…Oh. Hey. Didn't expect to see you way up here. Whassup?
Me? Oh, I'm just beatin' on the bag. Dang chain needs to be fixed almost every time I come here.
Huh? Well, that's because it breaks every time I'm here!
BECAUSE I BEAT ON THIS FRIGGIN' PUNCHING BAG TOO HARD, THAT'S WHY!!
Jeez, sorry. I've had a bit of a rough day. That, plus my short temper, and, hey, say 'Hello', Asylumland.
Hm? Oh, I had a fight with Marley, that's what. Sheesh, you think I'd learn to keep my yap shut, but no…
No, I don't want to talk about it, thank you very much. I'm just gonna stand here and beat on this bag until I feel better.
Well, maybe not, but a coping mechanism is better than nothing.
Laugh it up, why don't you? Yeah, you and Dawn have everything together, and me? Not so much.
I am NOT apologizing to Marley! She's at as much fault as I am!
I don't FEEL like being mature! Trying to be mature is what made me come up here in the first place!
GAH!! STUPID BROKEN CHAIN AND THE STUPID—— Okay. I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm cool, I'm fine… Hoo, boy.
Hey, would you pass me that water bottle? Thanks.
What? Oh, you just won't let it go, will you? And here I thought I was the one who fixated on things.
What are you, a shrink? Fine, whatever. It started at, what, two o'clock in the morning?
Well, I couldn't sleep! Are you gonna let me tell the story, or what?
Thank you! Sheesh! Anyway, it was two in the morning, and I had to use the pot. One too many root beers, I guess. Lo and beyond–
What do you mean 'behold'?
Oh, okay. Whatever. Lo and behold, it already had someone in it. Turns out this someone was–
No, not Marley! Sheesh! What, you think we shack up or something? She can't stand me, remember?
Yeah.
No, it wasn't Mira, either! Are you nuts, or what?!
NO, IT WASN'T CHERYL!! STOP GUESSING AND I'LL TELL YOU!! Jeez, what kind of shrink are you?
Quit smiling at me like that.
Lucas, I'm serious! I will wipe it off personally if you don't!
You know what? Forget it. ANYWAY, it turns out Flint was inside, reading the newspaper.
Yeah, the newspaper. Go figure. He pretends he's surprised to see me, as if I hadn't just spent five minutes trying to break down the door. Shows me the thing he's was looking at – remember, it's three in the morning.
Two, whatever. And, oddly enough, he hasn't been looking at a girly magazine. No, he's been looking at the front page of last week's newspaper.
Yeah, I know. Freaky.
Well, he shows me what he's been looking at. Some stupid museum exhibition on modern art. Booooring. Now, I'm kinda suspicious, 'cause Flint's been grinning at me like there's no tomorrow. It's way too early in the morning for anyone to do anything like that, so I grill him on it. He suggests I go there. Ask Marley out.
That's what I told him! No way would Marley EVER want to go into a public place with me! And there's no way I'd ever be allowed, anyway!
Nope. He says I should try it, anyway. Might get lucky. When I say no, he challenges me to a bet.
Yup. You know me.
…You really oughta stop smiling like that. For the good of your health.
So, nine hours later, I call up Marley on the phone. First thing she wants to know is if I've lost something at her place. Then she asks if Flint burned down ours.
Whaddaya mean, you don't blame her? Does NO ONE think I can call a friend on the phone without it being something weird?!
Shut up. Now.
Anyway, I tell her why I called.
Yes, I officially asked her out. Is that so hard to believe?
No, she didn't say anything. She didn't say anything for, like, ten minutes.
Well, okay, fine. More like thirty seconds, but still. It felt like a really long time!
That's the thing! She doesn't say anything! One minute, it's silence. The next, she's laughing harder than I think she ever has! Marley! Laughing! At me! Well, okay, that last one was a gimme. But, sheesh, how'd you like it if Dawn laughed in your face when you asked her out for the first time?
Same thing! She could see me across the video-link! Dude, she was laughing so hard, she was crying.
Oh, shut up.
Whatever. Anyway, she quiets down when I tell her I'm serious. …Heh. Shuts right up is more like it.
She said okay.
Yeah, I know. In fact, it took me about three more sentences to realize it, too. I still didn't get over it until after we'd already gone inside the museum.
Hey, I can dress up, every now and again, can't I? Why do you think I'm wearing this button shirt? Picture Day at Kindergarten?
She was wearing one of those Chinese dresses with the slit down the leg. In black. Dude, you have NO idea how hot she looks in one of those.
No, you CAN'T imagine. Trust me. And if you do, I will hurt you.
No, she's not my territory. I'm just saying. She's a friend, and if you so much as take one bad look at her, I'll skin you alive. Okay, so she's a really good friend. Or... was, I guess.
Stop laughing at me. Seriously. You suck at shrinkage, you know that?
I DON'T CARE IF IT'S NOT A WORD!! I'm freakin' pissed off right now.
So, we're inside, and apparently it's one of those super-fancy echelon things, with more ritz than you can shake a stick at. So, while Marley fits right in, I look like the semi-casual dweeb from down the street.
You have no idea. She was drawing stares from the freaking paintings, let alone the people.
I have personally added them to my hit list.
Stop laughing!
Shakeswho? Oh, the Hamlet guy.
No, Marley's into that stuff, not me. Martial Arts and explosions, that's my literature.
I don't know how she stands me, either.
Anyway, Marley's got me by the hand–
Hey, it's an improvement over the necktie, now isn't it?
Shut up.
ANYWAY, she's leading me down to, like, the far corner of the thing, where they have all these weird pictures of Pokémon and flowers.
Well, they all looked the same to me, except Marley liked the ones about this fantasy Pokémon.
It's this little white rodent thing with the bush growing out of its back. Marley's got loads of pictures of it in her sketchbook.
What, she hasn't shown you? Okay, weird.
No, I don't have the slightest idea why she would show me and not you, either.
Dude. You're, what, eighteen, and you STILL do the spelling thing? And here I thought I was the immature one.
Shay-what? Shaymin? You mean that little fluffball thing has a name?
It actually EXISTS? Dude. How DO you know this stuff? No, don't answer that.
I've had my fill of legendary Pokémon, trust me. The Magma Stone was enough for Yours Truly.
Hey, I learned my lesson: Do not take mystical artifacts from their spots unless you want a living volcano mad at you.
Yeah, that was lame.
Huh? Oh. Right. Where was I?
Oh, the paintings. Right. Well, Marley walks into the room with these paintings of what just about everybody else in the world thinks is an imaginary creature, and she's walking on air.
I'm serious. She's smiling and happy and stuff.
Yeah, I know it was weird. To be honest, I kinda liked it. She needs to smile more.
Quiet, you.
Me? Well, I'm just sitting around, letting her do her thing, and then she comes over to where I'm sitting. Wants to show me one of the paintings. It's this big thing of flowers with some kinda huge rock thing. Shaymin's sitting on top of it, just smiling.
The problem? I'm an artless loser, that's the problem. Marley's trying to have a moment, and I just screw it over. It's this big, serious piece, and the expression that the rodent has on just makes me want to laugh. So I do.
No kidding, 'she didn't take it well'.
Well, no, not really. It just gets worse, and it's all because I couldn't tell fine art from umbreon poop. Before I know what's happened, I'm being upset at the top of my lungs, she's being upset in that reaally creepy way of hers, and suddenly, we're Volcanobuck and Emomarley. I can't take it anymore, so I just walk.
Well, I thought it was better than sticking around to keep fighting.
Okay, fine. Great. Now I know I humiliated her. Wonderful. I feel SO much better.
Yeah, you're right, I could've said sorry.
Yeah, I am sorry.
I know that telling YOU doesn't do it any good. But, it's not like she'll listen to me now.
What do you mean, 'turn around'? What, did you bring her with you?
HOLY — Jeez, woman! Don't DO that! You know I hate it when you… oh, boy. Exactly how much did you hear?
What do you mean, 'enough'? HEY! Lucas, where're you going?!
What do you mean 'to leave us alone'?! What does 'alone' meammmm…
…Oh.
So that's what he meant.
Notes:
-An attempt at a one-sided conversation, somewhat inspired by I Didn't Mean To! by Bohemiat. You really oughta look at it.
-For those of you who don't get the Shakespeare part, Lucas is saying that when Buck was talking about Marley drawing stares from the paintings, it sounded like something out of Shakespeare.
-You guys oughta remember that even though the real world knows just about EVERY detail about EVERY pokémon in existence, most of the people in the pokémon world, uh, don't.