"Shit," he swore, waking up with a throbbing headache.
Okay, so maybe this time he had overdone the drinking a little too much. He glanced blearily at his surroundings. His gaze fell upon a figure walking towards him, smiling. She seated herself beside him as he slowly got up. His eyesight sharpened, then blurred. But he'd caught the image in his mind. Black hair, blue eyes, cheerful grin. He'd know that face anywhere.
"Hey," she cooed, "How's your head?" she asked, running a hand through his hair.
That voice… Reality kicked in and he cleared his vision forcefully, startling her into returning her hand to her side. That smile didn't exist anymore. Not for him to see, at least. Never for him. Not anymore. Why?
Ashley tilted her head, pouting, staring back at him with her watery blue eyes. Her blonde hair draping evenly around her shoulders. Gary glanced at her blearily, disappointment seeping into his heart. Why couldn't it have been her?
"What's wrong?" she asked with another one of her hurt expressions and an annoyingly babyish voice.
Suggestive and babyish. Didn't she have a third expression?
"Nothing. What's for breakfast?" he asked instead.
He gave her a half smile. She wasn't really worth the effort, but he wasn't in the mood for an argument this morning. In fact, he wasn't in the mood for anything to do with thinking.
Ashley gave him her "Are you mad?" look.
"I don't know. You haven't made it yet."
Again. That stupid voice. What happened to the days when every guy had his own girl cook for him? Mia could make excellent pancakes. A voice broke into his thoughts.
"I'm hungry," she complained, pouting.
'Make your own food, then,' he thought back mentally.
Outwardly, he gave a nod of his head and stood up, edging to the bathroom.
"Call Autumn's," he called back to her casually.
"Jay, it's six in the morning," groaned Mia, as her best friend started tugging at her shirt.
"Well if you don't hurry now, we'll have to go and run with the neighbourhood wannabe's," she replied loftily.
Mia groaned at the thought. The 'Neighbourhood wannabe's' were a gang of twenty something's who felt they were capable of handling the gangster lifestyle. Well, they had the look… And the speech… As well as the attitude… of complete wannabe gangsters. Sighing, she rolled her eyes.
Amateurs.
"Okay, I'm up, I'm up!" she exclaimed when the persistent nudging began.
She stumbled into the bathroom and returned with perfectly straight hair tied up into pigtails and butterfly clips, only to come face to face with an outfit personally chosen by Jay. Her eyes stung the moment she saw it.
"No, Jay."
"Why not?"
"You know very well why not."
"Come on, Mia, how long has it been? Why should it matter?"
She turned away.
"It doesn't."
"Then wear it," she challenged, looking directly at Mia.
Mia stared blankly at the outfit. It wasn't anything special. Just a black shirt with a white print. So why should it matter? Her hand reached out tentatively to touch the piece of clothing…
Flashback
She swore as a gaping wound appeared on her shoulder, tearing her shirt and drenching it in blood. Having glanced at it, she narrowly missed the swing to her side, jumping away just in time. It stung, but it wasn't enough to immobilise her.
"You said no weapons!" she yelled angrily, glaring at her opponent.
Yenna flicked back her purple-streaked red hair.
"So I lied," she replied casually, "What's it to you?"
"Bitch!" she snapped, ducking as her opponent chucked a dagger at her.
The rest of the Amazons appeared from within the shadows. At the age of 13, she had been too trustworthy and had expected a one-on-one battle without any interference. As a result, she hadn't called for backup. But backup showed anyway.
Gary stepped forth just in time to save Mia from receiving a stab wound to her side. The Amazons hissed in anger, stepping forth just as their leader twisted her way out of his grip and jumped away.
"Look what the cat dragged in," she spat, glaring at the intruder.
Gary smirked and folded his arms, staring confidently back at her.
"Forget it Yenna. We're leaving. Come on," he said, taking Mia's hand and leading her away.
A flick of the hand and Sylphie stood in their way, alongside Nina.
"I didn't tell you to leave, did I? The fight hasn't ended just yet," she said, smirking.
Gary sighed dramatically.
"Well, if that's what you want," he said, turning to face her, a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Smirking right back, she nodded and took out a poke ball.
"Flareon!"
Gary stared blankly at the fire pokemon, whose coat had been streaked with black ashes. He glanced at Umbreon, then nodded. It bounded towards its opponent, stopping a few feet short of its target.
"You can make the first move," he offered carelessly.
"With pleasure," shot back Yenna with a malicious smile.
"Flareon, bite!"
"Faint attack."
Flareon moved forward, only to find itself faced without an opponent. Umbreon reappeared and tackled Flareon from the side, wincing slightly as it made contact with Flareon's flames. Yenna sneered at this as Flareon picked itself up off the ground.
"Can't stand the heat? You should know better than to use an attack like that on my Flareon."
"And you should know better than to use a Dark attack against Umbreon," he retorted swiftly.
Mia stared at Flareon's leg. It had fallen upon it and seemed to be at a slight angle and causing Flareon pain, but Yenna didn't seem to realise.
"Umm…"
"Shut up, kid," she snapped before Mia could get a word in.
Mia huffed, mildly offended, folding her arms and sitting cross legged on the floor, pouting.
"Flareon, flamethrower!"
As the flames began to form in its mouth, Umbreon tackled it without Gary's orders. It knocked Flareon back into a wall as it choked, preventing its attack from being unleashed.
"Get up!" she roared furiously.
Flareon's weak attempt to stand upright was unsuccessful, and Mia couldn't help but wonder when it had last been taken for a check up. Flareons were strong by nature and normally extremely difficult to defeat when the opposition's abilities were mainly based around contact. Seeing her pokemon unable to stand, Yenna fumed and stormed towards it.
"Worthless creature!" she snarled, "You aren't fit to be an Amazon!"
With that, she kicked it across the floor as the watchers hissed in anger at the pokemon who had brought them shame. Mia leapt to its side, picking it up gently and rocking it in her arms. Now she saw that it had been starved, marking it as a new pokemon. The Amazon training technique demanded that the pokemon train for the food and, if it is unsuccessful in passing the training, it would be starved as punishment.
"Take it," she snapped carelessly, "Failure does not belong to my tribe."
"The failure was brought on by the trainer, not the pokemon itself," replied Gary coolly.
Yenna glowered at him.
"How dare you…"
"Anyone who treats their pokemon like that isn't worth my time," he continued, turning away from her.
"What? Now you're in for it! Alakazam!"
The moment it appeared, Gary rolled his eyes.
"My my, we are feeling rather unintelligent today, aren't we, Yenna?" he drawled sarcastically, "Even you should know psychic pokemon don't work against dark types. Abra!"
The moment his pokemon appeared, he looked over his shoulder and smirked at Yenna before leading Mia and Flareon to Abra, Umbreon by his side.
"Teleport."
End Flashback
The blood had come out in the wash, thankfully enough. The sleeve had been torn, but Jay had just torn the other side to match it. There wasn't an excuse.
But she wasn't ready to forgive him just yet.
"No, Jay," she replied firmly, taking out her favourite sky blue top with "Star" written across it in white.
Jay stared at her in disbelief as she walked into the bathroom. Had she truly forgotten? Or was it just a slip of the mind? Or maybe… something else?
Sky blue top with "Star" across it… Yeah, she'd seen it millions of times before. That was the shirt Gary had given her for her 12th birthday.
Hey all! Sorry this took so long... I've been busy... and moody... Mainly moody though. Well, enjoy, and please review! Feedback would be great. I'm aiming to lengthen my chapters, but it's difficult when you have no diea where the story's headed... Hope you enjoy it so far! Criticism would help a lot. Thanks!
Angel Skykitten