Ash and Dawn: Together

Tears

Delia Ketchum ran.

It had been years since she had run as far or as hard as she was right now. Memories of the days when she was dating her husband passed through her brain as the familiar feeling of burning muscle, dripping sweat, and aching lungs filled her being. But now was not the time for fond memories. For now, she focused on running. Where, you may ask?

Viridian City General Hospital. Viridian city wasn't very far from Pallet so getting there fast was no trouble at all but still, she ran. Why was she running? It was all due to a urgent phone call from Brock. He didn't talk very long with the older woman. In fact, he only said one sentence. One simple sentence was enough to get her running the distance between the two towns.

"Ash has been in a accident."

That was enough for her to get moving.

Professor Oak followed behind her as fast as his aged body could allow. He was visiting when she got the called and thus, joined her in her mad dash. He was worried about the boy as well but not the level of his dear mother. She always dreaded the day when such a call came. She wasn't unprepared for it, since such was the life of a traveling Pokemon trainer but she still dreaded it. Given how reckless her son could be at times, it was only a matter of time before he ended up in the hospital. All she could hope for now is that it wasn't serious or life-threatening.

It was early afternoon when they left Pallet town and it was early evening when they arrived at Viridian General. The sun was half set and the first stars of the evening were peeking out in the veil of darkness. Still with energy to burn, Delia only stopped when she arrived at the front desk, asking about where her son was roomed. The nurse informed her that he was on the 4th floor, room 414. Prof. Oak had only started to catch his breath when she took off again. Cursing her motherly drive, he was soon right after her, forgoing the elevator and instead opting for the stairs.

Upon arriving at the room, they were meet with a slew of familiar faces waiting for them: leaning again the wall to her right was Gary Oak, her son's oldest friend. Next to him, seated, was a red-haired girl whom she did not know. Only later she would learn that she was Zoey, a friend of both Ash and Dawn from Sinnoh. Misty was there too, pacing back and forth, muttering angrily to herself about how stupid the boy was for getting hurt. Brock was there too, of course, sipping on a soda he had purchased a while ago. A bit farther down the hall was seated the girl who had been traveling with him recently, Dawn. Next to her was a older woman and judging by her closeness with the girl, as well as her blue hair, she assumed she was her mother.

Brock pushed off the wall he was leaning on and advanced to meet her. "Delia, you made it."

She reached out and hugged him. Normally, Brock would be elated to be hugging a beautiful, older woman but now was not the time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw prof. Oak greeting his grandson.

"You got here fast, Gary," the older man commented.

"We were in town," he replied

"We?" he arched his eyebrow towards the red-head standing next to him. For a moment, they both flushed red. No one else would've notice but the older Oak easily picked up on it. He reminded himself to inquire about the nature of their relationship later.

"Yeah. We kind of crossed path on the way here."

"I was headed here as well. My name's Zoey. I'm a friend of Ash and Dawn's," she greeted. Delia, always fine to meet a new friend of her son's, reached over and shook her hand. "A pleasure to meet you, dear."

"Likewise."

Johanna rose from her seat and advanced to the woman. "Oh, you must be Ash's mom. I'm Johanna. Dawn's mother."