So I was thinking, Aiden and Elizabeth both have their favorite athletic activities (baseball and dance) but Michelle never really had one. I've always envisioned her loving to swim, though, and that's when I realized I was missing out on giving her something to do!
So...here it is!
Aiden and Michelle: 6 years old
Elizabeth: 6 months old
Queen of the Pool
"Man, look at Michelle go!"
Misty giggled at Ash's impressed comment. "Of course! You know how fast she is in the water!"
"Yeah, but this is like extreme," Ash whistled. "I actually think she's going even faster than Aiden!"
Raising an eyebrow, Misty watched more closely as her two oldest children completed their latest race against one another in the gym's pool. Michelle was a decent length ahead of her brother, and managed to reach out and touch the wall well before he did. Her head popped up from beneath the water, beaming and giggling as her brother finally reached the wall himself.
"I won!" Michelle squealed, bobbing up and down in the water. "Again!"
"Are you cheating?" Aiden whined, unable to believe he couldn't beat his sister.
"No," Michelle calmly argued. "I'm just really fast! Kinda like a mermaid."
Aiden sulked and turned around, slowly swimming towards the side of the pool closest to his parents. Michelle raised an eyebrow and followed after him, not keen on being left out of whatever it was he was about to do.
"Mom, Dad, I can't beat Michelle," Aiden grumbled, gripping onto the edge of the pool as he scowled up at them.
"Winning isn't everything, Aiden," Misty patiently reminded her son.
"Mom's right," Ash chimed in. "Besides, I think you're probably just a bit faster on land! Michelle's got the edge in the water."
"It's cause I'm like a mermaid!" Michelle repeated, her eyes glimmering.
"Yeah, that's a good explanation," Ash chuckled.
"But I wanna be fast in the water too!" Aiden complained.
"You are fast in the water, Aiden," Misty tried. "You still swim much faster than most kids your age!"
"Yeah, but I'm not racing them," Aiden grumbled.
"I think maybe it's time to take a break from racing," Misty suggested. "Why don't you two play a different game instead?"
"Like what?" Michelle squeaked, tilting her head.
Misty walked over to a nearby basket and pulled out four colorful rings, tossing them into the water. The twins whipped around and watched them sink towards the bottom of the pool, gasping before quickly diving after them.
"They love those things," Misty laughed.
"Hey Mist, do you think maybe we should put Michelle on a swim team or something?"
Misty's ears perked at the suggestion. "A swim team?"
"Well yeah," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders. "She's really good at racing in the water! And she seems to like it. Besides, I know she's gotten a lot less shy, but a little extra socialization couldn't hurt. I bet she could make some new friends!"
"You know, my grandma put me on a swim team when I was about Michelle's age," Misty mused.
"Did it go over better than the dancing did?" Ash asked warily, recalling the horror stories his wife's sisters had told him.
"Yes," Misty sighed, annoyed that Ash had remembered those tales. "I always loved anything that had to do with the water, so swim team was right up my alley! It didn't hurt that I was super competitive."
"Hurt or help?" Ash teasingly questioned.
"Stuff it," Misty grumbled.
"Come on, think about it!" Ash urged, gently elbowing his wife. "It could really be great for Michelle."
"You're not wrong, but that's not exactly our choice to make," Misty responded. "Michelle is old enough now to decide what she does or doesn't want to do. So I think we'll have to ask her and let her make that decision."
"Fair enough," Ash relented. "Guess we can bring it up to her later!"
XXX
"Hey Michelle, Mommy and I have a question for you!"
The young girl picked her head up from the book she was reading, looking slightly alarmed. Ash understood that look right away and chuckled.
"You're not in trouble, princess," Ash informed her.
"Oh," Michelle squeaked, placing the book in her lap. "Okay!"
"We were really impressed by how fast you can swim," Ash began. "Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I love swimming!" Michelle giggled. "It makes me feel like a mermaid."
"That's why Daddy and I were thinking you might like to join a swim team," Misty continued. "Does that sound like something you'd like to do?"
Michelle blinked. "What's that?"
"A swim team?" Misty asked, Michelle nodding her head. "Oh. It's just like Aiden's baseball team, except with swimming! You'd get to race other kids in the pool and try to win."
Michelle's jaw dropped. "They have those?!"
Misty laughed joyfully at her daughter's reaction. "Yes, they do! I was on one when I was your age."
The young girl discarded her book to the other side of the couch and jumped up to her knees, beaming at both of her parents. "I want to do that! It'd be so much fun!"
"Awesome!" Ash cheered. "We can take you to the pool tomorrow and you can show the coaches how great at swimming you are!"
That suggestion caused Michelle to shrink back. "Huh? Show them? In our pool?"
"Well yeah, you've got to show them all of your different skills," Ash replied. "That way they know the right team to put you on!"
"But it won't be in the gym," Misty added. "We'll have to go to the aquatic center."
Michelle frowned. "What if they don't think I'm good?"
"They're going to think you're great!" Ash assured her. "Besides, they don't want to judge you or anything like that. They just want to do what's best for you!"
"Daddy's right," Misty agreed. "You wouldn't want to end up the wrong team, right? Where the other kids are too slow or too fast?"
Michelle thought for a moment before hesitantly shaking her head.
"If you're uncomfortable, you can always back out," Misty continued. "But I think it'd be good for you to give it a try! What do you say?"
Michelle remained silent for a short time once again. She then smiled timidly and nodded her head, much to her parents' delight.
"That's my girl!" Ash boasted. "Don't worry, Shelly. We'll be there for you all the way!"
XXX
Cerulean City was quite proud of its history with the water, so naturally the Cerulean City Aquatic Center was a big hit amongst many citizens. The star attraction of the building, of course, was the gigantic pool used for everything from swimming lessons to exercise classes. The aquatic center was also home to Cerulean's youth swimming teams.
Michelle stood by the side of that large pool, anxiously pulling at the thick straps of her blue swimsuit. Her parents sat on a bench nearby, Aiden impatiently looking around the room and baby Elizabeth snoozing in her carrier.
When they'd first walked in, Michelle had been introduced to one of the swimming coaches: Mira. She was a kind, younger woman who had managed to quell Michelle's nerves well enough. That was, however, until they'd actually gotten to the pool. It was so big that it made the gym pool seem like nothing, and all of a sudden Michelle was panicking again.
"You don't have to be nervous, Michelle," Mira informed the young girl, leading her to look over her shoulder. "I just want to see what you can do!"
"…okay," Michelle murmured unsurely.
"How about we get in the water?" Mira offered. She walked past the little girl, sitting on the edge of the pool and sliding in. "Do you know how to get in like that?"
Michelle silently nodded her head. She walked closer to the pool, sitting down and sliding in just as Mira had done.
"Good job!" Mira complimented the little girl. "Now, can you hold onto the edge and blow bubbles?"
Michelle nodded once again and gripped the edge of the pool, sticking her face halfway into the water in order to blow bubbles.
"Very nice!" Mira crooned. "How about kicking the water? You can still hold onto the edge of the pool while you do it."
Aiden groaned and rolled his eyes. "Everyone can do this stuff!"
"Shh," Misty hushed the boy.
"What?" Aiden whined. "They can!"
"Just because you and Michelle can doesn't mean everyone can," Misty reminded her son. "Besides, it isn't all about what she can do, you know. They also ask her to do all of this to make sure she can follow instructions!"
"Michelle can follow –structions really good," Aiden replied. "Much more good than me!"
Back in the pool, Michelle had finished kicking the water while holding onto the wall, and was now beginning to show off a bit more of a smile as Mira spoke to her. That was pretty much how Michelle operated: she remained wary of anyone she didn't know until she started to feel more comfortable around them.
"Now, do you feel comfortable moving away from the wall?" Mira asked. Michelle's smile widened as she nodded confidently, earning some surprise from Mira. "Oh! Well, perfect! Let's head this way!"
Mira moved away from the wall, closer to the center of the pool. Michelle followed quickly behind, ready to do whatever Mira asked for next.
"Can you swim that way?" Mira asked, pointing straight ahead. "Just up to that rope right there?"
"Uh huh!" Michelle chirped, quickly taking off in that direction. Mira's eyes widened when she saw Michelle's speed, and even more when the little girl spun around and swam right back without being asked.
"My goodness, you are fast!" Mira marveled.
"Yeah!" Michelle giggled. "I race my brother all the time, and I always win!"
Aiden, who had heard that from the bench, crossed his arms and pouted. Mira giggled and continued, "Well, I think you would be just perfect on one of our swim teams! You are very good at swimming, Michelle, but I can tell just how much you love it!"
"It makes me feel like a mermaid!" Michelle chirped.
"That makes a lot of sense," Mira laughed. "Why don't we hop out of the pool? You can start drying off while I talk to your mommy and daddy."
Michelle nodded and swam towards the pool later, grabbing on and climbing out with ease. Mira continued to look impressed as she followed the little girl out, heading towards the family on the bench while Michelle retrieved her towel from a nearby hook.
"So?" Ash asked as Mira got closer. "What do you think? She's good, right?"
"Ash!" Misty hissed, narrowing her eyes at him.
"She's great," Mira corrected, sounding completely in awe. "It's very unusual to see a kid her age with that kind of skill! She obviously practices a whole lot."
"She and her brother go swimming pretty much every day," Misty replied, nodding towards Aiden. "I took them in the pool for the first time when they were 2 months old and I've been giving them swimming lessons since they were 4 months old. So they've pretty much always been in the water!"
"That's a great way to approach it," Mira noted. "A lot of parents are afraid to put their kids in the water, but the younger you start them, the better! Of course, you know that. You're a brilliant water Pokémon trainer!"
"I just didn't want them to ever be afraid of the water, truthfully," Misty laughed nervously. "I've been doing the same thing with Elizabeth and it seems to be working out well with her too. She's only 6 months old, but she's very happy in the water."
"I bet she'll be just as good of a swimmer as her big brother and sister when she gets older," Mira giggled before bending at the knees to be at eye level with Aiden. "What about you, little guy? Would you be interested in being on a swim team like your sister?"
Aiden twisted his mouth and shook his head. "No, I like baseball! I just like to go swimming for fun."
Mira giggled and stood back up. "Well, at least he's honest!"
"Sometimes a little too much," Misty sighed.
"Anyway, I really think Michelle would do great on one of our swim teams," Mira continued. "She's a fantastic swimmer, but I can also tell she's a little bit shy. Once she warmed up to me, though, she was super sweet and becoming totally confident! If she joins a team like this with other kids, I really think it'll help her bring out that confidence even more."
"She's gotten so much better than she used to be," Ash added. "This could really be the final push to get that shyness out of her system!"
Misty hummed to herself and looked over towards Michelle, who was skipping towards them with her towel wrapped around her. "She does seem awfully happy…"
Michelle skipped right into Ash's arms, nestling herself against him as he wrapped his arms around her.
"There's my little princess!" Ash chuckled. "Did you have fun in the pool with Mira?"
"Yeah!" Michelle squeaked. "A lot of fun!"
"That's good," Ash laughed. "So, do you think you'd like to swim on a team here?"
Michelle rapidly nodded her head, and Ash let out a little whistle. "I don't think I've ever seen her say 'yes' to something so fast! Well, other than dessert."
"Cool!" Aiden cheered. "Now Shelly can beat people in races who aren't me!"
Ash's laughter became more nervous, while Misty glanced over at Mira. "See? Just a little too honest."
