Vanish

Chapter 9

"This is for almost killin' James!" Meowth exclaimed loudly, withdrawing his claws and slicing them across Ash's chest. Ripping through the shirt as if it was nothing, the first scratch left three bloody marks.

"This is for making us blast off all those times!" Another scratch.

Ash felt the blood run down his chest and winced.

"And this is for screwin' up all our plans!" More scratches. "And this," Meowth began, unsheathing his claws again, "is-for-existing!" He emphasized each word with another scratch, and Ash's shirt was in shreds.

"Gro, gro, grovyle, gro VYLE!" Grovyle growled angrily, the other pokémon also adding angry comments.

"Koooooooaaaaaaaal!" Tears poured from Torkoal's eyes.

Jessie stuffed another bite of her sandwich in her mouth and watched Meowth. "Meowth, don't do that while we're eating. C'mon, I know you're hungry."

Meowth glared at Ash. "Fine...," he grumbled, jumping up on the table and grabbing a sandwich.

I wonder what I could do to the twerp. I mean, Meowth has his claws. Maybe Seviper could use Bite on him... No, no... Maybe Poison Tail? No... Haze is completely useless, and Wrap? Well... I guess it could be okay... But what would that really do? Jessie sighed, deciding against using Seviper and tried to think of something else.

It was only when Pikachu hopped next to her, smiled, and began eating himself when Jessie was struck with one of her famous evil plans.
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A few hours later, Ash was trying to get to sleep. Oh, he was exhausted... But he couldn't get to sleep with the pain burning on his chest. Ash didn't even want to look at the deep scratches etched there.

"Koal-koal torkoal koal tor?" Torkoal cried silently. Ever since the first cut, Torkoal had been crying nonstop.

Just then, Ash saw...Pikachu...come out of where he assumed that Team Rocket was sleeping. The little electric pokémon walked over to Ash.

"Pika, pika," he said with a smile.

"Pikachu...?" Ash asked weakly.

"Chu pika, pika." Pikachu's sincere-looking smile spread across his whole face.

Wait... Did Pikachu...? Ash wondered. "Pikachu... Do you remember me?"

"Chu pika pika, ka." Pikachu put his hand on Ash's knee. "Pika pi chu...," he said sadly.

"You-you remember? Pikachu, I've missed you so much... You've gotta help us out of here!" Ash hissed, although his smile told Pikachu that he was exploding with relief and happiness.

"Pika...pika..." Pikachu's sincere smile turned into a nasty one. "CHUUUUUUUUUUU!"

Ash instantly bit down hard on his tongue, trying to endure Pikachu's Thunderbolt attack. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... The thought echoed through Ash's mind. How could you, Pikachu? Why does this have to happen? No...no... NO!

When the attack was finally over, Ash fell limply to the floor, barely comprehending the voice that he heard from the other room.

"Good job, Pikachu, you did your best friend Jessie a good job!"
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"I know you like him... That's why I always acted this way. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. But I just want you to be-to be happy. So go off with him. I'll be fine," he said.

"What? No! You don't understand!" May protested, her eyes widening. "I don't like Ash! Not like that!"

"Come on, May... You're so worried about him...because he ran away... That means you do care about him..."