Whirlwind of Electricity

“You crazy girl,” Misty reprimanded softly, staring at the unconscious pokémon trainer. The wires connecting Ash to the machines around her added to the chill creeping up Misty’s back. The beeping of the machines crept into her mind and drowned out all other sounds.

“Don’t be too worried,” Brock’s voice intruded into her thoughts. “Ash is fine. It looks bad, but they say she’ll be out of here tomorrow morning.”

Misty glared up at him, her feelings rising up from before. He saved Ash. He was the one who dove into the water to save her. Brock was the one who went into the water. Wasn’t she the water trainer? Weren’t the waters her territory?

So why was it that it was Brock who had dived in to save Ash, and not her?

“Don’t…talk to me,” Misty whispered, glaring up with tears at the corners of her eyes.

Brock nodded sharply and left the room. Misty went back to staring at Ash, folding her hands together and leaning her forehead on them, her elbows digging into the white sheets of the hospital bed.

“I’d always loved to have a little sister.”

Who would let someone else save their sister?

Who would just stand there, thinking about what pokémon she could use?

Who swore to protect Ash?

‘I’m so sorry, Ash. I won’t fail you again.’

Misty silently sobbed at Ash’s bedside, her entire body racked with shakes.

Brock made no mention of it to her, as Misty angrily pushed passed him when she left the room later. Instead, he quietly took his place by Ash’s bedside, and leaned closer to the unconscious girl. His hand reached out and hesitated, before he grabbed her hand and held it firmly.

He’d long been healed and declared okay, so he’d been freed to walk around. He didn’t know why it was taking Ash longer than he had, and he was all the more worried for it. He wished he’d been faster to react, to get to her. That he’d been faster in getting her to safety…

He felt her hand hold onto his harder in her unconscious state, and he felt his lips moving upwards. Things will be okay. Ash would be out and healthy and normal in no time.

Brock would get his genki girl back soon.

The next morning, Misty acted normal and greeted Ash enthusiastically. But as she looked over Ash’s shoulder to Brock, she sent him an icy, angered look. A silent understanding passed between them as Brock nodded to her, showing no emotion himself.

Between the two of them, they’d probably never really get along.

Misty looked down and felt her mind jumble with noises, everything bleeding into each other until she couldn’t distinguish a sound from another. She ignored Ash giving Brock a hug and thanking him profusely for saving her life, feeling her body go numb and her mind become static.

“Misty, are you okay?” Ash’s bright smile faced her.

“Yeah…yeah…”

Ash’s smile faltered for a second before she grabbed Misty’s hand and squeezed it reassuringly, pulling Misty behind her as they headed out of the hospital.

Vermillion City. The gym there ruled with electric pokémon. And the gym leader…he was rumored to be tough, tougher than most of the gym leaders in Kanto.

At the city’s entrance, they stared into the city with an unwavering gaze. Both older trainers supported Ash and gave her matching grins.

“Hey, are we just going to stand here all day or are we going to kick ass?” Brock said playfully, winking at Ash.

“Mmhm, let’s do this, Ash,” Misty smirked, putting her hand in support on Ash’s shoulder.

Ash’s own grin spread across her face. She was ready to do this. She was going to do this!

They started forward with a sure step, and Ash brimmed with excitement and anxiety. They strolled through the busy streets until they were right in front of the gym, larger than both the Pewter and Cerulean gyms combined. Without the show arena part of Misty’s gym, Vermillion City’s dwarfed it. It seemed it looked as monstrous as its leader was rumored to be. With one last look at each other, they entered through the doors so Ash could challenge the gym leader.

Finding out the gym leader’s name was Lieutenant Surge from one of the assistants in the front, they were led in and entered into the gym’s arena. There, Ash saw a tall, rather muscular man, with blond hair and pale blue eyes. He wore army fatigues and looked bored as he lounged around at his seat, with his cohorts surrounding him and gabbing to each other. The assistant who’d helped them reached the man’s side, and whispered something into the man’s ear. He perked up slightly, looking vaguely interested.

“Hear that, ladies and gents? We got yet another challenger who wants to end up with their pokémon in the hospital,” he said in casual amusement. He looked to the entrance where they hovered uncertainly. “So which one of you three is asking for a beating?”

Ash frowned and stepped forward immediately. She lifted up her chin defiantly.

“You’re, uh, the challenger?” Lt. Surge stared at the petite girl, blinking in surprise and caught off guard by the small young thing in his presence.

He examined her curiously, noting immediately that she was rather cute. She was almost elfin-like in appearance, and her sort-of pixie-cut hair added to that. She wore casual jeans and a modest and plain, black top, and overall didn’t seem too girly. Not that he didn’t think she couldn’t be, and he’d probably look forward to seeing her like so…

“Yeah, why?” Ash asked obliviously, lightening up and turning into her usual adorable and nice self, since it seemed he wasn’t as bad as she thought he’d be.

Misty, on the other hand, was waving a mallet in the background menacingly at him, having seen his casual and curious examination of her friend. Smirking, the lieutenant accepted the challenge. That red-haired brat thought she could intimidate him, did she? How laughable.

If she wanted to play in the big leagues, all she had to do was ask –that poor ginger didn’t know she’d just made it worse and provoked him into acting, and not withholding back any effort into pursuing the sweetheart delivered right on his front step.

Misty Waterflower, wasn’t it? He knew the girl’s sisters.

Lt. Surge didn’t take too well to threats, and that little girl’s amateurish attempt at one just put the stakes up higher and merely pushed him into going after Misty’s friend. He had been interested in his slender challenger in the first place, but now he’d been challenged and practically provoked into this little game, with Misty unintentionally daring him into it.

Not that he hadn’t been planning on doing so in the first place, but Misty served to just push the envelope.

“Well, let’s make this interesting. You win, I’ll give you a badge and a tour of the city. I win, you go out with me for the rest of the day,” he wore a predatory grin as he put up the stakes, putting up a win-win situation for himself.

Misty screeched (oh, but it was so her fault) and Ash turned to her.

“Are you okay, Misty?!” she panicked, wondering what the heck was going on and what was up with her friend.

The water trainer’s eyes were glaring holes at Lt. Surge, hyperventilating rapidly. The blond man smirked smugly, tilting his head slightly in arrogance. His eyes bore down on the water trainer haughtily and condescendingly.

Don’t bare your teeth if you can’t handle the opponent’s bite.

“Just fine, Ash,” she gritted out, but backed down because she wasn’t so sure she could stand up to the likes of Lt. Surge, no matter how much she may want to.

“Okay…um, sure lieutenant sir. That would be, um, nice,” Ash uncertainly turned back to him, answering his previous offered gamble.

“Brilliant,” Lt. Surge lazily drawled.

Oh, he was definitely not going to lose this. This girl was really cute after all.

And he couldn’t wait to rub it into that water trainer’s face either. Still, the cute girl was his main priority –she was extremely attractive and he hadn’t found a girl who’d caught his eye for a long time. It was intriguing that this one had.

The blond threw out his pokémon, sending a Raichu out, very serious about this battle from the get go and eager to win it. Ash felt the nervousness creep back into her until she jumped in shock at the sound of a semi-automatic machine gun blasting.

Everyone slowly turned to see Brock with a camouflage army hardhat on, cigar smoking in mouth, and the aforementioned machine gun held in one hand and pointed into the air. Misty was beside him, looking up aggravated at the rock trainer.

He was rather thankful that everyone had been so caught up in Ash challenging Lt. Surge, and that man and Misty having some kind of silent mental fist fight (that Misty obviously lost), that he’d been able to find the outfit’s pieces around the stadium and scrounged it together so he could cheer on Ash and cheer her up. He could clearly see she kept wavering and feeling unconfident at times, and he didn’t blame her. He knew Lt. Surge was a hardass, and was personally slightly intimidated by him as well. He, of all the Kanto gym leaders (aside from the fearsome, formidable, and frightening –the Three Terrible F’s –Giovanni) had a reputation for being one of the hardest gym leaders to beat, and was ruthless and more intimidating than any of them. Aside from the Giovanni. Again.

“Ash, my love, look up and stay strong,” Brock said solemnly, saluting and plopping onto the ground, stuffing the items he wore back into some duffle bag. He looked up and gave her a small smile, laughing in embarrassment but giving her a reassuring look.

Ash sweatdropped and looked up, seeing the words ‘YOU CAN DO IT, BABY!’ in the ceiling, made by…bullet holes. Still, she appreciated the sentiment and his attempt to lighten up her nerves.

She laughed weakly, scratching the back of her head in awkwardness. “Ah, Pikachu. G-go…” was all she could get out. Some of the junior trainers there were snickering behind their hands while Misty was berating a stoic Brock to the side, though he was inwardly relieved he seemed to have been able to help somewhat.

“You, uh, have some funny friends there,” Lt. Surge’s mouth twitched upwards, though he appreciated the show and loved the spontaneous entertainment.

Ash sighed, “Yep. Shall we start?”

“Yes, let’s. Raichu, lightning bolt,” he got right down to it.

Ash winced when the attack hit. Ordering Pikachu to keep dodging and look at his opponent carefully, Ash bit her lip in concentration and analyzed the gym leader and his pokémon. They were focused on power, trying to knock out Pikachu.

“Pikachu, absorb the hits!” she commanded, watching as Pikachu paused every once in a while to raise his tail and absorb the attacks. Lt. Surge narrowed his eyes at her, calculating. She frowned. This one, here, was smart and shrewd. He was paying attention to what she was doing and what she was up to.

Her two friends hadn’t battled to their full potential. Brock had been distracted by something and Misty, she would think, had underestimated her.

But she had no ties to Lt. Surge and he wasn’t the type to slack off or be distracted. And he was definitely not underestimating her.

Unknown to her, though, another factor against her was that Lt. Surge had an extra motivation to drive him. Sure it would be nice to take her around the city, but he’d much rather just take her out for the whole day and have a longer time with her.

“Raichu, do an extreme thundershock,” he ordered calmly.

Ash felt the briefest of panics before she shook it off and told Pikachu to, “Absorb it if you can. Then store it.”

There was a bright flash and then when the light faded away, Raichu stood panting while Pikachu had his tail up and had electricity running up and down his body. Pikachu winced every once and awhile from the amount of electricity he had built up inside of him.

“Pikachu, use the energy you’ve absorbed earlier and enhance your speed.”

It was an amazing feat, Pikachu suddenly blurring and running around in circles around Raichu, and dust kicking up behind him and wind physically manifesting. Ash even had the urge to draw the scene, though she wasn’t sure she could even replicate what she was seeing.

“Catch Raichu and hold tight. Use the stored energy to do a thundershock of your own, Pikachu. After the thundershock, leap back so you don’t get hit as well.”

It actually worked, and once Pikachu had leaped back, the force of the thundershock had thrown Raichu into the air and slammed it against the wind that Pikachu had created before.

Everyone was staring in shock at the aftermath of the battle and what had just occurred. Suddenly, the sound of slow clapping echoed in the gym and everyone turned to see Lt. Surge clapping with a cool smirk and a calm gaze.

“Congratulations, Ash. Why don’t we go on that tour now?” It had still turned out to be a win for him after all.

“Uh, okay…thanks, Lt. Surge,” Ash said embarrassed, but deciding that it would be great to get a tour of such a large city and see everything there was.

“Call me Lucien. We’re going on a date after all,” Lt. Surge’s smirk widened slightly.

Misty had to be held back by Brock, who seethed quietly himself.

“Have you enjoyed the steak? Vermillion is known for their House Steak platter. I have it whenever I’m extremely hungry,” Lt. Surge said enthused.

Ash laughed delightedly. “Don’t I ever. I’ve always wanted to try this. And it’s very good!” She’d even fed a few pieces to Pikachu, who liked it as well but preferred the bottle of ketchup he was enjoying. She still had to ask Professor Oak about that habit…

Lt. Surge grinned, “Great. Good thing I suggested lunch first before the tour, right?”

“You bet!”

Soon after she and the lieutenant began the tour. He showed her where all the shops were, where the entertainment was, the best places to eat, and then he showed her the beaches and the docks. At the docks, she stared in awe at the iron clad ships that went in and out of the harbor. The biggest one there was the St. Anne.

“That’s the St. Anne. It’s sailing out tomorrow afternoon,” Lt. Surge told her, amused at her awed look as she watched it. She really was such a cute thing…

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Ash said wistfully, daydreaming of one day being able to go on it. That would be so surreal.

“Hey, I have free tickets I wasn’t going to bother to use. Do you want them?” he suddenly asked, figuring he’d been about to throw them away so it would probably be better to give the tickets to her, since she seemed like she wanted to go on that ship so much.

Ash’s eyes widened, “A-are you sure? I mean, they must’ve been expensive.”

“Nah. I didn’t pay for them. They were given to me, but I don’t really have the time to go. You can have them,” he was even more certain now, especially since she looked really happy about the offer.

“Wow, thanks Lucien!” Ash exclaimed, hugging him tightly. He smirked to himself, quietly applauding himself.

“Is there anything I can do to pay you back?” she asked with a shy smile.

“No, I’m fine. I really don’t need them and I don’t mind giving them to you. Oh look, it’s going to rain I think,” he squinted his eyes up at the sky, using a hand to shield them.

“What? Oh no! I have to get back to the Pokémon Center. I hope the others are alright. I wonder if they’re back as well?” she asked worriedly, fretting a bit.

Lt. Surge frowned, “I don’t think we’ll make it to the Pokécenter. It’s too far away and it looks like heavy rain. My house isn’t too far from where we are right now. We can stay there until it stops raining, if you’re okay with that?”

Ash hesitated, worrying about the others, but he was right. Nodding, she let him lead the way, and she hurriedly grabbed his hand and held on tight, while Pikachu clambered onto her head. He squeezed her hand and looked behind him at her, giving her a reassuring smile.

“Thank you.”

Lt. Surge laughed lightly and said to the girl next to him, “It’s no problem. You’re in need of a place to stay and the Pokécenter is too far. I offered in the first place, you know. I wonder where your funny little friends are.”

“I don’t know. I want to look for them, but I guess I can find them tomorrow,” Ash said anxiously, hoping they wouldn’t worry about her as well, like she was currently worrying about them.

The older man shook his head. “Of course you should do it tomorrow! It’s starting to rain now, see? It’ll become heavier if we don’t hurry up, and that’s definitely not any weather to be looking around for people. If they are at the Center, phone them at my house.”

“Alright,” Ash replied exasperated, but with a smile on her face.

“Now come on! I don’t feel like getting soaked through, and it’s starting to drizzle now,” he urged her, holding onto her hand tighter and putting a rush to his speed.

They ran to the modest-looking house in the distance, probably a two-floor home that sat near a cliff overlooking the waters. At the house’s entrance, Lt. Surge quickly shoved a hand into his pants’ pocket and retrieved his house keys. Without further preamble, he shoved one of the keys into the lock and unlocked the door, ushering her in. The first thing he did was turn on the heater, and then he went to get some towels to dry themselves off with. Pikachu happily took his and found a cozy place where he wrapped himself in it, and quickly dozed off.

Inside the kitchen, Lt. Surge suggested some hot chocolate, though he had coffee instead. He shuffled around his kitchen and grabbed a packet of hot chocolate and two mugs, pouring the powder into one of them, along with some milk, and then heating it up in his microwave. While it heated up, he began making himself some brewed coffee, starting his coffee machine with a relaxed air. He left his coffee to brew and then went back to grab Ash’s mug of hot chocolate, stirring a spoon in it before carefully handing it to Ash.

“Thank you again,” Ash said sincerely once more.

He merely waved it off again. “It’s okay. So, what do you want to do?”

“Let’s watch a movie,” she suggested eagerly. He raised an eyebrow and she blushed, “I saw my favorite movie on your Blu-ray rack.”

He laughed good-naturedly, “Which one?”

“Casino Royale,” she blushed, giving him an embarrassed, crooked grin.

He blinked in surprise. “James Bond?”

“What?” she pouted, still blushing as she looked away from him.

He laughed again and teased her, “Nothing. Didn’t think little girls like you liked those kinds of movies.”

She stuck her tongue out at him in retaliation and he shrugged her off playfully. Traveling over to his movie rack, he found the movie she wanted and turned on his Blu-ray player and TV, putting the disc in immediately. He put on the movie after the menu came on and they sat on the floor against the couch, huddled together for warmth. Coffee and hot chocolate in hand, they began to watch the movie.

Lt. Surge slipped his arm around her. When she still continued to watch the movie, he smirked and leaned closer.

Ah, smooth moves~

Near the end of the movie, he could feel her nodding off. Glancing down at her, he saw she’d finally closed her eyes and was sleeping peacefully against his shoulder. Carefully moving his arm, he moved it so that it further cushioned her neck, and used his other arm to slip underneath her knees. Picking her up steadily, he gently carried her up the stairs –hypersensitive to the way she snuggled closer to his chest and her breath continuously tickled his neck –and finally made it to his room, where he placed her on the bed and then covered her with the bed sheets and then the comforter. She burrowed further into the soft bed, sighing happily.

An unreadable look on his face, he watched her for a second with furrowed eyebrows and a frown. He hesitantly reached over and brushed her hair back from her face.

“Goodnight,” he murmured softly.