Vanish

Chapter 7

Ash opened his eyes once again and glanced at the clock for what seemed like the millionth time.

One o'clock in the morning. Perfect, Ash thought, taking a minute to make sure the others were completely asleep. He had been waiting up all night for this one moment.

Quietly getting out of his sleeping bag, Ash picked up his backpack. Luckily, the backpack was all ready to go so he didn't have to waste time trying to pack it. He grabbed his pokéballs and put them in his backpack and slung the bag over his shoulder.

Suddenly remembering something, Ash took out a piece of paper and scribbled a note. Not that he wouldn't just love leaving the others high and dry without one idea as to where he went and why, but he had decided that this was best.

After that, he snuck outside and began to walk stealthily away from the tent.

Better get moving. If the others decide they want to come after me, I wouldn't want them to catch me now would I? Nope. I don't want to waste their time. This is my mission and mine alone, Ash thought.
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"Wake up, wake up!" Max said, first shaking Brock senseless, and then moving onto May. "Wake up!" Going back to Brock, he began to shake him even more.
Brock groaned loudly. "Maxxxxxx...," he hissed. "Let me get back to sleep..."

"Yeah, come on. Go back to sleep," May mumbled, her arm swinging wildly, so if Max was near her, he'd surely get whacked.

"You don't understand!" Max shouted. He held up a piece of paper in one hand. "I found this and-"

"I don't care what you found. I only care about sleep right now," May grumbled.

"Yeah, me too," Brock agreed.

"But it's a note from-" Max tried again, waving the paper.

"We'll read your note later, Max," Brock said, and he began to drift off again.

"But Ash is-"

"-probably still sleeping," May cut in, her face still buried in her pillow. "So since everyone is sleeping, you should go to sleep too."

"Brock! May! Listen to me!" Max commanded. "This is important. As in really important!" He thrust the piece of paper toward Brock.

Brock groaned again and looked over the piece of paper. Oh..., Brock thought silently, after reading the note. There was not a tired cell in his body now. He knew something like this was going to happen.

"You see?" Max asked, knowing that Brock finally understood.

"Yeah, I understand," Brock said monotonously.

May shot up, knowing that something bad happened just by the tone of Brock's voice. She snatched the 'oh-so-important' sheet of paper from Brock and read it over herself.

Brock, Max, and May,

I've decided to leave. I know you guys probably wouldn't understand, but I've got to get Pikachu back. I can't just sit around while my best friend is probably- I don't even want to think about it.

This is all my fault you know. When Team Rocket's machine blew up, and we all went flying... Pikachu... I was so close to grabbing him. But...he slipped through my fingers.

Funny. If I could have just done one thing right for once... If I had actually caught Pikachu, none of this would have happened. I've just got to set this whole thing right. I'm going to go and find Pikachu, because I'm not coming back without him. I'll meet up with you guys later...