¤~A Thousand Miles~¤
by Scrat with a G
Chapter Six
When Misty pulled away, both their faces were bright red.
"What was that for?" Ash asked.
Misty hesitated before answering. "I – I just like you, Ash Ketchum," she said quietly. A tiny smile hovered on her lips.
Ash felt his heart explode with happiness, but he tried not to let on. Instead, he vented his feelings by returning the kiss, just as passionately.
When he was finished, he pulled back, only to realize that Pikachu had woken up, and was staring at the two. His normally-yellow face was a faint shade of green, and a large drop of sweat had appeared on his temple.
"Pikaaaa…"
"Oh, hush, Pikachu," Ash snapped, quite embarrassed. He got up, helped Misty up, then stormed back to the camp grounds, still mortified.
That night, just after dinner, everyone was heading back to their cabins. Riley was near the edge of the huge group, about to split off in her separate direction toward her cabin.
Suddenly, a loud whirring noise could be heard as a helicopter flew overhead, blocking out the sun to create a lovely darkening effect. Several people gasped and looked up, rather stupidly. Ash, Misty, and Brock, being the relatively smart ones, remained staring straight ahead and continued walking.
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!" A girl with long, red hair similar to that of Riley's hopped out of the helicopter and landed nimbly on her boot-clad feet.
"James!" A boy with blue hair the same length as Riley's followed, holding a red rose in one hand.
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight!"
A small white cat-like Pokèmon with a yellow coin attached to its forehead jumped in between the two Team Rocket members.
"Meeeeeowth, dat's right!"
Misty rolled her eyes. "Not this again."
"Don't you three ever get tired of this?" Ash asked.
James sighed. "You're ruining the moment!"
Jessie rolled her eyes. "Shut up, James, let's just get this over with."
"Wow… look at all dose trainers!" Meowth exclaimed. "Dere bound ta have tons of Pokèmon!"
Brock sighed exasperatedly. "Here we go again…"
"Wait," James said. "I thought we just wanted the Pikachu?"
"There's no such thing as too much of a good thing," Jessie pointed out.
"I told you that this place would be like hitting the jackpot!" Meowth cried. "Let's go to it!"
"Yay!" James squealed as Jessie whipped out a large remote control and pressed the only button on the front. An enormous magnet popped out of the helicopter and began sucking all the Pokèballs out of the trainers' pockets.
"I'll take dis," Meowth said as he snatched Pikachu and put him in a small, cardboard box lined with rubber.
"Pikachu!" Ash cried, rushing forward. Misty and Brock both calmly placed a hand on each of his shoulders to hold him back.
"Ash, haven't you learned anything from these idiots?" Brock began.
"They never can pull anything off like this," Misty continued for him.
"But what if they pull it off this time?" Ash cried, panicking. "Pikachu!"
Misty and Brock both rolled their eyes.
"Don't worry, Ash," Misty reassured him. "I'm sure some brave person will step forward and save our Pokèmon."
"LIKE WHO? THEY'VE ALREADY TAKEN EVERYONE'S POKÈMON!" Ash shouted.
"Not mine." Riley stepped around two sobbing grown men and looked at Jessie and James with a determined look on her face. She tossed a Pokèball up and down in her hand.
Jessie smirked. "What have you got there, little girl?"
"Go, Aesta!" Riley hurled the Pokèball in front of her. A red light issued from the ball and a Flareon materialized. All three of the Team Rocket members' faces paled. "Aesta, Flamethrower!" (a/n: I haven't played Pokèmon or watched the show in ages, so I dunno is Flareon is compatible with that attack. If it is, then great. If it isn't, then bear with me.)
Aesta opened her mouth, and a blast of fire whirled towards the two white-and-red-clad humans and the cat Pokèmon, sending them flying into the air, scorched to a crisp.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off agaaaaaaaaain…"
"See?" Misty said. "I told you someone would save our Pokèmon."
Spotting the remote control on the ground, Riley depressed the large cartoon-ish red button. The magnet deactivated and all the Pokèballs fell to the ground. There was a scramble as everyone rushed to retrieve their Pokèmon.
Glomping his five Pokèballs, containing a Vulpix, an Onix, a Geodude, a Crobat and a Pineco, Brock rushed up to Riley eagerly.
"Wow, you just handled them so well, you're amazing…" Brock continued to babble while Riley patted Aesta on the head and nonchalantly called her back into her Pokèball.
"Okay, everyone," Riley said loudly. She stood and faced the large group to get their attention. Everyone fell silent. "In your cabins. Lights out at normal time. You'll be getting up at seven again tomorrow for your normal activities."
Everyone groaned and began trudging back to their respective cabins. Brock, however, hung back. He was about to go over and attempt to congratulate Riley once more, but Ara got to her first. The two were conversing in low, inaudible whispers. Riley nodded a few times as Ara spoke, then bit her lip in worry.
"Aight, I got it," she said to Ara. Ara smiled weakly and walked off. Riley tucked her hair behind her ear, like she did when she was worried or nervous, then began walking back to her cabin. Brock jogged over to catch up.
"Riley?" he called softly.
She turned and glanced back at him. "Oh, hello, Brock." She turned back and continued walking.
"Riley, what's wrong? I saw you talking to Ara a minute ago, and you looked worried."
"Oh, don't worry about it, Brock, it's nothing." She gave him a weak smile.
"It didn't seem like nothing," he pressed.
"You're sweet to care, but its no big deal," she assured him. "Now go back to your cabin."
"Riley, tell me what's wrong," Brock insisted, not moving. Riley sighed and turned back around.
"Well, Ara… she's the one that handles all the financial stuff with this camp, and she was just telling me that at the end of this session, we were going to have to close down, because we aren't doing so well." She shrugged. "That's all."
"I'm sorry, Riley…" He moved forward to take her in his arms, but she jerked away.
"No, Brock, I don't need your pity."
"Pity?" Brock repeated.
"I'll be fine, Brock." She turned and stormed off to her cabin.
Brock just stood there, staring into oblivion. What in the world had just happened?
a/n: Okay, normally I just end like that or with an author's note consisting primarily of me explaining things or ranting and complaining. But I decided to copy Ara Moon and ask you a couple questions:
1 – Did you like the light Ash/Misty fluff at the beginning of this chapter? I'm afraid I'm not very good at it.
2 – WHO HERE LIKES SQUINTSHIPPING, RAISE YOUR HAND! *raises hand and waves it around frantically* (Hint: Squintshipping = Brock/Riley. You can also find Squintshipping in Ara Moon's story, Never the Same, between Brock [Takeshi] and my character, Scrat. ^^)
3 – What do you want in the next chapter? (Be realistic please.)
And now, I leave you with the wise words of Scrat-chan:
YOZ LUFF MEH
--Scrat