was my great friend in Sinnoh and Paul was…er… my rival. I haven't beat him yet… but that's why he's here! So I can beat him!" Ash explained to the rest. Paul looked indifferent at the odd reason Ash offered him an invitation to the reunion.
"Misty, and she has been my good friend for quite some time, except she has a beastly tem—please don't kill me!" Ash whimpered, and Misty lowered her mallet, which she seemed to have procured from nowhere. Gary vaguely noticed the redhead tuck the large hammer into her light blue backpack.
"Err… I don't really know the rest of you, so I guess Dawn and Misty should explain…" Ash stepped back, letting Dawn replace him.
"Oh, thank you, Ash!" Dawn said, beaming. The azure-haired girl then coughed importantly and said, "This is Lucas, my twin brother, and he's been Professor Rowan's assistant for some time, though he never quite managed to fill out the Pokedex." The azure-haired boy waved his hand at everyone. "And this is Tyson, one of my old friends!" Dawn beamed again, and Tyson jumped up happily, practically bursting with energy and hastiness.
Dawn then stepped back, letting Misty replace her. "All right, thank you Dawn, and allow me to introduce everyone! This is Marina, and Ash I remember us meeting her first somewhere in the Orange Islands?" Marina and Ash both nodded in confirmation, and the redhead continued. "Anyways, well I couldn't just sever ties with a fellow Water Pokemon Trainer, now could I? So we've been keeping in touch via email and I decided to invite her!"
"But… we didn't bring computers with us on our journeys…" Ash objected quietly. Misty glared at him.
"While we lodged in the Pokemon Center." Misty said dryly, then continued. "So, I guess Marina, you should take over?"
Before the teal-haired girl could replace Misty, however, Ash had suddenly cried, "Oh! I get it now!"
"About time." Gary murmured, and shrugging, Marina took Misty's place.
"All right, so when I got Misty's invite, I decided I had to invite one of my closest friends! Though we've only met once, we've been keeping touch via PokeGear"—Marina indicated the various devices strapped on her left arm—"and email!"
"Where have I heard that before," Gary murmured again, before his grandfather shushed him.
"This is Jimmy!" Marina indicated the black-haired baseball-cap-wearing boy, who grinned widely at everyone. "And that's Jimmy's friend, Silver. I don't really know him, but from what Jimmy's told me, Silver's a cool guy."
The group then lapsed back into talk, although somehow Gary didn't find himself at place with everyone. He tried to talk to Ash, but the black-haired Trainer had already disappeared off to somewhere… Lifting one shoulder up and down in a half-shrug, Gary decided to find him.
They did not know, could not know, that a certain pair of inquisitive turquoise eyes were tracking their every movement from the shadows.
Sevii Islands, Kanto
"How efficient," Giovanni said under his breath, as he tossed another ruby-encrusted band at the cornered God of Fire, who gave a feeble squeal as the instrument enlarged, then tightened on a burning wing. Things were going according to plan, and the Team Rocket Leader could hardly wait to collect his part of the trio.
Moltres seemed to strengthen as he stopped struggling. The electricty which had previously paralzyed both of its wings—courtesy of the God of Electricity—faded as the Fire God strengthened.
Rayquaza was a far better flier than any of the Team Rocket helicopters the Leader had been on, in any case. It's no wonder, Giovanni mused, He did shape the skies after all…I'm glad those scientists got at least one thing right, even though these bands are working terrifically.
Giovanni leapt back on the emerald dragon as the two birds—Zapdos sizzling with electricity and Moltres with flames—flew above them and Moltres hover contentedly on the left-hand side of Giovanni, ready to strike if the Leader gave the word to.
A/N:
This concludes the third chapter to Natural Disturbances! Again, I beg all of you to review! (my actions are getting desperate… 0o and my chapters getting longer)
I know the ending was a little bit rushed but I'm just eager to upload the dang thing so I can get it off my mind… and maybe concentrate on school/Johto Adventures, which needs a major redo.
Here's the ending stuff I need to get through (ages, full names that we know of, and everything)(some of these names are lame, I know, please excuse me and tell me if you have suggestions I am not a good last-namer :P):
14 yrs: Dawn, Lucas, Maya Sapphire Maple
15 yrs: Andrew Rosalind, Brendan Ruby Birch, Marina, Paul, Tyson, Wally Winter
16 yrs: Ashton Red Ketchum, Jimmy, Silver
17 yrs: Garrison Blue-Green Oak, "turquoise-eyes"
30 yrs: Steven Stone, Wallace
39 yrs: Delia Ketchum
Suggestions on who Tracey should be paired with, anyone?... And there will be some Ikarishipping as well as Dawn x Tyson, even though he's shorter than her. :/