Chapter 5

"Chibi war!"

Pikachu gasped again as it couldn't believe its eyes. Sitting in front of it were Ash and May as year old infants. For some odd reason, their clothes shrank with them as well. Their clothes fit their infant like bodies just as well as it did before, causing no trouble for the youngsters to move.

Ash sat upright with his legs forward. His face was chubbier and fuller than it was before. His hair stuck out in the same directions only thinner in design. His skin was lighter toned as well. His body had more baby fat but he still looked relatively thin.

May shared many of the same characteristics as Ash had. Her face consisted of more baby fat, and her hair cascaded down her face rather than sticking out to the sides like her older self. She had red, rosy cheeks under her rather large sapphire eyes.

Resembling year old infants instead of newborns, Ash and May could still do many things that other year old babies could do. They could crawl, attempt to stand, express emotion, reach for objects, play with toys, clap, and even laugh and giggle. However, it became apparent that while Ash and May's minds were de-aged, they still had some inkling as to who they were. They couldn't remember how to speak, where they were, or have any memory of their respective lives and adventures. But they did seem to faintly remember familiar people and objects, as not all had been lost during this predicament.

Ash and May looked wide-eyed around the room as they tried to comprehend where they were. The first thing Ash did was pull on his hat. Apparently, infant Ash didn't like the feeling of a hat on his head, as he struggled to pull on the brim of the hat.

May was sitting on her knees, watching Ash tug on his cap. She glanced down on her skirt which covered her shorts. The white color seemed to stand out to her, as she started pulling on her skirt with both her small chubby hands.

Ash was getting a little frustrated with himself, as the cute baby tugged as hard as his little arms could to try and take off the hat. His mouth opened wide as his teeth grinded each other in his struggle. Finally the hat came loose and the baby managed to pull it off. Ash held onto the brim and looked at the upside down hat. His face was full of curiosity, as he stared blankly into the open space of the hat.

May picked her head up from pulling on her skirt and saw Ash holding his cap. May expressed a giggle watching her friend. She seemed to recall him, as a familiar feeling of trust and friendship washed over her as she stared at him.

Ash glanced up at her and threw his hat to the side. This made her giggle again. The boy smiled as she also felt familiar to him, he felt attached to her as if they were bound together by warmth and familiarity.

Pikachu finally snapped out of its gaze and ran up to the two infants. Ash and May stared up at Pikachu, curiously.

"Pika pika…pika Pi!" Pikachu said astonished while waving it's arms.

Ash and May quickly turned to each other as they expressed sounds in their own baby language. They both got on their knees and started crawling toward Pikachu. Ash and May had huge smiles across their faces as they started touching Pikachu with their grubby hands.

Ash rested one hand on Pikachu's red cheek as the other touched his ear. May crawled behind Pikachu and place her hands on the top of it's head. Pikachu stood still as it didn't want to suddenly scare the two infants, but it tried to console and be gentle with them. Ash and May laughed as they continued petting and pulling on Pikachu from all sides.

"Googah!" May expressed with joy as she closed her eyes and moved her hands across Pikachu's head.

Pikachu gently smiled and muttered, "Piiiika."

Ash suddenly pulled harshly on Pikachu's right ear.

"PIKA!" Pikachu shouted in pain.

The Pokemon then quickly moved itself out of Ash's grip. May almost fell forward as she was leaning on Pikachu's back. Ash's most trusted Pokemon looked at the two infants with disbelief. It knew it had to get help.

May cocked her head toward Ash's, and with her hand she gently pushed across his check. Ash just sat there staring blankly at Pikachu as May curiously continued to press on Ash's check with her fingers.

Pikachu finally thought up a plan. It motioned with its hands to stay still, as it needed to run to get help.

"Pikaaa, pika!" it said gently trying to tell Ash and May not to go anywhere.

May, without reason, continued pushing on Ash's check while the two of them looked forward at Pikachu. May was on her knees pushing herself forward while Ash didn't budge an inch, as he didn't seem to care that May was leaning against him.

Pikachu quickly turned around and started running out of the room while turning back to make sure that Ash and May weren't going anywhere. Once it saw that May and Ash were too preoccupied touching each other, it quickly turned its head and ran out of the room. Pikachu ran as fast as it could across the hallway, hoping to find Brock, Max or the Professor and ask for help.

In the living quarters, the two infants continued to play with each other, giggling by pushing each other over. May started pulling on the hood of Ash's sweatshirt from behind, in which Ash started making humorous choking sounds. Two tears formed in Ash's eyes as he felt himself being pulled backward. May pulled so hard that Ash ended up falling backward onto her lap. The small infant had his head on her lap looking up at her blankly. The girl however didn't stop, as she continued pulling as hard as she could on the hood. Ash couldn't take it anymore as he tried to pull the bottom of his sweatshirt up in the same direction that May pulled it. The young infant started crying as he couldn't get his head out of the hole of his sweatshirt. After a few rounds of tugging, the sweatshirt started to become loose, as May successfully pulled it off the infant and dropped it on the floor. Ash rubbed his eyes and sniveled a bit after the torment that his infant friend put him through. He noticed that he was now wearing a black shirt with an orange stripe. Ash sat up and poked at the orange stripe on his shirt before turning on his knees.

His attention quickly shifted, as he then started to crawl toward the door. May saw that her companion was leaving the room, and quickly started to crawl after him. The two infants were crawling out through the open door with nobody watching. Ash poked his head curiously in the hallway, and then turned right. May crawled right behind him, following his lead, as some instinct told her to stay close to him. Next to the railing they crawled, as the two infants looked off the railing at the noisy machines operating below.

May stopped in her tracks and gripped a hold of the railings to try and stand up. Her legs wobbled as she struggled to keep her balance. As she wrapped her hands around the railing bars tightly, infant May grinned and looked below. A very proud May started marching her feet against the floor. Unbeknownst to her, Ash continued crawling and didn't stop where she had. May noticed that her friend wasn't with her, as she frantically let go of the bars and started crawling to find him again. Her legs and arms pressed against the floor as fast as her little body would carry her.

"Goooggo!" she expressed as she tried looking for her friend.

She came across an open doorway in the hallway and to her surprise Ash was in the room! May giggled as she crawled into the room happy to be reunited with him.

Ash and May were in a small breakfast nook, with white toned walls and a single four legged table in the center of the room. The table wasn't too high up above the floor, as the legs only left the top of the table three feet above the floor. On the very edge of the table was a half-bitten chocolate chip cookie laying on top of a folded napkin. To the left of the room was a small refrigerator, as well as several stools along the sides of the walls that could be brought to the table.

Ash crawled toward the legs of the table eagerly. The small infant noticed the smell of a baked chocolate chip cookie which lay above. The infant curiously wanted to grab it, as he didn't quite know if it was food, he just wanted to hold it. May sat on her rear a few feet away as she watched if he could reach for his prize, as her wide opened sapphire eyes focused intently on Ash.

Ash gripped onto the leg and successfully managed to stand. Just like May was when she was leaning against the railing, Ash was quite wobbly on his legs. The young naïve boy looked up as the top of the table was too high for him to see the cookie up close. He bit his lower lip as he saw the edge of the napkin leaning off the table. Figuring that the cookie was probably resting on top of the napkin, Ash extended his little arms to the tip of the napkin. His fingers brushed across the edge of the napkin as he couldn't quite get a grip of it. May watched quietly and intently as if he was trying to perform an amazingly difficult feat.

Ash started whimpering as he still couldn't grab onto the napkin in which the cookie rested upon. In a rather sudden impulse, May shouted some baby gibberish to try and support Ash reaching the napkin. Ash stood on his tippy-toes and managed to grab the edge of the napkin as his face beamed with delight. With one tug of his hand he managed to pull the napkin off the table, but he pulled it too fast that only the napkin came falling down instead of the cookie, which continued to rest on top of the table. Ash fell down on his bottom as the huge folded napkin fell over his face.

"Heehee!" May giggled and clapped as she watched Ash sitting there with a napkin on top of his head.

The large napkin rested on top of him and extended down his entire head, leaving only one open spot for his left eye to see May giggling. Ash felt amused that May was laughing at him as he pulled the napkin off his head and placed it on the floor. The young infant tried to stand again only to accidentally bang his head on the edge of the table!

"Gagaah!" Ash cried as he fell back down on his rear.

Ash started hysterical crying from the pain of hitting his head. He started getting frustrated and picked up the napkin and only gently threw it to his right while tears ran down his face.

In a sharp contrast to his emotion, May sat there hysterically laughing at the young boy. Her huge smile and rosy cheeks beamed as she shut her eyes, smiling and giggling. The girl started clapping as she watched Ash try to throw the napkin in frustration.

"Teeheee…heheheee!" May laughed, clasping her hands.

Ash continued crying as he tried to stand himself up again for another round at the cookie. The boy reached with his hand over the table, trying to feel it. When he pulled the napkin holding the cookie before, it moved the cookie a little closer to the edge of the table before the napkin fell completely off. With tears in his eyes and a disgruntled face, Ash was more determined than ever to achieve his goal.

May stopped giggling as she crawled closer while watching her infant friend at work. Ash's hands moved along a soft and crumbly surface on top of the table…he stopped crying as he realized that must have been the cookie he was feeling! He gripped the cookie tightly as it fell off the table and onto the floor.

Ash looked over and sat himself back down on the ground while May sat next to him. He picked up the cookie with his two hands and started examining the texture with his fingers, which is something babies usually do with new objects. He held the half-bitten cookie in his hands and brought it to his mouth to nibble upon. May stared reluctantly.

Ash brought the cookie back down from his mouth and smiled. It tasted good, and that's all a baby needed to know. Once May saw Ash enjoy the cookie, she wanted a piece of it too. She grabbed the cookie with her left hand while Ash still firmly gripped onto the other ends with his hands. The two frustrated babies each tried to pull the cookie away from each other.

"Gogoeeeheeeo!" an angry May shouted.

"Nonononononono!" Ash said, sniveling.

The two infants tugged on the cookie back and forth with all their might. May then used her right hand to push Ash's face away so he would let go of the cookie. She poked him hard which made his grip loosen, as May pulled the cookie away from him.

"Heehee!" May giggled as she now held the half-bitten cookie in her hands.

Ash started whimpering again as he saw a very proud May hold the cookie above her head. She brought the cookie to her mouth and started chomping away happily. Ash sat there crying helplessly. May noticed Ash crying but didn't seem to care, as she selfishly continued to eat the cookie while Ash whined hysterically. As young teens, May didn't hesitate to ask Ash if he would like to have a piece of her cake, but as infants, May wanted the sweets all to herself. She gobbled up the entire chocolate cookie hastily as Ash cried even more.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Pikachu had finally found the others.

"Where are you taking us Pikachu?" Brock asked, running.

"Yeah, what's the hurry?" Max asked, running beside Brock.

"Will you two slow down, some of us are not as young as we used to be! And I have a medical condition!" the Professor yelled, trying to catch up.

Pikachu stopped in the hallway next to an open door. Brock and Max stood behind it wondering why Pikachu had brought them there.

"Pika PIKA?!" Pikachu shouted as it entered the room looking for Ash and May.

It looked to the left. They weren't there. It looked to the right. They weren't there. Pikachu gasped.

The Professor finally stopped running as he reached the doorway of the living quarters.

"Well that was my exercise for the month….gah." the Professor said panting.

Max walked toward the center of the room and spotted Ash's hat and sweatshirt, reduced in size.

"What…I mean…this looks like Ash's!" Max exclaimed, picking up the small hat.

The Professor looked up nervously.

"Pikachu Pika!" Pikachu tried to explain as it held Ash's sweatshirt above it's head.

"Oh no…" the Professor said, dismayed.

"That's Ash's sweatshirt! But how in the world did it get so small?" Brock exclaimed, examining the sweatshirt in his hands.

"Don't tell me…dammit!" the Professor signed as he slapped his forehead.

Pikachu looked to it's right and saw the small metallic gun was still on the ground. Pikachu ran over to it and held it in it's hands.

"Pika pikachu, pika pi Pikachu!" it said waving the gun.

"What in the world is that?" Brock asked.

"CAN'T I LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE FOR ONCE WITHOUT THEM GETTING INTO TROUBLE!?!" The Professor shouted, stomping his feet.

He marched toward Pikachu.

"Give me that!" he said as he snatched the metallic gun away from the Pokemon.

"Professor…what's…wrong?" Max asked reluctantly.

The Professor didn't respond. He examined the gun and looked to the side of it. He snapped off a metal compartment that showed various power gauges underneath. Three bars were stacked on top of each other, the top two bars were filled with yellow, but the bottom bar was depleted.

"Great. Just great," he said with discontent.

"Professor, do you know why this sweatshirt and that hat resemble Ash's?" Brock asked as he held the sweatshirt in his left hand.

"Yes. I suppose the girl got zapped too," he said, scratching his forehead.

"What…my sister? What happened?" Max asked nervously.

"PIkaaa---pi!" Pikachu stretched out it's arms. Pikachu then imitated an explosion sound and dropped itself to the floor.

"So you saw it happen eh? Well…it looks like the boy and your sister have managed to de-age themselves. Judging from the readings on this panel, it happened only a few minutes ago," the Professor said, tapping the gauge on the gun.

"Come again?" Brock asked.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? THIS GUN. Those two kids touch said gun. Said gun was not to be touched. Kids don't listen. Kids touch anyway. Said gun zaps them. Then they get small….reeeeeeaaaaal small…like itsy bitsy small!" the Professor said disgruntled, waving the gun in the air.

"My sister and Ash…got shrunk?" Max said in disbelief, staring down at Ash's hat.

"Not quite, this gun turned them back into infants of about a year old. Hmmm, what were their names again? Ah yes…think of Ash and May, only bite-sized. They're now little itsy bitsy cutesy babies," the Professor said with a straight face.

"Wait…really…? But is that possible?" Brock demanded.

"Of course. After all you're talking to a living-walking genius here who works for Devon company. I managed to create a device that decelerates growth rate, and in fact turns people back several years until when they were just infants. I created this device for…a certain reason..… but I never dared show it to my company or anybody else…but…I guess…it works," he stated.

"If this is true….why did their clothes shrink with them?" Max asked.

"What are you majoring in science, young man? It would take too long to explain, but the device also shrinks whatever the user is wearing so it still fits when they're de-aged."

"It seems hard to digest all this information. But I can't help but believe it by staring at Ash's shrunken clothes. It's amazing that such a device even exists…something like that could change the world," Brock said, astonished.

"Yes I suppose it would, yeppers it would, or something or other….but HEY! Don't we have more important things to worry about? Like WHERE exactly those two rascals ran off to?" the Professor said.

Brock grunted, "They must have crawled out of this room!"

"Whoa, we're dealing with a real mind here. Is stating the obvious something you like to do often?" the Professor asked sarcastically.

"Pikachu, did you see where they went?" Max asked frantically.

"Piiiika," Pikachu shook it's head.

"C'mon!" Brock motioned to Max as he started running out of the room.

"Hey wait!" Max said running, still holding Ash's hat.

Pikachu followed behind them as the Professor continued to examine the gun.

When the room was empty, he held the device in the palm of his hands and gazed solemnly.

"So it actually still does work. Its been a few years…I can't believe it. I'm astonished it never broke down after all this time. It just better function until the day I need it….those kids…" he muttered as he lowered the gun.

~*~*~*

Ash wiped his watery eyes as May sat there with chocolate all over her mouth.

"Teehee!" she giggled to herself.

She started wiping the chocolate off her mouth with her elbow. She then grinned at Ash as if she were mocking him.

Ash's emotions suddenly shifted. Instead of being sad, the infant started to get infuriated. The infant looked angry as it gazed at the greedy baby.

"Eh?" May looked nervously at him.

Ash quickly moved toward her and pulled on a lock of her hair.

"Aaaaaah!" May cried as Ash pulled tightly.

In a menacing gaze, Ash continued to pull on May's hair for eating the cookie he worked so hard to pull off the table.

"Noononnonono!" May shouted as she started slapping Ash in the face.

In a little chibi war of hair pulling and slapping, the two infants continued inflicting pain on one another while shouting at the top of their lungs.

"Gyaaaooo!" Ash screamed while pulling her hair.

"Yaaaargooo!" May shouted as she continued to push him and slap his face.

Various high pitched screams could be heard as the babies continued to slap, poke, and pull each other in a rage.

"That…noise…" Brock said as he turned in the hallway.

"Pika pi!" Pikachu pointed.

Brock, Max and Pikachu ran up to the doorway that was opened. They looked to the right as the two infants were in the process of beating each other up.

"Oh my god," Brock gasped.

Ash and May suddenly stopped fighting as they saw familiar faces standing in the doorway. They quickly let go of each other and stared naïvely at their friends with wide-open eyes.

"I can't believe it, I now…have a little sister! I sure hope Mom and Dad don't find out about this!" Max gasped.