A Pair of Two Doubles

Chapter 2 - "The Pokémon Center"

SWISH

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy! Where is she?" Brock asked excitedly as he entered the Pokémon Center. "Nurse Joy! Where are you, my sweetheart?" He was practically crying now, for he was not able to find her. He ran over to the counter and looked both ways. "Nurse Joy!"

Ash sighed as he entered the Pokémon Center soon after. "I guess he'll never learn, Pikachu." The Pokémon who was sitting on his right shoulder nodded.

SHISS

A big pink Pokémon popped its head from behind the reception desk. It was wearing a little nurse hat and looked very happy. "Chansey!" it squealed while lifting its small arms up as soon as it saw the new people who had just entered the establishment.

"Chansey!" Ash was always excited to see a Pokémon, no matter how many times he had seen it before. They were always so new and exciting to him. He started to walk towards Chansey. "Chansey, do you think..."

"Chansey!"

Ash skipped a beat when he saw something quickly make its way between him and the pink Pokémon.

"Where's Nurse Joy? I just have to see her! Now!" The 'something' asked in desperation as he supported himself with his hands over the counter.

Ash sweatdropped when he realized it was Brock. "Brock!" He knew, however, that scolding Brock was useless.

"Oh, why, hello there. I'm Nurse Joy. Is there anything I can do for you?" Nurse Joy pleasantly asked while stepping into the lobby. She was wearing her usual short pink dress with her usual white apron over it.

"Nurse Joy!" Brock was the one who squealed this time. He ran over to her and gently yet swiftly cupped his hands around hers. He started to blush as he quickly said, "Nurse Joy, everybody is born for a reason, and now that we have met, I have found mine!"

"Uh..." Nurse Joy was speechless.

"Would you like to get together this evening for a cup of my famous tea and stew?"

Ash looked out of one of the two windows in the room. "Please, Brock. The 'evening' is practically here already. There's no way she can leave in such short notice..." Ash replied before Nurse Joy ever got the chance to. Although, from his point of view, even if Nurse Joy had the chance to answer, she wouldn't have said anything because she looked very shocked with Brock's sudden proposal.

"But 'ya see, Ash, Nurse Joy is one of the most kindhearted people in the world! She'd never let anybody down!" He looked at her with even more desperate need for affection in his eyes.

"Yeah, but who'd want to drink tea and have some stew at the same time? Making her do that is just cruel..." he whispered to Pikachu. The Pokémon couldn't help but chuckle. Ash looked at it with a satisfied grin on his face. He loved making his yellow friend glad.

Ash sighed. Brock's never going to give her a break. But this is wierd. I have never seen Brock's attempts to get a girlfriend ever last so long. I wonder what's different...

He suddenly got some sense knocked into him. Misty... She's not here to cool Brock off... He looked around.

"Hey! Where's Misty, Pikachu?"

Pikachu flipped its head to all directions searching for their red-headed friend. "Pika..." it said in an uncertain way. It leaped from its trainer's shoulder and landed on the floor. Pikachu approached the entrance doors to look out the glass. Unfortunately, since it was getting dark outside, all it could see was its own reflection.

SWISH

"Well, thanks a lot for waiting for me..." Misty sarcastically remarked as she joined them in the Pokémon Center. She panted lightly while she said this.

Pikachu knew Ash and Misty would be okay, even though it predicted another fight. It was more concerned about Togepi. But as soon as it looked at the little egg Pokémon, it realized it was being silly, for Togepi couldn't look more peaceful in Misty's arms if it wanted to. Pikachu wondered how it could look so calm after tumbling down a steep hill with two people loudly arguing throughout the entire event. It came to the conclusion that Misty must be an excellent mother.

SHISS

"Uh... Sorry..." Ash responded, scratching the back of his head.

"Be quiet. I don't think I want to hear your voice anymore today." Misty coldly replied with her head held up high and her eyes closed. She walked past him.

"But..."

Misty turned around and once again used her threatning glare.

Ash sighed. Fine, but I'm only doing this because I no longer feel like fighting today. It's way too late and I'm tired. It has nothing to do with you asking me to... He imagined sticking out his tongue at her while thinking this. He knew that sticking out his tongue at her was definitely not the best way to prevent a fight, but just imagining it made him feel better.

Misty scanned the lobby. The Pokémon Center's one was a calm little place with white walls and with a light green marble floor. There was a pink counter a few feet from the automatic sliding doors and about three other doors and a corridor leading to unknown places. She could also see a dark green cozy couch placed right by the window. She decided to sit on it.

"Where's Brock?" she suddenly asked as she sat down. She sounded like nothing had happened between her and Ash just a few seconds ago.

Ash just stood there. He looked at Pikachu and Pikachu looked back at him. Neither knew what they were supposed to do.

"Are you deaf? I asked you where Brock was!" Misty turned to look at Ash.

"Hey! What do you expect me to do? You just told me be quiet!" he pointed out, a little confused at what had just happened. He placed both his fists on his waist. But, now that he thought about it, he didn't know where Brock was. He figured he was probably following Nurse Joy around.

"Humpf!" Misty snorted. She looked away and directed her sight out into the sky. It was the beginning of the evening, and the sky, although was mostly dark blue, had some portions of it tinged in an orange hue. The sun was about to disappear behind two little yellow houses which stood right in front of the window.

"Please, Nurse Joy! My heart is very delicate and it needs your love and affection to keep it from shattering into smithereens!"

Ash and Misty both heard Brock whine to Nurse Joy as she returned to the lobby. Brock was obviously following her.

"Argh, Brock..." Misty picked herself up from the couch, leaving Togepi withdrawn in its egg on a cushion. Pikachu imediately trotted itself over to the couch and plopped beside it. It gently patted Togepi's egg shell. "Pipipi..."

Ash saw this and thought he did a fine job raising Pikachu. It was such a caring Pokémon. Except that his eyes soon landed on a familiar scene.

"Brock! If you don't stop right now, you're not even gonna have a heart to be shattered!" Misty grabbed Brock by his left ear and pulled him away. This hurt Brock imensly. He had to let go off Nurse Joy or else he thought he would pass out from the pain.

Ash saw the whole scene and couldn't help but smirk at the way his friends always acted.

"Uh... Nurse Joy? We were just wondering if you had any rooms left for us here in the Pokémon Center..." Misty politely asked Nurse Joy with a ear beloning to Brock in between two of her fingers. He kept frantically yelling in pain. Misty could easlily ignore this.

"Oh, we sure do! I'm afraid we only have one, though... But I'm sure that the three of you could sleep in there just fine!" She decided not to mind the boy who kept wildly moving around, because she could see that his friends didn't seem to care much, so she smiled. "Unless there are more people who will be joining you later..." she added as with a concerned look on her face.

"Oh, no! It's just the three of us! One room will be just fine!" As soon as Misty said this, she let go off Brock. He covered his ear with both hands. "Oww..."

"Well, then. Let me show you to your rooms." Nurse Joy got a key from behind the counter and with her calm voice, continued, "Follow me." She left for the corridor.

"Right behind 'ya, my sweet angel!" Brock skipped after her with a dreamy smile on his face. Misty watched and thought that she didn't pull on Brock's ear hard enough. She sighed.

The Cerulean City Gym Leader went back to where the couch was and carefully lifted Togepi. "Thank you for taking care of it, Pikachu..." she whispered to the mouse-like creature who had kept her baby Pokémon company. She scratched its head and Pikachu sweetly responded to this act with a "Pi..."

"Nurse Joy! Please don't leave me here alone! Can't I stay with you at the reception desk? You look like you had a busy day and that you could use some aid..."

Ash and Misty both heard Brock whining once again to Nurse Joy from way down the corridor. They sighed. Once each of them realized that the other had done the same, they lightly giggled.

"Well, let's go then!" Ash said. Misty smiled in agreement. They both walked down the corridor. "Good night, Chansey!" he said as he walked past the Pokémon.

"Sweet dreams!" Misty added.

"Chansey! Chansey!" Chansey happily recited as they left the lobby. It hopped from one foot to another repeatedly.

Pikachu jumped off the couch and followed its trainer.

When they approached the doorway to their room, they looked puzzled. Brock was on one knee and he held up a bouquet of red roses to Nurse Joy. She just held both of her hands up in a 'that won't be necessary' way.

"Brock!" they screamed in unison as they entered.This diverted all of Nurse Joy's attention to them. Brock, however, just kept on making run-on sentences that compared his qualities to flowers.

"Oh, now that you're here, I'll leave you three to your own business!" The kind nurse seemed relieved to see them there. She quickly left the room and closed the door behind her. Ash was pretty sure he heard her say from the other side of it, "Whew, Chansey. That was awkward..."

He quietly laughed at this. Pikachu, who stood right beside the closed door, did too.

"Brock, aren't you tired of making us have to go through all of this everyday, already?" Misty frowned as she asked him this. Brock just sat in the corner of the room moving his index finger in a circular motion in a gloomy way on the floor while he mumbled to himself, "Nurse Joy..."

Misty carefully put Togepi down on a nearby bed and covered it with a quilt decorated with Pokéballs. Once again, her attention was turned to Brock at the moment.

Ash looked around. The room had four beds in it: two were part of a bunk bed and the other two weren't. He glanced over at Misty. She looked too worried about Brock's problem. He then glanced over at the top bed. She must have caught him doing this, because she soon turned around and both jumped over to the top bed and shouted, "I call the top bed!"

Both were now supporting themselves on the top bunk bed with their arms. Some of their legs dangled down and some of their feet were standing on the wooden base of the lower bed.

"Get off!" Ash started. He shoved her to the right.

"No, you get off!" She replied. She then shoved him to the left.

"No, you do!"

"No way, I was here first!"

"No you weren't! I was!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"But you never sleep on the top bed!"

"Well, maybe I would if you ever gave me the chance to!"

"Why should I be the one who leaves?"

"Because I was the one who won in 8th place in the Johto League and I need to sleep on a bed that's comfortable and recharge all of my energy for my next journey!"

Misty suddenly froze for a while. She was still frowning, but she thought for a moment and suddenly let go off the bed. She put her feet back on the floor, one at a time, and took a few steps back. Her frown started to disappear.

"What's the matter?" Ash asked. He looked back at the red-headed girl, still clinging onto the bed, of course. He never saw his friend give up so easily, especially on something both of them were fighting over.

The water Pokémon trainer sighed and drooped her head. "You're right..."

"Huh?" He was dumbfounded.

"You're right. You came in a great place in a very tough league. You should get the bed today..." She lifted her face and smiled sweetly at him.

"Uh... Thanks..." he cautiously replied. Maybe it's a trick, he thought. He carefully let go off the bed and hopped back on the floor. The future Pokémon Master stood by his newly acquired bed.

Misty approached him, but he was ready to jump back on the bed if he had to. She stopped right in front of him, put both her hands on her waist and, with a childish grin, said, "But only today! And when we get to Pallet Town, I get to sleep on your bed while you sleep on the floor!"

"Uh..."

She giggled at his confused expression and turned around.

Her red backpack was slid from her left arm with the help of her right hand and it was put on a night stand. That made a piece of paper that was placed on the little table fly right off. It landed on the floor.

Pikachu, who was still standing by the door, saw this and decided to check it out. It scurried across the room and reached the paper. It picked it up and lifted it so that its friends could see it. "Pika pichu ka..."

"Huh? What's this, Pikachu?" Misty asked as she knelt down to receive what her friend's Pokémon held out. She read it silently.

"What is it, Misty?" Ash asked. Meanwhile, he climbed up the bunk bed ladder and tossed himself on the top bed.

She looked really excited about what she had just read. Misty looked up from the flyer and happily announced, "It's a festival that this town's going to have."

"A festival?" Ash seemed pretty interested. He liked going to new places and learning different things about different cultures. He sat up and looked her.

"Uhuh," she confirmed.

"When are they gonna have it?"

"In a couple of days."

"Great!" he enthusiastically remarked. "We could stay here for a little while before we head back to Viridian City!" He twisted his body so that he completely faced Misty. "What are they celebrating?"

"Well..." she began. "Stuff that you just aren't mature enough to understand..." She acted like a superior person as she replied.

"Hey!" he sneered. "What is it?" Ash hated to be treated as a little kid.

"They're celebrating love..."

-End Chapter 2-

Hello, all:) I hope you liked this chapter! I know the end kind of sounded cheesy, but don't worry! The story won't be cheesy, you'll see! So please leave your reviews, which would include comments, suggestions and anything else you feel like saying. Or just drop by and say "Hi!".

Anyway, I was wondering if anybody could tell me which of these is correct: "desperate need of" or "desperate need for". And also, did you understand the 'bunk bed' situation? I wasn't sure of how to describe it... I'm sorry to bug you with this, but when I write and I have a doubt about something, I almost always need to know the answer... ;)

Oh, and yeah, I know I REALLY need a thesaurus... lol

I will consider those who can guess what the lame onomatopias (sp?) SWISH and SHISS stand for geniuses.lol

Why do I make Ash and Misty fight and all of a sudden make them act like nothing happened between them, you ask? 'Cause that's how I see them! I think it's SO cute...

And about Ash and Misty fighting over the top bed: I know they've never done this before, but in my mind, they're normal kids. Most normal kids love to sleep on the top bunk bed, so I made them love it too! Heck, I'm 15 years old and I'd wrestle a little kid for the top bed! lol