You Can't Hurry Love

When I woke up the next morning, I growled as I sat up slowly. After travelling with Cat and the boys I was slowly becoming accustomed to sleeping in sleeping bags and tents, after sleeping in beds in Blackthorn City and back home in Goldenrod I would have to get used to it again.

I yawned and stretched before opening my eyes completely, seeing Lance fully clothes with a plate in front of him.

“H-hey.” I stuttered, it taking me a few seconds to realise it was him due to his disguise.

“Good morning. I didn’t want to wake you; I’m not sure what activities we have to do today so I thought you might need your strength. Which is why I grabbed us some breakfast, too.” Lance smiled, handing me a plate, which was still warm.

“Did they cook this stuff?” I asked, staring at it.

It looked and smelled too good to be of Team Rocket quality, and I suspected he cooked it himself.

“Nope, I did. I collected the items from the wild and cooked it myself, with the help of Dragonite’s flame of course. Trust me, it’s good.” Lance beamed, handing me a fork.

I shrugged and grabbed it, not hesitating to scoop up parts onto my fork and shovelling it into my mouth.

“This ish gud!” I happily stated, not even waiting to finish my mouth full before complimenting Lance, but sheepily apologised as soon as I took my big gulp, a blush appearing on my cheeks.

“Well at least you actually enjoy it.” Lance replied, a grin on his face.

We mostly ate in silence for the remainder of the breakfast. I gulped my food down quickly to finish only seconds after him.

“So the entire world thinks you live in caves and stuff because you’re rugged and heroic and all that kind of stuff. Is that true?” I asked Lance, randomly.

“You know what I like about you Emily? You don’t believe the stereotypes and I’m able to talk about things with you that I don’t feel comfortable disclosing with anybody else. Even so, you don’t shy away from discussing those stereotypes either.” Lance stated, flashing me a smile.

“So you don’t live in caves? Damn.” I pouted.

“Well, never fear. When I’m not stationed at the Indigo Plateau I am out in the great outdoors, staying in fields, caves, mountains and all the other terrains looking after the land as my duty as champion.” Lance explained.

“So you stay in the outdoors just like every other person on their Pokémon journey?” I asked Lance, grinning a little.

“Well, exactly. The same as what you and many trainers before you have done.” Lance agreed.

“Which means that I’m just as tough as you. Ice Path was a bitch, not gonna lie.” I teased, giving Lance a nudge.

However, to witness this little amount of flirting, Jack stuck his head into the tent. I quickly pulled away out of shock.

I wasn’t nervous that Jack witnessed myself lightly flirting with Lance. No, I was worried what he had heard of our conversation and how he had pieced it. It wouldn’t only be mildly inconvenient if he found out who Lance really was. It was dangerous to our plans as well as well being.

“Hey.” I weakly smiled, trying to contain my anger at Jack’s snooping.

“Hey gorgeous. Just checking up on you, seeing if you were okay.” Jack smiled sweetly at me, but gave a less than subtle glare towards Lance.

“Yeah, I’m fine. We’ll catch up later?” I offered to Jack, finding it really hard to not lose my cool and blow my cover that I was only pretending to want to pursue something with him.

“You better. I think we’re going canoeing today, I’d love for you to be my partner.” Jack winked at me.

“We’ll see.” I mumbled, giving a side-glance to Lance and then focusing my attention back at Jack.

He only smirked as he blew me a kiss, removed his head from the tent and left the area as I saw his shadow and heard his footsteps.

“What a moron!” I huffed, crossing my arms angrily.

“We’ll have to watch him a lot more closely. I’m not sure whether he suspects something is going on, whether he’s interested in brain washing you above all others, whether he legitimately is interested in pursuing a relationship with you or all of the above.” Lance stated, a serious look on his face.

“Yep, agreed. Boys are confusing enough as it is, let alone when they’re working for Team Rocket.” I joked, but for once Lance didn’t laugh and kept up his serious and professional, champion demeanour.

“I think you should go canoeing with him. He’s more likely to open up to you than me, and you’ll be able to find out what his intentions are.” Lance suggested.

“Lance, I don’t feel comfortable with that. I’m happy to take a walk, or spend some time with him another way during this camp, but I’m not entirely comfortable with going in a canoe with him for a few hours, whilst we row somewhere remote. “ I replied to Lance.

“Emily, we aren’t here for fun and games. We’re here on a mission.” Lance sternly said to me.

“Please don’t make me do this…please?” I begged Lance, my eyes beginning to rim with tears.

“I guess this is my own fault. I overestimated you. I thought you were the right girl for the job, but apparently not. If you like I’ll fly you home, and I’ll find a new way to expose Team Rocket fronts.” Lance sighed, looking defeated.

“Can you please leave the tent? I’m getting changed, and into appropriate clothes for canoeing with Jack.” I sourly stated, crossing my arms in a huff not being happy about my task.

Lance mirrored my annoyance, storming out of the tent in a huff. I never thought I’d see the champion annoyed over something so petty, but then again in the past few days I’d witnessed a lot of things I never thought I’d see from the Kanto and Johto champion.