Vanish

Chapter 18

"And he hung up on us. That was the last we heard from him," Brock concluded.

He and the others had taken turns filling Caroline and Norman in, and the only person who was lacking in details was Misty. She had taken Ash's request very seriously, and she gave the others warning glances whenever she knew they were going to try to bring up 'Meowth's Fury Swipe Revenge'.

Norman tapped his fingertips on the table. "There seems to be big holes in your story. For example, I'd like to know what happened to Ash after the first time he left."

May shrugged. "No one really knows. He never told us."

"And you didn't really say anything about when you met up with Ash, Misty."

Misty shrugged as well. "I met up with him, we talked, and we went to Mossdeep, which was where Ash knew Team Rocket was going next."

"And Ash just left again after Beautifly got attacked?" Norman inquired.

"Yes. He called the next day, but he didn't give that much info. That, as Brock said before, was the last we heard of him. We have no idea what happened to him between then and now," Misty said.

"Oh, my, that dear boy!" Caroline exclaimed. "He's been through so much! No wonder he didn't want to talk about it!"

Norman sighed. He didn't know the...situation...was this bad. "Well, at least we now know where that scar came from." He spoke of the scar down Ash's leg. "It doesn't explain the cuts on his chest though. I'm guessing this happened when he was on his own?"

"Wait. When did you get to see Ash's cuts?" May cut in.

Before Norman could answer, Ash began to slowly make his way back into the room. "I'm guessing you guys are finally done discussing the story of my life?" He almost collapsed in his chair.

"Actually, Ash, we were just getting to the interesting part," Norman replied.

Ash shot him a glare. If someone thought that this was interesting, that person clearly-

"I'm sorry. I meant that your friends' story has a few holes in it. Maybe some holes you're willing to fill?"

"Nope. I'd like them to stay empty," Ash stated bluntly. "No offense, but there are some things I like to keep to myself. I didn't tell anyone everything." He looked to Misty. "Like you. I told you that one part, and you, of course, had to tell the rest of the party."

"Ash, I wasn't just going to not tell them about it."

"You could have. But anyway..."

"Ash, we're not done speaking to your friends. They need to know what happened to you when you came to Petalburg," Caroline said.

"Yeah, Ash, what did happen?" Misty asked. "You didn't do something stupid, did you?"

"Well, as I said on the news, I was out training with Slaking when Team Rocket attacked. When I caught up with them, they eventually beat Slaking with Pikachu and their other pokémon," Norman started, ignoring Ash's pleading look that told him not to tell them. "And it didn't really look to good for me. But then, all of a sudden, Team Rocket's Dustox, Seviper, and Cacnea fainted."

"Oh, yeah! By that guy who saved you, right?" Max cut in.

Norman smiled. "I turned to where the attack came from, and there was Ash."

The faces of Ash's four friends went blank.

"Team Rocket was apparently irritated with Ash's interference, so they tried killing him with a grenade. Ash did manage to avoid most of that damage, but he couldn't get up. They threw a second grenade that hit so close to him..."