No Silver Lining - Part 1: The Foundling
Chapter 2: Forced Hand
The trip to Cobalt City actually took less than an hour in the truck, though by the time they arrived the vehicle was so mud-covered that had Ash not known it was green before, he would have been unable to tell. Despite the lateness of the hour, Cobalt was bright and cheerful, completely oblivious to the darkened plight of its western neighbour. The rain had made everything smell clean and fresh, and Ash saw several wild Pokémon of common variety enjoying the night. Nurse Joy shut off the ignition and hurried the bundled Meowth into the Pokémon Center. Unlike most Centers, this one was also a qualified Pokémon Hospital as well.
Ash, who had begun to doze in the front seat, was shaken awake by Pikachu. Between the uphill climb that day and all this trekking around tonight, he was starting to feel exhausted. He climbed down from the truck and looked around for something to concentrate on, to keep his mind off sleep… or lack thereof.
In the distance, which he had missed on the drive in, rose a spire, on top of which was perched a black and purple PokéBall. "Cobalt Gym." Ash said, and Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder to get a better view. Only lit by the lights below it, the structure was rather intimidating at night. He wondered what it looked like in the daytime, and then decided he would see for himself, in the morning.
"Pi-pi. Pikachu !" said the electric Pokémon, and Ash obediently turned to go inside the Hospital.
And the feeling still didn't go away.
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"Oh, there you are, Ash." Nurse Joy said; one of the Nurse Joys, anyway. There were two of them now, standing beside each other. Ash's mind boggled as he tried to conceive of the size of family it must have taken to provide almost every city with a Joy. The Cobalt City's Joy stood beside her Chansey, which made it a lot easier to tell them apart. It was, then, the Mauvetown Joy who had spoken.
"The Meowth should be fine in the morning." Cobalt's Nurse Joy said, and Chansey trilled its agreement. "You should get some sleep too. You and your Pikachu look like you could use it."
Ash nodded and followed Chancy, who led him to a neat, out of the way overnight room with a bed. He was so tired, he didn't even bother to take off his shoes. He just crawled under the covers and was asleep in seconds.
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Sunlight leaked through the miniscule curtained window, warming the room. It also crept across the blankets until it was shining on the face of the young teen sleeping there. Ash mumbled something into the pillow and rolled over. Unfortunately, he rolled into Pikachu, who had been snoozing against Ash's back. With a surprised "Pika !" he jumped down off the bed to avoid being flattened.
Ash woke at that, blinking. "Pikachu ?" he asked, "It's morning already ?"
"Pika-pi. Pikachu !"
Ash raised his head and located a clock. "Almost 8 o'clock." He said, surprised. It felt like he had only gone to sleep a short while ago. His mind cleared and he realized where he was. "The Pokémon Hospital," he said aloud.
He got out of bed, and went searching for his shoes, only to discover he was still wearing them and had gotten the bottom of the bed quiet dirty. Guiltily, he pulled the dirty blanket off the bed and put on a clean one from the shelf. He didn't know what to do with the muddy one so he left it folded on the edge of the bed. Then he went to find Nurse Joy.
He didn't find her (either of them) but he did meet up with Chansey. The Pokémon was folding some large towels.
"Hey, Chansey," Ash asked, "Where is -- are -- Nurse Joy ? Joys ?" he stumbled over the syntax. Chansey, however, seemed to understand. With Pikachu on his shoulder, the trainer followed the light pink Pokémon through the Hospital.
They stopped in front of a large glass window, and behind it, they could see both Joys talking. When one of them (he thought it was the Mauvetown Joy, but he couldn't be sure) beckoned him inside, Chansey led him to a door and then bustled off down the hallway again.
"Good morning !" The Joys chorused as he entered. It was a thoroughly eerie sound; like they were clones instead of relatives. "Did you sleep well ?" she asked. He was positive it was the Mauvetown Joy now.
"Yeah, I did." Ash answered, and Pikachu voiced his own agreement.
"We have good news." The other Joy said, "Meowth's going to be just fine after a few days rest. It's a good thing you found him when you did. Are you going to keep him ?"
"Keep him ?" Ash repeated, confused.
"Catch him ? Be his trainer ?" Joy supplied helpfully, wondering why Ash seemed so bewildered at the idea. "Most trainers catch wild Pokémon." She added, which irked Ash because he knew very well what trainers did, being one himself. Her question had just caught him off guard.
"I… hadn't thought about it." Ash said, and Joy accepted the answer and went back to chatting. Ash rolled his eyes a bit but thought about it. He was already carrying 6 Pokémon with him -- Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle, Bulbasaur, Tauros, and Lapras. He didn't really have room for another Pokémon, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was…
Was…
Was…
He had to be honest with himself. He wouldn't be comfortable with a Rocket Meowth look-alike. And the nagging suspicion wouldn't go away that this was that same Meowth, even though he couldn't prove it. Yet.
Though… he was beginning to get an idea.
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Ash let himself into the Recovery Room as quietly as possible. He walked past the rows of mostly empty beds. The ones that were filled were occupied by extremely tired -- indeed, almost exhausted looking -- Pokémon. How strange. He wondered if it had anything to do with the Cobalt City Gym. None of them looked like they were wild Pokémon.
The Meowth's bed was near the end of the row, and said Pokémon was sleeping.
Ash sat down in the chair beside the bed and silently regarded the sleeping Pokémon. He'd already told Pikachu what he was planning, and he began now simply by being quiet for a few moments.
"I was hoping you'd be awake," Ash started, speaking as though the Meowth could and was hearing him, "So I could say goodbye to you before I left. But I guess you need your rest."
He glanced over, trying to gauge if it was working. Still no indication.
"Nurse Joy says you're going to be just fine."
No response.
"You must have been in a rough battle to get beat up like you were."
Nothing. He looked at Pikachu, who was silently encouraging him. Apparently, he thought that the Meowth was awake too, even if it was pretending not to be.
"I hope you showed that other Meowth or Persian how tough you are."
A subtle shift, enough for Ash to play his trump card.
"Still, I can't believe Jessie and James would do so --"
"'Dey didn't do this !" Meowth raged, popping out from underneath the bedcovers. He was still partially wrapped in bandages, where Nurse Joy had thought it prudent to leave them on for another day or so. Immediately though, he realized his mistake. His cover had been blown.
"It is you !" Ash accused, angrily. He should have trusted his instincts all along. "What kind of trick are you trying to pull ?"
But Meowth was already backing away from the pair, his claws extended. "Do 'dese look like tricks to you ?" he said bitterly, meaning the bandages, or more specifically, the injuries under them.
"Pika ! Pika-pikachu !" the Pokémon said.
"Yeah, well, now you know it's me." He had retreated as far away as possible without falling off the bed; and he was balanced right on the very edge. He was glaring at them distrustfully, but it was no different from the way they were looking at him. The only difference was, Meowth was having a harder time staying upright; the action was obviously straining. In the heat of his anger, though, Ash failed to notice.
"No." said Ash, a tad ashamed, "They don't look like tricks." Then he recovered his equilibrium, his anger still hot. "But whatever it is you're up to, you won't get away with it !" he snapped.
"Pi-pi. Pika-pi. Pikachu !" Pikachu's rebuke shocked Ash into surprised silence, and even though Meowth glared daggers at the other Pokémon, he gratefully sat down again. Pikachu had not failed to notice the cat's losing battle with gravity. The human trainer fell silent, a bit hurt that Pikachu had chastised him.
"Pika-pika. Pi ?" Pikachu inquired. Where are Jessie and James ?
"I don't know where 'dey are." Meowth answered. Ash listened, folding his arms over his chest. He understood Pikachu perfectly and since Meowth was speaking English, he was finally getting both sides of a Pokémon conversation.
"Pi-pi-chu-pikachu ?" Why not go find them ?
"I.... No, I… can't." Prompted by both Ash and Pikachu's startled look, he haltingly added, "I'm not welcome 'dere anymore."
Ash spoke up. "Well, if Jessie and James didn't do this, who did ?"
Meowth fell silent again. After it became clear he had no intention of answering, Pikachu jumped back onto Ash's shoulder. Ash asked the next question for both of them -- all three of them, truthfully. "What are you going to do now ?"
The look Meowth gave them was one of sad bewilderment, as though he hadn't considered that until now.