Chapter Four

"Shepard, I think it may be better if we check out the girl immediately so we can assess the damage, and you can meet us there with the Doctor.", said Liara.

"If you say so. Go on ahead. Dr. Chakwas and I will meet you there soon."

"Thank you. Everyone, show me to the girl." Without a word, Ash began running off toward Professor Oak's lab. Everyone followed in tow, struggling to keep up. Ash had become far too worried to show courtesy to the extra-terrestrial visitor, and just expected the group to follow him. Pikachu couldn't even catch up with his master. He gained such a head start, that he reached the lab with minutes to spare.

When he reached the lab, Ash set down his backpack carrying the Pokeballs, and dashed down the stairs to the bunker where Misty was being kept. He quickly walked to the sofa where she was lying face down, exposing her burnt back and t-shirt. The tee had holes in it where her burned marks were, and the marks themselves were far more red then they had been when he had left. Ash gently placed his hand on one of the patches, and felt that they were hot to the touch, but what really had him worried, was that Misty didn't even respond to what he suspected would have been a painful touch.

"Misty?", he asked timidly. The young woman still lay as still and quiet as the grave. Ash nearly went into a panic at this realization. "Somebody? Somebody help!", he called back into the lab.

"We're coming, honey!", he heard his mom answer. Multiple footsteps were heard coming down the stairs, and the first person Ash saw was Liara. Ash wasn't quite used to the sight of a blue woman with tentacles for hair, but he had more pressing problems to think about.

"Ash, may I have a look at her?", asked Liara, trying to keep her voice calm. It was a few moments before Ash would respond. He looked at Liara, then back at Misty. His face read worry and fear, then he gave a quick answer of "Yeah." and stepped back, giving Liara room, who then made the orange hologram that had been seen on her arm reappear, and waved it over the limp young woman.

"What are you doing?", Ash asked.

"Scanning her wound. Definitely a radiation burn from the Reaper's dark energy beam. It's bad, but treatable. If I give her a dose of medi-gel, it should help colorize the burn."

"Will it bring her around?"

"Possibly. Dr. Chakwas can bring her back to health completely. She was originally a field doctor. And with all we've been through, she's become well acquainted with these kinds of injuries."

"Where are they anyway?", Ash said with impatience in his voice.

"Ash, they'll get here.", said Delia. "Just let Liana do her work."

"Thank you, but it's Liara.", said the alien.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's fine." Liara continued to fiddle with her orange glove thing until she held a tiny ball in her hands. It was grey and seemed to have a liquid like sheen to it.

"What's that?", asked Ash.

"Medi-gel. It will absorb into your friend's skin and help heal the wound." Liara then placed the orb in the middle of Misty's back, and it then dissolved into her skin. Almost immediately, Misty began to stir and groan. Ash darted to her side, nearly knocking Liara over. Professor Oak, Delia, and Brock got behind them, until Liara told them to give Misty some space.

After a few moments, Misty's eyes slowly opened. She looked around in a daze, and the first thing she saw was Ash's face. Ash nearly felt tears well up in his eyes, and managed to speak to his friend.

"Hi.", he said softly.

"Hi.", Misty whispered, a minuscule smile appearing on her face. Ash could only barely hear her, but it didn't matter to him. The fact that she was conscious and could speak gave him massive relief. Liara couldn't help but smile as well. The two young people looked so connected, it was heartwarming. Oak, Delia, Brock, and Pikachu couldn't help but feel the same way.

While the group was relishing the moment, Admiral Shepard and Dr. Chakwas made it to the lab and walked down to the bunker. They saw the group huddled around the girl, and both stopped for a moment, until Shepard spoke up.

"Liara, we're here." The group turned around to see the two people seeing them, and the non-Normandy crew members were slightly surprised to see that Dr. Chakwas was a human woman. She appeared elderly but healthy, had silver hair and vibrant eyes, and seemed to have a motherly look about her. She walked toward the sofa that Misty was on and everyone at once got out of her way.

"Is this the young survivor?", she asked in a light, sweet tone, improved by an unmistakable British accent.

"Yes, Doctor.", said Liara. "It is, in fact, a radiation burn from the Reaper's blast. I gave her some medi-gel and-"

"Oh, hush with all the technical talk Liara.", the doctor interjected. "Have you no bedside manner? Let me look at her." Dr. Chakwas knelt beside the red haired young woman, who looked inquisitively at her visitor, and gave her a warm smile. "Good afternoon, dear. I'm Dr. Karin Chakwas, and I'm going to make you feel just like new."

"Her name's Misty, Doctor.", said Ash.

"Misty?", she turned and smiled at her patient. "What a lovely name you have."

"I...", Misty tried to speak.

"No, no. You needn't talk. Just let me have a look so I can see what all the fuss is about." Dr. Chakwas took a look at Misty's back, and could see that the medi-gel was working. "Well, the redness has gone down, which is a very good sign. Luckily, the burn doesn't seem to be too bad, which is a nigh on a miracle. The medical supplies I have on the Normandy should be able to give her a full recovery."

"Wait.", said Ash. "You're gonna take her on your ship?"

"Yes.", said the Doctor. "In our med-bay, we can give her any medical attention she needs. We also have supplies to spare, which means we can help with any relief efforts needed for the town while we're here." Dr. Chakwas's arm lit up with the same orange hologram Liara had used. "EDI, I'm going to need a stretcher. And have any and all medical supplied ready for distribution.", she said as she spoke into the hologram.

"The stretcher will be there momentarily, Doctor. And our medi-gel and rations will all be prepared for relief efforts soon.", said the same feminine voice that had spoken to Liara earlier.

"Excuse me,", interjected Oak, "but I must ask, what is that thing you people have been using."

"They're Omni-tools.", Shepard answered. "They use holographic tech, nano-computer processors, and Element Zero to create, essentially, a portable super computer."

"Fascinating. I will have to study it if I get the chance." While they were talking, another set of footsteps were heard from the lab. Everyone looked up to see a floating stretcher come down the stairs, escorted by two more beings who were obviously aliens. The first one was tall with almost bird-like features. He stood at nearly seven feet, had mandibles at his mouth, small dark eyes, and only three fingers on his arm. He was wearing high tech looking armor. The second was feminine and had a suit on that covered her entire body. Her faceplate was purple and eyes could barely be made out in it. Her suit had many parts to it that had an almost Arabian aesthetic to it, including a hood with strange patterns to it. Her form was largely humanoid, with the exception of her considerably wide hips supporting her slender frame.

"Shepard, we're here.", said the bird-like one.

"Garrus, Tali. You two made it here fast.", said Shepard.

"Well, we were just kinda sitting around the crew deck until you called.", said the one referred to as Tali, speaking with a vice that sounded like it was going through some sort of modulator. "This finally gave us something to do."

"Tali, help Liara get the girl on to the stretcher.", said Dr. Chakwas. "And do be careful. The medi-gel's working but she's still badly injured."

"Right away.", Tali responded, and then walked over to Liara, and they both very carefully picked up Misty and set her on the floating stretcher.

"Alright, bring her to the med-bay.", said the Doctor. Liara and Tali quickly left the bunker followed by Dr. Chakwas, and Tali could be heard commenting on the strangeness of the current situation. After a brief moment of awkward silence, Shepard spoke up.

"Um, everyone, this is Garrus. He's been my combat partner for nearly four years.", he said. Everyone responded with a simple "hello".

"Hi.", said Garrus. "I'm Garrus Vakarian, and I am what is referred to as a Turian. I save the Admiral's ass and calibrate the really big guns." Everyone chuckled at this remark, except for Ash, who then spoke up.

"Excuse me, but can we, like, go see how they're doing, or are we not allowed on the ship?" Shepard and Garrus looked at each other, then shrugged their shoulders.

"EDI did tell you that we would be providing relief efforts, right?", Shepard asked the Turian.

"Yeah, she did. And everything's about ready for distribution. I mean, they might as well see how things are going."

"Alright." Shepard turned to face the group. "You can come with us and check on your friend. Then we'll start giving out supplies to help the town's people."

"Wait," said the Professor. "We actually get to see your ship?"

"Yes.", said Shepard. "And I think we'd better get moving. It's gonna be a long day."

Shepard led the way out of the bunker and into the street, followed closely by his new comrades. The Reaper corpse could be easily seen laying in a field about a mile away from them. The corpse still emanated enormous smoke stacks that could be smelled from where they were. The town down the road let up the same smoke. Shepard appeared calm about the situation, but he was really trying to repress the flashbacks he was having, the ones where Earth was under attack by hundreds of the monsters, the ones where he watched countless men, women, and children die as he escaped with barely a scratch. Despite his rugged, at times cold exterior, he really did feel pain like anyone else. And just as any soldier, the pain of war never really goes away. Shepard was lost in thought about this until he was stopped by someone down the road shouting.

"Hey! Hey! Stop!", called the panicked man. "Please, you've gotta help us, Professor!" As the man ran up to the group, they all got a good look at him. He was fairly short with little hair, and appeared to be about thirty years of age.

"What is it, Mr. Kyoya?", asked Oak.

"The town's in shambles, Professor. Tons of the homes have been destroyed, people are on the street fighting over any supplies that are available, and tons of people have been injured and are dying. You've got to help us, Oak. It's getting insane down there!" Professor Oak looked back at the group, trying to gauge their feelings on the matter. He could see that Ash was still very impatient, and Delia and Brock didn't appear happy either.

"Admiral, how long until we can begin distributing supplies?", Oak asked.

"Within the hour."

"There, Mr. Kyoya, is your answer.", he said rather sarcastically.

"What? But Professor, who are these guys? What are you talking about?"

"You will know within the hour." And on that note, the group continued to move toward the ship, and Mr. Kyoya ran back to town in a fit.

The group walked down the road towards the star ship, and it still astounded the locals at how large it was. They thought it looked like something out of a science fiction story. When they reached the ship, Shepard stopped them.

"Now, are you all ready to see our ship?", he asked the locals.

"What should we be ready to see?", asked Delia. Shepard then looked as if he was about to answer her, then stopped and looked perplexed. "Is something wrong?", she then asked.

"Nothing.", said Shepard. "I've just never had to think about that up until this point. Where Garrus and I come from, aliens and advanced tech are common knowledge."

"Basically,", Garrus interjected. "just try not to stare. And keep an open mind."

"We're wasting time.", Ash blurted out. "Just let us in." Everyone looked back at him with surprised looks, except for Delia, who was silently scolding him.

"He's right.", said Shepard. "The quicker we get in there, the quicker we can help these people." Shepard then put two fingers to his right ear. "EDI, open the shuttle bay. We're coming back." At that, the hangar bay opened, and revealed the shuttle bay they had seen earlier. As they walked in, the Kantoans were astounded at what they were seeing. The shuttle bay was very large. Armor lockers lined the far wall. An elevator was at the back, behind a command console that appeared far more advanced than anything their world had. As the group walked in, they felt anticipation grow for what was beyond the elevator.

"Uum...impressive.", said Oak, still taking in everything in the hangar.

"Oh, just you wait, Professor.", Garrus said as he and Shepard walked toward the elevator. When they reached it, an orange hologram like they had seen on the omni-tool came up where they would usually see the designated numbers for the different floors. Shepard inputted a command into the hologram and the door opened. The interior wasn't too different from anything they had seen before, unlike about everything else. The group then walked in to the elevator as Shepard put in another command. Then, after a few moments of awkward silence and anticipation, the door opened.

"Lady and gentlemen,", Shepard said as he walked out of the elevator, "welcome to the Combat Information Center, and welcome aboard the Normandy." Men and women of different alien races busily raced around the floor of the Center, which was astounding in its own right. A large holographic image of the Milky Way galaxy was in front of them, with a ramp approaching it, as if it were where the captain of the vessel would give out his orders. Pits with different computer interfaces lined the walls and were manned by men and women of different species. The bridge extended about eighty feet forward to what appeared to be the helm of the ship. Needless to say, Ash and company were astounded at what they were seeing.

"Spectacular.", said Oak.

"Unbelievable.", added Brock.

"Incredible.", said Delia. Ash, although still impatient regarding Misty, was still awestruck at this futuristic marvel. If you had described anything like this to him earlier, he would have dismissed it as science fiction. But with the day he was happening, he was willing to believe anything at this point.

"Whoa.", was all Ash could muster as he walked out of the elevator. Oak was about to ask Shepard several thousand questions regarding the ship and galactic civilization, when Shepard was stopped by a red headed woman seemingly of her mid-twenties.

"Admiral,", she began. Her voice was sweet and gentle, making her appear as a very kind person with only an introductory word. "Dr. Chakwas wanted me to inform you that out relief supplies will be ready for distribution shortly, and that the medical procedure for the young woman has gone exceptionally well. She would like to see you down in med-bay as soon as possible."

Thanks, Kelly.", Shepard said. "We'll head down there in a minute." He was about to speak to the locals when Kelly interjected.

"Oh my! Are you all from the town?", she asked enthusiastically.

"Uum, yes.",answered Oak.

"Wow! This is so exciting! My name is Kelly Chambers. I'm Admiral Shepard's Yeoman. It's a pleasure to meet you all.", she then shook everyone's hand. Everyone appeared apprehensive at first, but they couldn't say no to someone so friendly.

"If there anything else, Kelly?", Shepard asked.

"Well, your squadmates would like to get out and see the sights, but aside from that, nothing more, sir."

"Ok." Shepard then turned to address the group. "Everyone, follow me. We're gonna head down to the med-bay and check on your friend." He then turned towards the elevator they had come up in, and punched some more commands into the console, and the elevator door opened. The group then followed Shepard in and the elevator began to descend, until they came out into a hallway going to the left and right.

"Shepard,", Garrus began, "I'm going to check on the Main Battery. Just give me a shout if you need anything."

"Alright, Garrus. See you in a while." And with that Garrus walked off.

"Your crew seems to respect you highly.", said Oak.

"We've been through a lot with each other. More than you can imagine. We've earned each other's respect and trust." Shepard's voice was slightly but noticeably darker when saying this. "Now, let's check on your friend." He then lead them out of the hallway and into a common crew area. A few crewmen seemed to be on break, eating food and chatting in low voices. They all stood up and saluted the Admiral when he walked in. "At ease.", was his response, and they all resumed their break. Shepard then lead the way to the right and a door opened into the med-bay.

The med-bay was fairly small, with only a few tables for patients. As they walked in, they saw Dr. Chakwas standing over one of the tables, and she then turned to address her visitors.

"Admiral, I'm glad you came.", she said.

How's your patient, Doctor?"

"It's a good thing we got to her when we did. With the medi-gel I gave her, among a couple other procedures, she'll make a full recovery soon."

"Good work, Doctor.", said Shepard. As they finished conversating, Ash rushed by them and knelt at Misty's bedside. Her red hair was tousled, and she was wearing some sort of hospital wear. Scars lined her face, but she seemed stable, as she was fast asleep.

"Young sir,", Dr. Chakwas said to Ash, "I gave her some pain medication, which is why she's asleep. She's going to be fine."

"Thanks, Doc.", Ash said without turning from his friend.

"That being said, I would like her to get some rest while the medication does its work." Ash was reluctant, but accepted without a word. He simply stood up and nodded. The group then left Dr. Chakwas to her patient.