Ash\'s Revenge

Chapter Six

Ash woke up to the sound of running water in the master bathroom. He checked the clock it was almost seven.

“Twenty more minutes…” He grumbled to himself. “That\'s all I need.”

It was Tuesday morning and he needed to be at work at eight. Rolling over, he took Misty\'s pillow and put it over his head to try and drown out the sound of the water. But nature was calling and he couldn\'t hold it any longer, not to mention the fact that the pillow wasn\'t drowning out the sound of Misty\'s high soprano singing early in the morning. Walking into the bathroom, still in all his glory from last night, he found his wife soaking in a steaming hot bath, massaging shampoo into her bright red hair as she sang openly and freely to herself.

The tiles were cold under his bare feet, but he made his way over to the toilet anyway. With no shame at all, he relived himself in front of his wife, gently shaking off when he was done. He flushed the toilet and after the sound died down he caught a few words of the song Misty was singing, realizing it was a lullaby. “She\'s singing to the baby.” He thought and smiled, his heart melting with sheer joy.

“Good morning Ash, sorry if I woke you up so early.” Misty smiled at him lovingly. He looked so adorable standing their naked. She continued humming to herself, not realizing that Ash wanted to further the conversation instead of going back to bed.

“I had to wake up anyway… besides… the running water may have been annoying, but your singing is beautiful. I think it\'s nice that you sing to the baby while he or she\'s still in your tummy. I wonder how it sounds to them?”

“Hmm… I don\'t know, but I could feel a definite response to my voice.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.” Misty then made a frown. “But I don\'t think it\'s something you would be able to feel Ash, I\'m sorry.”

“Oh…” He was really disappointed, he loved to feel how the baby moved around, he really would have liked to feel everything the baby did while inside his wife. “Well, a little less then three more months right Mist?”

“Yeah… I wonder how the baby will look. I have dreams about it sometimes.”

“Me too…”

Their was a few moments of silence between the couple as they each contemplated their babies appearance according to their dreams.

“Care to join me Ash?” Misty broke the silence and made room for Ash in the large tub.

He nodded and lowered himself into the steaming water. After the events of last night, he could use a thorough cleansing.

“Girls and their hot baths…” He shook his head and winced, trying to get used to the practically boiling bath water.

“Well I like it this way, and the baby doesn\'t seem to mind.” She poured more shampoo into her hand and began to slowly wash Ash\'s spiky black hair releasing a sigh from his lips, she noticed that is was beginning to get rather long.

“So, how are you feeling today?”

“Fine, the baby starting moving about an hour ago, so I couldn\'t sleep anymore.” She smiled and started to soap up a large sea sponge. “At least I haven\'t been sick today, but then again I haven\'t eaten anything at all this morning.”

“Shit.”

“What? What\'s wrong Ash?”

“Come on, rinse off, we\'re going to the hospital.” Ash stood up and grabbed his wife\'s hand trying to pull her up into a standing position.

“Why? I\'m fine.”

“You might be, but the baby may not.” The ebony haired Trainer pulled the plug to drain the bath water and turned the shower faucet on, helping himself and wife rinse off. They were out of the bathroom in a matter of seconds, and Ash literally threw underwear and a dress on Misty. He tossed on some sweats, t-shirt and sneakers, and finally made sure that Misty wore her hoodie.

He picked up the phone and dialed the number for Pallet Town Taxi. Although Pallet had grown considerably over the past six years, it was still a tiny place, the small family owned and operated taxi service promised it\'s customers that their drivers could pick up anyone in Pallet in less then five minutes, they were usually at the Ketchum\'s house in two.

Ash made his way to the bedroom door and unlocked it, but Misty stopped his hand before it reached the knob to open it.

“Your mother is still out there. I heard her listening against the door around the time the baby woke me up.”

“Son of a bitch.” Ash cursed and hit his fist against the doorframe. “I can\'t let her see you.”

Misty instinctively put her hands to her stomach.

“Look, the cab\'s gonna honk the horn when it gets here. When we hear it, we\'ll run out the back door and then along the side of the house to the front.

“Ash! You know I can\'t run!”

“Mist, listen to me, please… I\'m just asking you to walk as fast as you can. Hell! I\'ll even try to carry you.”

“I don\'t even know why you\'re doing this!” She broke into tears, her whole body shaking with her sobs.

“Misty… shh, come on honey… I\'ll explain…”

A car horn sounded fairly loudly three times.

“Look, that\'s them. Ready?” Ash opened the door quietly and checked to make sure the hallway was clear. “Come on!” Grabbing her hand he lead her quickly and quietly out of their bedroom, then out of the house, and safely unseen into the waiting cab.

“Where to buddy?”

“Viridian City Hospital and step on it!”

The driver gave a nod and they were quickly on their way toward Route One and the city.

“Hey uh… bud, she ain\'t in labor is she?”

“No…” Ash mumbled and glanced down at Misty who had her face buried in his chest, still silently crying.

“Just checking bud, I don\'t want no messes back there.”

The driver kept glancing into the rear view mirror to look at the couple. Their hair was soaking wet, and they looked like they had just thrown on any old thing from the floor.

“Hey uh… She alright there bud?” He questioned with a raised eyebrow as he stole another glance in the mirror.

“I hope so…” The adolescent answered solemnly.

“Look buddy, I don\'t want no trouble ya know? I mean you kids look pretty shaken up, mind telling me what the deal is?”

“Yeah, this sick son of a bitch has been poisoning my wife and unborn child.”

The driver of the cab nearly lost control of the car, and had to hit the brakes in order to regain his composure. After a rather terrifying few seconds and a scream from Misty, the car was proceeding as normal down the proper lane of Route One.

“Hey uh, sorry about that… that was quite a shocker.”

“Ash, how do you know? I told you I felt fine!” Misty pleaded with him, the whole damn situation was scaring her to death, not to mention that the movements of the cab were making her rather nauseous.

“He told me last night. He asked if I wondered why you only got sick on Monday nights when he was home cooking.” Ash sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, his anger was rising and he had to keep it in check for Misty\'s sake. He hugged her closer to him, needing desperately to feel that she was there. “Honey… he\'s been trying to kill you and the baby little by little. He\'s been slipping the Gods only know what into your food.”

She once again buried her face in his chest, trembling now with her sobbing, more tears pouring down her flushed cheeks. A moment later she brought her head up and said through gritted teeth.

“That\'s why that bastard made me eat so much when he was home.” Misty turned to look into her husband\'s eyes, she was burning with anger now. A side of her that, had not surfaced in a long, long time. “Ash, I thought I was just throwing up because I was eating too much!”

“Jesus, Mary and Joseph! This is horrible, did you get this guy arrested?”

“No… I put him in the hospital, for all I know or care… he\'s probably dead right now.” Ash sneered as he slammed his fist down on the empty seat next to him.

“God, I hope you\'re alright Miss. That son of a bitch got what he deserved. Any ass hole who would even consider hurting an unborn baby deserves to be fucking shot.” The driver slammed his hands down on the steering wheel; clearly he was aggravated. “I am so fucking pissed off right now! When we get to the hospital, I\'m gonna make sure they see you right away. My sister Joy is a nurse there, and she\'ll make sure everything is ok.”

“Thanks man.” Ash smiled and gave Misty a tiny squeeze. “This has been happening for two months now… she\'s barely in her third trimester…” His words faltered. “If they\'re hurt… I swear to God, if he\'s not dead now, he will be.”

They sat in silence for the rest of the trip. Ash soothed himself and Misty by stroking her hair, running his fingertips gently through it, helping it dry at least to some extent. Misty had calmed down on her own, she just kept the mantra of “my baby\'s ok” on her lips as she snuggled closer to Ash. She was thankful for her red hoodie, which kept her so nice and warm. The driver still looked at them through the rear view mirror, and when he set his eyes back on the streets of the city, he every now and then muttered something unintelligible and most likely an obscenity in Italian. Soon however the cab came to a stop in front of the emergency ward. Ash took out his wallet in order to pay him.

“Hey uh, buddy, no charge ok?” He smiled and waved away the bills. “I\'ll keep your wife in my prayers, and I hope that son of a bitch is dead. I\'m paging my little sister now, so go in, and she\'ll meet you at the nurses station.

Ash opened the door and made his way to help Misty out.

“Thanks…we really appreciate it.” Ash closed the door halfway and asked. “Hey, I didn\'t get you\'re name, I\'m Ash, and my wife is Misty.”

“I\'m Gus, and don\'t mention it kid, you two… well three be safe ok?”

“Right, thanks again Gus.” Ash closed the door, turned around and began guiding Misty to the automatic doors with his hand pressed firmly on the small of her back. Before they reached the entrance they heard a car beep three times, so they turned around.

“Yo Ash!”

“Yeah?”

“Call the taxi service number, leave a message with my wife, and let me know how they are kapeesh?”

Ash flashed his infamous smirk, happy to know that someone cared and wasn\'t criticizing the fact that they were so young. He nodded at Gus and gave him a final wave farewell.

“I wish we had more friends like that Ash.”

“Yeah me too, although I think it\'s time we finally tell the ones we do have about… our situation.”

Misty nodded in response, she really wished she could just hide from everyone. She loved her baby, but being pregnant so young was embarrassing to her. She could feel everyone\'s eyes on her, she still had the face of a child, and Ash had matured so much and looked a whole lot older than she was. She knew people talked when they saw them together in the streets.

They entered the bright white and sterile décor of the emergency room hesitantly. Much to their surprise it was relatively quiet, with very few people waiting about. Ash took Misty\'s hand and together they walked to the nurse\'s station where a Nurse Joy greeted them.

“Were you just dropped off by my brother Gus?” She asked politely. Standing from her swivel chair, she moved toward them.

“Yes.” The couple responded simultaneously.

“Gus didn\'t say what was wrong.” Joy looked at Misty. “You\'re not in labor are you?”

“No.” The red head blushed, and zipped up her hoodie, trying to cover her protruding tummy.

“Alright, that\'s a relief, so what is wrong… Mr. and Mrs. … um, I\'m afraid I don\'t know your names!”

“Last name\'s Ketchum, this is Misty and I\'m Ash.” Ash sighed as he formulated his words. “I have reason to believe that for the past two months our former best friend has been poisoning my wife and unborn child.”

“Oh dear me!” Joy took Misty\'s hands in her own. “Sweet heart, we must get you tested right away!”

Nurse Joy called for several doctors and for the rest of the morning, and most of the afternoon, they ran several tests on Misty and the baby. It was a quarter to five when Nurse Joy finally brought in the report, she was smiling broadly.

“I\'m pleased to announce that you\'re both fine. Misty, your baby is perfectly healthy, there wasn\'t a trace of anything that would be toxic to the fetus.”

“Thank God.” Ash kissed Misty\'s forehead, rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb. He smoothed her hair out of her face and planted a gentle kiss on her lips. He couldn\'t hug her because she was lying in a hospital bed. Three hours ago they had taken a sample of birth fluids. Normally it was a procedure used to test for down syndrome for women with high risk pregnancies, however it also proved to work for finding anything unusual in the unborn baby\'s blood. So now Misty had to keep relatively still for a few hours longer.

“So now that we know your wife and baby are fine Mr. Ketchum, I think we have other matters to discuss.” Nurse Joy sat in a chair on the other side of Misty\'s hospital bed. “Now then, this young man that you said poisoned your wife, was he arrested?”

“Well actually, we don\'t know what happened to him, as far as I know, he was brought to a hospital… one of my Pokémon severely injured him.” Ash spoke carefully, not wanting to get himself in trouble. “It was then, that he told me… not directly, but hinted at it. He asked “why do you think Misty only gets sick on Mondays when I\'m home cooking.” And I couldn\'t\' help but think, she did only get sick on Mondays and, it sounded to me like he was poisoning her.”

“Oh… so the two of you were fighting?”

“Um… yeah, he was threatening to shoot me at one point during the argument, and that\'s when my Pokémon attacked him.”

“Oh my! Thank goodness you\'re alright Mr. Ketchum.” Joy gasped and covered her mouth with her delicate hand. “Well, it does sound like this man had quite a few issues. Give me his name and other information, and I\'ll see what I can find out.” Ash wrote Brocks name on a piece of paper and a couple of other things about him down, when he was done, Nurse Joy stood up and walked over to the door. “Now as for you Mrs. Ketchum, I want you to rest for the next few hours, and I\'ll see if it\'s all right for you to go home. Try not to move around too much, call for a nurse if you need anything or experience any pain. I\'ll be back when I can find something out about Mr. Brock Slate.”

Approximately twenty minutes later, Nurse Joy returned with Brock\'s information.

“Well, I found out that he is actually in this hospital, right now as we speak.”

“He\'s alive?” Ash tied not to sound too disappointed.

“Yes, very much so, although, I\'m afraid he\'s still unconscious. They had a specially trained Golduck come in to try and wake him up, but she informed her trainer that Brock had been under a very powerful Hypnosis attack.”

“Was it able to identify what kind of Pokémon performed the attack?” Ash asked.

“Yes, as a matter of fact Golduck said it was an Alakazam.”

“But I don\'t get it, neither one of us has an Alakazam.” Misty was slightly confused.

“Hmm… well regardless, it appears that Mr. Slate had been under the influence of the hypnosis attack for quite sometime.”

“Ash, do you think it could have been a Pokémon at Brocks job?” Misty inquired curiously. “I mean, he does work at a Breeding Center, he\'s around so many different kinds of Pokémon everyday.”

“Could be, but I think that also answers all of our questions about his recent behavior.” Ash sighed and stood up to pace the room in contemplation. “I still don\'t get it though, if he wasn\'t slipping things into your meals on Mondays, then why would you only get sick then?”

“I guess I was right before Ash… he was just forcing me to eat too much. That\'s the only way I can explain it.” Misty looked at Nurse Joy to see if she would agree, the nurse closed her eyes and nodded.

“Hmm… so all this time… he was just acting like that because of the Hypnosis attack.” Ash stopped in his tracks. “I think I owe Brock a huge apology… God how will he ever forgive me? I\'m such an idiot sometimes.”

“You\'re not an idiot Ash. And don\'t worry… I\'m sure that under the circumstances he\'ll realize that you were only defending yourself and your family.” Misty smiled brightly hoping to make her husband feel less guilty.

“I hope you\'re right… besides… it was actually Pikachu who knocked him out.” The ebony haired young man paused and then turned to the nurse in the pink and white uniform. “Nurse Joy? Did Golduck take the hypnosis off?”

“Yes she did, however he\'s still unconscious from the Thunder attack your Pikachu gave him. He should be awake tomorrow when Golduck and her trainer come back in.”

“Well Ash, I think tomorrow, we should visit him and apologize.” Misty squeezed her husband\'s hand gently and affectionately when he came back to stand at her side.

“Yeah I think you\'re right Mist.” He kissed her forehead and brushed her cheek with his fingertips.

When Misty was well rested, and Nurse Joy was sure that it was alright for her to go home, Ash helped his wife get dressed so they could finally head back to Pallet Town for the night. The couples minds were at ease now, their unborn baby was safe and perfectly healthy. Ash especially went to bed that night feeling on top of the world. He would apologize to Brock tomorrow, ask if he would like to continue living in their house and try and mend their broken friendship. The former Pokémon Trainer dreamt of all the happy times they had together with their best friend on their journeys. And of course Ash thought about his infamous mouthwatering “no chew lazy boy stew”. Yes the Ketchum\'s had a very peaceful and restful sleep that night. Especially since Ash\'s mom was no longer stalking them in their own house.

To Be Continued...