Flagpolesitta
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- Nov 17, 2016
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"Ash, get up! You're going to be late!" The yelling ripped the girl from her sleep, startling her so badly that she jolted up immediately, a motion that made her slightly dizzy and gave her a little bit of a headache.
"Uhhg…" She held her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. Too much drinking last night for sure. She gingerly rubbed her temples, coxing the headache to leave her in peace, all the while working to get her equilibrium back. Late? Late for what? The circumstances of her awakening had left her dazed and confused. She turned her head, slowly, to see her calendar hanging on the wall. The month of March stared back at her, filled with X's on all the days leading up to one circled big and bold in red. Today's day. Friday the 25th. The big day.
"OH MY ARCEUS! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME, MOM? ALL THE POKéMON ARE GOING TO BE GONE! WHAT THE YVELTAL!" The young lady threw the covers off of her in an exaggerated motion and leapt up from the bed. She heard a crash behind her and turned to watch as the comforter she had to haphazardly thrown across the room collided with her freshly hung Master's degree from Johto University. The now broken glass made her name look strange and misshapen. "Ashley Rosewood" better known as Ash. Ash had been away at school earning her Master's degree in Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry at the early age of 21. Ashley had always been a very smart girl, and along with her dedicated work ethic, she had flown through school, knocking two years off her schooling track. It's amazing what you can get done when you take full summer semesters every year.
Ashley was now racing around her room like a lunatic, throwing on whatever clothes were on top of her ‘not completely clean but not dirty yet’ pile, brushing her teeth, and combing her hair, all very poorly and at the same time. Ash was finally about to start her Pokemon journey and had spent the night partying a little too hard with her friends in celebration. And as a result she had overslept. But they had travelled all the way from Johto University in Florando just to support her. So she couldn’t say no to the constant barrage of “Just one more drink!” pleas they had given her every time she had tried to leave Club Rocket in Viridian City.
“Okay, bye mom!” Ashley blurted, racing towards the door. She was still putting her backpack on as she ran. She had been staying at the Nursery for the past couple days before she started her journey. It was fun being back home for a few days.
“You’re still here?! You’re going to be late, darling.”
“I knowwww, that’s whyI’vegottagoseeyoulaterbye.” Ash raced out towards the bike leaning against the front of the house. She waved at her dad who was heading towards the nursery to get to work. He smiled, waving back at her. The bike itself had been a graduation gift from her parents. It was lightweight and instantly foldable for easy storage while traveling. In fact, it could fold up to fit right in her backpack.It was originally given to her for use in the city. But now it was going to be perfect for her pokemon journey.
At 21, it was a strange thing for her not to have her own pokemon yet and to just be starting the pokemon league challenge here in the Kanto region. Most people started that journey at a very young age. However, she had chosen a different path. Ash had decided to go to college to become a Professor. She had hoped to research the difference between using natural remedies for pokemon like berries and using commercially made medicine like potions and revives. But because of her focus on her education, she had never made time for Pokemon in her own life outside of her research. Now that was changing. She was working on her final thesis, which included field research. She would spend the next year training Pokemon using only berries and natural remedies as well as only using Apricorn made pokeballs. She would use nothing made by Silph Co, Devon Corp, or any other big item company’s products. She would record the health data of her pokemon and compare it to the data from Pokemon Centers all around the region. But to do all that, she would need a Pokemon.
Rather than do this in the Johto regions here her university was, she had chosen to travel her home region. Ashley had grown up on Xanadu Nursery outside of Pallet Town. Her parents, Florinda and Potter, had run the nursery and taught her all about the various plants and what they were used for. While she loved the nursery, Ash had never really wanted to stay and run the place. She had always been a little more curious and inquisitive than the other kids her age and because of how close they were to Professor Oak’s Pokemon Lab, she had been able to attend the school taught by the researchers there, sometimes even getting lessons directly from Professor Oak himself. Even though the class size was large due to kids traveling long distances to be taught by the region’s most famous Professor, Ashley had been smarter than most of the others by leaps and bounds. However, she was always fighting to be top of the class with Professor Oak’s grandson, Gary Oak.
Growing up, the two had truly been rivals. Always competing to be top of the class, who could make the better projects, get better test scores, impress the instructors more... and it had been neck and neck the whole way through school. Outside of the classroom, they continued to behave like that, always fighting with each other and trying to pull pranks. Her mother had laughed and called the behaviour flirting, but Ash always glared at her mother when she did. Flirt? With THAT boy? Gross. Maybe if he learned to stop being such a jerk-face show off… But Ashley hadn’t seen him since they were 15 years old and finishing school. He had chosen the life of a pokemon trainer while she had gone on to continue school. She had been disappointed in him for giving up a life as a pokemon professor to just become a trainer. She may have hated his guts, but he was too smart NOT to go down an academic route. It was such a waste.
The wind felt nice on her face. The hair that had managed to escape the pony tail she had done flew around her ears and neck, tickling her gently. Ash giggled, swiping at the flowing hair. As she made her way down the familiar path on her new bike, she thought about who she might choose as a starter. She had informed Professor Oak of her plans and he had a few starting Pokemon that hadn't been given poke balls yet. They were a bit younger than most starting Pokemon, very recently hatched, but that would be just fine. Less contact with the products Ash would be avoiding during her studies. She thought about the grass type, bulbasaur, with is cute face and generally sweet demeanor. She was so familiar with grass types, too, having been raised at the Nursery. She thought of squirtle next and it's tough shell and sassy nature. It would grow up to have a great defense. Then there was charmander, a notoriously hard pokemon to train…
These thoughts were so distracting she did not notice that a bush that had been on the side of the road in front of her had decided to stand up and wander into the middle of the path.
“WHAT THE YVELTAL? AHHH-”
“OOODDIIIISH!” The bike slammed into the pokemon with a sickening thump, sending Ash, the oddish, and her bike flying and skidding across the dirt. She felt her knees, burning and wet, as they slid in the gravel and the sand.
“Ooooodd...” Forgetting all her pain, Ash heard the weak cry of the pokemon she had hit.
“Oh my Mew, hold on!” The poor thing had a cut on it’s face and was limping away. With tiny rocks and gravel falling away from her arms, she dug through her bag.
“C’mon, c’mon...I know it’s-AHH!” She grabbed a plastic vial filled with an indigo colored liquid.
“Come here, little friend! I got you.” She tenderly picked up oddish and watched it cringe at her touch. It’s body shivered in fear. She gingerly tipped the bottle onto the little bud pokemon, the liquid covering the wounds.
“This will numb the pain. Just hold on.” Ash put the oddish next to her and pulled out another vial.
“This one will start the healing process, let me just…” Before she could open the bottle, the little plant nodded in understanding. A small orb of greenish-blue light appeared near the top of its head. Ash watched in wonder as the orb floated through the air towards the vial. As the light hung over the medicine, it disappeared. Once it was empty, the light rushed back to the plant. As it reabsorbed into the pokemon's body, the cut gradually disappeared. Oddish visibly relaxed, even smiling up at Ash.
“That was absorb, wasn’t it?” Ashley breathed, in awe of the tiny creature. “I had no idea the move could be used that way!” The oddish nodded, jumping into her lap, and nuzzling her chest. As it did, the tips of its leaves gently grazed her neck and chin.
“Hehehehey, I’m glahahad you aren’t mahahad anymore,” The scholar giggled, moving the the pokemon off her lap, “But that tickles, little friend. Well, I am very sorry about what happened but I am glad to see you looking better. Next time I promise I will be much more careful. Good-bye!” She delicately patted the oddish on her head and remounted her bike. She took off, her own bandages tight on her knees. This time, she stayed focused on the road. Even though it was easy for her to slip into autopilot, the path so familiar her, she wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt anymore pokemon.
“Finally!” Ash sighed in relief as she saw the roof of the lab over the tops of the trees. She has been going at quite a fast past, attempting to make up for sleeping in and the little kerfuffle with the oddish. She started to slow as she took a sharp turn, but didn’t consider the possibility there might be someone around the corner of that sharp turn. And because of that, she didn’t slow down enough.
“Oh Snorlax, watch-OOF!” Two bodies and a bike collided. The bike flew off to the side of the road after banging into Ash’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her for a moment. She hit the ground again, falling forward onto her arms this time to break the fall. As she started to get her breath back she felt another body fall onto her, knocking her face into the ground anyway.
“What the fucking hell, man! What are you, blind or just a total idiot?” Came the voice of the man who had fallen on her. The voice was all too familiar to Ashley and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The apology she had been working on died in her throat.
“Well maybe you shouldn’t take up the entire road and you wouldn’t be in the way of everyone else around you!” She spat out instead. He had been working on getting up, but as she spoke, she felt him stiffen just as she had.
“If your inability to ride a simple bike hadn’t been enough of a clue, I should have known from that bright ass HAIR of yours that it would be you who ran me over, Red.” Gary Oak punctuated the word hair by using his hand to ruffle hers. For some reasons of fate that she couldn’t even fathom, she had run into her childhood rival of all people. Growing up, he had always called her Red because of her fiery hair color. In return, she had started calling him Blue because of the necklace he always wore around his neck and as an attempt to point out how silly it was to call someone by a color. It didn’t stop him and the nicknames both stuck. And now, here he was sitting on her back, keeping her pinned to the ground, like they were 12 year olds fighting in the school yard all over again.
“Would you get OFF of me, Blue? Your fat ass is crushing me…” She wiggled a bit, trying to buck him off, but the way that she had fallen left her arms pinned beneath her, giving her no real leverage to move him. He also felt pretty heavy. She couldn’t see it right now with her face in the ground, but Gary had becoming a very fit, toned man thanks to his constant travels as a pokemon trainer.
“Did you just call me fat?” He said, poking her in her ribs. This caused Ash to jump slightly and let out a squeak. Her cheeks flushed immediately and she felt panic rush through her body. One of Gary’s favorite ways to torment her when they were younger had been to utilize her biggest weakness. Ashley had always been ridiculously ticklish and as soon as her rival had found this out, he had never stopped exploiting it.
“Hah, nothing's really changed has it, Red? Never grew out of that giggly, little schoolgirl phase?”
“Blue, don't.” She ignored his taunt, more worried about what he might be planning.
“Don't what?” He asked innocently. Ash’s entire body was tense with anticipation of an attack that was sure to come. The question was just when.
“You know what. C’mon, j-just get off me…” Her voice shook slightly, so nervous about her predicament. Almost ten years since she’d seen him and Gary already had the upper hand on her.
“No, Red. I’m not sure what you're talking about.” His voice dripped with feigned innocence that infuriated her. She felt him shift around, and now he was straddling her back. Her arms remained pinned beneath her and his new position made it even harder for Ash to move. She could not even really squirm around successfully.
“Don't what, Red?” He gave a single poke to her ribs, eliciting another jump and squeak. “Don't WHAT?”
“TICKLE ME, YOU AAAhahahaha!”
“Well, if you insist,” Gary said, shrugging. He cut off her insult with a full assault. His fingers spidered up and down her sides, the thin, green tank top she was wearing offering little protection from his exploring hands. This turned her angry yelling into a stream of helpless giggles, and the failed squirming she was now doing did no good to stop any of the sensations from happening.There was no way for her to stop him and his tickling fingers.
“Pleheheheehese nooohoooohohoo. Staaaahhhap!!” She sputtered through her laughter. Her cheeks were growing warm, both from all the laughing and the embarrassment she was currently feeling.
“I'm sorry, I can't understand you. If you’re trying to ask for something, please speak more clearly.” He laughed. Gary then quickly switched from the spidery tickles up her sides to digging his fingers into her ribs. The girl’s giggles turned into hearty laughter at the merciless attack. He was digging in hard enough to make it tickle so terribly she couldn’t even speak but not so hard as to hurt her. She was laughing so hard she wasn’t even struggling anymore.
“Aww, little Red, it’s just like school all over again! But it’s been so long since we’ve done this, I don’t remember all of your ticklish spots. Hmm, so we know your side and your ribs…” He emphasized this statement with some pokes and prods to her sides “...but I can’t remember, are you ticklish...under your arms?”
“Blue, don’t!”
“Oh, but I think I will.”
“Please doHAHAHAHAHA-” She bellowed with laughter, the man on top of her tickling one of her worst spots. His fingers danced across the sensitive skin, undeterred by anything thanks to the way her arms were pinned beneath her. Ash’s hair whipped back and forth, laughing so much she couldn’t even protest anymore. Gary leaned down, his head next to her ear.
“Cootchie cootchie coo!” He whispered. Even just his warm breath tickled her, sending sensations across her ear and neck. “Aww, little Red, so ticklish and with no way to escape. Doesn’t this remind you of the old days? Like nothing has changed. Y’know, I almost missed this. I’ve never met anyone as ticklish as you. Or as easily pinned down. Tickle tickle…” One of his hands remained tickling her underarm, fingers skittering quickly and lightly across her pale, exposed skin, while the other hand slid down her side, fingers trailing down the path of her body, until he landed at her hip. He instantly began squeezing and pulsing her hip with his fingers, the sensations immediately eliciting a laughing shriek from his victim. She started bucking her hips, but did not have the strength to fend him off in the least.
“Bluhuhahaha plehehehesssse…” She sputtered. Tears ran down her cheeks from laughing so much.
“Your face is almost as red as your hair, little girl.” Gary teased. “I wonder how long I’m going to keep you here like this. I mean, we haven’t even started on your legs yet. And we can’t forget about your feet- HEY WHAT THE ARCEUS?” Suddenly a large weight lifted off of the grad students back. She immediately rolled away before quickly picking herself up. She rubbed her hands over her still tingling skin, trying to rid herself of the ghost like tickling sensations still plaguing her. She finally looked around to see had had happened to Gary. When she saw him, she immediately broke out into more giggles. Gary Oak was sprawled out on his back, a small oddish angrily jumping up and down on his chest.
“What the Ho-Oh, what’s this things problem?” He said, trying to grab the pokemon. However the task was proving to be somewhat difficult. It kept jumping out of his grasp or wiggling away.
“It just ran up and used Tackle on me…” Then a lightbulb went off. Ash walked over and went to grab the oddish. It immediately jumped into her arms, snuggling up against her chest. It was the oddish she had run over and then healed up. She had apparently made a good impression on the grass pokemon because not only had it followed after her, it had fought off her “attacker”.
“Wait, is that thing yours?” Gary, now without a tiny, angry plant assaulting him, was standing up. Ash’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. This was not the young boy she remembered. He looked about 6’1”, towering over Ash who stood at a small 5’. He was well dressed, although his jeans and collared shirt were a bit dirty from all that had happened. His arms showed the signs of well built muscle, and his body shaped hinted that the rest of him would be just the same. Then she saw him smirk.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Gary chuckled. Ash rolled her eyes. Yep, that’s the Gary Oak I remember. Ash crossed her arms defensively, setting the oddish on the ground. It stayed right next to her.
“Har har. What are you even doing here, Blue?” She changed the subject quickly. She walked over to her fallen bike, starting to check it for damage.
“I could ask you the same thing. I’m guessing you’re heading to Gramps’ lab, though. Why don’t we at least both start heading that way. I don’t need you taking up any more of my precious time with your nonsense.” before she could reply, he started walking off in the direction of the lab. Ash finished folding her bike up, shoving it in her bag, then followed after him. She wasn’t exactly excited to see him, but she was curious as to why he was here. The oddish followed quietly after her.
"Uhhg…" She held her head in her hands, resting her elbows on her knees. Too much drinking last night for sure. She gingerly rubbed her temples, coxing the headache to leave her in peace, all the while working to get her equilibrium back. Late? Late for what? The circumstances of her awakening had left her dazed and confused. She turned her head, slowly, to see her calendar hanging on the wall. The month of March stared back at her, filled with X's on all the days leading up to one circled big and bold in red. Today's day. Friday the 25th. The big day.
"OH MY ARCEUS! WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME, MOM? ALL THE POKéMON ARE GOING TO BE GONE! WHAT THE YVELTAL!" The young lady threw the covers off of her in an exaggerated motion and leapt up from the bed. She heard a crash behind her and turned to watch as the comforter she had to haphazardly thrown across the room collided with her freshly hung Master's degree from Johto University. The now broken glass made her name look strange and misshapen. "Ashley Rosewood" better known as Ash. Ash had been away at school earning her Master's degree in Medicinal and Natural Products Chemistry at the early age of 21. Ashley had always been a very smart girl, and along with her dedicated work ethic, she had flown through school, knocking two years off her schooling track. It's amazing what you can get done when you take full summer semesters every year.
Ashley was now racing around her room like a lunatic, throwing on whatever clothes were on top of her ‘not completely clean but not dirty yet’ pile, brushing her teeth, and combing her hair, all very poorly and at the same time. Ash was finally about to start her Pokemon journey and had spent the night partying a little too hard with her friends in celebration. And as a result she had overslept. But they had travelled all the way from Johto University in Florando just to support her. So she couldn’t say no to the constant barrage of “Just one more drink!” pleas they had given her every time she had tried to leave Club Rocket in Viridian City.
“Okay, bye mom!” Ashley blurted, racing towards the door. She was still putting her backpack on as she ran. She had been staying at the Nursery for the past couple days before she started her journey. It was fun being back home for a few days.
“You’re still here?! You’re going to be late, darling.”
“I knowwww, that’s whyI’vegottagoseeyoulaterbye.” Ash raced out towards the bike leaning against the front of the house. She waved at her dad who was heading towards the nursery to get to work. He smiled, waving back at her. The bike itself had been a graduation gift from her parents. It was lightweight and instantly foldable for easy storage while traveling. In fact, it could fold up to fit right in her backpack.It was originally given to her for use in the city. But now it was going to be perfect for her pokemon journey.
At 21, it was a strange thing for her not to have her own pokemon yet and to just be starting the pokemon league challenge here in the Kanto region. Most people started that journey at a very young age. However, she had chosen a different path. Ash had decided to go to college to become a Professor. She had hoped to research the difference between using natural remedies for pokemon like berries and using commercially made medicine like potions and revives. But because of her focus on her education, she had never made time for Pokemon in her own life outside of her research. Now that was changing. She was working on her final thesis, which included field research. She would spend the next year training Pokemon using only berries and natural remedies as well as only using Apricorn made pokeballs. She would use nothing made by Silph Co, Devon Corp, or any other big item company’s products. She would record the health data of her pokemon and compare it to the data from Pokemon Centers all around the region. But to do all that, she would need a Pokemon.
Rather than do this in the Johto regions here her university was, she had chosen to travel her home region. Ashley had grown up on Xanadu Nursery outside of Pallet Town. Her parents, Florinda and Potter, had run the nursery and taught her all about the various plants and what they were used for. While she loved the nursery, Ash had never really wanted to stay and run the place. She had always been a little more curious and inquisitive than the other kids her age and because of how close they were to Professor Oak’s Pokemon Lab, she had been able to attend the school taught by the researchers there, sometimes even getting lessons directly from Professor Oak himself. Even though the class size was large due to kids traveling long distances to be taught by the region’s most famous Professor, Ashley had been smarter than most of the others by leaps and bounds. However, she was always fighting to be top of the class with Professor Oak’s grandson, Gary Oak.
Growing up, the two had truly been rivals. Always competing to be top of the class, who could make the better projects, get better test scores, impress the instructors more... and it had been neck and neck the whole way through school. Outside of the classroom, they continued to behave like that, always fighting with each other and trying to pull pranks. Her mother had laughed and called the behaviour flirting, but Ash always glared at her mother when she did. Flirt? With THAT boy? Gross. Maybe if he learned to stop being such a jerk-face show off… But Ashley hadn’t seen him since they were 15 years old and finishing school. He had chosen the life of a pokemon trainer while she had gone on to continue school. She had been disappointed in him for giving up a life as a pokemon professor to just become a trainer. She may have hated his guts, but he was too smart NOT to go down an academic route. It was such a waste.
The wind felt nice on her face. The hair that had managed to escape the pony tail she had done flew around her ears and neck, tickling her gently. Ash giggled, swiping at the flowing hair. As she made her way down the familiar path on her new bike, she thought about who she might choose as a starter. She had informed Professor Oak of her plans and he had a few starting Pokemon that hadn't been given poke balls yet. They were a bit younger than most starting Pokemon, very recently hatched, but that would be just fine. Less contact with the products Ash would be avoiding during her studies. She thought about the grass type, bulbasaur, with is cute face and generally sweet demeanor. She was so familiar with grass types, too, having been raised at the Nursery. She thought of squirtle next and it's tough shell and sassy nature. It would grow up to have a great defense. Then there was charmander, a notoriously hard pokemon to train…
These thoughts were so distracting she did not notice that a bush that had been on the side of the road in front of her had decided to stand up and wander into the middle of the path.
“WHAT THE YVELTAL? AHHH-”
“OOODDIIIISH!” The bike slammed into the pokemon with a sickening thump, sending Ash, the oddish, and her bike flying and skidding across the dirt. She felt her knees, burning and wet, as they slid in the gravel and the sand.
“Ooooodd...” Forgetting all her pain, Ash heard the weak cry of the pokemon she had hit.
“Oh my Mew, hold on!” The poor thing had a cut on it’s face and was limping away. With tiny rocks and gravel falling away from her arms, she dug through her bag.
“C’mon, c’mon...I know it’s-AHH!” She grabbed a plastic vial filled with an indigo colored liquid.
“Come here, little friend! I got you.” She tenderly picked up oddish and watched it cringe at her touch. It’s body shivered in fear. She gingerly tipped the bottle onto the little bud pokemon, the liquid covering the wounds.
“This will numb the pain. Just hold on.” Ash put the oddish next to her and pulled out another vial.
“This one will start the healing process, let me just…” Before she could open the bottle, the little plant nodded in understanding. A small orb of greenish-blue light appeared near the top of its head. Ash watched in wonder as the orb floated through the air towards the vial. As the light hung over the medicine, it disappeared. Once it was empty, the light rushed back to the plant. As it reabsorbed into the pokemon's body, the cut gradually disappeared. Oddish visibly relaxed, even smiling up at Ash.
“That was absorb, wasn’t it?” Ashley breathed, in awe of the tiny creature. “I had no idea the move could be used that way!” The oddish nodded, jumping into her lap, and nuzzling her chest. As it did, the tips of its leaves gently grazed her neck and chin.
“Hehehehey, I’m glahahad you aren’t mahahad anymore,” The scholar giggled, moving the the pokemon off her lap, “But that tickles, little friend. Well, I am very sorry about what happened but I am glad to see you looking better. Next time I promise I will be much more careful. Good-bye!” She delicately patted the oddish on her head and remounted her bike. She took off, her own bandages tight on her knees. This time, she stayed focused on the road. Even though it was easy for her to slip into autopilot, the path so familiar her, she wanted to make sure she didn’t hurt anymore pokemon.
“Finally!” Ash sighed in relief as she saw the roof of the lab over the tops of the trees. She has been going at quite a fast past, attempting to make up for sleeping in and the little kerfuffle with the oddish. She started to slow as she took a sharp turn, but didn’t consider the possibility there might be someone around the corner of that sharp turn. And because of that, she didn’t slow down enough.
“Oh Snorlax, watch-OOF!” Two bodies and a bike collided. The bike flew off to the side of the road after banging into Ash’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her for a moment. She hit the ground again, falling forward onto her arms this time to break the fall. As she started to get her breath back she felt another body fall onto her, knocking her face into the ground anyway.
“What the fucking hell, man! What are you, blind or just a total idiot?” Came the voice of the man who had fallen on her. The voice was all too familiar to Ashley and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. The apology she had been working on died in her throat.
“Well maybe you shouldn’t take up the entire road and you wouldn’t be in the way of everyone else around you!” She spat out instead. He had been working on getting up, but as she spoke, she felt him stiffen just as she had.
“If your inability to ride a simple bike hadn’t been enough of a clue, I should have known from that bright ass HAIR of yours that it would be you who ran me over, Red.” Gary Oak punctuated the word hair by using his hand to ruffle hers. For some reasons of fate that she couldn’t even fathom, she had run into her childhood rival of all people. Growing up, he had always called her Red because of her fiery hair color. In return, she had started calling him Blue because of the necklace he always wore around his neck and as an attempt to point out how silly it was to call someone by a color. It didn’t stop him and the nicknames both stuck. And now, here he was sitting on her back, keeping her pinned to the ground, like they were 12 year olds fighting in the school yard all over again.
“Would you get OFF of me, Blue? Your fat ass is crushing me…” She wiggled a bit, trying to buck him off, but the way that she had fallen left her arms pinned beneath her, giving her no real leverage to move him. He also felt pretty heavy. She couldn’t see it right now with her face in the ground, but Gary had becoming a very fit, toned man thanks to his constant travels as a pokemon trainer.
“Did you just call me fat?” He said, poking her in her ribs. This caused Ash to jump slightly and let out a squeak. Her cheeks flushed immediately and she felt panic rush through her body. One of Gary’s favorite ways to torment her when they were younger had been to utilize her biggest weakness. Ashley had always been ridiculously ticklish and as soon as her rival had found this out, he had never stopped exploiting it.
“Hah, nothing's really changed has it, Red? Never grew out of that giggly, little schoolgirl phase?”
“Blue, don't.” She ignored his taunt, more worried about what he might be planning.
“Don't what?” He asked innocently. Ash’s entire body was tense with anticipation of an attack that was sure to come. The question was just when.
“You know what. C’mon, j-just get off me…” Her voice shook slightly, so nervous about her predicament. Almost ten years since she’d seen him and Gary already had the upper hand on her.
“No, Red. I’m not sure what you're talking about.” His voice dripped with feigned innocence that infuriated her. She felt him shift around, and now he was straddling her back. Her arms remained pinned beneath her and his new position made it even harder for Ash to move. She could not even really squirm around successfully.
“Don't what, Red?” He gave a single poke to her ribs, eliciting another jump and squeak. “Don't WHAT?”
“TICKLE ME, YOU AAAhahahaha!”
“Well, if you insist,” Gary said, shrugging. He cut off her insult with a full assault. His fingers spidered up and down her sides, the thin, green tank top she was wearing offering little protection from his exploring hands. This turned her angry yelling into a stream of helpless giggles, and the failed squirming she was now doing did no good to stop any of the sensations from happening.There was no way for her to stop him and his tickling fingers.
“Pleheheheehese nooohoooohohoo. Staaaahhhap!!” She sputtered through her laughter. Her cheeks were growing warm, both from all the laughing and the embarrassment she was currently feeling.
“I'm sorry, I can't understand you. If you’re trying to ask for something, please speak more clearly.” He laughed. Gary then quickly switched from the spidery tickles up her sides to digging his fingers into her ribs. The girl’s giggles turned into hearty laughter at the merciless attack. He was digging in hard enough to make it tickle so terribly she couldn’t even speak but not so hard as to hurt her. She was laughing so hard she wasn’t even struggling anymore.
“Aww, little Red, it’s just like school all over again! But it’s been so long since we’ve done this, I don’t remember all of your ticklish spots. Hmm, so we know your side and your ribs…” He emphasized this statement with some pokes and prods to her sides “...but I can’t remember, are you ticklish...under your arms?”
“Blue, don’t!”
“Oh, but I think I will.”
“Please doHAHAHAHAHA-” She bellowed with laughter, the man on top of her tickling one of her worst spots. His fingers danced across the sensitive skin, undeterred by anything thanks to the way her arms were pinned beneath her. Ash’s hair whipped back and forth, laughing so much she couldn’t even protest anymore. Gary leaned down, his head next to her ear.
“Cootchie cootchie coo!” He whispered. Even just his warm breath tickled her, sending sensations across her ear and neck. “Aww, little Red, so ticklish and with no way to escape. Doesn’t this remind you of the old days? Like nothing has changed. Y’know, I almost missed this. I’ve never met anyone as ticklish as you. Or as easily pinned down. Tickle tickle…” One of his hands remained tickling her underarm, fingers skittering quickly and lightly across her pale, exposed skin, while the other hand slid down her side, fingers trailing down the path of her body, until he landed at her hip. He instantly began squeezing and pulsing her hip with his fingers, the sensations immediately eliciting a laughing shriek from his victim. She started bucking her hips, but did not have the strength to fend him off in the least.
“Bluhuhahaha plehehehesssse…” She sputtered. Tears ran down her cheeks from laughing so much.
“Your face is almost as red as your hair, little girl.” Gary teased. “I wonder how long I’m going to keep you here like this. I mean, we haven’t even started on your legs yet. And we can’t forget about your feet- HEY WHAT THE ARCEUS?” Suddenly a large weight lifted off of the grad students back. She immediately rolled away before quickly picking herself up. She rubbed her hands over her still tingling skin, trying to rid herself of the ghost like tickling sensations still plaguing her. She finally looked around to see had had happened to Gary. When she saw him, she immediately broke out into more giggles. Gary Oak was sprawled out on his back, a small oddish angrily jumping up and down on his chest.
“What the Ho-Oh, what’s this things problem?” He said, trying to grab the pokemon. However the task was proving to be somewhat difficult. It kept jumping out of his grasp or wiggling away.
“It just ran up and used Tackle on me…” Then a lightbulb went off. Ash walked over and went to grab the oddish. It immediately jumped into her arms, snuggling up against her chest. It was the oddish she had run over and then healed up. She had apparently made a good impression on the grass pokemon because not only had it followed after her, it had fought off her “attacker”.
“Wait, is that thing yours?” Gary, now without a tiny, angry plant assaulting him, was standing up. Ash’s eyes almost bugged out of her head. This was not the young boy she remembered. He looked about 6’1”, towering over Ash who stood at a small 5’. He was well dressed, although his jeans and collared shirt were a bit dirty from all that had happened. His arms showed the signs of well built muscle, and his body shaped hinted that the rest of him would be just the same. Then she saw him smirk.
“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.” Gary chuckled. Ash rolled her eyes. Yep, that’s the Gary Oak I remember. Ash crossed her arms defensively, setting the oddish on the ground. It stayed right next to her.
“Har har. What are you even doing here, Blue?” She changed the subject quickly. She walked over to her fallen bike, starting to check it for damage.
“I could ask you the same thing. I’m guessing you’re heading to Gramps’ lab, though. Why don’t we at least both start heading that way. I don’t need you taking up any more of my precious time with your nonsense.” before she could reply, he started walking off in the direction of the lab. Ash finished folding her bike up, shoving it in her bag, then followed after him. She wasn’t exactly excited to see him, but she was curious as to why he was here. The oddish followed quietly after her.
