While training for the Mt. Silver's conference, will Ash push himself too far? And what about Misty?
Aiden and Michelle - 9 years old.
Elizabeth - 4 years old
"Not good enough. Do it again Pikachu!" Ash yelled at Pikachu as Pikachu attempted a volt tackle electro ball combination. Pikachu had been doing the same combo about fifteen times, and was really getting tired. It already took a lot of power to do those two moves separately, but doing them together that many times was almost impossible.
As Pikachu finished the attack, he walked to the sidelines, panting heavily. "I didn't say to stop Pikachu." Ash said in a frustrated voice. Pikachu looked at Ash, who had been working so hard for next week's Mt. Silver's conference, he was starting to crack.
He was working his tail off and Ash didn't appreciate it a bit. "Pikapi pikachu pi, pi pikachu kachu!" Pikachu yelled as he gave his trainer 5,000 volts. Ash then looked apologetically at his partner.
"Sorry Pikachu. I know you're tired. I really do appreciate all your work. Take a rest." Ash sighed as Pikachu went behind the battle field. Finding the bowl of water, Pikachu drank rapidly. Pikachu could see Ash sweating like a Jigglypuff in July. He scurried over to his trainer's backpack, and grabbing the water bottle, walked upright over to Ash and nudged him. "What is it?" Ash said as he looked down. "Oh, thanks Pikachu." Ash also drank rapidly, although refused to take a break.
That night as Ash walked into his house, he found Misty in the kitchen, cooking supper. "Hey Ashy." Misty said as Ash walked to the stove to see what Misty was cooking. "Want to try some of this sauce?" Ash looked the the pot of sauce, and gave a taste.
"Yum, it's good. Needs a little salt, though." Ash said as he thought about how hungry he wasn't tonight. Misty looked at Ash, worried. She knew how hard he'd been pushing himself, maybe too hard. Before she knew it, Ash was in the backyard, training with Sceptile and Infernape.
As soon as supper was over, Ash proceeded to go back outside to train. Misty knew enough was enough. She went to the back door, and blocked it. "No Ash! You've done enough training today." Misty said as Ash deterred from the door and sat back at the table. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight.
Ash looked up at Misty. "I have to be ready for the conference at Mt. Silver. I can't afford to just sit and lounge around." Ash stood up and took his plate to the sink. Misty looked outside where all Ash's pokemon were eating, looking absolutely drained from rigorous training.
"Ash." Misty called gently as Ash came by her side. "Look at your Pokemon!" Ash looked out the window at his exhausted crew. He didn't notice their obvious state. He shrugged. "Ash! You can be so stubborn. They're all exhausted!"
"They'll be fine in the morning." Ash yelled, getting angry. "I can't let my fans down."
"Is that all you care about Ash, your fans!? What about your Pokemon. The creatures that made you what you are! Don't you love them at all!" Misty yelled, a vein in her forehead popping.
"How dare you!" Ash's voice grew dark for a moment. "Of course I do. Know this Misty, I can take care of my own Pokemon! " With that he marched upstairs, Pikachu following behind. Misty heard a door slam a few moments later. She growled to herself. Ash was so stubborn!
About two hours later, Ash came down to find Michelle and Aiden watching TV with Infernape, Sceptile and all the other Pokemon Ash hadn't returned to their Pokéballs. He groaned and took out all his Pokéballs and returned all his Pokemon. He then turned to Michelle. "Where's Mommy, Shelly?"
Michelle and Aiden looked up at their father and scowled, although Michelle's scowl was a little less intense. "Mom's at Aunt Daisy's. She said you needed some time to yourself. Although, I think she's just mad at you." Michelle said as Elizabeth came downstairs and joined her siblings.
Elizabeth looked at her father with a sad look. "I'm sowry daddy. But mommy is really mad at you. Maybe you need a timeout?" She said, looking perplexed at the whole situation.
Ash groaned in a mix of frustration and sympathy, as his older two children laughed at their sister's comment. "Maybe I do. Ok." Ash said as he looked at his watch. "Aiden, Michelle, Elizabeth. It's time to start getting ready for bed. Go get your pjs on and your teeth brushed." Aiden was taking none of this from Ash tonight. He ran around the house, biting and growling at Ash every time he came near him.
After about an hour of running around the house, Misty called and told Aiden to get ready for bed. the young boy stopped misbehaving immediately, and went upstairs and ready for bed.
"Of course." Ash said as he looked at Misty on the videoscreen. Misty just stared at him cynically. Ash groaned. "Misty, please don't do this. I'm sorry. I'm just so nervous about this conference. I didn't mean to snap. Of course, I don't care more about my fans. I was just angry and stressed. Come home please?"
Misty looked at the man, who seemed quite remorseful and smiled. "Be home in fifteen." Misty said as she hung the phone. Meanwhile, back at the Ketchum house, all hell was breaking loose. Aiden went to bed like Misty asked, but refused to have Ash read to him, Michelle or Elizabeth. This just wasn't Ash's day. Ash groaned and went to his room. He got into his pjs as he heard Misty's car coming up the driveway.
Misty came upstairs, finding Ash in nothing but boxers. She growled in delight. Ash could turn her on, without even trying. "Mist, can you read to the kids?"
Misty looked at the man in disbelief. "Didn't you do it?"
"Aiden wouldn't let me. He's convinced I'm the devil in flesh tonight. He hates me." Ash said as he pulled on a black t-shirt and plopped on the bed, his head in his hands.
Misty flung her hand back at him. "No he doesn't. He adores you. He's just angry. He thinks you hurt my feelings." She said.
"Did I?" Ash asked, being completely serious.
"A little. But honey," Misty said as she put on her aqua nightgown, lined with green flowers at the neckline. "I'm more concerned about you and your Pokemon. The past week you've been running yourself ragged. Poor Pikachu seems to be getting the worse of it." She softly stroked the head of the yellow mouse curled up at the end of the couple's bed. Ash nodded, he knew he was working hard, but he was just anxious about this conference.
During the night, Ash was restless. He woke up many times and when he did fall asleep, he tossed and turned. Finally, he woke up at five o'clock and decided to get up. He went outside with Pikachu and all his other Pokéballs containing his friends. One by one, he trained with ten of his Pokémon.
As Misty came downstairs a few hours later, she saw Ash training and sighed. He was going to wipe himself out. As he came in for breakfast, Pikachu exhausted, he went right to the fridge and grabbed a water bottle. He sloshed it down so quick, he got a huge stomachache from the cold water.
As he groaned in pain, Michelle looked up from her stack of pancakes. "You know dad, you shouldn't drink so much cold water at one time." Ash looked at her. "Although it probably won't help now." Michelle said as Ash sat down at the table for breakfast. He wasn't hungry at all, but he figured he needed to eat.
Needless to say, Misty was concerned after watching Ash eating only four pancakes. He usually finished ten, easy. After breakfast he announced, "I want you all to see me train today. Don't worry Mist, I already called Daisy and she's gonna take care of the gym." Ash said as the children eagerly ran upstairs and got dressed. Misty, already dressed went over and stared at Ash. Ash was clueless. "What? I thought you'd be excited." Ash said as he pulled the woman into a hug.
"It's not that I'm not excited dear, it's just..." Misty pushed her husband back out of the hug and looked at him seriously. "You look so overworked. Are you sure you want to go to work?" Ash looked surprised.
"You know me Mist, I'm fine. I'm...whoa." Ash said as he felt himself getting a bit dizzy. Misty noticed it right away.
"That's it. You're exhausted. I'm calling Scott. You can't work like this Ash." Misty said heading to the videophone, switching it to Audio only. Scott was a great manager, but the man didn't look good in the morning.
Ash ran in and hung up the phone. "Misty, I'm fine. Come on, don't worry. I know my own body, I'm just tired."
"Well, you didn't sleep well last night." She said, pondering.
"Exactly. Now, please don't call Scott. I really am ok." Ash said, almost begging. Misty smiled and set down the phone on it's hook.
The whole family was excited to go on the car ride to the league's training center, where Ash worked. Misty had been there many times before, though never with all three kids. The kids were so excited, it gave her a new found excitement for the place.
Scott looked wary when he saw the whole family coming into Ash's training room and sitting on the side bleachers. Ash saw his look and went over to him. "Scott, it's just for one day. I really want a cheering section. The conference is in just four days and I'm getting kinda nervous. Please?" Ash looked at his manager and looked pleadingly.
Scott sighed, lifting his head up as he looked back at Ash. "One day." Scott said. "And I guess it'll be good for the twins, seeing they'll be starting their journey in let's see, two months."
"Three. Thanks Scott." Ash said as he ran to his battle box and got trained in groups of two. Today, he was starting with Infernape and Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur came to train special for this week's conference. Usually, he resided at Professor Oak's patrolling the preserve.
Infernape, under Ash's command started with flamethrower. Bulbasaur used vine whip to jump. Bulbasaur then countered with vine whip. Infernape was hit with the attack, and quickly struck back with Hyper beam. Well, that's what Ash thought. As the attack started, Ash recognized the new move being involuntary learned by Infernape as Giga Impact. The move knocked out Bulbasaur as Ash jumped over the small fence of the battle box. As Infernape turned around, he got a huge hug from Ash, and a huge cheer from the family.
"Infernape, I am so proud of you. And right before the conference too. You're the best." Ash said, as he continued to hug the fire type. When Ash let go, Infernape looked to Elizabeth.
"You rock 'Fernape!" Elizabeth said, not being able to say the fire type's entire name. Aiden and Michelle were really excited too, especially Aiden. His father's pokemon were the best he'd ever seen, and being to many battles and conferences, he'd seen a lot of pokemon.
These short brawls of two Pokemon training lasted all morning. As the afternoon began, Ash started training the other half of his Pokemon for battle. Focused so much on the training, Ash hadn't eaten lunch. Misty was really worried now, watching Ash train.
Just as Ash started training with Totodile and Donphan, he started to really feel lightheaded. But he shook it off and kept training. "Alright Totodile, Hydro pump." Ash commanded as he thought about the conference at the end of the week.
Just then, he started feeling lightheaded again. He tried to shake it off, but couldn't this time. He now, started feeling dizzy and huge purple blotches started appearing in his vision . Next thing he knew, he was falling to the ground. Then, everything went black.
"ASH!" Misty screamed as he ran from the bleachers to the battle box, as she swiftly jumped into the box. She knelt beside him and started checking his pulse. It was way to fast. "Aiden, Michelle! Call 911." The two children took Elizabeth and ran out of the room, looking for the phone.
Pikachu saw what happened and came running from the sidelines. "PIKAPI!" Pikachu looked frantic as he ran over to his trainer and started to build up electricity to shock him. Misty stopped Pikachu and received the shock herself. Just then Scott ran into the battle room, on the phone with 911. The children stood behind him. Aiden was holding Elizabeth who was crying profusely, while Michelle seemed to still be in shock of what happened.
A few minutes went by. Michelle, still in shock, watched hopelessly as her father was being carried away on a stretcher. Aiden came over to her, expecting her to be in tears, angry or something. He was surprised however, the girl stood emotionless, seemed to be absorbed in her thoughts. Seeing he had no other choice, he smacked her as gently as he could across the face, instantly snapping her back to reality.
"Thanks Aiden. Now, let's go!" Michelle said as they went out and together with Misty, rode to the hospital. Now, Scott was a crazy driver. Misty would've driven herself, if she wasn't shaking in terror. Michelle and Aiden both knew how upset their mom was, so they just sat quietly for the ride, except for Elizabeth who was still softly sobbing.
Once at the hospital, Ash was rushed to the ER. The man immediately got IV fluids and given medicine for the low grade fever he had acquired. The doctors and nurses worked quickly to minimize the risk of hypernatremic dehydration.
Misty was busy calling people. Within twenty minutes, Brock, Daisy, and Delia were at the hospital. Brock, after finding out as much as the could about the situation, took care of the kids. Misty was extremely grateful that Brock was here. The man was so good with the kids. He was their godfather, after all.
As soon as the doctor came out, Delia stood up, even before Misty. "Is my son going to be ok?" The man came over as the whole gang, family and friends, stared up at the doctor, who was holding a clipboard. The man was dressed in a white doctor's coat with a turquoise scrub underneath, and a stethoscope resting on his neck.
"Yes, Ash should be fine. You're his mother, correct?" The doctor who's nametag read Terrance Jones asked. Delia nodded her head. Misty then stood up and walked over beside Delia.
"And I'm his wife. So, do you know what happened?" Misty asked, holding onto Delia's trembling hand.
"Severe dehydration. Basically, too much work along with not enough sleep and a decrease in appetite and fluid consumption caused this. Luckily, we got him on IV fluids fairly quickly. If we hadn't, it would've gotten a lot worse." Dr. Jones explained.
"Can we see him?" Brock asked as he walked up behind Misty and Delia.
"Soon. He's stable, but he's not out of the woods yet. Since this was so severe, we're gonna run some tests on him to make sure exhaustion was the reason for the collapse." Dr. Jones finished.
At lunch, Misty prodded at her salad, not taking so much as one bite. Daisy noticed pretty quickly. She sat down by her sister and put her arm around her. "Ash'll be alright Misty. But he won't be ok if he finds that I let his wife get sick from not eating." Daisy said.
Misty turned and looked at her sister, her eyes red and wet. "I saw the signs, Daisy. I knew he was wearing himself out. But I let it go, and now he's here. I'm a horrible wife." Misty said as Delia came up beside the two sisters.
"No, you're not Misty. Don't ever say that about yourself. Ash would be infuriated if he heard you talking like that." Delia said, taking the girl into a full hug. She then whispered to her. "He's strong Misty. He'll fight this. He'll be ok."
As soon as the group went back to the waiting room, Dr. Jones was already waiting for them. "Delia, Misty, you can go back first. Then, in a while, the rest of you are welcome to come back." Dr. Jones said. Delia, Misty, and of course Pikachu hurried over to room H124. The two women sighed in relief as they found Ash sitting up, flipping the channels on TV.
Pikachu jumped onto his trainer's bed, startling Ash. "Woah, Pikachu. Hey buddy!" Ash said, scratching behind Pikachu's ears. Delia came in next, and rushed up. Hugging her son, she was so relieved he was ok. Then, Misty came up and gave him a passionate kiss. She had been so worried, and now a few hours after his collapsed, here he was.
"If you ever scare me like that again, my mallet's coming out of retirement." Misty said teasingly. Although, for some reason, Ash knew she was being totally serious. Just then, Ash heard a small sigh. He looked and outside the open door stood Elizabeth, Teddi in hand. Misty looked over and saw her. "It's ok sprinkle, daddy's fine. Come in."
Elizabeth entered cautiously, her eyes staring down at her feet. She had been so upset when he collapsed, and now she felt a bit awkward. She was also scared seeing her father hooked to a machine, not to mention with an IV. Ash could see the girl's nervousness. "It ok sweetie. I'm alright." Ash said, hoping to calm her down.
If anything, this upset her even more. Seeing this, Pikachu hopped down and held her hand as she made her way forward. "Pika Pika, Pikachu Pikapi chu." Pikachu whispered to the girl. Elizabeth translated the statement as "Elizabeth, come on. Daddy's (Ash) ok." Once near the bed, Misty lifted the girl up and placed her at the end of the bed.
"There, now. Comfy?" Ash asked as Elizabeth nodded. Ash hugged the girl, who, although still felt a bit uneasy, hugged back. The hug lasted for a minute, mostly because Lizzie didn't want to let go. "Hey Elizabeth," Ash asked. "Why don't you go with Grammy and find Brock and the twins?"
The girl nodded as Delia and Elizabeth walked out of the room. Ash turned to Misty, just gazing into her beautiful emerald eyes. "Ash, this is all my fault." Misty started as Ash shook his head.
"No, it's not Misty. I shouldn't have pushed myself so hard. I knew I was reaching my limit, but I was just so into the training, I ignored it." Ash said, hugging the woman. "You know how stubborn I can be when it comes to training."
"Yeah, well. Instead of yelling and leaving home, I should've just talked to you. I'm sorry."
"Mist, are you mad at me?" Ash asked out of curiosity.
"Of course not, I'm just so glad you're ok." Misty pulled the man into a hug. Just then, Brock and the twins came in, along with Daisy. While Aiden came in and hugged his father right away, Michelle stood right inside the door, still unsure. Elizabeth was a lot more eager to come in now, knowing her father was feeling better.
"Man, you scared us." Brock said, as Michelle stood behind Brock, hoping to be unnoticed. Figuring she could be easily noticed here, Michelle managed to leave the room unseen. She couldn't understand why, she just couldn't see her dad, not like this. Even if he was awake, she just couldn't.
With this, she went up to the cafeteria and bought a root beer. As she sat in the lobby, drinking the soda, she saw a familiar figure. Just as she suspected as the person turned around, it was Cassidy. "Michelle?" Cassidy asked. "Why are you sitting out here all by yourself?" Cassidy sat down by the girl.
"I just can't see dad like this. It's too hard. Everyone else is so excited to see him. I'm glad he's ok, but I just can't..." Michelle said as a stream of tears interrupted the explanation. Cassidy pulled her into a hug.
"Aw, Shelly. It's been a rough day for you, hasn't it." Cassidy sighed as Michelle nodded, still crying. "It's ok, let it all out." As Cassidy finished speaking, Misty came out, looking in the lobby before spotting Michelle and Cassidy.
"Cassidy?" Misty questioned as she approached the bench. She then looked at Michelle. "Oh Shelly, what's wrong?" Michelle gravitated towards Misty.
In a pleading tone, Michelle asked. "Don't make me see dad now. Please! I just can't handle seeing him here. Can't I just go home." Misty nodded.
"Yeah, sure. But your dad's going to be here for another night, which means Grammy and I will have to be here. I'll get Brock to stay the night at the house so you guys can get away from here." Misty said. With this, she walked back to the room. Soon, Brock came out with Aiden and Elizabeth and drove the kids home.
Once back at the house, Michelle made her way upstairs almost immediately. Aiden, seeing this, went after her. He knew how upset Michelle was and could sense she was still upset. Coming into their bedroom, he walked to the bunk bed, where Michelle was reading a book. "We need to talk, sis." Aiden said. He was like Ash in the respect that he always was blunt, getting straight to the point.
"There's nothing to talk about Aiden. Leave me alone." Michelle said, trying to dismiss her brother's statement. She didn't want to talk about it. She just wanted to forget all her troubles in a good book.
"Oh, sure. Nothing to talk about, right. Our father just collapsed today and you think there's nothing to talk about. Give it up Michelle. Come on, you can talk to me." Aiden insisted as Michelle put her book down and sat up.
"I don't know Aiden. It's just seeing dad in a hospital. It's hard. Weren't you scared?"
"Of course so. I was terrified."
"But you seemed so calm."
"I was anything but. I just figured that somewhere, you have to draw the line."
"What line?"
"The line that separates fear and faith. I decided I just had to trust God to see it through. That's the problem Michelle. We just can't let fear get the best of us." Aiden replied, as Michelle looked at him in wonder.
"Wow, I never knew you could be that deep." Michelle said, still in awe. Aiden just shrugged. Michelle was starting to feel better after the talk with her brother.
After Brock finished reading a story to Elizabeth, he sighed and went to check in on the twins. Luckily, Aiden was already asleep. Michelle, however wasn't in bed at all. Closing the door silently, Brock went downstairs, looking for Michelle. After looking for her for about five minutes, Brock called Chansey out of her Pokeball. "Chansey Chan?" The pink Pokemon asked, looking at Brock.
"We have to find Michelle. I'll look down here, you look upstairs. Remember to be quiet, Aiden and Elizabeth are sleeping." Brock said as Chansey looked at her trainer attentively. While Brock was searching downstairs, Chansey went upstairs. After quietly looking in Aiden and Elizabeth's rooms, she looked in the bathroom, and attic. As she was about to give up, she found a small body in Ash and Misty's bed.
She rushed down and found Brock. "Chansey chan chans." Chansey said excited as Brock and his Pokemon went upstairs. Brock was relieved to find Michelle, but could hear a whimper from the bed. He returned Chansey before knocking on the door.
"Michelle?" Brock asked, coming into the room. Turning on the lamp, Brock found the girl under the covers, continuing to whimper and crying softly. Brock sighed. "Could you come out please?" Brock asked, compassion in his voice . After a moment, she peeked her head out, sniveling. "What's wrong, Shelly?"
"I'm scared Brock. I know dad's going to be ok, and I know he's gonna be home tomorrow. It's just..." Michelle stopped, trying to calm down and stop crying. "when I saw him there today, I just froze. Now, every time I close my eyes, I'm right back there."
"At the hospital?"
"No, at the battle center, when he fell. I just can't stop. My mind just keeps replaying the scene. What do I do?" The young girl asked Brock.
"Do you want to help me?" Brock asked.
"With what?" A peculiar expression of Michelle's face. Brock just gave a sly grin. Brock and Michelle went downstairs. As Michelle went into the kitchen, the sight of bags of flour, cornmeal, and other ingredients are spread out on the table.
" I was going to have my Pokemon help me, but this might be good for you." Brock said as he picked up the paper with the recipe on it, and walked back to the table of ingredients. Michelle peeked at the recipe and frowned.
"How is making cornbread therapeutic?" Michelle asked, looking up at Brock.
"Because this isn't just making cornbread. I've been volunteering at the homeless shelter, and tomorrow night is Chili night." Brock started. "My job is to make one hundred loaves of cornbread. That's why we had to stop at my house on the way home. I figured I might as well do it now."
"Cool." Michelle said as she went to the sink to wash her hands.
"You know Shelly, before I went with your dad on his Pokemon journey, my family ate at a homeless shelter." Brock said as he measured out the first ingredients.
"Wait? I thought you cooked for all your brothers and sisters." Michelle asked, wanting to get the story straight.
"Well, yeah. But not for the first few years. My father left us when i was only twelve, and most of the time, my mother was too sad to do anything." Brock started. "But until I was fifteen, old enough to start running the gym, we ate at the shelter. So, I know how it feels."
"Wow, I never knew." Michelle said, sad for her godfather. She had never known about that portion of his past. Since he didn't go with dad on his journey until he was seventeen, he spent most of his teenage years at some smelly shelter, just to eat. Michelle and Brock talked and talked over a hot oven and cornbread dough for about two hours.
As Brock started the fiftieth loaf of bread, he could see Michelle getting tired. She had done a lot. Measuring, pouring, dividing dough, and much more. She was worn out. Tired, the girl moved to the couch, and fell asleep.
The next afternoon, Brock had let her sleep in, Michelle felt someone gently rocking her. She opened her eyes to see none other than Ash. "Daddy!" Michelle squealed and hugged the man as he lifted her up. She saw that she wasn't on the couch anymore, or even her room. No, she was asleep on her parents bed.
Misty came up beside Ash. "Morning baby." Misty said as she snuck between Ash's arms and gave Michelle a hug.
Just then, Michelle remembered all of what happened last night. "Dad, where's Brock?" Michelle asked, still embraced in her father's hug.
"He just left." Ash replied, stroking her fire red hair.
"Did you know Brock and his family ate at a shelter when he was younger?" Michelle asked as Misty and Ash looked at one another.
"Yes, we did. But how did you know?" Ash asked as he set the child on the bed.
"He told me. When he found me here last night, he had me come with him. We made a hundred loaves of cornbread for the homeless."
"Really?" Ash asked, getting hungry.
"That must be what Brock left us in the kitchen." Misty added. Ash, taking his thoughts off the cornbread waiting downstairs, still had a question.
"Brock left us some cornbread?" Michelle asked.
"Yep, he must have made a hundred and one loaves. Because there's one downstairs wrapped in tin foil." Misty said.
"But Michelle, why were you in our room?" Ash asked curiously.
"Because it smells like you." Michelle said as she threw a pillow at Ash, who easily caught it "And because I was scared. You scared me."
"Me?" Ash pointed to himself.
"Yes you! You scared me. I thought I'd never see you again." Michelle said, in an angry, exacerbated tone. Ash frowned.
"Oh Shelly." Ash mewed as he kissed the girl on the head. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Can you forgive me?"
"Yes, oh and one more thing..." Michelle started as she got on her feet.
"What is it princess?" Ash asked.
"Last one to the cornbread gets the dry piece!" Michelle yelled as she raced down to the kitchen. Pikachu, and Ash right behind her.
The End