Locked Away, Chapter 29
Ash was barely conscious when lapras found perch on on the rocky shores of Laverre city's docks. Everything from his head to his toes ached as he maneuvered from the shell to lean forward. The cold water crashed against the rocks beneath as the sea turtle pokemon lowered its head, indicating their arrival. Ash stumbled from the creature, looking up at him with tired eyes as he scooped pikachu and togepi into his arms. The sun rise on his back gave him shivers.
"Are you going to join me?" Ash asked suddenly, looking into the distance where the other lapras left, and he knew automatically the answer.
Singing to him in a voice calm and sincere, it explained that due to the decline in its species, it wishes to remain with its companions, but will always watch over Ash when he is near.
Ash's face contorted. "Are you sure?"
The broad pokemon nodded its head, and then looked up at him with passionate eyes. A look speaking louder than words. "Be careful".
Ash turned slowly from the pokemon, in silent agreement that his next act of temporary insanity would be eating candy before dinner, not trying to fly headstrong into a fortress of...whatever that was.
"Lapras, what was that?" Ash thought aloud, turning to the pokemon who could only only look on at him confused; having no idea what Ash was talking about. The pokemon hadn't witnessed the attack in Unova—and the recollection only reminded Ash that he had to go to a pokemon center, as soon as possible.
"Thank you, again." He mumbled, tripping over his own feet to hug the tall pokemon. As he extended forward, he felt the wound on his side opening up once more, and recoiled thoughtfully, trying to mask the pain on his face as to not worry the sea turtle. They hadn't even had time to catch up, and she was leaving already.
"I missed you." He added and with a tender nod, the pokemon slowly turned and drifted back into the horizon.
Grunting, Ash looked on at the city before him, and shambling up the path, he trudged over rocks while pikachu slowly came to in his arms,
"Pika." The pokemon squealed, still a bit frosty from the cold water and shocking itself. Ash hummed in reply.
"Straight to the pokemon center for charizard." He replied somberly.
XOXs
The pokemon center was bright at 7:00am in the morning. The sun had broken over the horizon a little under an hour ago. After that nightmare at sea he didn't think he would appreciate the motion of the ground under his feet so much when he broke through the doors.
"You look like you've seen better days." The male nurse at the counter muttered upon seeing Ash enter through the front doors. The lobby was empty, save for a cleaning chansey, and Ash could only grunt in response.
"You don't know the half of it." Ash assured him, approaching the counter and taking out all of his pokeballs and dropping them on the tray.
"My...charizard's wing was beaten up pretty bad..." He stammered, "harpooned, actually..."
"Oh my lord." The nurse replied, taking the pokeballs and narrowing his eyes at Ash awhile the trainer placed togepi and pikachu on the counter to be taken as well.
"pikapika." pikachu muttered sadly while Ash nodded, forgetting that the man couldn't understand the mouse for a moment.
"Confused boater." Ash lied off the top of his head, hugging togepi and pikachu gently.
"I'll be back a little later, okay?" He told the duo while the nurse took the pokeballs and placed them into the machine—charizard's flashing red the moment the pokemon appeared.
"These wounds are too great for the machine to heal... He'll need emergency surgery," The nurse grumbled. "I'll have to transfer him over to the clinic in the back."
"What ever you need to do." Ash said dutifully. "Please do it." He added while pikachu and togepi were taken on a stretcher to the back room. The nurse nodded, and carried out his business while Ash found his way to the poke-phone.
He stared at it for an hour, at least before he fingers carefully dialed in the familiar numbers of her cell phone, and stuck the device beside his head when the tone started to ring. Longer, and longer, until he was left with the answering machine.
"Hi, you've reached Misty, leave a message."
The phone beeped, but he waited for a moment before sighing into the receiver. "Hey, Mist." He muttered glumly. "I'm just checking in and wanted to say hi. Weird, huh?" He grimaced, thinking she would worry at such a weird opening, he cleared his throat. "No need to worry or anything though, I'm doing fine...I just..." needed to hear your voice.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and scrunched up his face. "Anyways, I'm in Kal—France, now. So I will talk to you later. I hope everything is going well for you." He managed before dropping the phone back on the receiver and shuddering. The strangest sensation in the world was calling someone after some half-assed admittance of emotions.
Sighing, he both lowered and shook his head thoughtfully with a brief inhale. What was he going to do now? He pat around for his pokedex once more, thinking he might have possibly over looked it in the ocean—but deduced that like his bag and all of his gear, it was somewhere at the ocean floor, most likely.
Ash dug through his pockets, finding a few dollars and a couple of coins while he watched the nurse run back and forth through the pokemon center. Without his pokedex, he couldn't battle other trainers for poke-credit, either, which meant he was hooped for money, and food.
Pacing around the lobby for a little over an hour, trying to keep himself awake, Ash finally found his seat back at the phones, this time dialing the only other number he bothered to memorize since starting his journey: Gary Oak. The screen of the phone lit up, indicating a video call and Ash groaned inwardly. Couldn't phones like this have only been in his mind?
After a few seconds of dial, Gary's smug face stared back at him in confusion. It was earlier in Kanto than it was in France, so he could see the tired lines of his friends aging face, imitating an aura of complete anger until he had a solid glance at Ash.
Gary's mouth fell open, and then closed once more, taking a sip of the black mug in his hand. "Ash, you look like shit." Gary observed, cocking an eyebrow.
Ash winced. "I feel like shit, Gary."
"What did you do this time? Please don't say fire."
"The opposite this time, actually. Did you know oceans are not a safe place?" Ash asked with a mock tone and snicker, watching Gary's face pale, followed by a long, frustrated sigh.
"I'm not so sure you should be on your own, after all..." Gary muttered. "Care to explain?"
Ash shrugged. "No." He said quickly. "But to make a long story short, I lost my pokedex." He said with a small laugh and scratch of his head.
In a fashion much like the old professor, Gary fell backwards in his chair, nearly slipping onto the floor and spilling his drink when he bounced back up.
"You what?!" Gary hissed, all worry suddenly lost. "How did you lose your pokedex?! Do you have any clue how expensive that brand was?!"
Still a bit dehydrated, dizzy, and exhausted, Ash's reaction was less of shame and more of anger when he pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes.
"No, but accidents happen..." he argued weakly, thinking to mention that in his dreams, he never lost his pokedex, it never even occurred to him that such a thing was possible until he was fishing for it to make a phone call or two.
Gary growled in frustration. "Why are you so cool about it?!"
Ash sighed.
"Gary. I just looked into the eyes of two large, very violent gyarados in the middle of an ocean with a swamp water type at my side. I haven't really slept in well over twenty-four hours." Ash paused, raising his finger to silence Gary before he could butt in. "I'm pretty sure I need stitches, charizard is in surgery, and so yes, a lost pokedex is the least of my worries right now." he grunted, mouthing off to the older male.
Taken aback, Gary shook his head for a moment and then leaned in close.
"...How in the world do you...?" He started, eyebrows twitching before he face palmed and shook his head. "No, I don't want to know." he said. "I don't want to know." he added once more for emphasis and then smacked his lips.
"Where are you?" he asked quickly, changing the subject.
"France." Ash said quickly. "Laverre City, actually."
"Wow." Gary said in amazement. "You're quite a ways from home."
The black bags beneath Ash's eyes answered that question far better than he ever could with words and Ash found himself chuckling at the realization. "Oh, you have no idea."
"Really, I don't understand you." Gary grumbled while twisting to grab some papers. "You were a trouble maker as a child and now you're one as an adult. I thought you would have out grown that at least a little bit by now." He muttered his thoughts aloud while rolling his eyes and clicking in some information.
"The nearest professor is Sycamore in Paris..." He grunted. "Can you make it there?"
"Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem." He hadn't had any issues getting around before, now wouldn't be any different.
"He's a bit of a... Sycamore is different." Gary warned Ash awkwardly. "But I'll fax over all of your information and he will get you situated with a new pokedex." The auburn haired male grumbled while clicking a few keys on the computer screen beside the phone.
"Thanks, Gary." Ash offered with the best smile he could muster but Gary shrugged in response.
"Just don't lose it again. I'm not going to replace it a second time." He warned earnestly. "I shouldn't replace it this time, but because of your circumstances, I'll let it slide just this once." He grunted, sitting back in his chair with folded arms.
Ash grinned earnestly. "I'm sorry. I wont lose it again." Ash tried to promise, but Gary shook his head.
"It's not even that." Gary paused. "I can't believe I have to tell you this, but stop being so damn stupid." He said in an authoritative speech that Ash was unfamiliar with in the snark man. "You have people here that care about you, and I'm not going to be the one to tell Cole if you decide to die."
Ash tried not to show the worry in his features, but then after a moment he offered a short, direct smile. "Don't worry. I think I've pretty much decided to live under a rock for the rest of my life." Ash joked feeling the soreness in his shoulders and the sting in his side as a reminder of his new found motivation to not get shot at, or blown up, or set fire to things.
Gary snorted. "I think a bubble would be safer, you would find a way to blow up the rock."
Ash seethed. "Bye Gary." He grunted with a twitch of his eye. "I think I'll get prepared to head the Lumiose city now." Ash muttered while Gary shrugged before pausing.
"I haven't heard it called that in years—where did you hear that at?" Gary asked, referring to Paris' old name. Ash looked up, stunned for a moment.
"oh..uh." Ash stammered, recalling he had never told Gary the truth about his dreams. "Misty mentioned it. I think it sounds better than Paris."
Gary scoffed, shaking his head as if saying 'weirdo' before they spared a few goodbyes, a short conversation with Leaf, and then Ash hung up and returned to his solitude at the pokemon center. He could hear the unpleasant sounds of charizard in the clinic in the back of the pokemon center—his roars of pain sent shivers down Ash's spine as he rose to his feet and marched through the front door to get some fresh air. A part of Ash was amazed that Sycamore was still the professor of this region; like in his dreams. It seemed that everywhere else, the professors were gone or different.
Each step Ash took was like glass shooting through his entire body, and he struggled to the map posted on the bulletin board outside of the center to look at the distance between Laverre City and Paris. Ash could see in the distance, south from where he was standing, the top of the large tower, but could not verify the distance with his mind. On paper, Paris was forty four miles away from Laverre, roughly a day's walk, but if he toppled that with his current exhaustion, it would take him probably double that, assuming he wouldn't pass out.
Weighing his options, Ash tapped his fingers against his side, addressing once more the rough scarf bandage, and looked down at himself. He was filthy, covered in salt water, and his shirt was ripped open at the side. Before he could do anything, he needed to wash himself.
XOXs
He found his way to the public bathroom located at the back of the pokemon center and used paper towels to wash the dirt off his face, and some of the salty texture from his skin. He could do nothing about the sea-life smell, but he did manage to remove the scarf to view the red scar running along the right side of his abdomen.
It was an ugly thing, much deeper than he intentionally thought, that was bruised and red—but that could have been the dried blood as well. It wasn't that bad. He did his best to wash the wound, but his skill in medicine was about as good as Misty's in cooking. He knew enough to survive, but this was far more than he was used to. Using water he cleaned the searing wound somewhat, but rather than reopening the wound, he packed it full of fresh paper towel, and tied the now-dry scarf around his waist to keep the clean parchment secure while he figured out his next step.
Without his license, he had no way of proving he was a trainer and had no money to his name. Most of his funds were transferred through credit on his pokedex if he won in a battle—that was as good as any currency in the world. However, that was lost along with his temporary ID, his pokemon food, and any semblance of his life and who he was. He needed to get to Paris—a pass, perhaps? He could call Misty again to ask for...no, he wouldn't do that.
Firstly because he would have to explain why he needed the money—and not even Ash was stupid enough to believe this little adventure wouldn't send her into a rampage of emotional warfare.
"She might actually kill me." he mumbled to himself. Though, that would probably defeat the purpose. He added thoughtfully with a chuckle as he tugged his shirt back on over his head; finding it strange that no one outside of him had entered the pokemon center.
On his way out of the bathroom, he was waved over by the same nurse as before, calmly Ash found his way over.
"I'm sorry, sir, but do you have your identification? I forgot to ask for it earlier." The nurse said calmly, watching as Ash fumbled thoughtlessly.
"No." he grimaced. "I list it in-" he paused, thinking to himself that his story sounded made up, even if it was true. Normal people didn't have such adventures. Ash pursed his lips isntead. "I misplaced my pokedex, I'm actually on my way to Paris to get a new one... I'm sure you can look me up in the trainer registry."
The man's shoulders dropped. "I'm sorry, sir. I can't do that." he grimaced. "You have no form of ID on you at all."
Ash stared blankly at him for a moment, trying to convey the frustration bleeding into his mind as he let out a frustrated sigh. "I don't. The registry has my image in there."
"I'm sorry. I can't do that. It's a security issue." he paused to shake his his head. "As a pokemon trainer you're required to have your license on you at all times. I can't return your pokemon until you've shown me proof, and paid..." The nurse grumbled, muttering something about how he wished Ash would have mentioned that before dropping his pokemon off.
The trainer scoffed. They did just patch up charizard, who would be sleeping happily in his pokeball for awhile after the surgery, and pikachu and togepi were in calling distance—he also had a monster of a beast in snorlax. If he wanted to, it was only the one nurse and the doctor in the back watching over the clinic with maybe a handful of other nurses... if Ash wanted he could just take his pokemon.
The idea crossed his mind, but after a short twitch he shook his head. That would be stupid though, he had no escape and there was no guarantee charizard would be okay and he didn't need to make a criminal name for himself.
His brows furrrowed. Was stealing even an option he was considering?
"Sir?" The nurse asked, pulling Ash out of his thoughts.
"is there a number I can give oyu to verify my ownership of these pokemon?"
"No, sir. I'm sorry." The nurse grunted, and Ash wanted to vent that he wouldn't bring pokemon to a center if they weren't his. Instead, Ash forced himself to smile.
"Then what can I do?" He asked, trying to withhold is anger. After all, the nurse was only following rules—doing his job.
"Well, we will hold onto the pokemon for forty-eight hours. After that, they will be considered abandoned." He said quietly, feeling Ash's anger grow, he took a step away from the counter.
Ash's fists clenched. "Abandoned?" he grit his teeth. "How can they be considered abandoned if the trainer is right here?" He asked, gesturing to himself. The nurse shrugged.
"I'm sorry, it's procedure. After the forty-eight hours they'll be sent to the pound and from there it's really easy to pick them up. I can tell the warden that they are owned and explain you-"
"I'll go get my license then." Ash spat aggressively, his blood boiling at even the hint that his pokemon; togepi, pikachu, charizard, snorlax, totodile might have to spend even a second in a pound. Chimchar was the unfortunate pokemon to live through one already, and Ash wasn't entirely sure the ape came out unscathed. Ash seethed.
"I'm sorry..." The nurse tried but Ash had already turned, rubbing his hair with his right hand while cursing under his breath about ridiculous obligations—there was no good reason they couldn't search him under the registry.
Ash allowed himself five minutes of blind rage, in which his foot found solace by striking a trashcan on his way out of the pokemon center. He sighed to himself, thinking of colorful words he had learned form the many companions he met over the last couple of months, and then slumped onto a bench across the street from the pokemon center. He needed to think of a way to get a ticket to ride the monorail to Paris. If he needed to return her in forty-eight hours, he wouldn't have time to walk.
He needed a sign, a break of some sort; calling anyone for money was out of the option only because he had no transferable way to receive their payment... When his brown eyes slit open, he groaned to himself; and as if his prayers were answered, a sign hung high above the pokemon center had a twisted smile over his face.
"Laverre ryhorn races—hiring part time help"
According to the sign, there was a race tonight, tomorrow and if he was lucky, he could land that—what ever it wasn't couldn't have been too difficult.
XOXs
When he made it to the ryhorn races only a few hours later, the job was easier than he thought. the position was a first come first serve and Ash was literally the first person to show up at the gates. The races did not start until 5:00pm, but preparation started hours before that. His temporary position was 'service boy'; which meant he had a goofy hat, striped shirts, and tan pants to match the food he was supposed to walk to customers. It wouldn't be an easy job—walking up flights of stairs, but he was allowed to keep the extra money he received, and would receive a cash at the end of the night.
Before, when he stood at the shores of the city, he hadn't noticed before, how large and expansive the entire city was, but once he cleared the small suburb of the ocean horizon, he discovered that Laverre was massive. Like much of France, it held an old vintage style, decorated with vines and carefully placed bricks to imply the old nature of the city. Far north, it was home to the largest pokeball manufacture in the entire league, which opened many jobs for the old-fashioned city.
Not only that, it was home to one of the largest pokemon stadiums, otherwise nicknamed as "the Colosseum" which is where Ash found himself volunteering that day. It wasn't the best job, and it was far from ideal, but it was humbling, and no harder than working for Misty at the gym.
Ash's job was essentially handing out food to people in the stands while they watched the races below. People wanted their drinks, their nachos, weird looking desserts and twists, and when they raised their hand with money in it, it was Ash's job to run up there and provide them the service of food. It was a terrible job, really, Ash couldn't understand why these people didn't just get up themselves, but apparently with ryhorn racing, everything was a bet.
People bet on the number of accidents, the number of trainers injured, how many times they would be thrown off, when it would happen, how it would happen. If they missed a single minute of the show, they could lose out on money.
Ash wasn't a gambling man, so he didn't believe in taking bets on a race, but he didn't judge those that did. The man who gave him the job served pity on Ash who walked into his office like a wet dog—offered him a shower so he wouldn't smell and gave him a 'uniform', and let him start early. Thus, Ash didn't give much thought to the situation that fell into his lap. Money was money, and Ash wasn't in the best place to turn down the position. So, he gave no thought to the races below since he was interested more in completing his task faster and better than the other people he was working with, since any change left over was a tip directly into his own pocket.
A tip to his pocket would buy him a ticket onto the midnight train to Paris, which he could then use to go meet Professor Sycamore, sort out his mess with his pokedex, and then return to Laverre before tomorrow's nightfall, and collect his pokemon.
So he worked hard, ignored the increasing pain in his side, and kept running. He might have paused for a moment when he thought Serena's name came up, but by the time that Serena was showcasing the races, he was finished with his six hour shift.
"You can stay for the late showing kid. I haven't seen someone so enthusiastic about giving out food in years..." His brief manager muttered while Ash handed him a wad of cash and a list of transaction notes. The manager returned a few bills to the raven-haired boy, and he sighed in gratitude.
"I can't stay. I have to take a train out of town." Ash grunted while removing the silly, orange pointed hat he was forced to wear, he did however, keep the clean uniform before retreating to the train station.
Ash waited a good hour for the train, using the spare time to count his earned income, and then folded it neatly into his pocket. He had a little over thirty dollars left over after purchasing his train ticket, which gave him just enough to grab a room at the pokemon center in Paris and maybe a granola bar or something. Sixteen hours without a meal would have been a record for Ash, but the new level of sleep deprivation was winning out all else.
However, he ignored the ache in his legs, the pain in his side and pressed forward. The train was void of late night passengers, to make matters worse, his head was starting to ache and the dull buzzing in his ears was growing worse by the second.
The forty-five minute trip was spent napping, only to be rudely awakened by the snap of the train pulling into the Paris station.
Once he landed, he went to a map to find the nearest pokemon center and once he did, he spent the better part of an hour walking there. Ash had little time to truly admire the beauty that was Paris, the lights were awing, the scents were enticing, but after forty-eight hours of sleep deprivation, sixteen hours without food, and working a job that literally consisted of scaling flights of stairs for six hours straight: he was sore, and tired and the last thing he cared about was pretty lights.
He arrived at the pokemon center ten minutes after eleven, where he checked in, paid the twenty-five dollar fee, and then immediately made his way to the traditional cafeteria attached to most pokemon centers. He could only afford a sandwich—but it was the best bread, peanut butter, and jam sandwich he had ever had. Starvation did wonders to the flavor pallet.
Afterward, he had intended to shower, but after eating, his attention was only on passing out on the nearest bed, and sleeping off the pain, fast forwarding to tomorrow so he could get his pokemon back.
Ash awoke three hours later, laying on his mattress with his hands sprawled out to either side of him, and his legs dangled over the bed. The throbbing in his side had intensified, and Ash took that as his cue to clean the injury once more. He stripped, and found his way to the shower, where he might have passed out once the heat of the water hit him.
He didn't have money for the laundry room, so instead he washed his clothes out in the shower, being sure to remove the smell of salt water so he would be presentable to see Sycamore the following day, and hung them out over the balcony to dry over night.
There wasn't a lot he could do for the wound. It was redder each time he looked at it, more painful, but he only had to make it a few more hours, and then he could have a real doctor look it over. A few more hours, and he would see his pokemon again.
Staring into the empty abyss of his dark room, he sighed. It was quiet without them, lonely.
Naked, aside from the makeshift bandage he put together using paper towels and the red scarf from before, he crawled into bed a second time, and slept off the pain coursing through his body.
XOXs
Ash woke the next morning at the sound of the distant caw of birds. He was chilled to the bone and most likely feverish, but he sat up anyways, against all pain in his stomach. It was an infection, Ash knew; he might not have known a lot about medicine, but he remembered the time he skinned his knee as a kid and didn't tell his mom. The unclean wound ended up becoming inflamed, sore, and gave out a terrible yellow puss. This was like that, but at a much worse scale. When he removed the bandages to look over the wound before dressing, a yellow, mucus color had started to frame the edges of the gash, and he thought that it might have gotten bigger in his sleep—but that wasn't possible.
Instead, Ash pulled on his black shirt, tucked his jacket on over, and pulled on his underwear and jeans before looking himself over. He looked better than he did yesterday, but his face told a story much worse.
"It's okay. I can do this. Only a few more hours." He grunted to himself before leaving the pokemon center and making his way to the laboratory at the south border of the town.
XOXS
Sycamore's laboratory didn't look different at all from what Ash remembered in his dreams. It was still well kept, and gave off an odd, flowery smell as he approached the front door. The trek there had taken Ash through the better part of the morning, and his head was sweltering from the fever, and his skin was clammy and cold to touch.
When the pokemon researcher's assistant answered the door, she gave one look at Ash, and ushered him in.
"Oh my..." The woman said. "Come sit down before you fall down, child."
"Thanks." Ash grunted, taking no time what so ever to fall into the house and slump into the guest chair beside the door. He exhaled breathlessly and hung his head back, trying to regain his smarts.
"I'm Ash Ketchum." He bellowed. "Gary Oak called about my license and pokedex—I came to pick that up."
A warm hand was placed against his forehead a second later, the woman before him narrowed her eyes and squat in front of Ash. She didn't seem concerned by his request at all as she narrowed her eyes to watch him.
"How many fingers am I holding up, Ash." She said while extending her hand.
"..." Ash pursed his lips calmly, trying to focus his eyes on her face and her hand, but found that nothing came to mind. "Two." he guessed, but the woman hadn't even been holding up fingers.
"You're running a very high fever. You need to see a doctor." She added while standing, and calling after the professor.
Ash yelped, kicking himself. He couldn't stop here. Not yet. He breathed. "My pokemon." He uttered, catching the woman's attention. "They're in Laverre pokemon center, I have to get them back before they're sent to the pound."
The woman lowered her eyebrows to Ash and shook her head, catching the collapsing trainer.
"That's alright, we will take care of that." Though her words sounded like she was speaking from under water and Ash shook his head to try and clear his mind. He made it this far, damn it, he was going to see this through!
...but his body wouldn't let him.
Each time he tried to speak or rise, a spell of dizziness greeted him, and he knew he was well on his was to unconsciousness before the assistant even had time to react.
XOX
Ash had to stop making a habit of waking up in hospital rooms, anymore, and he was sure that he would be breaking records.
When his eyes cracked open to view the image of the sun blaring in, he immediately sat up, trying to address the situation. It wasn't the hospital room from Viridian city, thankfully, but from the window he could see the Eiffel tower. Not good, he was still in Paris—what happened to his pokemon? Had he passed out and—no, no, no, they couldn't go to the pound! He couldn't recall the last few hours before his initial ride in the ambulance. He knew that he rode in one at some point, but was drawing straws to guess as to why. He wasn't that sickly.
Ash hissed angrily, looking down to see the familiar set up of the IV needles pressed into his left arm, and promptly ripped the needle out before slipping his feet over the side of the bed. On the table next to him, his clothes from before were neatly folded, so he yanked off his hospital gown, and started to dress himself long before a nurse walked in, dropping her clip board.
"Mr. Ketchum! You can't just leave!" she shrieked suddenly.
Ash paused, pulling his shirt over his head to look squarely at the frazzled nurse.
"I have to go get my pokemon! I'm sure it'll be fine." He added while kicking on his sneakers. The nurse shuddered in reply.
"I.. you!" She gasped, and then threw up her arms before rushing out to call for a doctor.
Ash didn't care, he had to figure out how many hours he had been sleeping for, and he could get all of that from the lady at the receptionist desk when he kindly checked himself out. What was he thinking working under terrible conditions—he missed rule number one about survival. Take care of himself before everything else—but he didn't really expect to be so bogged down by a measly cut. It barely even hurt!
"Whoa there, Ash. Why don't you sit back down?" A booming, male voice called to him from the door. Ash was already standing, having yet to notice the immediate lack of pain in his side while he looked to the man, the doctor, who entered his room.
"Like I told the nurse, I need to go grab my pokemon." Ash said stubbornly, folding his fingers along the crease of his jacket as the doctor with brown hair and gentle eyes sighed.
"Professor Sycamore has your pokemon at his laboratory. He said that once you wake up you can go see him—but that's after you are checked out thoroughly."
For a moment, relief washed over Ash, but then that was quickly replaced by the sudden wash of unpleasant nostalgia.
"I think I'm okay. Really." Ash grunted, deciding quickly that he did not want to go through the same treatment that he had with the Viridian City hospital. Now, it was the doctor's turn to stare at Ash unimpressed, with a flat-line mouth.
"Mr. Ketchum, you had a ten centimeter, jagged, laceration on your right side, beneath your ribcage that cut into the deep tissue of your stomach. You came here dehydrated, malnourished, running a high fever of 38 Celsius, with an infection that required the removal of the surrounding skin at the point of the wound."
Ash stared at the doctor, and then looked down to his abdomen, which hadn't bothered him at all until the doctor mentioned the wound he received a few days prior. Not fully understanding the doctor, Ash gnawed on his lower lip and then looked back at the older man.
"...What's your point?" He asked skeptically, and the doctor sighed, rubbing his scalp in the same way that Gary did when he was frustrated with Ash and his patience was running thin.
"You're hopped up on painkillers and antibiotics. If you leave now, the infection will most likely return, and you'll be in here again within the next few days."
"...oh." Ash grimaced while touching his side and falling back onto the bed. "Thanks, I guess." He added while pinching his nose.
"You're welcome. Now why don't you let our hospital staff do their job?" He gestured to the nurse from earlier, and then tilted his head. "and she can discuss with you about a proper discharge, alright?"
In a scolding nature, the doctor nodded to Ash. Ash shot him a friendly thumbs up and then crawled back into bed where he gave a rather loud, unorthodox sigh while the nurse he startled earlier approached him wordlessly. She plucked a bandaid from the small table beside Ash, and after opening it, she placed one where the IV needle had been ripped out, and started bleeding. With one more nod, the curt doctor turned on his heels, and exited the room while Ash mentally tallied up the bill what would be stapled to his name. He already had a large outstanding loan to Misty, what was one more?
At the thought of Misty, he hung his head back and groaned deeply. "Oh no, Misty..." he muttered under his breath, thumping his head against the wall. She let it go that he accidentally burned down a forest, and a compound; there was no way she was going to let this one slide. Hopefully, no one called anyone.
The nurse working on his arm chuckled as she grinned. "Your girlfriend?" She asked while unhooking the IV system, and collecting the clipboard off of the floor. She looked at him with large, blue eyes, and Ash felt his face flush.
"No." He answered smoothly, avoiding eye contact. "A friend of mine."
"Really?" The nurse seemed overly chipper now, her wide, cheeky grin sending shivers down her spine. "Seems a little weird you would mention a friend several times in your sleep, don't you think?" She giggled, getting a loud gasp from Ash as he turned to face her.
"I did not!" He whined bashfully, covering his face with his hands.
She chuckled to herself. "What's so embarrassing about liking a girl?" she grinned before settling down and giving him an earnest, sincere smile. Her aged face made a wrinkle where her eyes were, showing the mischievous nature of her words.
Ash pouted, crossing his arms over his chest with a low, indifferent scowl. The woman had a way of getting under his skin, like someone else he knew before.
"I don't like her." he argued.
The woman chuckled again, in a motherly way.
"I have a son who does the same thing." her blonde hair shined in the sunlight. "He's all grown up now... probably just around your age." She sighed quietly while clicking around the room, completing her tasks before resting her arm against the door frame. "He's always so busy though—he's an inventor, you know." She smiled weakly at that.
"...Brightest boy I've ever know." she added in a sad tone that drew Ash's attention to her while he let his arms slip down to his lap.
Her bright hair seemed oddly familiar before, but her bright blue eyes were like pools of their own, and Ash grinned, connecting the dots.
"Do you have a daughter, too?"
"Oh heavens yes, a trouble maker at that." The mother grinned ear the ear thinking about her children.
Ash shook his head in disbelief, imaging his luck with a loud sigh. "I bet." Bonnie and Clemont's mother, he had no doubt—oddly enough, he never met the woman in his dream world—but the resemblance was uncanny.
Realizing she had been gushing, she blinked awkwardly and shook her head. "Oh, excuse me. I'm sorry." She mused. "I'll be right back to discuss your discharge papers with you and the prescription drugs for your injuries. Don't run away, please?" She asked pleasantly, in a teasing way that reminded him an awful lot of his own mother.
His heart twisted and he nodded curtly before looking down at his bare hands. Left to his own thoughts, he shifted in his bed and looked out the window, glaring at the Eiffel tower. Pikachu and togepi must have been worried sick; if Gary had been called, he did not doubt that the professor would have called Misty over this. He seemed to enjoy throwing Ash under the bus after all. Ash pursed his lips unhappily while pouting; thinking about what the nurse had just told him.
What was so bad if he liked Misty? He asked himself once more. To start, she definitely did not like him. At least, not in that stomach tied in knots way. She was way to calm and collected. Besides, since he showed up, her entire life was littered with his continuous problems over and over again. She would have to be crazy to have any sort of feelings for him.
Not only that, his fingers twisted onto his bed sheet, and he curled his toes in his shoes, romance in general was sort of a...strange concept for Ash. In his dream world the thought had never once crossed his mind, and now in the real world he had a constant stream of weird hormones, emotions, and thoughts that simply did not seem natural. Worst of all, how was he sure that he liked Misty at all? He had nothing else to compare it to, but so far, no one else made his stomach ache quite as much... Then again, maybe he was just hungry.
In an attempt to shake the thought from his mind, he hung his head back once more. Why was he thinking about this now? He still had to find greninja, noivern, goodra hawlucha and talonflame. He didn't need to be thinking about girls, or so that was what the childish side of him chimed.
Ash's heart hiccuped, and a rosy tint filtered over his cheeks. Misty wasn't just any girl though. She was a woman, and his best, and possibly only real friend in this entire, messed up world right now.
Ash wasn't stupid, he knew about ladies to some degree, Dr. Abby made sure of that—but he wasn't keen on the idea, either. A part of him still believed girls had cooties, and while they were wonderful traveling companions in his mind, dating one was a whole different ball game.
Oh god, dating? Did he just think of dating?
Panicked for a total of ten minutes, he decided the safest way to maintain his sanity while he waited for the nurse to return was to watch television until the nurse came back with his discharge papers. His thoughts kept running back to two things, Misty, or his pokemon; there didn't seem to a middle anymore, no matter how much he tried to argue that he needed to focus on the threat of Team Rocket, or maybe even what he was going to do after traveling. Instead, he drowned out his thoughts with the public news and prayed that the feelings would pass.
Author's Note:
Decided to break up the chapter after all.
I think Ash getting injured is a good reminder that he is -human- because for awhile there, he seemed to think he was invincible, blowing shit up and stuff, flying over islands, jumping off boats, taking on gyarados'. Also, couldn't resist throwing in some part-time labor. You ever worked at a race show? Those things are brutal. Plus, I think it's important to understand that Ash can, without other people, manage on his own now. This includes without the help of pokemon. (even if he did technically land himself in the hospital again, -weeps in the distance-)
Literally going to post the second half of this in like two minutes. The chapter was simply getting too long, and everything after this was like a whole different subject, so it made sense (to me) to break them up.
NINT
