Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 54: More Battles to Fight

The splitting headache was torture to Ash, even while he slept. In his dreams, he could even feel the pain in his head. It was excruciating. When he opened his eyes, it wasn't any better. That is, until he saw Serena's face light up at seeing him awake. Obviously that made him feel a little better. However, once he remembered what had happened the last time he was awake, he felt grief take hold of him.

"Ash, are you feeling better?" Serena asked, taking hold of his hand.

Ash mindlessly nodded, not really having heard the question. He looked around the room. He'd assumed he would have been in a hospital room, but he realized he was in a normal room. "Where are we?"

"Professor Sycamore's lab. The hospital is kind of full right now and he thought that since you're problem wasn't exactly physical, you should stay here." Serena explained. "All of your friends are waiting outside. And don't worry, Greninja and Pikachu and all of your Pokemon are ok. Greninja woke up only a couple of hours ago. Squishy's and his friend are ok as well."

"And you?" Ash asked quickly, looking carefully at her to spot if she was lying.

Serena rolled her eyes. "I'm fine, Ash. Don't worry about me. Actually, don't worry about anyone. Just try to relax and get better.

Ash sighed. He supposed she was right. It had definitely been a stressful...well it had been pretty stressful since Greninja had left and Palermo had shown up. Ever since he'd split from the group and had set off to deal with his own thing. Maybe it was finally time to relax a bit. However, he still had questions that needed answering. "How long have I been out?"

"Um...about three days." Serena answered, looking at him nervously, as if she felt like it was her fault he'd been out that long."

Ash realized why she was nervous though. No one else, not even Pikachu, was in the room. That must have meant... "Did you watch over me the whole time?" He asked.

Serena blushed and nodded. "I couldn't leave. Pikachu would have stayed too, but I wanted him to get some fresh air. Greninja is on his way over from the Pokemon centre now." Her face was bright red now. "It hasn't just been you and me in here the whole time. People have been coming in and out. It's not like-"

"Thank you." Ash interrupted. "And it's fine if it was just you." He realized that his headache was already starting to leave him, just by looking at Serena. He sat up, in preparation to go. "Well, I guess it's time to get moving. The city's probably a mess right? I should help."

Serena gently pushed him back down into his bed. "No, it's fine. The damage in the city was actually pretty minor and the grass and bug Pokemon have helped out with cleaning up the fields around the city. Your Leavanny's been really helpful with that."

"Are all of my Pokemon still here?" Ash asked, not fighting too hard to get up. He was pretty tired after all, despite the exhaustion.

"Yeah. They've been key to fixing things up." Serena explained happily. "They're all so wonderful, Ash. It's been really cool to meet some of them. I haven't seen some of the bigger ones yet, but the smaller ones have come to visit you. By the way...Bayleaf...does she...?"

Ash started laughing. "Bayleaf is pretty affectionate, that's for sure."

Serena smiled. "Yeah, I noticed. Although, she seemed to not like me too much at first. She warmed up to me later though, when she saw me taking care of you."

"You had it easy compared to Pikachu." Ash said. "Bayleaf was jealous of him as well and things were pretty rough at first."

Serena nodded and then her face looked a little more serious and Ash knew she was about to bring up the topic he'd been hoping to avoid. "So...do you want to talk about Mewtwo?"