I bet you all want to throw sticks at me. I apologize, really! I got stuck on this chapter for the longest time. It just wasn't working out :/ But I finally got it done, and this is a fun one! So, maybe you can all read this one and forgive me? Pleeease? :P

LAST TIME: Still in Celadon City, the group meets up with Erika's daughter Flora again. The young girl has stolen a poke ball from her mother and intends on catching her first Pokémon: Ledyba. Aiden agrees to help her, and they succeed. But trouble brews when an angry Ledian, the leader of the group, steals Flora's poke ball. After defeating Team Rocket, who had agreed to help Ledian while secretly plotting to kidnap the Pokémon and its followers, Ledyba is returned to Flora, and Aiden challenges and captures Ledian.

Not-so-Tranquil in Jonquil

"Here it is! Jonquil Town!"

"Yeah, the site of your next Contest!"

Michelle twisted her mouth in a halfhearted fashion before continuing her trek. Aiden and Brandon exchanged bewildered glances and then proceeded to follow after the girl.

"You're excited, aren't you, Shelly?" Aiden prodded.

"Yeah, because you seem kind of down," Brandon added.

"I'm not down, I'm focused," Michelle muttered. "Those are two entirely different feelings."

"Okay…" Aiden trailed off.

"If I want to have any chance of winning the Jonquil Contest, then I have to start working even harder than I was before," Michelle continued, stopping in the middle of a small grassland that appeared to be an isolated section of the town's park. "And that means my training starts now."

"Sounds like a plan," Brandon agreed.

"Do you have any idea which Pokémon you're going to use?" Aiden questioned.

"Pi!" Pichu squeaked, proudly patting her chest with her paw.

"Sorry, Pichu, not this time."

The baby mouse gasped and whipped her head around to glare at Michelle. The young coordinator did not seem affected by her Pokémon's rage, however.

"Pi-chu!" Pichu argued.

Michelle couldn't help but to smile softly at this. "You'll get a chance soon, I promise. But for now, I think I'd like to give Eevee another shot. I feel bad about what happened last time, and I think it'd be nice to give him a chance to make up for it."

Pichu pouted, and continued to do so as Michelle withdrew Eevee's poke ball and released the little normal type. Once Eevee was sitting in front of Michelle, the little fur ball mewled curiously before twitching his long ears and staring up curiously at his trainer.

"Eevee, ready to do some training for our next Contest?" Michelle asked.

"Vee…" Eevee chirped nervously.

"You don't have to be so worried, Eevee," Michelle assured her Pokémon. "I know last time didn't work out like either of us wanted it to, but it's no big deal! Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. So we just have to train a little bit harder, and we'll get the hang of things!"

"Ev," Eevee squeaked quietly. He still sounded timid, but at least now he was on the same wavelength as his trainer.

"Great, that's the spirit!" Michelle cheered. "Now, Eevee, use dig!"

The small Pokémon started to pound his little paws into the ground, digging it up and forming a hole big enough for him to slip into, which he did. Aiden and Brandon watched on silently, impressed with the incredible speed that Eevee possessed.

"Alright, now use quick attack!" Michelle compounded.

A bright white light appeared from out of the hole. The grassy ground that the trainers stood on began to become ripped up, the same white light that had appeared from out of Eevee's freshly dug hole glowing from out of the cracks of broken dirt that were rapidly growing and stretching out. After forming a perfect circle, the ground stopped breaking, although the light shining through the dirt still remained. After a few silent seconds, Eevee popped out from the center of the circle, white streaks still apparent behind his little body as he flew up into the air.

"Wow, Eevee made the shape of a poke ball on the ground!" Aiden chuckled, examining the dirt tracks that Eevee had left behind.

"That's pretty impressive," Brandon agreed.

Eevee landed back on his paws in front of the center hole he had popped out of. As soon as he landed, the white light that was shining out of the dirt circle and center hole dissipated into nothing more than falling white sparkles, which mystified Aiden and Brandon all the more.

"See? That was amazing, Eevee!" Michelle squealed. "Great job!"

"Vee!" Eevee trilled, clearly pleased with his own performance.

"I'd give that appeal a perfect ten!"

Michelle raised an eyebrow at the sound of such a deep voice. It almost sounded like Aiden, but it was certainly too husky and old to belong to the ten year old boy. Whipping around, Michelle's eyes widened when she found herself staring at none other than her father.

Ash.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Aiden called from behind Michelle, quickly running to be at his twin's side.

"Well, your mother and I became a little concerned after the last Contest," Ash explained, causing Michelle to blush. "So, we decided to catch up to you three so we could be at the next Contest in person as a personal cheering squad!"

"That's really sweet, Dad!" Michelle giggled, running up to her father and throwing her arms around his waist. "Thank you!"

"Don't mention it, princess!" Ash chuckled, stroking the girl's long red hair.

"Wait…did you say that you and Mom came?" Aiden asked.

Ash blinked at this. "Yeah, why?"

He looked over to his side and, in realizing that Misty was not standing next to him, shrieked and jumped in the air, scaring Michelle off of him.

"Is everything okay?" Brandon asked, having finally caught up to the rest of the group.

"Uh…I think my dad lost my mom," Aiden murmured, while Michelle simply watched on in bewilderment.

"But…but…she was just standing right next to me!" Ash stammered, looking around frantically. "Where could she have gone?!"

"Oh, relax, Ash. I'm right here!"

The Pokémon Master whipped around and found Misty to be staring at him. Tangled up in her arms was little Elizabeth, who was whining and kicking her legs in an attempt to escape.

"Where did you go?" Ash asked curiously.

"Elizabeth was trying to run away from me again, the little rascal," Misty replied, holding the whiny little girl closer to her body. "I had to catch her."

Sighing, Ash knelt down and asked the young girl, "Elizabeth, where were you going?"

"I was lookin' for Pokémon, Daddy!" Elizabeth cried. "I was bored!"

Shaking his head, Ash stood back up to his full height and informed the three older kids, "Elizabeth is going through some phase right now. She's become very strong willed and mischievous. All we ever do is find her getting into more and more trouble!"

"I'm an adventurer!" Elizabeth squeaked, finally calming down in her mother's arms.

"Yeah, and a troublemaker on top of it," Misty muttered, releasing Elizabeth down to the ground now that the child had managed to relax herself.

"Mommy, don't talk like dat," Elizabeth sweetly chastised. "You said dat's bad."

Ash chuckled at this, earning a glare from his wife. "Ah, she's really learned from you, eh, Mist?"

"Oh, shut it," Misty huffed, rolling her eyes out of frustration.

"So, have you guys heard anything about the Jonquil Contest?" Michelle asked her parents hopefully.

"Well, according to the ad I saw on television last night, it's just a regular Contest," Misty replied. "So there's no dressing up or seals involved."

"Thank goodness," Michelle sighed. "I love Super Contests, don't get me wrong. But I seem to be really bad at them! I haven't even come close to winning a Super Contest yet."

"I'm sure you will eventually," Ash assured his daughter. "You just need some more experience is all! So, who are you thinking about using in the Contest tomorrow? Eevee?"

"Yes," Michelle replied confidently. "I want him to redeem himself after the last Contest. I know that Eevee tried his hardest, and he's a little broken up about the whole thing. Of course I'm not upset with him, I could never be! But, I think this might be the perfect chance to show what we've got as a team!"

"Sounds like a good plan to me!" Ash chuckled. "We sure got a smart daughter, didn't we, Mist?"

"We did," Misty agreed warmly.

"Hey!" Aiden protested. "I'm smart too!"

"Of course you are, sweetheart," Misty cooed, much to the boy's embarrassment. "You're my smart, handsome little boy!"

"Ugh, why do I open my big mouth?" Aiden grumbled to himself.

"Um…guys…" Brandon's shaky voice interrupted the family's quaint conversation. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Elizabeth is missing again…"

"WHAT?!" Ash and Misty cried at once. Aiden and Michelle winced, having been taken off guard by their parents' sudden outburst. That didn't mean, however, that the two weren't concerned about their runaway little sister.

"How did she get away so fast?!" Ash shrieked. "It hasn't even been five minutes!"

"I don't know, she's your kid!" Misty accused, narrowing her eyes.

"Oh, so now she's just my kid?" Ash shot back.

"She is when she pulls this kind of cra-uh, nonsense that obviously comes from your gene pool!" Misty snapped, making sure to cut back on the bad language in front of the ten year olds.

"Guys, stop arguing!" Michelle growled, jumping up between her parents. "That's not going to help us find Elizabeth, you know!"

"Michelle has a point," Ash sighed.

"We should probably split up and look for her," Aiden suggested.

"That's a good idea, Aiden!" Misty cheered. "Ash and I will go look this way," she pointed to her left, into the forest.

"And Brandon and I will go the other way!" Aiden added.

As they all split up, Michelle was left by herself, causing her eyes to widen and her arms to flail by her sides. "Hey, what about me? Guys! Come on!"

"Pi pichu," Pichu murmured, twitching her ears and tail.

"Yeah, I guess it's just you and me," Michelle muttered. "Well, if Mom and Dad went to the left, and Aiden and Brandon went to the right, you and I should probably just keep going straight."

"Pi-chu!" Pichu agreed.

Michelle began walking forward, looking all around for any trace of her younger sister. Of course, there didn't really seem to be much.

"Lizzie!" Michelle called. "Come on out, Lizzie!"

"Pichupichu!" Pichu squeaked.

"I know you're around here somewhere!" Michelle groaned.

"Haha! You're so cute!"

"Pi-pichu?" Pichu murmured.

"Yeah, that does sound like Lizzie!" Michelle gasped. "Let's go!"

She picked up the pace to a steady run, and once she reached the end of the clearing, she caught sight of her younger sister playing along with a little pink Pokémon while an older woman watched on happily.

"Lizzie!" Michelle groaned, running up to the child. "You're not supposed to run off like that! You scared all of us!"

"Sorry, Shelly," Elizabeth murmured.

"Why would you do that?" Michelle demanded. "Again?"

"Well…I saw a cute Pokémon!" Elizabeth explained, picking up the little pink creature and holding it up. "So I chased it 'cause I wanted to play!"

"I see, so this is your little sister."

Michelle blinked and looked at the old woman standing off to the side, who was giggling at the two girls and their interaction.

"Uh…yeah," Michelle replied softly. "I'm Michelle, and she's Elizabeth. Who are you?"

"Oh, pardon me," the old woman laughed again. "My name is Gale. I live in this little house right here!" She pointed to the pale yellow cabin behind her. "And that Skitty is my friend."

"Elizabeth!" Michelle scolded, causing the little girl to frown. "You can't just start playing with other people's Pokémon! I hope you asked for permission to play with Skitty!"

Before Elizabeth could respond, Gale cut in with an assuring, "oh, don't worry about a thing, dear! You see, although Skitty and I are friends, it's not actually my Pokémon."

"It's not?" Michelle asked curiously.

"No," Gale replied. "Skitty is a wild Pokémon who lives in the forest around here. It just loves to come to my house all of the time! It must be because I had started to spoil the little thing one day with treats."

Elizabeth allowed Skitty to jump out of her arms, and watched on in glee as the little creature mewled happily and wagged its tail back and forth before running circles around her.

"Have you ever seen a Skitty before?" Gale asked the coordinator.

"Yeah, my godmother has one," Michelle mused as she pulled out her blue pokedex to scan the small cat.

Skitty, the kitten Pokémon. Skitty will chase anything that moves, including its own tail. Unlike most cat Pokémon, Skitty does not scratch or bite, and prefers to use its tail to fight instead.

"Skitty is a very sweet Pokémon," Gale began, "but-"

The kitten Pokémon opened its mouth and began to sing, colorful music notes emerging as she sang. Gale grabbed Michelle by the arm and pulled her into the house, much to the girl's surprise. They waited a few moments, and after a while, Gale re-opened the door and peered out into the yard. Michelle poked her head out beneath the old woman's, and felt her eyes widen upon seeing Elizabeth curled up in a ball on the ground, fast asleep.

"What happened?" Michelle murmured, walking back outside. Skitty was sitting in front of the sleeping Elizabeth, still wagging her tail back and forth.

"Skitty, although sweet, is very mischievous and likes to use its sing attack unannounced," Gale sighed.

"That is a problem," Michelle agreed softly.

At that moment, Ash, Misty, Aiden, and Brandon all emerged from the forest, gasping when they saw Michelle standing with Gale near the sleeping Elizabeth and the overly joyous Skitty.

"I found Lizzie!" Aiden cheered, leading Brandon to shake his head and Misty to glare at her son.

"Well, at least Lizzie will stay out of trouble for now…" Ash chuckled nervously.

XXX

"That Skitty really is crazy."

Aiden, Michelle, and Brandon watched as the kitten Pokémon jumped around the inside of Gale's house, occasionally latching onto curtains with her claws and batting at furniture with her tail.

"Was May's Skitty as insane as that one?" Misty asked Ash, turning her attention on the intently watching Pokémon Master. She had a sleeping Elizabeth curled up on her lap, and was brushing through the child's dark red hair with her fingers.

"Pretty much," Ash replied. "But it never used sing on people as a joke."

"It's common for Skitty to be mischievous," Gale explained, pouring some tea for Ash and Misty. "Using sing on people for fun, however, isn't as commonplace."

"Maybe it just needs someone to train it," Ash mused.

Michelle watched as Skitty fell off of the curtains and landed hard on its back, meowing curiously before popping back onto its paws and scurrying around the room once again, whacking her tail repeatedly against the side of the couch.

"Maybe I could train Skitty," Michelle breathed. She had said it just loudly enough, however, for everyone else in the room to hear her.

"You? Train Skitty?" Aiden asked before laughing hysterically. "Yeah, right! That's rich!"

"Aiden, knock it off!" Misty scolded, stopping her son instantly.

"You know, I've thought of that before," Gale commented, placing the two teacups in front of Ash and Misty on the table. "Of course, I'm much too old to be training Pokémon. A young girl such as yourself might not be such a bad idea, however! Are you a gym trainer?"

"No, I'm a coordinator," Michelle squeaked.

"Even better!" Gale trilled. "With Skitty's energy, I'm sure it'd put on a very lively show!"

"And it's also very cute," Misty added with a giggle. "I'm sure that sweet little face would win the judges right over!"

"And if anyone can tame that crazy thing, it'd be you," Brandon agreed.

"I think if you challenge Skitty to a battle, you might just be able to tire the little thing out and then capture it," Gale suggested. "It might even mellow Skitty out enough to the point where working with it might become easier."

"Sounds great to me!" Michelle chirped, getting to her feet and stepping in front of the small kitten, who had moved on from hitting the couch to clawing at a nearby ball of yarn that it had pulled out of a craft basket. "Skitty, would you like to battle me?"

Skitty purred curiously and glanced up at Michelle, who was smiling confidently at the normal type.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" Michelle encouraged. "I want to see what kind of moves you know! Other than sing, of course."

Skitty mewled happily and began to shake its tail back and forth, jumping up and down at the very prospect. Michelle smirked and nodded her head, knowing she was going to have a long battle ahead of her with that furry ball of energy.

XXX

Outside, in front of Gale's small house, Michelle stood across from Skitty, who was still happily waving its tail like it didn't have a care in the world.

"Alright, who should I use against Skitty…" Michelle wondered aloud.

"Pichu!"

The girl raised an eyebrow and looked at her shoulder, where Pichu was smiling at her and holding up one small paw.

"Pichu, you want to battle?" Michelle asked.

"Pi!" Pichu squeaked.

"Okay then," Michelle giggled. "Pichu, let's go!"

The little mouse jumped off of Michelle's shoulder and stood in front of Michelle, glaring at Skitty who was now showing off her tiny, sharp white teeth.

"Pika pikachu!" Pikachu cheered from Ash's shoulder. He was excited to see the little one battle.

"Michelle is using a mouse against a cat," Aiden dully noted. "Man."

"Pichu doesn't seem like the kind of Pokémon to be intimidated by a little kitty, Aiden," Misty giggled. She was still holding onto Elizabeth, who was still fast asleep as a result of Skitty's sing attack.

"I think Pichu's got a lot of fight in her," Ash agreed. "She's a lot like Pikachu! Strong for such a little thing."

"Pichu, use charm!" Michelle ordered.

The little electric mouse blew a kiss, which created a flurry of pink hearts that went sailing towards Skitty. Smirking, the kitten Pokémon spun around and began to whack its tail back and forth, hitting each heart and causing them all to explode into nothing more than a shower of pink sparkles.

"Wow, double slap," Brandon noted.

"Alright then," Michelle murmured. "Let's take it up a level. Pichu, charge beam!"

The small creature created a ball of electricity between her paws and then fired off a beam of it towards Skitty. Meowing, Skitty opened its mouth and unleashed its own beam of power, this one light blue in color.

"Ice beam!" Aiden gasped.

The two attacks collided, creating a small explosion between the two Pokémon. Pichu scowled at this, while Skitty just looked amused. Cheeks sparking, Pichu jumped up in the air and unleashed her thundershock attack, alarming everyone who was standing around watching the battle.

"Pichu! I didn't call an attack!" Michelle groaned.

Skitty, who hadn't been expecting the attack either, was quickly electrocuted and taken down by the move. Michelle simply blinked her wide eyes, unable to process what she'd just witnessed.

"Uh…what?" Michelle murmured.

"Michelle, come on!" Aiden yelled. "Use a poke ball! While Skitty is down!"

"Oh…right!" Michelle hissed, shaking her head. She reached for a poke ball and enlarged the sphere before spinning in a circle and tossing it at the normal type, crying out, "go, poke ball!"

The red and white sphere went flying towards Skitty and soon hit the kitten Pokémon, sucking it up in a bright red light. When the occupied poke ball landed back on the ground, it rocked back and forth, causing Michelle to hold her breath and focus all of her attention on the ball. When it finally settled down and clicked closed, however, the girl grinned to herself and ran over to the sphere, picking it up and holding it in the air.

"Alright!" She cheered. "I caught a Skitty!"

"Pi pichu!" Pichu squeaked.

"Excellent work, dear!" Gale complimented the coordinator. "Now we can see if Skitty has calmed down at all."

From Misty's arms, Elizabeth groaned and allowed her eyes to flutter open. Once they were, she looked all around between her parents, siblings, Brandon, and Gale, blinking her wide green eyes and pursing her lips out of confusion.

"Mommy, Daddy, did I miss somethin'?" Elizabeth squeaked, leading her parents to chuckle softly.

XXX

"Alright, Skitty, come on out!"

Michelle's newly occupied poke ball popped open once again, shooting out a bright blue light that materialized into none other than Skitty.

"Meow?" Skitty purred, shaking its tail back and forth.

"Hey there, Skitty!" Michelle giggled, kneeling down to smile at the kitten. "You and I are going to be partners from now on! Isn't that exciting?"

Skitty licked its paw and began to rub it against its face, not exactly paying attention to whatever it was that Michelle was saying.

"Hey, Skitty, come on!" Michelle prodded. "I'm your trainer! Couldn't you try to be the littlest amount of excited?"

In response, Skitty looked back up and yawned. Michelle fell over, as did Pichu. As soon as the little mouse was on the ground, Skitty locked its eyes onto the electric type and meowed loudly. Pichu picked her head up just in time to see Skitty charging at her like a tank. Managing a frightened look, Pichu jumped up onto all four paws and began to run, trying to get away from the troublesome cat.

"Skitty, cut it out!" Michelle complained, getting back on her feet and stomping them.

"Hey, look!" Aiden chuckled. "Skitty finally realized that Pichu is a mouse!"

"Aiden, this is NOT FUNNY!" Michelle stormed, waving her fists in the air.

"Pika…" Pikachu sighed.

"Well, it looks like Skitty still has all of its energy…" Misty murmured.

"Battling didn't tire it out as much as we were all hoping," Ash agreed. "Although, Michelle is the one who's really suffering right now."

"Pi!" Pichu wailed, still running with Skitty hot on her trail.

"Ugh! Skitty, return!" Michelle demanded, pulling out the poke ball once again and calling the kitten back to its sphere. With that out of the way, Pichu managed to skid to a halt and let out a sigh of relief. Michelle repeated Pichu's second action, holding a hand over her heart as she did so. "Well, now I'm exhausted."

"It's okay, Michelle," Ash comforted his daughter. "You and Skitty just need to work together more! You'll be a great team before you know it."

"Yeah, if Skitty will ever calm down," Michelle grumbled.

"Hey, Elizabeth can't calm down, but we keep her," Aiden remarked.

"HEY!" Elizabeth shrieked.

"You're really on a roll today, aren't you?" Misty sighed.

"Your dad is right," Brandon informed Michelle. "Just do some extra training with Skitty, and before you know it, you two will be unstoppable!"

Michelle groaned and sunk her shoulders. She was nervous, but deep down inside, she hoped Brandon and her father were right about Skitty.

Otherwise, she'd just gotten herself into a whole lot of trouble.

This one is a biiiit shorter, I know. Skitty tired me out, lol. I still hope you all enjoyed it, though! Next chapter will be Michelle's Jonquil Contest! What will happen? Stay tuned and find out!

In the meantime, leave me a review (again, pleeease? :P) and tell me what you think is going to happen in the Contest!