The Ship in Friendship

12. Let's play

"So, this was the bad news we got from the fortunetelling."

Brock, Ash and Misty were chilling on the couch. Well, not exactly chilling. There was no chill tonight, the pizza was untouched, the beer was untouched, the TV was turned off. The three didn't feel like doing anything, and Brock mostly. He was having a very hard time.

"That's how fortunetelling works, you know? They tell you things that are common – I mean, at some point, you'd get some bad news." Ash tried to explain.

"No, no, she said big shock from bad news!" Misty exclaimed.

"Guys, can you please not?" Brock sighed heavily. "I'm mentally exhausted and I have no energy to deal with you arguing. I just broke up and all you think about is prove the other wrong. When are you going to grow up?"

"Sorry about that..." Misty bit her lip. Ash jumped up when she pinched his side. They seemed to have an argument, but only with their eyes.

"Do you want to go to Pallet town? Maybe you need to retreat." Ash suggested to his friend. "You can stay there as much as you want. Ronny and mom are busy all day but there is always Mars and you know how he loves to play."

Brock shook his head. "As much as I love Mars, I don't think I can deal with this without you two being around."

Misty hugged him from behind. "We're not leaving anywhere."

"Can I trash-talk Lucy now?" Ash crossed his legs on the couch. "I didn't like her, so..."

Brock and Misty looked at him, surprised. "You didn't?"

"No." Ash shrugged. He grabbed a beer and popped it open. "She's rude and her house is like kindergarten. That's like a horror scene in a video game."

"Ash, no," Misty told him.

"Her house is like kindergarten, though." Brock acquiesced.

"Is her face naturally pale like that?"

"Ash!"

"Actually, no." Brock chuckled.

"Is this what guys enjoy doing?" Misty looked between the two men. "Is this it? Is this what we're going to do as friends?"

Ash's eyes lit up. "Maybe not!"

"I get the chair!"

Misty and Brock raced to Ash's gaming chair. They were both trying to sit down at the same time. "Get off, Misty! You get the man; I get his chair!"

"You get off! This is my boyfriend's chair!"

"It's my friend's chair!"

"I said GET OFF!"

"NO WAY, WATERFLOWER!"

"Uhm, guys?" Ash rubbed his neck. "I'm not usually the one who tells people to stop fighting..."

Brock was sitting on most of the chair. Misty fit her body between the armrest and the quarter of the chair.

"You both will need to get off the chair anyway. We're sitting on the ground."

"I'm not." Brock shook his head. "I'm heartbroken so I make the rules here."

Misty got off the gaming chair, letting Brock have all of it. He spun it happily. "I can't believe you didn't give up on the chair for me! And you call yourself chivalrous!"

"You don't always get what you want."

Ash was plugging the game controllers and setting the game. He listened to the conversation with a smile on his face.

"I never got to sit on it!"

"You'll get plenty of opportunities to sit on it in the future."

Misty blushed slightly. She hid her mouth with her hands. "I hate you."

"Yeah, sure." The three friends laughed. Ash was finished from setting the game. Misty grabbed some poof chairs for her and him and they sat with Brock between them, enjoying the plush chair.

"So, what do I do?" Misty held her controller in her hands, ready to game.

"It's still loading..." Ash pointed at the large screen in front of them. Sometimes he forgets Misty isn't Angie...

Brock laughed. "You're so going down, Misty."

"You can't just assume I'm going down! You have to see me play first!"

"To sum it up, it's a shooting game. You have to shoot people until they die."

"What?" Misty looked disturbed. "Do we get to see people dead? Like, with their hearts showing and everything?"

"I think I'm dating the wrong girl." Ash whispered, scratching his forehead. "Okay! So." He entered the game. "Let's pick a character."

Two minutes later

"I was nice to all of them! Why did they kill me?"

"That's not the point." Ash and Brock were laughing hard at her.

"You know what? I don't like video games. I'm going to do some meditation in my room. It's more productive than sitting here playing this noneducational game."

"You can't. You think of me all the time." Ash teased her.

"You're getting good at this, Ash." Brock praised him.

"Thanks bro." They did a fist bump.

Misty rolled her eyes and left Ash's room. She didn't expect to find Lucy at their door. Brock had given her the key but wasn't it kind of creepy to get in like this?

"Hey." Lucy's makeup was running down her cheeks. She was crying. "Is Brock here?"