Answers, answers, answers...
Okay. First, for Cookies! - The reason Ash didn't grab some more pokemon was because he was so caught up with trying to get Pikachu back he's been hopping around and not thinking straight. (It's not a thing that Ash does well, if you know what i mean.)
Yes, and as SpiritAnime kindly suggested that i bump up the rating if i'm going to kill someone. my answer to that is that it's not going to be something really gory or anything... I try to think of it as a PG-13 rated movie. Something that I can imagine being there is something I would rate T. But if anyone else feels this way, please message me or something.
And THANK YOU, natasha fletcher, for saying i'm a talented writer. And THANK YOU everyone else! (cookies all around)
I STILL don't own pokemon. get over it. Ah, what angst everyone would go through if i did... (starry eyes)
Ash stretched an arm out to point to a small gathering of people around a hot air balloon the next afternoon. "They're over there."
"How do you know?" Misty asked.
Ash gave her a look that said, 'why-do-you-even-bother-asking-that?'. "Because I know," he replied. "Let's go."
They were about thirty or so feet away from the crowd when they heard some familiar voices…
"Just let them go easily, or we'll blast you to the high heavens!" shouted James.
"You're not just going to get away with all these people's pokémon!" Ash heard May's voice cry out.
"Oh really? I'd like to see you try to stop us!" Jessie said haughtily.
Ash grabbed Misty's forearm and dragged her toward the scene, intending to put a stop to it himself.
"If you even try to get your pokémon out of the net, we'll have Pikachu Thunderbolt them!" James warned.
Ash flinched but still made his way through the crowd, grabbing a pokéball from his backpack.
"We're going to get those pokémon back, no matter what!" That was Max… "You don't have all the pokémon! We can still stop you!"
"Yeah! Beautifly, I choose you!" There was a sound of an opening pokéball, and the call of an all-too-familiar butterfly pokémon.
"No," Ash muttered, pushing through the last of the people and stepping in front of Brock, May, and Max. He shepherded Misty behind him as well and threw his own pokéball, letting out Grovyle. He glanced back at his friends. "No offense, guys, but stay the hell out of this."
"Ash?" Brock inquired curiously.
Ash ignored him and called out, "Grovyle, use Leaf Blade to break through the rope holding the net!"
Grovyle jumped up and did as he was told, making the net fall apart, dozens of pokémon spilling onto the crowd, where their owners caught them happily.
"Hey! Those are our stolen pokémon!" James yelled. To Ash, he said, "You just never learn, do you?"
There was a chorus of 'thanks, kid,' before the crowd of people began to return their pokémon to their pokéballs, and quickly left the scene, leaving only Ash and his friends…and Drew?
"I'd say it's time to make them blast off again," May hissed, and she called out to her Beautifly again. "Use Silver Wind, Beautifly!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, Ash wished he could shove them back in there. Pikachu was on that balloon…
"Pikachu, use Thunder!" Jessie ordered, pointing at Beautifly.
"Piiikaaaa…CHUUUU!" A stream of electricity leapt off Pikachu and struck Beautifly, who fell to the ground. May ran to her pokémon, who looked pretty bad.
Ash's eyes flashed with anger. "Grovyle, use—"
"I wouldn't do that," Jessie advised. "You know you don't want to hurt Pikachu. Now just let us leave. You should consider yourself lucky, because we're letting you get off easy. We wouldn't want a replay of last time, would we, twerp? Except this time it'd be worse… Oh, so much worse…"
"What's she talking about, Ash?" Brock whispered.
Ash ignored Brock again and saw Drew look over to May, who looked devastated. She was kneeling over her Beautifly, trying to carefully help him up and get him to the pokémon center.
Ash felt a wave of guilt. It was Pikachu who did that……… His fault…
"Roselia, come on out!" Drew suddenly cried, throwing his pokéball. "Use Solar Beam on that balloon!"
"Rosa…" Roselia began to take in sunlight.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Ash hissed.
"Someone's got to take action," Drew answered. "And I seriously doubt that you would be the one to do it."
"ROSELIIIIA!" A beam of light shot through the air and punctured Team Rocket's balloon, sending it flying.
"Team Rocket's blasting off again………"
Ash's eyes flashed and he turned away from the others and walked a few steps, returning Grovyle to his pokéball.
"Is he alright, May?" Max asked his sister worriedly.
"No." May's voice plainly showed that she was on the verge of crying. "I need to get him to a pokémon center right away."
"Here, let me help," Drew said gently, helping May pick up the weak Beautifly.
May and Drew slowly stood up and made their way to the pokémon center, Brock and Max right behind them, Misty behind them, and Ash barely trailing them about twenty feet back.
All my fault, Ash thought. Pikachu is my pokémon. I'm responsible for him. If I had caught him. No. Just a screw up. I'm just a screw up. Never get anything right… Now Beautifly is in terrible shape because of me… His head began to pound once again. He looked ahead to the others. They were all focused on getting Beautifly to the pokémon center. They wouldn't even notice if he were to just slip away…… It's not like he wanted to stay around them anyway. It's not like they wanted him to stay anywhere. Yeah, I bet May's cursing me off mentally right now.
But where would I go? Where would Team Rocket go? Well, since this is an island, and that Solar Beam put a pretty big hole in their balloon… They'll probably stay here for a while… I did hear them say something about a secret base here. Which really isn't a surprise, since they have a base everywhere… All I got to do is find it…
Ash looked ahead to the others again, and when he saw them not taking notice to him at all. "Sorry," he whispered, before sneaking away.
"He was really badly hurt… Please help him, Nurse Joy, please…," May pleaded.
"I'll do my best," Nurse Joy replied, taking Beautifly into the back.
May began to wring her hands. "What if he doesn't make it? I can't imagine things without Beautifly……" She began to pace back and forth.
"It's okay, May," Drew said soothingly. "Take a deep breath and calm down… Beautifly will be alright… He's a fighter…" And he led May to a seat and made her sit down before seating himself.
Brock, Misty, and Max were already seated, waiting for more news on Beautifly.
Everyone was absorbed in their own thoughts when Brock suddenly began to look around. "Where's Ash?" he asked no one in particular.
Misty quickly looked around. "Oh, great…" She sighed deeply. "He's……gone… Why? Why, Brock?"
"I don't know, Mist. A lot's been going on with him. I can't tell you what exactly, because I don't know myself, but… He'll come to his senses soon enough," Brock answered.
"He's injured," Misty breathed.
"But I thought that the cut on his leg got all healed up," Max commented.
"I think it is too, but he's got…" Misty closed her eyes, a flash of Ash's cut-covered chest came to mind. "So many…"
Misty's tone of voice worried Brock. "So many what? Did he get hurt again?"
Misty lowered her voice to barely a whisper. "So many cuts. Deep ones. On his chest. He apparently ran into Team Rocket awhile ago…and…they wanted revenge… What if they… What if he…"
"Settle down, Mist…"
"No, I will not settle down, Brock. If you had seen all the cuts, you would have been seriously worried too." She shuddered. "What if Team Rocket got their hands on him again? What if he couldn't escape like last time? What if—"
"May? Will you please come here?" Nurse Joy said, coming from the back room.
May shook a little and looked to Drew. "Come with me?"
"Of course." And the two teens went to see Nurse Joy at her desk.
Ash quickly closed the door behind him, happy to finally be alone. He had rented a room in a motel not too far away from the pokémon center, using a little of the money he had. He just hoped the others wouldn't think of looking here…
He sighed. I'll call the others a message tomorrow. Just so they know that I'm gone. Like they noticed already…
"She—she doesn't know if he's going to make it…," May said, tears glimmering in her eyes. "Beautifly can't die…he can't!"
Drew looked into her eyes and put both of his hands on her shoulders. "May, listen to me."
May looked up at him.
"Beautifly is going to be okay. You don't have to worry."
"But what if—"
"You've just got to believe that he'll be fine. You've got to be there for him."
"Drew's right, May. You've just got to calm down," Brock added.
"He's not going to die from just one attack anyway," Max commented, trying to cheer May up.
"But that was Thunder. From Pikachu. From Ash's Pikachu," May choked out.
"I think you're overestimating that Pikachu, May. He may be strong, but he's not all that," Drew said. "There is no way that one little attack from one little Pikachu could kill someone."
Max nodded. "Yeah, I mean, Ash survived Thunder, right?"
Misty shuddered. "And when you get hit with Thunder, it's like… It makes you think like you're going to die. It hurts so bad you wish you would die."
"That's completely different, Max! Ash is a human, Beautifly is a pokémon. Beautifly is part flying type. Beautifly is a lot smaller than Ash…," May protested. "We don't see Ash in a hospital, now do we? See? Completely different." She took a few deep breaths and sat down on the couch.
"You should get some rest," Drew advised, sitting next to May.
"No…I couldn't…What if Beautifly…"
"Then just rest your eyes. I'll wake you up if you fall asleep."
Drew…I'm so glad…so glad you're here with me…helping me…, May thought as she closed her eyes, telling herself that she was only going to rest her eyes, like Drew said…
"Umm… Brock… A little help here?" Misty whispered a few hours later, trying to rescue herself from a sleeping Max that had nestled himself on her arm.
Brock chuckled and helped Misty out, leaving Max to lie down on one half of the couch.
Misty shifted next to Brock. "Thanks."
"No problem." Brock smiled as he looked to the other couch. "Those two both deny it so much…" He indicated Drew and May. May had fallen asleep with her head on Drew's shoulder, and Drew was asleep as well. "They are in love, I know it."
Misty smiled tightly. "Apparently." She looked away from him.
"You should be getting some rest too, Misty," Brock said. "You can't just sit here worrying about Ash. He's fine."
"How do you know? He just took off! He took off when his friend's pokémon's life was in danger! That is not Ash. He didn't even let us know that he was leaving…"
"Don't worry. He's probably still on the island… Once Beautifly is up on both wings again, we'll go out and look for him okay?"
Misty nodded silently and finally found herself drifting off…
Ash bolted up, breathing heavily. Running a hand through his hair, he mentally told himself to calm down…it was just another nightmare…
He looked at the clock. It read seven AM. Well, considering that I only woke up four times last night, that's pretty good, Ash thought wryly.
Swinging his feet over the edge of his bed, Ash stood up and began to change his clothes. When he was finished, he stared at the phone for a long time.
I have to call them…, he thought. At least to see if Beautifly is okay… He slowly sat down in the chair and ran a hand through his hair again and began to dial a number…
Okay...here it is... I'm so glad! Do you know why? Because in just a few chapters, out pops my FAVORITE part! (YAY!) (More like favorite story-arch)
Who wants to get there sooner? The more reviews, the sooner it comes!