Injuries and Damages
By: Aubrie1234
Dear Readers, another Rival story! I call it a Rival story if it is mostly based with Ash's rivals or his friend's rivals. Anyway, this story is about what happens to Ash and his three rivals after a fire. It's in Gary's POV, though, so you can guess why it's called a Rival story. Starting story now!
I was talking to Umbreon and petting her when they came. She loved my petting, even though I couldn't see her. The reason I couldn't see her was because of that accident. I can't say what it was, because it was a bad experience for me, Ash, Paul, and Trip.
"Umbreon?" I asked her. I felt her move her head to the right and she asked: "What is it, Gary?"
"I just wish that that accident never happened. If it didn't we would be fine right now and we could battle again, right girl?"
"Yeah, we could. Besides, if that didn't happen, I wouldn't have to lead you around like a Ponyta, now would I?" she joked.
"No, you wouldn't!" I chuckled. Then, I remembered something. "Hmm..."
"What is it this time, Gary?" Umbreon asked.
"I was just thinking about where Paul might be right now. He could be anywhere in the hospital by now, but I'm betting he's either riding Torterra through the halls like Silver the Rapidash (Pokemon version of the Lone Ranger) or trying to paint the nursery walls with Torterra wallpaper."
"If I had to guess..."
"The nursery." we said in unison, then we chuckled at visions of Paul trying to paint the nursery.
"It seems pretty ridiculous now, because of how Paul was before the accident, doesn't it, Umbreon?" I asked her.
"Yeah, it does." she mused. Then, I felt her turn her head to the left, towards the bed across from mine, where small sounds of 'beep' could be heard.
"When do you think he'll wake up?" Umbreon then asked sadly. I bit my lower lip nervously before answering.
"Well, the doctor said he should wake up soon, but he didn't say when."
"Oh." she replied, "But I'm worried about him, Gary."
"I know, you aren't the only one. I'm worried about him too, girl. He hasn't woken up since the accident happened."
"And Gary, what did the doctor say about his injuries?"
"Well, Umbreon, the doctor said that he won't be able to walk anymore. Which means no more battles, just like me and Paul."
"Ash is the only one of you four that will be able to battle after this, isn't he?" she then asked. I sighed sadly and put a sad smile on my face before answering.
"All he had were cuts, scrapes, minor burns, and a broken leg, so yes, he's the only one." I answered. Then, I felt her head turn to the right, towards the door, quickly and her body stiffen.
"What's wrong, girl?"
"Someone's coming." she answered, standing up in my lap before jumping down to the floor. I then heard a few knocks on the door.
"Who is it?" I called.
"Gary? It's me, Ash. Can we come in?" he called from the other side of the door.
"Sure. Umbreon, please open the door." I told them, then asked my pokemon. I heard her footsteps as she made her way to the door, the sounds of something being pulled, the door opening, and Umbreon running and jumping back into my lap.
"How have you been, Gary?" Ash asked, the sounds of his crutches hitting the floor as he came closer.
"Fine, Ashy-boy. Umbreon and Trip have kept me company, along with Paul from time to time." I answered, before feeling him sit down on the bed.
"Great. Oh, and my friends are here, if you didn't know." he told me. His friends? Oh, he must mean his traveling partners.
"Wow! There sure are a lot of humans!" Umbreon said.
"Umbreon! It's good to see you again!" I heard a pokemon squeak. There's only one pokemon who would know Umbreon that had that voice.
"Pikachu!" Umbreon yelled before jumping to the floor. I heard them greet each other as the sounds of footsteps entered the room.
"Guys, this is my rival from Kanto and Johto, Gary." Ash introduced me. I then felt someone grab my hands and shake them, whoever it was greeting me.
"Hi! My name's May! It's good to meet some of Ash's other friends once in a while." the person told me. I just sweatdropped and said: "N-nice to meet you, too."
"You know, April, you don't have to shake his hand that fast. Its not like he's going to disappear once you let him go or anything." I heard someone say, along with the swish of something. I then felt my hands being let go quickly.
"Well, Grasshead, I like to greet friends quickly! And besides, My name is MAY and you haven't told him your name yet!" May yelled.
"Hey! Easy, alright?! Trip's trying to sleep, you two!" I told the couple. At that, they both went quiet and they said: "Sorry, Gary."
"Good, now who's Grasshead, May?" I asked. I then heard several thuds like people do when they anime-fall, so I sweatdropped.
That must have not been his name. I thought.
"My name's Drew. And sorry for getting loud." He said sheepishly.
"It's alright, but Trip does need his sleep. Anyway, who else is here?" I then got hit in the head by a mallet. Ow.
"Gary!" someone said. I could recognize that voice and mallet anywhere.
"Ow, good to see you too, Misty." I told her, rubbing the sore spot on my head.
"With those shades on, I'm not surprised you can't tell who we are." another voice said. I also recognized that voice, but if they only knew why I wore the sunglasses.
"It's for a reason, Brock, and I'm glad to know you're here."
"What's that reason, Gary?" someone else asked. I recognized that voice as well.
"I can't tell you, Dawn. But it's good to see you again, too. And please don't ask for any poems right now, okay?" I told her.
"Ok, Gary, but I do wish you would say a poem." she said sheepishly, probably sweatdropping.
"Oh, I almost forgot! Iris, Cilan, this is Gary, one of my rivals." Ash said. Him, almost forgetting? Now that's a first!
"Hi! My name's Iris!" one voice said.
"And I'm Cilan. With the introductions almost done, it's like an exquisite dish nearly prepared!" another voice said. I sweatdropped at the last sentence, and others probably did too.
"Cilan's a Pokemon Connoisseur, so he compares lots of things to food most of the time, don't worry." Ash sheepishly explained.
"Alright. Anyone else here?" I asked.
"That would be me." one last voice said, coming over and sitting on my left side, "My name's Reggie. I'm Paul's older brother. Where is he anyway?"
"Well, he's somewhere in the hospital, but we're not sure where." Ash told him.
"Either he's in the halls, or somewhere else." I continued.
"I wonder where he is, then. Anyway, we all heard from Ash on what happened and he thought you and Paul might be able to tell the whole story, since you two were awake the longest." Reggie explained. I stiffened a bit when I heard they wanted to know, and I looked down where Umbreon should be.
"Gary?" she asked worriedly.
"Hey, are you ok, Gary?" Dawn asked, putting a hand on my left shoulder.
"Yeah, it's just that... Well, I don't like to talk about what happened, and neither does Paul."
"I know you don't like to remember it, Gary," Ash told me, putting a hand on my other shoulder, "but we need to know. We want to know what happened." I sighed sadly before turning to him.
"Are you sure you want to hear this?" I asked him.
"Positive." he said. I sighed sadly again.
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you. Like Ash probably told you, all four of us were in a big log cabin in the woods when it happened. We were lost and had stumbled upon it while we traveled. We stayed the night there, since it was getting dark. Even though we took all the precautions, somehow it happened. Ash's Pikachu noticed it first and warned us, so we managed to get up by the time the fire reached our room.
"It spread fast and blocked the window. We ran out the door to the living room and to the window in there, but one of the rafters broke and landed on Trip knocking him out. Me, Paul, and Ash stopped to help him, and managed to get the rafter off. Paul offer to get him out while me and Ash found another way out. We ran throughout the building, only finding the bathroom window the only way out. When we got back to Paul, another rafter was about to fall on me. Ashy-boy here pushed me out of the way and got all those injuries. He got knocked out too, which just left me and Paul.
"I slung Ash's arm over my shoulder and helped drag him out while Paul dragged Trip. Soon, we were almost there when sparks started to fly from the fire. A few of them got into my eyes, so I couldn't see. The only way we were going to get out alive then was with Paul's help. He managed to get Trip out first, then called to me over and over. I followed his voice to the window, where he helped get Ash, then me out. After that, we both dragged Ash and Trip away from the cabin. Soon, we were a safe distance away. Once we stopped and rested, I blacked out for some reason. The next thing I knew, I was lying in this hospital bed." I told them. It was quiet for a few minutes before Ash broke it.
"I didn't know that happened after I was knocked out. I'm sorry I pushed you into answering, Gary." Ash said quietly.
"No, it's my fault." Reggie interrupted, "I was the one who asked the question in the first place."
"It's no-one's fault." I said, shaking my head, "You all wanted to know, so I told you."
"I know this is probably not a good question to ask right now, Gary, but..." Dawn trailed off. I had a feeling what she wanted to ask, but I wasn't sure.
"'But' what?" I asked.
"But what injuries did you, Paul, and Trip get?" So she did ask it. I sighed again.
"Who do you want to know about first?"
"Paul." Dawn said.
"Well," I sighed, "According to the doctor, he got the least damage, though I would love to argue with him about it."
"What do you mean by that?" Iris asked.
"You see, he got the least physical damage. Mentally, he isn't fit for doing anything except comedy relief." I explained.
"I still don't get it." May said.
"What I mean is that Paul isn't hurt much from what you can see, but he's hurt pretty badly in his mind. That accident put him into a state of shock (several gasps from the girls and one from Reggie), so he didn't want to do anything for a few days. But, once he got better, I saw that he changed a lot."
"Whenever he came into my room to keep me company, it was usually to hide from the nurses and doctors trying to get him back to your room, Gary. He was pretty different." Ash added.
"Yeah, he was." I agreed. Suddenly, I heard several shouts and the sounds of running coming from outside the open door.
"That has to be Paul." Ash said. Right after that, I heard several footsteps come into the room, the door being closed, and sounds of something being pushed across the floor.
"Whew! Now that was what I call fun!" a familiar voice stated.
"What did you do this time, Paul?" I questioned.
"Play 'The Lone PokeRanger' with Torterra, then paint the nursery with Torterra wallpaper. I just wish they didn't tell me to stop and then chase me back here." he explained. I bet he was grinning from ear to ear by now.
"Paul?! It that you?!" I heard Reggie and Dawn sputter.
"Big bro! I didn't know you were here! And hello to everyone else!" he exclaimed. Then, I heard the sounds of running, and felt Reggie's side of the bed get pushed down a bit. Paul must have run over and hugged him.
"Hello to you too, Paul." I told him, smiling.
"What happened to you?!" I heard Dawn ask. It suddenly became eerily quiet.
"Great. He isn't going to talk for several hours now." I said sadly.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"Ever since the accident, if you mention it to him, he doesn't talk for hours afterword. And with your question on what happened to him, it was because of his shock. It shocked him so much his hair turned white and he lets his emotions run loose. But that isn't the only thing. When he was dragging Trip, the smoke got into his eyes and stung him, but didn't blind him. He can only see in black-and-white now because of that (more gasps)."
"I-I'm sorry I ever asked." Dawn stammered.
"No, its alright, just don't mention it when Paul's around." I told her, "Besides, me and Trip got hurt worse."
"I'm afraid to ask this, but, what are Trip's injuries?" Drew asked. I jumped slightly, forgetting he was there since he had been so quite.
"He's only got one, as the doctor told me and Paul, but it's a bad one. When the rafter hit him, it broke his spine, paralyzing him (even more gasps). And if you're about to ask, all of the injuries we got except Ash's are permanent." I explained. I got a whole round of gasps from everyone, even Ash.
"What about your's, Gary?" Misty asked. I put on a sad smile and sighed, closing my eyes and taking off my sunglasses. When I opened my eyes, I got lots of gasps from everyone, even Ash.
"Gary, y-your eyes-" May stuttered.
"I know. I'm blind. I wanted to hide my eyes until I could tell you, so that's why I had on those sunglasses." I explained painfully, smiling sadly.
"I wish I never asked." Misty said.
"No, it's fine. I just wish that accident never happened." I said. Soon, May, Drew, Iris, and Cilan left, leaving Pikachu, Brock, Misty, Dawn, and Reggie in the room with us. After a few minutes of apologies for asking and comforting, they then left. I was left with the still silent Paul, asleep Trip, and on-crutches Ash.
"You want to try getting him to talk?" I asked Ash, gesturing to Paul, who was still sitting on my left.
"No, you try. You're able to get him to talk quicker than me." he told me. I then heard him get his crutches and go to the door. Then, I heard something getting pulled and the door opening.
"Thanks for opening the door, Umbreon." Ash said. Then, I heard him walk back down to his room and Umbreon close the door, before running over to me and jumping into my lap.
Please Review! I still have more stories I'm working on and I'll get them finished, don't worry!