Blame it on the Hormones

Chapter 2- Tummy Troubles

The morning started simply but beautifully. The sun rose overhead, and the chatter of the nearby brook (and maybe a bird Pokemon or two rustling in the trees) provided a pleasant backdrop for those around. Ash stirred in his sleeping bag, and opened his eyes to the beautiful scene in the forest around him. Wait- the forest? He had been in his bedroom, and had looked in the mirror...

"Wah!"

He jolted awake, and fumbled around in his sleeping bag, trying to free his hands. Once he did, he began to check himself for evidence of….unusual characteristics. He felt normal, which took his brain a second to register.

"Must have been another dream…" he thought. "Sure didn't seem like it, though. It was too real. I was a g..g-girl again." He shuddered involuntarily- the sight of his own bra and panty-clad reflection in the mirror had seemed so real. Still, it was clear that nothing of the sort had happened. It was a beautiful morning, so he decided to get out of bed, sliding out of the sleeping bag and sitting down nearby.

"Pika Pi!"

Pikachu came racing over and jumped up into his trainer's arms to say good morning.

"Hey, Pikachu! Looks like a nice day today!"

"Cha!"

He smiled.

"Ash! Come on over and get some breakfast!" yelled Brock. The smile widened, and the welcoming invite was quickly accepted. Thankfully, there was enough food in the area that Brock had been able to make a nice, nutritious breakfast to start the day, and that fact combined with the sunny weather seemed to put everyone, even Misty, into a good mood.

"Morning, Ash! How did you sleep?" she asked with a smile.

"Umm…not too bad." He was lying, of course, but that was because he had decided not to say anything about the dream this morning…at least not around Misty, that was for sure. She'd gotten mad at him yesterday, and there was no reason to try and make her mad again. He'd be better off keeping this dream to himself, he reasoned.

Brock handed him his food, and Ash dug in with his usual gusto.

"Mmph…this is…..really……good!" he interjected between bites.

"I'm surprised you've still got any room in there, Ash. You stuffed yourself with berries and dinner yesterday." Brock chuckled as he said this.

"Oh, come on, Brock. This is Ash we're talking about here. He's got the stomach of a Snorlax!" Misty giggled at her own analogy.

Ash rolled his eyes and continued eating, while Brock served out some more food. They continued on with their breakfast, laughing and smiling all along. It looked, for all intents and purposes, that it would be a good day.


For once, Mother Nature had decided to cooperate with the request for a nice day. The temperature was comfortable- not too hot, not too cold, and though more forest travel was in store, the trees had at least thinned out some, letting sunlight filter through occasionally to provide a welcome ray. Several of the (smaller) Pokemon had been let out to enjoy the day as the group broke for lunch. It was early afternoon, and the trio of trainers had set up shop in a small clearing in the trees, with Brock doing the cooking as usual. They still had fresh fruit left from the day before, so more was used to prepare the day's lunch.

"Here we go, everybody! Once again, a nice fresh lunch from next to nothing!" Brock seemed a bit more jubilant than usual at his cooking prowess.

Misty smiled. "Thanks, Brock!" Her good mood today was certainly welcome, especially since she had had the personality of a Rhydon the day before.

Brock handed a plate towards Ash, who surprisingly passed. "You're not hungry?" Brock asked incredulously. "You said a few minutes ago that you thought we should stop for lunch!"

Ash shrugged. "I know I did...but my stomach apparently overruled my brain. I'm just not feeling hungry right now."

"Alright then- your loss!" said Brock, who proceeded to delve into his own cooking.

"Ash isn't hungry?" Misty asked in mock horror. "Quick, send in the police! Something must be wrong!"

She smiled, and he rolled his eyes.

"Pika?"

"Sure, Pikachu- You can have some if you want."

"Chaaa!" Ash couldn't help but smile at his Pokemon's exuberance. Even after several years out on the road, Pikachu was as energetic as ever. He layed back on the grass, resting while the others around him were eating. The suddent spurt of tiredness had surprised him, but he paid it no mind, and soon got back to his feet as the group broke camp and continued traveling.

Traveling, unfortunately, had become a boring experience lately. Typically, their journeys meant meeting new people, seeing new Pokemon, and experiencing new parts of the world on a consistent basis. Unfortunately, weeks like this one happened occasionally, and were not what one would call fun. This week, instead of the usual excitement they had seen trees. Lots and lots of trees. There hadn't even been any trainers in these woods, and the Pokemon were few and far between. It was something of a lonelier existence than Ash was used to, and he was really looking forward to getting out of the woods and into the nearest city or town.

They had to find it first, though, and that was still proving difficult.

"Brock said last night that he thought we were getting close." Ash thought to himself, "Although he said he wasn't completely sure." He smiled, suppressing a bit of a giggle. Misty had at that point asked Brock why he wasn't sure, which was a loaded question, since Brock was the one who had accidentally lost the map. She had then proceeded to cuss him out, which had been interesting for Ash to watch, given that he was usually on the receiving end of those cussing rants. "Better him than me..." he thought.

A slight pang of pain from his stomach caught his attention, reminding him of his earlier indiscretions.

"I shoulda had some lunch...my stomach's starting to hurt. I really still don't feel hungry, though..."

His stomach had been bothering him since lunchtime, as a bit of a stomachache seemed to be building. It wasn't really bothering him too much...but at the same time, he didn't want it to get any worse. Hungry or not, a snack was probably in order. He grabbed a small granola bar from his bag (noting as he did that he stash was nearly out), and munched on it lazily as they walked.

"There we go", he thought. "That ought to hold my stomach over until dinner."

He tossed the empty wrapper in his bag, and continued trudging onwards through the endless woods.


Several hours later, though, it was clear that hunger hadn't been the root of his stomach pain. The granola bar hadn't helped a bit, and if anything, had made things worse. Still, he kept it to himself, lest Misty whack him silly for whining. He'd made that mistake more than he cared to, that's for sure.

However, if he was trying to hide the fact that he wasn't feeling well, he wasn't doing a very good job. Brock had been watching throughout the afternoon as they walked, noting that Ash seemed to be lacking his usual pep in his step.

"He didn't look all that energetic yesterday, either" noted Brock to himself. As the group's elder statesman, he took it upon himself to keep an eye on Misty and Ash, and this seemed like a cause for concern.

"Ash, are you feeling okay?"

"Whuh?" He seemed as though he'd been lost in thought or something.

"I said are you feeling okay?"

"Oh...well, yeah, I guess so." He paused, then continued, hoping Misty spared him the mallet. "My stomach's a bit sore."

"Shoulda had some lu-unch!" Misty called over playfully in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah, but I had a granola bar earlier." He countered.

An idea crossed Brock's mind. "Maybe it's the berries from yesterday," he offered.

Ash glanced over at Brock. "Yeah, but that was yesterday."

"You did eat an awful lot of them, Ash." Misty reminded him. "Still, you've got a point. Brock, if those were going to make him sick, wouldn't he have gotten sick already?"

"Hmm...yeah, probably. Still, you never know. Berries can have weird affects sometimes."

"Well, on Pokemon, yeah" she countered, and the discussion was off. Back and forth they bantered playfully about berries, while the original subject of the discussion just kept walking and trying to ignore the growing pain in his stomach. Thankfully, at least one member of the group was paying attention.

"Pika pi!" The pokemon's cry got their attention, snapping them back to their current surroundings.

Amidst all of the discussion, the group had failed to notice something. Namely, that the area around them was gradually growing lighter, and the trees were growing thinner. And that if you looked closely enough, you could see...

"Look, there's a clearing over there!" Misty was the first to notice. It wasn't far, maybe only a couple of minutes or so on foot. They walked over, and suddenly found themselves out in the open. An open meadow had suddenly popped up, and they were out of the shade of the trees and into the late afternoon light. Finally, they were out of the woods.

Ash felt like he'd seen it before for some reason. "It's almost like the meadow in my dream" he mused, far louder than he intended to.

"Forget the dream, Ash! Look at this!" Misty seemed even more jubilant now. She had reason to be. There was a road sign nearby, and it indicated some good news. "It says Route 42's right over there!"

Sure enough, about a half mile away, a large walking trail could be seen.

Brock smiled. "Just what we were looking for, guys! Route 42 leads to Cypress City!"

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Misty was really excited now, in the way that only a girl who'd been without a shower for a week could be.

They headed quickly and jubilantly for the trail, while Ash followed slightly behind, his stomach still hurting. Perhaps if they quickly found their way to this city, he could get some rest or food or something.


Unfortunately, just because the trail was nearby didn't mean the city was also nearby. The city itself was a solid 8-9 miles away, so they'd been walking for over an hour and they still hadn't made it. By this point in the day, everyone was getting pretty tired, and Ash's stomach was feeling even worse. So much so, in fact, that he hardly noticed when the group reached the top of a hill and finally found themselves looking down upon Cypress City.

"Finally..." Misty seemed more weary than joyful at this point.

"Well, it looks like we'll at least be able to sleep indoors rather than outside tonight." Brock commented.

"Yeah...that'll be nice." Misty replied.

Ash, however, said nothing. Misty took no notice, but Brock did.

"Ash, is your stomach feeling any better at all?"

He grimaced. "Not really..." he mumbled. In fact, it continued to get worse. He wasn't truthfully sure if he had had a stomachache this bad in his life.

Brock glanced over and thought about something for a second.

"Misty, I know that right now, you just want to get some dinner and a soft bed, but I think we need to get Ash to a doctor. He doesn't look very good..."

She looked over at Ash, as visions of a hot shower flitted through her head. She sighed. Damn it...Brock was right. Ash didn't look well at all. "Yeah, you're right." She responded wearily. "We'll stop at the Pokemon Center and ask them how to get to the hospital." The comforts of the city would have to wait for now.

The Pokemon Center was located, as was often the case, very close to the center of the city. The group quickly found their way to the entrance, and were about to walk in when Brock noticed something.

"Um, guys...the hospital's right next door."

Misty looked up. "Oh. Guess we shoulda seen the big red cross and giant sign, huh?"

Brock grinned wistfully as he looked up at the sign. "Yeah, probably so."

They took Ash inside, and Brock went up to speak to the receptionist. A short time later, a Nurse came out into the lobby.

"Ash Ketchum?" she asked.

Nodding, Ash got up slowly and followed along, while Brock, Misty, and Pikachu did likewise. Ash was led into a small patient room, and the others moved to another waiting room. Once inside, he dutifully laid down on the patient table until the doctor came in. It didn't take too long before a tall man with graying hair walked in.

"Hello, Ash, I'm Doctor Schocter. What seems to be the problem today?"

"My...stomach...hurts..."

"Well, let's take a look and see if we can figure out what's wrong, then."

The doctor then proceeded with his exam, asking him a variety of questions, and checking temperature and other vitals. Meanwhile, out in the waiting room, Pikachu sat dejectedly, waiting for word on his trainer.

"Chaaa..."

"Don't worry, Pikachu," Brock consoled, "I'm sure Ash is fine."

"Probably just ate something he shouldn't have" said Misty with a giggle, though she was admittedly a bit worried herself. Seeing Ash sick certainly wasn't preferable for any of them.

The clock on the wall slowly ticked away, while some rambling talk show played on the TV. Brock left briefly to go to the cafeteria, and brought back some food for each of them. Night fell, and darkness enveloped the city out beyond the small windowpane.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the doctor came out, and headed over to Brock and Misty.

"Looks like your friend will be just fine. He seems to have gotten some sort of food poisoning or stomach flu, so we gave him some medicine. Any idea if he might have eaten anything unusual?" asked Dr. Schocter.

"Well, there were some berries..." began Brock.

"Told him he shouldn't have eaten so many" Misty interjected, spitting the words out forcefully enough to cover up her relief that Ash was, in fact, okay.

"What did they look like" asked the doctor.

"Well, I think he's still got a few in his bag, actually" stated Brock.

"May I take a few so we can examine them and a run a few tests?"

"Sure, not a problem"

The exchange, was made, and the doctor began to walk away.

"So, umm, can we see him now?" asked Misty quietly.

The doctor turned back towards the group. "Actually, the medicine that we gave him makes patients extremely drowsy, so he's already asleep. We're going to keep him overnight for observation, but he should be good as new in the morning. In the meantime, I suggest you folks head on over to the Pokemon Center next door and get some rest."

"Thanks. We'll do that." Brock added as the doctor walked away.

"Chaaaa..." moaned Pikachu.

"Don't worry, Pikachu, he'll be fine." Brock consoled. "Come on guys, let's get going."

They walked out of the waiting room, back into the main lobby, and out into the dark and silent nighttime streets of Cypress City.

"So, the doctor said Ash should feel better in the morning" Misty said to no one in particular. "That's good."

"Yeah, it is." Brock added. "We'll go pick him up in the morning and then go buy some supplies before we head out."

With that, they walked into the Pokemon Center, and bid goodnight to the world.


Out in the alleyway, a creature stirred, moving steathily through the streets of night. It darted and dodged, making its way back to the outskirts of town. Near the edge of the forest, a campfire burned. The two occupants looked, as usual, rather dejected, hardly paying their approaching counterpart anymind.

"Meowth's back, Jessie" James reported glumly.

"Yes, James, I see that..." she was too tired to even properly snap at him. "What've we got, Meowth?" she asked.

She couldn't see the mischievous glint in the dark.

"We've go ahselves an oppahtunity, that's what!" the Pokemon triumphantly announced. "The twoip's sick, and he's stuck in the hospital till tomorrah without the other twoips!"

Jessie and James perked up at this news.

"Meowth, you're a lifesaver! James, do you know what this means?" Jessie cackled.

"Ooooh, yes!" James squealed. "We're going to steal of the twerp's free fruit cups!"

His excitement was quickly deflated by a well-earned and well-placed slash to the face by Meowth.

"No, you numbskull- We just sneak in, grab Pikachu, and the twoip won't be feeling well enough to fight back! We'll have a Pikachu to get to da boss, and I'll finally be da top cat!"

The Rocket rejoicing commenced, and a plan soon followed. As the night grew darker, they snuck off to begin their conquest, chanting excitedly as they went.

"Looks like Team Rocket's back on track again!"

End Chapter Two


Author's notes: Decided to continue with this- I hope I've still got a few readers out there, and maybe I'll pick up a few new ones. Got an outline of the next chapter going, and I hope to post it sometime within the next week or two.

Hope you're enjoying, and feedback is always appreciated!