Hey guys! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Sorry for that. Merry Christmas, though, and Happy New Year!
Anyway, concerning the guesses on what Leaf is, guys, you all get a silver star. Close, but no cigar. Though one of you almost scared me with how accurate your guess was. I'm not going to say who was really close to being right. As the storyline progresses, I'm sure you guys will get it. Though to be honest, I'm really glad none of you guessed it. It would've made this story less interesting for me if my plot was revealed ;)
And also, I kinda lied about it not being a huge mystery. It's the central mystery for the characters in the story, but I was intending for you guys to find out some time before they do. Sorry about being contradictory. I think that at the time that I wrote my author note, I probably wasn't thinking…
I'd like to thank L. , ShinyEsp, Spacebar, Guest, pikachushinystar, Otter4242, and xX Shining Diamond Xx for reviewing the last chapter.
Warning: Possible OOCness from the canon characters. Yours truly also has a bad sense of humor. Also, I decided to update on a sort of whim and it's about 1 am in the morning and I am braindead. Editing was minimal to nonexistent. So feel free to point out mistakes in PM.
Disclaimer: I do not Pokémon. Period.
"Aha!" May declares triumphantly as she holds her open hand towards her boyfriend. "You've just landed in my space. Pay up!"
Drew mutters under his breath before reluctantly parting ways with his wad of fake money.
"Well aren't you a little tycoon," Dawn teases the brunette. "You're practically giving all of us a run for our money."
"May," Ash whines, giving her the puppy dog look, "Can you please sell me your bail card?"
Gary laughs loudly, "But you're broke, Ashy Boy!"
The group is playing Monopoly Pokémon, though the eight of them basically took two boards and smushed it together as one.
To Misty's amusement, Ash attempted to buy the Cerulean Gym several times. Of course, the raven-haired trainer could not afford it with all the pokémon he kept buying, and eventually Ash ended up in jail…on multiple occasions.
"It's Leaf's turn," Kenny reminds them, taking the dice from Drew and handing it to the mute brunette.
Leaf rolls the dice, her top lip biting down on the bottom one in determination. She takes a quick glance at the dice once it has come to a stop, and swiftly moves her token nine spaces.
Kenny whistles in amazement, "Good roll."
Misty blinks, "I'll say. With that property, you can challenge May."
Leaf only smiles, but Gary can see a sly look in her eyes. She is up to something.
"If she does, May's no longer the Monopoly Queen," Dawn comments, twirling a strand of her dark blue hair.
"If she wins," Drew corrects, in slight defense of his girlfriend.
"Somebody bail me out of jail," Ash pleads. "Or at least visit me. I'm so looooonnnnely."
"Sorry," Gary flicks the raven-haired male on the forehead, "but you just reek of desperation, Ashy Boy."
"Shush!" May hushes them fiercely with a finger to her lips. "Leaf's going to go!"
"Are you buying Viridian city Gym?" Gary turns to the aforementioned girl. "It's going to cost you every single cent of the money you have."
"How can a gym possibly cost that much?!" Misty mutters when she picks up the property card to hand it to Leaf.
"A lot of facilities in there," Gary snorts, remembering the brief time that he had been forced to act as a gym leader. "There's a nice pool in there too, though it's not a huge aquarium like Cerulean City's."
Leaf gives a resolute nod in response to Gary's earlier question, handing her money to Gary, who had been chosen as the game's banker.
"You shouldn't have listened to them earlier," May rubs her hands mischievously before she reaches over Leaf's lap to grab the dice. "That wasn't a particularly good investment."
Leaf says nothing as May rolls and moves her token.
"Oooh!" Dawn claps her hands together and leans forward in excitement. "You get to draw a chance card!"
May takes a yellow card from the top of the stack. She instantly pales.
"What's the matter, April?" Drew takes it from her hands with a dramatic flourish and flick of his green hair.
"Team Rocket strikes and robs all your property of its pokémon. Values of your gyms decrease by 20%," Drew reads aloud.
"That's not even possible!" Kenny's mouth drops open. "Don't gyms have security?"
"Oh, they do," Misty rolls her eyes, "safety regulations and all. But some gym leaders think that the electrical power should go more towards their spotlights and special effects."
"And by 'some', you mean your sisters?" Dawn guesses.
"Brock had spotlights too," Ash laughs. "and he also went overboard on the sprinklers. It weakens his pokémon, so why would he do that?!"
"Anyway," May takes an orange card from the group of paper cash in front of her. "I have this."
"Insurance," Gary reads aloud after plucking the card from the brunette's hand. "If you lose your pokémon, other players are required to give you a pokémon of their choice and $200."
"How the Arceus is that 'insurance'?!" Drew demands, a look of disbelief on his face.
"That can't be a real card!" Kenny argues. "I just got some good pokémon!"
"I'm out," Dawn groans as she passes up the money and the pokémon. Her extravagant ways of spending had carried on to the Monopoly game as well.
"Woohoo!" Ash cheers as he grabs Dawn's token for her and moves to the jail block, "I'm not the only one in jail!"
"I can't be in jail!" Dawn looks appalled.
Kenny laughs as he nudges Dawn with his shoulder, "Relax, Deedee. Just don't make a habit of it in real life."
"And I'll make sure to visit you," he adds with a wink.
"Thanks, Kenny!" Ash shouts, gathering the aforementioned boy and Dawn in his arms for a group hug.
"He wasn't talking to you, Ashy Boy," Gary shakes his head, chuckling at Ash's naivety.
"What?" Ash asks in confusion before comprehension dawns on him, "Ohhh! I get it now! Kenny was flirting with Dawn again!"
Both of his mentioned friends blush heavily in response.
"It's either your Jigglypuff or your Blastoise," May turns to grin at Leaf, "I'll let you choose."
"Hmm," Misty muses out loud, "so it's either your worst or your best pokémon, Leaf."
Without hesitation, Leaf hands her one of her pokémon.
May blinks once she looks at it, "Seriously?"
"What, June?" Drew leans over her shoulder to look at the card as well, violating May's personal space.
"Stop getting so close, Grasshead!" May's face is flushed as she shoves her boyfriend's head away from her.
"You know you love me," Drew grins arrogantly at her.
"S-shut up!" May stammers, face almost as red as her bandana, "Don't say stupid stuff like that so casually!"
Kenny coughs something into his elbow that sounds suspiciously like, "Get a room, you two."
May clears her throat, "Anyway, why'd you give me your Blastoise?" She looks at Leaf in disbelief. "I didn't think you'd actually do it!"
Leaf smiles slyly at her, and Gary just knows she's got something really good up her sleeve.
"Well, her loss then," Misty shrugs as she reaches for the dice, "Now I'll gun for third while you two duke it out."
The six continue with the game, with commentary from both Ash and Dawn, though Ash's fell more along the line of getting out of jail or the hope that someone else would fall into the jail cell with him and Dawn.
"Last roll," Dawn announces, her hand covering her mouth as she daintily yawns, "it's starting to get late."
Kenny nods, still cupping the dice in his hands, "Got it, Deedee. I'll walk you home after I get third."
"Not on my watch!" Misty declares playfully. "I've still got $100 on you, Kenny."
"Pfft," Gary snorts, "It's almost adorable how you two think you'll get third."
"You suckers can fight it out for third all you want," Drew shrugs as he draws a card, "Me, I just secured fourth place."
After terrible chance cards make their way into Misty and Kenny's hands, the two end up in fifth and sixth place respectively.
"Looks like it's just you and me left for first," May winks at the other brunette, grinning.
"Pokémon death match!" Ash shouts, cupping his hands over his mouth as he stands and puts a foot on the couch.
"Down, Ashy Boy," Gary tugs him down, a look of annoyance on his face, "No need to get so excited."
"Drew, the rules if you please," May grins cheerfully, clapping her hands together.
"Right," Drew nods, "Okay, in the pokémon death match between two players, there will be no draw. One pokémon each with a limited number of items and energies, The one with more paper money selects the stadium, which would be May."
"My pokémon's Blastoise," May announces as she pushes the pokémon card forward. The same one that had once belonged to Leaf.
"Oof," Kenny winces, "You girls can be so harsh."
May ignores him, continuing on, "And the stadium is Wallace Stadium."
"I'd choose a water pokémon if I were you," Misty advises to the brunette, who has only been sitting still with a small smile tugging at her lips.
Deftly, Leaf draws a pokémon card from the deck on her hand, holding it out for all to see between two fingers.
"Jigglypuff?!" Dawn cries out in shock, blinking rapidly. "But-"
"That pokémon's kinda useless," Ash winces. "No offense," he adds after a moment's pause.
"Are you sure?" Gary asks Leaf, who nods determinedly in response.
"Alright," Drew says after a pause, "choose your deck of seven cards not including your pokémon."
Dawn and Misty, in the meanwhile, bring out the two port systems and plug them together.
After a minute the two brunettes settle on opposite sides of the ports, with the other six around them.
"Oooh!" Ash squirms in excitement, "Can I do it?"
"You're such a kid, Ash," Misty sighs, but still smiles good naturedly at him.
"Am not!" Ash argues as Kenny silently passes him the location card, which Ash eagerly slides into the side of the connected ports.
The port system flashes on, emitting a hologram of the inside of the Wallace Stadium as portrayed on the card.
Leaf sucks in a breath, staring at the hologram in wonder.
"You've never seen a port system before?" Dawn questions, a soft smile on her face, "They're all the rage since the prototype was passed about a year ago. The system's pretty fragile, though, so you have to be careful when you handle the machine."
Leaf shakes her head to Dawn's question, instead reaching to the side of the machine to push a button.
Immediately, the hologram takes on a more detailed image that also becomes three-dimensional. It's almost like the eight are standing in the actual Wallace Stadium.
"Woah," Drew's eyes widen, and for once, he does not flick away his green fringe. "I've never seen a port system do that before."
Leaf smiles at the group of friends who only continue to look at the hologram in wonder. She slides her own pokémon in on her side, and May, seeing this, takes her cue to insert hers as well.
"Alright," Gary pulls up the coin app on his cell, "heads or tails, Leaf."
Leaf points a finger to her head, smiling widely.
"Heads it is," Gary taps on the coin, and all watch with sucked in breaths.
"It's tails," Misty says, sounding slightly disappointed. It seems that Misty wanted someone else besides May to win for once.
Leaf is still smiling despite losing the first move.
"Alright!" May draws herself up to full height as she draws from the deck of cards she selected, "I draw!"
"This isn't Yu-Gi-Oh, April," Drew flicks her in the forehead, right between her eyes. "You don't even need to draw your cards. Just hold them in your hand."
"But that takes all the fun out of it," May protests a little childishly. She sticks her tongue out at him, "Way to be no fun, Grasshead."
"Ahem!" Kenny coughs once more into his elbow, "Just get a room!"
"You know, Kenny," Dawn giggles, "Coughing into your elbow doesn't make it any less obvious."
"Hurry up and do something!" Ash urges, an excited grin on his face.
"Okay, okay!" May slides in a water energy. "Water gun!"
The hologram Blastoise immediately fires water at the hologram Jigglypuff. The pink pokémon cries out and a '-20' appears above its head.
Leaf merely slides in a normal energy and hits the 'pass' button.
"You're not even going to use 'Sing'?" Misty asks incredulously.
"What's done is done," May shrugs as she slides in yet another water energy, "but I think she's probably saving up."
Several turns pass, and much of it involves May attaching astonishing amounts of water energy and attacking Leaf with water gun or hydroblast. Leaf merely attaches a few energies but does not use them at all.
"Are you going to attack anytime soon?" Dawn asks Leaf, a slightly bored expression on her face.
Leaf shrugs, a secretive smile playing on her lips.
But then she plays a switch card, changing the stadium from Wallace Stadium to a location favoring normal types.
"That move came too little too late," Kenny comments, looking at Jigglypuff's health bar. It's low and would probably be empty after one more hydroblast.
'I'm not done yet,' Leaf's hazel eyes seem to say.
Then she brings a special card into play, which takes off twenty health points for each energy attached to the pokémon out. The amount of health for May's Blastoise decreases drastically.
Gary whistles, "Nice strategy."
"I don't have any more energies," May murmurs in dismay as the options for her turn appear before her. She reluctantly presses the 'pass' button.
Leaf only smiles satisfactorily in response as she taps on the last button necessary for her victory.
"Wooo!" Ash cheers, "This battle is finally getting exciting!"
As May's health bar drains, the hologram begins to flicker and fade.
"Did May just…lose?" Dawn blinks in disbelief.
"Congrats!" May chirps, sticking her hand out towards Leaf, who takes it with a small smile on her face. "You deserved to win!"
"You sure seem cheerful," Drew says cautiously, watching his girlfriend's face for any emotions.
"You do realize that you lost, right?" Kenny asks her. Dawn elbows him lightly in response.
"Of course I do. But I'm excited because I am finally playing with someone who'll give me a challenge!" May cheers, pumping a fist in the air.
"I don't know whether I should be relieved or offended," Drew says dryly.
"Did you have fun?" Gary asks as he strolls down the street with Leaf. His hands are in the front pockets of his coat as he watches his breath in the cold air.
In the somewhat dim streetlights, Gary sees Leaf nod her head.
"I'm glad," He smiles in response as he watches her carefully.
Most of the time, Gary wishes that a girl would stop talking, but with Leaf, it's the complete opposite. He couldn't help but think of what her voice could've possibly sounded like if she had been able to speak.
They walk in companionable silence alongside one another until Leaf decides to surprise Gary by linking her arm through his and resting her head lightly against his shoulder.
"You cold?" Gary questions, figuring this to be the most logical reason why Leaf's huddling so close to him.
Smiling up in amusement at him, Leaf slowly shakes her head. She snuggles her face against his arm, as if to tell him the real reason.
"Getting attached now, are we, Leafy?" Gary teases her.
Leaf raises an eyebrow at the nickname, causing Gary to realize just how attached to her he is, as well as that he just showed it.
Gary looks away in slight embarrassment before Leaf gently squeezes his hand, as if to say she's perfectly fine with the nickname.
"Don't read too much into it," Gary tells her, using arrogance in his voice.
He can't be getting attached to someone he just met, right?
All of a sudden, Leaf's feet stop on the pavement. At this point, they are in front of a two-story white house with green shutters. The house seems pleasant enough to Gary, though the garden clearly hasn't been tended to in a while.
"This your home?" Gary beckons to the house with his head.
Leaf nods slowly, an odd look forming on her face. Her arm loosens against his.
It's strange that this is her house, considering that it actually isn't too far away from his. How could he have never met her before? He also could've sworn that the people who last lived there moved out years ago….maybe she just moved in to Pallet Town? That would explain why he didn't know her and possibly speak for the untended for outer appearance of the home.
"Well…" Gary hesitates, unsure for once in his life. How is he supposed to go about saying goodbye to his sort-of date? "Goodnight."
A soft smile spreads across Leaf's lips as she looks up at him, reflecting the stars out in the night sky. She withdraws her arm from his and takes a step back from him.
He feels colder now without her, and he's half-tempted to snatch her arm back again. It's almost scary to Gary how much Leaf attracts him. Isn't this happening way too fast? He supposes he wouldn't quite know since he's never met a woman he's been attracted to.
Leaf still stands by the small white gate, and Gary thinks that she's almost standing there as if she's…expecting something.
Gary wonders if kissing on the first date is normal. Is she expecting him to kiss her goodnight?
Then, in amusement to the look of slight puzzlement on Gary's face, Leaf stands on her tiptoes to press her slightly cold lips against his cheek.
When her heels return to the ground, Gary is standing still in slight shock.
Leaf silently giggles at his frozen expression before she unlatches the gate and steps back into her front yard. The sound of the latch jolts Gary back to reality.
"Erm…" Gary's ears turn slightly pink, as his brain awkwardly fumbles for something to say "…goodnight."
A still amused Leaf tilts her head as if to say, 'You've already said that.'
"Yeah…" Gary's ears burn.
He turns around and begins to walk away, feeling his embarrassment begin to dissipate in the cool evening air. However, he's not even five steps away from her house before he decides to look back.
The lights of the house are still eerily off, and Leaf seems to have vanished into thin air.
As much as Gary wishes he could just let it go, he can't. He is a pokémon researcher for a reason, and it's in his nature to be curious and to seek answers to the questions he has.
"Say, Daisy," he addresses his older sister when he returns. His friends have practically cleared out by then, with the exception of Ash and Misty. "You wouldn't have happened to have met Leaf yet, have you?"
If there's anyone who would've met Leaf before, it would've been Gary's extremely social and friendly older sister. If Daisy has no idea who Leaf is, then no one else in Pallet Town would know her either.
Misty, still in the living room, raises an eyebrow at Gary, but says nothing as she strokes her boyfriend's head in her lap. Apparently Delia Ketchum's kept Ash on a strict bedtime, so by the time ten o'clock comes around, Ash is dead asleep.
"No," Daisy's teapot pauses in mid-air as the owner stops to think. "I don't recall any girl named Leaf."
"How do you know I was talking about a girl?" Gary questions, feeling slightly suspicious.
"Leaf's a girl name, isn't it?" Daisy shrugs nonchalantly. But Gary's known his sister long enough to know that she's hiding something. "Want some tea, little brother?"
"No thanks," Gary declines. He senses his older sister's discomfort and decides to save the topic for another day. He'll get her to talk sooner or later. "But, ah…how was your date with…Bill?"
Daisy softly chuckles, "Still having a hard time saying his name, little brother?"
"He's a doofus and I have absolutely no respect for him," Gary grumbles.
"Gary!" Daisy chides, "Don't be like that towards my boyfriend! Who knows? Maybe he'll even be your future brother-in-law!"
"Don't count on it, sis," Gary rolls his eyes, "It'll take that dork awhile to muster up any semblance of courage."
"That's a little mean, Gary," Misty comments softly, still stroking Ash's hair.
"Thank you, Misty," Daisy says gratefully, placing her teapot gently on the table after she's finished pouring. "My brother's so-"
The phone rings from the kitchen, interrupting Daisy.
"Oh!" she brightens, immediately getting up, "It's probably Bill right now. I'll go get it!"
"He just dropped you off," Gary blinks in disbelief as he shouts after her, "how clingy can a guy get?!"
"Maybe he's just really attentive to Daisy?" Misty suggests. "But, Gary, what was with that weird question about Leaf?"
"I don't know why, but… something just seems unreal about Leaf," Gary shrugs.
"Maybe because she's the perfect girl for you?" Misty says dryly, "It's probably just strange for you to have finally found a girl you can be serious about."
That is true. It's almost scary how well Leaf passes the criteria for Gary's ideal girl. He's been so busy looking for the perfect girl that now he has no idea what to do with a girl who could possibly be it.
"But she has this weird way of disappearing and reappearing," Gary murmurs to himself, though Misty is able to hear him.
"So she has one little quirk about her," Misty rolls her eyes, "I'm sure it's explainable. Don't mess this up just because of that. May thought she'd set you two up and we agreed with her."
"Anyway," Misty hoists a practically comatose Ash against her shoulder and drags him to the door, "Ash clearly isn't going to wake up anytime soon, so I'll just get going."
"Goodnight," Gary says half-heartedly as he steals a glance at his cellphone. A part of him wishes for some sort of sign that would tell him whether he should pursue something with Leaf.
His phone buzzes, alerting him to a new message.
'I had a great time tonight, Gary. Maybe I'm being a little too forward, but I'd love to see you again. –Leaf'
Gary shuts his eyes in relief. He isn't alone in feeling this way and somewhere, there is some higher entity setting him up with Leaf. Gary never thought he'd say something like this, but it seems like fate is pushing them together.
I've said this several times before, but this is the first time I'll say it this year: my endings still suck. It's my new year's resolution to make them better, but eh, don't count too much on that.
Anyway, I tried to be a little humorous this chapter, but I suppose the whole thing's kinda dry. It's rising action-ish, so it's kinda boring. As for the Yu-Gi-Oh reference, I couldn't help it. I played pokemon with my brother and sister and I'd do that every time just to irritate them.
As I said before, I'm a little brain dead (okay, maybe a lot), so please don't hold it too much against me if you didn't like this chapter. I dropped another hint or so on what Leaf could possibly be. Have fun guessing because your guesses always make me happy.
Please give me your comments, opinions, and suggestions! It would really make my year if I could get a lot of reviews or feedback!