Leave me be
Disclaimer: Standard AAMR belongs to other authors, the Pokèmon cast belongs
to Nintendo and some other people, the plot belongs to Alnykleo
because she actually was the one who came up with it and told me
to write it and finally, the title is a line from the song Devil
& the Deep Dark Ocean by Nightwish, which is more or less the
only music I listen to right now. Did I mention that I suck at
coming up with titles?
Also a thank to my pal Togepi, who helped me come up with some of
the girls on Misty's list.
Rating: Pg-13, because of what Brock gets James to learn
him... or rather why.
Notes: I still can't say that Ash/Misty is my favourite pairing in the world, and I still find most of it unbearably occ... but it's still nice to know that I'm able of doing it.
As always, Brock and Tracey does miraculously appear at the same
place at the same time, Ash still has the pokemon from a long
time ago and is somewhere in Kanto, and nobody could care less.
********
Misty was away. Were she had left to Ash wasn't really sure
about, but truth to be told he as grateful for it. When the baby
pokemon wasn't around he did at least not have to listen to
"Toke - tokeprii!" the entire day... or spend it
yelling at the master. Now, it wasn't always Ash really had
anything against yelling at the master... it was just that today
he needed to think. As if that wasn't hard enough, with Misty
around it would become totally impossible.
Brock and Tracey at least knew how to keep their peace. They had
been doing a lot of pokemon studying together the last weeks and
thus spent most of the time away from the younger kids, but the
last few days had mostly been Brock running away alone, and not
saying anything about the rare Weedles in Viridian forest which
was the camp at the moment. Funny that.... Ash had always thought
Weedles were common pokemon.
"I..." Ash looked up at Brock, who had stopped brushing
his Vulpix and raised up, "I have an appointment." He
announced and glanced at his watch.
"In the middle of Viridian forest. Of course." Tracey
muttered acidly without looking up from his book. The comment
made Brock look a little uncertain, but he shrugged and turned to
leave.
"Brock!" Ash suddenly shouted and leapt to his feet,
"I need to talk to you!"
His friend looked a bit nervous.
"Ash, I really need to go now... look, why don't you talk to
Tracey about whatever it is?" Brock said hurriedly and
walked off into the forest faster than Ash had seen anybody walk
without actually running. Sighing, he turned to see Tracey smack
the book shut and grab his sketchpad, and then started drawing
something in a rather violent way, his face set in an angry
scowl.
"Uh..."
"What?!" the pokemon watcher snapped back, his eyes
still set at his drawing.
"Uh..." Ash intelligently repeated, most of his brain
busy figuring out how to step around Tracey, more grumpy than Ash
had ever seen him before.
"If you didn't have anything to say..."
"Well..."
"Well what?!" Tracey groaned and rolled his eyes.
"I thought I'd ask Brock this but he ran away..."
"So..." Tracey actually looked dangerous... or as
dangerous as Tracey could manage to look, which was quite
impressing taking in the fact that he was a 17 year old, male,
wore a pink headband and at the moment had a bit of rubber
sticking out between his front teeth.
"How is it like to be in love?" Ash at last blurted.
The tip of Tracey's pencil broke with a sharp crack, as his
friend suddenly was completely silent, his face contorted in
pushed-back emotions, before he at last gave in to the angry
glare again.
"It sucks." He spat and reached for his pencil
sharpener, his words blurred by the rubber.
"Oh." Ash replied, more than a bit disappointed. That
was not the answer he had hoped to get...
Ash was greatly confused. Not confused in the usual way when he
could get somebody to explain things over again and then he'd get
it, because this was... just a thing he didn't really thing
anybody at all could get.
Misty was not really that far away. Actually, a few hundred
meters into the forest she sat and performed the beautiful art of
chucking cones into a little lake while she considered her life
situation.
Misty appreciated her friends, all of them, nice guys and good in
their own special ways. Of course Brock was too girl-crazy, but
he was also smart and caring. Of course Tracey was a bit wussy,
but he had a lot of knowledge and determination. Of course Ash
was dense, but he also was brave, and zealous, and... cute.
The last thing bugged Misty. A lot.
The thing was that Misty wanted love. Sure, everybody wanted
love, and sure, Misty had three boys to choose between.... But
she also acquired certain... qualities... from a possible future
lover, which none of her best buddies could show up with.
And that was why she now wondered why Ash was considered 'cute'
in her mind.
"One thing is that girl use to fall for gay boys....And it
is right that giving that impression might help. But when it
comes to straight crossdressing you have to be careful... I
was extremely lucky with that one..."
"I am not going to..."
"Most girls gets turned off by crossdressing, that is the
main point. And no makeup can actually hide the fact that your
eyes are not at all like officer Jenny's..."
"What I am going to do is none of your busyness!"
James gave him a pitying look.
"Look, I a just trying to help you here! And I would suggest
you rather take that silent fem-boy mode, grow your hair a bit
longer and start using..."
"Just show me and stop your damn fashion advises!"
Brock snapped, and the older boy shrugged.
"Well, if that's what you say, so..."
Ash knew that he would return to Pallet town within the next
week. He knew this probably would mean he also would run into
Gary. He knew this most likely would turn into Gary whooping his
butt like he had done all times before. What Ash didn't know, was
why he for some reason wanted Gary to whoop his butt...
Ash was a confused boy. Somewhere in his 14 year old mind he knew
that he was not supposed to want to battle somebody he
would most likely loose too, but it couldn't be denied that he
actually did.
For some reason, he also wanted to battle Misty. Or at least to
talk more to her. Now, as they already spent 99% of the time
together he couldn't really figure why he wanted to talk to her,
but somehow, he did.
Perhaps he just wanted to talk to Gary as well. That could be
nice. Yeah. Ash could like to talk with Gary...
He groaned and threw his body backwards on his sleeping bag, and
stared up at the clouds whirling over the sky.
"Tracey?" he said silently, hoping not to make his
friend's obvious bad mood worse.
"What?"
"You see, when I asked how it was being in love, I didn't
really mean it that way..." he didn't move his eyes from the
ever-changing pattern over his head, but heard the annoyed sight
from the older boy. Ignoring it he continued, "I meant...
how do you know you are in love?"
"Oh great..." Tracey muttered, "Ash, you just know,
okay?"
"But how does it feel when..."
"Can we please not talk about this?!" Tracey
actually yelled by now.
"Uh..." Ash looked over at him, "Sure..."
Misty was making a list over her last crushes.
Prima.
Melody.
Jesse.
Cassidy.
Lisa.
Casey.
Officer Jenny.
Sakura.
Jesse.
Ash.
It wasn't hard to see where the pattern broke. This was
disturbing. Very so.
Misty had settled with the fact that boys weren't her path to
walk a long time ago, and never in her wildest imaginations
fallen for somebody who thought that The Art of War was a better
movie than Titanic. She had never been interested in boys like
that.... And if she was falling for one, wouldn't it be somebody
like James? Or maybe even like Tracey... but not somebody like...
Ash.
Yet, it was not to be denied.... Whatever feelings she had nursed
for about every other girl, she now also felt when the thought of
her Pokèmon master to be took over her brain. Which, as already
mentioned, was disturbing, confusing and impossible to explain.
"Ash is a moron." She told herself as she buried her
face in her hands, "He is stupid, annoying, ignorant,
reckless, and not to mention..." she sighed, "Totally
adorable when he does that little.... NO!" she got to her
feet and started pacing around the stone she had been seated on.
"Ash is NOT adorable! Ash is just your stupid best friend
who you do NOT love because true love is not like that
and...." She slumped down again.
"Jesse." She though, "Think about Jesse. She has
so many other great things than Ash does... she is beautiful...
she has breasts... she..." Misty suddenly realized how hard
it was to come up with good qualities about a person who daily
tried to steal your pokèmon, "At least she is female!"
"Tracey?"
"Yes...?" his voice was laced with sugar, and Ash
started regretting that he spoke again.
"If you want to.... um... talk to somebody, does that mean
you are in love with them? Okay, it sounds stupid, but... I
mean... Uh..."
"You wonder if you're in love, is that so?"
"No! Girls are gross and... I mean..." his head slumped
down, "Yes, I do."
Tracey rolled over on his back and placed a hand over his eyes
and muttered something that sounded like "Damn you straight
to hell, Brock."
"Does that mean you are not going to tell me?" Ash
asked.
"It means that if it shuts you up, yes!"
"So, um..."
"Let's get over with it. Tell me everything and I'll see
what I get out of it."
Why Ash? There was nothing likeable with Ash! Ash was... Ash.
Okay. Then there probably wasn't completely without reason she
had joined in with him that time in the exact same place a long
time ago. Ash was a likeable kid except during his worst
ego-trips, and Misty did consider him her best friend. But when
she got a crush on her best friend... it was like if she was
straight and got a crush on her best friend of the same sex. The
though had made her shudder when she was eight and her best
friend changed about twice a week. It didn't feel any better now.
Tracey looked wearily at the young trainer sitting across of him.
What he needed at the moment was a huge stack of chocolate, not a
boy with love problems.
"You think you are in love with both Misty and Gary at
once?" he asked once more, and Ash nodded.
"I don't really want to be in love... I mean if I am in love
then it feels sort of funny, but..."
"It's either your rival or your best friend, and you are not
sure." Tracey ended, and Ash nodded again. For about the
50th time that day Tracey cursed Brock for picking that moment to
run away, but when he looked at the utterly confused boy he drew
a deep breath and started talking again.
"I think..." Ash was fourteen. It was about time he
started being interested in something else than pokèmon, and
there was nothing to do but accept it, and as his friend, help
him decide what was best for him.
Tracey stopped talking there and bitterly looked back at his own
experience about love. Really, he didn't want that to happen to
Ash, so that way the advice looked clear. But he wasn't sure how
good he could handle it if Ash and Misty became a couple now,
right after this...
"I don't know what to tell you. But you know, boys are not
to be trusted, they run away with the first and best they get the
opportunity to..." he suddenly realized what he sounded like
and bit his tongue, "You have to decide for yourself,
okay?" Ash nodded, and Tracey sat back down to sulk some
more. He really needed that chocolate.
James giggled giddily as he walked through the forest and counted
the bills in his hand. The horny twerp had paid well for his
little favor, and now he could afford that new dress with that
delicious embroidery and pretty lace sleeves and all those...
A stab of guild went through his mind as he remembered that it
was his partner's birthday in two weeks, and that she had been
drooling over that dress as well.
There was basically two reasons to get her a birthday present.
One was that if he didn't, she would kill him or at least give
him a severe trashing. Number two was that if he got her
something really nice, then maybe she would think he cared for
her, and not only be happy because she got something expensive.
But James really wanted that dress for himself... he knew
he would look gorgeous in it, and it matched his hair way better
than hers anyway.
"...and we can have two perfect children, a daughter and a
son... the son can be named Steve and play football at the school
team, and his sister is Lara, who is a cheerleader and has lots
of pretty friends, and when she gets older and start
dating..." Misty was lost in a reverie about her and Ash's
children, telling Togepi absent-minded about how their life would
be,"... and in our wedding he is wearing a white tuxedo, and
Brock is his best man and I will walk down the isle when
the..." she suddenly realized what she was doing and
screamed as she clutched her head.
"No! Not Ash! Not Ash! Jesse! Jesse! JESSE!"
"Um... Tracey?"
Ash looked up to see Brock come out from the forest again,
carrying a paper bag in one hand.
"Oh, hi, Brock... I hope you had fun with whoever you was
meeting." Tracey said flatly without looking up at him.
Brock looked hurt.
"I really need to talk to you..." he tried.
"I don't think you and I have anything much more to say to
each other."
"That is really nice, because I need to ask you something,
Brock..." Ash peeped in.
"This is not what it looks like, and I only did it for
you!"
"If that is so, then why couldn't you tell me why, and
who?" Tracey yelled back.
"Because if I did it would ruin it all, and..." Brock
shot Ash a nervous glance, "Just let me explain, okay?"
Tracey snorted in reply and crossed his arms angrily over his
chest as he glared in the other direction.
"Look, Brock, I need to talk with you...."
"Please!" Brock took Tracey's hands and looked
pleadingly at him, "I... I only wanted to make you
happy..."
"Funny way of doing that, by..." Tracey glared at him
and yanked his hands away as he paused, "Studying pokèmon
with other people."
"But I didn't ... study pokèmon with anybody
else!" Brock desperately cried and took his hands again.
"It won't take long, I swear..." Ash's comment was
promptly ignored.
"Really?" Tracey looked at Brock, his angry scowl now
gone.
"I would never study pokèmon with anybody but
you!" Brock told him.
"Really?" Tracey repeated, a tiny smile starting to
light up his face.
"Really."
"Brock?" they looked back at Ash who looked puzzled at
them.
"What?" Brock pulled his hands to himself again and
took a step away from Tracey, his cheeks slightly flushed.
"Tracey couldn't really give me any answer, so I think I'll
rather talk to you about it." Ash said, giving them an odd
look.
Brock looked back at Tracey, then took his paper bag and grabbed
Tracey's wrist as he started walking into the forest again.
"Later, Ash, I have to show Tracey some... um... really
fancy Oddishes I saw back there!"
"And I really think that is something you need to figure out
yourself!" Tracey added and barely managed to snatch his
sketchpad from the ground as Brock hauled him past it.
Ash looked confused after them, and then sat back down, patting
Pikachu as he wondered if Oddishes were hard to catch.
James looked at the redhaired girl in front of him screaming his
partner's name, and then picked up a stick and walked over to
her, poking her in the side with it.
"Ah!" she screamed and jumped in the air, before she
saw that it was him and her face was sat in an angry scowl.
"Why did you do that?!" she yelled and tried to take
the stick away from him, but he held it out of her reach.
"Why are you screaming Jesse's name?"
Misty looked a bit more friendly, and then got an annoyed glare.
"Because I am suddenly falling for stupid best friends which
I don't want to fall for when I thought I loved other stupid
people with partners and talking Meowths and I really don't want
to love my best friend like that but I do and..." she
screamed once again, and he looked a bit scared at her.
"You have a crush on Jesse?"
"No I don't anymore though I really wish I still did!"
she cried and took the stick and hit it into the stone beside her
with all force she could muster, barely missing her baby
pokèmon.
It looked at her as its small black eyes filled with water, and
then it burst into tears.
"Toke -priiiiiiiii!" it wailed, and she immediately
clamped her hands in front of her mouth and gasped.
"Togepi!" she exclaimed, and picked up the crying
pokèmon and dropped to her knees as she cradled it in her arms,
"I'm sorry, Togepi... Mommy is just having a bad day, that
is all..."
James looked down at her as she continued to cuddle it, and the
turned back to camp.
It was either Misty or Gary. That was the choice. Misty, friend,
or Gary, rival. Misty, girl, Gary, boy.
If Ash was to date somebody he would probably pick Gary. One
thing was of course that Gary was better than him... but at least
Gary wouldn't want to go to stupid romantic movies, or eat at
expensive restaurants, or run into the bathroom to fix his makeup
five times every hour.
But then there was the fact that Gary was better than Ash. He
could of course try to deny it, but if he did, it would
probably only cause problems... but if he did admit it Gary would
probably spend all the time talking about how much better than
Ash he was. No, he corrected himself, if Gary really cared about
him he would not.
All over the choice seemed pretty simple.
And Gary's hair looked way better than Misty's anyway.
It was settled. James knew his partner, and if that little
redhaired brat would start hitting on her his position could be
threatened. It wasn't like he didn't know about Cassidy or
anything either...
Tracey somehow managed to look guilty as he looked up at Brock.
"I'm really sorry..." he said with a pout, "I have
been a bad boy..."
"You sure have." Brock sternly replied, "I think I
need to take you to jail." He smirked and loosened the
handcuffs from his side, "You shouldn't mess with Officer
Jenny, you know." He said and shook his head.
Tracey was too busy not grinning to wonder where he got that outfit from.
Misty returned to camp to find Ash alone, rubbing Pikachu's
stomach. He didn't notice her at all, and she didn't notice that
she smiled as he broke in laughter as the pokèmon jumped up on
his shoulders and started messing up his hair. He then at last
managed to Pikachu down from his head again, and turned to look
at her. Surprisingly, he didn't say anything at all, just stared,
and Misty found herself staring back at him, his hair ruffled and
cheeks still a bit red from the laughing fit... looking... just
adorable.
And all her decisions went down the drain as she walked over to
him, bent down, and pressed her lips to his.
James admired himself in the mirror. He really did look
gorgeous.
The dress was full length in dark blue, the bottom and neckline
decorated with embroideries in silver thread and small glass
pearls, and the sleeves reaching down to the elbow done in only
lace.
With a last wistful sigh he stepped out of it and left the
changing room and hung it up again, and took down another in a
size smaller as he went over to the counter to pay for it.
Well, he comforted himself, if he couldn't have it himself then
at least the second best option was no loss either. She was going
to love him for it... James figured he could sacrifice the dress
for that.
"So..."
"Uh..."
"Yeah..."
Misty and Ash looked at each other, blushed, and looked away
again, what they had spent the last hour doing. Yet, Misty was
holding Ash's hand, and he didn't have any intentions of letting
go either.
They looked up when Brock and Tracey returned, Tracey franticly
sketching something and Brock whistling on a Vengaboys tune as he
stuffed the paper bag into his backpack.
"Where have you been?" Misty asked.
"Studying Pokèmon." The replied in unison as Brock
seated himself beside Tracey and took his sketchpad, looking down
on it, meeting Tracey's eyes. Then they both broke down giggling.
Ash and Misty exchanged glances, and Ash tried to pull his hand
away from Misty, but she tightened her grip and he gave up, and
instead reached out for his pokèdex. After some intense typing
he looked up at Brock and Tracey again.
"There are no Oddishes in Viridian forest." He stated.
"Oh, there are." Tracey assured him.
"Definately." Brock agreed.
"Are you wearing lipstick?" Misty asked and narrowed
her eyes at him.
"No
"
Tracey started rubbing his neck.
********
"So, ehrm, write a twerpshippy comedy thing. Preferably with
Ash desperately trying to figure out WHY he wants to have a pokémon battle with
Gary so much, and with Misty having problems to decide whether she should
stay with her stupid pokémon master wannabe or go find something...
bustier. You can even have a Brock/Tracey subplot, to mess things up. With
splatters of delicious rocketshipping. Or something. It would be fun. A
"queershipping" AAML fic, if you know what I mean. If you wrote this I'd be
eternally grateful, of course... ^^"
So, Sara, you got what you wanted: I'm sorry it didn't get more
rocketshippy, but it was hard getting that into a plot like this,
but I think the rest is what you asked for.