Silent Voices
"Misty!" a young man cried, waking up from his fitful slumber. The darkness enveloped the room, and moonlight streamed through the open window. The sheer curtains tumbled around like milky froth from the cool breeze outside. The whole scene looked eerily peaceful, but the rapidly beating heart of Ash Ketchum testified otherwise. His forehead was covered in perspiration, and it took him several minutes to realize that he was home, in his own bed, and not in the horrifying nightmare that had, in reality, occurred years ago. The accident kept replaying in his mind like a never-ending film. Ash threw back the covers and got out of bed. No more sleep would come tonight. He went downstairs and into the kitchen, where he proceeded to boil some milk for hot chocolate. When it was ready, he took the drink and headed outside, slumping down on the front porch. He gazed up at the stars, sipping the cooling hot chocolate and thinking about the past.
~*~*~
"Ash, would you please slow down? You're giving me a headache!" Misty Waterflower complained. Ash ignored her. If anything, he ran faster, peering into hollow logs, into flower filled meadows bursting with life. Butterfrees danced across the petals, and Ash stooped and picked a few flowers, gave them to Misty, shattered the dreamy look in her eyes by telling her maybe THIS would shut her up, and running ahead again. Misty pressed a hand to her forehead and groaned, looking skyward as if to say, "Why me?" Brock chuckled lightly beside her.
"Same old Ash," he said with a grin. They were making their way through Viridian Forest, heading to Pallet Town. Ash was on the lookout for new pokemon again, but Misty didn't know why he bothered. All there was in Viridian Forest were bug pokemon and Pikachu. He already had a pikachu. Misty looked around, keeping an eye out for any gross bug pokemon. Misty clasped the blossoms in her hand, smelling their sweet fragrance. Misty was inhaling the scent, when she caught another smell. She lifted her head in alarm and smelled again. Yes, it was exactly what she thought it was.
"Ash!" she said worriedly. He heard the seriousness in her voice this time and stopped short. He flashed her a lopsided smile.
"I know, I know. Stop running around, I'm giving you a headache. Right?" He guessed. Misty ignored him and her eyes opened wider.
"Call me paranoid, Ash, but is that smoke I smell?" Ash furrowed his brows and thought for a minute. He smelled the air as well, but he didn't seem worried.
"Aw, Misty, it's probably a campfire or something," he said as he walked ahead. "It's just some camper cooking, or trying to get warm…" he stopped as he pushed aside some shrubbery and glanced at the scene before him. The forest was alight. "Or maybe not," he said weakly. Not far ahead, maybe half a mile away or so, dead pine needles had caught on fire. The flames had spread to rotten logs, bushes, and even trees. Team Rocket stood nearby with frantic looks on their faces. Ash stormed over to them.
"What the..?! How did you do this?!" Ash asked them furiously. Jesse wiped her smoke streaked face and told him,
"Our new guaranteed-to-catch-pikachu machine, um, exploded," she said. "It was all Meowth's fault!" Jesse said quickly. Meowth glared at her. Ash rolled his eyes and sighed. He walked towards the flames, muttering just loud enough for them to hear,
"Yeah yeah. It's Ash to the rescue again. No, don't ever think of anything to -help- him through his daily life, he doesn't have enough troubles," He surveyed the scene. His hand reached out to his belt, and he lifted off a pokeball.
"Oh no.. he's not gonna.." Misty said.
"Oh, yeah. He's gonna," Brock said.
"SQUIRTLE! GO!" Yelled Ash. A red beam shot out of the center of the pokeball. "We've got to help put out the fire, Squirtle. Water gun, now!"
A torrent of water shot out of Squirtle's mouth and it ran closer to the fire to have more effect. That was a big mistake, as the fire was by now, uncontrollable. A burning log fell across Squirtle's escape route, and it was in a circle of fire. It looked around wildly for a way out. Squirtle started blasting the fire with cold streams of water, but if nothing else, the fire sputtered and flared up higher. The heat was causing squirtle to look shimmery from where Ash stood, and squirtle gave up and went into its shell. Ash cried out and ran towards the crackling flames. Pulling out squirtle's pokeball again, Ash lifted it and called out for squirtle to return. A crimson beam shot out of the sphere towards the turtle pokemon. The ray hit the blaze and bounced back like a yo-yo. Ash lowered the pokeball and his arms dropped to his sides.
"It.. can't penetrate through that heat," Ash whispered quietly. Then his voice became louder and he yelled out, "I'm not going to let Squirtle die!" He hesitated only a moment longer then sprinted into the scorching fire. He didn't seem to hear Misty scream for him not to go, or Brock's startled gasp. Neither did he hear Jessie say softly, "Stupid kid. I wish I was that brave." Nor would he have listened if he had heard.
Ash felt a searing pain flare through his body, and then he was in the heart of the flames. He looked around, shielding his eyes with one hand, and holding his jacket up to cover his nose and mouth with the other. His mother's voice echoed through his head. "In a fire, always crawl if you can. That way, the smoke won't be as thick." Ash bent down as low as he could and then moved towards Squirtle. He momentarily let go of his jacket and recalled his pokemon. Replacing his pokeball back on his belt, he suddenly looked around at his surroundings. His eyes widened as he realized where he was, and the rashness of his actions. He couldn't have let squirtle die, though, and despite his growing fear, he felt that he had done the right thing.
"Team Rocket! Run and get help!" Brock yelled at the trio, and sensing the urgency and seriousness in his voice, they nodded and sprinted off into the distance. A voice could be heard as they ran: "This is all your fault James! Now he's going to die and then who're we going to steal from? We can't steal a dead kid's Pikachu…" Jessie's voice faded away and was gone. Brock turned back just in time to see Misty run through the fire into the untouched area where Ash was located, despite the fact that the wall of flames were too thick and dense to reach the other side without serious injury. "NO MISTY!" He yelled, but she didn't listen, and pressed forward, flesh searing, until she reached Ash. She grabbed Pidgeotto's pokeball from Ash's belt and released the pokemon.
"Ash.." She said weakly. "Take Pidgeotto and fly to safety…" Her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground.
"NO!" He said firmly. "I can't leave you behind. You have to come with me; it's your only chance. By the time Pidgeotto came back for you, you would be dead." Misty did not answer, but she moaned with pain. Ash lifted her up gently and placed her on Pidgeotto's back. He climbed on as well, and mumbled to the bird pokemon, "You have a heavy burden, but this is important. Fly us to safety, Pidgeotto." Pidgeotto chirped in reply and started flapping its wings. They lifted into the air, slow and unbalanced. Pidgeotto struggled mightily, but failed when they were about ten metres (Author's note: I'm Canadian, so it's in metric) in the air. Misty tumbled to the ground, striking her head on a rock with a sickening crunch. She twitched, and lay still. Pidgeotto did not notice that Misty had fallen off. It started flying again, and landed on the other side of the inferno. Ash was safe, but Misty was not. As Brock ran over to Ash, the bird Pokemon looked back and found Ash crying. It looked quizzically at its master, until Ash blurted out that Misty was still in there. Brock looked horrified, and then began to cry too. Pidgeotto, trying to make Ash feel better, flew around the perimeter of the fire, but found no way back inside.
Misty had fallen 10 terrifying meters and landed on a rock. A dizzy feeling clouded her thinking. Misty struggled to keep from breathing in the smoke but failed. Finally she accepted the truth. She would probably die. At least Ash was safe. With that knowledge Misty sank into peaceful oblivion.
*~*
The fire trucks arrived and Officer Jenny stepped out to see a hysterical Ash with Brock comforting him. Ash had recalled Pidgeotto and was sitting on a boulder 50 feet from the flames, shivering despite the unbearable heat. Officer Jenny walked over to them while the fire fighters tried to put out the fire.
"Do you know what happened here? I'll have to file a report," she whipped out a notepad and held her pen poised above the pad.
"Help Misty! She's in there somewhere!" Ash yelled, breaking into fresh tears.
"A girl is in there!?" Officer Jenny asked, horrified. She pulled out her radio and reported, "A girl is stuck in the middle of the fire! Get her out! And get an ambulance out here!" She stuck the radio back in her pocket and took Ash's report. Finally out of the radio came a fuzzy voice,
"We've got her! She's out. We're loading her in the ambulance now. She's in rough condition. It looks doubtful to me," and then the voice ended. Ash ran over to the ambulance with Brock behind him. Ash asked the driver if they could come. The driver replied,
"Sure, but only one more can come. One of you has to stay." Ash looked at Brock. Brock grinned tiredly.
"You go on, Ash. I'll come along later." Ash nodded and climbed in the ambulance next to the unconscious Misty.
*~*
At the hospital Ash sat in the waiting room with his head in his hands. Misty was in the emergency room . Ash felt guilty. Guilty he didn't do more. In his mind he knew he couldn't have done anything for her, but his heart didn't know that. He thought about when they first met, when he had been running away from the spearow and she had fished him out of the river. He had taken an instant liking to her, but would never admit it. He thought about his travels with her, fighting in the Cerulean gym, on the sinking SS Anne, when they battled for Togepy, and when he entered the pokemon league and, after many long hard battles, won. The celebrating after the League. He had come close to telling her how he felt then, but was too scared. He wasn't even sure he could admit it to himself.
"Misty!" Ash cried.
Suddenly the emergency room door opened and a doctor came out.
"Ash Ketchum?" the doctor said. "Come with me." Ash got out of his seat and followed the doctor through the door. They headed left into another wing. They entered a hospital room. Ash nearly fainted. There was Misty, quiet and still on the bed. She had burns all over. Bandages covered her head and the rest of her body. Only her face was showing. Tubes were surrounding her and a heart monitor blipped beside her. An IV ran into her arm. " We've got her stabilized, but it doesn't look good," the doctor told Ash. " She was exposed to the smoke and heat for so long, her vocal cords are failing. Her lungs are weak, and she has burns on her entire body. She was unconscious when they found her, and has now lapsed into a coma due to shock. I'm sorry, but she only has a 30 percent chance of waking up. If she does, she has also bruised her lower spinal cord because of the fall she took. She will most likely be temporarily paralyzed, needing intensive therapy. And she will probably never speak again. I'm sorry."
Ash collapsed in the chair in the corner of the room.
"She might not live?" Ash asked painfully.
"Unfortunately, she doesn't have a good chance. But only time will tell. I'll leave you alone now." The doctor turned to leave the room. Ash said,
"Doctor?" The doctor turned around. "She'll live, doctor, she's a fighter. She'll live."
"Let's hope so." The doctor left the room.
*~*
For the next few weeks, Ash never moved from Misty's side. Brock came in every day with Pikachu and Togepi but was staying at the Pokemon Center in town. As they left they flashed Ash a sympathetic look. They knew how Ash felt about Misty. Ash sat there, day after day, night after night. The weeks melted into months. Still Ash sat there, until the day when Misty woke up.
Misty felt strange. For the longest time she had felt like she was floating in an unreal world. She felt brief flashes of pain, but not too bad. Misty knew she had to get out of her trapped state. She knew someone she cared about would be waiting if she did. Misty struggled and struggled and finally broke free of the bonds holding her prisoner. Misty opened her eyes slowly.
"Doctor, she's waking up! Misty's waking up!" a voice boomed in Misty's head. She looked up and saw…Ash! Ash was there. Right beside her bed. Looking at her with such care and tenderness she was shocked. She extended her arms and wrapped them around his waist. He hesitated, then gently wrapped his arms around her. During the months Misty was in a coma, all her injuries were healed, except her temporary paralysis, her damaged vocal cords, and the trauma of her accident. The doctor burst in the door.
"It's a miracle! You were as good as dead, Miss Waterflower." Misty turned her attention to the doctor and pointed to her throat. "Oh, your vocal cords are seriously damaged. You may not talk again." Misty grabbed a notepad from the table beside her bed and wrote,
"Do I have any chance of talking again? And what happened to my legs?" The doctor sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Misty, do you remember falling off Pidgeotto?" Misty nodded. "Well, you landed on a rock and bruised you spinal cord. You have temporary paralysis. You will walk again, but you need intensive therapy. Tomorrow, if you are well, you will be brought to a training room ."
"Do I have to?" Misty wrote.
"If you are physically able, yes. You need to regain the use of your legs. As for your voice, you have suffered serious smoke inhalation. You have a slight chance of talking again, but right now we need to concentrate on healing your legs. I'll leave you two alone now." The doctor left the room.
Ash turned to Misty.
"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered.
Misty was shocked. Ash was acting as if he.. cared? No. That couldn't be. Ash loved her like a sister and he had always made that known. Misty smiled. She wrote,
"Well, I'm alive, aren't I?"
*~*
The next day Ash wheeled Misty into the training room where she would spend much of her time over the next couple of months. Ash had insisted on bringing Misty there himself, lifting her out of the hospital bed and gently setting her in the wheelchair. Then he pushed her through the corridors to the training room. A nurse took over once they were there, and Ash sat on a chair in the corner of the room. He looked around. The room was full of exercise equipment, and a door led off into another room. A therapist checked Misty over, and pronounced her ready to begin her training. All Misty would be doing today was getting a massage, and then some tests to see determine how much feeling was in her limbs. After that was over Ash wheeled Misty back into her room. He sat beside her and they "talked". Ash talking, Misty writing. He told her everything that had happened on That Day and everything since. Misty didn't really have much to say, so she mainly listened. When the nurses came to tell Ash visiting hours was over, and it was 11:00, curfew, Misty begged that Ash could stay with her, please could they just bring in an extra cot? The nurses yielded. The two teens OBVIOUSLY loved each other, and who were they to fool with young love? So they brought in an extra cot. Ash put his things away and went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, he settled down under his covers and sighed. The nurses turned out the lights and left. After about five minutes, Ash propped himself up on his elbow. He looked at Misty. She was already asleep. He guessed she was tired after her first day of therapy. Since she was asleep..
"Misty, I'm a fool. I guess I have to admit it to myself sometime, I…I…love you. With all my heart. I was afraid I'd lost you." And with a sigh, Ash settled back in, letting the dark and the quiet envelop the room, the youth fell asleep.
*~*
Misty awoke with the sunlight streaming onto her bed. She'd slept in. Time to get going on their pokemon journey. When she tried to sit up, she felt the leaden weight of her useless legs pulling her down. Startled, she remembered the accident. Misty lay back down. She pulled the covers around her shoulders and cried.
About an hour later Ash woke up. He got out of his cot and stretched, calling over to Misty, "Time to get up!" When she didn't respond, he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Misty?" He heard her crying. "Misty, what's wrong?" She turned over to him and pulled out her notepad.
"I feel so useless," she wrote. Ash stared at her. He burst out,
"Misty, in all the years I've known you, you have never given up. I admired you for your determination, and I don't expect you to give up NOW when you need that determination the most!"
Misty nodded slowly. "Thanks," she wrote. "I needed that,"
"Now come on," Ash said. "Time for your therapy session."
"Misty!" a young man cried, waking up from his fitful slumber. The darkness enveloped the room, and moonlight streamed through the open window. The sheer curtains tumbled around like milky froth from the cool breeze outside. The whole scene looked eerily peaceful, but the rapidly beating heart of Ash Ketchum testified otherwise. His forehead was covered in perspiration, and it took him several minutes to realize that he was home, in his own bed, and not in the horrifying nightmare that had, in reality, occurred years ago. The accident kept replaying in his mind like a never-ending film. Ash threw back the covers and got out of bed. No more sleep would come tonight. He went downstairs and into the kitchen, where he proceeded to boil some milk for hot chocolate. When it was ready, he took the drink and headed outside, slumping down on the front porch. He gazed up at the stars, sipping the cooling hot chocolate and thinking about the past.
~*~*~
"Ash, would you please slow down? You're giving me a headache!" Misty Waterflower complained. Ash ignored her. If anything, he ran faster, peering into hollow logs, into flower filled meadows bursting with life. Butterfrees danced across the petals, and Ash stooped and picked a few flowers, gave them to Misty, shattered the dreamy look in her eyes by telling her maybe THIS would shut her up, and running ahead again. Misty pressed a hand to her forehead and groaned, looking skyward as if to say, "Why me?" Brock chuckled lightly beside her.
"Same old Ash," he said with a grin. They were making their way through Viridian Forest, heading to Pallet Town. Ash was on the lookout for new pokemon again, but Misty didn't know why he bothered. All there was in Viridian Forest were bug pokemon and Pikachu. He already had a pikachu. Misty looked around, keeping an eye out for any gross bug pokemon. Misty clasped the blossoms in her hand, smelling their sweet fragrance. Misty was inhaling the scent, when she caught another smell. She lifted her head in alarm and smelled again. Yes, it was exactly what she thought it was.
"Ash!" she said worriedly. He heard the seriousness in her voice this time and stopped short. He flashed her a lopsided smile.
"I know, I know. Stop running around, I'm giving you a headache. Right?" He guessed. Misty ignored him and her eyes opened wider.
"Call me paranoid, Ash, but is that smoke I smell?" Ash furrowed his brows and thought for a minute. He smelled the air as well, but he didn't seem worried.
"Aw, Misty, it's probably a campfire or something," he said as he walked ahead. "It's just some camper cooking, or trying to get warm…" he stopped as he pushed aside some shrubbery and glanced at the scene before him. The forest was alight. "Or maybe not," he said weakly. Not far ahead, maybe half a mile away or so, dead pine needles had caught on fire. The flames had spread to rotten logs, bushes, and even trees. Team Rocket stood nearby with frantic looks on their faces. Ash stormed over to them.
"What the..?! How did you do this?!" Ash asked them furiously. Jesse wiped her smoke streaked face and told him,
"Our new guaranteed-to-catch-pikachu machine, um, exploded," she said. "It was all Meowth's fault!" Jesse said quickly. Meowth glared at her. Ash rolled his eyes and sighed. He walked towards the flames, muttering just loud enough for them to hear,
"Yeah yeah. It's Ash to the rescue again. No, don't ever think of anything to -help- him through his daily life, he doesn't have enough troubles," He surveyed the scene. His hand reached out to his belt, and he lifted off a pokeball.
"Oh no.. he's not gonna.." Misty said.
"Oh, yeah. He's gonna," Brock said.
"SQUIRTLE! GO!" Yelled Ash. A red beam shot out of the center of the pokeball. "We've got to help put out the fire, Squirtle. Water gun, now!"
A torrent of water shot out of Squirtle's mouth and it ran closer to the fire to have more effect. That was a big mistake, as the fire was by now, uncontrollable. A burning log fell across Squirtle's escape route, and it was in a circle of fire. It looked around wildly for a way out. Squirtle started blasting the fire with cold streams of water, but if nothing else, the fire sputtered and flared up higher. The heat was causing squirtle to look shimmery from where Ash stood, and squirtle gave up and went into its shell. Ash cried out and ran towards the crackling flames. Pulling out squirtle's pokeball again, Ash lifted it and called out for squirtle to return. A crimson beam shot out of the sphere towards the turtle pokemon. The ray hit the blaze and bounced back like a yo-yo. Ash lowered the pokeball and his arms dropped to his sides.
"It.. can't penetrate through that heat," Ash whispered quietly. Then his voice became louder and he yelled out, "I'm not going to let Squirtle die!" He hesitated only a moment longer then sprinted into the scorching fire. He didn't seem to hear Misty scream for him not to go, or Brock's startled gasp. Neither did he hear Jessie say softly, "Stupid kid. I wish I was that brave." Nor would he have listened if he had heard.
Ash felt a searing pain flare through his body, and then he was in the heart of the flames. He looked around, shielding his eyes with one hand, and holding his jacket up to cover his nose and mouth with the other. His mother's voice echoed through his head. "In a fire, always crawl if you can. That way, the smoke won't be as thick." Ash bent down as low as he could and then moved towards Squirtle. He momentarily let go of his jacket and recalled his pokemon. Replacing his pokeball back on his belt, he suddenly looked around at his surroundings. His eyes widened as he realized where he was, and the rashness of his actions. He couldn't have let squirtle die, though, and despite his growing fear, he felt that he had done the right thing.
"Team Rocket! Run and get help!" Brock yelled at the trio, and sensing the urgency and seriousness in his voice, they nodded and sprinted off into the distance. A voice could be heard as they ran: "This is all your fault James! Now he's going to die and then who're we going to steal from? We can't steal a dead kid's Pikachu…" Jessie's voice faded away and was gone. Brock turned back just in time to see Misty run through the fire into the untouched area where Ash was located, despite the fact that the wall of flames were too thick and dense to reach the other side without serious injury. "NO MISTY!" He yelled, but she didn't listen, and pressed forward, flesh searing, until she reached Ash. She grabbed Pidgeotto's pokeball from Ash's belt and released the pokemon.
"Ash.." She said weakly. "Take Pidgeotto and fly to safety…" Her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground.
"NO!" He said firmly. "I can't leave you behind. You have to come with me; it's your only chance. By the time Pidgeotto came back for you, you would be dead." Misty did not answer, but she moaned with pain. Ash lifted her up gently and placed her on Pidgeotto's back. He climbed on as well, and mumbled to the bird pokemon, "You have a heavy burden, but this is important. Fly us to safety, Pidgeotto." Pidgeotto chirped in reply and started flapping its wings. They lifted into the air, slow and unbalanced. Pidgeotto struggled mightily, but failed when they were about ten metres (Author's note: I'm Canadian, so it's in metric) in the air. Misty tumbled to the ground, striking her head on a rock with a sickening crunch. She twitched, and lay still. Pidgeotto did not notice that Misty had fallen off. It started flying again, and landed on the other side of the inferno. Ash was safe, but Misty was not. As Brock ran over to Ash, the bird Pokemon looked back and found Ash crying. It looked quizzically at its master, until Ash blurted out that Misty was still in there. Brock looked horrified, and then began to cry too. Pidgeotto, trying to make Ash feel better, flew around the perimeter of the fire, but found no way back inside.
Misty had fallen 10 terrifying meters and landed on a rock. A dizzy feeling clouded her thinking. Misty struggled to keep from breathing in the smoke but failed. Finally she accepted the truth. She would probably die. At least Ash was safe. With that knowledge Misty sank into peaceful oblivion.
*~*
The fire trucks arrived and Officer Jenny stepped out to see a hysterical Ash with Brock comforting him. Ash had recalled Pidgeotto and was sitting on a boulder 50 feet from the flames, shivering despite the unbearable heat. Officer Jenny walked over to them while the fire fighters tried to put out the fire.
"Do you know what happened here? I'll have to file a report," she whipped out a notepad and held her pen poised above the pad.
"Help Misty! She's in there somewhere!" Ash yelled, breaking into fresh tears.
"A girl is in there!?" Officer Jenny asked, horrified. She pulled out her radio and reported, "A girl is stuck in the middle of the fire! Get her out! And get an ambulance out here!" She stuck the radio back in her pocket and took Ash's report. Finally out of the radio came a fuzzy voice,
"We've got her! She's out. We're loading her in the ambulance now. She's in rough condition. It looks doubtful to me," and then the voice ended. Ash ran over to the ambulance with Brock behind him. Ash asked the driver if they could come. The driver replied,
"Sure, but only one more can come. One of you has to stay." Ash looked at Brock. Brock grinned tiredly.
"You go on, Ash. I'll come along later." Ash nodded and climbed in the ambulance next to the unconscious Misty.
*~*
At the hospital Ash sat in the waiting room with his head in his hands. Misty was in the emergency room . Ash felt guilty. Guilty he didn't do more. In his mind he knew he couldn't have done anything for her, but his heart didn't know that. He thought about when they first met, when he had been running away from the spearow and she had fished him out of the river. He had taken an instant liking to her, but would never admit it. He thought about his travels with her, fighting in the Cerulean gym, on the sinking SS Anne, when they battled for Togepy, and when he entered the pokemon league and, after many long hard battles, won. The celebrating after the League. He had come close to telling her how he felt then, but was too scared. He wasn't even sure he could admit it to himself.
"Misty!" Ash cried.
Suddenly the emergency room door opened and a doctor came out.
"Ash Ketchum?" the doctor said. "Come with me." Ash got out of his seat and followed the doctor through the door. They headed left into another wing. They entered a hospital room. Ash nearly fainted. There was Misty, quiet and still on the bed. She had burns all over. Bandages covered her head and the rest of her body. Only her face was showing. Tubes were surrounding her and a heart monitor blipped beside her. An IV ran into her arm. " We've got her stabilized, but it doesn't look good," the doctor told Ash. " She was exposed to the smoke and heat for so long, her vocal cords are failing. Her lungs are weak, and she has burns on her entire body. She was unconscious when they found her, and has now lapsed into a coma due to shock. I'm sorry, but she only has a 30 percent chance of waking up. If she does, she has also bruised her lower spinal cord because of the fall she took. She will most likely be temporarily paralyzed, needing intensive therapy. And she will probably never speak again. I'm sorry."
Ash collapsed in the chair in the corner of the room.
"She might not live?" Ash asked painfully.
"Unfortunately, she doesn't have a good chance. But only time will tell. I'll leave you alone now." The doctor turned to leave the room. Ash said,
"Doctor?" The doctor turned around. "She'll live, doctor, she's a fighter. She'll live."
"Let's hope so." The doctor left the room.
*~*
For the next few weeks, Ash never moved from Misty's side. Brock came in every day with Pikachu and Togepi but was staying at the Pokemon Center in town. As they left they flashed Ash a sympathetic look. They knew how Ash felt about Misty. Ash sat there, day after day, night after night. The weeks melted into months. Still Ash sat there, until the day when Misty woke up.
Misty felt strange. For the longest time she had felt like she was floating in an unreal world. She felt brief flashes of pain, but not too bad. Misty knew she had to get out of her trapped state. She knew someone she cared about would be waiting if she did. Misty struggled and struggled and finally broke free of the bonds holding her prisoner. Misty opened her eyes slowly.
"Doctor, she's waking up! Misty's waking up!" a voice boomed in Misty's head. She looked up and saw…Ash! Ash was there. Right beside her bed. Looking at her with such care and tenderness she was shocked. She extended her arms and wrapped them around his waist. He hesitated, then gently wrapped his arms around her. During the months Misty was in a coma, all her injuries were healed, except her temporary paralysis, her damaged vocal cords, and the trauma of her accident. The doctor burst in the door.
"It's a miracle! You were as good as dead, Miss Waterflower." Misty turned her attention to the doctor and pointed to her throat. "Oh, your vocal cords are seriously damaged. You may not talk again." Misty grabbed a notepad from the table beside her bed and wrote,
"Do I have any chance of talking again? And what happened to my legs?" The doctor sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed.
"Misty, do you remember falling off Pidgeotto?" Misty nodded. "Well, you landed on a rock and bruised you spinal cord. You have temporary paralysis. You will walk again, but you need intensive therapy. Tomorrow, if you are well, you will be brought to a training room ."
"Do I have to?" Misty wrote.
"If you are physically able, yes. You need to regain the use of your legs. As for your voice, you have suffered serious smoke inhalation. You have a slight chance of talking again, but right now we need to concentrate on healing your legs. I'll leave you two alone now." The doctor left the room.
Ash turned to Misty.
"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered.
Misty was shocked. Ash was acting as if he.. cared? No. That couldn't be. Ash loved her like a sister and he had always made that known. Misty smiled. She wrote,
"Well, I'm alive, aren't I?"
*~*
The next day Ash wheeled Misty into the training room where she would spend much of her time over the next couple of months. Ash had insisted on bringing Misty there himself, lifting her out of the hospital bed and gently setting her in the wheelchair. Then he pushed her through the corridors to the training room. A nurse took over once they were there, and Ash sat on a chair in the corner of the room. He looked around. The room was full of exercise equipment, and a door led off into another room. A therapist checked Misty over, and pronounced her ready to begin her training. All Misty would be doing today was getting a massage, and then some tests to see determine how much feeling was in her limbs. After that was over Ash wheeled Misty back into her room. He sat beside her and they "talked". Ash talking, Misty writing. He told her everything that had happened on That Day and everything since. Misty didn't really have much to say, so she mainly listened. When the nurses came to tell Ash visiting hours was over, and it was 11:00, curfew, Misty begged that Ash could stay with her, please could they just bring in an extra cot? The nurses yielded. The two teens OBVIOUSLY loved each other, and who were they to fool with young love? So they brought in an extra cot. Ash put his things away and went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, he settled down under his covers and sighed. The nurses turned out the lights and left. After about five minutes, Ash propped himself up on his elbow. He looked at Misty. She was already asleep. He guessed she was tired after her first day of therapy. Since she was asleep..
"Misty, I'm a fool. I guess I have to admit it to myself sometime, I…I…love you. With all my heart. I was afraid I'd lost you." And with a sigh, Ash settled back in, letting the dark and the quiet envelop the room, the youth fell asleep.
*~*
Misty awoke with the sunlight streaming onto her bed. She'd slept in. Time to get going on their pokemon journey. When she tried to sit up, she felt the leaden weight of her useless legs pulling her down. Startled, she remembered the accident. Misty lay back down. She pulled the covers around her shoulders and cried.
About an hour later Ash woke up. He got out of his cot and stretched, calling over to Misty, "Time to get up!" When she didn't respond, he walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Misty?" He heard her crying. "Misty, what's wrong?" She turned over to him and pulled out her notepad.
"I feel so useless," she wrote. Ash stared at her. He burst out,
"Misty, in all the years I've known you, you have never given up. I admired you for your determination, and I don't expect you to give up NOW when you need that determination the most!"
Misty nodded slowly. "Thanks," she wrote. "I needed that,"
"Now come on," Ash said. "Time for your therapy session."