To the following:
japaneserockergirl: yes, indeed you have, and that's okay! And ME TOO! Except its summer vacation after high school, and not college. But hey, school's still school, I suppose. What's funny is I've never been much of a pokeshipper (gym and egoshipper, strangely enough and it doesn't help that I'm horribly biased for Lance ANYDAY), but her crush on Ash is too vital a trait in her character to ignore and toss aside. A Misty isn't Misty without her crush on Ash (for now, ;D )- it's like Koga without his scarf, or Clair and her fail-fashion sense, or Ash and his Pikachu! lol
pokemongirl29: Lol, that's how many of us feel for some fics. Alas, like Lance, Fishin's just not my forte either XD And thank you, I shall be sure to keep that in mind.
Topaz Dragon: Wonderland? I'onno. And a lot of this, is making ripples in the pond. The real storm (figuratively, and literally)'s been brewing up and is about to make first wave. Maybe not in this chapter, but soon... soooooon *evil laugh* And thank you, I'm very glad you are liking it so much so far, and your feedback is greatly appreciated. C:
I'm going to go ahead and apologize for OOCness. It happens to the best of us.
Also, be prepared for abrupt POV shifts.
A couple of hours had passed by, faster than the blink of an eye and yet not a second regretted, despite the sun burning their skin and hunger eating at their bellies as the day changed from morning to afternoon. Misty had, as best as she could, given Lance a crash course in spear-fishing with little to no problems, save for that after a noteworthy difference in the amount of success and failure, it had become apparent whose skill lied where. Whereas Misty loved fishing, fished on a few of her off days, and had gone on a few fishing trips with Tracey and Professor Oak, and won a few awards in fishing contests hosted in Cerulean and other Kanto locations, Lance had admitted to have never gone fishing. Ever.
"It's just something that never came up." he had explained, though the sudden distance in his eyes hinted at something a little deeper in meaning than just 'never came up'.
So, honestly, it wasn't too surprising that the crash-course in spear-fishing hadn't gone as successful as it could have... but, hey, he had gotten two of the many elusive sea-creatures, so all wasn't so bad!
At least his masculinity wasn't threatened anymore! While not as talented or practiced as her, Lance could still say he was providing. Misty had to admit, lack of talent or not, he had a hell of an arm, too. Among a few other things...
Stop that.
Alas, growling, starving stomachs could only be ignored for so long before the pile of fish caught became too tempting to resist, so the two red-heads had wrapped up their fishing session and proceeded back to their little shelter. Thanks to lack of attention, Lance's fire had lost much of its size since last seen so while he built it back up, Misty cleaned up the fish. It was icky, and several times, to his amusement, she bleched and squirmed under the slimy, slick, or grossness of the cutting. But, she could proudly say she only cut her hand once-she just wasn't sure from what, the sharp rock in her hand or the sharp side of the fin!
Once finished fixing up the fire to a healthy flare, Lance took the fish she was finished with and crudely shishkabobed each fish with the greenest of the firewood sticks. Soon the smell of burning meat had the two drooling (and to her embarrassment, a drible had escaped her mouth and unluckily caught the Champion's much-amused attention.)
The exposed fish flesh underneath the scales had slightly charred from the flames, but as Misty had said, it'd be much better to force and keep down burnt filet than if it was undercooked. The charred taste had indeed pierced the meat effectively, but it wasn't so bad from what they could have ended up devouring-especially when Lance had suddenly gotten the genius idea to slap a few pieces of coconut meat or let the coconut juice drible onto the fish for some sort of buffer against the charred flesh taste.
It wasn't a four-course meal from a five star restaurant, but it sure as hell beat starving, and the fish added more vital nutrients to whatever coconut had to offer. Once the two of them together had devoured a total of four fish and a whole coconut, their bellies were happily silent, full, and a sweet feeling of rejuvenation filling their body.
They had also downed the water in two of their three bottles, and put aside the leftover three fish, two coconuts, and four water-carrying coconut shells for later. If they needed more fishies to devour for later, they knew just where to get it, anyway.
"I think we should check out the shallows-and perhaps the forest a little more, now that we've got some nourishment in us for proper exercise." Lance spoke from behind Misty.
"Why's that?"
"That storm I mentioned yesterday-it should be hitting us tomorrow some time. We can use rocks from the shallows to keep down all our supplies, but we'll need proper shelter if we're going to wait it out safely."
OH. That's right. The storm he had said would hit soon after...whatever it was he did with that icky Caterpie. She was still curious about that. Had he really spoken to it? Did he have it talk to him? Or was Lance a mind reader? Or a poke-whisperer? Ugh, it just ate her insides up with all her questions! What deep, dark, unexposed secrets did the Champion keep from the world?
None that were her business, she tried to quell them with. Don't forget Misty, you have your own secrets you've kept all these years. Besides...you've only known each other for a day and a half! As if Lance of all people would indulge personal information to a total stranger (well, she corrected, not total total stranger, just a lot less than acquaintances), seriously girl.
Seriously.
"Eehhh, we going to have to wait it out in rocks?" she bleched, already feeling an aching pain in her bum as a premonition.
"Would you rather get tossed about in wind and rain?" he asked.
"No thanks. I'll take my chances with rocks." she moaned, still not happy that at some point her bum would have a painful imprint of a rock. Lance chuckled, grabbing what was quickly becoming the favored tool the spear, and lead the way back to the shallows.
They easily climbed over the first small rocky hurdle before the shallow pools, where their fishing excursion that morning had occurred. The fishies, remembering the duo's not-so-long-ago hunting of their brethren, darted away to safety underneath coral and rock as Misty and Lance waded through the water, careful with their steps. The shallow pool was wide, with random boulders sticking out of the surface and shelves of rock and sand lifting up and down that they had to climb over. There were several spots deep enough that the water came up to Misty's waist while in other spots it didn't even pass their knees.
To their left as they waded and climbed was the deep blue ocean, waves coming in to crash against barrier reefs and rocks before the water flooded into the shallows. To their right, a series of cliff walls and drop-offs that started from being no taller than their ankle to escalating to as tall as a Wailord is long (which, by the way, is an average of forty-seven feet.)
Lance turned around, inquisitive and perhaps a hint concerned, and looked at Misty, "You okay? I keep hearing you hiss and whatnot."
Misty seethed, holding her hand, the one she had cut while skinning their fishy breakfast (or could it be considered lunch?). "It-it's nothing!" she forced with a smile, putting her hand behind her back, "Just fine!"
"You sure?" he asked, sounding very much doubtful.
She vigorously nodded. When he turned back forward to keep leading, Misty let go of her hurt hand and looked at the wound.
It was just one cut, from the when she had been skinning their fish. She supposed she had held it wrong and just gotten the sharp side of the fish's fin, how it had gotten there was still a bit of a mystery. It was a thin pale line going across her palm; it wasn't very big, and it didn't look deep at all, but it amazed Misty that she hadn't really noticed any pain until now.
Granted, salt plus open wounds is an obvious OWIE-NO-NO, but...
It was also leaking a thin, watery trail of red that dripped from her skin into the salt water and dissipated into the ocean, which Misty paid no mind to as she turned her palm this way and that to inspect. It wasn't that bad of a cut, but she was going to have to be mindful about it henceforth.
"This might be a good place..." Lance muttered, standing in front of a sharp corner the rock wall made. There was a thin patch of beach sand smoothing out the sharp turn the cliffs took as well as the sharp dive downward, and a bunch of rocks under the water's surface that Misty could feel the point and sharpness of through her tennis shoes. What he was looking at, though, was a series of rock slabs laid against each other forming a very rough stairway into the hole that had hollowed itself out in the cliff-side that had begun a sharp descension in size towards the ocean water.
The hole appeared like it could have been the beginnings of an eroded underlying archway for a bridge-like formation of the rocks, were it not for the thick, tough slabs lying about and inside the hole on either side of the openings. Closer up, the entrance opening looked a little under Lance's height, and would require a bit of climbing to get up and inside, where- probably fallen-rock formed a smooth flooring and tiny cracks allowed a few peepholes to the other side of the cliffs. After inspection and climbing in, the hole proved to be large enough to fit them both; Misty comfortably and Lance if he didn't sit up straight while sitting.
After a few tries at climbing inside and climbing out, Misty and Lance shared a look and nodded.
"It just might do. The climb inside should be high enough to avoid the tide, and the wind won't be a bother since its not exposed to the open`well." Lance had said after he finished inspecting.
"And it won't be easy for nasty animals or hostile pokemon to get inside either!" Misty beamed.
"Like Caterpies?" he teased.
Misty flailed, "Don't jinx us! Eugh, bug types!"
He chuckled, and they begun the trek back to camp. Misty began chatting away about random things on her mind, while Lance distantly listened, focused on planning for the storm that awaited them tomorrow. Probably rude to do that, he vaguely told himself, but he couldn't help it. Their survival against a storm was a little more important that idle chatting, right?
It'd probably be a good idea for them to fish for food either later that afternoon or early in the morning and have some food cooked and prepared to take with them, or at the very least to eat before hiding away in their new little cave. He wasn't sure yet how long a storm might last on this tropical island of theirs, but he was willing to bet it would beat the three-hour showers Blackthorn sometimes experienced.
"You're awful quiet. I'm sorry, am I boring you?" Misty asked, poking his shoulder. They had crossed the last shelf and their camp in clear view. Just a few more feet of wading in a little over knee deep water, climb atop the rock shelf, and they'd be back on the beach of their camp in no time!
Literally, because it wouldn't take more than a few seconds.
The prodding of her finger against his bare shoulder was what really snapped him out of his thoughts, and he felt a little embarrassed that she very well might have caught him in his lack of interest in her stories. It kinda even made him feel a bit guilty.
"Oh, no, not at all! I'm just distracted... I'm kinda wondering what all we should do to prepare ourselves before the big storm..."
Misty nodded, though he wasn't turned around to see, "I know what you mean. I hope it isn't too bad of a storm, you know? I'd hate to have to stay cooped up in that hole we found for more than a nig-OW!" she suddenly jumped.
"What? What is it?" he snapped, an instantaneous wave of concern and alarm crashing into his system. He forced his body through the water to get close to analyze his companion.
Misty's hands had dived down to her leg, where a thin, barely visible cloud of red was rising from. He couldn't see it very well, what with the thin haze of blood and her clenched fingers, but it looked like there were multiple scratches on her skin.
"I don't know! Something red and blue just suddenly darted at my leg and suddenly its on fire!" she said through gritted teeth. She was seething harshly, he guessed from the salinity in the water.
"Red and blue?" he repeated, brain racking for a match-up. He didn't know of any fish or sea-creature that would be red AND blue (though that could also attribute to his lack of sea-faring knowledge- he's a DRAGON master, not a college graduate in marine biology!)
He didn't have time to guess when something large, scaled, and red and blue with big yellow fins jumped out of the water, jaws wide open to clamp down on Misty. Lance smacked the offensive creature with his spear, knocking it dizzy a few feet back before it recovered and twisted in the water. Copies of it swam in blurs underneath, the yellow top spikes of their fins sticking out of the surface his best indication of their location.
"Carvanha!" Misty gasped, and the word did not rest well with Lance. Wild Pokemon species weren't always considered human friendly, but only a few species were really hostile, fearful, angry, or desperately hungry enough to attack people. It wasn't often they would eat a human either; again, desperation was usually the only drive.
Carvanha and their evolved forms Sharpedo? No qualms about it. If it moved, it could be eaten, was what one of his Gyarados once told him was the Water and Dark type species' philosophy. This applied to ships, other pokemon, and humans.
Lance pushed her behind him, spear in front of them both, though he wondered what good it would do with water for the school to swim in all around them as he thrust the end of the weapon into the water at the fish pokemon that got close. He then had to swing it out of the water to smack away the Carvanha that leaped out to attack.
Then right as he brought his spear up a Carvanha also jumped and its jaws snapped onto the middle of the spear. Effortlessly its teeth split the wood in half, the sight removing much of the color in Lance's face.
Fantastic.
A quick back hand (not smart; the rough skin tore at the back of his hand and wrist) He passed one of the broken pieces to Misty to use. Most of the Carvanha were being smacked or jabbed away from actually getting their metal-crushing jaws on Misty, but he had the feeling she was having to use her own body to force them away further, or that they were at some point colliding into her bare flesh and with the Rough Skin of Carvanha... oh yeah, that was going to hurt.
Given the two broken halves of the spear as their only weapon, Lance mused they were probably doing better than they could be. But for how long? The carnivorous fish pokemon were endless in their energy and blood-thirsty frenzy while Lance and Misty had...maybe half their lunch's worth of energy left?
Misty cried out as the abrasive skin of a jumping Carvanha scraped at her arm. It had tried to jump, but the brunt of the attack missed. Out of instinct she threw her arm out and smacked it away mid-air with her broken half of the spear. Offhandedly Lance was impressed she managed to hit it in their current state.
Just how many of these freaking fish pokemon were there?
Wait a minute.
DUH, Lance! He mentally smacked himself. There is, in fact, an easy way out.
He jabbed at a Carvanha and then pushed Misty towards the rocky shelf that was the last meager barrier between the shallows and the beach sand.
"Climb up the shelf and get out of the water!" he snapped. She jumped at the sound of his voice cutting in with all the noisy jabbering of the frenzied Carvanha, but nodded. She jumped and grabbed the sharp edge of the shelf and tried to pull herself up. Her arms shook, blood trickling down her arms and legs from the Carvanha. With the retreating source of the blood they desperately needed to feast with, a few of the fish-pokemon darted for her. Lance smacked them away, a few managing to catch his arms with their abrasive flesh and a few with the sharp points of their teeth.
No time!
Lance shoved her upward with his unharmed hand, deciding now was definitely not the time to fret over the fact that the spot his hand was forcing her body upward to the top of the shelf and help climb over was, in fact, her butt.
Oh for the love of Arceus, Lance, now is not the time to blush. No, no, quit it! Focus, damn you! He screamed at himself.
Successfully over the edge, Misty clambered to her knees, turned around to face him, and held her hand out. "Come on!"
Lance grabbed the edge, and her hand. Together he was able to climb over the edge, but not without a good look at the pain in her eyes the moment their hands clasped. With the two of them out of the water, they both just sort of slumped into the sand.
Misty then kicked out with her leg lazily at the one Carvanha that managed to jump high enough out of the water to reach them. It went sailing away harmlessly, though Misty cried at the movement.
Lance got to his feet first. His body was mildly numb from adrenaline, and perhaps the abruptness of the Carvanha attack, but he cared little at the moment. He helped Misty to her feet, and together the two of them half-walked half-limped back to their camp fire.
All the while, he wondered how Misty had gotten the cut on her palm and why she never told him about it.
I kinda feel like I failed horribly with this chapter, it's just so...I don't know. I could be crazy.
According to pokedex entries, Carvanha have so much power in their jaws and teeth that they can eat straight through a boat. And since they evolve into a shark-pokemon, I kinda, maybe, sort of integrated the whole "smell blood miles away" thing that sharks got.
Now that I think about it, I've really got to stop updating this at 11 at night. Hrm...
Not a survival expert, so if something isn't right, do correct me.
If you like this, review. Fave's are nice... but reviews are better.
If no like, review and tell me so.
If not, I'll just continue anyway. Whenever I get around to it. C:
-KO13
