Disclaimer: I do not claim ownership of Pokemon, its characters, locations, or names. All of them, with the exception of the original characters, belong to Nintendo
A/N: Yet another chapter, yet more pulling out of my hair as I am amazed at how shit this was/is. This chapter took the cake for it thusfar. x.x
You want to know why? I cut out a good 90 percent of chapter 9 and merged what was left with part of chapter 10, along with taking a few elements out of the original 9 to do this. I might continue what happens at the end in the next chapter or the one before that...I'm not sure.
Anyway...NaNo in a month! You know what that means?
I will also be working on DG2. : That's...three fanfictions now that I need to work on. Bah.
And before someone points it out, I know that the beginning of this chapter is actually really ironic when compared to the current presidential candidates.
Warnings: The pairing in this is RivalSibling. I am not even sure what'll end up in this thing. A little bit of violence I'm sure, so...sorry, no prior warning.
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Chapter 9: Tensions Running High
"For god's sake..." Ash pinched the bridge of his nose; he couldn't believe how ridiculous someone could be. "I'm aware that the United States aren't cowards, madam. I'm also aware you would rather divorce your husband before handing over the Item. However, I'm not giving in either." Talking to the president was like talking to a brick wall. He could hardly believe she ran a country; she was a hick through and through.
"Damn right!" The country drawl she had...he scowled. It grated on his nerves listening to her voice. "I'm keeping it! It is a symbol of my country!"
"No, it is a statue of a Pokemon, and you don't even have any there! Just do me a favor, and hand it over. I don't want your damn country, I just want the Item." There were several more minutes of bickering, before he finally hung up on her. He growled. "Whatta bitch."
"Well, there isn't much you can do about that, is there?" May asked, kneeling down beside him. Ash shrugged, chewing thoughtfully on his knuckles; an evil glint appearing in his eye, he grinned.
"There is one thing I could do..."
May's expression turned stony. "You do, and I'll castrate you," she said solemnly; Ash's smile disappeared.
"...Ah, ouch. Point taken."
The phone wailing, he shushed her, quickly answering it. "Yes?"
"We have had a meeting." Ash snorted; he knew the president wouldn't wait too long. "And we decided to...graciously give it to you."
Even though the tone was polite, Ash could tell she was seething inside. "Oh? You shouldn't have," he said, and smirked when she grumbled under her breath.
"Do not think this means we are allies. We are nothing of the sort."
"I wouldn't dream of thinking that. And anyway, I don't want an ally like you. I like actually being able to rely on my allies." The incensed, offended swearing was mildly amusing; once she calmed down, she continued.
"Well, you can have it. Now leave us alone. We want nothing to do with you."
"Fine by me. Have a good day," Ash said, cutting the connection before letting himself laugh. "She's too easy. How she can handle being a President is beyond me."
He smiled then. "Let's go for a walk, shall we? It's getting stuffy in here."
Hearing no complaints from May, he stood, putting a hand out to help her up; they took to the halls quietly. Ash looked around, chewing on his lower lip, before finally pulling out a poke ball and letting Pikachu out; the rodent hissed angrily. "Sorry, Pikachu," he said as his best friend leaped up to settle on his shoulders, "I couldn't have you running around while I dealt with Miss Fuss."
The creature snickered. The humor dying down, Pikachu looked at him levelly, black eyes unmoving. "Pika? Chu?"
Ash shook his head, pointing down one of the halls before walking in the same direction; May followed by his side, taking hold of his hand. "No, and I have no intention of mentioning that either. Shut it."
"What?" she asked, confused. He glanced at her, and rolled his eyes.
"Something stupid. Ignore him." Pikachu hissed, ears bent back. "Shush. You know it's true." Ash gave the Pokemon a withering look.
"Cha," Pikachu acceded, "Pikapikachu?"
"Huh?"
"Ash!" They both turned around; Sora was running toward them, a small purple and red form cuddled in her arms. "Help it!"
"What in hell?" The head lifted up, large ears moving slowly. "Espeon. What happened?"
She shook her head. "A mishap," she admitted, "I was trying to work on lunch, and...the knife..."
If it wouldn't have hurt her feeling, Ash would have slammed his palm into his face. Taking the withering creature, he sighed. "Alright, alright, I can keep it in my room so it can be in the machine for awhile. Sora, you seriously need to learn how to use it yourself."
She smiled gratefully, silently. "I'll try to catch up with you. I need to clean up the mess," she said quietly.
He nodded. May looked between them, trotting once Ash started at a run back the other direction. "This isn't any good. Gods, it's bleeding badly..." Ash said.
It was a strange thing; once at their destination, Ash disappeared between a shelf of poke balls, the only indicator that he was still in the room being the low crying of Espeon. May peeked around a corner to watch him work; lifting the see-through lid, setting the pained Pokemon inside and closing it again, turning switches and knobs, pushing buttons...
The contraption sprang to life, lights blazing, other blinking. He turned away, rubbing his eyes before finally looking at her grimly. "If this doesn't do it, I don't know what else to do. This is when having one of the Nurse Joys around would be nice. They know how to use this better then I do."
"At least you know how to run it at all," May said, and Ash walked past her, patting her on the head.
"You can learn how to." She glared at him; Ash turned, smiling. "Well, it's the truth!"
She mumbled under her breath; with a groan, he went back, pulling her into a hug. "Hey, what's wrong?"
"You are such a bastard." She looked up at him. Ash leaned forward so that his forehead just barely touched hers; his smile widened.
"You won't be thinking that for long," he remarked tauntingly. Suddenly she felt the side of the shelf against her back, and the blood rushed to her face as he kissed her. "Think I am now?"
"Well..." She certainly wasn't about to give him the answer he wanted so easily. Ash stared at her, his expression turning from mild curiosity to amusement.
"I know what you're doing," he said quietly into her ear, "and I can make it just as difficult as you are being right now."
"Hm. Try it. I doubt you can," May replied, giving him an evil smile.
"Is that a challenge?" Ash asked innocently, mirroring her smile. She shrugged.
"You bet." The shelf rattled behind her as it was hit once again; she felt the back of her shirt come up and she slid down with him, hitting the floor with a heavy thud. May couldn't move; she was trapped between the shelf, the floor, and Ash. What little movement she could do she did; scampering to the side, she made moves to get up and run off, until Ash grabbed her ankle and dragged her back down.
"Like hell. Where do you think you're going?" he inquired, leaning over her. His entire mood seemed to change then; he looked oddly serious. "Just be...stay with me, please?"
When she nodded nervously, he let out a shaky breath and smiled. Ash bent over to once again place a kiss on her lips, one hand at her hip and the other palm down against the ground to keep balance.
"You two in here?" Both Ash and May made a face, quickly scrambling away from each other. When Sora appeared with Pikachu from around a corner of another shelf, they looked at each other uncomfortably. "What...happened?"
Noticing the flushed faces and the guilty looks aimed at her, it dawned on her. "Oh, right," she said, before looking apologetically at them, "I'm sorry, I hadn't known..."
"It's alright," Ash replied quietly, standing quickly, "I need to go check on how things are doing with the rest anyway." Without another word, he dashed out.
May looked at Sora, feeling both embarrassment at the situation and bad for Ash. "I mean it," the older woman said, "I am really sorry. If I had known, I wouldn't have came in. He...he doesn't usually...ya know...not in here. Not with the pokemon all around."
"It's fine," May said, also standing from her spot beside the shelf, "I...I doubt we would have really done anything here. He was having a moment is all."
Sora shook her head. "That wasn't a moment. That was something that's been bothering him for awhile now."
She could only stare.
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