disclaimer: Emerald Twin Blade does not own Pokémon... or Naruto, for that matter. Why do I mention Naruto? You'll see. XD! I do, however, own Fordé Sourentis & Anissa DeMont, as well as a few other characters I'll be adding soon. XP
Emerald's News & Nonsense:
103 Reviews... 103 Re... 103... IT'S AN ODD NUMBER ABOVE 100! I LOVE IT!!!! I want to thank all of you for helping me get over 100 Reviews! I will no longer be holding ransoms, but I will be having trouble posting next chapters until I post up the next Fragment of Black Velvet, which is miine Kingdom Hearts fanfic. It's a bit overdue for a new chapter, so... yeaz. XP
This chapter is kinda... well... off-topic? Let's just say it involved lots and lots of food! LoL! And in the beginning, LOTS of references to Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea. Everyone's favorite little Prince of the Sea will fit wonderfully into this Fic! Y'know?
key:
" " dialogue
thoughts & emphasis
Pokémon Speech
onomatopoeia
: Fragment No. 10 :
Noodles & Jealousy
May smiled, laughing happily as several Chinchou and Remoraid swum around her. She was seemingly underwater… and able to breathe. Swimming forth, her ear twitched as she heard a familiar call.
Mana! Mana, Mana!
She stopped, turning her head left and right. Hope was swelling in her heart; could it really be? It'd been 5, maybe 6, years since she heard that voice.
"M-Manaphy?" she stuttered, looking around.
Mana! Whee! Mana!
"Manaphy!! Where are you?" she called out, watching as more Water Pokémon swam past her.
Mana! Mama! Happy!
She was about to start moving again, when suddenly, a brightly glowing Pokémon spiraled around her body before swimming off in front of her and spinning around in circles, Happy! Love you! Mama!
May's smile grew to the brightest it'd been in years, "Manaphy!" She swam forth and put her arms around the Voyage Pokémon, both rubbing their cheeks together.
Whee! Mama! It said, looking up at her with bright blue eyes, Mama, Happy?
The girl nodded, "Yes… Mama's very happy." She wanted to cry… It'd been so long since she'd seen her little Prince of the Sea.
Mama, Love Drew?
Her eyes went wide; when did Manaphy learn that? "Wh-what?"
Mama happy! Mama happy, love Drew? Manaphy asked, watching with its head tilted to the side.
May blushed lightly, nodding; she just couldn't lie to the little Pokémon, "Yes… I do love Drew…"
Whee! Mana! Mana, Mana! It exclaimed, floating up out of May's arms and spinning around happily.
Luvdisc… Luv… The school of Rendezvous Pokémon fish cooed as they came on through, swimming all around May excitedly as Manaphy floated away.
May held her hand out, trying to reach out, "Manaphy! Please! Don't leave me yet! Not again!"
Suddenly, there was another one… She could hardly see it, but there seemed to be a smaller version of Manaphy floating along with it. Just… what was it?
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"May…"
May Maple sighed into her pillow, frowning slightly. Why was Manaphy going off again with a mini-version of itself?
"May…"
Why were these Luvdisc surrounding her, and what's more, why wouldn't they let her move? Hold on a sec, how did Manaphy know about Drew, anyway?
"MAY!!!"
"Gaah!!" she cried, falling out of bed and finding herself completely tangled up in her bed sheets. She pouted, looking up toward the bed opposite hers, only to see Drew lying on his stomach with his chin in his hands as he watched her with a smug look on his face.
"Did you have a good dream? You were smiling so much, I just thought it was my duty to ruin it…"
May looked down at the sheets wrapped tightly around her; her eye twitched as she tried to get herself untangled, but to no avail. Apparently, Drew had tied them around her in her sleep. So this was why she felt like Luvdisc were trapping her.
"Why do you always have to ruin my life?!"
He seemed to think about it for a moment before looking down at her with the same look, "It's fun."
"Grr… UNTIE ME RIGHT NOW, DREW WARREN!!" she commanded angrily, trying to wiggle out of the sheets. Still no luck.
"How about a 'please,' May Maple…" he teased, enjoying watching her try to get out of this little situation.
"Fine, then. Please, untie me right now!"
He shook his head, "No… no… You gotta say it like you mean it!"
"DREW!!!"
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Anissa was giggling as she listened to the arguing going on inside of Room #7. She'd known right away that it had to be May and Drew's room, seeing as she didn't know anyone else who would start fighting like that first thing in the morning. Sure, she'd only just met them last night, but they seemed like the type of couple to do that…
She was leaning back against the wall beside their door, making sure to scare any other Coordinators who thought they'd come out to see what the commotion was. She didn't understand why, but she could really scare people when she wanted to… Just one glance at them, and they'd high-tail it out of there! Oh well, she supposed it was just a trait that went along in the DeMont family.
Deciding that she'd enjoyed their argument for long enough, she knocked loudly on the door, listening as it all went quiet for a bit, "Hey, May! Drew! It's 11:30! Let's go grab some brunch before the Singles Appeals start up!"
The door suddenly opened as Drew was instantly shoved out of the room, the door slammed closed as May's voice shouted, "I'll be out in a minute!"
Anissa looked amusedly at the green-haired Coordinator, "I take it you finally helped her out of your little trick?"
"No, she actually just ripped them apart to get out of them." He mumbled, straightening his slightly wrinkled jacket from when he was lying on the bed, "So, how'd you know about it?"
She smirked, "Correction: How could I not know about it? Drew, you guys were so loud that the majority of the Coordinators came out of their rooms to come and stare at this door, listening to your little lovers' spat."
"How peachy…" he muttered before blushing lightly at her last comment, "And we're not together, so it's not a lovers' spat. Just a disagreement between rivals, that's all."
Anissa folded her arms, suppressing a laugh, "Suuuure… and my Espeon's really just a Ditto in disguise."
The door suddenly came open and May stepped out, wearing her signature red, dark blue, and white outfit. She looked to Anissa with a confused look, "Whoa, it is?"
Drew slapped his forehead in embarrassment as Anissa finally let out that laugh. She shook her head and put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "I was trying to make a point, so no, it's not. Espia's a real Espeon. Anyway, shall we go? Fordé and a few of his friends are waiting for us in the food court."
They'd already started walking before May realized what she'd said, "Wait… Food court? Aren't those only in malls?"
"Nope; I guess you could call it the cafeteria here, then… But there are lots of different places to get different foods. Like pizza, burgers, hot dogs, spaghetti…"
"Ramen, too??" May asked excitedly.
"Of course! They've got a Ramen Shop with a counter you can eat at!"
"REALLY!?" Drew was beginning to get frightened of the now overly excited Coordinator he was roomed with. He would have been scared out of his wits if she'd been acting like this earlier.
"Well, we're here!" Anissa declared, pointing to the huge area with small shops for food representing other, larger places to eat, such as McDonalds and Burger King.
May looked like she was in Heaven; her hands were clasped together as if praying and she was staring at the one place she never thought she'd see, or eat at, again.
It was Ichiraku Ramen. She'd been to Japan once or twice when she was a kid, and ever since, she always thought that they had the perfect ramen. And now… it was here!
Stars were in her eyes as she stared at the place; how could it not be wrapped up in business? There were two, maybe three people eating there! Well, she'd definitely give them their money's worth!
"H-hey, May?" Drew asked meekly, still freaked out.
She snapped out of her trance-like staring at the Ramen Shop to look to the other, "Hm?"
"You planning to eat there?" he pointed over to Ichiraku Ramen, glad that she'd calmed down.
She nodded, "Sure am! They've got the best ramen EVER!"
"Heh, is that so? I guess I'll have to test it…" he said, flicking his hair, "Because I, for one, believe that Byakuren Ramen has the best ramen ever."
"Byakuren Ramen? That fancy-ass place? No way! The only thing that they could ever have the best of is those little umbrellas they put in their drinks!"
"Ichiraku Ramen doesn't look like it's all that great! See how much business they have right now?" he folded his arms and raised an eyebrow in the direction of the shop.
"Pfft! I guess you will have to test it, then! Ichiraku Ramen has the best ramen ever, and after this, you'll think so, too!!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him over to the Ramen Shop, shoving him into the seat beside her at the counter.
"Two bowls of ramen with shrimp and lemon chicken, please!" she called to the chef.
(Emerald's Nonsense: Haahaa, shrimp and lemon chicken! My mom makes that ALL the time. I don't like it, but that doesn't mean May doesn't! XD!)
"Coming right up, little lady!" the man replied, smiling at her as he cooked it up.
"Hm…" Drew thought for a bit; at least the chef seemed pleasant enough.
The man brought these huge bowls over to them, setting them down on the counter in front of them. It definitely looked good, and it was steamy, too! May stared at it hungrily as she took some chopsticks and immediately dug right into it.
Drew blinked, staring at the huge bowl, "Um… Could I get a small order of this instead? I don't think I can finish this…"
"Haahaa! Silly boy! That is the small!"
His eyes went to the size of the actual bowl, What the hell!? He looked over to May, expecting to see her bowl just as full as his, only to be completely and utterly surprised, "What the--!? Where'd it all go!?"
May laughed, "I ate it, Silly!" she held the bowl out to the nice chef, "Can I have another one, pleeeease?"
The man laughed heartily, "You're a sweet girl! I like you! Sure, you can have another!" And so, he went straight to work on it, bringing her bowl back, full.
Drew didn't even bother trying to eat his, because he was too busy watching how May just seemed to slurp all her ramen up. How did she do it? And still not look disgusting about it? By the time she was at her fourth bowl, he actually thought she looked pretty cute eating it the way she did. Actually, she'd tried to slurp up one of the noodles and it flew up to touch the tip of her nose before she could eat it, leaving a dot of lemon juice on her nose. All she did was giggle, reaching for a napkin to clean it off.
He beat her to it, however, taking the napkin and lightly dabbing at her nose three times before pulling it away, a fond look in his eye as he watched her. She looked back at him, blushing lightly.
"Eh heh… thanks…"
"No problem." He said simply.
She looked to his untouched bowl of ramen; it'd stopped steaming, but it was still warm, "Hey, you haven't eaten yours yet!" she picked up his chopsticks and picked up a fair amount of the noodles in them before holding it toward his mouth with her other hand held under the noodles so they wouldn't drip on the floor, "C'mon, Drew! You know you wanna try it! It's really, really good!"
Now, it was Drew's turn to blush. He tried to look away, but he found that if he waited any longer, the noodles would probably slip off of the chopsticks to land either in her hand or on his pants. He shyly opened his mouth, allowing her to feed him. She gently eased the noodles into his mouth, where he bit down on them as May pulled the chopsticks away. From the way she'd given them to him, he wound up slurping them up the way he'd been watching her do it all this time.
"So…? What'd y'think?" she asked, watching him expectantly.
He took a moment to get all the taste and flavoring through in his mouth before he looked to her. That hopeful look in her eyes… He couldn't turn that down! Besides, the ramen was pretty good… If he had to compare this ramen to the one at Byakuren Ramen, he'd actually say they were basically the same. He shrugged mentally, deciding that May probably just favored Ichiraku Ramen because the people were easier to talk to than the waiters at the other place.
"Not bad… It's pretty good." He said with a grin, "And better than Byakuren Ramen."
"Yaay!" May cheered, looking to the chef-man, "One more and I'll get off your back!"
She just earned a laugh from the man as he took her bowl and put a pre-made one in front of her, "I knew you'd ask for another one, so I was working on it the whole time you two were talking." He looked to Drew, looking him up and down the way he was sitting, smiling at the girl, "He your boyfriend?"
May had just started eating her fifth bowl of ramen, but with that question asked, she nearly choked on it. Forcing herself to swallow it, she laughed nervously, blushing brightly as she looked to the other, seeing a blush on his face, too.
"N-no… he's just a friend of mine."
"Oh, I see! You want to keep it on the down-low, right?"
May put her chopsticks down and waved her hands out in front of her defensively, "No! I mean it! Drew's not my—"
"Oh, well, now that changes everything!" the chef-man said, laughing, "If this here boy is Drew, I take it that you're May?"
She nodded, "Y-yes… that's right."
"I won't pester y'anymore, then." He turned around and went back to making some more ramen for the other customers.
May gulped, looking to Drew, only to find him looking away from her and slurping up his own ramen. Seeing this only made her giggle. He finished and looked over to her, raising an eyebrow and grinning at her.
"What's so funny?"
"You stole my ramen-eating style!"
"If you didn't eat so much of it while I was watching, maybe I wouldn't have." He replied, going back to eating.
"Teehee…" she giggled again before finishing her bowl easily, "I love Ichiraku Ramen… Hey, Chef! How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing! It's on the house!"
"Whoa… seriously?" May blinked.
Drew chuckled, shaking his head, "I guess you didn't hear Anissa when she was explaining that all the foods here in the food court have been pre-paid by Mr. Contesta. Coordinators eat for free."
She pouted, folding her arms, "I-I knew that!"
"Sure you did, and I'm the Prince of Roses…"
"Y'know, that is kinda true…"
"How so?"
May shrugged, "Well, you always pull one out of nowhere and give it to me… Do you ever give them to anybody else?"
"No… I don't…" he admitted, pushing his now-empty bowl of ramen away. Well, it looked like he was able to finish it, after all!
"Huh?" she blinked, staring at him. She wasn't expecting that answer… So, she really was the only person he ever gave roses to? That made her feel… well… really good! She smiled at him, getting up off her seat and turning around, "Let's go find, Anissa!" She turned to look at him over her shoulder, "… okay?"
Drew nodded, smiling back as he hopped off the chair, "Okay."
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
"—Oh, look! May! Drew! Over here!!"
The two Coordinators stopped and looked over the many tables in the middle of the huge food court, only to see Anissa waving at them. May waved back as she took Drew's hand and pulled him through the maze of tables and up to where Anissa was.
"Sorry we're a little late, Anissa!" she apologized, letting go of Drew and bowing.
"Yeah, May decided to help herself to five huge bowls of ramen." Drew added, smirking as he received a "HEY!" from the girl, "Well, it's true, isn't it?"
"You're pretty skinny for a girl who ate all of that… Where'd you put it all, May?" another male voice asked.
May looked to the table Anissa was sitting at, seeing Fordé sitting beside her. She smiled, "Fordé! It's you!"
He picked up his arm and put his elbow on the table, giving her a thumbs-up with a wink and a smile, "The one and only! Now, how about an answer?"
"It goes to her stomach, duh! Just because she doesn't look fat like you do when you eat a lot, doesn't mean you should ask if there's a difference between you two."
May looked to who was sitting in front of Fordé only to see a slightly annoyed Brendan, and then Wally sitting beside him and in front of Anissa.
"Geez, do you have to be so damn harsh about it, Brendan? Lighten up!" Fordé suggested, leaning back in his seat and folding his arms.
"Whoa… Brendan, you're here, too?" May asked, blinking, she looked to Wally, who was waving feebly at her, "Hi, Wally! Sorry, I didn't get to see your Appeal yesterday! How'd it go?"
Wally grinned triumphantly, giving her a peace sign with his fingers, "I did pretty well, if I do say so myself!" He pouted childishly, though, as he pointed at Anissa, "But she copied my idea of using Psychic with Ice!"
"Hey, hey! Technically, I used Blizzard while you used Ice Beam! And you used a Psychic-type Pokémon with a Dragon-type, whereas I used an actual Ice-type!" Anissa argued, pushing his pointing finger down to the table, "And stop pointing, it's impolite!"
Grrr… Everyone stared at Fordé. The redhead laughed embarrassedly, "Since we were waiting for the two of you, Anissa wouldn't let us order anything. I'm still starved!"
Grrr… Now, everyone stared at May. She pouted, putting her hands on her stomach in an attempt to quiet it, but it just growled again.
"You just ate five freaking bowls of ramen! You CAN'T tell me you're still hungry!!" Drew literally shouted at her.
"I'm sorry, but my metabolism is really, really messed up! It's why I eat a lot! I really don't know why I stay so skinny, but I think that might have something to do with why I eat the way I do." She listened to her stomach growling again and started whining, "I need more food!"
Brendan grinned at her; she'd always been like this. She'd cleaned out his fridge so many times over their childhood years that he'd lost count already. Pushing himself up to his feet, he closed his eyes and tried to look cool, succeeding in doing so very well.
"Just hold on a bit, May, I'll go get you something."
Drew felt something begin to growl inside of him… and it wasn't his stomach. He could feel a bit of anger begin to swell in his heart toward Brendan; he'd felt this way before, too. Careful not to let his inner feelings show, he closed his own eyes and slipped his hands into his pockets.
"Don't sweat it, Brendan. I'll do it. I'm already up."
Brendan glared, "Yeah? Well, so am I!"
May blinked at the two's tiny argument, looking over to Brendan, "Well, Brendan… if Anissa made you wait for us before you could eat, that means you haven't eaten, right? It's okay; Drew and I can go get something. You go on ahead and get something for yourself."
The white-haired trainer made a bit of a hurt look, "But…"
"You heard the girl, let's go!" Wally said, taking Brendan by the wrist and pulling him off to the little shop for Domino's Pizza.
"WAAAAIT! I DON'T LIKE DOMINO'S!!" Brendan shouted as he was dragged against his will.
Anissa laughed, taking Fordé by the wrist, "Let's go grab something at Branding Iron! They've got the biggest hot dogs I've ever seen!"
Fordé couldn't help cracking up at her last sentence, "I'm sorry… sorry… but, 'Nissa, that sounded SO wrong!"
She blinked, rethinking her words in her head, before she blushed and shoved him into a support beam, "You just think wrong, Fordé! For the love of Palkia!"
Drew sighed once it was just him and May again, looking to her, "So… what do you want to eat now?"
May looked over to where Brendan and Wally were, chuckling, "Unlike Brendan, I think Domino's has the best pizza EVER!"
The green-haired Coordinator couldn't help laughing; apparently, May would only eat at the places she thought had the best specific dish EVER! Shaking his head, he started walking toward the line, landing the two of them right behind Wally and Brendan.
"So, how was it at Ichiraku's? I remember you saying how much you used to love it back when we were kids!" Wally said, smiling at his female best friend.
"It was great! I still love their ramen, but I didn't want to annoy the chef, so we left earlier than I would've liked." May replied, pouting before smiling back, "But my favorite pizza will definitely make me feel better!"
Brendan sighed; whenever he tried to spend time with May, Wally usually came in and took him away, or took away her attention. And what's worse, two out of three childhood friends loved Domino's Pizza. It was okay… if he were starving, he'd eat it, but right now, he could definitely go for a burger or something else.
Drew smirked at him, catching his eye easily. Brendan glared, "And just what the hell're you smirking about?"
"Nothing… nothing at all… I take it that you don't eat Domino's Pizza?" he asked, still smirking.
"No. I don't." the white-haired Trainer replied plainly, "And what about you?"
"Oh, I don't normally eat pizza, but if I had to choose, I'd definitely come here…" he answered.
"Oh?" Brendan's eye was beginning to twitch.
"It's just like May said… Domino's has the best pizza ever. I agree with her, so I'll probably wind up eating a lot of it…" he added, flicking his bangs.
Okay, that did it. Brendan stood up straight folding his arms, "In that case, I think I will eat some. And I'll eat even more than you!"
Drew couldn't help chuckling, "Bring it on, Snowhead."
"Let's see if you can handle it, Treetop!"
Emerald's Extra Nonsense:
Ahaahaa... Snowhead... Ever played The Legend of Zelda? The Gorons lived at Snowhead Mountains in... I think it was Majora's Mask? Yeaz, I think that was it...
IF YOU THINK THIS WAS A FILLER, IT WASN'T!! ... At least I don't think it was. o.o; Oh well, what'cha think? I'm gonna go try to write Frag.#08 for Black Velvet, then finish off Frag.#13 for this one. XP
WISH ME LUCK!