Fighting the Fates

by Warlordess

Complete While making their way through Sootopolis, Ash and friends run across a local Seer who says Ash and May are fated to be together! Then Misty and Drew pop into the picture. Whatever could they have to say about this? Poke x Contestshippy fic.

2. Brock's Broken Misty

Author - Chibi / Warlordess

Disclaimer - I don't own anything. . . But Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire is coming out on DVD as of March of seventh and Misty's coming back as of April. . . first, wasn't it? So, either way, it doesn't matter, as the people who do run the shows around here are keeping up with all of it a lot better than I ever could.

OoO

Fiction Title - "Fighting the Fates"

Chapter Two - "Brock's Broken Misty!"

Summary - While making their way through Sootopolis, Ash and friends stumble across a local fortuneteller who says. . . dun, dun, dun! Ash and May are destined to be together! And then Misty and Drew pop into the picture. . . Whatever could they have to say about this? Pokeshippy and Contestshippy fic. Tee hee. :)

Ages -

Ash / 15

May / 13

Misty / 16

Drew / 14

Brock / 18

Max / 10

OoO

May groaned. Ash groaned. Max and Brock attempted to hide back their laughter. They failed. May and Ash succeeded in kicking them under the table. Brock and Max cried. Thus was the chronological order of events that took place after returning to the Sootopolis Pokemon Center.

The group was sitting in a booth in the lobby of the Center, hoping to forget everything they'd learned about their "compatibility" with one another thanks to the fortuneteller from the mall, but without much luck. It was rather hard, you see, when the person that you were supposed to be so well-off with was sitting right next to you. Not that Ash and May really thought that way about each other; there was not to be any misunderstanding anywhere along the way.

They were just friends.

But it was definitely going to be hard to convince everyone else of that when people like. . . well. . . like Brock and Max, people who were supposed to be their closest friends, kept making kissy-kissy faces at them and pointing towards broom-cupboards and handing them "Do not disturb" signs to hang on the bedroom doors for if they wanted to spend some time alone together later that day.

Ash and May sighed in unison; it was all really beginning to become too much to bear. Not only were Brock and Max refusing to relent in their humor, but the two jokers were beginning to become accustomed to the pain, so whenever the "lovers" chose to retaliate to their horrible pranks, the effects that wore on were paining the two of them less and less.

"Ash, why don't you just give into your desires?" Brock sighed despondently, feigning depression, "After all, if I had been told that my soulmate was but a few paces away, I'd only be too willing to believe it. . ."

Ash groaned again.

"Pika. . ." Pikachu attempted to comfort his trainer, patting him on the head as he looked up at his friend sitting next to him.

"Brock, that's not will, that's desperation. Anyway, why are we still talking about this? What is with your obsession with me and May? Do you and Max have some sick and twisted interest in our unhappiness?"

May blinked, "Unhappiness? Huh? C'mon, Ash, really. . . I mean. . . What is it? Am I not your type?" She put on a hurt look, her eyes watering up and her cheeks flushing crimson so that she seemed very pouty and Ash began stuttering in a way that showed he knew he'd done something wrong, but he didn't know how to make it better.

"I, er. . . I mean, it's not that, it's. . ." He turned red, muttered something unintelligibly, and then spoke in a very high-pitched voice again, ". . . It's nothing to do with that, or you, or. . . !"

"What he means to say, is. . ." And here Brock took up the microphone and Ash glanced his way appreciatively, ". . . that he's already in love with Misty and there's no way that you'll ever be able to measure up so you shouldn't even bother trying. Tough luck, May."

"W - what?" Ash said, now looking even more horrified, both at the blunt confession of his undying affection for his best friend of Cerulean City and for the straight-forward way the Breeder had told the Coordinator of it. He quickly turned back to face May again, sure that she'd be even more upset now, sure that she'd probably even get violent, attempt to throw something at him. . .

. . . She was smiling.

"Oh, c'mon, Ash. You really are a bit dense. . . I was kidding the whole time." She sighed in an over-dramatic way and swept a conscious hand to her forehead, "It's something all girls are born with, a talent, how to act." She grinned at him, then turned and scratched Pikachu's chin as the Pokemon trainer continued to look half-shocked and half-angry at this news, "But that's sweet, how you feel for Misty."

Ash seemed to be thinking of the best way to reply to this, but the only thing he could come up with was, ". . . Eh."

Brock, clearing his throat, continued the conversation, "Speaking of Misty, it's been awhile since we called her, hasn't it?" His grin seemed to have turned malevolent. Ash almost flinched as he looked at it. "Why don't we give her a shot and. . . fill her in on all that's gone on as of late. . . ?"

Ash and May's responses were instantaneous.

"NO!"

Their shouts gained the attention of half of the Center, and among the throng of the anonymous trainers. . .

"It's you guys again? So, what? Have you begun to stalk me, too?" Drew asked, sweeping a hand through his (beautiful, soft, ocean-hue) hair and smirking arrogantly as he made his way over to them. If nothing else, they groaned again, and Ash and May banged their heads against the table of the booth they were sitting at. Seeing Drew reminded them of all that had happened just a few hours ago. Drew stared at the two of them in particular at this response. "What? Not happy to see me?"

"Oh, not now, Drew. . ." May moaned, turning away, "We're not in the mood for your attitude."

Drew stood there for a couple of moments, and he seemed to be thinking about something. And then his eyes widened as though something had just come to mind and he leaned against the back of their booth, and, if possible, his slight smirk returned in an even more secure way than before.

"That's right, May, you went to have your fortune read, didn't you. . . ?" He had one of his roses out, and he was staring at it as though it was the most interesting thing in the world. May stared at it, too, refusing to look at him, because if she did, she might not have been able to look away. "So. . . what was it that she told you? Was it something to do with your future as a Coordinator? Like, maybe, the fact that you'd always be second best to your ever-dashing rival?"

"You wish!" May shouted, rising to the bait and jumping to her feet. Half of her wanted to tell him right then and there that the fortuneteller had said she and Ash were. . . well. . . "compatible" as life-mates, but the other half was a little worried of his reaction. How would he feel? Would he just congratulate them and walk away, as if nothing had changed? Would he feel a thrill of jealous rage and rip Ash from his seat, throwing a punch and telling him that if he laid a hand on "his girl" that he'd live to regret it?

And suddenly May faltered, feeling her face turn scarlet.

Drew turned to her and blinked, obviously waiting for her continuation of a comeback. That couldn't have been all she had, could it? Unfortunately, May seemed to have blown a fuse and had short-circuited. Max, sensing this, stepped forward, pushing his older sister away so that she didn't end up embarrassing herself anymore.

"Sorry, but she'll have to get back to you on that one," he told Drew as he did so, and Drew nodded, just slightly confused as to what had transpired. As soon as the Beech siblings were out of sight, he turned to Brock and Ash again, pointing his rose after them questioningly.

"Er. . . ? What was that about?" He asked.

"I'm not so sure. . . but it might have had something to do with the fact that Ash and May are fated to fall in love and get married and have lots of little May's and Ash's together, running around, Thunderbolting girl's bikes and attracting Fire-type Pokemon. . ." Brock said, smirking, and Ash growled.

"Brock!" He jumped to his feet, kicking his older friend as he untangled himself from the booth. Drew, who'd still been leaning against the back of the seat, felt himself slip, and fell ungraciously to the floor. He attempted to look unfazed as he replied to what had he'd just heard.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, the fortuneteller said something like Ash and May had a lot of traits that were well in-tune with one another and that if they were to be in a relationship together, it could last forever." And then Brock sighed, looking serious. "But they won't listen to me when I tell them that they should actually try to pay attention to what their elder's say to them. . ."

"That's because our most trusted 'elder' is a perverted Breeder-in-the-making with no eyes!" Ash commented exasperatedly, finally making his way out of the booth and stepping up to Drew's side, "Need a hand?" He said, holding one of his own out, and Drew nodded, accepting it. "It doesn't matter about destiny, or anything. If you don't feel a certain way for someone, then it's not fair to say you want to be with them, right?" He asked, and Drew nodded, although he wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical or not. "And I don't feel that way for May, so you don't have to worry."

". . . Me?" He asked, "Why would I have to worry in the first place?"

"Er, you or any other guy, then." Ash gave a sheepish laugh, "Yea, that's what I meant."

OoO

In the Woman's Washroom, May felt the cool rush of water against her face and sighed despondently, finally recovered from the incident having taken place beforehand. She just couldn't understand it, what had happened. Drew had always been so rude and obnoxious; at least, when he wasn't being witty, handsome, and courteous. . .

"Ugh, how annoying. . . !" She exclaimed as she dried off her face, just in time for her brother to call out from beyond the bathroom door.

"Are you okay now, May?" And he actually sounded a little worried for her. . .

"I'm fine, Max, no need to call the paramedics or anything. . ." She replied.

"Then what happened?" And her laugh faltered again immediately, her face flushing unexpectedly at the thought. Ugh. What had happened? She didn't even want to think about it. . . "I mean, you're not very good at confrontation anyway, but you've never just stood there and let Drew come at you like that. . . If I didn't know any better, I'd say you had a stress-related collapse. . . maybe caused by some newly discovered feelings for someone. . . ?" Her brother ended in a slow, serious tone, and May felt herself cripple slowly but surely under the truth of the matter.

"I. . . I mean, no. . . That can't be. . . it. . ." She turned to face the large mirror and gave herself a good, long, and hard look, ". . . Not for him. . ."

"Yea. . . I wouldn't have expected you to fall for Ash either, May, but beggars can't be choosers, you know? So if you think that there's a chance that the fortuneteller's right, then you'd better come out with it now while you've got the time, because. . ." Max could tell that wherever he was going with his statement was the wrong place because he could sense the dark waves wafting from underneath the door.

"I. Do. Not. Love. Ash." May said in a loud and clear voice that easily reached him. She stomped out of the bathroom and stood before him in all of her older-sister glory, bearing down upon him with an evil look upon her face. "Look, Max, I appreciate your enthusiasm in the matter, but I really don't feel anything for Ash other than friendship; whatever happened earlier had nothing to do with him, believe me! It had to do with. . ." And here she glanced at Drew, felt her cheeks turn slightly pink, and then faced her kid brother again, ". . . yea, not Ash. So get over it. . . What's wrong. . . ?" For Max was looking just a bit troubled.

"I'm thinking about what the woman was telling us, remember when we were walking away from her? She said that even if what you and Ash had wasn't destiny, choosing to ignore it would probably cause a good deal of trouble. . . Do you think she had a point. . . ? I'm just worried for you and Ash is all. . . and you know, it's your fault."

"Huh? What? How is it my fault?" May asked, angry.

"Well, you're the one who was interested in learning what your future held for you to begin with, remember? Not us. Your the one who led us to the woman. Not us. Your the one who pleaded with Brock to agree to let you spend another ten dollars on that last thing, and then paid her to tell you what you wanted to know. Not us. . . You see where I'm going with this yet?" He asked her, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose in a geeky manner.

"Fine; yea, I get it. I may have inadvertently ruined mine and Ash's lives, and I'm sorry. Whoopsy-daisy. Can we move on now?" After a look from her younger brother, she sighed again and rubbed unenthusiastically at the back of her neck, "Right, right; I get it. . . I know I dragged everyone into this, and I'll go and apologize. . . but only after Drew's gone. I'd rather not let him find out that Ash and I are meant to be together, you know? Who knows how he'd react to that?"

Max didn't fully understand what she meant by asking him that question, but turned and pointed either way, "Er. . . Too late. I think he just found out."

May looked around too in time to see her rival hit the ground, hard, in a very unflattering position. She'd never seen Drew fall before, and for the very simple explanation that Drew never fell. She had a feeling that, if she were to ever ask him why that was, he would tell her that it was because he was inexplicably flawless. She rolled her eyes at the thought, but her inner-irritation lasted only two seconds before she understood. . .

. . . Drew knew. . .

"Oh, no. . . !" She moaned, looking horrified, and took off again for the booth that the group had been sitting at earlier, trying to think of an explanation that would fit best for the whole thing, but then, how would she explain to him why she was defending herself against him? Ugh. How annoying. Max followed after her as well. "Er, hi guys; h - how's it going?"

"So, May, it turns out that you've got something of a great future going for you after all." Whoa, what a look Drew was giving her as he said that. . . It wasn't a look that she could place, but it was definitely a look. Yea, it meant nothing, did it?

"Uh, er. . . y - yea. . . You know. . . 'Cause m - me and Ash, yea. . . We. . ." She attempted to say something witty in return, but it died instantly in her throat. "No way! That fortuneteller was way wrong! Ugh; she has no idea what she's talking about, or hasn't Ash told you yet that we don't have anything going for us? Nothing she says is going to change that!"

Brock, standing in the background with his hands behind his back, began humming a wedding march under his breath. Ash and May turned and glared.

"So, then, you guys really don't think that there's any chance at all that she's right? But her predictions have been known to be one-hundred percent accurate! Why else do you think she was drawing such a crowd?" And Drew quirked an eyebrow in question.

Brock changed his tune quickly from the wedding march, to Mandy Moore.

"'I've got a crush on you! I hope you feel the way that I do. . . !'" He sung off-key.

"Hey, Brock? Isn't that Nurse Joy? She's looking so attractive today, isn't she? Or have you turned gay? You know, I hear James from Team Rocket has shown a sudden interest in you. . . Maybe you should get a start on proving your manhood." Ash stated dryly.

Brock's jaw dropped and he leapt madly for the front desk of the Center, leaving the rest of the group alone. Max, taking a leaf out of the Breeder's book, chose to chill out for a while.

"I'll go with him and make sure that he doesn't go too far. We don't need anymore restraining orders." He ruffled a hand through his dark hair and went after the oldest member of the group, who was back to his usual, useless flirt of a self in an instant.

"Me, too." Ash said, and followed after the other two.

"So. . ." May started up in conversation again, sensing that she and Drew were alone, ". . . Look, have you ever heard the saying that there's a first time for everything? Well, Ash and I are clearly just friends, and I'm not interested in him. . . I don't plan on ever being interested in him. . ." She allowed herself a grin, "There's nothing for you to be worried about."

Drew blinked, and then, in explanation of a scoff, "Maybe you're misunderstanding me. I'm not worried. After all, I'm not so superstitious as to believe in something as destiny. . . And fortunetelling is a very off way to try and figure out how your life's going to turn out, isn't it? Only those who aren't confident about themselves would resort to such means. . . And that means that I would never do that on my own."

"Oh. . ." For once, she wasn't inclined to fight back. She was rather disappointed, however, that he hadn't seemed to be affected by the fact that he might have been close to. . . "losing" her, maybe? . . . to Ash. She hadn't been hoping for anything concrete, like a confession of undying love and affection, but something, anything, to show that he was even just slightly liable to care about the situation at all. . . "Well, I guess that this is all for now, then. I'll see you next time, Drew." And she waved at him and gave him half a smile to show that it was at least on good terms that they were to depart, and he seemed to falter in his stance.

"What's that mean?"

"Well, don't you have places to go, fans to avoid, autographs to sign? And Ash, the others, and I are gonna stick it out here in Sootopolis for the next couple of days to give the Pokemon a break, so. . ." Drew was looking at her with the strangest expression on his face.

". . . I think that I deserve a bit of a vacation," he replied, not looking her in the eye, and walking towards the front desk to sign out a room at the Center.

Somehow, that was enough for her.

OoO

It was hours later, and most of the occupants of the Sootopolis Pokemon Center were asleep. A tall figure slowly and carefully made his way from the back, across the threshold, and into the lobby. It was amazing that he could see anything, especially as, just as his friend had said to him earlier that day, he had no eyes, but he made his way stealthily over to one of the video-phones beside the front door just the same and picked up the receiver, dialing for the operator.

". . . I'm trying to reach the Cerulean City Gym." He said in the clearest whisper he could muster, knowing that anything louder would reach his friends, and that said friends would then commit murder. "Er, thank you." Brock drummed his fingers on the counter as he listened to the automatic ringing of the phone placing the call through, and then, thinking ahead, flipped on the video-signal, and the monitor switched on.

". . . Good morning, this is Misty of the Cerulean City Gym speaking; how may I help you today?" Came a bored reply from the other end of the line, and Brock raised an eyebrow, suppressing a laugh. It would be morning there, wouldn't it? And it would be early, too, considering, meaning that there probably wouldn't have been time for any trainers to have come and issued a challenge for a Cascade badge as of yet.

Nevertheless, she needn't sound so uninterested. Well. . . he knew one way to change that attitude, whether it was for better or worse.

"Hey, Misty? It's Brock; can you turn on your video monitor?"

"Oh, thank God, I thought I was going to die if someone didn't try to call me up soon!" She said, and he heard her shuffle some useless items around to find the said switch, ". . . So, what's been going on lately with you guys? I haven't heard from you in a while. Isn't it late wherever you are? Where's May, and Max, and. . . Ash?" She seemed to be trying not to sound too excited at the thought of her best friend as he heard a click and her face appeared quite suddenly, looking excited at the sight of him.

"Oh, actually, they're. . . sleeping, but that's okay, because I wanted to talk to you on my own!" He said as her face fell at the news.

"Er, this isn't gonna fall into the category of some declaration of everlasting love, is it. . . ?" She asked, sounding as though she thought it were truly possible of him, "I mean, I know you've been rejected a million times over, Brock, but, you know, it's not time to throw in the towel, I don't think. You should keep at it for a little while longer, you never know, you might still be able to find a girl whose crazy enough to. . ."

". . . Whose crazy?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow, "Never mind. I don't want to know. But, yea, there's this thing that happened recently, actually, today, and I thought that it was something you'd want to know, given your, er, condition. . ." He stared pointedly at her until her face flushed bright red and they both reached a silent understanding. ". . . Right. Well, it's about Ash and May, and, well, you may not like it, but it's got to do with their future. . ." And he began the long tale of the group's trek through the Sootopolis shopping center leading up to their visit to the fortuneteller, ". . . And I don't know whether or not you believe in that type of stuff anyway, because I don't, but. . . well, the woman said that Ash and May. . . she said they had a lot of stuff in common, things that mattered when in a long-term relationship with one another. . . She said that they'd do well to spend the rest of their lives together. . ."

He held the receiver away from his ear, fully expecting her to blow up at him at this news, but she didn't seem to have anything to say in response. He faced the monitor and saw her staring back at him, or through him, or something like that, her jaw slack, her eyes slightly wide, her grip on the phone slipping in such a way that it fell a moment later and clattered as it hit the floor. It seemed that whether or not she believed in fortunetelling, she still thought that the opinion that Ash and May were well-suited for one another was worth something in itself. . .

"Er. . . Misty. . . ? Misty. . . ! A - are you gonna wake up? Hello?" Brock attempted to rouse her from her catatonic state by waving at her through the screen, shouting into the receiver, forgetting that it was nowhere near her ear in any case, sighing, "Hey, you don't really have to worry, it's not like they feel that way for each other. . . C'mon, Misty, listen to me. . . I just thought it was funny, really." But she didn't seem to be paying any attention to him. "Oh, would you get over it? If you really think that there's any chance at all of Ash running off with some other girl, let alone with May, then you should get over here and look after him for yourself! I mean, think about it! The best way to prevent him from being snagged by someone else is to get him first, right?"

She still didn't reply. It seemed that she didn't have anything to say to him after all. Growing irritated by her lack of a response, Brock ran a hand through his hair; he was also just a bit worried, and not just for Misty. At this point, he'd be in trouble, too, not to mention. . .

His eyes widened at the thought and, losing himself, he hung up and ran across the Pokemon Center lobby and down the back hallway that led to the guestrooms that the trainer's reserved for overnight stays. He made it back to the one he and the rest of his friends had saved for themselves, crept back inside, and found his way to Ash's side in no time.

Ash, just like every other normal person at one in the morning, was snoring peacefully. Not caring at all if he disturbed his friend's sleeping pattern, Brock began shaking Ash forcefully awake.

"Ash. . . Ash. . . ! Get up. . . !" Brock whispered as loudly as he could without waking up either May or Max, who were both sleeping on the top bunks of the two bunk beds, "Damnit, Ash; I think. . . I - I'm sorry but. . . I think I broke Misty!"

OoO

Notes - Whoa, that was fun to write. Lotsa fun, really; heh. Anyway, yea, I hope to have the next chapter up within another week or so, if I can help it. . . Uhm, what else should I be saying right now? Er, thanks for the reviews you guys gave me (to those of you who weren't too lazy to actually review, Jillie Rose), and I hope to get just as many this time around, if not more, as long as FFN will actually let me upload this stupid chapter when I want to! (Ugh, stupid site, I swear to. . . not God, but. . .)

Anyway, yes, what do you all think so far? Is the fic funny? Is it. . . er. . . romantic? Is Drew horribly out of character? Unfortunately, I've only seen about thirty minutes of him in the anime all-together, and while I clearly support him and May together, and while I have this horrible obsession with him and his luscious, hot, sparkly hair. . . Yea. . . It's just not something I can help at this point, you know? We'll just have to live with it. Is anyone else out of character? (Or at least, so out of character that it should be dealt with immediately, or else I should just stop writing fics for ever and eternity?)