The Path of Sacrifice

Link: "Everyone". Lol. Brock\'s in love with EVERY female that comes within a 2 mile radius...Gary doesn\'t realize he\'s on her yet, he just think he\'s being male. Lol. AND as for that surprise....You\'ll see. BUT! I won\'t update a chapter from now on until I hear from you! Lol. Or someone else I guess. And I HAAAAAATE how the anime battles. Doesn\'t make logical sense. But note taken, I will drop the exact math business. I wanted a way to have Moonlight come out with only one hit point in the end and I couldn\'t figure any other way to make that look fluidic.



-----------------



As soon as they\'d gone in to the Pokemon Center and healed up again, as the sun finally slipped past the horizon, a sleepy, confused Angel walked slowly behind Gary, whom absolutely refused to sleep at the pokemon center. He hadn\'t yet explained why, but then again, she hadn\'t bothered to ask. Her mind had more or less turned into oatmeal in her very tired state. She had been awake for two days and a night now, and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep and get on with beating the hell out of the Gym Leader. But as Gary drove in the stakes into the ground, not even a foot away from where the arguing fighters were teaching trainers the respective mega kick or punch, safe enough from wandering pokemon or many trainers, Angel folded her arms over her chest, wishing hard that he\'d just hurry up.



"Gary, it\'s almost November, it\'s going down to eight degrees Celsius tonight; why in the name of all that is warm and cozy do you not want to sleep in the Pokemon Center?"

"Breon." Moonlight concurred; he might have fur, but it was still cold.

"Too many unprepared trainers in there. Some of them are thieves. Plus, I camped out when I was doing the Gym rounds. Wouldn\'t want you to miss that."

"It\'ll be eight degrees..." she repeated, groaning. She knew there was something else to all this besides thieves and strange trainers, but what, she couldn\'t put her finger on.

"You\'d never sleep in there, trust me. People coming and going at all hours of the night, bringing in their sick or sometimes dying pokemon with who knows what virus, with people having clear access to your things when you sleep...It just isn\'t pleasant. Besides, this is a thermal tent. You\'d never know the difference."

"I hope you\'re right; otherwise, I\'m stealing your sleeping bag."

"You\'ll be fine with yours." Awkwardly, Angel fidgeted. She\'d forgotten to bring one in her rush to leave. Gary noticed the strange air, and turned to look at her. "Please tell me you brought a sleeping bag, Angel." When the didn\'t reply, but rather looked down and away, he groaned, slapping a palm to his forehead. "You didn\'t bring a sleeping bag. Angeeeeeel. What DID you pack?!" Blushing faintly, she heaved the backback off her shoulders, and knelt down behind it as she rifled through.

"Uh. Jeans....a few shirts...A pajama top....no bottoms...seven single socks, one has a pair...six bras, two panties...a bandanna...a couch pillow...half a loaf of bread...shaved honey ham....grape jelly....cubed raw soup steak...horseradish...and a Partridge in a pear tree." If there was a desk around, Gary would have rammed his head on it.

"You\'ve GOT to be kidding me. Who the hell taught you to pack for a trip? You know what this means? Either you and I share MY sleeping bag and MY pillows, or we go sleep in the Pokemon Center, and have half our stuff stolen."

"Well, I was in a rush, I was chasing after YOU. If you\'d\'ve just hung on a bit and waited, maybe you could have helped me pack." Heaving a large sigh as he rammed in the sixth and last stake, the tent was finished.

"Thank god I have a wide sleeping bag, or you\'d have to sleep on top of me." Angel perked a brow at the suggestion, while the mental image Gary got made him pause a second. "Or, I\'d be sleeping with nothing on...." This time, Angel laughed. Neither time he had meant anything near what connotation came out of his mouth. "I mean uh..." he spoke quickly, trying to figure out a way to make what he said not sound sexual.

"It\'s okay, Gary. You\'re tired, I\'m tired, Moonlight is tired. Let\'s just get this over with, and tomorrow I\'ll use my winnings from Brock to buy a sleeping bag at the Poke Mart tomorrow."

"Well, I hope you can stay up a while, because I have to build a fire, and heat up the tent first. Can you stay awake another hour?" Angel groaned.

"If I have to."



*********



Finally, as Angel had almost fallen asleep using Moonlight as a rather large, warm pillow, Gary was done. The tent had been warmed with the help of a Ponyta he\'d taken out of storage, whom happily, and carefully, heated up the inside of the tent with a few warm bursts of her mane. The fire was crackling warmly not too far from the almost-asleep pair, and Gary had taken a seat nearby as the stars shimmered overhead.

"Angel?" he spoke, staring almost mesmerized by the flickering fire.

"Mmm...?" she replied, trying pitifully to stay conscious.

"I hate to bring up bad memories, but that Rocket that....touched you. Did he do anything either than....touch you?"

"No. Moonlight killed him before he could. He was going to, though."

"You can\'t...Don\'t tell anyone Moonlight killed him, okay? Even if he\'s a Rocket, that won\'t go over well with anyone."

"Okay..."

"Breon." Moonlight agreed, shifting his sleepy, glassy eye over to his human. He\'d take on anyone to protect his trainer, the one he\'d watched grow for years.

"But, forgive me for asking...Was he the only one that ever touched you?"

"...Mmm. No...Unless you count the time Ash kissed me when we were five." That was not exactly what he wanted to hear. Sure, the idea of Angel being with a guy wasn\'t something he wanted to think about, but that meant she was a virgin - and if he failed to protect her and failed to take down Giovanni, Arceus only knew what they would do to her. She would be scarred for life and likely damaged mentally for good. He couldn\'t just leave her behind, he\'d never hear the end of it. Even if he ran off, he knew she would go hunting for him, and give him another good yelling at. And the thought of making her cry again...That was worse than any fate he might befall. No, he wasn\'t the asshole he used to be, and he\'d gotten much softer. Maybe that was half his problem; would his heart cost him his childhood friend?

"Can we sleep now?..." she questioned breathily, as she rolled up to a sitting position. Gary glanced up from being lost in thought.

"Mm? Yeah. I think we\'re okay now, yeah." the pair stood, Angel much slower than Gary. She was so tired; she had honestly stopped caring about sleeping arrangements the moment she had rested her head on Moonlight. He was the first into the tent, followed by Gary, who recalled his Ponyta. Angel crawled in behind him, and merely collapsed herself onto Gary\'s sleeping bag, which he\'d left open, face down, to warm up from the fire. Gary smiled faintly.

"Well Moonlight, looks like she\'s just about had the biscuit..." he spoke to the Umbreon, as he curled up at his trainer\'s head.

"Breon..." he replied; he was tired too. So was Gary, it seemed, as he gave a large, silent yawn. Sighing softly, he retired himself behind her, and pulled the other half of the sleeping bag over them. He couldn\'t really close it, but if he woke up and was cold, he could just send out Ponyta again, he thought, as he slowly drifted away from consciousness. There wasn\'t much space for his arms to go without touching some awkward part of Angel\'s body, so as a compromise, he curled his arms around her and held her like a teddy bear. He was almost completely asleep as the glow of the fire started to die.