A/N: This is an A/U fic; it does not continue from the series on TV, I am just borrowing the characters from Pokemon.
This is an AAMRN you have been
warned!
TO LOVE? OR NOT TO LOVE?
By A*MON
‘ Italic’= Peoples thoughts
Ash/Duplica (17)
Misty (18)
Brock (20)
Nurse Wendy/Joy
(25)
She had refused to see any of her friends when she woke 3 days ago, she had been told what had happened, and that she were temporally paralysed from the waist down, needing constant help and therapy. The doctor that had to explain to the confused girl could see her eyes start to swell up with tears, and decided to leave her alone to cry her self to sleep.
It had been 2 weeks since the accident that both girls and their two loyal Pokemon had been involved in. Starmie and Ditto had recovered and were doing fine, Misty had regained consciousness and did not remember anything about the accident or knew about the extent of her injuries. Brock had been the only one out of the friends that Misty wanted to see, she had hardly spoke a word to the young Pokemon trainer when he had come to visit. The doctor had told him that it was normal for Misty to react this way, she felt helpless and weak and depression would cause the young red head* who was normally mouthy and full of life* to feel if the world was against her.
Brock had been talking non-stop since he had come in this particular morning, “with a little more therapy and plenty of rest you should be fine. The doctor gave me an up date on your progress since you woke, he said that you should start regaining the feeling in your legs once your body gets used to the therapy, and the medication should help bring the swelling down around the damaged part of your back.” He looked at her, she had been staring up toward the ceiling all through out the conversation, and he decided then to let her know that she had nothing to worry about either of them leaving her.
“So… Miyst, I know your feeling a little low, but you are not a burden to any of us, but we are your friends and friends do not leave one another when they need them the most.” He finished, empathising the any. The reason behind this was that she had refused to see Ash and had only seen Duplica once since she regained consciousness.
Brock could see that Misty was not going to answer him and sighed; this was worrying him more than he thought it would.
***
Ash had arrived at the hospital as usual, hoping that may be today Misty would want to see him. He sat in the corridor waiting for Brock to leave the room. He could see Misty’s nurse heading toward him; her name was Wendy and she was always smiling. When Brock had first set eyes on her he went strait to his ‘hormonal drool stage’ he mentally smiled to himself thinking about how Brock had always made a fool of him self in front of Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny, or any beautiful female he came across.
“Morning Ash” she said.
“Morning Wendy” he replied, she was a nice friendly nurse who had been looking after Misty. She had strawberry blonde hair which was tied in to a bun on the top of her head which was a support to the little white nurses hat she wore, her uniform was much the same as a Nurse Joy’s but it was white with a red apron, she had blue eyes and wore a rather large pair of glasses.
She nodded back to him and entered Misty’s room.
***
Brock had been trying to get Misty to talk to him with no luck, when he noticed Misty’s nurse had come in.
“Morning Brock, Misty, how are you feeling today?” she asked them both.
Brock sighed, “Morning Wendy, we are not to bad thanks”
She smiled at him, went over to the window, and opened the blinds letting in the first rays of the sun hit Misty’s face. She groaned at this and moved her head toward the opposite side of the room.
The nurse looked at the young man with brown spiky hair who was sitting next to the red head in the bed, his eyes showed concern and worry, much like the other young boy with the black hair and brown eyes who always sat just out side the room.
She remembered talking to him.
*FLASHBACK*
She had just finished her rounds for the day when she noticed a young boy sitting just out side the room with the girl who had been involved with the Tauros accident. He had of what she could see of it, black spiky hair because he wore an old red and white cap, he wore a plain black shirt, and worn out blue jeans with a pair of black and white trainers, a pair of fingerless black gloves and five pokeballs told her he was a trainer. By the side of him was a small yellow mouse she recognised as a Pikachu. He had his eyes closed and head lowered to the ground, being the friendly type, she decided to see if she could help.
“Excuse me, is every thing alright?” she asked him, his head shot up and she could see his eyes were coloured brown, but were very red.
“Um…Yea thanks” he replied.
“My names Wendy, I’m a nurse here. Do you know the young lady in the room?” she asked.
“Hi my names Ash Ketchum, and yes I know her, she is my best friend.” He replied.
They had been talking a while about Ash’s problem. Misty was refusing to see him. Wendy could see that he was distraught with confusion and worry and could not understand why Misty had refused to see him. So she had decided to help the young man, it was obvious he cared deeply for this young girl, and she had decided to help them.
The next day she had been tuning Misty’s sheets and she had tried to bring up a conversation with the young girl, who was staring out of the window in the wheelchair they had given her. She remembered Ash telling her that she was a water Pokemon trainer, so decided to go along this line. It did the trick. Misty seemed to talk a little about her Pokemon and a gym in Cerulean City.
Things had gone wrong when Wendy asked Misty about Ash; Misty seemed to go off a bit and remained silent for the rest of the conversation.
Misty had not spoke to the young Nurse ever since.
*END FLASHBACK*
***
She had remained silent through out Brock’s visit; she could hardly hear what he was saying.
Actually she wanted to be alone, she was having trouble coming to terms with the fact that she could not feel her legs and wanted to be with her thoughts, not that she had many of them. The nightmares that plagued her kept her awake, not that sleep could bring any reassurance, and she had been sleeping for nearly two ½ weeks.
She could hear Wendy enter the room and ask Brock a few questions, not that Misty took notice. When the nurse had opened the blinds in the room the light hurt; she groaned and moved her head to face Brock. She held her eyes shut hoping that the darkness would bring comfort to her sore eyes; in fact, one image had sprung in to her mind hearing Ash’s name mentioned as Wendy bid farewell to Brock.
She had refused to see Ash ever since she awoke; she did not want him to see her in this condition, she had always appeared strong and that was the way she wanted to keep it; not some helpless little girl who couldn’t walk and needed constant supervision to do normal day routines. Her pride had over come the willingness to see her best friend, her long time crush, and her first love. She would not give in to this, and she did not need his help.
***
Brock walked out the door of Misty’s room, his face was red, and he could feel his heart rate speeding up. ‘Why do I always do this, she probably thinks I am a complete hormonal idiot’ he thought to himself. Even though he was older now, he still had not suppressed the ‘Hormonal Drool Stage’ he had been staring at the nurse when she had bent over Misty’s bed and got a very good view of her rear; she turned and noticed his red face and ordered him out side. He leaned against the door and sighed, he then noticed Ash sitting in his usual place just outside Misty’s room. He walked over to the teen.
“Hey Brock, how was she? Does she want to see me now?” bombarding questions to Brock.
‘Poor kid’ he thought. “Um…well she was …um…. asleep when I got here this morning” he mumbled.
“O… maybe later then” sighed Ash.
Brock could see the disappointment in the teens face. “Um.. Ash do you know where Duplica is?”
“Yeah, I think she said something about taking Pikachu and Togepi to the food hall” Ash told Brock.
***
When they got to the food hall, they found Duplica and the two Pokemon in a corner table in front of the dessert bar. They both smiled at this; Duplica loved desserts almost as much as Misty, and could not get enough of them. Duplica was feeding Togepi some toast and Pikachu was harbouring a ketchup bottle.
“Hi guys, how’s Misty doing this morning?” she asked.
“She was asleep, so I didn’t want to disturb her.” He replied, he hated to lie to his friends, but Duplica still blamed her self and Ash was not coping with the fact Misty refused to see him; he did not want them to worry to much more than they had been.
The rest of the day went on as usual, mainly helping Ash train or watching Duplica perform in the Pokemon centre for other trainers.
***
“Ashy, get up!” screamed Duplica to the lazy Pokemon trainer.
“Pika Pi Pika chu!” (Ash wake up!) Said his best Pokemon friend. Pikachu.
“*Yawn* five more minutes” he managed to grumble back to the hyperactive female and Pokemon.
“What do you think Pikachu, a soaking or a shocking?” asked Duplica with a sly grin. Pikachu just answered with it’s own evil grin.
Pikachuuuuuuuuu! A massive thunderbolt hit Ash dead on.
“Waaaaa PIKACHU! What was that for?” shouted a dazed and confused Ash, as he rubbed his now throbbing head.
“We have to go to the hospital, remember.” Duplica told him.
“Yeah, I remembered, but you didn’t have to wake me up so early did ya?” he mumbled to her.
“Early!, its 9.30 already, we were meant to be there at 9,00!” Brock chimed in, listening to Ash groans and complains were something he was used to.
“Come on Ash, Misty gets her results back today” Duplica added.
“I know, do you think she will let me see her today?” he asked his friends while rolling his sleeping bag up. Duplica and Brock looked at each other then back at Ash.
“I don’t know” They replied at the same time, “give her time Ash, I’m sure she’s just confused at the moment.” Duplica said, trying to reassure her friend.
“Ever since the accident she just won’t talk or see me, guys what do I do?” asked Ash, desperately wanting his friends to help.
Duplica lowered her head she did not know what to say to him. ‘It’s all my fault, this would of never happened if I had never dragged Misty to the new Pokemon Reserve.’ She thought to herself with a sigh.
“Ash, I agree with Duplica, give her some time” Brock replied, noticing Duplica slump down all of a sudden.
“Guys I’m sorry, this is all my fault,” she whispered. Her eyes were firmly fixed to the ground and her head lowered.
“Duplica, how where you suppose to know that all of those Tarous would get startled at Dittos appearance?” Brock tried to explain as he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Her head moved toward Brock, she could see his kind and caring eyes, she then slowly sobbed out “but…I…I should of helped her…I just froze! When I saw all of those Tauros getting closer, I don’t know what was wrong with me, I’ve never done anything like that before, I could of… she could of …” she started crying uncontrollably.
Brock immediately pulled her closer towards him and held her in his arms as she cried in to his chest. Ash didn’t know what to do exactly, Duplica didn’t mean to let Misty get hurt not on purpose, anyone could of made the same mistake, she was probably scared of all those Tauros she saw, after all, it wasn’t every day you see a stampeding herd of angry and frightened Tauros charging toward you. He kept on staring at his two friends in front of him holding on to each other, listening to Brock reassuring her hushing her to try and calm the hysterical girl in his arms. He couldn’t help thinking that if he had been there he could have helped Misty and Duplica, he cared about them both, but if something happened to Misty, he didn’t know what he would do.
Pikachu who was pulling at his pant leg struck him out of his thoughts. “Huh? What is it Pikachu?” he asked his friend.
“Pika, Pika, Pi Pi Ka chu?” (Are we going to see Misty?) Pikachu asked his trainer and best human friend.
“I don’t know buddy, maybe she will want to see us today. You never know!” he replied to his furry friend while picking him up and putting him on his shoulder.
Ash looked on toward Brock, he could see that Brock really liked Duplica and cared about her, he had told Brock to ask Duplica out, but Brock had said that she liked someone else, so that was the last he had said to his older friend.
He hated to do this, but if Misty wanted to see him today then they had better be getting to the hospital before visiting hours were up.
“Umm… guys, should we get going, Duplica, umm… its not your fault, you shouldn’t blame your self” he reassured the emotional bundle wrapped in Brocks arms.
“Come on Duplica, Misty doesn’t blame anyone you know that, come on lets go and see her, I’m sure that she wants to see Togepi today” Brock added with a huge grin.
“*Sniff* Okay, maybe your right, she doesn’t blame any one, but I can’t understand why she won’t see Ash?” she replied to the boys as they walked out of the Pokemon centre on to the dirt path toward the hospital Misty was in.
“I don’t think any of us truly understands Misty, she’s kind of weird when it comes to Ash” Brock said a little confused. Ever since they were younger he could never really understand his friends relationship, always arguing over the smallest thing, then worrying if one or the other was in trouble or ill, but they had a bond that held the strong friendship together, Misty was tearing Ash apart by not letting him see her, but then Misty was a puzzle in Brocks eyes, they both were strange in his opinion, but he knew that one day they would realise they had feelings for one another and would get married and have children of their own one day. It was his turn to be interrupted from his thoughts hearing his name being called.
“Brock, Brock come on your to slow!” yelled Ash, who was walking at a very fast pace to get to the hospital.
“Yeah, Yeah coming!” he called back while quickening his pace to match Ash and Duplica’s.
***
As usual, Misty had refused to see Ash. She really did not want to see any one. Only with a bit of persuasion on the doctor and Wendy’s part did she allow Brock to see her and listen to her final assessment.
Brock listened to the doctor’s talk to one another before one of them addressed Wendy.
“Thank you Wendy, for staying with the young lady this morning.” The doctor who had been working on Misty’s case said.
The two doctors turned their attention to Brock and Misty. Misty’s doctor tuned to Brock, “This is Dr. Travis, he is one of our specialist’s doctors that has been working with Misty for the last day or so”. He introduced to him, and turned to take a set near Wendy.
“Pleased to meet you Brock.” He replied. “We have been reviewing Misty’s case ever since she came to the hospital. We have done many tests and all our results have found nothing to insinuate she has suffered from a ‘Spinal injury’ or that of any ‘Head Trauma’.
However, she has been experiencing nightmares and hallucinations since she awoke two ½ weeks ago along with paralysis of the lower half of her body.”
“ Um…. so what is wrong with Misty, Dr. Travis?” Brock asked a little confused.
“Misty is suffering from a rare disorder, which may have been triggered by the accident that she were involved in or she could have inherited it, we are not entirely sure. This kind of paralysis is known as ‘Sleep Paralysis’” he replied to Brock’s question.
“’Sleep Paralysis’ what is that exactly, is it permanent?” Brock asked, a little worried for his friend.
“Well ’Sleep Paralysis’ consists of a period of inability to perform voluntary movements when sleeping and or upon awakening. The symptoms that follow this would be of what young Misty is describing to us. She is complaining of the inability to move her limbs upon awaking, presence of partial muscle paralysis, hallucinations, or dream like mentation. ’Sleep Paralysis’ is associated with Neurological conditions. This is not harmful in any way, but most people who suffer from this report feeling afraid because they do not know what is happening to them. Misty has been having nightmares and seeing things followed by long napping during the day.
In this case, when the hallucinations are present, she feels as if someone is in the room. She has also told us of the darkness she has experienced during her nightmares, the feeling of people, or something touching her or the feeling of impending death. This is also known as the ‘Hag Phenomena’ that causes anxiety and terror, but no physical harm. As to it being permanent, the answer is medication followed with enough sleep, reducing stress and plenty of exercise.”
“When will she be able to leave Dr. Travis?” Brock asked.
“She should be able to leave once she fully understands this, also the injuries she received need to heal, but the nightmares will still be present until the medication starts to work. I would say in another two weeks.” Dr. Travis told him.
‘Well that explains a lot. At least Ash and Duplica will understand a bit more why Misty will not see any one.’
Brock thought to him self. ‘Now to get Dr. Travis to help explain to Ash and Duplica. What makes me think this is going to be difficult for them to understand!’ he added to himself.
***
*That Night*
*. DARKNESS. *
That was all she could see, blackness, silence, nothing.
“Hello, is any one there?” she shouted in to the nothingness around her.
She was scared, she could feel her body start shaking, as she twisted and turned to see the darkness swirl around her.
“Go away!” she screamed toward the dark mist slowly making its way toward the scared and lonely girl. She held her arms around her waist, attempting to keep her self from danger, screaming as the mist started to swallow her.
“Help me! Aaaasssh!”
Her eyes darted open at first, she felt disorientated; she was shivering and could feel the wetness of her hair and nightshirt sticking to her body from the sweat. It was a dream, another nightmare.
She pushed her red hair out of her face; her aqua coloured eyes were moist from the tears that were threatening to leave them.
“Help Me,” she whispered as she let the tears fall from her eyes. “Please Help Me”, she sobbed. Eventually crying her self-back to an uneasy sleep.
***
To be continued~
Next chapter~ Regrets. (Coming Soon!)
Please feel free to r&r.