It was a dreary day as Ash, Misty and Brock reached the Pokémon Centre. They were currently in Goldenrod City, and Ash was looking to compete for his next gym badge – the Plain badge. However, before they could do anything they had to stop to heal their injured Pokémon. They hadn't seen anything but trees and bushes for days, and needed to stock up on items and supplies before they left again. Pikachu could barely stand from all the exhaustion. They all stumbled in, Brock of course turning red at first sight of the Nurse Joy standing at the desk. He didn't even have time to act, though, as he felt a hand on his ear. He turned around to see Misty shaking her head at him, showing that she wasn't in the mood.

"Ok ok! I promise I won't do anything!" he cried.

Satisfied with the answer, Misty turned to Ash. "Well, I guess we'd better heal our Pokémon and get to the next gym quick, huh Ash?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I can't wait to have another battle. The only ones I've had recently are battles against Team Rocket."

The three of them walked up to the counter and asked Joy to heal their Pokémon. Brock could see Misty narrowing her eyes at him, and she held her hand ready to grip his ear again if he tried anything. Ash couldn't help but laugh. They gave all their Pokémon over, and were about to leave to have some dinner, when the Joy asked them a question. "Before you go, do any of you know anyone by the name of Ash Ketchum?"

Ash looked at her strangely. "Yeah, that's me…"

Joy gasped. "Oh my gosh! Thank goodness I've found you! I have a message for you from Professor Oak. He told me it was extremely important, and he knew you'd be passing through here so he left it with me." She dug into a drawer and pulled out a piece of paper, handing it over to him. Ash took it and opened it straight away. 'What could be so important that Professor Oak couldn't wait till I called him?' Ash wondered. He read the note out loud.

"Ash,

I need you to come to Pallet immediately. Your mom is sick, she collapsed the today and has been put in hospital, but they say it could be bad. I don't want to worry you but I think you should come. See you soon.

~Professor Oak." Ash stopped and re-read the note again to see if he was reading right. He looked up at Misty and Brock. Their faces were filled with just as much worry as his. His put the letter in his bag. "Guys, I have to go back."

Misty looked into his eyes. She could see they had been overpowered by hints of confusion and worry. "It's ok. We'll just wait for the Pokémon and then…"

"No, we can't wait", Ash interrupted her. "What if mom is really really sick? I have to get there right away. I'll go catch the next flight to Pallet Town, but can you guys bring my Pokémon later?"

Brock nodded. "Sure Ash. And don't worry. I'm sure everything will be ok."

Ash nodded at him unsurely, and started to walk out, when Misty called out to him. "Ash wait!"

He turned back to her.

"Ash let me come with you. Brock can bring both our Pokémon, and you don't really wanna be by yourself do ya?" Misty asked.

Ash looked unsure. "You don't have to Misty."

Misty shook her head. "But I want to. At least you'll have some company."

Ash nodded and half smiled. "Ok, thanks Misty."

She smiled back, half blushing. They checked with Brock if that was ok, and quickly rushed to the airport.

Ash and Misty got to the airport 15 minutes later, and straight away boarded a plane to Pallet.

It was night time as the plane swiftly flew through the air. It would take about 4 hours to get to Pallet, seeing they had walked so far into Johto. The two sat next to each other in the plane. Misty was falling asleep but Ash couldn't stop think about his mom. Misty opened her eyes and looked to him. 'Oh no, he's so worried. But what can I do to help? I guess I can try to convince him that everything will be fine, but I don't know that. Oh…why do bad things happen to such good people…?' Misty thought as she drifted to sleep.

Ash could feel her look at him, he knew she was also worrying. All he wanted to do was cry, and he didn't even know anything about his mom's condition yet. For all he knew it could be stress or over-tiredness. As soon as he noticed Misty fall asleep he let the tears that were coming drip down his eyes, and he pulled his cap over and tried to fall asleep. But no matter how he tried, sleep wouldn't come, and the next to hours were spent desperately fighting his thoughts of worry. After a long while, he gave up, and sat up. Misty was just waking up, too.

"Ugh, how long was I asleep for?" she asked him.

"Two hours", he replied tonelessly.

She noticed he still had the same endless, worried look on his face. "Ash, are you gonna be ok?"

Ash nodded unsurely. "I dunno what's come over me. It's just the thought of my strong mom sick makes me think that something is really wrong with her. She is never, ever sick. And no matter how much I try to convince myself, I can't shake the feeling from my head."

Misty was surprised at the depth of his words. He sounded…smart? She nodded turned so that her whole body was facing him. "Ash I know you're worried, and I can't tell you not to worry because I don't know what's going on either. All you can do is wait and pray, and I know it must be terrible but… just remember that whatever happens, Brock and I will be here for you."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, you're right Misty. Thanks."

She smiled mildly. "You're welcome."

They both fell silent as the TV was switched on and they both put the earphones on to watch it. But Misty couldn't stand seeing Ash so unhappy. He was always so energetic and hyperactive, in a good way. 'How can I cheer him up…?' she thought. 'Oh! I know…'

"Ash", she said, taking her headphones off. "Do you still remember when we first met?"

Ash took his own earphones off and blinked at her blankly. "Huh? Yeah of course I do". A small smile crossed his face at that moment, as he said, "How could I forget?"

Misty smiled back. "You were sooo immature. I was so mad when you took my bike. It was the only thing I had left that reminded me of home. But when I got to the Pokémon Centre and you were there all upset because of Pikachu, I felt really sorry for you."

"Yeah I guess I was a little immature…" Ash said, looking up at Misty, who had her eyebrows raised. "Ok, maybe a lot!" she laughed.

"Oh, Misty, do you remember when we went to Pewter City? You got mad at me when I wouldn't use your Pokémon, and you left me with the bill of where we were eating."

Misty laughed at the thought. "Yeah! But come to think of it, why wouldn't you use my Pokémon?"

"Well, I guess I just wanted to prove to myself that I could win with the Pokémon I had trained."

"Ohh, I never thought of it that way… oh yeah, and do you remember Seymour and the Clefairy? I seriously thought there was something wrong with that guy."

Ash laughed at the thought. "Yeah I know. He was a mental case. And then when we were on our way to Viridian City, that other guy, the alien one. Remember him?"

Misty nodded. "I know, the one that called me an alien. Oswald."

Ash laughed. "Yeah, that's right. Oh, Giselle at Pokémon Tech. I remember you getting all mad at her because everyone liked her."

"She really annoyed me that one. I can't stand people like that, who just love themselves more than anything else in the world."

"Yeah, same. Part of the reason why I can't stand Gary."

Misty quietened down. "So, how come you and Gary are rivals? I thought that two people from such a small place would be really good friends. You never told me."

Ash looked down, not liking to remember the thought. "Well, we were best friends, ever since we were born. We were like twins. Nobody could pull us apart. But when we started getting into Pokémon, we…well, he changed. Gary became bigger, and more mature than me, and we started to see less and less of each other. I was really upset, because Gary was the best friend I ever had. When we were almost 10, and were beginning to learn about Pokémon and stuff, he just totally ignored me and stayed with Professor Oak. He was really mean to me, saying how he was gonna beat me and all. I guess it was just competitiveness."

"Oh, really? Wow, I never would have guessed that you two were best friends", Misty said. She could see Ash didn't like to talk about it though, and felt bad for bringing it up. So she decided to bring up another happy moment from the past. "Oh, Ash, do you remember when we wanted, well, you wanted, to find the ancient Pokémon bones, and Team Rocket planted that trap and you all got stuck in there?"

Ash laughed. "Yeah, I really thought that Aerodactyl was gonna eat me…"

The conversation went on for another hour, until Ash and Misty landed. Misty had managed to reach her goal – she cheered Ash up and made him laugh and smile like he usually does.

The two reached the Pallet Town General Hospital at 12:00pm. Both of them were extremely tired, and wanted nothing else but to go to sleep, but Ash knew he had to see his mom. Ash ran to the front desk, Misty right behind him.

"Excuse me, but where can I find Deliah Ketchum?"

The nurse at the desk typed a few keys into her computer. "Oh, I'm sorry, but it's only visiting time for immediate family."

"I'm her son."

"Oh, ok. She's in room 110, floor 2."

"Thanks, c'mon Misty."

"Wait!" the nurse halted them. "You can't go through unless you're related", she said, pointing at Misty.

Misty frowned. "Oh…"

"She can come with me! She's uh…umm…she's my girlfriend!" Ash blurted out.

Misty facefaulted. 'What?!' she though, but didn't say anything, he must have a plan.

"Please, you have to let her through. My mom knows her really well."

The nurse looked at him weirdly, but then smiled. "Oh! What a cute couple! Go on through kids."

Ash and Misty blushed and looked away, but then Ash quickly ran off to the elevators, with Misty closely in tow. He literally jumped into the elevator. "Ash slow down!" Misty cried. Once she was also inside, he pressed the button for floor 2.

"Hey Misty, I'm sorry about that", Ash said quietly.

"Huh? About what?"

"The girlfriend thing… I just don't want to come in here alone…"

Misty half blushed, but shook her head. "It's ok Ash. I would've done the same thing."

Ash smiled weakly at her. 'If only she really was my girlfriend. Ha, but I can only wish…' The elevator dinged to show that it was at floor 2, and the two got out.

Ash rushed down the corridor to the room the nurse had pointed him to. He burst into the room, with Misty close behind, just in time to see the doctor telling his mom the results.

"Ash!" Deliah called out.

"Mom, are you ok? What happened?!" Ash cried, running straight to her bedside. Deliah Ketchum looked incredibly sick. She was white in complexion and a nervous wreck. She signalled to the doctor to tell her the news of her testing. Misty came and sat next to Ash, ready to help him if he needed it.

The doctor, known as Dr. Adams, began. "Your testing had showed up what is wrong with you, and what has caused you to collapse and feel unwell. I wish I could tell you that what showed up on the results is good news, but I'm afraid it isn't."

Deliah frowned. "What…what do you mean?" she stuttered out.

"You have a tumor in your brain. It has been lying there dormant for quite some time now. But it has recently become active, and it has spread beyond its place of origin. It has invaded your tissues and blood vessels, and entered your bloodstream. This is what caused you to black out, and feel tired and dizzy all the time."

"Oh my God…" Deliah murmured.

"Well, isn't there some kind of treatment?" Ash said. He could feel tears threatening to spill out of his eyes, but held them back. He wanted to be brave.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. Because the tumour has been there for a long time, it has spread around the whole bloodstream. Why you have only just begun to feel symptoms I don't know, but the tumor has totally taken over your body. It's rare, but some people don't feel any symptoms at all. I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we cannot do anything to help you…" the doctor said in a tone that showed no emotions. It was hard to tell whether he was happy or upset. It's like something a doctor has to learn when training, not to show any emotion when telling patients they're going to die.

"What are you saying?" Ash said unbelievably. 'I can't believe I'm hearing this…' he thought. Again, he had to urge to cry, but kept it back.

"The tumor is malignant, it has been for some time now, and terminal."

Ash and Deliah began to cry. Misty looked on in fear. 'Oh my God…' she thought.

"No! you can't tell me my mom is going to die!" Ash cried, getting up to face the doctor.

"I'm…I'm sorry young man…"

Ash's jaw dropped in shock. Tears spilled out of Misty's eyes, and for the first time in a while, she began to cry seriously.

"How long have I got?" Deliah asked.

"It's hard to say. Because the cancer has spread so fast, so much, it's most likely to be weeks."

Deliah closed her eyes tightly, wanting it to all go away. 'Why did this have to happen to me?' she asked herself. She opened her eyes again. "Thankyou doctor."

Dr. Adams nodded, and walked out of the room. Ash walked over to his mom, and hugged her tightly. "Oh mom… Why did this have to happen?" he choked out.

Misty stopped crying and held her tears back. She didn't know what to say. Her best friend was about to loose his mother. The only part of his family he had left, as she thought because he didn't seem to have a father, and never talked about him. She lowered her eyes and clenched her fist. "Why…?' she murmured quietly, letting one more tear slip down her face.

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Ciao! Luv Sarah.