Clemont was sick. Bonnie was worried. Could it be any worse? Luckily the gang had just gotten to a Pokémon Center when he came down with the flu, so Clemont at least had a warm bed instead of the cold ground and a sleeping bag. Serena had been put on nurse duty, relieving Ash of the chore for a little while.
"Is Clemont OK, Ash?" Bonnie asked from where she sat on her bed in the girls' room.
Ash looked over to her from the sink, nodding with a smile. "He's just fine, Bonnie, don't worry," Ash said before splashing his face with water from the sink.
"Then why can't I go see him?" Bonnie asked through her pout, crossing her arms and kicking her legs.
"Well, he doesn't want you to get sick, too," Ash explained. "Besides, would you want to be in a room with a sick, snotty Clemont?"
"Yes."
Of course she would. Ash had to think of something to get Bonnie's mind off of Clemont.
"Well, if you were sick, then you wouldn't be able to help me," Ash said, letting a smirk fall over his face. Surely if Max loved this game, Bonnie would, too.
"With what?" Bonnie asked in a small voice, peering up at Ash.
Ash looked around at the doorway and the windows, rushing over to shut the blinds and the door before stooping in front of Bonnie. "Have you ever heard of a pokemon called Deoxys?" he asked slowly.
"Deoxys?" Bonnie repeated. She shook her head and asked what it was.
"Well, it's a pokemon from outer space," Ash explained. "I'm actually really good friends with it!" he added, which made Bonnie giggle. "Anyway, this Deoxys contacted me a few months ago and said it'd be coming down for a visit tonight."
"Really?" Bonnie jumped up from her spot on the bed, a new shine in her eyes.
"Yeah, and it wants me to prepare a spot for it to land its spaceship," Ash said. "Also, it's a long flight from Mars, so Deoxys would probably also want some supper!"
"I wanna help get ready for Deoxys!" Bonnie squealed, jumping in place. "I wanna help! I wanna help! I wanna help!"
Ash laughed and stood up straight. "Well, first thing's first: you can't tell anybody about Deoxys, OK? It might freak them out!" Bonnie nodded and stretched out her pinky, swearing she wouldn't say a word. "Well, then, let's go!"
"Yay!" Bonnie grabbed Ash's hand and ran out of the room with him, almost forgetting Dedenne and Pikachu.
"OK, so the first thing we need is a biiiiiig spot for Deoxys to land!" Ash explained, looking around at the forest surrounding the Pokémon Center. "So, let's go collect some sticks and rocks!"
"Alright!" Bonnie shouted. She took off running with Ash hot on her heels. They spent the next hour and a half collecting rocks and branches, only stopping when Bonnie could barely see over the pile.
"So, how should we arrange everything?" Ash asked, hands on his hips.
Bonnie thought about it for a moment. They needed to make sure there was enough stuff for Deoxys to see from the sky, so obviously there needed to be a really big circle. "Why don't we use all the rocks first and put the sticks in the middle?" she suggested. Ash nodded and grabbed a few rocks, plopping them down about six feet away from each other in a big square.
"OK, about that big?"
Bonnie nodded and they spent the next hour arranging stones and sticks in a circle. Once they were done, Bonnie asked how Deoxys would know where they were.
"Deoxys has a special tracker so he can find us no matter where we are," Ash explained. "An Officer Jenny in Hoenn gave it the tracker so Deoxys could find us no matter where me and Pikachu went."
Bonnie nodded. The explanation was sound, obviously.
"C'mon, the sun's starting to set, so we need to make a meal for Deoxys!" Ash exclaimed, tugging Bonnie's ponytail to get her to follow him.
They needed to make a soup for Clemont. That was the one thing Serena told Ash they needed to make sure was done, food for the sick kid.
"So what kind of stuff does Deoxys like?" Bonnie asked as Ash lifted her onto the counter.
"Soup!" Ash explained. "It really, really likes Pecha Soup."
"So does Clemont!" Bonnie giggled. She pulled herself over to the berry basket and handed individual berries to Dedenne, who handed those to Pikachu, who gave them to Ash to put in the pot. Once all the berries were simmering, they added extra things, including a few Oran berries, some honey, and even a little mint and Miltank milk. Also a handful of sprinkles at Bonnie's insistence.
Ash found a few bowls and dished out the soup. "OK," he started as he dumped the pot in the sink. "If anybody asks, we made this for Clemont so he'll feel better, right?"
Bonnie nodded. "Me and Dedenne'll take out Deoxys's bowl right now!" she exclaimed, grabbing the biggest bowl and running past Serena.
"Where's she off to?" Serena asked with a giggle.
"She's just gonna feed the wild pokemon," Ash explained, holding out two bowls of soup. "Got Clemont's food done!"
"Are those star sprinkles?"
"It was Bonnie's idea."
The sun had set and Bonnie was staring out the window at the landing pad she and Ash had made. Deoxys could come any time! And she'd get to meet a pokemon from space!
The door opened and Ash knocked gently. "Hey, Bonnie, it's almost 10 o'clock. Shouldn't you be getting to bed?"
"But I wanna meet Deoxys!" Bonnie whined, spinning around to face Ash.
"Tell you what," Ash said, reaching in Clemont's bag for her Snorlax pajamas. "If Deoxys wakes me up, I'll come get you. Does that sound like a plan?"
Bonnie looked back out the window, mulling over what would happen if she just bolted out the door and went to wait outside. Inevitably, Ash would grab her and make her go to bed, and she would probably lose any chance of meeting Deoxys.
"OK, Ash…"
Once she was dressed in her onesie, Ash tucked her in and set Dedenne by her side. "OK, goodnight, Bonnie."
"Night-night," Bonnie yawned. Ash pulled the door up and went to relieve Serena of nurse duty.
Bonnie woke up to the sound of Fletchlings chirping by the window. She yawned and stretched, saying her goodmornings to Dedenne and Serena, only to notice Serena wasn't in her bed.
"She must already be taking care of Clemont…" Bonnie grumbled, rubbing her eyes.
"Ne-nene!" Dedenne called, pointing out the window.
"What is it, Dedenne?" Bonnie asked as she hopped down from bed. Outside the window, the landing pad she and Ash had made was scattered and kicked with some of the sticks looking charred. Bonnie gasped, "Deoxys!" she squealed, picking up Dedenne. "Ash!" she shouted, running out the door.
"What is it, Bonnie?" Ash asked, hanging his head out the door to his and Clemont's room.
"Deoxys came!" Bonnie whisper-yelled, jumping in place. "The circle outside is all messed up and burned!"
"Woah!" Ash stepped out and closed the door. "Let's go check it out, yeah?"
"Yeah!" Bonnie grabbed his hand and tugged Ash back outside.
It was even cooler up close. A hole was made in the center just deep enough for Dedenne to be covered in. Burn spots covered the surrounding grass and even a few of the rocks were blackened. Standing too close made Bonnie's hair frizz, and she could only reason that the spaceship had discharged a lot of electricity.
"Hey, Bonnie, look," Ash called to get the girl's attention. She looked over to see a bowl in Ash's hand, completely empty. "Looks like Deoxys appreciated the food!"
"What's that?" Bonnie asked, pointing to something shiny sticking up in the scattered rocks.
Dedenne ran over and picked it up and took back to the girl. It looked like a rock, but was really glittery and even green. "This is so pretty!" Bonnie giggled.
"Wow, that looks like a space rock!" Ash said, stooping down in front of Bonnie. "Deoxys must have left it as a present for us because we did such a good job preparing for its visit."
"Oh that's so cool!" Bonnie squealed. "I have to show Clemont!"
And with that, Bonnie and Dedenne took off by inside. Ash smiled and crossed his arms, shaking his head. Of course Bonnie needed to show her big brother her 'space rock'.
Wait.
Clemont was sick.
"Bonnie, you can't tell anybody about Deoxys, remember!" Ash shouted, bolting after the little girl. Clemont and Serena would kill him if he let Bonnie get sick!
If you couldn't guess, Ash had Pikachu char the circle to make it look right. And I realize Deoxys doesn't have a spaceship but Bonnie doesn't need to know that.