Respect

Respect

Part Two

Ash had the dull realization that he never would have made it to the fence even if he hadn't fallen. Then the houndour struck, and he didn't have to think anymore. Only scream.

The houndour swiped him with its claws, and the left shoulder of his shirt was torn off, exposing long, dark scratches on his upper arm. He barely had time for his mind to accept the bright red blood that appeared from this before the next attack. Another swipe, and he was shaking at the pain in his back as the houndour's claws sunk deep. He shifted desperately in a reflex reaction, trying to get away from both the houndour and the pain, but finding comfort from neither.

Suddenly the world around him was two-thirds darker than it should have been, and he began crying involuntarily as he was clipped on the side of his head. He didn't think this attack had even been intentional, as the houndour had been moving to prepare for another attack. A sense of dread took hold of his mind. The houndour was now readying itself to bite him, and if was successful in that, Ash was petrified that his arm was going to get torn off...

He was about to go into shock. He was vaguely aware that, amidst the shouts and attacks around them, Togepi was squealing and shifting underneath him. What was that silly thing doing...?

There was a lunge, a shadow over him, and in one abrupt motion the houndour was gone as it gave its own scream of pain. Ash gasped and blinked. He hadn't known that such a small movement could be that excruciating...beads of sweat rolled down his face as he tried to look around to see what had happened. Togepi had crawled out and had its arms fixed rigidly in the air. It couldn't have...

"Ash!"

Ash had never heard Gary sound so scared. And why was his voice so far away? Behind him, he heard the faint sound of sobs. Who was that?

Another shadow fell over him. He was scared that the houndour had come back for more, but he couldn't hear it growling. Maybe there were other pokémon out there with him. Pikachu was somewhere...

Then he was screaming, his brain so clouded with pain that he couldn't even register was happening. He was being lifted, then carried over someone's back. The fire from his wounds raged throughout his entire body.

"It's okay Ash, we're getting help..." Gary's voice, though actually closer, sounded more distant than ever. Ash's forward motion became jerkier, pulling at his injuries even more. They were over the fence. What did that matter now...

He was being gently set down on the ground. "Ash?" he heard Misty asking him. Her voice sounded strange, too weak for Misty...

The sun was in his eyes, blinding him. He closed them. "Ash, can you hear me?" Misty asked. "Ash, please try to stay awake..."

I'm sorry, Mist, he thought silently, and then the darkness in his mind deepened until it was pitch black and he was no longer aware of anything.

***

He was stiff. He was stiff, and he was blind. His body felt so heavy...the darkness was all around him, and he didn't even care. Something was wrong. Where was he? Why did it even matter?

He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids were heavy, and he barely managed to blink. He started to shift to the side but was stopped short by a shot of intolerable pain. He gasped and felt his eyes water up in spite of the fact that his eyelids were still glued shut.

"Don't move..." he heard someone whisper. "Don't try to move."

The person squeezed his hand. This calmed him. He relaxed and obeyed the voice. With no other place to go, the tears escaped anyway. He felt the person gently brush them away, and he leaned slightly into the hand. His head didn't argue with him too much for that action, and it comforted him when the hand cupped his face tenderly before pulling away.

Gradually his mind began to wake up. His eyes opened themselves almost fully, and he took in his surroundings. He didn't recognize the room, and the bed was too hard and uncomfortable to be his own. And why were there railings on the side...was he in the hospital? That was it. But why?

He felt a slight sting in his back and remembered that his arm, back and head were hurt. Okay, so that was why he was in the hospital. Now all he had to do was remember what had happened.

The houndour attack. It came rushing back to him and he gasped before realizing it. How long had he been unconscious?

"Are you okay?"

Ash looked up and saw Misty looking at him. Her features were much softer and more subdued than usual, concern written all over her stature. Her hand was resting lightly on his and she awkwardly pulled it back. Had it been her who had been holding it?

"...F-fine..." his voice was hoarse, and he coughed. As soon as he did so his chest ached. "Just...tired."

"The doctor said you would be," she said gently. "You woke up early, in fact. Your mom and Professor Oak will be sorry they missed it. They're talking to your doctor right now."

"Am I going to be alright?" he asked.

Misty smiled. "You'll be fine. You have a lot of stitches, and you had a mild concussion. But you'll get better within a week or two."

"Okay." He was too tired to say anything else, and Misty could tell.

"You're on some strong medication. Want to go back to sleep?" she asked.

But I just woke up... he felt like saying. Even so, he could already feel his eyelids drooping. "I...guess..."

And he let himself sink back into slumber.

***

When he woke up again, he was only slightly less confused. Misty was gone, replaced by his mom and Professor Oak. They were both by his bed, watching him intently. Ash thought this was creepy until he realized that they could probably tell he was about to wake up. His mom looked tired herself; her face was paler than usual and she didn't smile until he looked at her. Her eyes softened then and she smiled in relief at his awakening.

"Mom...?" he said. His voice sounded a little closer to normal.

"I'm here, baby," she said, leaning over to brush the bangs off his forehead. Baby? Why was she calling him that? She hadn't called him that since he was six. He had insisted on calling her Delia in retribution...surrender turned out to be easier than discipline in that instance.

He tried to smile, ended up coughing, and asked, "What, Delia."

His mom laughed, and that made him feel better. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "You remembered," she said. "You never did like that name..."

"Because I'm not a baby," he said, then had another coughing fit and let himself close his eyes, exhausted.

His mom hesitated. "No, but you're still a child...we'll talk about that later..."

That doesn't make any sense... Ash thought. Then again, very little made sense at the moment.

"The doctor says you're going to be fine, alright?...but you need your rest. You were very lucky. The painkillers you are on are going to make you really sleepy, so just go back to sleep, okay?...we'll still be here."

Ash was too tired to argue and he drifted back to sleep. Again.

***

He woke up a few more times that day. There was always someone by his bedside. Most of the time it was his mom, sometimes accompanied by Professor Oak. But other times it was Misty, Brock, or Tracey. Once it had even been Gary—that had been strange. But no matter who it was, he hardly managed to hold a brief conversation with them before falling asleep again, the conversation already forgotten by the time he next awoke. In the evening the doctor came in and gave him a sedative, and it was morning before the next time he awoke.

That time happened to be at the absolutely inhumane hour of seven o'clock in the morning, the purpose being to give him a breakfast that he didn't even feel like eating. He wasn't sure if it was his appetite that was weak or the food—it didn't look like even Snorlax would touch this stuff.

He did notice that, despite the heavy fatigue that seemed to weigh down every bone of his body, he was more aware this morning. They had weaned him to a lower dose of painkillers over the course of the night. He picked at his breakfast and wished he had a donut. Once the nurse had taken away the tray, tsking at him for not eating more than he did, he watched TV. Visiting hours were supposed to start at nine, but Misty came in at eight-thirty, right in the middle of The Pikachu That Glowed in the Dark. He halfway wished that his Pikachu would do that, but then again, that would probably get to be just as annoying as if Pikachu had stayed pink.

"You're awake," Misty said in surprise, obviously relieved.

"I feel a little better," Ash said. "I mean, I'm still exhausted, and it hurts to move, but...I don't know how to explain it. I just feel better."

"Like you don't want to die?" Misty said, arching her eyebrows. Ash laughed.

"Yeah," he admitted. "It was kind of bad yesterday."

Misty hesitated, then glanced at the clock. "I'm not supposed to be here yet," she said, "but I slipped past Nurse Joy. I just wanted to warn you..." she paused.

"What?" Ash asked. "Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly. It's just that Gary got chewed out yesterday by Professor Oak," she said reluctantly. In spite of the fact that this was what she came to do, she still hated to tell him this. "I don't know if you remember, but he was the one who saved you. As soon as Togepi and Pikachu distracted it he ran out to get you and carried you back. Professor Oak was really mad that either of you were in the pen...especially because you got hurt."

Mad was an understatement, Misty knew. She and Brock had gotten their own tongue lashings, for which the Professor had later apologized, saying he was just taking his fear and anger out on them. That had lessened the sting of his rebuke only slightly.

"But I didn't know it was the houndour pen," Ash sighed. "Although I guess I shouldn't have gone in until I was sure. But that's where I found Togepi...wait, did you say Togepi distracted it?"

"With metronome," Misty said with satisfaction. "See, I told you it knew some attacks! The silly thing just never knows when to use them."

"That was a good time to learn..." Ash said ruefully. "Did any of the other pokémon get hurt...sheesh, I can't believe I forgot. I guess Gary is okay too?" he asked. He had just assumed that since Gary visited yesterday him, he was fine.

"Yes, he's okay.. Like I said, the other pokémon distracted the houndour, so it didn't even get near Gary. Pikachu got a little scratch but the Professor healed him right up with some hyper potion," Misty quickly reassured him.

"Where is Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"He couldn't come in this hospital," Misty said. "They only allow pokémon during certain times of the day, and they wouldn't let him in with your condition being what it was yesterday. I'm sorry."

"Oh. Okay." Ash's tone was disappointed, making Misty feel guilty at being the bearer of bad news. But that was why she had come in the first place. She sighed.

"But...I just thought you might want to know that, as soon as you feel up to it, you're going to be lectured too. I didn't want you to feel bad or think that you were the only one being blamed," she said.

"That's okay. I should have expected it," he said resignedly. Then, more unsure of himself, "I was just wondering...are you mad at me too?" Misty looked startled at the question.

"Well, I didn't want you to get hurt..." she said, then trailed off.

"What do you think I should have done? Should I have done something different?" He carefully propped himself up on his elbows and looked at her, making her uncomfortable, for his eyes were pleading. He had been hurt enough, and she had worried him with her warnings. He didn't need any other recrimination.

"I don't know, but...if it's any consolation, I would have done the same thing," she told him truthfully, hoping it was enough.

It was. Ash smiled, leaning back against his pillow more peacefully. "Yeah, it is. Thanks."

***

The first good news was that he got to go home that day. His wounds, though serious, were minor enough that his mom could change the dressing on them. He was instructed to keep an eye out for infection, given another days' worth of low dose painkillers, and then released.

The second good news was that he didn't get a tongue lashing immediately. He got home around noon and his mom set him up out on the sofa so that she could keep an eye on him for the rest of the day. He was supposed to move as little as possible until his injuries were more fully healed, and he had to rest and take it easy for at least a week. All of his other friends promised to keep him entertained, though, in spite of knowing what an arduous task keeping this promise would entail. Ash was not one to sit still for very long.

The bad news was that the lecture was only postponed until later that afternoon. In the beginning, if he hadn't been so tired and medicated, he decided that it would have been almost like a party. While Ash rested on the sofa, the rest of the kids sat around him just talking. Everyone had gotten along incredibly well, with not a single fight. Ash wondered if everyone was still in shock over yesterday's accident. He knew that he was feeling a lot more good-natured than usual. He was even glad to see Gary there. Then again, having a guy save your life will do that for you.

About four o'clock the Professor arrived, and Delia sent everyone else out of the living room. They had given Ash sympathetic looks as they left but otherwise scurried away without further comment, still remembering their own talks. Though Gary had leaned over and reminded Ash, "Remember, my grandfather will go easier on you if you cry."

"I'm not going to cry," Ash growled.

"You did yesterday."

"Grr...."

Okay, so there was one fight. But Ash didn't count that one. Gary had been trying to be nice—maybe. In a weird sort of way.

"Ash..." the Professor said when it was just the three of them. The quiet and level tone of his voice was actually quite frightening. Ash felt a nervous flutter in his stomach. "Why did you go in the houndour pen after I told you not to?"

"It was an accident. I didn't know it was the houndour pen, Professor Oak," Ash said earnestly. "I know it was dumb, I should have checked. But I thought that the field was in someone else's' yard. I wouldn't have gone in it otherwise..." he trailed off, not entirely sure if he was telling the truth there and hoping the Professor couldn't sense that. He had to rescue Togepi, after all. He decided to throw that in. "And I didn't go in it on purpose. It was just that Togepi was lost, and I found it over there. I was going to leave as soon as I found it, but..." Ash stopped. They knew what happened next.

Professor Oak sighed. "That's what Gary said. And I'll admit, it's hard to get mad at you two for simply trying to do something right." Ash blinked. It was? The Professor had evidently had time to calm down since yesterday.

"You were trying to save your friend's pokémon, and Gary was trying to save his friend. But still, you put both of yourselves in a very dangerous situation. And you disobeyed me—not deliberately, but you disobeyed me nonetheless," he said.

"And you know that disobeying Professor Oak is the same as disobeying me," Delia said softly, picking up where the Professor left off. "We've talked it over, and we've come up with a disciplinary lesson that we think is appropriate." She took a deep breath. "For the next two weeks, you're not allowed to have anything to do with pokémon training at all. And that includes pokémon, of course."

It took a moment for it to sink in. "Two weeks?" Ash asked, dazed. This wasn't fair. He was going to a pokémon master—how was he supposed to do that without any pokémon? He had thought his mother understood his ambition...

A lump formed in his throat and he angrily tried to swallow it away. Darn it, he would not cry. He wouldn't give Gary Oak the satisfaction. "What about Pikachu?" he asked. The combination of pain from his injuries and the humility of being punished made the thought of being separated from his friend worse, and his eyes watered up. He brushed at them, mad at himself for not being strong enough to avoid the tears.

Delia hesitated, then relented. "He can stay. But he's not allowed to be anything more than a companion, and Professor Oak will be caring for all your other pokémon until the two weeks are up. You're going to be grounded from comics and TV and VCR privileges too, after today. Since you'll be stuck on the sofa all day I'm making an exception. And we agreed that you can study if you want, because our goal is not to try to bore you out of your mind, just to think before you act...please don't cry, sweetie."

"I'm not!" The tear running down his cheek belied his words and he shifted onto his side so that he didn't have to look at them. This made his shoulder throb and he winced in pain but decided to try to sweat it out.

"We're just doing this because we don't want you to get hurt," the Professor said. Gary may have been right after all—Ash thought he detected a more compassionate tone in the Professor's voice.

"I know." Ash sniffed. He was almost over it but he was still resentful. "What about Gary?"

"He'll be appropriately punished too, but that's between me and him," Professor Oak said. "And just so you know, this conversation will not leave the room because of your mom or me, either."

It doesn't matter. My friends will find out soon enough when I can't leave for two weeks or do anything that involves pokémon, Ash thought bitterly.

"Do you have any questions?" Professor Oak asked.

Why me? But he didn't say that, just began shaking his head no. There was no use in arguing. It wouldn't help his case and would probably make his punishment worse. And all because of that stupid houndour...hey, that reminded him!

"I do have a question! What keeps the houndour in its pen?"

"What?" Professor Oak looked startled at the random change of subject, then shook his head. This is what he got for trying to discipline a hyperactive boy.

"There's a psychic field my kadabra has set up around it," Professor Oak explained. "It works to discourage the houndour from leaving. Evidently I need to expand it to keep inquisitive little boys out, as well," he said dryly.

"Oh." Ash blushed at this. "Just wondering."

***

The next two weeks were all but unbearable. It didn't help that Gary left to continue his journey after the first one. Either Gary's punishment had been shorter or less severe, Ash decided, which did little to dismiss the grudge he held against him.

Brock, Tracey, Misty, and for the first week Gary, had all tried to keep Ash entertained, but the truth was that everyone was happy when Ash's punishment ended. Ash attempted to be a good patient but there is only a certain length of time an energetic young boy can stand to be inactive, and it is quite less than two weeks. Their attempts to keep him busy were valiant but doomed for failure at best.

Ash was terrible at cooking and even worse at drawing. His only consolation was that Misty was just as bad at either, and as Misty's charitability decreased at the same rate that Ash's strength rose, they had several interesting insult wars over that once he was feeling better. However, even though the immediate pain was gone, his wounds still need time to heal physically. So they went outside very little as well, because his mom wouldn't allow any rough housing until the stitches came out, and that took ten days, leaving him with a grand total of four to play outside. And since even then he wasn't allowed to play with his pokémon, he was just as likely, if not more so, to sulk out there than inside the house.

The only thing that made him feel that those weeks weren't a total waste was the fact that, amazingly enough, he really did use the time to study, relying on his friends' knowledge to help him learn. Brock drilled him on rock and ground type pokemon, such as all the attacks they were strong at and weak against and when they were more likely to evolve. And as a bonus, he even threw in one of his secret ingredients for specialized poké-chow. (Ash decided that this was more a gesture of trust than anything else, as he was still lacking the other four secret ingredients.) Misty did the same thing as Brock with water pokémon, minus the cooking advice but with the addition of lots of snide comments.

Tracey's profession as a Watcher proved to be valuable as he had a wealth of information on almost all types of pokémon and insights into their behavior that most other trainers would not have seen. Gary's contribution was to goad Ash on and be a constant source of aggravation by harassing him every time he missed an answer. Despite Ash's annoyance and frustration, it worked, and he found that Gary had less and less to provoke him on (and though Gary would never admit it, he learned some new things himself.) By the time Gary left Ash was able to give them correct answers at least half the time, and by the end of his confinement, Ash had actually learned everything that his friends had intended for him to learn. And that was good enough for his mom to buy him rocky road ice cream the last night of his grounding in celebration of both his success and his new freedom. He stayed for two more days after that, as his mom said that she'd like to see her son for at least one more day when he wasn't hurt or grounded, and then it was time to hit the road again.

"Now dear, remember to take your vitamins," Delia said. She stuffed a canister of chewable pokémon tablets in his backpack as they stood on the doorstep. "I know how you kids eat on the road. This will keep your defenses up."

"Alright," Ash agreed.

"And get plenty of sleep. You need at least ten hours of sleep every night. All of you do," Delia scolded.

Brock and Misty pretended to occupy themselves with their own backpacks, as they all knew quite well that they rarely ever made it to bed when they were 'supposed' to. It was usually all they could do to make it before the PokéCenter closed. Ash was left saying the flustered, "Right..."

"And lastly, don't forget..."

"I know, I know, mom," Ash groaned. "I'll change my you-know-whats." Misty giggled and Ash shot her a dirty look.

"Oh!" His mom gave a surprised exclamation. "I had almost forgotten! Thank you for reminding me, sweetie. I bought you a brand new pack of those to take with you!" She ran inside and came back with a pack of gleaming white Fruit of the Glooms. "Here you go!"

"Mom!" Ash's face turned pink and he quickly grabbed the package and his backpack from her, stuffing the first parcel into the second and zipping his bag up. He decided that a hasty retreat was in order.

"Okay, well, thanks! You know I love you, I gotta go, bye!" He took off down the road before she could embarrass him again, leaving Brock and Misty to catch up. They yelled after him as they set off at a jog and his mom waved cheerfully at the departing trio, oblivious to the damage she had caused to her son's ego.

"Bye sweetie! Have fun and be careful!" She turned to her only companion now and sniffled. "Oh Mimey...they grow up so fast, don't they?"

"Mime," Mr. Mime agreed. He handed her a tissue.

"Oh, thank you, Mimey," she said, dabbing her eyes. She gave one last wave at the kids, who were just about out of sight—but as she looked, she saw Ash turn around and wave back before disappearing over the hill. She blew her nose loudly.

Mr. Mime sighed as he accepted the dirty tissue and carried it to the trash can for her. He couldn't say he felt the same about Ash's departure. He was sorry that Delia felt bad, of course, but there was a bright side to this. At least now, he had Mommy all to himself.

***

"So, where are we now?" Misty leaned wearily against a tree and slunk down to the ground. She rubbed her forehead at the all too familiar sight of Brock staring at the map. Hopefully it wasn't upside down again.

Ash was leaning over to look at it as well, scratching the back of his head as he did so. Pikachu was sitting atop Ash's hat and this action disturbed him. He twitched his tail out of the way. Misty frowned.

"Ash, don't pick at your scab," she reprimanded, and Ash jerked his hand away, scowling. He hadn't even realized he was doing it, but he didn't want to listen to her nag. This called for retribution. He looked up at Misty and his eyes widened.

"Oh my God, Misty, it's poison ivy!" he said, and Misty bounded up.

"Where?" she shrieked, hastily brushing off the back of her legs. Ash started laughing.

"Gotcha..." he started to say but Brock cut him off.

"Ivy..." he mumbled. The map fluttered to the ground, forgotten, and he sank down beside it in slow motion, staring off into the distance with a forlorn expression on his face. "I almost forgot...don't mention that name."

"Ash, you idiot! Now look what you've done!" Misty said, running over and giving Ash a good thump in the arm. "This is what you get for trying to scare me!"

"Ow! Hey, I forgot—and I didn't just try to scare you, I did!" Ash protested. He rubbed at his sore arm. "Let me see what I can do. Umm...okay. So, Brock, can we stop to eat?"

"Why do all your distractions involve food?" Misty said in exasperation, but Ash's words had the desired effect. Brock snapped out of it and looked up at the sky.

"It's not quite dinner time, but we could probably stop for a snack," he agreed. "Let's set our stuff down over there." They walked over to a clear patch of grass and sat down. Pikachu accepted the reluctant job of baby-sitter to Togepi and ran to stop the little egg from eating a poisonous mushroom.

While Brock rummaged around his back pack, Misty picked the map back up off the ground and looked at with half interest, half apathy. On the one hand, this was her ticket out of the forest. On the other, it wasn't uncommon for the ticket to be round trip. Her eyes wandered up to their intended destination.

"Goldenrod City," she said. "I wonder what it's like."

"I don't care, as long as it's got a hotel." Ash flopped down upon the grass, grimacing even as he stretched. "I'm ready for a real bed again."

"I thought you liked camping out," Misty said.

"I do. But you can have too much of a good thing!" he groaned. Misty snickered.

"Too bad you don't take your own advice while eating," she said.

"What's your problem with my eating habits?" he said, irritably tugging the bill of his hat down to shade his face. "That's getting just a little old."

"Maybe I'll stop when you grow up," Misty said snidely, and Brock broke in before Ash could counter.

"We're all hungry," he said peacefully. "How about some cheese and crackers?"

"We still have cheese?" Ash perked up. "Yeah! Bring it on!" He reached out his hand eagerly while Misty sat down again, content to wait until Brock gave her some. While she was waiting, a weird feeling settled over her. She furrowed her brow and looked around.

"Hey guys?" she asked. "Do you get the feeling that we're being watched?"

Ash looked up, his mouth full of food. "Bwah huh?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full!"

Ash swallowed. "By what?" he asked.

"I don't know, I just get this feeling..." Misty started to say, but was interrupted by Ash's shout.

"Look out!"

Misty reacted instinctively, ducking down and to the side. Seconds later a donphan came barreling from behind her, right next to where she had just been. She let loose with an vehement "Shit!" Ash grinned at this.

"Startled, are we?" he teased, but didn't blame her for the expletive. That had been a close call.

"It's a donphan!" Brock said. "I wonder if it belongs to anyone?" Misty shook her head at this, her heart still pounding. If it was wild, she would just as soon it run away, and if it did have an owner, they would definitely get a piece of her mind.

The donphan snorted and pawed the ground. The three kids looked at it uneasily, but it just stood there, eyeing them with distaste. Pikachu stood in front of the group, its cheeks sparking protectively.

"I'll take that as a no," Ash said. "The map doesn't say this is a reserve area or near any farms, either, so I would assume that it's wild. Besides, it's just a baby...isn't it?"

"I think you're right," Brock said. "Which means we can catch it!"

"No thanks," Misty said, making another face at the pokémon that had almost run her over, but stepping back to watch the coming battle.

"I guess it's between us, Ash," Brock said. "You know what to do." Ash nodded solemnly, but inwardly groaned to himself. "Misty, call it." Brock instructed.

"Rock...scissors...paper...go!" The two boys pounded their fists on their palms and unveiled their choice. "Brock is rock and Ash is paper, so Ash wins!" Misty declared. Brock snapped his fingers in disappointment.

"You beat me! Lucky guess."

"Yeah, right." Ash rolled his eyes. He turned to his pokémon. "Pikachu, you know what to do! Agility, now!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu shot off in a blur of speed, dodging in a zigzag around the donphan. It looked at Pikachu in confusion.

"Pikachu! Thundershock!"

Pikachu reacted quickly, but the donphan appeared have heard the command as well, as it curled itself up and the electricity for the most part bounced off its armor. It rolled backwards at the impact, then adjusted its momentum so it was coming forward in a rolling tackle.

"Use agility again!" Ash yelled, and Pikachu ran around the donphan, evading its attack. The donphan rolled out and pawed the ground again angrily. It charged. Pikachu reacted with agility once more even as Ash called out the command. Then it was time for an offensive move.

"Try a quick attack!"

Pikachu rushed forward, but this time it was the donphan who stepped aside from the attack. It appeared to decide that it had had enough, as it readied itself for a final take down attack. It ran forward...

...and straight at Ash. It had evidently determined the source of its problem and was going to try to finish off the trainer instead of the pokémon.

Brock and Misty were startled at first at this development, but it wasn't unusual to be attacked by wild pokémon on their journeys. But they watched with confusion and eventually growing horror as Ash just stood there, staring at it blankly.

"What's he doing?" Brock asked. "Ash, get out of the way!"

Ash didn't even hear his cry. He was confused himself, his mind in a muddle. A flashback of the houndour running towards him had suddenly taken hold of him, surprising him and paralyzing him with fear, making him incapable of any thought or action to protect himself. He hadn't expected this to happen and was helpless to know how to recover from it. The donphan took advantage of this and with one swift motion, attacked.

Ash just stared at it without actually seeing it and waited for it to strike.

-------------------------------------

Coming Up in Chapter Three: So, do you think the same cliffhanger as in chapter one will work twice in a row? (sweatdrops) Err…stick around for the next part, as both the title and the summary will become clear…and I finally get my AAML hint! :o)

Pokémon Did-You-Know: In Japan, to count on your fingers, instead of beginning with a closed fist and unfurling your fingers as you count off, you begin with your fingers outstretched and starting with the thumb, lower them into a fist. James does this as he's counting pokémon in "Charizard's Burning Ambition," and if I'm not mistaken, Ash does this as well as in the recent "Air Time," when he's naming the pokémon he has with him.

Sorry it took a while for me to post this. My Word program is messed up and I can't post at home! The only reason I'm able to do this now is because I'm using the computer at my mom's work. So please forgive any errors, as I'm not able to fix them yet…I'll try to catch them the next time I upload. But thanks for all the reviews. I hope you're still enjoying the story. I'm also glad to see that most people like to see, as Kat Morning said, "Gary acting human for once." (Thanks, Kat! ^_~) And btw, yes, Dragoness, that was me who had all the poké-puns in the "Love" story. LOL

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon and now I no longer have a cute picture on my profile, either. Isn't life cruel? :o(