Osteogenesis Imperfecta
by Joshua Falken
Thanks to BenRG for beta-read this chapter and rewrite and improve the Boulder Badge Battle scene :-)
Author's note: Osteogenesis Imperfecta is an Alternate Universe fic, where Ash has the disease of the title. Also, this genetic disorder is real, it really exists. For more info, access http://www.oif.org
Now, the chapter 4! :-)
Chapter 4 - Insomnia
Viridian Hotel
June 15, 2063
It was already late at night, when Brock Harrison left his friend in the door of her room.
"Rest a little, Misty."
Sighing, she asked: "Can you rest, Brock?"
He just nodded and went to his own room.
Misty Williams entered her room and went directly to the bed. She lay there, still wearing her day clothes. She would not get to sleep in that night, she knew that much. The girl looked at Togepi, and she saw that the small egg Pokémon slept, with a sad expression on his little face...
She remembered the visit she had made today and a tear left her right eye...
Viridian City General Hospital
June 15, 2063
"Hi Misty."
"Hi Ash." She observed her friend and felt her heart squeeze in distress. He seemed to be buried in the grasp of a high-tech version of a medieval torture machine. Of his face, she could only see his mouth and those strange, hypnotic, brown-on-blue eyes. His arms, the legs and the chest were wrapped up with orthopaedical braces. The whole effect was to make Ash look like some kind of experimental robot. Wires and tubes came out from everywhere. She knew the terrible power of the disease that afflicted her friend, but now... Now she saw with crystal clarity what his attacker had done with him and what he had to fight every day...
Forest between Pewter City and
Cerulean City
May 22, 2060
Furtively, Misty approached Ash's backpack, while he slept in that amazing super-cushioned sleeping bag. She didn't understand why he slept in that thing or why he used those armoured knee and elbow pads all the time. Or why he had a special permission to carry a medical Chansey. Or why he had broken both of his arms twice and his right leg once. Or why the white of his eyes had a blue tone...
She hoped the answers were in what she was now looking for.
"I found it!" she said, waking up Pikachu and Brock, while Ash slept peacefully. He was the deepest sleeper in the world in her opinion...
"Misty, what...?" Brock began to ask, when she gestured to him to keep quiet.
She went to him with Ash's Pokédex. Brock didn't like that, but he, too, was curious about the secrets of the young boy quickly becoming his friend. Pikachu looked on with disapproval, but it didn't take any action. They opened the personal details file and, on a whim, checked Ash's medical records:
"Warning!" Dexter announced. "The carrier of this Pokédex is victim of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Level Two! Repeating: the carrier of this Pokédex is victim of Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Level two!"
Misty and Brock looked at each other questioningly. Osteogenesis what?
Misty highlighted the name and pressed the 'define' button.
"Osteogenesis Imperfecta - genetic disease that causes the victim's body to generate insufficient levels of collagen..." As Dexter explained the symptoms of the disease in its' inappropriately cheery voice, they understood the curse that Ash carried in his DNA.
"...extremely fragile bones..."
"...any impact could cause a fracture..."
"...possible loss of hearing..."
"...estimated life span for Level Two sufferers: two years maximum..."
It seemed unreal. Ash was so full of life, so utterly without fear or uncertainty. It was impossible that he could be suffering from a crippling disease that all the medics in the world were certain should have killed him over eight years ago. In time, however, they would understand the full gravity of his situation...
Viridian City General Hospital
June 15, 2063
To hide her concern, Misty tried to tease Ash in her usual snide tone: "It seems that you got it, Ash. You look worse than Brock when he was dumped by Michelle."
Delilah looked shocked. What kind of comment was that to make to her son? But when Ash laughed, she noticed that was a particular joke that the two youngsters must have shared before.
"Yeah... I think."
"How do you feel?"
He paused before answering. "Broken."
"Ash..."
"Hey, I'm alive, aren't I?" He stated simply. And then he smiled a sad smile.
Misty and Delilah glanced nervously at each other. "Sure, Ash." The water Pokémon Trainer smiled nervously.
"Have the doctors said anything yet?" He asked.
"Well, they say that you should rest as much as possible and..."
"Misty... Can I walk?"
The desperation and worry in Ash's voice silenced Misty immediately. She knew that Ash's greatest fear related to the disease was that, one day, he would have a fracture in the spine that would leave him paraplegic or worse paralyse him totally. She didn't want him to worry... but she could not lie to him... "The doctors haven't said anything about that yet."
He nodded and stayed silent.
When Misty was about to open her mouth, Ash asked about his Pokémon. He never will change! she thought in exasperation. Always more worried about others than about himself! But immediately she regretted such thoughts. After all, once Ash hurt himself to help her...
Exit of New Bark City
August 23, 2062
Misty felt the cold of Butch's .44" Magnum at her head. His partner, Cassidy, aimed her gold-plated .45" automatic pistol at Ash. Behind the Team Rocket terrorists, the New Bark River ran in a ravine far below.
"And then, Glass Boy?" Ash winced at the insult. "Will you give to us your Pokémon and your Pikachu, or not?" Cassidy asked, a vicious smile in the lips.
"I thought that was Jessie and James' job." He said. Ash wasn't really interested in the division of labour in Team Rocket. He was just trying to win time. Great time for Brock to be in the New Bark Pokémon Breeder's Convention! he thought in anger and worry.
"Well, consider this a way of you compensate for the times that you caused us such trouble." He heard Butch laugh at Cassidy's rather lame joke.
"Ash, don't do it!" Misty begged.
"Pikachu..." Ash began to speak.
"That's right, Pikachu! Throw a Thunder-shock Attack with someone holding a metal weapon against your friend's head!" Butch said in an ironic tone. "The electricity will go from the weapon direct to fry her brain!"
Pikachu and Ash looked one for the other. What choice did they have?
"All right!" The Pokémon Trainer said in an angry tone. The two thieves didn't notice that Ash was making a series of gestures to Pikachu.
Ash walked towards Butch and Cassidy, removing his Pokébelt slowly. Butch and Cassidy smiled triumphantly. Misty, tears streaming down her cheeks, begged quietly for him change his mind...
Then everything happened very fast.
Ash threw himself against Butch and Cassidy, at the same time that Pikachu pulled Misty in the opposite direction. The thieves and the Trainer rolled down into ravine below. Ash stopped rolling short of the riverbank, while the fast-flowing water swept Butch and Cassidy away.
Misty went down the fastest that she could to help her wounded friend. She couldn't even imagine what agony he felt right now. His left leg was completely broken, lying in a zigzag line. His arms were broken too, sticking out at impossible angles...
The only thing that the half-hysterical Cerulean City Gym Leader could do, other than release Ash's Chansey and to call New Bark Central Hospital, was hold her unconscious friend's head...
Viridian City General Hospital
June 15, 2063
"Pikachu and Chicolita are resting there in the runner, with Brock. Your other Pokémon are in the Pokémon Center. They want to know when they can visit you, because they are very concerned. Even Charon." Misty told her friend.
"Charon?" There was surprise in the blue and brown eyes.
"Well, he said: 'He can be a brat, but he is a good friend.'"
"Can you thank him for that?" That comment, coming from Charon, meant a lot.
"Sure."
Misty touched her friend's free hand carefully. She was terrified of causing him more hurt than that he was already suffering. After a moment, she asked the question that Detective Jenny would like to ask too.
"Ash, did you see who did this?"
He sighed. "I don't remember... everything was so fast..."
"You don't need to worry about that now, Ash! First, worry about recovering!" Delilah said in a strong, motherly tone.
"Sure." He murmured, in an indecipherable tone, almost sounding... defeated. That had frozen Misty's heart. Her friend had never spoken in such a way... "When will they let me have a prognosis?"
"The doctor in charge of your case said that they would tell us tomorrow." Misty said, trying to keep her tone positive, to encourage her friend.
But Ash's eyes showed that hope was something that he lacked at that moment. He knew the worst case scenario of the disease...
Viridian Hotel
June 15, 2063
There was another person that couldn't sleep: Brock. He walked to and fro in his room, scratching his head. He was concerned about his friend, anyone could see that. After all, that was the worst situation in than Ash could be and he was afraid of what could be going through the over-intense kid's head right now...
He knew how Ash didn't want to be beaten by his disease. He remembered very well that time so long ago, when he met Ash for the first time as a brash young challenger for the Boulder Badge. It was Ash's second attempt and it looked like he was going to win. Ash was about to give the final order so that Pikachu would launch one final attack and defeat his Onix, but Brock's little brothers and sisters could not stand by and watch their beloved big brother's Pokémon hurt...
Boulder Gym
Pewter City
May 15, 2060
Brock's siblings rushed Ash in a mob, trying to stop him from hurting Onix.
Brock's brother, Steel, seized Ash's right arm and twisted it in an attempt to restrain him, and Brock could not believe what he saw... Ash's arm snapped to the side before his eyes. Steel was not that strong... it wasn't possible...
Ash screamed in surprise and agony and fell to his knees in the center of the knot of Harrison kids. Brock's brothers and sisters all leapt back as if knocked away by some force. Some of the younger girls like Ruby and Sapphire began to scream at the impossible angle of the arm Ash was cradling to his side, his face pale and shocked. Even Onix and Pikachu stopped in their own battle...
"Pika-pi!" Pikachu shouted, leaping to Ash's side. The little electric-type Pokémon hugged Ash's injured arm gently, trying to support it and draw it back into its' place.
Ash's friend, Misty, the Assistant Gym Leader over at Cerulean City if Brock's memory served, looked on at the scene in utter horror.
"Oh God!" Brock shouted uselessly. He stepped forward. "Ash... are you..." Brock was about to ask Ash if he was all right, but he could see that he was not. What suddenly hit Brock was the strange expression on Ash's face. The boy had clearly got over his initial shock. Even though he was in pain, his primary expression was a mixture of resignation, shock, and revulsion...
Brock spent a long afternoon pacing around his office at the Gym, trying to make sense of what he had seen. He also had to reassure Steel, who was in hysterics, convinced that he had murdered the boy from Pallet Town. That evening, Misty sent Brock word that Ash had, somehow, broken his arm in three places.
It was a torrid night at the Gym Leader's residence. Brock had little sleep. All his younger brothers and sisters had awful nightmares about the boy who broke like he was made of glass. Steel, especially, hardly slept at all. Brock could not reassure them, because he could not understand what had happened himself.
To Brock's amazement, Ash returned the next day and challenged him for the Boulder Badge once again. A third time. His arm was encased in an external prosthesis that made it look like he had a robot limb.
Despite his incomprehensible injury, Ash was not in any way daunted. He used his Caterpie to lasso Onix and he managed to defeat the rock snake in record time, immobilising him without actually knocking him out.
Then Ash put Pikachu up against Geodude and it looked like he was going to win easily, but at the very last moment, Ash refused to give Pikachu the order to finish Geodude off. His reasons, as he explained to Brock, were simple. He had no desire to win if he that involved seriously injuring a Pokémon. "I know what pain is, Brock," Ash explained. "I'll be damned if I cause it in another creature for my own ends."
Brock had to admire such principles. He told Ash that this proved that he was worthy of being a Pokémon Trainer. By his courage and his care for his and other Trainers' friends, he passed Brock's standards. So, even though he had not defeated the Gym Leader as tradition demanded, Ash received the Boulder Badge.
Viridian Hotel
June 15, 2063
Brock smiled sadly as he remembered that day. It had been a long journey for all of them, but not once had he seen Ash go back on his principle to never cause pain for any creature if he could avoid it. Now, the Pewter City Gym Leader could only wish that Ash recovered the as fast as possible...
Office of Kimberly Steeleyon
Pokémon Global League Headquarters
Viridian City
June 15, 2063
Ash's friends were not the only ones having problems getting to sleep that night. In the Headquarters of the Pokémon League, a middle-aged red-haired woman paced to and fro in her palatial offices.
Kimberly Steeleyon, the Grand Master of the Pokémon League, and possibly the greatest living Trainer, hated the decision that she was being forced to make. Before her was a formal proposal sent to her office by the Leader of Viridian City's Earth Gym, Giovanni Carpenter. The proposal demanded the immediate expulsion of Ash Ethan Ketchum from the Pokémon League.
By the League's rules, any Gym Leader could demand the disqualification of a Trainer if he or she violated the Rules of Conduct. But this request was for a different reason: It was Giovanni's opinion that Ash Ketchum's Trainer's Licence should be indefinitely suspended on the grounds that the boy was medically unfit to train Pokémon.
Kimberly gritted her teeth. She knew Giovanni only too well. In his youth, he was one of the most unpleasant Trainers in the League. In adulthood, he was one of the most brutal Gym Leaders in the League. Because of that, they already had several arguments, but... but this petty malice was too much!
Her eyes fastened onto a photo in the wall of the office: It was a photo of her, when she had won the Indigo League for the first time. The girl in the photo seemed not to believe that she had won. Kimberly smiled at the memories. The reality was very different from the living legend that she was now...
She imagined how she would feel if somebody expelled her of the League in that time... after all, she had been as afflicted as young Ketchum had been, if only in a different way. She could easily imagine the effect that even a suspension of his licence would have in the young trainer from Pallet Town...
She knew that, as Giovanni had made his request through formal channels, she was required to summon a meeting of the all the Gym Leaders from the four League Divisions to discuss Giovanni's proposal. She didn't have choice. The meeting was marked for the day before Ash Ketchum's scheduled Battle with Lance Silver of the Elite Four.
But she had to talk with somebody before the meeting...
To be Continued... Chapter 5 coming soon!
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