- 62
- Posts
- 16
- Years
- California
- Seen Sep 17, 2014
"What's going on?" Tony wandered around in a darkened building that seemed vaguely familiar to him. No lights were on, yet that didn't stop him from moving as if he knew the place like the back of his hand. Someone groaned in the next room over. Making his way to the closed door, Tony knocked briskly. "Hello? Who's in there?"
Silence, pure and simple. Tony tried the door knob, but the door appeared to be jammed. Another groan came through from the other side of the door; this time it was more pronounced and considerably more labored.
"Hey in there! Can you hear me?"
"Help... m-me..." came a faint, yet extremely familiar male voice.
Tony's pulse quickened as he attempted to burst through the door. Just as the door opened, Tony awoke with a start. Tony sat up and immediately found himself back in bed with Delia who was eight and a half months pregnant and sound asleep. Taking some deep breaths to slow his racing pulse, Tony looked over at the alarm clock.
"Great." Tony muttered dryly to himself. "Nothing like a nightmare to wake a guy up at three in the morning."
The nightmare seemed a bit too real and was definitely still too fresh for Tony, so he got out of bed. After answering the call of nature, Tony began to pace the length of the hall way just outside the bedroom.
"Tony, what's wrong?" Delia called out, rather groggily.
"Just a bad dream." Tony replied as he stuck his head through the doorway.
"Tell me about it." Delia said with her eyes still closed as she patted the part of the bed that Tony had vacated just minutes earlier, indicating that she wanted him to also get a whole lot closer than the doorway.
Tony sat down on the edge of the bed and explained as much of the dream as he possibly could remember before a horrid thought struck him, which had him involuntarily gasp.
"What?" Delia asked as she opened her eyes to look at her husband with concern.
"The voice that I heard. It was Dad." Tony then shook his head. "But that can't be right. He was fine the last time I talked with him."
"Don't be too quick to discount the dream, Tony. Look, why don't you call him, and if he answers, explain that you were just worried about him, is all." Delia told him.
"What? Call him now? He'll kill me for waking him up in the middle of the night!" Tony exclaimed as he stood up.
"Then it'd at least prove to you that he's completely fine, wouldn't it?"
"You're right." Tony sighed. Skirting the edge of the bed, Tony bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead before going into the living room to make the long distance phone call.
The minutes seemed to have dragged on like hours. Tony wound up trying to call his father several times without any luck. A sense of impeding dread coursed through his body. Something was wrong. His father never left the phone off the hook and usually answered by the third or fourth ring, even when picking up the receiver in the middle of the night.
Hanging up in frustration, Tony went and changed clothes. There seemed to be only one remaining course of action left to him. He'd have to go to Violet City and personally find out what was going on, so that he'd finally be able to have peace of mind.
"Don't forget..." Delia started to speak before he left.
"I won't. In fact, I'll pick up a pack of them as soon as I reach Violet City." Tony said with a half grin.
Whatever it was with Delia and making sure people wore clean underwear was still beyond him, but he was use to it by that point and thus, made it a habit to humor her. Tony made sure to have his three pokeballs stored away in one of his vest pockets before he headed towards the front door. "I'll call the first chance I get."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon entering the front door of his old homestead, Tony wandered from room to room as he wondered where his father was and why he didn't make his presence known as soon as Tony touched down in Violet City.
"Dad? Are you here?" Tony called out.
For a long minute there was not a sound to be heard. A low moan coming from the bathroom caught Tony's attention. As soon as he opened the door, he gasped in concern. His father lay hap-hazard within the bath tub.
"Dad! Speak to me. What's wrong?" Tony cried out as he rushed to his father's side.
A low groan is all that his father could manage.
"Hang in there." Tony begged in earnest. "I'll get some help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the hospital, Tony paced in the waiting room. Moments later, a nurse asked him to follow her to where his father was closely monitored by both machinery and doctors alike.
"What's going on?" Tony asked as soon as he could find a doctor not rushing from one task to another.
"You're Tony Ketchum, correct?" the doctor asked as she looked up from her clip board that contained Tony's father's information. A nodded confirmation prompted her to continue talking. "For as long as I can tell, your father has had high blood pressure. We've been telling him that if he didn't take care of himself properly, something as drastic as the heart attack he had this morning would eventually happen. Fortunately, he survived this time, but his heart has been dramatically weakened. He's been placed on a list to receive a new heart, but it may take a while before we have a donor."
The news hit Tony like a ton of bricks. He didn't remember being led back to the waiting room and sitting down on the couch, but that's where he found himself hours later when he came out of his daze. For nearly a week afterwards, Tony kept constant vigilance and got his father to talk when he was awake and strong enough to do so. For the most part, Tony did almost all the talking and reminisced about the good old times. Whenever he was in his father's room at the hospital, Tony paced like a caged animal when neither of the two was talking.
"Y'know... Dad. I was going to surprise you later, but I just don't think it can wait any longer." Tony said as he sat on the edge of his ailing father's bed. "Delia and I are - "
"Having a baby." his father finished his sentence.
"Yeah. How'd you know?" Tony wondered, wide-eyed at his father's apparent psychic knowledge.
"Didn't..." the elder Ketchum rasped. "Was either that or you were worried about my test results with the way you were pacing. Have you two decided on a name yet?"
"No. We don't even know what the gender will be. We decided to wait until the birth to figure out a suitable name." Tony replied with a sigh before putting on a brave front. "I guess we should be happy that the gynecologist says that the baby is thus far healthy and there isn't any foreseeable complications."
"Any hopes for either gender?" his father said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Dad!" Tony cried out in exasperation. "As long as the baby has ten fingers, ten toes and is healthy, I couldn't care less as to the gender."
"I see." his father replied with a soft chuckle.
The sound of the video phone ringing caused Tony to jump. Fortunately, it was in reaching distance of the bed.
"Hello?" Tony said as he answered the phone.
"Tony? This is Doctor Baker." the doctor replied.
"Doctor. Why are you... Wait, does your call have anything to do with my wife?" Tony asked, turning very fidgety.
"Yes, Delia went into labor a few hours ago..." Doctor Baker started to say.
"What!? Oh shi-...erm. Thanks for letting me know, Doctor." Tony said as he slumped back onto his father's bed and put his hands onto his face. "Just my luck, I won't be able to make it back in time to help her."
"Don't worry, Tony." Doctor Baker reassured the young man. "Delia will be just fine. I'll call you back as soon as your child is born."
As the screen went blank, Tony sighed and dropped his hands to his legs. His face suddenly looked like it aged a few decades. His father's hand reached out and touched his arm. Tony looked over at him.
"Relax. You were the one that just told me that there shouldn't be anything to worry about." he told his son.
"Yeah, but that was when I was expecting to be back in Pallet Town before the birth of my first child." Tony bemoaned.
"It'll do your child no good if you worry yourself to death over this." came the response.
"True, but what else can I do but worry? I should be with Delia right now." Tony wondered as he stood up and began to pace.
Hours later, the video phone rang again.
"Congratulations Tony, it's a boy!" Doctor Baker exclaimed as soon as Tony answered the phone.
Doctor Baker stood aside as the video portion of the phone focused in on Delia laying in a hospital bed with the infant in her arms. From behind Tony, the elder Ketchum caught a glimpse at the newest Ketchum. A tear streamed down his face as he closed his eyes and lay his head back against the pillow on his own bed. A sudden calm came over the hospital room as the elder Ketchum sighed one last time.
"Isn't he cute?" Tony gushed to his father while still looking at the monitor. When his father didn't respond, Tony turned and checked on his father. Just barely over a whisper, he stated, "He's... gone."
"Oh, Tony. I'm so sorry." Delia mourned for him from her location.
"So am I." Tony said quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day of the funeral, the sky was gray and overcast with clouds that reflected Tony's mood. Delia stood beside him while holding their firstborn son in her arms. After the final mound of dirt was placed and most of the people in attendance left, Tony placed an arm over Delia's shoulders.
"What's on your mind, Tony?" Delia asked of her husband.
"Dad had changed over the years. In a way, so have I. Before he passed on, he asked if we had a name for our child. And I've been giving it some thought. I was wondering, what do you think of the name of Ash for our son?" Tony said as he gently touched the slumbering infant's face with his free hand.
"I think it sounds like a wonderful name." Delia said.
Moments later, they paid their final respects to the dearly departed. Before leaving, Tony read the headstone one last time. "Here lies Ashford Ketchum. Father, Confidant, Friend."
Silence, pure and simple. Tony tried the door knob, but the door appeared to be jammed. Another groan came through from the other side of the door; this time it was more pronounced and considerably more labored.
"Hey in there! Can you hear me?"
"Help... m-me..." came a faint, yet extremely familiar male voice.
Tony's pulse quickened as he attempted to burst through the door. Just as the door opened, Tony awoke with a start. Tony sat up and immediately found himself back in bed with Delia who was eight and a half months pregnant and sound asleep. Taking some deep breaths to slow his racing pulse, Tony looked over at the alarm clock.
"Great." Tony muttered dryly to himself. "Nothing like a nightmare to wake a guy up at three in the morning."
The nightmare seemed a bit too real and was definitely still too fresh for Tony, so he got out of bed. After answering the call of nature, Tony began to pace the length of the hall way just outside the bedroom.
"Tony, what's wrong?" Delia called out, rather groggily.
"Just a bad dream." Tony replied as he stuck his head through the doorway.
"Tell me about it." Delia said with her eyes still closed as she patted the part of the bed that Tony had vacated just minutes earlier, indicating that she wanted him to also get a whole lot closer than the doorway.
Tony sat down on the edge of the bed and explained as much of the dream as he possibly could remember before a horrid thought struck him, which had him involuntarily gasp.
"What?" Delia asked as she opened her eyes to look at her husband with concern.
"The voice that I heard. It was Dad." Tony then shook his head. "But that can't be right. He was fine the last time I talked with him."
"Don't be too quick to discount the dream, Tony. Look, why don't you call him, and if he answers, explain that you were just worried about him, is all." Delia told him.
"What? Call him now? He'll kill me for waking him up in the middle of the night!" Tony exclaimed as he stood up.
"Then it'd at least prove to you that he's completely fine, wouldn't it?"
"You're right." Tony sighed. Skirting the edge of the bed, Tony bent over and kissed her lightly on the forehead before going into the living room to make the long distance phone call.
The minutes seemed to have dragged on like hours. Tony wound up trying to call his father several times without any luck. A sense of impeding dread coursed through his body. Something was wrong. His father never left the phone off the hook and usually answered by the third or fourth ring, even when picking up the receiver in the middle of the night.
Hanging up in frustration, Tony went and changed clothes. There seemed to be only one remaining course of action left to him. He'd have to go to Violet City and personally find out what was going on, so that he'd finally be able to have peace of mind.
"Don't forget..." Delia started to speak before he left.
"I won't. In fact, I'll pick up a pack of them as soon as I reach Violet City." Tony said with a half grin.
Whatever it was with Delia and making sure people wore clean underwear was still beyond him, but he was use to it by that point and thus, made it a habit to humor her. Tony made sure to have his three pokeballs stored away in one of his vest pockets before he headed towards the front door. "I'll call the first chance I get."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Upon entering the front door of his old homestead, Tony wandered from room to room as he wondered where his father was and why he didn't make his presence known as soon as Tony touched down in Violet City.
"Dad? Are you here?" Tony called out.
For a long minute there was not a sound to be heard. A low moan coming from the bathroom caught Tony's attention. As soon as he opened the door, he gasped in concern. His father lay hap-hazard within the bath tub.
"Dad! Speak to me. What's wrong?" Tony cried out as he rushed to his father's side.
A low groan is all that his father could manage.
"Hang in there." Tony begged in earnest. "I'll get some help."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the hospital, Tony paced in the waiting room. Moments later, a nurse asked him to follow her to where his father was closely monitored by both machinery and doctors alike.
"What's going on?" Tony asked as soon as he could find a doctor not rushing from one task to another.
"You're Tony Ketchum, correct?" the doctor asked as she looked up from her clip board that contained Tony's father's information. A nodded confirmation prompted her to continue talking. "For as long as I can tell, your father has had high blood pressure. We've been telling him that if he didn't take care of himself properly, something as drastic as the heart attack he had this morning would eventually happen. Fortunately, he survived this time, but his heart has been dramatically weakened. He's been placed on a list to receive a new heart, but it may take a while before we have a donor."
The news hit Tony like a ton of bricks. He didn't remember being led back to the waiting room and sitting down on the couch, but that's where he found himself hours later when he came out of his daze. For nearly a week afterwards, Tony kept constant vigilance and got his father to talk when he was awake and strong enough to do so. For the most part, Tony did almost all the talking and reminisced about the good old times. Whenever he was in his father's room at the hospital, Tony paced like a caged animal when neither of the two was talking.
"Y'know... Dad. I was going to surprise you later, but I just don't think it can wait any longer." Tony said as he sat on the edge of his ailing father's bed. "Delia and I are - "
"Having a baby." his father finished his sentence.
"Yeah. How'd you know?" Tony wondered, wide-eyed at his father's apparent psychic knowledge.
"Didn't..." the elder Ketchum rasped. "Was either that or you were worried about my test results with the way you were pacing. Have you two decided on a name yet?"
"No. We don't even know what the gender will be. We decided to wait until the birth to figure out a suitable name." Tony replied with a sigh before putting on a brave front. "I guess we should be happy that the gynecologist says that the baby is thus far healthy and there isn't any foreseeable complications."
"Any hopes for either gender?" his father said with a twinkle in his eyes.
"Dad!" Tony cried out in exasperation. "As long as the baby has ten fingers, ten toes and is healthy, I couldn't care less as to the gender."
"I see." his father replied with a soft chuckle.
The sound of the video phone ringing caused Tony to jump. Fortunately, it was in reaching distance of the bed.
"Hello?" Tony said as he answered the phone.
"Tony? This is Doctor Baker." the doctor replied.
"Doctor. Why are you... Wait, does your call have anything to do with my wife?" Tony asked, turning very fidgety.
"Yes, Delia went into labor a few hours ago..." Doctor Baker started to say.
"What!? Oh shi-...erm. Thanks for letting me know, Doctor." Tony said as he slumped back onto his father's bed and put his hands onto his face. "Just my luck, I won't be able to make it back in time to help her."
"Don't worry, Tony." Doctor Baker reassured the young man. "Delia will be just fine. I'll call you back as soon as your child is born."
As the screen went blank, Tony sighed and dropped his hands to his legs. His face suddenly looked like it aged a few decades. His father's hand reached out and touched his arm. Tony looked over at him.
"Relax. You were the one that just told me that there shouldn't be anything to worry about." he told his son.
"Yeah, but that was when I was expecting to be back in Pallet Town before the birth of my first child." Tony bemoaned.
"It'll do your child no good if you worry yourself to death over this." came the response.
"True, but what else can I do but worry? I should be with Delia right now." Tony wondered as he stood up and began to pace.
Hours later, the video phone rang again.
"Congratulations Tony, it's a boy!" Doctor Baker exclaimed as soon as Tony answered the phone.
Doctor Baker stood aside as the video portion of the phone focused in on Delia laying in a hospital bed with the infant in her arms. From behind Tony, the elder Ketchum caught a glimpse at the newest Ketchum. A tear streamed down his face as he closed his eyes and lay his head back against the pillow on his own bed. A sudden calm came over the hospital room as the elder Ketchum sighed one last time.
"Isn't he cute?" Tony gushed to his father while still looking at the monitor. When his father didn't respond, Tony turned and checked on his father. Just barely over a whisper, he stated, "He's... gone."
"Oh, Tony. I'm so sorry." Delia mourned for him from her location.
"So am I." Tony said quietly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The day of the funeral, the sky was gray and overcast with clouds that reflected Tony's mood. Delia stood beside him while holding their firstborn son in her arms. After the final mound of dirt was placed and most of the people in attendance left, Tony placed an arm over Delia's shoulders.
"What's on your mind, Tony?" Delia asked of her husband.
"Dad had changed over the years. In a way, so have I. Before he passed on, he asked if we had a name for our child. And I've been giving it some thought. I was wondering, what do you think of the name of Ash for our son?" Tony said as he gently touched the slumbering infant's face with his free hand.
"I think it sounds like a wonderful name." Delia said.
Moments later, they paid their final respects to the dearly departed. Before leaving, Tony read the headstone one last time. "Here lies Ashford Ketchum. Father, Confidant, Friend."
Last edited: