Friends, Rivals, and Lovers
Chapter Three
At the head of the group, Brock and Ash stopped suddenly, causing the other three people following them to stop as well. The trail they were walking on had come to a fork that appeared to go around a large field of grass that came up to Brock's thighs, though it looked as though the trail continued on the other side of this field, he couldn't be sure which path they should take. He suppressed a groan – this didn't look familiar from the last time they had been through this part of the region, granted, that had been about six years ago. For perhaps the eighty-third time today, he pulled out his trusted map and quickly found the area that he supposed they were in before sighing in exasperation. The forked path wasn't even on the map! He mentally cursed himself, knowing that he should have bought a newer and updated map of Kanto before heading out.
While Brock continued to scowl at his map, Tracey noticed a sign that pointed in the direction of both forks while bearing the words "Indigo Plateau, Route 26, Tojho Falls." He found it safe to assume that the two forks connected on the other side of this large field, giving them three ways to push on: either of the two ways around it or straight through it.
"I'm pretty sure they connect, this is probably just a training area. Or an area set aside to attract pokemon for traveling trainers to catch," Gary spoke up from behind Brock as he gazed over the field. He glanced back at Tracey and noticed the sign that his boyfriend was peering at; a simple look at the sign was all he needed to confirm his suspicions. "I say we just go through it," he suggested.
Brock looked over at him and followed his gaze to the sign. Upon reading it, he nodded as though he now understood something and folded his map once more. "Guess you're right about the connecting paths," he confirmed. "Have you been through here recently?"
"Not since I left for the Johto League," Gary replied with a shrug. "I read an article a couple years ago about the Pokemon League changing a few of their routes to set aside special areas for trainers and pokemon. Of course, I figured you would have known that and would have already owned an updated map. Clearly, I was wrong."
"We've been a little busy traveling through Hoenn and Sinnoh for the past few years, Gary – we didn't exactly have that much time to read articles!" Ash snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as his Pikachu agreed with a miffed squeak from his perch on Ash's shoulder.
Gary rolled his eyes and was about to respond when Tracey's hand wrapped around his wrist and tugged lightly, saying without any words that he needed to knock it off. Fortunately for him, Misty spoke up instead. "Sure, you didn't have time, Ash," she said sarcastically. "I'm sure you never a day off or took a short break in a city during your travels and I'm sure Professor Oak never warned you about the routes being renovated."
"Guys! We don't have that much further to go until we're out of Kanto," Brock interjected, pinching the bridge of his nose with a tired sigh. He paused for a moment, making sure that the three troublesome members of the group weren't going to keep arguing before going on in a cheerful voice that sounded to be a bit forced. "Now, the only question is: right or left?"
"Straight," Gary replied flatly.
"Interesting choice for you to make," Misty muttered. Tracey wearily rubbed his temples as Gary turned suddenly to her, a venomous retort on the tip of his tongue; Brock stepped between them before Gary could say anything and hit Misty over the head with his map, eliciting a sudden yelp from the girl.
"I agree with Gary." The comment was closely followed by an excited chirp, which was met by a roll of the eyes from Gary. He couldn't stand the way the little electric rodent always agreed with its trainer – it annoyed him to no end.
Surprisingly enough, it was Tracey who spoke up next. "It would be faster to cut through the grass, guys."
"It would be, but we don't know that this is actually a training area, there might be a reason why there are two paths," Brock reasoned.
Tracey nodded in response, taking his reasoning at face value while noticing that Misty seemed highly relieved that someone didn't want to cut through the tall grass. If it was thigh-high on Brock, it would be waist high on her and the last thing she felt like doing was walking through waist-high grass in a pair of small shorts. The potential cuts and scratches were enough to keep her away but the fact that pokemon – possibly dangerous pokemon – would be in there made her wary. Of course, that was ignoring the bugs that were most certainly in there. Her phobia of any sort of little creepy crawly had, if anything, only strengthened with time.
Gary sighed and rolled his eyes, reaching for a pokeball on his waist and calling out his Skarmory. Having not expected to have a pokemon suddenly join them, the other four people jumped slightly at the appearance of the large steel-type bird. Ignoring the confused looks from his peers, Gary climbed onto the back of his pokemon and quickly instructed it to fly over the field so that they could check it out. In no time, the bird had spread its wings and taken to the sky.
Seeing the nervous expressions of Misty and Brock, Tracey shook his head slightly, an amused smile gracing his features. "He knows what he's doing," he reassured them, following the bird's progress with his eyes as he did so.
Skarmory circled the field slowly, flying at a height that allowed Gary to easily see the ground while he searched for anything that appeared to be remotely dangerous. Finding nothing, he instructed the pokemon to return to the others.
"It's fine," he told them as he slid down from his perch. "Just grass –"
"Did you see any pokemon?" Ash interrupted excitably.
"A few Nidoran in a little clearing toward the north, some Doduo near the middle, and some Ponyta in the south-western corner. We'll be fine."
--- --- ---
A shrill scream cut through the still afternoon air, sending nearby pokemon scampering for hiding places while four males sighed in resignation.
Since this was now the fourth shriek that had halted progress over the past half hour, Brock simply ignored Misty's yells about some sort of bug crawling on her – normally he would stop and help his friend but this trip was proving to be the one that tried his patience the most. At this point, he would let Misty scream it out until the bug itself flew away in fear. He had helped her with the first bug but that had only earned him several slaps to his arms and back while she flailed in sheer terror over a tiny stick bug. Of course, Gary and Ash hadn't made things any easier by laughing nearly hysterically at the scene while Tracey tried to calm the girl down.
Tracey had helped her the second and third time a bug had appeared but, this time, he simply watched as she shrieked, hoping someone else would step up and shoo away the beetle that was currently resting on the side of her denim shorts. He knew Brock wasn't going to do it since Misty had nearly killed him when he snatched up the walking stick that had perched on her upper chest, near the base of her throat, and Gary would sooner throw a spider at her than pick a beetle off of her clothing. Finally, Ash stepped forward and reached for the little insect, causing it to run away from his hand, which in turn caused Misty to scream louder.
"Not even May is this scared of bugs," Gary complained, grimacing at the yells that were escaping the girl.
"That's because your sister thinks they're cute," Tracey replied, watching amusedly as Misty began slapping Ash's hands away as he tried to pick the beetle off of her stomach.
"Maybe we should duct tape her mouth shut, that would make the trip faster."
"We didn't bring duct tape, Gary."
"Why not? We should have."
"We didn't bring it because you knew I wouldn't want to play our bondage games around Ash," Tracey replied dryly, causing Gary to laugh at the joke.
Grinning, Gary leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the lips, eliciting a small squeak of surprise from his boyfriend. The kiss was short but they parted with smiles, momentarily forgetting about the duo that was running around them while Ash continued to try getting rid of the bug. Feeling a bit elated from even that small kiss, Gary pulled Tracey against his chest, allowing the shorter boy to turn in his arms and lean back against him. Tracey sighed softly as Gary began pressing small kisses along his neck, laughing quietly as he watched Ash and Misty through half-closed eyes. His eyes slipped closed as Gary began nurturing a particularly sensitive spot on his neck while Brock seemed to suddenly become quite interested in his compass.
A loud and angry squawk from Pikachu caused him to open his eyes once more, only to close them against the sudden bright light from a Thunder Shock attack that struck Ash and Misty both. Gary paused from his ministrations and watched as Pikachu stopped his attack and began running his paws over his tail, which had apparently been stepped. He felt bad for the little creature but had to force down a laugh as Misty and Ash collapsed on the ground, twitching slightly as the offending bug flew off of Misty's shirt to land on a nearby blade of grass. Smiling slightly, he scooped up the beetle and placed it on the tip of Tracey's nose, causing the other boy to laugh and shake his head so that it flew away. He pressed a kiss against Tracey's cheek before resting his head on his shoulder and waiting for Ash and Misty to recover enough to continue.
--- --- ---
"I knew this was going to happen!" Misty complained loudly as Brock peered over the map with pursed lips. "Why is it we can never go a day without getting lost?"
"We don't get lost that often, Mist."
"Shut up, Ash!"
"Don't start," Tracey warned quietly, glancing at Gary to make sure that he understood that he was also being warned. Misty and Ash both fell quiet while Gary sat on a nearby boulder and pulled out his cell phone to check the GPS application on it. "It's not that we're lost, it's just that we're not sure exactly where on the route we are. We haven't left Route Twenty-two yet."
Seeing that Misty was looking ready to argue, Brock suggested taking a break – something that Tracey and Ash quickly agreed to. Misty stalked off to a pond that was a bit of a distance away and plopped down at the water's edge after retrieving her foldable fishing pole from her bag, leaving the four males to fend for themselves. Eager to explore the surrounding area, Ash headed off to a nearby wooded area with Pikachu happily trailing after him. Brock continued to look over his map and finally sat down after a few minutes, spreading the paper across the ground as he peered at his compass. They weren't lost – that was the position he was maintaining on their situation.
They had simply gotten off the trail and weren't entirely sure which way to go next in order to get to the next route. They had come to another grassy field though this one didn't have a forking path going around it, instead the path had simply ended at the field. Not wanting a repeat of every bug incident that had occurred in the last field, the group headed around the field and had somehow managed to make it around the grassy area without finding the other side of the trail. Brock was certain that by heading slightly north and then west, they would come to Route Twenty-six with no problem but he wanted to be sure of that first.
Happy for the break, Tracey dropped his backpack next to Gary and retrieved his sketchbook before quietly making his way over the same area Ash had gone off to. Within a few minutes, he found a few Nidoran grazing in a small clearing and, being careful not to make any noise, kneeled in the tall grass and opened the sketchbook as he picked a particularly cute female to sketch. Unaware of his presence, the pokemon continued going about their business until a scream sounded, causing them to freeze and then flee when Tracey jumped up at the sound of Ash's voice.
"Ash?" he called worriedly as he heard the sounds of twigs breaking and fallen leaves crunching underfoot from somewhere to his left. Ash and Pikachu suddenly appeared, running full out, clearly fleeing something without stopping. "What is it?"
"Run!" Ash simply yelled, scopping up his pokemon and dashing for the far side of the clearing, heading towards the place where the other three travelers were spending their break.
Unsure of what to do, Tracey stayed in place until the sound of hooves on the ground caused him to turn just in time to see a Ponyta charging through the same thicket that Ash had just appeared from. Quickly moving out of the obviously angry pokemon's way, Tracey broke into a run, following the pokemon and his friend.
"Ash, what did you do this time?"