ASH AU

By: FunahoMisaki

(A/N: I own nothing and read last chapter)

"Are you good to travel again Ashy?" Gary asked looking at his little brother who blinked as he tilted his head up at Nurse Joy curiously the next morning. They were standing inside Ash and Gary's hotel room as Nurse Joy was checking over Ash's shoulder again, just to be on the safe side. They couldn't be too careful with how frail his bones are.

"Despite my best wishes…yes you can travel again but please do be careful and here. In case something happens where he can't reach us with Telepathy one of you four can reach pretty much any Joy at this number." Nurse Joy said sighing as she handed Gary a piece of paper with a number on it. He blinked but nodded and put it in his pocket, inwardly he wondered at the almost maternal worry Nurse Joy was giving to Ash. Then again with his little brothers frail body…no one could blame the kind nurse for being worried.

"Yeah and if you need any help or an escort somewhere you can get almost every Jenny on this number." Officer Jenny said handing Gary a different sheet of paper and causing him to nod at them thankfully as he put the new paper in the same pocket as Joy's number. Gary looked more than a little amused at the almost hesitant worry the officer was giving Ash in spades…but much more discreetly than Joy was. The blue haired woman obviously wasn't used to worrying over someone…much less a rather frail trainer. She was acting more like the awkward protective mom like older sister rather than the fretting and mother like worrying of Nurse Joy which seemed to be expressed much easier.

"Thank you both of you and I'm sorry to worry you both so much." Ash told them telepathically, causing both of the older women to give him soft smiles although Jenny's was a bit awkward.

"Don't worry about it kid. Just… don't get hurt a whole lot and it'll be fine." Jenny said awkwardly patting Ash's shoulder rather gently.

"It's okay. One can't help but worry over you. You're cute and very frail but you're determined enough to go through with this. We just don't want you hurt Ash." Joy said giving Ash a gentle hug while he looked lost, causing his bodyguards to snicker when he gave them desperate looks.

Gary thought it was hilarious but kind of sad that Ash didn't know how to react to the hug. He'd been so frail for so long that even his own mother was worried that she might hurt him if she hugged him too much or for too long. The longest she ever hugged him was for twenty second (Gary knew he had timed it) but she had hugged Ash too hard and broke one of his arms. She's been scared to hug him for more than five seconds ever since. The only ones who had actually hugged him freely without worrying too badly about if they would hurt him or not in the last five years were Gary and his older sister Daisy, both of whom were gentle with their hugs naturally.

"Excuse me nurse Joy but you're kind of freaking Ashy out. He's not used to getting too many hugs from anyone other than me and my big sis that last more than a few seconds. Most of the town was too scared to hug him." Gary spoke up when Ash began looking panicked, causing Nurse Joy to let him go in shock while the three women in the group looked horrified.

"They were too scared to hug him?" Jenny asked in disbelief.

"For more than a few seconds at least. Last time someone besides me and Daisy hugged him more than ten seconds they hugged him hard enough to break his arm by accident. The whole town's been too scared to hug him since, even his mom only hugs him for about five seconds at most." Gary said sighing slightly while Ash looked down at the dirt, earning a growl and gentle hug from Jessie whose maternal instincts were acting up slightly.

"I think she was mainly scared cause she was the one who broke his arm on accident and she didn't want a repeat…" Gary said thinking about it while Ash was still looking down at the ground and shuffled his feet shyly and nervously.

"He's so cute! How can anyone resist such a cutie!?" Joy asked squealing slightly as she quickly, but very gently hugged the boy again. Ash blushed while Gary and James were snickering at him, Meowth was outright laughing.

"Be careful not to hurt him on accident Joy." Jenny said smiling softly in amusement although she was slightly concerned about the boy. This caused the kind pink haired woman to go into a worried frenzy as she looked the boy over for any sign of injury or pain she may have accidentally inflicted on him.

"I'm okay Nurse Joy. Nothing broken or sprained or anything." Ash said smiling slightly at the pink haired woman who was fretting over him, causing her to calm down and release a sigh of relief.

"Alright. You kids get ahead on your journey before Joy kidnaps Ash. We already called all of our relatives in the other towns and told them about you lot so they'll be keeping an eye out for you when you're in the towns." Jenny said smirking at Joy who stuck her tongue out at the blue haired woman.

"Thank you Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny." Gary said smiling thankfully at the two women, understanding what they weren't saying. Every Joy and Jenny in Kanto had a lot of friends amongst the trainers for their work, so if they all were keeping an eye out for Ash then that equated to roughly half of Kanto watching out for the frail boy. Now if anyone tried to attack him like the spoiled brat had done, they'd be in for a rude awakening.

Gary idly thought he should make sure that he had a camera ready for just such people.

Their reactions would be hilarious.