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Flames Shine Forth: Part 2
by: Ash's #1 Fan
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Cold. Unemotional. Frigid. Moist. Ash felt all of this things as he awoke from the most repulsive experience he has had yet. Somehow, he managed to get washed up on the muddy surface.
The only sound he heard was that of the now gentle waves caressing the rocks that lay in the middle. This was enough to make him open his eyes, and with a low groan, lifted himself unsteadily with his arms.
He was able to flip himself over, so he was in a sitting position. His body ached all over from the many falls that had taken place. Yet, he still found himself lucky, for he escaped all three plunges with just scrapes and bruises on his legs and arms.
He felt himself jerk in surprise when he heard a soft moan to his right. He turned his head and saw Misty, also getting into an upright posture, holding her forehead once again.
"Misty, are you all right?" Ash asked in a crackly voice.
Misty carefully slid her legs up to her chest, so her arm would have support for holding her head, "Yeah, I...I think so."
Misty looked over at Ash with the side of her eye. He looked awful in her opinion. His face and arms were somewhat bloody and wet with dirt. His clothes looked old and ragged with all the gaps missing. His hat was the same.
But she could tell she was no charm herself. Her head felt as though she had the largest goose egg in history, while along with that, she could feel the fresh blood piling into her hand. Her skin and clothes were just as bad as Ash's, and she had a sensation her hair needed a good washing.
Though, unlike Misty, Ash wasn't worried about how they looked, he was concerned about getting up and finding their way back to their campsite.
And the sooner, the better. If he didn't get up right at that moment, he would never want to get up.
He forced his arms to push him up and succeeded, but only for getting on his knees, then having to bend over so his arms could once again support him from falling face first into the mud.
Misty saw all his strength, and had to admire him for that. She was amazed as she felt her lips slowly forming into a smile. She would never know how Ash always made her do that, even in times like this.
"We better get started on getting back," Ash said suddenly.
Misty tried to look up at him, for he was now standing up, but even the glistening of the water made her eyes hurt. Maybe that was why she felt so tired...
"Right," Misty finally agreed and stood up, making sure not to move her head too much.
Ash walked over to her cautiously, as to not hurt himself even more. He deliberately removed her hand.
Misty didn't object, but she didn't want him to do that, either. She always tried to look at pretty as she could in front of him, and didn't actually want him to see her like this.
Again, she asked, "How bad does it look?" Ash opened his mouth to say something, but Misty interrupted him quickly, "And Ash...please tell the truth."
Ash closed his mouth. He didn't want to make her more worried, but he had no other choice...maybe it was best if she knew.
"Well...you got a pretty big bumb on your forehead and by the way your squinting your eye...it looks like you're gonna have a black eye," Ash tried to say this as casual as he possibly could, but he had a doubt in his mind that Misty wouldn't take it that casualy.
"What?!" Misty started to panic, taking a step away from Ash, "No...no...NO! I can't look like this, I..."
"Misty!" Ash said, stepping forward and grabbing both of her hands, "Misty, it won't help you any to over react. Like it or not, it's there."
Misty could feel herself on the brink of tears. She didn't like the way she looked with all those horrible things on her face. It made her sound like she were deformed, and though she had nothing against those kind of people, she didn't have no intentions of being one herself.
She felt one tear escape from her right eye. Oh, no! This was worse. She hated Ash seeing her look like she did, let alone seeing her cry. The last thing she ever wanted was for Ash to feel sorry for her.
Yet, when she saw his stern face turn into concern, she didn't feel pitiful. She felt cared for. Cared for by her best friend that she liked so much more than just that. And when she felt his soft hands brush away her tear and his gentle "shhh's", she wasn't determined like she used to be to hide her fears and tears, as she let one more tear fall. That one was more out of happiness.
Once Ash saw that she was done letting her tears fall, he began talking slowly, "You okay now?"
Misty nodded in responce. Ash realized he was still holding her hands, but let them go, blushing.
"Okay, then, let's get going," he said, walking on a path that lead away from the water.
Misty started to follow him, "Ash, do you know where you're going?"
"Yeah," Ash said, as he turned back to look at her, "I have it all figured out. If we stay on this path, then that'll have to lead us somewhere. And that somewhere will most likely be left. Then all we have to do is get back up the waterfall and the hill we fell off of."
"And how do you expect us to do that?" Misty questioned.
Ash was silent for awhile, "Oh...guess I haven't figured everything out, heh."
Misty sighed, "How did I know something wasn't right?"
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means," Misty began sharply, "That no matter what, something you plan out will go wrong and we'll just get more lost!"
Ash turned around to face her, fumming, "That is *not* true! I'll show you! I'll get us out of here in no time, then you'll be feeling guilty for ever doubting me!" Ash finally finished, turning back around and continuing to walk.
"The only thing I'm gonna be feeling guilty for is for following you!" Misty snapped back, quickly putting her hand up to her head again, she was giving herself a headache.
Ash frowned, "Whatever."
Misty gave an angry look, followed by disappointment. The only thing she hated worse than fighting with Ash, was not talking to Ash at all. She inwardly kicked herself for starting the conflict. Sure, what she said *was* true...Ash always did get them lost, but at least he was trying.
So, she continued following him, reluctantly, in silence.
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About two hours later...
"ASH!!" Misty yelled, "I told you, you wouldn't know where we're going!"
"I *do* know where we're going!" Ash snarled.
"Then where are we?!" Misty asked, beginning to give herself a headache again.
"Umm, well..." Ash stuttered, "I don't know...I was never here before."
Misty groaned softly, making it louder, until it turned into a scream, "You are so impossible!"
Ash tried to ignore the remark, as he saw the trail end. He began to get worried, but put that off to the side as he turned to face her, "ME?! I don't think so, Misty, 'cause for one...THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"
"Mine?!" Misty looked taken aback, running a little to catch up with Ash, who turned left and began walking through the forest, "How can it be *my* fault?!"
"If you woulda never pushed me away from Pikachu, we both wouldn't have fallen off that cliff, there for, not leading to being down here," Ash said calmly, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What?" Misty asked, a little shocked, now walking beside Ash, "Ash, if I didn't push you outta the way, you would have got hurt from that bomb."
In his mind, Ash knew this was true. And he also knew he should be thanking her for that, instead of blaming her.
"Yeah, well...it looks like I got hurt anyway."
Misty stopped walking, to upset from Ash's pitiful selfishness to go on. This caused Ash to stop also, turning around to face her once again, waiting for her responce.
"I can't believe you, Ash Ketchum...someone saves your life and you can't even be a *little bit* thankful," Misty made a 'te' sound, "How self-centered can you get?"
As surprising as it was, Ash couldn't think of one comeback. Because he knew it was all too true to fight with. His face softened into a look of apology, "Misty I..."
But before he could go on, he spotted something flying behind Misty.
Misty saw the frightened look on his face, but didn't pay attention to it, "Well?..."
Ash took a step back and pointed, "M-Misty...behind you."
"Huh?" Misty was suddenly terrified to know what could be behind her, but found herself slowly turning around, when she spotted a Beedrill.
Misty gasped. It was so close to her, looking like it was waiting for the perfect moment to attack.
"Misty, just back away slowly..." Ash said, backing away himself.
Misty began whimpering, as her legs suddenly became jell-o.
Then, without warning, the Beedrill buzzed louder, meaning it was about to seige them.
"AHHHH!!" both of them screamed at once, turning around and running as fast as they could, the Beedrill right behind them.
From their lack of energy and pain stricken legs, they could hardly run fast enough. Plus, for Misty, running for your life was not a good option to take when your head is throbing tremendously.
"Ash!..." she finally had to call, as she put a hand up to her head and began slowing down.
Ash turned around, still running and saw this. The Beedrill was catching up to her, and if it caught her and stung her, she would be out of luck, since they had no kind of andidote with them. Then, that would make him out of luck without a heart...
He ran back quickly, grabbing her other hand and practically dragged her to go faster. Misty could only look down at the ground flashing past her, as she forced her legs to keep moving.
"In there!" she suddenly heard Ash scream. She managed to look up and saw a compressed bunch of trees that the Beedrill would have a hard time getting through.
Though it seemed like a million miles away, they were only a few feet away...they could hear the Beedrill catching up to them, the buzzing sound ringing in their ears. Misty could almost feel her head bursting open as her headache directed more towards her temples...
Then, they reached the dense trees, flying through the narrow opening, covering their faces from getting smacked with branches.
Gradually, they heard the buzzing of the Beedrill getting further away, as the trees slowed it down. Yet, they could tell the Beedrill was still trying to get through to them.
Misty took that chance to look back, and only saw a little speck that was the Beedrill, but never getting smaller. Abruptly, she felt her body being pulled to one side by Ash.
He took them behind a tall, fat tree, making them both slide down to the ground, for the bottom was the roundest.
They kept quiet for a few minutes, until they heard the Beedrill coming closer again. They both held their breath, praying the Beedrill will fly right past them.
It came closer...and closer...and closer, until...
Their prayer was answered. The Beedrill thought they kept running straight ahead, so that's where it went.
Once it was out of ear shot, Misty was about to let out a deep breath, but Ash covered her mouth quickly.
"Mmhffmm?" Misty mumbled under Ash's hand. She looked over at him and saw him looking straight ahead.
"Misty...do...not...scream," Ash said, looking over at her.
She suddenly became scared again, not knowing what to expect. But she looked out of the corner of her eye...and saw tons of bug pokemon.
Misty's eyes grew wide, and slid back more against the tree, until she was so close to it, the only way she could go back further, was to go through it.
Now Caterpie's and Weedle's and Spinarak's didn't seem like much to Ash, but to Misty, it was a very big deal.
She wanted to get out of there fast, but didn't know whether the Beedrill was completly gone or not. It looked to her like they were all coming closer, though to someone who wasn't afraid of bugs, they wouldn't have noticed.
Misty turned sideways and put her hands on the side of Ash's arms and her head on his shoulder, covering her eyes. Since she was close to her worst fear, she hardly knew she was doing this, she just wanted to be protected.
Ash figured this, but still couldn't help feeling a little happy with Misty this close to him. He knew he had to get her away from there, before she did scream...if she ever found her voice.
He wrapped his arms around her, making her stand up. Misty did so, as long as Ash would let her hang onto him.
"Come on," he whispered into her ear, making sure none of the bug pokemon heard them.
They walked around the tree, trying not to step on any crunchy leaves. Well...Ash was, Misty was just expecting him to look out for her at the moment. While Ash, on the other hand, was hoping against hope that the Beedrill would not decide to turn around.
He moved her a few feet away from them, and when he did, he began talking normally again, "It's okay now, Mist."
Misty lifted her head off his shoulder and looked around to make sure. Once she didn't see anything, that's when she realized how she was holding Ash.
She stepped away from him, looking down, trying to hide her blush.
Ash didn't notice as he looked around, "Okay, I think we're safe for awhile."
At that moment, Ash's stomach decided to growl, causing him to blush this time, "Oops, heh, I guess I'm getting kinda hungry again, since we didn't eat before."
Misty nodded, "I'm hungry, too...do you have anything?"
Ash checked his jacket and his jean pockets, "Umm-er-uhh...no. I have food in my back pack, but I took that off at camp."
"Oh...I gave my bag to Brock before I..." Misty stopped herself, she didn't want to get into *that* again, "So I don't have mine either."
They were silent for a few minutes, not knowing what else to do.
Misty finally broke the silence, "I wonder if Brock's okay."
"Yeah," Ash agreed, "I hope he didn't get hurt...I remember hearing him scream. But if he is okay...I hope he rescued Pikachu."
Ash looked down, suddenly missing Pikachu. He was always used to having it on his head, or by his side whenever he felt depressed.
Misty saw how doleful he looked and gave a compassionate gaze, "Ash..."
Ash decided to check his other pokemon. He lifted up his jacket and scaned his belt, but saw nothing.
"What?" he looked all around his belt, "Oh, no...oh, no! I lost all my pokeballs!"
He started to panic, "What if...what if I lost them when we were falling down the waterfall? They could be anywhere! And what if they're stuck somewhere where they can't get out to help me find them?! What if-"
"Ash, calm down!" Misty interrupted, "We'll find them...don't worry."
Ash looked at her like she was crazy, "Don't worry?! Misty, how can I not worry?! My pokemon are lost and if I don't find them..." Ash held his tongue, he didn't even want to think about what would happen if he didn't find them.
"Ash, it won't help when you keep thinking about the bad if's," she said as comforting as possible.
Ash looked up at her with tears in his eyes, "You're right..."
He turned his back to her and walked in the direction they were heading. Misty saw his eyes shine and knew how terrible it was for him to not know where his pokemon were. But once she thought about, she wasn't so sure if her pokemon were safe either.
She caught up to him, eyeing him. She could tell he was fighting with all his might not to cry. She could feel tears well up in her own eyes...every time she saw Ash cry, it always broke her heart.
She put her hand on his shoulder, making him stop, but he didn't face her.
"You gonna be okay?" Misty asked, gently.
Ash unfolded and folded his fist back up, "Yeah...yeah, I'm fine."
Misty could tell he wasn't telling the truth, but decided not to push it any further. If he didn't want comforted, that was his own choice.
So, she nodded and let go of his shoulder.
They began walking again, in silence, until they heard a clap of thunder...
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Okay, well, there's part 2 for ya! Sorry if the other part had too much action in it for such a short...part. But I was just making it lead to this, so, hope you like this part better. Please review!