Decisions for Life
[By Flygon]
Chapter 1

Legal stuff: I do not own Pokemon, Game Freak, Creatures, Nintendo, or any of the Affiliated companies. This fic is pure free stuff for you to read. I do hope that you enjoy it. It will be a long one.

Author's note: I got this idea a while back, inspired by many fics I have read in the past from many different places. I rate this one at PG-13 to R due to some of the violence, some language, some descriptive scenes, mentions of situations dealing with drugs, sex, and a few others. This is NOT a lemon, though. I may at some point do one, but This isn't it.

Choices and Struggles

Doctor Willinghan was depressed. He knew that working at Eterna Hospital was prestigious, and he had made a name for himself with his technique for helping people recover from muscle atrophy, but he hated this part of his job. He walked through the Coma ward, with two nurses checking on the vitals of each person. He did this every other day.

"Gena Wilcox," He began pulling the clipboard off the bed post. "Age 34, Full range of motion every three hours, turned every six hours. In coma for four months. Vitals:" and he began to check the machine to record the next set on the clip board.

Six beds later he picked up the clip board and nearly cried.

"Daniel Logan," He choked out, this was the part he really hated. "Age 8, full range of motion every two hours, Turned every four hours. In coma for two years, Mechanically supported vitals." He nearly collapsed. A child, he thought. Why does this have to happen to a child. He looked at the machine that was supposed to keep the boy breathing and keep his heart pumping with a disgust. He read further. "Parents killed in accident, no other family. Hospital bill paid by Escrow fund from stocks."

"Damn it." he exclaimed. "Depending on the amount in the escrow account," he muttered. "This boy could be kept alive like a radish till I have grand-kids. There is no pity."

"Doctor..." He heard one of the nurses whisper out.

"I'll be fine, nurse." He said. "I just find this part of the job a bit depressing. Better that they would have let the boy die, then keep him like this for decades to come."

"No... Doctor..." and he felt his arm grabbed.

Looking, he saw the nurse, one hand covering her mouth, and the other one now pointing at the boy. He followed the finger and saw the fingers on the boys hand slowly moving. He stared at that for a minute before looking at the boys face and seeing the evidence of eye movement under the lids.

"Good G_D." The doctor breathed out. Then he headed to the call station.

********

The doctor had the boy, Daniel rushed to first, the EEG section. In less then a half hour they found higher brain functions were fully working. What was more they also found that the machine was no longer necessary to keep him alive. Taking him off it, he was breathing normally and his heart rate was perfect for a boy his age. He was still unconscious, but he seemed to be on the basic road to recovery in many ways so they moved him from the Coma ward to the Intensive Care Unit, and had him on twenty-four hour observation. Doctor Willinghan ordered an IV with increases in the nutritional needs, and also decreased the time for his range of motion from ever two hours, to every hour on the hour. He settled in for the wait.

Three days later, his pager went off, and he used his kirlia to get to the hospital for the first time in three years he had been there. His patient was awake.

********

Daniel woke from a gray area to one that was bright. Painfully bright. He saw slightly blurred images that were lit that hurt his eyes to look at. His whole body seemed to ache and he couldn't even summon the strength to yell in pain, or even moan. Even trying to move his fingers a bit seemed to be agony at the moment.

"Nurse Crimban." somebody yelled and Danny felt as if his head was ready to explode from the sound. "He's awake."

"Shhhhh," another said in a very low whisper, which was a relief. "Not even a normal voice now." The other person said. "His ears have not had a sound register for two years, he needs to be brought back gradually."

Two years, Daniel thought, what happened?

Gradual was a key word to Daniel now. He was poked and prodded, he was sent to a water tank where a light jets of water was turned on him, and then he began to feel things that he vaguely remembered. In two weeks of this the acheing was gone, but he still had no strength. He couldn't talk because, his doctor told him, that his vocal chords were weakened by lack of use. People talked around him in whispers all the time so his head didn't hurt and the lights in his area were always turned low. He did notice a difference in lights after what seemed to be years, but the doctor told him only a month had past. He was allowed more and colder water after a while. Then came the speech therapist, who worked with him for two more months till he could talk slowly. All the time he was visited by Nurse Crimban. He actually got to like seeing the older lady with her steel gray hair in a bun. The nurse would sit with him and talk very softly and he would smile and sometimes nod.

Then, one day, his doctor was checking him out when he saw a very large, egg shaped 'thing' walk into the intensive care ward. It was white, with a little nurses cap on the top of it and wore an apron.

"Chancy, Chan, chan, sey" It seemed to say, catching the doctors attention.

"Ahhh, I will be right back." He went into the next room, and spoke. "Yes nurse Joy, I will be right down."

Daniel stared at the thing for a long time. He remembered those creatures, but only from a television show or his video game. Yet here was something just like it in his area. It smiled at him with such a warm smile, that Daniel felt himself smiling too. Then it raised one, almost flipper like arm and waived before leaving the room. His doctor came back in.

"Are you alright?" he asked Daniel, checking his eyes and then his forehead.

"Was that real?" He asked slowly, Pointing at the door where the thing had been.

"What?" he began, "The chancey?" He saw a slow nod, then grinned. "You probably never saw one before. Every center has one to work with a nurse Joy, to heal the pokemon. We're lucky to have two nurse Joys here because a lot of the children here, and many of the trainers need to keep their friends close to heal better. I have to go downstairs for a bit, but I will be back." And he left.

Daniel didn't even realize that the doctor had gone. His mind was still grasping at the words, chansey, and pokemon. He started to breathe a bit faster. What was going on?

*You made a choice, Daniel.* A thought came into his head.

"Wha.." He started, but the thought cut him off.

*Think to me," It said. *Do not try talking, they will not understand if they see you talking and nobody is there.*

Then his memory came back. The gray area, Mew, and Mew Two. A decision he had to make, and he chose pokemon.

*Yes* Mew Two's voice came to his mind. *We, Mew and I, moved your mind into the body of the boy whose mind had fled. You are now Daniel Logan, and are recovering from a two year coma.*

*Why did you help me, like this?* he thought in his head. *And please tell me that neither of you got hurt.*

*Neither of us is hurt* he was assured. *Tired perhaps, but not hurt. Rest will help us recover what we gave to you. And as to why we did this. We did this to help you. Mew likes you, I still do not fully understand this thing about like and love, but I find the more I do for others, the better I feel. I cannot stay any more. What we did taxed us greatly, you have the energy to recover, in time. And I may, at some time in the future, speak with you. But for now, I must rest.* and the voice was gone.

Daniel closed his eyes to digest this. He was now in a world where pokemon existed. He would never have to worry about his foster brother trying to take his stuff. Or his foster dad try to get him to play sports he hated, or his foster mother who would shove him into sets of clothing just to have him look stylish. He could actually train and play, and work with pokemon. Something he would have given anything to do. He smiled a real smile and fell asleep.

He woke from a nightmare. He was in a large building looking out at all the children playing in the streets, but he was not allowed to go out. The only thing in his room was a bed, one small dresser and that was all, and bars were on the windows. A fat ugly woman with bright orange hair came in and gave him his food, and when he asked why he couldn't go out, she told him that since he was an orphan, he could not play with normal children. She had laughed and left him to eat his rice and single piece of fish.

He got depressed after that. When the doctor came and they started his lite physical therapy, he did it mechanically. He didn't smile like he used to, and even the occasional visit from nurse Joy and her chansey didn't bring him any happiness. He moped in the bed.

"Hello," A voice said from the door way. "You must be Daniel. I'm Doctor Craymon, a psychologist and your doctor asked if I could talk to you." Daniel shrugged, "What's wrong, Daniel? You were so happy for a while, then you got like this. Can you tell me about it? Sometimes talking about things can help."

"What's to talk about?" He said slowly, still unused to talking much. "My mom and dad are gone. I got no family."

"I can understand, Daniel." The doctor said in a soft tone. "You miss your parents, still you have a lot to look forward to..." He trailed off as he saw Daniel shake his head slowly.

"You don't understand." Daniel insisted. "I don't even remember my parents." He searched his mind and remember what Mew Two told him. "The accident happened when I was six, I wake up and I'm eight. I don't remember what my mom and dad looked like, or sounded like. I do know that when kids like me have no family, they go to an orphanage. Why should I be happy with that?"

"While it is true that you have no family," Doctor Craymon told Daniel while he put a hand on the boys shoulder. "That doesn't mean you will be automatic orphanage filler." He gave the shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You stand a very good chance of being adopted right out of the hospital, or maybe fostered out if you want to keep your last name."

"Who would want me?" He said softly, and a tear started to fall down his cheek.

"You would be surprised." He told the boy, grabbing a Kleenex from the box on the table next to him. "In case you haven't noticed, your a fairly handsome boy, and should be a very handsome man."

"I sort'a forgot what I look like." He said truthfully.

"Well with you sleeping for two years, that's not surprising." Doctor Craymon stood. "I'll be right back."

He watched the doctor go to the nurses station and talk with one of the nurses. She gave him something and he started back to the bed. It was then that he saw the item was a hand mirror. Doctor Craymon held the mirror in front of Daniel, and he looked at himself for the first time.

Two bright ice blue eyes looked back at him from an almost delicate face. The nose was small and straight, unlike his old nose which had been a little on the large size and ended in a chubby button. His teeth were good and straight, and his chin was almost like a roman's chin from one of those statues he had seen in the art museum. Then there was his hair. Gone was the dark brown hair that was thin and scraggly, now he had thick soft hair so blonde that it was almost white. He brought a hand to his cheeks.

"I forgot what I looked like." Then he remembered what his real father had called him on so many occasions. "I think I remember dad calling me his little prince."

"He was right." Doctor Craymon told him. "In fact, don't be surprised when we move you to the Paediatric Ward if a few of the girls in there come to talk to you a lot."

"Girls?" he said with shock.

"Yea," The doctor winked. "Females of the young persuasion. They see a handsome face," And the doctor tapped Daniels nose, causing him to grin a bit. "And they want to talk to the owner of that face for a long time. Only don't try to figure them out, it isn't possible." Then he got serious. "Make you a deal, Daniel. If your not adopted out of here, or fostered out, I will make sure that you go to the best run, most caring place that can be found. Agreed?"

Daniel nodded slowly. He liked this man, with his soft tone and easy smile.

"Now you have to work with us, though." he told Daniel. "You can't go to the Paediatric Ward until you have some strength in your limbs and even with the techniques the doctor is using, you have to do some of the work. OK?"

"OK." Daniel said with a grin.

That helped a bit, but then nurse Crimban came looking a bit furtive. She drew the curtains on the other side of the bed and opened the curtain so the nursing station could see him.

"I'm bending the rules a bit here, so keep quiet about it." She told Daniel, before hurrying off to the other end of the station.

Daniel was stunned. He liked nurse Crimban, but knew that she was a stickler for rules and procedure. For her to bend a rule, was almost unheard of. Then he saw her coming back with a girl. The girl was about his age, had raven black hair, and when she got closer he saw a pair of icy blue eyes. All that was set into a heart shaped face that had a small, shy, smile on it.

"I thought you could use some cheering up," She smiled at Daniel. "So I asked one of the nurses in Paediatrics to let me borrow Kalie here. She was in a coma for four months and can help you through the some of the rough parts." The she turned to Kalie. "I want you to take things slow and easy with Daniel here. You were in a coma for only four months but Daniel was in one for two years and two weeks."

Her eyes widened in wonder and she looked at Daniel.

"Two years?" She gasped.

"And two weeks," Daniel replied with a small smile.

"Wow," she continued in a hushed tone. "Three months more and you would have broken the hospital record. But I'm glad you didn't."

"Me too." He smiled.

Nurse Crimban left the two, telling them that she would look in on them every so often. He suddenly felt shy with this girl. He rarely had the chance to talk to girls where he had come from, since they thought boys were mean, and boys were supposed to think girls were to silly. Though after a short while his shyness fell away. Kalie kept up a conversation going, and made him feel at ease. she told him that she was too close when two cars crashed. Her legs got injured by a flying tire, and a hub-cap hit her in the head, which put her into the coma. She told him that she was doing physical therapy to rebuild her legs. She told him that she was the daughter of Byron, the gym leader of the Canaclave City Gym. She also said that she had another Gym leader in family, her brother, Roark of the Oreburgh Gym.

He told her that he really didn't remember much about his parents, where he came from, or even how he ended up in the coma. He did tell her that both of his parents died in an accident. The same one that apparently put him in the coma. He did mention that the doctor had told him that two years sleeping like that, would tend to wipe some memories. But when he told her that he had no family, he was totally unprepared for her crying softly. He calmed her down by telling her since he had no memory of them it didn't hurt as much. Then she began to talk again.

"I know." Kalie told him. "If you can get to walk fifteen feet, maybe twenty, they'll send you to the Paediatric Ward and you and I can talk to each other every day. I can even be your teacher for some of the things you forgot, and a cheer leader for you while you have your therapy."

Daniel nodded, really liking that idea. He liked talking to Kalie and hearing her talk, as it seemed to fill some empty part of him. He felt happy when she was nearby, and that feeling stayed with him now. She left for the day, with nurse Crimban, and then his doctor came to take him to therapy.

In the therapy room everybody was amazed at the change. Daniel sat in the sling and was lowered into the pool of water to allow the jets to stimulate his skin and muscles. But the change came when he would go on the various physical therapy machines. He ignored the little stabs of pain and pressed himself. He would work on the weight machine, and they set the weight, but when they told him to do ten reps with each arm or leg he would do twelve, then a week later he would do fifteen. By the time a month and a half passed, he was doing twenty five reps with ten pounds on his arms and thirty pounds on his legs. He had visits now with Kalie every other day, and even the doctors seemed to ignore the girl as if she were another piece of furniture. They all knew that only medical staff and family were supposed to be in the ICU but they did not want to keep the two apart. They realized that she was helping him.

Two months later, they had him doing almost eighty pounds with his legs, and thirty-five with his arms and hands and he would do twenty five reps. Then came a day that he looked forward to. He was going to try to walk between two parallel bars. His first and second attempt were disasters. He threw up the first time, and fell. The second time he simply fell. They took him to his bed after that, telling him that was actually normal for the first time, and most likely for the second time and the third. They told him that his body was getting used to doing something now, that it had not had to do for two years.

The next day, Kalie did not come to visit him, and he felt a bit depressed. His doctor came, though and told him that he would be trying to walk again, and not get discouraged if he fell, his body was no longer used to this and had to be taught all over again. When he was wheeled into the room, he was first put into the tub with the water jets, then he was dried and given two hospital gowns to wear. He thought that the nurses were tired of looking at his bare butt, and thought nothing of it. Until he was wheeled into the physical therapy room. There was Kalie sitting in a wheelchair at the other end of the bars, grinning at him. His first two times that day were just like the first day, but this time he managed to take five steps before falling. He heard Kalie calling to him that he could do it, this was nothing but a test and he would pass it. They brought the chair to him where he had fallen the second time and he heard the nurse say she would take him to his bed now, but he turned stubborn.

"NO." He snapped out, shocking everybody. "Get me to the beginning of this course."

"Daniel," His doctor tried to tell him. "You can try again tomorrow."

"NO!" he repeated. "I want to try again. I don't want to quit when I have only two strikes. It takes three to get a batter out."

They wheeled him to the starting point, and he stared down the track, as he called it. The bars were three feet apart, and had been set so he could use his arms to support him if need be. The floor in the track was marked with bright blue tape every five feet, and it was twenty five feet from end to end. He focused his eyes on the other side blocking out everything save that tape that marked the twenty five foot range. Then he saw a Kalie in her wheelchair move to that point and smile. He focused on her. He was surprised to find feelings come up in him. He looked at her and then two others moved in behind her. A very tall and muscular man, and a woman who looked like an older version of Kalie. They had to be Kalie's parents. The man looked Daniel in the eye and spoke.

"It doesn't matter whether you make it today, or tomorrow, or the next day." He told the boy across the room. "If you can make it to Kalie on your own, we have a rather nice surprise for you, if you wish it, that is?"

He saw her eyes light up with hope and at that moment, he would have tried to walk over hot coals or broken glass if it would make her smile. He suddenly realized, she was like the sister he never had. More supportive then his foster brother had ever even tried to be, and she seemed to care. he closed his eyes for a moment, focusing on what he remembered of the track. When he opened his eyes, he found that nothing but the track seemed to be visible. That and Kalie. He reached up to the bars and levered himself up to a standing position. He stood for a moment, lifted his hands from the bars, weaved once before sending a command laced with steel to his legs not to fail him. He took his first step. He kept his eyes and ears on Kalie while she cheered him on, all the while moving one foot forward slightly, then bringing the other up to the first and pushing it that little extra to get it ahead. He began to feel his legs get tired, but again sent a command to them not to buckle. And he continued.

The doctors looked on in amazement, as Daniel on his second day passed up the fifteen foot marker without once grabbing the bars. They saw a look of raw determination in his eye, and they also saw his eyes were fixed on the young girl who was rooting for him as if he were some athlete. It took them, and Daniel a few seconds to realize that he now stood at the twenty five foot mark, he was sweating from the exersion, but he was smiling at Kalie who was crying but also smiling. He had made it. He had taken the first steps to beat this. He also noted that both of the parents were blinking back tears too.

********

Hope that you enjoyed this chapter. NEXT: Some surprises (Or maybe not, if you figured where I am going with this)

Also: To let you all know how I know the basics of the therapy, I was hit by a car and bed ridden (NO COMA THOUGH) for a month and a half. I had to go through it.. No better teacher then experience. Especially since I was 14 at the time.

Flygon