Note: Thanks so much to SavageBeasttheWerewolf for telling me this chapter was corrupted! FF can't post links, apparently. I can still tell you what the site was, though: look up "Children inherit their intelligence from their mother not their father, say scientists". It's on .uk.
Chapter 4 (Let's try this again..)
Rain On The Parade
"Hey," Aiden whispered fiercely at Lynne, "what do I do?"
"Do what?"
"That's what I'm asking you! She's sleeping at our campsite tonight!"
"Who? Meghan?"
"Yes, Lynne, Meghan is camping with us. What am I gonna do? I'd feel like a jerk saying no, so-
"To calm down is a start," she instructed, "which is a good idea, she's right behind you."
"What-!"
"Hey again, Aiden!"
"I thought you went to the fire!"
"Yeah I did, but you guys were over here so I'd rather be over here than at a fire by myself!"
"Then who's watching the fire?!"
"Your Torchic. I wouldn't leave it alone, sill-"
"Yeah, but this bird is practically made of fire!" With that, he ran back to the flame to tend it, and make sure Torchic didn't burn the whole forest down by accident. These things happened. Not often, of course, but some forest fires started in the weirdest ways.
"Are all your talks like that?" Lynne asked tentatively, unsure if her 'new friends' were friends with each other, or, just two crazy people.
"Pretty much," Meghan confirmed her suspicion, but seemed a little… let down, if that was the correct phrase. She could tell there was a desire to be better friends with Aiden. It's not like she was a master at sensing emotions or using her powers yet, hell, the bank scene had been a stroke of luck and a good memory of the few things Ben had taught her. They both sighed almost in unison, but for different reasons. "See, Lynne, about Aiden. There's a something you gotta know about him."
"Okay."
"He is oblivious sometimes. He's a good guy, but he just doesn't notice a whole lot of things. When I leave for my own journey, you're probably going to have to be his eyes. There's this stereotype of men that says they're blind to everything- well, the person who made it probably knew Aiden."
"Alright."
"So," she continued, "why are you traveling with him anyway? Did you meet him in a wild battle?"
"We met in the city." She didn't bother to lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either and they both knew it. However, seeing the shields go up in the Gardevoir's words, Meghan went no further. She was curious to know, how they met, how she could speak like this, everything strange. But Pokémon or person, she had something private, and licensed psychologist Meghan was not. So they dropped it, letting the silence fall on them instead. Meghan began drawing in the dirt with a stick while Lynne watched, interested at what she'd create. Just a few symbols, a Pokéball, some of the Type-signs.
"Ah, shit!" Lynne's head bolted up from the drawing as did Meghan's to see what Aiden was yelling about. They didn't have to wait long, he crashed out the brush holding two bowls and panting out of breath.
"What was that about?"
"I, forgot, you had, food ready."
"See what I mean?" Meghan pointed out to which Lynne nodded in agreement. He passed them the dishes, nothing special- canned soup with a package of crackers he probably stashed from a restaurant. Lynne had no clue how to use the crackers, so just ate her soup without- feeling Mareepish when she noticed Meghan tear it open and crush them over the main course. She'd noticed her trainer do it before, thought nothing of it, and now she was stuck with these things.
"Maybe we should sit with him," she suggested as she stood.
"Uh, no, I'll stay here. You can, though." A perfectly puzzled Pokémon, the Psychic took up her bowl to sit with Aiden, who'd been alone tending the flame for some time.
"Hey."
"Oh, hi, Lynne. Is Meghan coming here too?"
"No, she's.. staying back."
"That's weird."
"Yes."
"Um, hi," Meghan greeted a little nervously, a few minutes later. "I changed my mind. Do you care if I sit with you?"
"Sure! Why wouldn't we?"
"I dunno," she sighed, sitting heavily next to Aiden, "I thought you didn't want me to come at all." If he thought he felt like an ass before, it was nothing compared to now.
"No, it's not that, I just- I don't- I've never slept with a girl like this."
"Sleep with a girl-! What the f-"
"No! Nonono! Not sleep with but you know, like camp with!"
"Oh," Meghan calmed down but crossed her arms anyway. "You shoulda.. just... said that."
"You alright?" Lynne spoke up again, noticing the usually-hyper teen was getting a little short of breath.
"Y-yeah, I just.. need some fresh air." She stood, but it was a little too much at once, and consequently collapsed back onto the log.
"Meghan! Are you okay?"
"M-my bag," she gasped for breath, pointing at her vinyl bag, "over there." Aiden ran to get it, tossing it to Lynne, who passed it along to Meghan. She hurriedly took a small device out, pressing it to her mouth and holding the button down while trying to tell the others that the fire was the cause of her agony. Once Lynne figured out what she was trying to say (because there's no way Aiden would), she dumped his bucket of water over the fire.
"Hey! We still need to go the rest of the night with that!"
"I know that!"
"I'm so sorry," Meghan coughed, finally catching some breath, "I can't be around fire. It's asthma. Maybe I should go back and find a hotel."
"Are you crazy? It's almost dark, you have to stay with us."
"But you nee-"
"Never mind that. You can't expect to walk all the way back to the city without anything happening."
"I promise I'll be careful!"
"Other people won't!" Aiden yelled in return, and Meghan sighed, knowing she had lost. Whether she wanted to or not, she'd be sleeping at Aiden's campsite. "I'm going to bed."
Everyone slowly woke to the rumbling thunder not too far off in the distance, and then all
at once when tiny droplets of water hit their faces.
"Aiden?"
"Yeah?"
"It's raining."
"I know."
"Oh no! No..!" Even though it was still dark out, Aiden could see Meghan's face go pale with realization.
"What? What is it?"
"My shirt! If the rain doesn't stop by tomorrow morning, I won't be able to get out of my sleeping bag!"
"What's wrong with your shirt?"
"It's white!"
"What's wrong with a white shirt…"
"Aiden- when a white shirt gets wet, you can see through it!" she cried, quite obviously angry and frustrated at this new development.
"Oh, right, right," he said quickly, having lost his train of thought. "You didn't bring any clothes with you, did you?"
"No, I didn't think I'd need any yet…"
Floof.
"What's this?"
"Just take it. I don't need a sweater in summer."
"Aiden, I can't-"
"Just put it on."
"Hey, Aiden?" Lynne asked, the first thing she'd said in a while- including the night before.
"What is it?"
"Can I get up?"
"You have your sweater. You'll be fine. Can we just go to sleep?" He sunk into his thoughts, and his sleeping bag, wishing tents could fit in backpacks. They'd be awkwardly close, but warm and dry. For the next few minutes his mind fell apart a little with questions and thoughts, as everyone's does when they're about to fall asleep. Would Meghan want to travel with them? Was she interested in Lynne because of the psychology? What was the deal with her, anyway? How did she learn English now that her trainer couldn't teach her?
The morning was almost identically as dismal as the night before, though not as dark. Rain came down in the same pace it had been since the travelers were woken by it, but on a plus side there wasn't much wind. It wasn't a terrible storm one couldn't see through, but the drops were coming down at a decent pace. Meghan shivered in her sleeping bag, half awake, wishing it was a clear day. She sat up without remembering the thing about white shirts she'd been so insistent about, but quickly recalled before it was drenched to transparency and slipped her arms through Aiden's sweater. Funny. It smelled good, like cologne maybe, but he was certainly not the type to wear it. Maybe it was just that he'd recently washed it...
"Good morning," his voice startled her from the log that she'd thrown her sleeping bag beside.
"Oh. Good morning. What's wrong? You sound sad."
"Nothing," he exhaled, "but my dad doesn't really care for rain and I guess it reminded me of him. Or maybe, he's just rubbing off on me."
"I see," Meghan nodded. She thought for a moment, then smiled. "My mom loves them. She says rain helps you forget everything the world makes you remember."
"She sounds like a smart lady."
"She is. She really is," she giggled then, as she sat up to move to the log; "where do you think I got all my smarts from? Hey, did you know, it's actually proven that children get their intelligence from their mothers?"
"Yeah right," Aiden laughed, thinking she was just saying it because of her mother.
"No really, it's because of X chromosomes. Women have two, and guys have only one. I'm serious."
"Where do you even hear this stuff?"
"I have my sources." He smiled and shook his head, still not believing her, even though it did make a little sense. It was equal, wasn't it?
"Hey, where's Lynne?"
"Hi," her shaky voice drifted from over by the bushes. "Jus' over here."
"Did you sleep without a sleeping bag or a Poke Ball?" Aiden exclaimed, shocked she would do that- why not just ask for one?
"Do you think she'd get a sleeping bag if she was a wild Pokémon?"
"Yeah, Aiden, we jjus.. sleep on the floor."
"Arceus, you're still tired?"
"Mmhmm." She soon fell back asleep.
"So hey, what do you want to do today? I figure we won't be able to get much done in this rain, and it would suck to walk around like this. Why don't we just stay here till it stops raining?" She slipped the elastic off her ponytail, and then shook her hair free in the downpour.
"I guess," her friend agreed, seeing there really was no point in doing anything today.
"Thanks for letting me wear your sweater. It's comfortable."
"Yeah, sure. I know I'd hate to be stuck in a sleeping bag all day." She hugged him tightly, but Aiden wasn't all that surprised or blushing- this was just her personality. Happy, fun, upbeat, euphoric, eccentric, possibly insane were a few ways to put it. It contrasted a little with his more relaxed moods, but they got along fine.
"You're really nice. That's good."
"I guess," he shrugged. A hug from her was a) not uncommon and b) actually still kinda nice. It was always a little of a letdown when she pulled back, this time being no exception.
Well, we all know what happened last time I pasted a link here.