A Journey
Summary: Ash's daughter has NO interest in Pokemon training. So, Ash, being the enterprising young Master that he is, puts her into the middle of the woods in the night while she's asleep with a pack, no map, a Pokedex, and a VERY angry Pichu.
A/N: Seven chapters to leave a transitory phase, that with a two week long coma; in other words, I'm not convinced I'm adding enough expository details to my story.
…
"You guys want to stay here with this old sick lady?"
Maestro, of course, nodded and snuggled up to me. Pichu yawned, shook its head, and left surprisingly peaceably. Probably just because the hospital staff wouldn't have liked it much if it had shocked me and ruined equipment a lot more expensive and life-saving than a phone. I paused for a while before asking Chopin to stay.
"Sorry, I would, but there's nowhere for me to sit." Chopin shrugged his baton-like arms.
"Oh come on, you can find somewhere to sit!" I said with a grin.
Chopin shook his head. "Not unless I sit on the IV machine." He snorted at this. "Something is telling me that wouldn't be beneficial to your recovery. Oh yeah, I think the speaker would be COMMON SENSE!"
"Shouldn't you not be talking?" I realized in a sudden flash of knowledge.
"Oh, I'm not," he said, and grew eight feet tall. I shut my eyes for a good long while…
Lick on the nose. Awake again? Were things back to normal? I opened my eyes. Yup.
"Morning, Maestro." I smiled at the cute little rat, and pet him.
"Chopin?" I said, staring at the musical bug. Chopin warbled with concern, and laid an arm on me. It was the first time he'd ever touched me, and it felt weird with his strange stick-like arms, more like rods than organs. I shuddered.
"You talked," I said with an unfocused grin. Chopin warbled a question tone.
"Yeah, you talked to me. I mean. I guess you always do, and you are even now, but you talked in English. I must have been out of it, huh?"
Chopin warbled an agreeing tone. I had to hand it to the guy. He went from being a wild Pokemon and soon learned human voice tones and what they meant. He knew that an upturn at the end of the sentence was a question, for example. In this way, I could understand him, and his voice conveyed a lot of emotion. Then again, Pichu could convey anger, and Maestro I understood well anyways.
"So what time is it now?" I asked, sitting up, edging my way to a semi-upright position.
"Oh yeah, forgot, you can't talk," I said wryly. Chopin nodded. Maestro just snuggled up to me, and I smiled at his warm fur.
"So what's Pichu doing?" I asked, holding a mental image of it terrorizing the employees, beating up weaker Pokemon or Brett.
"Oh, Brett! And," I said, staring at Chopin, "you still can't talk, can you?"
He shook his head and warbled an awkward laugh.
"Well, now what?" I asked myself with a sigh, realizing that this moment of loneliness was a metaphor for my whole trip. Stuck with a nice rat who I can cuddle but not exactly carry on philosophical conversations with, a bug who thinks he's the next Elvis, and a rabid light switch, I thought, repeating my epithet for Pichu from earlier. I'm alone now, and I have been alone this whole damn trip.
"Hey, are you all right?" Peter asked, walking in, shutting the door softly after him. He sat on the edge of my bed, looking at me with a concern I didn't think possible.
"Sorry I couldn't come see you earlier, but I came as soon as I heard you woke up. I'm so sorry about what happened," he said, his eyes looking down into mine.
"It's not your fault," I said quickly.
"I know," he said serenely, "but I just wanted you to have this," he said, and handed me a card. I opened it up, and there was a terribly-drawn Chansey with the note 'Get Well' in it.
"Thanks!" I said, flashing him a smile.
Peter nodded slowly. Did he like me or something? I hoped so! I gave him an enormous hug, accidentally-on-purpose crushing myself to him as I did so.
"You okay?" He said, looking at me worriedly. When I nodded, he relaxed slightly.
"So yeah, should I tell Brett you said thanks for the card?"
If I were a character in an anime, I would have 'sweat-dropped' or 'face-faulted,' but I wasn't, so I just kept my disappointment to myself. And Brett just gave me the card because he's a cute little kid, but it was still nice, I guessed, but it would've been nicer were Peter the giver.
"Yeah, that'd be nice, thanks!"
I suddenly remember what Lavender had said yesterday.
"We're leaving the boat today!" I yelled excitedly.
"Yeah, it should be at Hoenn by six tonight. It's now- damn! My battle starts in a few minutes! See you, bye!" He threw one last look at me before rushing out. I sighed dramatically, bored beyond belief, and still unaware of the time.
"Chopin, we're going to have a sing-along!" I decided at once.
Maestro stared at me apprehensively.
"What, you think if I sing that the boat'll sink or something?" I asked him, a goofy smile on my face. Maestro squeaked and nodded quickly, and I gave him a light swat across the ears.
Chopin, on the other hand, edged closer, and I said, with little preamble.
"You are an insect, but prepare to be introduced to the Beatles, the singing sensations of Earth." I began to sing "Hey Jude," and Chopin's eyes lit up, and he quickly repeated after me in warbles, line after line. He was a quick study, and could string the lines together with confidence after learning them only once.
After teaching him 'Here comes the Sun' and 'Strawberry Fields Forever,' I was interrupted by the boat captain, who had a Dragonair at his side, which cooed at Chopin, who blushed.
"I heard about what happened to you; are you feeling better now?"
"I feel fine. Where are the nurses, by the way?" I asked, furrowing my brow. "I haven't seen any since I got on here. The lack of a medical staff is kind of creepy," I explained conversationally.
The captain sighed. "We have a Chansey. That's all we need," he explained patiently.
"Anyways, I wanted to give you this," he said, and he handed me a bluish violet egg.
"Is this… A Pokemon egg?" I asked hesitantly.
"Yes," he said with a nod. "I feel bad that you almost died on one of our cruises. Please take this for free, and don't sue," he said with an awkward smile. I laughed, mollified now that I understood his selfish reasons for gift-giving; it was less creepy that way.
He nodded at me and then walked out.
I handed it to Maestro, who sniffed it interestedly.
"So, whadaya think? I got three new Pokemon just from this cruise!" I said excitedly. "Well, two non-fetus Pokemon." I smiled at Maestro.
"This is crazy! Who knows how many Pokemon I'll end up with after this journey's over? Oh yeah, I'm getting a Hoenn starter too!" I was amazed by the amount of Pokemon I was getting so quickly.
Around ten minutes later, a Chansey came in.
It peeped a hello, and began pressing its ear against my chest. I laughed awkwardly, having never been examined by a Pokemon before.
She peeped something to Maestro, and shock her head, clucking her tongue.
"What's she saying?" I asked the Rattata, who rolled his eyes. I remembered that he couldn't talk.
She began to sing beautifully, and I got really really tired…
When I woke up, it was dusk, and a different Chansey was carefully detaching me from the I.V.s with Chopin's help.
"Thanks for everything," I said, and walked off extremely unsteadily. I looked back, and saw her shaking her head again, with a sigh.
I hadn't walked in a while, and I could feel it in my muscles, which must have, well whatever that word which starts with an 'A' meaning 'went kaput.' I carried my backpack, wearing my one (and only!) outfit on my back, and with my Pokemon and my egg. I couldn't call an egg into a Pokeball until it hatched, unfortunately, so I had to carry that around. It wasn't terribly big, and it didn't weigh more than five pounds, though, so that was alright, I just worried about it cracking and a fetal Pokemon spilling out. I carried Maestro on my shoulder, and Pichu, who threw a tantrum when I wanted to leave the ship, started shocking me, so I had to carry it with me as it struggled all the way.
I walked off with Lavender and Peter, noting the sign that said 'Dewford Town'. Lauren gave him a kiss on the cheek goodbye which ended in a slutty bit of a nibble, and Brett ran up to catch up with us. Hoenn, I thought; it was about damn time.