Togepi's Morning Trip


It was early morning as Ash, Misty, Brock and their Pokémon friends were found in the middle of their snooze. Yet one Pokémon became an early bird to the rising sun. Togepi was up and about to greet the day. ("Morning,") the spike egg yawned. It was the only one as it trotted to the lightning bolt tail of Pikachu. ("Wakey wakey, Pikachu!") All Pikachu did was yawn...and fall back to sleep. Togepi became upset. However, the cooing did wake Ash from his slumber. His droopy eyes caught the wide awake toddler.

"Morning, Togepi," he greeted. "What the heck are you doing up so early?" Togepi saw Ash, glad to see someone else stirred.

("Morning, daddy.") Aw. That was sweet. Ash turned and saw that Misty and Brock, not to mention Pikachu were still out. ("Let's walk.") A walk? Well, at least until the rest stir.

"Well, let's not go too far." With that, Ash and Togepi strolled off into some woods. Misty? Hey, Misty! She's still out cold. Man, what do we need to do to stir her? Ash and Togepi traveled through the wooded area when they spotted some different bug Pokémon. Most of the bugs were as sleepy as...well, back at the camp. This was a nice view without disturbing them.

("They're so peaceful.") Right?

"At least Misty's not with us. One sight of these Pokémon would've sent her running." A fear of bugs would do that to anyone. There was an assortment of flowers that caught Togepi's eyes as it waddled over to smell them. Careful not to get any pollen in that tiny nose.

("Great smell.") It made Ash think. Maybe Togepi wanted to give Misty a gift. A bouquet of flowers didn't sound too farfetched. Suddenly, a ladybug swooped down to sip the flowers, probably take in nectar from the buds.

"A Ladyba?" That gave Ash an idea. Maybe the Ladyba knew where they could find the best flowers. He knelt down to talk to the new Pokémon. "Hey, Ladyba. Do you know where there are more flowers?" The Ladyba seemed perplexed. More flowers? That's when it remembered where it found some.

("I do,") it buzzed. ("Over here.") The Ladyba flew up, causing Togepi to chase it. Ash followed slowly, not wanting to hurt the baby Pokémon. Finally, they reached a cliff. The base was the entrance as Ladyba flew onto the ledge of the mountain. Up there? All right.

"Looks like we're climbing."

("Oh, boy,") Togepi sighed. Ash picked Togepi up and placed it on his shoulder. It did appear to be a straight up scale. Hand over hand, Ash climbed the mountain to reach the peak. Halfway to the peak, his stomach began to growl. Ash was hungry.

"I hope Brock's up making breakfast. Wish I didn't go trailing on an empty stomach." Despite that whine, he persevered to the top. As soon as the hands grasped the ledge and pulled the two over, they got to see a field of exotic blue wild flowers. Ash and Togepi awed the sight of such overwhelming beauty from the field. "You've gotta be kidding me. These are water roses, rare blue flowers that only grow in a couple of places in the world." What do you know? Ash came over and smelt the roses. It became a passionate scent. "That's a smell to remember. Ocean breezes." That's when Togepi saw something unusual. There was a blue ball that was trying to blend in with the water roses.

("What's that over there?") Ash looked up, also seeing the ball. When the ball vanished, Ash became suspicious. What could be in there? Suddenly, a tall blue rabbit sprung up. The rabbit had a white stomach.

"What is that?" Ash dug in to grab his Dex, his red hand-held device.

"Azumarill, the aqua rabbit Pokémon," it computed. "Azumarill is the evolved form of Marill. Azumarill uses its ears to listen far and wide, even underwater." An Azumarill.

"Okay, but what is it doing in a garden of water roses?" Ash wasn't sure but Togepi took a crack at talking to the rabbit.

("I like to have a bunch of these flowers,") Togepi tried to bargain. Azumarill was a bit stunned with the request, not sure how to take it.

("Why?") the rabbit wondered. ("Where did you come from?") Using the stubby arms, Togepi pointed passed Ash to behind him at the cliff side.

("We came from far over there.") To Azumarill, they had a tough walk.

("It's for someone special, isn't it?") The chirping from Togepi was a sign of admittance. ("Okay! I'll let the human take a handful.") It allowed the take. Azumarill allowed Ash to pluck as much as he could carry in his hand. He even allowed Togepi to hold one for its own.

"Thanks, Azumarill," he complimented. "How about we head back and get something to eat? I'm starving?"

("Food! Food!") Togepi cheered as Ash waived farewell to the rabbit caretaker and descended back off. Meantime, Misty was just starting to wake up. After a moment to get some fresh air, she began to look around. Somethings were missing.

"Togepi?" she called out. "Togepi!" Togepi was Misty's Pokémon. She became fearful of what had happened to Togepi, not once thinking about Ash. "Brock, wake up!" Brock was stone sleeping. You couldn't wake him up if you tried. That's what Misty was willing to do. "Pikachu, help me!" At least Pikachu was responding. It turned to Misty who was getting more worried about her safely handled Togepi.

("Misty, what's up?") it grumbled.

"Pikachu, Togepi's missing." That stirred Pikachu completely. It also noticed that Ash was gone as well.

("Where's Ash?") They would begin their search but...

"Hey!" Ash shouted. Misty and Pikachu twisted around to see Ash and Togepi safe. Togepi waddled all the way up to Misty who embraced it in a giant hug.

"Togepi, you gotta stop making me worry about you," she calmly scorned. Togepi wasn't worried about it. That's when she felt the water rose on her chest. Togepi handed the rose which Misty noticed. "No way! I thought this was a myth." Nope. You're feeling it and smelling it.

"Oh, these are real. Here!" Now it was Ash's turn to hand over a bouquet of the rare flowers. Misty was overcome with shuttered awe. She now held a bunch of rare water roses.

"A-Ash...I don't know what to say!" Say something. Don't hold it in. Ash waited for Misty to come out and probably confess to something at least positive. However, he chose to speak first.

"Let's just say that Togepi is...something unique...much like you." Misty had to clean her ears to make sure she heard Ash right. It had to be pleasant so Misty was enveloped in good charm.

"Ash, you goofball." All of the wakened participants chuckled...all while Brock remained in dreamland. Sucks to be him.


HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY