Champion's Confidant

In Dreams

If there was one place in the world Ash Ketchum did not like visiting, it was the hospital. Not from any dislike of doctors or fear of needles. 'Though Gary still owes me for not spilling THOSE beans,' he thought as he sat in the office waiting for the doctor in Pallet Town's small yet local doctor's office to see him. The room smelled clean, but not the natural clean that Ash was used to that he could smell outside. It was a cloying cleanliness that reminded Ash of the smell of chemicals and disinfectants.

Pikachu sat on his shoulder, nuzzling his cheek, trying to get him to cheer up, but it wasn't going to work. Not right now, anyway.

"Ash, what's wrong?" came the friendly voice to his right.

Leaning his head past Pikachu, he saw Chloe sitting in the seat next to him to his right, holding Yamper in her lap. Before they parted ways, Tracey had taken Eevee with him to run some check-ups on her after her battle with Nidoking a few hours ago. 'Eevee sure fought hard...' he thought to himself, reimagining the small Pokémon's movements rather than responding to Chloe's question.

"Don't worry, Chloe," his mother responded to the girl's question instead. "He just doesn't like visiting the doctor very much." She was seated to his left and just looked over his head with her superior height. She didn't have a Pokémon with her; Mr. Mime was busy making dinner back at the house. "Every time I would bring him here, he'd get told not to go outside for a few days and you can guess how much Ash hates being cooped up in his room!"

Chloe giggled a little. "Yeah, I can imagine."

Ash sighed, unable to escape because of his twisted leg. "I'm right here, you guys..."

Both Chloe and his mom just giggled at him as the nurse called from her station. "Ash Ketchum? The doctor will see you now."

Chloe stood, with Yamper slipping out of her lap and onto the ground. Chloe offered Ash a hand, which he took. Chloe helped pull him to his feet and put his arm around her shoulders to help support Ash, so that he wouldn't need to put his weight on his ankle. Ash watched his mother say something to the nurse, but it went right over his head. Something about 'health insurance', he thought.

Once they were in the doctor's office (a sparsely decorated room with a few plants, a computer, and a bookshelf), Chloe helped Ash sit down carefully without any further incident on the examination bed before sitting down in a chair against the wall. Shortly thereafter, Ash's mother stepped in as well and sat next to Chloe. Ash looked over at the two of them and his mother smiled back while Chloe was busy staring into her phone, probably looking at some pictures or something. 'I still don't know all the stuff you can do with these phones...' Ash thought to himself, reaching up to pet Pikachu. The mouse cooed under his touch as the doctor entered. He was a balding man who looked to Ash to be in his 50's or 60's - his hair was a salt-and-pepper gray, and his face bore a serious expression. It was the same doctor Ash had a lot of experience talking with after coming out of the woods after playing with Pokémon that went too far, or in less happy moments, after getting into a fight at school.

"Good afternoon, Ash," the doctor said, sitting across from him. "And you as well Mrs. Ketchum. And... who are you, young lady?"

Chloe looked up from her phone, but before she could respond, Ash's Mom proceeded with the introduction. "This is Chloe. She's a friend of Ash's from Vermilion City. And this is her little Yamper."

"Yamp!" he said, happy at his acknowledgment.

"I was with him when everything happened," Chloe explained further. "We were together in the forests when during that rainstorm a few days ago, the cliff we were walking on gave way. Ash dove right in to save me, and so I've been helping take care of him ever since."