Midsummer Dreams
By Trish.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, any of Shakespeare's works or any of the authors that appear. I do own the story line and various other characters. If I did own Pokémon - rest assured that my fic "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better" would have been made into an episode!
Author's Note: Many apologies for the long delay in posting - but real life took over for a while there…Also with the Chateau Plateau - all of the rooms are twin-share, so there are two peeps to a room.
Chapter 5: Much Ado About Something
It was ten o'clock before Misty came down for breakfast. She wandered into the kitchen to discover that the menfolk had already beaten her there and finished their meals.
"Morning, Sleepyhead," Brock greeted as he placed some fresh bacon rashers into a pan for her.
"I'm not a sleepyhead. As a member of the Sensational Sisters, I need as much beauty sleep as possible," Misty stated as she sat down at the kitchen table.
Ash looked up from where he, Tracey, Pikachu and Meowth were taking care of the baby Pokémon. Cradled in his arms was the little Teddiursa, who sucked away happily on a bottle of milk. "You need at least another week's sleep," he teased.
Misty stood up at this comment as Brock, Tracey, Pikachu and Meowth cringed in anticipation of the inevitable mallet. Ash decided to plead for a stay of execution. "I know you're gonna mallet me, but could you please wait until I finish feeding this baby?"
But Misty just had a puzzled look on her face. "Why would I want to whack you with a mallet?"
There was silence as her friends stared at her with their mouths open.
"Why would I hit you?" she repeated.
Ash was the first to recover. "Uh…because I just made a rude comment about your looks…and…um…that's what you usually do. Whenever I say something stupid or rude, you either wallop me with a huge mallet or your fists."
"And when you're not hitting Ash, it's usually me," Brock chimed in as he served up her breakfast.
"Oh, that's terrible! How often do I hit you?"
"Almost every day," Ash moaned.
The redhead was horrified. "Really?"
"Really," Brock affirmed.
"The truth is, Misty, that you have…uh…a..very volatile temper," Ash added rather nervously.
Misty gazed down at her plate for a moment, when she raised her head, the men were startled to see a few tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm sorry, guys. I never should have hit you. Taking out my anger on others using physical violence is wrong. I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you over the years. Can you two ever forgive me?"
Her friends were completely lost for words. Too shocked to say anything in response to this extraordinary and uncharacteristic outburst from Misty.
Misty was apologising? Misty was sorry? This wasn't like Misty. In all the years that Ash and Brock have known her, she has never ever apologised for whacking them. Misty apologising for her violent behaviour was just wishful thinking. They would have more chance at seeing a squadron of flying Swinubs pass over, than to receive an apology from their female companion.
But now an apology had come from out of the blue - and etiquette demanded some sort of response from them. Ash and Brock exchanged a shocked glance before they managed to stammer in unison, "Of course we forgive you."
Misty flashed them a grateful smile. "Thanks. From now on, I promise to refrain from hitting you with a mallet or using excessive physical violence against you," she vowed.
"Uh…okay."
There was just silence in the kitchen as she finished her meal. Because nobody knew what to say. Finally Misty put her plate in the dishwasher and the last of the babies had been fed. The red head then kissed her boyfriend goodbye as she left for the Convention.
When she had left, Ash turned to his friends. "Did what I think just happened - really happen? Or am I just dreaming?"
"I don't think you're dreaming. Because we all heard it," Tracey said slowly.
"I think a nice reality check is in order here," Brock decided. "Because I'm not sure if I heard or dreamt all that either."
Everyone nodded. They gathered around Pikachu and placed their hands on her small head.
Zap.
One thunder shock later and they were all lying on the floor, their clothes (and in Meowth's case, fur) slightly smoking.
"Owwwwww", everyone moaned.
Ash struggled up to a sitting position as Pikachu leapt onto his lap and gave him a sympathetic lick on the face. "Okay, so that wasn't a dream." There was a pause. "Did anyone get the whole thing on tape?"
******************
Arrow whistled a tune as she waited outside the north-east entrance to the Stadium. She had a little mystery on her hands this morning. The mystery dealt with the origin of the rose that she held in her left hand. The rose that had been lying on her pillow when she woke up. How did it get there, and more importantly, who put it there?
Whoever the mysterious intruder was, they certainly didn't enter via the doors or windows. She always made sure that the doors were securely locked at night, and the windows only opened a few centimetres. A quick inspection this morning revealed that nothing had been tampered with and everything was in its usual position.
She didn't know what to think or do, so she had called up her good friend Trish on her cell phone and arranged to meet her at the very place she was standing now. She hoped the older girl would be able to help shed some light on the subject.
Trish arrived right on the dot, with her arms full of floral bouquets, and looking rather flustered. "Hi, Arrow," she greeted.
Arrow stared at the flowers. There must have been at least six bunches in there. "Wow. Did you buy out the local florist?"
Her friend scowled briefly at her. "No, I did not. These….," she broke off when she spied the rose. "Where did you get that?"
"I don't know."
"You…don't know?"
"No. That's the reason I wanted to talk to you this morning. I found this lying on the pillow when I woke up." Arrow didn't like the funny look Trish gave her when she said that. "I know what you must be thinking - but I swear that there was no one else in my room last night," she said hastily, before her friend could get the wrong impression. "I went to bed alone and woke up- alone. I always lock the doors at night and they were still locked when I got up. I honestly have no idea of who put it there, or how it got there."
Trish gave her a reassuring smile. "It's okay, Arrow. I believe you."
Arrow was relieved. "You do?"
"Yes." Trish then gave a little chuckle. "One of the reasons being that, if anything strange is going to happen, it usually happens to you."
"It does not," Arrow protested, albeit rather feebly, for she knew that the other girl was right.
"It does too, and you know it. What about that globe that appeared in your hands the other day?"
"Oh, yeah."
"And what about that time at the amusement park last year? We went on that ride which spins around and pins everyone to the walls. Only thing was, you remained stuck to the wall, even after the ride had stopped. Need I say more?"
"No," Arrow sighed. Eager to change the subject, she pointed to the flowers her friend was carrying. "So what's the story with all these flowers? Have you been having some wild, romantic fling and not told me anything about it?"
"No, I haven't had any 'wild, romantic, fling'. And for your information, I'd rather not, with this particular guy," the older girl retorted.
"So who's 'this particular guy'?" Arrow inquired.
"Rudy, the Trovita Island Gym Leader."
"Have you told him how you feel?"
"Yes, many times. He just won't take 'no' for an answer. He ambushed me outside the hotel this morning with all these flowers."
"Sounds like you've got a problem."
"Tell me about it."
**************
Jessie was doing the rounds of the Convention with Bill again. She regarded him as a good friend and was pleased to note how far he had come since she had taken him under her wing.
The image he presented now was a far cry from the bewildered, lost, and oh-so-unfashionable man she had first rescued from the crowd. He wore a loose dark green shirt unbuttoned over a white t-shirt and light cream pants. A pair of designer label spectacles completed the ensemble. His outfit met with Jessie's complete approval.
He was becoming more and more comfortable with the modern world. He had declared himself to be a 'student of modernity' and eagerly embraced all things that were new to him. His manner of speech could no longer be termed as quaint or outdated - he had gradually mastered the modern way of speaking, so that he sounded no different from any other man on the street.
The other night, Bill, James and herself had gone to one of the Plateau's nightclubs. Bill had been the undisputed star of the night - he won the crowd over with his first attempt at karaoke, and once he'd got the hang of it, enthusiastically led the crowd in doing the macarena, over and over again. He was a complete hit with the women, with large groups hanging onto his every word as he recited poetry.
Yes, Bill was turning out to be a real success story. She noticed out of the corner of her eye a young girl, who was, in her opinion, in dire need of her expert assistance. That outfit was so atrocious! "Hey, Bill," she called to her companion.
"Yeah?"
"Do you mind looking around by yourself for the rest of the day? I've just realised I have some urgent business to attend to."
"No, I don't mind."
"Now you know where everything is, right? And you know where the house is, don't you?"
"Don't worry about me, Jessie. I'll be fine," he reassured her.
Jessie grinned, then moved off towards the hapless soul who was going to get her help - whether she wanted it or not.
Bill watched his friend disappear into the crowd, then withdrew a small notepad and a pen from his pant pocket. He planned to spend the rest of the afternoon wandering around, gathering ideas for his next literary masterpiece. He gazed at the two items in his hand with undisguised wonder. He couldn't believe how lucky these modern people were!
Back home, paper was expensive and a rather precious item. Here, paper was everywhere and people seemed not to care how much of it they wasted. Plus the paper had lines on it. Lines!
But what Bill considered to be truly marvellous - was what these people wrote with. No quills and ink bottles for them, they wrote with these strange sticks which flowed with ink at one end. The ink just seemed to go on, they never had to dip the stick into an ink bottle. When the ink did run out, he saw that people just threw away the stick and got another one just like it.
He was so taken with these sticks, or pens, as they were called, that he begged Jessie to buy him a packet. He now considered them to be among his most prized possessions. Oh, how jealous all his fellow writers will be, when he finally gets home and shows them his pens!
He was nearing the Pokémon Watchers Association Stand when he heard a boy ask a question of a young man with a red bandanna in his dark hair. "Should I use 2B or not a 2B?"
Now that sounded good, even rather poetic, Bill thought. Maybe I could use it in the new play I'm planning to write. He scribbled the words down onto the pad - 'To be or not to be.'
*****************
Arrow followed her friend to a corner of the Cyndaquil Café, one of the most popular eating spots on the Plateau. Trish was making a beeline towards where a woman in her late thirties, early forties was sitting. "Who are we meeting?" she whispered.
"Her name is Vickie and she's very good at giving advice if you have any problems. She attends all these conventions and sets herself up in the corner of a café as an unofficial adviser."
As they neared the woman, Arrow noticed that there was a little sign on the table. The sign stated that 'The Advice Guru is IN.' "Is she any good?"
"Rumour has it, that she was the one who finally made the Boss of Team Rocket see the error of his ways, and set him back on the straight and narrow."
Arrow was impressed. "Really?"
"Yes. She accomplished what many thought to be impossible. And now she has Giovanni wrapped around her little finger."
By this time, they had reached the table. Vickie looked up and smiled when she saw her visitors. "Hey, Trish. Looks like Rudy found you again."
"No kidding," Trish replied as she plopped down in the seat and dumped her flowers rather unceremoniously on the table. Arrow slipped into the neighbouring chair.
"Who's your friend?" Vickie enquired.
"This is Arrow, and she has a little problem for you."
Arrow then retold her story as Vickie listened intently. The woman was just about to comment when they were interrupted by a girl's voice.
"Excuse me, but are you the Advice Guru?"
They all looked up to see a diminutive young girl around Arrow's age, dressed in a red t-shirt and black jeans. She had greyish green eyes and her long brown hair was swept up in a ponytail
Vickie smiled warmly at the newcomer. "That's me. Please take a seat and we'll see if I can help you."
"Well, my name is Erina," the girl began," and this morning I woke up to find this lying beside my pillow." 'This' was a beautiful red rose which glistened in the sunlight. "I always check that everything's locked at night, so I don't know how it got there."
"That's exactly what happened to me!" Arrow blurted out as she produced her red rose.
Erina was shocked. "Really?" The two girls gaped at each other for a minute then turned to Vickie for a possible explanation.
Vickie shrugged. "I'm afraid I can't help you much there, except to say that you two have secret admirers? Maybe even the same one. Someone who can get in without using the doors or windows."
"I can't help you either," Trish replied when Arrow looked at her. "Unfortunately, I know who my admirer is."
"You might be able to discover their identities. There are to be a number of dances held here as part of the Convention from now until it finishes," Vickie added.
***************
Bill sat down with a hot cup of coffee from Starmiebucks. He needed to take a break from all the walking, and it was a great opportunity to get some writing done. He pondered for a moment before putting his pen to the paper. 'It was a dark and stormy night.' No, that didn't sound right. 'Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.' Now that was more like it.
"Excuse me."
Bill looked up to see a young woman standing next to him. "Excuse me, sir. I couldn't help noticing you writing away there, and I was just wondering if you were an author?"
"Why, yes I am."
The girl grinned. "That's great! I was wondering if you could give me some advice. You see, I really want to become a best selling author."
"Well, I'll try my best to help you. Please, take a seat."
"Thanks." She sat down and pushed a stray strand of brown hair out of her eyes. "My name is Veronica, but I go by my pen name of 'Mystery Squeezit'."
"That's.. an interesting name. My name is…," he paused for a second. Should he go by his real name of William Shakespeare, or should he use the new, more modern name Jessie called him? He decided to go with the latter. After all, hadn't he declared himself to be a student of modernity? When in Rome, do as the Romans do, he thought. "My name is Bill Speare. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too." Mystery Squeezit returned the compliment. "Anyway, I've been writing stories for a while now, and I'd like your opinion on them."
"What type of stories do you write?"
"Mostly stories based on characters from my favourite TV shows and stuff. What do you write?"
Bill thought about it for a moment. "I mostly write plays and poetry. Dramas, Comedies, Tragedies, Romance."
"Wow." The girl was impressed. "Could I see what you were writing?"
"Sure." Bill handed the pad over to his new friend.
She scanned the few lines of writing. "This is great! This sounds like something straight out of Shakespeare!" she exclaimed.
Bill suppressed a grin. "Do you really think so?" he said in a casual tone of voice.
"I do! And I just love all of William Shakespeare's works. I just wish I could've met him," she enthused.
Bill fought to keep a straight face. Inside he thought, You already have.
***************
Puck and Flory were flying around the crowds, casting spells here and there. Flory spotted a young chestnut-haired man boasting to a crowd of onlookers. "Who's that?" he asked his cousin.
Puck peered more closely at the young man in question. "I do believe that is Gary Oak. I remember hearing a description of him last time I was here. He's best friends and former rivals with Ash Ketchum."
The two fairies flew closer and Flory frowned as he listened to Gary's speech. "Rather arrogant and obnoxious isn't he?"
"He does have an ego the size of a mountain," Puck agreed. "Last time I was here, Ash's Pokémon told me that when they were younger, there was nothing Gary loved doing more than to humiliate Ash in public."
Flory grinned. "Well how about for fun, we give him a taste of his own medicine?"
Puck chuckled. "Why not? I like the way you think, cuz."
Flory zoomed over to where Gary stood and began the incantation. "Master Gary Oak, grandson of Professor Oak. Now here's a spell that will make you want to choke. Remember all the silly and stupid things you did as a kid? All those who knew you back then will be sure to tell everyone exactly what you did." The spell completed, the sparks flew into the Pokémon trainer.
The two cousins then flew off towards the food stands, in order to grab something to eat. Once there, they were trying to decide on Chinese or Italian when Puck spotted a large poster on one of the stalls and flew over to investigate.
"Oh, look Flory. The humans are having dances!" he exclaimed as Flory joined him. "I love dances!"
"Sounds like fun," Flory observed.
Puck had an idea. "Do you think I could dance with Arrow?"
His cousin stared at him. "Puck, you're a fairy and she's a human. How do you expect to be able to dance with her?
"You're forgetting that we have the ability to transform into humans."
"True, we can. But have you ever done it before?"
"No," Puck admitted. "But I'm willing to give it a go."
"I don't know whether I should let you do this."
"Oh, come on, Flory!" Puck implored his cousin. "Be a good sport. Besides….you could then dance with Erina."
That did it. "Okay, you win. But we'd better work on transforming after dark."
"THANK YOU!" Puck cheered. "I get to dance with Arrow! I get to dance with Arrow!" He closed his eyes in happiness and zoomed around crazily.
"Puck, I think you'd better look…." Flory began to warn his cousin, but that was as far as he got. Puck slammed into a stall post and fell….into the bowl of fruit punch.
"Ack!" Puck spluttered as he surfaced.
"Oh, no," Flory groaned as he slapped his hand to his forehead. "Here we go, again."
***************
Tracey looked at the note that his colleague had handed to him as they were closing up for the night. The note was addressed to him, but he had no idea who it was from. The note had been discovered lying on the counter after both men had come back from lunch. He opened the letter and read the following words:
"If you want the chance to see a rare Pokémon, please come to the cabin in the woods outside the Stadium tomorrow afternoon. I'll then take you to it.
A Friend."
Tracey thought about what to do. It could be a hoax or it could be genuine. The only way to find out was to turn up at the appointed time tomorrow. Even if it was a hoax, he could still sketch some wild Pokémon. He decided to accept the invitation.
****************
Later that night, after everyone had gone to bed, a tiny figure could be seen flying through the corridors of the Chateau Plateau, the biggest hotel to be found on Indigo Plateau. The figure was weaving erratically from side to side, and gently hiccupping every few minutes.
It was Puck, who had managed to slip away after his cousin had fallen fast asleep, and found himself at the hotel where his lady love was staying. He was feeling extremely happy and silly and decided to have some fun with the human guests. "Oh hotel gueshs…(hic) you...will…be the ones..to give..me(hic) the betsh…ennertainment (hic)...I've had yet (hic). Now you are ashleep..(hic) in your own beds (hic). Shome of you..will wake up…to find…yourshelf (hic) in someone else's inshtead (hic). He laughed crazily as the magic began.
***************
Drake woke up to the sound of a stifled scream. In his sleep befuddled brain, he thought that his room mate Danny would know better than to wake him up with a scream first thing in the morning. He slowly opened his eyes and then got the shock of his life. That certainly was not Danny who was staring at him from across the room…..
All over the Chateau Plateau the same scene was taking place. People were staring at each other with wide eyes and asking the same question. "What are you doing in my room?"
To be continued……
Author's Note: Many apologies for the long delay between postings but my life went crazy for a few weeks. Not all of it was bad - good things happened too. I am a Master! I graduated with my Masters Degree in Politics and Public Policy - and I've been busy filling out applications for graduate positions with the Government. My sister also had her fourth baby last week - a girl! So I was busy helping to mind her three older kids. Makes you appreciate just how much work your mother puts into looking after you!
In the next chapter - we'll find out who has landed in with who, in this game of Musical Beds. Puck is drunk as a skunk again - so watch out! And I think we all know who sent that note to Tracey… ^_^ All this and more in the next instalment of this loopy romantic comedy. The whole idea of the original story "Midsummer Madness" was rather crazy anyway. Try to combine Pokémon with Shakespeare and make it work - I was the only one crazy enough to take it on.
