New chapter, new chapter! I'm in such a good mood right now, I HAD to update the story :P I have like...no homework, I got to see my favorite hockey players yesterday, and one of my favorite colleges waived the application fee for me! BEST DAY EVERRR.
*Cough* anyway, none of you care. Understandable, mhmm. You just want to read the story! So I'll let you. I quite like this one, there's DRAMA! and good plot development. As much as I love meaningless fluff, I can't fill the entire story up with it. So don't worry :P
Now, quit reading my rambling and get to the good stuff!
"What do you mean you're going away?"
"I'm sorry honey," Delia gave her shocked son a sympathetic look, "but my old friend invited me to her vacation house for the week, and I've really missed her."
Ash sighed sadly and looked down in deep thought.
"But if you want, I can tell her that this week isn't good," Delia smiled, not a hint of hurt in her voice, "I certainly don't want my little grandchildren left alone, and I especially don't want Misty breaking those doctor's orders."
"No, Mom, it's fine," Ash shook his head quickly, "I know how important this is for you. I really want you to go."
"Are you sure sweetheart? It's not a problem, really!"
"Mom," Ash chuckled, gently holding her shoulders, "I insist you go. I'll figure out what to do with Aiden and Michelle, don't you worry."
"You're sure?" Delia arched a worried eyebrow.
"Positive," Ash leaned down to give her a kiss on the cheek, "go, have fun!"
"Alright then," Delia smiled softly as she picked up her luggage, "I'll call you when I get there." Ash nodded and allowed his mother to give him a kiss on the forehead before she walked out the door. Groaning, Ash shuffled over to the couch and threw himself down, unsure of who could watch the twins.
"May's too busy with her own kids," Ash thought aloud, "and Brock is all filled up with patients this week. Dawn has a Pokémon fashion show, Iris and Cilan live too far away, and Misty's parents are away on vacation." Growling, Ash lowered his head into his hands, trying desperately to come up with an idea.
"Are you talkin' to yourself, Daddy?"
Ash raised his head slowly and found Aiden staring at him from the doorway. The young boy's dark brown eyes were glinting with youthful innocence, and as soon as Ash's eyes met with them, a happy smile appeared on the child's face.
"Hey there buddy," Ash chuckled, "I'm not really talking to myself. Just…trying to figure something out."
"Like what?" Aiden tilted his head ever so slightly as he rushed over to his father. He hugged the man's legs very tightly, looking up at the master with his dazzling orbs. Ash's smile broadened, and he reached down to lift the child up onto his lap.
"Well, Mommy can't get out of bed for the week, so I need someone to watch you and Shelly."
"Is Mommy okay?" Aiden asked worriedly, his brow bending.
"She'll be just fine," Ash reassured as he patted his son's head, "she just needs to rest. That means no running around after you and your sister!"
"Can't Grammy watch us?" Aiden suggested, "I have lots of fun with her!"
"She was my first choice," Ash frowned, "but she's going away for the week. So she can't watch you guys."
"Why don't you take care of us?" Aiden asked mindlessly as he played with his fingers.
"Because I have to work. Since Mommy can't for a little while, it's really important that I do as much as I can."
"Take us to work with you," Aiden looked up at his father, the boy clearly made happy by his brilliant idea.
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, champ…"
"Why not? It'd be cool! Michelle an' I love to watch you battle! C'mon Daddy!"
"Well…"
"Pleeease?" Aiden climbed off of Ash's lap and stood up on the cushion next to the Pokémon master, happily jumping up and down as he begged his older counterpart.
"Please Daddy? Please? Pleeease?"
"Okay, okay!" Ash laughed gently as he grabbed Aiden, causing the boy to shriek joyfully, "I'll take you and Michelle to work with me. But you both have to behave, alright?"
Aiden nodded quickly, understanding his father loud and clear.
"Well," Ash sighed, "this could be interesting."
XXX
By that afternoon, Ash was standing on a training field, testing out several of his Pokémon's attacks while under the watchful eye of Scott.
"Totodile, use water gun!" Ash commanded.
"Toto…dile!" The big jaw Pokémon shot a stream of water out at various targets, knocking each marking down with total ease.
"Good work Totodile," Ash complimented calmly.
"Totototo!" Totodile cheered, jumping up and down happily as he waved his claws in the air. In turn, Aiden and Michelle, who were sitting on a wooden bench several feet away from their father, giggled delightfully at the joyful water type.
"Ash, are you ever going to get Totodile under control?" Scott sighed as he pushed his sunglasses up the bridge of his nose, "he's always acting so crazy."
"I don't think I can," Ash rubbed the back of his neck, "that's just his personality."
"To…" Totodile stopped leaping and looked curiously at Ash. In turn, the raven haired man blinked confusedly.
"What's up Totodile?"
"Dile…" Totodile yawned, sitting himself down on the ground.
"Oh, are you tired?" Ash smiled sympathetically, "alright, you've done really good today! You should take a nice long rest." Holding out a red and white sphere, Ash recalled Totodile into his poke ball and placed the orb onto his belt.
"Daddy, it's hot out here," Michelle called, holding her arms out. Ash knew that meant she wanted him. Smirking, Ash walked over to the bench and gathered Michelle into his arms, giving the little girl a kiss on the top of her head. Her ginger tresses, a perfect match to Misty's, were warm from the bright afternoon sun.
"I think we should go inside for a bit of a break," Ash looked over to Scott, "I'm kind of tired too."
"If you must," Scott sighed, walking to the doors of the indoor training complex.
"Come on guys," Ash smiled at both Aiden and Michelle, "we're gonna go inside for a little while. It's nice and cool in there."
"Can I have juice?" Michelle rested her head against Ash's chest. He was slightly damp with sweat, but she didn't mind.
"Me too!" Aiden cried, jumping off the bench. Pikachu, who had been sitting atop Aiden's head the entire time, twitched his ears from the sudden action.
"Yes, you can both have juice," Ash chuckled, heading in the same direction that Scott had.
Aiden and Michelle both stared up at the large silver structure. It was shining in the sun, the metal glistening like a rare gemstone. The inside of the building was even more impressive. It was lined with different training rooms, some containing indoor fields and others holding equipment used in special training. There was an indoor pool used for training water types, and different environments to test out, such as a forest or alleyway, so that a trainer could be prepared no matter what their surroundings.
Ash sat Aiden and Michelle down at a table in the quiet and empty dining hall. This was where trainers could come to get food or drinks for them and their Pokémon during breaks in training sessions.
"Now, you two stay right here," Ash ordered kindly, "I'll be right back with some juice for you both."
"This place is so cool!" Aiden squealed as Ash walked away.
"Daddy said it's very, very new," Michelle replied in a sophisticated tone, clearly proud of herself for knowing this fact.
From out of his pocket, Aiden retrieved a small bouncy ball which he and Pikachu had been playing with earlier. He happily bounced it up and down on the ground, catching the rubber sphere effortlessly each time it came flying up. At one point, however, he threw the ball too hard, and it went bouncing out of the room and down through the complex's corridor.
"I'll get it for you!" Michelle offered, jumping off her chair and running out of the dining hall. She hurried off in the same direction as the ball, and caught sight of the little toy rolling into one of the training rooms. She increased her pace as she entered the room and finally got in front of the ball.
"Gotcha!" Michelle cheered as she leaned down to scoop up the ball. Turning on a heel, the young girl took one look at what the room contained, and gasped in amazement.
It looked almost like a playground, filled with monkey bars and slides. There were ladders and ropes, and swings sitting dormant amongst small square trampolines. Thinking back to everything her father had told her about Pokémon training, Michelle assumed this was a good place to train normal types. As she observed the different features of the area, a shadowy figure hiding in the corner caught sight of the child, cackling quietly in a devilish manner. He stepped out of the crook slowly, waiting for the girl to notice him. She never did, however. Sighing impatiently, the man realized he'd have to take matters into his own hands.
"Hello, Michelle."
The little red head looked up confusedly, growing wide eyed at the sight of the stranger.
"Uh…how do you know my name?" Michelle asked rather softly, holding the ball tightly as though it would protect her.
"What a silly question," the man chuckled, moving a strand of silver hair out his narrowed grey eyes, "you're the Pokémon master's daughter, of course."
"Oh," Michelle looked down sheepishly. When she raised her emerald eyes, she saw the man still smiling at her. He seems nice, Michelle thought, becoming slightly more comfortable in his presence. "What's your name?" Michelle tugged softly at a lock of red hair.
"Loki," the man responded with an airy voice. He looked a little bit like someone out of a fairytale, Michelle noticed. His hair was shaggy and mused, and he wore a long, flowing, steel blue cape. Underneath the cape was a grey vest, layered over a matching grey shirt. His pants matched the shade of the cape, and his boots were identical in color to the shirt and vest.
"Do you like Pokémon, Michelle?" Loki broke the few seconds of silence with a simple question.
"Uh huh," Michelle nodded quickly, "I play with my Daddy's Pokémon all the time!"
"Hm. I have Pokémon too, you know."
"Really?" Michelle's eyes were sparkling at the statement.
"Yes," Loki flicked another lock of hair, "would you like to see one?"
"Oh, could I?" Michelle grinned, moving closer to Loki. He smirked and gave a single nod, retrieving a poke ball from his belt.
"Come out, dear friend," Loki pressed the center button, releasing a Venusaur. Michelle's mouth pulled into an 'o' shape. She had seen Venusaur before, of course, and while she knew they were big, this one was exceptionally large.
"Wow…" Michelle breathed.
"This is my partner," Loki eyed the grass type fondly, "he's my strongest Pokémon, and very special to me. We've been together for a very long time."
"Like my Daddy and Pikachu!" Michelle smiled.
"Yes, I suppose you could say that," Loki's expression darkened ever so slightly, but the little girl took absolutely no notice. Composing himself, Loki smiled once again, and asked, "Would you like to see just how strong my Venusaur is?"
"Yes!" Michelle jumped up and down. Loki's grin broadened. Things were going just as planned.
XXX
At the same time, as Aiden sat at the table and swung his feet out of boredom, Ash returned to the table with two juice boxes.
"Here ya go champ," Ash smiled, handing one of the juices off to his young son, "sorry it took so long."
"Thank you Daddy!" Aiden cheered, happily taking the drink and stabbing the straw into the top. Turning to where Michelle had been sitting, Ash frowned when he realized the chair was empty.
"Aiden, where's your sister?" Ash asked cautiously.
"She went to get my ball," Aiden responded before taking a long sip of juice.
"How long ago was that?"
"A while ago," Aiden furrowed his brow, "I wonder where she is. It shouldn't take that long to get my ball back."
"Scott!" Ash yelled. The rotund man quickly appeared next to Ash, his eyebrows raised in confusion. "Stay here with Aiden. I need to go find Michelle."
"Your little princess better not be off causing any trouble," Scott sighed.
"I sure hope she isn't," Ash groaned, hurrying out of the dining hall. As soon as he was out in the corridor, Ash looked around in different directions, trying to figure out which way Michelle could've run off to. Unfortunately, it wouldn't take much longer for him to figure it out.
An ear splitting, high pitched scream came from the room right in front of Ash. His heart began to pound furiously. There was hardly anyone else in the training complex. It had to be…oh no. Finally returning to his senses, Ash darted into the room, gasping at the sight.
A strange, silver haired man was standing next to a Venusaur. The grass type had his twin vines exposed, and they were wrapped around Michelle, holding the young girl high up in the air. She was screaming and crying out of unimaginable fear, and all at once Ash became filled with anger and adrenaline.
"Michelle!" Ash yelled, hoping his voice would help to soothe his daughter. Michelle relaxed for a moment and looked down at her father, but she soon began to struggle again.
"Daddy, help me!" Michelle cried, kicking her legs wildly.
"I will, don't you worry princess!" Ash reached towards his belt.
"Don't bother, young master," Loki trilled, taking a small step forward, "it won't do you any good."
"You just watch me," Ash growled deeply, enlarging one of his poke balls, "who do you think you are, anyway?"
"The name's Loki," he snickered, "I find it shameful that you've never heard of me. I'm quite an important person."
"I don't care how important you are!" Ash bellowed, "If you mess around with my daughter, you're in for a whole lot of trouble! Let's go Infernape!" Ash chucked the red and white sphere, releasing the flame Pokémon. The sight of Michelle entangled in Venusaur's vine whip caused Infernape to become enraged, mimicking the emotions of his trainer.
"You're making a foolish mistake, dear boy," Loki shook his head.
"Infernape, use flare blitz on Venasaur!" Ash ordered. The fire type grunted and dashed forward, becoming engulfed in a bright orange fire. He ran straight into Venusaur, causing the monster of a Pokémon a great deal of damage. When Infernape straightened himself out, he winced in pain as the red sparks of recoil shocked him.
"You never did know any better, did you?" Loki tisked as he revealed a second poke ball. At this statement, Ash grew slightly confused, but he quickly snapped back into his serious demeanor. "Dustox, get this pesky Infernape and his trainer, won't you?"
The half bug, half poison type appeared in the air, setting its large yellow eyes on Infernape.
"Infernape, get it!" Ash barked, "Use flamethrower!"
Ingernape shot out a heavy stream of fire towards the poison moth Pokémon. Loki, however, didn't seem affected at all.
"Dodge it," he ordered softly. Dustox fluttered away with ease, and the failed flamethrower hit the ceiling, burning a gaping hole into the metal.
"Oh man," Ash muttered.
"Is that it?" Loki mused, "Dustox, let's show them your silver wind."
"Tox," Dustox nodded and began to flap its wings quickly, creating silver crescents that went flying towards Infernape.
"Dodge it!" Ash screamed. The fire type successfully dodged each hoary slice, creating several gashes in the floor. "Use flamethrower again!"
Infernape unleashed the attack, which Dustox once again dodged, this time without having to be told. Loki just stood by with an evil smirk as Dustox fluttered around the room. Growling, Infernape blew fire wherever the dust moth Pokémon went, missing each and every time. By the time he was finished, much of the room was absolutely charred, and Ash was becoming even more infuriated. Sensing his trainer's building frustration, and having to deal with his own, Infernape suddenly began to breathe heavily, his eyes glowing a faint red.
"Why don't you just quit while you're ahead?" Ash glared at Loki, "put my daughter down and I'll let you go."
"Now why would I do that?" Loki rolled his eyes teasingly, "Your daughter is of great use to me. Besides, I thought I'd get a much better battle out of the Pokémon master."
"Why would you need my daughter?" Ash seethed. The red tint of Infernape's eyes increased and the flames atop his head began to grow even hotter than usual.
"That information can't be revealed to you, I'm afraid."
"Daddy," Michelle whimpered. Ash looked back up at the little girl, and saw her dark emerald eyes filled with tears. His heart felt like it was being crushed, and his head was spinning. He had to save Michelle. He had to. Growling once again, Ash turned his gaze to Infernape. When he caught sight of the fire type, however, Ash gasped and straightened his shoulders out.
The flame Pokémon's eyes were a deep color of scarlet. His body was surrounded by a bright orange glow, and the flames on his head were about a foot higher, and clearly much hotter.
"Hm? What is going on with your inferior little fire type?" Loki raised an eyebrow. Grinning, Ash's hands tightened into fists at his sides, and he smirked boldly.
"It's called blaze," Ash chuckled darkly, just once. Infernape looked towards Loki and let out a piercing shriek, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed heavily.
"Blaze?" Loki repeated, this time with obvious interest.
"That's right!" Ash pointed forward, "Infernape! Use flare blitz one more time!"
"FER!" Infernape's orange glow increased exceptionally, and he once again ran straight into Venusaur. The grass type cried out in severe pain, and he began to falter. His vines retracted back into the trunk on his back, and Michelle went tumbling down. As Infernape moved onto Dustox, Ash ran forward, catching the frightened little red head in his arms.
"Gotcha!" Ash cheered, holding the girl close to him. She was still crying, and visibly shaken. Ash frowned and hugged her tightly, hoping that she would begin to feel safer.
Infernape, meanwhile, had gotten to Dustox by jumping up onto the playground equipment. He tackled the dual bug and poison type with his flare blitz attack, instantly knocking out the dust moth. Dustox fluttered to the ground, and Loki grunted, wordlessly recalling the unconscious Pokémon.
"That's enough of this," Loki sighed, taking out Venusaur's poke ball and returning the badly injured grass type. He turned to Ash, who was rocking Michelle back and forth and staring angrily back at the silver haired man. Chuckling, Loki once again addressed Ash, "you certainly are powerful."
"No kidding," Ash bit back.
"Too bad that won't help you in the long run," Loki shook his head slowly, a daunting smirk appearing on his face. From his belt, he threw a smoke bomb, enshrouding himself in a veil of fog. Ash coughed as the smoke dispersed, and he held Michelle's head close against his chest to protect her from the smolder. When it cleared, and Ash looked back up, Loki was gone.
"Who was that?" Ash asked himself quietly. Michelle's sobbing became heavier, and Ash frowned as he continued to hug the girl tightly. "Don't cry princess, It's over. You're safe. I won't ever let anybody hurt you."
"In…infer…"
Ash looked over at Infernape, who looked on the verge of collapsing.
"You did great Infernape," Ash gave a nod to the exhausted fire type, "thank you for helping me. Take a long rest." And with that, he recalled the flame Pokémon to the sanctuary of his poke ball.
"Ash!"
The Pokémon master turned to face the doorway, where he saw Scott racing in, Aiden hanging onto his back. Ash had to resist the urge to laugh. Scott always hated when the twins climbed all over him, so Aiden obviously wasn't up on Scott's back by the manager's choice.
"We heard a lot of loud noises and…" Aiden instantly stopped talking when he looked into the training room. Jumping off of Scott's back, he slowly walked closer to Ash, his eyes widening. "Whoa."
"Ash," Scott breathed out sharply, "what did you do?"
"I had no choice!" Ash cried, "some…guy was in here. I have no idea who he was. He said his name was Loki. He was crazy. He had silver hair…and a cape! And he was trying to kidnap Michelle! So I had to get rid of him somehow!" Fully examining the extent of damage he'd dealt to the training room, Ash grimaced and added, "I certainly didn't mean to do this."
There were holes burnt into the ceiling, walls, and floor, dark ash spread all over the room. The playground apparatus in the middle of the room was completely charred, burnt to a fine crisp and completely unusable.
"The league is not going to be happy with this," Scott began to rub his temples, "not at all."
"They can't get me in trouble for this, can they?" Ash asked incredulously.
"It's a very real possibility," Scott shook his head, "this complex is state of the art, brand new, and very expensive. The fact that you've totally destroyed part of it is not going to go over very well."
"Great," Ash sighed, hanging his head. When Misty got wind of this, she was probably going to be even more infuriated than the league. That was the splendor of pregnancy hormones in an already temperamental beauty.
"Daddy…" Michelle hiccupped, her tears still falling. Aiden frowned up at his twin sister, and Ash continued to comfort her.
"Michelle, honey…listen to me," Ash soothed, rubbing her back. Michelle looked up slowly, into her father's chocolate brown eyes. "You know I'm always going to protect you. I love you so much! But…we can't tell Mommy about this. Okay?"
"Why can't we tell Mommy?" Aiden asked quietly.
Part of the reason, of course, was because Misty would kill Ash, even though it wasn't his fault. But he wasn't about to tell his children that. So he decided to go with the other half of his reasoning. "Because she'll probably get very upset, even though Michelle's okay. And the more she gets upset, the longer she'll have to stay in bed."
"I don't want that," Aiden frowned.
"What do you say Shelly?" Ash kissed her on the forehead, "is that alright?"
Michelle sniffed and nodded very slowly, and very hesitantly.
XXX
That night, Ash and Misty were awoken by the sound of sniffling and gentle sobbing. They both rose very slowly, looking at one another to make sure it wasn't either of them.
"Why would I be crying?" Ash sounded almost offended as he rubbed his eyes.
"Don't get smart with me," Misty yawned, shoving him by the shoulders.
The crying became louder and louder, until the two realized the source of the tears was standing at the foot of their bed. Misty began to sit up, struggling ever so slightly to do so. Ash was able to get up more quickly than Misty, and he crawled over to the edge of the bed. Looking down, he sighed sadly, his shoulders dropping.
"Who is it?" Misty finally sat up, rubbing her stomach. All of the stirring had woken up the baby.
"Michelle," Ash murmured, leaning down to lift the little girl up onto the bed. He brought the hysterical young red head over to Misty. It wasn't that Ash couldn't comfort the child on his own. She was just so upset that he knew he'd need Misty's help.
"Sweetheart, what's the matter?" Misty frowned as she stroked her daughter's ginger locks, "why're you crying?"
"I…I had a bad dream…" Michelle wailed, rubbing the tears away from her eyes. Ash bit his lip so deeply it nearly began to bleed.
"My poor baby," Misty hugged the girl tightly, kissing the top of her head, "why don't you sleep in here with me and Daddy?" Michelle looked up at Ash, as though to check that it was okay. Ash smiled weakly and nodded, patting the girl's head.
"Come on princess," Ash hushed as he laid back down, "let's go to sleep, okay?"
Michelle, however, just couldn't stop crying. She refused to leave Misty's arms, sobbing even harder if Misty tried to separate from the child.
"Michelle, what in the world was your bad dream about?" Misty looked and sounded extremely alarmed.
Michelle shook her head and stammered, "n…no. Can't say."
"Why not?" Misty raised an eyebrow as she stroked the girl's cheek.
"I…I can't," Michelle sniffed, burying herself into the covers with her back turned towards Ash, "don't leave me Mommy."
"I'm not," Misty looked confusedly at Ash, who was staring sadly at Michelle. Looking back at Michelle, Misty's expression became one of sympathy. As she laid back down, Michelle moved closer to Misty once again, trying her best to snuggle up against her mother with the swollen stomach in the way.
"Do you know what's going on?" Misty whispered to Ash as she rubbed her daughter's back.
"Uh…I have…no idea," Ash blushed as he buried his head into his pillow, "good night, Mist."
Misty sighed and rolled her eyes. She was almost certain Ash was lying to her, but she was a little too tired to press him about it. Fortunately, Michelle's sobs were beginning to disappear, and she was settling into a deep sleep.
I'll figure it out tomorrow, Misty thought to herself as she yawned and lay back down, nestling her head against Michelle's.
Misty doesn't like lying. Just thought I'd remind you all of that little fact :P
Soo...what did you think? Was it good? Okay? Suckish? I hope not suckish XD This incident will not soon be forgotten, especially by Michelle. What do I mean by that? Well...you'll just have to keep reading and reviewing... :P
Until next time my awesome readers!