Me: Hey, guys, Empress is back in dha house, with Chappie 12!
Leaf: What a liar you are, it's not January 21, when you said you would update.
Me: I don't own Pokemon!
Cookies to the Reviewers~Bradley8155, Palkia's Princess, Luv All Pokemon, Fprmr1
HEY HEY HEY DON"T READ THIS!
Yes, I got your attention!
I just want to say that I made myself a Beta-Reader, so if you want me to Beta anything, just PM me. Feel free to check my Beta profile here.
Gary's POV
"So, what's on the all-mighty list that holds the fate of our vacation in its hands-or, more so, edges, of paper?"
Drew's sarcastic remark cut through the air like the butter knives I was using to spread jam on my toast. Or, more accurately, completely miss because of my injured arm.
It had gotten a lot better, now all that was on it was a regular band-aid, and a long scar. But, still, it hurt like hell a lot, and most of the time, it was as stiff and unmoving as Ash's sleeping Snorlax.
Leaf grabbed the knife and jar of jam from me and looked sharply at me, warning me telepathically, "What the heck were you doing? You know I can help you, and I should, since you have a hurt arm."
Sometimes, it was just plain annoying with her doting over me like this like an overprotective mother. I know she thought she was the one responsible for hurting me, but it wasn't like that, since I provoked her. And anyway, I can take care of myself. I'm a man, right?
Yeah right.
Will you EVER shut up?
"Oh, well, you're Highness Drew, you're out of luck, since I have a whole day of fun-or, should I say, torture. Today, we're taking a walk and we're going to-"
Marina was about to walk the door and leave us behind as the slow eaters, but a loud boom cut her off. She looked disappointedly at the darkened sky before it gave in and water leaked out of it, millions of drops falling to the ground. She sighed and slowly closed the door behind her. As soon as she faced us, she put on a fake smile and clapped her hands together.
"So, who's up for a day inside?"
We all groaned and went back to our breakfast. As for me, I dumped it in the trash.
I had just lost my appetite.
Still Gary's POV
The day proceeded extremely slowly. Time seemed to be like molasses, making sure you feel every minute pass by, feeling like an hour.
We all went rotating, from books, to Pokemon training (the bookshelf exploding, handiwork of Ash Ketchum's Pikachu), cell phones, talking (more like arguing), and snoozing.
The storm still hadn't let up, and it was already 4:30 in the afternoon. More than half of the day already wasted. This is agonizingly stupid.
Suddenly, my cell phone shut off without warning. I swear, I just finished charging it…As the wind howled outside, I thought of something really bad…
"Yep, the signal's down." Khoury said, confirming my fears. I groaned and banged my head down on the table. Come on! Now we're going to be forced to spend time together, like the loving family we are.
"Guys, come here. I have an idea of what we can do."
Marina called out to us, like I expected, and we were now on another quest for her stupid list.
After a huge argument, spilled lemonade, ripped up notebooks, a pencil war, and baby photo blackmailing, we were sent to our respective rooms with a piece of notebook paper, a pencil, and the prompt to write about an important incident in our life, or work together with our roommate to make a story.
Leaf, having already finished what she was writing (fast, I know!) had gone to the bathroom, so when I came into our room, I found her diary open on the nightstand next to the bed.
It was emerald green, with a velvet cover, and the words "Property of Leaf Blue Green of Pallet Town" in big yellow block letters carved into the cover. It had about half of the book left empty still. It was all plain lined paper, with no designs. Pinned onto the last page she had written on was her favorite gel green pen, with sparkles, that cast some glamour on the otherwise seemingly plain page.
All in all, it was perfectly Leaf.
And I was itching to read it.
You cheat! That's even worse than eavesdropping! You're reading about her private business! The whole reason she has a diary IS to write about stuff she doesn't want other people knowing, not to display it to the world! She's never going to like you if you go reading her diary! What's next, going through her underwear drawer?
EW! What goes on in that weird twisted mind of yours? Eeew! Not in a million years, will I ever, EVER, do that!
Oh, don't lie to me. We know what you're thinking. Just don't come crying to me when she completely shuts you out of her life for reading her diary.
I'll take the risk.
I rushed over to the diary and opened it up. It still had that roomy, cozy, book-like smell to it. Leaf LOVED that smell, more than anything in the world.
It immediately flipped to the page with the pen on it, so I started reading from the beginning of that entry.
Dear Diary,
I know, I'm still using that old clichéd beginning. But, honestly, how else do you start a diary entry?
Today's the fifth day of our beach vacation, and it's a rainy day. So, we're all stuck inside, and it's complete madness. It's SO FREAKING BORRING. I mean, all my Pokemon were too big to train, Ash exploded the bookshelf, I forgot all my good novels at home, and I couldn't take a nap because the wind was too loud.
Seriously? Are you kidding? The storm, is like, out to get me, I swear.
So, I'm basically just spending the time right now writing this entry and watching Gary text on that cell phone of his.
Yeah, I do need to get a life, don't I?
But, still, I just wish that
That was all she had written so far. And like it was a good book, I was hoping she would write the next chapter or publish the sequel soon, because I was hanging on for dear life from this terrible cliff hanger.
What did she wish for? I was dying to know. Did she wish for new clothes? A Shiny Bulbasaur? To publish a novel? For me to kiss her (okay, that's unlikely…)? What did she wish for?
All of a sudden, I heard someone sigh and step out of the bathroom.
Oh, crap.
I scrambled to close the diary shut and move across to the other side of the room. I stubbed my toe on the bedside, which just made it all the more difficult. I started muttering curses under my breath.
By the time Leaf came here, I looked completely innocent, pacing across the room with a thoughtful look on my face, wondering what to write. When she saw me, she smiled and asked if I needed any help.
I declined the offer.
Because I had just thought of the perfect idea.
Still Gary's POV
"And that ends our report on the Orange Islands. Thank you!" Misty bowed, as did Ash, and all of us started clapping. It was a pretty good report, worthy of an A minus, maybe even an A, if it was for school.
But it wasn't. Ash and Misty had decided to work together, and randomly wanted to do a report on the Orange Island Gym Leaders. They talked about their Pokemon, strategy, a couple of fun-facts, where they are located, what badge you get from them, and how you battle them. It was pretty amazing, seeing how dumb Ashy-boy is, but when he's with Misty and Malletory, I guess anything's possible. Though there were a tad too many insults on Rudy for my taste.
Ah, young love!
For once, I actually agree with you.
So far, Dawn had showed us a couple of her design sketches (most of them were matching, with a suit or something of the sort for a boy…hmmm...), along with an elaborate description of what they would look like, Paul talked about good strategy for battle (he talked for more than 3 minutes straight! LE GASP!), Khoury lectured us on how storms form (snore…), Lyra advertised for the Johto Festival, Marina and Jimmy did a run-down on Lance (Marina's idea…), and Kenny and Zoey talked about Fantina-from childhood to present. How they know all this, is beyond me.
So, now, the only people left were me, Leaf, May, and Drew.
"Okay, who wants to go next?"
I fumbled with my paper a little more. Actually, I really didn't know why I was nervous, after all, it wasn't like it was a report that would count as half of my grade or something, it was just a stupid writing game with my friends.
But that wasn't it.
I was nervous, because…well…
It was a confession.
I sighed as I saw May shoot her hand up and knock Drew aside so she could go first. She smirked and he glared at her as she got up and went to the front of the room. She cleared her throat and began to read.
The First Time I Met Drew
The first time I met Drew was at the Slateport Beach. It was going to be my first contest, and I was practicing hard for the preliminaries. I was throwing Frisbees, and Beautifly was sending them back with Gust, or String Shot. It was perfect, and I caught all of them except one. It was heading for a green-haired boy on the boardwalk, and we (as in me, Brock, Max, and Ash) yelled for him to watch out, but he just caught the Frisbee with one hand without even looking!
Of course, we were all stunned. He came over, and started insulting my coordinating skills. He dropped the Frisbee and I gazed on at him in anger. Who was he to think stuff about me like that? He didn't even know me yet.
Finally, he insulted my Pokemon, which got me really mad. He can tease me all he wants, but I won't let anyone even THINK of my Pokemon like that.
"Hey! You can tease me all you want, but don't you dare insult my Pokemon!" I blew up at him, but he just stuck a hand in my face and chided on my childish behavior. This guy was getting deeper and deeper under my skin-fast!
But before I knew it, with some stupid witty comebacks, and me being so angry I can't remember anything, he left saying he would also compete in the Slateport Contest.
And I would be ready for him.
My new rival.
"I hope you all liked it! Thank you!" May held her hands up as if we were wildly cheering for her (we were only politely clapping) and walked back to her seat and scoffed at Drew.
Drew then wondered out loud, "I thought this was supposed to be about an important incident in your life, right? Am I really that amazing to you, May, dear?" His voice dripped with arrogance and sarcasm, and he smirked as she blushed a furious shade of red.
She stammered, "Well, you ARE my r-rival! I m-mean Harley, yeah Harley, is lame, and Solidad…well, Solidad…"
Just when Drew's smirk grew bigger and he was about to retort another surely smart comeback, Leaf cleared her throat extra-loud, and our attention came to the front of our room.
Leaf had somehow slipped up there like a ninja, and she looked beautiful. She looked right at home. I knew she always loved to write, but the happiness radiating from her was so much. She just looked like she honestly, REALLY wanted to do this.
She wasn't wearing anything special at all, with a stormy blue-gray shirt that matched the clouds outside, and white shorts. She was barefoot, with a simple red and yellow string bracelet tied around her wrist, and a green bead necklace strung around her neck. Her brown hair was let down, swaying at her mid-back, and completely free with accessories, accept for a wide yellow hair band. A couple of strands of midnight hair fell into her face and her gorgeous green orbs, and gave her a flirtatious, naughty touch.
I don't know how, but Leaf seems to stun me every time, no matter how normal and un-special the things she's wearing are.
"Hey, I wanted to go now!" Drew burst out, interrupting my Leaf-filled thoughts, and Leaf groaned, and her smile fell as she let Drew practically skip up to the front. Seriously, Drew has such great timing, you know? He must've really wanted to show May his amazing writing.
Rocky Road
I pushed open the ice-cream parlor door, and it greeted us with a friendly jingle from the attached bell as we immediately strode toward the counter. A giant chalk board had all our choices scrawled on in messy writing.
"Hmm…last time I took cookie dough, but I don't really feel Oreo right now…may be cotton candy…no, I had cotton candy yesterday…hmm…" The brunette beside me pondered on what flavor to get, while I just skipped the choosing entirely and told the person, "Mint chocolate chip, please." I snapped at him, while smirking, and I could practically feel every woman, married or not, sigh.
Meanwhile, the girl, beside me was still thinking. Arceus, she might as well take a sampler if she was having this much trouble.
"Seriously, May, why don't you just pick Moose Tracks or Rocky Road or something? There are people behind us waiting, and you're taking as long as it would take Dawn's Mamoswine to run a marathon."
May glared at me, stuck her nose in the air and scoffed, "Well, give me a break here! Deciding which ice-cream flavor to eat takes time, you know! For your info, I HATE HATE HATE Moose Tracks! And, because you suggested Rocky Road, I won't take it!" She turned back to the board, ignoring me, and I sighed. Everybody was now staring at us, thinking May was mental, probably. At least I wasn't with Misty.
My waffle cone was already dripping green drops and gooey chocolate chips, and she was still thinking hard, and everybody behind us was groaning, and kids were crying. She was really taking too long.
"May, come on! Think fast! There are people waiting!" I whispered angrily at her, and she whipped around to face me.
"Would you zip it? I can't think straight if you're having anger issues in my ear! Sheesh, cut a girl some slack, will ya?"
"But, we've been standing here for ten minutes! This is too much!"
"Only ten miuntes? Usually, I take half an hour."
"Now I understand why Max never let us take you out for ice-cream!"
"Hey!"
"Hey yourself!"
"Hey you and your family and your friends and your-"
An old woman cleared her throat with a hem-hem and looked disapprovingly at us. May shrank back while I mumbled, "Sheesh, sorry." To hell with respecting your elders. Now was not the time.
"Fine." May sighed. "I'll take the Rocky Road." As the person got it ready, I looked at her, aghast.
"Rocky Road? I thought you didn't want that."
"Meh. I love Rocky Road. And I strangely and suddenly have a craving for it. It just, like, kinda fits into the situation right now. I can't get any other flavor. You know how that feels, right?"
I decided to not question May's food sense and flipped my hair as I paid the bill. I could just practically feel the ladies swooning.
By the time we came out of the parlor, May was hungrily licking her ice-cream, and I was trying to savor whatever was left of my completely melted mint chocolate-chip. Oh, the agony.
But, as I thought about what May said before about Rocky Road ice-cream, I realized she was right, in a way. I think we all have times like that, when something just seems to be right, and you have to use that, whether you weren't sure about it or didn't want it before.
And the more I thought about it, the better it seemed.
Rocky Road was perfect for today.
Or actually, any day.
It described me and May's friendship perfectly.
Drew did a sweeping bow while we all applauded. It was actually really good. Though there were a few rough points. Like Dawn getting mad at the part about her Mamoswine ("Hey! What's wrong with my Mamoswine?"), Misty blowing up at the part where it said "at least I wasn't with Misty" ("What's that supposed to mean, grasshead?"), Kenny getting all defensive ("Moose Tracks is awesome!"), and May of course, butting in and editing stuff the whole time.
But, now, we were finally getting to the good stuff. It was Leaf's turn. She cleared her throat before she began again, and the room was dead silent as her steady voice rang loud and clear.
A single drop falls
Dancing through the thunder storm-
Splash in the puddle.
Leaf then went back to her seat while we all stared dumbfounded. What the heck was that? We were all expecting Leaf to write a whole novel or something, not some weird poetry that doesn't even rhyme (lame!).
Poetry is often written free-verse, you know. And it figures Leaf would write poetry anyway. You don't really know her as well as you think.
Oh, whatever.
"Umm…Okay…that was…interesting, I guess Leaf." Zoey stammered, and we all nodded and laughed.
"Was that poetry, Leaf?" Lyra asked.
"Yes, it is. It's a haiku, a Japanese style of poetry. It has to be three lines, five syllables for the first line, seven syllables for the second line, and five syllables again for the last line. It has to be about nature, it cannot have a title, it cannot rhyme, it must have a line break on either the first or second line, where it shifts topic, and lastly, it must have a kaigu, a hint of the season. You know, this was the way emperors and empresses communicated, back then." Khoury lectured, before adjusting his glasses and slumping back on the couch. Lyra looked taken aback, not expecting that answer.
"Yes, you're right, Khoury. It IS a haiku. I feel that as a writer, I have to try many different styles of writing, and experiment. If I stick to the same old thing, it will all be boring." Leaf remarked, smiling at Khoury. He smiled back, and Lyra glared at him.
You got to wonder why Lyra would choose Khoury. I mean he is a nerd, annoyingly smart, AND-
Love has no boundaries. And they ARE good friends.
Well, speaking of Leaf, it is time to get EVEN closer to her!
Leaf's POV
Confession
Leaf coughed in the musty air of the attic. "Can we go now? I can hardly breathe. There's so much dust." Leaf complained.
"Just a minute." I replied, peering at a big old journal with a magnifying glass. It was brown leather, with beautiful calligraphy on the first page saying, "Property of Leah".
Me and Leaf were in my grandpa's attic for the day, exploring. So, after we tried on all the poofy wigs and coolio outfits, we picked the lock on this big chest and found the book inside. Why the heck this was in our attic will forever be a mystery to me.
"Let's read it!" I exclaimed, excited. Maybe she was a pirate. Or a witch. Or a top coordinator. Or a-
"No way. That's mean." Leaf retorted.
"She's not even alive!" I said, with an epic voice crack. "Why would she care?"
"It's just an implied thing. Take it from me, I'm a girl with a diary too. Now, I need to go to the bathroom, this place is killing me." She proceeded to get up and thump down the stairs, leaving me all alone, still staring at the journal.
My curiosity was nagging at me until I finally couldn't stand it. I opened up the book, and a cloud of dust rose from it. After a ginormous coughing fit, a silent prayer that Leaf would get constipated or something, and the writing wouldn't be too fancy so I could still read it, I started to skim the first page.
Dear Diary,
This is a lovely new journal that Mother gave to me on this blessed day, September 25, 1811. I will continue to write in this as the days go by, and keep a record of the events that occur.
Most of it was like that, really just kind of like a list of stuff that happened during her day. I was almost sorry that I ever opened the book until I came to the last page she had wrote on:
Dear Diary,
Oh, that scoundrel! That boy down the street, Gavin, who keeps teasing me, reads my diary every day when I go outside to eat lunch and play with the girls. He says it's "really boring" and that I should "write down my feelings instead, like the girl you are" The nerve! Well, I'll show him feelings!
I'm so mad at him, I would like to tear him apart, and pluck every single fine, shiny brown hair from his head until he's bald like an egg, and then rip up all his clothes, scribble on all his school work, ransack his room, smack him…the list could go on forever. I just hate him. I hate him for being stupid, idiotic, a dumbo, imbecilic, mean, a bastard, and
It suddenly stopped there. There was nothing after that. She must have stopped writing.
I wondered if things ended out okay for her. It was actually kind of obvious that Gavin liked her. I was positive she returned the feelings.
Well, I promise to never read anymore diaries.
But, I confess that I will probably break that promise given the chance.
I never knew Gary could write that well. I suppose he just never applies himself.
But…
Flashback
Gary was furiously writing. I had finished my piece for Marina already, so I continued my diary entry.
Why is my pen on a different page than it was before? I was positive that I had stuck it onto another page.
I glanced over at Gary, who was sweating from all of his work.
Too obvious. Lucky for me, I hadn't really written anything of importance yet.
I grinned and ran to give him a big Urasring hug.
Dawn's POV
At 6:00 still, the rain just kept coming. I sighed exasperated, and turned over onto my belly on the couch.
I was so freaking bored. After Gary and Leaf's private writing drama (we still have no idea what happened) we had just gone back to doing whatever in the heck we were doing before. Which wasn't a whole lot.
I gazed out the window for at least the millionth time, and saw the water dripping from the awning on the patio. Yet, it wasn't falling anywhere else. The little streams (more like rivers) on the ground seemed to be drying up, and though everything was still as damp as damp can be, it had definitely stopped raining, as least for a while.
I didn't even waste a single second.
"Guysitstoppedrainingi'mleavingtogetsomefrshairbye!" I exclaimed in this mass jumble of words, and by the time everyone looked up lazily, I had already slipped on my rain boots and bounded out the door.
I loved going outside after the rain. All the plants were glistening, and the sleek drops of water were sliding off of them ever so slowly and would then plummet to the ground in a free-fall. There were puddles, and that squishy sound that you made every time you took a step, and the fact that it just smelled so…so fresh, just brightened up my day. Though the sky was still pretty much completely gray.
"Hey, dudes, it stopped raining!" Jimmy cheered as he practically leaped out of the door in happiness, before shouting, "Crap! I forgot my shoes!" and running back inside.
Everybody else was already pushing at the door, trying to get out (I'm surprised it's still attached to the hinges), and he had trouble getting inside.
We didn't really know where we were headed; nor did we want to know, we just wanted an adventure of sorts. Something exciting.
That sounded so like some boring classical novel that they make you read in Language Arts.
I know, but it was totally a spur of the moment kind of thing. It just fits there, you know?
No, I don't know.
Of course you wouldn't, or how could you be the dumb conscience you are?
"Oh my Mew, look! The poor thing!" Leaf wailed in despair, and we all glanced over to the beach where she was pointing.
Before I could get a look at the creature, May gasped next to me. All of the color had drained from her face and her eyes were bulging out. She looked like she had seen a ghost or something.
Me: Kind of an awkward cliffy. Actually, during this whole chappie, I was rushing.
May: *shocked*
Gary: What lame writing skills you have, Leaf.
Leaf: Yeah, well at least I don't read deceased girl's diaries!
Another awkward ending! R&R plz!