When Misty's eyes fluttered open again, she found herself in the lobby of a Pokémon Center. Multiple Nurse Joys fluttered around the lobby, tending to the people who had sought shelter while groups of chanseys and blisseys tended to injured pokémon. Misty jolted upright, instantly remembering the events that had transpired. Ash. The attack on the tower. The tower collapsing and her digging through the debris to find him.

The TVs were tuned to the same channel, and people's eyes were glued to the images that floated across the screen. The reporter explained that the Pokémon League was generating a list of people that had been reported to have been in the building and those who were accounted for. They would be reaching out to family members, but people were encouraged to reach out to the League to report missing loved ones. The local hospitals were overwhelmed with the influx of patients and people flooding the waiting room in search of their missing loved ones. There were still no suspects tied to the bombing, but a thorough investigation was underway, and the G-Men had been brought in to assist.

Besider her, a group of trainers spoke in hushed whispers, analyzing the latest news and comparing it to the rumors they'd heard. Another couple sat together on a nearby couch, their arms wrapped tightly around each other. She didn't mean to eavesdrop, but she could hear the woman telling the man how thankful she was that he'd been away from his office on an assignment outside the Pokémon League that day.

Misty's ears instantly perked up and she quickly turned to the man nearby. "Do you work at the league?" she asked. He nodded, and Misty's heart let out a silent leap of joy. Maybe he would know about Ash. "Do you have the list from the League? My fiance was at the League for a meeting today, and I haven't heard from him...Do you know if Ash Ketchum made it out?" The man's eyes grew wide, and the woman beside him shot Misty a sympathetic look.

"I don't know," he told her and her stomach plummeted. "I'm sorry, but I don't have any information. If I hear anything, I'll let you know, okay?"

Misty nodded, but she didn't feel hopeful. She turned away from the couple and sunk back into her chair, wrapping the blanket tightly around her. She unlocked her phone, a tiny part of her still hopeful that Ash would reach out to her, but the only notification she had was from her news app alerting her to the breaking news from the League.

"Coffee?" She looked up to see Brock standing beside her, still dressed in his scrubs and offering a steaming cup of coffee. Due to the influx of Pokémon that had come in, he'd been called in from Pewter to help out. Before she could answer, he put their cups on the table and sat down beside her. "I only have a few minutes, but I wanted to check on you. Once things calm down here, I promise I'll help you find him."

Misty nodded but then opened her mouth to speak, choking on her words. "But what if...what if he's gone?" It was the first time she'd acknowledged that Ash could be something other than missing, and the pain was like a hand wrapped around her heart and squeezed tightly into a fist.

She burst into uncontrollable sobs, and Brock immediately pulled her close and let her spew tears and snot into his shoulder. "We'll find him, don't worry."

She looked up at him wanting to believe him, but part of her was starting to lose hope. And if they never found him, their near relationship ending fight would be the last thing he would remember. Through garbled tears and snot, she explained to Brock the events that had transpired the night before and the awful things they had said to each other. To his credit, Brock didn't negate the seriousness of their fight. Instead, he encouraged her to focus on Ash's note, and that it showed how much he loved her.

"I have some friends that work at the hospital," Brock told her. "I'll contact them and ask if they've heard anything or seen anyone come through that matches Ash's description."

"How are you so positive?" Misty asked in disbelief, but she wasn't trying to mock him. "How are you so sure that he's going to be okay? It's been hours and I've heard nothing."

Brock sighed, a little wistful. "Because it's Ash," he explained. "Because he's stubborn and because I know him well enough to know that he didn't just give up. He's a fighter-you know that better than anyone. He's not going to give up if he can help it." Brock stood up and finished off the remainder of his coffee in one fell swoop. "I'm sorry, but I've got to get back to work," he apologized, remorse and guilt clouding his face. "You should get some sleep. It'll be a while, and there's not much we can do right now, but I promise we'll go to the hospital first thing in the morning."

Misty nodded. "Thanks, Brock."

oOo

It took Brock and Misty much longer than either of them had anticipated for things to calm down at the center and for Brock's schedule to free up. In the meantime, Misty visited the nearby hospitals, running up to any nurse or doctor she could find and flashing them Ash's picture. "Have you seen him?" she asked, bombarding them with questions. "Did someone who looks like this come through here? Did someone bring him in? Please, I've tried calling him and he's not answering. He was in the League Tower when it was attacked." The nurses and doctors took one look at the photo before shaking their heads, sympathy flashing across their faces as they apologized because no, they hadn't seen anyone matching Ash's description be brought into the hospital. Brock's contacts had also been keeping an eye out, but they'd been just as unsuccessful.

By the evening of that first day, Misty had reached out to Delia and explained what had happened. Delia was distraught as she sobbed over the phone, her pain felt just as strongly as Misty's. By the second day, investigators had determined that Team Rocket had been responsible for the bombings and everything at the League had come to a standstill and security had been amped up for the more prominent league members. Pokémon and volunteers had been brought in to help emergency staff sift through the rubble for survivors and clear out the debris and toxic gasses that still loomed in the air. As she sat in the lobby of the Pokémon Center, her eyes stayed glued to the TV, hoping it would reveal Ash's fate to her. Every phone call or message she received was agonizing as her spirits fell every time it wasn't Ash reaching out to her. By day three, she felt utterly hopeless, and her mind finally started to process the fact that Ash wasn't coming back.

Misty's phone started ringing, and her heartbeat quickened when she saw an unknown number scrawled across her screen. Could this be Ash? Could he have gotten away and borrowed someone else's phone to call her? Or was this someone calling her with the news she'd been dreading since the moment the reporter had announced the breaking news story?

"Hello?" Misty answered tentatively.

"Hello, is this Misty?" a woman on the other line announced. Misty squeaked out a confirmation, but that was all she could manage as she held her breath and gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. "This is Kat, and I'm one of the nurses here at Viridian General. My colleague shared that you've visited quite a few times in search of your fiance, is that correct?"

"Yes."

"I can't say for certain, but a few days ago, our paramedics brought in someone the other day that matched your description. We couldn't find any sort of identification on him, and we can't exactly talk to him due to his current state."

Current state? Did that mean...Did that mean he was dead? Were they calling her to come and identify his body?

"I'm coming," she said before the nurse could explain anything further and before she changed her mind. Alive? Dead? Not Ash? Barely hanging on? Regardless of the outcome, she had to know. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay. When you get here, ask for Gianna or Laura if I'm not there."

"Okay, thank you." Misty shoved her phone back into her purse and leaped off the couch in search of Brock. She knew he was still busy, and she felt guilty taking him away from the pokémon that needed him, but she couldn't do this alone.