Here is what you've been waiting you've been waiting a month for: Chapter 9! ...Really? You haven't been waiting for it? You've moved on to better stories because I took too long? ...Well then. For those of you who are still reading this series, thanks for sticking with me and enjoy!

Ghosts of Flesh and Bone

Ash must not have slept for very long, because when he awoke to find food resting by his backpack it was still warm. Ash ate the soup and bread ravenously, and then gulped down the water. He considered asking the nurse for seconds when his thoughts, unheeded, directed themselves towards Gary again. Suddenly Ash wasn't very hungry anymore; the food he had already eaten lay uncomfortably in his stomach.

How was Ash going to tell the Professor that his grandson was dead? It would be easier to report to the police and let them tell Oak of Gary's death. But some sense of obligation towards Gary as his friend and only witness of his death pushed Ash to tell the Professor himself, instead of letting another who didn't know or care about Gary. With these thoughts Ash got up, scanning the walls for a phone. Seeing none, he picked up his backpack and wandered out into the whitewashed halls. The door to Pikachu's room was open, so Ash went inside.

Pikachu was sitting erect on the small bed, ears and nose twitching as his senses took in the unfamiliar surroundings. He looked perfectly healthy, like the events of that night had never happened.

"Pika-Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, noticing Ash. Much to Ash's surprise, Pikachu leaped off the bed and onto his right shoulder, rubbing his head against Ash's neck.

"Glad to see you're alright, buddy." Ash said, once he had recovered from the shock of Pikachu's sudden friendliness. Then, for the sake of tradition, Pikachu actually shocked him, thought it was much gentler that the first time they had met. His fingers tingling from the electric pulse, Ash looked around furtively, praying nobody had seen him. Fortunately, he seemed alone, the hall empty.

Ash remembered again Pikachu's abnormality, such small issues all but forgotten in the wake of Gary's death. But it was not like there was anything he could do about it. Pikachu's knack for using attacks without commands had saved his life, anyway.

Just then Ash heard footsteps down the hall, and the erratic nurse waltzed in the door, humming to herself.

"Oh! What are you doing here?" she exclaimed as she saw Ash. "Even if you were worried about your Pikachu you really shouldn't wander about without permission, it's rude. I mean-"

"Can I please use a phone?" Ash cut her off, knowing she would talk forever if he let her.

"Of course, just follow me. Your Pikachu can come too. You'll want to talk to your mom, I'm sure- she'll want to know why you were gone. I bet she's worried sick. I should have had you call last night…" Ash let the nurse drone on, his mind elsewhere. Ash thought of how he could tell the Professor about Gary in the softest way. But there were no careful words or eloquent phrases that could soften the blow.

"And there's the phone." The nurse said, pointing to a dialing pad with a small screen above it, then walking away to do something. Ash took Gary's half of the Pokeball out of his backpack and clutched it tight, then, taking a breath, he walked up to the phone. Ash punched in the phone number to the Professor's lab, knowing he would be there this time of day, but all he got was an electronic voice reporting "The call cannot be completed as dialed…" So Ash tried Oaks home phone. On the third ring the professor picked up, his smiling face appearing on the screen.

"Ah, young Ash. I'm glad you dialed this number, there was a small gas explosion at the lab so I won't be able to use that line for a while. No need to worry, though, nobody was hurt. Are you calling to check in? I see you've caught a Pikachu. Gary will be jealous."

Ash didn't know what the Professor meant by "caught a Pikachu," as he was the one who gave Pikachu to Ash. But Ash had other things on his mind. He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again. But no words came out.

Finally, after a moment's awkward pause, Ash managed to force out, "Oak, Gary is-"

"Wait-wait, let me get him on the line; I was just talking with him when you called." Oak said.

What? Ash thought, confused. But then Oak pressed a button and the screen divided into two, one half show the Professor and the other showing Gary. Gary. Standing. Breathing. Staring at a screen with eyes that saw and most of all, most of all alive. Ash stared at the screen, dazed.

"Yo, Ash." He said with Gary's voice. "What's that in your hand?" he asked, and then, recognizing the white metal, he laughed. "Really? You're already breaking your Pokeballs? Typical Ash."

Did he not recognize that this was his? At a loss for other words, Ash simply said, "This was-" he was about to say yours, but the screen suddenly went dark. Ash whirled around. The girl he had seen by the river was standing above him, swinging a disconnected phone cord. Ash had completely forgotten about her. There had been other things on his mind.

"You little brat!" She yelled, using the phone cord like a whip; the metal part hit Ash's arm and left an angry red welt. "Give me my bike back or I'll-"

"Plug it back in!" Ash yelled with force that surprised himself. He had to be sure. Had to be sure it was Gary. For a moment the girl was dumfounded by his sudden outburst, but quickly concealed her surprise with more yelling.

"I'm not plugging anything in until you give me my bike back you thief! And when I do plug it back in, I'm calling the police!" She said. Ash wasn't concerned about the police; he had been about to call them anyway, but he needed to call Oak as soon as possible.

"Look, I'll give you your stupid bike back once I finish this call." He said harshly, then added, "It's really important, so, please?" He tried to make his voice apologetic to gain her favor. It didn't work.

"No way, how do I know you're not just going to run off with it again. You're not calling anybody until I get my bike and that's that." She said in a matter of fact voice. Ash was frustrated with her for not letting him finish his call. But he was too overjoyed to be really angry at anyone right now. He had seen what he needed to.

Gary was alive. He was his alive, well, and conceited self. Ash had seen him with his own eyes. It must have been someone else that he had seen in the barn, someone who just looked like Gary. Yeah, the part with the guys chasing him was scary but he was safe now. They were both dead now (because there was no way that other guy had survived Pikachu's thunderbolt). And Gary was alive. He was alive. Alive.

Tears were forming in the edges of Ash's eyes and he didn't know why. Were they tears of joy? Relief? He looked down to hide them from the girl (it was an automatic loss if you cried during an argument) and saw, still clutched tightly in his hand, Gary's half of the Pokeball. The tears were streaming down his face and now Ash knew why. Because Gary was dead and he knew it and he had seen it and he held the bloody proof of it right in his hand and thought Ash didn't know what he had seen on the phone screen he knew sure as hell it wasn't the truth. Because the truth was that Gary was dead. And the dead don't come back to life.

The girl had noticed the tears and was silent for a while, but then, "Don't think you can cry your way out of this!" She said, though not as harshly as before.

"I wasn't crying!" Ash said, hastily wiping the tears from his eyes.

"I don't care!" The girl said, exasperated. "I just want my-" But she was interrupted by the nurse, who had just come back from whatever she had been doing.

"Ah, you must be his mother."

"What!" The girl exploded. "You think I'm old enough to be this crybaby's mother!?"

"Oh! I didn't mean it that way," The startled nurse said tentatively, now talking as one would to a voice-activated bomb.

"And I'm nowhere near old enough to be her son." Ash added, though much quieter than the girl. No one paid any attention to him except Pikachu, who just laughed.

"Then… are you his sister?" The nurse asked.

"Hmph! No. I'm Misty and I don't even know this brats name, but he stole my bike!" she pointed an accusing finger at Ash.

"I did not steal it! I borrowed it! And I'm giving it back to you now, so calm down." He said, finally relenting as he realized that people were beginning to stare. He would call the professor back later and figure out what the hell was going on. For now, he and Misty walked out the sliding Poke Center doors and into the afternoon sun.

Sam woke up to whitewashed walls and a burning pain running all throughout his body. He moaned, every breath hurt. But the pain meant he probably wasn't dead, which was nice. Except that right now, breathing was painful. Sam had thought that thunderbolt had killed him, but somehow, he was alive.

"Oh? You're alive." Said a female voice, mirroring his thoughts. "Really, though. Did you have to get screwed up that badly? You gave me quite a lot of work just keeping your heart beating. If I hadn't been the one operating on you, you'd probably be dead."

Sam was silent.

"So say thank you." She said after a small pause.

"Shut up Chloe." He said instead.

"You know, I could always replace your morphine with poison, then just say you had heart failure or something. I'd have a lot less work and nobody would be the wiser."

"Come on Chloe, we all know you think I'm too good looking to do that."

"You haven't looked in a mirror, lately, have you? Whatever electrocuted you did a damn good job, what with the rain and all. A lot of your tissues are dead, not injured, dead, so genezen won't heal it." Chloe said.

"Ah. So that's why I feel like crap."

"That you're feeling anything is a pretty good sign." Chloe said, looking down on him with her gray eyes. "Here, I just added another dose of morphine so you should feel better in a bit."

"Thanks." He said. Her copper hair tumbled gracefully down her shoulders (was it longer?) and around her face. Her face looked a lot younger than it really was, because she wore so much makeup. Now being high on morphine, Sam said this thought aloud. What senses he had left knew this was a bad move, so he slurred, "But you'd still be pretty."

Chloe sighed. "You know, if you weren't high on morphine right now, I would kill you."

Sam only half heard her.

What! Gary may or may not be alive!? Oh, I shocked myself. Just Kidding. But anyway, I've been looking for a beta reader! I will pay you in air cookies, so if you happen to be a beta reader and want to beta read for me please PM me! That's all, ciao!