"Mmm…" Ash moaned as he slowly awoke. He was assaulted by a massive throbbing in his head, as he tried to remember where he was. He surveyed his surroundings and tears sprang to his eyes as he rested his gaze on a still unconscious Misty. She had a huge gash over her right eye and looked quite pale. Ash searched for her pulse…and found it, but it was very faint.
"This is all my fault. Misty warned me that this cave might be dangerous and now she's hurt because of my carelessness."
"Pika pi!"
Ash looked up. "Pikachu?" He said dazedly. Then he heard Brock's voice. "Pikachu, did you find them?" "Pika!" Came the reply.
"Brock!" Ash yelled. "Ash!" Brock leaned over the edge of the hole. "Are you guys okay?"
"I'm fine, but Misty looks bad. She needs a doctor!" Ash said with sudden assertiveness. "Please Brock, get help and take Pikachu with you!"
"Okay Ash, I'll be back as soon as I can!" Pikachu hung back for a few seconds and looked worriedly at the pair before scampering off.
Ash pulled himself over to where Misty lay.
"Misty, please wake up!" Ash pleaded. A tear rolled down his face and landed on Misty's cheek. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Ash?" She said weakly.
"Everything's gonna be okay, Misty. Brock's gone to get help."
Misty slowly propped herself up and began shivering violently. Somewhat uneasily, Ash reached over and wrapped his arms around her. Grateful for the warmth, Misty relaxed in his embrace.
After a few minutes of silence, Ash spoke up. "Misty?"
"Yeah, Ash?"
"I'm really sorry."
"For what?"
"For not listening to you, for being so stupid…you don't deserve to be stuck down here with me."
"Ash, I…it's okay. What's passed is passed. There's no use crying about it now."
"I guess, but—" "Ash, don't make me use my mallet!"
Ash looked at her with mock fear, then smiled. "If only you'd done that in the first place, we wouldn't be in this mess." He challenged her.
"Oh, so now it's my fault, is it?" Misty asked, somewhat irritated.
"Sure, why not?"
"Because it's your fault, Mr. Pokémon Master!"
"Hmm…I wonder if that Paras is still up there."
"Hey, don't go changing the subject on me!"
"All right, fine. Let's just say it's all Brock's fault and leave it at that." Ash stated decidedly.
"Right! Of course Brock's to blame!" Misty agreed.
They both burst out laughing. Misty wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. Ash had never really noticed how beautiful her eyes were…how beautiful she was. Misty had stopped laughing now, and returned Ash's gaze, batting her eyelashes. Ash blushed slightly, and looked away, but Misty put her arms around him and pulled him into a soft kiss. She was relieved when he put his arms around her and began kissing her back. This went on for several minutes, until Misty broke the kiss and went limp in Ash's arms.
"Misty?" Ash said, panicked.
She'd fallen unconscious again.
TO BE CONTINUED…
A/N: I tried to make this part longer…this isn't my usual type of fanfic. It's not very descriptive, and once again I close with an "owels." ^_^;