I've gotten a couple of requests for a story with the older Aiden, Michelle, and Elizabeth, so I wrote this one up! I'm up to BW in my Pokemon rewatch, so I'm on a serious Unova kick right now.
Aiden and Michelle: 16 years old
Elizabeth: 10 years old
Eyes on the Shiny Prize
"Guys! Guys! Guys!"
Aiden groaned as those high-pitched squeals assaulted his ears.
"Here we go…" he muttered to no one in particular.
His younger sister came stumbling through the bushes, cracking a few flimsy branches along the way. The girl's loyal Teddiursa followed closely behind, looking just as excited as her trainer.
"What is it now, Elizabeth?" Aiden grumbled. He wasn't usually so short with his sister, but she'd been unable to sit still since arriving in Unova, and it was starting to wear on his nerves.
"Teddi and I just saw the most amazing thing!" Elizabeth exclaimed, frantically waving her arms around.
"Yeah, and what was that?" Aiden scoffed, assuming it was just another Pidove or Patrat. Elizabeth had been in awe of seeing those two everywhere, even though they were some of Unova's most common Pokémon.
"A pink Minccino!" Elizabeth replied, her green eyes sparkling.
"Ur!" Teddi chimed in.
"Pink?" Aiden repeated incredulously. "Minccino aren't pink."
"Duh, I know that," Elizabeth sighed. "They're gray. Usually. But we totally just saw a pink one! And it was so cute! I have to catch it."
Aiden rolled his eyes as his sister pumped a determined fist. "Then why are you wasting time coming back here to tell me about it? Go catch it!"
Sheepishly, Elizabeth began poking her fingers together. "Well, I thought about that, but I got kinda nervous. I want that Minccino so bad, and I'm worried I won't be able to catch it on my own. The last thing I want is for Minccino to get away!"
All of a sudden, Aiden was feeling a lot more boastful than annoyed. Puffing out his chest, he mused, "So you came all the way here to get me, huh? Knowing how good of a trainer I am, I'm certainly not surprised!"
Elizabeth quickly dropped her self-consciousness and narrowed her eyes. "No. I came here to get Daddy."
Aiden nearly fell over flat on his face. "Seriously?!"
"Course I am!" Elizabeth shrieked. "He's the strongest Pokémon trainer in the world! If anyone can help me catch that Minccino, it's him."
"You don't need Dad to help you catch it," Aiden scoffed. "Come on, I'll show you."
Before Elizabeth could protest, Aiden pushed past her, walking in the same direction she'd originally came from. Glancing down at Teddi, Elizabeth sighed and muttered, "he'd better not mess us up!"
"Te-di," Teddi agreed, nodding her head.
XXX
For what it was worth, Aiden still didn't really believe that his sister and Teddi had actually seen a pink Minccino.
Sure, his father had told them stories about when he was a young trainer and he, their mother, and Uncle Tracey had stumbled upon an island full of pink Pokémon, but that was because of the specific fruit growing on the island that the Pokémon ate…and it was in the Orange Islands. This was Unova, and Aiden had never heard of any kind of special fruit growing in the region that changed a Pokémon's color. Even if there was, he had enough sense to know that all of the Pokémon in the area would be pink, not just one. And every wild Pokémon he'd seen thus far hadn't looked any different than usual.
Elizabeth is probably just looking for attention. She's always making up stories and using her imagination to get it, too.
"Aiden! Wait up!"
The boy sighed and stopped in his tracks, waiting for his little sister and her Pokémon to reach his side.
"You walk too fast!" Elizabeth complained.
"I can't help it that your legs are so short," Aiden calmly replied.
"My legs aren't short!" Elizabeth bit back before folding her arms and indignantly turning her head away.
Aiden couldn't help but to laugh at her reaction. "I'm just teasing you, squirt! No need to get so mad."
"I'm not mad!" Elizabeth shouted, throwing her arms down and balling her hands into fists.
He tried hard to hide his amusement, but Aiden couldn't stop himself from breaking out into laughter. "Lizzie, you are the worst liar! I don't know how you always get away with it when it comes to other people."
"Because I'm cute," Elizabeth replied, assuming it was the simplest concept in the world. "They just look at my face and believe anything I say!"
"Di!" Teddi concurred, pointing at her own face.
"You two sure are something else," Aiden muttered, shaking his head.
The leaves that hung from the branches above the siblings' heads suddenly started to rustle, causing them to stop in their tracks.
"What was that?" Aiden breathed, looking up.
Without any additional warning, something jumped from the tree and landed directly on top of Aiden's head, stunning the boy. Elizabeth appeared concerned, and quickly whipped around with a scowl, intending on scolding whatever had decided to pounce on her brother. She ceased, however, when she saw what it was.
"It's Minccino!" Elizabeth gasped.
Rubbing the top of his head, Aiden opened his eyes and looked straight ahead, finding himself staring at the fluffy, big eared Pokémon. Just as Elizabeth had said, however, this Minccino was different: its fur was an almost cotton candy pink color, and its eyes were more of a purple than a light brown.
"Huh, you weren't kidding," Aiden marveled, amazed by such a sight.
"Of course I wasn't!" Elizabeth cried, whipping out her poke dex to show her brother the picture of a regular Minccino. "See?"
"Yeah, I know what a Minccino normally looks like," Aiden huffed, gently pushing the device away from him.
Shrugging her shoulders, Elizabeth pressed an additional button on the poke dex in order to learn more about the creature.
Minccino, the chinchilla Pokémon. Minccino dislikes when things are dirty, and its tail acts like a broom in order to clean up its den and other unclean objects.
"Hey, I hate it when things are dirty, too!" Elizabeth giggled. "I didn't realize Minccino and I were so much alike. That makes me want to catch it even more!"
"Then less talking, more battling," Aiden instructed his sister, who glared at him once again. Minccino was still gazing at the two, leading Aiden to note, "it doesn't really seem too nervous around us."
"Well, maybe this Minccino is super friendly!" Elizabeth suggested.
Wishing to test that theory, Teddi skipped forward in order to greet her fellow normal type. Elizabeth giggled at the sight, while Aiden was far more worried.
"Lizzie, maybe you should call Teddi back," Aiden recommended. "Friendly or not, Minccino is still a wild Pokémon."
"Nah, Teddi knows what she's doing!" Elizabeth chirped. "She's really good at sensing whether other people or Pokémon are good. She'd never go up to another Pokémon if she thought it was going to hurt her!"
Teddi continued chattering away to Minccino, who quietly watched the little bear Pokémon in interest. After about a minute of that, Teddi ceased talking and waited patiently for Minccino to respond. Instead, the chinchilla Pokémon spun around and began whipping Teddi with a glowing white tail.
Elizabeth shrieked, while Aiden's eyes widened as he droned, "wow, that's some tail slap."
"Teddi!" Elizabeth cried, running towards her partner.
"Elizabeth, don't go any closer!" Aiden barked. "That Minccino is still attacking!"
"But Teddi!" Elizabeth wailed, stopping for a split second before continuing to charge forward and gaining Minccino's interest.
Aiden's heart quickly began to speed up. His baby sister might have been a Pokémon trainer now, but he was still fiercely protective of her. Just the thought of her getting attacked caused him to fill up with panic.
Growling, Aiden whipped out a poke ball and yelled, "Blastoise, I choose you! Stop Elizabeth!"
XXX
Back at the family campsite, Michelle and her parents had just returned from gathering up some firewood in order to make lunch. They had left Aiden behind, as he'd complained he was too exhausted from hunger to go foraging for branches, and naturally, none of them were too pleased to see he was now missing.
"That figures," Michelle grumbled. "He probably saw a Pokémon and ran after it! So much for being unable to move…"
"He really is too much like you for his own good," Misty sniffed, glaring at her husband.
"Hey, that's not fair!" Ash cried. "I always help out!"
"Not when you were younger you didn't," Misty impatient reminded him. "And honestly, it's not even a guarantee now! I'm starting to think you have a very different idea of 'always' than the rest of us."
"Well…where's Elizabeth?" Ash asked, hoping that would change the subject and get the heat off of him. "She's not back yet either!"
"Yeah, but she wasn't complaining about being immobile due to hunger like Aiden was," Michelle sighed. "She actually asked to go look for Pokémon!"
"Still kinda worries me that they're both gone…" Ash murmured.
His ears twitching, Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and began sniffing the ground, much to the humans' interest.
"Did Pikachu pick something up?" Misty asked, glancing at Ash.
"I'm not sure," Ash admitted. "Is something wrong, buddy?"
Pikachu sniffed just once more before springing up in alarm, crying out, "Pipika! Pikapichu!"
Before anyone could ask any follow up questions, Pikachu ran off, leading the humans to follow after him.
"That doesn't seem good!" Michelle cried, looking to her father for confirmation.
"He picked up Aiden and Elizabeth's scents," Ash hurriedly replied. "I'm not sure what's up; he might just be worried. But when Pikachu runs off like that, I always follow."
Pikachu continued darting through the forest until he came up to a clearing and skidded to a halt, tensing up as sparks crackled from his cheeks. Ash followed suit in ceasing his movement, while Misty and Michelle only stopped because they ran squarely into his back.
"What the…" Misty breathed, looking over Ash's shoulder.
Standing just a few feet away from them were Aiden and Blastoise, having an apparent standoff with, of all things, a pink Minccino.
"I've never seen a Minccino that color before," Michelle murmured, unable to help herself.
"Aiden!" Ash hissed, trying to get his son's attention without riling up the wild Pokémon. Fortunately, it worked, and Aiden turned around and went pale. "What's going on? Where's your sister?"
Before Aiden could answer, Blastoise turned around and revealed that he was holding onto a less-than-pleased Elizabeth, while Teddi clung nervously to his leg.
"Well that explains why we couldn't see her before," Misty giggled nervously.
"Elizabeth wanted to catch that Minccino, and she made me come with her because she wanted backup," Aiden explained. "But Teddi decided to try and make friends with it instead, and that ended badly. So, long story short, I had to keep Elizabeth away from Minccino before she got a tail slap to the face."
"This kind of seems like overkill," Ash admitted, glancing over at his perturbed younger daughter. "I mean, all of this over a little Minccino?"
"What, you wanted your precious baby girl to get attacked?" Aiden gawked.
"I didn't say that," Ash quickly replied. "Of course, I wouldn't want Elizabeth to get attacked by a wild Pokémon! But Blastoise is literally holding her back."
"You weren't here," Aiden scoffed. "Trust me, this was necessary."
Before Ash could say anything else, Minccino ran towards Pikachu, its tail glowing white again.
"Ugh, not again!" Aiden groaned.
His father, however, was more than ready to handle such an attempt. "Pikachu, dodge it and use electroweb!"
The electric type jumped up above Minccino and did a flip as he fired off a web of electricity towards Minccino. The chinchilla Pokémon became trapped by the electrical net, crying out in pain as it was shocked.
Wiggling out of Blastoise's grasp, Elizabeth landed skillfully on her feet before standing up straight and ordering, "Teddi, fury swipes!"
Running ahead, Teddi drew out her claws and slashed at the electroweb, breaking it up before attacking Minccino instead. The pink Pokémon cried out in pain, flailing around as it tried to escape Teddi's onslaught. When it finally found a slim opening, Minccino managed to escape, turning towards Pikachu and Teddi and winking at them both, sending out a flurry of pink hearts.
"That's attract!" Misty warned.
The hearts hit both Pikachu and Teddi, but it affected only one of them. As Teddi stood there tilting her head, Pikachu began to sway from side-to-side, blathering away incoherently as he stared lovingly at Minccino.
"Guess that means Minccino is a girl…" Ash groaned before slapping a hand over his face.
"Ha, nice try!" Elizabeth crowed, pointing at Minccino. "But you just made a big mistake! Teddi, show Minccino your fake tears!"
Teddi raised her paws to her face, her beady black eyes beginning to fill with tears. Minccino snarled at the little bear Pokémon, trying her best not to fall for the latter's trick. Teddi was not deterred, however, and allowed the tears to continue to build, her little nose wiggling as her mouth bent into a definitive frown.
"Those fake tears are crazy convincing," Michelle breathed, obviously impressed.
"Yeah, no wonder Teddi and Lizzie get along so well," Aiden chuckled.
Despite her attempts to ignore Teddi's attack, Minccino soon faltered and moved closer to Teddi, holding out her paws as she tried to coax the little bear down.
"Gotcha!" Elizabeth cheered. "Teddi, finish up with fury swipes!"
With Minccino now at close range, Teddi quickly reversed her crying face into one with a devious smirk and slashed her claws across Minccino in one swift motion. The chinchilla Pokémon stumbled backwards, hitting the ground with a soft thud.
Grinning excitedly, Elizabeth pulled out a poke ball and tossed it at the defeated Pokémon, calling, "let's go, poke ball!"
It tapped Minccino on the forehead, bathing the Pokémon in red light and pulling her into the ball, which fell to the ground and shook several times before standing still and sounding an audible click.
Giggling, Elizabeth ran over to the ball and picked it up, holding it above her head. "Yay! I caught Minccino!" Lowering the ball to get a better look at it, Elizabeth smiled to herself and mused, "I think I'm going to call you…Minnie!"
"Minnie, huh?" Ash asked, approaching his daughter. "That's a great name!"
"Thanks!" Elizabeth chirped.
"When Lizzie came and told me she found a pink Minccino, I totally thought she was kidding," Aiden explained to his father. "I've never seen one like that! Have you?"
"No, I haven't," Ash easily replied. "But if I had to guess, it's a shiny Pokémon."
"A shiny Pokémon?" Michelle asked. "You mean like Dad's Noctowl?"
"Right!" Misty chimed in. "A shiny Pokémon is one that's a different color than the rest of its species."
"Lizzie, let Minnie out of her poke ball!" Ash suggested.
"Uh…okay," Elizabeth murmured, gently tossing the ball. "Come out, Minnie!"
The chinchilla Pokémon popped out, but when she did, she was surrounded by a flurry of gold sparkles.
"What?!" Aiden gasped.
"Oh, that's so pretty!" Elizabeth squealed.
"That's what happens when you release a shiny Pokémon from its poke ball," Ash noted. "Which means that Minnie is most definitely a shiny Pokémon!"
The normal type had set her beady purple eyes on Pikachu, who had finally overcome the attract. As soon as he saw Minnie staring at him, he grimaced and slinked behind Ash's legs, peering out just a bit to keep a distrustful eye on the normal type.
"Thanks for helping me catch her, Daddy!" Elizabeth squealed, running up to her father and giving him as big of a hug as she could manage.
"You're welcome," Ash chuckled. "But I think you should be thanking your brother! He's the one who came out here with you and protected you from being attacked."
Letting go of Ash, Elizabeth turned towards her brother and inclined her head, sheepishly murmuring, "thanks, Aiden."
Smirking, Aiden replied, "no problem. It was actually kind of fun! Except for Minccino jumping on my head and having to call on Blastoise to hold you back, anyway."
Elizabeth giggled and jumped forward, giving her surprised older brother a big hug.
"Aw, it's so nice to see you two getting along!" Misty cooed.
"Yeah, just like when they were little!" Ash agreed.
"Well…Lizzie's still little," Aiden commented.
"Hey!" Elizabeth cried, releasing Aiden and glaring at him. "I am not!"
Aiden bent over and playfully flicked Elizabeth's nose, causing her to growl. "Oh yeah? Could've fooled me!"
"So much for that," Michelle remarked, furrowing her brow as Elizabeth began swinging her arms at an amused Aiden.
Misty sighed and shook her head. "Well, the peace was nice for the two seconds it lasted."
I'm not kidding: I just found out shiny Minccino are pink and I knew Elizabeth just had to have one. I had always headcannoned older Elizabeth with a Minccino anyway (it's very much a her Pokemon!) but the shiny one was icing on the cake.
I also know they don't usually use the term "shiny" in the anime but...I really like it, aha.
