A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, believe it or not, it DOES help me out. Anywho, here's part two, tell me what you think! Sorry it took so long, I had a lot of trouble with this for some reason - call it writer's block, I guess. All disclaimers can be found on part 1.

Blinded - Chapter Two

"Oh boy, Pikachu! What have I gotten myself into?"Ash said, stroking Pikachu absentmindedly on his head. Pikachu "chaa-ed" with content. It was almost crunch time - 8:00. He looked out of the big glass doors of the building, and saw what seemed to be a never ending crowd of reporters - all armed with cameras, microphones and video crews. He took a deep breath and opened the door. With Pikachu in hand - or I should say, on head - he walked out of the building.

He was greeted with the most deafening noise he had ever heard. The roar of the crowd almost reminded him of a pokemon battle. And immediately after his ears went into a sensory overload, he was blinded. A million cameras went off at once, each with a blinding flash.

"Erm..." Ash tried to squeeze his way through the media, but to no avail. He was bombarded with microphones, and a variety of questions and the occasional marriage proposal. Through the tremendous noise, he managed to make out:

"Ash, who's the lucky lady that you've decided to take out?"

"ASH! I LOVE YOU! MARRY ME!"

Or, Ash's favorite: "Will Pikachu be meeting that special someone tonight?"

As if on cue, one unlucky reporter, who thrust a microphone into Ash's face, accidentally hit Pikachu. The yellow mouse, who was already annoyed that he was getting all this attention yet no ketchup, decided to make his presence known.

"PIKACHUUUUUUUU!" he grunted, as he let out enough electricity to power a small town. He looked on contently as everyone fell to the ground. "Chaaa..." he purred in approval.

"No... comment..." Ash managed to croak out as he fell to the ground, shocked (literally!).

For fear of another thunder shock, the reporters and mass of screaming girls finally subsided. Ash carefully made his way to the limo that awaited him (why hadn't they parked in front of the building, he wondered), and slammed the door shut. There he saw Kristina, waiting impatiently.

"You weren't kidding when you said that you told the media, were you?" Ash asked.

"Chaaa!" Pikachu agreed.

"Hey, it's my job," Kristina answered. "And it worked! Did you see how many reporters there were?" Her eyes gleamed. "And it looks like you've got the majority of your lady fans back..." She gave Ash a sly wink and a nudge. She looked Ash up and down. "Nice clothes. I approve."

Ash looked down at what he was wearing - a black suit with a white dress shirt that had the top button unbuttoned and no tie. It was formal - in that casual kind of way. "Yeah, I guess I did fix myself up a little." He flashed Kristina a boyish smile.

"A little?! How long did it take you to do your hair?!" She stared at his head. The usually tangled mess of her was... well, it was still messy. But Kristina noticed a difference - it was still spiky and black, but Ash had actually put some EFFORT into his hairdo. It looked nice.

"Jezacupplomins..." Ash mumbled.

Enjoying Ash's discomfort, Kristina grinned. "Whatcha say, Ashy?"

"Pikapika..." Pikachu chortled at his master's uneasiness. And also because he DID know how long it took for Ash to do his hair - roughly the whole afternoon.

"Just a couple of minutes..." Ash mumbled again, turning an unusual shade of red.

"Aww," Kristina cooed, as she wiped an imaginary tear from her eye. "They all grow up so fast." She laughed. "Lighten up Ash. It's supposed to be your big night! Just think of all the publicity we're - er, I mean, you're - gonna get!" Her eyes shimmered with excitement.

Ash rolled his eyes, and ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah. Sure." A thought struck him, and he perked up. "What was for dinner again?"

"The best food money can buy! The Seaking Café guarantees the best."

"Oh. So they'll have cheeseburgers?" Ash asked hopefully.

Kristina face faulted.

As Misty strolled along the Cerulean City coastline, she couldn't help but notice the growing crowd of reporters that were gathering around the city's new restaurant - the Seaking Café. Blaming it on the grand opening of the restaurant, she decided to ignore it. But she would have to past the restaurant on her way back to the gym - which doubled as her home.

"Might as well beat the rush..." she thought. "Well, I guess I could just take the path BEHIND the restaurant. That way I'd avoid the reporters." With her mind made up, she made her way to the road leading to the back of the restaurant.

"We're here, Ash!" Kristina exclaimed excitedly.

"Any last minute pointers?" Ash asked hopefully. "I don't have the best of luck when it comes to girls."

Kristina thought for a while. "Just be yourself - no girl will be able to resist that." She laughed playfully and reached into her pocket. "And just in case you're tired of all the reporters, take these." She handed over two pairs of ear plugs - a pair that were regular sized, and a pair that were shaped like triangles - obviously for Pikachu.

Ash rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Thanks. I think." He put them on, took a deep breath, and placed his hand on the limo door. "Here it goes..."

He stepped out of the car and was once again greeted by another deafening crowd. But this time, thanks to his earplugs, it just sounded like a pleasant hum.

"Pika!" Pikachu obviously appreciated the earplugs as much as Ash did. He darted ahead, and made his way into the building easily.

Luckily for Ash, this time the league had stationed security around the restaurant. He made his way comfortably to the doors of the restaurant, when suddenly he heard a commotion to his left.

"NOW!" he heard a collection of high-pitched screams that pierced his ears - even with the earplugs. Taking the plugs out of his ears - just in case - he turned his head to see what was going on.

A group of fanatic girls started to push, and broke the security line. Ash watched helplessly as they stampeded towards him. "Uh oh..." He started running.

Making his way behind the building, he ducked into an alleyway to catch his breath. He watched triumphantly as he saw the group of girls - which had grown to about 100 or so - pass by, screaming their heads off.

When he thought it was safe, he stepped outside of the alleyway. "Where am I?" he asked himself. He had never been good with directions. He surveyed his surroundings. "OK, there's a couple of dumpsters over there... there's the "ocean view" that they advertised... a couple of parking spots... I must be behind the building." He looked around proudly. Suddenly he saw a site that made his heart stop.

"THERE HE IS!!!" The crowd of girls had turned around and caught site of Ash. But this time, he was ready. He dashed off to the side road behind the restaurant and ran as fast as he could.

Looking behind him seeing - and hearing - nothing, he slowed down. Not watching where he was going, he felt himself run into someone, and they both fell to the ground.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" A voice said angrily.

Ash got up, brushed himself off, and looked at the what he had ran into.

When he saw her, his breath caught in his throat. She was cute - she had red hair that fell to just about below her shoulders, and intense blue eyes that were staring at Ash angrily.

"Well?" She asked. "Aren't you gonna help me up?"

"Err, sorry," Ash managed, as he held out his hand. She grabbed it, and Ash felt a weird sensation as they touched. Not paying attention, he pulled her up too far, and when she got up their faces were only inches apart. He stared into her deep blue eyes, and noticed their unusual color - the bright blue of the ocean on a sunny day.

Misty couldn't help but stare back at Ash. Where had she seen him before? He looked kind of familiar... was he a celebrity or something? She couldn't help but notice that he was really handsome - he had a cute innocent look on his face, and messy spiky black hair.

They stared at each other for a while, until Misty finally said something.

"I, um... I have to get going." She blushed.

"OK." Ash stated simply. Say something! Anything! his mind screamed. "Um... it was nice running into you!" He blurted out. As soon as he said it, he winced. That was so lame!

Misty laughed, a melodic laughter that made Ash grin in spite of himself. "Yeah," Misty agreed. "Definitely." And with that, she was on her way.

Ash stood there in a daze with a goofy smile on his face, not even noticing she had left. "Bye..."

"Oh wait!" Ash suddenly remembered. "What was her name?" Disappointed, yet goofily blissful at the same time, he walked back to the restaurant.

Dinner so far had been a complete bust - they hadn't even had cheeseburgers. Ash had been set up with an obnoxious girl named Giselle. All she talked about was herself. During dessert, Ash swirled his straw in his drink as he listened to her talk.

"So of course, they were just jealous of me," Giselle droned on. "I mean, who wouldn't want to be like me? I'm beautiful, smart, talented..." she looked across the table at Ash, to see if he was paying attention. "Don't you think?"

"Of course..." Ash said absentmindedly. Why couldn't she be more like that redheaded girl? He swirled his straw again.

"See, I knew I was right!" Giselle gave him a very fake - and obnoxious - laugh. "I mean, you can see I'm pretty, but did you know that I also have amazing training skills?" She looked disdainfully at Pikachu, who was inhaling ketchup by the bottle.

Ash perked up. Pokemon? This was a subject he could talk about. "What kind of pokemon do you have?" he asked. "I have a Pikachu, as you can see... and I also have -"

Giselle groaned. "Enough about you, let's talk about me! Well, I have a Cubone, who can beat that Pikcahu any day..."

Ash banged his head on the table. He tuned the rest of Giselle's words out by listening to the soothing slurp of ketchup courtesy of Pikachu.

When dinner was over, Ash warily gave Giselle a small hug. "Tonight was... umm..." he struggled to find the right word. He couldn't, so he just settled for lying. "Tonight was fun."

"Oh, I dunno," Giselle yawned. "You're kind of boring. All you wanted to do was talk about yourself! I mean, telling me about you Pikachu... honestly!" She gave him a sympathetic look, and tried to say the next few words so they wouldn't hurt him: "I don't think this is going to work out."

Ash faked disappointment for Giselle's sake. "I understand." And with that, he left.

When Ash left the Seaking Café, he was once again deafened by the noise. He had already gotten used to it, so he walked quickly to his limo.

But when Giselle exited the restaurant, the crowd's disposition changed. She was greeted with a loud booing noise.

"There she is, girls!" Giselle heard one girl say. "That's the girl that's trying to steal our Ash away!" From the same section of the crowd the booing intensified, and Giselle saw a tomato whiz by inches from her face.

But Giselle wasn't phased. "You're just jealous that you're not as pretty as me," she stated simply, glancing at the girl. And with her head raised high in the air, she walked to her car.

A/N: Again, I apologize for how long it took to get this one out... usually, I'm better about updating! Like I said, the ending for this chapter gave me a lot of trouble, so I hope it's good enough... This fic is getting more and more fun to write! I know exactly what I want the next part to be like, so hopefully it will be out soon... but for now, please review. Thanks! Oh, and if anyone has any suggestions for a new title, can you tell me? I'm not really feeling "Blinded" right now, so any suggestions are welcome! Until next time, see ya!