Vanish

Chapter 4

"Have you ever seen Ash like this?" Max asked Brock. Brock had gone to a nearby store to buy extra bandages for Ash, and Max had readily agreed to accompany him.

Brock cocked an eyebrow. "Well..." he drew the word out. "Not like this... But I mean, he is just missing Pikachu... We just have to wait until Pikachu gets his memory back, and then everything will be A-okay, and Ash will be just jumping to Mossdeep City."

"Yeah, but...but what if Pikachu...never gets his memory back?"

Brock paused for a long time. "Honestly, Max... I don't know... We've just got to hope for the best..."

Max shook his head. "I can't believe Ash actually tried to take Pikachu's Thunder, Iron Tail, and Thunderbolt."

Brock chuckled. "Ash is like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Max queried. "Has he done anything like this?"

"Well..., there was that one time when Ash's Bulbasaur was about to evolve, so he traveled to the Mysterious Garden-where all Bulbasaur gather to evolve together. So Ash, Misty, and I went after him, and when we got there, there was a ton of Bulbasaur, and a Venasaur."

"So what happened?"

"When the Bulbasaur started to evolve, it seemed that Ash's didn't want to. So by the time the others had evolved into Ivysaur, Bulbasaur had pretty much stopped his evolution." Brock paused, bringing up the old memory. "The Venasaur didn't like that, and it used its Vine Whip and was about to hit Bulbasaur."

Max almost gasped. "Did Bulbasaur get hurt?"

Brock shook his head. "No, because once Ash saw that, he ran forward and intercepted the attack, earning two huge bruises on each shoulder."

Max winced.

"And there was that time when we accidentally got captured along with Zapdos... And since there were...like these shield things around Zapdos and Moltres, we-me, Ash, Misty, Melody, and Team Rocket-had to break 'em out."

Max nodded. He had heard this story... But he didn't remember being told anything about this particular part.

"So...yeah... And Ash ran right into the shield thing, trying to get it open. I'm thinking it hurt like hell, but if it did, Ash didn't show it. He never does."

Max sighed as he and Brock left the store.

They were silent most of the trip back, each of them preoccupied by their own thoughts.

"Come on, Ash, let me help you," Brock said, almost getting annoyed.

"I told you, I don't need help. I can do it by myself!" Ash retorted.

Brock folded his arms across his chest and glared slightly at Ash. "Will you quit being so stubborn and just let someone help you? Is that too much to ask?"

Ash just glared right back at him, struggling to his feet. When he finally got to the standing position, he stood on the one leg that hadn't been injured. Sure, that one was really sore and couldn't do much anyway, but it was about ten times better than what the other could do at the moment. He wobbled a little, but regained his balance. "See? I can do it myself. I don't want you wasting your time by helping me."

Brock gave him a look. "Well, if you're so independent, then I'd like to see you get into the tent, all by yourself."

"Brock, don't make him do that...," May protested.

Ash shook his head. "I'm doing it. Just to show you that I can..."

"Well, go ahead, champ," Brock muttered. He knew very well that there was a high chance that Ash wouldn't make it all the way to the tent, and that was the whole point. Ash needed to learn that sometimes he needed help. Like if he was injured. Like now.