(Continued)
Shortly after Pikachu led Charizard to see Ash, his condition worsened. Misty, still suspicious of Charizard, despite Pikachu's obvious acceptance of its innocence, decided to let the rest of Ash's pokemon out. Not only cause she knew they'd want to be with Ash, but also so they could help her keep an eye on Charizard. It was Squirtle who noticed the fever first. The injured boy's unhealthy warmth easily detected by the cool skin of the turtle pokemon.
"Squrt! Squirtle, squirt tle squirtle tle Squirt!" (Hey! Come here, there's something wrong with Ash!) it cried frantically.
Pikachu was there instantly. "Pikachu? Pika kachu?" (What is it? Whats wrong?) Pikachu held its breath, waiting to hear the worst. In that instant, a thousand memories flashed through it's mind. The first time it saw Ash..and the incredulously happy look on the boy's face. How Ash stood against a flock of Spearow when it was injured. The time in the ice cave when Ash almost froze trying to keep his pokemon warm. A million other memories of the kind, brave, brash boy who had become Pikachu's best friend flashed through the electric mouse's mind and a crushing despair threatened to crash down on it at the thought of Ash dying like this. So far from home...so far from accomplishing his dreams.
Tracy, Misty and the others gathered around as well. Tracy felt for a pulse and sighed in relief when he found one. But, then he noticed what must have alarmed Squirtle. Ash was hot. Too hot.
"What is it Tracy? Is he...?" Misty choked. She couldn't finish the question. She couldn't even finish the thought. Anytime she even considered that Ash might not make it she seemed to lose the ability to breath correctly.
"No...no. But....he has a fever." Tracy replied quickly. His eyes met Misty's and for a moment, they just sat. Silently communicating each other's relief, fear, and sickening worry.
Pikachu took a breath and sat back. A relief so strong that it felt dizzy swept over the yellow mouse at the news that Ash was ok. But no...Ash isn't ok, it thought. He has a fever. Pikachu trembled slightly at the thought of what a fever could do to Ash in this condition. It looked back at the others and saw his fears mirrored in their faces.
Tracy racked his brain, trying to think of how to help Ash. Cool....he's got to get cool. I think the fevers gotten worse just since we've been sitting here...this is bad. If it gets too bad, he'll die. He can't stand a bad fever...he's lost too much blood. For a moment, Tracy was at a loss. He couldn't get his brain to get past the fact that if he didn't get Ash's fever broken soon, the boy would die. How can I cool him down...I have to cool him down.....how?
Misty watched as Tracy got more and more frustrated looking. "Tracy?" She became alarmed when he looked up at her because the expression on his face was one of impending defeat. He was giving up! He can't give up! "Whats wrong with you Tracy! Ash needs you! I don't know what to do about this....if Ash'd fallen in a river...if he'd drowned...I would know what to do...but this...I have no idea. You do! So you better snap out of whatever it is and come up with something or I'll knock you into next tuesday, you understand!" she yelled, standing over him and shaking her fist in his face.
For a second, Tracy just sat astonished. Then, it hit him. "A bobsled!" he yelled.
"A bobsled? What does a bobsled have to do with helping Ash? Have you gone insane?" Misty cried.
"No! We have to get Ash cool. Don't you remember the bobsled made out of ice? Lapras can make one and Squirtle can fill it with water....the ice will make the water cold and we'll put Ash in the cold water to get him cool!"
"Yes! Yes...Tracy you are a genius!" Misty laughed, hugging the boy. Misty turned toward Lapras and asked, "Lapras, can you make a bobsled? Like the one Ash raced down the mountain in?"
"Pras, lapras lap lapras!" (Yes, of course I can!) Lapras replied happily, glad to be able to help its friend to get better. Lapras created a large, slightly rectangular lump of ice. It wasn't perfect...but with a little help, it would be just fine. The other pokemon set to work, but it was going to be slow going.
Tracy was getting worried Ash would get worse before they would finish and started to help chip out the ice as well. Misty pitched in too. Charizard hung back. The others had been acting distant from the dragon pokemon ever since they came out of their balls and found out what had happened. The said they believed it when it said that Ash hadn't let it out to battle a Rhyhorn, but they acted like they didn't trust it completely. Charizard tried to understand where they were coming from. But it hurt all the same that they'd think that it would ever do anything like that. It watched as they struggled to gouge out a trough deep enough to put poor Ash in to cool him down and it wondered if it should help. For a moment...indecision kept Charizard in place...but finally it made up its mind.
"Zard...Charizard." ( Here...let me.) It said softly, and, after waiting for everyone to back up and for Squirtle and Pikachu to pull Misty and Tracy out of the way, it let loose a controlled burst of flame. Within a few moments, a nice deep trough, already filled with water had been created. Once the water got cold, Misty and Tracy very carefully removed all but Ash's underwear. Then, moving slowly so they wouldn't hurt him more, they picked him up and lowered him into the water.
"Will you look at that Jessie?" James whispered. "It looks like the twerp had an accident of some kind." James was concerned. Despite all the trouble that kid and his friends caused him over the years.....he was just a kid. He looked really badly hurt too...and sick.
"Why do you suppose they're putting him in that water?" Jessie replied. She would never admit it, but she was feeling a bit of concern as well. She quickly pushed it aside...deliberately reminding herself of all the time she got blasted off because of that kid...but the feeling kept coming back.
"It looks like he might have a fever." Meowth suggested. "Puttin someone in cold water is one way of tryin to break a bad fever. The kid looks like he's been hurt pretty bad too."
"What do you suppose happened? Do you think that the help the Boss arranged did that?" James asked wordily.
"I don't know James....I don't know." Jessie answered, concerned herself. Just what sort of 'help' would do that to a little kid anyway?