The last few stories were about Aiden and Michelle, so now it's Elizabeth's turn! And Ash and Misty too, of course. Let's see what they're up to!
Elizabeth: 3 years old
Tappy Little Girl
When Misty and Elizabeth returned home from an afternoon out, you couldn't have wiped the smile off Ash's face if you tried.
"There's my girls!" Ash crowed, holding his arms out for Elizabeth as she came charging at him. He caught her and effortlessly lifted her above his head, earning squeaky laughter from the child. "Ah, you still have lots of energy!"
"You're telling me," Misty sighed, leaning against the front door. She too was sporting a grin, however, showing that she wasn't actually that upset about it.
"That's because you're Daddy's little girl," Ash chuckled, lowering Elizabeth so they could lock eyes. "You get all of that energy from me!"
Elizabeth giggled and nodded her head.
"Well, the good news is I think I might have found a way to manage all that energy," Misty informed her husband, peeling herself away from the door.
"Really?" Ash asked, sounding surprised. "What'd you come up with?"
"Dance," Misty replied.
Ash raised an eyebrow. "Uh…Lizzie already takes dance."
"Yeah, she took one class once a week." Misty nodded. "I wanted to make sure she liked it first, and of course it turns out she loves it. So, now that she's a bit older, I think she can handle another class. So we stopped by the studio and signed her up!"
"Whoa, that sounds like fun!" Ash marveled, sitting Elizabeth down on his lap. "You love visiting the dance studio, right?"
"Ya!" Elizabeth giggled.
"They love her too," Misty snickered. "All the teachers and the receptionists think she's such a sweetheart!"
"Of course she is," Ash proudly bragged. "Doesn't surprise me! So, what'd you sign her up for? More of her little ballet?"
"That was one," Misty confirmed. "But now that she's 3, she can actually take another style of dance too. So I figured we'd give that one a go."
Ash blinked. "There's more than just ballet?"
Misty playfully rolled her eyes. "Of course there is. Didn't you pay attention during her recital? Or to our nieces?"
"Yeah, but everything looked the same to me," Ash murmured, scratching his head.
"I shouldn't be surprised," Misty sighed, finally putting her bag down by her feet. Pikachu, who had been hanging out beside Ash, saw the bag go down and made a beeline for it, digging through in search of a treat.
"Guess I'll have to learn the difference now," Ash chuckled. "What's the other style she's gonna learn?"
Misty bit her lip, seeming tentative to answer. Ash tilted his head, not understanding the sudden hesitance of his wife.
"Mist?" Ash prodded.
"Oh, it's tap," Misty replied quickly, kneeling down to open up her bag and retrieve a handful of pokéblock for the grateful electric type.
"Tap?" Ash repeated.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Misty continued, though she still sounded unsure. "They wear shoes with metal on the bottom, so when they dance around it makes all kinds of different sounds."
"Oh, that does sound cool!" Ash agreed, his face lighting up. He may not have understood much about dance (or anything, really) but he knew that Elizabeth really liked it, so he wanted to learn more about it for her sake. "Are you excited to learn how to do that, Lizzie?"
"Uh huh," Elizabeth muttered, sounding distracted as she toyed with the colorful rosettes on her light pink shirt.
Ash smirked and gave his young daughter a kiss on the head before placing her on the floor. "You want to play with Pikachu for a bit?"
Elizabeth beamed at her father and rapidly nodded her head. Having heard that proposition, Pikachu wolfed down the last of his pokéblock and scurried over to Elizabeth, circling the child's legs before running off. Elizabeth laughed wildly and followed after the mouse, her parents gleefully watching on. Once they were out of the room, Ash turned his attention back onto Misty, who seemed much more content.
"You got less and less excited about that new class the more I asked about it," Ash commented, causing Misty to furrow her brow. "Why's that?"
"No I didn't," Misty tacitly argued.
"Okay, does 'nervous' sound more like it?" Ash badgered.
Misty huffed and trudged over to her husband, taking a seat beside him on the couch. "I'm really glad Lizzie seems to love dance so much. Aiden has baseball and Michelle has swimming, so if this is going to be Lizzie's thing, I think that's great! And I was excited to sign her up for a new class! It's another big step in her growing up."
Ash tilted his head. "Is that what's bothering you?"
"No, surprisingly," Misty breathed. "It's just…you know, Elizabeth is so energetic, and she loves to practice dancing all the time. But tap shoes are nowhere near as quiet as ballet slippers."
Confusion once again flooded Ash. "Uh…so…you're worried about the noise she's gonna make?"
Misty tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling. "I might have just signed our daughter up for tap class, but I think I signed us up for hell."
Ash smirked at his wife's quip. "I'm sure it won't be that bad. If anything, it'll probably be really cute! I love watching Lizzie twirl all over the house."
"Right, quietly," Misty replied, lowering her head.
"I just don't think a 3 year old can make that much noise with her feet, even if there's metal on the bottom of her shoes," Ash refuted, shaking his head.
"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Misty decided, slowly turning to glance at her husband. "Just don't say I didn't warn you."
XXX
Afternoons off of work were Ash's favorite. Sure, he loved being at Indigo Plateau, catching up with his friends who worked there and training with his Pokémon. But work also involved a hefty amount of paperwork, which Ash wasn't as thrilled with. Instead, being at home meant he could just relax and not think about work at all.
Currently, he was taking advantage of an afternoon off by lounging on the couch and watching the Starmies game. Pikachu was watching as well, lazing around by his trainer's feet.
Ash's ability to hear the game was soon disrupted, however, by a strange sound that Ash had never heard before. It sounded like someone was dropping something metal on the kitchen floor, over and over again. And it just wasn't stopping.
"What is that?" Ash muttered, sitting up. Pikachu raised his head as well, revealing to Ash his heavily twitching ears. "You have any idea, buddy?"
"Pi," Pikachu refuted, shaking his head.
Ash sighed and slid off the couch, trudging towards the kitchen. Pikachu followed closely behind, just in case his trainer was to find any trouble. Instead, however, they walked in on Elizabeth shuffling across the kitchen floor in a pair of white, patent leather shoes, Lily watching on with an almost pained look.
"Lily?" Ash questioned. The pink haired woman jumped, leading Ash to furrow his brow. "What are you doing in here? I thought you were watching after Elizabeth in the gym while Misty worked."
"I was," Lily grumbled, still tense from Ash's sudden appearance. "But I can't take any more of this noise! Misty brought Elizabeth back from her tap class, and she hasn't stopped dancing since. It was cute at first, but now…not so much."
Ash turned his attention back onto his young daughter. She was indeed still tap dancing across the kitchen floor, but Ash didn't find the noise annoying at all. In fact, he thought it was downright adorable. He'd just been startled by it before, which could've been avoided if Lily had actually told him she was going to come into the house.
"You might want to try and bribe her to take those shoes off," Lily suggested, bringing Ash back to their conversation.
"Why didn't you try that?" Ash deadpanned.
"Because I can't think with all that noise!" Lily cried.
"You? Thinking?" Ash nearly gasped, unable to stop the taunting smile from forming on his face.
Lily narrowed her eyes at the Pokémon Master. "That joke wasn't funny the first time you told it, and it hasn't been funny the million times after."
"It's not that bad," Ash sighed. "The joke and the noise."
Lily stared at Ash in disbelief before letting out a loud, albeit dry, laugh. Elizabeth finally stopped in her tracks, solely to give her aunt an odd look, before resuming her tapping.
"What?" Ash pressed.
"Try listening to it for longer than five minutes and then come talk to me," Lily retorted, waving a hand at Ash before heading for the back door; the same door she'd apparently entered through before.
"So you're just going to leave Lizzie here with me?" Ash called.
"Yeah," Lily scoffed. "You gave birth to her, right?"
"No, Misty did," Ash grumbled. "And what about Misty? Does she know you brought Lizzie back here?"
"No, she's in a battle right now," Lily replied.
"Lily!" Ash gasped.
"Don't worry, I'll tell her once she's done." Lily rolled her eyes as she slid open the door. "Misty won't care as long as Lizzie's with you."
Ash was about to fire something else off at his sister-in-law, but she closed the door behind her before he could keep arguing. He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose before quickly glancing back towards his daughter. She was still dancing around the kitchen, completely unaffected by her aunt's sudden exit.
"Lizzie!" Ash beckoned. The little girl spun back around, the sweetest smile playing on her lips. Ash smirked and knelt down, which almost instantly got Elizabeth to playfully stomp towards him, her tap shoes making disharmonious noise along the way. "Did you have fun in tap class today?"
"Ya!" Elizabeth squeaked. "I'm p-acticing!"
"Yeah, practice is always good," Ash agreed, nodding his head. "You were practicing in the gym too, huh?"
Elizabeth nodded her head. "Aunt Lily was –nnoyed. It was funny!"
Ash, although he knew he shouldn't, chuckled. "Yeah, your aunt did seem kind of bugged. It's just because she doesn't understand hard work!"
"Ya," Elizabeth murmured. Ash's smirk widened.
"Well, I don't mind if you practice your tap dancing!" Ash assured her. "You can dance around in here, and I'll just be in the next room watching TV. If you need me, you can come get me, okay?"
"Kay!" Elizabeth chirped, her eyes sparkling. Ash laughed and gave his young daughter a quick kiss on the forehead before standing up and heading back into the living room as Elizabeth continued to tap away in the kitchen. Pikachu didn't immediately follow behind Ash, instead staying back to observe Elizabeth. Ash soon noticed his partner wasn't following him, and looked over his shoulder at the mouse. "What's up, Pikachu?"
"Pi pika pikachu Pikapichu," Pikachu chattered.
"You want to stay here and watch Elizabeth?" Ash parroted, albeit in English. Pikachu nodded his head. "Alright! Keep her out of trouble!"
Pikachu tittered at Ash's playful wink before turning his full attention back onto Elizabeth. Ash, meanwhile, continued his trek to the next room in order to continue watching the baseball game.
Time seemed to pass quite quickly before Misty opened the front door. The minute she heard the sound of Elizabeth's tap shoes pounding against the floor, she groaned and threw her head back.
"Oh good, she's still going," Misty quipped sarcastically.
"I think she sounds pretty good for a kid with one lesson under her belt," Ash offhandedly replied before sitting up and smiling at his wife. "Hi."
Misty, despite her aggravation, returned his smile. "Hi."
Ash reached out and gently tugged on her arm, leading her towards the couch and kissing her cheek once she was sitting beside him. "Lily told me you were in a battle when she barged in on my afternoon off. How'd it go?"
Misty smirked at his not-so-subtle dig at her sister. "Not so hot. I lost."
Ash's lips bent into a frown. "Aw, I'm sorry."
"Don't be, it's part of the job." Misty brushed off his sympathy with a wave of her hand. "Besides, the kid was very sweet. It didn't pain me to reward him with a badge."
"That's good at least," Ash chuckled.
Misty hummed before glancing over her shoulder towards the kitchen. "Has Elizabeth stopped at all since Lily brought her back here?"
"I don't think so," Ash replied. "Truthfully, I've mostly been paying attention to the baseball game, and Elizabeth hasn't come in here to get me. But I've liked what I have heard!"
Misty furrowed her brow. "Seriously?"
"Mmhm." Ash nodded his head. "It's kind of like music!"
"What kind of music do you listen to?" Misty laughed dryly.
Ash shrugged. "Normal music. Was Elizabeth's tapping really bugging you as much as it was bugging Lily?"
"I don't think as much as Lily," Misty relented. "But Elizabeth is my daughter and I do have a good amount of patience when it comes to my children. That tapping is just…incessant."
Ash tapped his chin in thought. "What if we bought you some ear plugs? Think that might help?"
"Probably not," Misty muttered. "I'd feel too bad anyway. I don't want to make it seem like I don't want Elizabeth practicing or that I don't want to hear her. I just want to hear her a little less."
As if on cue, Elizabeth's tapping from the next room ceased. Misty turned her head in interest, while Ash looked around her.
"Maybe she heard you," Ash murmured.
"I hope not," Misty sighed, getting to her feet.
Ash followed suit, and the two made their way into the kitchen. Elizabeth was sitting on the floor, trying to pull the tap shoe off of her right foot. Pikachu was already situated at the left, tugging at the neatly tied bow with his sharp, white teeth.
"Do you two need some help?" Misty giggled, approaching the preschooler and Pokémon.
"They'we stuck, Mommy," Elizabeth noted, glancing up at her mother.
"Oh, well that's no good!" Misty playfully gasped. "We'll just have to get them un-stuck!"
As Misty knelt down to help remove Elizabeth's tap shoes, Ash looked towards his daughter and smiled. "All done practicing for today, pumpkin?"
Elizabeth eagerly nodded her head. "I'm tiwed!"
"That makes sense, you've been working very hard all day," Ash concurred.
"I did," Elizabeth murmured quite seriously, earning a chuckle from her father.
"You can refuel with dinner!" Ash crowed. "It shouldn't be too much longer until Aiden and Michelle come home from their practices. Then we can all eat!"
"After I cook we can," Misty reminded her husband with a teasing smirk.
"Yeah, I knew that," Ash assured her. "I was just skipping to the eating part, because we all know that's the best part!"
Misty giggled as she finished removing Elizabeth's right shoe. Pikachu had actually managed to untie and take off the left, which he was now proudly presenting to a thankful Misty.
"I wanna watch TV!" Elizabeth declared, leaning back on her hands.
"Okay, you can watch TV for a bit," Misty stated, standing back up. "But put your tap shoes back in your dance bag first, okay?"
Elizabeth nodded as she jumped up on her sock-covered feet. Misty handed over the shiny white shoes and watched in amusement as Elizabeth scurried out of the room, holding the shoes against her chest while Pikachu followed closely behind.
"She's such a good girl," Ash chuckled, folding his arms.
"Yeah," Misty agreed, her smile widening, "she really…"
Misty trailed off, much to Ash's bewilderment. "You okay?"
"My floor is all messed up!"
Ash raised an eyebrow and glanced down towards his feet. The light wood floor of the kitchen was now marred by multiple black marks, almost as if someone had taken a marker to them. Ash knelt down and rubbed at one of the marks with a finger, lifting it back up to examine its tip.
"It's just some scuffs," Ash informed his wife, turning his eyes up to her. "We can probably get these out no problem."
"But they're everywhere!" Misty cried. "They must've come from Elizabeth's tap shoes."
Ash stood back up, a perplexed look on his face. "I didn't know shoes could make that kind of mess."
"Tap shoes can because she was shuffling around in them," Misty sighed, rubbing her temple. "Guess we'll have to try and tackle cleaning that up after dinner."
"I'll take care of it while you make dinner," Ash offered lightly.
"Really?" Misty breathed.
Ash smiled as he shrugged his shoulders. "Sure! It shouldn't be too hard! I had to clean up all the marks I used to leave on my mom's floor as a kid. I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."
Misty's flustered look transformed into one of relief. "Thanks, Ash! That would be so helpful."
"No prob!" Ash assured her.
"And we should probably find another place for Lizzie to practice," Misty thought aloud, inclining her head. "I don't want to keep having to clean off this floor over and over again."
Ash thought about it for a moment before widening his eyes. "You know, I think I might have an idea."
"Really?" Misty gasped.
Ash frowned at her tone. "Why do you sound so surprised?"
"Because you seem to be running on all cylinders today," Misty admitted. "I am surprised."
Ash sighed as he folded his arms. "Do you want to hear my idea or not?"
"Hey, I never said it was a bad kind of surprised," Misty calmly chastised. "Besides, you know all that tapping has been driving me nuts. So yes. I would love to hear your idea."
XXX
"So, I heard a certain little girl has been hard at work practicing her dancing!"
Elizabeth beamed at Professor Oak and quickly nodded her head. The professor, who had knelt down to be at eye level with the child, chuckled at her exuberant response.
"Well, that's a good thing!" Professor Oak assured her. "That's how we become the very best in whatever it is that we love."
"I wanna be the vewy best!" Elizabeth cried.
"Then you just have to keep practicing!" Professor Oak crowed. "In fact, I might just have something that'll help you out when you practice…"
Elizabeth's smile actually managed to widen at such a prospect. Professor Oak gave her a little wave of his hand, inviting her to follow him. She did just that, Ash and Misty watching on nearby.
"I still don't understand how Professor Oak is supposed to help us with this," Misty sighed, folding her arms across her chest.
"I told you, you'll see," Ash chuckled. "I think you're going to like it!"
Professor Oak, meanwhile, had led Elizabeth over to a nicely sized shed. Several grass type Pokémon were mulling around the structure, including Ash's Bulbasaur. The seed Pokémon lit up as soon as he saw the preschooler and immediately bolted towards her.
"Bulby!" Elizabeth giggled delightfully. She knelt down to give the grass type a hug, which the starter seemed to really appreciate.
While the little girl and Pokémon played together, Professor Oak opened up the lock on the shed, enabling him to pull open the doors. He stepped inside and disappeared for a decent amount of time, further bewildering Misty.
"What's in the shed?" Misty asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ash sighed, partly out of exasperation and partly out of amusement. "You're becoming more impatient than me!"
"I am not!" Misty gasped, horrified by the thought. "I just still don't get it!"
The professor suddenly re-emerged, Misty excitedly smacking her husband's shoulder. "He's coming back out!"
"Yeah, I see that," Ash replied, a grimace on his face as his flesh began to sting beneath the material of his shirt. "You do remember I know what he's up to, right? I mean, I'm the one who asked."
Misty didn't respond, instead keeping her gaze locked on Professor Oak. She soon realized he was pulling a large piece of wood out of the shed, dragging it out before dropping it onto the grass and gaining Elizabeth and Bulbasaur's attention.
"Wood?" Misty questioned. "What's that for?"
Ash threw his head back. "You'll see in a second!"
Elizabeth, meanwhile, was highly confused by the sudden appearance of the wood. Pointing a little finger at it, she squeaked, "What's dat fow?"
Misty's face lit up when she heard that. "Aw, Lizzie asked the exact same question I did! My little mini me."
Ash snickered at the notion. "You don't know the half of it."
"This is to help you practice your tap dancing!" Professor Oak crowed.
Elizabeth tilted her head. "How?"
"Oh, well…it's like a little stage!" Professor Oak continued, thinking quickly on his feet. "You can bring it anywhere you want and dance on it! Even outside!"
The little girl seemed intrigued by such an idea. "I could dance ou-sside!"
"You could," Professor Oak agreed. "Would you like to try it out now?"
Elizabeth quickly nodded her head, but stopped as realization set in. "I don't gots my shoes!"
"Here you go, pumpkin!"
Elizabeth looked up, watching as her father approached her with the ever-familiar white tap shoes in hand.
"My shoes!" Elizabeth gasped.
Ash chuckled as he bent over to swap his daughter's sneakers out for the tap shoes. Giggling excitedly, Elizabeth hopped up to her feet and jumped onto the wooden board, shuffling around and creating a disjointed melody with the metal on the bottom of her shoes.
"My, listen to that pretty sound!" Professor Oak remarked.
"Isn't she so talented?" Ash boasted.
"Yes, of course!" Professor Oak concurred. "Reminds me of the movies I used to love to watch as a child."
Misty had soon re-joined the men, watching her daughter tap away on the wood with raised eyebrows. "I didn't see that coming…"
"Wasn't it a good idea?" Ash asked.
"It was," Misty admitted.
"Now we can have Elizabeth practice inside without messing up the floors, or outside when you get sick of the noise," Ash elucidated. "And I can always keep an eye on her then, because I love the sound!"
"You would," Misty teased. "By the way, professor, why do you have all that scrap wood in the first place? I'm surprised Ash knew right away you'd have some."
"Oh, it's just leftovers from projects around the ranch," Professor Oak explained. "I always have extra wood and tools on hand! Ash and Gary always used to raid my shed for wood to use to go mountain boarding."
"Right, that stupid activity," Misty grumbled.
"Look, now you can be glad Professor Oak has all that extra wood lying around!" Ash stressed. "It's not so bad when our son isn't using it to slide down a hill, right?"
"No," Misty begrudgingly admitted before sharply adding, "I'm all for using it so long as she doesn't go flying off it and break an arm like our son."
Ash blushed at the memory. "I don't think that'll happen on a flat surface."
"Better not," Misty grumbled, causing Ash's blush to deepen.
As Elizabeth continued to tap on the wooden board, Bulbasaur watched on inquisitively, eventually rising to his feet and taking a few timid strides towards the plank. He climbed on, observing Elizabeth for a few moments before taking his own little hop. The slight movement of the wood caught Elizabeth's attention, causing her to spin around on her toes. When she saw it was Bulbasaur who had caused it, she giggled warmly.
"You wanna dance, Bulby?" Elizabeth squeaked.
Bulbasaur's red eyes lit up as he nodded excitedly. Elizabeth giggled again and began to shuffle after the grass type, who in turn copied her movements in order to keep her chasing after him.
"Aw, look at that," Misty noted, a gentle smile returning to her face. "Seems like Bulbasaur likes tap dancing too!"
"Now Lizzie's got a practice buddy!" Ash chuckled.
"Not surprising," Professor Oak noted. "Bulbasaur is always looking to get involved! Plus, he just adores Elizabeth. Please, feel free to bring her over to practice whenever you'd like! Both Bulbasaur and I would love it."
"That'd be nice," Misty sighed. "Those two playing together and the peace and quiet!"
I was the same way as Elizabeth as a kid, so I thought this'd be a fun write, particularly with the differences between Ash and Misty's reactions.
