Authors Notes: !Yo no reconozco los caracteres del Pokemon!, I don’t own Pokemon!. It’s now Bilingual.

Part II By Hassan al Hedia

WAKE UP CALL

The sun was fully uncovered from the mountains in the east, and was now rising towards its position in the noon. Misty opened her eyes to the ever brightening day.

“I guess we overslept,” she thought to herself “ we were pretty tired after all.”

She rolled over on her side to look at Ash. He was still lying on his back. His mouth was hanging open, but she didn’t hear the usual snoring.

“ He didn’t wake me up once last night. I thought he would wake me up and start complaining about his empty stomach at least once.” she was getting concerned as she still didn’t hear any snoring “ I heard that sometimes when people get hurt real bad, they fall asleep, but they never wake up.”

The thought of Ash never waking up again suddenly struck fear into Misty.

“What if he died during the night. What if he passed away because I didn’t bother to check up on him” she began to sob uncontrollably as her fear turned to panic “It’s all my fault, I’m so sorry Ash!”

In an instant she was on top of Ash, grabbing him by the collar and shaking him wildly.

“Ash please wake up!” she screamed into his face “It’s my fault we’re here, and it’s my fault you ended up like this. Please don’t die!”

Ash suddenly opened his eyes, awakened from his dreams by his screaming friend.

“What’s wrong! W-What’s happening!” Ash exclaimed

“Ash, you’re alive! I’m so glad” Misty said relieved

“Of course I’m alive” Ash said confused “Why are you yelling?”

Misty was trying to hold back her sobs “I just thought something might of happened to you in the night. I was worried”

“Well you could of found a better way to find out!” Ash said angrily

Misty looked down at her hands “Ash, I’m sorry I didn’t mean too…..”

Ash noticed that she could barley speak because she was choked with tears. He immediately regretted what he had said. He felt bad for being angry at her when she was genuinely worried.

“S-Sorry, thanks for worrying” Ash smiled smoothing out his shirt “ but next time could you be a little more gentile?”

Misty looked back up at Ash and forced a smile while wiping the tears from her face.

“Yeah” she said with relief

“Misty, what’s “your fault”?” Ash asked curiously.

“What do you mean?” she replied slowly.

“Didn’t you just say something about “it” being your fault” Ash repeated “What’s “it”?”

“Did I say that?” she said dismissively “I don’t know…. I was rambling I guess”

“Oh…..” Ash said satisfied.

A long silence followed. They both sat in the sleeping bag looking separate ways. The sounds of wildlife in the forest around them only magnified the quiet between the two. Ash didn’t know how many more long pauses he could take. The current silence was even longer than yesterday’s. Ash didn’t know what to say to break it. It’s not like he could just get up and walk away.

Misty was planning what to say next. She knew that what she was going to say would probably start an argument. She didn’t necessarily like arguments with her best friend, but she couldn’t avoid the topic much longer. She also thought she needed to bring it up. She wanted to show Ash that she wasn’t going soft on him because of the way she had just acted. One thing Misty never liked was showing weakness in front of Ash. She never wanted to be the kind of girl who had to rely on a boy to help her or take care of her. In fact, she was always trying to show Ash that she could take care of him. That he didn’t have to always put the burden squarely on his own shoulders, but that she was always there to share it with him. She had little success due to Ash’s persistent stubbornness, but it never stopped her from trying.

She took a deep breath and began “Ash, I…. Um…. I need to go to the bathroom.”

Ash’s face turned bright red. He looked down and began to play with his hands nervously.

“How’s that gonna work?” He asked almost inaudibly.

“It’s very simple” She said changing to a very matter of fact tone “You turn your head and close your eyes and you don’t look unless you want lose a few teeth”

“I’ve got a better idea!” he yelled startling Misty.

“Oh no” She said to herself, she didn’t like it when Ash got ideas. They usually turned out with someone being injured.

“Come on!” He said undeterred by Misty’s comment.

He jumped out of the sleeping bag nearly dragging Misty with him. He jogged over to the smoldering campfire and knelt down, Misty followed along with an annoyed look on her face. There were rocks of different sizes lain in a loose ring around the campfire. Ash laid his cuffed hand on one side of a Pikachu sized rock, and instructed Misty to lay her hand on the other side, pulling the chain tight.

“Ash, this isn’t a good idea” Misty pleaded even though she knew it was no use.

“Just watch the master!” He said excitedly

He took a poke ball sized rock in his left hand and began to smash it on the metal cuff chain. The force of the rock hitting the chain created sparks, but didn’t even scratch the it. He continued to pound with frustration.

“That’s not going to help” Misty said frowning “ I think they make these so you can’t break them, any other brilliant ideas master.”

“You should be more grateful” He said raising the rock above his head “I’m about to fix all of our problems”

He brought down the rock with all the force he had and a lot less accuracy. The rock landed squarely on the tip of Misty’s thumb. She screamed in pain and stuck her thumb in her mouth, trying to somehow suck the burning pain out.

“Well, I guess that’s not going to work huh?” he said to himself.

“I told you it wasn’t you numbskull!” she yelled “You nearly broke my finger, look!”

She stuck her swelling thumb towards Ash.

“I was just trying to help” Ash said defensively.

“Next time, consult me when you’re going to do something stupid” She wasn’t going to let him off the hook this time “Come on. And remember, if you peek, you die”

“Hey, the same thing goes for you” Ash replied “What makes you think I would want to look at you anyway.”

Blush mixed with anger on Misty’s face as she nearly yanked him off his feet with a single tug.

“The least he could do is apologize” She thought as she drug him into the brush “ He can be such a jerk sometimes”

LUNCH FOR TWO

After they finished the most uncomfortable two minutes of their lives, they walked down to the nearby river in silence. They both wash their hands without saying a word. Misty had been right when she predicted that they would fight, but at the moment she didn’t know if the silence was caused by anger or starvation. She had recently found silences very uncomfortable not only because it was her best friend that she was giving the cold shoulder, but also because of her proximity to him. She could never get further than a foot away from him, so she could never run from embarrassing situations. Although she hated the occasional silence, a part of her felt more comfortable than ever. She had noticed long ago that being around Ash calmed her nerves and made her feel confident. If she could never leave Ash’s side, then she never had to worry about being alone. Loneliness scared Misty more than every bug on the planet. She had spent so much time around Ash, that she now took companionship for granted.

Ash finished wiping his face, and put his gloves back on. Suddenly he jumped off his knees, almost losing balance and falling into the water.

“Time to get going back to Brock and our Pokemon!” Ash yelled.

“Hey, hold on a minute” Misty said startled. She thought Ash was in as bad a mood as she was, but he sounded cheerful.

“What?” Ash said astounded “Don’t you want to get back to Pikachu and Togepi and all our other Pokemon as soon as possible?”

“Of course I do!” She said defensively “But we have no idea where we came from. Plus, you’re not really in traveling shape” She pointed to the bandages on his forehead “Maybe we should just set up camp here and wait until Brock gets together a search party”

“No way!” Ash exclaimed “ I don’t want to wait that long for someone to come looking, what if no one ever finds us. We can guess where we came from, and just walk until we find a town or something” He smiled and gave a thumbs up with his free hand “And don’t worry about me, don’t forget who you’re talking to.”

“ Ash, it wouldn’t be so bad to relax around here for awhile” She paused “You know… just me and you-”

“ Yeah, I think we should go East” He said interrupting her “Did you say something?”

“ There’s no point in trying to convince you, you’re just too thickheaded” She said with regret “Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go with your plan.”

It was mid afternoon, the sounds of the forest were now mixed with the constant drone of the slowly flowing river. The river was fed by melting snow high in the mountains. Even as it traveled to warmer elevations, it retained it’s sharp and cold temperature. The trees on the banks prevented the cold air from escaping, and shaded the water from the sun. Even thought it was midday, Ash and Misty still found it to be quite cool around the river banks. So they decided to walk on the side of the river for the first day of traveling. The forest was by no means unbearably hot, it was still very comfortable compared to other climates that they had been to. The main reason they had stayed along the river was a smell permeating the air around the banks that Ash and Misty both enjoyed. It was the smell of freshness and purity that came from mountain water. Just by breathing it, it made them feel refreshed and energized. But no smell could fill their stomachs, which had not had anything in them since the day before. They walked together with their heads down, and their hands hanging limply by their sides. Misty was thankful that Ash hadn’t complained about food since they started walking. She thought that he must’ve figured that she was as hungry as he was, so complaining to her would only make her angry.

Ash stared at his own feet while he was walking to keep his mind off the pain in his stomach. While he was looking down, something floating by in the river caught his eye. He turned his head to the side to see a bright red apple bobbing in the river’s lazy current. For a few seconds he thought that his hunger was starting to make him see things. He stopped walking and blinked his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real. Misty had continued walking and was startled to be stopped by the cuff on her hand. She looked behind her to see Ash staring out towards the river with his mouth gaping open.

“Ash what are you do-” She was cut off by Ash

“Ha!” he yelled in excitement as he jumped into the ice cold water. Misty had no time to protest before she was pulled into the river by his weight. Ash began to gasp for air. He felt his lungs contract from the sudden shock of the cold water. All of the blood drained from his head as he swam toward the drifting apple. Misty had no idea what Ash was doing, but she swam along with him to keep afloat. She had been swimming since a very young age. The icy water didn’t affect her nearly as much as it did Ash. But she could tell that Ash was having trouble, she wanted to get him out of the water as fast as she could. Ash grabbed the apple and shoved it in his pocket. Then Misty wrapped her arm around him and swam to the opposite shore. Ash was amazed by the speed at which she swam, even when she was dragging him along with her. They both pulled each other onto the steep bank of the river. Ash was laughing as loud as he could.

“What’s so funny anyway?” She asked sourly “You could of drowned”

They were lying on the grass beside the riverbank. Ash looked at Misty and took the apple from his pocket, holding it in his shivering hand.

“Look” he said smiling “Lunch is served”

“That’s why you jumped into the river?” She said relieved “I thought you might of went crazy from the hunger”.

Ash grabbed the apple in both hands and broke it in half. He tossed the larger half to Misty.

“Thanks” Misty said shocked

“You did most of the swimming anyway.” Ash said gratefully. He nearly inhaled his half, not bothering to avoid the core. Misty finished only seconds after.

“That was the best apple I’ve ever had” She said smiling “I’m actually glad you jumped in now”

Ash looked past Misty, about a hundred feet upriver, and his mouth gaped open in amazement.

“What is it?” Misty asked confused

Ash pointed past her towards a large apple tree upriver. They jumped to their feet and ran towards the tree as fast as they could.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see this!” Ash gasped in amazement.

They picked all the apples on the lower branches that they could reach. They both ate greedily, devouring dozens of apples in only a few minutes. After they could eat no more, they laid down side by side in the shade.

“I guess today turned out to be good after all” Misty said sleepily

“All we really needed was something to eat” Ash replied

They both slept in the warm afternoon sun.

Authors Notes- It took me longer than I had predicted to write this chapter (Damn you AP classes, you take up more of my time than you’re worth!). I had to spend all my time writing essays about Hamlet over the last week (Ugh.. My brain hurts), in my opinion, it’s a lot less fun than writing about Ash and Misty. To be better than my first chapter or not to be better, mail me with what you think, hassanalhedia@hotmail.com

See you Cowboys and Cowgirls later, sometime… somewhere

Close the world, open the nExt