Vanish

Chapter 2

May awoke the next morning, finding Max still asleep in the sleeping bag a few feet away from her, and Brock also still asleep even farther away from her.
But the problem was, Ash wasn't in his sleeping bag. And May didn't remember him coming in the last night.

May stretched her arms out and went into the separate part of the tent to get changed privately. When she was done, she went outside and found Ash sitting right where he was the last night before he went into the woods.

"Hey, Ash," she said quietly, seating herself beside him.

Ash took a small glance at her, but then turned his gaze away. "Morning, May."

"So when did you get back last night?"

Ash was silent for a while before answering, "Late."

May pondered over this for a minute. "Um... Brock did say we might be able to set out for Lilycove City... Do you think...?" her question trailed off. She wasn't exactly sure how she was going to word it...

"Of course, May. We should keep going. I'm absolutely fine," Ash responded flatly.

"Okay..." May paused, but when Ash said nothing, she spoke up again. "Pikachu's going to get his memory back, you know."

Ash didn't answer that. But he did say something. "You know, Pikachu was my very first pokémon. I didn't even want a Pikachu. But I overslept on the day when I was supposed to go get my pokémon, and so when I finally got there, the pokémon I really wanted was already gone. So I was stuck with Pikachu... I'm glad I got there late..."

May didn't respond. Without Pikachu, Ash was acting like a completely different person... Not that person who he was the other day when he was talking about how psyched he was for his next gym battle... She wondered if he even wanted to go to his next gym battle anymore.

She looked to Ash again, who was gazing to the horizon, completely silent.

Whoa... 'Ash' and 'completely silent' do NOT belong in the same sentence! May thought.

Just then, Ash and May heard two huge yawns from behind them, and when May turned around, she saw a groggy looking Brock and a half asleep Max.

"Hey, guys," Max mumbled, plopping himself next to May and watching Brock begin breakfast.

"Morning, my sleepyhead brother," May responded, poking Max. "I was actually beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep all day long..."

Max yawned again. "I was just tired, 'kay? We all were. Right, Ash?" He looked to Ash, wanting some support.

Ash eyes almost drooped when he heard the word 'sleep', and reminded himself that he had barely gotten any sleep the last night... Not after that nightmare...

"...Ash?" Max asked again, waving a hand in front of Ash's face. "Hellooo? Anyone in there? Yah know, Ash, you look real tired. Did you get enough sleep last night?"

"Not by a long shot," Ash replied bluntly.

"Well, I didn't hear you come in the tent last night, so you must have been out for a pretty long time," Brock commented. "I stayed up real late to be there when you got back... But I guess I fell asleep, huh?"

"Uh, yeah..., I guess so..."

Brock changed the subject. "So, we can set out to Lilycove City today and be there by tonight... What do you think, Ash?"

Ash glanced at him. "Why are you asking me? If we're going, we're going."

"But Team Rocket-" Max began.