DISCLAIMER: Sigh. Do you honestly think ANYONE on this site owns Pokémon?!

A/N: Okay, MASSIVE HUGE UNBELIEVABLY BIG apologies for the delays in this. Two months is, without a doubt, inexcusable and it's all cos I've been lazy, lol. But here it is at long last, read review flame shout at me cos I'm lazy…y'know, the usual stuff that goes with all this. Cheers!

A motel was only physical comfort from the storm that endured the night the Ketchums' house was burnt down. Lightning sporadically streaked the blackened skies, like a flash of hope for light in the darkness, but darkness was the only thing Ash felt himself being enveloped in as he stared out the window only hours after the disaster happened.

The three families were put up in separate rooms and emergency but half-hearted shopping trips had been made to ensure everyone had enough clothes for themselves and their children. It was a morbid situation to be in, even if the triplets had latched on to the excitement of Lisa's idea of having a new house. Rose, Cory and Jack understood the situation a lot better than the other four and were silent for the rest of the day.

The rain splattered the window in random veins, coursing slowly down until they hit the windowpane. Hitting rock bottom, Ash thought with a sigh. They had lost everything. Insurance was of little solace and wouldn't bring back the valued mementos they had cherished so much. All it would do was try to fill a hole that had been dented in their lives.

Rose found her father staring out the window as she made her way to bed. She stared at the back of him for a while, vaguely hearing her mother putting the triplets to bed. Her sigh brought Ash's eyes to meet hers and for a moment nothing but silence engulfed the room. Ash then smiled assuredly at his oldest daughter.

"Hey. You okay?" he asked softly.

"I'm fine" Rose replied stiffly. "James called just then, he said he'd talk to you tomorrow. He didn't wanna disturb you tonight."

"He called? I didn't even hear the phone ring" Ash said vaguely. Rose didn't know how to reply and was saved from an awkward silence by her mother entering the room.

"Rose, I think you should hit the sack. It's been a long day" Misty quietly suggested. Rose nodded and, in an gesture that had become unusual recently, reached up and kissed her mother goodnight on her cheek. Misty was a little surprised but smiled nonetheless and watched Rose retreat to her temporary room.

"James called" Ash started, replaying what Rose had told him moments ago. "I suppose they're going to have to go home tomorrow. We can't hold them up another day."

"Yeah" Misty sighed. "Ash…who could've done this? There's no one out to get us again, there can't be. We're through with that." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself and as she finished speaking a clap of thunder rolled in the distance. Trying to shrug off the ominous superstition that hit her mind, she walked up to her husband and stood next to him, silently watching the pouring rain.

"How are the kids?" Ash finally asked.

"I've never seen Cory so quiet. He's hardly said a word since it all happened. The triplets just want a new house, they don't seem too worried by the fact that they've lost…everything…" Misty trailed off. There was a pause before she next spoke. "Ash you never answered my question."

"What, about who's done this?" Misty nodded and Ash hung his head, staring blankly at the windowpane. "I don't know. If I knew who did it the bastard would be dead or at the very least behind bars right now." Misty was slightly shocked by her husband's forceful words. She had obviously underestimated the amount of pain he was going through at having lost everything they had worked for.

"Ash, come on, I think you should get some sleep" Misty said quietly.

"Are you not a little bit worried about the outcome of all this? We've got nowhere to live, we've pretty much stranded our friends, the kids have seen their house and everything inside it charbroiled to nothing…" Ash trailed off and eyed his wife with a look that sent familiar yet unnerving chills down her spine.

"Of course I'm worried. That's why I asked you if you knew who did it. You don't think Gary –"

"Survived a fifty foot plunge into molten lava? No, I don't think Gary survived that" Ash said with a wry smile. "No one could possibly be out to get us again and I don't want you worrying about that, okay?" Misty reluctantly nodded at his words and watched as he heavily stood up to walk towards her. "Arsonists are just sick bastards who prey on random houses for psychotic kicks."

"Are you sure? What if we were a target for something?" Misty asked worriedly.

"We weren't. I think maybe it's you who needs the sleep. It's been a long day, tomorrow we'll sort something out with the guys, let them go home. We need to find somewhere to stay too, can't exactly stay in a motel forever."

"Yeah and we can't exactly move into a new house in a day either" Misty pointed out. "But I've always taken your word for anything so today won't be any exception" she smiled. Ash inwardly cringed. Sometimes he wished she wouldn't have so much faith in him in case he screwed up.

The next day the rain still hadn't let up and, understandably, neither had the low spirits surrounding the group. The adults had assembled in one room to discuss the day's plans and Rose had been put in charge of the kids.

"So you guys will be leaving today" Ash said flatly. It was a statement, not a question, but nonetheless his friends looked surprised at his comment.

"What? Ash, we're not going anywhere until you've got your feet back on the ground" James announced. Jessie nodded along with Brock and Wilhelmina.

"We can't ask that of you. We'll be alright" Misty quietly replied, her eyes cast towards the ground. She had coiled her fingers around her husband's like the connection of strength they both so badly needed. Brock sighed and shook his head in disagreement.

"No, you won't be alright. This is something really big guys, I don't think you quite understand the severity of -"

"What makes you think I don't understand, huh?" Ash suddenly yelled, cutting off his surprised friend. "What makes you think I don't get the fact that everything, I mean everything, we've ever owned in our lives is gone? Of course I fucking understand!"

"Ash" Misty said quietly, rubbing her husband's now shaking arm, feeling the tremors of anger and frustration beneath her fingertips. "Come on, calm down. Guys honestly, we will be okay" she said as she turned back to their worried friends.

"Do you really think you'll be able to look after the kids with all this going on?" Jessie asked skeptically. Misty fell quiet at her friend's words. "Exactly. We'll be here for you. You know that. We always have been, what makes you think anything is different now?" Jessie added.

"Nothing is different…it's all the same…" Ash whispered. Misty felt uneasy at his words but tried to shrug them off in her mind. With that sentence transpired the friends decided it was probably time to give Rose a break with the kids and so went back to collect them all.

"There's nothing to do here." The voice of Andy Ketchum sifted through the door as the adults made their way back. "I wanna play video games."

"I've told you a thousand times Andy, you CAN'T play video games!" Rose sounded like she was starting to lose patience.

"Okay okay, Rose stop yelling and Andy stop demanding. Neither is going to help with anything" Ash announced as he walked in with the others in tow. Silence instantly accompanied the demanding tone, giving Misty the chance to put forward a question to her daughter.

"Rose, where's Felicity?"

"I dunno, with Cory and Jack somewhere. Kitchen I think" Rose replied flatly. As soon as the words left her mouth a shrill cry was heard and without thinking twice both Ash and Misty ran in the direction of the noise, which led them to the kitchen and into the middle of a scene they were initially unable to take a grasp of.

Felicity had her hand under running water in the sink, Cory was pleading with her to tone down her whimpering and Jack was standing near the stove, but the boys quickly reverted their frightened eyes to Ash and Misty's confused ones.

"What happened here?" Ash demanded to know.

"Mommy, Daddy, my hand hurts" Felicity sobbed.

"We…we were gonna cook something for lunch and, uh -"

"You WHAT?!" Misty forcefully interrupted her son.

"Flick wanted spaghetti! Rose said it was okay!" Cory exclaimed defensively. He didn't know that in his defense he had dobbed his big sister in but he didn't have time to think about this as his mother strode towards him to examine Felicity's hand.

"How bad is it?" Ash asked cautiously from his position in the kitchen's doorway.

"It's only a small burn" Misty said gratefully. "We'll leave it under that water for a minute more then we might have to take her to a doctor, just to get it checked out." With a strange look on her face, she suddenly turned to Cory. "How did you know to put her hand under water?"

"I'm not stupid, Mom" Cory replied.

"You don't think trying to make spaghetti on your own was stupid?" Misty raised an eyebrow and Cory lowered his eyes. "Ooh ouch, I bet that hurt sweetie" Misty said soothingly, turning back to Felicity, who only nodded meekly in reply.

"Mist I'll be back in two ticks, we'll take her to the A&E in a mo" Ash declared. Misty nodded and watched her husband walk back into their temporary lounge. Jack and Cory followed Ash out to be met with concerned eyes facing them all.

"Flick's burnt her hand on the stove" Ash sighed in response to the silent question that was being imposed.

"Oh God, been down that road before" Brock groaned.

"Yes but I think this was due to a little irresponsibility" Ash said. The stern look he sent Rose only sent the remaining adults a hint to take their leave.

"Right, uh, well we'll give you a call later on. Come on Jack" Jessie instructed. Jack reluctantly followed his mother's orders and Lisa did the same when similarly instructed by her parents.

"Cory, can you please take Andy and Scott in to see how Flick is?" Ash asked.

"Um, sure thing Dad" Cory replied, herding his brothers into the kitchen. Ash then turned back to his daughter and started what he knew could be a lengthy confrontation.

"What in God's name were you thinking letting your seven-year old sister anywhere near the stove without supervision?"

"She wasn't unsupervised. Cory and Jack were with her" Rose pointed out.

"You think two ten-year old boys are capable of using a stove?" Ash asked rhetorically. "For God's sake Rose, we give you this responsibility and you abuse it without even batting an eyelid at the consequences! Felicity's hand is burnt, we're gonna have to take her to a hospital, and you hardly seem to care!"

"Geez Dad, it could've been worse, you could've been taking them all to hospital" Rose muttered.

"Yeah if we'd left you here any longer we probably would have had to."

"No, if you'd be more honest about whatever kind of past you and Mom have then maybe we wouldn't even be here!" Rose yelled. Ash stared at her, stunned into shock by her unexpected words.

"Wha…what did you…" Ash could only choke on the words that clung to his throat in disbelief. The words his daughter had just spoken resounded in his brain, urging him to say something, anything, to counter her accusations. "The house…it burning down has nothing to do with anything."

Rose glared at Ash for half a minute before throwing her cellphone down on the table and storming off. With a trembling hand, Ash picked up the device and scanned the screen. A text message had been sent that morning and now its words were there for him to see in plain view.

'They never met at school. They're lying and you know it. A.'

A? Who or what was A? His mind went into overdrive at the possibilities, at the chance that this could just be a random idiot trying to scare them and then at how remote that chance actually was. He was still holding on to the phone when Misty walked back in with Felicity in her arms.

"We better take her to the A&E now, she needs that looked at" Misty announced. Ash nodded blankly at her words and didn't make a move to make the suggestion come to fruition. At this lack of activity, Misty furrowed her brows in confusion. "Ash? Is everything okay hun?" He whirled his head round and automatically flashed her a smile without thinking about how convincing it should be.

"Yup! Everything's fine, fine, it's all good" he said quickly. Misty shook her head in exasperation.

"Ash Ketchum, I've been able to see right through you since we were ten years old. What's up? You know you can tell me" she said seriously. Ash stared at her for what he felt was an eternity. He looked into those eyes he had integrated into the most part of his life, he drank in the delicate features that still hypnotized him day after day, and knew that he couldn't tell her what he had just seen. He very rarely kept anything from her but for her sake he had to this time. Two months pregnant and with a seven-year old needing medical attention, the last thing she needed was an unconfirmed threat about a past they frequently wished had never taken place.

"Misty, I swear to you, I'm fine. Let's just get Flick to the hospital, we don't want that hand getting infected or something" Ash pointed out. Misty sighed and with a shrug of her shoulders followed Ash out of the room, where they both nearly collided with Brock who was coming down the motel hallway.

"Hey guys, was just about to ask if you needed me to come with you. Wil said she'd look after the kids if Rose is…uh, tired or something" Brock stammered.

"Oh Brock, you don't have to -"

"That'd be great Brock, we need someone to look after them and I'll need some company when these two visit the doctor" Ash interrupted his wife, who stared at him in even more confusion.

"We're not both going to the doctor, you know" she pointed out.

"Well you can take Flick in and I'll go do the administration stuff. The last thing you wanna be doing is filling out forms, right? Me and Brocko can go do that" Ash said confidently. Misty sighed and shrugged again.

"Fine, whatever you say, let's just go." With that they began their journey to the local hospital, all the while Ash being unable to keep his mind in one place. Thoughts and theories and conclusions gone wild raided his brain to the point of near insanity and he was, in a strange way, grateful for their arrival at the hospital that would help his youngest daughter out.

"Okay Mist, you just go and wait in the waiting room with Flick, I'll do the paperwork." Ash then briefly kissed his wife in reassurance and smiled as she carried Felicity away to be treated. His smile instantly fell when he turned to Brock and pulled out Rose's cellphone he had shoved in his pocket. "Take a look at this."

Brock raised his eyebrows at the blunt statement but took the phone off him nonetheless and quickly read the words on the screen. He then re-read them to make sure his eyesight wasn't failing on him and looked up at Ash with a strange expression riddling his face.

"Who sent it?" he asked.

"I dunno. What the hell does it mean?" Ash sighed in exasperation.

"Hard to tell…it could just be one sick asshole with nothing better to do" Brock suggested.

"Yeah, and it could be…" Ash trailed off and took the phone back off his friend. "It could be a warning. A threat even. I just can't figure out who's sent this and why it's coming up all of a sudden and why they're sending it to Rose and -"

"Hey, hey, c'mon chill man, it's probably nothing. All that's dead and buried, you know that."

"But no one knows about everything except Misty's sisters and the gym leaders we met up with back then. Anyone else we've met since then has been told the same thing we told the kids" Ash pointed out. "You don't think…it has anything to do with the house going down, do you?" he suddenly asked with a nervous edge to his voice.

"It couldn't. It just couldn't" Brock said firmly. "If it starts getting outta hand call the police or something, they can trace it back. As for Rose, just tell her it's bull. You know it's best she doesn't know what happened."

"Yeah, I know" Ash nodded. A silence then occupied them until Ash looked at his watch. "We better get in there, Flick's probably being seen to now, don't want Mist coming back and hearing all this."

"Hang on, you haven't told Misty about this?" Brock asked in astonishment.

"I can't, Brock. She doesn't need to have this piled on top of everything. It's not good for her" Ash said seriously, his eyes already clouding over at the memory of her worry when she asked if they were targeted. Just the thought alone had scared her - this would damage her beyond reason.

Brock nodded and the two made their way to the waiting room after filling out the forms. Felicity and Misty had gone in and only one other woman was in the room with them, keeping to herself in a far corner. A television quietly murmured in the background, toys were left scattered on the floor from previous children's visits, a clock ebbed away the time that was passing. All things that were reminders of reality.

But Ash felt nowhere near reality. His mind was hovering in a fantasy world, a nightmare of sorts, a repeating scene of danger and things they thought they had left behind long ago. Shaking his head, he mentally willed himself to snap out of it. Nothing was threatening them. Nothing.

"Geez poor Felicity, I hope she's okay" Brock said after fifteen minutes of waiting. Ash nodded silently, still spacing out until a sentence that was spoken by an unfamiliar voice snapped him violently back into realism.

"Ms Ketchum, Dr Perkins will see you now."

"Ms Ketchum?" Ash repeated. He watched silently as the woman on the other side of the room calmly stood up, picked up a handbag and smiled at the receptionist who had informed her. Ash squinted to clarify if this person was in any way related to him.

"Um, uh, Ash I-I think you, um…" Brock was stuttering beyond comprehension and Ash turned to him in irritation.

"Could you cut me a break and speak english, Brock? My mind's kinda not clear cut right now" he snapped. Brock pointed to the woman Ash had been staring at before. "Yeah, she's got the same last name as me, small world isn't it?" he said sarcastically.

"N-no" Brock shook his head before yelling out a word across the room that Ash had hardly expected to hear much ever again. "Delia!"

"What the hell are you -" Ash was cut off by the next actions of the woman, who quickly turned around after Brock had called out.

"Yes? Do I know you?" she replied. Ash literally felt the colour draining from his face into the pit of his stomach, where a nauseating feeling dominated him at what had just occurred. He wanted to stand up but couldn't as his knees took on a form of jelly beneath him, and instead silently watched as the woman walked up to them.

"Um, um, oh my God." Brock continued to stammer non-sensically until another two words finally left his lips. "D-Delia Ketchum?"

"Yes, that's me" she answered politely. Ash finally found the strength to stand up and face the woman he thought he had lost twelve years ago, only managing to croak out one word.

"Mom?"

"Um, I think you have me confused, I don't have a son." The reply was not one Ash was expecting and his eyes widened at the words he heard.

"But…but you're Delia Ketchum? From Pallet Town?"

"That's me, and I've lived in Pallet all my life. How do you know all this?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Ash stared, dumbfounded by what she was saying.

"Because…Mom it's me, it's Ash." The silent reply of a confused stare didn't increase his hopes of a joyful, if not bewildering, reunion. "Ash, your son. I…Mom, I thought you had…died."

"What? I truly am sorry but you obviously have me mixed up with someone else. Now if you'll excuse me I honestly have to get to my appointment." She started walking away when Ash suddenly found something that had been crying out inside of him for so long emerging to his lips without control.

"Mom! Mom you're alive, I was so sure you were gone! Mom you're here!" he yelled, following her to the door. She turned to face him with another confused and slightly irritated expression on her face.

"I've already said I don't have a son. I'm very sorry. I hope you find your mother."

"But Mom I have! It's you! Mom don't you recognise -"

"No she doesn't and she won't." Ash looked up at the man that had cut him off and recognised him as a doctor. "Are you Ash Ketchum?" Ash nodded meekly as Brock finally managed to find his dazed way across the room. "I think you better come with me." Ash nodded again and turned to Brock.

"Can you…stay here? Misty will -"

"Yeah sure" Brock nodded in a daze. Ash followed the doctor to an empty examination room and sat opposite his serious face that was so obviously about to break some life changing news.

"That woman you saw in there is indeed your mother. Delia Ketchum. She was brought in here twelve years ago, dazed and confused beyond cure. We don't know exactly what happened to her but we tried to contact some sort of immediate family. The ID she had on her led us to find out about you, her only child, but we couldn't find you in person" the doctor explained.

"Yeah, we would've been gone" Ash said quietly, remembering the beginning of his first manhunt which was then for Giovanni. "But how could she have survived something like that?"

"What exactly did she survive?" the doctor asked.

"An explosion. She was practically next to the device when it went off. We checked her pulse and everything, she was gone, there was nothing we could do to…" Ash trailed off at the horrible memory and shook his head quickly. "Even if she did survive that, how come she can't remember me? I'm her only son, we were so close."

"No matter how close you were all those years ago, she'll probably never recognise you. She's suffering from acute amnesia, she's had to be taught who she is, where she's from, how old she is, even when her birthday is. We never taught her about you because we didn't know what had happened to you. There was no point informing her on someone that might not even be around anymore. I'm so sorry Mr. Ketchum, but it probably isn't best if you attempt to jog her memory about you. If she gets confused it could be devastating to her state of mind" the doctor said.

"I don't care what you think is best" Ash announced, feeling an anger swell up inside him. "She's my mother, I thought she was dead and she's not, so I want to be around her again. I want her to meet her grandchildren, to catch up with her daughter-in-law, to see what she's missed out on. She has to remember me, I'm her son for God's sake!"

"Relative or not sir, she'll have no recollection of you. She comes to this hospital once a month to see if her memory has improved and twelve years on it still hasn't. I'm terribly sorry" the doctor said again. Ash glared at him and stalked out of the room without another word.

On his way back to the waiting room, he walked past the examination room that his mother had gone into. He slowed his walk, pausing to barely make out her familiar figure, imagining her smiling eyes and graceful face that he had missed so much for the last twelve years. The fleeting conversation only moments before had stirred up too many emotions for him to decipher, especially after the stress of what had happened with Rose, and he sighed in defeat as he went on his way.

What was he going to tell Misty? His pace slowed as this thought came to mind. Another revelation to keep from her or an announcement that would undoubtedly shock her to the state of serious disbelief? Maybe it was best to keep this under wraps in the meantime. It was again a situation where he didn't want to increase his wife's worries and stresses.

Delia Ketchum was alive. She may not have recalled the once most important thing in her life but Ash was determined to make her remember, to make her indulge in everything she had missed out on...and to remind her of the love and closeness they had once shared as a family.

A/N: God my fingers are sore. So damn sore, lol. Well I'm not sure if that was worth the two month wait and if it wasn't I'm sorry again but geez, at least something's up there. Okay I'll shut up now, hopefully the next one that Geo is writing won't be too far away and in the meantime thanks for the reviews and all!