Misty couldn't recall a time when she had given out such an ear-piercing screech. If she wasn't frozen and petrified she probably could think of multiple times she had raised her voice in even higher pitches, but that was irrelevant.
The only thing Misty could focus on was a tiny, chubby Weedle inching towards her. It seemed to only be about a foot or so away which was not acceptable to Misty. All Bug Pokémon were not permitted to be any closer within a 10-yard radius of her.
As the oh so threatening creature got closer to Misty, she was ready to bolt up and run right back out of the dreadful forest. She hated it there anyway. Forget her bike, she was taking the stupid train to the camp. Before Misty could fully get up and bolt to her safety, she found herself right back down on the ground with a thud. She felt her head snap back and sensed her vision get hazy. Eventually, she was able to tell that the big blurry blob in front of her was a person. And he was speaking to her, but she could only make out muffled noises and felt herself get nauseous.
Ash was deeply concerned for the limp girl almost passed out on the floor. When he heard the high pitch screech he ran directly to the source of it. Ash had a hero streak and continuously threw himself into anything if it meant helping, or in this case saving someone (some called this impulsive and reckless, but Ash thought otherwise). He didn't know what he was saving, but from the pitch of the yell, it sounded urgent.
When he came across the girl on the floor he panicked and rushed over to her to ensure she was ok. Suddenly, the redhead bolted upright and as she turned rammed right into Ash. Ash became so startled he didn't know what to do. He watched the girl hit the ground with a pretty hard impact, especially to her head.
Ash quickly knelt down beside her and asked if she was alright. The girl didn't respond and instead grimaced at the loud sound of Ash's voice. The only problem was that Ash was talking pretty quietly. He grew more concerned about the redhead when she slowly lowered herself back to the ground. Misty grunted when she finally lowered her head to the grass and as the ringing in her ears began to get louder. Everything became black and spotted as her vision distorted.
At this point, Ash knew that the girl most likely had a severe head injury of some sort. Most likely a concussion he concluded after realizing how hard her head must have hit the ground. Ash knew all too well what a severe concussion would feel like as he had experienced many in his childhood and man did they suck. Ash also knew if Gary were here he would joke about how Ash was repeatedly dropped on his head.
Ash began shaking the thought out of his head. Not knowing what else to do, in one fluid motion, Ash picked Misty up as gently as possible being weary of her head. He took her legs into his right arm and with his left, took her head.
Once Ash stabilized himself he, as rapidly as possible, rushed the girl resting in his arms to the nearest Pokémon center. Thankfully, Ash had traveled enough through the Kanto region to know where to locate it. Ash hastily tumbled through the forest, wary of making sure that the (hopefully conscious girl) wasn't hurt any more than she already was. When the Pokémon center came into Ash's vision, he let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding and felt himself becoming impatient and tried to go slightly faster.
Eventually, Ash felt the blast of cool air from the center's air conditioning unit as he hastened through the sliding doors of the Pokémon center. Ash darted his head back and forth until his eyes fell on the nurse Joy sitting on the left side of the building and Ash quickened his pace towards her.
"Excuse me, but I think this girl needs some serious medical attention!" Ash rambled to the nurse. Nurse Joy immediately stood and peered over Ash's arms to get a better look at her new patient.
"Alright! Sir, would you please place the girl on the stretcher over there" she asked as she gestured to a stretcher on the far side of the room.
Ash immediately obeyed and gently placed the redhead on the stretcher. Nurse Joy and a few other nurses and doctors appeared at the girl's side and started checking her pulse, pupils and checked to see if there were any severe wounds. After assessing her, the nurses swiftly brought her to the nearest room that contained an X-ray to ensure nothing was broken.
"So, what was the emergency?" Nurse Joy sternly asked Ash as he watched the girl be rolled through double doors to what he assumed to be off limits to him.
"I think she has a concussion, but I'm not completely sure" Ash replied.
"Were you there when she injured herself?" Ash bobbed his head up and down in response.
"What happened?"
"Well, I'm not totally sure myself honestly. I saw her on the ground and rushed over to see if she was okay. Then she bolted upright and slammed into me, but when she fell I think she hit her head pretty hard."
"Hm... she could very well likely be suffering a concussion.I'll take note of that. Thank you, May I ask what your name is sir?" Joy asked, glancing up from the clipboard she was scribbling all of her notes in diligently.
"Ash"
"Ok, well thank you, Ash. I'll let you know immediately when we diagnose what your friend has." Nurse Joy showing a reassuring smile to the young man.
"Thank you, nurse Joy" Ash saluted nurse Joy with two fingers and decided to make himself comfortable. Spotting a red couch on the other side of the center, Ash headed towards, it, slumping onto the piece of furniture. Letting out a sigh, Ash started contemplating what to do now. He knew he had to get to the camp, but he couldn't just leave the girl he carried all the way over here to fend for herself.
Oh, he practically could hear the nagging in Gary's teasing now, if only he were to see Ash in this predicament. Gary's voice sounded like cats claw's screeching against a blackboard to Ash,"Ashy-boy finally noticed, gasps! A species of the other gender!? And here I thought you were gay! Although that would explain A LOT." God. Why do I still put up with his bullshit?' Ash chuckled silently to himself. Knowing very well it was because deep down (way, way deep down) that he still treasured his friendship with Gary. They've been through a lot together, and Ash could somewhat understand (rarely) what made Gary tolerable. Just from his good looks alone, Gary could pick up girls, heck even guys at the drop of a hat.
Ash didn't think so badly of himself either. He just didn't flaunt it the same way Gary did. Gary had a band of cheerleaders following, and drooling over him throughout childhood for Mew's sake and Gary was only ten. That only further confirmed to Ashthat those cheerleaders were definitely crazy. But, Ash considered himself loyal, which is probably why he was still at the Pokémon Center at all. Then, a dawning epiphany hit Ash like a truck.
Ash bolted upright, eyes widening. I never got to know the girls' name, Ash finally realized. He had carried a girl all the way to a Pokémon center and didn't even bother to know what her name was.
Ugh, stupid! Ash cursed himself, letting out a deep breath and relaxed back into the couch he was sitting in. You could practically see the gears spinning in his head, but an echoing smack caught the boy's attention.
Whipping his head around, Ash saw nurse Joy swiftly stomping in the immediate opposite direction of a tall figure, and the curious side of Ash decided to check out all of the commotions.
Striding over to the man, as Ash became closer he began noticing a large red hand imprint on the man's left cheek.
"Umm, you okay there man?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow at the creepy expression of a smile on the man's face.
"Oh man, she touchedme! I'mnever gonna wash my face ever again!" The man declared, not even registering what Ash had just said and continued to space out with nothing but the thoughts of nurse Joy's silky smooth hand making contact with his face.
Growing impatient, Ash decided he needed to snap this man out of whatever dream-like-state he was in. Ash began slowly waving his hand in front of the man's face but to no reveal. If only he had Pikachuwith him, he could have shocked this man out of whatever trance he was in. Finally, an idea rushed into Ash's mind and hequickly took it into action, yanking the man's eardownwards and hopefully hard enough to hurt.
"Owowowow, okay, okay you've got my attention!"
"Ok good, sorry about that, but you weren't responding to anything else I did," Ash shrugged.
"Yeah sorry, it's just that her beautywas so captivating that I was put into hypnosis by her drop dead gorgeous good looks," the man sighed, "Anyways, what did you need to talk to me about? Oh and I'mBrock by the way," Brock smiled, bringing his hand up for Ash to take.
"Hey there Brock, it's nice to meet you, I'm Ash!" Ash replied, taking Brock's hand and giving him a firm handshake.
"Wait... Ash, as in the Ash Ketchum?" Brock asked in amazement.
"The one and only, Brock" Ash gushed, surprised to have somebody recognize him. Ash knew he would receivesome sort of popularity over the years of championships he had won, but he never expected anyone to really know him outside of the interviews and magazine covers.
"You're that kid who beat me for a gym badge by setting off the fire alarm and the emergency sprinklers!" Brock laughed, rememberingthe shock on his face when a mere Pikachu defeated his Onix.
"heh, yeah sorry about that," Ash blushed in embarrassment. "But then that makes you the Pewter City Gym Leader!" Ash realized.
"Well, former Pewter City Gym Leader. My younger brother Forrest took the gym over for me," Brock answered.
"Oh wow, that's cool. So why did you decide to retire being a gym leader?" Ash wondered.
"The main reason is that I decided to have a bit of a carrier change andam now specializing in Pokémon breeding. I also was asked to join this really cool Pokémon camp summer program for Pokémon breeders." Brock gloated, his eyes immediately shinning once he began talking about Pokémon breeding and their patterns, the data he has collected and all in all stuff that Ash would never understand.
Fortunately for Ash, he no longer had to think for much longer as nurse Joy made her way over to him. Ash chuckled, as her death glare at Brock was painfully obvious. But as for Brock, he remained just as painfully unaware and just as oblivious to nurse Joy's warning glare.
"Ahem, well Ash we have finally finished our scans with your friend and I'm happy to say that she's only suffering a minor concussion. Her memory and eyesight might be a little hazy for a little while, but as long as she remains inactive for a week or two, she should be just fine." Nurse Joy reported, openly avoiding Ash's friend's perverted stares directed at her.
"Well anyways, your friend should be out any minute. She is lucky to have such a nice boy watching out for her," Nurse joy smirked, finding it quite amusing when a small blush found it's way to Ash's face.
"T-thank you nurse Joy," Ash mumbled, looking down, the floor suddenly becoming the fascinating thing in the world.
However, Ash didn't get much time to fully study the complex patterns on the floor, when a sudden shout behind him made him look back up.
"BROCK!" Misty shouted, charging towards her older friend.
"Sup pretty lady," Brock teased, enveloping Misty in a Bear-Brock -like-hug.
"Brock, I told you to stop calling me that!" Misty huffed. She was about to start up a new conversation when her vision shifted to the Raven haired boy, who she wasn't gonna deny, was kinda cute.
"Hey, Brock, who's this?" Misty asked, gesturing to Ash.
"Oh, heh that's Ash. As in the Ash I told you won the Championship up in the Indigo Plateau and almost defeated the Elite Four. He's also the kid that defeated my Onix using the sprinklers," Brock smirked.
"Ah, so this is the infamous Ash Ketchum," Misty laughed. "Hi, I'm Misty. You can call me Mist for short."
"Nice to meet ya Mist," Ash beamed in his child-like manner.
Misty grinned, a look of amusement crossed her delicate features as she looked over at Ash again.
"So Ash, your goal is to become a Pokémon Champion right?" Misty asked, a devious smirk gracing her features.
Ash gulped, feeling his knees get weak at the look Misty was giving him. He didn't know how she could be making him swoon, and be scared for his life at the same time with just that look. Ash shook his head, "Yup, you're looking at your future Pokémon master."
"Oh I'm glad to Grace you in your glorious presence," Misty bowed, acting as if she was in an old-fashioned ball gown. "But, I would like to challenge you and your greatness."
Ash grinned like a madman, "are you challenging me to a Pokémon battle?"
"As a matter of fact, I am challenging you to a battle. You up for it?" Misty challenged.
Ash began to like this Misty girl's fiery personality. "I accept your challenge, but don't get to upset when you lose," Ash remarked cockily.
"Oh, don't worry about me, Mr. Pokemon Master. You can save that little speech for yourself-"
"Whoa, hang on there you two. Misty, I don't want you battling for a whole week, you hear me? We need you to heal and the stress of a Pokemon battle will definitely not help you-" Nurse Joy then spun on her heels to face Ash."-and you, as someone who has just carried this girl all the way here, you should realize how fragile she is right now!"
"Hey, I'm not fragile!" Misty snapped.
"Shh, I don't want to hear it from either of you. No battling," nurse Joy hissed.
"Yeah you two, listen to the beautiful angel of all pokemon," Brock praised, bending down to bow in the direction of nurse Joy.
"And YOU, get up off the floor like an idiot and for the love of mew, please remain professional around me and keep it in your pants, " nurse Joy sneered, once again stomping away from the spiky-haired man.
"hahahaha!" Brock scowled as he heard Misty and Ash's not-so-silent fits of laughter.
"B-brock just g-got m-majorly cock-blocked!" Ash managed to say in between laughs, sending both him and Misty into another round of abrupt and obnoxious cackles. The laughing becoming so extreme that Misty had to lean on Ash for support and she had to wipe the tears she began to shed due to all of their giggles.
"Shut up you two," Brock sulked.
"S-sorry Brock," Ash apologized. "Yeah, sorry Brock, but you gotta admit that it was funny," Misty chimed in.
"These two are gonna be such a handful aren't they?" Brock asked to no one in particular and sighed, already weeping for his future self.