Pokemon The time traveler

Ch 5 An long walk

As soon as Ash and Pikachu caught up with May, they had begun to make their way back to the Pokémon Centre. They were going to take the main road when Ash remembered a shortcut through the forest path that he and Pikachu found a few years later to get to the healing center. The raven-haired trainer told May about the faster route and agreed to take it.

Five minutes after walking down the small forest path, Ash had regretted saying anything about it. He was exhausted from walking; he had even asked Pikachu if the little mouse could walk on his own for a while. Ash was hoping it would take some weight off of his shoulders and give him a little more energy to continue walking. However, it didn't change anything, and now Pikachu was feeling tired as well.

Ash looked ahead and saw May pass the hill that would lead to the Pokémon Centre. "When May said we should try and get there as soon as possible, I guess she really just meant herself."

Pikachu nodded slowly. The electric mouse was trying hard to continue walking.

When they both reached the summit of the hill, they stopped and glanced at it. It was only about ten feet high, but to Ash and Pikachu it looked like a mountain. Their legs trembled as the two looked at the small hill. The trainer sighed loudly. "All we have to do is reach the top and we'll be at the Pokémon Centre, buddy."

"Pi pika, Pikapi?" Pikachu asked.

"No, I'm not able to carry you!" Ash exclaimed. "If I'm going to try it, then you're going to try it."

"Kapi Pikachu pi..."

Ash smiled. "The 'I have little legs' excuse isn't going to get you out of this one, buddy."

Pikachu crossed his arms in frustration.

Ash breathed loudly. "Look, we're wasting time and energy arguing," The trainer took a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Come on, Pikachu, we've been in tougher situations than this! We can easily do this!"

Pikachu smiled confidently and clenched his tiny fists. "Pika!" He agreed eagerly.

"Then let's do this thing!"

It took the trainer and the Electric-type ten minutes to reach the top of the small hill. When they reached the top, both Ash and Pikachu collapsed on ground exhaustingly. They both were lying on their backs to get some type of rest.

"Well," Ash said trying to catch his breath. "That was more intense than I thought..."

Pikachu nodded slowly.

"Maybe we're not used to our younger bodies yet, Pikachu," Ash concluded. "Remind me to add 'exercise' to list of things we have to do when we go searching for the rest of our team."

Pikachu lifted his small paw in the air and made a "check" sign with it which told the trainer he would remember it later.

Ash chuckled. "Since when did you get so funny?"

"Pika pika kapi pi," The yellow mouse explained.

"True, we are younger again," Ash lifted his head and saw the Pokémon Centre about twenty feet away from them. "We're so close to the Pokémon Centre," He turned around and lifted his body with arms. "I don't think I can walk the rest of the way," Ash told Pikachu. "But I'm pretty sure I can crawl—my arms aren't as tired as my legs are."

Pikachu sighed. He really had no energy left to keep walking.

"It's okay, buddy," Ash reassured. "You won't have to walk anymore. You can climb on my back and relax the rest of the way. I know both your legs and arms are tired—it's the least I can do for making you walk up that hill."

The electric mouse thought about it for moment before finally agreeing with his best friend. Pikachu slowly got up and crawled onto Ash's back. Once he was safely on Ash's back, the yellow rodent fell asleep from exhaustion.

Ash smiled at his friend. "You deserve a nap," He turned back and saw the healing center. "Almost there..."

As the raven-haired trainer crawled to the door, he was looking around to see if anybody would help him, but he didn't see anybody. "Just my luck..." Ash thought. When he finally reached the entrance to the Pokémon Centre, the automatic doors opened. "It's like they were expecting me..."

(Present Time)

Everybody had turned his or her head when they heard Ash yell, but only May, Brock, and Max ran up to their companion.

"Someone please help!" May yelled. She had reached Ash first and was now resting his head on her lap.

Brock went to check on Pikachu when the Electric-type fell off of Ash's back.

Max was hesitant on what to do for a moment, but he realized the best thing for him to do was to get Nurse Joy.

When Nurse Joy saw Brock and May attending to Ash and Pikachu, she gasped. "What happened?" She asked.

"I don't know," May said worryingly. "We just saw Ash literally crawling into the Pokémon Centre, and then he just collapsed on the floor!"

Nurse Joy moved May out of the way so that she could properly check the boy unconscious. Joy quickly scanned Ash for any dramatic injures before doing a routine checkup. She didn't find any serious injuries, so she continued the normal checkup. When Joy finished, she smiled softly. "He's going to be just fine," She stated. "He's just really tired that's all."

May closed her eyes and sighed in relief. "Oh, thank goodness...I thought it was something serious."

"No, he's going to be okay," Nurse Joy reassured. "He just needs to get some rest. I would also guess that his Pikachu is feeling the same way," She said to Brock who was holding Pikachu in his arms. "Chansey?" Joy called and two big, pink Pokémon showed up.

"Chansey!" They said.

"Can you bring two stretchers and take this boy and his Pikachu to a room where they can rest?"

"Chans!" The Chansey nodded.