A/N: Thanks for clicking on this story! Hope you enjoy it :)

This is my entry for A Night in Paris's competition 6th Generation Run-Down Competition on the Pokémon Fanfiction Challenges forum.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

Home Again

"I'm hom- ooff! Mom!"

"Oh Ash, I'm so glad you're home again!"

Ash Ketchum had just gotten back home again, after a long journey in the Unova region, and was currently being hugged by his mother. Pikachu had just escaped the hug by running to the kitchen, in the hopes of finding ketchup.

"Mom, you're strangling me!" the fourteen years old boy complained, trying to push his mother away to create some breathing space.

At his words, the woman let go of him and looked at him with a scrutinizing glance in her eyes, before hugging him again, claiming that her little boy had grown so much.

"Moooomm!" Ash groaned, then sighed and hugged his mother back. "It's good to be home again…"

After a minute or so, Delia Ketchum let go of her son, quickly wiping away a tear. "I'm just so happy you're safe home again…"

The teenage boy grinned at his mother, finally stepping out of the doorway.

"Yes, it's good to be home, but I'll be leaving soon too," he said excitedly, walking towards the kitchen, "There's this new region, the Kalos region, where I really wanna go to next. It has Gyms too, and so many new Pokémon! Not to mention-"

Silent and with a bit of a sad look on her face, Delia followed her son to the kitchen, and listened to him chatting away, making tea in the meantime. For a moment she wondered where Pikachu was, but quickly concluded that it was probably somewhere in the house with its beloved ketchup bottle. When she sat down, handing him his cup of tea, Ash was in a full rant about some or other Pokémon called Sylveon.

"-and it's one of the rare Fairy types, not to mention it's one of Eevee's evolutions! I can't believe I've never heard of it before, it must be so cool! Have you- oh thanks for the tea mom, where was I, oh yeah, have you heard about-"

Delia smiled sadly at her son, happy that he was so excited about his new journey, but sad that he would be leaving again. So soon, too.

"Mom? Mom?"

"Hm, what?" she asked, being pulled out of her thoughts. "What is it, Ash?"

"You weren't paying attention!" he said accusingly.

"Sorry honey, just a lot on my mind. But I'm really happy that you're so excited about this new region," Delia said, mustering a smile, though it felt forced.

"Mom?" Ash asked after a minute of silence.

"Yes dear?"

"Are you sad?" he asked her, a serious look on his face.

The woman smiled at his sudden seriousness, before answering his question. "Yes Ash, I'm sad. Sad that you're going to leave so soon again, that you can't stay home longer, but I'm happy you're enjoying your travels so much and that you still come home now and again."

The raven-haired boy nodded and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. "I think… I could stay home longer. I mean, like a month or something. Would you- would you like that?"

"Oh Ash, I would absolutely love that, but I understand that you want to travel. You don't have to stay home for me," Delia said, laughing at bit at his sweetness.

"But- but I want to!" he said with newfound determination. "It would be good to be home for a while, we could… work in the garden together, and visit Professor Oak, and take long walks, and uh-"

"That sounds great Ash," his mother said, laughing, and grabbed his hand, "that sounds really great. But are you sure?"

He nodded, his jaw set and his eyes shining enthusiastically. "I'm absolutely sure! It would be good for my Pokémon and me to take a break anyway."

"And you don't have to spend all your time with me, you could visit Gary too." She stopped talking to laugh a little when she saw her son cringe at the mention of his former rival. "He isn't that bad, you were good friends when you were younger, remember?"

Ash didn't reply, and Delia decided to drop the subject for now. "And you could go to Cerulean and Pewter for a week or so, to visit Misty and Brock. Misty is such a sweet girl, has visited me here quite a lot. And Brock too, they were a bit worried about you, you know…"

Ashamed, the boy stared at the table surface, remaining silent. His mother didn't sound angry or disappointed, she was just stating the fact. He could hear the slight hope in her voice though, the hope that he would do something about it.

"I suppose I could do that…" Ash finally said, causing his mother to give him a bright smile, but he quickly added, "I just hope Misty isn't too angry…"

"Oh, she might be angry, but she'll get over it soon enough, don't worry," Delia said, waving away his worries.

"You think so?" he asked, an eyebrow raised unbelieving.

"Yes, she's missing you, she'll be happy to see you again. Just like Brock, and Gary and Samuel, they'll all be happy to see you again," his mother reassured him.

"Yeah, maybe I'll do that…" the boy finally said, staring at his hands.

Delia smiled, before noticing the tea. "Oh! The tea has gone all cold now, such a waste. I'll make new one. Now, tell me about that new region."

Her son didn't need any more encouragement, and immediately launched in another rant about Kalos. "I don't know much about the Gym Leaders, but apparently there's one called Viola, who's a Bug Type specialist, so I'll have to use a Flying, Rock or… Fire Type. That's the best. Maybe-"

With a smile Delia listened her boy chattering away and couldn't help but think that she had done a good job. Yes, a very good job.

A/N: Thank you very much for reading! I hope you liked it! Please please review!
Thanks again!