Chapter Three - Baby Problems

"Apple"

"Abble"

"Apple"

"Abble"

"APPLE!"

"ABBLE!"

"Oh, I give up!" Ash said impatiently throwing the apple over his shoulder. "I've been trying to get it to pronounce things right for ages, but it's not working. I give up"

"Well Ho-oh is only a few days old" Brock pointed out. "It's learned more words than you did in that amount of time"

"Guess your right" Ash sighed and leaned back against a tree.

Ho-oh hopped over to a bowl of baby Pokémon food which lay beside Ash. It ate a little bit, savoring the taste, before pointing at it with it's wing and looking at Ash. "Baba food?"

"Baby food" Ash corrected lazily.

"Baabie?" Ho-oh said questionly.

Ash sighed and shook his head.

Ho-oh tilted it's head in confusion. "Daddy sad?"

"No, I'm just tired" Ash yawned. He closed his eyes and tried to get to sleep, but before he could he heard a loud clanging noise, which kept repeating. He jumped up and looked over to see Ho-oh hiting one pot off another pot repeatedly. He jumped up and grabbed one off it. "No Ho-oh" He said when the Pokémon looked up at his sadly. "Thats bad"

Ho-oh tilted it's head but didn't go to bang the pots together when Ash put it back.

Ash sighed and sat down again and closed his eyes, but something hit his face all of a sudden. "What the-?" Ash opened his eyes and saw his face was covered in mud, and Ho-oh was splashing around in it. "No Ho-oh!" He said grabbing the little Pokémon and pulling it out of the mud puddle. It looked like a blod of mud, except for two little red eyes looking at him.

"Great, now you need a bath" Ash muttered. At first, he was afraid Ho-oh wouldn't like the water, being part fire and all, but he had been proven wrong when it jump around in the water a few days ago.

"Ba-time!" Ho-oh said happily, flapping it's wings and shooting mud all over the place until Ash pinned it's wings to it's side.

"Why, why did I have to get a difficult one?" Ash thought, heading over to were Totodile's Pokéball was.

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"Wa-wa!" Ho-oh said jumping into the basin full of water, supplied by Totodile and heated by Cyndaquil.

Ash knelt next to the little Pokémon, who had stuck it's head under water and was entertaining itself by blowing bubbles and watching them float up in front of it.

"Pika!" Pikachu said, trotting over and handing Ash a bottle. [Bubble bath. Brock says to use it] He said, trotting a short distance away and siting down.

Ash pulled Ho-oh's head above the water and poured some of the bubble bath in, mixing it around until bubbles appeared in the water.

Ho-oh starred at the bubbles. "Bubools!" It called, flapping it's tiny wings and hitting the bubbles, sending them and a little water out of the basin and onto the ground.

"Ho-oh, cut it out" Ash said, washing some on the mud off it's rainbow feathers.

Ho-oh watched the water sparkle as little drops shone in the sun. It smiled and splashed it's wings in the water, sending more water and bubbles flying. Ignoring Ash when he told it to stop again, it splashed the water rapidly, jumping up at down at the same time.

"Ho-oh stop!" Ash yelled, but was rewarded with a mouthful of bubbles. He fell back and coughed, glaring at Pikachu, who was rolling around laughing.

Ho-oh jumped out of the basin, some bubbles still sticking to it's feathers, and ran over to Ash, circling him and then running over to Pikachu, knocking him over playfully.

Ash pushed himself up onto his knees before standing up and looking himself over. He was soaked to the skin and had a few bubbles sticking to him. He looked up at Ho-oh and walked over to it. "Ho-oh, quit jumping around" He said, trying to grab the Pokémon, who just jumped away from his hand and laughed before running towards the camp. "Ho-oh!" Ash called chasing after the Pokémon.

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After Ash had finnally caught up to the little bird, who had alot more energy than he did, he had tried to dry it off, but it just run off with the towel on it's head. Eventually it took Ash, Pikachu and Bayleef to catch the little Pokémon.

After that, it was time to sit down to eat. Ho-oh ate it's share quickly and began jumping around the camp again, knocking over everyone's food until it looked like parts of the ground were growing food insteed of grass. Ho-oh didn't see the problem, and just chirped happily.

Ash, on the other hand, was begining to feel slightly stressed with the little troublemaker.

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Ash carried the little Ho-oh into his tent just after sunset and sat it down on a pillow, which was big enough for the pokémon to lie on. He sighed and was about to crawl back out when Ho-oh called him. "What is it?" He asked.

"Playtime!" Ho-oh said happily.

"No Ho-oh, bedtime" Ash said. "You have to sleep now."

Ho-oh frowned. "Me no wanna sleep. Me play!" It said jumping up, but was pushed down again by Ash. It just smiled and as soon as his hand moved, it took off at high speed, out of the tent and began running around the camp, laughing.

Ash groaned and crawled out of the tent and stood up. "And, once again, the chase is on..." He mumbled, chasing after Ho-oh.

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"Ash you've got to learn to control Ho-oh" Misty said after Ash finnally got the little Pokémon to sleep.

"Misty right" Brock agreed. "Ho-oh's causing more trouble than Team Rocket at this point"

"You think I want Ho-oh to act like this?!" Ash practicly yelled in anger, making the others jump. "All day, Ho-oh has given me headaches from slamming pots, a stomach ache from making me drink soapy water, my legs are killing me from chasing it all day and-" He stopped suddenly and sneezed. "I've got a cold after it soaked me with water" He sighed heavily and lowered his head. "I hate to say it, but if Ho-oh doesn't learn to calm down a little I may have to release it"

"Ash you can't!" Misty yelled.

"Well what choice do I have?!" Ash yelled. "This Pokémon is going to be the death of me unless it controls itself!"

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From inside the tent, Ho-oh sat by the entrance, listening to every word it's 'daddy' was saying. One single tear escaped an eye and it blinked back the others. Daddy was mad, and it was all Ho-oh's fault. He walked slowly and gloomily towards it's bed and settled down, thinking.

Ho-oh didn't want to leave, so it had to figure a way for daddy not to be angry. Just as it was about to drift off to sleep, a thought came to mind. "Daddy doesn't make himself mad, I'll just do whatever he does!" It thought happily before yawning. "I'll start tomorrow..." It thought before sleep overcame the little bird and it drifted into a peacefull sleep.

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To Be Continued

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Hey hey! Long time no update!. Well here ya go for now, hope this chappy was ok. Could you guys tell me wat you thought of it? All you gotta do it click the review button below. Hope you'll review, slán for now!
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