Hey guys, I wanted to say thanks for the reviews they mean a lot, especially when I thought I wasn't going to get any reviews at all.

So thanks you lots and the English spelling of realise is spelt with an s, the American spelling is with a z

Anyway, I don't own the characters but I do own the story so don't take it.

You know by now how to get in contact with me

Hope you enjoy it.

Please read and review

Chapter 6

Misty groaned and tried to open her eyes, only to discover that sunlight and she weren't on the best of terms.

Her eyelids felt like lead and as such she didn't try to reopen them again until she was a little more confident in her own will power.

With tremendous effort she lifted the eyelids and blinked a few times trying to focus on something.

Her vision cleared up and she found herself staring up at a white ceiling.
She started to panic and bolted up causing herself pain due to her injuries.
She let out a cry of pain which woke up the other two occupants of the room.

One such occupant yawned and looked around drowsily before realising where he was and darted to the girl's side.

She was sitting up and wincing but she was ok.

"You're ok, well kinda ok but ... yeah!" he cried out cheerfully.

Misty opened her eyes when she heard that voice which sounded vaguely familiar and looked at Ash.

Ash was struck by the rich sea green of her eyes and blushed.

"Um Hi"

"Hey" Misty said back in a weak voice.

Brock sat down on the other side of the girl and examined her closely.

She had bandages wrapped around her head and her ribs as well as one arm wrapped in bandages, apparently one of the razor leafs had gone astray and hit her in the arm.

The curious thing was that she was still wearing that black choker.

"How are you feeling?" he asked gently.

The girl turned to him and he could see she was slowly regaining some energy.

"I've felt better" she answered sounding annoyed at the inane question.

"Who ARE you guys?" she asked, trying to sound intimidating but only ended up sounding a little scared and weak.

"We brought you here and kinda saved you, you had us worried." Ash explained, looking down, slightly embarrassed.

Misty looked at him and again and there was a certain sadness in her eyes.

"People don't worry about me, never have" she murmured softly looking at him in mild surprise.

"Well we were" Brock said with a small grin.

Misty looked at them with an expression of hope and gratefulness but then as if a light switched off, she shut her eyes and opened them again, banishing the 'weak' emotions to the furthest point of her mind.

Instead she gave them a hard look and said sternly.

"Well thanks hero boys but I'm good to go now, and so are you"

Ash stared at her in shock, rattled by the random mood swings

"What but we..." he began.

"What is it kid?" she snapped, glaring at him.

"Nothing" Ash snapped back and walked out of the room without looking back.

Misty watched him go and then turned to Brock.

"Shouldn't you follow him?" she asked.

"OK why are you being like this?" Brock demanded.

"Oh because I'm secretly scared of being close to anyone because they'll only hurt me and leave me picking up the pieces and I can't go through that pain again" Misty replied, rolling her eyes and then nodded towards the door.

Brock shook his head and left the room.

Misty glanced around the room, cursing herself for allowing something like this to happen.

She tried to get out of bed but because of the injuries of her legs she was unable to stand and with a muffled cry; she toppled backwards onto the bed.

"OK FINE!" she snapped at no one in particular as she pushed her hair away from her forehead with as much dignity as she could muster.

Nurse Joy walked in and fussed about her like a mother hen, straightening up the blankets and scolding Misty for trying to move.

Misty, for her part, was trying to avoid Nurse Joys petting and was trying to stay cool and collected.

Ash was outside in the lounge, tossing a Poke ball back and forth with Brock.

"Man, what was her problem?" Ash demanded for the fifth time.

"Maybe she was just tired' Brock suggested.

"Yeah but she was nicer when she was sleepier. She's just a pain in the a..."

"Ash" Nurse Joy interrupted him.

Ash turned around and let out a cry when the poke ball hit him in the back of the head.

He glared over his shoulder at Brock who shrugged helplessly.

"Yeah?" he turned his attention back to Nurse Joy.

"Your Pokemon are all going to be fine" she told him in her cheerful sing-song voice.

Ash grinned while she handed him the Poke balls but then his face turned serious.

"What about that girl?" he asked, his voice betraying him and showing his concern.

"She's doing fine, she's awake and she's a remarkably fast healer, whatever that Doctor did, it worked wonderfully but I can't seem to find him now"

"So she'll be back on her feet soon?" Brock asked.

"Either tomorrow or the day after to be sure but may I ask you boys a favour?"

Brock's eyes twinkled and he turned his most charming smile on the pink haired nurse.

"Of course you can, we'd be delighted but maybe you could return the favour by allowing me the pleasure of escorting you to dinner tonight"

Nurse Joy stared at him blankly and then turned to Ash.

"Could you try talking to that girl?
She won't say a word to me and I don't know her name, her age, where she lives or what happened to her.
I was hoping that she might be more inclined to talk to you boys?"

"I don't think she will, Nurse Joy. She hates us and made us leave the
room" Ash objected.

"Oh dear, I don't know what to do" Nurse Joy sounded so distressed that Brock jumped to her rescue.

"Don't worry, we'll drain every last ounce of information she has. By the time we're finished we'll know her name, star sign, favourite food and favourite music" he promised, grabbing Nurse Joy's hands in his own.

Ash sweat dropped.

"Is he serious?" he asked Pikachu who was sitting on his shoulder.

Pikachu nodded with a dejected "Pika"

Misty was sitting up in bed examining the bandages on her arm, and touching her head gingerly when the door to her room swung open and Brock charged in, and slammed his fists on the table over her bed.

The table wasn't very strong so he knocked it over and ended up falling face first into Misty's waist.

Misty stared down at him her, eyes wide, cheeks turning redder than they usually were.

"GET OFF OF ME!" she roared, shaking everything in the room.

Brock jumped up and in an effort to impress Nurse Joy, flipped on the lamp beside her bed and shone the light in her face which did nothing but annoy her.

"Ok tough guy lets start with the facts" he used his most threatening grim voice.

Misty was not easy to intimidate, and she just folded her arms and looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What's your name?" Brock demanded

Ash joined in and started on her other side.

"How old are you?"

"Where are you from?"

"Where are you going?"

"What were you doing before we found you?"

"What were you doing before we walked in?"

Nurse Joy watched this from the door and shook her head in disappointment.

Misty having had enough of this, grabbed the back of both their heads, and looked at them both in turn.

She looked at Brock first.

"Shut" She looked at Ash "Up"

And with that, she slammed both heads into each other and caused them both to stumble back, holding their heads, moaning.

Nurse Joy scurried in to examine the boy's heads.

Once she had both boys sitting, she ran off and returned with two ice packs.

By the time the drama was done and Ash's head had stopped spinning, he stood up and was about to start yelling at Misty when he looked at her.

She was asleep, short red hair fell about the pillow and her face was so serene, Ash didn't have the heart to do anything but leave her sleep.

Nurse Joy helped Brock out of the room.

When the room was empty, Misty's eyes fluttered open and she gazed out the window sadly,

"What am I supposed to do now?" she asked and then looked down at her arm and her eyes narrowed.

"Guess I can't run anymore... then I have to fight face to face" she muttered darkly, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

She looked out the window where she had seen the two boys walk past and she sighed, lowering her eyes.

She was getting stronger, she knew that.

She had felt herself growing stronger by the minute and would be able to walk out of here tomorrow but she felt so stupid for dragging more people into this, clearly she wasn't as strong as she thought.

With that last depressing thought in her head, she sank into a deep slumber.

Ash and Brock who hadn't slept since the night before, having been searching for the Pokemon all day and then finding Misty and rushing her to the Poke centre and staying awake to see if she was ok.

They were exhausted and were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillows.

Ash was a heavy sleeper and considering how deep in sleep he was, it was a miracle anything had woken him up at all.

"Hey!" the voice called out again.

Ash was still half asleep and mumbled something, protesting that he had to wake up again.

A whistle shot through his head and jumped up, nearly falling out of his bed.

Brock sat up muttering and wiping the sleep from his eyes.

They both looked to the door where the sound had come from and a figure stood in the door.

Ash stared at her in confusion.

Misty was in bed, in no condition to be out of bed, ideally she should be in bed but here she was standing in their doorway, her thumbs looped through the back belt loops of her pants.

Brock flicked on the lamp in the small room and they both got a good look at her.

She was tall, taller than Ash but shorter than Brock.

She had a very thin frame, unhealthily so.

She looked like she might snap in two if you touched her, she was that frail but something defiant in her eyes said that she was stronger than anyone knew and wasn't afraid to prove it.

A pair of baggy dark blue pants hung off her hips and she wore a short white vest.

A dark blue choker clung to her slender neck and her spiky red hair fell to just below her chin.

Her hair which was very strange was a fiery red gold with streaks of darkish blue ran through the red locks, even down the fringe.

Her hair spiked out in different directions giving her a tough girl look.

Her cheeks were a pale pink and always seemed to be which was strange when she had such a pale porcelain face.

Her eyes were a deep sea green and a deep sadness always showed even while she as glaring ferociously.

"Look my names Misty and thanks for your help" she said, looking away and then turned around to leave.

"Wait" Ash cried scrambling after her.

Misty turned around and looked down, facing Ash.

Ash looked down and his face turned beet red, he was standing in front of her in his jocks.

Misty didn't say a word for a while until she raised her eyes and smirked.

"Proud of it, are we?' she asked, flatly.

"You can't take off on your own" Brock said as he walked towards the pair, fully dressed.

Ash used Brock as a distraction and rushed over to his own bed to pull on some pants.

"I don't need you two to baby-sit me" Misty replied, coldly.

"No but you got hurt really badly out there and we just want to make sure that you'll be ok" Ash explained.

Misty glared at them both and Ash glared back, the latter prevailed.

Misty turned on her heel.

"I'm leaving right now, do what you want" she said, walking away.

Misty was walking out of the centre, when something small and warm brushed up against her leg.

"Hey Oddish" she greeted kindly, stooping down to his level and ran her fingers through the leaves on his head.

"You ready to go?" she asked.

The Oddish was looking worried but now he seemed assured and jumped up and down cheerfully.

The pair left the centre and as they walked into the forest, they heard footsteps and Ash and Brock caught up with them.

"So where are we going?" Ash asked.

Misty shot him a deadly look but answered.

"Viridian City"

"Why?" Brock asked.

"I've got my reasons" that was all Misty was going to say on the topic.

"Fair enough, maybe we can find that Pokemon again" Ash thought out loud.

Misty snorted.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Ash asked.

Misty just walked on ignoring him and his pestering.

Ash ran forwards to catch up with her and Brock, groaned as he listened to Ash bugging Misty about it.

It was going to be a loooooong journey.

To be continued.

Please read and review

Lots of love

Nibbs