Love and War

By Spruceton Spook

 

Part 3

 

Ash couldn’t believe how much better he felt being on his own.  Suddenly, it seemed like he was let loose into the wilderness, his restraints finally snapped. His body went slack, the surroundings became more open, and the heat . . . well, that was just as bad as it was before. But Ash didn’t care.  He was free now—free of Gary’s orders, free to play the game the way he chose, free to . . . find his friends.

Almost immediately, Ash got the urge to find Misty and Brock.  He was glad they were still in the game.  It would have sucked to play out the whole thing without seeing his pals once, whether it be just to wave a secretive hello or to take them out with a pink paintball.  Ash smirked, thinking in his mind what a joy that would be.  Unless, of course, they found him first, but even then Ash wouldn’t mind. At that point, after the ordeal with his supposed team and reluctantly spending most of the first half of it with Gary no less, Ash just wanted to do something with Misty and Brock, make the game memorable.

But . . . nothing would’ve been better than to be with them.  Ash halted where he was, and perched himself behind a protective patch of bushes.  He was barely two hundred feet from where he’d left Gary, still somewhat behind his team’s lines.  They had advanced towards the other team’s side, but he was still in his territory.  He didn’t want to be there at all, he thought dispiritedly.  But it was no use now. No matter how much he was beginning to detest the team he was placed on, he could do nothing about it.  His body and mind ached for him to sneak over to the other side, find his friends, and play with them without anyone noticing . . . or caring for that matter.

Unfortunately, a gun filled with pink paintballs wasn’t going to get him very far.

Ash sulked, dropping down into a sitting position. Taking a deep breath of the warm air, he sighed, glancing down at his gun.  How come this wasn’t working out the way he’d wanted it to? He should have been happy by now, completely swept into delirious thrill.  Instead, here he was, brooding behind a bush with no direction to go in, everything he wanted blockaded with something else one way or another. 

Maybe I should just find Brock and Misty and throw myself in front of them, Ash pouted to himself, prompting him to laugh right after.  Probably wasn’t such a bad idea. He didn’t feel like doing anything otherwise.  At least there was a nice barbecue to look forward to back at Professor Oak’s yard.

Wait, what am I saying? Ash thought disgustingly. Damn it, this is my day! This is so stupid!

And it was. This had been the day Ash had been wild about for the last few weeks, and now he found he wasn’t even beginning to care anymore.  This wasn’t what he wanted at all, and he scowled, jumping to the balls of his feet and grasping the gun in his hand. 

I’m gonna go out there and have fun, he convinced himself all of a sudden, putting on a determined face. What I should have been doing from the start!

Only Ash didn’t know how he was going to have fun.  Looking down at his gun and thinking of the pink balls contained within it, Ash knew there was only one way he could have fun: playing for the Pallet team.  He sighed once again.

Oh well . . . I get to shoot, at least.

Lifting himself up slightly, Ash prepared to depart to another area of the woods. If he could find a makeshift fort of the other team, where he was sure many of the players were probably harboring if one existed, he could start a fun ambush and completely take out a load of opponents.  He smiled, making that his plan.  In fact, Misty would probably be there. Poor Misty, who sadly was so despaired at not being able to shoot and worry-filled of getting shot herself that she decided to stay there while the others went out.  It was enough to make Ash snicker harmlessly, definitely worth a shot.

Glancing over his shoulder one more time to check where Gary was, Ash didn’t see him, and assumed he was either hidden from sight or he had left on his own.  Ash shrugged, moving forward out of the bushes and out into the open cautiously. There were plenty of places to hide, and as much as that made him feel confident, it also made him aware of how any one of his opponents could be hiding, as well.  A chill ran through him, but instead of making him somewhat nervous and frightened of his vulnerability, Ash smiled.  The fun he was supposed to be having was finally starting to kick in.

Now then, Ash thought deviously, where could you guys be?

That was supposed to be a stray question of some sorts, just a random thought to himself.  He didn’t expect it to be answered so quickly, but right after the thought had passed through his mind, there it was. The glimpse of red caught his eye like a flash, and his jaw dropped in incredulously amused surprise.

“Nah,” he muttered under his breath, a grin spreading across his face. “Can’t be!”

At that moment, the redness moved, exposing more of itself between a gap in the bushes from which it was shielded. It was a red shoe—a red sneaker to be exact—and Ash didn’t have a single doubt in his mind who it belonged to. The grin brightened into a crafty beam, Ash chuckled, got on his hands and knees and crept forth. 

He couldn’t believe that he had found Misty so rapidly. He wouldn’t have ever imagined she would get this far into mid-territory, causing him to wonder if he himself had wandered farther than he had believed.  Then again, because of her unconfident shot, perhaps traveling through the woods inconspicuously—and luckily, in Misty’s case—was the only choice she had. So much for the fort idea.

It wasn’t important, though.  Quietly he snuck up on her, carefully making a large loop as to come around behind her.  He didn’t exactly know what he intended to do when he met up with her or why he was even sneaking up on her at all—he just found himself doing it. At this point, all he wanted to do was say hi.  He wanted to make eye contact, smile, and say that he had at least seen Misty during the game.  He didn’t want to shoot her, nor did he want her to shoot him. Ash could just picture that of all things occurring. As funny as that probably would be, he shook his head, realizing how very lame it would be, also. 

            He was now directly behind her, catching a clear view of her.  She was sitting down, her legs spread out to the side of her, her gun propped up stiffly. Trapped in the huge, baggy shirt she was given, it was hard to think that she could be recognized easily, but Ash knew. He giggled, feeling bad for her to be weighed down in such a large shirt in such muggy weather. She was positively swimming in the garment. 

            Her attire wasn’t the only thing Ash had to laugh about as he settled to spy on her. The way she was sitting, it was easy to tell she was anything but comfortable. She was scared stiff. Well, maybe not scared, just . . . preoccupied.  She was not relaxing and taking in the sights airily; her fear and nervousness was just making her awareness stronger. She had the right stuff to be good defensively, that was for sure, but the obviousness of her weakness told Ash that the littlest thing would certainly send her into frenzy.

            Which, of course, made the situation all the more interesting . . .

            Feeling a jolt of rascality fly through his blood, Ash ground his teeth slyly and began to slink through the long grasses in her direction.  He was being as silent as he possibly could, praying that she wouldn’t hear him.  He felt sneaky doing this, but finally he was having some fun, and it edged him on.  He wanted none other than to successfully prey on her and see how far he could get, hopefully reaching her and being able to get in a word or two.  But, on the other hand, if this was going to end against that desire, he at least wanted to get a good hearty scream from her.  She could shoot and fire all she wanted, but as long as it was fun, Ash didn’t mind. 

            Misty, Misty, I’m coming to get you . . . Ash cooed to her in his mind, sticking out his tongue friskily as he got closer and closer to her.  God, this was great.  She was so oblivious, and Ash was enthralled. This is exactly what he wanted the game to be all about. He felt shivers run through him as the distance between them shortened.  He couldn’t think of someone to do this to that would be any funnier. He was going to without a doubt make her have a heart attack, and he did all in his power to stifle the laughter that begged to escape his lungs.

            He held his breath as he came within inches of her, unable to believe that she still had noticed him yet.  Freezing for a second or two, Ash took the time to stare at the totally unaware girl before him.  His face was flushed, as he wanted so badly to laugh. Biting down on his lip, his grin fought against the aspiration, so irremovable his jaw ached.  Positioning his hand right aside her head for a moment, he then leapt on her, clasping his hand over her mouth in one swift, sweeping motion.

            Misty immediately lurched from the sneak attack, rearing backward into Ash. He finally let his laughter fly as she screamed and hollered, only coming out as intense moans from the muzzle of Ash’s hand.  Bucking and twitching violently, Ash kept a hold on her, giving her a toothy smile as her eyes, wide and white with alarm, finally flicked in his direction.

            “Hey, hey, it’s just me, Misty! It’s just me!” he chuckled insanely.  Even though Misty was looking at him, she continued to flinch in his grip, still shocked, still jumpy. Her screams had apparently died down to strong whimpers as she fought to catch her breath, which shot from her nose coarsely, hot on Ash’s hand.

            Ash just proceeded to smile, an idea flashing to his mind suddenly.  It would only serve the purpose of intimidating Misty more and intensifying the fun, both of which Ash craved fiendishly. His hand still on over her mouth, he stuck his paintball gun in her side, narrowing his eyes playfully into her trembling ones.

            “Shut up or I shoot, Misty,” he taunted, trying to sound serious amidst his unstoppable chortling. It was difficult, but surprisingly, he was managing. He could feel Misty shaking beside him.  “Either that, or my whole team will hear you, and they’ll shoot you.”

            Misty wasn’t evidently pleased with Ash’s intrusion, but she hushed up nevertheless. Her eyes never left him, but they now glared at him instead of gawking at him fearfully. She wasn’t stunned anymore, she was irritated.  Her look was not at all frightening to Ash; he just grinned proudly, pushing his gun further into her gut teasingly.  She squirmed away from it, shutting her eyes and giving her head a vicious shake in attempt to free herself from Ash’s hold. When she failed, she found herself reluctantly looking at him again, into the face of her noticeably giddy friend, who was taking pleasure from her torment.  He knew she was easy to scare, and overcome with resentfulness, she fidgeted with her gun, trying to get a good hold of it and point it in Ash’s direction.

            Ash noticed this, and his eyebrows rose attentively at the sight.  “Hey, don’t you dare!” he commanded.  “Put it down, or you’ll be covered in pink!”

            Even through the muzzle, Ash had no problem distinguishing the venomous growl Misty gave him.  Regardless, she dropped her gun gently to the ground and slackened, giving him a wearied look.

            “You not gonna shoot me?” Ash asked her, cocking his head. “I won’t shoot you if you don’t shoot me, okay?”

            Her eyes showing confusion, yet consent, from beneath the face shield, Ash finally lifted his hand from her mouth.  She retreated slightly from him right away, giving him the oddest look she could produce.

            “What are you doing?” she exclaimed, her brow furrowed. She was still attempting to settle her restless breathing.

            A smile still plastered on his face, Ash shrugged.  “I dunno.  Saying hi.”

            “And you had to sneak up on me and scare the living hell out of me to do that?” Misty sighed in exasperation.

            “How else could I do it?” Ash grinned.

            Misty just shook her head, and reached up to scratch underneath her helmet.  “Oh boy . . .”

Ash giggled cheerily, drawing another jaded look from Misty.  He smiled innocently, and Misty groaned.

“I’m glad you’re so happy with nearly killing me, you jerk. But I don’t get it.  If you’re so good at sneaking up on me, why didn’t you just shoot me?”

            Ash had to laugh at this, the same question flying through his mind as well.  But nah, he couldn’t shoot her, and he wouldn’t.  Shrugging again casually, he thrust his nose into the air.  “I don’t want to shoot you . . . yet.  I’m just taking you as my prisoner.”

            At that, he stuck his tongue out at her, watching her jaw drop in surprise and slight disgust.

            “Your prisoner?” she gasped, after which uttering an incredulous chuckle. “Yeah, right.”

            “Yeah,” Ash clarified, pointing his gun at her jokingly.  “So if you bother me even a little bit, I’ll shoot.  Or hand you over, either way.  I’m sure your team won’t miss you, anyway.”

            His derisive tone sent a petulant wave through her veins, and Misty stiffened. Opening her mouth to shoot something back at him, she suddenly halted herself, pausing for a moment as she formed her response in her mind.  She grinned slyly to herself, and snickered cockily, rolling her eyes. “Hmmph! That’s what you think!”

            Ash’s eyes widened in shock. “Huh? What are you talking about?”

            Cackling softly under her breath, Misty smirked confidently.  “Do what you wish, Ash.  Shoot me, if you want.  You’ll just have to face a whole load of my teammates afterwards.”

            Ash didn’t believe a word she was saying – hardly.  He scoffed at her highly self-assured tone, shaking his head.  “What teammates, Misty?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

            Misty scowled at him, but still continued smoothly. “Everyone who’s behind me. They’re all watching out for me, you know, being their best player and all.”

            “Best player!?” Ash snorted, a hand careening towards his mouth to block the rush of laughs.  The sharp glare from Misty returned. “Sure, in your fantasy world, maybe.”

            “Grr!” Misty snarled.  “Fine, believe what you want.  I do happen to be doing very well!  I already shot about three players from your team!”

            Ash raised an eyebrow skeptically.  “Really?”

            “Of course!” she retorted, her undoubted tone not faltering one bit.

            “With your lousy shot?” Ash challenged ridiculously. He gave her a face.  “Okay, Misty.  And tell me again – exactly how did you manage to improve so quickly?  I think I missed that part.”

            Misty got ready to reply hotly, but she was unexpectedly at a loss of words.  She realized the peril of that pause, and quickly sputtered, “Well . . . y-yeah, you know, I—I did!  Just figured out that . . . I had to shoot and . . . and—and focus.” Suddenly, she blushed, giving him a hard look.  “I don’t have to explain my tactics to you!”

            She knew it wasn’t working anymore, though.  Her act was up.  Knowing he was on to her by his blissfully snooty gaze, she narrowed her eyes begrudgingly and huffed,  tossing her head aside with a pout.  She nearly fell over as the weight of her helmet took her along with it, but she promptly righted herself with her flailing arms, faced with Ash’s light chuckling.  It didn’t lighten her rigid expression right away, but as she stared into her friend’s amused, but affectionate eyes, her face fell, disheartened.

            “Yeah, very funny, Ash. Just what I need, more humiliation and torture from this stupid game,” she mumbled glumly, hunching her shoulders.

            Ash’s face lit up in shock as she said this, but his smile remained.  “Whaa? Torture? I thought you just said you were doing good!”

            Misty gave him a fed up look.  “Oh, please.  I know you didn’t believe me with that.” She shook her head despondently.  “You know what? Why don’t you just shoot me out now and save yourself the time and energy? Spare me, at least.”

            Ash’s smile suddenly faded, lowering into a solemn look of curiosity. He set his gun aside slowly.  “Aww, what are you talking about, Misty? What, you’re not having fun?”

            Misty froze for a second, her eyes glancing down.  “Are you kidding?” she replied wearily.  “I’m terrible.  I stink so bad.”

            Ash slumped compassionately, shrugging slightly. “Well, why didn’t you say that before? What was with the act?”

            Misty’s head shot up abruptly at the question, but she turned away slowly, smiling a bit embarrassingly.  “I . . . I didn’t want you to know that.” She ground her jaw unnoticeably, not even wanting to disclose that as she did.  She reached over and snatched a long weed from the ground, absentmindedly twisting and yanking at it with her hand.

            “Misty!” Ash exclaimed quietly, throwing his arms into the air. He laughed briefly, his voice lowering to a serious tone. “You didn’t have to hide that from me.  I already knew you stunk!”

            The last outburst, clashing with the seemingly gentle-hearted statement that preceded it, caused Misty’s mouth to drop open in humored appall.  She shut it hard against a flustered grin, and threw the weed at Ash ferociously.  The pathetic plant simply smacked against his face shield, falling into the hysterical boy’s lap, forgotten.  Joining in with his laughter, the two went for a good minute without speaking, taken over by the silliness of the moment.

            Ash was the first to talk after their round of giggles, shaking his head nonsensically and breathing heavily.  “Misty! So what have you been doing, just hiding from everyone?  I told you to follow Brock! He would have shown you what to do!”

            “Oh, who, Yak-boy!?” she spat amidst her undying laughter, rolling her eyes.  “Last I saw him, he couldn’t see a foot in front of his face and walked directly into a tree. Some help he would have been! I figured it was best going out on my own.”

            “Mmmmm,” Ash agreed, nodding.  “That’s probably true.”

            “So I just wandered around,” she continued. “I saw a few people from your team, but I didn’t shoot at them.”

            Ash’s eyes widened.  “Why not?”

            “I was afraid,” she said, shrugging.  “I knew I would miss, and they would just find me and shoot me, instead.  Wasn’t worth it.”

            Ash cocked his head and tsked. “Ya see? That’s why you’re having such a bad time.  You’re not even trying!”

            “Well, how can I?” she asked.  “It’s such a risk to randomly try to shoot people.  I would have done it if I knew I had at least somewhat of a chance.  But . . . I dunno, I guess . . . I guess I’m just afraid of getting hit. Thought it’d be better just to hang around and lay low, watch the action.”

            “Yeah well, trust me, Misty, I’ve done that for years and I can tell ya that that’s not the way to have fun,” Ash said.  “You have to go out there and be part of it, shoot around a little! Just because people shoot at you, doesn’t mean they’ll hit you.  You might get lucky, and you’ll hit them first!”

            Misty smiled softly. “I suppose. So . . . so how’ve you been doing?”

            Ash lowered his eyes and shook his head, aggravated.  “I’d rather not go into that.  Sucks just being on that other team.”

            “I know. Didn’t shoot anybody?”

            “Didn’t even get the chance,” he replied.  He ended there dully, not even wanting to continue with the account of what the game was like so far.  He had almost completely forgotten it as a result of the spontaneous rendezvous with Misty.

            Thankfully, Misty didn’t press him to go on.  “Oh,” was all she said.  “Well, even so, you’ve probably been doing better than me anyway.  At least you’re not afraid to take a chance . . . or handle the gun, for that matter.  I can’t even hold it, it feels so weird. I . . . I don’t even want to hold it.”

            Ash sighed.  He felt bad as she recounted her dilemma, especially since she had been depending on him to pull her out of it from the start.  Remembering the promise he had given her before Gary had come sauntering along, Ash hated to hear that she wasn’t even having a decent time paintballing.  Stupid teams . . . right now he, Misty, Brock, and Tracey could have been wandering around through the woods, shooting when they had the opportunity and having a grand time. And not to mention the side help Misty could have received, possibly changing her attitude towards the game altogether.  Ash hated to hear her beat up the game and herself as a result of that.

            Despite the gloomy mood he had put himself suddenly into with those thoughts, Ash grinned.  “Don’t talk that way, Misty.  I’m sure you’ll do really good if you try hard.”

            “Ash, that’s really cliché,” Misty disputed.  “Look, paintballing isn’t my thing.  I just can’t do it.”

            “Yes you can!” he insisted.  “And you know why?”

            Misty gave him an apathetic half-smile.  “Why, Ash?”

            Smiling mysteriously, Ash reached down and picked up her gun, settling it into her hands. She looked at him confusingly, holding the gun languidly.

            “Because I’m gonna help you,” Ash answered, beaming contentedly.

            “Help me?” Misty echoed in disbelief.  She snickered.  “I thought I was your prisoner!”

            “Oh, you still are,” Ash replied matter-of-factly and a little haughtily, “but I wanna help ya out at the same time.  You know, show you how to paintball like I promised.”

            Misty was shocked, gaping at him with a huge smile on her face as he finished.  She honestly couldn’t believe he was saying this.

            “But . . . but you shouldn’t do this,” she laughed.  “We’re on different teams!  You can’t go . . . cavorting with the enemy and show them how to play the game! You want them to stink!”   

            Ash had to laugh as well, realizing that at the same time, however, he didn’t agree all too well with her.

            But I should be doing this, he told her mentally.  We may be on different teams, and I may be cavor—whatever that is, with you, but you aren’t the enemy, and . . .

            “I don’t want you to stink,” he said, both finishing his thoughts and saying what he really wanted to tell her.  Shrugging and giving her another face to convey the nonsense of her feelings, he winked playfully at her.             

            And it sure as hell beats hanging out with Gary . . .

            “I want you to have fun,” he told her sincerely. And I wanna have fun, too.     

            For the first time that day, Ash felt sure of one thing with such conviction.  As Misty smiled her pleasantly surprised and grateful smile, and gazed at her gun for a moment with interest, Ash couldn’t have felt more great.  Here was, without a doubt, where he was going to find his fun.

            “Well . . . I guess I have no choice then, do I?” Misty chuckled. 

Ash shook his head briskly.  “You’re stuck with me now, prisoner!” he gloated.

“Oh, great,” Misty groaned, rolling her eyes.  “Game just keeps getting better and better . . .”

 

TO BE CONTINUED . . .