"This innocence, it's brilliant, I hope that it will stay. This moment, is perfect, please don't go away. Cuz I need you now, and I'll hold on to it, don't you let it pass you by" - Avril Lavigne, "Innocence"

10 Truth or Dare

That night, we set up our sleeping bags in a small bend off the trail. We hadn't made the best progress in the world. My guess was that we were only a couple hundred feet up. Still, the clouds enshrouded us so heavily that it was hard to remember how close we were to the ground.

Misty and May had decided to talk to the Pokemon, and explain to them what was going on. The expressions on the creatures were horror and utter denial, astounded that anything could make them turn against their Trainers. Evidently they didn't remember a thing about their rage once they were out of it.

The bracelet was not coming off, which only convinced me more that it was handcrafted by the Devil. After all, how could something that attached itself to my wrist like a freaking parasite and gave me the ability to kill innocent Pokemon be good?

The term "innocent" probably didn't belong in that phrase up there. They were trying to kill me.

"No," Dawn snapped, arguing with Brock. "I'm not going to do something like that, no matter how hard you beg. I'm not that kind of girl."

"It's not a game of Truth or Dare if you refuse to do the dare," Brock told her.

"C'mon, Dawn!" Max pressed. "You're always such a good girl. Let's see you be bad!"

I watched with mild interest while Dawn sighed in defeat. She stood up, dusted herself off, and marched over to where our lonesome Paul sat with a book in his hand. Lame-o. What kind of guy brought a book on an adventure?

Dawn sat down next to him, scowling. Paul didn't even look up. "What do you want, Troublesome?" he asked disinterestedly.

She exhaled furiously, a strand of her blue hair flying up comically. Her cheeks were slightly pink. I felt my jaw drop as Dawn looked distinctly the other way and placed her hand on Paul's leg.

That got his attention. He let his book fall to his knees while he turned to stare at her, mystified and… some other emotion. I couldn't tell. "Can I help you?" he said forcefully. His eyes strayed to her hand resting on his leg.

I glanced over at Max and Brock to see them snickering. They were mostly turned away, but kept stealing looks over their shoulders, checking Dawn's activity.

Dawn continued to look away, her cheeks getting closer to red. "Please close yours eyes," she pleaded.

"Huh?"

"Are they closed?"

Paul stared at the back of her head a moment longer. Finally he complied. "They're closed," he said.

Hastily Dawn twisted around and pulled up her shirt. My eyes popped and I instantly looked away. Brock and Max burst out into quiet laughter, trying to be discreet. "What's going on?" Paul inquired, hearing them, and he opened his eyes.

Dawn didn't yank her shirt down in time. Paul's eyes bulged and he went that pink that's as red as he can blush. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shrieked.

"S-sorry," she mumbled, redder than Misty's hair. With that, she scrambled back over to Brock and Max, smacking Brock on the back of the head. "For that," she said in a deadly voice, "you will dance naked in front of Misty, so she can destroy your manhood with that mallet of hers."

I looked at Paul. His jaw was on the floor, and he was still staring at Dawn. Drew stepped back into our little campsite with the meager pile of firewood he'd managed to find. "Dude, what happened to you?" he said to Paul.

Paul shook his head and said nothing. Thus, Drew looked to me for an explanation. I gestured to the group of three to my left and mouthed "Truth or Dare."

Drew's lips curled up in a crafty smile. He pulled out his pokeballs and returned all of his Pokemon. Misty and May yelped in protest, since they weren't done with their lecture. "What are you doing?" May cried.

She didn't expect him to yank her by the arm to where her brother, Dawn, and Brock sat. Misty followed with a puzzled expression on her face. "C'mon, Paul!" Drew called, beckoning.

Realization dawned on Paul's face. (ha. It's a joke, get it? "dawned," pfft. I crack myself up.) He grimaced. "I don't play Truth or Dare," he told us.

I found myself grinning at the thought of daring Paul into something terrible. "Aw, Paul, don't be a pathetic emo for once and join the fun."

"Truth or Dare?" May said, instantly suspicious. "No way, Drew. Not in a million years."

I pulled myself over, eager to be distracted from the dead Geodude fiasco. "Truth or dare, Paul!" I called.

With an exaggerated sigh, Paul slipped his book back in his bag and lumbered over. He plopped himself down as far from Dawn as possible and avoided her eyes. "Truth," he said.

"Ooh, I got one," Misty said excitedly. Her cerulean eyes sparkled mischievously. "Paul, did you enjoy seeing Dawn's boobs?"

I fought off a laugh at the reactions of Dawn and Paul. So Misty had seen that unfortunate occurrence. How absolutely perfect.

"I-I… um…" Paul stumbled. One answer meant he was a pervert, the other meant he had no feelings for Dawn at all (which we all know is a lie). So, if he played by the rules, he had to be a pervert, or else we would all call him on it. "It was… sudden," he said.

"Yes, but did you like it?" May pressed, exchanging a smirk with Misty.

"Neither," he said quickly. "I am completely indifferent to seeing Troublesome topless."

Dawn looked… relieved? Or disappointed? God, I can never read that girl. "Okay," I said, shrugging. Misty stared at me, questioning why I hadn't kept interrogating Paul. I'd figured we'd humiliated him enough. "Who's next?"

"Me," said May with badly hid excitement. "I want to go next, and I pick dare."

Paul narrowed his dark eyes at her, yet May held her own. A flash of doubt crossed her face, as if wondering if it had been such a good idea to be dared by Paul, of all people. She did state on a regular basis that hated him, after all. Now was the perfect chance for him to get revenge.

"Why don't you make out with Drew?" Paul suggested darkly.

Had Drew been drinking something, he would have done a spit take. "Excuse me?" he sputtered.

May was completely appalled. "There is no way in heaven or hell that I am putting my lips ANYWHERE on that grass head." When Paul didn't even flinch, May crumbled a little. "For how long?" she squeaked.

"Till he goes erotic," said Paul.

"Dear Mew," Brock muttered, looking away shamefully.

"There's a ten-year-old present!" May exclaimed.

"I'm twelve," corrected Max.

Drew folded his arms angrily. "What makes you think kissing May would make me erotic?"

"Oh shut up," I snapped. "Just thinking about May makes you hard, and don't deny it." I couldn't believe the words that had just come out of my mouth. I mean, I just figured out what the word erotic meant by connecting the dots.

Misty giggled. "Dawn, this is worse than yours!" she snickered to her.

Dawn grimaced and nodded. "I kinda feel bad for May."

"I am not making out with Drew, and even if I did I would not do it in front of my brother," said May firmly.

"Such a shame we don't have a closet," muttered Misty.

I caught her eye, confused. "What do we need a closet for?" I asked.

"Seven minutes in heaven," she explained.

"Fine," Paul conceded. "Only two minutes, then." He tapped the watch on his wrist. "Go."

"No!" May and Drew said together.

"GO!" yelled the rest of us.

"Fine!" May yelped. She took a deep breath and tried to regain her composure. "Max, you have to look away. Swear you won't watch."

Max grinned. "Yup, okay." He turned around with the full intention of turning back once they got going.

The two rivals grimaced at each other, and then they went at it so fiercely that I was ashamed to be watching.

I really don't need to go into details. May knocked Drew down with her passion and intensity and it really wasn't pretty. I blushed and couldn't watch. They didn't stop after the two minutes, either, even after Paul alerted them the time was up. Drew had his tongue down May's throat for at least another thirty seconds until they realized the time was up.

Embarrassed, they pulled away from each other, wiping their mouths and blushing a soft pink. "Okay," May said huskily. "Next?"

Everyone was silent. Drew rolled his eyes. "Alright then, I'll pick." He met my eyes with a ferocity that made me think he was going to pounce on me like he did May. "Ash, truth or dare?"

I pondered this for a moment; how bad of a dare could they give me? And then I thought how bad a truth they could give me, and I was at an impasse. There were secrets I really didn't want shared, meanwhile there were things I really didn't want to do.

Although, if I got to do to Misty what Drew did to May, there was a plus to all of this.

I wound up biting my lip and picking truth. May patted the ground anxiously. "Okay," she said. "Um… who's this Cináed person everyone keeps mentioning? You seem to know who he or she is."

Ouch. Why that question? Of all my secrets, why that one? I squirmed uncomfortably and answered based on the fact that May didn't know me well enough to tell when I was lying.

"Cináed is… heh, it's a funny story, actually." I put my arm behind my head nervously. "See, Professor Oak, right? He had a… a friend somewhere in… Johto named Cináed. He looked exactly like me, so much that I… I thought he was my dad when I was a kid. I kept running to him going 'Daddy, Daddy!' and such. I guess he was well known here because everyone keeps mistaking me for him."

There was silence. I avoided Misty's eyes, knowing she saw right through my fib. Finally, Drew snorted. "Jeez, you were a stupid kid, too."

"Hey!" I said, insulted. Yet I was relieved; my lie had passed under the radar.

Everyone began chuckling, and our game continued a while longer. I dared Drew to put mud in his hair, something that totally killed him to do. Drew got Misty to admit she was extraordinarily jealous of her sisters. Max crumbled under Misty's glare and confessed to having made out with Crystal, Dora's younger sister, a total of three times (much to May's rage).

Max retaliated by getting Dawn to divulge her darkest secret, which was so terrible that I in no way can repeat it here. Dawn then made true on her promise to Brock and made him dance naked while yodeling at the top of his lungs. We didn't watch this, I swear! Though the yodeling was pretty funny to hear.

No one dared me to kiss Misty, or vice versa. Was I disappointed? Of course… NO! I was NOT disappointed. I don't like that hot redhead at ALL! I mean—, NO! I swear, I don't. Nope. Not even a smidge.

… I am so in denial.

The game went on until we started to fall asleep, and decided it was time for bed. We all snuggled into our sleeping bags, all nice and cozy, with Pikachu curled up beside me. Our formation was an odd circle, and within the minute everyone was asleep.

Or so I thought.

"Ash?" someone whispered.

I wriggled around in my sleeping bag to see Misty inching her way over. She looked completely ridiculous doing so, and I mentioned this to her.

The effect was immediate. Her face heated up like a thermometer. "Well, excuse me for wanting to talk with my best friend. I'll just worm back over to my spot and leave you in peace, shall I?"

"No, no, don't go," I said.

She glared at me, her pride clearly battling with her desire to talk to me. Finally, desire won out and she scooted next to me. Pikachu sighed softly in his sleep.

We remained silent for a few moments, unsure how to start the conversation. I eventually broke the ice by saying, "Hi."

Misty snorted with quiet laughter. "Hi yourself."

"How's life at the Gym?" I asked, smiling.

"It sucks," Misty replied, and she didn't elaborate any further.

I made a face and tapped the ground patiently. "Why?"

My oldest friend sighed so heavily that the hair lying in her face flew like a party favor. "I'll tell," she said slowly, "if you tell me why you lied to Dawn's question earlier."

I tensed. Of course she had seen me lying through my teeth. "If you knew I was lying, why didn't you call it?" I said darkly.

She shrugged. "I figured you had a good reason to lie."

I made a face but I had to agree. "Fair enough. You first. Why do you hate Gym life?"

Misty looked up at the clouds above us. No stars were visible. "It's boring," she confessed. "I do the same thing day after day, talk to the same people, beat some poor little kid so badly that he goes away in tears, and then get lectured by my sisters about how I'm not living up to my potential. Yet they're the ones who won't let me leave. I called Drew to help me escape. Bet my sisters are still looking for me." She laughed a little at this. "Okay, I spilled. Your turn."

I grinned. "Alright. The truth scares me, and I hate talking about it."

Misty's smile vanished. "What?"

I simply smirked and shrugged. "It's a bad memory, and I don't like to relive it. Got it?"

She stared at me. Then a wicked smile graced her lips. "Could it be that a man named Cináed raped you?" she laughed.

I laughed along with her, just because it felt so good. "No, no, not that."

"Then what is it?" Clearly she was losing her patience. "C'mon Ash, I've known you forever. Tell me. I can keep a secret."

My lips creased into a line and I considered this. Misty was my best friend, and best friends don't keep secrets from each other (though if I followed that rule, Misty would know I was desperately in love with her and we would not be best friends anymore). "Okay," I surrendered. However, I wanted her to figure it out, so I didn't have to speak the terrible words myself. "How many Cináeds can you think of, Misty?"

She rolled her eyes back in concentration. "Um… none—no, wait, there was that one guy, Cináed… Cináed… oh, what was his name?"

"Everett?" I suggested helpfully.

"Yeah, him!" she said. "He was the Pokemon Master who disappeared all those years ago." She looked thoughtful. "I don't think they ever found him."

"Nope," I confirmed, watching the clouds swirl.

"Well what does that have to do with anything?" she questioned. Evidently I was starting to bother her.

"Well," I began, hesitating, "Ketchum isn't my father's name. It's my mother's."

Her expression told me she wasn't catching on. Misty made an "and?" motion with her hand.

"C'mon, Mist, you're smart," I coaxed. "Figure it out."

Misty's face became one of utter bemusement. Suddenly her eyes widened in understanding. "No way," she breathed, and I knew she had come to the right conclusion.

I grabbed her hand, looking into her blue eyes with a seriousness so intense she almost cowered. Almost.

"Do you know what 'Cináed' means?" I whispered.

She shook her head, although her eyes told me she had a pretty good guess.

"Fire."

*AN: DUN DUN DUHHHH!!! I am SO dramatic. How many of you actually looked up the meaning of his name BEFORE this chapter and knew it was coming? No one? Aw, oh well. Was it a fun chapter for all you Contestshippers? You probably wanted me to go into more detail, I know, but Ash is not a pervert and does not relish in watching his friends making out. The only one I will go into detail with is Ash and Misty, and it WILL happen, I promise. I try not to make romance the center of attention in my stories. Sorry.

Ironic chapter song, huh? I had to make it total opposite, just cuz.

Thanks for reading, reviewing, all that good stuff! I'm going to steal from Justin Bieber right now: I less than 3 all of you! (the little arrow thingy wouldn't work)*