"Mommy? Are you ok?" I ask, as she coughs, and red liquid comes spilling out of her mouth and goes splat on the floor.

"Jason, please, just go get the phone, ok?" Mommy manages to say as she continues to cough.

"Who do I call?"

"Call 9-1-1 honey."

I quickly dial and wait while the phone is dialing.

"9-1-1, what is your emergency?"

"Hi! Can you please help? I just woke up and walked into the kitchen to get cereal, and my mommy is on the floor, coughing up red stuff. Please. She looks like she's hurting a lot."

"Ok, dear, just stay calm. Can you tell me your address?"

"334 Leaftree Ave, Pallet Town, Kanto."

"Ok. Please stay with me on the phone until help arrives. Tell me, what is going on with your mom now?"

"She's trying to breath, but every ten seconds she coughs, and sometimes ref stuff comes out. I'm scared."

"Honey, Jason, please don't look over here. Just focus on-"

Mommy is interupted by coughing.

"Tell me dear, what's your name?" The lady on the phone asks.

"Jason Pinedo."

"How old are you?"

"Four."

"Tell me, do you like Pokèmon?"

"I do! I like Pokèmon a lot! My daddy had a Pokèmon with him when he was here, but then he left, and took the Pokèmon with him and I haven't seen him since."

"I'm sorry to here that. Do you remember which Pokèmon it was?"

"Uhh, I don't know. All I can remember is that it went into this red and white ball when it was tired."

"Oh ok. Do you want to be a Pokèmom trainer when you're old enough?"

"No. I can't."

"And why can't you Jason?"

"'Cause when Daddy left, he came into my room when he thought I was asleep and told me I need to take care of Mommy 'Cause I'm the man of the house. And that's what I wanna do! Mommy takes care of me, and I take care of her!"

I look over to Mommy, and she's flat against the ground.

"Mommy!" I scream, dropping the whole and rushing over at her side, shaking her.

"Please wake up Mommy! It isn't nap time so don't go to sleep! Please!"

...

***At the hopistal***

Knocking on the door wakes me up, and I slowly rub my eyes. Two doctors walk into the room, looking at me.

I'm laying in bed with Mommy, who's now connected to tons of machines and has a mask on to breath.

"Are you Jason?" The short, dark-skinned doctor asks me.

"Yes."

"How old are you honey?" She asks, walking to my side of the bed. The other doctor follows.

"Four. But even though I'm little, I can already make myself lunch!"

"Oh really? Maybe you can make me something then!"

"Maybe. But I'm not allowed to bring strangers into the house. Mommy's rules."

"That's a good rule. But you're right, we are strangers, so we should change that! I'm Dr. Bailey, and here next to me is Dr. Grey."

The other doctor smiles are offers her hand. I give her a high five. She laughs.

"You're so cute Jason."

"No I'm not! I'm tough! See!"

I flex my arms, trying to make muscles pop out like they do in the movies, but nothing happens.

"It's ok Jason, we believe you! But we came here to talk about your mother," Dr. Bailey says, suddenly looking serious.

"What's wrong with Mommy? She was really sick earlier. Did you give her medicine?"

"Yes, we are aware. So we did some studies to try to find out what happened, and now have the results."

Dr. Bailey points at the clipboard Dr. Grey is holding.

"What's wrong?"

"She has a disease that is slowly destroying her organs, causing internal bleeding, filling up her lungs with blood. That's why she was coughing red stuff and passed out."

I look at Mommy, and she's still asleep. She looks so calm.

"What can I do to help her?"

"Well, we can try to repair her organs, but the problem is, they'll just break again."

Oh.

"Does that mean she can't come home?"

"That will depend on her and what she decides when she wakes up."

"Oh."

I look at her, and hold her hand.

"Jason, is there anybody I can call for you? Maybe an Uncle, Aunt, cousin, or your Dad maybe?" Dr. Grey asks.

"I don't know where any of them are. My daddy left a while ago. It's just mommy and me." I say.

"Well, what about a friend that can maybe help?"

"I don't have any friends."

"It's ok honey. Just relax, and spend time with your mom, ok? We'll figure something out, so just stay here, and we'll be back," Dr. Bailey says as they walk out.

I lay next to Mommy and hug her.

"Please don't leave me Mommy. You're all I have."

...

***One Year Later***

I'm walking down a dirt road, pulling a wagon behind me. Surrounding the dirt road is a forest, filled with different kinds of Pokèmon.

On the right side, a small path appears. A path I made. I turn right, ducking under some branches and bringing the wagon with into the forest.

"Ee!"

I look up and see a Butterfree, floating in front of me and screeching in joy.

"Hi! How are you today?" I ask, patting her head gentle. Butterfree coos under my touch, and gestures with her head to follow her.

"Ok! Lead the way!"

I follow Butterfree through the forest, and she leads me to a group of Pokèmon, all waiting patiently under a big tree.

"Hi everybody! How's it going!"

All the Pokèmon greet me back.

"Alright, so who's first?"

A Ratatta hops out of the crowd and leads me to a tree, which has soda can, and beer cans littered all around it.

"Dang. People sure are sloppy aren't they?" I ask Ratatta as I begin picking up the cans. Rattata smiles and then runs back with the crowd.

Once I'm done there, I go back to the crowd, and another Pokèmon takes me to another place covered in cans.

It's a system I developed when I found Butterfree one day. She was caught in a six-pack ring, and I helped her get out. She then led me where she found it, and I cleaned it up. Ever since, she's been leading me to Pokèmon who find recyclable items and garbage on the ground, and I pick it up for them, so I can get money from the cans.

Pokèmon get a clean home. I get money to buy food. It's a win-win.

...

"Ok, thanks guys! I'll be back next week to help clean again!" I say as I make my way back to the dirt road, my wagon heavy of bags full of cans and garbage.

It's late afternoon, and the recycling center closes soon.

Should I go back home, or go to the recycling center?

I look at the sky.

I'm already about halfway there, so I might as well go to the recycling center.

I take a deep breath and I keep walking down the road.