Infected

Chapter 11

"Echo," Echo...echo.. echo.

Ash had been sitting here forever, in this black void. He was bored, to say the least, so he'd been fiddling with the space. He had sneezed once, and it sounded so stupid Ash laughed for like three minutes straight.

"Uuggghh, I'm so *bored*," Ash moaned. At least it gave him a break from the outbreak, and being so serious all the time.

  *Hiccup*

*Hiccup...hiccup... hiccup*

Great.

After another ten minutes of hiccups, Ash began to trace the blue markings along his arms. They looked pretty cool, but they felt strange. Like butterflies but on your arms. They glowed slightly too.

"Okay, I'm done now," he announced, "I. Need. Out."

As if on que, as began to fade away. He sighed in relief, muttering 'finally' as his vision clouded. Slowly his body came back to him, along with the dull pain. But Ash didn't care, it was better than that room.

He opened his eyes quickly, feeling a burst of energy re-enter his body. He sat up, taking a shot of air. He felt Pikachu hop off his lap with shock. He heard somebody exhale sharply.

"Aha ha, Jesus," Serena sighed, clutching her beating heart. Pikachu copied her, sighing. Ash looked down at his arms. Marking were still there, so it wasn't part if whatever that void was. He laughed breathlessly.

"Hi,"

"Hi..." Serena responded, before laughing briefly, "Yeah, 'hi',"

Pikachu hopped on to Ash's lap, its ears perked for it's trainer. Ash rubbed his head, finding the scars under its neck. He rubbed them softly, trying to make sure what he felt was really there. Pikachu twitched slightly.

"What...did I miss?" Ash asked quietly, looking around the room to find more trainers and their Pokemon with him. Serena sighed.

"What do you remember?"

"Getting mauled to near death," Ash responded, looking at his arms for signs of the attack. All that remained were faded scars and the blue markings. Serena winced at that.

"Ash, you revived over 100 people and then cured the infected," Serena said softly. Ash looked at her in awe, before lowering his brows.

"You're joking,"

Serena shook her head, looking back to the room with all the trainers, "You saved all of them,"

"I...I..." Ash didn't know how to process that. He resurrected people, and didn't remember it? And all the infected, the Houndours, the Jolteon. He healed them all?

With his aura?!

"Wow," was all he managed to find, before a tall kid, maybe 15, came over to him and smiled. Ash smiled back.

"I just wanted to thank you, for saving me and Umbreons lives," he stated, revealing an Umbreon behind him. It's dark body had lost an ear, and had heavy scaring down it's belly. The trainer also had a scar across his eye, leaving Ash feeling guilty.

"If you want to know the truth, I didn't mean to do this," Ash said quietly, getting a comedic look from the trainer. He laughed a tad, before playfully hitting Ash in the shoulder.

"It doesn't matter if you didn't try to do it man, it only matters that you did. And you did great," and with that the tall trainer left with his Umbreon in tow. Ash looked down at his legs for a moment, before trying to get up, only to fall face first.

"Here, let me help," Serena giggled, taking Ash's arm and slinging it over her shoulder. Ash felt his face redden in embarrassment, muttering a thanks. However as he passed each of the trainers, they all thanked him, and some of the Pokemon rubbed off him in thanks.

But he didn't remember doing any of it, and for some reason, seeing all the permanent marks of scars he'd left on them.

It made him feel guilty.

And Serena caught it.

"Are you okay?" She asked finally, leading him away from the hospital. Ash only sighed.

"Ash?"

"I've left them with marks they can't get rid of. I feel guilty for it too," Ash explained.

"Ash. You *saved* all those people. They'd all be corpses, making even more people sad, if you hadn't helped," Serena said, weaving around the tents. Ash still felt bad though, but he'd have to get over it. Serena was right. Those people would've been dead if it hadn't been for him.

"Thanks,"

-----

ITS SO SHORT AHAAAAAAAAAAA

I'm sorry the chapters have been shorter then usual, it's hard pumping out a 1,500+ word chapter and another 1000+ chapter a day. I'm heavily working on Sweet Dreams for the Watty's, so most if my effort goes into those.

Like, I'm spending 6 hours a day typing chapters.

So when it comes to writing this my mind is conked. However I do have the next 9 chapters (the final nine, eeee) roughed. And boy is it a spicy ride.

Spicy indeed.