And now, for the answers you've all been waiting for! The green line was caused by a bubble in the Reverse World being destroyed by a thrown rock. The older person in the last part of the previous chapter was Newton from Giratina and the Sky Warrior. The male OC with the Yanmega is me, good ol' Pokefan30648! I will use the name Kakashi. The female OC with the Luxray named Cuddy is my good friend, Kyoku-Neko-Chan. She will use the name Kyoku. We could be making an appearance in a sequel. That's right! I've already got plans for a sequel! Random foreshadowing may occur, so keep alert! Now, just read on! Hope you enjoy!
Oh, and here is a message from Kakashi and Kyoku:
Kakashi: Anyone who calls Kyoku my "girlfriend" will find themselves strung upside down in an Ariados nest. And Kyoku has something to say as well, I think.
Kyoku: I have rocks.
Kakashi: *whimper*
Angie rubbed her eyes as she woke up, yawning. Sitting up, she pushed a large weight off of her chest. Ash's snoring body rolled onto the ground. Angie brushed herself off and looked around. What had once been a neatly trimmed grass field was now pockmarked with craters and sprinkled with torn bits of sheet metal and electrical components. A large pool of water bubbled near by, steam rising from the surface. Angie gulped. Oh boy, am I in for it now! How am I gonna get out of this one? And where's Ash? Angie found him where she had pushed him off herself moments earlier. Ash's hat had flown high into a nearby tree, exposing his messy black hair to the elements. He looks so cute when he's sleeping, Angie thought to herself. Bet he'd be so embarrassed if I told him that. She stroked his hair distractedly as she looked for her parents and the other trainers. Her mother and father were on the ground further away, as were Max, Gary, Maylene, and Zoey. Angie panicked as she heard a snapping noise behind her, but it turned out that it was just Dawn, staggering out from between some bushes and apparently dragging about half of the local flora out of her hair. Angie quickly stood up and stuffed her hands in her pockets. Did she see me doing that? I hope not! She turned away from Dawn, hiding her blushing face as she searched for more people.
Reggie crawled out of a bush, dragging Misty and Tracy. Both May and Drew had been unfortunate enough to end up landing in the rose bushes, and they were pulling thorns off each other with as much care as possible as they wandered into the once peaceful clearing. Pikachu could be heard trying to lead wayward Poke'mon back to the Daycare Center, but Piplup was attempting to lead everyone in the complete opposite direction of the Center. Slowly but surely, the yard filled with people and Poke'mon. Only one person and Poke'mon was missing. And one other thing.
"Hey, where's Barry?" Zoey asked, concern evident on her face. "Has anyone seen Barry?"
"Hey, Pikachu, you okay?" Ash asked his Electric-Type.
"Pika-pi, Ka chu Pikapi chu pika," the Mouse Poke'mon squeaked.
"Barry, where are you?" Zoey called out.
"Angie, how about you?" Angie jumped, startled for a moment.
"Um, uh, wha…" Angie realized that she was babbling. "Oh, uh, I'm, um, fine, yeah, just fine."
"Hold on," Ash said as he got up. "I need to make sure all of my Poke'mon are okay, and… oh no…" Ash's voice trailed off.
"What's wro-" Angie began to ask, but was cut off by a very happy Poke'mon.
"GLISCOR!" *Glomp*
"Yeah Gliscor, nice to see you too," Ash mumbled from under about ninety pounds of purple Poke'mon. Angie giggled as the Fangscorpion Poke'mon stuck out its tongue and winked. A large shadow passed overhead.
"Star-r-r-r-r-raptor!" Ash's Predator Poke'mon swooped through the air, riding the air currents and the afternoon thermals with two others of its kind. Gliscor leapt up into the air to catch an air current, but ended up crashing into a tree. Ash picked up the Ground/Flying-Type and threw it into the air, allowing it to catch a thermal.
"I know that Grotle and Monferno are in their Pokeballs," Ash said with relief. "That just leaves Buizel missing and… what happened to my hat?" Angie laughed at the forlorn expression on Ash's face, and she struggled to tell him.
"Y-your hat, it-it-it's in, hee hee hee, it's up that t-tree over there," she gasped out. Ash sagged.
"You don't mean that really tall tree over there, do you?" Ash asked weakly. "Oh man… it's up at the very top, too." Angie lost her balance and staggered into Ash, giggling all the way. Ash steadied the turquoise-haired girl as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. The giggling came to an abrupt halt when Angie's father cleared his throat meaningfully.
"It's always good," he started to say, "for a husband to be able to get his wife to lau- mmph!" Angie clapped her hands over her father's mouth.
"Papa!" Angie turned back to Ash sheepishly. "Don't listen to my dad; he says the weirdest things sometimes…" But to Angie's astonishment, Ash was already scrambling up the fifty foot tall tree that was holding his hat hostage. "Ash, get down from there! That's dangerous!"
"But I have to get my hat!" Ash yelled back. Angie was getting dizzy just from watching her crush scaling the tree without any climbing equipment. She ran over to Misty, who had just regained consciousness.
"Misty, Ash's trying to climb that tree over there to get his hat!" Angie burst out. Misty blinked and shook her head.
"He always gets upset when he loses his hat," Misty responded. "And he climbs things a lot, too. I think he has an Ambipom in his family tree or something." Misty found herself speaking to thin air, as Angie had moved on to talking to May to get someone to stop Ash from climbing any further. Ash was now half way up the tree, while May was applying ointment to Drew's thorn wounds.
"May, Ash is trying to climb that huge tree to get his hat!" Angie yelled in a panic. May shaded her eyes and gazed at the lithe figure clambering around near the upper levels of foliage. She shrugged and turned back to applying first-aid to her boyfriend.
"He seems to be making good progress to me," May said nonchalantly. "He once climbed a cliff to get a flower for me. He's good at climbing stuff." Drew scooted away in panic. "Drew, come on, those scratches are going to get infected if you don't let me put antibiotic on them," May complained. She stiffened when she heard a voice behind her, brittle as ice over the center of a lake and just as cold.
"So he got a flower for you, hm?" Angie said through a false smile and gritted teeth. May was well versed in the game of love, and she knew jealousy when she saw it. Behind Angie's golden-brown eyes, May could see the spark of a volatile rage building up to critical.
"It-was-in-the-Hoenn-region-when-we-went-to-Cameron-Palace," May babbled out in terror. "We-were-at-this-hot-spring-and-we-were-with-a-Lucario-and-I-saw-this-really-pretty-crystal-flower-and-I-asked-Ash-to-get-it-for-me-and-he-went-and-got-it-and-he-fell-off-the-cliff-with-the-flower-and-then-when-he-picked-it-up-again-we-all-saw-him-fall-off-the-cliff-again-and-we-learned-that-they-were-Time-Flowers-that-can-record-what-happens-and-replay-a-scene-from-the-past-if-someone-with-Aura-abilities-touches-them-or-is-near-by-and-if-we-hadn't-figured-that-out-we-would-never-have-solved-the-mystery-of-Sir-Aaron-and-the-Tree-of-Beginning-would-have-been-destroyed-and-we-would-all-have-died-and-it-didn't-mean-anything-anyway!" Angie blinked, and then a true smile grew across her face. She hadn't really understood most of what May had said, but the last five words had stuck in her head. Angie sighed in relief.
"Okay, that's okay then," she said happily. Angie paused when she noticed May's raised eyebrow. "What?"
"Say, Angie," May asked slyly. "You wouldn't happen to have a crush on Ash, would you?" May grinned as the other girl began to get flustered.
"Wh-What? N-No I don't! What ever gave you such a ridiculous idea?" Angie blushed as embarrassing thoughts ran through her mind.
"Well… the fact that you were getting so upset and jealous when I mentioned Ash getting a flower for me is a clue," May started. "And then you were so relieved that I didn't like Ash in a romantic way. Then there's the fact that you're getting all worked up about me asking if you like Ash... well, things tend to add up." Angie flailed around in a panic.
"No! No! Math is just a theory! Math is just a theory!" she wailed.
"Oh, and you always get this adoring look on your face whenever Ash's name is mentioned…" Misty added, having followed Angie and listened in on the conversation.
"Oh no…" Angie whimpered as she sat down on her knees and hid her face in her hands.
"Hey, we're just kidding around!" May said with a laugh. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."
"That means," Drew explained. "May will gossip to everyone who can be trusted to not tell Ash."
"Please don't tell him!" Angie begged. "I… I want to tell him myself, but… well… can I ask you guys some questions?"
"Fire away," Misty said reassuringly. "We'll help you if you want us to, but, most importantly, we won't help when you don't want us to. And we won't tell Ash a word." Misty turned and glared at Drew. "Right?"
"Why are you glaring at me?" Drew complained.
"Guys are less trustworthy," Misty responded succinctly. Drew's mouth dropped open at the insult to his honor. "Now, Angie, what do you want to know?"
"I was wondering if it was hard for you guys to admit your feelings to your boyfriends?" Angie asked. May turned to Drew.
"This is girl business. Scram!" Drew hastily left the area. May turned back to Angie. "It wasn't too hard for me, I just had to overcome some embarrassment." Angie smiled hopefully. "But, I knew that Drew liked me, so I didn't really have to worry about rejection." May realized her mistake when she saw Angie wilt like a dying flower. "But I'm sure Ash likes you, don't worry!"
"Oh, I know he likes me," Angie sighed as she traced patterns in the ground with her finger. "But he only likes me as a friend… I just don't know if… well… I don't know if he loves me." The other two girls looked at each other, sympathy for Angie's plight evident on their faces.
"Well," Misty began thoughtfully. "The first thing you need to know is that you shouldn't try to be anyone but yourself." Angie snorted skeptically. "Yeah, I know it's a bit of a cliché, but it really works wonders."
"Wearing perfume helps!" May added cheerfully. She began rummaging through her pack. "Here, I'm sure I have some in here somewhere that you could use…"
"I don't really wear perfume," Angie muttered in embarrassment. Misty nodded approvingly.
"Good. If you don't wear perfume and you don't like it, then you shouldn't wear it. If you did, you wouldn't be you. If you just be yourself, I think Ash will start to like you more that a friend. In fact," Misty said thoughtfully. "I think Ash might like you more than a friend already, though he probably doesn't realize it yet."
"Why do you think that?" Angie asked. She was sitting up straight now, alert and focused. She was starting to regain her former spunk and confidence.
"Well, I've been told that he spends a lot of time with you when he's around. And he also likes a lot of the same things that you do. You certainly share similar appetites." Misty snickered a bit, and then her voice returned to being serious. "I've also seen him glancing at you when he thinks no one's looking. It's really kind of cute." Misty watched as a smile spread across Angie's face.
"So who are you going to tell?" Angie asked after calming herself down. May thought for a moment.
"I think that Zoey can be trusted," she said. "Not Dawn, though. She'll tell Gary, and then it'll be all ruined. Barry can't be told either. And Drew knows to keep his mouth shut, so he's okay."
"Don't worry too much," Misty said. "We'll help you get Ash, even though he seems half caught anyway. And if he tries playing hard to get, I'll… convince him that he shouldn't."
"How are you going to do that?" Angie asked curiously. She wasn't sure if she liked the answer she got.
"Oh, usually I either steal his hat, whack him with a log, or both," Misty said cheerfully. May laughed at this. All three girls looked up when they heard a faint voice shouting down from somewhere up high. Ash had finally made it to the top of the tree.
"Hey down there!" he called down. "I got my hat! And Zoey, I've found Barry."
"He's not up there, is he?" Zoey shouted back. Ash shook his head.
"No, he's with Buizel. They're both on the roof."
Whoof. That was intense. But it was fun! I had some trouble with figuring out how a group of girls would talk about love, with me being a guy and all, but I think I did a fairly good job. Still working on that report! Those reviews are really helping me along! Please keep it up! (I think I might be getting some fans!) Woo hoo! See ya soon, so to speak!
