Hi everyone! Okay, okay, I'm back. AS ALWAYS I was very happy to receive wonderful reviews. When people say that they've cried, it makes me HAPPY! Okay, that sounds very cruel... -hands out cookies-

I still don't own Pokemon.

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Ash tapped his fingers absentmindedly on the table late that night. He found that he couldn't get to sleep, and he decided to just sit down at the kitchen table. He had propped his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand. He was just staring ahead, thinking about what had happened so far. Thinking about what he would do once Caroline and Norman let him go.

He looked to the clock. 2:27 AM. Ash realized he had been there, doing nothing, for almost four hours. It wasn't his fault he couldn't sleep. Maybe he would stay there all night. But on the other hand, he might be tired enough to get back to the couch.

"Ash?" a voice whispered from behind Ash. "What are you doing up so late?"

Ash turned to see Misty, her red-orange hair let down to reach a little past her shoulders. "Uhhh……… I could ask you the same thing."

"I just came to get a drink of water…" Misty seated herself in a chair across from Ash. "What? You can't get to sleep?"

"Something like that," Ash answered in a slightly preoccupied voice.

"Why'd you just leave after Beautifly got attacked? Didn't you give a damn?"

"Oh, no, I didn't give a damn about Beautifly," Ash responded, sarcasm dripping from each word. "Of course I cared. But at that point, it was just the perfect way to hit the road. No one would notice me missing when Beautifly was hurt. I'm sorry, but I had to……" He looked at Misty helplessly. "I just got to get Pikachu back…… I can't explain it…"

"If you want Pikachu back so bad, why don't you let me and the others come with you? If we were all there, I bet we'd be able to get Pikachu back together."

"Maybe so, but I don't want you—"

"—getting hurt," Misty finished in a bored voice. "Don't give me that crap, Ash Ketchum. Why can't you just see that it makes more sense if we all go?"

"Because, Misty. You, apparently, don't understand. If anything happened to you—to any of you, I'd never be able to forgive myself." Ash held his arms out, as if expecting Misty to see the cuts and burns underneath the long sleeves of his sweatshirt. "I don't want Team Rocket hurting you like they hurt me."

"Come on, Ash, it's Team Rocket. They never really posed a threat."

Ash shook his head. "It's different now. Now that they have Pikachu, they feel like they can do anything. They're not afraid to hurt us anymore. They wanted to kill me, Mist. They almost succeeded. If they did succeed in killing you or May, or Brock or Max… I don't know what I would do."

Misty was silent for a long time before commenting, "It must hurt a lot…losing Pikachu…"

"I know it hurts. It was meant to," Ash replied. "Why do you think I try so hard to get him back? It's not like I want to hurt forever, you know. And just thinking about Pikachu being with Team Rocket all the time gives me the creeps. Thinking about Pikachu being with their boss just gives me bigger creeps. You know they're eventually going to give Pikachu to their boss, so they can get that promotion they're always blabbing about. That's why I've got to work fast… Before that happens…"

"I don't know why, but I don't think Team Rocket will give Pikachu to their boss for a while," Misty commented dryly. "Since Pikachu considers Team Rocket his friends, it changes the whole situation."

"I know. They're revenge-hungry. They want to kick my ass." Ash shook his head. "And what can I say? They've been doing a pretty good job so far."

"Just don't let them get you down. You don't need that now."

"I know," Ash said again. He glared. "But they just piss me off so much." He clenched his fists so hard, he could feel his fingernails digging into the palms of his hands. "I wish they would just die!" He tried to hold up all the anger he felt burning inside him, the burning almost overpowering the pain from his wounds. "They've been giving me this shit ever since I was ten. I'm frickin' sick of it! And now that they actually succeeded in stealing Pikachu, it just makes it that much worse!"

Misty thought long and hard. "Can't you just make Pikachu return to his pokéball?"

Ash gave her a strange look. "Even if Pikachu wasn't afraid of his pokéball, I wouldn't be able to get him back inside it. He'll never listen to me."

"Then why don't you just catch him?"

"What! No, impossible. Even if it was a remote possibility, I wouldn't be able to keep that little ball of electricity inside a pokéball," Ash said, dismissing the idea right off the back. "And I'm sure you can't catch a pokémon that you've already caught before."

Misty sighed. "Why don't you just call Professor Oak and ask for advice then? I'm sure he can think of something."

"Yeah… Maybe I should…… Not looking forward to telling him the extremely long story though."

Misty got up and put a hand on Ash's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. Just call him tomorrow, tell him what happened, and find a way to get Pikachu back. It's as easy as that." And she began to leave.

"What about your drink of water? I thought you came down for one?"

"I think you quenched my thirst," Misty said, and Ash could hear her going back upstairs.

Ash was a little confused at Misty's last statement, but shrugged it off. Looking to the clock again, Ash saw that it read three in the morning. He wondered if Professor Oak would have an answer……

Well, maybe he's still at the lab now, Ash thought, getting up himself. He wanted to call the professor right away, but he didn't want to wake up anyone in the house. He went into the living room and got on his shoes. And after that, he silently left the house. Walking to where the pokémon center was, Ash tried to ignore the painful protests from his body and pushed on. He went inside the pokémon center and saw Nurse Joy asleep at the desk. Ash couldn't blame her. Being there all day, with nothing but work to do…

He was sure that she wouldn't mind him using the phone though. Ash sneaked into the back, where the phone was located. He carefully and silently dialed Professor Oak's number and waited as the phone rang…

Caroline would kill me if she found out I was missing, Ash thought nervously, hoping that his hostess wouldn't wake up until he came home. And I don't think the others would be too happy either. They'd all assume that I 'ran off' again. Gone off solo.

"You better have a frickin' good reason for calling this early," growled an angry voice from the phone.

Ash recognized the voice immediately, but didn't let on. Both screens were off, apparently. "I need to speak with Professor Oak," he said calmly—or as calmly as he could manage.

"And why couldn't you wait until later? It's three o'clock in the morning, damn it! It better be an emergency!"

"I'd really like to speak with Professor Oak, please," Ash said tightly.

"Then call back later! Professors need sleep too, yah know!"

"Gary…"

"Don't you 'Gary' m—" Gary cut himself off. "Wait, how do you know my name?"

"Why do I have the feeling that I just wasted my time?" Ash sighed.

"Ash? Ashy-boy?" Gary laughed. "Ha! I should have known that you'd be the only one stupid enough to call this early! What the hell's your problem? Why'd you call!"

"I've got a…problem…, and I need to speak with the professor."

"Oh, Gramps isn't here right now. He went home hours ago. But I can help you with my Pokémon Researcher intellect."

Ash snorted. "No thanks. Just tell the professor to call me back, okay? It's really important."

"Fine. Where're you at?"

"Tell him to call me at Petalburg City Gym Leader Norman's house. I'll bet I'll still be there by tomorrow." Ash gave him the number.

"What are you doing at a Gym Leader's house?" Gary questioned suspiciously.

"It just so happens that Norman is the father of two of my friends that I'm traveling with. They just stopped by for a 'family reunion'," Ash replied, not bothering to tell Gary anything else. He wouldn't tell Gary what happened if he was the last person on earth.

"Okay. Fine. I'll tell him when he comes back……in a few hours. Do you want me to have him call you back as soon as he gets here or…?"

"Make sure he calls at least at nine. I don't want to wake anyone up."

"Okay," Gary said again. "Well, goodbye. Nice talking to you——loser." And he hung up.

Ash rolled his eyes.

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It was eight forty-five when Ash and the others were eating breakfast. Everyone, except for Norman, who was at the Gym, and Caroline, who went out grocery shopping. "Early bird catches the worm," she had said cheerfully before she left a half an hour earlier.

"Ash, you look terrible," Brock said from across the table, giving Max a second serving of pancakes.

"Oh, thanks, Brock, that makes me feel so much better," Ash responded sarcastically. "What's your keen eyesight telling you now? That my burns hurt? My cuts? That I'm in some kind of an emotional rut? What is it now?"

"It's not any of that," Brock replied very carefully. "I was just thinking… You look really, really tired."

Ash shrugged. "Been having trouble sleeping. It's nothing new, Brock. It's been around for weeks."

"Well, maybe it's finally catching up to you."

Ash sighed and took another bite out of his pancake. "Whatever…"

"Yeah, and craters were everywhere, and the explosions were so loud, I thought you, or Mom or Dad would wake up and yell at us! So these other guys were throwing grenades like crazy—"

"MAX!" May said irritably.

Ash shuddered at the sound of grenade. One little word could bring all the pain back?

"You've been telling us about that war movie all morning!" May continued.

"When did you see a war movie?" Ash asked.

Max turned to face him. "Me, Drew, and Brock stayed up real late last night and watched it in my room. We were going to wake up the girls, but we decided it was just guy time." He frowned when he thought about what he just said.

Ash nodded slowly. "I see…"

Just then, breakfast was interrupted with a loud ringing that was the phone.

"Oh, I'll get that," May exclaimed, getting up.

"No," Ash said, getting up himself. "I'm pretty sure that's for me."

May looked at him, an eyebrow arched. "Who would be calling you at my house?"

Ash made an offhand motion. "It doesn't matter. I'll be back." And he strode in the other room, where the phone was still ringing nonstop. He closed the door behind him and turned on the phone. Professor Oak's face filled the screen, just as Ash had expected.

"Hello, Ash…," Professor Oak began.

"Hey, Professor. What's up?"

"Uh, nothing much. I just heard from Gary that you called…earlier… I was just wondering what was so important."

"You know, I really hope the phone company isn't charging you per minute on this call," Ash commented dryly.

"Why?"

"Because I have a really long story for you. The reason I called last night—or early this morning, was because I needed your help—your advice. Because Misty said that if anyone knew what to do, it'd be you, so of course I had to call you. And since I couldn't get to sleep last night, and I thought you might've still been at the lab—"

"Ash, you're babbling."

Ash took a deep breath. "Yeah, sorry." He ran a hand through his hair.

"Tell me what the problem is," Professor Oak said, beginning to get a little worried.

Ash took another deep breath. "Okay…okay…" And he began his story again, starting on that one faithful morning that was great until Team Rocket came stomping in on their machine…

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Ash sat back and sighed. "And here I am now." He looked at the professor pleadingly. "Please, Professor. You have to know something that can help me." He had finished telling the professor just about everything. Well, almost everything. He left out all the parts where he got injured…

Professor Oak stayed silent for a long time. It was quite the situation. He thought about it long and hard… "Do you know where Pikachu is now?"

Ash sighed again. "No. And I probably won't for a while. Caroline and Norman won't let me leave."

Professor Oak raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

Ash could have smacked himself. He blew it. "Well, uh……" He looked away. "Have you heard anything on the 'Petalburg Disaster'?"

"It's been all over TV," the professor replied carefully.

"Well… The 'culprits' were Team Rocket. I was there." Ash turned his gaze to his hands. "I kinda got a little…injured."

Professor Oak's eyes widened as realization hit him. Could Ash really have been the one that had saved Norman? Got hurt by two grenades? Injured terribly? "Ash…… You must be pretty badly injured if Caroline and Norman won't let you leave."

Ash shrugged slightly.

"Tell me your mother knows about this."

Ash's eyes shot to the professor's. "No. No way. She'd kill me. She'd drag me home and never let me leave, no matter what happened to Pikachu."

"She's your mother, Ash. She needs to know!"

"Professor, please!" Ash begged. "Don't tell her! Please… You can't! I've got to get Pikachu back, Professor. I'm not just letting this whole thing go! I'm going to hunt Team Rocket down and get back my pokémon! I need your help! Pikachu won't listen to me anymore. If I get within two feet of him, he'll Thunder me."

The professor sighed deeply. "This has never happened before. At least, this has never happened as far as I know. I honestly don't know what to do. The only thing I suggest is somehow catching Pikachu—without a pokéball, that is—and bring him somewhere safe and have a nice, long trip down memory lane."

Ash rubbed his temples, trying to massage away the headache that was threatening to overthrow him again. "Okay… That doesn't sound so bad… But how should I get Pikachu?"

"Well, I guess the easiest way to get him would be to make him faint."

"You mean attack him! You know I would never do that."

"It's the only way, Ash. Faint him, grab him, get his memory back. He'll thank you later, I'm sure. I know that your pokémon probably wouldn't stand much of a chance against Pikachu's Thunder attack… But if they all work together…"

"Yeah…maybe… I bet I could get—" Ash shook his head, cutting himself off. "I mean…sure…"

"But don't think you're off the hook!" Professor Oak said suddenly. "Your mother needs to know about this, and if you don't call her in three days, I'm going to tell her myself."

"But Professor…"

"I'm sorry, Ash, but how would you like it if I knew your mother was injured, and I didn't tell you about it? Would you like that?"

Ash sighed. "Fine…fine… You can tell her, because I'm not. Thanks for your advice, Professor. I'll talk to you soon."

"……" There was no response from the other end of the line, and Ash thought the professor looked like he was deep in thought.

"O—kay… Goodbye, Professor."

"Goodbye, Ash."

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dear oh dear!

Okay, the next chapter is coming...well, that's up to you, now isn't it? The more reviews i get, the faster I update! YAY.

-still prays for dark storylines for my shows this fall...-