Me: Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and alerts guys! As school's started back up for me, my update times will be slowed down even more, (if that's even possible) but I'm trying my hardest for you guys! Plus, I like this story. xD
~This chapter will be in third tense~
Dawn's Quilava was pushed back, but it ground its paws into the dirt to stop itself. It growled threateningly, and its back burst into flames.
Amy smirked, adjusting her glasses and laughing. Her Golduck, who seemed to share the same attitude, flashed a mean smile at Quilava.
"Let's have another one, Golduck dear," Amy chided, and Golduck sped right at Quilava in a fast Aqua Jet.
"Quilava, dodge it!" Dawn cried, and at the last second, Quilava jumped to the side. Golduck came out of its jet, annoyed.
Dawn gritted her teeth from chomping on her nails. Though she hated to admit it, Amy was a tough opponent. Especially since she had the type advantage over Quilava. So far, all Dawn'd been able to do was dodge.
"How long are you going to keep this up?" Amy asked. "You know that I'm the one who's gonna win!"
"It's not over 'till it's over!" Dawn retorted. "Quilava, use SmokeScreen!" In an instant, the space was filled with a thick smoke.
"Oh no, my clothes! They're going to be all wrinkly and smoky!" Amy wailed. Meanwhile, her Golduck was left in the smoke, confused.
"Quilava, use Swift!" The unsuspecting Golduck was hit with numerous stars. By the time the smoke cleared, Golduck had numerous scratches on its body, and was struggling to stand up.
Amy growled, "Oh, please. Like that would do anything to my Golduck. Use Hydro Pump!" Golduck jumped into the air and shot a bucket load of water out.
Dawn screamed, "Quilava, Eruption!" Quilava, at just the right moment, jumped up and avoided the thundering jet of water, aiming an equally powerful burst of fire. The two elements met and pushed at each other, each one trying to overpower the other, and coming out unsuccessful.
"Quilava, don't give up!" Dawn cried, pushing her Quilava to the limit as it struggled to maintain its Eruption against the slightly more powerful Hydro Pump.
"Golduck, you can't lose to a brat like her!" Amy shouted, and her Golduck tried to put more power into its Hydro Pump.
"No!" Dawn screamed, seeing her Quilava get pushed back. Quilava then poured everything it had left into its Eruption. It pushed back the Hydro Pump until it exploded into wisps of steam.
Amy screeched disbelievingly as her Golduck staggered, the Eruption hitting it full-on. It finally fell to the ground with a hollow thud.
Dawn panted, wiping her sweaty brow and giving a small smile. "Quilava, you were just fantastic."
Her Quilava nodded happily, and without a word, Dawn returned it to its Pokeball.
Amy, suddenly forgetting all about her clothes, fell to the ground on her knees, shell shocked.
"How...how did you win? My Golduck was stronger, faster, bigger...and it had the type advantage...how?"
Dawn walked up to her, with a touch of sass just to rub it in. "Well, I don't know if you've caught on yet, but just because you have the advantage doesn't mean that it's guaranteed you'll win."
Dawn paused for a moment, before smirking widely. Cocking her hip and placing a hand on her waist, she proclaimed, "And for the record, that color makes you look fat."
Amy gasped, then pouted, her face flushing a bright red. She then began to stutter, trying to redeem herself.
"W-well, I'll h-have y-you kn-know-"
"Put a sock in it," Dawn interjected, putting a hand up to Amy's face. "Save it for someone who cares."
And with that, Dawn snatched up the accordion folder lying on the ground, brushed herself off, and trotted away, leaving a very confused Amy behind in the dust.
Gary sat beneath the gigantic tree, his back leaning against the sturdy trunk. Leaf sat between his legs, leaning her head back on his chest. A comfortable silence lingered between the two of them.
A breeze rushed by, and Gary's loose Team 6 shirt fluttered around. Leaf sighed, her brown hair whipping into her face. Gary responded by brushing her bangs out of her eyes gently, and then bending down toward her lips.
They could figure out the rest later.
Misty halted, her eyes lighting up. What she had just heard was a true sound of victory.
There was no mistaking it-someone had blown into a conch shell. The conch shell that she needed.
This meant war.
Zoey finally reached the tree two hundred paces to her left. Eagerly, she dashed toward it...
Only to get caught in a trap. Before she knew herself what was happening, Zoey had been flipped into the air by many intricately placed wires. Soon enough, she was suspended in the air upside-down inside a net.
Gasping from the shock, Zoey put a hand on her heart. After catching her breath, she struggled, trying to break through.
No such luck though. In the end, she just pouted, sliding down a little inside the uncomfortable wired net.
She couldn't break through. She couldn't reach her Pokeballs. She didn't know what to do anymore.
Zoey sighed, realizing she had no other choice except to call for help.
"SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME! HELP!"
May was determinedly hating Drew with every fiber of her being.
After sitting around for a while, she decided that Beautifly wasn't coming back and that she shouldn't waste time. However, none other than Drew should come bursting through the nearby bushes, thinking that she had caught his Masquerain.
Then, of course, he walks away in the middle, and May has no choice but to follow him.
"Just where do you think you're going?" May sprang up behind him.
Drew sighed. "You know what? Just scram."
"Nuh-uh." May crossed her arms, and Drew thought she looked hot for a second before shaking that thought out of his head. "I'm not low enough to steal other people's pokemon, but you are. Where's Beautifly?"
Drew glared at her. "You seriously think I'm that stupid? Anyways, stealing your pokemon wouldn't even benefit me. It's not like you posed much of a threat from the beginning."
May's face flushed red. "Oh. No. You Didn't."
Drew smirked and stepped back as May ran toward him him, snarling.
"I dodged a bullet there," he thought smugly as he watched May's face contort angrily as she missed him by inches.
May lunged again with a renewed energy. But, suddenly, she was falling, falling...
May gasped as sheer pain shot up through her legs. Her face was coming closer to the ground, she knew it was going to hurt. Time seemed to stop, her breathing was ragged, her palms sweaty and unable to break the fall...
And suddenly it was roses. Everything was muffled, except for an overpowering smell of roses that just made her go weak in the knees.
Lifting her head, she saw that Drew had caught her. Her face had been smushed into his chest, (which was quite muscular, she noted) and glancing back over her shoulder, she saw that she had tripped over a tree root.
All of a sudden, the blood rose to her face. Drew was holding her in his arms. She had fallen into him. How embarrassing!
May pushed him off of her and began to brush herself off, when the pain in her leg started to throb. Hurt seemed to pulsate through her entire being as the world went blurry, her name being called over and over became faint, and her eyes began to droop...
When May had awoken, she blushed to see that she was lying down with her head resting on Drew's chest.
She tried to get up, but it hurt too much. Slumping down in defeat, (and into Drew) she grumbled.
Drew sighed. "Only a klutzy idiot like you would do that. Real smooth, June."
May was suddenly extremely pissed. "You know what Drew? You are just a grassy ass."
Drew held up his palms. "Woah girl, language. And, are you PMS'ing or something?"
May literally screamed in exasperation.
And somehow, with a combination of her leaning on him for support and him dragging her, they managed to make it into the clearing, something they now regretted.
('Cause, you know, it's pretty awkward to stumble in on your pokemon making out. Especially if they're both butterflies.)
"What the-" And May had to cover Drew's mouth in fear of hearing what she thought he was about to say.
"Beautifly?" And May stepped forward, asking incredulously as if she didn't believe what was happening right in front of her, that her pokemon was not just making out with her enemy's (nd maybe crush's) Pokemon.
Beautifly squeaked and flapped her wings furiously, almost as if she was jumping away from Masquerain. She looked at May with her huge buggy eyes, as if trying to say, "This isn't what it looks like."
Sure, Beuatifly's original intentions had been harmless-all she wanted was to snag the fountain pen. But now it was smashed on the ground below, as she had fallen prey for the beautiful thing known as love.
Drew ran his fingers through his hair, making a weird sound between incredulity and exasperation. "Masquerain..." Masquerain whimpered before travelling over to its trainer, slowly resting on Drew's shoulder.
May sighed and looked up at Beautifly with a sad, accusing look. Beautifly felt horrible.
Who knew forbidden love would lead to this?
"...Max?"
"That's who you're talking to." And, right in front of a tripped up Paul was the green haired little brat.
It looked like Max expected Paul to beg to be let out. However, Paul thought smugly-he's underestimated me.
I won't be let back by a stupid trap like this.
"What are you smirking about? You're the one who's trapped," Max pointed out, basking in his accomplishment.
"Oh, wow, I'm so scared, a three year old's got me tied up," Paul retorted sarcastically, fingering his pokeball. Oh, if only Max knew what was coming.
"I'm twelve, for your information!" Max stomped his foot angrily. "It's not my fault I'm abnormally short-"
In a flash, Paul's Drapion appeared. The net was immediately torn into shreds, and Paul stood up, glaring at Max.
"Who's the one laughing now, huh?"
Max laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "If it's a battle you want, I can give you one. I'll easily win anyway."
Paul raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You think you can win against me?"
Max nodded, before wordlessly throwing out a pokeball. It was a fully-grown Sceptile, that would probably look very threatening to most people.
But Paul was not most people. And he knew that.
"May the best trainer win."
Leaf's eyes fluttered open slowly. The first thing she saw was the bright sky, the leafy branches...
The first thing she smelled was Gary.
All the events of the hunt suddenly ran through her mind, dropping on her like an anvil. Looking back on it, she realized that she had wasted almost all of her time and that she had found nothing.
But at that point, she didn't really care too much anymore. She was just too caught up in the moment to act rational anymore. It was like she was high or something.
High on Gary.
Ash grinned happily as he trotted through the forest. He had found an item, he had blown into a conch shell, and he had eaten these really yummy Cherri Berries (or, at least that's what he thought they were.). What was not to like?
Well, everything was about to change. THe bushes nearby rustled, and all of a sudden, Misty popped out, twigs sticking out of her messed up hair.
"M-Misty..." Ash drifted. He wasn't expecting her. He had no idea what to say.
"I heard the conch shell. Do you know who has it?" she asked, looking around as if she was a dog sniffing someone out.
"Yeah, I found it!" Ash exclaimed, holding it out toward her. "Aren't you proud..."
Ash was suddenly scared of the dangerous glint in her eye. He then realized that he probably shouldn't have mentioned that he had the conch shell.
"Crap...I shouldn't have said that, huh?"
"No, you shouldn't have."
And then she was lunging at him and snarling like a wild animal, and he was screaming like a little girl, hugging the shell close to his chest protectively.
"Give it, Ash!"
"Never!"
Misty jumped on him, pushing him to the ground and landing on top of him.
Ash's head spun. Misty...Misty's so pretty...what?
Misty was blushing like a madwoman. Ash felt his face heating up like a volcano about to burst.
What's happening to me?
Ash didn't know anymore. Now he was acting of his own record-setting the shell down, brushing Misty's orange bangs out of her cerulean eyes.
Misty sputtered like a Magicarp, but Ash now had this weird urge to...kiss her.
Usually Ash is one to rush in and do things without thinking. However, just the thought of leaning up and touching her soft, kissable lips with his own-
And that's when Ash experienced a feeling he had rarely ever felt before.
Hesitation. Fear.
He didn't know what he was scared of, but he was going to find out.
"SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME! HELP!"
Kenny heard this cry for help, and for some odd reason, it sounded like Zoey to him.
Well, only one way to find out. He started trekking through the shrubbery toward the source of the sound.
It had been a heavy, awkward silence as May and Drew walked back, Beautifly and Masquerain both back in their Pokeballs because of their mutiny.
"Just what was going on back there?" May finally forced herself to ask, not able to stand the quiet for any longer.
Drew sighed. "It looked to me like Beautifly and Masquerain were getting it on."
May blushed at his choice of words. "Drew! They're our Pokemon."
"So? Pokemon can't have desires either?"
Another silence. Then May spoke again, without thinking. "Don't Pokemon usually have similar romantic interests as their trainers? Like, they fall for their crush's Pokemon?"
May felt like slapping herself as soon as she saw Drew raise his eyebrow at her curiously.
What did I just say? Great, I basically admitted that I liked Drew-what was I thinking?
"Yeah..." Drew trailed off. "Are you implying something?"
"NO!" May blurted, furiously trying to deny anything as much as she could.
Something flashed over Drew's face-was it disappointment? May couldn't tell. "It's totally understandable if even you fell for my amazing charm, you know."
And in an instant, he was back to his jerk mode. May sighed inwardly as she thought of a comeback.
I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't denied my crush on him. Would he have rejected me? Or, does he-maybe-like me back?
Dawn happily tromped through the forest after her battle with Amy.
She had won. She felt like she was on top of the world.
And, in her state of excitement, she bumped into a tree, stumbling around into a clearing where she found the weirdest thing ever.
Paul. Battling Max, May's little brother.
...What?
"Cross Poison." Poison in the shape of an X rushed at Sceptile who narrowly dodged it before firing off a Bullet Seed. Drapion met it in the middle with a Pin Missile, and after a couple seconds of struggle in between, the Bullet Seed was overpowered and Sceptile got hit with many devastating Pin Missiles.
"Wow, he's actually holding his own against Paul," Dawn mumbled.
But, just like that, Sceptile couldn't take anymore, and fell down in a dead faint, defeated. They must have been battling for a while before, Dawn decided.
"Sceptile, you were great," Max dejectedly said, returning his beloved pokemon. He then looked Paul straight in the eye.
"I'm true to my word. You can keep the pile, since you're better than me." Max paused for a second. "But I'll win against you one day! Just you wait!" And he was gone, running into the trees.
Paul scoffed. "Yeah, right." He kicked the pile slightly, picking up one of the items. A pillow.
Dawn's expression hardened. She needed that pillow.
It was her chance; Paul hadn't even noticed her yet. Pushing off her feet, she lunged for him.
Gary slammed her into the tree trunk, hands running all over her and tongue whipping furiously.
Leaf was thrilled, and had no more control of herself. Her hands were in his hair, her tongue wrestling with his. Gary's arms were around her waist, pinning her to the tree.
Lost in lust, Gary continued to make out with her, eventually sucking on her neck and even having a little under-the-shirt action. (Leaf just literally lost herself then.)
It didn't have any actual meaning-just teenagers releasing some bothersome hormones-but to Leaf, it was something passionate and romantic and beautiful.
Screw the hunt, she decided-she was all for Gary now.
Ash got off of Misty, pulling her up as well. Both were blushing like mad and refusing to acknowledge what had just happened.
They began to walk together, eventually falling into an easy conversation. However, Misty's thoughts never left the conch shell Ash so carelessly held in his hand.
She needed that. But how would she get it?
Then her genius plan came to her.
"Ash..." And natural girl instincts took over-she trailed a finger under Ash's chin, giggling girlishly and fluttering her eyelashes and shimmying her hips a little.
Seduction. It never fails.
Unless, of course, you're Ash.
"...What the hell are you doing, Mist?"
Misty stopped in her tracks, mentally face palming. What had she been thinking? Like something that advanced would ever work on Ash.
So then she just went for Plan B-grab the shell and run.
"Hey, give it back! No fair!"
"Life isn't fair, sucker!"
"A good catch." A boy came out from behind a nearby tree. She remembered that he was one of the boys on the other team-about her age, she presumed.
He lazily undid the trap. Without warning, she fell to the ground, splat on her face, the picture frame and diary falling to the side. The boy snatched them.
"Give them back," Zoey growled, getting to her feet. But the boy, with no hesitation, pushed her into the tree.
"While you're here, I might as well have some fun. I don't have pretty girls over often." He was up close-too close-and trailing his finger down her chest.
Zoey was panting and trembling. Now this was scary. Sure, though she would hate it, she wouldn't really be too affected if he took off with her items. But taking her virginity in a forest? Not so cool.
Plus, she had a boyfriend-who was sadly nowhere to be seen as of now. Kenny, where are you when I need you most?
The boy slowly leaned in, his hot breath puffing onto her face. She clenched her eyes shut and squirmed-to have him place an iron grip on her shoulder.
Now Zoey was just pursing her lips and leaning away as much as she could in a futile attempt to keep herself pure and true.
At that exact moment, Kenny burst through the bushes, stumbling in on the scene.
"...What the hell do you think you're doing with my girlfriend?" Zoey peeked an eye open relief flooded her. Kenny was here. He would save her.
"Kenny, he-" But she didn't even have to say anything, because the normally scrawny, weak Kenny rushed over in adrenaline and shoved the boy to the side. The boy fell on the ground, looking pretty hurt.
They were both breathing hard. Kenny leaned his forehead on her's, them catching their breath. They then quickly leaned in for a peck on the lips.
"What happened?"
"That guy tried to take advantage of me." Zoey picked up her items before jogging after Kenny.
"Don't ever leave my side, Zoey."
"I'll never leave your side, ever."
"Well, the hunt is almost over." May halted, looking up at Drew and searching his emerald eyes.
"Yeah..." she said awkwardly. Now what?
"I really didn't accomplish anything, but then again, neither did you," Drew said.
May glared at him. "So nice of you to point that out Drew."
"In all seriousness though," Drew said, leaning down to look her straight in the eye. May leaned slightly back. He's so close...
And then he pulled out a beautiful, blood red, thornless rose, like he always did, and gave it to her, May taking it and holding it carefully.
May's face turned the color of the rose. Oh, Drew.
As he began to walk away, May spoke up. "Are these for Beautifly or me?"
Drew turned and smirked. "What do you think?"
May smiled softly, glancing down into the rose.
I think they're for me.
Paul turned just in time to see a snarling girl known as Dawn coming at him. Thinking fast, he used the pillow to block himself.
Well, that wasn't so great-she just snatched the pillow. Having gotten what she wanted, she turned to sprint away-
Only Paul grabbed her wrist before she could get away. She turned around with confused, sparkling sapphire eyes, her navy hair flipping around her gorgeous figure-
And the pillow came between them, thumping and squishing between their two chests. Paul lost his concentratin, his grip loosening on her and her leaving, dashing away.
What was that? Paul was suddenly scared. Don't tell me...
A girl got the better of me?
Paul scrambled to the finish line, trying to store as much stuff as he could take.
After his odd encounter with Dawn, he had tried to take as much loot as he could. As such, he was wearing a neon green bow tie, had a disconnected pair of headphones on, and a watch wound around his wrist, among other things.
He couldn't take all of it. But with the amount he had, he was certain that if he just made it to the stupid finish line that was so darn far away, his team would win.
Why the hell am I so obsessed with helping my team win? Paul isn't in team.
Paul pondered his sudden change of heart that was so against his character as he stumbled over the finish line, tripping over the headphones.
"And the Poke-Guys win!" All of the boys joined hands and bowed on stage, all of them beaming except for Paul, who would never smile even if you paid him.
They had the most items obviously-Paul had somehow gained a wealth of them, different assortments of things tumbling out from all over him. Either way, they had won the ice cream machine and pokemon food-
And something else too.
All of the girls and boys had gained something from this hunt, something that was important and special in its own way.
Ash now knew that he felt something for Misty, though he wasn't quite sure what. Misty knew that Ash was a decent boy who wouldn't fall for tacky seduction.
May found out that Drew could be quite sweet when he wanted to. Drew learned that, perhaps, May did feel something for him-her pokemon certainly did.
Zoey learned that Kenny would always be there for her-and Kenny learned that he would always have to be there for Zoey.
Leaf realized that, even though Gary would definitely leave her soon, she should enjoy whatever she has with him at the moment. And Gary finally understood that he truly loved Leaf.
And Paul and Dawn both felt that there was something different about the other-and they planned to get to the bottom of it.
The Hunt might have been a bust itself, but it had some valuable life-and love-lessons for all eight of them.
It was the next afternoon after school, and Paul just couldn't make himself go to the basketball hoop. For some unexplainable reason, his feet dragged him to the front lawn, where the girls and guys he had kind of sort of bonded with always hung out.
He stood there a little awkwardly for a couple seconds. THis was so unlike him, and he didn't know what to do, but for some reason he wanted to do it-
He ran over to them and joined them.
"Hey Paul!"
And Paul let out a ghost of a smile.
Maybe I do have a chance at friendship.
