With the sound of blood pumping through his ears, Ash ran as fast as he could, Pikachu cat his side running as fast as he could, harrowing looks on their faces as they burst into the pokemon center, making everyone in the room jump and turn to look at Ash with surprised eyes: "Ash?!" two voices exclaimed, but Ash didn't notice, instead running up to a surprised Nurse Joy who had stopped typing on her computer to look at the boy.

"Nurse Joy! Please help Pidgeot!" Ash begged, thrusting said pokemon's poke'ball forwards, tears beginning to accumulate in his eyes once more: Nurse Joy composed herself quickly, taking the poke'ball from the boy - "he is clearly in distress, his pokemon must be severely injured" Nurse Joy thought as she called Chansey over, both of them disappearing into the back room, the red light above the room turning on to signal they were busy.

After Nurse Joy took Pidgeot from him, Ash had moved himself over the seating area just outside the operating room. Moving his hat to his side, Ash ran his fingers through his hair in worry, constantly glancing at the room Nurse Joy had gone into in worry: the other trainers in the room had stopped looking at Ash, understanding he was just a trainer worrying about his pokemon - with the exception of two trainers who slowly made their way over to the stressing boy.

"Ash?" At the sound of the two voices, Ash looked away from the room and to the sound of the voices, his eyes widening in surprise at who had called his name: "Jason? Natalie?" Ash replied in surprise, having not seen the two since their last encounter at the Pokemon Center by Mount Silver. As Natalie opened her mouth to speak, they were interrupted, as Ritchie, A.J and Maddison entered the Center in a similar fashion to how Ash how arrived.

Looking around, the three quickly found Ash and ran over to him, pushing past Jason and Natalie to get to the boy, "Ash! Where's Pidgeot? Is she okay?" Richie asked in concern, noticing the missing poke'ball from Ash's hand, already knowing it wasn't clipped to his belt. Ash's face quickly went back to worrisome, turning his head to look at the operating room, "She's in their, with Nurse Joy"

The three trainers all looked towards operating room before looking back at Ash sadly: they could see how much their friend was worrying, which worried them - they were also still in a small state of anger and shock at the way Misty had treated Pidgeot, especially for a GYM LEADER. Just as A.J went to open his mouth he was cut off by two, "Hey's!" Making him and Ritchie turn to Jason and Natalie, who were looking at them with annoyed faces - whilst Maddison chose to ignore the voices and sat down next to Ash, repeating what he had done earlier and took his hand, squeezing it in comfort.

"What's the big idea pushing past us?!" Natalie asked angrily, brushing non-existing dirt of her shirt to prove a point, "We were trying to talk to Ash until you rudely pushed us aside!" She continued, opening her mouth to continue till Jason placed a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him questionably, "Natalie...normally I'd be as mad as you, but these guys clearly have something going on right now...I'm sure they didn't eve notice us..." Jason reasoned with Natalie, making her tighten her jaw slightly - Since when was Jason the reasonable one?!

A.J and Ritchie looked to each other fro a second before looking at Natalie, "Your friend is right - Listen, were sorry for barging passed you, we were just worried about are friend and his pokemon" Richie apologised, indicating to Ash who continued to stare at the operating room, unknowingly squeezing Maddison's hand back for comfort he didn't know he needed.

Natalie's annoyed look was quickly replaced with that of worry as she looked from Ash to the operating room, "What happened?" She asked, looking back at Richie and A.J - Jason nodding, the same look of worry written on his face. Ritchie nudged A.J, who rolled his eyes at the boy, but nonetheless explained the situation to the two trainers in front of them - if for no other reason they seemed to be acquainted with their friend, and genuinely seemed concerned.

After being told about what had happened, Jason had to hold Natalie back as she tried to run out of the pokemon center to teach this Misty girl a lesson, "Natalie no! I know your mad! but Ash needs us!" Jason shouted, making Natalie calm down slightly, looking to Jason for a second before looking at Ash who had finally looked away from the red light to the four trainers talking, "Sorry...I just can't stand people who hurt other pokemon on purpose"

Ash nodded lightly at her apology, "Its okay, I understand-"

DING

The sudden noise cut Ash off, making him look to the operating room: the light had turned off as Nurse Joy walked out, wiping the sweat from the brow with a stern look on her face. Letting go of Maddison's hand, Ash jumped up and ran over to Nurse Joy, looking around her to try and get a peek at Pidgeot, "Is Pidgeot okay Nurse joy?!" Ash asked, surprised when the nurse held her arms up to prevent him looking in, a stern look on her face.

"Pidgeot is resting right now: she has several bruises, but nothing fatal - However, her chest feathers are badly damaged, and upon further inspection I noticed pieces of ice lodged in her flesh" Nurse Joy explained in a stern voice, making the group of now 6 trainers eyes widen, Ash's the widest and filled with worry, "She will be fine, but won't be able to battle until her chest bandages are removed...As for you young man!" She continued, turning to address Ash directly, "How could you allow your pokemon to fight till she got into such condition? I ought to report you to the police for pokemon abuse for this!"

Ash's jaw dropped in shock at the nurses scolding, "Pokemon abuse?!" He thought, a look of hurt crossing his face, whilst A.J and Ritchie started getting angry at yet ANOTHER accusation being thrown at Ash with no proof, "Hey! It wasn't his fault! it was-" "Forget it A.J, I'm sorry Nurse Joy, can I please see her?" Ash interrupted, clearly more interested in checking on Pidgeot. Nurse Joy looked at the boy suspiciously, but sighed and stepped to the side, allowing the boy to walk I, "Very well, but make it quick, she needs her sleep"

"Thank you!" Ash thanked quickly, running into the room, not noticing Nurse Joy close the door behind him as he stopped to stare at Pidgeot, "Pidgeot..." Ash whispered at the sight of the bird pokemon: she was lying on a large stretcher with wires attatched to her wings and head, she had a large bandage wrapped around her chest and a small one wrapped around the end of her right wing, "Pidgeot...I-I'm so sorry Pidgeot..."

- Outside the Operating room -

"So what happened to that poor pokemon?" Nurse Joy asked the remaining 5 trainers, making them all blink at the tone of her voice, "You said it wasn't his fault, then HOW did that Pidgeot get in that condition?" she demanded, now looking at A.J, who frowned and crossed him arms, sitting down in the spot that Ash had previously occupied, making Maddison shuffle away a little in shyness.

looking up at Joy who still had a stern look on her face, A.J started to explain what had happened, "...then Pidgeot started to fall after being hit, but Misty didn't stop! She told Croconaw to attack again, but he refused, then she let Pidgeot sink in the water - if Ash hadn't risked his own life to get her out of the water she would have drowned. When Ash confronted her on letting Pidgeot nearly drown, she said it wasn't her job to save his pokemon" A.J finished, his crossed arms now by his sides, his fists balled up into fists as he looked down into his lap, grinding his teeth together in anger.

"She wanted to keep fighting, but her a girl, her sister I think, stepped in and ended the fight, telling Ash to get Pidgeot to the pokemon center" Richie said, moving to A.J's side and putting a hand on his shoulder, frowning himself as Nurse Joy's face changed from stern to that off shock. Maddison, still sat a little bit away from them was now shaking in anger, and despite her normal shyness, suddenly turned her head sharply to Nurse joy and spoke angrily through gritted teeth, "Then he came here, only for you to accuse him of pokemon abuse" The angry sound of her voice made Richie and A.J look at her in surprise - they were only use to hearing her voice in a soft, often meek tone; Pikachu, who had decided to let his best friend go in alone, nodded in agreement with Maddison's words, "Pi-PikPikachu!" he chipped in, shooting Joy an annoyed look whilst moving to sit in Maddison's lap, who gently placed a hand on his head, stroking it gently which seemed to calm the agitated electric mouse

To say Nurse Joy was surprised was an understatement: she couldn't believe that Misty, the pride of Cerulean City would treat a pokemon like that! Noticing the look on Joy's face, Maddison huffed a little and turned her head away, "If you don't believe us, ask her sister's, they were their when it happened" she almost spat at the nurse, clearly still angry at the accusations that she had thrown at Ash: "Ash is to nice to ever hurt his pokemon!" She though angrily as she crossed her arm's her anger turning into worry as she though about the boy who had almost become like an older brother to her.

- Back with Ash -

Ash was now sat down in the chair located next to the stretcher: raising a hand to gently stroke her non-damaged wing's feathers, Ash let a few tears run down his face, "I'm sorry Pidgeot...I-I didn't know she would go so far...I-Its all my fault" The boy sobbed softly, ducking his head down in sadness and guilt: "Huh?" Ash spoke softly when he felt Pidgeot lift her wing to wipe away his tears, making him look to her, relief filling his eyes as he sore that hse had opened her eyes, "Thank god your okay...I'm sorry Pidgeot its my fau-mmhp" Ash started to apologise, only for Pidgeot to stop him by pressing her wing to his mouth, shaking her head to tell him that it wasn't his fault.

With a watery smile, Ash wiped the remaining tears from his eyes and gently lowered Pidgeot's wing, stroaking her feathers one more time whilst standing up, "Thank you, you get some sleep...I'll come by again a little later..." As Pidgeot nodded and closed her eyes to rest, Ash walked over to the door, looking back briefly at one of his oldest partners, turning back to the door and walking out with a small smile on his face.

As Ash walked out the room, he noticed that everyone was sitting around with a worried look - except Nurse joy who seemed to have a look of regret - "I'm going for a walk, ill be back soon" Ash stated, quickly leaving the pokemon center before anyone could say anything. Richie went to follow him but was stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder: looking back he was surprised to see Maddison had stopped him, a sad look on her face, "Let him go...he has things he needs to think about"

Richie went to protest, but stopped with a sigh and nodded, sitting back down besides A.J: Maddison smiled weakly and looked down at Pikachu, "You should go to him Pika..." She told the mouse pokemon, calling him by the nickname she had given him, "He could use his best friend..." Pikachu nodded, jumping out of Maddison's lap and chasing after Ash whilst shouting, "Pikapii!"

The group went silent for a few minutes, trying to process what had happened that day, but for the last time that day, their attention was drawn to the entrance to the center as the doors swung open, but instead of another trainer, it was a pokemon

"Croconaw!" It was Croconaw! A.J, Ritchie, Jason and Natalie looked at the water pokemon with surprise and a little anger, remembering that he was the one who got Pidgeot in such a bad state, "What are YOU doing here?!" to everyone's surprise, Jason bit out to the pokemon, who blinked at the question. Before Croconaw, or anyone else could say anything, Maddison quickly moved over to Croconaw and stood in front of him in defence, making everyone, including Croconaw, look at her in shock, "Guys stop! Look, Croconaw has two poke'ball with him, one must be his! And remember! He refused to attack when Misty told him to!" Maddison defended the Johto-starter, who shook away its shock and nodded at her words, speaking in a muffled tone with the poke'ball still sitting in his mouth, "Croc-Croconaw!"

Ignoring the conflicted looks the others had on their faces, Maddison turned to Croconaw and knelt down to his height, "If your looking for Ash, he just left with Pikachu, if your quick you might catch up to him" With a look of appreciation, Croconaw nodded and ran out the still open doors of the center, hoping to catch up to Ash.

Ash walked at a brisk pace till he stood on the outskirts of Cerulean City, only stopping when he herd Pikachu shout, "Pikapii!" making him turn slightly to see Pikachu following him. Smiling weakly, Ash waited for Pikachu to jump onto his shoulder before continuing his walk, stopping when he came to a log - sitting down on the log, Ash sighed and looked down sadly, "Pikapii...Pi-Pikachu?" Pikachu asked the crestfallen boy worriedly, patting his cheek with his paw gently.

After a few seconds of silence, Ash's body began to shake lightly: Pikachu looked to his trainer, thinking he was crying but was surprised when he sore anger on his friends face, his teeth were grinding and his fists were curled up: Lifting a fist and turning his body slightly, throwing his hand down and punching the ground whilst whispering in a voice that made a shiver run down Pikachu's spine, "How dare she hurt Pidgeot like that...How dare she...She will pay for this...I don't know how, but she will..."

Even though the malic in his partners voice scared him a little Pikachu looked at Ash with sympathy - he knew Ash always suffered when his friends were hurt badly: Just like when Bayleef got hurt! But that time, Ash got angry at himself, this time he was angry at someone else. As ash continued grumbling to himself, Pikachu's ear twitched, making the mouse pokemon jump of Ash's shoulder and sniff the air, quickly getting in a battle stance as Croconaw appeared from the bushes.

-Pokemon Talk-

"What are you doing here traitor?!" Pikachu hissed at the crocodile pokemon, electricity crackling off his cheeks as the big jawed pokemon looked at him with wide eyes, lifting his short, chubby arms into the air in surrender. Spitting out the two poke'ball's that he had been holding in his mouth, Pikachu raised a brow as the poke'balls rolled over to him.

"I was looking for Ash...A-and I was worried about the bird I was fighting..." Croconaw explained, fear filling his eyes as Pikachu growled, stepping towards him threateningly, his cheeks sparking more from anger, "Why do you care?! YOU are the one who got Pidgeot in the hospital!" Pikachu shouted at the cowering water pokemon, anger written all over his face.

"I-I didn't know I would hit her so hard! A-and I wanted to tell Ash about what happened, why I ended up with that girl!" Croconaw cried out, falling to the floor and covering his head in fear at Pikachu's anger. Cocking a brow at the fallen pokemon, Pikachu's face stayed angry, but started to change into wonder, "What's their to say? You abandoned him!"

"That's not true! I didn't do it by choice!" The water pokemon cried, lifting his head to show Pikachu the tears now falling down his face, making the electric mouse step back in surprise at the honesty and pain in his face, "I-I wanted to go with Ash, I really did! B-but some of the bigger, stronger pokemon like Torterror and Staraptor threatened me, saying they would kill me if I didn't leave Ash! I got scared! I-I didn't know what to do, I-I'm sorry!" He cried, sitting up slightly and rubbing his nose as he explained, "It wasn't just me who got pressured into ditching Ash...the other sphere thing, K-kingler is inside it: He didn't want to leave Ash either, but he was stronger than me, he fought with Torterror and Staraptor, but they beat him up so badly, they almost killed him! They only stopped when he agreed to leave Ash"

Pikachu stood up straight, a look of bewilderment crossing his face as he searched Croconaw's face for any hint that he was lying; when he couldn't find any, he looked to the poke'ball's in fornt of him before looking at Ash then Croconaw, "Somehow, your going to have to explain that to Ash, he might forgive you, but I wouldn't get your hopes up"

Ash, who had been repeatedly punching the ground - to the point his knuckles were starting to bruise and bleed slightly, he only stopped when he felt a tug on his jacket. Looking down at Pikachu who pointed to the side, Ash followed the direction he was pointing,

In an instant Ash's eyes hardened, his jaw locked and his body went stiff, "What the HELL are you doing here?!"