Leaf quickly fell to the ground causing the three arrows to miss and hit one of the many trees. She quickly stood up, not bothering to dust herself off, and continued running through Viridian Forest.
Viridian forest was located between Viridian Kingdom and Pewter Kingdom. It was known for being a maze and only a few were lucky enough to get out of there alive. Those who did never went back to the only forest that contained the deadly Beedrill.
Still, here she was running and escaping through the forest. Leaf knew it was a bad idea to just drop her sword. She knew that dropping her belt was even worse. Yet she was dumb enough to do it and now she was running through the forest hoping to run into her stuff again.
Two more arrows missed her head. She looked back and noticed one of her two assailant getting two more arrows out. Leaf swallowed and took a sharp turn to the right, almost bumping into a tree. Wrong turn!
Leaf stopped and started shaking when she saw the second assailant with an axe in his hand. He smirked at her and started to swing for her head. This time she fell to the ground and sweeped his feet. The assailant fell and Leaf was quick to take off.
Times like this she was happy she cut off all of her hair. If the assailant quickly rose to his feet, he would have grabbed her hair and probably slit her throat.
She felt herself sweat as she kept passing more trees. Leaf knew that they were stronger than her. She wasn't fit for combat. Now she was going to die and possibly lose her head.
"Where did she go?"
"He went that way!"
Leaf screamed and fell to the ground again, this time on purpose. She hated training! She hated how they never went easy on her or how they always made it seem as if they were trying to kill her. She hated how one minute the trio were laughing and then one of them decides it's time to train by throwing an axe at her head.
"You're no longer trying." Leaf looked up and noticed her "friends" looking down at her.
"Maybe you should just re-grow your hair and be a princess again. You're no good at fighting," the blue-eyed boy said. "Not only that you even left your stuff back at camp. Bad move."
Leaf growled and stood up. "Why can't you guys tell me when we're going to begin training? It's been one year and I still haven't been making any progress."
"You're right. An assassin will wait until you're done eating your chicken leg. You'll let him wait outside. You eat happily, while he's sharpening his axe."
"I'm serious Brendan," Leaf glared, putting her hands on her hips. She then turned to her other companion. "And what was it with you? Those arrows could have taken my brain out."
"She's right Lucas," Brendan joked, placing an arm around the other boy's shoulder. "You could have taken out her brain and digested it. Or even worse! We could have turned into vampires and eaten her body!"
The boys continued laughing. Leaf, however, continued to glare at them. She really didn't understand why this happened. Out of all the people in the world, she chose these idiots.
"O-okay, I'm done," Lucas stood up and wiped a tear from his eye. "Let's head back to camp. If we encounter an assassin, we'll just tell him to wait until you're done eating."
The boys were quick to laugh again as Leaf quickly walked back to their camp. "I hope you guys get stung by Beedrill."
"Oh Leaf. You know we were playing around," Lucas caught up to Leaf while his green-eyed friend was taking his time.
"If you want we'll stop training you," Brendan offered.
Leaf's eyes widened in horror. She spun on her heel and turned to the other boy. "No! If people see that I can't fight properly they'll be suspicious! A-and th-then. . ."
"Okay first off stop spitting in my face and listen," Brendan commanded. Leaf took one step back, giving the boy his space. "Lucas and I will stop training you. You just need someone else to help you."
"And you have someone in mind?" Leaf questioned.
"Of course I do. The Waterflower Princesses. They know how to protect themselves."
"Aw man!" Leaf and Brendan quickly looked at Lucas who had his hands in his hair. "I left my arrows in the tree! You guys go ahead. I'll see you back in camp."
Lucas ran back, leaving Leaf and Brendan. The duo looked at each other then shrugged and continued their was back to camp.
"But girls aren't allowed to fight, let alone know how to use weapons."
"That's right," Brendan nodded. "However, each kingdom has it's own rules. Cerulean Kingdom allows girls to fight and train. It explains why their army is the largest in Kanto."
"Even so, what makes you think that they would train me?" Leaf questioned he friend.
Brendan lazily shrugged. "It will take time since you're a boy. They only train girls. But if you show them you're a complete failure, they'll accept you."
"I'm serious about training," Leaf eyed the boy beside her.
"I am too."
"Is that so," Leaf mumbled to herself, as they finally reached their camp.
Leaf quickly sat down, close to the fire. She was happy that the fire was still going, but it would attract the unwanted. Leaf looked around and noticed Brendan. He was making the tent with what little supplies they had.
No matter how many times she told herself, Leaf couldn't believe Prince Brendan of Littleroot Kingdom actually agreed to help her invade Twinleaf Kingdom and kill her father's murderer.
He was different. When she first met him, he was distant. He didn't talk to her or anybody else unless he needed something. It wasn't until the second year, that he began to speak. What caused the distant boy to speak, Leaf didn't know. Leaf didn't spend all those times with Brendan. She just didn't talk or play with him. He preferred solitude.
Leaf wasn't good at persuading anybody, so she didn't get involved until Brendan spoke to her.
She had thought he had white hair in the beginning. His parents didn't, so why did he? It wasn't until a week later he told her it was a hat. And like many people before her, Leaf got fooled. Damn him and his stupid hat!
A few days after Leaf announced that her name was "Landon," Brendan was the first to march right into her studies and call her a liar. Unlike everyone else, Brendan saw right through the disguise. When Leaf asked how he knew it was her, he simply shrugged and replied, "You still look feminine."
The day after, she flew to Pallet and met Gary and Ash. They were easily fooled.
"Stop staring at me," Leaf blinked and noticed that Brendan had given up on making the tent. He was actually glaring at her.
Leaf decided to focus on something else and noticed Lucas was still not present.
Lucas of Sandgem Kingdom was not rich nor did he come from a wealthy family, but he wasn't poor either. He and his father worked for King would only use their money for food. Lucas had little education but when it came to Pokemon evolution he knew lots!
Leaf met Lucas through Brendan. How Brendan and Lucas met, nobody knows.
As Lucas got older, his curiosity on Pokemon grew. He then decided to travel and learn more. The only way to travel was to become a monk, an assassin, or a hunter. Lucas never saw himself as a religious person, so the idea of becoming a monk was out. He clearly didn't want to become an assassin. That only left hunter.
As a hunter, Lucas took jobs to seek out treasures or to find people and bring them home alive. Of course he still caught and studied pokemon. He was always grateful for King Rowan. If it wasn't for him, Lucas wouldn't have Infernape or be allowed to be with Brendan or Leaf.
Once Lucas found out about "Landon," people were going around wanting the prince dead. When he told it to Leaf, she thanked her friend and started to train. Which is why they were in a forest.
"I told you to stop staring," Brendan scoffed.
"You said to stop staring at you. I was staring at the trees," Leaf growled through clenched teeth. "Besides I'm worried about Lucas. He isn't back yet."
Brendan looked around and nodded. "He's probably peeing in a bush. He told me he has a small bladder."
"Why would he tell you that?"
"It came up in conversation," Brendan lazily shrugged, "You should get ready for creepy conversations like that too."
"I'd rather not," Leaf mumbled, looking somewhere else.
"Too bad. We're starting," Brendan sat in front of her, with his legs crossed. " How's your plan of murdering your dad's killer going, Landon?"
"I'm still trying to work out a few bugs here and there, but overall I think it's going pretty well," Leaf answered.
"You have no idea what you're doing," Brendan deadpanned, no longer looking at her but at the tree behind her.
"No," Leaf answered.
Leaf knew he was right. She got to the ending but she still couldn't find her beginning. Leaf had yet to meet Dawn, and that was her first priority. She didn't know what Dawn liked or whether or not she started training pokemon.
"Okay, that's it! I'm going to finish your story," Brendan clapped, happily.
Leaf glared at him. Story? She wasn't living in a storybook. Her "story" wasn't a story for someone else to finish. How dare he! She wasn't going to live happily ever after with "prince charming." She was probably going to die young for assassinating royalty.
"Don't. You and Lucas just make my life harder," Where was Lucas anyways?
Brendan closed his eyes and sighed. "I predict you will become a cold and heartless, not caring about who you step on. You will break the heart of some creep and said creep will sail all around the world for you. He will eventually die."
Leaf's eyes widened in horror at Brendan's prediction. A creep wasn't going to look for her and she wasn't going to become heartless. She's only going to kill one person.
"You will create an army full of assassins and runaways. When this is over, you will become a swindler and a master of disguise. I will be banished from Littleroot and travel with Healer Wally. Lucas finds out he likes guys and travels with one of the assassins," Brendan opened his eyes and smiled at the girl in front of him.
Leaf was not amused. That was a terrible prediction! Who in there right mind thinks like that?! But, that did look like fun.
Leaf cleared her throat. "Now it's my turn to predict your future."
"You can't. I already predicted my future. Predict someone else's," Brendan suggested.
"I'm going to predict yours anyways," Leaf slowly closed her eyes.
When Dawn found out she was engaged to Prince Landon of Silver Kingdom, she wasn't happy.
Dawn knew that once she got married, she would leave her friends and family and live with the prince on his mountain. Sure Sinnoh was cold during winter, but Mt. Silver always had a blizzard. People couldn't even go swimming. She would stay inside all day.
Dawn wouldn't be allowed to leave the kingdom unless Landon was with her. Silver didn't hold contests which made it worst. Her friends, Kenny and Leona, would no longer be able to see her unless they were escorted to Silver.
Her pokemon started to worry about her. Dawn couldn't even leave her room anymore.
Oh but when Ash's friend Tracey drew a sketch of future husband, Dawn was happy she was getting married. Landon was actually cute. Sure, people in Silver had brown hair and red eyes, but his were different.
From the sketch Dawn could tell that his eyes were scarlet-red, the color of blood. His brown hair was lighter than the usual brown from the other villagers. His smile looked gentle. He looked almost feminine. Dawn would have dreams about him and the way he treated her.
Of course when Dawn showed Misty the sketch, the red-head replied, "It's in black and white."
"Not even black and white can hide his true colors," Dawn replied back.
Now she, along with Misty and May, was looking at the wedding dresses for her future wedding. The tailor took a dress out and the three girl shook their heads in no. They have already gone through eighty different dresses from all over the world.
"Wow, we have gone through so many,' Dawn sighed.
May placed her hand on dawn's shoulder. "Don't worry Dawn. We have forever to search for your dress. No need to rush things, right?"
"You're right. We have a long time to find the perfect dress. But," The group turned their heads to Misty, who was soundly asleep. "I don't think Misty does."
"Well she needs to get over it and help," The brunette reached for her friend and started to shake her awake.
Misty blinked multiple times before rubbing her eyes. "Are we done yet? Can I go home?"
"You can go home, after we're done searching for Dawn's dress," Misty groaned and slumped in her seat.
Before the tailor could show the girls another dress, their search was interrupted when Dawn's Piplup's stomach started to rumble.
"I guess it's time for dinner, huh Piplup?" Dawn asked, looking at the Penguin Pokemon on her lap.
"Finally," Misty stood up and stretched her legs. She despised looking at the white and light pink wedding dresses.
"Woo!" May cheered, as she stood up. "My favorite time of the day next to snack time: Dinner! So Dawn what are we having today?"
Misty sighed. She pulled May's ear and started to drag the brunette to the dining hall. "If you're hungry, we should get moving."
"W-wait up," Dawn, with Piplup in her arms, tried to catch up with her friends.
Once dinner was served, May was the first to help herself. No matter how many times Dawn saw her friend eat she was still impressed. As far as Dawn knew, May ate twice her weight.
Misty took her bite and favored every single flavor as she chewed and swallowed.
Dawn took her time as well. Every once in awhile, she would look over at Piplup and make sure he wasn't eating too much.
Suddenly the blunette stopped. Misty was the first to notice her friend's strange behavior. Picking a wedding dress must be taking a huge toll on her friend. Maybe Dawn realized that her future husband may not be the man of her dreams.
"Looking for the perfect dress is so hard,"" Or maybe. . . "But no need to worry. We'll just look faster and harder. Right Piplup?" Not.
"Dawn are you sure about this?" Misty questioned. "What if he's not what you think he is?"
"I think it's romantic," The brunette was now done with her large dinner. "Love at first sight. I hope it happens to me. How does it feel Dawn?"
"First, don't listen to May. She has two boys and yet she can't see one has an obvious crush on her, while the other one is a giant jerk," Misty stood up and walked over to Dawn. May, on the other hand, was confused.
"Dawn, you don't know anything about him. Don't you think you should first get to know him?"
Dawn sighed and looked away. Misty was right about that and the blunette knew it. But what caused her to go to such a limit as daydreaming about the perfect guy? She did have guy friends. There was Kenny and. . . Ash? They did travel. . .
"I think you should get to know him first before you do anything you might regret," Dawn was instantly pulled up by one arm, courtesy of Misty.
The red-head led her friend to another room; the library. It was round and shelves of book littered the room from top to bottom. The only thing that wasn't a book was a round rug and a chair in the middle.
Out of nowhere, Misty handed Dawn a pencil and paper. "I'll be back with May and Piplup in five minutes. I better see you writing when I come back."
"B-but," Dawn fell to the ground once the door closed behind Misty. "I don't know what to write."
The blunette slumped to the ground and stared at the white paper. If she didn't write something Misty would probably hit her on the back of her head.
Misty was very violent redhead. . . Very. . . Violent.
Dawn started shaking uncontrollably and began to write. What she wrote, she had no idea. But Dawn knew one thing, and that was that Misty was violent.
Brendan had decided he hated camping.
One, it was Lucas. Lucas is a very awkward boy. He was also unreliable. He ditched them by flying away on Garchomp. "Oh, I'm just going to get my arrows and catch up to you guys," Lies!
Leaf was twice as awkward now. She was a guy now. How was he supposed to handle that?! Brendan reminded himself that she was now a boy. Not only that but he hated her prediction from two nights ago. "You will die alone bald. The end," Before Brendan could even say anything, they saw Lucas flying above them on Garchomp.
He couldn't count the many times they would sneak their way into his room without a key. They were even brave enough to eat in the castle's kitchen. Dad wasn't happy, but he was glad that it was them and not some burglar.
Brendan had terrible friends. Cross-dresser Leaf and Awkward Lucas were two of his closest friends. And of course he had them.
"Brendan open up this door," May wasn't awkward. She was just there.
Brendan had told himself, that he and May weren't friends. She didn't take anything serious unless it involved food or romance. He needed food to survive, but he wasn't interested in other people's romantic problems. They had nothing in common.
"Just give it up May. You know how he is in the morning," Last was pretty-boy Drew. Brendan didn't get along with Drew and Drew didn't get along with Brendan.
Only because said pretty-boy thought weird hatter Brendan liked May. He didn't. Brendan simply tolerated her. And now that he thought about it, Brendan tolerated Drew too.
"Brendan open this door or I'll get Blaziken on you," May shouted from the other side of the door. Brendan simply tolerated.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you. He has a knife under his pillow," Brendan could just imagine May staring at the door with eyes wide open, Blaziken's pokeball in her hand.
"H-he does?"
Brendan sighed and started to dig under his pillow. Once he felt his hat, he took it out and placed it on his bed. The duo thought he had white hair. He dug under his pillow again and took out a pokeball.
"Absol go open the door," Brendan sighed.
The Disaster Pokemon rolled its eyes at the trainer and went for the door. Once opened May thanked it and ran towards Brendan.
"What are you doing here?" Brendan questioned.
"How do you know Landon?" May questioned back.
"I asked a question first May. Since this is Littleroot Kingdom, you are my guests and I'm your host. And as your host I asked you a question: What are you doing here? And you better answer or else,"Brendan glared at the brunette.
"I'm here to ask you a question. Drew's here for no reason." May huffed.
Brendan rubbed the back of his neck, before staring at his two un-welcomed guests. "Landon and I have been friends since we were five. We've been hanging out more now since her father died in the hands of someone from Twinleaf Kingdom. I've been being a good friend."
"It's hard to believe that you're being a good friend. I can imagine you ditching him in the forest like you did to us last year," Drew accused with a glare.
"His father died," May gasped.
Brendan looked at May as if she had just grown another head. "Are you serious?"
"May, you seriously don't know about what happened in that kingdom?" Drew was also surprised.
May looked looked at both boys, a confused expression on her pretty face. Brendan went back to lying down, even though he was fully awake. Drew shook his head and left. May had no idea what she did wrong.
"Twinleaf went to Silver Kingdom and attacked. The king wanted to make peace but failed. He lied when he said that his child was born a girl. Ten years later they attacked. Landon wanted to make peace, so he finally showed his face," Brendan explained. "He's going to meet Dawn tomorrow. He plans on getting to know her and spend much time with her before the wedding."
He knew that if nobody explained to May, she wouldn't leave. He could only tolerate the girl for so long.
"Oh. . ." May slowly walked out of the room.
Brendan sighed once he heard the door closed. "You know Absol, I sometimes wonder if those two know I'm not friends with them."
The boy moved aside and allowed Absol the other half of his bed.
He sometimes wondered how he even met May. He didn't like befriending girls. They were too troublesome. May was troublesome. He couldn't count the many times the girl forced him into doing something he didn't want.
Drew was annoying. He was always accusing him on something. Drew always wanted to show May that Brendan is a bad guy. Of course, Brendan didn't complain. he was the villain of the group.
May the princess, drew the hero and brendan the villain. 'Note to self: future play.'
He was friends with Leaf for two reason: she didn't push him into talking to her and she was the ticket to his freedom. The ticket to be away from May and Drew. To be able to travel the world without a guard. The ticket to be away from this kingdom and his useless father, Birch.
Besides, Leaf and Lucas had their secrets just like he did. Leaf's secret was that she was cross-dressing and would be put to death if anybody outside of Silver found out.
Lucas had a secret as well. A secret that even Brendan couldn't stomach or understand. A secret that Leaf should never know. A secret that could make the awkward, yet innocent, boy look like a complete monster.
Brendan stared at the ceiling and tried to clear his mind. Thinking about Lucas was a terrible thing to do.
May and Drew. Coordinators. They always get into an arguments about little things. Drew has an obvious crush on May yet the girl is too blind to notice. Brendan decided to take a mental note of that . It might come in handy in the future.
"I'm going to take a shower Absol," Brendan stood up and grabbed a towel. He didn't bother to take off his hat as he slipped into the shower.
Author's Note: Every good story needs a villain: Leaf. And behind every villain is an even bigger threat: Brendan. And behind the threat is someone who has the biggest secret of all: Lucas.
I can't help but think that even though this is a leafgreenshipping story, it's POV will mostly revolve around the villains. Of course it's going to revolve our heroes as well. but I can't help to wonder how much. . .
R&R!