A/N: Edited 11/2/2018

Chapter 10

Awkward

Dante was sleeping peacefully in my lap as I sat on a log by the small fire the four of us had put together. Our first day as pokémon trainers was finally coming to an end. It had been a pretty fun day, between getting our starters, the first battle, starting off on Route 1, battling wild pokémon, and Sierra trying to capture a pidgey and failing miserably. I still couldn't help but smirk when I remembered back to the tiny bird dodging the pokéball and pecking her square in the face…

The four of us were sitting in a circle around the fire; all four of our pokémon were out relaxing as well. Kari was of course sitting on the log next to me, while Andy and Sierra sat on another log opposite from us. I was just staring into the fire (thinking of the dynamics of heat and mechanics and all those things people think of when they stare at the same thing for too long) and petting Dante, while Kari was concentrating on a trainer guide. She pulled out her license, and I couldn't help but notice the full name printed on it: "Karolina Oak".

I smirked. "So...you're name's Karolina?"

For the first time I had ever seen, she became visibly angry. "NO! Don't ever call me that! It's Kari! Kari! Kari! I hate my name so much! It's like, people will try to read it, and they're like 'Uh...is it pronounced like the two States?' and I'm like 'No! It's not pronounced like the goddamn State!'"

I leaned back away from her a little. Surprisingly, Dante was undisturbed. "Oh-kay, oh-kay, oh-kay, I'll never call you that again! Jeez, I'm sorry…"

Kari put her hand over her mouth. "Huh! Oh, crap, I didn't mean to blow up on you like that! I'm sorry! I-uh-you can call me 'Karolina' if you want! It's alright!"

I sat up straight again. "Yeah...well...I-uh-I gotta get more firewood. Sorry, bud," I looked down at Dante. "You'll have to get up."

"No, I'll get it! You should stay and let Dante sleep!" Kari stood up before I finished my own sentence and walked off to the woods with Squirtle.

I shrugged, and went back to staring at the fire. Sierra and Andy were both smirking maliciously. "What?"

"You're not that dense, are you?" Sierra said, in a sort-of whisper, once Kari was out of earshot. Look who's talking…

"Oh, no...I know she likes me, that's pretty obvious…"

"Yeah, but do you like her back?"

I rolled my eyes. "Maybe I do, maybe I don't, what's it to you?"

"What's it to me? WHAT'S IT TO ME?" Oh great...not another one. "Gianni, I'm her best friend. I'm not going to keep you around if you're just gonna break her heart!"

"Break her heart? Seriously? We're freaking thirteen-years-old…" I paused. "And...wait a minute, Kari liking me is the only reason you're allowing me to travel with you guys? And here I thought we were friends…"

"Answer me! Do you or do you not?"

"Fine. Maybe I do a little, bu-"

"Sierra, hand it over." Andy smirked and held his hand out. Sierra groaned and gave him some cash. They had apparently made a bet. "Knew it! So when you gonna ask her out?"

"Ask her out? I haven't even known her a month…"

"Oh please, thats plenty of time!"

"And where would I ask her out to? We're in the middle of the woods. You want me to be like, 'Hey, you wanna go stargazing on a hillside some time?'"

My sarcasm went right over Sierra's head. "Oh my god, that would be absolutely perfect!"

I facepalmed, just as Kari was coming back with more wood. "Alright! That should be enough for now!"

Andy moved some of the wood into the fire with a long stick we had been using, and the rest was kept on the side. Kari returned to her seat next to me. "So...you guys think we'll make it to the Viridian Gym by tomorrow?"

"I don't know...I hope so...but I do really hope I catch a wild pokémon before we face whatever-her-name is…" Sierra clenched her fist. "If only I had caught that pidgey!"

I asked the obvious question. "Who is the Viridian City Gym Leader, anyway?"

Andy answered me. "Her name's Zenobia. She came here from Hoenn to take the position. She's fairly young, eighteen I think, but she's really stern and serious to the point it gets kinda creepy...or so I've heard. She specializes in both Ground- and Psychic-type pokémon."

"Hey," I began curiously. "I never actually found out about the Gym Leaders here in Kanto...can you guys give me, like, a little run-through?"

"Sure thing!" Sierra obliged happily. "Okay, so, first, we're challenging Zenobia, duh...then in Pewter City its Forrest…"

"Oh, yeah, that's Rosa's uncle!" Kari gave Squirtle some sort of treat.

"Yeah...he's a rock-type specialist. Then in Cerulean City, its Diana, she uses fairy-types-"

"My Mom used to be the Gym Leader there! She was a Water-type trainer, now she's part of the Elite Four!"

"Yeah...I think Ash said that to me yesterday...that's pretty cool…"

"Then over in Vermillion it's this old war hero, Lieutenant Surge...he's all about Electric...then it's Erika the perfume lady in Celadon, she uses Grass-types, and then Janine the ninja in Fuschia City with Poison-types...then Blaine-"

"Oh, I love Blaine! That man is amazing!" Andy added. "He's, like, a hundred years old and wheelchair-bound, but he still battles like a champion and is super-smart! Like, why can't we just take a boat down to Cinnabar and battle him first?"

Sierra, now frustrated by all the interruptions, turned to him crossly. "I wanted to do that, too, but my father was, like 'You ain't takin no boat anywhere, you're gonna get your pokémon to learn Surf like I had to do, the old-fashioned way!'" She turned to me and resumed our conversation. "And then last, we're challenging Sabrina. She has really strong Psychic pokémon. And get this-

"She has one leg?" I asked.

"Yep! Who told you?"

"Your brother said something about it last night."

"Oh...did he tell you how she lost her leg?"

"No...how?"

"Motorcycle accident!" She smirked, and leaned closer to the fire, like she was telling a scary story. "My Dad told me she died twice on the operating table. Anyway, her husband was killed instantly. They say they were trying to kill themselves and got into an accident on purpose..."

"Woah...that's...that's something…"

"Yeah...I took a political science class with her as a professor last year. She was really cool and smart…"

Andy grinned. "Kari, when you were taking that class, you said to me and thy quote 'I want to pull off that woman's prosthetic leg and beat her with it.'"

Kari eyes widened. "Yeah, well, she made us do so much work, and she's kinda uptight, and oh God, she is so freaking passive-aggressive."

"Now that I think about it, a battle between Blaine and Sabrina would be epic! They're both handicapped, an even type match-up, they're both super smart-"

"Oh, please, Sierra, Blaine is way smarter than Sabrina…he'd definitely win anyway, though."

"Andy, it's not like Blaine is the smartest person in the world-"

"Uh, yeah, he is."

"If he's so smart, why isn't he a professor or something?"

"Because he's smart enough to know how boring that would be!"

Andy and Sierra kept on going back and forth. Their bickering was something I learned to get used to back when I assisted at the lab. I rolled my eyes and looked at Kari. She was amused, as I was.

She yawned. "I think it's getting late...I think I'm gonna go to bed now." She held out her pokéball to Squirtle. "You too, kiddo, time for some rest. Return." The tiny turtle did not protest and was transferred back into the pokéball. She got up and went over to where she had previously laid out her sleeping bag.

She probably has the right idea...better than listening to these two argue.

I brought my pokéball out and, as careful as I could, returned Dante without waking him.

"No, Sierra, that's completely wrong! Being psychic does not make one smart, per se."

"You have no idea what you're talking about! That's not what I meant!"

Andy and Sierra didn't even notice as I got up without saying a word and went over to my sleeping bag, which I had laid out under a tree. I took off my sweatshirt and placed it on one end of the sleeping bag for use as a pillow, and then I lied down; it was a very warm night, so I didn't actually go inside the sleeping bag.

I gazed up at the stars and tried to go to sleep, although it was a little difficult, what with Andy and Sierra arguing, and me realizing I probably shouldn't have admitted to Sierra that I liked Kari back, only just a little…