Osteogenesis Imperfecta
by Joshua Falken
Thanks to BenRG for beta-read this chapter and his special participation on the events :-)
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 6! :-)
Chapter 6 - First Endurance Test
University of Saffron
Saffron City
June 16, 2063
In a smart private apartment, a heavily built man with blond-brown hair and deep blue eyes finished of arranging his suitcase. He had spent the morning, the entire afternoon and the beginning of the night reading a series of newspaper articles sent from Viridian City. More importantly, he had also been reading several medical treatises regarding a genetic disease that he had never heard before: Osteogenesis Imperfecta. But now he should know everything he could about it...
Dr. Ben Gough checked the train ticket, kept in the pocket of his jacket, once more:
IndigoRail Ticket
Line: 369
Departure: 8 p.m. - Saffron City - Night Bell Station
Arrival: 10:25 p.m. - Viridian City - North Gate
Station
This way he would arrive in Viridian City in time to find a room in a decent hotel. He would then see his new patient in tomorrow's morning.
Dr. Gough still had half hour before leaving his apartment near the College of Biology, Medicine and Psychology of the University of Saffron. He remembered the phone call from his good friend, the geneticist Dr. Brenda Wiggins. He had worked with Brenda before on some puzzling cases. The short red-haired doctor (who fitted into the 'maternal' category in his view) had asked if he could take charge of the psychological support treatment of her patient, Pokémon Trainer Ash Ethan Ketchum.
The psychologist sighed. Like everybody on the continent, if not the planet, he knew about the attack against the young Trainer who had been such a revelation in this year's Global League. He was more than able to imagine that the boy would need help, especially after reading the medical articles on his condition. An attack like that could easily shatter the boy's ability to function in society. Such traumas led all-too-easily to total loss of trust in others, paranoia, even to psychosis in the most severe cases... The similar case of a certain Elijah Price late in the previous century was still taught in psychology schools. Dr. Gough wasn't a father or a family man, really, but he could not imagine how the boy's mother had ever permitted him to become a Pokémon Trainer...
Dr. Gough immediately shook his head, holding his left arm, which was visibly thinner than his right. No, he would not make the error of attempting to judge a case before even doing a preliminary session with the patient. At the beginning of the therapy of another famous patient of his, Gym Leader Sabrina Bowman, he had made that mistake.
Unfortunately, he had allowed his prejudgement that Sabrina was 'hysterical' and that her claims to psychic abilities were 'impossible' to appear in his conscious thoughts. The young woman demonstrated her telepathic abilities by pulling those thoughts out of his mind immediately, and demonstrated her other skills by very nearly ripping his left arm out of its' socket with her telekinetic powers. Sabrina eventually apologised to him, and the woman was one of his few real friends. But to this day, he could still feel the pain in his arm and the telepsychic's fierce mental voice announcing, We shall see who is the hysteric, Doctor. Still, one had to look at the benefits in any situation. Dr. Gough's trademark mischievous smile lit up the untidy apartment. His bad arm was the most accurate predictor of bad weather he had ever known.
Dr. Gough looked at his watch. Well, it would be better if I went to the station now, he decided. The doctor left his apartment, thinking that this case would be a real challenge...
Viridian City Park
June 16, 2063
They walked side by side, a tall woman in a black raincoat and a strong man in a yellow raincoat. They were in Viridian City Park, walking close to Lake Starmie. Somehow they felt able to welcome the now soft rain.
Kimberly Steeleyon and Samuel Oak had walked in silence since they left the Pokémon Center, each one alone their own thoughts. Finally, Kimberly broke the silence. "And how are your researches going?" she asked cordially.
"They are going very well indeed," Professor Oak replied. "And the League administration?"
They continued speaking about trivial things until they were ready to discuss the subject that had brought them here. It was then that she spoke, in a tone that showed that she didn't really want to ask... "Sam, how long have you know Trainer Ash Ketchum?"
Oak carefully cultivated his reputation of being absent-minded, it made dealing with students easier. However, he was no fool and he already had guessed that Ash was the reason why his erstwhile girlfriend had suddenly turned up for an informal 'chat...'
"Well, since he was born," he admitted. "His mother and I are friends, since at least 2044 I think, ever since she designed my laboratory."
"Your laboratory?" She asked surprised.
"Yes, she was the architect and chief engineer assigned to the project by the Department of Construction and Maintance of UN Governing Council. You know that the United Nations has researched all of the work on Pokémon since the very beginning..."
"Yes, I know. Then you have know about... about the disease that the boy suffers from?" She felt like an idiot for asking something obvious.
He looked her direct in the eyes. "Yes," he confirmed. "And now I should ask... why are you asking about Ash?"
Kim sighed, kicking a small stone. She could not lie to Sam Oak, not after all the amazing adventures they had enjoyed together in their adolescence. If there was one well-guarded secret in Indigo, it was the romantic relationship that the two of them had shared when they were young. After three years, their differing careers and goals drew them apart, but a strong friendship remained. Besides, she knew that if there is someone in who she could trust it was her old friend, still the only man on Earth who knew the intimate secrets of her body...
After a while, Kim was able to speak. "I don't know if Brock Harrison or Misty Williams have thought to tell you, Sam, but there will be a Gym Leaders Emergency Meeting tomorrow," she announced. "We're going to discuss a motion made by Giovanni: He has demanded... the expulsion of your young friend from the League."
The researcher's expression was a cross of incredulity and anger. "But that's absurd!" he almost shouted. "Ash is one of the best trainers in the League! Suspending him would be the biggest and most pointless act of idiocy possible!"
"Calm down!" She exclaimed, her voice suddenly filled with the authority her position gave her. However, she couldn't really blame him for his reaction. After all, deep inside, she agreed with him. "Let's go there." She indicated a small bar, called The Night Umbreon.
They entered and they sat down in a table in the most private part of the establishment. After a few drinks, the flush of anger finally left Sam's face. He looked at his glass, embarrassed by his explosion. "Kim, excuse me," he said gently. "I was furious with the idea of somebody pulling the rug from under Ash's feet like that. Giovanni hasn't even given the boy the courtesy of allowing him to defend himself..."
"I understand." She smiled and placed her gloved right hand over his. "Let me guess," she continued gently, "you two are very close friends, right?"
Sam Oak sighed. "I believe so yes," he said. "Delilah, that's Ash's mother, said once that I was like a surrogate father for him. I feel honoured that she thinks that of me." His eyes showed a glint of rage. "Especially considering that Ash's biological father simply ran away, when the poor lad was born. The imbecile simply abandoned her and she had to take care of Ash alone."
"It must have been hard for her." Kimberly commented.
"You can't even imagine what she went through every minute of her life from then on," Sam said, his eyes loosing focus as the memories rose up. "You saw in her eyes that she blamed herself for the disease that afflicted her son. She did everything in her power to help him to live a normal life. She did incredible things, miracles: she adapted the house, the car... That special sleeping bag and the armoured arm and shin pads Ash wears were her design. When she had to travel to distant locations because of her work, she left Ash in my house. Nurse Joy from the Pallet Town Pokémon Center and I cared for him..."
Oak paused as one memory came to mind, one that, with the events of the last few days, had a frightening new significance. "Once, when Ash was six years old, he broke both his legs when he fell from a tree. He was playing with my grandchildren, Gary and May... do you know them?" Kim nodded. Of course, she only knew them as photos of babies and in her personal association with the Global League's most obnoxious Trainer. Oak was continuing his story. "While I examined Ash's legs with my Chansey, Delilah was trying to comfort him. The poor boy was crying so loudly, and who can blame him? Anyway, that was the first time I saw the "despair under control" look that she uses whenever Ash is hurt..." Professor Oak was silent again, then continued in a hollow tone. "Gary gave Ash a nickname after that day. Eventually it spread around all the children that knew him. 'Mister Glass,' they called him..."
"Yes, I know all about that." Oak shot Kimberly a surprised look, so she explained. "I was in the Masters' Box during a battle between Ash and Gary not too long ago, in the beginning of the Global League. I remember that he called Ash that name, but I didn't know why at the time."
The researcher's face flushed with anger. After a few seconds, he exploded. "I can't understand it!" he snapped in a frustrated tone. "I don't understand why Gary likes to humiliate Ash whenever he can! It is as if they were enemies, or something like that!" He breathed deeply. "Yet, when they were children, they would have died to protect each other. All this bitterness only came since they began their Pokémon Journeys..."
The Grand Master spoke, carefully. "Speaking of that, how did Ash get the permission for the Journey? I mean, with his disease..."
Sam smiled at the friend. "I understand what you want: you want me to give you the answers for the questions that the Gym Leaders could ask you tomorrow, right?"
"Yes." She admitted with a resigned smile. "You know me very well."
Professor Samuel Oak remembered of when he had received the notice from the League certifying Ash as a Novice Trainer
Pallet Town Pokémon Research
Center
Offices of Professor Samuel Oak
April 26, 2060
Professor Samuel Oak, responsible for the supply of the Novice Trainers' First Pokémon looked in surprise at the document that he had in his hands. He also saved some surprise for the red-haired woman who was seated in front of his desk.
"Is there something wrong?" Delilah Ketchum asked abruptly.
"No no it is just that I'm surprised. That's all."
"Surprised about what?" Delilah asked in a frosty tone of voice. "You know as well as I do that Ash dreams of being a Pokémon Trainer." She said.
"I know. It's that..." Oak's face flamed with embarrassment. He couldn't think of one tactful way he could explain his concerns.
Delilah knew him too well, and proved it by finishing his protest for him. "You think Ash could not stand the strain," she declared.
Sam swallowed dryly. "No, Delilah!" he protested. "I know that Ash will be a great Trainer. The way that he interacts with the Pokémon here at the Center proves that. It is just that, considering Ash's condition, it is a surprise that you let have allowed him to do this. A lot of people..."
"Would prevent him of going," Delilah finished. "Without caring if that would hurt him or not..."
"Delilah..."
Delilah jumped to her feet. She already was a tall woman, but in her anger she seemed to tower to the ceiling. "Sam, I know that you worry about Ash. I thank you for that. But, please, understand. If I it don't allow him to be what he wants to be... I will essentially be admitting to him that everything I have told him since he was a baby, that he is normal, is a lie that I agree with what the people think of him." Her face darkened. "With what his father thought of him."
The researcher stared at his friend in silence. She sighed and she looked at directly in his eyes. "And if I do that, I will do something worse than break his bones. I would break his soul..."
The Night Umbreon Bar
June 16, 2063
"Well, after that, I couldn't think of a single reason for Ash not to have my permission to go on a Journey. But Delilah and I were both aware that Ash would face special problems due to his condition, therefore we took some precautions: I managed to arrange it so that he could carry a Medical Chansey and I programmed a special warning in his Pokédex."
Kimberly nodded. She could well imagine the torment that the boy's mother had experienced in making that decision... Or perhaps she could not imagine... "She sounds a very brave woman, Sam."
"Yes," Sam admitted, his eyes lighting up with something that surprised Kimberly, but now was not the time or place to follow it. "Ash is a chip off the old block. It is the most bizarre thing I've ever seen; he seems to literally attract trouble out of thin air," Oak grinned at his old friend, "a bit like you Kim." She frowned at the true statement. "But he isn't afraid. Not of pain, not of injury, not of anything. He is loyal and does not hesitate to face danger if he thinks it is necessary. You would be amazed at some of the stunts that he gets up to. If a friend of his is in danger, then he doesn't care if he could be hurt or not: he will try to help as much as he can."
Forest between Pallet Town and
Viridian City
May 1, 2060
Ash pedalled the fastest that he could, trying hold his Pikachu with his broken arm, while he held the handlebars of the bicycle belonging to that girl that he found by the river bank with the good arm. A strong pain filled Ash's entire body. The crazed screams of the wild Spearows closing in from behind didn't make him feel any better.
His only thought was to get to Viridian City the fastest possible. A sudden rush of wind over feathers made him realize even that wish wasn't going to be fulfilled.
One of Spearows collided with his shoulder, jolting Ash's fractured arm. The universe turned into an explosion of pain that sent Ash and Pikachu tumbling from the bicycle. In the fall, Ash broke his remaining arm and snapped two ribs on his right side. But in that moment, all his attention was centred on the wounded Pokémon at his side.
"Pikachu... No This can't be happening..." He murmured. He approached his small friend. "I won't let anything to happen you... please, trust me..." He couldn't believe that he had failed so utterly with his first Pokémon...
The small electric mouse watched the human; he was unable to equate the young male's actions with how he had always believed humans should act. He is injured so very severely, and yet still he concerns himself with me? Pikachu thought in a dazed way.
Ash pulled out his one Pokéball and begged Pikachu to enter it. Then it was too late; he heard the birds returning...
"Spearow! Spearow!"
As if that was a signal, Ash's face twisted with fury and determination. Painfully, he stood up and opened his broken arms, trembling with pain, in a desperate attempt to protect Pikachu.
"SPEAROWS! DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" he screamed at the flying-type Pokémon. "I AM ASH KETCHUM, OF PALLET TOWN!" Ash was perfectly aware this was insane, but he had to do something! "I WILL DEFEAT AND CAPTURE YOU ALL!" Then, the anger that he felt suddenly exploded out in an impossible challenge: "COME AND GET ME!!!"
The electric Pokémon observed this confrontation with horror. His Trainer could not survive an assault by the Spearows in his current state! In a single moment of decision, he made a choice that determined his destiny and that of countless others: The human had earned his trust and friendship, now he had to do something! Pikachu scaled Ash's back and leapt off of his shoulder, jumping in direction of the birds. Before Ash could understand what was happening, Pikachu threw the most potent attack he had ever attempted...
"Pikaaaaa-CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"
It was really just a standard "Thunder-shock" attack, but its' intensity was orders of magnitude greater than the tiny animal ought to be able to generate. The massive discharge knocked down all the Spearows. And utterly destroyed the girl's bike in the process...
There was a sudden silence on the world. The thunderstorm had cleared and the sun was daring to peek out of the clouds. A drained and exhausted Pikachu pulled himself over to Ash and touched his nose to his hand. It was an ancient act, one as old as the association between Pokémon and Human. It meant: 'You are my Trainer.'
Ash smiled at his friend. "We did it." He murmured quietly. It is then he remembered Chansey. He activated the medical Pokéball.
"Chan-chan-sey-chansey-sey!" [My word, I must get those fractures set!]
"Chansey, I want you to treat Pikachu first," Ash ordered.
Chansey looked up at Ash in some surprise. "Chan-an, sey-chan-chan-chan-ey. Chansey-an-sey," [Ash, you must be in agony. Let me help you,] she protested.
"After you have treated Pikachu," Ash repeated, his face twisted with pain and exasperation at her daring to question his commands in that exact moment. Chansey looked up at the being she was charged to keep healthy. Finally she sighed and turned to the drained electric-type that had collapsed in Ash's arms.
While Ash waited, he looked up at the clearing sky. Before he fainted, he saw something amazing, something beyond wonder. A golden bird like a beautiful peacock flew across a magical rainbow towards the horizon, trailing golden sparkles of power behind it. Ash never decided if it was a hallucination brought on by pain, but he was sure he saw the creature look at him and heard it speak. "Ho-oh! Ho-ho-oh-oh-ho!"
The Night Umbreon Bar
June 16, 2063
Kimberly Steeleyon, the Grand Master of the Pokémon League sat there, her mouth hanging open in a most undignified way. "He really did that?" she asked, her voice risen to a squeak.
"Yes," Sam confirmed, "the automatic recording system of the Pokédex doesn't lie." The automatic recording system, or ARS, was a kind of "Black Box" for Trainers. It recorded everything that happened to a Trainer and his Pokémon for the last fifteen days. It was an excellent way to discover if the Trainer abused his Pokémon. Or to discover one of most heroic gestures that a Trainer could do...
"Wow."
Prof. Oak agreed. "That says a lot about him, doesn't it?" In his view, in that day of May of 2060, Ash passed with honors in his first endurance test as a Pokémon Trainer and no one could deny it... He even thought in tell her the adventure in Shamuti Island, but he decided against it. Even he still had difficults to believe that Ash travelled in the back of the Legendary Beast of the Sea, Lugia... and he was a eyewitness of the event...
"Yes..." She couldn't understand why anyone would want to suspend a Trainer that took such a risk like that for his Pokémon...
The two people were in silence for some time.
Kimberly Steeleyon's mind was processing everything Sam had told her. She already knew that the experience levels of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon was astonishing, especially if one considered that he had only captured some of them less than a year ago. All right, he had just short of sixty Pokémon (a laughable number for a Global League Trainer), of which 25 were a herd of Tauros, but their quality more than compensated for the low number! She had also learnt that the young Trainer had a great preference for ranged attacks. This was easy to understand given what Sam had told her: by using that type of attack, Ash decreased the chance of his Pokémon being hurt in a battle. It might also explain why he only had one fighting-type, his rarely seen Primeape...
She had made her decision. Kimberly looked up into Samuel Oak's eyes. "Sam, I have only a limited influence in this matter. Ash's fate will be decided by a vote of all the Gym Leaders, but you can be sure that I will do everything I can to stop them from suspending his licence."
"Thank you, Kim."
The two old friends left the bar together and walked back to the Pokémon Center. As they parted, Kimberly looked Sam in the eyes. "Do you love her, Sam?" she asked.
Oak blinked in surprise. "Love who, Kim?" he blurted.
Kimberly laughed. "The next time you talk about Delilah Ketchum, see if you can catch your expression in a mirror," she said. She winked at him, leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. "Until the next battle, Brother Trainer," she said.
Sam stood there for a long time, watching Kimberly Steeleyon disappear into the rain. Her black clothes made that happen more quickly odd how she always wore black these days. After a moment, he turned to enter the Center. He hoped that tomorrow brought some good news for his friend in the hospital...
To be Continued... Chapter 7 coming soon!
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