Thanks for all the reviews guys! Sorry about the delay; a few things came up and were attended to.
LuciferIX: My dad's a doctor, so he educated me on all sorts of medicinal drugs and other medical stuff when I was younger, includingacetylsalicylic acid . I kinda grew up with it, and it got stuck in my head. Plus I'm striving to be a doctor as well, so that sort of explains things by itself.
The Advancer: I will be moving this fic to Serebii when I get the chance. And it's alright that you mixed me up with someone else; I get it alot anyways.
Zeaeevee: Yeah, only reason why I didn't write it in italics is because I wanted you guys to figure that it was a dream for yourself.
Alright, we're getting close to my plotline! Chapter 9 will signal the actual story being started off, so stay tuned!
And let the games begin!
Chapter 7: The Player and the Rival
"May?" Steele looked at the girl, who had apparently fallen asleep right in front of them. She was still sitting cross-legged, but was resting her head on her hand, and had apparently fallen asleep.
"May?" He repeated. He went up to her, and waved a hand in front of her face. "She's out cold. I didn't think I was THAT boring." He laughed.
Ash laughed as well with Steele. "Anyways, should we wake her up?"
Max spoke up. "Leave that to me." He grinned evilly as he went up to his sister. He grabbed May's right earlobe with his thumb and index finger, and whispered in her ear some incomprehensible words. After he said the last word, he tugged sharply on the earlobe.
"YEOW!" May bolted awake, and tumbled flat on her back, rubbing her earlobe tenderly. "Max! You little-"
"Easy there May! You just fell asleep." Steele interjected before she could start cursing like a sailor at her brother. At least, that's what he thought what would happen.
"We couldn't wake you up, so we got Max to do it." Ash added. "I personally would have let you sleep." He glared at Max and Steele for a moment, before turning back to May. Now she had a blank look on her face.
"I was having the most wonderful dream..." she whispered listlessly. She wasn't apparently listening to what the boys were saying, her mind still 'trapped' in the dream state. She stared at her friends blankly as she talked.
Steele and Ash exchanged glances. Ash raised an eyebrow, and looked back at May. "Is she alright?"
Brock blinked as well, not that you could tell. He kneeled down to May's level, and waved his hand in front of her face. No response.
Max blinked as he saw his sister. "Wow. The ear pulling usually works. I think I'm slipping." He looked at his hands, and started rubbing them together randomly.
"Is she narcoleptic?" Steele asked. Brock shook his head, and continued his examination. Afterwards, he shook his head.
"Yep. She's out of it." He concluded. He looked at Ash and Steele. "What do we do?"
"I say leave her, wait until she's out of it." Ash said. Steele, however, shook his head.
"Nonono. We need to get some sleep. All of us, me most of all. How about Pokémon?" He suggested.
Ash shrugged. "Could work. But I don't know where Pikachu and Flareon are." He looked at the ground, voice getting softer.
Steele looked around the area for a moment, and raised an eyebrow. "Well I have a way to call Flareon." He said as he reached for his backpack.
He unzipped the biggest pocket, and stuffed his hand inside. He searched around for a moment before pulling out a small, box-like object; around 24 in. by 24 in, with a few dials and plugs on the front of it, and a speaker like thing under the dials. He then pulled out another small rectangular box and placed it beside the box. It seemed like a normal black box, except there was an outlet on the top of it, and a switch that indicated some purpose or another, and an LED light that was off, it seemed. There was also a cord that was connected to the square box, and ended in the plug shape. Steele connected the plug and outlet together. He flipped a switch on the rectangular box, and flipped another switch on the square box. Once he did that, a whirring sound was heard, and a blue light went on the black box. He also pulled out a cord, and plugged it into the plug on the black 'boombox' that said INPUT on top of it.
Brock looked at Steele as he set up. "What is that?" He pointed to the black box.
Steele glanced at him. "An amplifier. I need it to amplify the sound of my guitar so Flareon hears it."
He then pulled out the guitar that was stored in the big pocket of the backpack by the neck. It was still stored inside another black case, but it was thin, and soft-covered. He unzipped the bag, and let it drop onto the ground.
"Ahh. You gotta love Epiphone Les Pauls, eh?" Steele remarked, as he took out his guitar.
The body was black; ebony black to be precise. It had 4 knobs on the bottom left from where Ash was sitting from when he saw it, obviously for tone and volume controls, though Ash wasn't very educated on the parts of a guitar. In fact, this was the first time that he saw one up close. It obviously had the neck and fingerboard, and the head of the guitar was touched up with gold plated knobs, which added to the dazzling effect. The pickups and bridge were also gold, and the pick guard was a cream coloured, which coordinated with the shiny gold.
Steele found an old tree stump close to their position, and sat down on it. He looked at Ash, and saw him staring at it like it was roasted chicken. He rolled his eyes when he also noticed Brock staring at it as well. He looked towards May, and still saw that she was out in her spaced-out mode. He shook his head and took the proper stance, placing the curvature of the body on his right thigh. His left hand moved naturally to the end of the guitar. He paused for a moment, before facepalming.
"Drat. I forgot."
He rose from his spot, and dug around his pocket for a moment, before pulling out a curved, triangular sort of object. He looked at the boys. "Pick." He said simply. He sat back down, and flipped the switch that was at the top part of where the curve was on the top of the body towards him to amplify towards the pickup that was closest to the neck. He took the other end of the cord that was plugged into INPUT, and stuck in the jack that was on the guitar. He suddenly heard a few sounds coming from the amp, or rather from the guitar, as Steele had accidentally plucked a few strings with his left hand while he was working; a sign that the amp was working fine.
"There we go. I was hoping that a few of the batteries worked." He commented.
Ash raised an eyebrow. "What batteries?"
Steele looked at him. "This box here," he tapped at the rectangular box that was beside the amp. "It's a power generator, that operates on twelce 500 MaH rechargeable batteries." He explained. "What, did you think that I powered this amp with magic?" He laughed.
Ash smiled as well, although it was a little bitter due to his remark. He let it slide for now. His sight drifted towards May again, who was still in her dream state. He blinked. "I wonder if your playing will wake her up?"
Steele looked at Ash, and then back to May. "We'll find out soon enough." Steele moved his pick around to the proper position, and put his left hand fingers into a sort of arcing position at the farthest end of the neck, and he strummed all six strings. What resulted was a hard, yet clean sound that echoed through the area.
Nobody moved. It was deathly silent, and it seemed as if everyone was waiting for something. Max was waiting for May to wake up, Brock was waiting for the Pokémon to come, and Ash was waiting for Steele to do a wicked mad solo with his guitar.
Tap...
Tap...
Tap...
Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap
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Meanwhile, in another part of the area, Pikachu and Flareon were exploring. Well, Pikachu was exploring freely. Flareon, however, was a really big drag for him.
Come ooooooon! We should get back to the campsite! Flareon complained. He could have gone by himself, but Pikachu was unfamiliar with the area, and would most likely get lost within 5 minutes of solitude.
Aw come on Flareon! 5 more minutes! Pikachu responded, facing him. He held up 5 fingers to signify how many minutes were left.
That's what you said 5 minutes ago! Flareon retorted. Gah, I give up! I'm going back. He started to turn around , when he paused, ears perked up.
Pikachu looked at him skeptically. He tilted his head to the left in confusion, until he heard something as well. His ears perked up, and he listened.
What was that? He asked the fire Pokémon.
Flareon glanced at him. It's music. Cortelian Major, to be precise. But only... His eyes widened, and he quickly dashed off towards the campsite immediately, leaving Pikachu in the blue.
What the... HEY! GET BACK HERE! Pikachu screamed as he chased after Flareon.
It was a long chase, as they were pretty far off from camp, but the two Pokémon were quadrupeds, so they were fast runners. Pikachu nearly caught up with Flareon for a second, but then a tree had the really retarded thought of tripping the Pokémon while they ran as a joke. Flareon just jumped over each obstacle that got in his way, but Pikachu was stopped and slowed down by each obstacle that the trees tried to throw at him, which really sucked.
After about 10 minutes of pain, taunting, cursing and running, Pikachu finally caught up with Flareon, and found that the two were back at the campsite. NOW that music was really audiable. Too audiable, in fact.
Pikachu clutched his ears in annoyance at the music. Sounds like someone died and make a monkey out of it. He complained.
He looked at Flareon, who was apparently enjoying the revolting sounds. His head swayed left and right slowly to the beat, and he suddenly sprinted off once again. Pikachu slapped his forehead and followed after him. He was too tired for this crap, so he might as well go find Ash and get to sleep. It was already late enough as it is.
By the time the two Pokémon reached the humans, Pikachu had gone from quadruped to biped, walking on his two feet, totally exhausted. He finally reached the clearing where the boy that they had found was recovering at. As he stepped into the area, his eyes rested at Ash. Pikachu sighed with relief, and quickly ran over to his best friend. However, he noticed that Flareon was already at his master's side, who was... awake?
Hes awake? About time.Pikachu thought to himself. He went over to Ash's side, and tugged at his sleeve, so that Ash acknowledged his presence.
Ash did acknowledge his presence, as he turned his head and saw Pikachu staring him right in the face. He heard him say a few words really fast and in a tone that indicated that he was excited, but he still wasn't very fluent in human languages, and the speed at which the words came out didn't help him to understand. All he could decipher from him was: "Glad...back...Pikachu. Boy...wake...got...along...May...sleep...call...you...gu...tar...can...wake...May...please."
As soon as he heard 'wake May', he nodded, and ran over to the girl. Pikachu blinked as he saw her sleeping while sitting at the same time, with her head resting on her hand. He blinked, and looked back at Ash with a skeptical expression on his face before turning back to May. He sighed, and gave May a silent apology.
-------
Meanwhile, high above the trees, a lone figure watched the group attentively, noting the different aspects of their personalities. He knew 4 of these people; the fifth, he had never seen before in his life, but gave him the chills nonetheless.
His eyes rested upon the girl, who had apparently fallen into a narcoleptic state of sleep. His mouth tightened into a grimace as memories started to flow into his mind about the many encounters that he had with her. The battles, the taunting, the...
The roses...
He closed his eyes, and thought for a moment.
"In the morning, I'll pay these guys a little...visit." He said quietly to himself. "May will be mine."
And with that, he silently dropped from the trees, and ran into the woods.
