"Well this isn't too bad," Rose said, somewhat relieved, "the nurse was probably right! I bet we'll be over this by evening!"
Tripp tried not to laugh as he registered how happy she now was. He knew that the beginning of mountain trails were the easiest parts.
"I hope we're over in time for dinner," she continued, "I'm gonna need more than a can of soup after climbing this!"
"I wonder if there'll be a cave we can pitch the tents in…?" Tripp wondered aloud.
"Huh?" Rose said, her head whipping in his direction, "What do you mean? Why would we need to pitch the tents?" she was now speaking rather quickly.
"Oh I don't know," Tripp said breezily, realising his error, "it could get worse I suppose."
"Well, we'll be fine," Rose snapped, "You heard what the nurse said; easy routes do exist, we just need to find them."
Tripp prevented himself from replying, and they continued their so far effortless journey up Tarragon Mountain.
-o-
"How about we stop for a bit?" Rose reluctantly suggested at around three o'clock. She glanced enviously at Tripp's long legs, and how he moved with apparent ease over the rocky terrain.
Tripp looked back and smiled at how pink in the face Rose had become.
"Sure," he said, and he made his way back to her.
At that moment, two Pokémon trainers rounded the corner, their eyes lighting up when they caught sight of Rose and Tripp.
"Awesome!" the blond dreadlocked boy yelled, "let's battle!"
"I'll do it," Tripp muttered to Rose, who was still feeling rather worn out.
"And I'll battle you!" said the female trainer with the red hair, pointing at Rose, who sighed.
"How about a double battle?" Tripp suggested, "Us two against you two?"
The strange trainers considered this before grinning.
"You're on!"
"Right, well I'm going to choose – Weedle!" Tripp shouted.
"Go Furret!" yelled the red haired girl.
"C'mon Pikachu!"
"I choose Slugma!"
The four Pokémon clashed ferociously as their trainers bellowed out separate orders. Finally, Slugma keeled over where it had been poisoned earlier on by Weedle's ever deadlier Poison Sting.
"Pikachu! Body Slam!"
The unfortunate Furret, too weakened from Weedle's venom, fell to the ground limply and fainted.
"We're not done yet!" the girl shouted fiercely, "Go! Swellow!"
"And I pick Heracross!"
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted excitedly, knowing that Swellow would suffer from his electric attacks.
"Weedle! Use Poison Sting!"
Swellow managed to avoid the attack, but the unfortunate Heracross remained in the firing line.
"Use Aerial Ace Swellow!"
Weedle reeled in pain from the flying type attack.
"You have to recall him Tripp!" Rose shouted desperately, not taking her eyes from Pikachu who was erratically dodging Heracross's Horn Attack.
"Come back Weedle! Go! Houndour!"
"Pikachu! Thunderbolt!"
"Flamethrower Houndour!"
The attacks hit their targets. Swellow squawked in pain, before hitting the earth with a thud. Heracross cringed from the intensity of its burn, and after a pronounced shudder, too fainted.
All four trainers were breathing heavily. The strangers gaped at Rose and Tripp.
"Awesome man!" the blond dreadlocked boy exclaimed, his eyes popping.
"You guys rock!" said the red headed girl; their accent was unfamiliar.
"Er, thanks?" Tripp laughed in embarrassment, worrying his hair with his hand.
"How did you get so strong?"
"We train," Rose said simply, smiling at the strange trainers.
"We should probably try that some time!" the girl laughed to her friend.
Waving at Rose and Tripp, they continued their way down the mountain, towards Fenugreek Town.
"Well, they were weird," Tripp said, as soon as the trainers were out of earshot.
"I thought it was quite refreshing to be honest," Rose replied, "it's not every day you win and battle without receiving a death threat of some sort!"
Tripp laughed.
"You have a point; you got any Potions? Weedle's a little tired, and I don't want to use a Super Potion on him."
Rose rummaged in her pack before producing a small purple bottle.
Tripp bent down to his little Pokémon, who was breathing heavily; he barely had the energy to hold himself up.
"Here you go, little guy," Tripp murmured, administering the Potion to Weedle.
When Tripp turned his back to put the empty bottle in his rucksack, Weedle began to glow.
"Tripp!" Rose squealed, pointing at the bug Pokémon.
Tripp started, and clapped his hands loudly at Weedle. The distraction didn't work however, and Weedle continued to glow.
"Weedle! Weedle! WEEDLE!"
Tripp shouted until his throat was raw, but to no avail. The evolution continued, and it appeared that Weedle could not be distracted.
When it was finally over, a Kakuna rested where the Weedle had been.
"Weedle?" Tripp asked hesitantly.
"Kakuna," his Pokémon replied.
Tripp turned to Rose, unable to comprehend what had happened.
"But – he – I – why did…huh?"
Rose laughed.
"Very eloquently put. But really – I have no idea…"
"Kakuna, Kakuna!"
"Really?" Rose asked, interested.
"So…you did hear me?" Tripp asked.
"Kak! Kakuna!"
"Weird! Maybe…I suppose you were just too strong to remain a Weedle?"
"I didn't know that was possible!" Rose said, "That a Pokémon could actually become too strong to remain in a certain form! I might ring mum, I wonder if she's heard of it?"
Rose found her very much unused mobile, and dialled her mother's number for the first time since leaving home. A few seconds later, she glanced at her phone in confusion.
"What's up?"
"Dunno…it's not working."
"Probably haven't got any signal – we're pretty high up."
They glanced over the edge of the path, and looked at one another in surprise.
"I'd say we're about a third of the way up!"
"Only two hundred feet to go," Tripp said, his lips twitching.
"Shut up," Rose snapped, "Let's get going – I still want to be over before dinner."
Tripp glanced at his watch; it was already quarter to five. He smiled, but said nothing.
-o-
"Rose, this is ridiculous. I'm starving."
"We're not spending the night on a fucking mountain!" she snarled, "I know we're on track for a simple route, I just know it!"
Tripp wasn't as quick tempered as Rose, but that wasn't to say that his anger was any less impressive when kindled.
"Stop! Just stop right now!"
Rose turned to face him incredulously, her eyes narrowing.
"Are you reprimanding me?" she challenged, fists clenched. She had no problems looking him in the eye any more.
"Yes. I am. You're being ridiculous. We're both hungry, it's fucking cold up here and I know you're tired because you're being irritable!"
"I am not –"
"Yes you are Rose! And you can listen to me! I let you take charge a lot of the time, but not this time. I've been climbing before, you haven't. It's getting dark, and to go much further would be suicide."
Rose's breath came in short, sharp gasps. All the time she had known Tripp, he had never lost his temper with her. She had seen him lose his temper with others, but never with her. She hated to admit it, but she was hurt.
"So," he continued, "I saw a cave back there, about two minutes down from here. We're gonna set up there right? Right?"
Rose didn't trust herself to answer. She was terrified of the mountain and hurt by his outburst. She would not let herself cry, and therefore could not risk speaking.
Tripp rolled his eyes and made his way back down the path. Rose followed in silence.
-o-
Rose was still shocked at Tripp's loss of temper, and was rather reluctant to meet his now cold blue eyes. It was therefore silently that she heated the soup, and handed Tripp his bowl without saying a word.
"Thanks," he said bluntly, before picking up his spoon.
Rose nodded in response, before sitting down to eat herself. The meal was a silent affair. It was too cold to make conversation, but neither really felt like it at that moment. Every time Tripp happened to glance at Rose's shocked face, it made him all the more angry.
She needs to get over the fact that she isn't always right, he seethed.
Likewise, when Rose looked at Tripp, she was chilled at his blank facial expression, and his eyes which showed no promise of reconciliation. She shuddered violently, and not from the cold alone.
-o-
Chelsea shivered with fear as she contemplated what Pascalia had asked them to do.
It's impossible, she thought, we can't possibly succeed.
"And if you don't succeed…" Pascalia need have said no more. She smiled at the looks on the faces of her recruits.
As soon as Pascalia was out of earshot, Chelsea turned to Hielo and Ledus; the green and blue haired men.
"She must be mad!" she whispered furiously, eyes wide.
The men shrugged.
"It's an order," Ledus said.
"But it's impossible! We caught forty-three Spheal and Shellder, and you caught…?"
"Thirty-nine Dewgong"
"That's…eighty-two Pokémon! The Dewgong would have been hard enough, but how can we train Spheal and Shellder to evolve and have intensely powerful ice attacks?" her voice began to rise in her hysteria.
"It has to be done, it's her order," Hielo replied.
"Why does she need all these Pokémon anyway? What's she doing?" pink spots had appeared on Chelsea's cheeks, her eyes were threatening to overflow with tears.
"We don't really know…she's just paying us to do it," Ledus said, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth.
"The orders are getting stranger…but the salary higher," Hielo admitted.
Pascalia walked further into Dill Woods until she came upon her Dragonair, which was feasting on ferrets and pigeons. The sight made her weak stomach growl strangely.
"Have you rested?" she asked the Dragon in the ancient language.
Dragonair looked up, and its yellow eyes met its master's identical ones.
"Yes, thank you," it told her, specks of blood flying from its mouth. Pascalia licked the corner of her mouth where a blood speck had landed. Her stomach growled insistently.
"I have given them their orders, but I know this operation will take time."
"How long?" the Dragon asked.
"I will wait no longer than three months," Pascalia said, "the moment is near, but I must be patient. I have wanted this too long to make a blunder in my haste."
Dragonair glanced up at Dill Rook and shuddered.
"What will be your next motive, when you have succeeded here?"
Pascalia's eyes glowed, and she smiled cruelly.
"First I must gain power. Only then can I exercise my revenge."
She fell hungrily to her knees and, in a frenzy, began to tear at the bloody remains of the ferrets with her teeth.
-o-
Rose and Tripp pitched their tents near to the mouth of the cave. It was wide but not deep, and Tripp was concerned as to how well they would be protected from the bitter winds. He said nothing however, as he still felt too angry to bother making conversation.
Rose zipped up her tent and began to undress inside. It was incredibly cold, and she felt her skin tighten as her goose pimples formed. She hurriedly threw on her pyjamas and wriggled into her sleeping bag. After ten minutes, she was still shivering violently, so much so that she was beginning to feel quite ill. Her fatigue from their early morning and strenuous climbing combined with the intense cold, made her stomach churn.
Just relax Rose, focus on your breathing.
She lay on her back and concentrated on both inhaling and exhaling evenly. She couldn't control her convulsions however, and decided to sit up. The cold air on her bare shoulders brought another wave of shivers, and she sighed from exhaustion. Heaving herself up, she scrabbled around her tent for her jumper and socks, pulling them on with numb fingers.
Marginally warmer, she settled down in her sleeping bag, and attempted to relax. She thought of Tripp's face when he shouted at her, and how he looked at her with fury and impatience. She sighed once more through her shuddering and tried to force the incident from her mind. It wasn't possible.
She had always been irritated when they argued, but now her new feelings for Tripp meant that now she only felt hurt – and anger was far easier to deal with. She didn't want to like him, but because of that fact, it only made her desire all the more fervent. She wasn't overly competitive, but if there was something she wanted, she found it incredibly hard not to do everything in her power to get it.
Freezing and miserable, she released her Pokémon from their Pokéballs. They at once sensed her upset, and snuggled in close to her; Pikachu and Eevee on her chest, Oddish to her right, Vulpix to her left and Seadra by her head. She was at once comforted, and felt her body temperature increase slightly. She didn't allow herself to think about Tripp; she would worry about him in the morning. As she felt her eyes become heavy with sleep, she became aware that her Pokémon too had begun to shiver. Sighing, she sat up and returned them to their Pokéballs. Pikachu refused to go back in; he looked up at Rose with worried eyes.
"I'm really fine," she whispered, stroking his ears, "you go back in your Pokéball, I feel much better now."
"Pikachu?" he asked her.
"I promise," she lied, returning him to his Pokéball with a flash of red light.
-o-
Tripp started suddenly when he heard the zip of his tent being tampered with. He had been lying half awake, unable to fully succumb to sleep due to his intense shivering. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, to see Rose climbing into his tent, pulling her sleeping bag along with her.
Tripp didn't say a word, but watched her.
Rose turned to him, and seeing that he was awake, gasped in fright.
"Fuck!" she spluttered, her hand over her heart, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you…"
To her immense relief, he replied normally.
"I wasn't asleep," he said, his teeth chattering, "too bloody cold."
"Me too; c-can I sleep in here?" she asked nervously, "it's freezing and…" she hesitated.
"And what?"
"I don't fancy being alone," she muttered.
"Of course you can," Tripp said, shifting to the right so there would be room for her to lie down.
Rose arranged her sleeping bag carefully, so that it wasn't touching Tripp's, before she clambered into it; she wasn't sure where they stood with one another.
Tripp, noticing this, felt guilty. Although he had been furious with her, he couldn't help but soften when he saw her in the mouth of his tent in her pyjamas, sleeping bag in tow.
"I'm sorry," he said gently.
Rose rolled over to look at him.
"No; I'm sorry. I'm horribly stubborn, and I think it's about time I realised that I'm not always right."
Tripp blinked in shock.
"I don't like fighting with you," she continued softly, "I…you're my best friend."
He noticed her frown as she said this, but couldn't understand why.
"You're my best friend too," he smiled, "and thank you for apologising; but it wasn't just you."
"Thanks" she replied, her teeth beginning to chatter once more.
"It's almost two – shall we try and get some sleep?"
Rose nodded, closing her eyes wearily.
She awoke feeling awful. She was so cold that her feet were throbbing, and she was once again shivering violently. She could see from Tripp's luminous watch hands that it was only half past three. She felt like screaming with frustration; she hated this mountain, and was going to do anything she could to get off it the following day.
"Good sleep?" Tripp asked in the darkness, causing her to jump.
"Jeez!" she gasped, "have you been awake this whole time?"
"Yeah," he sighed dejectedly, "it's too fucking cold – I don't think I can sleep."
They shuffled a little closer to one another, in an attempt to generate some warmth.
"Give me your hands," Tripp said.
"Why?"
"Just do it."
He took her hands in his own, and breathed on them, trying to stimulate the blood flow by massaging them with his own numb fingers.
"Don't worry about it," she sighed, "there's no point."
Tripp unzipped his sleeping bag.
"Where're you going?"
"Nowhere," he replied, "come in here."
"What?"
"Come into my sleeping bag."
Rose was stunned for a moment.
"Really?"
"It'll probably make us warmer," Tripp said, beginning to shiver strongly from the exposal of cold air.
Rose clumsily unzipped her own sleeping bag. Whether from the cold or from nerves she didn't know, but she couldn't get her fingers to work. She climbed awkwardly in next to Tripp, and blushed in the darkness at their closeness.
Tripp's breath caught in his throat as she slid in next to him; he began to breathe raggedly, and felt as though he couldn't take enough air into his lungs.
In an attempt to calm himself, he tried to zip up the sleeping bag that now contained the two of them.
"Rose?" he whispered; she hadn't spoken since she had gotten in next to him.
"Yes?"
"You…" he swallowed, "you need to move a little closer…I-I can't zip up the sleeping bag."
She wriggled nearer to him, but couldn't keep her balance, resting on her side as she was.
Tripp closed his eyes; despite how much he was shivering, his insides felt as though they were burning.
"Put your arms around me…t-to steady yourself."
She complied, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing her body close to his.
Tripp managed to close the sleeping bag, but was suddenly terrified as to what to do with his own arms.
Rose gave another pronounced shiver, and instinctively, he wrapped his arms around her waist.
They lay there in silence, somewhat stiffly, hardly daring to breathe.
Tripp realised that despite all the years he had known Rose, they had never been so physically close. They had hugged, albeit both briefly and rarely; in terms of affection, she was very distant.
Rose felt her heart beating erratically at their closeness. She was afraid to breathe properly, lest she make that contact between their chests all the more pronounced. She gave another slight shiver from the cold, and had to stifle a gasp as Tripp pulled her closer.
She couldn't remember the last time she had been physically held by someone, and she wasn't entirely sure how to react. In the small space all she could do was hug Tripp back, however, and the warmth between them intensified.
Tripp smiled into Rose's hair, above her head, where she could not see. He knew that they wouldn't work, and that she didn't want him anyway, but he was happy to be able to hold her – just this once.
-o-
The next morning, Tripp awoke alone. He heard movement outside the tent, and unzipped it.
Rose was preparing breakfast outside the cave. Hearing the zip, she turned blushing, and managed a shrill, "Morning!"
Tripp tried not to mind. She was bound to be embarrassed.
If I act normal, she will.
"What's for breakfast?" he asked, pulling his jeans on.
"Just bread rolls," Rose replied normally, much to Tripp's relief.
As he was eating, Rose packed away his tent; she had done hers already.
"Thank you for last night," she garbled, "I think I would have frozen to death if we hadn't -"
She blushed at this point.
"Same goes for you!" Tripp smiled, with what he hoped was nonchalance, "hopefully we'll get over this thing today though," he added, "I don't fancy another night like last night…"
Rose bit her lip to prevent herself from retorting sulkily.
He means because it was cold, not because he didn't want to share a sleeping bag with you. Stop being silly.
"You finished?" she managed to ask, "do you want to get going?"
The mountain trail was growing increasingly more difficult. There were times when their rucksacks had to be thrown onto the next jutting ledge, because it was too difficult to climb efficiently with them banging against their backs.
After a particularly strenuous climb, the pair leant back against the rock face, panting. Rose pulled her jumper off before taking a gracious gulp of water.
"The change in weather is ridiculous," Tripp said, also removing his jumper, "how can it be so bloody hot now, and fucking freezing at night?"
Rose shrugged before blushing again.
"Let's hope we don't have to resort to that again," she said, her voice light.
Tripp scrutinized her before replying, "I quite enjoyed it."
"Haha, very funny," she said, her heart beating erratically nonetheless. She stood up and tied her jumper around her waist, "c'mon, let's get going."
Tripp frowned in confusion as he followed her. She hadn't looked him in the eye once.
Did she enjoy it? Or didn't she? He tugged at his hair in frustration, as he continued to follow his friend up the treacherous path.
-o-
It was approaching five o'clock when the pair came across a ledge of about twenty-five feet high – not far from the mountain top.
"We can't possibly climb that," Rose said, her voice quavering.
Tripp looked down from where they had just come.
"We're going to have to," he said. He was whiter than usual, but his mouth was set in grim determination, "it's far too dangerous to go back down again, we'll break our necks."
Rose sighed as she looked down, realising that what he said was very much the truth.
"Right. Well. I suppose we need to use the picks?"
Tripp nodded in confirmation. He noticed that her hands were shaking as she unzipped her rucksack.
"Hey," he took her by the hands and pulled her into a standing position. Rose gulped as their eyes locked.
"You'll be fine okay?" he smiled before releasing her hands. Rose couldn't help but feel disappointed despite her fear.
You can't have him. He's your friend. It wouldn't work. Stop it Rose, just stop it!
She smiled, composing herself, shocking Tripp as always with the apparent ease with which she appeared able to do so.
"May as well start," she said, pulling the pick from her bag and eyeing it apprehensively.
"Okay; think of the pick as a sort of like a 'super hand'," Tripp started. Rose's lips twitched.
"I mean treat it as another hand – you still need your other one, the pick's just there in case you lose your footing."
Rose nodded sternly. She wasn't going to allow the fear to set in. She would climb this rock face, and she would not crumble.
-o-
"Come on! You can do it! Move your right foot slightly to the left! There's a good foothold there!" Tripp called from the top of the rock face. It was a lot smoother than he had anticipated, but he managed to climb it first, and was directing Rose to the deepest grooves in the stone.
"You haven't got much further to go…come on Rose!"
Rose felt her foot slip and gasped. Closing her eyes, she forced her body to relax, her right hand clasped tightly around the pick, the fingers of her left hand gripping the stone with all her might. Slowly and carefully she felt along the rock face with her right foot, keeping her eyes closed until she felt the foothold that Tripp was referring to. With a supreme effort she heaved herself upwards, and her pick drove into the charcoal-grey rock once more. With one more heave she was within Tripp's reach, and he hauled her up on top of the rock face and into his arms.
"Thank fuck," he whispered over and over as he held her tightly.
"It's fine," she muttered from where her cheek was crushed against his chest, "I'm up."
"I was so bloody terrified! When your foot slipped…jeez Rose! I thought you were dead meat!"
She managed a shaky laugh.
"Well, it's fine now, I made it, let's forget about it. Please."
"It's just gone six o'clock," Tripp said, checking his watch, "d'you want dinner?"
"Yeah," Rose said, still trying to regain her breath. Adrenaline was coursing through her body, and her fingertips were numb and raw from her long climb.
"I'll do it," Tripp said, pulling on his jumper; it had begun to get cold again.
-o-
They ate their soup whilst the sun was setting, the night becoming velvety black in a surprisingly short amount of time.
"I can't believe we have to spend another night here," Rose sighed. Secretly, part of her had been hoping for this. She wondered if the same thing was going to happen as the night before. She was ashamed that she wanted it too.
"I think it's going to be colder tonight, too," Tripp remarked, starting to shiver a little.
Rose had to hide her nervous smile.
"Yeah…hopefully I'll get a little more sleep than last night."
Tripp looked over at her, his expression unreadable.
"We didn't go to sleep until at least half past three," she continued.
"We'll get an early night tonight."
Rose nodded silently. Her nerves were exhilarating her. She didn't know what was going to happen. Was he embarrassed from the night before? Did he assume they would share a sleeping bag again? She didn't see how they could possibly sleep otherwise.
Still unsure, she began to unpack her tent. Tripp watched her, but made no move to set up his own.
"Are we sleeping in yours tonight then?" he asked casually.
Rose turned her head sharply in his direction, her eyes wide.
"We don't have to!" Tripp said, backtracking in panic, "we could just wait and see if we get too cold?"
Rose didn't take her eyes from his as she answered, slowly.
"What would be the point in that? Especially if it's colder tonight. I'm sure one more night will be fine."
She turned back around in order to continue pitching her tent. Tripp didn't know how or why, but he was breathing incredibly heavily.
"D-d'you want me to do that?" he stammered.
"What? Now I've finished?" Rose laughed, "I'm going to put my pyjamas on – I'll tell you when to come in."
She disappeared inside the tent, before zipping it up. Outside, Tripp began to pace.
What's wrong with you? Control yourself! There is no reason to feel like this! We're only sharing a sleeping bag…
"You can come in!" he heard her call.
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts and swallowing hard, he clambered inside her tent.
She was already in the sleeping bag, her long hair tumbling down her back. As Tripp began to undress, Rose forced herself to look elsewhere. He climbed in next to her, and she once again wrapped her arms around his neck so that he could zip up the sleeping bag.
The light of the day faded completely as they lay together in silence.
"So much for easy routes huh?" Tripp said. He was very aware that his arms were wrapped around her small waist and that her warm breath was tickling his neck slightly.
"Hmm," she replied, "I genuinely thought we'd get over it in an afternoon…"
Tripp smiled to himself as he realised how desperately she was trying to speak normally.
They lay together in silence for another while. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, but both felt as though it needed breaking for an unexplainable reason.
Tripp was beginning to grow too warm. Although it was freezing outside, their combined body heat was getting to be too much.
"Let me up a second," he whispered. Rose removed her arms from around his neck and allowed him to sit up.
She was grateful for the darkness when she sensed him removing his t-shirt; her cheeks were traitorously red, and she felt slightly sick in her stomach.
"Why did you do that?" she whispered when the sleeping bag had been zipped up once again. She could feel her blood pounding in her ears.
"I was getting too hot," he murmured in her ear.
The feeling of his bare skin terrified Rose. She grew unbearably hot all over, and leant back from his chest in order to breathe.
"Are you okay?" he whispered.
"I-I'm fine. I…I just…"
She leant slightly further back so that she could look at him. She found it odd talking to Tripp without being able to see his face.
As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she realised that Tripp's own eyes were fixed on hers. His face mirrored exactly how she herself felt. His eyes were unusually bright, and his cheeks flushed. His lips were parted slightly, and his breathing was uneven.
Rose felt another swoop in her stomach. At the same time it made her feel sick and invigorated.
Tripp closed his eyes, and she did too. His hands on her waist felt as though they were burning through her skin, which had begun to tingle strangely.
He pulled her closer so that there was no space between their bodies. Rose felt his warm breath on her cheek, and her teeth began to chatter. But this time it wasn't from the cold.
-o-
Tripp tilted his head forwards so that their foreheads were touching. He could feel her chest heaving from the ragged breaths she was taking. His hands were shaking. Her pyjama top had ridden up slightly so that an inch of her skin was on display. He could feel the smooth skin of her waist; it was burning hot, despite the fact that the ground outside was developing a layer of frost.
Whether she could ever like him or not, Tripp didn't care at that moment. She looked exactly as he felt, and she hadn't pulled away when he pulled her closer.
As his lips brushed hers, her whole body tensed, but again she did not pull away. Tripp lifted a hand from her waist and stroked her face with the back of it. Her closed eyelids fluttered, and she pressed herself closer to him.
Their lips met again, tentatively at first, and then more urgently. Desperately they clung to one another, neither really thinking through what they were doing.
Rose felt dizzy; she could feel the hot blood pumping around her body; every touch made her gasp, but she could not shift the sick feeling in her stomach. Tripp could barely breathe; his hands caressed Rose's small waist as he continued to kiss her, the heat between their bodies building.
The feel of her smooth lips moving against his exhilarated him. Just as he was wondering if he would ever be able to pull away, she did it for him.
"Wha-?"
"Shh," she whispered softly, placing a shaking finger to his lips.
Moving in closer, she rested her head upon his chest, and closed her eyes.
Tripp was stunned at what had just occurred. Holding her tightly in his arms, he attempted to steady his breathing. Her abrupt end to the kiss would have bothered him somewhat, could he not feel her own heart beating wildly against his own.
-o-
Once again, Tripp awoke alone. He blinked slowly as he registered what had taken place the night before. He could hear Rose bustling around outside the tent preparing breakfast, and suddenly became terrified.
What the hell do I say to her? He thought, his heart racing. His palms became clammy, and he wiped them on his pyjama bottoms as he paced the tent.
"Tripp? You awake?"
"Y-yeah!" he managed to croak.
"Well breakfast is ready when you are!"
He swore under his breath as he realised that he had no choice but to go outside. He pulled on his t-shirt and jeans before clambering out of the tent. Their eyes locked immediately, and they both looked away from one another just as rapidly. Rose smiled inwardly as she realised that Tripp's face mirrored exactly how she felt; confused, shocked and a little scared.
"Bread rolls again I'm afraid," she said, handing him his plate.
She sat opposite him and continued to eat her breakfast. Tripp was baffled by her normal behaviour. Had she forgotten what had happened? Had it even happened? Tripp frowned to himself as he absentmindedly picked at his bread roll.
"You okay?"
He looked up to find her brown eyes unusually bright, despite her sombre face.
Of course I didn't imagine it.
"Y-yeah. I'm –" his voice died in his throat and he struggled to clear it.
Rose raised her eyebrows questioningly.
"I think we should get moving," he muttered, "get over this mountain and find the next city."
Rose nodded in agreement, desperately trying to convince herself that everything was normal, lest she did or said anything she would regret.
-o-
Later on that morning, to Rose's despair, Pikachu disappeared. After nearly twenty minutes of frantically calling for the electric Pokémon, he appeared over a large boulder, speaking rapidly in his excitement.
"Pikachu! Pika pika!"
"You've found a way over?!" Tripp exclaimed joyously.
"Pika!" Pikachu replied in affirmation.
"Oh thank God!" Rose gasped, sinking weakly to her knees.
"Pika Pikachu chu chu!" Pikachu continued seriously, waving his small yellow paws.
"Well, that's no problem," Tripp said, "Geodude will easily be able to shift the few rocks in the way!"
After some hard work from Tripp and Geodude, they managed to uncover the pathway that Pikachu had found, and to their immense surprise, they managed to navigate their way down with relative ease (hindered only by the herd of wild Phanpy that appeared determined to knock them over the side of the ledge – until Rose managed to capture one of them).
They had been rather quiet with one another, neither sure what the other really thought. There was no chance of either of them having the courage to bring it up. Although Tripp was obviously aware of the situation, Rose felt as though she were trying to keep it a secret from him. She shook her head slightly.
Ridiculous, she thought.
As they clambered down the last few feet of the mountain, Rose's phone began to ring shrilly.
"It's Cristine!" she gasped.
"Answer it! Put her on loudspeaker!"
"Hello?"
"Hi Rose! It's Cristine!" Cristine's crackly voice reverberated around the peaceful clearing.
"Hi! How are you?"
"I'm great thanks – been trying to contact you for the last couple of days…"
"Yeah, we've been climbing Tarragon Mountain…"
"Really? Why didn't you get the train?"
Rose looked mutinous.
"The train?"
"Yeah! It runs from Fenugreek to Woodruff and then back to Tarragon!"
"Oh…well. We weren't aware of that."
Cristine laughed through the phone.
"Well next time you will be! Anyway – I was calling about the Dewgong."
Rose's mouth fell open; she had completely forgotten about the Dewgong in the lake, what with the mountain and her unexplainable feelings for Tripp…remembering their kiss she blushed deeply. It was as though she'd only just realised…
"Hello? Rose?" Cristine asked down the phone.
"Why're you blushing?" Tripp hissed.
"I…uh…yeah! Sorry…what about the Dewgong?"
"Well, I think you were right," she said grimly, "obviously it needs further investigation, but their numbers have declined, and rapidly."
"Really?" Rose asked, interested again, "So what's going to happen?"
"Well, it would be useful to use you two as witnesses, because obviously I haven't seen what you have; the main Police Station's in Tarragon City, so that's nice and handy for you…"
"Yeah of course we'll do it!"
"Thanks Rose; I really want to get to the bottom of this, and it's hard work trying to do so when the Champion has no interest…"
"We'll be glad to help!"
"Thanks so much! I've already informed the Police of the situation so you just need to go in and tell them who you're working with."
"We will, don't worry!"
"Thanks again guys, like I said, I really want to get to the bottom of this."
"No problem!"
"I've got to go now, but I'll let you know if anything else comes up, yeah?"
"Yes please! Thanks Cristine! Bye!"
"Bye! And thanks again!"
"Wow," Tripp said grinning, "sounds like we're on to something…"
"Exciting that we have to go to the Police Station" said Rose, her eyes dancing.
"I'm just excited to be in a city again!" Tripp laughed, "Let's go!"
A.N:
So…a rather, er – eventful chapter! Perhaps if my review count rises I'll let you know what happens next, if not…well; could I be so cruel? ;D
Love A. x