XY

"Ash Ketchum, correct? Spelled C-E-T-C-H-U-M?" The Nurse Joy's questions droned on and on, prompting Ash to sit up in his bed. The very least he could do was look her in the eye while she was logging his information.

"Ketchum with a K, actually," he corrected, scratching his bandaged cheek with a laugh. "Uh, Nurse Joy, could I have some more water please?"

"Of course!" Her voice was sweet, sweeter than usual, something Ash had caught onto in his short time under her care. Seemed he was a special patient. After a few moments, she produced a capped cup with a straw, which Ash accepted with a thanks. Now back to the logging. "And it says here you're sixteen?"

"Fifteen—" he clarified, somehow nearly choking on the water. "My birthday hasn't passed yet."

"And you're absolutely sure nothing hurts?" She put the clipboard down for this one, looking Ash in the eye as he gave her a cocky grin.

"I'm in tip-top shape!" he confidently claimed, which set Nurse Joy at ease. With a nod, she stood up.

"Alright, I think that's everything then," she said, giving a nod and stepping back. "You can be discharged as soon as your Pokémon are healed."

"Oh, hey, yeah! How's Pikachu doing? You said it wasn't anything too bad." He'd already been told his friends were okay, so that just left his partner to check up on.

"He has a few bruises, so nothing too serious. You two can be out of here very soon," Nurse Joy answered with a smile, just as she reached the exit. Glancing up from her clipboard and to the glass door, she paused. "Oh, and you have a guest."

"Hm?" Ash looked up, only to find Nurse Joy already gone. A moment later, she was replaced by a new, familiar face.

"Ash!" Serena barreled into the room, absolutely run ragged as she arrived. "Oh my gosh, are you okay!?"

It had faded to the back of Ash's mind, but he was patched up pretty heavily. His arm was covered in bandages and a wrap of gauze still loosely clung to his head. It looked a lot worse than it was.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I swear," he said with a laugh as Serena rushed to his bedside, sitting down and looking over him herself. She didn't even hesitate to grab his hand and feel up the length of his arm— That's how worried she was. "There's nothing to worry about! Promise!"

"You were stuck under there for hours. I thought you'd gotten crushed, or you were going to suffocate, or—" She drew a sharp breath and looked down, trying to hold back the tears she'd been carrying for a while at that point. "I thought you— I thought—"

Ash felt his smile disappear, as he realized Serena was upset, really upset— upset in a way he'd never seen from her before. She looked up at him, gasping for breath, just barely holding it all in.

"I thought I'd lost you." Her voice cracked and soon, she was no longer able to quell her tears. Her face twisted, before she began to sob.

"Hey, hey, hey." Ash reached for Serena as she buried her face in his sheets, letting out a cry that made him pause with how hard it hit him. Still, despite that, he pushed on. "Everything's okay! I'm fine now, aren't I?"

"You nearly died! I thought you died!" Serena cried, looking up at him with a hopeless panic in her eyes. In an instant, she was back in the collapsing museum. "You nearly died, and I couldn't do anything! I stood there and did nothing! I was useless!"

She buried her head in the sheets once more, leaving Ash feeling powerless to do anything. Of all his battles, ones like this were the hardest by far.

"Serena…" He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her down, but she recoiled at the sudden touch, jumping back and pulling her hands to her chest. Nothing had changed, however, and after a moment, she buried her face in her hands.

Her hands.

Ash paused as he finally noticed them, or rather, what had changed about them. Her hands were blistered and rough, covered in bruises that were uncharacteristic of Serena's usually delicate disposition. She hadn't hurt them while they were escaping, Ash was certain. That left one possibility, a possibility that soon dawned on him. His eyes widened.

"…You were digging through the rubble for me, weren't you?" he muttered aloud, breaking through Serena's sobbing.

"H-huh?" Serena paused, looking up from her hands and towards Ash. A stare of abject confusion was clear on her face, which only grew as she saw Ash's expression. Smiling, the boy was smiling. She sniffled, looking down at her hands. "Y-yeah, I was."

"Then how can you say you were useless?" Laughing to himself, Ash pulled the loose gauze from his head, revealing his lack of injuries. "I came out okay, didn't I?"

Ash did something that surprised Serena then— he offered the gauze forward.

"For your hands. They're clean, I promise," he said, giving a grin as he cocked his head. After a moment, Serena scooted forward, accepting the gauze and getting to work wrapping her hands up. Happy with that, Ash continued. "You were strong Serena, stronger than me at least. In the end, all I did was wait to be rescued."

"How can you say that?" she asked, looking up away from her hands. "You did all that to help everyone, to save us."

"You were there too, weren't you?" he explained, sitting forward and watching her continue to wrap the gauze around and around. "You helped make sure everyone else got out, helped us open the way!"

Serena huffed as she finished wrapping her left hand, tucking the gauze into itself. The tape job came out great, the folds of gauze in perfectly straight lines.

"I was a helper, you were a hero. You were the strong one," she insisted, looking at the remaining length of gauze she had. Could she really do as good of a job without her dominant hand?

Ash laughed, pulling back her attention.

"Let's call it even then and say we're both strong," he offered, extending his pinkie finger out to her. "Whatdya say?"

Serena remained silent then, looking at Ash and his dumb confident grin. He'd nearly died a few hours ago and here he was, the only one who could seem to have a laugh at it. Serena wished she could know where he got it from, that confidence in himself.

That confidence, he had it in her too.

"Okay," she said, finally letting a small hint of a laugh cross her voice. Leaning forward, she offered her hand and the two pinkie-swore, nodding their heads. "We're both strong."

"And we're only gonna get stronger," Ash added, just before they split. With that, the promise was sealed. "Right, so—!"

Extending his hand out, Ash confused Serena as he asked for the remaining gauze back. Realizing his misstep, he gave an awkward chuckle before clarifying.

"Let me help with your other hand."

XY

With Ash and Serena patched up, the two headed down to the front lobby of the Pokémon Center. There seemed to be quite a crowd, bustling in and out. Considering what had happened in the last few days, however, it made sense. It took a moment, but the two managed to make it to the front desk. It was about time to get the group back together, starting with a certain yellow menace.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu leapt from the arms of Nurse Joy, too excited to wait for her to make it to the front desk. In an instant, he rocketed towards his partner, Ash just barely catching him with a roaring laugh.

"Hahaha! I missed you too, buddy!"

Scurrying up Ash's chest, Pikachu quickly took his throne on top of Ash's shoulder, giving a proud grin, a grin that quickly became an annoyed scowl.

"Pikapi." An annoyed inflection tinged that call, which Ash replied to with an awkward laugh.

"Sorry about the toss back there, bud," he apologized, referring back to the incident that split the two partners apart. Pikachu had to admit, Ash's dumb grin was a very convincing argument. He couldn't stay mad at that.

Chirping happily, Pikachu rubbed his cheek against Ash's.

"Pika! Chuuu."

From behind Ash, Serena laughed, pulling the attention of the two.

"Hehe, hey there Pikachu! Glad to see you're okay too," she said, parting some hair from her eyes.

"Pi-pika!" Pikachu surprised Serena with a quick leap, jumping ship and landing on Serena's shoulder to deliver her her very own cheek rub. When he returned to Ash, the whole left side of Serena's hair had puffed up with static.

"Hello to you too," she grumbled, reaching into her bag to grab a comb. Ash and Pikachu couldn't help but share a laugh as she got to work. "Anyways, with that all handled, we should probably go looking for—"

"Clemont! I found Ash and Serena!" Bonnie's voice cut through the room, as she broke through the bustling crowd with her brother close behind.

He let out a sigh of relief.

"There you two are."

"Clemont! Bonnie!" With an excited shout, Ash rushed the two. "Where've you been!"

"Looking for Serena!" Clemont explained. "One moment, she was cleared to go, the next she was gone!"

"We should've figured she'd find you, though," Bonnie commented with a smug sneer. From behind Ash, Serena's face ignited, Bonnie's implication clear as day to the whole group.

Well, clear to everyone but—

"So that's the gang back together!" Ash declared, grinning and raising a fist to the exit.

Serena breathed a sigh of relief. For once, his complete lack of awareness was her boon.

"Yep!" Serena declared, joining Ash's side. "Next stop, Cyllage City!"

"Let's head out!"

"Not so fast, young man!" The fierce shout of a Nurse Joy extinguished Ash's enthusiasm and momentum, as he stumbled mid-step and nearly tripped over himself.

Turning, he found the Nurse Joy who he'd just gotten Pikachu from.

"Huh? What's going on?" he asked, digging through his pockets. "I didn't forget any of my Pokémon."

"It's not that," Nurse Joy replied, shaking her head. "Since it took a few hours for you to be rescued and treated, the Pokémon Center took the liberty of calling the emergency number on your trainer profile."

Pointing towards the video phone booth in the corner, Nurse Joy rained the realization down on Ash all at once.

"Which means…"

"Your mother would like to speak to you, Mr. Ketchum."

XY

"What did you think you were doing!?" Delia's voice rang through the previously quiet corner of the Pokémon Center, as Ash did his best to calm his mother's admittedly pretty justified worries. "Do you know how easily you could've gotten hurt?!"

He wasn't doing the best job at that.

"Come on, Mom, I was helping people!" he pleaded, managing to cut in for once and temper her anger. "I was being a hero!"

Unfortunately, that line merely added blood to the water.

"Your hero routine is going to be the death of me!" she declared, making Ash groan and bury his head into the table he sat at. "Won't you please think of your poor mother when you go and throw your life away? For nothing?"

Standing behind Ash throughout this sorry display, his friends watched on, unsure on what to say or if they should say anything at all. After a few more moments, however, Serena broke in. She leaned over Ash's shoulder and waved to the image of Delia on the screen.

"It's unfair to say it was for nothing, Ms. Ketchum," she claimed, her sudden intrusion bringing Delia to a pause. "He did help save all our lives."

Delia's expression softened.

"You must be the Serena that Ash told me about," she said, the line surprising Serena. Calming down, Delia sighed. "I'm sorry. There's always a part of me worrying about how my little boy is doing. Hearing he dropped a building on himself doesn't do well for my nerves."

"I'm not the one who dropped the building…" Grumbling that under his breath, Ash crossed his arms before his mother continued.

"Either way, it looks like my son is in very capable hands. I'm glad you're okay, sweetie," she explained, beaming at Ash and Serena with a smile that soon infected the girl. After a moment, however, that smile disappeared. Delia paused, before her face grew flustered. "Though, now I wish I hadn't…"

Ash perked his head up.

"Hadn't what?" he asked.

"Well, call it motherly panic." Delia gave a nervous chuckle as she scratched her cheek in a way reminiscent of Ash. "I may have sent over, a care package, since you got hurt."

"A package? That'd take ages to get here." Peeking into the conversation now, Clemont spoke up, looking over at a nearby calendar to confirm his intuition.

Just as he did, the Nurse Joy from earlier returned, stepping between him and the calendar to catch the group's attention.

"Apologies for the interruption, but a delivery is here for Ash," she announced.

"I might've gotten it sent with extra express shipping." Delia's sheepish expression changed from light embarrassment back to her usual motherly sincerity. "You should go get that, sweetie. It's a lot of stuff you left behind back here in Pallet Town. I was hoping a little bit of home would've helped you feel better."

With that, Ash's teenaged grumbling disappeared, as he smiled and gave his mom a nod.

"Thanks Mom."

XY

When Ash and his friends stepped outside, they found not the mailman they expected, but a mailpokémon instead. A Dragonite with a courier bag stood outside the Pokémon Center, panting in exhaustion with a box in hand.

"Whoa! Did you fly all the way from Pallet Town with this?" Ash asked first, approaching the powerful dragon without a hint of apprehension. The Dragonite didn't answer, instead wordlessly depositing the package in Ash's hand before toppling over onto the sidewalk to take a breather. Ash laughed. "Ah well, you take a good long rest, Dragonite."

Carrying the package inside, Ash laid the chest-sized box onto the floor, letting his party get a good look at it.

"Your mother really packed and sent you all of this?" Clemont asked in disbelief, readjusting his glasses as if that would shrink the size of the box.

"It's so big!" Bonnie fell to her knees and tried wrapping her arms around the package then, failing to even hug one whole side.

"Yeah! She's always been super supportive of me while I've been on my journey," Ash explained, getting down on his knees as well. He didn't notice it, but Serena puffed her cheeks at his words. "If someone's got my back, it's my mom!"

"Pikapi." From Ash's shoulder, Pikachu gave a sarcastic growl, which Ash followed up with a strained laugh.

"You know what I mean, bud!" he defended.

Rolling his eyes, Pikachu lit up the body of his tail with silvery energy, before diving down and delivering an expert Iron Tail to the box. In an instant, he cut away the tape.

"Good job, Pikachu." With that final thanks, Ash pulled the tabs of the box open.

"Whoa!"

"Wowsers."

"Oh huh."

The care package had quite a few things in it: packed clothes, well-loved figurines, and quite a few dusty old knick-knacks. Serena could've sworn there were at least two alarm clocks somewhere in that mess. Yet, the thing that was by far the most eye-catching was the stack of items in the center of it all.

"Badge cases?" Clemont asked aloud.

"Oh wow, mom must've cleared out my whole dresser for these!" Ash scooped up the pile of cases, shuffling through them like a hand of cards before fanning them out. "Kanto to Unova, yep that's all of them!"

Pikachu dug through Ash's backpack to pull out his Kalos Badge case, which Ash added with a proud grin.

"That's so many!" Bonnie noted, before Ash leaned down and handed her one of the cases to look over. Her eyes gleamed bright at the sight of Kanto's shiny badges

"You've really traveled to all of those regions, Ash?" Serena said as she got the next case, popping it open to look over the elegant silver badges of Sinnoh. It was obvious they'd been kept well-polished.

"Ash is an excellent battler! It makes perfect sense that it comes from years of experience honing his skills," Clemont answered, smiling as he showed off Ash's Johto and Hoenn badges. "Right Ash?"

"Yep, me and Pikachu have been battling in leagues for a long time now, and we've always gotten all eight gym badges," he declared, confidently tilting his head up and closing his eyes. "Ain't that right, Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

"So have you won a Pokémon league conference yet?" Clemont's question was a good one, but that made it no less of a blow to the pair's confidence. Ash's shoulders slumped over-dramatically as he let out a tired sigh alongside it.

"No…" he admitted sheepishly, earning a giggle from Bonnie and Serena.

"Well I'm sure you'll get it this time, Ash!" Serena assured, depositing the badge case back into the box. As she did, she fished out another curious item, an alarm clock in the shape of a Poké ball. "Oh, I think this broke on the trip here."

"Nah, that was always broken," Ash answered, standing up and putting his badges safely away. "I accidentally broke it on the first day of my journey— Thought it was a real Poké ball in my sleep, heh."

"And, you kept it?" Serena cocked a brow as she handed it over to Ash, who had a small chuckle as he looked over it.

"Mom did. She said it's a reminder to me about how far I've come!" Ash didn't notice it, but Serena's smile faded for a moment, only coming back as he put the clock away.

"Having a mom who really supports you is really awesome, Ash," she said, a hint of something unsaid under her voice. Ash wasn't one for getting hints though and just nodded in agreement.

"Yeah it is!" Ash dove through the box again, digging through the old clothes now. "Oh man, Pikachu, look at this!"

What Ash fished out next was quite a sight: a short-sleeved jacket, not unlike the one Ash was wearing, only a few shades brighter, with white sleeves and yellow highlights.

"It's, a jacket?" Serena asked, unsure of the significance of the item.

"It's my jacket! My first one!" Ash clarified, showing off the old artifact. "I journeyed through Kanto and Johto in this! Ah man, I bet it barely fits anymore, heh."

"You went through two whole regions wearing a single jacket?" Serena wasn't sure what was worse, the fashion implications or the single-digit number of times Ash must've washed the thing.

Bonnie furrowed her brow in thought.

"It's the same size as what you're wearing!" she called, pointing to Ash as he held the jacket up to his frame. Indeed as she said, the jacket wasn't much smaller than Ash's current one at all, a fact that earned a short round of laughter from the group.

When the laughter petered out, Clemont was the first to speak up.

"It's been great seeing all these things from your home, Ash, but we should probably be heading out," he suggested, which Serena quickly agreed with.

"Yeah you're right," Ash said, digging through the box for anything else, his old jacket still in hand. "You guys head up ahead, I'll get this old stuff packed up and sent back and we can hit the road!"

As the group nodded and started on their way out of the Pokémon Center, Ash began to dig through his jacket. He'd always found goodies trawling through his old pockets, this time should be no different. Yet, his hand brushed not against an old candy bar like he expected, but old, dry paper.

"…No way." When Ash pulled out his find and unfolded it, a smile grew across his face. "No way!"

"Pika!"

"There's no way! Do you remember this, buddy?" Pikachu nearly fell off Ash's shoulder at the sight of what Ash had found. "I thought I lost this years ago!"

"Oh? What's that, Ash?" Ash's reignited enthusiasm caught Serena's attention as she stopped, wondering what was forestalling Ash again.

"It's a gift, from an old friend of ours!" he answered, turning and showing the page to Serena and the others. It was a piece of art, colored wax on sketch paper, depicting a younger Ash and Pikachu sharing an idyllic moment together.

"Wow, that's beautiful!" Serena wasn't sure why the snapshot of the two brought her to such a pause. Perhaps she was just particularly vulnerable to its 'subject matter.'

"Man, it's been a few years, eh Pikachu?" he asked, turning the page back to his partner and earning a chirp. "And we still haven't caught up with her yet!"

"Why's that?" Clemont perked up then, Ash's claim piquing his interest.

"Well, I guess I thought she'd be mad at me for losing this!" he said, waving off the question with a laugh. Giving the gift one last look, Ash nodded, before stowing it away in his backpack. "Who knew I left it in that old jacket this whole time!"

"Typical Ash, forgetting things and hoping it doesn't come back to bite him," Serena teased with half a laugh and half a sigh. Straightening up, she smiled. "At least this means now you don't have an excuse not to go visit, right?"

Ash paused for a moment, looking at the box of his old things. He hummed in thought before scooping up the package.

"Yeah, I guess not," he replied, shooting the group a grin. With that, the party began on their way to the door, Ash's head a little in the clouds as they stepped outside.

The thought of the drawing stirred in his mind.