Chapter 4 Ash Tells A Story Brock was out for a walk. He broke up with Nurse Joy a few days ago. It turned out that she was married to the mayor of the town. It was just as well, he was going to breakup with her anyway. Nothing seemed as satisfying after Ash died. Brock was left with an empty feeling in the pit of his chest that nothing seemed to fill. Brock had everything he wanted. A girl, his family was complete, he was learning more about breeding than ever, but it just didn't seem like enough. He brought out a poke ball. "Go Onix!" He cried. Onix let out a loud roar, as it usually did when released. Brock got on it's back. "Let's go for a ride boy." Brock said. Onix started off towards Mt. Moon, one of Brock's favorite places to go and think these days. As he was riding out, a familiar figure walked toward Brock's house. (If you need to ask who it is, you haven't been paying attention so far.) The young man brought out of all things, a gasoline can. "Charizard," the figure said, "Weld the door shut." A charizard belched a large breath of flame, and the whole door fused to the frame. There were no windows on the first floor, so he wasn't worried about that. Naturally the trainer of the charizard was Ash, who took out the gasoline can, opened it, and started dumping it all around the house. He then walked toward the gym that Brock had started back up. He was even whistling a tune as he went. At this point, it had started to rain at Mt. Moon, so Brock had to head back to town. "Figures." Brock mumbled. The rain hadn't reached Pewter City yet, so Brock didn't worry much. He went to the gym, and one of his assistants told him he had a challenger waiting. It turned out to be some punk from Cherrygrove City. It wouldn't take long to beat him. Outside, Ash was coming up to the gym. He asked the assistant at the door, "Is Brock, the gym leader in? I have business with him." The assistant, who looked to be twenty-something, was stern with his answer, "Yes, but he's in the middle of a match right now, you'll have to come back later." Ash was very understanding. "Of course, I'm sorry to have bothered you, here, let me be on my-" Ash suddenly grabbed the guy, picked him up, and threw him about three blocks away. He released Charizard and Pikachu, and told Charizard, "Knock first, we don't want to seem rude." Charizard knocked twice, then hit the door with such force, that it flew off it's hinges, and crashed into the far wall. Ash and company walked in and then up to the challenger, who, along with Brock, hadn't noticed the door. Ash walked up to the challenger, picked him up told, "You're done." then threw him outside, into a tree. Brock, naturally stunned, regained his senses. He started shouting, "Hey, you can't just come in here and start messing around with my challengers!" Ash's reply was quick and painful. He grabbed Brock by the neck, and slammed him into the wall. Then said, "Shut the hell up Brocko. Christ, if I had a dollar for every time I felt like doing this, I'd have enough cash to buy this screwed up world." Brock suddenly took a good hard look at the guy at his throat, (It's hard to see with eyes like that after all, they're always either shut or hearts) and made the connection. "Holy crap, ASH?!?!?" Was about all he could manage to say. "YES!!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD IT'S ME ALREADY! WHY IS EVERYONE SO FREAKIN' SURPRISED?! I'M ALIVE!!!!! NO THANKS TO ANY OF YOU!!!" Ash screamed right in Brock's face. "Say what?" replied Brock. "Don't give me that! I know damn well that neither you or Misty even bothered to look for me! I could have forgiven if you just couldn't find me, but no, you left at the first chance you got." Brock was speechless. Everything Ash was saying was completely true and Brock knew it. Meanwhile Ash continued on. "Do you know what happened to me? I'll tell you. I was swept along with the snow when the avalanche happened. I hung on to Charizard and Pikachu for dear life. Then the next thing I knew, we were falling. I hit the ground hard, and unfortunately, I landed on my left arm. I think it goes without saying that I broke it. I fell unconscious for a few hours. When I woke up, both Charizard and Pikachu were in their poke balls. Luckily I had returned them there before the avalanche started. I looked around and saw that I was in a cave. I couldn't get up and explore, or let Pikachu and Charizard out to go for help, because it hurt too much to move. The only exit of the cave was 50 feet above me, on the ceiling. I yelled for hours, but no one heard me. I had no food, and after the first couple of days, I was starving. The pain in my arm was so intense, do you know what I had to do? I had to reach into my pocket, get out a knife, chop off my ****ing arm." Ash looked at Brock right then and said, "Do you have any idea how much it hurts to cut off your own arm? Let me tell you, it hurts like a bastard! After I cut off my arm and stopped the bleeding, do you know what I had to do? I was so freakin' hungry, do you know what I did?" Brock could guess, and he was starting to realize he might not be able to live through this encounter. Ash suddenly grabbed the glowing red gem hanging around his neck, and showed it to Brock. "See this, Brock?" he asked. "Ya want to know how I found it? A while after my makeshift amputation, I looked around the cave. You'll never believe what I found. A shrine dedicated to a single, enormous crystal in it's center. It glowed a red glow, and seemed to give off a strange warmth. It's what kept me from freezing all those weeks. And all that time, I was mad at you and Misty. And the strange thing was, the madder I got, the hotter the crystal became. Eventually, I became so enraged that a piece of the crystal, the piece around my neck I might add, broke off. I grabbed it, and just holding it seemed to make me stronger. With the exception of my arm, all of my injuries healed. The crystal actually spoke to me. It told me exactly what you and Misty were doing. It told me exactly how I could survive all those weeks, and how I could get out. I eventually made it out of the cave, then I let Charizard and Pikachu out. The crystal even started to affect them as well. And now, I'm going to show you how much good it's done." He let Brock down, then leaped backwards. He said, "Let's go Brock, I haven't had a match in a while, and I need a victim......"