"AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!?"
Brock cringed and stared at the floor like a little boy caught
red-handed in the cookie jar.
"Um..."
Misty glared at him and then whacked him over the head, "Now
I have to find Officer Jenny and apologize for you and..."
"But she LOVES me!"
"... this is such a mess..."
"Misty! She wanted to DATE me!"
"...so embarrasing and WHAT?!"
Brock only nodded with a big, happy smile.
"She will DATE you?!" Brock grinned even wider.
Misty stared. And stared. And stared.
Brock might've been lovesick, but he wasn't dense enough not to
take the chance to escape from the rest of the scolding.
Delia stood still in her kitchen and stared at the sickening cute
pink envelope in her hands, and didn't notice that Brock came
running through the room saying something about needing to talk
to Tracey.
At last she moved her hands and ripped it open, to pull out a
sheet in the same color as the wrapping and with a heavy scent of
perfume, and scanned through it, a slight smile growing on her
lips.
"Hi mum!" Ash announced as he and Gary entered the
room, looking way more cheerful that she'd seen either of them
the last days, she noticed as she tried to hide the letter behind
her back.
"What's that?" Gary innocently asked, and Ash had
suddenly moved behind her to snatch it away.
"Oooh! Is it a love letter?"
"Let me see!"
Delia paled and yanked it out of her son's grip.
"It's just something from the taxation authorities... now
why don't you get some ice cream, or..."
Ash and Gary just smiled sweetly up at her.
"Later mum, we're gonna play catch, right Gary?"
"Yeah!"
"Bye!" he said, and they left the room, leaving a very
confused Delia looking after her son skipping out with Gary as a
apprehensive frown fell over her face.
"TRACEY!"
The glass fell to the floor and shattered as he jumped into the
air with a squeak, to discover a panting and rather panicked
looking Brock standing in the doorway.
"Wha - what?" he asked when his heart started beating
again, and the other boy just grinned like a madman.
"I GOT A DATE!" he yelled.
"You got a DATE?!"
"YES!" Brock was on the verge of tears, "Finally,
after all these years..." he stopped to breathe, and let out
a light sob, "I'm gonna... I'm gonna..."
Tracey warily stepped closer and put a hand on Brock's shoulder.
"So...um... why did you want to speak with me?" he
asked when Brock still hadn't finished what he had started
saying, figuring out that it was something more than just showing
of, mostly because Brock hadn't really shown all that much
interest in him before.
"I can't do this alone, I mean, it's my first time and all,
and you has a girlfriend and knows about dating and..."
The door was pushed open and Gary marched in with Ash in tow,
both of them looking rather pleased with themselves.
"Where's gramps?" Gary asked demandingly, and Tracey
mutely pointed at the laboratory door, before impeding Ash from
walking straight on the glass he'd dropped moments before.
Meowth rubbed his temples. One thing was that he didn't do too
well with pollen and already had suffered a minor headache from
earlier that day, but having to listening to his partners
planning James's date with Brock was not too pleasant, since both
of them were squealing like schoolgirls.
It pained him to see Growly yap along, obviously not paying
attention to the fact that they planned to tie pink ribbons
around his tail and ears.
"Hi grampa!"
"Hi Professor Oak!"
"Hi boys!" he greeted Ash and Gary as they entered the
room.
"What are you doing?" Gary asked interested and looked
at the plate in front of him.
"I'm having dinner." His grandfather replied, looking
slightly worried.
"Cool!" Ash said, "You know what? Mum got a love
letter!" he told him with a obliviousness of a five year
old. Samuel felt his smile fade.
"Really? From who?" He tried to keep his voice calm and
almost succeed, but imagined seeing a smug grin on his grandson's
face for a brief second.
"I don't know." Ash said and looked at Gary who nodded
slightly, "But I think it was a Gio-something..."
Samuel pushed himself away from the table and raised up, ripping
the napkin away from his collar.
"I'll be outside with the Geodudes. Ash, tell your mother I
want to speak with her later." He announced, leaving the
room before noticing two boys high-five behind him.
Ash wasn't in the best of moods when he was peering through the
window of Professor Oak's living room later that night. The fact
that his weight was balancing on an empty trash can didn't really
help him any further, and neither that Gary kept on telling him
to stay still. It was easy for Gary to say. At least his can was
full...Another hiss from his just for the occasion ally made him
balance his weight in a way that felt slightly safer and
concentrated on the scene in front of him.
His mother and Professor Oak were seated beside each other on
Professor Oak's couch, and neither looked too good. Well, his
mother looked a bit sad, and Professor Oak looked angry.
"Really, Sam, I don't know why..."
"Oh, so it was just a coincidence that he sent you
a..."
"Oh for god's sake, it's pervaded with Chanel ( 5!"
"Yes, and that's..." Professor Oak stopped talking and
took the letter from her and sniffed on it, before he gave it
back, "What the hell is wrong with that bastard?"
Delia gave him a hopeless look, and slumped down.
"I don't know... maybe it isn't him at all, I don't see why
he should bother after all these years... I mean, Ash doesn't
have anything to do with him and...." Her voice trailed off
and she wept into Professor Oak's shoulder, "What if it is
some sick pervert stalking me?!" she wailed.
Gary shifted nervously beside him.
"We'll figure out something, honey." Professor Oak told
his mother, and Ash scowled. Then, when his mother had stopped
crying and Gary started looking panicked, Professor Oak started
kissing her. Ash felt a very strong urge to kill something.
He was about to suggest that they left when he discovered
Professor Oak's hand starting to slid up Delia's skirt.
And he screamed.
Dimly, he heard that Gary did as well.
And then the trash can tipped backwards.
James was having too much fun on planing his upcoming date. He
realized it when he was in the shower later, because he hadn't
whined about it at all that day, and some childish part of him
still told him to keep on sulking about having to seduce Brock,
even if it did start being sort of fun...
NO! He was NOT going to give in, he was NOT going to enjoy
this... James wanted to get back on Jesse for doing this to him.
Problem was only to do it so subtle that she didn't know that was
what he was doing, because then she'd kill him.
He sighed and stepped out, and stared into the mirror, wondering
if Brock liked his hair.
And then he shook the thoughts of and started combing it.
"Ash!" He heard his mother's concerned voice and felt
hands touch him and pull him up, and looked at her two faces in
front of him.
"Whaaa?"
"Ash?! Ash, what happened?!"
He finally managed to focus and sat up by himself and shook his
head a couple of times before he looked at Gary, who was also
sitting by now, and rubbing his head. Professor Oak looked at the
litter spread on the ground.
"We... um... we played catch."
"Oh... " he noticed that his mother once again looked a
bit worried.
"Can you go home by yourself?" she asked and helped him
to his feet.
"Um... why?" he asked tentatively, and she shrugged.
"I need to talk with Samuel here..."
"Grampa!" Gary suddenly yelled with a tint of panic in
his voice.
"What?"
"There's a Tauros on the run!"
Professor Oak muttered something under his breath, and then
yelled for Tracey. Nothing happened. After a few seconds he
squinted his eyes.
"You know, Gary, I can't see it anywhere, are you
sure?"
"I can't see it eithe..." Ash stopped talking when Gary
stomped on his foot, but gave him a confused look.
"There! It's about to run into the Magikarp pond!"
"Oh...Tracey!" nobody came.
"I think he's out with Brock..." Ash said, and Gary
nodded. Professor Oak immediately left, and his mother sighed.
"Well Ash, it seems like I'll be able to walk you home
anyway."
"That's great mum, because I...um... I think I broke my
butt." He said and gave her his most innocent smile. She
ruffled his hair, and looked Gary in the eyes, before she
shrugged and started on her way home.