So here is the long awaited 6th chapter. I'm sorry I haven't updated sooner, but i guess i got a little down at the lack of reviews. But Triple question marks (aka - ?) got me back into action! YES. I'm really glad you like the story???, and don't worry, i'm not stopping until it's finished. as you may remember, i already have the whole thing finished, and, dare i say it...i'm stillworking on the sequel...
And as for more XD angst fics, once ? suggested that i write another one, I had a little idea for one...hmmmmmm, i'll have to look into it,but if i decide to write one, i'll put it here for sure. And thanks for saying I was good at writing angst fics. They'rethe best!
Ah, i hope everyone. (everyone?) likes this chapter. If i'm not too busy with school, and if at least one person reviews...You will be rewarded with another chapter of Vanish! (...chirp,chirp, chirp, chirp...)
...Let's read on then, shall we? (I don't own Pokemon, I don't own Pokemon, but if I did...hehehehehe)
The next morning, Ash let out his pokémon and gathered them all in a huddle, trying to make sure May and the others wouldn't overhear.
"Okay, you guys. Tomorrow…tomorrow morning, we're leaving… We're leaving without the others."
There was a wave of questioning comments directed to him, the pokémon wondering why.
"Because, you guys, I'm sick of just sitting around while Pikachu gets brainwashed. I'm going to get him back if it's the last thing I do. Now if you don't want to go, that's okay……"
"Gro grovyle!" Grovyle came up to Ash, apparently saying something like 'I'm with yah'.
"Koal, torkoal!" Torkoal added, nodding his head and joining Grovyle next to Ash.
"Swellow swell!"
"Phish corphish!"
Ash smiled slightly. "I knew I could count on you guys. We'll do it together, and we will make it…" He looked over to the others. "I really hope they don't mind… But in case they do, we're leaving early and leaving a note. There's no way they can stop me from getting back Pikachu… And there's no way they're coming with me. I don't want them hurt… And since we can't battle Pikachu, it's a fair bet someone's going to get hurt." He smiled bitterly to the others. "Don't try and play hero. If I jump in front of you to take an attack, it's for your own good…"
"Swell swell swell swellow swe swellow," Swellow commented dryly to the others.
Ash left his pokémon, giving them a 'thanks' before walking over to where the others were eating breakfast. He sat himself down and helped himself to a plate of pancakes.
"Well, Ash, it looks like you're walking better. How's your leg feeling?" Brock asked in that concerned-older-brother voice.
"It feels a lot better," Ash replied. "As I said before, Pikachu's Iron Tail only grazed me, so the cut wasn't so bad. What was bad was the size of the thing." He stuffed a big piece of pancake in his mouth. He gave a thumbs-up to Brock, indicating that the pancakes were topnotch.
"And it seems that you finally realized that your stomach does exist," Max stated as Ash ate another bite. "But at this rate, you're going to get sick…"
"So…," May began casually. "Where are we going next?"
"I thought we were going to Mossdeep Island…," Max started, but began to catch May's drift, and he looked straight at Ash.
"What?" he asked. "I don't know why you guys want to go there, but I sure don't need to."
"Ash, come on," May spat. "Remember? Gym battle? Seventh badge? Closer to the Hoenn League?"
"Yeah, just because Pikachu's gone doesn't mean you still can't go for it. He's only a regular pokémon, I'm sure one of your others could replace him." Once the words left Max's mouth, he knew he said something wrong.
Ash's eyes flashed dangerously, but he didn't say anything to the youngest member of their little journey parade. He's only a regular pokémon, I'm sure one of your others could replace him… He's only a regular pokémon, I'm sure one of your others could replace him… The words repeated over and over and over in Ash's mind. Replace? Why that little—
"I meant in battle, not in—" Max tried, but May cut him off with a sharp jab with her elbow.
Ash's eyebrows creased in anger. If only looks could kill…
Max looked to Ash fearfully. He didn't really mean to say what he said, but it had just come out. Max had never seen Ash look this…this angry in his life. Sure, Ash wasn't really doing anything, but he looked like he wanted to reduce Max to a puddle of goop right then and there.
Ash gave his plate back to Brock. "Sorry, Brock, but I just lost my appetite." And he left, going over a grassy hill, Swellow flying after him.
"Good job, Max!" May said to her little brother angrily. "You've got to learn to keep your big mouth shut!"
Max glared right back at her. "I didn't mean to say that! Really!"
"Could've fooled me! You're so lucky you're just a kid, or Ash would've really given it to you!" May shouted at him.
"I'm not a kid!" Max protested.
"If you weren't, Ash would have—"
"Enough, you two!" Brock cut in, effectively shutting both May and Max up. "It won't help if you keep arguing!"
"May's the one who started yelling at me!" Max protested.
Brock put his hand up. "Don't even start, Max. You said something wrong, we all know that… Just be more careful…okay?"
"Swell swellow swellow low swell…," Swellow said gently. He had flown after his friend, and when Ash stopped, Swellow had landed lightly on the ground.
"I can't believe Max would even think that…," Ash growled. "No one could ever replace Pikachu. Not in a million years!"
"Swell…"
"We've just got to find Pikachu. I know finding one of Team Rocket's bases shouldn't be hard, but they have so many, it could be hard… But they couldn't have gotten too far… They've still got to be in the area…" Ash stood up, looking to Swellow determinedly, but Swellow knew better. When Swellow really looked into Ash's eyes, he saw anger, depression, sadness…and yes, he did see a hint of determination, but not nearly as much as Ash tried to show on his facial expression. Ash was indeed skilled at hiding his emotions, and Swellow briefly wondered if he had always been this way.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Ash asked Swellow, who had a thoughtful expression on his face.
Swellow gave the best shrug he could. "Swell swellow."
Ash shrugged himself and stared blankly ahead, too deep in his own thoughts to notice anything else.
"Brock, do you think he's okay?" May inquired, taking a bite out of her sandwich.
"Of course…," Brock growled for the millionth time.
May frowned. "It's lunch time already. He's been out there for hours!"
Brock rolled his eyes. He knew that if Ash needed time alone, it was best to just leave him alone. But since May kept bothering him… "Hey, Mudkip!" he called to the little water pokémon. "Why don't you go find Ash, buddy?"
"Kip, Mudkip!" And Mudkip trotted away, using the fin on his forehead to lead him to Ash.
"Better now?" Brock asked, looking to May. "Mudkip will make sure Ash doesn't do anything stupid. Like get himself hurt again…," he added the last part in a grumble.
May looked at him stubbornly. "I'd feel better if he was here."
Brock groaned. "You've really got to stop worrying about him. When Ash wants to be left alone, you leave him alone. He always comes back feeling a lot better—and a lot less irritable."
May almost snorted. "I don't know him as much as you do," she pointed out. "You're the one who's been around him almost since the beginning."
"Yeah, I know him pretty well… I guess…" Brock sighed.
"What was it like before Ash came here to the Hoenn Region?" May inquired curiously.
"Different," Brock replied simply. "Of course Ash had totally different pokémon, and Misty was there too…" He smiled slightly. "Those two…"
"What about them?"
"They had a rather…unique…chemistry." Brock noticed May's confused look and smiled again. "You may have met Misty, but I can tell you that you've only seen one half of her. Let's just say she…has a temper."
May nodded slowly, kind of understanding. She looked over the grassy hill where Ash had disappeared hours ago, finding herself wondering if he was ever going to be okay again…
Ash was just lying back in the grass, trying to relax, when he heard something come up beside him and say, "Mudkip?"
Ash looked over to the Brock's little blue pokémon. "Hey, Mudkip… What, did Brock tell you to 'retrieve' me or something? If so, tell him I'm not coming. Maybe I'll come back in an hour or so, if they're lucky. Otherwise, expect me back by later tonight."
"Kip…"
Ash smirked. "And it's too bad they don't understand you, so I'm telling you that I'm leaving tomorrow without you or the others."
"Mudkip? Mud?"
Ash smiled. "I just can't go on with them. I've got to find Pikachu. By myself." His eyebrows creased. "And Max… Well, they'll all be sorry when I'm gone… But I'll come back, so don't you worry. It…it just may be awhile."
Mudkip was silent.
"We'll be fine, Mudkip. I'm going to come back with everyone… Everyone including Pikachu."
Ash quietly stirred his bowl of soup a little more, trying not to let anyone else notice he wasn't eating. It wasn't going very well.
Hmph. First he stuffed himself at breakfast, and then he leaves for…like eight hours… And now, he's barely eating dinner, May thought, taking a bite of Brock's delicious soup. She looked over to her brother, and could see that he still felt guilty.
May sighed. What had happened to their happy little group? What ever happened to the laughs, smiles and jokes? It only took one day, one stupid day, to change everything. She took a glance at Ash again. "Make up your mind already," she said irritably.
Ash looked up from his soup. "What?"
"Make up your mind," May repeated. "It's either you eat or you don't."
Ash rolled his eyes and finally took an enormous bite. Swallowing the soup, he flashed May an are-you-happy-now? look.
Brock sighed. It seemed that he was the only one acting completely normal around here. Not that he wasn't worried about Pikachu… But just because Pikachu wasn't there at the moment didn't mean everyone had to act weird. He wanted to shout one sentence to each of the other three. To Max, he'd say, "Stop feeling guilty, it's not your fault!" To May, he'd say, "Calm down!" And to Ash… Well, maybe if he spoke to Ash, it'd be a little more than one sentence. But it'd be along the lines of: "Stop acting so depressed. I know Pikachu's not here, but that doesn't mean he's never going to be here again. Get on with your life. Stop worrying us. Don't do anything stupid like trying to take Pikachu's attacks by yourself. Go to the Mossdeep Gym. Go there and win. Most importantly, get back to normal."
He shook his head inwardly. This was crazy. Completely crazy. Who knew that the loss of one little electric mouse pokémon could result in utter chaos?
And when he looked at Ash, he got this bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ash was going to do something… And knowing Ash, it was probably something not too smart either. What was worse, when Ash was upset, he usually did something more stupid than usual.
Brock inwardly rolled his eyes and made a note to keep an eye on his favorite little wannabe pokémon master.
It was later when he would realize that he really should have taken that task a whole lot more seriously.
Do I even need to ask?