.

-The Laugh-

September of 2038. Afternoon. Route 110, Hoenn.

"Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now."

Nothing.

"A man just assaulted me with milk, cream, and butter. How dairy." A pause. "…Wait, I don't get that one." Another pause. "Oh, dairy—like darey. Okay, I get it now."

A groan.

"I'd tell you a chemistry joke, but I know I wouldn't get a reaction."

Nothing.

Skye grinned, raising a brow. "Hey, you nailed that one."

Lizzie closed her eyes and let out a sigh as she put her book down on the table. "Can I go now?"

Skye furrowed her brows, sitting up straight. "No way!" she said firmly. "Neither of us is leaving this table until I can get a laugh out of you."

The two of them sat at a table in the middle of a near-empty park. Half-an-hour earlier, Skye had encountered Lizzie during her training and insisted they should catch up. Lizzie wasn't interested, and yet somehow it resulted in the two of them sitting down and talking anyways. Twenty minutes later, Skye was reading aloud to her from her favorite book of puns. Wartortle was taking a nap beneath the table, while Infernape ate from a bowl of Pokemon food beside his trainer. The air was warm and content, but the puns put a sour twist on the atmosphere.

Lizzie averted her gaze, becoming unamused. "I can't laugh at something that isn't funny," she said plainly. Skye puffed her cheeks in frustration and Lizzie flicked her gaze back to her. "Why is this such a big deal to you?"

Skye blinked, looking down to the pun book she held in her hands. "Because," she started, looking back to Lizzie and flashing her a smile. "It's good to laugh every once in a while—and I've never heard you do it." She confidently pounded a fist to her chest. "So I've made it my personal mission to get you to laugh."

Lizzie wasn't impressed. "There's no pun out there that can make me laugh."

"Sure there is!" Skye chimed, flipping through her book once more. "You just haven't found the right one yet!"

Pursing her lips in irritation, she retrieved her book from off of the table. "I somehow doubt that," she murmured, opening to the page she had bookmarked.

Skye paid her no mind though, reading, "I did a theatrical performance on puns. Really, it was just a play on words."

And just like that, Lizzie completely tuned Skye out. If she had to sit there listening to Skye rattle off every cheesy joke she knew, then she would at least make it slightly more bearable for herself; but just when Lizzie was starting to get into her book, she paused, noticing a sudden silence. Furrowing her brows, she lifted her eyes from the page she was reading, and focused on Skye sitting across from her. She had put her pun book down, and was staring at Lizzie with a disapproving look.

Lizzie shifted her gaze before looking back to Skye. "…What?"

"You aren't even listening to me!" Skye said hotly, waking up Wartortle from his nap. "How can I make you laugh if you won't pay attention to my jokes?"

"I already told you," Lizzie sighed. "I don't think puns are funny. Whether I'm listening or not is irrelevant."

Skye pursed her lips in frustration, glancing down at her book. Suddenly nodding, she slid the book back into her bag. "I'll have to find another way, then."

"Or you could just stop," Lizzie offered. "I still having training to—!"

"Not until you laugh."

Lizzie slumped slightly in her seat, letting out a discontented huff. Truthfully, she wasn't sure why she hadn't just gotten up and left at that point. Maybe it was because a part of her knew that even if she tried, Skye would follow her. After all, if there was one thing Lizzie had learned about Skye over the years, it was that once she had her heart set on something, she wouldn't give up until the end.

"I need a new approach," Skye decided, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "If I were you, what would make me laugh?"

Lizzie leaned on her fist, watching as Skye's face scrunched in thought. Wartortle poked his head out from under the table, observing his trainer curiously. After a moment, Skye hummed a sound of frustration and ruffled her hair.

"I can't think like this!" she spat, rising to her feet and lifting her bag onto the table. Lizzie watched wordlessly as Skye retrieved a soccer ball from within it. She beamed, looking at the ball in her hands. "This should do it!"

"A ball," Lizzie observed flatly.

"Yeah," Skye said with a smile, tossing the ball into the air and bouncing it on her knee. "Moving around helps me think."

Lizzie watched for a moment as Skye juggled the ball between her knees before shaking her head with a sigh. "Right," she said, looking back to her book. "Good luck with that, then."

Skye grinned at her before looking down to Wartortle. "C'mon, buddy, you can help, too!"

Wartortle perked up, letting out a, "War!" as he scurried ahead to an open patch of grass.

Skye followed after him, and Lizzie let out a breath of relief at finally having silence. Infernape glanced at her warily, but she ignored him, reading her book once more.

Several minutes went by, and Skye was still kicking off her soccer ball to Wartortle, who would return her pass with his shell or tail. She would occasionally laugh and offer her Pokemon praise for a job well done, and Lizzie had continuously found herself slipping in and out of her focused state. She kept glancing over to watch Skye, and would inwardly scold herself for feeling the corners of her lips twitch every time Skye laughed. She attempted to shake the thought away, looking back to her book—but not before Skye noticed her staring out of the corner of her eye.

Skye cracked a grin and shifted her eyes onto Wartortle. "Hey, come here," she whispered, beckoning Wartortle towards her with her hand.

Wartortle blinked in confusion, picking up the ball in front of him as he waddled his way over to Skye.

"I just had a great idea," Skye whispered eagerly as Wartortle approached her. He looked at her attentively, and Skye nodded her head towards Lizzie. "Lizzie's been watching us," she explained, putting her hands on her hips. "So maybe if we can't make her laugh, then we can at least impress her."

Wartortle straightened out, looking over to Lizzie, and then back to his trainer with a confident nod. "Wartortle!"

Skye grinned, clenching her fist. "Great!" she said, putting a hand to her chest. "Then let's try that trick-shot we've been practicing!"

With that, Wartortle's face immediately fell and he took a step backwards. "War?!"

"If I can match-up to your Iron Tail then I know Lizzie will be totally blown out of the water!" Skye said matter-of-factly. "All you've gotta do is hit the ball!"

Wartortle shook his head quickly. "Wartortle Wartortle!"

Skye narrowed her eyes. "Hey—don't chicken out on me now. I can't do this without you!" She bent down to his level, flashing him a smile as she held out her fist to him. "That's what teammates are for, right?"

Wartortle looked uncertain, glancing at Skye's fist skeptically. He then flicked his eyes to meet her gaze, and his face twisted in dissatisfaction. Giving in, he sighed, hanging his head in defeat as he gently bumped his fist against hers.

Lizzie watched from the table as Skye spoke quietly to Wartortle. She raised a brow as she saw Wartortle walk away from Skye with his head hung low, the soccer ball between his hands. She looked quickly between the two, wondering just what it was that they were up to. Infernape appeared intrigued as well, his attention drawn from his Pokemon food.

Lizzie noticed Skye flick her gaze back towards her before she loudly said, "Okay, Wartortle! Let her rip!"

Wartortle look at his trainer with hesitation before taking a deep breath and drawing his tail back. Lizzie blinked as his tail began to glow white and he slammed it into the soccer ball placed on the ground in front of him.

The ball darted towards Skye like a bullet, and a second later it collided with her face. Lizzie's jaw dropped as Skye reeled backwards from the hit, and Wartortle's face instantly flooded with regret as he rushed towards his trainer.

"Ah! Shit!" Skye yelled, bending over as she held her nose in her hands. "Mother of—!"

Lizzie watched on, dumbstruck, as Skye stumbled around holding her face in pain. She continued to curse loudly as Wartortle attempted to come to her aid. But Lizzie sat frozen, still processing what she had just saw. Her eyebrow twitching, her lips curved and she pressed them together into a hard line.

"Am I bleeding?" Skye asked, pulling her hands away from her face to study them. There was no blood, but her nose was certainly throbbing in agony none-the-less. "Damn it," she hissed, rubbing her nose.

Wartortle frowned up at her. "War! Tortle!"

Skye groaned, waving him off. "It's not your fault. My timing was off," she dismissed, rubbing her face. "So much for being impressi—!"

She stopped, pausing when hearing something from behind her. Furrowing her brows, Skye looked over her shoulder to see Lizzie with her fist pressed against her mouth. Her shoulders bounced lightly as she closed her eyes, and Skye's face instantly lit up.

Forgetting the pain, Skye spun on her heel to Lizzie. Lizzie quickly took notice of this and her eyes widened, her laughing halted. Her face began to heat up as Skye's smiled widened and briskly jogged over.

As if she didn't know what else to do, Lizzie pressed her fist closer to her mouth and began coughing, averting her gaze from Skye.

"You laughed!" Skye said excitedly, slamming her hands down on the table.

Lizzie leaned back, keeping her fist to her mouth and her eyes away from Skye. "No, I didn't," she denied quickly, faking a cough. "I had something caught in my throat."

Skye leaned in close. "I know a laugh when I hear one!" she said, pointing a finger at her. "And you totally just laughed!"

"No I didn't," Lizzie retorted. She flicked her gaze towards Skye, and when she did, she realized just how close they were. Skye's eyes were shining with excitement as they met Lizzie's, and her smile made Lizzie's stomach flip. A blush crept its way onto her cheeks as she pursed her lips, leaning away and shifting her gaze anxiously. "Stop looking at me like that."

Skye paid her no mind, smiling down at Wartortle instead. "You heard it too, didn't you, buddy?" She pounded her fist to her chest. "I made Lizzie laugh!"

Wartortle nodded quickly with a confident grin. "Wartortle!"

Lizzie pursed her lips and glanced to Infernape, who gave her a smug look in return. Lizzie scowled and closed her eyes, the heat in her face refusing to leave. "Fine—I laughed," she admitted, glancing at Skye in annoyance. "Do you want a medal?"

"Of course not."

Lizzie blinked, turning her head to Skye fully. She was still smiling down at her as she put her hands on her hips. "The only thing I wanted was for you to laugh," Skye said simply with a shrug. "It's like I said, I think it's good to laugh every once in a while—it makes you happy." She glanced up, scratching her cheek. "So, I guess I just wanted you to be happy."

Lizzie raised her brows in surprise, and she felt her heart beat a little faster. She shifted in her seat, gripping the book she held in her hands. "That's… awfully considerate of you to say."

"Hey, we're friends, right?" Skye stated, rubbing her nose as she smiled sheepishly. "It's what we do."

Lizzie glanced up at her again, and she couldn't help but smile just the slightest. She held her book closer to her chest, feeling lighter. Skye watched her before adding with a grin, "And for what it counts, you have a cute laugh."

Just like that, Lizzie's brain seemed to completely shut down. All she could manage to do was stare at Skye with wide eyes as a red heat rapidly ran up her neck and to her cheeks. Her heart pounded in her head, and she desperately scrambled for something to say, but nothing sounded coherent enough.

Skye blinked, her face twisting with concern. "Are you okay?" she asked, lifting a finger to point at her. "Your face looks kind of hot."

Infernape burst into laughter, and Lizzie took a quick breath, snapping back to reality. Her face was burning, and Skye's stare only made it worse. Realizing how ridiculous she must have looked, she swiftly rose to her feet and began collecting her things, shoving them into her bag with disorganized haste. "I-I have to go," she said hurriedly, tossing her bag over her shoulder as she quickly began walking away.

Skye reeled back in alarm. "Hey!" she said, holding out a hand to stop her. "Wait a second!"

But Lizzie didn't look back as she rushed away, nearly tripping over a curbstone in the process. Infernape snickered, picking up a book that his trainer had forgotten as he chased after her.

Skye blinked cluelessly, watching as Lizzie disappeared into the distance. Scrunching her face, she looked to Wartortle in confusion.

"Was it something I said?"

...And so it continues!