Chapter Four: Conflicting thoughts
Matt was doing pull-ups in the backyard of the Pokemon centre, trying to burn some of his boundless energy and turn it into muscle, and was having some luck. A trickle of sweat ran down his face and dripped off his chin, and hit Brock in the face.
"Hey! Watch where you're sweating, Matt!" he complained.
"Brock! What're you doing here?" Matt asked, flipping down from the tree he was hanging from.
"Delivering some Pokemon and filling a perscription. What are you doing?"
"Well...I'm working out."
"D'uh...Wanna impress the ladies with a little muscle, do you?"
"Um, yeah. But there's only one lady I wanna impress."
"Oh? Who's that?"
"That is my business." Matt replied.
Brock began to laugh.
"Oh, I wanted to tell you, I have a friend coming to the Island in a couple of days, and I want you to meet her."
"Okay..."
"Should would've been here a month ago, but she couldn't get a ship. All were booked solid." Brock continued. Matt nodded. He felt a knot form in his stomach. He had a hunch that it was Misty. Was he ready to see her again?
'No.' he thought angrily.'Not now.'
It was after curfew, when Brock came running in, with Vulpix in his arms, screaming for help. Matt heard, immediately got up, and ran out of his sleeping quarters.
"Brock! What is it?" he exclaimed.
"It's Vulpix! Please! You've gotta save it!"
"I will, just calm down!"
Matt took Vulpix from Brock's arms. It was obvious that Vulpix had been mauled by a much larger Pokemon, and had lost a terrible amount of blood.
*It must've been a Poison Pokemon.* Matt decided, after seeing the way Vulpix shivered uncontrollably. He listened to Vulpix's heart. It was weakly fluttering.
Matt paged Ashly and Nurse Joy, and got his Chansy out.
"Chansy, take Vulpix into the Emergency Room, and get it stabelized, stat!"
"Chansy!" the pink Pokemon said, gently taking Vulpix from Matt.
Matt turned back to Brock, and wrinkled his nose with distaste at the blood on Brock's clothes.
"Okay, Brock. You gotta tell me everything that happened to Vulpix." he said, pulling out a clipboard and form.
"W-we were on p-patrol, you know, f-for thieves, and we came across Prof.Ivy's Nidoking. It attacked us, but Vulpix tried to save me. Nidoking went on a rampage, and trampled Vulpix. I-I had to beat Nidoking off it...and now..." Brock burried his face in his hands, and cried. Matt finished writting this down, layed a reasuring hand on Brock's shoulder, and went into the ER.
An hour before dawn, Matt cameout of the ER, looking extremely weary. Brock looked up, worried. Matt smiled reassuringly.
"Thanks to you getting Vulpix here as quickly as you did, Brock, Vulpix is going to be fine. It'll be awhile before it gets up again, but other than that, it'll be the perfect Pokemon again."
"Oh, Thank god! Thank you!" Brock seemed to frown slightly.
"What's the matter, Brock?" Matt asked gently.
"Oh, it's just...I can't go back to prof.Ivy's, not after this..."
Nurse Joy overheard him say this.
"Don't worry Brock. If it's that much of a problem, you can work here for awhile, if you want."
"You mean it?"
"Of course."
Brock smiled, tears shimmering in his eyes.
"Thank you."
Misty, Togepi, and D.J stepped off the boat, looking around. Brock waved to them.
"Oh, um, there's been a change of plans. I can't go with you..." Brock said, looking down at his feet."I've got a new job, and I can't leave it."
"Oh, we understand, Brock." Misty nodded."Uh, what's your job, anyway?"
"Um, I work in the Pokemon centre..." Brock mumbled.
Misty and D.J stared.
"Didja get that job just so you could hit on Nurse Joy?" D.J asked.
"No." Brock blushed. A glint formed in his eyes."But that doesn't mean that I can't."
Misty and D.J groaned.
"If you want, I'll introduce you to my friend." Brocked continued, ignoring the groans.
"Sure."
"Hey, Matt? My friend, Misty, is here. And her friend, D.J."
"Oh, she is?" Matt smiled nervously. He had practiced not being afraid, but it wasn't working very well."Hello D.J, hello, Misty. Brock, you have a pretty friend, you know?"
Misty blushed.
"I'd give anything to have a friend like Misty." Matt continued, growing slightly more confident."She looks just the way you described her. And what a cute Pokemon!" Matt tickled Togepi, making it trill happily.
"Oh, come now! Have I ever been known to fib?" Brock asked.
"Yes." Matt said, slyly nudging Brock in the ribs.
"Hello, Matt!" Misty laughed.
"Toge-Briiiiiii!" Togepi waved its tiny fingers happily.
*Yes! I passed test # 1!* Matt thought.*And Misty, Togepi, and D.J don't even recognise me.*
"Um, so what are you doing here?" Matt asked nervously.
"We, um, are going to travel around the Arcapeleco, to, um, find a friend of ours..."
"Oh, do you have an idea of how you're going to do this?"
"Actually, we don't."
"No water Pokemon that knows surf?"
"Nope." D.J shook his head. Matt frowned for a minute. Something dawned on him.
"Ashly?" he asked, walking down the back hall to the sleeping quarters."May I borrow your-"
They didn't hear the rest of what he said, but he was back in a minute holding a precious ultra ball, and a small whistle.
"Then I think I can help you." Matt said, turning to the door of the Pokemon Centre,"C'mon, Chansey."
"Chansey!"
They followed Matt to the beach. He blew into the small whistle. A high, sweet sound came out. After a minute, a Pokemon appeared, swimming egerly towards them. It was a Lapras. Matt tossed the whistle to Brock.
"Ohhhhhhhh," Brock said, catching the whistle."You're using Ashly's Lapras call!"
Matt nodded.
"Chansey, start off with Double Slap!" Matt said, trying not to sound like he used to when he was still 'Ash Ketchum', still a trainer...
"Chansy! Chansy! Chansy! Chansy!" Chansey grunted, slapping Lapras around the head repeatedly with all her might. Lapras was unable to get an attack in.
"keep it up!" Matt encouraged."Just a little more..."
After another minute, he saw that Lapras had been sufficiently weakened. Matt threw the ultra ball at it. Lapras was sucked inside. The ball wiggled on the rock it had landed on, and was still. Matt picked it up, and gave it to Misty.
"There you go, Hon." Ash drawled in a sweet voice, and turned.
"Oh, thank you Matt!" Misty cried."But why'd you call me 'Hon'?"
"Oh, I call all pretty girls 'Hon'." Matt tried to make his voice sound light and cheerful.
Misty blushed slightly, and giggled. Matt smiled sadly, and went back inside the Pokemon Centre. He went back to his room, and curled up on his bed, tears running down his face. Had he made a mistake?
"What did I do?" he whispered.
Misty was happily chatting with Brock and Ashly, outside.
"Oh, Matt is so sweet! And so polite!" Misty bubbled,"How'd you meet him?"
"I-I met him on the boat coming over." Ashly replied, nervously. She was starting to sweat bullets.
"And I met him when he was making a delivery over at Prof.Ivy's lab." Brock added, smiling."He seems to like you, Misty. And catching that Lapras..." Brock whistled."He's a real pro!"
Ashly looked down at her feet before commenting.
"He used to be a really good trainer." Ashly said, then almost slapped herself for her little slip.*Uh oh...*
"Really?" Misty asked.
"Uh, yeah." Ashly said."That's when...he started working here."
A few hours later, Matt was caring for one of his patients (a baby Eevee), unaware that Misty was watching him.
*He's so gentle!* Misty thought, looking at him handling the palm-sized infant pokemon.*He's like...well, so unreal! Matt is so wonderfull!*
Matt re-bandaged the Eevee's tiny paw with the greatest of care. The Eevee licked his cheek happily, making Matt giggle slightly. Not a girlish sounding giggle, but a rather manly, loving, and quiet one. Suddenly Matt became aware of Misty's presence. Whirling around in a fighting stance, not knowing that it was Misty, Matt looked around fiercely. Misty gasped slightly, and tripped over her own feet, sending herself sprawling. Matt saw her fall, and rushed to her side.
"Are you alright, Misty?" he asked quietly, helping her to her feet.
"Yeah-ow!" Misty exclaimed,"I think I twisted my ankle!"
Matt paled under his tan. He picked up a protesting Misty, and sat her down on the bed, and began to look over her foot.
"A sprain." he anounced,"I'll put a tenser bandage and an ice pack on it for tonight, and see how you are in the morning. How does that sound?"
"That'll be fine, Matt..." Misty murmured, looking down, embarassed.
"Hey, why were you standing in the doorway? You know you're welcome to come in if you're curious, you know." Matt said, applying the bandage.
"I just felt so...so...enchanted, the way you're so gentle with the Pokemon, and I felt embarassed when you caught me watching you..."
Matt looked sorrowfully at Misty, his brown eyes glowing softly. Like a hidden fire, Misty thought, gazing at him in a love-struck kind of way. Matt noticed.
"I'll go...get your friends, so sit tight, okay?" he said uncomfortably.
Brock, D.J and Togepi were upset that Misty had hurt herself, but didn't mind that much, after Matt told them she would be okay after she got some rest.
"Toge! Toge-Toge-Briiiiiiii!" (Mommy, you're so clumsy!)
"Gee, go easy on her Togepi! She didn't mean to hurt herself..." D.J said, holding the little egg Pokemon in his arms.
"Ah," Matt said, desperately trying to change the subject before Misty told them the reason that she had been watching him. He'd never hear the end of it from Brock afterwards!"Ashly, we're supposed to cook tonight, remember. Why don't we go do that now?"
"Okay, Matt." Ashly said, following Matt.
"I'll help." Brock offered.
"Naw, we can manage on our own, you know..." Ashly said, catching the look in Matt's eyes."Besides, I'm sure you want to visit with Misty and D.J."
"Okay."
Ash and Ashly began to fix supper. Ash began to boil some rice, while Ashly started chopping vegetables for a stir-fry. Shutting the door, she popped an expected question.
"Ash?" she asked, surprising him when she used his real name."You still love her, don't you?" she sounded regretful.
"I don't!" Ash snapped, and he got his voice under control."She was a friend...and the only reason I caught her that Lapras was to get her away from here!"
There was a pause.
"You don't really mean that, do you?" Ashly asked.
"Yes, I do." Ash nodded, crossing his arms."She was a friend, and that's all. Annoying at times, too. And I don't want to be bothered by her."
"You should tell her."
"And blow my cover? No way!"
"Hey it's okay, Ash, She'd understand if you told her, you know..."
"You think...?" pause."Well, I don't think I will yet..." Ash sighed."I'm not ready yet..."
"I understand." Ashly nodded, and turned back to the vegetables."But may I ask why?"
"I-I'm just...confused, Ashly." Ash admitted."I'm leading a dual life. And I know I can keep only one of them in the end."
"Ash, there's a question you have to ask yourself." Ashly said, back still turned.
"What's that?"
"Who are you, really?" Ashly answered, face half turned towards him.
Ash stared at her for one long moment, pondering why Ashly made him feel like he was walking on a cloud, even during a serious discussion. Could it be...
*Naw.* he thought, shaking his head.
Matt was doing pull-ups in the backyard of the Pokemon centre, trying to burn some of his boundless energy and turn it into muscle, and was having some luck. A trickle of sweat ran down his face and dripped off his chin, and hit Brock in the face.
"Hey! Watch where you're sweating, Matt!" he complained.
"Brock! What're you doing here?" Matt asked, flipping down from the tree he was hanging from.
"Delivering some Pokemon and filling a perscription. What are you doing?"
"Well...I'm working out."
"D'uh...Wanna impress the ladies with a little muscle, do you?"
"Um, yeah. But there's only one lady I wanna impress."
"Oh? Who's that?"
"That is my business." Matt replied.
Brock began to laugh.
"Oh, I wanted to tell you, I have a friend coming to the Island in a couple of days, and I want you to meet her."
"Okay..."
"Should would've been here a month ago, but she couldn't get a ship. All were booked solid." Brock continued. Matt nodded. He felt a knot form in his stomach. He had a hunch that it was Misty. Was he ready to see her again?
'No.' he thought angrily.'Not now.'
It was after curfew, when Brock came running in, with Vulpix in his arms, screaming for help. Matt heard, immediately got up, and ran out of his sleeping quarters.
"Brock! What is it?" he exclaimed.
"It's Vulpix! Please! You've gotta save it!"
"I will, just calm down!"
Matt took Vulpix from Brock's arms. It was obvious that Vulpix had been mauled by a much larger Pokemon, and had lost a terrible amount of blood.
*It must've been a Poison Pokemon.* Matt decided, after seeing the way Vulpix shivered uncontrollably. He listened to Vulpix's heart. It was weakly fluttering.
Matt paged Ashly and Nurse Joy, and got his Chansy out.
"Chansy, take Vulpix into the Emergency Room, and get it stabelized, stat!"
"Chansy!" the pink Pokemon said, gently taking Vulpix from Matt.
Matt turned back to Brock, and wrinkled his nose with distaste at the blood on Brock's clothes.
"Okay, Brock. You gotta tell me everything that happened to Vulpix." he said, pulling out a clipboard and form.
"W-we were on p-patrol, you know, f-for thieves, and we came across Prof.Ivy's Nidoking. It attacked us, but Vulpix tried to save me. Nidoking went on a rampage, and trampled Vulpix. I-I had to beat Nidoking off it...and now..." Brock burried his face in his hands, and cried. Matt finished writting this down, layed a reasuring hand on Brock's shoulder, and went into the ER.
An hour before dawn, Matt cameout of the ER, looking extremely weary. Brock looked up, worried. Matt smiled reassuringly.
"Thanks to you getting Vulpix here as quickly as you did, Brock, Vulpix is going to be fine. It'll be awhile before it gets up again, but other than that, it'll be the perfect Pokemon again."
"Oh, Thank god! Thank you!" Brock seemed to frown slightly.
"What's the matter, Brock?" Matt asked gently.
"Oh, it's just...I can't go back to prof.Ivy's, not after this..."
Nurse Joy overheard him say this.
"Don't worry Brock. If it's that much of a problem, you can work here for awhile, if you want."
"You mean it?"
"Of course."
Brock smiled, tears shimmering in his eyes.
"Thank you."
Misty, Togepi, and D.J stepped off the boat, looking around. Brock waved to them.
"Oh, um, there's been a change of plans. I can't go with you..." Brock said, looking down at his feet."I've got a new job, and I can't leave it."
"Oh, we understand, Brock." Misty nodded."Uh, what's your job, anyway?"
"Um, I work in the Pokemon centre..." Brock mumbled.
Misty and D.J stared.
"Didja get that job just so you could hit on Nurse Joy?" D.J asked.
"No." Brock blushed. A glint formed in his eyes."But that doesn't mean that I can't."
Misty and D.J groaned.
"If you want, I'll introduce you to my friend." Brocked continued, ignoring the groans.
"Sure."
"Hey, Matt? My friend, Misty, is here. And her friend, D.J."
"Oh, she is?" Matt smiled nervously. He had practiced not being afraid, but it wasn't working very well."Hello D.J, hello, Misty. Brock, you have a pretty friend, you know?"
Misty blushed.
"I'd give anything to have a friend like Misty." Matt continued, growing slightly more confident."She looks just the way you described her. And what a cute Pokemon!" Matt tickled Togepi, making it trill happily.
"Oh, come now! Have I ever been known to fib?" Brock asked.
"Yes." Matt said, slyly nudging Brock in the ribs.
"Hello, Matt!" Misty laughed.
"Toge-Briiiiiii!" Togepi waved its tiny fingers happily.
*Yes! I passed test # 1!* Matt thought.*And Misty, Togepi, and D.J don't even recognise me.*
"Um, so what are you doing here?" Matt asked nervously.
"We, um, are going to travel around the Arcapeleco, to, um, find a friend of ours..."
"Oh, do you have an idea of how you're going to do this?"
"Actually, we don't."
"No water Pokemon that knows surf?"
"Nope." D.J shook his head. Matt frowned for a minute. Something dawned on him.
"Ashly?" he asked, walking down the back hall to the sleeping quarters."May I borrow your-"
They didn't hear the rest of what he said, but he was back in a minute holding a precious ultra ball, and a small whistle.
"Then I think I can help you." Matt said, turning to the door of the Pokemon Centre,"C'mon, Chansey."
"Chansey!"
They followed Matt to the beach. He blew into the small whistle. A high, sweet sound came out. After a minute, a Pokemon appeared, swimming egerly towards them. It was a Lapras. Matt tossed the whistle to Brock.
"Ohhhhhhhh," Brock said, catching the whistle."You're using Ashly's Lapras call!"
Matt nodded.
"Chansey, start off with Double Slap!" Matt said, trying not to sound like he used to when he was still 'Ash Ketchum', still a trainer...
"Chansy! Chansy! Chansy! Chansy!" Chansey grunted, slapping Lapras around the head repeatedly with all her might. Lapras was unable to get an attack in.
"keep it up!" Matt encouraged."Just a little more..."
After another minute, he saw that Lapras had been sufficiently weakened. Matt threw the ultra ball at it. Lapras was sucked inside. The ball wiggled on the rock it had landed on, and was still. Matt picked it up, and gave it to Misty.
"There you go, Hon." Ash drawled in a sweet voice, and turned.
"Oh, thank you Matt!" Misty cried."But why'd you call me 'Hon'?"
"Oh, I call all pretty girls 'Hon'." Matt tried to make his voice sound light and cheerful.
Misty blushed slightly, and giggled. Matt smiled sadly, and went back inside the Pokemon Centre. He went back to his room, and curled up on his bed, tears running down his face. Had he made a mistake?
"What did I do?" he whispered.
Misty was happily chatting with Brock and Ashly, outside.
"Oh, Matt is so sweet! And so polite!" Misty bubbled,"How'd you meet him?"
"I-I met him on the boat coming over." Ashly replied, nervously. She was starting to sweat bullets.
"And I met him when he was making a delivery over at Prof.Ivy's lab." Brock added, smiling."He seems to like you, Misty. And catching that Lapras..." Brock whistled."He's a real pro!"
Ashly looked down at her feet before commenting.
"He used to be a really good trainer." Ashly said, then almost slapped herself for her little slip.*Uh oh...*
"Really?" Misty asked.
"Uh, yeah." Ashly said."That's when...he started working here."
A few hours later, Matt was caring for one of his patients (a baby Eevee), unaware that Misty was watching him.
*He's so gentle!* Misty thought, looking at him handling the palm-sized infant pokemon.*He's like...well, so unreal! Matt is so wonderfull!*
Matt re-bandaged the Eevee's tiny paw with the greatest of care. The Eevee licked his cheek happily, making Matt giggle slightly. Not a girlish sounding giggle, but a rather manly, loving, and quiet one. Suddenly Matt became aware of Misty's presence. Whirling around in a fighting stance, not knowing that it was Misty, Matt looked around fiercely. Misty gasped slightly, and tripped over her own feet, sending herself sprawling. Matt saw her fall, and rushed to her side.
"Are you alright, Misty?" he asked quietly, helping her to her feet.
"Yeah-ow!" Misty exclaimed,"I think I twisted my ankle!"
Matt paled under his tan. He picked up a protesting Misty, and sat her down on the bed, and began to look over her foot.
"A sprain." he anounced,"I'll put a tenser bandage and an ice pack on it for tonight, and see how you are in the morning. How does that sound?"
"That'll be fine, Matt..." Misty murmured, looking down, embarassed.
"Hey, why were you standing in the doorway? You know you're welcome to come in if you're curious, you know." Matt said, applying the bandage.
"I just felt so...so...enchanted, the way you're so gentle with the Pokemon, and I felt embarassed when you caught me watching you..."
Matt looked sorrowfully at Misty, his brown eyes glowing softly. Like a hidden fire, Misty thought, gazing at him in a love-struck kind of way. Matt noticed.
"I'll go...get your friends, so sit tight, okay?" he said uncomfortably.
Brock, D.J and Togepi were upset that Misty had hurt herself, but didn't mind that much, after Matt told them she would be okay after she got some rest.
"Toge! Toge-Toge-Briiiiiiii!" (Mommy, you're so clumsy!)
"Gee, go easy on her Togepi! She didn't mean to hurt herself..." D.J said, holding the little egg Pokemon in his arms.
"Ah," Matt said, desperately trying to change the subject before Misty told them the reason that she had been watching him. He'd never hear the end of it from Brock afterwards!"Ashly, we're supposed to cook tonight, remember. Why don't we go do that now?"
"Okay, Matt." Ashly said, following Matt.
"I'll help." Brock offered.
"Naw, we can manage on our own, you know..." Ashly said, catching the look in Matt's eyes."Besides, I'm sure you want to visit with Misty and D.J."
"Okay."
Ash and Ashly began to fix supper. Ash began to boil some rice, while Ashly started chopping vegetables for a stir-fry. Shutting the door, she popped an expected question.
"Ash?" she asked, surprising him when she used his real name."You still love her, don't you?" she sounded regretful.
"I don't!" Ash snapped, and he got his voice under control."She was a friend...and the only reason I caught her that Lapras was to get her away from here!"
There was a pause.
"You don't really mean that, do you?" Ashly asked.
"Yes, I do." Ash nodded, crossing his arms."She was a friend, and that's all. Annoying at times, too. And I don't want to be bothered by her."
"You should tell her."
"And blow my cover? No way!"
"Hey it's okay, Ash, She'd understand if you told her, you know..."
"You think...?" pause."Well, I don't think I will yet..." Ash sighed."I'm not ready yet..."
"I understand." Ashly nodded, and turned back to the vegetables."But may I ask why?"
"I-I'm just...confused, Ashly." Ash admitted."I'm leading a dual life. And I know I can keep only one of them in the end."
"Ash, there's a question you have to ask yourself." Ashly said, back still turned.
"What's that?"
"Who are you, really?" Ashly answered, face half turned towards him.
Ash stared at her for one long moment, pondering why Ashly made him feel like he was walking on a cloud, even during a serious discussion. Could it be...
*Naw.* he thought, shaking his head.