A/N: Hey everyone! This LaLaLaGurl, and I'm so excited to be finally typing a chappy! Now, first of all, I have to give credit to some of the humor in this chapter to my brother. He was watching me like a hawk, while I was typing on his SUPER slow laptop. Anyways, there are a few warnings on this chapter. Coarse language, major bleeding (but not too descriptive), death (Let's see who it is! I bet you all hope its Alexander.), extreme length compared to other chapters, and finally, and a secret kiss (oo!). If you are offended by coarse language, I'm deeply sorry, but this is a very colorful group of ten-year olds. Anyways, this is going to be the longest chapter in the story. Hey, who can blame me for packing everything I could into what might be the only chapter I write? BTW, when there are a series of capital X's, followed by a phrase, and more X's, the time mentioned in that phrase has passed. Those were the moments I felt the chapter could live without. It's a little slow in parts, but has plenty of dramatic scenes, so bear with me. I should probably shut up now. So, enjoy and R&R!
It was Alexander.
"Wait, wait…is that Zach Optic? He's a bad guy, and part of Team Laser. Why didn't you tell us sooner? We have to hurry, apparently he's after April, you, and I," Eric said.
Alexander scowled, "I hurry my frickin' ass over here to warn you, and all I get is a "why didn't you tell us sooner?" in your whiny little voice?"
April stepped in between the two, sort of like guarding Eric from Alexander. "Don't you dare do anything to him. One move and your face will look like mashed potatoes by the time I'm done with you."
"Oh, of course you would stand up for your gay, wimpy boyfriend." Alexander flapped his arms retardedly and used a voice that was quite wimpy and high.
"Well, if he was my boyfriend, why would he be - "
April was interrupted by Eric, "SHUT UP! Why can't I stand up for myself?"
Suddenly, Alexander gasped, a rare sight. It wasn't because of Eric's outburst; it was because he had spotted a flash of red and yellow.
They weren't alone. Zach was in the park.
"Guys," he hissed, "Get down!"
It was too bad that Eric and April were in a full-out fight.
"Shut your face, Klan!"
"Why don't you, Hope? Did I tell you that that "gorgeous little yellow shirt" makes you look as fat as hell?"
"JUST BOTH SHUT UP! THE ONE TIME YOU TWO FIGHT IS WHEN YOU NEED TO SHUT YOUR FRICKIN' MOUTHS! SHUT IT AND LET ME LIVE FOR AT LEAST FOR A MINUTE!" Alexander practically screamed.
Eric and April both looked at Alexander's red-as-a-tomato face and said simultaneously, "He needs to quiet down…"
Another flash of red and yellow later, all three of the rivals were huddled in a perfectly placed, tight little circle of bushes. It was extraordinarily tight, though, and the closeness was already making Alexander sweat and mumble profanities.
"Shhhh…" Eric whispered.
Something rustled, and the trio jumped. A loud voice greeted them, the owner grinning widely like a child.
"Hey guys! What are you three doing, making out in the bushes?" Barry said, still grinning. April flinched. He had said it painfully loudly.
"Can I join you?" Barry asked when he received no response from any of them.
"Just shut up kid. Come and join us if you like, but I guarantee it won't exactly be a five-star hotel," quipped Alexander.
Barry excitedly squealed and stepped in daintily. Then he realized something. "Hey, I'm not a kid, I'm five years older than you," Barry said, not really proving his point, since he sounded a lot like a kid at that moment.
April sighed and rolled her eyes.
Eric suddenly started twitching, first slowly, and then it became incontrollable, as if he was having a seizure. Then, he threw up, right into Alexander's lap.
Barry was obviously daydreaming. Then, out of the blue, he remarked, like it was a casual thing, "Hey, I'm collecting poison barbs. Did you see the size of that one on the bench over there? I wonder how it got there." He resumed daydreaming, probably about the origin of the poison barb.
Alexander groaned, knowing that poison barbs needed an antidote only found deep in the Viridian Forest. He also knew that now, Klan would do anything to throw up on him again.
April had other ideas. Team Laser. She thought that they should probably keep moving, preferably into Viridian City. She, as well as Alexander knew that the antidote was there, and if they didn't find it fast, Eric would die. She explained all of this to the others.
Some, like Eric and Barry didn't want to move on. The condition of Eric's body was haunting him, and he obviously didn't want to die. Alexander then taunted him, saying that, "Oh, too bad Eric, dearie, I'll carry you to the nearest Pokecenter," in a sickly sweet voice.
Barry was pretty easy to convince. All it took was a simple, "why don't you find some more poison barbs in Viridian Forest?" from April to get Barry squealing like a little girl on her birthday.
Footsteps were coming near them. Zach's footsteps. Eric, scared, practically ran towards the path to Viridian, and let April take the lead when the remaining three caught up. She knew this road well, since she often took it with her mother, who was a Pokémon doctor. Emergencies called Mrs. Hope to Viridian, where mortally wounded Pokémon often were heard crying out in pain in the hallways of the Viridian City Pokecenter.
April absentmindedly called out to the group, "Watch out for that broken glass there," which seemingly caused Eric to start twitching.
"Uh-oh…" Barry muttered.
"Fuck!" Alexander muttered.
In a burst, Eric was on the ground, body directly above the glass. His entire back was writhing on the glass, and boy, it looked sharp, like somebody had placed it there on purpose. The scarlet blood splashed onto the normally brown and dusty dirt road.
Everyone started screaming. They all hurried to carry him to the Viridian Pokecenter.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X TEN MINUTES LATER X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
It was too late. Eric was dead. He had lost too much blood for a regular human to survive. The doctors were still frantically trying to shock him back to life, but it was no use. He had been gone for a minute and thirty seconds already.
Everyone had tears in their eyes, even Alexander. Barry was outright bawling, more like a child over some spilt ice cream than mourning a friend. April was sobbing quietly in the corner, so affected by the loss of her best friend. She should have said sorry when she had a chance. Now Eric would always remember her for the argument they had.
They had had a bad day. But it was a miraculous day as well.
An extremely groggy and weak Eric sat up. He squinted without his glasses, but couldn't see them anywhere in sight. Then he noticed something strange. "Hey, Alexander, are you…crying?" His voice came out as a croak, but Alexander heard him all right.
Without realized what Eric speaking meant, Alexander had a rush of rage. "Your shitty dying caused my damned eyes to water. Fuck!"
That was when Barry started running around. "I'm immortal! I'm immortal! Doctors will shock me back to life! I'm immortal!"
April blinked once. Twice. Three times. She snapped out of her reverie and pounced on her friend, now sobbing tears of joy. "I-I-I'm-m s-o-oo s-s-orr-y-y!"
Eric winced, since though April was a light girl, any pressure on his healing body caused him pain. April quickly noticed that, and hopped gracefully onto the ground.
Alexander came, stepping quietly, and knuckle-bumped Eric. "Hey, glad you're alive, man."
Next, Barry, who didn't really go voluntarily, for Alexander had pushed him, not wanting to be the only one showing some sort of manly affection to Eric. Then, at the last moment, he realized that Barry was not a very manly person. Barry was still mumbling to himself, and it sounded sort of like, "Immortal…yes, I'm immortal…immortal…how much should I fine Alexander for pushing me…immortal…I'm immortal."
Barry glanced at a twenty dollar bill sticking out of Alexander's pocket. He acted on instinct, and snatched it greedily. Alexander reached for it at the same time, causing the bill to rip clean in half.
"FUCK! I was planning to buy some new boxers. I think I pissed my pants over Klan-Boy here dying. I would've added a nice touch to my collection of seven," Alexander said and pointed to a store with a pair of boxers on display with a pattern of pink Pokeballs on it.
April wrinkled her nose. "I didn't even know they made pink Pokeballs."
"Nope. There's the Cherish Ball, the Love Ball - " the resident nerd in the room begun, but was interrupted by the sound of his mother's voice.
"MOM?"
"Yes, Angela, he's alright, just weak. He went through a lot. He died for two entire minutes, did you know?"
"Oh, Joy, I was already so worried about him going on his first Pokémon journey. I don't know why they let the children go at ten, such a young age. If it were up to me, they'd go at twenty. That's why Eric's father is – is…"
"Now, Angie, darling, it isn't your fault that criminal Zach Optic killed Peter. And dear, if they went so late, they wouldn't ever learn independence, you know?"
"He already almost killed, Joy, right here in Pallet Town. That's almost impossible! That's why 90% of the population is old, Joy. That autistic kid Barry saved him. I can't believe it."
Eric sighed. He wanted to know the facts, and was tired of Barry eavesdropping on Mom and Auntie Joy. "Barry? Is she here? I don't want to talk to her. She'll just force me under, like, house arrest in Pallet Town, and I know that I have to help you guys stop Team Laser."
Barry blinked away a few tears before answering. He was sensitive about his autism, even though it wasn't too bad. "Video chat."
Alexander smirked at Barry. "So you are autistic, dumbass."
Barry started weeping into his hands, "I-I need to use t-the washroom!"
April and Eric glared at Alexander.
"You're mean."
"So? After all those years of annoying us, and being a retard in general, he deserves it. I knew something was wrong with his head. I'm surprised there isn't anything wrong with your head too, Hope"
"Shut up Alexander. He's a good guy, okay? He can't help it if he's different from you. In fact, I'm glad he's different from you. Better "retarded" than an egotistical, big heading, bitch. Hey, Eric, can you go get Barry? I'm sure he'd appreciate it."
Eric groaned a little and got off the bed. "Sure."
Eric took the path that took him as far from the video chat machines as possible. It was good that there was only one men's washroom, or he might be looking for a while. He really wanted to shorten this search, since he didn't want to leave April and Alexander together in the same room for a long time.
Meanwhile, Barry had cleaned himself up to a point that he thought was fine, and was exiting the washrooms, unfortunately for Eric. When he walked back to Eric's hospital room, he found Alexander's lips on April's and immediately started giggling.
Then, in a split second they were apart, and April was staring at her bottle of hand sanitizer, wondering if she could use it on her lips.
Alexander looked smug. "Looks like the love bug hit our own Ms. April Hope. And guess who she's fallen for. Yours truly."
A squealish version of the rhyme was being recited by Barry, "Alexander and April sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G, first comes looove, then comes marriage, then comes Alexander with the Pokémon carriage!"
April was staring daggers at Alexander. "I DID NOT kiss you. If you remember clearly, which obviously you don't, I was trying to stab you in the head with a ruler, and slipped on something that looked like your drool, and, consequently, landed on your face."
She suddenly ran off.
"Where are you going, April?"
All he could make out was, "WASH – FACE!"
Alexander followed quickly after her.
"Wait! There aren't that many germs in here. It's a HOSPITAL, for God's sake!" Then, he looked at Barry, who was giggling.
"What happened, Barry?"
All he could hear was more giggling.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X TEN MINUTES LATER X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
"I still can't believe you two kissed! What did April's lips taste like, Alexander?" Eric laughed.
"Hell," came the reply.
"Well, I still can't believe it!" Eric looked back to see that the others had stopped, and were looking up. He backtracked a few steps and looked up as well.
They were at the Viridian Forest. Finally.
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X THREE HOURS LATER X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X
"I cannot believe you got us lost, Alexander!" yelled April.
"Well, I'm so-orry, but whose idea was it for me to navigate, huh?"
Both Eric and April pointed at Barry, who turned away, and continued studying the poison barb he had found, just before Alexander could sit on it.
April continued, "It's just like the time you got us lost at the playground when we were five. It was, frankly, only the size of a single bedroom."
Alexander raised his hands in surrender. "Hey, at that time, it was the largest playground I had ever seen, not to mention the largest playground at Pallet Town. If I remember correctly, it had 24 pieces of equipment."
"You're a bigger nerd than Eric!"
"Hey!" said Eric.
"Anyways," April continued, "Technically, there was only one PIECE of equipment, just twenty-four different TYPES."
"Oh, yeah, that's totally different. Now who's nerdier than Eric, huh? If your brain is so big, why don't you navigate?"
"Well, why don't you? Brain too small?"
"GAH! Now I have to navigate in the dark!" Alexander complained, but it was true. They had tried to hold on to the daylight, but the sun had gone completely down while they were arguing. Now, the only light was the hollow glow of the moon, and the specks of the stars, which really wasn't much, so they hardly saw Eric starting to have another seizure-like attack.
The reason they noticed was because he was starting to make strange, guttural choking sounds.
When he spotted a Pokémon, he stopped twitching. "I need another Pokémon! And that one is a Beedrill. Great for my team!
"Wait! The Beedrill is holding something!"
"THE ANTIDOTE!"