"So what if you can see, the darkest side of me? No one will ever change this animal I have become! Help me believe, it's not the real me, somebody help me tame this animal I have become!" - Three Days Grace "Animal I Have Become"
18 Fighting With Drew
The boy sat down, twirling a pokeball on his pointer finger. He had gotten rather good at it in the years he'd been trapped. The ball contained his Poliwhirl, and he had a feeling the Pokemon was enjoying being spun around.
"Pika?" asked the little yellow mouse at his feet.
Smiling sadly, the boy reached down and rubbed his best friend's head. "I know, Pika. But we'll get out."
For the millionth time, the boy remembered how his life had been stolen away from him. He had been plucked right out of Kanto, like a berry. One moment he was about to catch that Beedrill, and the next he was in this endless meadow. And he was bored.
"Hey Red!" called a voice.
Red turned his head lazily to see an orange-haired boy jogging towards him. He blinked as he looked up at him, the sunlight a little too bright. "Yeah, Blue?" he asked, hopeless.
Blue began emptying his pockets, depositing a store of berries and crackers at his friend's feet before sitting down next to him. "We eat like kings today," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
His friend shook his head. "I am so sick of being here." Red glanced over at the Espeon that sauntered up. Before his eyes it writhed and devolved into an Eevee. "That stupid sky cat screwed up Vui," he growled.
Blue took a bite of the saltine cracker. "So? I was taken from my Gym. I had so much going for me back home. Why did I have to be taken and put in here with you?"
Red was past arguing with his rival. "Because karma's out to get you." He looked around, and sighed in relief. "I keep expecting Leaf to show up here, but thank God she never does."
Chewing, Blue shrugged. "I dunno. It might be entertaining to have a girl around," he said nonchalantly.
"I think your mind has gotten dirtier the longer we've been here," Red commented.
Blue smirked. "There's nothing better to do. You could make a joke every once in a while."
"Oh, I could, could I?" Red snapped. "About what? The flowers? Oh, oh, Blue, why don't you go deflower that patch of ground over there? I want an experienced piece of grass for the next time we eat."
His friend clapped him on the back. "Now that's what I'm talking about!" he laughed.
Pika looked at Red quizzically, not understanding. Red shook his head and said, "I'll tell you later."
"Hey, do you want to make a bet?" Blue asked. Obviously he was bored out of his mind.
Red glanced at him, exasperated. "Sure," he conceded. "What is it?"
"If we get out of here, you have to buy me a strawberry—no, I'm sick of berries—an Oreo milkshake every day of the week for the next two years," Blue proposed.
"And if we don't?" Red sighed.
"Then I'll play chess with you every day for the rest of our lives," he said.
Red brightened at this. He smiled, victorious. "Well, we're still here. I win. Get the chessboard."
Blue's grin faltered. "Hey, that's not—."
"You didn't put a time limit," Red pointed out, reaching for his backpack. He pulled out a notebook that a chessboard had been carefully drawn on. "So, until we get out, I've won the bet." He then grabbed a variety of knickknacks from the bottom of the bag as the chess pieces. "Black or white?"
Realizing the flaw in his plan, Blue sighed in defeat. "White," he chose.
*********************************************************WEE PARAGRAPH BREAK!**********************************************************
Morning came, waking us up with an explosion from the lava pit. Great alarm clock, that nature. Next time we'll be woken up with an earthquake, you just wait and see.
"Look at this!" Brock called. He was sitting near the shore of the lava with a marshmallow on a stick. "Smores for breakfast!"
"Yeah!" Max, Dawn, and May cheered. They raced to Brock, hounding him for his tasty treats…. Oh, you guys are sick. Get your minds out of the gutter already, jeez!
My stomach growled, so I went to join the dog pack that waited patiently for Brock to hand out treats. I met Misty's eyes, and an awkward silence passed between us. Finally, she cleared her throat. "I'm hungry," she said.
"Yeah, me too," I agreed, stomach growling again as if to confirm. "C'mon, the smores are waiting."
I held out my hand for an instant, then remembered she probably wouldn't take it in front of people. I hastily turned my outstretched arm into a swinging dead weight, hoping no one had seen my attempt of a PDA (public display of affection, for all you home schooled kids out there).
Drew, of course, did, and he was now fighting the urge to laugh at me. I blushed and gave him the death glare, something I had learned from Misty. Drew didn't exactly cower as he did when Misty death-glared him, but he did leave us alone.
Misty noticed me death-glaring and joined me in staring down Drew. While she was at it, Misty decided to get all her glaring done for the morning. Even though Paul hadn't done anything, she death-glared him to get it out of the way because she would most likely find a reason to glare at him later. Preemptive glaring, I guess. Paul recoiled and remained his silent, emo self, watching us with dark eyes that glittered horrifically. Dawn would kill me if she heard me describing Paul like that.
"So, any new ideas as to how we'll get across?" Brock called. Everyone had now received a smore, save for me and Misty. We glared at Brock demandingly, our hands open and waiting.
Brock smirked. "Will one be enough for the two of you?" he mocked. "Or does spaghetti sound better?"
Misty smacked him upside the head. "Can it, Breeder," she snapped. "I'll turn you into spaghetti."
"Whoa, Misty, why so cold?" asked Max.
No one answered when they saw Misty's face. May looked at me questioningly, but I just blushed and looked away.
"So!" Drew said to break the silence. "How are we going to cross the lava pit?"
"Why don't we throw you in first so you can tell us if it's safe?" May snapped, giving him a shove. I blinked, wondering what had brought on this sudden violence. My glance at Drew was returned with a roll of his emerald eyes, and that was all the information I got on the situation.
Misty's mentality was anything to change the subject. She pulled out a pokeball. "Starmie knows Ice Beam, so maybe it can help us." She was just about to throw it when another ball opened from her bag.
The light illuminated our surroundings for a brief moment. Blinking away spots, I looked at the Pokemon that had escaped Misty's ball.
It wasn't Starmie.
Misty flailed in frustration. "PSYDUCK!" she screamed. "What the hell you stupid duck get back in your ball!"
The little yellow duck held its head as if trying to keep it from exploding. "Psy?" it asked stupidly.
Laughter spread throughout our group as Misty turned steadily redder. The Psyduck gazed at its master hopefully, as if expecting a pat on the head.
Misty whacked it with her mallet, probably not what it was hoping for. "You stupid duck!" she yelled at it.
"Psy-eeyai-eeyai!" it cried, wincing painfully.
"Oh, be nice to it," Dawn told her. She reached down and hugged Psyduck, her expression full of sympathy. "It can't do everything you ask of it."
Not to be mean or anything, but I could see why Dawn was sympathizing the idiotic duck. They were remarkably similar.
Misty rolled her eyes and unleashed her Starmie. The Pokemon appeared with a threatening "Hiya!" and tensed for battle. It looked confused (I run into the same problem with the Starmie that I have with Brock. No eyes to tell me what's going on in the head) when it saw (? Again, no eyes) there was no opponent.
"Starmie, Ice Beam on the lava," Misty commanded. She gestured to the pit with her finger, the authority of being a Gym Leader showing through.
The Pokemon perked up and sent out the attack. A blue light flashed from Starmie's central gem, almost blinding. It hit the lava, splashing it up.
It took a while, but after Starmie was exhausted beyond all reason, we were able to look at a new piece of black ground, unevenly set out before us, and still smoking. It worked.
"Woo!" cried Dawn. She leapt into the air and landed on the rock that used to be lava. "C'mon, everyone, let's go! Vaminos!"
Paul groaned and rolled his eyes. "Troublesome," he muttered.
As we paraded across the hardened lava pit, Misty seemed to avoid me. I felt slightly hurt by this, but whatever. I wasn't going to hold her hand or something in front of everyone. Obviously she didn't trust me. I shrugged this off as best I could and dropped back to chat with Drew.
His backpack was falling off again, and he was immensely frustrated by it. Everyone else was ahead of him, paying him no attention. "Hey," I began. "What's up May's butt?"
He focused on the strap tightening thing of his bag and shrugged. "I don't know," he said in a low voice. "Maybe seeing you with Misty pissed her off."
I pondered this for a moment, wondering if it could really be true. Then I shook my head, mentally chastising myself for being such an idiot. "It's not me she's mad at," I reminded him. Heh, I thought. Try and worm your way out of that one, Drew.
Drew's bag slipped suddenly, though I think he did it on purpose to avoid answering. He stooped down to pick it up, huffed as he adjusted it on his shoulders, and looked promptly ahead.
"Drew, what did you do to her?" I pressed.
"Piss off, Ketchum," he snapped.
I arched an eyebrow. "Oh, is little Drewy throwing a temper tantrum?" I teased. He glared at me. I smiled and said, "I'm not going to stop until you tell me."
Drew looked intently at the ground. "I, uh, tried to write her a poem," he said, so quietly I barely heard it.
"You WHAT?" I yelled. It echoed around the mountain and caused everyone ahead of us to look around with concern.
Drew started counting pebbles on the path in order to hide his blush. "Not so loud, dammit!" he hissed.
I groaned and kicked the nearest rock as hard as I could. Unfortunately, the rock was heavier than I expected and gave me a sore toe instead of anger relief. "Whatever you do, don't tell Brock," I warned.
"I wasn't planning on—." He paused. "Why Brock specifically?"
"Because if he finds out I'll owe him ten bucks!" I cried as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
Drew expression of confusion melted into one of rage. "You bet on whether or not I would… yeah. You bet on it?" he screamed as quietly as he could.
I shrugged, not understanding his anger. "Yeah, we were bored and I had ten bucks to spare. So what? Weren't you guys all betting on when Misty and I would get together?" I pointed out. I know this for a fact because one time I walked in on May, Drew, Brock, and Max all putting money on a table and saying, "Two years." "No, I say six months." "Next week." "I say never because Ash and Misty are too afraid of their own feelings to admit them to each other."
Yeah, I wasn't happy when I walked in on that. I mean, I would rather walk in on Brock making out with Paul, and I do NOT want to see that for as long as I live, and past my death too.
By the way, I think my mom won that bet.
Drew muttered something about hating a fair fight. "Fine. I wrote her a poem and she didn't like it. End of story, okay?"
I let out a whistle. "You mean she thought the 'Lady May' poem was sweet and she hated yours? Damn, that sucks, man." Suddenly I was excited. "How bad was it? Can I read it?"
"What? No, of course not you idiot! Why would I let you read something like—HEY!"
I pulled Drew's bag off his back and ran ahead of him, plunging my hands into the pockets as I went. His hand looped into the handle of my own backpack, pulling me back. "Give me that, or I'm going to kill you."
"Let me read it, and I will," I bargained.
Drew scowled. "Fine!" He snatched the bag out of my hands and kept walking.
I followed him, pestering. "Hey, aren't you going to let me read it?"
"No, you imbecile why in the name of Arceus would I let you read it?" he yelled.
"You'll let me read it or I'm going to run up there and yell that you wrote May a love poem," I threatened.
Drew snorted. "No you won't, because if you do you'll lose ten bucks," he replied.
I hesitated before I decided I didn't care. "So what? You'll be humiliated beyond all reason and everyone will tease you for eternity."
He looked at me with desperate eyes, aware that he had no alternative. "I hate you," he said childishly, and he thrust the paper into my hands.
I read it over greedily. No offense to Drew, but I could see why May hated it. It was super terrible. Like, I could do better than what he wrote.
It was short, so I memorized it before he took it from my fingers. This is what it said:
May, oh May oh
For you I would stoop as low
As shaving my head
If it got you in bed
With thoughts of me
In your dreams
I don't think he meant it as sexual, but it really came over like that. Now, I felt bad for him, I really did! But… this was a golden opportunity to make fun of him, and guys never miss a chance to mess with other guys.
"'If it got you in bed'?" I quoted. "Really Drew? How was she supposed to take that?" I looked ahead. "Hey Paul!"
Drew jumped and clamped his hand over my mouth. "What do you think you're doing?" he whispered. "Don't tell Paul!"
Paul looked around lazily. Instead of coming back to join us, he stood and waited for us to catch up to him. "What," he snapped.
"If Drew said he would shave his head to get a girl in bed, how do you think she would take it?" I asked. Drew was flushing through shades of red I didn't even know existed.
Puzzled, Paul cast a wary glance at Drew. "You said that to May?" he questioned.
"No! I didn't mean it like that, I swear!" he said hurriedly.
"How else could you mean it?" Paul replied. "Girls believe that all guys think about is sex. In some cases, like you and Brock, that's true."
"It is not!" Drew cried. He rounded on me. "You are dead, do you hear me? I'm going to get you in your sleep!"
"Don't shave my head," I laughed.
"Pika pi," said Pikachu, sweat dropping comically.
This made our green haired friend even angrier. "Even the Pokemon have turned against me!" he exclaimed.
"What's the matter, Drew?" asked Brock. He had dropped back to join us. "Losing your cool?"
I swear, if Dawn hadn't joined our group Drew would have punched Brock silly. "Drew, why are you upset?" she questioned, genuine worry showing in her voice.
"Go away, Troublesome," Paul snapped. "You'll only get in the way."
Dawn went red in the face. She was about to say something just as cruel when Max popped up. "I want to read the poem, Drew. Please?"
Drew's eyes went wide. "How do you know about the poem, shorty?"
Max stood up a little straighter. "I am not short, you're just Goliath. Now let me read the poem you wrote my sister."
"Whoa, Drew wrote May a poem?" said Misty. She had decided to forget her embarrassment about me and entered the conversation. "I want to see it!"
"Absolutely not!" yelled Drew.
"That's okay, I have it memorized," I offered.
Misty, Dawn, and Max all crowded around as I prepared to recite the poem. I got the first "May" out before Drew socked me in the face.
I felt my jaw snap out of place and then snap back in. The force of the hit sent me careening backwards, only to be caught by Misty and Dawn. "Frickin' Mew, Drew, what was that for?" I yelled.
"I don't want them to hear it!" Drew said, matching my volume. "May already hates me enough for it and I don't need them teasing me about it too!"
We were all silent, until Brock said, "Okay. Ash, pay up."
Grumbling, I fished the crumpled ten out of my pocket and placed it in Brock's open palm. Still rubbing my sore jaw, I cast a glare at Drew and proceeded to catch up with May.
May was walking far ahead of the rest of us, not interested in the conversation behind her. I didn't want to talk to her or Drew, so I decided to hover in the middle. With Misty (yay!).
"Hi," she said, avoiding my eyes.
I hated how awkward our conversation was going to be. "Sup?" I asked.
Misty shrugged. Our shoulders were touching as we walked side by side. Max and Brock were chuckling about it behind us, Brock filling the younger Trainer in on what had happened between Misty and me. By the end of the day I was sure the whole mountain would know.
I started to tinker with the bracelet out of sheer boredom. Misty wasn't talking, and I couldn't find a good conversation topic. So it was me and the bracelet, like so many times before.
I traced my finger across its dull surface, imagining flames etched into the bronze. Briefly, I wondered what the bracelet would look like in full sunlight. Blindingly beautiful, for sure.
The clouds above swirled, heavy with rain. The wind picked up, chilling my exposed skin and pulling my hair. I jumped, focusing on the bracelet. I hadn't noticed it before it got cold, but it was radiating a slight heat. The area it covered on my wrist was barely warmer than the rest of me.
I think I was educated enough through experience to know what the bracelet warming meant.
*AN: Yes, I brought in Red and Blue. They're just going to be a side story, not much. Like how terrible Drew's poem was? Thought you would! So, I'm starting another Pokemon story, but I'm hoping to actually finish it before I publish it. It's more about Pokemon than the people, but it'll still have our favorite canon characters.
I put songs at the beginning of the chapters of this story, right? All of you have noticed, I'm sure. I need some good songs. I know a lot of good songs, but they don't suit the story very well. So if you know any songs that would work with this story that are absolutely amazing, please tell me about them! I'm always on the lookout for good songs.*