I'm back! Nice to see you guys again! Although I actually returned a while ago, but couldn't write that much.

But now that I'm back from vacation, I can write for FFN again. Yay! However, I should warn you that August might not be very update-full. It's a busy month. Also, you may have noticed that I made a new cover for this story. Do you like it? Or do you think the original one would work better?

And now, here is today's chapter!

Today's topic is a mixture of multiple suggestions I received that had to do with Earth Day, planting and gardening, as well as one more suggestion that didn't have to do with plants, but I thought went Earth Day. These topics were suggested by guest reviewers and Pika-Bones.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon in any way, shape or size!

Veggies and Pidgeys

Kindergarten

May (5-6), Ash (6), Gary (6), Drew (6), Paul (6), Leaf (6)

Earth Day. The day when everyone learned about the environment and planted plants and took care of them.

At least, that's what Earth Day was to May.

To Gary, it was the day he could flaunt his last name and demand respect because it matched a tree's name. To Drew, it was the day when you appreciated trees and flowers, and he and his butler watered the rose bushes in his mansion's gardens together. To Paul, it was when his brother continuously nagged him, insisting that he grow a plant despite his reluctance to. And to Leaf, well, it was the same day as her birthday.

And finally, Ash especially loved Earth Day because on Earth Day, his mother planted all sorts of seeds in his backyard, and they grew into food. Yes, food. Like carrots and lettuce and tomatoes and peppers. Granted, it took a long time for them to grow, but it was always worth it in the end, with everything his mom cooked using their homegrown veggies.

And this year, Ash was super-excited because his mom was letting him and his friends plant and take care of plants in the backyard all by themselves. She informed them that she would be monitoring their crops while they weren't there, but other than that, it was their responsibility.

"Wow!" May marvelled at Ash's backyard. It was much bigger than her own, probably because in May's neighbourhood, the houses were closer together.

"And here is where we're gonna plant stuff!" Ash told his friends excitedly, leading them to a large patch of dirt that had been prepared for planting. His mother was already there, sowing seeds in a row behind a sign that had 'PEPPERS' written on it. "My mom bought a lot of small plants for us, so you guys can choose what you wanna grow."

"What are you gonna grow?" Leaf asked. It was her birthday today (since it was Earth Day), but she didn't mind spending it gardening. After all, the idea of raising a plant all by herself starting from her birthday felt great, since it then felt like it was the plant's birthday too.

"I wanna grow carrots!" Ash announced eagerly. "Carrots and peppers are the best veggies there are! Who could ever hate them? Look, I even made a sign." He held up a cardboard rectangle that was taped onto a popsicle stick and had 'CAROTS' written on, along with the drawing of an orange triangle with green spikes coming out of the top.

"That's not how you spell 'carrots'," Leaf said, frowning. "There are two 'r's."

"Really?" Ash looked at his sign.

"Yeah," Drew chimed in. "My tutor was giving me a spelling test. It has two 'r's."

"Oh." Ash stared at his sign thoughtfully and picked up the marker he had used to write the label. There wasn't enough room for another big 'R', but maybe if he could just squeeze it in a small letter 'r'...

Soon, a sign saying 'CARrOTs' was proudly sticking out of the ground.

"Hm, what should I plant?" May wondered as she examined the small plants.

"I'll plant broccoli," Drew said decidedly after contemplating the options.

"I'll do tomatoes! I love baby tomatoes," Leaf said, happily picking up a small cherry tomato plant pot.

"This is boring," Gary grumbled. "We can buy vegetables at the store. Why don't we just go to the grocery store and buy them?"

"Because it's funner to eat vegetables you grew all by yourself," Leaf said wisely.

"What are you gonna grow, Paul?" Drew asked the final friend curiously.

"I don't want to plant food," Paul said boldly.

"Then are you gonna grow flowers?" May asked.

"No." Paul held himself up as if he held great importance. "I'm gonna plant... a tree."

"A tree?" Gary perked up.

"Wow," said Ash, impressed. "How are you gonna plant such a big tree?"

"I told Reggie I would, so he said we'll go buy a tree tomorrow."

"That's so cool! You're gonna plant a whole entire tree!"

"No you're not," Gary interjected, causing all eyes to turn towards him. "It's too big to plant."

Paul shook his head. "No. Reggie said people plant trees all the time, so it's a great idea that I will too."

"Your brother was lying. How will you be able to plant a whole tree?"

"He was not lying! He said he'll show me how!"

"He won't be able to," Gary insisted, causing Paul to scowl. Reggie was able to do a lot of things! Paul knew his brother would know how to plant a tree too.

"Yes, he will!"

"Won't!"

"Maybe you should just plant Gary," Leaf suggested mischievously. "His name is Gary Oak, and 'oak' is the name of a tree!"

"Yeah, and I'll plant him and leave him outside all night," Paul agreed, still glaring at his spiky-haired friend. Gary sent a glare back that said, 'Don't you dare even try!'

Other than the two of them bickering, everyone had plenty of fun choosing and picking their plants. They each got their own small patch where they put up signs similar to Ash's to indicate where their plants were.

Other than Ash's 'CARrOT' sign, there were also Drew's 'BROKLEE' label, and Leaf's 'TOMAYTO' label. May, after thinking long and hard, had selected strawberries as what she was going to grow (who didn't like strawberries?), and had created her 'STRAWBREE' sign, while Gary had finally chosen to plant cucumbers with a 'CUKUMBR' sign. And Ash succeeded in convincing Paul to plant something today as well, that being a 'HOT PEPPER' plant (his spelling was accurate because he just copied the spelling of Ash's mom's 'PEPPER' sign).

And thus began their hard work of watering and watching their plants, wondering when they would grow. It took all day! Being responsible sure was tiring.

The friends all met up at Ash's house again a few days later to see the progress their plants had made. Ash insisted that his 'carrot tree' had grown even more, and May was convinced it was the same case for her strawberries, even though she couldn't see any fruit just yet (Delia, Ash's mom, had told them it took a very long time for the actual food to grow).

Leaf, however, was slightly disheartened at the fact that a bug Pokemon might have nibbled on some leaves, but Delia was able to report to her that it would live. But unlike hopeful Leaf, Drew felt his broccoli might have died, and Gary thought his cucumbers wouldn't grow at all, so he had brought some store-bought cucumbers to snack on.

Paul, on the other hand, didn't seem too concerned about whether his hot peppers survived or not since he felt he didn't need to grow them anymore, as he had replaced them. Because, true to his word, he had brought a tree. A real life tree. A real... tiny tree?

"What's that?" Gary asked when he saw the small green sapling sticking out of the pot Paul had brought with him.

Paul stared at it for a moment before answering. "It's a tree."

Gary blinked, then burst out laughing. "That's your tree? That's your huge tree? That's not a tree, that's a tiny plant!"

"It is too a tree!" Paul argued crossly. True, he too had been surprised when he'd found out this was what Reggie had meant when he had said they would buy a tree, but the store lady had also called it a tree, so his brother probably wouldn't be lying... right?

"It's a baby tree!" May gushed. "It's so cute! I'm gonna name it Mimi!"

"No, his name is not Mimi! That's a girl's name!" Paul snapped. "He's a boy!"

"How do you know?" Leaf asked. "It looks more like a girl to me."

"Nah, it's more like a boy," Ash said.

"It's not even a tree," Gary said, arms crossed. "Paul is just pretending."

"Am not!" Paul scowled. "Reggie AND the shop lady said it was a tree! They called it a sap-ling, cuz that's what you call a tiny tree."

"A sap-ling is probably just a different kind of plant," Gary said, shrugging. "They tricked you."

"No, they didn't! I know it's a tree! Reggie tricks me sometimes, but the shop people don't, and they said it'll grow up to be a HUGE tree!"

Leaf started giggling all of a sudden as she realized something. "Reggie rhymes with veggie!" she said in a singsong voice. "Reggie is a veggie!"

"No he isn't," Paul protested, annoyed. His brother was not a vegetable. Granted, his dark purple hair did sometimes remind Paul of eggplants, but Paul knew that didn't mean his brother was one.

Their arguing soon ended when Delia joined them, and showed Paul a special, separate place when he could plant his tree. After it was safely rooted into the ground, Delia suggested the purple-haired boy go tend to his hot peppers, which he did since there wasn't much else to do.

"Ash's Mommy," May said, a while later. "How do plants grow? They don't move or eat or breathe."

"They don't move," Delia said, "but they do breathe and eat, just in a different way from us. We can't see them do it when we just look at them."

"What do they eat?"

"They absorb nutrients from the soil, and from fertilizers and the plant food we give them. They absorb water too, as well as sunlight, which gives them energy."

"How does sunlight give them energy? How do they absorb it?"

"Their green colour helps with that. Then it does something called photosynthesis, and... well actually, it's very complicated to explain, and I'm not sure I'll be the best at doing that. Maybe you should ask your teacher."

May decided she would.

She continued tending to her soon-to-be strawberries, but then spotted Drew crouching down beside the broccoli plant he had planted, worriedly poking it with his finger as he tried to determine whether it was still breathing.

Drew and his green hair.

May cocked her head curiously and walked over to him.

"Whatcha doing?" she asked as she sat down beside her friend.

"I'm tryna see if it's growing. It's not." He frowned, brushing his fringe out of his eyes.

"Your hair is green," May said. "Ash's mommy says green plants use the sun and grow. Is that why your hair grows? Because it's green?"

Drew thought for a moment. "All hair grows," he said finally.

"But green plants grow 'cause of the sun. Maybe your hair does too."

"No," Drew said, shaking his head. "Plants are different."

"How?"

"They grow in the ground."

"Oh. Then.. does that mean that if we put your hair into the ground, it'll grow?"

"Hm..." Drew had never thought about that. "I don't know."

"But it'll be green and in the ground like plants are."

Couldn't argue with that logic.

"Can I try?" May asked, her eyes shining eagerly.

"No, you can't take my hair."

"Just a tiny bit," May pleaded. "A teeny tiny bit. I can use scissors and cut a teeny tiny snip-snip and we can see if it grows when we put it in the dirt."

At first, Drew was reluctant, but finally, he agreed, as he too was immensely interested in the outcome of this experiment.

May quickly ran and got Delia's scissors (the small kind she used to clip off the dead leaves of her plants) and came back. Using them, she snipped off a 'small' (her definition of small) lock of Drew's head of green, and made a small hole in the ground, where the hair was then planted.

It just sat there in the dirt, which was wet with plant-watering. She gave it a pat.

"It takes a while for it to grow," she informed her friend.

He nodded understandingly. He then he touched his hair in the spot where it was shorter than before.

"Only my hair dresser cuts my hair," he said, a hint of worry suddenly plaguing his mind. "Are you allowed to?"

"I didn't cut you hair, I snipped it," May justified. "And I think it looks gorgeous!" She smiled proudly at her use of a long word.

Drew felt better.

A week passed, and the six kindergarteners decided on meeting up at Ash's again.

May was the first to arrive. Her mother had some errands to run, so she had dropped her off early. Delia happily welcomed her in, and the little girl eagerly waited for Ash to come downstairs so the two could go into the garden before anyone else.

"Hi, May!" Ash said cheerfully as he came hurrying to meet her.

"Hi Ash!" May chirped. "Come on, let's go! I wanna see my strawberries!"

The two hurried out the sliding door into the backyard and towards the vegetable path.

"Hi Mimi!" May greeted Paul's tree before turning to her strawberry plant. "Hi Strawber—"

She stopped short, her eyes widening in horror as she saw what was happening.

There was a small Pidgey amongst the plants in the vegetable patch. And it was pecking at May's strawberry plant.

"No!" May shrieked, jumping back. When Ash looked bemused at her behaviour, she pointed at the Pokemon, and shrieked, "It's eating my strawberries! It's eating my strawberries! Save them!"

Ash understood, and fearlessly ran towards it. "Go away!" he yelled, flailing his arms. "Go away!"

The Pidgey, frightened, began hurrying away from him. It flapped it's wings a few times, but didn't take off. Instead, it ran with Ash chasing after it until it reached the fence. There was nowhere else to go. The poor little Pidgey looked scared out of its wits as it stared at the black-haired boy.

Ash stopped his wild acting and frowned. "Why isn't it flying away?" he said in wonder.

"Make it go! Make it go!" May yelled, still keeping her distance.

"Wait..." Ash said, tilting his head in confusion. "Its wing looks hurt."

He crouched down to its level, smiling and saying in a quieter, friendly voice, "Hello, Pidgey. I'm sorry I scared you. You were eating my friend's strawberries, so I thought you were a bad Pidgey. But you're not. You're a good Pidgey. Is your wing hurt?"

He edged closer and closer to the terrified flying-type, holding out his arm so that it was close to it without touching it. "Come on," he coaxed.

"Don't do it, Ash!" May screamed. "It'll eat your fingers!"

Ash ignored her frantic yells. "It's okay," he said sweetly, an innocent look on his face as he watched the Pidgey. "I won't hurt you. I wanna be friends." He had seen Professor Oak do something similar many times when he was trying to help a small, scared Pokemon. "Come on little Pidgey."

Finally, as May watched on anxiously, the Pidgey crept a little forward, letting Ash pet its head, though it did so with caution.

"See? I won't hurt ya!" Ash assured it. And little by little, it came closer until Ash picked it up. It snuggled into his shirt.

"Aw," a voice said. The voice belonging to Leaf, who had arrived unnoticed. "It's so cute! Where did it come from?"

"It was eating my strawberries," May told her. Apparently, May held a grudge against those who attempted to eat her food. Even if it hadn't grown yet.

"That little guy?" Leaf went up to Ash to get a closer look. "I think it's a baby. It's smaller than other Pidgey I see."

"Yeah," said Ash. "It hurt its wing too, so it can't fly home."

"What is it?" Delia had arrived, and Ash and Leaf then explained the Pidgey, with May putting in how it was eating her strawberries.

"Oh, the poor dear!" said Delia. "Well then, we should help it get better quickly."

"Can we keep it?" Ash asked. But his mother shook her head.

"No," she said. "It's a wild Pokemon. It probably misses its family."

Ash and Leaf were a bit crestfallen that the Pidgey couldn't be kept, but were still eager to help it get back into the air. Delia then treated the Pidgey's wing, despite it being terrified at first, and then they (mostly Ash and Leaf) fed it, with May watching them warily.

"It's great that you guys want to take care of this Pidgey," Delia gushed. "I know it's not Earth Day anymore, but this is the kind of thing it's all about."

"Huh?" Ash was confused. "I thought you just took care of plants on Earth Day."

"Earth Day is more than that. It's about caring for our planet, and everything on it, like the environment, plants, and yes, even the Pokemon."

Drew, Gary and Paul soon arrived, and were told the story of the poor Pidgey. While Paul was uninterested, Gary and Drew certainly were. Gary bragged about how he dealt with these kinds of things on his grandpa's ranch all the time, and suggested that he be the one to keep it, something which Leaf and Ash promptly refused. Drew admired it and asked what its name was, and Leaf declared its name to be Piddy.

Drew soon found himself being dragged away from the excitement by May.

"I want to see Piddy," Drew said.

"No." May refused to release him. "First, we gotta see if your hair grew."

They went to the spot where Drew's hair was 'growing', only to find that it had become matted and flattened with dirt, and some of it had mysteriously disappeared.

"It's dead," said Drew.

"No it's not," May said optimistically. "Piddy just ate a little bit of it." She poked it with her finger. "It's growing," she informed him.

Drew frowned, unconvinced.

"Your hair's different today," May noted.

And indeed it was. It was styled differently so that the area where May had cut off some hair was concealed. May had noticed it during kindergarten class, but hadn't had the chance to ask about it.

"My hair dresser told me not to cut or snip my hair anymore," Drew said.

Days passed, and the six friends found that they couldn't meet up on most days, and there were some days when only one or two could make it. But on most of those days, Piddy got plenty of attention, mostly from Leaf and Ash, with Drew joining in and Gary trying to act influential to it too.

May was often left out of this Piddy-loving group, as she did not like Pokemon and she did not like Piddy, who had nearly eaten her strawberries. But because of this, she usually found herself left alone, because she couldn't even drag Drew with her with the excuse of hair-watching, since the hair had all mysteriously disappeared on the third day, and Drew refused to take the risk of letting her snip it again. May suspecting Piddy to be the culprit for the stolen hair.

May spend these alone-days with Paul, who spent all day sitting as still as a statue, watching Mimi. May would watch Mimi too, and think to herself that Paul and Mimi were her only friends for those times.

Finally came the day Ash, Leaf, Gary and Drew were dreading, May was looking forward to, and Paul didn't care about. The day Piddy's wing healed and it had to be let go. However, Piddy seemed to have become accustomed of staying perched on Ash's shoulder, and refused to fly away. It was a few days afterwards, when a Pidgeotto was flying overhead that Piddy flew up to join it. It was clearly a happy reunion for the two flying-types.

"Don't forget me, Piddy!" Leaf called up to it. "Then maybe, when I become a trainer, you could travel with me!"

"No, with me!" Gary said. "And don't forget everything I taught you!"

"Please come to visit sometimes!" Drew reminded it.

"Goodbye, Piddy!" Ash bid his farewells.

The four spend a long time standing there, waving to it as it flew off with the Pidgeotto. Too long, in May's opinion. But once they were done, May was happy everything went back to the way it originally was, with the six of them taking good care of the food that was soon to grow. And Paul looking after Mimi.

Weeks passed. Many tiring weeks. It was a long time before the vegetables and fruits started growing, and even longer before they were ready to be harvested. Paul Mimi hadn't grown that much, but Delia assured him it would, though it would take some years. She promised to take care of it during the winter for him too.

Then, Delia, using her excellent cooking skills, created a masterpiece of a meal, which they all had happily. May thought her strawberries were the juiciest she had ever eaten. Drew was glad his broccoli did not die, and instead turned out wonderfully. Ash ate most of the carrots he grew himself, saying they were so delicious, he couldn't stop. Gary claimed his cucumbers to be the best vegetable ever, even better than store cucumbers. Leaf enjoyed stuffing her mouth with her cherry tomatoes, so her mouth was filled with juicy tomato every time she bit down. And finally, Paul couldn't help but feel proud whenever someone accidentally ate one of his hot peppers and ended up burning his or her mouth with the spiciness.

Their crops had been very successful, and they had the Earth to thank for it!

Yum yum! Makes me want to have some vegetables too! Oh, and in case it was unclear, if you're wondering why May's age was (5-6), it was to show that at the start of the chapter, she was five, and by the end, she was six, since weeks had passed.

After I started writing this, I realized that Misty would have been fun to put in here too. Just imagine her planting a plant, eagerly waiting many weeks for it to grow, and when she pulls it out, WHAM! It's a carrot! Hence a horrified Misty (since she hates carrots and peppers)!

But I wanted to keep them the youngest I could for this chapter, and Misty didn't come until grade two, so unfortunately, I couldn't include her. I did sort of hint at her, though, when Ash says carrots and peppers were the best vegetables, and "Who could ever hate them?" The answering to that being Misty, though she hasn't met him yet.

Anyways, I think I mentioned on the top author's note, it's going to be a busy month, so I can't promise many updates. Sorry! But I'll still try!

Thanks for reading!

Bye bye for now! Have a great day, and smile all the way, and if you can, have some fruits and vegetables today! :)