"Ash?" Iris began, knocking on the door.

"What?" Ash replied, then got up. "Oh, hey, guys…"

He shook his head a little. "I guess that didn't go great, did it?"

"Ash, uh…" Cilan began. "Look, we need to discuss this…"

"Is something wrong?" Ash said.

"Pika?" Pikachu asked.

"No, or… yes, but not…" Cilan shook his head. "Sorry, I'm having a little trouble plating this up."

Ash yawned, then blinked a few times and looked at Cilan. "Plating what up?"

"Ash," Iris said, firmly. "You need to get some sleep."

"Huh?" Ash replied. "What do you mean, I need to get some sleep?"

He folded his arms. "I thought you guys would-"

"Ash, you've always been going to bed after us, and waking up before us," Iris interrupted. "You've got bags under your eyes. I can see them from here."

"You mean it's my fault?" Ash demanded hotly. "So what, I lost against Cameron, but I really thought you guys would have my back!"

"We do, Ash," Cilan said. "Which is why we think you need to be a connoisseur of your own body."

"Pika, Pikapi…" Pikachu contributed.

Ash clenched a fist. "Both of you? After all we've been through together?"

He stormed past the two of them, then stopped as he caught sight of who was in the hallway.

Brock. Misty. May, Dawn and Max. Even Tracey was there, at the back of the group.

"What happened?" Dawn said, before she could stop herself.

"Dawn, too?" Ash asked. "You know what we've been through together – really? And – and, you should know that I can lose battles and just come back again!"

"I didn't even say anything like that!" Dawn protested. "We came to watch your League matches – you look like you haven't slept in days!"

"This isn't about me," Ash retorted.

"Pika-chuu," Pikachu tried to say, but whatever he was trying to get across didn't make much of an impression on Ash.

"Ash, seriously, when was the last time you got any sleep?" Brock said.

"You as well, Brock?" Ash asked. "All of you are believing them instead of me?"

Misty was the first to respond to that. "Ash, we can see the bags under your eyes."

"I didn't get that bad when I was studying for my medical exams," Brock contributed.

"Shut up!" Ash demanded. "Just – shut up, you're all turning your back on me!"

"Is he even listening?" Max wondered quietly to his sister.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how to answer that question," May replied. "It is Ash."

"I can't believe I've been betrayed by everyone I know!" Ash complained.

"I haven't even said anything yet," Tracey objected.

Ash was unmoved. "You're all the same! Well, I'll show you, I'll have my revenge!"

He turned to storm away, walked straight into the wall, and fell over onto his back with an impressive vertical-to-horizontal sweep only interrupted by Max lunging forwards to catch him.

Everyone stood there silently for a few seconds.

"...uh," Iris began. "Did he just…"

Brock crouched down to check.

"His hat got pushed up his head, but not off," he judged. "I think he just fell over, rather than banging his head."

The next morning, Ash yawned, stretched, and saw May at the side of his bed.

"He's up!" she called, and over the next fifteen seconds Ash's friends all piled into his room one after another.

"Hi, guys!" Ash said. "What's up?"

"...do you, uh… remember what happened last night?" Dawn said, delicately.

"Uh…" Ash began, thinking. "...I went to sleep? Which is actually really neat, I haven't done that since Sinnoh!"

"Since what!?" everyone asked at once.

"Yeah, since that battle with that Tobias guy," Ash clarified. "Not really sure why!"

"Pika, Pikapi, Pika-chu," Pikachu muttered.

"...you know…" Tracey said. "I… think I understand a lot about what I heard about Ash's Unova journey now."

AN:

Well, it makes rather more sense in character than the standard issue Betrayal plot...