Just Another Pawn

Edited as of 3/26/2018

Chapter 4: A friend...?

"nngghh," I groaned, blinking my eyes open.

My vision cleared revealing a plain, white room, stinging my eyes through the reflected light. I was lying on an uncomfortable white bed with a generic wooden table next to me.

Looks like a hospital room. Why the hell am I in a hospital?

My eyes quickly widened as images of the spearow flashed before my eyes. I flew out of the bed and out the room, dashing through the halls before a conscious thought could reach my head. When my mind finally began to catch up with my body, I registered myself being in the lobby.

"You can't leave yet, you need to get more rest!" a feminine voice called out to me.

I sharply spun on my heels to see Nurse Joy standing there, looking more than a little peeved.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down, then scratched the back of my head sheepishly, "I'm sorry, I wanted to check on my pikachu."

Nurse Joy sighed, "It's fine, you were only suffering from exhaustion anyways. But you had better stop training your pokemon so hard! It's condition-"

"His," I said, cutting her off, "His condition. He's not an it."

The nurse looked at me strangely, "His condition was terrible! If you have enough kindness to think about pronouns, you have enough kindness to not work your pokemon so hard!"

I sighed deeply. It really annoyed me how she jumped to a conclusion so fast. This was a dangerous world, there are quite a lot of things that can go wrong besides training.

I looked her straight in the eye, "Look, his condition wasn't from training. We were being chased from a flock of spearow, and, in all reality, should have died. Granted, I did provoke one of the spearow before it happened, but I don't want you saying that I purposely did that to a living being."

At the mention of death, Nurse Joy's face grew sorrowful, "I'm sorry, it's just ...there was a trainer who came in here not too long ago with a squirtle who was in absolutely terrible condition, I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions." Nurse Joy then made a sudden 180 in her attitude, and began scolding me, "But you had better stop provoking pokemon if this is what it leads to! We don't need dead trainers showing up!"

I gave a soft smile; this woman reminded me of my mom with the quick change of attitude, "I will. Is pikachu okay?"

She sighed once more, "You're lucky our technology is so advanced, he's doing fine. However, please refrain from training him for 1 to 2 days. I'll go get him for you."

I turned around to sit down, only to be greeted by a girl giving me a deathly glare.

She looks familiar...

"Hey you! I want my bike back!"

Ahh right, I stole her bike. Man, she's gonna be pissed when she learns it's fried...

"I'm sorry, but I don't have your bike anymore. You see, it was fried by lightning when pikachu and I were trying to get away from the angry spearow flock."

"Well you better get me a new one! I use that bike to travel, and I won't be walking because some stranger decided to steal it!"

I smiled, slightly amused; she had completely ignored what I said about the spearow.

"How about this, I'll get you a new bike. In return, you have to tell me what you know about water pokemon. The name's Ash, by the way."

The girl's face grew panicked, ash she recoiled at my words, "W-What makes you think I know about water pokemon...?"

I gave her a confused glance. Surely she knew about water pokemon; she ran the Cerulean City gym!

Unless she's try to hide that fact...

I quickly replaced my expression with ignorant happiness, "How about we talk somewhere else when I get pikachu back?"

Realizing I was trying to help her hide who she was, the she quickly tried to school her shock, "Y-Yeah! Okay, that'll be okay."

o0O-O0o

"So why are you hiding who you are?"

We were in a clearing in the Viridian forest. We sat on two adjacent stumps facing each other while pikachu ran around getting used to the area.

The girl sighed, "You probably know my sisters if you know who I am. 'The Sensational Sisters', known for their water ballet - as they like to call it. They get everything they want in life, but me? I'm known as 'The Runt', 'The Other One', 'The Mistake'. I left there hoping to get rid of the negative attention. I'm ridiculed enough in my own town, after I left; I was hoping to become something more than that! But I guess it's who I am now."

I quirked my eyebrows, "Really? My teacher always said that The Sensational Sisters were just dancers, not trainers; that you were the only one with any real talent. I guess some people just can't see past flashier skills. Though I admit, I don't actually remember any of your names, could I have yours?"

The girl's eyes widened throughout the statement, grateful that there were people who respected her over her sisters.

"My name is Misty Waterflower, Gym Leader of the Cerulean City Gym!" she beamed.

I gave a soft smile, "It's nice to meet you, Misty."

A few minutes of silence passed. Surprisingly though, it wasn't awkward. It felt nice to just sit back, and enjoy the cool breeze.

The silence didn't last long though, as Misty soon came to a realization, "Hey, wait a minute! You still owe me a bike!"

She just now remembered this?

I quickly raised my arms in defence of her words, "I know! I promise, I'll get it fixed. My teacher knows a lot of people around the region, I'm sure he knows someone who can get the job done."

Misty gave me a quizzical look."This is the second time you've mentioned your teacher. Who is he?"

"Oh, my teacher is Professor Oak of Pallet Town. You know, the guy who does research and gives out starters?"

Misty's eyes widened in shock as she stumbled out a reply, "Y-You're his Apprentice? The genius?! The prodigy among prodigies?!"

I smiled sheepishly, "Y-Yeah...that one. I didn't really realize he bragged about me so much."

Misty looked at me with new eyes. It was as if as that small amount of information completely changed who I was to her, and, in all honesty, that was likely the case. I hadn't realized it at the time, but the "apprentice of Professor Oak" was actually quite popular.

"Professor Oak was expecting a call from me once I got here anyways, so I'll ask him about the bike then. Is that okay?"

Coming back to reality, Misty gave me a half-hearted glare, "Fine. But you had better do it soon, Ash Ketchum!"

At that moment, it was as if time stood still. Leaves were suspended in the air, Misty's expression was frozen, nothing moved.

Ketchum? How did she know my last name? I never gave it to her, and she never showed any signs of knowing the name of Professor Oak's apprentice. She didn't even recognize the name 'Ash'.

"How did you know my last name? I only gave you my first name."

I thought I saw of a look of shock spread across her face, but it was gone so fast, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

She gave me a happy smile, "What do you mean? You're Professor Oak's apprentice; of course I know your name."

An obvious lie. That display of emotion is out of character for her, especially since she was angry with me just moments earlier. Not only that, but it was clear from the get-go that she didn't know the name of the Professor's student. I don't know what she's hiding, but I should probably be a little wary. Who knows though, maybe she's just embarrassed that she already knew me.

I gave a nice smile, "Then let's go call Professor Oak!"

o0O-O0o

The keyboard on the computer made soft beeps as I imputed the Professor's phone number. Soft music wafted from the speakers as I waited for Professor Oak to answer, the phone already up to my ear.

A flash of static flashed across the screen as Professor Oak appeared, a cup of tea in his hand and a contented smile across his face, "Ahh, Ash my boy! I see you've made it to Viridian City already! You made it there surprisingly fast; did you not care for the scenery?"

I gave him a sheepish smile, and scratched the back of my head, "It was great, but I accidentally aggravated a flock of spearow."

I went on to tell him about what had happened. Talking about the bike, pikachu's ability, and imminent death. I even mentioned the embarrassing the speech I gave pikachu.

"Hmm, you had quite the eventful day," Professor Oak scratched his chin, "but I would have wished you had called me sooner. After all, it's not everyday you nearly lose your apprentice."

I dipped my head down in shame, "I'm sorry professor, a lot has happened and I didn't have any particularly good times to call you. However, I was wondering if you knew anybody who could repair a bike for me? Pikachu's supercharged thundershock destroyed the girl's bike."

The professor mumbled incoherent nothings to himself, "Hmm, I suppose I do know someone. He isn't cheap, but he does the best repairs I've ever seen. He's a man by the name of Flint in Pewter City. If I'm not mistaken, that's where you're headed next, so you won't have to make any detours to get there."

I gave a thoughtful look, "Is that so? Huh, who would have guessed there was someone so close? That actually reminds me, I'll have to do some training with pikachu or else he won't fair well against the gym. Oh crap! Misty, could you go get Pikachu?! I can't believe I forgot him!"

Misty, seeing my panic, quickly ran off to get him.

I turned to the computer with a straight face, "Professor Oak, did you ever give out my name?"

He looked confused, "Of course not, you told me not to. I've mentioned having an apprentice, but no names. Why do you ask?"

So I was right, Misty was lying. But why would she cover up the reason for knowing my name?

"I'll tell you later in more privacy. For now though, could you look into the Gym Leaders of Cerulean City?"

The Professor quirked his brow, "I can do that, yes, but I want to hear about the reasoning for this as soon as possible. You're starting to scare me, Ash."

"That won't be a problem. But for now, let's keep this...private."

Damn, I sound cool right now.