Ashton Ketchum-Oak

As the morning Sun rose, it cast a dim slit of light into the medical room. A young lad with spiky, chestnut hair was laying on the bed in the medical room, staring at the occupant he shared it with. The boy had been out cold for ages. Why wouldn't he wake up? Grampy said that the venom was dealt with. So why isn't he waking up. The boy looked at his sleeping friend, with a face full of worry and despair. He looked so peaceful. Too peaceful. If it weren't for his chest rising and falling, one would probably have thought…

"Come on, Ashy-boy." The boy begged. "Please. Wake up." He stared at Ash's face. His cheeks were blushed with gentle pink. He had his distinct little Z birthmarks highlighting his natural blush, as it glowed in the sun strips. His mouth was puckering with his breath. He looked like a little sleeping princess out of a story book. Although… he would probably need more than a kiss to wake up. What Ash needed was nothing short of a miracle.

But that miracle was just moments away, as Ash's eyes slowly flickered. The chestnut boy looked down at Ash, with a glimmer of hope now sparked in his emerald eyes. Once Ash's eyes were open, the boy jumped off the bed, ran to the door, and called into the hallway; "Grampy! Grampy! Ash is awake!" Before sprinting back to the bed, and clambering back to Ash's side. Soon after, Professor Samuel Oak came rushing into the medical room.

Ash's POV:

His vision was hazy, to say the least. He could hardly focus on anything, through the light that was burning through his eyes. He shielded his sensitive retina from the unbearable light. Once his eyes were adjusted, Ash could make out two silhouetted figures. One was a tall figure, adorned in a white lab coat. The other was fairly small but no smaller than himself, and seemed to have some sort of brown spiky thing on its head. Soon, his vision focused, and he saw the two figures clearly. The one dressed in white was Professor Oak, the Pokémon Professor of Kanto. And the other was Gary Oak, Professor Oak's grandson and Ash's bestest best friend in the whole wide world.

Normal POV:

Gary looked down at the bemused, and most probably, shaken boy that was peering up, curiously at him. His eyes held a feeling of relief, and sympathy, at the same time. The look in Professor Oak's eyes was one of sympathy and concern. All Ash could do was blink, confusedly, and scan his new surroundings. He deduced that he was in Professor Oak's medical room, judging by the sterile white walls, and the monitors and machinery that littered the room. Finally, once he was established in where he was, his eyes met those of Gary and the Professor.

"Ash, my boy. How are you?" The professor asked, in a sympathetic tone.

"OK, I guess." Ash muttered in response. Then suddenly, his little eyes shot open in horrified realisation. "Mummy! Where's my mummy? Is she OK? Is she OK after last night?" The Oaks shared a look at each other. A look that didn't seem, in the least bit, promising.

"Ash…" The professor started, slowly and hesitantly. He didn't want to break this news, but it had to be said. "You've been unconscious for two whole weeks. And your mother…" He started to fight back tears that were now burning at his aged eyes. He swallowed as hard as he could on the lump that was forming in his throat, forcing it down, before forcing his voice to continue. "I'm afraid your mother didn't make it."

This was not something Ash took kindly. He screamed in anguish at the news, and started to beat the bedclothes around him, tearing at the pillows with his little hands, sinking his teeth into the duvet. Gary jumped like a Kangaskhan at Ash's sudden outburst. Not wanting to get struck by a flailing fist, he scrambled to the foot of the bed. Professor Oak just sat and watched Ash vent his pain and anger, keeping a close eye on him, to make sure he didn't do something dangerously silly. The raven haired child stropped for 5 minutes, before finally breaking down in tears, hugging his knees to his chest resting his spouting eyes onto the tops of his patella. Professor Oak picked the boy up, and rested him on his lap, rocking him back and forth, humming the tune of 'Make A Wish' by Cindy Mizelle and Asuca Hayashi, a lullaby he'd heard Delia sing to Ash when he was just a baby, and he knew full well to calm him quickly.

Sure enough, Ash quieted down quite quickly, and was now drying his eyes. Once the boy was over the worst of the horror from the news, the professor pulled the boy away from the hug the two of them were embraced in, and looked into the child's eyes.

"Ash… I know that you're extremely upset. The loss of a loved one is never easy. Especially when it's one's own parent. But, trust me, the loss of one's child is worse." He reasoned with the boy, knowing full well how heartbroken he was when Gary's parents died in a horrific car crash.

"Wait. How am I still alive? Shouldn't Ekans venom kill the victim in 10 minutes?" Ash asked, suddenly remembering the information he learned from the Australian documentary mentioned earlier.

"Well, yes…" The professor confirmed. "But that's if the victim stays conscious. If the target affect by the venom stays conscious the venom sends the body into shock, increasing its metabolism. This increases the heart rate, and speeds up the dispersal of the venom. But you passed out just seconds after being injected."

"You were lucky, Ash." Gary piped up, crawling over to his grandpa, who still had Ash in his arms. "When unconscious, the body slows down, because the brain doesn't remember the poison, and panic. With the spread of the poison slowed, the effects take longer to kill the victim. When the victim of the poison is unconscious, it takes about 6 hours. Or, so Grampy says, anyway." Ash felt rather lucky to still be breathing. But he was furious that his mother hadn't been as blessed. His little fingers clenched into balled fists of rage, and he started to shake violently with anger as it bubbled from the pit of his belly, and started to boil up into his ears.

"Those monsters." He spat, viciously. The Oaks were quite taken back by this comment. What on PokÉarth did the boy mean by that?

"What do you mean, my boy?" The professor asked, confusedly.

"Those people who attacked our house." Ash shuddered, as he remembered the teenagers who kicked him, and the pink haired girl who had her Ekans attack him. "That girl. She said something before she left." He tried to think back to those last few moments of consciousness he held on to.

Playback:

"Nothing personal, kid. Just payback at your dad, for what he did to Team Rocket."

End of playback:

Ash's eyes snapped open again at the memory, his breath becoming raggedy. "She said…" He looked up at the professor who held him with fresh tears in his eyes. "She said it was payback at daddy."

Professor Oak was dumbfounded. Ash's father did something that provoked these people into attacking his family? Who could he have made enemies with, who would do such a thing? Maybe it was… No. Was it? Oh, dear sweet Arceus, let it not be so.

"Team Rocket are gonna pay for what they did!" Ash snarled, venomously. Damn. Arceus wasn't so gracious, afterall. It was Team Rocket. And now, Ash was filled with anger at these people, never a good move. But, this being a Ketchum, he will never back down, if he's even half like his father. The professor sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to talk Ash down.

"OK, Ash." He said, sitting the boy back down onto the bed, and started ushering Gary out the room. "I can see where this is going." He sent Gary to his room, before turning to Ash to finish his conversation. "I'll tell you what I'm going to do. I'll take you into my own care, because I won't forgive myself if I ever see you go into a care home. And, starting tomorrow, I'll start training you. Then, when you're 10 years old, I'll send you out on your official Pokémon journey, and you can live your life as you want." He paused, trying to push back the thought of what he was going to say next. "…Even if that means you still go after revenge on Team Rocket, for the pain they've caused you." And with that, he wished Ash goodnight, turned out the lights, and left the young boy to get some sleep. He'd be needing it. Oak's training will not be a walk in the park.

Ash nestled into his bed, eyes staring up at the ceiling, as if ignoring the fact it was ever there and – instead – he was staring up at the stars.

"One day, mummy." He whispered, wishing it onto a star so that Delia would hear him. "One day, Team Rocket will apologise for taking you away from me." Having told his promise to his mother, he blew her a kiss, hoping that it'd reach Heaven before he falls asleep, and settled down for the night. Tomorrow morning, Ash would be 'training' with his new guardian Professor Oak. As Ashton Ketchum-Oak.