Tears

by coldheart

"I can't believe you led us to the WRONG TOWN!" Misty yelled angrily, throwing her arms up in the air. "How can SOMEONE BE SO STUPID?!! I CAN'T STAND YOU!!!"

Ash crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at her, with his jaw clenched tight. He glanced at Brock for help, but the older boy raised one eyebrow and shook his head.

"Ash, you really should have told us you were lost...."

"Thanks Brock." Ash muttered sarcastically, before sighing.

"I'm sorry, Misty" he mumbled softly, wanting to get everything over with.

Misty's eyes widened in shock, as a smile started to form on her face. "What did you say?" She asked, obviously enjoying Ash's apology.

"I'm sorry!" Ash yelled, turning away.

"What did you-?" Misty started

"Misty-" Brock started warningly. He knew how hard it was for Ash to apologize.

Misty rolled her eyes and started walking towards the pokemon center.

Brock started to follow her, when he saw that Ash was crying.

"Ash....are you okay?" Brock whispered.

Ash nodded then shook his head. "I don't know..." Ash finally sighed, trying to pull down his hat to hide his tears. "I'm fine." Ash finally stated resolutely.

"Let's go..." Brock sighed, walking towards the pokemon center, followed by a dejected Ash.

When they arrived, Misty was surprised to see that Ash was crying. "Brock-?" she started, wondering what was wrong.

Brock stopped her with a slight motion of his head, as Ash plopped down on one of the couches.

Brock and Misty went to the counter to sort out the rooms, while Ash waited. Pikachu hopped on the counter towards the Nurse Joy who happily took the pokemon in her arms.

Ash slumped against the one of the soft couches in the waiting room, trying to phase out everything in the room.

He barely noticed the couch slump down a little from the weight of someone sitting next to him.

"Hello!" a deep voice said boisterously, causing Ash to look up. He was a little started by being brought back to reality.

The man was tall, about two feet taller than Ash. He had red air and he looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties.

"Hey...." Ash mumbled weakly, after recovering a little bit.

"Does the Pikachu I just saw belong to you?" a man asked. "It looks very healthy."

Ash smiled at the complement and nodded bashfully. "Thanks...."

"I have a Pikachu too, maybe your pikachu could help it charge up." the man suggested. "Do you want to see it? It's right outside."

"Sure!" Ash agreed, happy to find a way to get Misty out of his mind. "Oh, and my name's Ash!" he quickly added, remembering to introduce himself.

"I'm...Jeff." the man stated casually, smiling broadly. He put a hand on Ash's back to lead him outside.

Ash tensed up a little. The action made him feel uncomfortable, but he didn't want to say anything about it. He glanced over to Brock and Misty to see what they were doing, and smiled lightly when he saw Misty looking incensed while Brock was flirting with Nurse Joy.


Jeff walked towards the back of the pokemon center at a fast pace that Ash could barely keep up with, but he glanced back at Ash every once in awhile.

When they stopped walking, Ash looked around for a pikachu. He felt a sick feeling at the pit of his stomach, and he regretted not telling Misty and Brock where he was going.

"I...gotta go back..." Ash whispered quietly. "I forgot-"

In one lightning fast motion, Jeff clamped a hand over Ash's mouth.

Ash's blood ran cold in fear when the man pulled him back. He tried to pull Jeff's hand away, but his arms were pinned behind his back.

Ash tried to cry out for his friends, but his screams came out muffled, and he knew that his friends couldn't hear him from inside on the other side of the building.

Jeff squeezed Ash's arms hard to deter him form yelling. "Quiet." he whispered in Ash's ear. His voice was quiet and deadly. "Didn't anyone tell you not to talk to strangers?"

A tear rolled silently down Ash's cheek.

He remembered all the rules that Brock had told him, never to leave without telling him or Misty, never talk to strangers, never allow himself to be alone with anyone else...

Ash shuddered, when he realized that he had broken all these rules.

He gasped softly when the man shoved him to the ground and slapped him across the face. Ash's eyes were wide as saucers. "What-what are you going to do to me?" Ash whispered softly.

The man only smiled.