Thank Lugia the bunny has revived!
Disclaimer: I don’t own pokémon, as it belongs to Nintendo and of course Shogakukan Comics! This is non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfic written by yours truly, so taking it is a violation of international copyright laws. Ask for permission if you’d like to archive it. Nobody every does, almost…
Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks
Chapter 4
It wasn’t easy – not having a pokédex, but he managed, barely. Thank goodness his mom had paid for the basic Center subscription – he was running there several times a day to heal his pokemon, but it was better than trying to… well, better than trying to buy all those healing items at exorbitant prices…
Lance trailed behind him soundlessly, a helpful watcher… he was really smart – he knew a lot about pokemon that Ash didn’t, so he kind of acted like a living pokedex…
It was really cool!
Ash grinned as Butterfree managed to finally, finally defeat Brock’s Onix. “YES!” both his Pidgey and Rattata had fallen in the endeavor, but he had won!
He was brilliant!
Well, not really, but he’d won! One badge… wow… that would help, right? Because then he could fight in the League… and if he fought in the league, he could earn more money…. He had to work harder!
He’s kawaii at least…
He doesn’t notice. I follow him and stand by his side and cast his shadow – but he doesn’t notice. If I wanted to, my twin dragons would be more than sufficient enough to win – but do I want to win?
Do I want to win?
I’m not sure anymore.
“I’m proud of you.” He said, as he hid a smile. He could wait though, wait until Ash got stronger and could actually take care of himself. It was… kind of nice to be needed though.
Ash grinned brightly. This was so cool… he yawned as he closed his eyes…
Of course, one could buy pokemon, but they were at the minimum, a thousand each… and those were for common types…
How much money did he have right now? He’d count it later. It was probably around two or three hundred…. Not even enough for many supplies.
Curse the bureaucracy!
“Ash?”
Lance’s voice sounded like it was coming from far away…
“Ash!”
He gave into the blackness with a welcome smile as he collapsed.
Lance hurriedly scooped the boy up into his arms with a frown. Heat stroke, maybe? Couldn’t be…
It wasn’t that late in the summer and Ash’s clothing wasn’t particularly heavy… perplexing… and he’d drunk an entire bottle of water that morning, so…
Malnutrition? Impossible. They ate regularly…
Something was amiss. Deciding not to trust his instincts, he ran to the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy was surprised to see that it was an injured trainer, not a pokemon, but she healed Ash’s three pokemon and then took him in for examination.
She came back out a few moments later with a grim look on her face.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“It does seem to be heat stroke, but… he was keeping hydrated, right?”
“Yes, he had two bottles of water today…”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Maybe he’s just more heat-sensitive than most people. Or… maybe the match got him too excited…” Joy paused. “He’ll have to stay the night here. Does he have trainer’s insurance?”
“… What?”
“Trainer’s insurance costs $5000 a year and covers hospitalization, pregnancy, broken limbs, etcetera… usually it’s bought along with the Pokemon Center subscription.”
“I have no idea.” Lance said truthfully.
“Give me his pokédex, it should have everything recorded.”
“Well, he doesn’t have a pokedex because Team Rocket stole it.”
Joy sighed. “Well, what’s his trainer I.D. number then?”
“One eight nine two four.”
“I’ll check the database….”
After a few moments, Joy nodded. “Luckily, trainer’s insurance coves this. He’ll be fine. Just keep an eye on him and tell him that maybe wearing jeans and a jacket is too much for this weather. He looks like he’ll overheat easily.”
“Thank you, Nurse Joy.”
“Not a problem did you want a room for the night too?”
Lance hesitated. “I…”
“You’re a trainer too, right?”
Not quite – but he did have a pokédex that Dragonair had obtained for him, without telling him how, but he suspected, and he could…
“Sixty eight three two.”
“All right,” Joy checked, “Have a good night’s rest. Do you have any pokemon that need healing?”
“No, but thank you.”
“Just doing my job.”
Lance went upstairs, where he checked the stolen pokédex – luckily an older model, without a picture, and in any case, the owner was most probably deceased…
He still had three months of trainer’s insurance and Center stay left… and… hmm. What else was there?
Could he access the trainer’s database? Perhaps, perhaps not, but it was worth a try… blue lightning sparkled between his fingers for a few seconds as he took control of the boy’s pokemon – he was dead now, he wouldn’t need them – and had them transferred to this Center.
There were only two – woefully pathetic, but they were decent enough pokemon, a Gligar and a Magikarp. Magikarp he sent to Whirl Islands to train with his two Dragonair there, but he kept Gligar’s poke ball in his backpack just in case.
You never know when you might need a pokemon…
They’d wait and see…
The next day, they set off again, for Cerulean, Ash now wearing jean shorts and just his black t-shirt to prevent overheating…
His blue-and-white jacket was neatly packed in his backpack, but his pokemon league cap was still in place atop his head. It would take… a lot to dislodge it.
Well, onwards we walk!
End Chapter
Completed 8/3/05
Well, another chapter completed. Had work training today, it was okay…
Phantomness: ^^
Ash: I sense confrontations when I meet Misty
Lance: That’s too predictable…