Hi Everyone! Welcome to the latest chapter! Have fun reading!
Angie's parents were stunned by the chaos that reigned outside. The air was filled with various attacks and orders. Mr. and Mrs. Aoi simply stared at the four-way battleground that had once been their backyard.
"Buizel, Sonicboom, Staraptor, Aerial Ace, Monferno, Flamewheel, Gliscor, X-Scissor, Grotle, Energy Ball, Pikachu, Volt Tackle!" As Ash's Poke'mon leapt into action, Dawn called out her orders.
"Piplup, Whirlpool! Mamoswine, counter Sonicboom with Ancient Power! Ambipom, Swift! Pachirisu, use Spark! Buneary, cover Pachirisu with Ice Beam!" Brock shouted out his orders before Dawn's Poke'mon could launch an attack.
"Sudowoodo, Double Edge, Happiny, use Hidden Power! Croagunk, block Swift with Poison Sting!" Angie didn't miss a beat in shouting out orders to her Poke'mon.
"Shinx, counter Volt Tackle with Spark! Snover, Focus Punch on Happiny, Heracross, use Megahorn to deflect Energy Ball!"
Buizel's Sonicboom collided with Mamoswine's Ancient Power, creating a mid-air explosion. Ash's Staraptor flew through the smoke at Piplup, but was intercepted by Brock's Sudowoodo, and they both were caught in Piplup's Whirlpool, which was thrown at Ash's Gliscor. Gliscor dodged and launched a close range X-Scissor into Piplup, who was thrown back into Mamoswine. The Whirlpool attack narrowly missed Pikachu, who was charging at Shinx, both Poke'mon fully enveloped in electrical energy. Dawn's Ambipom launched a double Swift attack from her tails, but Brock's Croagunk destroyed the golden stars with a stream of glowing purple needles. Meanwhile, Grotle launched an Energy Ball attack at Heracross, who used his massive horn to knock the attack into Pikachu and Shinx. Heracross was suddenly struck by Pachirisu's Spark attack, and was then encased in a block of ice by Buneary's Ice Beam. A huge shockwave was created at the center of the field when Angie's Snover collided with Happiny. Both Poke'mon were bowled over when Monferno smashed into them with Flamewheel. Monferno narrowly dodged being hit by Piplup's Bubblebeam, who barely dodged being hit by a Thunderbolt attack from Pikachu. The powerful electric attack shattered the ice that encased Heracross, who immediately lashed out at anything near him. Every Poke'mon on the field launched a long-range attack at the angry Heracross, but the Single-Horn Poke'mon flew out of the way. The attacks that had been aimed at Heracross ended up flying directly at Angie's parents. Ash, Angie, Dawn, and Brock panicked.
"Ahh! Look out!" They all yelled.
Angie's father casually threw a Poke'ball into the air. "Mothim, use Protect," he said calmly. A dark grey Poke'mon with orange patterns on its wings and face appeared in a flash of light. Mothim flew in front of the oncoming attacks and created a translucent green sphere around himself just before the attacks struck. The force of the attacks striking the shield Mothim created caused a massive explosion that threw everyone on the field to the ground. For several agonizing seconds, smoke obscured the cottage and Angie's parents from view. But when the smoke cleared, Mothim, Angie's parents, and the cottage were still standing. Angie's mother sent out a Poke'mon of her own.
"Beautifly, show yourself." A Poke'mon with a dark grey body, a white face, and colorful wings appeared. "Beau beautifly," the Butterfly Poke'mon squeaked. "Shall we show the children the combo we used when we were younger?"
"Certainly, dear," Angie's father responded. "Mothim, use Stun Spore!" Mothim's wings glowed as a golden-yellow dust fell from them.
"Beautifly, use Whirlwind!" Beautifly's wings became a blur as she stirred up a powerful wind with her wings. The wind picked up the paralytic scales that Mothim dropped and scattered them all over the field, paralyzing everyone on the field.
"Mothim, Beautifly, double Whirlwind!" The two Bug-Flying Poke'mon flew above the center of the field, and they carefully angled their powerful Whirlwind attacks to produce an enormous cyclone that sucked up Poke'mon and trainer alike. Angie's parents walked up to the end result, which was a pile of paralyzed bodies all jumbled together.
"Now, let that show you that we were Poke'mon trainers before you were around," Angie's mother told the trainers. She got a muffled reply from somewhere in the center of the pile. "We came out here to tell you that were going to be having a little celebration for Valentine's Day. Dawn, Brock? You're going to decorate the outside of the house. Angie, your father and I are going to do the interior decoration. You and Ash are going to be baking a cake and some cookies."
"Come and see us inside when that Stun Spore wears off." The two parents walked back inside, leaving the paralyzed youths and their Poke'mon to their own devices. Five minutes later, everyone extricated themselves from the tangled mass. Brock was the first person to get up.
"That was an amazing amount of power," Brock commented as he rubbed his head ruefully.
"Did you know that your parents could do that?" Dawn's voice was faint.
"No," Angie's voice was equally softened. Brock and Dawn went inside to get their assignments from Angie's parents. Angie watched Ash attempt to get up. He was still dizzy from the Whirlwind, as he had been at the center of the attack, so he constantly fell down. Angie giggled feebly, and then she held out her hand. "Need some help?"
"I think I can manage," Ash responded. Angie crossed her arms as she watched Ash attempt to get up three more times without any success. Ash looked up again sheepishly. "Then again, maybe not." Angie reached out with her hand again, grasping Ash's. Angie blushed lightly as they walked to the cottage together, still holding hands to make sure that Ash didn't fall down again. Angie looked straight ahead, not looking at Ash. If she had, she would have noticed that Ash was blushing much like her and determinedly staring straight ahead. Their hands separated as they walked up the steps to the back door, and they walked into the cottage.
"Okay you two, take those and hang them up along the gutters." Angie's father was speaking to Brock and Dawn. Both were laden with Valentine's Day-themed streamers and lights.
Angie's mother waved at Ash and Angie from the doorway to the kitchen. "Angie, over here. You and Ash need to know a few things before you two get started in the kitchen," she called.
"Coming mama," Angie said as she started dragging Ash into the kitchen. Their Poke'mon began to follow, when Brock called out to Ash.
"Hey, Ash? Could we borrow Staraptor? He'd be a real help."
"Sure, is that okay with you, Staraptor?" Staraptor trilled and flew out the front door. "I guess that's a 'yes,'" Ash chuckled. He then turned around and walked back into the kitchen, where Angie was choosing recipes from a cookbook. Angie's mother was retrieving a heart-shaped cake tin and cookie-cutters from a drawer.
"Now then," she said. "Measuring cups and spoons are in that cupboard, flour and sugar are both in that closet over there, milk and butter are in the fridge, and so are the eggs. Um, is there anything else you need?"
"We need some food coloring, mama," Angie said, scanning the ingredient list of the cake recipe she had selected. "And do we have any frosting and sprinkles?" Angie began to open drawers and closets. "We also need candy to decorate the cake and cookies. Some of that frosting that you can write with would be nice."
"I'm afraid we don't have any of that stuff, dear," Angie's mother said. "But I'm sure that your father could make a quick run through town to get you two what you need." And with that, Angie's mom left the kitchen. Moments later, Angie's father entered the kitchen with a pad and pencil.
"Papa, we need food coloring, frosting, sprinkles…" Angie listed the items that she needed. Meanwhile, Ash opened the refrigerator to get out the perishable supplies.
"Um, Mr. Aoi? There isn't enough milk, butter, or eggs," Ash spoke up. "There's enough to make the cookies, but only just." Upon hearing this, Buizel slipped out of the room. "Do you think you could get some more of this stuff, please?"
"Certainly, Ash. I can grab all of this." His eye twinkled as he exited the room. "You two try not to drop too many bags of flour while I'm gone." Buizel slid back into the kitchen just before Angie's father shut the door. He hopped up onto the island counter and gave a round, white object to his trainer. "Bui bui-bui!"
"Thanks Buizel," Ash congratulated his Sea Weasel Poke'mon. Angie looked over at Ash. "Hey Angie, Buizel found an egg we can use!" Angie looked at the egg in Ash's hands.
"Where did Buizel get this egg?" Both she and Ash turned to the door when they heard someone knocking very rapidly on the door. Angie walked over to the door as Ash handed the egg back to Buizel. Angie turned the knob to open the door and she tripped over Happiny, who rushed into the room. She immediately slammed her glowing fist onto Buizel's head, and snatched her rock back. As Happiny attempted to make her exit, Shinx leaped in front of her, blocking the Playhouse Poke'mon.
"Shinx shi shiii-shinx!"
"Hap-PINY!" Happiny whacked Shinx on the head with her rock. Shinx dropped like a bag of bricks, and lay there twitching as Happiny left the room. Angie scooped up Shinx and turned to Ash.
"Well," she started. "We still have enough eggs to do the cookies, right?" She got a determined look on her face. "If we can get first place in the Marathon, we can cook for this party, right?"
"Yeah, these will be the best baked goods ever!" Ash felt his ego boosted, and started talking to Angie. He felt very light-headed as he began to spill his secret. "Hey, Angie? I lo-"
"Yeah, Ash?" Angie's golden-brown eyes gazed deeply into Ash's auburn eyes. Ash felt his face heat up and his heart was pounding. Okay, he told himself as he took a deep breath. I can do this. I can do this. It's gonna be easy, I've just got to say it. Here goes…
"…I lost track of where the flour is." As Angie turned away from him to get the flour, Ash mentally berated himself. Dang It, dang it, dang it… Ash shook his head. Better luck next time, maybe, he thought to himself.
Poor Ash. He tries to admit his feelings, but he totally screws it up. In other news, in three episodes Angie will make a reappearence. See you soon! Please review and check out my poll!