Yesterday had been exhausting for Ash. He had been up for almost 20 hours straight helping repair the city with most of his Pokémon. It was nearly noon by the time he finally rolled out of bed for the day. "Morning sleepyhead." Chloe said with a giggle. "Sorry, I guess I bit off more than I could chew yesterday." Ash said slumping into a chair. "So what's on today's agenda?" Ash asked. "For us, nothing. Most of what's left needs skilled workers, and the places without power have enough electric types from the gym.

"What about the bay?" Ash asked curiously. "Goh went out a few hours ago with Dragonite and Golurk. They should be coming back soon." Chloe said calmly. "Ash, two days ago you could barely move, and yesterday you were up for almost the entire day. You need to relax." Chloe said, trying to calm him down. "You can't just keep me here." Ash said, wanting to help. "I know I can't, but she can." Chloe said with a friendly smile. Ash turned around to see Goh walk in with his mom. "Hi Sweetie." Delila said, giving Ash a hug. "I thought you said Goh was cleaning the bay?" Ash practically hissed. "I said he went out, I never said where he went." Chloe said slyly.

"Mom, I'm fine." Ash tried explaining. "Ashton Richard Ketchum, I am your mother, I know when you are and aren't fine." Delila scolded. "You used my full name…" Ash said a bit shocked. "I needed to." Delila said wiping a tear away. "I can't think of losing you." Delila said sorrowfully. "Mom, I won't leave you. Not like that." Ash said, going to hug his mom. "Thank you sweetie." Delila said rubbing the tears from her eyes. "Now Goh said something about bandages. Let's see what we're dealing with." Delila said sternly.

As Ash took off his shirt, he thought back to that day 8 years ago. "So what? You're just leaving again!" Delila shouted angrily. "I'll be back as soon as I take back my title." Mr Ketchum said with a smile. "You just made it back for the first time in almost a year. You could at least wait until your son got to see you." Delila said trying to convince her husband to stay. "Seeing him, it would just make it harder to leave." Mr. Ketchum said. "Then don't! I don't care if you aren't the champion anymore! I just want you here with me and our child!" Delila wept. "Don't you get it! I'm doing this for you! If I become champion we won't have any more worries. Ever!" Mr Ketchum said. "If that's your choice, then go. But don't come crawling back when you can't make it." Delila said, crying.

Ash was supposed to be fast asleep that night. His mom never brought it up, but he always felt she knew that he knew. "That's quite a rash." Delila said looking at the red spots. "It was worse when I first got it." Ash said. "I think I know an old family recipe that will cure this right up. You lay down and I'll go make you some soup." Delila said sweetly.

"So much like his father." Delila said. She thought back, shortly after he left, she had gotten letters from her husband about his training, and where he was. Then one day they just stopped. It was the only mail she got, and when it stopped her heart broke, fearing the worst. Then a letter came, it was adressed to her husband, but it had made it her way. Ash had won his fourth gym badge, and befriended a Haunter. She was ecstatic, while they weren't the letters she had expected to get. She got to hear all about her sons adventures. They kept coming, letters about badges, about pokemon, about friends, it seemed anything Ash encountered he wanted his dad to know about. Then one day, an envelope had been torn slightly. As if it had been opened. It was about Ash beating the battle frontier, there were tear stains already on the letter. Whoever brought these letters to her, it wasn't the mailman, she was sure of that.

"Here we are Ash." Delila said walking in with a bowl of soup. My grandmother used to make it for me whenever I was sick. She said there wasn't an ailment it couldn't cure. "Blegh. It tastes like Muk!" Ash said shocked, before realizing what he just said. "Yeah, it didn't taste that good when Granny made it either. But she wasn't wrong." Delila said with a smile. "One bowl of that, and you'll feel much better." Delila said. After Ash finished the bowl, Delila took it back, turning off the lights to his room behind her.

Once Ash heard his mom walk away, he went to his desk and pulled out a pen and paper. He needed to write another letter.

Hey Dad,

It's Ash again. I've had a pretty wild adventure recently. We went to the Sevii Islands, and I finally beat Bea. Remember her, she's another trainer in the World Series. Between Pikachu and Charizard though, she didn't stand a chance. I still have a long way to go before I'm at her level though. Speaking of Charizard, we met this woman named Ultima, and with her helped we learned a really powerful move called Blast Burn. My Boldore also evolved, and while I'm not sure I think it learned explosion. I can't wait to meet you, and show you just how strong I am.

Wish you were here.

-Ash

Ash sealed the letter in an envelope, before crawling back into bed. Chloe was right, his mom could keep him here, and he didn't want to find out how far she'd go. A few hours later, Ash took her back to Pallet town, the rash mostly gone, and his energy restored. Before returning to the lab, he dropped off his letter without being noticed.

Authors note

I decided to give Ash a full name. Ashton, just so Ash was like a nickname he had picked up at a young age, possibly from someone close. His middle name Richard coming from his Japanese voice actors name Rica Matsumoto.

The idea for this chapter came from Maré Odomo's comic strips 'Letters to an Absent Father'