Hmhm! One week in advance! And not one of those really long chapters, too! :D
As always, huge thanks for everyone that reviewed last time! ^^
Now.. After you've read this chapter, please check the notes after, it's a really important question for you guys. (:
Chapter 20: Some Small Payback
"That really wasn't funny you guys."
Massive laughter from his four other friends told him the opposite..
"No, really.. Do you know how much I went through?"
"Of course." the green haired coordinator replied and grinned. "We saw you the whole time, right?"
Once again, the other teens around the table bursted out with laughter, drawing some attention from the other customers in the small hamburger bar they were currently dining in.
"Hmpf, well, at least they won't make me get other tests, that was horrible, you guys."
The raven haired boy without his favorite cap on his head started to shiver: thinking back of all of those things he had to do made him lose his appetite. Seriously, he had to sit still for several minutes that felt like hours and make stupid puzzles that made him feel like a money.
"That was necessary, Ash." the blue haired girl stated and lowered the atmosphere around the teens. "Not only were we worried already, but after you almost drowned yourself and May we thought it was needed."
Silence took over the table, but it didn't take long before Drew and Amelia broke it by fighting over the last hamburger. While the two of them were at it, Ash couldn't help but notice how May was spacing out about something.. which Dawn noticed, too.
"Jeez, Amelia, if you're still that hungry take my money and buy a new burger!"
"It's not that!" Amelia bursted out and huffed. "It's about power and territory control, and- HEY!"
"Whoops." Drew got out sarcastically and grinned after grabbing a tissue to clean his mouth. "Your little story was simply so amazing that it made me hungry."
Amelia gritted teeth and was about to smack the boy's grinning face but suddenly realized that the burger was completely gone.
"You.. You ate it with ONE bite..?"
"I told you I got hungry by your story.."
At this point, her anger level had already reached a dangerously high level, which was about to rise even more once she caught a glance of his grinning face. Her teeth stopped making squeeling sounds for a second as she raised her right, clenched fist, but it soon changed into a surprised face expression once she felt someone from behind stop her just before impact.
Turning around, Amelia almost fainted by embarrassment as she saw that it was one of the workers that stopped her, and that everybody had their eyes on her and the grinning Drew.
"Miss, could you please keep it down?" the young woman said bored, although she tried to sound polite. "You're disturbing everybody else."
Thinking about it, she had two choices. One, sit down and let it all pass by quietly.
Or the second one, the more pleasing choice meaning that she would punch and eventually kick her boyfriend in the face. It wasn't that hard to choose, really.
"Oh, forgive me, please." Amelia said in an extremely polite way, also showing off her precious smile. "I will leave immediately."
Throwing the relieved woman another reassuring smile, Amelia let out a confident grunt before completely turning around towards her boyfriend to make him forget about his last 5 years.
But, she hit air. Blinking a few times, the confused girl looked around the table but couldn't find her target. Hearing a short chuckle from behind made her realize that Drew had escaped, and it only made everything worse when he waved with his hand nonchalantly without turning around.
"Sorry." the boy called out in a slight sarcastic way, despite having all eyes in the room on his back. "Restroom."
Everything went quiet for a while, the awkward silence causing some people to sweatdrop. It was broken after a few seconds or so after Drew slammed the restroom door shut, hard. One would think that the awkward silence would occur again, but that didn't happen since Amelia sped across the room, her mind set on killing Drew.
It took a while for other people to react, but when they did, they all realized that Amelia had gone into the men's restroom.
"Sigh.." Dawn said and sighed, ironically. "Guys, I'm gonna stop Amelia from total embarrassment; you guys should head back, we'll catch up, unless Amelia gets charged for assault.."
Without another word, the blue haired girl got up from the chair and followed the upset workers as they stood outside of the restroom, shouting.
As if that wasn't enough, all of the other customers more or less got frightened by these strange events. Most of them left at once, while some decided to finish their meals quickly to do so.
And Ash..?
He had been daydreaming the whole time, with only two words circling around his mind:
Aurora, May. Aurora, May. Aurora.. May..
"Ash?"
"Huh?"
The boy realized that he had completely lost track of everything around him, even to the point of staring into May's eyes without actually seeing her.
"Are you feeling okay?"
"Y-Yes!" Ash bursted out and immediately straightened his posture. "There's no need for any more tests, ehehe.."
"But you've been staring at nothing for a while now.."
"Ye.. Yeah but you did it, too!"
"Well, I was just thinking of what happened at the waterland. You know you have A LOT to explain, mister. And don't think I've forgetten what you did with Dawn."
"SHE fell on ME!"
"Lies, lieeeees~"
"Stop being such a kid."
"Stop being such a perv. Look, your face is still red from when she slapped you~"
"Hmpf. Quiet."
"I suppose Aurora fell on you, too?"
...
"May, would you mind following me back to the hotel to discuss these matters?"
"I would love to."
And just like that, the two teens joined the other people with leaving the hamburger bar.
"You.. already finished it all..?"
"Yup. Got a problem with that?"
"Why would I?"
"You seem troubled.. maybe you wanted me to save a glass for you or something?"
"Nope, I'm fine."
"I see.."
Aurora stared at her idiot brother. That bottle was supposed to last for quite a while, not 30 minutes.
"Where's Angel?" she suddenly asked, somehow feeling guilty for not letting her have some champagne, too.
"I told you, I don't know."
"Cut the crap, tell me where she is.. I bought you that bottle!"
"I don't know. And I never ASKED FOR IT."
"DO.. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT WAS? THAT BOTTLE?"
"I repeat: I never asked for it."
"Hmpf. Shut up."
"You shut up."
Oh.. He shouldn't have said that.
In under 5 seconds, Aurora had sped down the stairs, and before he knew it, she was in front of him with her hands pushing his shoulders against the comfy sofa he was currently sitting on. The lights were, fortunately, closed, but even then, her eyes seemed to be glowing. Ouch.
"Hehe, yes..?"
"I don't know what happened.." Aurora started and mumbled quietly for herself. "And it's none of my business really, but-"
"Then stay out of i-"
"BUT!" Aurora shouted and pushed him back down to the couch again as he tried to get up. "You will apologize for whatever you did, right now!"
"Why? What the hell makes you think that I did something wrong?"
"So you didn't do anything?"
"Uhm.."
"CALL HER NOW!"
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
How annoying.
"Hello, sir. Would you like to try out our newest flavo-"
"I'm fine, thank you."
"Oh.."
A pretty tall lady excused herself before moving on, leaving the strange man who was the only one that had declined her offer for free cookie samples..
"Jeez.. I wonder why people even like that crap." the young man named Jens muttered for himself as he straightened his sitting posture, as to not ruin his back. "It even smells badly.."
Because it was getting fairly late, or being early night, the man thought of resting for a few minutes on his seat, but that seemed to be impossible.. Every few minutes, different people would come by and disturb him, either wanting to give him free samples, snatch his pokéballs or ask if their flights had left.
Did he look like a reception, for them? No. Not at all. He was just a lonely man at the airport, waiting for somebody. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Sir.."
"Shit, what is it now..?"
At first, an annoying voice interrupted the young man's thoughts, but shortly after, he would go through much more than that..
"Yes..?" Jens muttered yet again, this man was really-
"I am in charge of this airport."
"Eh..?"
Jens didn't know what to do. And that was strange.
In front of him was a, presumably, young man standing, looking down on him with an irritated look.
"May I help you..?"
"Sir, you've been sitting here for quite a while now.." the man started and straightened his tie, along with his black costume.. "Yet, it seems like you have no intentions of entering any flight."
"Oh really?" Jens shot back and felt like smiling, this would be interesting. "How can you know?"
"You've been sitting here for nearly an hour."
"Yeah? Problem?"
"May I see your ticket, sir?"
"Why should I..?"
"As the manager of this airport, I would be delighted to see your ticket.. or maybe you don't have one?"
"Fine, I don't have any ticket." Jens said rather calmly before standing up with a grin, one he made sure no one would be able to see. "What're you gonna do about? Do you know who I a-"
Shit.. No wonder they couldn't recognize him, he wasn't wearing his Team Rocket outfit.
"Then I suggest you get a ticket, if you're planning on going somewhere.. If not, I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave."
Jens really didn't know what to do now. First of all, this so called 'manager' was hilarious; changing tactic just because he noticed Jens's length, that was pathetic. He deserved a smack to his face or something.
But.. since he was only doing his job, that was fine, in a way or another.
"I'm waiting for someone."
"Excellent! When will your flight leave?"
...
"I have no idea. She has the tickets.."
"I see.."
"Yup. Now would you please let me wait, in peace.."
"Why of course!" the manager bursted out and let out a quiet chuckle. "You can do that outside."
"Excuse me?"
Hoho, this man, this a-
"Yes, you heard me. Since you have no real evidence that you have any connection with this airport whatsoever, that means you're not allowed to be in here. Either go buy a flight ticket now, or wait outside. Please."
"Nope."
Jens, with a quite confident grin, sat down on the same seat from before. It would be interesting to see what this dude will do, not to mention there's nobody else around..
"SECURITY!"
The sun had disappeared since long ago, and the winds were only getting colder. Adding to this 'cozy' atmosphere, the two teens were completely quiet as they walked back to their hotel room with still quite a while before they would get there.
There were lights everywhere, the boy thought. Everywhere.
Well, since he didn't exactly have the courage to ask his brunette friend about the weather, he figured it would be just as good to think about it himself. First of all, it was cold. Real cold. Not to mention that stupid Dawn still had his hat, causing his jet black hair to sway around a little bit too much.
Secondly, it was so bright. Yes.. it was close to midnight, well almost, so it was pretty dark. The moon was also not giving off too much light, but that didn't exactly work as an excuse for them to have so many signs flashing on and off 10 times a second.
Jeez.. maybe he had been traveling for too much.. or were the citizens used to this, maybe? Nah, it was just them, feeling like wasting electricity like that.
Sigh.. so much lights, so much sound, so much stress.. it seemed like the only ones being calm were him and May. Well, not that they were calm.. it's just that-
"Ash..?"
"AH.." Ash got out, scared to death over May's sudden call. "Yeah?"
"When we get to the hotel.."
Cute, cute, cute. Has May always been like this? Impossible, he would've had noticed.
Ash didn't like the idea of an angry May walking behind him, so during their way, he let her walk ahead instead. Due to this, he was almost sure to be completely safe from any sudden attack.
But.. judging from her quiet little whisper, it seemed that anger was something she had put away for the moment. And this.. this.. this scene, it was looking.. magnificent! Too good to be true! Her chocolate brown hair lay peacefully down her shoulders, occasionally lifting up every now and then because of the winds. Ash was inspecting her from behind, so he couldn't really see her face.. But, it wasn't too hard to imagine how troubled her face must be as she held her hands together, looking down as she walked past the many buildings and stores on their way.
It was almost as if she was trying to create this scene..! But why would she do th-
".. could you promise me something?"
Alright. There's no doubt. She was actually TRYING to look this cute.
Ehehe.. and it worked.
"W-Well.. what is it?" Ash wondered and desperately tried to stop his blush that had just surfaced.
"When we get back to the hotel.."
"Y.. Yeah?"
"I want you to promise.. that you'll be completely honest."
.. What?
"A-And.." May started again with a stutter, further improving her cute image. "That doesn't only mean tonight, I want you to promise me that you'll be completely honest from now on. No lies."
Silence.
Well, not really. The whole city around them was still going on with full power, with parties, discount announcements and drunk men falling off their chairs. Only the small atmosphere around the two teens went quiet.. but why would a big city care about two troubled teens like them?
A few seconds had passed, yet, Ash had not uttered one single word nor sound. May was feeling like this was something she needed to know, right now, and so stopped walking, causing the boy to do that, too.
"Ash.." May started again, and dear god, is that tears..? "Can you do that?"
"Eh.."
It was impossible to see, but.. but.. somehow, Ash could hear some drops of tears hit the ground right in front of him.
Also, he was getting a strange feeling that something similar to this had happened before..
"I.." Ash started and sighed, grabbing the girl's attention.
Gulp.
"I promise.."
Why did it bother her so much? Stupid butthole.. But why..? It's not like they had any importance to her whatsoever. Or so she thought..
With a very deep sigh, the brown haired girl tried to get her mood up before she would be on her way to meet up with her best friend. Her best friend.. Her only friend.
One friend was enough, right? As long as they counted as a real, true friend.
"Ash, hurry up! It's getting cold!"
Hearing a very familiar voice to her left, Sophia's quick reflexes kicked in, causing her to instantly hide herself behind a large sign that showed pictures of clothes on sale.
"HURRY! It's getting late, and I'm freezing!"
"Yeah yeah.."
Lucky for her, the two familiar teens weren't coming her way. Judging from their looks, and with her awesome eye sight, it seemed like May was extremely happy about something while Ash was just tagging along like a tired pet..
It didn't take long before the two of them went out of sight for Sophia by going around the corner, and when they did, an idea popped into the bored brunette's mind.
"Hehe.." she quietly giggled for herself as she went the same way as Ash and May. "Guess I finally have something to do.."
Why.. why?
Never before had the young man been so troubled. Surely he had been very troubled, concerned and doubtful, but never to the point of being like how he was right now.. His legs could barely hold up his body as he walked through the empty hallway, the hallway that never seemed to end. For some strange reason, he would actually prefer that. That or.. or..
Every single step he took caused a loud sound to be emitted, also bringing out a loud echo due to the hallway. It was so quiet, that he could even hear his own heartbeat, his every breath and even the sound of his eyes blinking..
Was he really going to do this? He could always turn back. All he had to do was turn around, beg for another target or mission and everything would be solved. Yes.. yes! That didn't sound like a bad idea-
"James."
A moderately deep voice broke the young man's thought, also making him stop on his way as he realized that he had come to the hallway's end. In front of him stood another member of Team Rocket, wearing the usual black and white outfit with the big red 'R' on the shirt.
Even though the rocket grunt had called out to him, James couldn't manage to utter a single word.. and he noticed that. But, who wouldn't be like that, after being assigned this task?
"Please." the grunt started and unlocked the large steel door next to him using keys and various codes. "Come in.."
It took a while, but when the door had finally been unlocked from all of the security locks, the rocket grunt slowly pulled it open before stepping to the side, awating James's next move.
That was ridiculous now, wasn't it? Who would move at that situation? All James did was stand there, staring at the only person inside that cell.
After all, that person in front of him, the one tied up to a chair, was his target.. That person, his teammate, his friend, his-
"James..?"
"I said call her."
"I don't want to."
"Do it now."
"You do it."
Together with a distinct yet quiet growl, the black haired girl nearly shoved her cellphone on her brother's face since he barely managed to catch it before it hit his eyes.
"What's your problem?" the young man, John muttered and put the cellphone aside.
"What's YOUR problem, huh?"
Lately, for the past hour or so, her brother had been a real pain in the ass. If it was because of her regular mood, John's stupid face or the fact that he had already drunk the whole champagne bottle, she did not know. But it was something alright.. and it pissed her off.
"You did something, didn't you..?"
Glaring at her idiot brother's surprised face, Aurora made an attempt at trying to figure out what was pissing her off.
"What?" he bluntly shot back and crossed his arms before laying down completely on the couch.
"You made her cry.. didn't you?" Aurora whispered in a quite hostile voice as she took a seat herself.
"I didn't do SHIT, ALRIGHT?"
There. She had found what was irritating her.
It was John. Well, no wonder.. but he was lying. He was pretty good at it, too.
"Really? Where is she, then?"
"How should I know?"
"What caused her to leave?"
"How should I know..?"
"Hmpf.." Aurora got out before also laying down on her small seat. "Did she cry?"
".. How should I kn-"
The poor young man never had a chance to finish that last word due to recieving a winter boot straight to his face.
"Oh, Amelia. You're finally back I see-"
"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP!"
And just like that, a door nearly slammed to the young woman's face as she tried to realize what in the world was going on.
"What's up with her..?" the pink haired girl muttered for herself, wondering why her sister was in the mood she was. Well, she was often like that, it would probably be best if she got used to that.
"Don't mind her."
"Oh, Drew. Welcome home, I guess."
"Thank you."
The green haired boy did a short bow before excusing himself as he tried to open the door right next to them, but to no avail.
"Amelia, open up."
Solidad was a little bit startled, if one would ask her. She had spent the past few hours trying to come up with a few countermeasures against her sister's evil plans, and managed to come up with a few. Besides that, she had also been contacted by those who were in charge of the talent show tomorrow.. It seemed that Nurse Joy for some reason couldn't make it, and they wanted her to take her place instead. What an honor! Of course, she politely denied it, wanting to wait until the last minute to see if the nurse would get any better before the talent show.
Right now, she was about to take a quick shower, but that wouldn't be such a good idea now that two hormone raging teens were in the same room, also not being in the greatest mood.
"Heh, what did you do to her now, Drew..?" Solidad lazily asked and threw herself on her bed in the room with a thud. "Things were so quiet around here.."
"I didn't do anything."
"Hm.. doesn't look like that, at least not for me.."
"Well, I took the only burger left.. apparently, she flipped out because of that."
"Drew.. you should be stealing girls' hearts, not their burgers."
"I'm doing both.. happy?"
"Not really.. you have yet to get her heart, you know."
Drew opened his mouth to protest, but kept quiet, which Solidad noticed with a grin.
"Amelia, open up."
The clock showed to be just past 10pm, something Drew raised his eyebrow over as he glanced at the wall. Maybe the battery was dead.
"I suppose you-"
"You know she can still hear us, right..?" Drew wondered and sweatdropped before knocking lightly on the bathroom door. "Amelia, your sister needs to take a shower, and so do I. Please open up."
No answer.
"Oh, I'm well aware that she can hear us, Drew." Amelia stated and giggled as she stretched her legs a bit. "Very aware."
Really? Then why would she keep on pushing this subject furth-
Aha. Oh. Shoot.
"Well, I'm just thinking about whether-"
"Hm, DREW.." Solidad started with a voice that would make anyone wonder. "Using your tongue to kiss Amelia with is just wrong! Look at how she is now!"
"Eh..?"
Drew obviously saw this coming and wasn't too much surprised to begin with, but judging from a strange sound coming from the other side of the bathroom door, he assumed Amelia didn't take this too well.
"I didn't.." Drew started but then stopped, deciding not to make matters worse. "I'm gonna take a short walk. I'll be right back."
And so, the green haired boy quickly left the small house, regretting that he had left his vest with Amelia.
Things sure were different from last time he lay there..
Hmpf.
Trying not to give too much thought of it, the raven haired boy stretched his arms and legs as he desperately tried to get a comfortable position on the bed he was lying on. The bed was huge.. strange thing he only noticed that now, after he had slept on it a few times.. Meh. Not really. After all that had happened, it was only normal to notice that now.
No matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to get a comfortable lying position. Just out of curiousity, he even tried to sleep on May's side.
Now that he thought of it, getting a comfortable position wouldn't help so much.. May was showering with nothing between them except for a small part of the wall, it was freezing and the fact that Aurora was out there somewhere trying to mess with them was horrible. Well, first things first..
Forcing himself to go over to the balcony, Ash quietly closed the glass doors, finally stopping the cold winds from entering their room. He wondered why he had done all of that quietly, but then realized it was because he didn't want May to know he was up lurking around.. if she knew, she would instantly suspect him for trying to peek on her. Jeez.. just ask for some curtains or something from the reception, shouldn't be that hard.
With a short sigh, Ash quietly got back to his side of his bed, careful not to make the bed squeak. For a moment there he thought that luck was once again on his side (although it never had been, nor will) since May had apparently finished right after he got onto the bed.
"Ash, have you brushed your teeth yet?"
"Yes mom."
"Hey!"
"What? You do sound like her.."
Ash couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he stared at the roof, having a conversation with May that very much reminded him of one of his conversations with his own mother. Not to mention their voices were similar, in a way.. May's voice sounded much more sweeter, though.
Oh. His mother. He had to call her, soon. Should he tell her about what happened? The pool? Aurora? The idiot-test?
.. he probably shouldn't, but lying to his mother wasn't something he wanted to do, nor was it an easy task.
"Well, then I'll brush my teeth now..!" May exclaimed and let out a short giggle from the bathroom.
Oh yeah.. May. The whole 'cute-May-crying-begging-him-to-promise' thingy, it was all fake. The second after he had agreed to her simple yet important request, she immediately lit up and literally dragged him back to the hotel. She deserves an Oscar for best acting or something..
Enough about that. He had to think about his current situation with May. Dismissing the fact that they would both sleep on the same bed right after their respective showers, Ash tried to find any way out.. anything at all that would allow him to slip past everything about Aurora.
A sudden thud to the boy's right caught his attention, which was then followed up shortly with a quiet, feminime groan.
It was no doubt anymore. Somebody was there, watching them. Not just now, this person had followed them since May's brilliant acting.
But, knowing that facing that person head on was a bad idea, Ash decided to act as if nothing had happened, and so kept on staring at the ceiling, also adding a short yawn to it.
Maybe he should secretly call the reception? Officer Jenny? Or Pikac-
Crap.
May, somehow, was already done with everything and walked towards her side of the bed wearing a simple pink t-shirt and.. and..
"DON'T STARE DOWN THERE PERV!"
Ash's eyes immediately flew up, now focusing on her long brown hair that like always rested down her shoulders whenever her hair was wet.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
As May got on the bed with a red, flustered face, Ash realized one thing: he would crack any moment. Sure, he was a boy with a strong mind, and for the most of the time he could handle rough situations with little complications.
But.. this.. this, that there was some random dude somewhere in the room spying on them, May being free to ask whatever she wants, Aurora probably on her way and not to mention that May was wearing only a pink t-shirt and RED/WHITE STRIPED PANTIES would ultimately drive him insane, one way or another.
Gulp. How would he manage this rough situation?
Hah. HAHAH!
Jens tried not to be overconfident, but failed miserably. It was just too tempting to mentally, and physically, laugh at this crazy so called manager.
Hmpf. Security.. it's been 'a few' minutes, and yet, he's still sitting there, relaxing, with nobody to tell him otherwise. Heh.
Glancing to his sides, up, down, under his chair, Jens couldn't find anything that would display the current time. What? Is this an airport? Seriously? Heh, wait.. this was a golden opportunity to further provoke this manager.
Nah.. that would be cruel.. well, he only needs to know the time anyway.
Getting up from the seat he's been sitting on for nearly hours, Jens stretched a bit before looking for the pathetic manager, which wasn't too hard to do since he only had to follow the voice of an angry man screaming to a phone.
"Yo. Do you know what the time is? My flight leaves in.. uhm.."
"Silence! I've assembled the city's best team to get rid of you! Now, last warning: leave or get annihilated!"
There Jens stood, raising his eyebrow over the manager who was pointing straight at his face from a distance, possibly trying to look like some hero with his phone on his left hand.
This was it. Jens's limit.
Without another word or action, Jens fell on his knees, laughing like a mad man for the first time since 2001.
"How is she..?"
"She's.. according to the doctor, she's gonna wake up within a few days. No serious injuries whatsoever."
Brock sighed, something he had done pretty much all day. Yeah, he was grateful that everything would be fine, but.. everything was his fault, no doubt.
"Brock.. it was an accident. It's not like you would do that on purpose."
Brock raised his head and met Dawn's reassuring face.
"I guess.." Brock got out and sighed once more, feeling like turning the room's lights off for the nurse's sake. "We should probably head out and let her sleep in peace.."
"Ah.."
So quiet.
"Officer Jenny told me that I could get in serious trouble if Mary decides to report all of this."
And just like that, Dawn started to laugh, with Pikachu in her arms.
"Are you serious?" Dawn asked, not completely aware of their current situation and its seriousness. "Like she would do that! She knows it was an accident! Unless you might have altered her personality somehow.."
"Heh, verry reassuring, Dawn.. Bleh, I guess you're hungry? Do you need anything?"
"I'm completely fine, thank you." Dawn replied and giggled. "But I bet Pikachu is starving for some ketchup, right?"
"Cha."
"Really? Then I'll have some ketchup, too!"
With that, the blue haired girl went to the caféteria with the rodent, not knowing that his previous answer was 'no'. Due to her strange antics, Brock allowed himself to let out a short chuckle, something he hadn't done in a little while.
"Well, I guess a quick snack before sleep wouldn't hurt.."
With yet another sigh, the breeder went to the room's exit and turned the lights off, the only thing giving out light after that being the many machines and equipment required to treat the nurse. Brock was also about to close the door as he left the room, but stopped once he heard a creepy moan from inside.
"Don't.. turn.. the.. lights.. off.."
One.. two.. three steps.
How many left?
Another, unusal cold wind flew past him, causing him to shake and shiver. This was bad. Real bad. It was cold like crazy, not to mention that he was going upwards this stupid hill.. also, that crazy girl still had his vest. No turning back, hm..?
Realizing that turning back now would be stupid, the green haired boy took a few more steps, trying to avoid making too much sounds.. as to not wake up the people asleep right now in the many houses on his sides.
As the hill got more and more steep for each step he took, the colder and colder it got. Any more houses on his sides stopped, which was expected since living on a steep hill was idiotic.
It took a while, but he reached the top in a not-so-good condition.
Now what..?
Shortly after asking himself that mentally, the boy sneezed, already feeling a cold coming at a fast rate.
Bleh. Screw this. He should head back before it got any worse.
Turning around, Drew took no more than one step before he realized that that was also an idiotic thing to do. It would take a few minutes, if not more for Solidad to make Amelia return to her normal state.
Her normal state..? How was that?
Once again, the green haired boy let out another sneeze, and it didn't take too long before his eyes started to get red along with his nose soon dripping. What was this, an allergy..? Knowing that there was no way to undo his cold, Drew thought that chilling up here for a little longer couldn't make matters worse. Without any hesitation at all, Drew took a seat on the small green bench in the middle of the hill, not too far away from the huge tree swinging like crazy due to the strong winds.
Just when he thought that things couldn't get much worse, his phone started to ring, much to his surprise. He picked it up from his pocket nonetheless and replied, only to receive another strike of surprise.
"Ken. Good to hear your voice again."
"I'm sorry.. Sh-"
"It's fine. What happened, though, I wonder.."
"I.."
"Hardware crashed?"
…
The following reply was something Drew never, ever, ever expected to hear.
"I got a girlfriend."
This information took massive time to absorb, but even after, it stayed as a huge shock.
"D-Drew..? You there?"
"I'm.. here.."
"Are you with somebody now?"
"No..?"
"Cause.. I'm getting heat signatures right behind you.."
It felt like forever had past as the young man patiently waited for this so called 'city's best security team' to arrive to the airport. During this waiting time, the manager was constantly walking back and forth through the whole airport, grabbing everyone's attention, including the bored yet amused Jens.
"Well.." Jens started once the manager walked past his seat. "Where are they..?"
"They're.." he replied with a mutter and stopped for a few seconds before moving on. "They're coming- THEY'RE HERE NOW!"
Much to both the manager's and Jens's relief, a ringtone could be heard from his pocket, indicating that this team indeed had arrived. Without another word, the manager sped towards the entrance around the corner, hopefully getting these macho guys.
Soon enough, many footsteps could be heard, and it didn't take too long before these got closer along with laughing voices, with the manager's laugh being the most loud one.. Well, they would get by the corner any second now, preparing for them now would be smart.
Jens yawned once before standing up, stretching, and lastly checked all of his equipment that might come in handy during any upcoming close quarters combat. All check. Maybe a dirty head-start as soon as they got visible would do? Nah, that's-
Any thought or strategies Jens currently had at that time immediately vanished once he set his eyes on the grinning manager, along with the many men next to him. The manager, whose name was apparently 'Manny' according to his name tag kept on laughing and didn't quite realize that he was the only one doing so while his men stared at their target with wonder.
"What are you doing..?" the manager, Manny wondered after finally finding out that everyone went quiet. "Get him..!"
"Uh.." one of the men managed to get out as he scratched the back of his head. "Boss..?"
"Yes, I'm fine.."
"Are you sure..?"
"Yes.."
"Does your head hurt?"
"Y- I mean, no.."
"Your body?"
"Dawn, please.."
The nurse of Jubilife Pokécenter let out a short sigh and put her hand on a certain blue haired girl's shoulder.
"I'm fine." the nurse reassured and tried not to accidentally show any pain. "Where's Brock?"
"He's calling a doctor.." Dawn muttered and fidged with Pikachu, still sitting on her lap. "Pikachu, say hi!"
"Pika pika!" the rodent let out and smiled along with a peacesign executed with both of his hands.
"Naw, thanks, Pikachu!" Mary got out and let a giggle of her own. "Hm, where're the others?"
"Uh.." Dawn started and thought about it. "Ash and May are back at the hotel I hope, Amelia and Drew are also probably back at their own places.."
"Ash and May are alone.. right? This will be interesting.."
"I KNOW RIGHT?"
Their little chit chat came to stop once Brock entered, causing the whole room to fall quiet once more.
"Ehehe, well, I have to finish my ketchup, I'll be right baaaack~"
Dawn more or less sprinted out of the room, and Brock even thought that he had heard her sigh with relief once she was out of the room. Well.. there's no time to think about that, he had to discuss important matters with the nurse.
"I told you she's not here."
"Shut up. She's probably somewhere shopping.."
"Just use your psychic powers to locate her, jeez.."
"I don't know her that well, dumbass."
The young man raised an eyebrow and stared at her idiotic sister, what the hell was that supposed to mean?
"Stop messing around man, we've been checking half the city without any sign.. and check the clock, please."
"Nonsense.. we've only checked around 10% of the city."
"SO? Just use your-"
"That doesn't work, fool!"
"Why not?"
Aurora nearly slammed her brother's face, but instead slowly calmed down and leaned herself against the glasswindows of a restaurant, something the owners inside didn't really approve of.
"I haven't known her long enough to be able to do that."
"Eh?" John got out and sweatdropped before sitting down on the side walk. "And that means?"
"Are you retarded? I don't know her body mass, her body's general temperature or the patterns of her thoughts.. that way it's impossible for me to pinpoint her exact location."
"So.. basically you need all that to find someone?"
"Yup."
...
"That's a fat lie, you don't know my body temperature, how the hell can you find me?"
"Well, that's easy, all I have to do is to look for a certain mind pattern that always consists of thoughts of alcohol or perverted thoughts about a beautiful black haired girl."
"Hmpf.."
He didn't want to admit it, but it was true that whenever he was out of his house, all he did was to search for new bars. But what the hell did she mean with that last part? Why would he think of a beautiful black haired gir-
Aurora suddenly started to giggle, and at the same time, John figured out what she meant.
"Oh FUCK you, do you know how disgusting that is? I'm your BROTHER IF YOU HAPPENED TO FORGET THAT."
Is he insane? Does he know how cold it is? For crying out loud, she was wearing her thickest white winter jacket, and yet she was freezing like crazy. And look at him.. sitting on that bench with only regular clothes.. is he trying to act cool?
The pink haired girl started to clench her fist, thinking that her boyfriend was some kind of wacko without any feelings for heat or coldness. She wanted to just quit hiding and slap his annoying face, but.. but.. this was kinda interesting, and she wanted to know why he went out here in the first place. And so, the girl stayed behind the small bush and patiently watched as the green haired boy spoke to someone over the phone.
Damnit.. she couldn't hear a thing, she had to get closer. Stupid hill.. besides the bench, the huge tree and the bush she was hiding behind, there was nothing else around. Her only choice was to quickly sprint or swiftly sneak behind the giant tree. Risky? Yes, but it was required to be able to hear who and what he was talking about.
"Alright, let's do this.."
The girl slowly got up to her feet, trying her best not to make any sounds at all. This shouldn't be too hard, the girl thought, as the ground she was walking on was only grass, making every step almost impossible to hear.. also, the wind helped alot to cover any sound she might accidentally make, not to mention that he was on the phone, talking. It felt like forever, but after 10 extremely careful and quiet steps, Amelia managed to get to the giant tree, hiding from Drew behind it.
"I know."
Amelia froze, had he noticed her?
"Can you run an identification check?"
Phew.. he was still talking on the phone.. good thing she was close enough to hear everything he said, all that was left was to just listen intently.
"I see.. well, what are you suggesting?"
It was kinda strange, though. Despite the moderate distance between Amelia next to the tree and Drew at the bench, it was extremely easy to hear his every word. It almost felt like he was speaking too loud..
"I see.. Alright, thank you. I'll call her right away."
Huh?
Drew stopped talking, it seemed, and Amelia literally pressed herself against the tree as to get closer, thinking that she was out of hearing range.
"Hi, Felicia. Did I wake you up?"
Amelia once again froze. WHO WAS THIS BITCH?
"Nah, I'm just chilling here on the hill.. hm? No, Amelia's not here, why?"
Not knowing it herself, Amelia had started to rip some grass from the ground out of pure frustration as she listened to Drew's idiotic and somewhat seducing voice.
"Oh.. yeah you could come, why not..? Wait.. what? Are you serious? NO I HAVEN'T HAD SEX WITH HER, sheesh.."
Amelia was starting to blow up. She started to breathe heavily, and attempted to stop that by taking deep breaths, but that failed miserably. The small area around the tree where Amelia was sitting at now had no grass whatsoever since she had ripped them off, throwing them several meters away.
"Oh, you naughty girl.. hehe, well I'm waiting. Hurry."
Amelia waited for anything else to happen, but nothing did. It was so quiet, even the winds seemed to pause for a little while. No sounds where coming from Drew, telling Amelia that he was sitting still not doing anything, actually. Thinking over what she had just heard, Amelia decided to just go nuts. There wasn't anything to lose, right? After all, Drew was lost, he had cheated on her.
"Who. Was. That."
Amelia got up to her feet and spoke up loud, making completely sure that Drew would hear her. Slowly but surely, Amelia went towards Drew, who still sat there on that bench, his back turned towards her.
"I said: who the HELL was that?"
Drew had yet to move an inch or utter a single sound, that was until Amelia stood right before him, glaring down at him.
"Don't make me repeat myself." Amelia got out, trying her best not to turn completely crazy.
"Why hello there!" Drew greeted and threw her his regular grin as he looked up towards her, his cellphone still put against his ear. "What brings you here?"
Amelia was too upset to even reply to that and instead ripped the phone from Drew's hand, putting it against her ear.
"Hello? HELLO!" Amelia started, knowing that any 'cool' she had left was completely gone by now. "You listen here, BITCH, if you think you can steal MY Drew, THINK AGAIN. I will personally wait for you, and when you come here.. I'll.. I'll.. I WILL.."
"Hello, Amelia."
Amelia was about to spit out some pretty nasty insults after hearing that person reply, but something was wrong.. And Drew's grinning face didn't help much, either.
"I regret to inform you that there is no Felicia, the one your insults are aimed towards." a voice could be heard from the phone. "I am Ken, Drew's acquaintance."
Amelia just stood there, frozen, glaring at Drew's idiot face.
"Drew.." Amelia started after many seconds had passed.
"Heh, yes?" Drew got out, thinking himself as a genius for being able to pull this off. "Have you figured it out? Have you calmed down? Have you-"
"ARE YOU GAY?"
Never in his life had he laughed so hard. Ever. Maybe it was because of his life in general that he never did so. Maybe it was because he wasn't the type of person that would just casually laugh like that. Or maybe it was because the team of tough guys assigned to bring him out of the airport turned out to be his own team.
"This was unexpected.."
The whole team was more or less still in shock from what had happened, while their boss was still laughing as they all took their seats at the airport's caféteria.
"So.. what now?"
The special operation's teammate sweatdropped, only now realizing that asking his boss while he was still laughing was a bad idea.
"Well.." another member, Tom, started and crossed his arms. "I think the manager called the cops on us."
"And yet we're still here..?"
"Apparently.." Tom replied and sighed. "Now what do we do about Jens? He looks totally screwed."
It didn't get much better when Jens fell off his chair, landing with his face first.
Pikachu sighed and finally put the bottle of ketchup to the side before staring at his blue haired friend. She had seemed to be very depressed, ever since everyone departed from that hamburger bar. She had hid it very well, though, something he actually admired. Being able to suppress all of those raging feelings completely fine, fooling everyone around her.. Impressive.
"Pi..?" the rodent tried to cheer her up, knowing that she was in deep thought as she sat there on her seat, Ash's cap covering her eyes.
"Yes?" Dawn uttered. "More ketchup?"
Without saying anything else, Dawn got up from her seat, but not without throwing Pikachu a very, very wide smile.
"Alright! Your apetite seems to be in top this night, Pikachu!" Dawn got out and did the peace sign. "One more bottle before sleep, then!"
With that said, Dawn went towards the bar on the other side of the room to get a bottle or two of ketchup for Pikachu.
Pikachu, not wanting her to suspect anything happily faked a smile before letting out a deep sigh. Before all of this, he wasn't so sure if Dawn really was down. But now.. he was sure.. she even missed the almost full bottle that Pikachu had put in front of her.
Poor Dawn.
Two teens were on their way back to their house down the hill, one of them being more cheerful than the other. The winds were still going on strong, so did the dropping temperature. The only thing they had to make themselves feel better was the fact that it would take at least 10 minutes before they reached home. But they both had something else that pushed them further..
"I can't believe you actually thought I was gay.." one of them, the green haired boy, said quietly and let out a chuckle with that. "And oh, you should've seen your face, it was PRICELE-"
"How was I supposed to know it was all a prank..?" the girl muttered and sighed, feeling too embarrassed to even look at her boyfriend.
"You heard it all, right?"
"Hmpf.. you knew I was there the whole time, right..?"
"Of course I did." Drew proudly stated and shivered once due to a cold wind speeding past them. "Well, it's true that Ken told me, but I knew it since you basically sprinted towards the tree."
"Sprinted..?" Amelia bursted out and finally faced Drew, but quickly looked away with a heavy blush. "I.. I never.. WELL, never mind that, why did you fool me like that then..?"
"I wanted to see how you would react if I would ever cheat on you.. And it was TOTALLY worth it."
"Well.. did you?"
"Huh? Did I what?"
Amelia was still looking away to her left, with Drew on her right, trying to figure out what it was she had just barely whispered.
"Did.. you cheat on me..?"
For this one time, Amelia looked at Drew, wanting to see how he would react and reply.
"WHAT?" Drew got out, feeling incredibly offended. "That's.. that's.."
Another cold wind came right at them, even causing both of them to stop and shield themselves. Under all this time, Amelia never let him out of sight, going to the conclusion that Drew indeed had cheated on her due to his answer..
"So you did.."
Amelia had been through alot this evening. But she would try not to let it all affect her too much. Without waiting for Drew, Amelia started to walk again feeling awfully depressed. To keep her mind on other things, Amelia did something stupid like staring at all of the lights to her sides, illuminating the road for them.
Crap..? Was she crying?
She wasn't given much more time to think any more of that since Drew stopped her by taking her right arm with his hand. And yet, she refused to look back.
"Do you think I did it?" Drew asked, his voice being as cold as the winds.
"Well.. you.. didn't repl-"
"DO you think that I did it, Amelia?"
...
"May.. be.."
"Yes or no?"
"I don't know.."
"Amelia! Do you seriously think that I would do something like that?"
"No.. but you're getting so upset..!"
"That's because I thought you trusted me! Jeez.."
Drew let go of Amelia, and this time, he was the one to walk ahead.
"I'm sorry.."
"It's fine. I shouldn't have pranked you like that. Now get a move on, I'm freezing."
Amelia nodded and started to walk after him, despite knowing that there was no way for him to see her nod.
"Hey, Drew.."
"Hm?"
Drew checked to his left, surprised to see that Amelia had already catched up to him. What was more interesting, though, was that she was blushing like crazy. Maybe he imagined.. it was probably because of the coldness.
"D-Do-Do.. Do.."
"Do? Is that a new pop song or something?"
"Sh-shut up!" Amelia quickly countered before attempting to ask Drew that question again. "Well, do.. do.. uh, are you freezing?"
Drew just had to laugh at that, really. What did she expect?
"What do you think?" Drew asked and smiled, this girl was really something.
"I.. I see.."
"Yup. Why are you asking? And get your pace up, that way we'll get home much faster."
"Do.. you want to have my jacket..?"
That was something Drew clearly didn't expect, even better something coming from someone like Amelia.
"Nope."
"What..? Why..? Aren't you freezing?"
"True." Drew replied and smiled again, seeing Amelia's worried and cute face as she watched him shake a bit. "But I can't possibly do that. First of all, you're a girl. Doing that isn't right."
"Oh, trying to act like a gentleman, hmmmm..?"
As she finished that question, or rather that statement, Amelia leaned even closer just to tease the boy more.
"Not act, I am." Drew stated proudly once more, and pushed Amelia's face back using his forehead. "But seriously, I'd rather freeze than watch you do it."
"Uh.. really?"
"Yeah..?" Drew asked and stopped pushing her head back, that would make her fall in the end.. "Isn't that obvious? I mean, you're my girlfriend after all."
Once again, Amelia blushed.. Something Drew had to chuckle at.
"Well, you know we could.."
"Hm?" Drew got out, not wanting to admit that Amelia was actually being cute for once.
"My jacket is kinda big you know.." Amelia got out and took a deep breath, she hated how hard it was for her to do this.. "We could share it.. if you want to.."
"No need to."
"Huh..? But, aren't you freezing..?"
"HAH, I am, but you should pay a little more attention.."
Drew stopped walking, causing the girl to stop herself.
Oh..
"We're home. No need to share anything."
'HOW EMBARRASSING!' Amelia screamed in her mind and hid her face with her hands. 'When did we get here so fast..?'
"But I guess I should say thanks for your offer, it was real sweet."
"Hmpf!" Amelia got out and turned around. "You looked so sad after freezing so much, it's only natural of me since I'm so kind to offer help!"
"I see.. well, thank you, Mrs. Sweety."
"Sh- shut up!"
"Naw, I thought you loved me.."
"Shut UP!"
"So you hate me..?"
Amelia seemed to be fighting with herself, not really knowing what to answer. Meanwhile, Drew just stood by the side and chuckled as he watched her go nuts.
"I.. that's not important!"
"Really?" Drew wondered and raised his eyebrow. "I think it is.. if you don't love me, then what's the point of us being together..?"
"It's.. fun.."
"Fun..?"
In a way, it was great that Amelia had turned around away from him: that way she couldn't see his grinning face and go crazy about it.
"Alright.. since you don't love me, I guess we should just-"
"I LOVE YOU."
For the 5th time this night alone, Drew was caught off guard.
"There.. I said it!" Amelia whispered, feeling somewhat proud. "But.. that doesn't matter, since you don't love me."
"You don't believe me?"
"Well.. It's not that I don't believe you, it's just that I don't know if I can trust you, Ash."
The two teens were both staring at the ceiling, with not much to do after Ash had explained exactly everything that May wanted to know. And so far, Ash had managed through without anything going wrong. Well, so far..
"Remember that I told you I would be honest?"
"Mm..?"
"Uhuh, well I'm gonna be honest with you right now: something like that'll never happen again, if I can stop it."
"That's the thing, you can't stop it.. and I never know whether you were under control by her powers or if you did some of that on your own.."
"I did tell you that I let her kiss me cause I thought everything was lost.."
"But you.. you let her kiss you, Ash.. isn't that the same as-"
"For crying out loud, I thought you were dead!"
May thought that this was one of those moments where she needed to look into his eyes, just to make sure. After all, looking into those auburn eyes of his could tell her his feelings. But more importantly, whether he lying or not.
And so, the two teens turned to face each others, one wanting to know the truth while the other one got upset over the lack of trust he was getting.
"But.."
Actually, May had nothing much to say and instead sighed.. After all, Ash had explained almost everything after getting bombed by her with questions that he just had to answer, all of that time being forced to look her in the eyes.
The boy let out a deep sigh. "What is it? More questions? I think I can only handle a few more before fainting from exhaustion."
"Are my questions really that bad?" May asked and giggled, something she hadn't done since they got back.
"Well yeah, considering they're all about Aurora.."
"Alright, I have one more question..!"
"Seems good enough.. But, I have to reassure myself of something before that."
"Hm?" May got out and stared at the boy with wonder as he sighed and stared back. "What is it?"
"Uh.."
Ash averted his gaze from May and once again stared up at the ceiling, while May still lay there, following his every move.
"Friends..?"
"Eh..? Friends? What do you mean with that, Ash?"
"Well.. lately, I've had this feeling that we haven't exactly been on good terms, so to say.. but after this, I hope we can become friends again."
Friends..? Weren't they more than regular friends?
"I see.."
"Well..?" Ash got out and once again stared at May's sapphire eyes. "You.. don't want to?"
"What? Don't be silly! Of course.. we can be.. friends.."
"Phew!" Ash let out and chuckled, not getting May's hidden message.. "For a moment there I thought you didn't want to!"
"Uhuh.."
As May seemed to frown over something Ash had no idea about, the thought of May being half naked right next to him sharing the same sheet once again returned, causing him to immediately stare at the ceiling with a heavy blush.
"Well, uh.." Ash started, trying to get his mind off of May. "What was your question, again?"
"Oh.."
May thought that messing with Ash could be a good idea, maybe as a small payback for everything that had happened lately.
Besides.. he was being kinda perveted right now..!
"Hm.." May thought, giggling over the many questions that popped up in her head.
"T-Take your time." Ash stuttered, not being able to think of anything else other than-
"What do you think about Aurora?"
"Eh?"
Looking to his left, Ash tried to see if May was giggling or anything similar that signaled a joke. But she just stared at the ceiling with him, waiting for his answer.
Fair enough.. at least this would keep his mind on something else.
"Well.." Ash started and joined May with the ceiling-gazing. "I don't like her. There's really not much else to it. After all she's done to me, why wouldn't I?"
"Don't you think I already know that?" May got out and chuckled loudly. "Here, let me rephrase the question.."
"Hm?"
For the 20th time that night alone, the two teens locked eyes.. only this time, something fishy was going on.
Was he a mind reader? Nah, he just noticed May's beaming eyes and the well hidden sly grin.
"Do.." May started, or whispered.. "Do you find Aurora sexy?"
"HUH?"
His reaction was priceless, the girl thought. He even pulled the sheet all the way to his side..
With that, the sheets had fallen off the bed due to Ash's sudden reaction, now fully revealing May's body, including her pan-
"That's.. That's CRAZY!"
Ash's answer was pretty obvious, not to mention that everyone else thought the same about Aurora, including herself.
But, that couldn't stop her from teasing Ash, would it?
"So.. is that a yes..?" May asked with yet another teasing voice.
"That's.. that's..! You said that was your last question!"
May really, really enjoyed it all, seeing Ash all flustered like this.. Whereas Ash was about to break down from the massive amount of pressure put to all of his senses and his mind. Thinking about it, the girl thought of one, final question before forcing herself to go to sleep.
As Ash was trying to push away recent images of Aurora by staring at the ceiling, he never noticed May lean closer, her face right next to his, her lips by his ear.
"Well then.. what about me..?"
Oh my.. What has gotten into May?
Anyways, onto my important question: What do you prefer, long or short chapters?
Really, this is kinda important. My usual chapter length is like over 15000 words, which is kinda massive, also, it takes around a month for me to upload each time.
So, the question:
Do you prefer:
1. Long chapters (10-30000 words) BUT long update time.
2. Short chapters (5000-10000 words) BUT 1-2 weeks update time.
Please vote on my poll, review or send me a PM about which you think fits best. Your vote matters! xD
Until next time!