"W-What do you mean...?" Ash stammered, he thought Gary was with Jayme!
"You're so freaking dense," Misty grumbled, scooting closer into Gary's side. "We really like each other..."
"Uh... What about Jayme...?" Tracey frowned, his voice full of confusion.
"What about her?" Gary shrugged, wrapping his arm around Misty's shoulder, just like he had with Jayme two days ago.
"Gary, Jayme's your girlfriend, not Misty..." Iris mumbled, her eyebrows raising up her forehead
"No, Jayme's just my friend," Gary insisted, smiling down at Misty. "Speaking of which, shouldn't we get back to the others?"
"Why are they acting as if this is the most normal thing in the world...?" Tracey whispered to Brock, the tan boy shrugged, his face still full of confusion.
"No idea..."
"Heh, yeah... We should go..." Ash said with a nervous laugh, trying to hide his jealousy.
"Let's go then," Misty said, smiling and taking Gary's hand again. Ash's stomach clenched at the simple gesture and looked away, he couldn't bare them together.
"I guess..." Iris frowned, noticing Ash's sudden change of behaviour. Maybe he wasn't as big a kid as she made out he was... She shook her head slightly, this was Ash Ketchum she was talking about, of course he was a little kid!
"Alright, Cilan said to meet them back at the bottom of that hill around fourish, right?" Tracey said, rubbing his chin. Brock nodded at him, he then grabbed a sketch book from thin air. "Then lets look around for a while!"
Iris sweat dropped but nodded too, looking around her. "I guess we could have a look around to see about any new Pokemon!"
"Yeah, maybe even some water types!" Misty grinned excitedly, Gary laughed and squeezed her hand.
"You're so cute..."
Ash growled and lowered his red cap over his eyes, his fingerless gloved hands turning to fists again. Iris frowned again, this time sharing a look with Brock. The Pokemon doctor gave her a knowing look, sure she had teased Ash and Misty about liking eachother, but now it was clear to her Ash really did like Misty... She bit her lip, feeling sorry for her friend, seeing Misty and Gary must be hurting him more than confusing...
"We're gonna go ahead and look for a river or something, kay?" Gary said, snapping Iris out of her thoughts.
"Oh... Er, sure. Just don't get lost again," Brock warned, sweat dropping.
"We won't." Misty giggled, waving a hand in the air. "Catch ya guys later!"
"Hm..." Tracey mumbled to himself, glancing at the other three around him once the two were out of sight. "They were acting very..."
"Odd?" Iris finished for him, Tracey nodded at her.
"How could he act like he wasn't with Jayme though? It seems awfully suspicious..." Brock thought aloud, stroking his chin in thought.
"That's what I thought," Iris agreed, blinking her confused eyes. "It's just so... Weird..."
"Don't you think so, Ash?"
"Huh...?" The trainers head snapped up at the sound of his name. "Uh yeah... Whatever..."
Iris sighed when he looked down again, rolling her eyes at Brock and Tracey. "Man, he's such a kid." She was expecting him to disagree with her, but she got nothing in response.
"Well, I dunno about you guys but I'm gonna have a look around for any Pokemon I can sketch," Tracey informed the group, Brock give him a slight nod.
"I wanna have a look about too. But Ash..."
"I'm fine!" Ash suddenly snapped, sticking his nose in the air. "Go look about all you want, I don't care!"
"Oh..." Tracey blinked, Ash was never like that. He was normally 'stoked' as he said to look for new Pokemon... "Um... Okay, lets go Brock. Are you coming too, Iris?"
"I'll catch up with you guys in a bit." She sighed, looking over at Ash again. She certainly didn't have any feelings for her friend, she just wanted to make sure he was okay.
"Sure, c'mon them Tracey."
As the two disappeared out of sight like Gary and Misty had, Iris groaned and turned to Ash. "What's wrong with your face?"
"Nothing."
"Ash tell me!"
"No! Leave me alone!"
"It's because of Misty and Gary, isn't it?" Iris sighed, sitting on a tree branch that was roughly the same height as Ash. "Look, something's obviously up with them two. I don't know what, but-"
"Ugh, I don't care about them!" Ash said stubbornly, removing Pikachu from his shoulder and setting the mouse-like Pokemon on the ground then sitting next to him.
"Not everyone is as dense as you are!" She rolled her eyes, jumping down from the branch and sitting next to him. "I know you have feelings for Misty, and actually you two would be super cute together!"
Ash groaned, stroking his hands over Pikachu's soft fur. "It's never gonna happened though, is it?"
Iris grabbed an apple from thin air, munching on it as she spoke. "Yes! I've known you guys for about a year, you two are made for each other!" At those words, Ash's tan cheeks turned pink. "I'm not kidding when I say something's up, I really think Gary likes Jayme like he says he does."
"So why would he suddenly ask Misty out?" Ash sighed, taking his hat off to run a hand through his messy raven hair. He sat the red cap on Pikachu's head, looking back at Iris.
"That's what I'm not sure of," she admitted, nibbling her lip. "Something must have happened..."
"Mmhmm..."
The two sat in silence for a while, both deep in thought. Ash's main fear was that it wasn't something up with the two and they generally liked each other while Iris was thinking of possible solutions the two started acting so lovey-dovey together.
"We should go find Brock and Tracey..." Ash said after the pause, shoving his cap back on his head and standing up.
"Hm..."
Iris stood up too, still deep in thought. "I'm sorry about Misty, by the way..."
Ash shrugged. "I don't wanna talk about it..."
Iris nodded, not exactly looking where she was going and tripped over a vine in the ground, landing flat in her face. Ash burst into laughter, pointing at Iris as he laughed.
"Aw man, you should have seen that!" He snorted, she growled and opened her eyes she had closed during the fall, sweat dropping when she was face to face with a small, pink blob.
"Uh..."
Ash's laughter died down, he wiped his eye and glanced over her head. "Hey, look!"
"What is that?" Iris hissed, not wanting to startle the thing in front of her.
"It's a Clefairy," Ash told her, smiling at the pink Pokemon. "Hey there!"
"Aw, it's pretty cute!"
The Pokemon blinked at the two, out stretching it's chubby arms and waving them in circles like it had with Misty and Gary. Pikachu gritted his teeth from Ash's shoulder, his cheeks crackling but Ash stopped him from attacking.
"It's okay buddy, it's just a cle-"
As he said those words, the Clefairy let out the more powerful beam like it had before, once again, leaving them unconscious.
"Um... Did you see that too...?"
Gary's widened eyes set on Ash and Iris's bodies as the Pokemon ran out of sight, turning back to Misty. "Yes..."
"The hell..." She mumbled, sprinting over to Iris and Ash. "It must have attacked them..."
"Pikachupi!" Pikachu yelped, tugging at Misty's leg. "Pika! Pikachu!"
"Sorry buddy, it's only Ash who can understand you..." Misty sighed, crouching down next to her two unconscious friends bodies.
"Man, that's weird. I've never seen a Clefairy make a move like that," Gary commented, not bothering to sit down next to Misty.
"Me neither," she agreed, shaking Ash's arm. "Wake Iris up Gary, will you?"
He nodded and used his foot to gently kick the girl in the side, Misty scowled and smirked at him. "Not like that!"
He rolled his brown eyes and began shaking her shoulder, Misty doing the same to Ash. "Wake up already..." She mumbled under her breath, as if on cue the boys big brown eyes snapped open, meeting Misty's emerald ones.
"Huh...?" He pushed her from half on his chest, sitting up and blinking. "Iris!" He gasped, shaking her other arm. "Wake up!"
The girl let out a groan, after all she had fallen twice, the second time hitting her head off the ground. She opened one of her eyes, smirking down at Ash. "Geez, for such a kid you sure seemed worried!"
He grinned back, taking a hold of her hand and hauling her up. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"We sure missed a lot looking for that lake, huh?" Gary chuckled, his eyebrows shooting up when Iris flung her arms around Ash's neck in a hug.
"Tell me about it!" Misty laughed too, grabbing his arm and snuggling into it. "Lets just find the others, Tracey said something about meeting them at the bottom of the hill, so lets go there."
Gary nodded, raking his free hand through his spiky brown hair. "Yeah, c'mon Ashy-Boy, get your girlfriend and lets go!"
Ash grinned. "Coming!"