Now, for those of you who have read this on ff.net, or before I got Jolt to take this down, this chapter was split into two. However, I have decided to join the two chapters together. Be warned, this will take some reading… my word count says 8, 843 words for the actual story, so I'll button up and let you read. Disclaimer: Now this counts for last chapter too, who in their right mind thinks I own Pokémon??? In 2000, a group of kids started saying stuff about me being the 'chosen one' and 'Pokémon master', then singing 2 B A Master to me whenever I went past them, because I entered the Pokémon Championships at Sheffield, but my application wasn't good enough… they never got to see my *true* talent… In other words, I still don't own Pokémon! Misty's Journey By Misty's Double Chapter 6- Happy Birthday to Misty… in hospital??? "Misty, what did the doctor say to you just now?" Ash inquired. He had come back in after Dr Barton had finished with Misty's check up. "Err… just about what happened to me in the fall." Misty answered gloomily "Hey, come on Mist, are you okay? He's told you something else hasn't he?" "When you had gone, he told me about what I had broken, and that I'm poisoned," Misty said shakily "And… there's something else isn't there? Come on Misty, I'm your best mate you can tell me it" Ash encouraged "Yeah come on Misty," Jo added. Misty swallowed hard, and then spoke in a quiet shaky voice "You may not think this is such a big deal, but Dr Barton told… he told me that when I was first brought in, I crashed 3 times over the first night." Misty said, finally looking up from the bed. Jo gasped. "Err… Meaning?" Ash asked "God, ARE YOU THICK??? I NEARLY DIED 3 TIMES JUST BECAUSE I WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO FALL FOR ONE OF JESSIE'S PLANS!!!" Misty shouted, before breaking down into tears. Jo scowled at Ash. "Ash, you are so insensitive! Wake up Brock, and go fetch some breakfast. Make yourself useful!" Jo ordered Ash. "Misty, I'm so sorry…" "Ash, just go!!!" Jo finished. "Fine, Brock, come on. Breakfast." "Wha- girls???" Brock said springing awake "I give up…" Ash sighed before leaving the room "Misty, are you alright? Is there anything else?" "No, that's it. I'll be fine. Just… I can't believe I nearly died 3 times…" Misty sighed. "Okay. Do you want me to do anything?" "No thanks… wait. I've been journeying with two trainers around Johto. Could you go call them, their number's in my Pokégear under Beth. Tell them to come see me in half an hour. Then, could you keep Ash from out of here for about an hour? Maybe take him to the beach? Oh, just try and cheer him up too please? He'll be really upset about just then…tell him I'm sorry…" Misty trailed off. "I'll go do all them now. See you in a mo Mist. Pikachu's still with you for company." Jo replied, leaving Misty and Pikachu. "Oh my God Pikachu, I've just noticed you've got your arm in plaster too. What happened?" "Pika pi chu Pika chu pi!" Pikachu explained "Oh yeah, I remember now. Ash told me that it'd be out of plaster for the Johto league if you don't hurt it again," "Pika!" Pikachu replied excitedly. *~*~*~*~* 5 minutes later, Jo returned from phoning Beth and Mark. "Okay, they have been staying in a hotel the past few days, and are on their way now. What time do you want us three back?" Jo asked "I don't know. Come back in about an hour. But first, will you wait with me until Beth and Mark turn up?" "Well, let me fetch my breakfast. You want anything?" "Hmm… I can't have too much; it'll just make me worse. If they have any, bring me a chocolate muffin please." "Okay. Be back in a minute." And with that, Jo left for the canteen. *~*~*~*~* Jo returned again 10 minutes later, laden with breakfast. "Here you go Misty. Ash was paying, and there was two different chocolate muffins, and he said you love ones with cream, so, here you go," Jo explained, handing Misty the cream muffin. "There's more though. He said you should eat more than that if you want to recover quicker, so he's bought you a bacon sandwich, and some hot chocolate." She finished, placing the rest of Misty's breakfast on the bedside table. "You know, he's a real soft one. When you go, tell him thanks, but he's got to start caring for himself as well as me!" Misty laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, how're you holding up at the minute?" "Mmm, okay, I guess. I think the poison symptoms are starting to creep up on me though. I was feeling a bit off when I woke up, but I'm okay now." "Well, tell me if you start to feel ill again, okay? Now how about eating your muffin?" "That's a point. God, that… tastes nice… your stomach… sure tells you when… you haven't… eaten for six days…" Misty said between mouthfuls of muffin. "Well, if you eat at that rate, I think your stomach will sure tell you it's not interested. Besides, you've been fed through an IV the past six days haven't you?" "Yeah, but it doesn't satisfy a grumbling stomach does it?" Misty finished, before starting on her hot chocolate, then scoffing her bacon sandwich. Just when she was finishing, Nurse Joy came to the door with Mark and Beth in tow. "Misty, you've got two visitors, okay? I've told them they've got half an hour, and then you're having a nap while Ash and Brock are out. Wait, Misty, what's that you've just eaten?" Joy asked suspiciously "A chocolate cream muffin; bacon sandwich and a hot chocolate. It was really nice!" Misty said cheerfully. "Oh great." Joy answered, rubbing her forehead. "Misty, they were all too rich for your first meal after six days. I'll get something for you in a minute." Joy walked out of the room "Okay, I'll see you later Misty." Jo said, walking out of the room, finishing her sausage sandwich. "Misty, how have you been?" Beth asked, running to her. "In a coma for three days; and asleep for another three days. This is my first day actually awake." Misty smiled. "How you holding with the poison? We tried the best we could to shield you, but they just bounced off the pit wall." Mark said sadly. "I'm holding fine. I felt a bit groggy this morning, but it's passed. The symptoms will be showing up soon, though" Misty answered. "Hey, sorry to change the subject, but who's is the Pikachu? It's in really good condition." Beth piped up "That's Ash's Pikachu. It was his first Pokémon. They've been together for 3 years, actually, nearly 4. Ash's birthdays in September." Misty reminded herself. "Hmm… sounds like they're loyal…" Beth trailed off "So Mark, what have you been doing while I've been banged up in here?" Misty asked trying to make conversation "Well, we've taken your Pokémon to the Pokémon Center, Togepi and Pichu were in shock, and my Sandshrew got poisoned, so all of our Pokémon are there at the minute, being treated." "Oh, thanks Mark!" Misty replied. 20 minutes passed without anybody saying much, when Pikachu had finally had enough of Beth adoring her, and threatened to shock her. "Erm, Beth, don't touch Pikachu now… Pikachu stop!!!" Misty ordered Pikachu "Why?" "She's powering up for thundershock, and you don't want to be shocked by her, she HURTS!!!" Misty finished. "Oh. I wonder what it's like to be shocked…" "I'll tell you now from first hand experience, it's not nice, neither is getting savaged by a Gyarados come to think of it." Misty sighed "So then, when are you expecting to get back on the road?" Mark asked. Misty perked up at this "Well, Dr Barton says that I'll be in here 10-16 more days, depending how the poison passes… then I'll really be up for leaving this place!" Misty said, getting excited "Yeah, but we'll have to take it easy the first few days, we won't want to make you ill again!!" Beth joked. "But come on, I'll be keeping you guys back." Misty said as Joy entered the room again. "I'm sorry Misty, visiting time's over. You can come see her soon." Joy said "Well, I'll tell you what, to speed this up, you two go challenge Whitney when you feel ready, and then we can get on the road quicker!" Misty directed to Mark and Beth "Okay, well, we'll see you whenever, okay?" Beth replied "Okay, see you two later. Be careful!" Misty called. "Well Misty, how do you feel after your pigging out session?" "Fine at the moment," Misty answered. "That's good. Oh, I nearly forgot! Is there anybody we can contact for you, to tell them what's happened?" "Erm, yeah, but could you do it later, you know, coz of the time difference? They'll still be asleep, and they don't like being woken up…" Misty replied "Well, okay. I'll ask in a couple of hours. But first miss, I said that you need to rest didn't I?" "Yeah, but…" "No buts Misty. If you want to make a full recovery, you need sleep. This is the perfect opportunity, because Ash Jo and Brock aren't here to distract you. I'm going to be back in a couple of minutes to replace the painkiller IV, okay? And if you're not asleep by then, then I'll have to give you something to get you to sleep." Joy said, as she turned for the door. "How am I supposed to get to sleep when I'm wide awake?" Misty grumbled as she stared out of the window. It was a clear mild morning, with the sun beating down over the golden sands of Goldenrod's hardly noticed West coast, due to all the buildings. The sea was a beautiful turquoise shade, and in the distance were the Whirl Islands, looking like rocks just peeping out of the sea. You could also see the off coast fishing docks, just big enough to fit a couple of Fishers on. She kept on looking closer up to the bay, when her eyes met the sands again, and noticed three people walking along the glorious clean sands. They looked familiar, and as she looked closer, she realised they were Ash Jo and Brock… *~*~*~*~* Ash, Jo and Brock were walking along the sunny Goldenrod seafront. "Wow, this beach is really quiet, *and* clean!" Jo complimented "Yeah, you would expect the beach to be either filthy and quiet, or very busy, but it's neither. I guess it's because of the massive buildings covering it." Brock added "Yeah." Ash replied, half listening "Hey Ash, you alright? You look like you're thinking." Jo asked "Whoa, Ash, be careful, you might make yourself ill over this!" Brock joked "Not funny! I've been thinking about Misty, and what the real reason is to her going back to Cerulean. Why exactly is she in Goldenrod?" Ash explained "Err, well, I think she returned to Cerulean to take over the Gym for a while…" Jo trailed off, lying to Ash. It was Brock's turn. "Umm… " Brock started. He noticed Jo furiously nodding her head behind Ash, telling him to continue. "Well, yeah. She went back to train her Pokémon, and take a little break from traveling. I think she was here on holiday with someone…" Brock finished "Hmm… there's something that I haven't remembered about her… something important…" Ash pondered "Well, give us a clue, then we might be able to lift some stress off your little brain!" Jo teased "That's the thing… I don't know what it is…" Ash sighed, ignoring the snide remark. He looked towards the sea, and something caught his attention. A little way along the seafront was a young girl with her brother, just going out into the sea on a Dewgong's back. "Oh! That's it!!!" Ash exclaimed "Well, that does it. Ash has finally cracked up." Brock said "No! I've just remembered what it is tomorrow… it's Misty's birthday!!!" "What a great way to spend it… in hospital, just waiting for the poison to take it's toll," Jo mumbled "Come on, we need to get her a present!" Ash finished, before running up the sand dune, and jumping over the fence into Goldenrod City Center, right around the back of the Goldenrod Galleria Shopping Mall. Jo and Brock shrugged their shoulders, and then followed Ash to the Mall. "Right, why don't we say we'll meet back at the West entrance in an hour and a half?" Brock asked. "Okay. I'll see you later then." Jo said "Yeah. See you later." Ash finished, before walking into the Galleria. *~*~*~*~* An hour and a half later, we find Ash Jo and Brock making their way back to see Misty, laden with presents for her birthday tomorrow. "So then, what you got her Jo?" Ash questioned "Well, I went to the Trainer's store on the 4th floor, and bought her this new gizmo called the Waterdex." Jo replied "Cool. Let's have a look," Ash asked "No, wait until Misty says you can use it. They had a 'Dex for every element of Pokémon, although the Steel and Dragon types aren't much use yet… there aren't many of them are there?" Jo replied "So they would have an Electricdex?" "Yep, I saw it, and it was yellow." "Do you think there would be a Girldex?" Brock asked, as his eyes met a pretty brunette making her way to the Galleria. "I don't think so…" Jo said, grabbing hold of his ear "No, not the ear…" Brock winced "Then keep control of you hormones Brock, honestly!" Ash took his turn with teasing "Anyway Ash, what have you got Misty?" Jo said swiftly changing the subject "Well I've got her a new model of fishing rod- known as the Master Rod. Prof. Oak says it's the most effective rod yet, and it was only released last week. Also, I've got a special Lure Ball- it's a splice between the Ultra and Lure balls; it has the effectiveness of an Ultra Ball, and it has the effectiveness of catching water Pokémon too. This is not forgetting the Dewgong we caught a few weeks back by Tohjo Falls. I've bought a new Pokéball for it too… that one's a bit tatty now, so I've got a special coloured one." Ash explained "Well, you've definitely got a soft spot for her!" Jo replied "Nah, it's just that she only got a massive ice cream sundae last year off me, and because I feel really sorry for her with being in hospital in the way she is and all. Anyways, what did you get her Brocky?" "I've got her a Guide to Breeding Water Pokémon, and some special vitamin- reinforced Water Pokémon food. I bet they're getting fed up with Pokémon Chow now…" Brock finished. They were near enough back at the Hospital after 5 more minutes. They made their way past the reception of A&E, and through to the main hospital. They stopped at a corridor with about 8 different corridors leading off to staircases and elevators. "Hmm… now which way?" Ash asked "Well, she's still in Intensive Care, so we need to go to the 6th floor, but which ward?" Brock asked after looking at the Hospital map. "Well, she wasn't in a ward if you remember correctly… she was in a room to herself because of the fact they didn't want to put her in with mangled patients, and people waiting to die." Jo answered. "So 6th floor it is!" Ash replied, making his way to the nearest stairwell. They decided to take a lift to 6th floor North. "Ding! Welcome to 6th Floor North." The automated lift announcer spoke "Right. We'll make our way back to the canteen, and try to find our way from there." Ash spoke, as they walked along the whitewashed corridors. Every ward they went past, you could see all of the bodies of people on the brink of death. Finally they made it to the canteen. "Okay, which way now?" Brock asked "Well, if I remember rightly, Misty's window was facing the coast, right? That's West, so her room must be West too." Jo replied. Everybody agreed, so they made their way to the West wing of the hospital. Sure enough, they finally found their way to Misty's room. Jo went up to the door, and looked through the window beside it. "When we go in, be quiet. She's sound asleep." Jo told Brock and Ash. They quietly entered the room, closing the door behind them. They all put the presents in the bottom drawer of the bedside table, and sat quietly around the bed, waiting. Ash decided that seeing as they'd passed the canteen, he wanted some more food. 10 minutes later he returned with a chocolate éclair. He quietly made his way through the room door, to find Misty awake, and half sitting up in bed. "Ash, it took you ten minutes just to fetch a chocolate éclair?" Jo asked "It's a time known as lunchtime. Canteens tend to be busy around now…" Ash explained as if Jo were a six year old. "Oh, hi Misty, how ya feeling?" Ash continued "Okay, I guess. Thanks for the muffin, sandwich and hot chocolate this morning… I know you didn't know, well, I didn't know until Joy told me, but I wasn't allowed to eat something like those. She said they were too rich for me…" Misty explained. "Alright," Ash replied before finishing his éclair. Misty had been feeling okay until then, when she had the sudden urge to bring up all that lovely breakfast. "*Gulp* I need the toilet… fast!" Misty said while trying to resist the urge to vomit. She tried to leap up and run to the toilet, but failed. "Err… Misty, you *can't* go to the toilet with the IV in your arm…" Brock said "Oh… too late… Ash, move…" Misty said quietly "What- oh. Someone go fetch Joy… Alright Misty, just bring it up, there's no point in keeping it all in you…" Ash comforted Misty, rubbing her back. Misty had ended up regurgitating her breakfast all over Ash's trousers. Jo had run out of the room to fetch Joy, and was now returning. "Oh… here Misty, try to be sick into that. I'll just pour you some water… here. Take some slow sips when you think you've finished. I'll just go fetch something to clean the mess up," Joy said, giving Misty the cup. She took it with a shaky hand. "T-thanks…" She replied, taking a sip. Her face had gone white, and she was drenched with sweat. Ash took the cup from her. "All finished?" Ash asked softly "I think so… Holy crap, that sure came out of nowhere!" Misty laughed weakly. Joy then returned, with some cloths to clean up the sick, and a bin. "Okay, are you done?" Joy asked Misty, wiping the sick off the bed cover. "Yeah, thanks." Misty replied. Joy took the paper sick bucket thing (well, that's what I call them! ^_^) off her, and put it in the bin. "Ash, do you want to change in the toilet, and we'll get them cleaned for you along with Misty's cover." Joy asked Ash, noticing the sick on his jeans. He nodded. "Okay, I'll be back in just a moment Mist." Ash said to Misty as he walked into the bathroom to get changed. He returned quickly. "Misty, I think you should get some rest after that bout." Joy politely ordered Misty "Yeah, even though I feel fine…" Misty said, laying back down in bed, and drifting off to sleep. Joy returned about 5 minutes later to replace Misty's cover. "Oh, I forgot to ask her just now. Do any of you know how I can get in touch with her parents? Then I need to give her another check up, like blood pressure… you know what I mean…" Joy asked "Well, not her parents, because they died some years ago, but we do know how to contact her sisters, and if it's any help to you, and if you need an actual parent, phone my mum 'cause she's the closest parent she's got to her. If you want, I'll make the calls while you check up on her." Ash replied "If you don't mind…" Joy answered. Ash nodded before finding the nearest videophone. He typed in Misty's home number. "Oh, come on… don't say you've gone out…" Ash said impatiently. As soon as he said this, the phone picked up. He sighed. "Hi! You have like- reached Cerulean Gym, the showcase of the Sensational Sisters! We're sorry we can't like- take your call at the moment. If this calls an emergency, then you can phone us at the Kanto League Gym Leader Summit in the Indigo Plateau. Thank you, and like- call by at the gym real soon!" Daisy's cheery voice and face could be heard/seen. Ash picked up the phone directory for the phone, looked up the Indigo Plateau's number, and typed it in. The phone rang, and was answered. "Hello, this is the Kanto League Headquarters. This is Kate. How may I help you?" A young lady with blonde hair popped up on the screen. "Umm… could you please forward me to Daisy, Lily, or Violet Waterflower?" Ash asked "I'm sorry, they're in a Gym Leader meeting at the minute. Would you like to leave a note for them?" "No, it's kind of an emergency. It's about their little sister. I need to talk to them personally." "Okay. I'll just need to put you on hold just a minute, okay?" "Yeah, thanks." With that, the screen went blank. About a minute later, Kate came back on the screen. "I'll forward you now…" The sound went silent, and then you could hear the dial tone. The phone was then picked up immediately. On the screen was Daisy's face. In the background you could see the Kanto Gym Leaders around a large table with the Elite Four sat at the end with Lance in the middle. "Hi! You know, this like- needs to be really quick. We're busy right now- Oh it's you Ash! I haven't seen you in ages! What do you want?" She answered "Umm… it's about Misty. Last week she was caught up in an ambush by Team Rocket." "Oh my God! Why didn't you phone us sooner?" "The phone lines have been down in Johto the past week…" "Where are you phoning from?" "Goldenrod District Hospital. I'm with Misty." "Like- how is she?" Daisy was beginning to get upset. "Well, when she was brought in last week, she was critical. She's been in a coma the past few days, although she's woken from it; she's broken a lot of bones in her left arm; and she's been poisoned by an Arbok." "Oh God! Is she like- holding okay?" "Well, she was sick about half an hour ago, but that was because she ate a chocolate muffin after not eating anything for six days…" "We'd like- come up, but this summit is *really* important. It's lasting for another like- 2 days. If she needs anybody with her, then we'll come up, but-" "No, it's okay. I'm going to be with her." "Oh Ash, you're a star! Oh, by the way, it's like- Misty's birthday tomorrow. Would you mind, like- getting her something to cheer her up?" "I already have it sorted." "Okay! Thanks again Ash! We all like- send our love! See ya!" Daisy finished, before hanging up. Ash walked back to Misty's room quickly, worried in case he had missed anything in the brief absence of being in her presence. *~*~*~*~* The next day… Ash, Brock and Jo had woken up early in the morning due to a thunderstorm at around 4:00. They were sat quietly by the window playing Pictionary. It was Pikachu's turn, and she had begun to draw the ever-famous ketchup bottle. "Hmm… is it a flower of some sort?" Jo asked, tilting her head to one side to see if it changed when she moved. Her answer was a shake of Pikachu's head, before Pikachu carried on with her 'masterpiece', in other words, a scribbled mess. "Well, I think it's something to do with food…" Ash guessed "Pika!" Pikachu, replied, pointing at Ash "Okay… then it might be… hmm. Sushi?" "Don't be dumb Ash!" "You're the dumb one! Since when does that look like a flower?" Ash retorted "You 2 chill. You'll wake up Misty… and then you'll be in for it! Besides, it's tomato ketchup, isn't it Pikachu?" Brock answered. "Pika!!!" "Aww… no fair… I'll never have a go…" Ash whined as Brock took the pens off Pikachu. "Well, Ash, if you even took an educated guess, then you probably would get it!" "Oh shut up Misty, I don't want to start a fight with you… Hey! Since when have you been awake?" Ash realized as he swiveled around, and staring right back at him was Misty smiling. "Since you lot started playing pictionary. I just kept quiet to see how you did…" Misty giggled. "And obviously, that wasn't too good. How could THAT look like sushi?" Misty finished, pointing at the paper stuck to the wall. "Well, can you do any better?" Ash retorted "Oh don't start. I'm not in the mood for fighting today. Number 1 coz I won't be able to keep up with your snide remarks coz I'm feeling lousy, and number 2 coz I'm in as good a mood you can get in hospital, waiting to be tortured by poison…" Misty sighed. "Oh, that just reminded me," Ash said, as if he'd remembered the most important thing ever. He walked over to Misty's bedside cabinet, crouched down, opened it and took out his presents for Misty. Misty frowned "Happy Birthday Mist!" He cheered, passing his presents to her. Her face lit up. "Oh, you remembered!!! Thank you!!!" Misty replied, reaching out to hug him. "Okay… can you let go… of me? At least… loosen your grip… your pot hurts." Ash struggled to say. Misty pulled away from him, and he blushed. "Sorry!" Misty finished, also blushing. "Well, aren't you gonna open them?" Ash said, eyeing the presents in Misty's lap. They had been wrapped in metallic sea blue wrapping paper. Jo shook her head. "No way! She's gotta have ours too…" Jo argued as she made her way to the same cupboard. Brock followed. They both got their presents out for Misty. "So, how are you feeling after yesterday's sicky spell?" Ash asked "I don't feel sick anymore, but I think the poison symptoms are starting to show up, coz I just feel lousy. Let's just put it this way. If I were still traveling with you, I'd be holding you up an awful lot. I'm just glad I don't have to walk anywhere today…" Jo cleared her throat. "Happy birthday Misty!" Brock said "The same from me!" Jo added "Thanks you guys. I really thought you wouldn't remember…" Misty replied "Now can she open them?" Ash said excitedly "God he's like a six year old isn't he?" Misty replied, smirking at Ash. He pulled a face. "Alright. Misty, just open them!" Ash ordered "Okay, okay. I'm opening them. Just take a chill pill, Ash" Misty laughed. She looked at the pile of gifts on her bed, and she picked up another present. It was a ball shaped gift. "Let me guess, it's a Pokéball!" Misty laughed, as she opened it. "Hey, no normal Pokéball at that, I'll tell you!" Ash retorted offended. "Well, surprise surprise, it's from you!" Misty replied, as she opened the present. In her hand was a Pokéball. Instead of being red at the top, it was a turquoise colour, and there was a silver fishing hook near the top. Her face lit up. "Actually, it's from my mum and Prof. Oak. That is a new Pokéball. Prof. Oak told me this was called a Marine Ball. This ball is 3 times as effective as the Lure Ball, and has an 80% success rate when capturing Water Pokémon. Of course when they're weakened, it'll be that rate. When it was being tested, it seemed to have a better result when catching Pokémon from salt water. So in other words, this ball's best for sea water Pokémon." "That's amazing. Just think of the Pokémon I could catch with that… Octillerys, even Tentacruels! I'll have to thank your mum and Oak for that." "Uh huh. That's not all though," Ash added while passing her the last present from him. She looked at it, and then opened it. She looked at the ball in her hand. It was pearly white at the bottom, and metallic turquoise at the top. "It's… beautiful." Misty stated. She held the ball in her hand, and looked at Ash with a look to say 'You haven't!' The ball was heavier than the Marine Ball, so she had a slight thought that he'd got her a Pokémon. Ash saw the look, and grinned goofily. "Yep! I know what you're thinking. Use it in your next battle, that is, if you're working in the Gym of course," "Oh thank you so much! I'll use it when I get back…" Misty said as she lunged for him again. Of course, she was lying about the latter. 'I'll use it against Whitney more like, that is, when I get out of here…' Misty thought to herself. "Yeah, okay, that's fine!" Ash choked again. "Erm, you should open Brock and Jo's presents now I think." Misty let go of him. "Oh sorry!" Misty said to the other two. Brock handed over his present. He hadn't wrapped it, but Misty wasn't bothered. She noticed the cover of the book. "Oh thanks Brock!!!" She said on sight of the cover. It read 'Becoming a Water Pokémon Breeder, by Jessica Mariner' "She's such a famous Water Type Breeder you know!" "Of course I knew that. Here, I've got you something else too." Brock continued, passing Misty three tins of specialist water Pokémon food. "With that stuff, I thought your Pokémon would be getting bored with Pokéchow now, so I got you some of this for your Pokémon. Each of those tins would feed a squad of six four times, so one tin would last say, two days." "Thanks again Brock! Corsy would definitely enjoy this!!!" She said, hugging Brock. Jo was last to give Misty her present. She picked up the present. It was wrapped in some green paper, and was a thin box shape. "Hmm…" Misty said while opening it. "Oh wow!!! It's a Waterdex!!! I'd heard about these on Mary's Radio Show a month back!" She continued when she saw the box. She opened the box, and in it was a clear blue Pokédex shaped object. Misty turned it on, and Ash naturally looked at it to see what it did. "Oh cool!!! Let me have a go, please?" Ash begged "If you must... I'll have to programme it later…" Misty finished, as she passed the Waterdex to Ash. "Oh this is cool!!! I want one!" "Honestly Ash! Want doesn't get, but your birthday is coming up soon…" Misty teased. "Yes! I want one then!" "Oh boy…" Brock stated, rubbing his forehead. Half an hour later, Nurse Joy came in to give Misty her morning check up, and replace her IV. "Hmm… you've got a high temperature Misty… that means the poison's finally setting in. I'll be out in the main ward tending to patients, and if you feel ill again, tell Ash, and he'll fetch me, okay? But the best thing to do right now is to get as much rest as possible." Joy told Misty. Misty nodded her head. Joy left the room, and Ash came back in, followed by Jo and Brock. "Hey Mist! We just came back from the canteen, and a mail deliveryman was asking for you. He had LOADS of parcels in his hands…" Ash was saying to Misty, when one of the ward nurses came into the room, followed by the deliveryman. "Um, Misty, these were sent to the hospital this morning through special delivery from the Indigo Plateau. Where do you want them?" The nurse asked Misty. "Oh, I'll have them here," Misty replied, pointing to the bed. The deliveryman came and set them down on the bed. "I've got more in the van, I'll be back in a minute." He replied, before leaving again. "Wow, who could all these be from?" Misty asked as she picked up a parcel, and unwrapped it. She noticed a card, but opened the present first. Ash picked up the card, and opened it. "Oh cool, lots of chocolate!!!" Ash said when he noticed Misty's present. He opened the envelope in his hand, and read the card out to Misty. "'To Misty, hope you recover real soon, and happy birthday, from Lance?' Misty, you know Lance???" Ash exclaimed "Well, duh, I *am* a gym leader…" Misty said while picking up another parcel. "Hey, Ash. You can help unwrap them if you want. You two can too!" Misty called. 10 minutes later, all the parcels had been opened, and the envelopes were left. They took turns to read out the messages. "Hmm… this one says 'We all hope you get well soon, from the Johto League organizers,'" Jo read "Oh, this one's from my sisters. 'To our baby sister, get well soon, and happy birthday, from your three sisters P.S Thank Ashy-boy for telling us about you.' Oh, okay. That's how they found out…" Misty said. "This one says 'To Misty, Happy birthday, and we hope you recover soon, the Elite Four'." Brock read. Misty ended up having a present or card from everybody involved in the Indigo, Orange and Johto Leagues. Ash was amazed at how she knew all the Gym Leaders and everything, and every time, she pointed out that she was a gym leader herself… *~*~*~*~* 5 days passed, and Misty was still in hospital, obviously. Misty has been moved out of Intensive care to the top floor, which is the Poison Ward. Again, she was in a separate room. Her condition had obviously deteriorated, due to the poison symptoms passing through. For the past 2 days, she has had a very high fever, and has been unable to move her arms or legs. This sort of showed a glimmer of hope to some, but also some were getting more and more worried about her condition. Ash had become slightly more hopeful, as soon the antidote will be used, and Misty will be back to her old self. But, Joy and Dr Barton were getting worried. The poison was at a higher concentration than first expected, and with the amount that was in Misty's blood, she could fall back into a coma state at any minute. *~*~*~*~* (A/N Each time we switch from TR to the hospital, then it's carrying on from where the others left off, so after this part of TR, the hospital part will be AFTER the TR part took place… confusing? It took me 10 minutes to try and explain it… -_-;) Jessie, James and Meowth were entering the Goldenrod city limits. The afternoon sun was beginning to sink from the sky for the night. "Well then, we're back in Goldenrod, what we gonna do now we're here?" Meowth directed at his teammates. "Hmm… well, Twerpette was rushed here, so why don't we go visit her?" Jessie asked "After we've had something to eat, plus I want to stroll along the beach. Look at it!!!" James exclaimed, pointing at the coast. "We'll walk along the beach to the nearest burger stall, then walk up to the hospital to visit Twerpette, okay?" Jessie said. James and Meowth nodded. *~*~*~*~* Back with Misty and co, Misty had felt exhausted earlier, and fell into an unsettled feverish slumber. She had been moaning in her sleep, but recently gone quiet. Ash had noticed this. "Hmm… you guys, do you think Misty's alright? She's been quieter the past 10 minutes or so…" Jo turned around from the game her Brock and Pikachu had been playing, namely Hangman, and replied. "Yeah. She has hasn't she… a lot quieter…" "I hope that Dr Barton can use the antidote soon, she's getting really bad…" Ash worriedly added. Just then Nurse Joy came in through the door. She looked at Ash, and her smile dissolved "Erm, Ash, we've got a problem. It's about the antidote…" With that, everybody looked up. "In our antidote store, we usually have a high stock of antidotes for every poison type. However, we've searched the whole hospital, and there's no Arbok antidote…" Joy said, and then stared at the floor. "But… but there are other hospitals with antidotes… right?" Ash started with tears in his eyes. 'This can't be happening… why Misty?' He thought to himself. Joy sighed. "There seems to be a shortage of antidotes everywhere… the nearest Arbok antidote is in Lavender City Hospital… It won't get here in time…" Ash just couldn't believe this. "Ash, don't worry, Dr Barton's looking for some medication that'll help Misty until it arrives… But he hasn't found anything yet." Joy said apologetically. Ash sighed. "Okay. Thanks a lot Joy…" Ash began, but was interrupted by Dr Barton at the door. "Joy! I've found one!!! It's the last one left in Johto. Your cousin in the Pokémon Centre found it in her human medicine store…" "Brilliant! Ash, do you mind just waking Misty to take this?" Joy asked happily "Alright. Misty, come on, wake up. We've got your antidote…" Ash said to Misty. She woke up slowly. "Misty, we've got your antidote. Just stay awake for a while for us, will you?" Joy said while sucking the antidote into a needle for the injection. She passed it to Dr Barton. "Now this will hurt quite a bit, okay?" Dr Barton said, while finding the vein under her elbow. He cleaned it, and then injected the antidote into Misty. She bit her lip, trying to stop herself from crying. Dr Barton pulled the syringe out of Misty. "Oww… when is this gonna take effect?" Misty asked groggily "It should take about 15 minutes. We'll come back in 15 minutes to check, okay?" Joy answered, as Dr Barton put a plaster on the needle mark. Afterwards, him and Joy left the room. Misty sighed, and smiled weakly. "The quicker this works, the quicker I'm out of this place. Ash, do you realise that if I was still with you guys, then when I get out of here I'll be lagging behind loads… you'd probably lose your temper after half an hour…" "Why?" "Because I haven't walked since around 2 weeks ago… the only time I've left this bed are when I was transferred from ICU up here, then that was onto another bed, and I didn't have to move much…" Ash nodded in agreement, and at the same time, his stomach growled. Ash laughed. "I guess you're hungry then, eh? Go and get yourself something, and while you're at it, fetch me and Jo something too." Brock ordered Ash. "Alright," Ash left the room on a mission for food. (A/N sorry it sounds lame, it just made a change… ^_^;) "Misty, when you do leave the hospital, you've gotta take it easy, right?" Brock warned Misty "Yeah, yeah, I know…" *~*~*~*~* Jessie took her last mouthful of a hamburger. "I should really stop eating fatty food like burgers, they'll murder my perfect figure…" She complained. Meowth and James face faulted. "Nyahh, shaddup moaning!!! It's ages since we ate a burger!" Meowth replied, scratching Jessie's face. "You great stupid furball!!!!!" Jessie screamed. "Should we be going to the hospital now?" James sighed. "Yeah, along the seafront…" Meowth trailed off. The trio then began to walk towards the coast again, after filling their stomachs. *~*~*~*~* Back with Misty (again)… Dr Barton was checking on Misty for any signs of improvement due to the antidote. "Hmm… this is weird… Misty, can you lift your arms yet?" Misty tried. "Hardly," She replied weakly "That is what I was afraid of…" Dr Barton sighed. "Misty, your blood pressure's still high, your fever's returning again, and generally, it seems that your body hasn't reacted to the antidote…" Dr Barton frowned in frustration. "So… what's going to happen?" Misty asked worriedly "That's the thing. We're not sure. There's one thing I'd like to do though. I'm going to take a blood sample and have it tested to see the poison count…" Dr Barton explained as he took a syringe and took some blood. "I'll be back in a minute with the results, okay? Jo, when Ash comes back, explain to him what's happened please?" Dr Barton left the room. "Ash is gonna be pretty upset when he comes back…" Brock started "Yeah, but spare a thought for Misty as well…" Jo retorted. Misty wasn't listening. She was just staring out of the window, seeing a larger seascape from the top floor. "Sorry Misty…" Brock apologized. Misty didn't reply. "Misty? Hello, Misty?" Brock went up to her and waved his hand in front of her face. She jumped. "Huh? Oh sorry Brock. What did you say?" Misty asked oblivious to the conversation. "I said I was sorry." "About what?" At that moment, Ash came into the room, and a couple of seconds later, Dr Barton came in also. "Doesn't matter…" Brock finished, noticing Dr Barton and Ash. "Oh good, you're back Ash. We came to check Misty earlier, and well… we found out that Misty hasn't reacted to the antidote what so ever…" Dr Barton began. Ash was giving Brock and Jo their food he'd got them from the canteen. At this, he swiveled round. "What?? Why?" He burst out. "That's what we're trying to find out now. I took some blood and tested for the poison count, and well, it's higher than we expected. That antidote was for slight strains of poison stings, but this was more serious. Misty, when the Poison sting hit you, it seems that you were exposed more than we knew. So, in other words, you have a lot more poison in your circulation than we thought at first, more than we know what to do with, I'm afraid." Dr Barton explained. "So what's Misty supposed to do now? Wait until the poison kills her?" Ash said loudly "Well, we have two options, not counting what you said. One is that we make a stronger antidote, but no one here owns an Arbok, do they?" Everybody shook his or her heads, except Misty, whose expression was glazed over. "Okay, that's out of the question. The only other option is to give a blood transfusion, but we haven't got the right blood group available, and we would have to live with the threat of the body rejecting it…" Dr Barton concluded. "Oh great. This just gets better and better…" Ash said sarcastically, walking up to the window. "You alright Mist?" He asked as he made his way to the window. "Mmm… Just a bit tired." "Oh, that's a thing. Misty, whatever you do, don't go to sleep until we find something to help you, okay? Because if you do fall asleep, you've got a chance you won't wake again…" Dr Barton said with a hint of worry. He then left the room in search of some help. Ash just looked out of the window onto the beach. *~*~*~*~* Jessie, James and Meowth were making their way along the seafront. "Ahh, isn't it beautiful? Watching the sunset over Whirl Islands and being reflected in the sea? It's so calm…" Jessie sighed "Aww, come on Jess, let's get this visit over with. The quicker we get it over with, the quicker we can tend to our wounds from her…" James whined "Plus Twerp's probably there now…" Meowth added "Grr… okay! We'll go then. Satisfied?" Jessie moaned. 5 minutes later, the trio had made their way up half of the seafront, and near the hospital. "Okay, we can see the hospital… so how do we get there, Einstein?" Jessie targeted James "Err… Why don't we… follow the beach to the hospital, then get to the hospital from there…" James stammered. They agreed, and made their way further along the coast to the hospital. They were stood right outside it, but couldn't find a way in. "Great. Where's the entrance?" James said angrily "Up there, Jimmy Boy. You've just gotta find us a way up the cliff…" Meowth answered fairly calmly. *~*~*~*~* Misty was laid down, still trying to stay awake in the bed. Ash was next to her, keeping her awake by talking to her. "So then. What did you do when you left us?" Ash asked, keeping the conversation. "I- Ash, could you… open the window please? I'm getting too hot." She replied. Ash nodded, and turned around to the window. "So, what did you do?" "I went back to Cerulean, then trained for a week…" Misty stifled a yawn. Ash caught the sight of somebody outside the hospital on the beach. 'No… it's not them is it?' Ash thought. When he noticed a Meowth, he leaped up. "Misty, I'll be back in a minute… I've seen Team Rocket…" With that, Ash was gone out of the door. Misty just stared at the door he had just rushed out of. "Team Rocket…" She said to herself. For the first time since she had woken, she realised that she couldn't properly remember what had happened. She could remember the fact that Team Rocket attacked her, but she didn't know how or why they had attacked her. But that shouldn't worry her now. Ash had just left her… *~*~*~*~* Ash just ran all the way through the poison ward to the lift, and was on his way to the ground floor. 'Those three are so dead… I can't believe why they attacked Misty. When I get my hands on them…' He thought to himself, but was distracted by the lift stopping. It had reached the ground floor. As soon as the doors opened, he had rushed out of them, past the reception, and out of the door. As soon as he was outside, he looked around for the quickest way to the beach. He noticed the cliff just a little way from him, so he ran flat out to it. "Hmm, where are those idiots?" Ash said to himself, scanning the beach. He noticed them, so he jumped over the fence, and began to make his way down the cliff. It was quite easy until half way down, when he had to begin reaching down further. Towards the bottom, he speeded up the descent. However, he lost his footing, and fell the rest of the way. He landed on his side, with pain shooting along his arm. Ignoring it, he stood up and made his way towards Team Rocket. *~*~*~*~* 5 minutes had passed since Ash had run out of the hospital, and Misty was becoming increasingly tired, and her fever was also increasing again. 'Why can't I just go to sleep?' Misty thought as her eyes went heavy again. "Misty, come on, stay awake, please?" Jo asked desperately, knowing what would probably be the outcome if she did fall asleep. "I… can't stay awake… for much longer, I can't give up though," Misty struggled to say. She was trying her hardest to stay awake, but she just wanted to give up, and go to sleep. 'How could sleep be painful? Just 5 minutes won't hurt…' she thought again. She was beginning to fall asleep, when she realised what she was doing, but couldn't fight back to get her eyes open again… "Misty? Misty, come on, wake up…" Brock panicked, shaking Misty. "I'll go get Dr Barton…" Jo said solemnly, leaving the room quickly. *~*~*~*~* "Hey! Team Rocket!" Ash shouted, running towards Team Rocket. "Arrgghh, the twerp! Come on, run!!!" James shouted at the sight of Ash. "Oh no you don't… you're not getting away from me…" Ash said through gritted teeth, now sprinting at Team Rocket. He caught up with them. He stared at them with pure hate. James gulped. "We're in for it now…" "Damn right you are! I want to know why you attacked Misty, and she'll probably want answers too. How low can you three go (<---- lookie, it rhymed… ^_^), huh? Attacking a person, wait, my soul mate (That rhymed again… how am I doing it?)? What the hell were you three thinking? Right now she's waiting in hospital for either a blood transfusion or death… and I don't think she'd like to be killed by the likes of Team Rocket…she isn't quitting, just so that you three don't get the credit. She would hate that, she really would." Ash bombarded Team Rocket with questions. Jessie tried to keep her cool. "Whoa, calm down Twerp," She said to him starting to lose her temper. "WHY SHOULD I CALM DOWN??" Ash shouted his loudest. Jessie slapped him. "So we can actually say something to you!" Jessie growled. "Come on then, say what you're going to say," Ash said impatiently, holding his cheek where Jessie had slapped him. James sighed. "Well, when we attacked Twerpette, we thought… we thought she was with you. As usual, we tried to steal Pikachu, but when we found that you weren't with her, and it was too late to pull out of the plan…" James explained "Why?" "Because she would have fallen down the pit anyway." Jessie finished "So how did she get poisoned?" "Well, there were two other twerps around, we don't know whether they were with her or not, but they began attacking us. One of the twerps' Pokémon dodged Arbok's Poison Sting, and it bounced off the pit wall onto her…" Jessie sounded guilty, but Ash couldn't make out whether it was genuine guilt or not. "Before you ask anything else Twerp, yes we do feel for Twerpette. Actually, we were deciding on whether to go visit her or not…" James also said. "Hmm, I'll go along with you for now. But I need to ask you for a favour," Ash began "What does it involve?" Meowth piped up. "Well, as I said, Misty is practically waiting to die. She's got such a high poison count in her blood that the Antidote wasn't strong enough. There's no more left, and as I said before, she could have a blood transfusion. However, we're still waiting to see if there's any blood suitable for her, it's taking too long. She really needs a double strength antidote to get rid of the poison in her blood… That's where you three come in…" "Let me guess, you want us to help make an antidote for her using Arbok? Sorry, no deal." Jessie said. "Please, besides, if she dies, I could tell Officer Jenny who the murderers were…" Ash spat "Oh, come on Jessie, it won't kill us to help for once… we didn't mean to nearly kill her, did we?" James whispered to Jessie. "Besides, YOU were the ones who put her in this state. Don't you think it'd make things better? At least you're helping…" Ash said, his temper beginning to rise again. "Oh, alright! Are you happy now? We'll help her, okay? Jeez… bad guys helping the twerps…" Jessie practically screamed. Ash looked as if he was going to cry. "Thanks you three…" Ash said quietly. *~*~*~*~* Meanwhile, things weren't getting any better with Misty… "Right, how long has she been asleep?" Dr Barton asked. "About 20 minutes… We couldn't find you or Joy." Jo answered. "Have you tried waking her?" "Yeah, as soon as she fell asleep." Jo replied. Dr Barton checked her pulse. "Oh God, no… her pulse is decreasing again, and her breathing's becoming laboured again. Jo, could you go fetch any nurse you can find, and tell them to bring a heart monitor in? Oh, and ask them to page Nurse Joy, okay?" "Yep." And with that, Jo had gone off for a nurse. "So… what does this mean?" Brock piped up. "Well, I'm not sure, but the signs are pointing towards the fact she may well be falling back into a comatose state." Dr Barton answered solemnly. A couple of minutes later, Jo returned, with Nurse Joy following soon after. "What's the matter? Jo said to bring a heart monitor…" Joy asked worriedly. "Yeah, well, where is it?" Dr Barton replied. "It's on the way. One of the nurses is bringing it down." Joy replied. "Thanks. Okay, Misty fell asleep about 30 minutes ago now, I've come to check on her, and her pulse has slowed, and breathing's becoming weak again. I think that her body's slowing down to enter a coma again. You have better knowledge of comas, so could you help?" The heart monitor arrived so they hooked Misty up to it. "Okay." Joy checked Misty over again. "Hmm… at the moment she isn't quite in a coma, it's what you could call the twilight zone (don't ask where that came from…), meaning she appears to be going into or coming out of a coma, and is perfectly aware of what's happening, just that she can't bring herself to wake up or react to anything." "Is that bad?" Jo asked "Not too serious, but we're going to have to try and wake her up though. Otherwise she could fall back into a coma anytime…" Joy replied *~*~*~*~* Right, I would like some feedback from this… does this work properly as one large chapter, or was it better split into two? Tell me people, you know where to review from!!!