I don't own them I never claimed to Please don't sue me.

Okay this is in response to a challenge by Vidalark, I also must say I have never met anyone who is blind so my portrayal will probably be inaccurate I sincerely hope I do not offend anyone with this.

Pokemon A Test of Character:

Chapter 5:

Ash woke up that morning feeling terrible. "Misty is right." He said as he reached over and unplugged the alarm clock. "I'm going back to sleep Pikachu." he laid back down and pulled the blanket up over his head.

"Pika pi?" The yellow Pokemon asked with a hint of worry. "Pikachu Pika pi?" he began to shake Ash who was obviously trying to ignore him.

Ash set back up. "I'm not going Misty's right I should just give up." As he said this he laid back down and no amount of prodding on Pikachu's part could get him up. Pikachu opened the door and headed down.

Mrs. Ketchum was setting the table for breakfast when Pikachu entered. "Pikachu where is Ash?" She could tell by the small pokemon's face that he was not happy. Her question was rewarded with a string of pikas that she couldn't follow but she got the message that something was wrong.

"I'll go see if I can get him up." She headed up the stairs wondering what could be wrong with him. She peered in to see him sleeping or so she thought but when she got closer she realized he was just lying there trying to ignore her. "I can tell your awake."

"I'm not going mom I give up." Ash said bitterly "Misty's right I can't do it so why bother?" He pictured his mother angry at him and waited for her retort and expected her to agree.

"Misty is wrong Ash and if she's telling you things like that I'll have to send her away." Mrs. Ketchum got up to leave when her son called her back.

"Don't Mom it's not Misty's fault I can't do it." Ash said as he set up facing the direction her footsteps came from.

"But it is her fault you believe that lie." His Mother said as she set back on the bed. "I'll make you a deal you keep going on your dream despite what Misty says and I'll not send her away." She hated resorting to bribery but she decided it was necessary.

"But.." He began but then she took his hand in a gentle squeeze and placed a finger to his lips. He sighed and then finally relented "Fine but it's just a waste of time."

"I hope you'll see that it's not." She got up and left him to get ready as she returned to the kitchen to continue cooking she glanced at Pikachu. "I'm going to have to do something about Misty's attitude." The small yellow rodent nodded his agreement.

She heard the shower start and glanced worriedly up the stairs. "Pikachu would you go wait out by the door?" She knew this fear was irrational Ash hadn't fallen not even when he was first getting used to the guide rails they had installed in the bathroom or the handrail in the shower.

"Pika." As the pokemon headed up to wait by the door she turned as Brock entered the kitchen and as every morning offered to do the cooking the next.

"Brock we have a problem." She said as she set a plate of food infront of him. She noticed he was curious but wanted to let her tell him at her own pace. "Ash is starting to believe Misty I don't know what she said to him but this has to stop."

"I agree but what can we do?" He asked concerned because he knew things were coming to a head. Mrs. Ketchum was about to explain when they heard the door to the room Misty was sleeping in open.

"Misty Dear?" Mrs. Ketchum said putting on a cheerful face. "Brock and I have something we need to do at Professor Oak's and I was hoping you could do the shopping for today?" Brock was shocked at this cheerful expression and tone of voice.

"Sure I'd be glad to." Misty said though she wondered what kind of business it was. 'Probably more of this stupid idea about Ash still being able to be a trainer." she thought to herself.

Pikachu and Ash came down last Ash's hair was still wet and hanging in his eyes. Misty gawked as Mrs. Ketchum made the obvious remark any mother would make about getting the hair out of his eyes. "Okay mom." Ash said rather flatly reaching up to shove the wet hair back out of his face.

Breakfast past in what to Brock seemed an incredibly tense state despite the fact no one seemed that tense. At first glance he thought you'd take Mrs. Ketchum for any cheerful mother eating breakfast with her son and his friends. But he could tell she was still upset and he knew Ash knew it too with the way he kept turning a curious look on her when ever she talked to Misty. 'His hearing has gotten better I wonder if he can tell she's mad at Misty by some difference in her voice?' he briefly considered asking Ash later but thought better of it. 'I can't know what it's like so I shouldn't make him try to explain things.'

Brock and Misty waited in tense silence sitting in the living room waiting for Mrs. Ketchum to get back from running Ash to his classes. Of course since the nearest city big enough to offer them was Pewter it usually ment they were alone for about an hour and a half. Which was usually spent ignoring each other.

Brock was extremely relieved when he heard the car pull into the driveway. Mrs. Ketchum entered and glanced at Misty and Brock. "Would you two go see what is needed from the store I have to call Professor Oak?" Brock and Misty nodded and headed into the Kitchen.

"Hello," Professor Oak said as he answered the phone. "Delia how good to hear from you is everything okay?" he asked seeing her sad expression.

"I need to speak with you and may very soon it's important." Delia Ketchum said quietly she was trying to keep her voice low enough so it would only sound a mumble in the Kitchen.

"Has something happened with Ash?" Professor Oak said lowering his voice to match hers. 'She must not want Ash to hear.' he thought.

"Yes and no I can't really explain now can I come over there to see you now while Ash is at his classes?" She asked.

"Yes, I'll call May and have her come over here." The Professor said this and then nodded as she said goodbye. After hanging the phone up to reset it he dialed the number for his Granddaughters house.

"I'm not sure it's a such a good idea Gary but alright." she said to her younger brother who smiled. "Just promise you won't cause any trouble?" she asked as she heard the phone ring.

"Yeah sure Sis you want me to get that?" He said as he began to pack what they had just finished making in a bag.

"No I'll get it." she said heading over to the phone. Gary heard her talking quietly with someone and was about to ask when she hung the phone up and turned toward him. "I'm going over to Granpa's for something stay here in case anyone calls."

Gary knew the tone of voice ment don't ask so he just nodded and went back to what he was doing. May grabbed her coat and headed out to walk over to her grandfather's home.

May arrived shortly after Mrs. Ketchum and Brock she entered and asked calmly. "What happened?" She had been able to tell from her grandfathers face that they hadn't told him yet but he was too polite to ask.

"Ash is starting to believe Misty." Delia Ketchum said sadly. "I don't know why but yesterday when he came home he was depressed then this morning he mentioned giving up."

"We think Misty said something to him yesterday on the walk home." Brock said from where he was sitting fidgeting nervously. May glanced at him before turning to Mrs. Ketchum as she digested what she had been told.

"You should send her home then." May said. "She shouldn't be around Ash is she is going to do that to him." Mrs. Ketchum sighed and May's eyes narrowed. "Your not sending her away?"

Delia knew that May was angry she was too but she sighed as she said. "I was going to Ash told me not to." She sighed again much louder this time. "I turned it around and made him promise to continue working toward his dream if I didn't."

"I'm not sure that was a good idea Delia?" Oak said calmly. "If Misty is damaging Ash psychologically with her bias she shouldn't be around him." Noticing the woman's stricken look. "Of course what's done is done and we should try to think of how to handle it from here." He added to allay her fears.

"I can tell you what we need to do." May said calmly. Everyone turned to her expectantly. "We can comfort Misty and lay down the law give her the choice or changing her attitude to help or staying the hell out of the way." Everyone was gawking at her she knew they had never heard May Oak ever use such language.

"Your probably right." Delia said when the silence became to much for her. "We need to figure out how and win to do this?" Brock and Oak nodded and May seemed about to speak again. "May you have an idea?"

"We should do it today since Gary wanted to go out to the woods outside of town with Ash we can comfort her waiting for them to get back." May added she had planned to ask Mrs. Ketchum about her brothers scheme anyway.

"What why does Gary want to go out to the woods with Ash?" She asked whenever they had been alone when they were younger trouble usually followed.

"We came up with a way for Ash to practice throwing pokeballs." May said "But Gary is embarrassed by it and wanted privacy plus doing it somewhere like a real forest will make it more like the real thing."

Delia couldn't fault that logic but at the same time she wasn't thrilled about her son being alone with Gary Oak. "Yes that would be a good time to do it." she glanced at the clock "Well all of you be there?" When they nodded she said "Good now lets use the time we have left to figure out how we are going to handle this?"

Meanwhile at the Pewter Center for the Disabled Ash Ketchum yawned. He hated these classes they made him sit there trying to memories the feel of letters and things with his fingers. It wasn't a skill he found easy to grasp. The Doctors of course told him it would take time and he knew they were right. "But it's still frustrating." He had told pikachu on more than one occasion.

His hand slipped once again to his pocket to insure the money was still there. 'Don't know how Gary plans to get us away from May?' he thought as he remembered that Gary had said something about bring Money for May's Present and well go shopping in three days. 'Which was three days ago.' He thought with a bemused expression. 'Hope I have enough Pikachu isn't big on human money.' Ash smiled thinking about how hard it had been to describe what bills he wanted to the pokemon.

Ash wrenched his mind back on task and continued trying to memories the Braille version of J. 'Come on you know when times up they will come around and test you.' he told himself mentally. 'Just focus on how it feels like they told you.' he felt like screaming to him it felt like a bunch of bumps not a J.

To Be Continued...

Authors Notes:

1. Wow I completed a new part first time since January of Last Year that I actually set down and wrote apart to this fic only took me the better part of a Day. I decided to cut this part in half so while one long Chapter would have been my original choice I know think they should be broken up.

2. the next part will be done very soon since I already have some of the major events in the storyline planned. out.

3. Hope you enjoyed this part and look forward to the rest.