Hi guys – told you I'd update (slightly) faster! :P
Last time: Brock, talking to Misty about her outburst at Ash, suggests that she should wait until Ash was feeling better before talking to him…later that day; Nurse Joy lets Misty know they can go see Pikachu. Misty hurries to find Ash to tell him…
Chapter 4 – Apologies
Misty gulped as she saw Ash lying on the bed, rolled onto his right hand side, staring at the wall as if it was a work of art. He was playing with his cap in his hands, running it backwards and forwards through his fingers. Misty shuffled her feet uncomfortably and spoke again
"How you feeling Ash? Well you look like a million dollars…" observed Misty sarcastically, before trailing off as Ash's piercing glare turned her to stone
"I…er…just came to check on you Ash," Misty gulped as she regained control of her vocal chords. Ash let his head collapse back on the pillow and began to play with his official Pokémon league hat. Misty loved the hat and was always jealous of Ash for having it. Ash was no doubt doing it to try to wind her up, but Misty bit her lip to prevent her from making a sarcastic comment. She had come to make up with Ash after all, and making fun of his precious hat didn't seem the right way to go about it. Misty tried to think of a way to make conversation with Ash.
She gazed at him resting on the bed. His hair had taken on a life of its own as he had grown up, and was now at the stage where Ash rarely removed his hat because of it. Misty always thought he looked better without the cap, and not just because she was envious of Ash owning it, but he did look several years older and a lot more mature without it. Misty chuckled at seeing Ash's hair for the first time in weeks.
"Bad hair day?" Misty giggled, trying to break the awkward silence
"No," Ash replied indignantly. Mistys giggle subsided as she realised that had just made Ash more irritated with her. She let out an audible sigh. She noticed Ash's eyes were shifting about uncomfortably. He was appearing as uneasy with the situation as she was.
"So what are you doing here Misty?" inquired a slightly embarrassed Ash, trying to divert the topic of conversation away from his scruffy hair.
Misty stopped laughing. Almost instantly she remembered Pikachu.
"It's Pikachu, Ash. Nurse Joy says Pikachu's feeling a whole lot better now and we can go in and see him!" Misty smiled.
Ash leapt up off the bed, grabbing his belt as he did and started for the door. A beaming smile was across his face. His warm, jovial, mood was unrecognisable to the sombre expression which had adorned his face just seconds earlier
"Well what are we waiting for let's go!!! C'mon Misty!" shouted Ash excitedly, dragging Misty out the door with him as he ran.
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Brock absorbed the breathtaking view out of the window of the Pokémon Center. This Center was famous for the view of the valley below, and had become a magnet for hikers and photographers hoping to catch a glimpse of the sunrise as it rose between the two towering rocks just outside the front entrance.
Brock was looking a little further right than that though, to what he considered an even more breathtaking view, as a minor traffic accident had prompted the arrival of Officer Jenny trying to break up the scuffle. Brock took a seat on one of the many sofas which adorned the reception area and watched Jenny strut her stuff. He barely had time to take in the view for long though, as the noise of two people running and shouting caused Brock to look around. Sure enough, it was Ash and Misty running through reception.
"Come-on-Brock-Nurse-Joy-says-Pikachu-is-better-and-we-can-go-see-Pikachu-and-he's-better-and-we-can-see-him-and-come-on-Brock-HURRY-UP" Ash cried, not stopping, slowing down, or even bothering to create a group of words which remotely resembled a sentence. Ash was too excited to do that.
"ASH LET GO!! My arm really hurts now!! ASH!!!! Stop pulling, Ash!! Slow down…" Misty yelled in protest as she was dragged into the corridor leading to the ER room.
Brock stood bewildered by what he had just witnessed, but decided to investigate anyway and began to follow Ash and Misty out of reception, permitting himself one final glance out of the window. Officer Jenny had gone. Brock let out a sigh as his shoulders sank gloomily. He began to trudge down the corridor towards Pikachu's room.
Brock stopped as he turned the final corner. On the floor was Ash, a dazed look in his eyes and a red mark on the side of his head. Standing over him was an angry looking red-cheeked Misty, mallet out at full stretch. She glared up at Brock as he started to open his mouth, and Brock obediently closed it again, fearing for his own well being.
"I asked him nicely to let go, but he wouldn't, so what was I to do?" Misty asked, as Brock let out a nervous laugh.
Nurse Joy who had just witnessed the whole scene giggled at Brock's reaction. "Alright you lot that's enough I think! You can come in and see Pikachu now"
Ash leapt up out of his trance and barged Misty out of the way to get through the door, much to her annoyance. Only Brock's calming raised hand persuaded her to leave the mallet in her bag this time. She got up and followed Ash and Nurse Joy into the room, as did Brock.
Nurse Joy led the way towards Pikachu's private room. Ash looked round as he walked down the ward. There were so many machines, wires, electrical….things. Ash began trying to figure out what each machine did, but the beeping noises filling the air began to drive him crazy after just a few seconds. Pokémon laid either side of him, all shapes and sizes, types and ages. Most were being attended to by a Chansey. As they approached the end of the ward Ash noticed a private room in the corner with a single door leading into it, and a large window just to the side of it. Ash noticed that the blinds on the window were closed, and began to wonder how Nurse Joy could keep watch on the Pokémon inside if the blinds were closed. He came to the conclusion there must be lots of machines like he had already seen inside the ward, keeping a check on the Pokémon.
Nurse Joy stopped and pointed towards the room Ash was already looking at.
"Pikachu's just through there, Ash" Nurse Joy said as she turned to face Ash, but he was already through the door.
"PIKACHU!!!!!!!"
"PIKAPI!!!"
Ash sprinted through the door and gave his buddy a gentle hug, aware that Pikachu still wasn't completely healed.
Misty, Brock, and Nurse Joy, who were standing around the entrance, smiled in unison at the joyful scene in front of them. Pikachu was back to his old self.
"Are we ready to go and get ourselves fighting fit for next year's tournament Pikachu?" Ash inquired.
He knew what the response would be. A determined grin spread across Pikachu's face.
"Pika!!!"
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Misty laughed for what felt like the millionth time in the last hour. Ash was in a jovial mood, and was cracking jokes and comments non-stop. Misty knew they were not that funny, but something made her want to smile and giggle non-stop, and she wasn't going to ignore that something.
"…and then I'll take a real expensive limo round to Gary's house, and shove that trophy in his face!! We'll see who the loser is then!!" Ash boasted, half joking, half dreaming about winning next year's tournament. He picked up the empty cup from beside Pikachu's bed and proceeded to hold it aloft as if it were a trophy and began to celebrate.
Misty chuckled again. She never thought she'd be so happy to see Ash back to his old overly-optimistic self, but she was going to enjoy every minute of this. Less than 6 hours ago the nightmare of Ash hating her forever seemed awfully real, especially if something had happened to Pikachu. In Ash's mind he surely would blame himself for Pikachu's demise, all as a result of what Misty said. Misty promised herself to stop thinking about what could have been, and enjoy this period of happiness while she could. But her mind kept drifting back to the distressing thought of what may have happened. But no, she couldn't keep…..
"MISTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Brock had called Misty several times but Misty was in a world of her own.
"Huh?" replied a puzzled Misty
"For the SIXTH and LAST time of asking, do you want anything to drink?" Brock asked angrily
"Ok Brock I'll have a soda. No need to shout though, next time just ask"
Brock stood flabbergasted. Through gritted teeth came the reply:
"Yeah Misty, good idea"
Brock became curious. Misty had seemed completely lost in her own daydream. Something was occupying her thoughts, Misty was never this quiet. Brock had sat watching as Misty giggled at Ash's every word. He seriously doubted whether Misty had even heard a single word though, as she sat staring at him with an inane grin across her face. Ash had been too busy boasting to notice, but Brock had noticed, as had Pikachu.
Brock glanced over at Pikachu to see what he made of it all. Pikachu raised a knowing eyebrow and muttered something. Brock tried to stop from grinning. A Pokémon was perceptive enough to realise it, but Ash wasn't. Brock let out a sigh and shook his head as he left to go to the canteen.
"Wow Misty you sure seemed to tune out a bit there," commented Ash "What were you thinking about?"
"Oh nothing Ash, I'm just a bit tired what with the lack of sleep we've been getting around here," Misty said, lying through her back teeth. She rarely opened up to Ash, and she wasn't about to start now.
Ash gave a weak smile and sat down next to Pikachu's bed. Misty realised that he looked hurt. Misty was a little surprised. Ash was never usually smart enough to realise when Misty wasn't telling the whole truth. Nevertheless she felt a deep sense of guilt begin to rise. There was no way she was going to talk to Ash about her feelings though, so she decided to appease her guilt another way.
"Ash...I-I'm sorry about before…about what I said…I…I guess I just snapped…I…I…"
Misty felt her heart begin to race. It seemed every drop of blood in her body was being diverted to her cheeks, as she turned a deep Charmeleon red. There was certainly no blood in her brain anyway as she found it impossible to think. This 'apologizing' game was harder than she thought it would be…
"I didn't mean any of it…well any of the bad things anyway. Did I say anything good to you? I can't remember…" Misty asked, half hoping to focus on something positive, half playing for a bit of time to compose her thoughts. She had rushed into this a little bit…
Ash shook his head
"Oh…well...Um I'm sorry for it all, I didn't mean any of it…I was just angry and worried about Pikachu and…….you know…"
Misty smiled apologetically at Ash. He continued to stare blankly at her
"I just don't want you to hate me for it…."
Misty allowed her eyes to drift sadly down towards the floor, awaiting Ash's response. Ash still hadn't said a word or even changed his expression. Several seconds passed and still Ash said nothing.
Misty remembered Brock speaking: 'You should wait until Ash is feeling better, until he's in a better mood…'
What did Brock know anyway? This was one piece of advice she shouldn't have followed. She was such an idiot. Next time she saw Brock she was going take her mallet and……
A movement in the corner of the room had captured Misty's attention. She glanced up towards Ash. She watched as he lifted Pikachu off his lap and onto the bed.
Then he stood up…
To be continued…
Thanks for reading, please review, more soon...you know the drill :)
Also, if you haven't already, please check out my other fic in progress 'Too Close For Comfort'. I've kinda had that one on the back burner, but I'll be updating soon so please check it out if you can :)
