The last couple of chapters didn't feature any Elizabeth, so here's a fun one with the focus on her (and some of Ash's Pokémon, too!)
Elizabeth: 4 years old
World's Cutest Pokémon
"All Pokémon are cute!"
That was Elizabeth's insistence. Even the ones that most people found hideous or unpleasant, Elizabeth would disagree and have some reason for why she did.
Take, for example, Muk. Elizabeth was particularly fond of her father's. She described him as "very nice and friendly" and "a very pretty purple." So much so, in fact, that Elizabeth declared "Muk purple" her "most favorite purple in the whole world." Whenever Muk was getting too affectionate with someone, and they would complain, Elizabeth was quick to exclaim that Muk was "just being nice" and that it was fun to be friends with such a sweet Pokémon.
It was a similar situation with Trubbish. Elizabeth most commonly saw them when her family was in Unova, and she thought they were cute as well, much to her parents' confusion. After all…it was literally a living bag of garbage. But nope; Elizabeth thought they had "pretty eyes" and were "really colorful."
Even Sharpedo, which Elizabeth had been rather scared of when she was younger, she was now complimentary of. She referred to the yellow markings on their forehead as a star and thought it was "super cool."
Although Ash didn't always follow Elizabeth's train of thought, he loved that she thought so highly of every single Pokémon, no matter what other people thought of them. Misty was too, although she could've done without her daughter's admiration of bug types.
It was a beautiful afternoon in Cerulean City when Elizabeth attached herself to Ash's leg, earning his attention and a big smile.
"What's up, kiddo?" He asked, reaching down to ruffle the girl's hair.
"Daddy, can me and your Pokémon play?" Elizabeth asked, glancing up at her father.
"I guess so, it is our day off from training," Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders.
Elizabeth began to giggle excitedly, releasing her father's leg as she jumped up and down. "Pokémon! Pokémon!"
"Okay, okay!" Ash chuckled, retrieving the five poke balls from his belt. "Pikachu, you want to play with Lizzie and the others?"
"Pi-ka!"
The electric mouse came scurrying from beneath the shade of the backyard's large tree, jumping into a delighted Elizabeth's arms.
"Alright, guys, it's playtime!" Ash announced, tossing the poke balls up in the air to release his current team: Lycanroc, Bayleef, Corphish, Heracross, and Infernape.
The five newly released Pokémon were thrilled when they saw Elizabeth standing in front of them. Ash's Pokémon adored his children, and Elizabeth was especially fun for them because she was at an age where she was very imaginative and playful. Her sugar-sweet personality and natural kindheartedness didn't hurt, either.
"Hi!" Elizabeth greeted the Pokémon, waving at them.
"Play nice," Ash reminded his daughter.
"Daddy, I'm not a baby!" Elizabeth cried. "I know how to play with the Pokémon."
"I know you're not a baby, Lizzie," Ash assured the frustrated child. "I just wanted to remind you!"
That was enough to placate Elizabeth. "Okay! Come on, everyone!"
She started to walk off, still carrying Pikachu in her arms as the other Pokémon followed behind her. Ash smirked and decided that he could step inside for a minute and grab a snack. Since the Pokémon were so protective of the children, they watched after them very well, so he felt safe leaving Elizabeth alone with them for a bit.
Once Elizabeth had gathered the Pokémon where she wanted them, she spun back around and gleefully announced, "we're gonna have a contest!"
The Pokémon all made noises of confusion and exchanged equally bewildered looks. Pikachu, instead, looked up at Elizabeth and asked, "pi-ka pi Pikachu?"
"Nuh uh, not a contest like the ones on TV!" Elizabeth giggled. "I mean a contest about being cute!"
"Chu?" Pikachu squeaked.
"Yeah, everyone can do cute stuff and be cute, and then we can pick a winner!" Elizabeth added.
Lycanroc's eyes lit up. The wolf Pokémon was all about his looks, particularly his fur, so the thought of a contest based heavily on that was right up the rock type's alley. He barked excitedly and began to rapidly wag his tail, showing that he thought Elizabeth's idea was an excellent one.
Elizabeth giggled at Lycanroc's reaction. "Is everyone else excited, too?"
The other Pokémon, although still a little confused, voiced their agreement. They didn't want to disappoint Elizabeth, after all.
"Okay, let's go!" Elizabeth cheered. "Since Rocky was really super excited, he goes first!"
Lycanroc barked again. Elizabeth still had trouble pronouncing his full name, and chose to call him "Rocky" instead, much like her grandmother (though Delia used it simply out of preference).
The rock type stood up on his hind legs, holding his paws up and sticking his tongue out of the side of his mouth. The other Pokémon were not so impressed by Lycanroc's little display, but Elizabeth was positively delighted, laughing wildly and clapping her hands together.
"So cute!" She squealed.
Bayleef huffed. She was not a Pokémon who would stand for being overshadowed, especially by what she considered to be a pompous hairball. The leaf Pokémon pushed past him, shooing the flustered rock type by whacking him with the leaf on her head. Elizabeth seemed a bit taken off guard, but wasn't upset and didn't protest. Smiling boldly, Bayleef began to swing her head from side-to-side, the leaf atop her head swaying with it.
"Bay…bay…bay! Bay!"
The confused look on Elizabeth's face quickly gave way to delight. "Pretty singing, Leefy!"
The grass type proudly puffed her chest out. "Bay!"
"Who wants to go next?" Elizabeth squeaked.
Pikachu and Infernape exchanged looks. Heracross and Corphish were busy goofing around and hadn't even heard Elizabeth's question. Infernape was very hesitant to go, however, which Pikachu knew, so he decided to take one for the team and take his turn in Elizabeth's little game.
The little mouse hopped forward, pulling his face into one of his famed Pokémon impressions, this one of Bulbasaur. Elizabeth began to laugh immediately, and most of the other Pokémon were amused as well. In fact, Corphish and Heracross seemed to get a little too into the act, as they suddenly wanted to compete in Elizabeth's contest as well.
The water and bug type began trying to push one another out of the way as they raced to park themselves between Pikachu and Elizabeth. Corphish quickly became angry and began shouting at Heracross, waving a claw at him.
"Hey!" Elizabeth cried. "Bad Phishy! No fighting!"
Corphish, however, paid Elizabeth's warning no mind. Instead, he opened up his claw to fire a bubble beam at Heracross, who was quick to jump out of the way. The attack instead collided with an oblivious Lycanroc, drenching his white and orange fur as well as the grass and dirt beneath him. Some of the mud and blades of grass wound up in his now messy fur, leaving the rock type looking like a wet, dirty mop.
"Pi-ka!" Pikachu gasped, his ears shooting up in alarm. He knew what happened when Lycanroc's fur got dirty…
The stunned wolf Pokémon glanced down and realized that he was, in fact, one giant mess. He howled in alarm, looking up in shock and setting his eyes on a startled Corphish. Lycanroc's eyes suddenly narrowed and turned bright red, while his snout curled up to bare his sharp, clenched teeth.
The other Pokémon began to back up in fear, while Elizabeth just watched on, completely bewildered. She'd never seen Lycanroc act like this before, and she was just frozen in place. Pikachu managed to turn his head and realized this, and instead of worrying about himself, quickly began to panic for the welfare of his trainer's young daughter.
It was at that moment that Ash was just stepping back outside after finishing off his snack. He was perfectly content and pleased with himself…until he heard all of the snarling and concerned whimpers. Glancing up, Ash's heart fell into his stomach when he realized Lycanroc was filthy and enraged…and Elizabeth was staring right into the unruly Pokémon's blood red eyes.
"Lizzie!" He hissed, bolting towards the child.
At the same time, Pikachu jumped in front of her and growled back at Lycanroc, his cheeks sparking with electricity. Elizabeth finally managed to look away from Lycanroc to lower her eyes towards Pikachu, but she was otherwise still frozen in place.
Lycanroc bent at the knees and lunged, leading Pikachu to unleash his thunderbolt attack. In the middle of it all, Ash rushed in and grabbed Elizabeth, holding the young girl against him and bracing her with his arms as he looked out towards the now-dueling Pikachu and Lycanroc.
"Quit it, Lycanroc!" Ash ordered.
The wolf Pokémon was too far gone in his rage to hear Ash, however. Pikachu's previous thunderbolt hadn't struck Lycanroc…he'd only fired it off as a warning. That hadn't done much good either, however, and Pikachu's worry was only growing.
"Pikachu, use electroball!" Ash commanded.
The electric type didn't need to be told twice. Jumping up in the air, he allowed a sphere of electricity to form at the end of his tail before firing it off at Lycanroc. It didn't strike him head on, but it did get closer than the previous warning thunderbolt, just grazing the wolf Pokémon's paw.
That finally seemed to get the rock type to settle down, at least to an extent where he was no longer totally raging. After a cautious moment, Pikachu slowly walked towards Lycanroc, murmuring an unsure, "pi-ka Pikachu?"
Lycanroc growled softly, looking away from Pikachu. It was obvious just by looking at his face he was embarrassed by what he'd just done.
Ash, meanwhile, let out a relieved sigh and glanced down at Elizabeth, who he was still holding close. "Are you okay, baby?"
"Uh huh," Elizabeth squeaked. She certainly didn't sound frightened. "Daddy, why'd Rocky do that?"
Ash sighed before explaining, "Lycanroc really doesn't like it when his fur gets dirty. He's proud of how pretty it is! So when it gets really messy like that, he gets very upset."
Elizabeth thought about it for a moment before replying, "I don't like getting dirty either."
"I know you don't," Ash chuckled softly. "You like to be a tidy girl!"
"Ya," Elizabeth agreed. Then, she quickly requested, "I wanna go down."
Ash was unsure, but Elizabeth kept staring at him with her dazzling green eyes, unblinking and unafraid, and Ash knew that, just like her mother, Elizabeth was not going to take "no" for an answer. So he put her down in the grass and held his breath, not taking his eyes off of her for even a second.
Elizabeth, however, had no hesitance at all. She started to move slowly towards Lycanroc, which sent Ash into a panic. He managed to hide it, however, and just followed closely after Elizabeth, who didn't even notice his presence.
Lycanroc was still wallowing, and didn't realize Elizabeth was walking towards him until her little arms were wrapped around his neck. The wolf Pokémon huffed softly and glanced down, watching as Elizabeth rubbed her cheek against his (still dirty) fur.
"S'okay, Rocky," Elizabeth gently reassured the Pokémon. "We can make you clean! And you're still cute anyway!"
Lycanroc's ears perked. A look of calm suddenly overtook his face, surprising Ash and the other Pokémon. With a small smile, the wolf Pokémon started to lick Elizabeth's cheek, eliciting a flood of giggles from the little girl.
"Silly Rocky!" She squealed through her laughter.
Blinking, Ash knelt down next to his daughter and murmured, "That really worked."
He didn't think Elizabeth would hear him over her giggles, but she clearly did, as she spun around and beamed at her father. "I made Rocky feel better!"
"Yeah, you sure did!" Ash agreed, still sounding quite impressed.
"Can we give Rocky a bath?" Elizabeth asked.
"That's a great idea," Ash chuckled. "I'm sure you'd be much happier after that, right, Lycanroc?"
The rock type barked in agreement, much to Elizabeth's delight.
"Pika, pikachupichu," Pikachu cried.
Ash blinked before gasping. "Oh, Lizzie! You didn't get to finish your little game with the Pokémon!"
"S'okay!" Elizabeth squeaked yet again. "They're all cute! So they all win!"
All of the Pokémon, save for Pikachu, seemed thrown off by this decision. Ash, on the other hand, simply started to laugh again and ruffled his daughter's hair.
"You're just the cutest girl, aren't you?" He asked.
"Uh huh!" Elizabeth chirped. "The cutest!"
Truthfully, I don't like the whole "Lycanroc freaks out when his fur gets dirty" thing, but it does make a good plot point when Elizabeth is involved!
