Hello there, readers!
First, I'd like to apologize for the delay. If you checked my profile, which I'm pretty sure you haven't, you know that I was on a school trip from Thursday to Saturday. I wanted to have this chapter done by Wednesday, but I had that damned writer's block and couldn't do it. Sorry 'bout that.
Second, this chapter brings more adventure (jeez, is there a day without that?), a bit of humour and of course, more questions than answers.
Lastly, I'm not a really psychiatrist or anything like that, and I don't have much romantic experience, so the character's 'feelings' might be slightly...wierd.
Anyway, ready or not, here is the sixth chapter of LtL, MtM!
Less than Legends, More than Myths
Chapter 6: Never a Day of Peace
"There, Tropius! Land near that tree!" commanded the sixteen-year-old girl.
Her Tropius obeyed, and soon enough they were landing in a wide clearing in the woods. On the middle of the clearing stood a tall tree filled with many Seedot. In the front of it, there were about a dozen Seedot fighting against a fainted Mudkip and a Charmander that could barely stand. The two losing Pokémon were guarding two fainted bodies. The girl ran towards them as quickly as she could.
She was about midway through when she was tackled by one of the Seedot. With a silent curse, the girl pushed him off and continued her race. More Seedot approached, but her Tropius managed to keep them at bay. When the girl finally reached the boys, she gasped; one of them didn't look hurt, but the other's face was covered in blood. His nose looked like it was broken.
"Can Seedot actually do that?" the girl asked herself. "It'd take one nasty hit to the nose to break it like that…"
"Tropius!" her Tropius shouted as seven Seedot climbed on his wings and weighed him down. The massive creature shook itself loose, but he was starting to tire from the chain of attacks. And to make things worse, more and more Seedot descended from the trees and joined the fight against the winged creature.
"Tropius! Hang on!" the girl shouted as she reached for another Pokéball. "Ninetails, help Tropius out!"
From the Pokéball emerged a fox-like creature with golden mane and nine tails (which probably gave him his name). The creature took one quick look at the situation before releasing a torrent of fire from his jaws, severely burning both the Seedot and the Tropius.
"Oh crap! Sorry 'bout that!" apologized the girl, returning her fainted Tropius. "Forgot you would get burnt as well… Tropius, return!"
Now the odds were more even. Ninetails was able to keep most of the Seedot away using his fire, and the girl had free and unhampered access to the boys. Kneeling besides the bleeding one, a slim boy with white hair, she withdrew a bandage and water from her pack and cleaned the blood as well as she could. Once that was done, she tore two small pieces of the bandage and inserted (with more than one groan of disgust) them into the boy's nostrils. Then, she got up and checked on the other boy.
This one was taller and had normal, non-freaky brown hair. One quick look was all it took to see that the boy was only unconscious, but not wounded. Not visibly, at least. If anything, he appeared to be sleeping. The girl deduced from self-experience that he probably suffered an Absorb attack. He would be fine.
Once that was done, the girl checked on the Charmander. He was still blowing some weak Ember attacks to help Ninetails out, but the salamander appeared to be thoroughly exhausted. Searching through the second boy's belt, the girl retrieved a Pokéball and recalled the Fire type.
But, of course, fate, being the selfish bastard it was, couldn't allow everything to proceed smoothly and without problems. So, something had to go wrong. And that something came in the form of a lone Seedot that managed to go around Ninetails' fire. When the golden fox saw the Seedot, he instinctively breathed fire in that direction. Unfortunately, that direction turned out to be the same in which the girl and the unconscious boys were. And, in the space of a second, things went very bad.
The girl screamed as the fire burned the Seedot and continued on its way towards her. Acting out of instinct, the girl threw herself on the ground. The fire passed over her head, incinerating her backpack and all its contents.
"Oh man! That's where I kept all my money!" complained the girl, quickly taking the burning backpack off to avoid any burns.
"Nine…" the Ninetails muttered, looking at the ground in shame.
"Ah, don't sweat about it. I can just buy another." comforted the girl. Then, in a lower tone, she added. "If I can find any money…"
It was then that the girl heard a groan form the ground. She quickly looked down, and noticed one of the boys was waking up. The tall one, to be precise.
"Hey? Are you okay?" she asked, unmoving, as she turned her gaze back to the fight.
"I would be much better," the boy said, gritting his teeth. "if you weren't crushing my hand."
"What?" asked the girl, looking down. Sure enough, she was stepping on the boy's left hand. "Ooops, sorry…"
"It's okay…" said the boy, opening and closing his hand to see if it still worked. Then, he looked around. "Why the hell is Brendan laying on the ground? And why is his nose broken?"
"Dunno." answered the girl, shrugging. "When I got here, you were both out."
"Just freaking great." the boy muttered, rubbing his eyes. "The name's Jake, by the way."
"I'm Minna."
"Pleasure to meet you."
"Equally."
"Have you seen my Charmander, by any chance?"
"I recalled him to his Pokéball. He was almost out."
"Really? Thanks. Remember me to thank Scorch when he's better."
"Who's Scorch?"
"My Charmander. It's his nickname."
"Not very original, but still nice."
"I know. That's the charm."
"So, Jake, what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same."
"I asked first."
"I'm a polite guy. Ladies first."
"Well, if you insist on knowing, I'm saving you."
"Oh? Well then, I guess I'm in your debt."
"Yeah, I guess you are. But now answer my question."
"Urgh…" groaned the second boy, opening his eyes. "If this is Heaven, I wanna go to Hell."
"There's no ice cream in hell." said the first boy.
"Maybe, but the pizza's always warm." replied the second.
"True enough. But there's no pools."
"There are many saunas."
"There's no lemonade."
"There's beer."
"Yeah, I guess Hell's better."
"Finally you're listening to reason."
"Humn, excuse me?" Minna asked, recalling her Ninetails. On the battlefield, all the Seedot were out for the count. "But I must go."
"Oh? Where to?" Jake asked.
"I gotta find a guy. He went to save two girls in a tree."
"Two girls? Both brunette, one dressed in red and the other in a blue shirt and red-brown skirt?"
"Yeah! You know them?"
"More than it is healthy to." the second boy said. "Look what they did to my nose."
Minna gasped. "They did that?"
"Course not. I was kidding." replied the white-haired boy, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "It was the wind."
"May hit you, right?" Jake asked. "Brendan, Brendan, Brendan, when will you learn? If you want to piss someone off, you gotta at least be able to get away with it."
"Hey!" Minna shouted, shaking her arms to get the boy's attention. "Let's go find the girls, and then we can chat, okay?"
"Fine." Jake said, and they began to move. Looking behind him, the boy noticed Brendan, who wasn't moving. Instead, he was looking at Minna's back, drooling slightly.
"Urgh! Move on!" Jake ordered, pushing Brendan forward. "Stop daydreaming."
"What?" Brendan asked, shaking his head. "I wasn't daydreaming! I was… day-thinking?"
"She's too old for you."
A few feet in front of them, Minna could barely contain her laugh. They continued on their way towards where Minna had left Ray.
--XXXXX--
"Argh! What do we do?" Sara asked, panicking. "What if he's hurt? And what was that other scream? Oh, maybe he's dead!"
It had been quite a surprise when their unexpected savior, the sixteen-year-old boy, had suddenly fainted in front of the girls. After a quick check, May discovered that he was burning up with fever. And the scream that they had heard not long ago wasn't helping to calm their nerves. Now, Sara was sitting on the ground, hugging the Ralts so tightly it was becoming slightly blue, and May was walking around nonstop.
"It's okay, it's okay…" May said, more to herself than to Sara. She stopped for a second, then continued on pacing around nervously.
"What should we do?"
"Don't ask me! I DON'T FREAKING KNOW!"
"MAY! Chill!"
"Okay… I'm chilled." May said as she breathed deeply. "I'm chilled."
After a short argument, the girls decided to stay where they were and... well, that they'd decide latter. But, for the time being, the girls focused on getting the fainted boy better. May took off her bandana and wet it using some of their water, then deposited the soaked cloth on the boy's forehead. That being taken care of, the girls allowed themselves to relax and chat for a bit. Which soon enough led to an argument.
"Who do you think is cuter?" May asked. "Jake, Brendan, that Ruby guy from T.V., or this guy?"
"Oh, I don't know..." Sara answered, looking down and twirling her fingers. "I guess this guy's cute, but Brendan's cute too... Oh no. Please tell me I didn't say that out loud!"
Once again, May was assailed by that rush of feelings. In order to keep appearances up, she forced a fake laugh, but underneath her mind was sprinting. Could she really like Brendan? Of course, it did make some sense. They had been travelling together for... four days? Five days? Well, it seemed like much longer, anyway. And Brendan had always been the lesser of two evils. Okay, maybe not always, but most of the time. And back at the temple, it was him that had saved her from that mean Team Thunder dude. If it hadn't been for him...
"May? Are you okay?" Sara asked, looking up from the ground. May could see she was still blushing a bit. Once more, a pang of jealousy hit her, but the girl shook her head and dismissed it aside. "You seem... rather thoughtful."
"Humn? Oh, sure, I'm fine!" May hurriedly answered. "I was just thinking about... the question! That's all."
"Oh, really? Well, who do you think is cuter?"
"Oh, I dunno... Either Ruby or this guy... No, definitely this guy. Ruby freaks me out."
Sara was about to reply when some nearby bushes rattled. Shutting up and looking at it at once, their eyes wide, the girls prepared to shout as loud as they possibly could.
"Wing?" asked a beaked face, emerging from the plant.
The girls screamed.
--XXXXX--
"Ouch! What was that?" Jake asked.
"Some idiot's Zubat using a Screech attack, I bet." Brendan answered, shaking his head to dispel the remains of the super-high-pitched blast of sound they had just heard. "Man, that's the hell of a Zubat."
"No doubt about it. I'm still dizzy." Minna commented. "In fact, I'm st-"
Whatever the rest of her sentence was, it was lost in the Bottomless Void Of Sentences Lost Due To Unexpected Interruptions (which, even being infinite, was almost full), for an unexpected interruption came. It took the form of a Wingull flying in full, all-out speed, as if running away from something… Whatever the reason for his speed, the long-winged, white and blue seabird hit Brendan in the face, barely missing impaling the boy with its beak. Still, it's not pleasant to have a racing Wingull hitting a broken nose.
"AHHH!" Brendan roared, part in shock, part in disbelief, but mostly in pain.
"Wing!" the Wingull screeched back, part in pain, part in disbelief, but mostly in shock.
"AH!" Minna screamed, part in shock, but mostly in disbelief.
"Why all the screaming?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you trying to make a chorus? If so, you need some practice."
"Cursed… Wingull!" Brendan said, pushing the bird away and clutching his own bleeding nose. His voice was shaky. "Man, this hurts!"
"Wing…" the Wingull said, looking at the ground. It looked like the bird was apologizing.
"Here, let me see." Minna softly ordered, removing Brendan's hands to better see the wound. "In the trail like this, there's not much I can do. We need to get you to a decent hospital. Or a Pokémon Center, at least. But, in the meantime, I think I have something to soothe the pain."
The girl searched a bit on her pockets and drew a round, red and white object that looked an awful lot like…
"A Pokéball?" Brendan nearly shouted, trying not to cry. "A freaking Pokeball!?"
"Yeah." the girl replied nonchalantly, shrugging. "I thought you'd feel better if at least you at least got a Wingull outta this. Well, apparently, I was wrong…" And she began to turn the Pokéball around in her hands. "Maybe I should just put this away, then."
Brendan looked at the Pokéball, then at the Wingull, then back at the Pokéball, than at Minna's face (for longer than he should), before finally wiping his eyes with the back of his hand and saying (or more like ordering):
"Give me that!" And taking the Pokéball.
"Okay, Wingull, prepare to be caught! Pokéball, go!" the boy shouted, hurling the round object towards the Wingull. The bird was too busy looking at something on the other side of the clearing to notice, and was easily sucked inside. After the ball rocket back and forth a few times, it became still.
"That was easy." Jake noted. "A bit too easy, I must say."
"Tell me about it." Brendan replied, reaching for the Pokéball. "But I caught a Wingull!"
"Told ya!" Minna said, smiling. "Now, didn't you forget the pain?"
"I had..." Brendan groaned. "But thanks sooo much for reminding me."
The girl rolled her eyes. "Hey, you should be thanking me. If I wanted, I could just let you two to be eaten by a bunch of wild Seedot, but-"
"Seedot are herbivore."
"No, I got in there and I saved you. And what do I can in return? Just a bunch of insults and complaints!"
"Excuse me? When did I ever insult you?"
"Humn, guys?" Jake interrupted. "But it seems like we have a bigger Absol on our way."
The two bickering souls stopped their bickering and looked at where Jake was looking. Sitting against a tree up ahead, they could see May and Sara arguing about something. By their feet stood a… body?
Minna's eyes grew wide. "Ray!" she shouted, racing towards the people.
"Just freaking great. Can't things actually work out for a change?" Brendan asked.
"If they did, life would be fair." Jake answered.
"Good point."
And the boys raced forwards as well.
--XXXXX--
"So, are you saying Magikarp are worth training?" May asked in disbelief.
"Hey, I'm only saying they're worth the investment." Sara answered, shrugging. She was currently passing a Pokéball from one hand to the other, celebrating her newest (and first) capture. Actually, the Ralts they were with joined her on its free will, but still. "After all, a Gyarados is a very tough Pokémon."
"Yeah, but it's not worth training a Magikarp. They're useless!"
"Maybe you think so, but… Hey, are those the boys?"
"What?"
The girls got up and looked at the trees in front of them. Sure enough, Brendan and Jake were running towards them, followed by a girl. She appeared to be sixteen years old, dressed in a short blue skirt and a short-sleeved golden blouse. Her blonde hair cascaded its way down to the middle of her back, and even from the distance the girls could she her impossibly clear blue eyes.
Jake was the first to reach them. Making sure to ignore the girls, the bent down near the fainted body and looked for any sign of grave wound. Only when his inspection was done was when he turned to the girls and asked them what had happened.
The girl came next. Jake introduced her as Minna, and the latter told all of them that the boy was called Ray. May looked around for Brendan, and soon found him leaning against a tree, watching from a distance. As soon as the boy noticed her stare, he turned his face and appeared to be very interested in a leaf. Guilt flooded the girl, and she looked at the ground.
"Oh my god! Ray!" Minna was saying over and over again, kneeling near the body and hugging him around the neck. "Ray, Ray, Ray!"
"It's okay…" Sara said, placing her hand on the crying girl's shoulder. "He has just a little fever…"
Minna's eyes grew wide at Sara's words. She immediately stopped crying (actually, she stopped moving altogether) and asked, in a very low voice:
"Did you say fever?"
Taken aback by the sudden change of attitude, Sara mumbled a small "Yes…" before looking at the ground, wondering if she had done anything wrong.
"Why? Is something wrong?" asked Jake, raising an eyebrow.
Minna didn't even bother to answer. She just nodded weakly and looked sadly at the boy at her feet. Then, she burst into tears once more.
"It's okay, it's okay…" comforted May, patting the sixteen-year-old on the shoulder. "What exactly is wrong? Tell us, and maybe we can help you."
"It's…" the said girl asked, swallowing hard. "Some time back, Ray had a bad fever. And I mean bad. He had to stay in bed for a week…" She stopped, took a deep breath and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "He barely made it. But after a lot of rest, he was as good as new… or so I thought. And this is my fault! If I hadn't hurried him to come with me to Lilycove City…"
"Blaming yourself won't do a thing." Jake interrupted harshly, almost as if he was angry. "What's done is done, whether your fault or not. What we have to do now is focus on getting Ray to the nearest hospital. And Brendan needs a clean-up. After that, you can beat yourself up with guilt as much as you want."
Everyone was slightly shocked at the change, but thought it was best not to comment. Minna got up and reached for her backpack, only to find none. She sighed and looked around, asking for a map. When Jake gave her one, she sat down on the ground and began looking for the nearest town. Not long after, she got up and spoke.
"Okay." the girl said, depressed. "The nearest hospitals are in Oldale Town and Petalburg City, both at about a day's travel. A bit longer 'till Oldale, maybe. But it would still take hours to reach Petalburg City, and my Tropius is out…"
Everyone shot glances between themselves, looking for any solution. A long silence came and went before Brendan approached the group and spoke, making sure not to look at May.
"Why don't we call the hospital? Maybe they'd send a Kadabra or maybe a Tropius. Or a car, at the very least."
"Could work…" Minna admitted. "But my phone was in my backpack, and…"
"You can use mine." the white-haired boy replied, extending his own phone. "Do you know the number?"
The blonde girl accepted the phone with a small nod and a 'Thanks.'. After dialing a few numbers, she quickly resumed their situation to whoever was at the other side of the line and hang up. Barely seconds after, a humanoid, biped fox-like creature carrying a spoon on its right hand materialized out of thin air.
"Dabra, kadabra dabra!" the creature said, looking around.
Surprised by the sudden apparition, the four young kids didn't have time to move before Minna laid one of her hands one of Ray's, the other on the Kadabra, and shouted 'Thank you!' before the three dematerialized into thin air.
Everybody was stunned for a long time after they were gone. It took a long moment before May snapped out of the trance and turned to Brendan, looking at the ground.
"Humn, Brendan?" she said. "I'm sorry. I really am. You know I didn't mean to hurt you!"
"We've been through this already!" Brendan replied angrily. "And I really don't want to go through it again!"
"But-"
"NO! Just leave me alone, dammit!"
"Brendan…"
"Go. AWAY!"
The red-clad girl tried her best to hold the tears in, but ultimately failed. She began to cry, tears running down her cheeks. Sara took the bigger girl in a hug while shooting Brendan a reproachful look. Jake didn't seem to listen. In fact, he didn't even seem to be paying attention. Instead, he was looking at the ground, focusing on something.
"Brendan." the older boy said, not looking up. "She's right. You know she didn't meant to hurt you."
"What!? Didn't you hear-" Brendan started, but was interrupted.
"I've heard it all too well, my friend. And you know what I mean. She didn't mean to seriously injure you. She did not want to break your nose."
"Then why'd she do it? Why'd she insist on kicking me like that?"
"Why do you insist on having a sarcastic remark to everything that is said or thought?" Jake replied, shrugging. "They're small habits that define us, that make each of us different, unique."
Brendan sighed and squeezed his eyes before speaking. "…How come you're always right when it makes me miserable?"
"Easy. Everything makes you miserable. Now apologize."
May and Sara, who had been so far watching the conversation, waited expectantly for the boy's reaction. Slowly, almost regretfully, the said person turned around to face them. Taking a quick look at May's eyes before shifting his gaze to the ground, Brendan spoke.
"I'm sorry. I guess it wasn't really fair for me to get mad at you like that. Actually, it probably was, but still. I guess I overreacted a bit…"
"Oh, Brendan!" May shouted, throwing herself at a very surprised Brendan and hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry too…"
After a few seconds, they broke the hug. Brendan was looking extremely uncomfortable, while May just kept staring at the ground. Jake was smiling disturbingly and Sara… was uncertain. On one side, the awkward seen was funny, but the girl wasn't comfortable seeing May hanging around her Breny like that.
"That's ridiculous!" Sara thought to herself. "May can't like Brendan! They're so… different…"
"Can I really like Brendan?" May wondered. "As much as I hate the thought, it seems to keep on getting stronger… Damn, love is so complicated!"
"Dude, stop." Brendan said to Jake, who was still smiling. "You know that smile freaks me out."
"Good. It's supposed to." the older boy replied.
"So, back to walking?" May asked, suddenly merry. "Only one more day to go!"
"Yeah. And hopefully nothing else will happen 'till we get to Petalburg." Jake added. "I mean, come on! We've been on the road for… what? A week now? And out of those seven days, on which did we sleep peacefully, after a calm and eventless day?"
"Knowing our luck, my nose will become infected, May will break a wrist after punching a tree, you're gonna get eaten by blood-thirsty Seedot, and Sara will get kidnapped." Brendan said.
"Yeah… and then-" Sara began, but stopped and blushed when Brendan looked at her.
And so the group went on their way. Jake in front, calmly ignoring everyone else, Brendan shouting at Sara, May shouting at Brendan, and Sara… thinking.
That was the sixth chapter. Enjoyed it? I hope you did.
I'd like to take a moment and thank all of you, readers, for... well, reading. I'd also like to thank Quota and kiba129 for their reviews. And kiba129, as a matter of fact, I am a fan of Douglas Adams' writtings. He's my humor idol when it comes to literature. Even though I'm not as good as a tenth of him (even with him being dead, may he rest in peace), it's nice to be compared to him like that. Thank you.
Yay! Quota, you're officialy my first regular reviewer. Thanks so much!
Once more, I apologize for the delay. I'll try to have another chapter up by Tuesday, but no promises.
So, gotta go now. Remember to R&R!
And remember to visit my profile page and vote in the poll (you'll see when you're there!)! Each and every vote is appreaciated.
Gotta Go With The Flow!
BlackShadowKnight