A/N: chapter 1 revised a bit, with some of the mistakes taken out, if you can tell me where I messed up, I can get it done.
Ash Ketchum collapsed onto the floor, holding his hand over a wound in his chest. A dark figure loomed over him, holding a shiny silver knife in his hand. It was covered in Ash's blood. Ash could not see the figure at all because of the dull lighting in the room, which gave him an eerie feeling of him being in some horror movie. He only saw the shadow of the figure, but one thing he could clearly see was the sharp knife that had cut him twice just a few seconds before. The dark figure took a menacing step in Ash's direction and raised the knife slightly higher,
"Now it's time for you to die Ash! I refuse to let you walk the earth any longer!" Ash recognized the voice, he knew it belonged to SOMEONE who he had spoken to before, but the big question was, who? The man stepped forward and swung right toward his head...
"AHHHHHHHHHH! Ash was now wide-awake in bed, the sweat poured down his face as he sat in bed, trying to comprehend what was going on. He realized that everything that had happened was just a horrible dream. He wiped the sweat off his face and breathed out a sigh, "Man this is getting out of hand, the same dream for the past three weeks. This is getting VERY old." It was in fact, the exact same dream that he has had every night for the past three weeks. It was weird, either he was going COMPLETELY insane, or maybe something was going to happen. But nonetheless, he had to find out what was wrong with him, or he'd never be able to get anymore sleep for as long as he had the dreams. He sighed and slowly climbed out of bed; he put his feet on the cold hardwood floor and stopped for a moment. He wondered just how his day was going to be, like he always did every morning. He never knew why it took him time to think about his day ahead, but he just decided six months ago to try it, because then his heart reached a low point, but he believed that planning his day made him forget of the significance with what event occurred six months ago. He got up and put fresh clothes on, today he was on a mission, to find out what was wrong with him before it completely destroyed him. He crept around Pikachu and walked out of his room. He walked out of the house and to his car, today he was going to find out what was wrong with him, if it was the last thing he ever did.
Ash rode down the street in his black convertible viper. He was now 23, and the greatest Pokémon master of all time. With all of the money he saved up, he built a bigger house for himself, and moved his mother in, selling the old one, although he was attached to that old house, there were a lot of old memories of his youth within the walls of that house, but some things but be given up, and besides it was time for him to move on. Besides it would be big enough to keep his mother busy. She had unfortunately developed a very severe case of cancer a year ago, and all of the doctors believed that she was not going to make it through the rest of the year, but when they had dismissed her as dead, Dr. Joy had been there, and thanks to her and her team of extraordinary doctors, Mrs. Ketchum had survived, but was forbidden to be out of care, so Ash quickly took up that job, being her only child. She helped him out a whole lot even going through her therapy and had a smile on her face up to the very seconds of her operation. Ash was determined to be optimistic before the operation to keep her hopes up, but he had heard the chances of her survival were very slim, and that worried him, but she didn't fret at all, because she knew whatever happened would happen. Ash was just glad that she survived and was still living happily. Well with all of the money from selling the house, and with many of his own funds, he bought the car he was riding in...and lastly, an engagement ring for Misty, his only love. But six months ago, she left him suddenly without a word or anything that told him what happened, and it was the day before he gathered up enough courage to ask her to marry him. It hurt him worse than any attack from Team Rocket, and a lot worse than any Pokémon attack. His took him so off guard when he found out, that he didn't even seem to realize it until suddenly he sat down, and then burst into tears, he would have accepted it if she told him what he did to make her leave, but she didn't even leave that either. It was the worst pain he could ever endure in his life. He never thought he'd be able to live without Misty, but somehow he got through it, and just to be sure, whenever he caught himself thinking about her, he'd just shut off whatever part of his brain that would start thinking those painful thoughts of his first and possibly only love. She shook off all the thoughts of that and focused on what he was to do today, first on his agenda, was to head to the hospital and maybe find out what was really wrong with him and those reoccurring dreams. He reached the hospital and found a parking spot far away from all the hustle and bustle of the incoming patients and swarms of people. He started toward the hospital, and from behind parked cars came a group of Team Rocket members, dressed in black. They surrounded Ash quickly and the leader spoke up,
"Ash Ketchum we challenge you!" Ash groaned out loud, he didn't care if they knew he was tired of them always getting in the way or not,
"Not this again, can you please just give it a rest?" Suddenly Ash felt a gun at the back of his neck,
"We weren't meaning anything like that, we're gonna show you how evil and nasty we can really be, and you're our first victim!" The one with the gun replied, Ash took a few minutest to figure his options, and then slowly started to raise his hands in the air,
"Whoa there, I don't want any trouble..." He replied slowly, he took a moment to judge all of their distances; none of the rest had guns,
"So they must think they can take me out with just one gun eh? Well I'll show them how hard it'll be!" Ash thought at he began to start his attack. He quickly spun around and kicked the gun out of his hand, and before he even had the chance to act, Ash went low and kicked his feet out from under him. He fell on his head and was knocked out of the battle quickly. The others were quick to overwhelm him, but THEY were soon overwhelmed when they were surrounded by dozens of police officers. They quickly surrendered themselves, and were arrested and were taken away for questioning, and Ash was left unharmed. Seeing as his opportunity of escape from the scene, Ash stood up and nonchalantly walked towards the hospital like he hadn't even been in the situation. He was almost home free but then he was caught when someone spoke to him,
"Well, well, well...aren't you going to thank me for savin' your life?" Ash turned around slightly and saw one of the many Officer Jenny's; well this particular Jenny was different, she was the Chief of the Viridian City police department,
"Well I could have handled that situation myself, but thanks for helping out anyway." He replied, Jenny smiled at him, and then her face turned down to a worried demeanor when she noticed how depressed or seriously focused he looked,
"Is there something wrong?" She asked him, the worry was clear in her voice and on her face.
"I just have a few things on my mind." Jenny knew that when he said that he had "a few things" on his mind then that meant he could come up with millions of things on his mind.
"So then I guess you've decided to see Joy about it."
"Well I WAS, but then these Team Rocket goons decided to try this stunt, and now that it's over I'm going to go see her now."
"Alright then, I hope you feel better Ash." Jenny said as she waved and walked off,
"Yeah...better...he said aloud as he hurried into the hospital...
After all of his testing, Ash waited quietly in Dr. Joy's office for the results to come back and for him to realize how crazy he really was. Finally after a while of sitting by himself, Dr. Joy came into the office,
"Well Ash, your tests have all come back positive, you're not insane!" She said and was happy to say it, Ash on the other hand didn't feel like that was the answer he was looking for, well actually it WAS, but it didn't explain the weird dreams he was having lately.
"Well what about those dreams?" Joy walked up to him,
"I hate to be the one to say this, but it may not be a mental or physical problem at all, it may be an emotional withdrawal, probably rooted from when Misty left..."
"DO NOT TALK ABOUT HER!" Ash yelled as he jumped to his feet, he had no idea why it just happened like that, but as soon as he heard Misty's name he just got angry. Joy certainly looked worried when this happened; Ash noticed the look on her face and sighed, sitting back in the chair,
"I'm sorry...I don't know why I suddenly just sounded angry, it's just that...I really don't need to be thinking about her..." Joy understood completely, it wasn't everyday thing that occurred; this was a life-changing event.
"I understand, but I suggest you start at least to think about it, it maybe the only way for you to overcome this." Joy said as she took a pad of paper and wrote down a number,
"I'm going to give you the number to my sister in Celadon city; she's a psychiatrist and may be able to help you with your problem." She gave Ash the paper,
"Make sure you can call as soon as you get home, or better yet I'll call and set up an appointment for you. For now, just rest and if anything's wrong call her as soon as possible."
"Sure, I'll talk to you later." Ash said as he quickly walked out of the hospital. He quickly got in his car and drove back home, trying to forget what had happened earlier.
Ash entered his house with a heavy sigh, at once he was tackled by Pikachu, who was still the same size and weight as he was years ago, but now his Pokémon was much stronger because of all the training.
"Pika Pi!" (Translation: Ash!) The Pokémon cheered at the return of his friend,
"Hey Pikachu, did you have a nice nap?" Ash said with a smile as he rubbed Pikachu on his head, Pikachu gave a happy cry and jumped off of Ash. As soon as Ash got to his feet he heard his mother from the kitchen,
"Ash! Get in here now!" His mother yelled, Ash smiled and walked into the kitchen where his mother was waiting for him,
"Yes mom?" Ash asked sweetly, knowing that she was going to yell at him,
"Where were you this morning! I was worried sick about you!" Ash walked up to his mother and wrapped her up in a big bear hug,
"I'm sorry mom, next time I'm write you a note. I only went to town for a moment." Mrs. Ketchum accepted the warm hug, and then she pushed her son away from her as if she were angry,
"Well don't do it again! Anyway Brock called a few minutes ago and say that he wanted to see you as soon as you could, he said something about it being very urgent and he needed to talk to you as soon as you could."
"Oh so Brock finally decided to call, I guess I should head over there to see what he wants. C'mon Pikachu." Ash said as he and Pikachu waved bye to Mrs. Ketchum and walked out of the house. Pikachu hopped in the passenger's side of Ash's car and buckled up tightly, Ash slid into his seat and before he got a chance to start the car, a picture fell from the dashboard and onto his lap. He picked up the picture slowly and gazed at it. It wasn't just an ordinary picture, it was a picture of him and Misty about 8 months back, when they were still together, and he was content with his life. Overwhelmed with emotion from the past few hours, he started to feel tears in his eyes. Before his emotions got the best of him, he put the picture in the glove box and wiped his eyes, started the car and drove off quickly. Pikachu had just witnessed the event and just like many times before felt sorry for his friend. Six months ago Ash seemed very happy, so happy that in fact he brought the engagement ring for Misty, hoping to fulfill his entire dream and reach true happiness. But after she left, he was reduced to a gloomy and depressed being that didn't seem like he amounted to anything anymore. He tried to hide his depression from the whole world, but it was scrawled all over his face. Practically the entire planet knew that he still loved her, but they also knew that she was gone and most likely never coming back. Ash mumbled to himself about a psychiatrist and then shook his head, and Ash focused on meeting an old friend, although never knowing what was to happen to him as he entered Pewter City.