So Ch3, WOO! I'm happy to see that both of my Burningleaf fics have been a success (1 review and at least 1 fav or follow are successes to me hehe), and for those of you who are expecting an update to Hidden Shadow and Chief Vault Hunter, I'll try to update soon...writers block bleh. Well...that and the BL2 Level cap increase, Battlefield 3, and MH3U on my 3DS...I hope to have more updates by the end of next week.
Alpha009: I agree, Burningleaf really needs more stories on FF.
BTW: I'd like to thank those who have reviewed as you have encouraged me to continue. Keep em coming...pls? Anyway, enjoy ch 3 and let me know if this is good enough.
"So, where too then?" Leaf asked. They were about a day away from Saffron City, traveling only a few hours down Route 8.
"Well, since you got ahead of me, why don't we just visit Celadon City?" Red asked.
"Sure, we can challenge the gym together like last time!" Leaf replied happily. Red looked at her questioningly. "I-I mean...if you want..." she added
"Sure." Red replied with a smile before the sky darkened and thunder roared, "...I probably should have paid more attention to those clouds before we left."
"No big deal, we'll get to some shade before it-" Leaf was cut off when not a few rain drops, but a whole assault of rain drops suddenly attacked them, "...don't you dare laugh." Leaf growled as she saw Red holding back a smirk.
Red shook his head and returned to the matter at hand, find shelter. He looked around frantically for anything that could work until his eyes landed on the obvious, the forest on the side of the road. Red quickly pulled Leaf by the hand and led her under the trees.
"It's not a solid roof, but..." Red began.
"Its great." Leaf cut him off with a smile as she tried to dry her hat, "I feel bad for the trainers who were out there waiting to challenge us though, they ran for either of the cities instead of following your example."
Red looked around for twigs and leaves, placed them in a pile nearby, and brought out Charmander to light them before putting him back in the ball to avoid anything risky with the rain. Leaf neared the fire a bit more and held out her hat to dry while Red grabbed some spare twigs and leaves.
"I'm...gonna take a nap." Red yawned, "You should too, it's been a long day." Leaf nodded and took a seat next to him, slowly closing her eyes and drifting away from reality. Red followed, but he felt something was missing.
Red was startled awake a few hours later by the sound Leaf shivering like if it was winter. Red quickly got up and got his now dry over shirt and placed it around Leaf before sitting back down and then hugging her close to share his body heat. Leaf settled and even sighed in relief at the warmth, reassuring Red that she was warm before he fell asleep again.
Leaf felt her pillow moving so she pressed up against it to make it stop. It moved again and she hugged it harder and it stopped. Just as sleep grabbed a hold of her again, the movement returned and she punched her pillow to stop it from moving, but something was off.
"Oof!" it talked! Leaf shot up and looked at her pillow to realize it was actually Red, "You have a bad dream?" he asked as he rubbed his gut.
"I'm sorry Red!" Leaf replied trying to make sense of what just happened, "I thou-...I mean...I didn't know-..."
"It's ok Leaf." Red replied with a smile. That smile was all Leaf needed to calm down. The both of them began to gather their things when the sound of rustling leaves in the tree caught their attention. Looking up, Red noticed someone familiar, Brendan...and he was hiding? He had a mischievous smile on his face as if he was up to something.
"Who's that?" Leaf asked.
"Brendan you asshole!" a voice called out, "Come out already!"
"Is that May?" Red thought out loud.
"W-who's May?" Leaf asked with worry. May came around the corner and spotted Red.
"Oh hey! Its lover boy!" she exclaimed then noticed Leaf, "This the girl?" Red nodded shyly and Leaf looked at them with confusion, "I'm May." she introduced herself to Leaf, "I met your boyfriend yesterday in Route 10."
Leaf blushed heavily, "Umm...we...we aren't..."
"What?" May asked and turned to Red, "I thought..." May was interrupted when the branch Brendan was on snapped, causing him to fall on Red. Leaf's hands flew to her mouth in shock but quickly ran to Red to help him up.
"Sorry." Brendan laughed.
"You see what you did Brendan!?" May shouted.
"It's alright." a voice replied, silencing the forest and causing a chill to run down May and Brendan's spine. They turned to face Red and Leaf, who were staring at them with questioning looks.
"What's wrong?" Leaf asked.
"Umm..." Brendan replied. Red turned away, whether he was hurt at their reactions or not, they couldn't tell.
"So...what brings you here?" Leaf asked, trying to change the subject.
"Well...I wanted to visit my home region, Johto," Brendan replied, "but afterwards decided to come here to Kanto since I never got a chance to visit it." He turned to May and hugged her close by the waist, "I can't leave out the fact that May wanted to travel."
"You're still not safe from hiding and leaving me in the forest." May snapped.
"I was just playing!" Brendan replied, pleading for her forgiveness.
"What makes you think that I'll still let it pass?" May asked, annoyed.
Brendan thought for a minute and his face lit up, "What if I cook for the next few days?" May's face lit up in surprise then a smile dominated.
"Deal!" She replied. Leaf and Red randomly looked around, feeling awkwardly left out. "So where are you guys headed?" May asked.
"Celadon City." Red replied, causing May and Brendan to cringe as a shiver once again climbed their backs.
'Why does his voice do that?' Brendan thought, 'The scenery becomes almost graveyard-like for no reason!'
'His voice doesn't sound horrible or anything...what the hell?' May thought. Red once again turned away, this time May and Brendan could sense he was slightly hurt at their reactions. Leaf took his hand in hers and Red turned to see her smiling face, causing him to smile back and lightly squeeze Leaf's hand.
"So...Red right?" Brendan asked and Red nodded, "Could you help me get us food? I left it all at our camp a little far back."
"WHAT!?" May shouted. Red quickly nodded and followed Brendan. If there is one thing both of them know, its to never stick around with a hungry girl unless you were feeding them.
"So Red," Brendan asked as they reached his camp, "if you don't mind me asking, how do you do it?" Red looked at him confused. "I mean scare with your voice...I'm not trying to offend you, its not like you're bad at talking." Red shrugged. "Oh...well as scary as it is, its pretty cool if you ask me."
'Cool?' Red asked in his mind.
"Just speak and they'll flee." Brendan laughed, "Bet you your girl doesn't have to worry about guys bothering her with you around." A thought hit Brendan, "She said you weren't together, how come you haven't asked her out?" Red shrugged, hiding his blush at the thought of asking Leaf out. "You can't tell me you haven't thought of doing that?" Red shrugged again.
'Considering we were about to kiss back at Pokemon Tower...' Red thought to himself then quickly shook the thought out of his head, any further thinking about Leaf would lead to an awkward sight of him blushing and smiling unconsciously. Brendan turned to see Red had his usual blank look.
"Hey, I'm sorry if I sounded like I was beating on you because of your voice." he commented, "I swear I wasn't trying to." Red nodded, showing that he understood then took the lead back to where they left the girls, but was stopped by Brendan's hand on his shoulder.
"I know you might not want to but...you want to play a prank on the girls?" he asked with a mischievous smirk.
Meanwhile
"So...how'd you two meet?" May asked Leaf.
"Well...I...kinda...ran into him by luck." Leaf replied, "We both lived in Pallet Town but...we never really got to know each other...I was...kind of a shut in." May looked at her confused.
"You...don't act like the shut in type." she commented.
"I guess you could blame Prof. Oak for giving me my first Pokémon...and Red." Leaf replied.
"So you knew each other, kind of, but how'd you end up getting to know him?" May asked.
"Well...I got lost in Viridian Forest..." Leaf replied, embarrassed, "Red found me there and I asked him to help me get out."
"Let me guess, he didn't talk?" May asked.
"Umm...no...not for a while." Leaf replied, "It wasn't until we got to Pewter City that he spoke, his voice was something else."
'I'll say.' May thought.
"It was like nothing I've ever heard before." Leaf continued.
'Here we go, creepy voice description.' May thought.
"It was beautiful." May felt like someone dropped a hammer on her head.
"What?" she asked.
"He even smiled!" Leaf continued, "It was like I was the only one worth seeing him like that!"
'This chick has lost it.' May thought, 'It was probably the shock of witnessing two impossible things at once.'
"Something wrong?" Leaf asked when she saw May's confused face.
"It's just...Red's not-" May quickly stopped herself as a thought came to her, 'Of course! Someone or something decided to play matchmaker, so only Leaf can hear and see Red for who he truly is!' May noticed that Leaf was still expecting the rest of her answer. "Never mind, I forgot what I was going to say." she laughed.
"So...what about you and Brendan?" Leaf asked.
"Well, he was the new kid in town and...well...you could kinda say I fell for him at the sight of him." May replied with a blush. After going around Hoenn for gym badges and running into criminals, we decided it was best to travel together. He told me he was coming over here and I guess I really came so that I could spend some more time with him."
Leaf smiled in return but it quickly faded as a bush literally came up behind May before two arms stretched out and wrapped around her waist before pulling her toward it. May screamed in surprise and turned to see her attacker, only to find Brendan holding her and laughing.
"You should have seen your face!" he laughed.
"You're such a jerk!" May replied as she punched Brendan on the shoulder.
"Correction, I'm YOUR jerk." Brendan laughed as he hugged her as close as he could.
"So you guys are dating?" Leaf asked.
"Yep." May replied, "He asked me out a few days after we got to Johto, though I'm starting to think if my reply to that question should be 'regrettably'."
"You don't really mean that do you?" Brendan asked, sounding hurt.
"O-of course not!" May replied desperately as she hugged him tightly and Brendan returned the hug.
"I know, I just like to see you throw yourself at me." Brendan laughed before seeing May's glare telling him to stop, "Ok, ok, I'll stop." he said sincerely.
"Brendan, where is Red?" Leaf asked.
"Not sure." Brendan replied, "He was going to help me scare you both, but..." Everyone looked around calling Red until a branch fell off a tree. May looked up to see a rare sight.
"Hey guys!" she called out, "Look!" Looking up, Leaf and Brendan saw what May was pointing at, a collection of leaves that looked as though it was a flower.
"It's beautiful!" Leaf exclaimed.
"I've heard of those, Red and I saw them earlier." Brendan commented, "They're supposed to be incredibly rare, and if you see one on a tree, its said to bring luck...plus there should be more higher up in the tree, the best one being at the tip as well. They don't really have a name yet, but I guess you could just call it a Leaf Flower." He quickly changed his gaze to something out of place in the trees...something..."Oh wow, HEY RED!"
Leaf and May looked up in time to see Red grab something, but lose his balance at the sound of Brendan's voice and causing him to come crashing to the ground with an "OOF!"
"Red!" a voice called out to him, sounding distant.
"Come on Red!" another distant voice called out, "You're not going down yet!" The voices started to sound closer as a third voice joined in calling out his name. Red opened his eyes to see May, Brendan, and Leaf looking down at him.
"Whew, you almost had us there." Brendan commented as May sighed in relief while Red sat up. Red noticed that Leaf had tears falling from her eyes as she threw her arms around him.
"I thought we'd lost you!" she cried as Red hugged her close.
"What were you doing up there?" Brendan asked. Leaf forced herself away so that Red had room to explain, but Red didn't talk. Instead he frantically looked around as if searching for something, stopping only because whatever he was searching for was safely in his hand. Sighing in relief, Red held out the item to Leaf and smiled as Leaf gasped in surprise along with May while Brendan let out a chuckle.
In Red's hand was a Leaf Flower; four leaves formed a cross shape while another four leaves formed another cross shape which covered the gaps, and in the center were various stems to add to its beauty. Leaf carefully reached out and took the Leaf Flower, surprised at the fact that it took all the space in Red's hand, but in hers it required both hands just to hold it. Leaf looked up at Red, smiling with tears in her eyes.
"I saw it when Brendan was preparing for his prank." Red explained with a smile, "He told me about them and I decided to get the best one for you." Leaf threw her arms around Red once again, taking care that she didn't hurt the flower Red gave her.
"Thank you Red!" she cried and Red hugged her close. May realized that Red's voice didn't hit affect as bad as it used to.
'I guess you just...have to know him to understand.' May thought to herself as Brendan pulled her to him in a hug.