'Beep beep beep'
Ash slowly opened his eyes to find himself in a white room.
"Where or when am I now?" Ash groaned. He could see several machines hooked up to him, and an IV bag off to the side. Turning his head slightly he saw his mom asleep with Pikachu in her lap. "Mom?" Ash asked, his voice was weak and scratchy.
Ash's mom stirred from her light slumber, seeing her son was now awake.
"Ash!" Delia exclaimed.
"What happened?" Ash asked, trying to sit up.
"Take it easy honey, you've been in a coma." Delia said.
"A coma?" Ash asked. "No, we were just fighting against Jessie and Team Rocket and…"
"That was a week ago." Brendan said, walking in. "What you did was pretty cool."
"Brendan, is everyone?" Ash asked.
"Wally is taking care of the Pokemon's lunch with Flannery." Brendan said. "Thanks to you and Mikey, we made it out safely. "What about Mikey, and Team Rocket?"
"After Jessie blew up, the Regis were revived." Brendan said. "Mikey took it upon himself to bring them along with Rayquaza back to Hoenn, he even left the legendary birds behind."
"He did?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, you apparently made a big impression on him." Brendan said. "As for James and Meowth, we have no idea where they are, they fled sometime during the fight."
"So Jessie is dead? The problem's over?" Ash asked.
"Knowing us, the problem will take a new form in a few months and cause more havoc." Brendan joked.
"What about what she took from us? I mean your magic, my aura, the Primal Force, what happened to them?" Ash asked.
"Oh you just woke up, didn't you?" Brendan said.
"Why?" Ash asked.
"Well, you've changed a little bit. Nothing major though." Brendan said, pulling out a compact.
Ash looked in the mirror seeing his normally brown eyes were now ruby red.
"Woah." Ash admitted.
"Yeah, it's like how they were when the primal force was in control." Brendan said. "They haven't switched back since. As for my magic, well Frigus Aura." Brendan said, lifting his palm as a cool breeze blew from it.
"You're getting too good at that." Ash said.
"Relax for now, I'll let the doctor know you're awake and then tell the others." Brendan said.
"Mom where are we?" Ash asked.
"We're at Cinnabar Island." Delia said. "How are you feeling?"
"Weak, tired, but also like a weight has been lifted." Ash admitted.
A few days later, Ash was cleared and allowed to leave the hospital
"Are you sure this is okay Ash?" Delia asked.
"It's fine. Lapras, promise to make sure you get my mom home safe?" Ash asked, as Lapras nuzzled him. "It was great seeing you again. Let me know when you get home okay?"
"Of course honey." Delia said.
"Okay that wraps up most of my current issues." Ash said. "So why are you two still here?" Ash asked, looking at Flannery and Lucario.
"I live here." Flannery said. "At least my teacher does. So I've been staying with him while you've been in the hospital and these two have been slumming in the Pokemon Center.
"Hey we've been hard at work training for my next frontier battle." Brendan argued.
"Yeah, sure you have." Flannery said.
"What about you Lucario, I thought you wanted to travel the world, find out what is out there?" Ash asked.
"I do, but alas I cannot swim." Lucario admitted.
"You could've said that five minutes ago, I would have felt a lot better if you went with my mom!" Ash exclaimed.
"I apologize, I did not wish to intrude." Lucario said.
"We'll be leaving in a few days anyways to go to my next challenge, you can hitch a ride with us there." Brendan offered.
"Isn't it also on an island?" Ash asked.
"Oh, right." Brendan said.
"And why in a few days? Swampert and Quagsire should be able to get you two there, and once I have Milotic back she can carry me." Ash said.
"Well…". Wally paused.
"What did you do?" Ash asked.
"Nothing, I swear, I did nothing." Wally defended.
"Then what was with the well…". Ash asked.
"Well, I'm asking my master to finish my training." Flannery said.
"So you'll be heading back to Hoenn?" Ash asked.
"I was hoping that maybe we could give us another chance." Flannery admitted.
"Flannery, look I wanted us to work, but we just weren't." Ash said.
"Then how about another chance as just friends." Flannery asked.
"I think we can do that." Wally said completely misreading the conversation.
"Okay come on, let's at least tell my master I'll be leaving again." Flannery said.
"What's your masters name anyways?" Brendan asked.
"Oh, hes the gym leader here, Blaine." Flannery said.
Authors Note
I know its a very short chapter, but after finishing up the villain and Sevii Island arc I needed a Segway into the final section. The rest of the story will be going pretty quick, I only have a few events left I want to cover and then we're done with this story already! I know this took a while with a lot of breaks in comparison to how things normally go, and I will go over that in the afterthoughts chapter. As always start sending in any comments, questions, or concerns you have and I will address them at the end. Also next chapter is a long one, so it actually had to be split up into two parts, the first being this one.
