You Never Truly Appreciate Something... (Part B) by Michael Keens/ Exodus  

Scott woke up in the hospital, he quickly rose and regretted it, every bone in 
his body ached, he had bandages around his head and chest, along with his right 
arm.  
“Shard! Where is he?!” shouted Scott.  
“Big brother! You’re awake!” exclaimed Casey happily.  
“Casey...  Where’s Shard.” asked Scott.  
“I’m not sure, I think he might be with dad.  Why did he hurt you?...” asked 
Casey innocently.  
“He didn’t hurt me, it was another Onix.  Has Dad pinned the blame on Shard?!” 
shouted Scott.  
“...”  
“Answer me, please!” he pleaded to his sister.  
“Yes...  He’s got your Pokéball.” she replied sadly.  
“I have to-  Agh!”  
He couldn’t even get up.  
“Casey, you have to stop him, it wasn’t Shard’s fault!” shouted Scott 
worryingly.  
“Okay, just take care of Squirt.”  
“Poli!”  
A cute little Poliwag leaped up and sat near Scott, obviously Casey had told it 
about her big brother as it had no problem trusting him.  
“Ah, Scott Addison.  I need you to tell me what happened...” said Doctor 
Proctor...  

“Dad!...  Dad!...  Where are you?” called Casey.  
“Over here Casey.” called her father.  
He was working on the car.  
“Big brother’s awake.”  
“Okay...”  
“Aren’t you going to see him?” asked Casey surprised.  
“Later, I’ll have to plan out how to tell him the news.” muttered the father.  
“News? Did you do something to his Pokémon?!” shouted Casey.  
“Casey, that Pokémon is dangerous.” replied her father simply.  
“You had it put down?!” exclaimed Casey.  
“No, but I had it sent away to a professional.”  
“But its Scott’s friend! He’ll never forgive you!” shouted Casey with concern.  
“I don’t care, I’m only looking out for my son.”  
“But it wasn’t Shard’s fault! It was another Onix!” pleaded Casey.  
“And did Scott tell you that, of course he would, he doesn’t care for his own 
safety when he’s with that monstrous snake.”  
“But-”  
“Alright, I’ll go see him now.”  
“You wouldn’t take my Pokémon away would you?” she asked softly.  
“Your Pokémon isn’t a monster like Scott’s, now please, start preparing your 
things for the trip, we’re going in a few days, hopefully Scott will be 
discharged by then, and we can finally spend some time together and be a normal 
family.”  
Casey stared ahead, it just wasn’t fair, why did everything bad happen to big 
brother?...  

Scott was less than happy when his parents visited.  
“Where’s Shard?” was the first thing he said.  
“I gave it up to someone who can change him into a nicer Pokémon.”  
“You idiot! How dare you! He’s my responsibility!” shouted Scott.  
“Looks to me like you haven’t been very responsible.” muttered his father 
overlooking his son’s injuries.  
“Oh, this? We got into a battle against a different Onix that hates us...  Wait 
a minute, where’s the Pichu?!” shouted Scott realising his other Pokémon friend 
had disappeared.  
“I shooed it away, you had bruises, cuts and shocks in your body.”  
“It was reviving me, and I’d be trapped in that cave or worse, killed by that 
Onix if it wasn’t for them!” shouted Scott.  
“And if you didn’t have Pokémon at all you wouldn’t get involved in wild 
Pokémon battles, I’m sorry son, but you aren’t allowed to keep any more 
Pokémon.” said the father sadly.  
“Tell me where Shard is!!!” yelled Scott.  
“No, I won’t, the doctor says you’ll be able to walk in a week, then we’re all 
going away to the Orange Islands to spend time together like a real family.”  
Scott's father left abruptly.  
“He’s got your best interests at heart, son.” finished his mother following 
him.  
Scott spent the week deep in thought and anger.  

“My best interests?...  He was too busy to care for me, and when Casey came 
along, she got the fatherly attention I never had.  I was a disappointment and 
knowing this drove me into participating in life threatening feats, it took 
Davis’s death to make me see straight and Shard was the best thing that 
happened to me after that, I had a friend who liked me unconditionally...  And 
you just took him away from me and you expect us to be a normal family...”  
He remembered when Shard was a baby, how fast he grew with the love and 
attention Scott gave to the Pokémon, they rarely battled, they had a different 
kind of Pokémon friendship.  

The week past and Scott brooded all the way through.  
Soon he was finally able to go home.  

“Come on son, get your things, we’re leaving.” Scott’s father told him.  
“I’m not going.” said Scott firmly.  
“What?” spluttered his father.  
“You heard me.”  
“I’m telling you, get in the car and spend time with your family!” ordered his 
father.  
“Shard Was one of the family, but you blamed him for everything and just gave 
him away like he was a common housepet, I love that Pokémon, and I’m going to 
find him even if you won’t tell me where he is.”  
“Just tell him, honey, then we can go.” said the concerned mother.  
“I won’t, its been nothing but trouble since he caught that snake.” replied 
Scott’s father firmly.  
“Nothing but trouble?! I became a lot nicer because of that snake, and the 
reason I lost my way was because my own father had no time to show me what was 
right and wrong!” shouted Scott directly at his father.  
“Shut up!”  
Scott was pushing his father to the edge.  
“Its true, I guess you still have trouble accepting it!”  
“If you don’t want to be part of your own family, then go and kill yourself on 
that hazardous bike of yours, Dawn, Casey, get in.” muttered Scott’s father 
getting into the car and sitting in the front seat.  
“Big brother...  You can have my Pokémon if you want...” offered Casey.  
“No sis, it wouldn’t be fair, Shard needs me and I’m going to find him.”  
“Okay, its just that I trust you with my Pokémon, I really do.  Come on Squirt, 
we’ll see big brother soon.”  
“Poli.”  
They got in the car and it drove off, Scott’s father didn’t even look back.  
“Now to find Shard...”  
“Pi? Pichu!” screamed a happy little yellow rodent leaping into his arms.  
“Pichu! You found me...”  
“Chu!”  
“Have you seen Shard?”  
It shook its head sadly.  
“Damn!”  
It jumped down and sniffed, slowly finding its way.  
“You know his scent, can you really track him down?”  
“Chu!”  

It took half the day to get anywhere near Shard but Pichu was doing a good job, 
it stopped in front of a house, the one with the big garden.  
“This is where it ends?”  
“Pi-Chu.” said Pichu confidently.  
Scott knocked on the door.  
“Yes?” asked a moderately old man wearing glasses, a brown hat and coat holding 
a cane.  
Regardless of his age, Scott grabbed his shoulders and spoke in a loud tone.  
“Where’s Shard?”  
“Who?”  
“My Onix, where is he?!”  
“You’re Mister Addison’s son, aren’t you?”  
“Give me back my Onix!”  
“Your father gave me strict orders not to, not until I revert it back into a 
civilised Pokémon.”  
“He assumed that it hurt me, but Shard saved my life! Just let him go and I’ll 
show you!”  
The man looked hard into Scott’s eyes, “Your eyes show so much compassion but 
some confusion about where you’re going.  Okay, but if that Onix is at all 
fierce then I’ll have to take it away from you.”  
“So be it.”  

He went deeper into the large house to a lab area with shelves of Pokéballs, 
lifting the one at the end, he said “Let’s go outside...”  

As soon as they were out, the man released Shard.  
“Oooonnn!”  
It dashed forward and wrapped around Scott, the man was about to recall it but 
Scott was laughing, the Onix was hugging him, careful not to crush him in the 
process.  
“I missed you too.  No one’s gonna separate us again!”  
“Chu Pi!”  
“Nix, On...” greeted the Pokémon.  
“After coming all this way, I suppose you want me to take care of you too.”  
“Pi...”  
“I’d be glad to.”  
“Pichu!”  
“I see you really do care for each other.”  
“My father and I don’t have the best of relationships, Mr...”  
“Yew, I’m Professor Yew.”  
“You’re that famous doctor that explores Pokémon behaviour.”  
“And that is why your Onix was brought to me.”  
“I’ll be going now.”  
“Stay, and tell me about your father...”  

Scott sat around snacking on what the doctor gave him and talked about the 
harsh conflicts between him and his dad.  
“If you want attention from him so much, then why did you not go with him on 
this trip?”  
“Cos I was angry at him for taking Shard.”  
“Do you not think he had genuine concern for you to do such a thing?”  
“Yeah I guess, but I was too obsessed about getting Shard back...  I wish I 
could make amends.”  
“Maybe you can, you say they’re driving to Lime Port to catch a boat this 
afternoon? Perhaps we can catch up.”  
“Why are you doing this for me?”  
“I guess I’m a little interested in human behaviour too, and you show true 
compassion about your Pokémon, I’ll just get my keys, please turn the lights 
and appliances off.”  
Scott switched off the lights first, then the cooking appliances, sat back down 
on the sofa and reached for the remote, and stared.  
Yew returned, and wondered why he was sitting in the dark with the TV on.  
“Uhhhh...” he murmured obviously upset with something.  

“At 13:09 today, the Lime Bridge collapsed, crushing a small red car, with the 
number plate A923 E9Y, as far as we know, three passengers are severely hurt 
and a Poliwag is shook up, but not hurt.”  

“Oh god...”  

Yew drove Scott up there quickly, but when they arrived, two bodybags were 
being carried away, Scott could see doctors around someone, he ran forward and 
pushed a seemingly useless one away to get a good look.  
“Casey? CASEY!”  
She had marks on her head, and a leg that was out of place, Scott saw the 
Poliwag a small distance away blubbering its eyes out, it noticed him and dived 
into his arms, still crying.  
“Tell me what’s wrong with her!” Scott ordered a doctor with straight brown 
hair.  
“Internal damage to the brain, dislocated arm and a broken leg.  Are you a 
relative?”  
“I’m her brother!”  
“Oh...  I’m sorry...”  
“Those bodybags, are they...”  
The doctor nodded sadly.  
Scott dropped to the floor, almost lifeless, completely shocked...  

And that was everything up to now.  

Now back in the hospitals in Azure town, Scott sat for ages by the window, 
Shard was outside the hospital but peered in and Pichu and Squirt sat quietly 
with him not sure what to say that would make anything better.  
A couple of doctors walked out looking miserable.  
“Doctor!”  
“Come with me...”  

“... We managed to secure her life signs but because of the damage to her head, 
she’s... in a coma.”  
Scott saw the disturbing sight ahead, sweet innocent Casey, totally lifeless, 
bandages across her head, a sling on her arm and a cast on her leg, and 
breathing apparatus to keep her alive.  
“Now of course we won’t pull the plug, there is a way to bring her back 
round.”  
“Tell me, I’ll do anything!”  
“There is a new kind of operation that would help her regain consciousness, but 
it is very costly and the hospital can’t provide the money.”  
“Then I will.”  
“Its going to cost well over a million credits.”  
“Like I said, I’ll find the money.  Just look after her until then.”  
“And her Poliwag?”  
“It won’t be a burden on you, I’ll take it with me.  Could I be alone with 
her?”  
“Of course...”  
He sat down next to her and grasped her hand.  
“Casey...  I’m sorry, if anyone deserved this, it should have been me, if I’d 
just gone along, we might have all been past the bridge before it collapsed...  
And now Mom and Dad...  I’ll never be able to make amends...  But I promise I 
won’t lose you too.  I’ll raise that money somehow...  I promise...”  

Scott walked through the corridors and saw a TV that was on, some of the staff 
were watching it during their break and it cut to a Pokémon League advert:  

“Do you think you got what it takes to be the best, then prove it, all you 
Pokémon Trainers out there should start your journey already, and win those 
eight Gym Badges, remember, the prize for this year’s Kanto League Tournament 
is the prized Winner’s Cup and one million credits.  So get your Pokémon and 
get training!”  

It all fell into place, it might not quite be enough but it was a very very 
good start.  
It was all he knew he was good at, and with Pichu, Shard and Squirt behind him, 
he just had to win.  
He went back out to where the Pokémon were waiting.  
“Guys, I have to ask you a big favour.  The only way to revive sis is to raise 
a lot of money, and we could do that if we won the Pokémon League in the Indigo 
Plateau on the Kanto continent, and if we took winnings for every battle.  I 
know I used to say we wouldn’t battle like other trainers, but its the only way 
to bring back Casey.  Will you help me?”  
“Pichu! Pichu!”  
“Poliwag!”  
“Onnnn!”  
They were all in favour of it.  
“Guys...  You’re the best.”  

After his tragic loss, he had a mission now, a path to walk, and he was one 
hundred percent determined to beat the competition and raise the money to get 
his life back on track...  

End of Part B  

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