Er

Family Comes First

By PikaDarkness
Chapter 3
Memories of my past responsibilities.

The hospital proved to take its toll on Ash; he absolutely hated everything about it, from the Doctors and Nurses, to the sheets he was encompassed in. Delia knew of his disgust, for she warned him to be polite to the workers for they saved his life, and that he didn't really have a choice but to stay there until he was discharged.
That didn't really suit Ash but he had to admit she had a fair point, he did owe them all his life, and he was kind of in their debt even if they were just doing their job. Delia noticed his lapse into silence, for she looked at him quizzically and asked:
"Honey are you ok?"
Ash jerked his head up from the sheets he had been staring at for over a minute and looked surprised to see his mother still sitting there.
"What? – oh – oh yeah I'm fine" He stuttered as he tried to answer her question. Ash wasn't fine in the general sense; his head was still throbbing, the hospital was pissing him off, something bad just seemed to slink into his mind and implanted itself in the back of his mind and every time he tried to grasp at it, to find what it was, it slid away like it was covered in jelly.
Delia didn't buy his lies; Ash didn't know why he bothered lying to lie to her at all, she had the gift of knowing or as Ash preferred to call it: "The Mother disease" or "The Mother Syndrome".
Delia watched as her sons eyes fell to the sheets and became absorbed in it, but what was there to look at? The sheets were white with no pattern not even the stitches could be made out. So she grasped Ash's hand and when he lifted his head to look into her eyes she spoke.
"Ash honey, your not fine" Delia said matter-of-factly. "So just tell me what's bothering you"
Ash struggled to find a good excuse, but seeing as lying got him no-where, truth was the best option.
"Well if you must know my head hurts something I don't know about is sending warning bells off in my head I have had it with this hospital as well" Ash added nodding his head slightly.
"What's the warning bells going off about sweetie?" Delia asked confused.
"You" Ash answered jokingly.
"Why you" Delia growled, Ash didn't notice her hands went under the sheets. Ash waited for a response but when he got none he considered it victory to him.
Suddenly Ash cried out with shock, Delia was tickling his bare feet, she ignored his pleas for mercy, and ran her fingers up his feet repeatedly, enjoying the sight of Ash laughing, and him being defenceless while she tortured him like this.
"No ... stop mum please" Ash pleaded through his laughter, he cried out again as she grabbed his left foot and tickled that for another minute before finally stopping.
Ash's giggles finally died down, but his mother's gloating smile didn't. Ash stuck his tongue out at her and she threw him a warning look.
"Heh I'm going to go call Dad and tell him he can visit." Delia said getting up and walking outside.
Ash fell into thought again. He almost yelped as a voice, a loud rasping and hissing voice filled his ears.
They have no idea in the trouble brewing...
What? What trouble?
There shall be no answers, and there shall be nought but questions.
This was absurd! What questions? And what wont there be answers to?
There is a storm brewing, planning to destroy all being, be warned fair one and take heed, Pallet town is in your families hands...
Oh crap not this again! He was getting sick of helping everyone out! Saving their lives! Why... why the world or town's placing all this responsibility on him? Surely a 13 year old kid couldn't do this!
Pallet town is in your families hands. So this time his family was standing by him now ... and just like him they didn't have a choice.
But what were they saving Pallet Town from? And their wasn't a specific date. I guess old ghostly or whatever it was, decided we'd know what we'd be keeping an eye out for, pfft what a fat load of help he was! Ash thought bitterly.
"Ash! Ash! Wake up Ash!" A voice reverberated around his already sore head, making it hurt a lot more then he previously cared to realise.
Ash opened his eyes, he fainted? How'd he not know that?
"Ash..." It was his mother that had been calling out to him. "Never do that again you scared the heck outta me"
"I-I'm sorry I didn't know I passed out" Ash admitted shakily. "What happened?"
"Well when I came back from calling your father you were fine, sitting up in bed and all, but suddenly you gasped and fainted, I guess you fainted although you wouldn't've been shaking and jerking like that if you were..." Delia seemed to board a train of thought, snapping out of it she looked into his eyes and said "Don't you dare do that again!"
"I never asked for it to happen it just did!" Ash decided that telling her about the voice was the best option. "And mum? When I fainted this voice exploded in my head, it told me..."
It didn't take long to retell the story and Delia laughed once he was finished, startling and hurting Ash, she didn't believe him.
"That's ridiculous" Delia sighed shaking her head with an amused smile on her face.
"I know! But it then again it did all those times I saved the world or Pokémon or just cities!"
"Enough!" Snapped Delia suddenly, scaring her son. "Your... you just imagining things ... there is nothing for you to save... and your not doing it alone regardless!"
"But it said the whole family! Not just me!" Protested Ash.
Delia leapt from her seat and grasped her son's shoulders and pinned him down on the bed. Ash shrunk back as her venomous expression tore through him.
"Now you will listen to me! Listen! I will not jeopardise the lives of you your father or your sister! Do you understand me?" She shook him hard so his head snapped vigorously back and forth. "Huh? Do you!?"
"OW! Yes! Yes mum I do! I do!" Ash cried, his head sent excruciating pangs through him. Delia released him and stormed out the door a look of pure anger on her face.
Ash cradled his head in his hands and curled himself into a ball and started to cry.
The visions of the past didn't help with the pain either.
The pain of his past responsibilities.