A/N: Thank you so much for all your support, guys! I was truly blown away by all the reviews! It's truly, really appreciated! So… here's the next chapter and I hope you enjoy!
To Guest #1 Thanks so much for your review! And yeah, I had it planned out already, otherwise your idea would've been awesome too! And your review totally cracked me up xD Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!
To Guest #2 Of course not, I can't let them get away that easy… no, they still have a lot to go through, don't worry about. So no sequel, but I hope a next chapter is good enough too?
Anyway, thanks a lot for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't Pokémon.
Leave It To Brocko
Chapter 9
Desperately I let my gaze travel over the control board, looking for… for something, I don't know, something that could help us out. Nothing, besides alarming red lights and a bit of smoke.
Suddenly a red light – not flashing, for a change – caught my attention. Below it were two words and a button. It took me a moment to read those words. It took me another to understand them.
Automatic Pilot.
The automatic pilot was still activated. That's why the joystick wouldn't move. A second after that realization I hit the button below the words, and then grabbed the joystick with both my hands.
The plane began to shake even more, and Leaf let out a shriek.
"Brock, what are you doing?!" Misty screamed at me, her eyes wide with fear.
"Trying to save our lives!" I yelled back, not caring if I was rude or not. If I had just talked at a normal volume, she probably wouldn't have heard me anyway, because of the noise the plane was making.
Gripping the joystick firmer, I looked out of the window.
Now, where shall I let us crash? The trees on the left? On the right maybe? Or maybe those big ones in the middle?
Trees, trees, trees everywhere. I don't know where I was looking for, a clearing maybe, so I could 'land' the plane. But no such thing could be found, only more trees.
A flash of blue on the left caught my eye, and instinctively I steered towards it.
Water, I realized. It seemed like a big lake, or maybe a small inland. Or perhaps a very broad river.
I didn't know, and didn't care either. Only one thought was left in my mind.
Just. Get. The. Damn. Plane. To. The. Water.
The trees were getting really close now – I could see the branches and leafs. A few of the larger trees hit the bottom of the plane, causing it to bump and making Ash, Misty, Gary and Leaf fall down in the process.
Just a little more, I thought desperately. C'mon plane, hang on, I don't want to die yet.
I didn't have time to say a prayer, or to say some famous last words, because one second we were flying – er… falling and a second later the front of the plane hit the water surface with full force.
We were thrown back and hit the back wall of the cockpit. A moment everything went black before my eyes, and I saw stars dancing.
Fortunately, I didn't faint completely – my now bruised body kept me awake. In a few hours everything would be black and blue, but I was still alive. Hurt, but alive nonetheless.
A soft thump signaled me that we had landed on the bottom of this water – whatever it was. The worst was over – or so I thought.
"Guys," I croaked, opening my eyes slowly – even that little movement hurt – and noting that the light in the plane was now dimmed, because we were underwater, "Is everyone alright?"
"Couldn't have been better," Gary answered, in an attempt to be funny. Always lighthearted, that one.
"Yeh," Misty muttered from the corner.
"Pika," the Mouse Pokémon answered.
"Fine too," Ash mumbled.
Pushing myself up – ouch, aw, ow – I glanced around the plane. Somehow it hadn't broke when we crashed, though water was slowly flowing inside.
That wasn't bad, I reminded myself, after all-
"Leaf!"
Gary's scream broke me out of my thoughts and turning around, I witnessed a horrifying scene.
Leaf lay sprawled across the floor, pale and bruised, and worst of all – motionless. By her side sat Gary on his knees, staring at her wide-eyed, obviously not knowing what to do. Misty and Ash were both standing, and staring.
No, no, no, she couldn't be dead. No, no, I refused to believe that. No, oh no, why Fate, why do you love to prove me wrong?
Gary grabbed her by her shoulders and before I could tell him not to, he started to shake her, begging her desperately to wake up.
"C'mon Leaf, wake up, wake up, please don't be dead, please, please." His voice was becoming thicker, and his eyes started to water.
"You," he said threateningly, addressing Misty all of sudden, "If you- If you hadn-"
He stopped when Leaf suddenly moved.
"Leaf!"
"Gee Gary, you don't have to yell," she answered slightly hoarse.
Thank you, Arceus, I silently thought.
"You're alive!" he yelled before realizing what she just said, and then repeated in a normal volume, "you're alive."
"Yes Oak, I'm alive, deal with it," she snapped at him, but Gary didn't seem to care. He just had a big goofy grin on his face – weird, normally only Ash has those kind of grins.
"Are you alright?" I asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just a little bruised," she answered, touching her head gingerly.
"Will you quit staring at me like that, Oak? It's creeping me out," she said to Gary, who was still grinning à la Ash. Realizing this, he quickly replaced it with his usual smirk.
He helped her up, causing her to blush and Misty to glare. She obviously didn't like the fact that Gary cared so much about Leaf – but why? Did she like Gary too? I certainly did not hope so. But it seemed like that. What if – Arceus forbid – she liked Gary more than Ash?
Ash seemed to notice the look on her face too, and his face fell.
"I'm sure he just thinks of her as a friend," he whispered, almost inaudible.
Misty turned around, facing Ash. She noticed the look on his face, and stuttered, "I- er… I-"
Thankfully she was saved from a response by Leaf.
"Maybe it's just me hallucinating, but why is there water flowing in the plane?"
She was right, of course – I had forgotten about the fact we were still in a life-threatening situation. The water had risen to our feet in the meantime. And it was still rising, faster and faster.
"Well, I thought, if we land in the water maybe we won't crash that hard, and maybe the plane won't explode – like you see in movies," I explained, "And we can't open the doors yet, because of the pressure difference. So we have to wait till the plane is full of water-"
"And then we drown," Gary finished.
"No," I said, trying to be patient, "then we open the doors and swim to the surface."
"But we have no idea how deep we are," Ash objected.
"Er…"
"We use our Water Pokémon, of course," Misty answered for me, as I was too confused by Ash's unexpected intelligence.
"Exactly!" I agreed, and then after a moment of thinking, "I don't have any Water Pokémon."
"You can borrow one of mine," Misty offered and added after a moment of thought, "You all can if you want."
"Nah, thanks," Ash said, releasing his Wartortle. The water was almost reaching our thighs.
"Thanks," I said, grabbing onto Misty's Starmie.
She released her Staryu and Goldeen too, and of course, Psyduck decided that it would be good time to pop out again.
It wasn't. For one, because we were in a life-or-death situation, secondly because Misty exploded and thirdly because Misty's Psyduck is the only Water Pokémon that can't swim. And we were in a plane, that was slowly being filled with water.
That was the main reason, I think.
Leaf grabbed Goldeen, Misty used Staryu and Gary released his Blastoise.
"Does everyone have their backpacks?" I asked, fishing my own out of the water.
When everyone mumbled their agreements, we went to the door and waited.
It was truly excruciating to wait for a room to fill with water, while every instinct in your body tells you to find a way out. Misty and Leaf, being the shortest, were the first to rely on their Water Pokémon. Ash followed with Pikachu, uncomfortably sitting on Ash's hat, and Gary soon after. Just moments after Gary, the water reached my chin and I grabbed tightly onto Starmie.
We floated upwards, the ceiling of the plane nearing. I gulped and decided that I needed to be strong one more time – today, that is.
"Okay guys, here's the plan," I started, "When there's no more room to breathe, I dive and open the door. Leaf and Misty will go first, then Ash with Pikachu, followed by Gary and me. Got it?"
They all nodded, faces pale and jaws set.
"Right… good luck, guys."
We looked at each other, and I opened my mouth to say something else, but was silenced by the thumps of our heads hitting the ceiling.
Gulping, I turned my head in the right angle, so I could breathe for as long as possible. When even that little bit of room disappeared, I took a deep breath and dived for the door.
The water was foggy and dark, and after I had opened the door – which was surprisingly easy – I saw vaguely the silhouettes of Misty, Leaf, Ash and Gary pass by. I let Starmie guide me, and we left the Rocket 3.
As the water became lighter, my oxygen was running out, and I clamped onto Starmie even tighter.
Please hurry up, Starmie, hurry up. My lungs felt like they were going to burst.
We broke through the surface and gratefully I breathed in the fresh air. It was only now that I realized how cold the water was.
"Everyone alright?" I heard Misty ask. She looked like she hadn't broke a sweat. But she was used to swimming, I remembered.
"We survived!" Ash whooped, and Pikachu chu'ed happily.
"We're not safe yet Ash, we still have to find land," Gary said.
I silently agreed with the him – we might have survived the plane crash and the swimming part, but if we didn't find land soon we would freeze to death.
"There it is!" Leaf pointed out, after a few minutes of swimming in the supposed direction we came from.
Indeed, there was land in front of us. It was the same thick forest we had flown over, I think.
"We survived!" Ash whooped. Again. But now it was pretty true... I hope.
"Yes we did," I smiled, as we climbed on the land.
"So… what do we do now?" Misty asked.
Everyone was silent.
"I think," I started, "that we should go look for a small clearing, make a fire to dry our clothes and luggage and then eat and rest."
"Yes, I'm hungry!" Ash exclaimed, and started to walk off.
The rest agreed, and we followed Ash into the forest.
"Ugh, I'm all wet," Leaf complained.
"That's what she said," Gary chuckled.
"GARY!" Leaf and Misty chided, and both slapped him. Misty on his arm and Leaf – being taller than Misty – on the back of his head.
"Ouch, no need to get physical girls," he smirked.
They both gave him a glare, and, with their arms crossed, speeded up, leaving Gary on his own. They now had a temporary truce, I noticed, as they walked away.
I face palmed – teenagers would always be teenagers.
Gary still had that smirk on his face. Why? Was he amused by Misty's reaction, or by Leaf's? Or both? That boy was confusing.
Speaking about confusing boys – Ash had slowed down and was now walking next to Gary.
"What did you mean by that?" he asked.
"Huh, what?" Gary said, being pulled out of his thoughts, "Oh, about that's what she said?"
"Yes!" Ash exclaimed, "I've heard it before, but no one wants to explain to me what it means."
Gary smirked, and placed an arm around Ash's shoulders. "Don't worry, Ashy-boy, I'll explain it."
Uh oh. If I knew Gary a little – and I knew I did – then he would explain a lot more to Ash than just the that's-what-she-said jokes.
He started, "Now, Ash, it's very simple, really, it-"
"Er Gary, I-" I interrupted him, but was cut short too by a scream coming from the girls' direction.
"AAAAAAHH!"
Sprinting in their direction we found Leaf staring at Misty, who was hugging a tree in her fear for something on the ground. Looking down, we noticed the source of Misty's fear.
"A Pokémon!" Ash exclaimed, running towards it.
"A dirty BUG!" Misty corrected him, frantic.
Taking a closer look at the Pokémon, I found that I had never seen a Pokémon like that. It looked like a yellow Caterpie, only wearing leaves.
"I've never seen a Pokémon like that," Leaf noted.
"Me neither," Gary and I said simultaneously.
"It's a Sewaddle," Ash said, obviously confused that we didn't know that.
"I don't care what it is, just GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" Misty screamed.
As on cue, a Bird Pokémon flew out of a nearby tree, grabbed the Sewaddle and swallowed it whole.
"Thank you, whatever you are," Misty said to the Bird gratefully, releasing her tree.
First I had thought it was maybe a Staravia, but upon further inspection, I saw it was colored in several tints of grey and black.
"I have no idea what Pokémon that is," Gary said.
I shook my head, also wondering what Pokémon it was.
Ash had raised his eyebrows, and spoke as if we were stupid, "It's a Tranquill."
"Never heard of," Misty said.
"Ash, are you making these names up, because I've never heard of them," I said, suspiciously, although I didn't think Ash would do something like that. He would be too curious to know what Pokémon they were, too.
"No, I'm not. A Tranquill and a Sewaddle. They're very common in-," he stopped, eyes widening.
"Where?" Gary asked impatiently.
"…Unova," Ash finished.
"UNOVA?"
Why, Brocko, why does everything I plan go wrong?
A/N: Another twist! Hope you enjoyed it ;) I decided that I needed a bit more of Oldrival in this story, so here you go. Anyway, please tell me what you think – I just love to read your opinions! And don't be shy – I won't bite xD
And guys, I've published a new story! It's called Tomboy and it's Wishfulshipping centric... I would really appreciate it if you guys checked it out.
Oh, does anyone else has problems with covers? 'Cause I can upload new imagines, but can't use them as cover…
We almost hit the 50 reviews! It would be totally awesome if we could hit it this chapter *hint hint*
Thanks again for reading, and please, please, please REVIEW!