Mornings had never been easy for Ash. In spite of his best intentions of waking up early he couldn't help but stay up late because this was when all of the battles from any current tournaments were shown on TV and if he kept the volume low enough he usually wouldn't get caught if he snuck back downstairs after his mother finally went to bed. Though, somehow, he always seemed to end up in his own bed the next morning even if the last thing he remembered was being in the living room. Last night, however, he had stayed up he had stayed up waiting to see his father who would be returning from one of his regular trips to Mt. Silver.
"Your father is doing some special training with your uncle Gold on the mountain" his mother had explained when he asked why his father would leave.
"Is that why dad's hand is always so cold?" was Ash's follow-up question as he looked at his own hands
Green nodded "Yes, it's very cold on Mt. Silver…"
He sighed, closing and withdrawing his left hand. It seemed strange that only his father's right hand seemed so cold and stiff all the time but Ash decided that from that point on he would try to warm his father with how own body, even making it a point to greet his father every time he returned from Mt. Silver to do so and now awoke to the realization that he had failed last night.
He opened the door of his room and poked his head out into the hall looking both ways but it didn't seem like his parents were up yet, either. Ash made his way down the hall to his parents' room and looked inside, but only his mother was currently sleeping here. A short trip downstairs revealed a blanket covering a familiar lump on the couch. Red had spent the night here not wanting to disturb his wife after coming in so late and the yellow bundle that also slept curled up on the floor next to the couch was surely Pika.
Standing on his tiptoes the four-year-old could just barely see over the back of the couch so he climbed on top of it and sat perched on the backboard for just a moment before he began to wobble and fell right onto Red's stomach.
HURK! Red gasped at the sudden weight that had knocked the wind out of him and opened his eyes to see his son's face. "Oh… hello, Ash…" he gasped again, recovering. The noise had apparently also disturbed mouse Pokémon whose ears twitched twice before it opened its eyes.
"You're back!" Ash grinned "I missed you!"
Red lifted his son and set the boy back down a few inches further away, allowing himself to sit up. "I know you did, but I got home a little later than I thought I would." He gave a quick glace all around suddenly remembering that he had promised to be home for dinner last night "Uh… your mom didn't say anything, did she?"
Ash shook his head "She didn't sound mad, she just started doing things 'hard' after a while."
"Hard?"
"Like this…"he imitated a slamming action by picking up an invisible object to his right, turning slightly, and then setting it down forcefully to the left. "And this…."
Red winced putting a hand to his forehead as his son continued making pushing motions to indicate the slamming of cupboards, drawers and doors. "That doesn't sound good..." he groaned. By this point, Green was used to his normal trips to Mt. Silver and even his being late was nothing new for Red but he also knew that when he promised something like this he would be held to it. Luckily his wife wasn't up yet or his awakening would have been much ruder so he at least had a chance to make it up to her before she could punish him. "Hey, what do you say to helping me make breakfast?" Red suggested "but we have to be really quiet so mommy doesn't hear, okay?"
"Okay!" Ash nodded and held up his fists enthusiastically. He was then lifted a second time by his father and set down again to stand beside the couch and next to Pika who now sat at attention while his father turned and stood as well. Ash grabbed Red's right hand with both of his but a strange sensation made him flinch and nearly let go again. "You're still cold." He said
"Sorry." Red let out a small chuckle "It doesn't bother me, though."
Ash pulled his father's arms as close as he could, wrapped both of his own around it and squeezed tightly. "There, does that feel better?"
He raised his arm and clenched his hand a few times. "Much better! Thank you, Ash!" he smiled but the truth was that he had barely felt the embrace. Red then lead the way to the kitchen holding his son's hand with his left and Pika followed.
The breakfast preparations went as well as Red could have hoped, save for the unusually large mess that had been created in the process. He still didn't know how Green made this look so easy, but Red managed to get this under control as well with a bit of hasty cleaning so she would never know and the food turned out well, which was the real important thing.
Green sighed after being seated in front of an already prepared meal. "I suppose this makes up for last night…" she said "but you know I was worried."
"Sorry… things just took a little longer than usual." Red glanced over at his son acknowledging that Ash was still in the room.
"Ash, why don't you take Pika and go play outside?" Green suggested abruptly.
He gave a halfhearted nod then pushed his empty plate aside, scooted out of his chair and left with the Pikachu close behind thought he didn't quite understand why his parents seemed to get like this whenever they discussed Red's trips up the mountain; to him it sounded exciting. He had even asked if he could go with his father though the answer was always a resounding 'no' from both parents but to him this just meant he had to keep asking.
"…So you're getting worse, then?" Green sighed again once their son was safely out of earshot.
Red sighed back putting his elbows on the table and hiding his face in his hands. "I tried ignoring it at first, but I don't think I can anymore if it's that obvious to you." He said "It's been this way for a while now. I thought it was just my imagination at first but I got so desperate I even talked to Yellow, but of course she can't heal people. All she could do was tell me that the damaged nerves strain the ones around it that are trying to reestablish a connection until they shut down too."
"But isn't that why you started going back to the springs in the first place?"
"Yes, but that damage was already irreversible as soon as I started freezing up again; all I really did was buy myself time." He continued "Yellow says that if this progression continues my entire nervous system nervous system will eventually shut down...and… at the rate it's going I only have a few months left…"
If Green hadn't already been sitting down she would have needed to with this weight. She was silent for a moment and clenched her fist near her chest as she tried to process this new information until she finally decided which of the hundreds of questions to ask. "Then what can we do?"
Red shook his head "This isn't your problem, it's mine. I've already decided that I'm going to climb the mountain one more time and spend whatever time I have left there. It won't be much, but it's the only chance I have to live even a bit longer but there is no way I could take you with me so tonight will be my last night here and I'll leave in the morning; that way I can at least spend the day with you and Ash"
"But what am I supposed to tell him?" She made a sweeping motion with an arm towards the window and outside where there son was.
He finally looked up and followed where Green had indicated. "Don't tell him." He said "It will be hard at first no matter what you say but the less he knows the easier it will be to move on as long as he still has you to…"
A tiny sound caused him to stop. Green's initial disbelief had worn off and she had finally broken down to begin crying. "How can be so calm about this?"
Red stood up and walked over. He then helped her to stand as well and put a hand on either of her shoulders. "The truth is I don't think I've ever been more scared so don't make this harder than it already is." He said, looking directly at her; he was actually smiling a little. "Besides, you know as well as I do that there were plenty of times I could have easily died before now so I'm actually lucky to have made it this far, just like I was lucky to have met all of the others and even luckier to have had you."
He finished by pulling her into a hug and held her while she sobbed into his shoulder. She looked up at him when he loosened his grip after a moment.
"Come on, I'm sure Ash is wondering what we're doing and I wanted us to spend this time as a family." Red turned and made his way to the door not even realizing Green hadn't followed until he had nearly pulled the door open.
Green slowly walked over to him and took his left hand away from the doorknob into both of her own and placing six small spherical objects into it. "Since I can't go with you I want you to take my Pokémon with you. I know it's against regulation, but I doubt you'll run into any league officials out there and you'll need every bit of help you can get." She wiped the tears from her eyes and tried to smile back at him. "And besides, it's not like I really need them for battling anymore."
He returned her smile with a nod a quickly fastened each Pokéball to his belt in a second row below the first. "I promise I'll take good care of all of them for as long as I can." Red assured her.
Borrowing her or even Blue's Pokémon for his trips to Mt. Silver was nothing new but normally they would make an exchange so that he would still only be carrying the maximum of six Pokémon though now she had simply handed them to him and at the same time they would not be coming back in the same way as Red. When he would pass all of the Pokémon would be released, including Green's that were now in his possession. This would put an informal end to her career as a Pokémon Trainer but she had said that that particular chapter of her life had closed as soon as she had become a mother and it would be a small price to pay if she could somehow still help him without being able to be with him.
Ash turned his head at the sound of the opening and watched as his parents walked out together. He gave them a wave before approaching with Pika close behind. "Does this mean you're done talking?" he asked hopefully.
"That's right!" Red crouched down to his level "Mom was just a little upset that I have to leave again already tomorrow, but because I have to leave again so soon I decided that the three of us are going to spend the whole day together."
Pika let out a huffy squeak that seemed to imply It had taken offense and folded it's arms disapprovingly.
"Sorry, I mean the four of us." He corrected himself before feeling the other eleven Pokéballs that were on his beginning to rattle. "…uh, make that fifteen of us…" He hadn't thought of it before, but even this wasn't his entire extended family counting his other friends who lived in other regions and their Pokémon. It was almost a good thing he didn't have time to tell all of them or he might not be able to bring himself to leave; it was hard enough that in addition to Green both Blue and Yellow also knew he would be gone. At least his son wouldn't have to know what would become of him, but Ash still hadn't been able to meet any of the other besides Blue and his son. He had wanted to introduce his boy to all of them once he was old enough to start traveling with his own Pokémon but maybe Ash could still do this without him…
All too quickly they day of carefree playing had come to an end, but it had been a day well spent. Green prepared picnic lunch for the family that had been enjoyed near the edge of Route 21 and Red was able to share stories of his trip to Mt. Silver, as per Ash's request. It had provided the four-year-old with another chance to ask if he could join his father when he left the next morning but the answer remained 'no'. At least he had been able to live vicariously this way and he had also had the chance to play will all of his parents Pokémon at once which was rare since six were almost always away with Red even if they were rotated; even more rare was the family dinner at the end of the day that also meant Red had kept his previous promise in the end after all. After dinner Red was the one to put Ash to bed before joining Green in their own bed; both things he hadn't been able to do in what felt like a long time.
Red awoke early the next morning as intended, but the truth was he had hardly slept at all. There was no need to disturb Green since she already knew he would be gone so he took the utmost care not to wake her as he left the room and made his way into his son's . He had meant to only watch Ash a moment longer but couldn't resist stroking the tiny face before leaving the house and continuing towards Route1.
A cold sensation on his face interrupted Ash's sleep but when he opened his eyes there was nothing there except for the light filtering through the curtain that told him it was at least morning. When he looked out of his bedroom window he could see his father as he crossed the boundary that separated Pallet Town and Route 1 and immediately rushed out the door. Normally his dad had already left by the time he woke up If he hurried he could catch up with Red and try one last time to convince him to take him along; if nothing else he could at least say 'goodbye'. "Dad!" he called out when he had nearly caught up.
Red stopped and turned. "Ash, what are you doing out here?"
"I want to come with you!" he grinned "I know I don't have my own Pokémon yet but I'm not scared because you'll be there and I promise I won't get in the way."
He sighed once again squatting down to his son's level "I already told you that you can't come with me this time, Ash. I don't think I'm going to be able to come back this time so I need you to stay here and be strong for your mom, ok?"
Red took off his hat and placed in on Ash's head but it was too large and covered his entire face but he didn't understand. "…He's not coming back?"
"You're the man of the house now, I'm sure you can handle it. Goodbye son."
Ash wanted nothing more than to chase after his father as he turned and began walking away but his legs wouldn't move; it didn't seem real. He finally did the one thing he thought he could and began crying out loud.
Green awake a few hours later to an empty house. She had expected Red to be gone but grew concerned when her son was nowhere to be seen. Even after leaving the house and asking everyone she knew in Pallet Town there was no sign of him. The only other thing she could think of was to call Blue but he hadn't seen Ash either though he agreed to see search for him Viridian City and Route 22 while she would continue hear search in Pallet Town and Route 1.
After overhearing the commotion even Gary joined his father in the searching Viridian City. He and Ash weren't exactly the best of friends but he was the only one in the area that was his age so he was the only human option for a playmate. In his search he had wandered only just out of Blue's sight where he found Ash sitting near a small pond just outside of the city; the exact same place where Red had left him except he was now sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest and he had managed to stop crying.
"So here you are" Gary folded his arm "What are you doing out here anyway? You sure look pathetic…"
Ordinarily even just seeing Gary would have been enough to get Ash fired up, especially after saying something like this, but he didn't even look at him this time. "My dad is gone… he said he's not coming back…"
"Well sitting here isn't going to bring him back and everybody's looking for you. You should just go home already instead of feeling sorry for yourself."
Ash stood up and whirled around having finally had enough. "OH, WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!" he closed his eyes and swung a fist at Gary but instead struck a much firmer surface than anticipated. When he opened his eyes Blue was now standing between him and Gary with his palm out; the only thing he had needed to stop the punch. "I'm sorry…" he took a step back, shaking after realizing who he had really hit.
Blue didn't punish but instead pulled him into a hug. "Do you feel better now?"
He buried his face in Blue's shoulder and began to cry again. "Why…Why isn't he coming back?"
"He didn't want you to worry about him; you might not understand it now, but you will someday." Blue gave him a small smile and pointed at the hat Ash was clutching "And besides, it looks like you've still got a little piece of him with you so he won't ever be gone completely as long as you have that so you had better take good care of it."
Ash finally managed to smile again putting his father's hat back on his head, it still smelled like Red.
"Come on, I'll take you home. You're mom has been really worried." Blue held out his hand.
"Oh…" Ash took his hand and Blue began to lead him with Gary's hand in the other. "That's right…" he had almost completely forgotten what his dad had said about his mom. She was probably even sadder than he was right now but at least the two of them would be together soon. He took one last look behind him at Route 22 with Mt. Silver in the distance. He was now more sure than ever that he wanted to climb that mountain one day to find out what had happened to his dad but he would have to become a lot stronger first.