Too Far

Brock's eyes welled up as Ash's stinging words hit him. He fought to keep his tears from falling down his cheeks. He tightened his grip on the couch in the pokémon center and glared at Ash. Ash glared right back.
"You have no reason to insult me like that Ash," he said in a low, somber voice.
"I'll insult whoever I want!" Ash yelled, stamping his foot.
"Ash, be quiet. You're upsetting everyone in the pokémon center. Including Togepi and Pikachu." Misty glanced at Togepi and Pikachu on the couch with Brock.
Ash whirled around to face Misty. He began yelling an insulting her.
Instead of tears, Misty's eyes filled with pure anger and hatred. She said nothing, only picked up her bag off the floor and headed for the door.
"Misty, where are you going?" Ash asked, blocking the doorway.
Misty turned and walked back to the couch and snatched Togepi off it and into her arms.
"Pika pika?" Pikachu waved to Togepi with wobbly eyes.
"I am leaving!" Misty said angrily. She headed for the door again and shoved Ash out of the way.
"It's a good thing you remembered Togepi or I would have made scrambled eggs out of it!" Ash yelled after her.
"Pikachu," Pikachu whimpered watching Misty and Togepi walk into the heavy fog that had settled around the area.
"You're the reason this happened Pikachu! I should put you into a pokéball!" Ash yelled.
"Chu," Pikachu moaned and hid behind a pillow.

An hour later...
Brock sat on a bench and watched the tiny letters fall from his spoon back into the big bowl of alphabet soup. Pikachu did the same. Brock sighed and dropped the spoon onto the table. He'd lost his appetite.
"Cha," Pikachu put a small hand on Brock's arm. Brock smiled.
"Hey Brock. Ok if I sit here?"
Brock looked up to see Ash holding a bowl of alphabet soup, a spoon, and a green napkin.
"Sure," Brock replied, moving his attention back to his soup.
Ash sighed. "Look Brock, I'm really sorry about what I said earlier. You didn't deserve it, I did for acting like that."
Brock's eyes met Ash's. He saw that Ash really meant it. "It's ok Ash. Everybody gets upset sometimes. Everybody has different ways of letting out their anger. You just yell a lot."
Ash smiled. He saw Pikachu staring at him. "Pikachu, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. And I shouldn't have threatened you either. I know you hate pokéballs."
"Pi pi chu!" Pikachu squealed and let out a bolt of electricity, accidentally frying Brock and Ash.
"I'm glad you forgive me Pikachu," Ash stuttered through gritted teeth.
A few minutes later, they'd recovered (typical anime for ya) and were slurping up their soup like there was no tomorrow.
"Ash," Brock said with a mouthful of food. "Did you apologize to Misty?"
Ash dropped his spoon. The spoon splashed some soup out of the bowl and into Ash's lap but he ignored it and just stared out a window, into the fog. He saw something move and immediately jumped up and walked out the door of the pokémon center. Brock cocked an eyebrow at Pikachu and Pikachu shrugged.
Ash stopped about 10 feet away from the pokémon center. He scanned the area but he didn't see Misty anywhere.
"Misty!" his voice rang out. There was no reply.
"Come back! I'll give the money for a bike! Come back!" Some Pidgey flew through the air, but still no Misty.

Ash ran back into the pokécenter and grabbed his bag. He opened it and began to rummage through it.
Brock looked up and started to say, "Did you find her?" but Ash was gone before he could say a word.
"Pikachu?" Pikachu hopped off the table and touched Ash's bag.
"What?" Brock looked confused.
Pikachu started making motions and pointing. "Pikachu pika pi pi chu pi chu!"
Brock bit his lip. "You want to know if Ash is abandoning you?"
Pikachu nodded.
"I...I don't know,"

Ash took the elastic off the wad of money he had been collecting. He unfolded a piece of paper that was taped on and took a deep breath.
The paper had only one word.
Misty.
He let the paper fall to the ground and covered it in dirt. The fog was getting thicker. Ash shivered and rubbed his arms. He looked at the money one last time, then tore it up. Shredded it into little tiny pieces. And threw it all into the wind.
"Come back," he whispered. He uncovered the piece of paper and threw it into the wind too. It stayed visible only for a few seconds, then disappeared into the fog.
Just like Misty had.
Ash struggled not to cry. He let out a small, ragged breath.
"Come back."