Thanks for reading. I don't own Pokemon. As usual, reviews and constructive criticism would be appreciated.
Side note: This is a rather short chapter, so I decided on a double upload today. The other one should go up at the same moment as this one.
Italics: Telepathy.
'Word': thoughts.
"Words": spoken words.
"Words": words spoken by Pokemon.
Ash was instantly rushed to Cameran Palace's infirmary. They had no idea how the energy of the sphere had affected him; and even if the energy was to be neglected, the sphere had still crashed into him at a very high velocity. It would at least leave bruises, if not breaking a bone. And what was more concerning was that his body was glowing a faint shade of blue…
Queen Ilene stood outside the room Ash Ketchum had been put in with a worried look. She remembered the young man and his heroics quite well; how he and his Pokemon had saved the palace and the kingdom last time, working with Sir Aaron's Lucario to prevent a catastrophe from striking as they worked to uncover the truth behind Lucario's past and rescuing Pikachu from the wayward Mew. Mew may not have meant any harm, but his actions caused a lot more trouble that they should have… Ash managed to take the Aura Sphere quite well given the fact that he was a human; he was almost unnaturally tough, the Queen noted. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't worried about him. She owed the young hero a debt and he had proven he had a great heart.
A nurse emerged from the room, and Queen Ilene approached her. "Is the child all right?"
The nurse nodded hesitantly, rather surprised at being directly spoken to by someone as high up as the queen herself. "In terms of the physical impact, he is fine, if not abnormally tough. That kind of thing should have broken a few bones, but at most seems like the kid has some bruises. I wish I could explain."
Queen Ilene held back a laugh before realizing exactly what the nurse had said. "Wait, in terms of the physical impact?"
"Well, the blue tint that seemed to affect him is still present… We have a theory. For some odd reason, part of the Aura Sphere that struck Mr. Ketchum was absorbed into his own body. But that aura should have faded out a long time ago; that tint should have faded when the aura did!" The nurse was somewhat hysterical at this point.
"Well, I supposed we just have to wait until he wakes up…"
Pikachu wandered around the castle courtyard. None of the team, including him, were allowed to see Ash yet, and it angered them to no end. Not that there was much they could do about it, but it didn't make him any less angry that he was being held back from seeing his friend.
In the rush to get Ash to the infirmary, the medical staff had even forgotten to let the rest of the team out of their Poke Balls. So if anything, the others were still confined wondering when the heck Ash would let them out and congratulate them for their tournament performance.
He climbed up onto a window and overheard some talking through his sensitive ears.
"sphere… absorbed… tint should have faded"
The Mouse Pokemon should his head, trying to make sense of the words. What had that sphere done to his friend?
He leapt from the window with a determined look and sprinted around the yard, using Quick Attack to assist him, and he managed to find an open window. Jumping inside, to the shock of some of the castle employees, he ran through the halls, blindly hoping to find Ash.
"Queen Ilene. You can come see the boy now if you wish."
The Queen nodded to the nurse as the door to Ash's room was opened. She was surprised; as the nurse has said, very little looked physically wrong with him. It was pretty clear that he was insanely, almost unnaturally resistant. That blue tint, however, if anything, had gotten brighter.
Suddenly, she heard some commotion in the outside halls.
"Your highness! Look-"
A small yellow mouse leapt through the door and onto Ash's bed. The Queen stared.
"Aren't you Ash's Pikachu? Where have you been, I expected you to be with him the whole time?"
"Pika! Pikapi, Pika chu chu!" The wild gestures the mouse made were tough to interpret, but the Queen got the gist of it.
"They didn't let you come in? Stupid guards… probably thought you were a risk to him or to me. Whatever. You can absolutely feel free to stay here for the time being."
The guards who had just arrived at the door and had begun to complain shut up at the uncharacteristic glare of the normally quiet queen. It seemed Queen Ilene was not always so soft spoken…
Chapter 7: Complete
Date Uploaded: December 10
