One of my goals for this year was to rewatch the anime in order. It's been lots of fun! And even though I've rewatched the original series more times than I count by now, I really got inspired by watching the league arc this time around, and came up with this little story as a result.

Aiden and Michelle: 8 years old


Indi-No-Go

"Aw, man, seriously?"

Aiden raised an eyebrow and looked over his shoulder. "What?"

"You're really still sitting here watching all these old battles?" Michelle groaned, pointing at the TV.

"Yeah, they're awesome!" Aiden cried. "It's really cool, because every once in a while, you'll see a really famous trainer from when they were young. They had one on before of Lance competing in the Indigo Conference for the first time!"

"Did he win?" Michelle asked, unable to fend off her own curiosity.

"Nah," Aiden refuted, shaking his head. "They don't ever seem to win the first time around, but I guess that makes sense! It takes a long time to be the best. Still, you could see how great Lance was, even then! His strategy was awesome."

Michelle hummed softly. "So…when you compete in your first Pokémon League, you don't expect to win?"

"Of course I do," Aiden scoffed, furrowing his brow. "Just because none of them won doesn't mean I won't!"

Michelle smirked and rolled her eyes. "You've got too big of an ego for your own good. Must be why your head is so massive!"

Aiden scowled at his sister and was prepared to bite back at her, but his attention was quickly recaptured by the program announcer.

"What an impressive throwback to that memorable Lily of the Valley Conference! Next on Classic Conferences, we take a look at the Indigo Conference from 19 years ago. It's hard to believe this took place almost two decades ago, especially when you see some very recognizable faces competing!"

That struck Michelle. The Indigo Conference from 19 years ago? She rolled her eyes up in thought as she tried counting in her head, wanting to confirm if her suspicions were correct.

"Whoa, that's Dad!"

Michelle snapped her head towards the television. Her brother wasn't kidding, and it was just as she had thought. There, on the screen, was a much younger version of their father.

"Wow," Michelle breathed, still staring at the screen as she sat down beside Aiden. "You look so much like him! I mean, I always knew that, but looking at him there, it could totally pass as you!"

"I guess I could see it," Aiden chuckled a bit bashfully. "So…if this was 19 years ago, that means Dad was…um…"

He tried counting back on his fingers. Michelle sighed and shook her head, knowing his less-than-stellar math skills weren't going to get him anywhere fast. "10. He'd be 10."

"That means this was his first League ever!" Aiden marveled.

Michelle nodded her head, but then stopped as another thought hit her. "Did Dad ever tell us about his first League tournament?"

"Not really," Aiden replied. "I asked once or twice, but all he did was laugh and start saying some random stuff about working hard and trying your best or something like that."

"That's weird…" Michelle murmured. She blinked when their father's challenger appeared, and pulled her shoulders back. "Wait a second…that's Ritchie!"

"Ritchie?" Aiden repeated. The name sounded familiar, but he was having trouble placing it.

"Yeah, remember?" Michelle asked. "He's friends with Mom and Dad. Sometimes he comes and visits us with Todd."

"Oh, right!" Aiden gasped. "It's been a while since we've seen him. Wow, I can't believe how many of these trainers we know!"

"Mom said that Dad's always been good at making friends," Michelle giggled.

The two quickly became enraptured by the battle. The first three rounds went by in what seemed like a flash; a series of fast paced battles where two of Ash's Pokémon and one of Ritchie's went down without much fanfare. By the time the match reached the fourth round, the younger Ash looked seriously concerned before reluctantly pulling out his next poke ball.

"Charizard, I choose you!"

That declaration came just as Ash was descending the stairs with Pikachu at his feet. Both of their ears twitched, for identical reasons. To Ash, that had sounded like Aiden, but he knew it wasn't. It was a little different than his son's voice, though Ash couldn't place his finger on what exactly.

"Yes, he's using Charizard!"

An amused smile appeared on Ash's face. That was definitely Aiden! Pikachu, however, still appeared perplexed, and continued down the stairs and into the living room.

"Huh? Pikachu?" Ash murmured, following after his partner Pokémon. As soon as he saw what was on the TV, his face paled, and he started to incoherently sputter, causing his children to turn around and shoot him bewildered looks.

"Um…Dad…are you okay?" Michelle asked uncertainly.

"I think he might've eaten too much candy again," Aiden sighed, scratching his temple.

"Wh-where'd you two find this?!" Ash cried, pointing shakily at the television.

"We didn't find it anywhere," Aiden replied calmly. "They're showing it on one of the battle channels! It's a whole afternoon of throwback conferences!"

"So they picked this one?!" Ash hissed.

"You never did tell me what happened in your first League battle," Aiden mused, turning back towards the TV. "Now I'll know!"

Ash groaned and began rummaging around the room. Pikachu understood what his trainer was doing and followed suit. Aiden was still invested in the battle, but Michelle was distracted by her father's antics. "Dad, what're you doing?"

"Looking for the remote!" Ash quickly cried. "I've got to turn this thing off…"

"Why?" Michelle chirped.

"Because…this battle is really boring," was Ash's lame excuse. "You guys are just gonna waste your time watching it!"

"Well, maybe not, since we don't know what actually happened," Michelle surmised. "Besides, you'll never find the remote. Aiden lives like a Raticate and packs stuff away all over the place. He's the only person who knows where he put it."

"And I won't tell you until this battle's over!" Aiden added, keeping his eyes glued to the screen.

Ash stood back up to his full height and scowled. Pikachu, in turn, sighed and lowered his ears. Michelle raised an eyebrow and figured it was worth it to once again ask, "what happened in this battle that you don't want us to know about?"

"Nothing!" Ash quickly replied. "I already told you, it's just boring."

Michelle was not convinced. "You would never call any Pokémon battle boring. Seriously, what happened?"

Ash started to blush. "It's…just that-"

"Wait a sec…Charizard's not listening to you!"

Michelle looked over her shoulder towards the television. Charizard was lying lazily on the battlefield, his head resting in his claw as Ash frantically begged the dual type to get up and battle.

"That's not the Charizard I know…" Michelle murmured.

"Yeah, it is," Ash begrudgingly admitted. "He's gotten better over time, but Charizard is really stubborn. Back then…it was at its worst."

"Pi-ka," Pikachu confirmed, nodding his head.

"It wasn't the first time he'd refused to listen to me during a battle," Ash continued, sitting down beside the twins. He figured there was no use in hiding it from his children now. Either they'd hear it directly from him, or they'd watch the embarrassment unfold before their own eyes. Now that Ash was stuck, he wanted it to be the former. "That's why I was so nervous to send him out during a League match. But I didn't have a choice…he was my last resort. And, well, it backfired on me. Badly."

"Did he ever listen to you during the battle?" Aiden asked. He was now paying attention solely to his father, not the TV.

Ash smirked and shook his head. "No. He just…laid there. Stayed in one place. Wouldn't battle. Eventually, the referee called the match. And that's how I was eliminated from my first League tournament."

Aiden and Michelle both appeared shocked. Pikachu, who had already lived through this and remembered how badly it had affected Ash, glanced up sympathetically at his trainer. The raven haired man, however, was now showing off a more confident smile.

"It was a tough way to go out, but I learned a lot from that conference," Ash determined. "Like to still be proud of my accomplishments, even in failure, and that I could never give up if I wanted to achieve my goals. I knew after that, my Pokémon and I were just going to have to keep getting stronger together."

Aiden's face lit up. He could be stubborn at times (well, more often than not) but he greatly admired his father and tended to take the man's advice and anecdotes to heart. This one was certainly no exception. Michelle, however, appeared a bit more contemplative.

"How come you never told us this before now?" Michelle asked.

Ash laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was embarrassed, to be honest. I was worried if you guys knew about what happened in my first conference, you'd look at me differently. Guess I should learn to take my own advice, huh?"

Michelle giggled. "We'd never think anything different about you, Daddy! We love you!"

Ash grinned and pulled his daughter into a big hug, causing Pikachu to squeak and jump out of the way to avoid getting caught in the middle. "You're the sweetest, Shelly!"

The electric mouse, who had climbed onto Aiden's back, sighed tiredly. The boy smirked as he looked over at his father's trusted partner. "Yeah, I already told Michelle most of the famous trainers don't win their first major tournaments!"

"But you said you will," Michelle scoffed, pulling away from her father as she narrowed her eyes at her brother.

Aiden proudly puffed his chest out. "I'll be the exception, not the rule."

"Yeah, you're an exception, alright," Michelle muttered.

Ash laughed loudly, taking the twins off guard. Normally, they would've been gently scolded for teasing one another. Of course, that was more Misty's forte than Ash's.

"What's so funny?" Aiden couldn't help but to ask.

"You guys really do act like me and Mom when we were kids," Ash commented. "I bet you saw what she did to Ritchie before the match, huh?"

Aiden and Michelle exchanged looks.

"Um…no?" Michelle drawled.

Ash's face quickly fell. "What?"

"They only show the actual matches from old conferences on this show," Aiden explained. "Nothing that happens before or after. Except for trophy presentations, sometimes."

Ash quickly grew flustered again. Sighing, Pikachu hopped off of Aiden's back and scurried towards the kitchen in search of food.

"What did Mom do?!" Michelle asked excitedly, her own eyes now lighting up.

"N-nothing!" Ash stammered. "Forget I said anything!"

"No way!" Aiden cried. "What'd she do, Dad?!"

Ash whined and hunched his shoulders. "Two against one isn't fair, you know! Quit ganging up on me!"

"Please, we've been doing that since we were babies," Michelle teased. "We're not about to stop now!"

"Tell us what Mom did to Ritchie or I'll eat the leftover ice cream you tried hiding in the freezer," Aiden playfully threatened.

Ash's eyes widened. "You know about that?! It took me forever to hide it!"

"I told you he's a pack Raticate," Michelle snickered. "We may not be able to find his stuff, but he has no problem finding everyone else's. Now fess up or I'll help Aiden finish that ice cream!"

Ash huffed and turned his head away indignantly. "Fine. But don't tell Mom I told you! If you think I'm bad at following my own advice, she's a whole different Pokémon."