Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter! Wiseabsol, shaman queen lee, alexis, Kel, surfingpikachu05, Val McD, and Chibi! Thanks so much for reading and reviewing the first chapter, I appreciate it :)

Oh I may have accidentally forgotten someone, but that's no problem right? I mean people get left out of these things all the time...(You know who you are!!!)

Chapter 2 – One argument too many

Ash sat staring blankly at the floor. The light above the Emergency room had been on for hours, and was still glowing the same as it was when Pikachu had been rushed in there, surrounded by Nurse Joys, Chanseys, and even one or two photographers who followed the trolley trying to get a quick picture of the stricken creature. The walls of the beige waiting room were adorned with news articles and photos of winning trainers. This was the official tournament hospital after all.

One of the many items was a photo of a tournament winner about 15 years ago with his Pokémon. Ash thought the guy sort of looked like himself, only older. There was a Pikachu standing at his side, but no name with the picture, only a caption which said the winner was from Pallet Town. Ash wondered why he had never been told about a winner from his hometown.....but none of it distracted Ash from his thoughts for too long though.

How could he let this happen to Pikachu? He knew how drained Pikachu was when he asked him to perform agility. It was far too big a risk to have taken with his best pal. But he was so close to the final he could visualize himself being there. All his friends and family there, cheering him on. Misty, Brock, his Mum, Professor Oak, Mimey! Everyone would turn up.

Maybe he might even get to see his....

"Ash? How you holdin' up?"

The voice snapped Ash back to the repulsive reality which he now found himself in. Ash glanced at the Emergency light. Still on. Then he turned his head to the clock. 2.30am. Finally he turned his head to meet the aquamarine eyes of the fiery-red headed girl whose uncharacteristically softly spoken voice had just enquired about his well being. She had a reassuring smile on her face, a total contrast to the dazed "puppy in the headlights" expression which adorned Ash's face, which Misty chuckled at and pointed out to him as she took up the seat next to Ash. Ash managed to muster a small smile back.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks Misty, just so worried about Pikachu. What if he comes round and he hates me for what happened? What if he comes round and he's hurt permanently? What if he doesn't..." Ash trailed off

"Ash! Don't think like that! Pikachu WILL come round, he WON'T be permanently injured, and he most certainly will NOT hate you" replied Misty

Yet she knew full well that, while she was positive about the last statement she made, the other two were all too possible. That Hyper Beam hit Pikachu unbelievably hard, and the blood-curdling scream the little guy let off suggested it was not a simple finishing attack Pokémon fans had become accustomed to. Misty quickly shut the image out of her mind, and placed her hand on Ash's.

"Ash, Pikachu will be fine, and you can come back next year and give it another shot" soothed Misty, tenderly. Ash was too concerned about Pikachu to notice Misty's hand or take in her words. He shot up and began pacing up and down, much to Misty's deflation.

"What if I train all my Pokémon for the whole year? Then they'll all be strong enough to resist Body Slams, Hyper Beams and take much more damage..."

Misty cut ash off, "What?? Your Pokémon are plenty strong enough! They shouldn't have to train to take damage from Body Slams or whatever! They shouldn't have to take damage at all, that's the job of a trainer!"

"What?!" Ash yelled, "There was no way I could have prevented that from happening. Pokémon will always take damage no matter how good the training!"

"Not that amount of damage!" yelled Misty right back, then in almost a pleading tone as if to get Ash to see his mistake she said, "Pikachu has been lying unconscious for nearly 8 hours now, Ash, how can you not take responsibility for that?"

"I did what I thought was best Misty, we were so close to the final...." Ash whimpered pathetically

"Oh forget the stupid final Ash!! Can't you see? Pikachu is all that is important here! He put all his little heart into that battle because YOU ASKED HIM TO" Misty's voice rose again, "and now he's lying in ER because of what you asked of him Ash"

Ash knew she was right, but he hated it being said to him, and it was his nature to argue anyway. He countered right back;

"Hey it wasn't me who told that Nidoking to unleash Hyper Beam, Gary was the one who...."

"Gary was the one who did his job as a trainer and pressed home his advantage! Don't blame him for this!!!" screamed Misty

Ash couldn't believe his ears. Misty was sticking up for...Gary? That egotistical loser? He had no time to think as his mouth was on autopilot and it was time to yell again,

"And I was doing my job as a trainer and getting Pikachu to use agility! Why was Gary right to attack, but when I do the same you start yelling at me? Is it 'cuz you like Gary?" Ash probed. It would've been in a teasing way if it wasn't shouted, and as such it came out as an accusation

"Oh shut up Ash," Misty yelled back so directly and with such force it immediately told Ash she didn't, and it was a stupid thing to say given the situation, "Gary was in the right because he attacked when he had the advantage, not when his Pokémon was weak and feeble. He didn't risk his Pokémon like you did with Pikachu! You should have given up that battle there and then"

Ash turned to begin another length of the waiting room. He gave an ironic laugh, "GIVE UP?! A GOOD trainer never gives up!!"

"YOU'RE NOT A GOOD TRAINER ASH!! A GOOD TRAINER PROTECTS HIS POKÉMON!!"

The moment the words left Misty's mouth she regretted them. They had no meaning, they just came out in anger at Ash's belief that it was his Pokémon that needed improving, not his style as a trainer. She closed her eyes half in embarrassment, half in fear of the verbal onslaught she was about to receive. Even with her eyes closed she could sense Ash's piercing glare.

She sensed right

Misty's words had stopped Ash in his tracks. He didn't know whether to feel angry at Misty for saying it, or angry at himself for what happened. He didn't know whether to yell or cry. He felt angry, inferior, upset, betrayed, stupid...All these emotions united into one and amplified the level of discomfort they were inflicting on Ash. A huge void appeared in Ash's stomach. Ash wanted to explode at Misty. He wanted to scream, shout, yell, bawl, give her a piece of his mind. But his mouth just wouldn't obey; it wouldn't allow him to release his anger. After what seemed like an eternity Ash's mouth permitted itself to release just one calm word:

"Sorry..."

Misty couldn't believe her ears. Ash just said 'sorry'. She had expected at least ten minutes of abuse. Ash never apologized anyway, without help from Brock or someone, and this was hardly the time she expected Ash to turn over a new leaf.

Maybe she misheard. Yeah that was it, she misheard. Ash didn't say sorry. Maybe he called her 'silly'? No, too mundane for Ash to say, he wouldn't let her off that easy. Maybe he had already yelled at her so much she'd started to ignore him and drifted into her own reality, where everything was as her mind wished it to be. No that can't be, this was hardly the way she wished things were between her and Ash...She decided to do the only thing she could do to clear up this baffling event. She slowly drew back her eyelids to witness Ash's glaring face. Or so she thought. Instead, what met her was the dejected face of a feeble deflated young teen, which matched perfectly with the pitiful 'sorry' she had just heard. Ash apologized to her! She smiled to Ash, but he wasn't looking. He wasn't paying attention. The floor was the most attractive proposition for his eyes at that moment. Misty felt a sense of elation at Ash's apology. 'Was he finally growing up?' she wondered.

But Misty wasn't prepared for what Ash did next.

The mixture of feelings inside Ash slowly began to settle, and Ash felt immediately what the prevailing emotion was. The feeling of hurt Ash had felt the instant those words that Misty spoke hit his ear drums, just moments ago. The same feeling returned with such force Ash felt physically ill. His distress become too much for him, he turned and ran out of the door from the waiting room.

He sprinted down the corridor, tears streaming from his face. He didn't stop look back or even think about what happened. He was focused entirely on running. He took a left heading back towards reception. As he did so he almost knocked the unsuspecting Brock right off his feet.

"Whoa slow down Ash! I was just coming to check on Pikachu...Hey what's...." Brock said in an ultimately puzzled tone.

"Just leave me alone Brock" Ash sobbed, not stopping or glancing at Brock as he carried on towards reception.

As he ran through the main lobby, towards the corridor off which was their room, Ash could sense everyone there turn and look at him. He didn't dare look back or stop running.

"Hey what's up with him..."

"It's guy with the Pikachu..."

"The loser kid from Pallet..."

"He's still crying about losing! What a cry-baby..."

Ash recognized the last comment. Gary. But right now he had no energy to glare at Gary, yell at him, stop and turn. Nothing. He was focused on just reaching his room, and nothing would keep him from that, not Brock, not Gary, and especially not her...

To be continued...

Ok that was chapter 2, hope you enjoyed it! Chapter 3 won't be too far away I promise :)