Sorry for the wait, after an unholy amount of testing and losing what I wrote three times chapter two is finally re-done… again. Let me know what you think if you see these a s improvements because I sure as hell do. I will have a lot more time to be working now seeing as how my course is almost done.
The whine of electricity built to peak before releasing with in an audible thud into body below. Muscles clenched and tightened, forcing the body to arch into the air.
"Charging… Clear!" The thud sounded again.
Sirens were blaring throughout the city as the ambulance raced through the cars and stoplights that littered the city.
"Come on damnit, I know you're alive!" His back arched again, the two E.M.T.'s were doing everything they could to force the man's heart to keep going, while one was waiting for the defibrillator to charge the other would be squeezing the plastic resuscitator to keep the oxygen flowing.
"Come on damnit, wake up, you can't give up when we are this close!"
A steady string of beeps signaled his heart was beating on its own power again. The center of gravity shifted as the ambulance rounded a corner.
Ash was drenched in sweat, he wanted to gasp for breath but his body fought against him, 'Where am… an ambulance?'
Another shift told him they were moving extremely fast. Groggily he opened his eyes after a few tries, he must have been out for a while because they were crusted together. He wasn't sure if it was from how long he was out or the blood that had been coming from around his eyes had dried.
His chest was on fire yet freezing at the same time; tilting his head up he saw his bare chest had two large rectangles… those were going to scar. Adding to the sadness though they had torn open his jacket, he would need to be sure and request a new one.
The ranger flinched as a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed his head forcing him to look at the top of the vehicle. The fingers moved down and pried his eyes the rest of the way open as a bright light was shone in them.
Turning to his partner the E.M.T. sighed in relief, "Eyes are dilating and he shows signs of self awareness. He's got a good chance of getting to the hospital, but let's hope this driver knows his stuff and gets us there before the adrenaline high wears off. He is spiked through the roof and the crash when that ride ends won't be fun."
The one who had just finished speaking turned around to prep an I.V. while the other took over, "Now I'm going to turn off the light, follow my finger as much as possible."
While Ash followed his instructions and other small tasks the other man in the ambulance piped up, "Found an I.D., this guy's a Ranger if the uniform didn't already give that away. Here's the funny part though."
He showed the man attending to Ash his I.D., "Guy's name is Ash Ketchum."
The paramedic was giving him an accusing look, "You mean like the Ash Ketchum? I thought he disappeared what was it, five or six years ago?"
The paramedics were giving him cheeky grins, "Obviously he isn't disappeared now is he! Don't mock my English…. Anyway! We've got some serious respect for you kid and we heard all about what happened with the league and how you were the one behind it!"
Hearing his name from someone else like that, someone who was outside of the Pokémon Rangers… it created mixed feelings. People would realize he was back before long, which was inevitable. There were still things he needed to attend to before his return was official, he always intended to come back, and he needed to get the information he collected from Jane's ship to somebody he could trust. The league would finally have to admit to what it had done.
"Well in that case, welcome back to the land of the living!" The raven-haired man finally registered the slight accent in the man's voice.
"It's a pleasure to meet you in person lad, my names Keann, Keann Moriarty at your service. I have to admit though; something is very off about this situation, what I mean to say is that in every sense of the word. You should be dead."
Ash had seen this man before; he remembered the ginger with the accent. He was from Rota, part of their medical team. They never were fully introduced and the man was dispatched to Sinnoh just after his arrival. He moved his arm over his chest; hand glowing briefly with a teal color.
Fading into view was something akin to a tattoo. On either side there was zigzagged lines resembling wings centered by a diamond shape.
The redhead looked down in shock, "I'll be damned… I never would have guessed you would be here of all places sir. If you'd like I can keep this between us."
Ash did his best to flash him an appreciative grin. "That champion though, damn near took our crew out when we said she couldn't ride in the same vehicle as you… it's just too cramped but she was pretty adamant."
The ranger wanted so bad to snicker at this, some things never change. "I'm sure you're wondering how long till we get to the hospital?"
He nodded.
"Well wonder no longer! We just arrived!" The ambulance jerked to a stop.
The doors were thrown open and his stretcher was wheeled out. The paramedic leaned over and placed a clear mask over his nose. "Take a deep breath and in three… two… one… he's out!"
As they pushed him through the hallway Keean was mumbling under his breath, "The queen is going flip shit when she finds out."
Cynthia was curled up in her seat in the ambulance holding legs to her chest, black smudges on her knees from smeared mascara. Tears ran silent as she occasionally fought back a sob, every time feeling like her chest was about to explode all over the inside of the vehicle.
The dark-haired medic placed a hand on her back, rubbing in soothing circles. Giving her a condoling smile, "Come on Mrs. Shirona, you have to toughen up. Sinnoh's untouchable queen shouldn't let herself get so down."
She gave the man a bitter chuckle, "Despite how the media has made me out to be… I do have a heart. No matter how shattered it might be, I am allowed to grieve."
Placing his hands up in mock defense, "I didn't mean anything personal by it, just trying throw in a little humor."
"Your sense of humor sucks."
He exhaled a deflated sigh, "That's what everybody says."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, lulled back into the sullen mood that always seemed to accompany the inside of these vehicles, "So who is this guy to you? From what I remember the media never mentioned you ever being involved with anyone, at least in an official capacity, not that I believe the magazines for a minute with what they try to say about you."
Cynthia took a deep breath in an attempt to calm the shudders racing through her body, "We were… in love a while back. Hell… even after everything I still am, but a while back circumstances ended up drawing us in different… no I can't keep telling myself this lie. Not when he is this close again."
The sad look the paramedic was giving her made her feel disgusted with herself; she didn't deserve anyone's pity for what she did. "I left him when he had nobody else left. Ash put all of the faith that he had left in his heart into me and I tossed it away like it meant nothing to me… If I were him I would never forgive me for what I said"
Cynthia felt a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder, "Talking is the best remedy for stuff like this. It's the first step to forgiveness and moving past it, so why not tell me. A complete stranger you hopefully won't ever have to see again and aside from that you have the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing… what did you say?"
He was right; she needed to get this off her chest, remembering it though was the most painful part. Fresh tears carrying more bits of makeup fell from her eyes, "The day he told me he was going to take Jackie up on his offer about joining the Rangers I don't think I had ever yelled like that in my life. He always protected me from people, from dangers we would face, even though he knew he didn't have too. Ash gave me the world and more… When he told me he was joining I lost it on him, I told him I must have been nothing more than a game to him, he never really cared about me, whatever he was trying to accomplish he did a damn good job of it."
The man next to her looked horrified, he couldn't help but pity the two of them. "The worst part is that when he tried to stop me I turned on him and slapped him across the face. I told him if he was going to leave just do it, don't keep toying with me like he seemed to love to do apparently…. Even though he never once did anything that my in any way that could hurt me."
"I'm sure he doesn't blame you... he must have understood how you felt about that?" The medic was trying his best to help her get through this conversation, albeit there wasn't much he could do.
She looked up with bloodshot eyes, the look on her face shattered further, "I didn't know it until later, he wanted me to go with him. To leave everything behind us and have a new future, do some good in the world and then leave… maybe start a family. Neither one of us ever truly had a real family; he only had his mother while I only had my grandmother. For him to take a personal risk like that... part of the reason he was pushed away was because he wouldn't get too close to anyone, it drove most people crazy when they wanted him, we gave each other time though. Too leave the regions behind and just start something new, I would have been the happiest woman alive."
He patted her hand and gave it a reassuring grip, "You can still change that you know, he is right here. For him to survive what should have killed anyone else was just a hair short of impossible, he won't die, not a fighter like him. Make amends."
She beat her hands on her thighs in frustration, "It's not that easy, after he left he wrote me every day it seemed like. He talked about plans he had for a house, where we could build it without worries, how his training was going, the friends he made. Then they started come less and less as time dragged on but he never stopped. I refused to write back because I felt like I couldn't face him after what I did, he deserved better."
Standing up to stretch he started going through the small lockboxes on the counter, "What happened next?"
Wiping her eyes she realized the tears had stopped, talking was helping, "He quit caring about himself, he wouldn't do anything rash but he put himself in more and more dangerous situations. Ash quit thinking about his own preservation and only on his teams. One of his last letters he sent me said that he finally found something that would shake the league to its very core if he could prove it."
The sandy-haired medic looked over his shoulder, "Why would he be investigating the league, I thought that incident was miles behind everybody?"
Cynthia looked disgusted, "The lies they fed to people were outrageous. News coverage barely touched the tip of the iceberg. It's still too risky to go into any details… not until we're ready to start this… Just know that the league has something planned that is going to rip the regions apart soon. Whether it's in a month or six year I don't know, that's the scary part. This is all a time-bomb with the counter blacked out."
He nodded in understanding, some thing you could never be too careful, "So then what can you tell me about them getting caught with the rigged matchups and illegal gambling pots?"
Standing up she stretched her legs, "If you want to avoid getting caught with something big, you need to be caught with something smaller to draw their attention."
Turning around the medic leaned against the wall, "How do you figure?"
Cynthia couldn't help but smirk, "Two regions have a dispute, so they require everything to be checked in case of smuggling illegal goods. Every day a guy would ride his bike across the border with a bag of sand on the back and each time they would tear it open and search it but find nothing inside. This continued for three years."
He was looking at her strangely, "Then how did he get away with anything?
"He was smuggling bikes."
After a few moments of silence they both broke down laughing. They were silenced again when they felt the ambulance jerk to a stop, "Hopefully our talk helped, when this is over you need to fix this before somebody else tries to take him away. I doubt he would if someone does try but you will feel better when he is yours again. My name is Isaac by the way."
"Everyone get out of my way!" An older man with dirty blonde hair was shouting at everyone and everything as he stormed through the hallway with a large burly man towards the communications room.
No one had ever seen Jackie this furious, whatever it was nobody wanted to do anything to face his wrath at the moment.
Kicking the door open in frustration Jackie and the larger man began collecting various sets of equipment. The veteran ranger smacked everything off a nearby table, shattering a few cups in the process and throwing papers all over the room without a single care towards what it was.
"Come on people, time is a luxury we aren't able to afford. Find me that damn map, ASAP! Hustle, hustle, hustle!
The ranger barking orders slammed his fist down on the table, 'That mission was not supposed to go down like that! I knew it was a mistake sending him out there solo to take on Jane alone but I did it anyway. He completed the mission sure, but at what cost….' He was interrupted from his thoughts when a grizzled man unrolled a map out covering the table.
"Sir, we just received word from some of the bases in Sinnoh. They reported sightings of the lake trio returning to their homes, he succeeded."
Jackie looked at the map and began marking down the locations of the lake trio's; he then moved his finger in a path to where the cameras had sighted Ash and the ship crashing. Turning to the man he said, "Thank you Jennings, now get on that radio and find out what you can from the rangers over in Sinnoh. I need details, I need locations, and I need to know where that boy is!"
Jennings saluted and then hopped onto the radio trying to get in contacting the Sinnoh Ranger's.
He opened the communications channel and beep the radio once, twice, and then held it before beeping it 3 times in quick succession. "Sent the pulses sir, if they are Rangers they will know to answer."
With a nod Jackie closed his eyes and pinch his nose in irritation. 'What was I thinking sending him undercover as one of Jane's crewmembers. I knew he could handle it but I didn't expect him to go so far as to take the whole fucking ship down. I just wish we didn't have to be so cautious with operations, this damn mole is going to be the death of me… it's only a matter of time before he leaks vital Intel, but if we let him know we are onto whoever it is he will likely run or worse. Damn it all!'
A responding string of beeps echoed from the radio set, the large man who had accompanied Jackie took the radio away from the scrawny man, "This is Sgt. Bailey, from Lake Valor ranger base. Confirm I.D."
Jennings' nodded toward Jackie giving him the headset. "This is Special Agent Jackie Walker at Zulu-Charlie Ranger Command. Calling card Mike-Foxtrot and looking for Sierra-Delta Repeat, Mike-Foxtrot looking for Sierra-Delta."
A few of the newer rangers snickered; they seriously needed to update their calling card, too many people now-a-days don't realize that was picked long before it became known as an insult.
"One moment... I.D. is confirmed. Patching you through now," the voice on the radio said. The radio cut out until a second voice picked up, "Gooooooodmorning Hooooooen! This is not a test this is rock and roll, and we're going to be rocking it from the Delta to the D.M.Z.!
Jackie just sighed, "Good morning to you too Murphy, what's the situation on my ranger, the only way you won't know is if you aren't doing your jobs to begin with."
"Last we heard he from our agent he is in a critical state, the fact he has made it this far is nothing short of an act from whatever higher power you believe in." They could almost see the smile behind his voice.
"Good, I take it you're keeping Joy in check?" The moment the word left his mouth he was immediately correcting himself...
Some cursing in the background, "Alright fine take the damn thing... Jackie is that you!" An irate feminine voice answered through the radio.
Rubbing the back of his head, "If I say no?"
"Good to hear from you Jackie, but for future reference..." There was a small pause; "I have nothing to do with the Joy's anymore! It's VI you got that!"
Jackie hurried up and responded, "Right, right, my mistake. I take it you heard about Ash then VI?" The veteran ranger knew how close those two were; looking at it now when he first met Ash they would have been complete opposites, but now? Now they worked so well together and everybody thought they were a couple… he knew it would never happen though. Then again he may be wrong?
He couldn't remember how many times Ash had mentioned Cynthia or used him as someone to confide in. They like each other sure, but Ash was like a nephew to him, he knew Ash would never get past the champion despite how much he wished he would but Ash always did what you would least expect right?
"I should have gone with him and I told every damn one of you that!" Vi shouted, her voice heavy with venom. "I AM going to that hospital, I WILL be there while he's in operation, and the next time ANY of you tries to stop me I WILL tear your heads off."
The receiver clicked off and Jennings stated, "Radio silence is resumed, removing all signal traces."
Jackie just sat down and let his head fall down to the table with a thump while grumbling, "I'm getting too old for this shit."
All Ash could see was the blinding effect from the harsh fluorescent lighting as it rushed past his vision. Everything started burning again out of nowhere, never a good sign, Arceus he wanted it to end.
Brock was sitting in the Pokémon wing of the hospital; they only got the serious cases that Pokémon centers couldn't handle. Looking over at the pile of paperwork he groaned, "Vile demon, will I ever be rid of you and your penchant for causing suffering!"
The emergency light on his desk flipped on and the warning blared throughout the room. Looking over at his computer screen he watched as the text made its way onto the screen.
Emergency: All medical Personnel are to Report to Wing 1A
Charizard
Type: Fire
Larger than average, critically wounded, Shows signs of major internal damage, extent of injuries is unknown, large puncture wound, wings hanging on by ligaments.
Sterilize, gear up, report to your assigned sections.
Estimated surgery time: 12+ Hours.
Chance of Survival: NA
Trainer: Name- NA, I.D.- Ranger badge, Picture attached.
Open Attachment Y/N?
Brock moved the mouse and clicked yes, the picture sent him reeling. The coffee mug he had dropping out of his hand and shattering across the floor, time began to tick by at a Slugma's pace in Brock's mind.
The doctor sent out a secondary alert to every person who could possible help in his wing to report to Wing 1A and that he would be there momentarily.
Rushing out of the office he ran towards the E.R. where they should be taking the man he once called a best friend and brother in all but blood.
