I am finally BACK FROM VACATION! And I bring you another chapter for your reading goodness! This chapter is not as long as some of the others, butit's not the shortest...
I do not, repeat, do not own pokemon. If only, if only...
"The day after tomorrow!" May asked loudly, not caring if she woke anyone up at the late hour.
Misty sighed. "Yes, we should be there the day after tomorrow. The guy will be here tomorrow. He says he's been having trouble with the helicopter, and he needs to get a part for it."
May looked down. "Sorry, Misty. I'm just worried… I mean, I know Kenny's okay, because he called me and Max just last week and told us he was taking a 'long needed vacation', but still. One person got killed. Twelve got injured." She shuddered. "And right in my hometown, too."
Misty patted May on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll be there soon enough."
"Do you think Ash knows?" May asked, a glare instantly coming to her face as anger bubbled up inside her. "Or maybe he does know, and he just doesn't care? He doesn't care about what happens to us or Petalburg. All he cares about is that…that stupid…that stupid rat."
Misty involuntarily took a step back. "May…"
"He should be here, Misty! He's my friend! Last time I checked, friends help each other in times like these. Well, I guess he doesn't care. Selfish little…"
"May, calm down. You're upset… You don't really mean that about Ash."
"Oh yes I do! And nothing he can say will ever take that back!" And May stormed off to wait impatiently for the helicopter.
Misty looked up to the ceiling, wondering herself where Ash was. Probably off taking down Team Rocket somewhere… She sighed and shook her head. Ash never learned. He just couldn't do things like that alone…
Pain, oh terrible white-hot pain. That was the first thing Ash noticed when he came to. He opened his eyes very slowly, but nothing changed. It was pitch dark.
What…? Where am I? I thought—I thought… Ash strived to get into a sitting position, and maybe figure out where he was. But instead of going as he planned, his arms collapsed beneath him in pain, and he slipped off something and fell hard on something even harder than what he was laying on seconds before.
The fall just made pain shoot up and down Ash's body, and he once again prayed for them to stop… His head swimming, he began to drift off into the darkness again…
But before he had the chance, light filled the whole room, making Ash's headache blow up to a whole new level.
He squinted at the sudden light and groaned. He realized he was in a small room… He had fallen off a couch.
Ash was so busy trying to stop the pain, he didn't even notice that someone was talking to him.
"Ash? Ash?"
Ash opened his eyes again to find Norman's face over him. Ash forced a small, bitter smile.
"Let me help you…" And Norman gathered Ash in his hands and carefully placed him on the couch again.
Ash winced, closing his eyes.
"Are you okay?" Norman asked worriedly.
Ash looked at him again. "Just peachy," he said in a hoarse voice. "I only feel like I got run over by a freight train."
Norman gave him a serious look. "Why'd you go in and help like that? You knew they had grenades. You could have let me take them."
Ash snorted softly. "Sorry, Norman, but…watching something like that and not doing anything is…against my nature."
"So you did something stupid. Something so stupid, it almost got you killed."
Ash's eyes flashed. "Listen, don't lecture me. You're not my father, so you can't tell me…whose life to save and…whose to throw away." He suddenly groaned again and brought his hands to his head.
"Settle down, Ash. You're just putting yourself through more pain," Norman advised. After a second, he hesitantly asked, "Uh…where are my kids?"
"Mossdeep City," Ash instantly answered. "May's there for her next contest. So no, they…weren't here when Team Rocket attacked. Don't worry."
Norman exhaled deeply. "Okay. And, Ash? You can stay here until you get…better."
Ash nodded slowly. "Yeah…thanks. But I'm sure I'll be ready to go…the day after tomorrow."
Norman's mouth dropped open. "No way, you're way too injured to be good enough to travel the day after tomorrow!"
"I'm sorry, but I've got work to do. I can't just…sit here and let the trail get cold. I mean, I'm really grateful…for you and your wife letting me stay here, but the truth is…" Ash let his sentence trail off. "It's just a very, very, long story."
"You've got forty-eight hours." Norman paused for a long time, watching the evasive look on Ash's face, something in his eyes showing a deep sadness that Norman couldn't understand. "Ash, when Caroline and I were bandaging you, we noticed—" Norman cut himself off when he saw that Ash had already fallen back asleep.
The next morning, Norman and Caroline went downstairs to get their breakfast, and make some for Ash as well. Caroline was a lot more laid back since Norman told her what Ash had said the last night. She was almost faint with relief when she heard that May and Max were no where near Petalburg when the "Petalburg Disaster" happened.
Caroline and Norman both stopped in their tracks when they saw the kitchen. More accurately, the person in the kitchen.
There was Ash, awkwardly eating a small bowl of cereal.
Caroline went up to him. "Oh, Ash, what did you do?"
Ash's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry," he said instantly, as if he had done something terribly wrong—again. "I just woke up early, and I was kind of hungry, so I thought you guys wouldn't mind if I made myself some breakfast. I can…clean up any mess I made…" And he tried to get up by pushing on the table with his hand, but it was taking a while.
Caroline pushed him back into the chair. "I'm sorry, Ash, but you don't have to do anything! I was going to make you breakfast myself. You need your rest, and you've been running around, making breakfast! Dear, don't hurt yourself more than you already are!"
Ash looked down. He had woken up early because he couldn't get to sleep again. Those nightmares…those terrible nightmares… He shuddered.
A few minutes later, Caroline had whipped up some eggs for herself and Norman, and made Ash a glass of orange juice.
"So…," Norman began, trying to sound casual, "About yesterday…" He looked to Ash's questioning face. "We had to bandage you up, you know. So we of course looked at your…wounds… And we also found some…other…older ones, as well… Care to tell us what happened?"
Ash sighed. "And as I said last night, it's…an extremely long story. It doesn't even matter." He swallowed a pain killer pill with his orange juice.
"It does too matter," Caroline said sternly, as if speaking to her own child.
"I'm…sorry……," Ash said once again, slowly. "I just…I just don't want to talk about it." He looked away, feeling uncomfortable.
Norman and Caroline shared a look, not saying anything—leaving Ash to guess what the look meant. It's not like he could really tell. His mother didn't 'share a look' with…… Well, it didn't matter, anyway…
"I think you should tell your parents where you are, Ash," Caroline said coolly. "They need to know what happened to you."
"They?" Ash asked quietly.
Norman arched an eyebrow when he heard this, but before he could question Ash on it, the teenager did his best to get to their phone, Caroline coming up and helping him.
Ash sighed and sat down. His mother was going to kill him… He began to dial his home number, Caroline throwing him an encouraging look. The phone finally answered, a picture of Delia Ketchum filling the screen.
"You've reached the Ketchum residence. I'm not here right now, so please leave a message after the beep. Oh, and if you're looking for my son, he's on his pokémon journey… And if you are my son, I'll be back soon, and I love you, honey! Don't forget to change your un—" Beep!
Ash looked up. "She's not home," he stated.
Caroline frowned. "I guess you can try later then…"
Ash honestly wished that Caroline and Norman would forget to remind him.
"Hurry up, Max!" May called out, getting impatient. The helicopter was all ready to go, and the only thing they were waiting for was Max.
Max then jumped in the helicopter. "Okay, let's fly!"
The pilot gave them a thumbs up before taking off.
May settled back into her seat, trying to calm herself down. She looked over to Drew. She had told him to stay in Mossdeep, because he didn't need to come, and he needed to practice for the contest in a few days. He had refused, told her that he wanted to come along, and that he could practice when they got back.
And one part of her mind still wondered where the hell Ash was. Yes, she was still quite pissed off at him, and really thought he must know about Petalburg now… It was all over the news nonstop. With every news report, May got even more worried. She couldn't believe that one person even got killed. Twelve injured, including the guy who rescued her father. That guy was who the news reporters wanted to interview. They said something about asking him 'how does it feel to be a hero?' Something along those lines. Max even said he wanted to meet the guy and thank him.
May sighed. Twenty-four hours. I have to wait twenty-four hours… She pictured her parents in her mind, and hoped they were doing okay after the incident…
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