Ash sleeps.

He burns and burns, until he starts to resemble his namesake.

And then Ash sleeps.

Sleeps and sleeps, and then sleeps some more.

And then he wakes up.

WARNING! I don't own Pokémon.

If I Could Live Again…

Ash wakes up in a tizzy.

It's not abnormal per say. It's not even something new or unique. Nightmares happen, sometimes and even small children experience them. Just because Ash gets them with slightly more frequency than others, or that more often than not they leave him shaking in a cold sweat and strangling his screams before they can wake up his friends, doesn't mean anything

Really, it doesn't.

"Shit…" Ash swears, and tries to glare his still shaking hands into stillness through the dark. It doesn't work ―it never does, just like his many failed attempts at keeping Pikachu or even Brock ignorant to the bad dreams. But he has to try.

That's all he's ever been able to do is try.

FireburningscreamingHELP

"No!"

Maybe it is a problem, but he won't allow it to dog him even when he's awake. No matter how real it all felt, it was still just a dream.

"Prof. Juniper! The eevee's awake!" Ash startles from a half-doze he hadn't even realized he'd fallen into, almost immediately blinded by searing lights after Arceus only knows how long he spent in the darkness.

He tries to level a reproaching glare at the speaker ―eevee or no, that is no reason to be yelling so loudly when people are trying to sleep.

He's about to grumble something about peace and quiet and small noisy children ―if only Misty were here, she'd die of laughter. But then he feels hands wrapping around his middle, not quite squeezing and far larger than he thinks they should be. And then suddenly he's not on the ground anymore.

"Ellis! Put that poor thing down!" yet another voice barks. Whoever is holding him flinches, a chin coming to rest on his head and…

Something is off. Ash knows he's short for his age, has always been tiny compared to the other kids. It made his mother nervous those first few years, but he'd proven her worries misplaced around the tenth time he'd come home covered in so much dirt and mud she'd almost mistaken him for a new species of pokémon.

He's short, but he's not so lightweighted that someone can just… pick him up and carry him around like a little kid's toy.

"I'm sorry," the child holding him says, and their grip tightens just enough that Ash yips when a flare of pain shoots up his side. "Ah!"

"Oh, give him here." the other voice sighs, sounding fond and exasperated all in one breathe.

Ash finds himself suddenly in an entirely different set of hands, more sure and gentle as they prod along his rib cage and run along his back. There's a brief moment of pain when it presses into a particularly sore spot, but it's over so quickly he doesn't even have time to really register it.

"No blood, so none of the wounds have reopened," the voice says, sounding relieved even as they adjust their grip.

The voice sounds feminine enough that he's almost entirely certain that whoever is currently holding him is a woman. And while he doesn't know who she is, she does sound like she knows what she's talking about. Ash is… curious, but he's also too terrified to open his eyes and confirm his suspicions.

"Prof. Juniper!" the child from earlier calls, and they are a child ― no older than seven judging by the timber and pitch of their voice. "Eevee's gonna be okay, right?"

Ash can't help but to flinch at that question; he's not an eevee, he's a human. He's a human with a mother who's probably worried sick about him and a group of friends who are going to strangle him the next time he sees them. He's going to become a pokémon master with Pikachu and the others someday. He can't be a…

"Vui!"

"Hm? What's the matter, Little Guy?"

For a brief, terrifying moment, there's a disconnect.

"Eevee?"

"Ellis, some space, please. He's probably spooked."

"But…"

"It's alright, Little Guy. You're safe. Ellis doesn't mean any harm, I promise."

"Y-yeah!"

"See, she's fine, you're fine," —nottruenottruelielielie— "everything's fine!"

LIE

"LET GO!"

"Ah! ―Eevee, wait!"

"Oh no! Catch him, quick!"

Getawayrundon't—

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

"WOAH!"

A/N. In celebration of Let's Go, Eevee™ and Let's go, Pikachu™.