Happy Pokemon Journeys dub debut day (in the US, at least)! I know a couple of countries received the dub before us, and waiting for it was torture! Especially now that it's on Netflix here...I'm trying to refrain from watching all of the episodes at once!

In truth, I've been watching the new series since it debuted in Japan back in November, and I actually wrote this particular story after watching the very first episode all those months ago! But I wanted to wait to share it until the dub came out, since I know not everyone follows the subs.

This one touches on Pikachu's past, which was revealed in the very first episode of Journeys. No Goh and Chloe (yet!) Don't worry, they'll be coming ;)

Aiden and Michelle: 6 months old


Two Too Much

Pikachu had no idea what had happened to his family.

His first memory was wandering the forest alone as a Pichu. He didn't remember his mother, his father, or if he had any siblings. He didn't know if they had abandoned him, or had been captured, or hunted down by poachers.

As sad as it might have seemed, none of this really bothered Pikachu. After all, it was hard to miss what you never had.

But he did have a family now that he cared very deeply about. Pikachu was fiercely protective of those four humans, especially the two little ones. He couldn't imagine his life without any of them.

Every morning, Pikachu made sure the first thing that he did was check on the babies. There were nights when he slept in their room, alternating between the two cribs so he could keep a watchful eye on them both. Other nights, like the one before, he instead chose to stay with Ash and Misty. When those nights occurred, however, he always found himself missing and worried about the twins by the next morning and made it his priority to pay them a visit as soon as he woke up.

This morning, however, was slightly different. Ash had left early; he was attending a special conference up at Indigo Plateau. But he knew it would be long and boring, and so he had made a rare request of Pikachu: to stay behind and look after Misty and the twins.

The very thought of Ash leaving Pikachu behind just a few months ago was basically incomprehensible. Those two were partners, best friends, and they were inseparable. Even if something was going to be incredibly lame, Pikachu always went along with Ash. But with the twins now in the picture, Ash tended to worry about leaving Misty alone with them, especially since she usually rejected extra help for fear of bothering other people. His worry wasn't from Misty being a bad mother (far from it…he knew she was the best) but based on the fact that there were two babies and only one of her. It could become very overwhelming, very quickly. Especially now that they were becoming a little older and more mischievous.

So, Ash had asked Pikachu if he could stay back at the house to, at the very least, keep Misty company.

"Try and help out the best that you can! I believe in you, buddy. No one else knows Misty or our babies better than you do!"

Pikachu, of course, had agreed, and was going to start the day off right: by conducting his usual check-in on the little ones.

The door to their room was just barely ajar, but Pikachu was able to easily nudge it open thanks to his small frame. As soon as he managed to get inside, he was relieved to hear that all was quiet.

…until he remembered maybe that wasn't such a good thing.

Suddenly feeling a sense of panic, Pikachu jumped up and scaled one of the cribs, perching himself on the edge to look inside. Staring right back at him was a raven haired, brown eyed baby boy, one whose expression quickly changed from bewildered to joyful. The infant squeaked happily, smiling widely at the Pokémon hovering over him.

"Pipika!" Pikachu warmly greeted the baby.

Aiden giggled and waved his fists around, causing Pikachu's own grin to widen. Once he was sure Aiden was okay, Pikachu hopped down from his crib and scurried over to the one on the opposite side of the room, climbing up just as he had before.

In this crib was a little girl, still fast asleep and oblivious to Pikachu's presence. For this, Pikachu was grateful. Of the two babies, Michelle was the fussier one. Nighttime seemed to be pretty difficult for her, and more often than not, her parents spent a decent chunk of those late hours tending to her. Lately, however, Michelle's bedtime habits had started to improve, and she was sleeping for much longer periods of time.

That made Pikachu very happy, so he could only imagine how much of a relief it was for her parents.

The mouse's contentment, however, was broken when Aiden began to howl. Knowing it was because he had left the baby's sight, Pikachu sighed and hopped down from Michelle's crib, returning to Aiden's instead. That got the boy to relax, but unfortunately, he had cried just long enough to wake Michelle up in a sour mood.

In that moment, Pikachu started to panic. He wanted to hurry back over to Michelle in an attempt to soothe her, but he knew if he did, Aiden would become upset again. There was no possible way for him to win!

Maybe if I could use double team…then this'd be a whole lot easier!

Fortunately for Pikachu, that wouldn't be necessary. Misty came through the door of the twins' bedroom, looking a bit weary but perking up once she saw her husband's Pokémon partner staring back at her.

"I should've known I'd find you in here!" Misty giggled. "And to think I wondered where you were once I woke up!"

Pikachu beamed at Misty before turning his attention towards Michelle's crib. "Chu…"

"No need to feel guilty," Misty reassured the Pokémon, knowing why he was upset. "These two can just be a couple of little fuss balls, especially in the morning!"

She walked over to the crib on the far side of the room and lifted Michelle up, cooing sympathetically at the wailing baby. "What is it, little girl? How come you're so grouchy?"

Michelle whined once more but quieted down as soon as she looked into her mother's eyes.

"Yeah, just -cause you were lonely," Misty giggled, holding her daughter close. "That sounds about right!"

That got a smile out of Michelle, causing Misty to laugh again.

"Why don't we go have some breakfast, hmm?" Misty hummed, walking over to Aiden's crib to scoop him up as well. "I know you must both be very hungry by now!"

Pikachu grinned and jumped off the edge of Aiden's crib, following Misty down by her feet. The gym leader noticed this and smiled to herself, walking out of the babies' room with her husband's Pokémon close behind. She carried them down the stairs and placed them both in their highchairs, exhaling wearily once she was through.

"They're both getting so much bigger," Misty sighed to a patiently waiting Pikachu. "I can't imagine how much harder it's going to get carrying them around."

This caused the electric type to pause nervously, although Misty didn't notice. He might not have remembered his Pikachu family, but he did remember the Kangaskhan who had essentially adopted him when he was young. That Pokémon had treated Pikachu like he was her own, and in the time they'd spent together, Pikachu had always felt very happy and safe.

Until he and the Kangaskhan's child had started to grow bigger, and it became more difficult and tiring for her to care for them both.

Pikachu's wide set eyes quickly turned onto the twins, who were starting to grow impatient as they waited for their food. Was it going to get too hard for Misty to take care of them both? She did have Ash, but…he wasn't around all the time. And even he struggled sometimes! Pikachu's first concern was that one of the babies would start to feel like a burden and leave home. He loved them both and didn't want to lose either one!

So, he would just have to do more to try and help out with them.

With an impressive leap, Pikachu made his way onto the counter where Misty was working to get the twins' breakfast together. She whipped her head around, brow furrowing when she saw Pikachu gathering as many berries as he possibly could with his little paws.

"Pikachu, what are you doing?" Misty asked with a giggle.

The mouse squeaked and glanced over at Misty, crying out a hurried, "pi ka!"

He tried to jump back off the counter with his armful of berries but stopped once he realized that was not going to be possible. The electric type mumbled nervously, taking a step back from the ledge as he quickly tried to figure out another way to get down.

This only served to confuse Misty even more. Pikachu was not usually this harried. But, for whatever reason, he seemed to be totally stressed out.

"Here, let me help you," Misty offered, picking Pikachu up and placing him on the floor.

The mouse twitched his ears before looking back at Misty and beaming. "Chu, Pikachupi!"

Misty giggled and winked at the Pokémon. "My pleasure!"

Aiden suddenly let out an ear-splitting shriek, causing both Pikachu and Misty to wince.

"I know, you're not happy," Misty sighed. "Your food is almost ready, I promise!"

Aiden grumbled and began smacking his little hands on the tray of his highchair. Determination firing up within his little body, Pikachu took one of the berries in his paws, a perfectly ripe oran berry, and tossed it up towards the baby, watching as it landed with a soft thud on the same tray Aiden was currently taking his frustration out on.

As soon as the little boy caught sight of the bright blue berry, he ceased his pounding and instead went to work on trying to pick up the fruit. His little hands could barely wrap around the large, round thing, but he tried his best, and eventually, he succeeded in picking it up.

"Pi-ka, Pipika!" Pikachu encouraged.

Aiden mumbled curiously to himself before opening his mouth and putting as much of the oran berry in as he possibly could while his twin sister watched on in fascination. The reality was Aiden had never really even seen a berry, let alone eaten one before. He and his sister had just recently started on solid foods, so this was definitely a new experience for him. Pikachu, however, wasn't aware of this. Baby Pokémon loved berries, and he just assumed that baby humans were no different.

"Ooh, Pikachu, you got Aiden to settle down!"

Pikachu turned to grin at the gym leader. Misty was clearly impressed with the Pokémon's achievement, even though he couldn't see her face. She had a bowl of food in each hand ready to go, but it wasn't until she spun around that she realized Aiden had only quieted down because he had his mouth around an oran berry.

"Ah, that's why you were trying to take all those berries!" Misty laughed. "That's very sweet of you, Pikachu! But the babies can't eat berries. Not yet, anyway."

She put the bowls down and walked over to Aiden, gently wrestling the oran berry away from him. This did not sit well with the baby, who immediately started fussing again.

"Oh, shush," Misty teased the boy, gently ruffling his hair. "I could let you try all day and you wouldn't get even a little bite of that big berry!"

"Pi…" Pikachu sighed, sadly bowing his head.

"Don't feel bad," Misty assured the Pokémon, placing the berry on the counter before kneeling down and scratching under Pikachu's chin. "I know you just want to help! And I really appreciate it. It sure isn't easy taking care of these two on my own, but having you around certainly makes things easier!"

The scratching made Pikachu feel temporarily better, but once Misty stopped, he went right back to moping. He did try his best to help Misty out, but at the end of the day, he was still just a Pokémon. He didn't know nearly as much about human babies as other humans did. And the things he did know were generally too difficult for him to assist with thanks to his small stature and lack of opposable thumbs.

Pikachu was brought out of his self-loathing when he heard the screeching sound of a chair being dragged across the floor. Looking up, he saw Misty wincing at the noise, her hands on the offending chair. She had moved it right in front of the twins' highchairs, who were now both quiet and staring at their mother in awe.

"Yeah, you both know what's happening," Misty sighed with a bit of a laugh. "You want some yummy mashed up bananas?"

Aiden shrieked in response, while Michelle started reaching out for the food. Misty giggled and sat down in the chair, placing one bowl on each of the highchairs' trays.

"There's two of you, but only one of me," Misty playfully reminded the babies. "So, let's be nice at taking turns and not make a big mess, okay?"

She chose to start with Aiden first, since he'd been so vocal about being hungry. Spooning the fruit into Aiden's mouth was super easy, seeing as the baby had his mouth open before Misty even had a spoonful to offer him. While Aiden was busy gumming at his food, Misty moved over to Michelle's bowl, spooning up some food for her and offering it to the more curious little girl.

Pikachu watched her alternate between the two several times, doing a very good job of keeping everything under control. The more Aiden ate, however, the more quickly he was able to get it down, and it soon got to a point where he was done with his latest spoonful before Misty had even managed to feed Michelle hers. Naturally, this led to the hungry boy growing impatient, and reaching for his bowl in order to try and feed himself. Misty caught this out of the corner of her eye and quickly put down Michelle's spoon so she could pull Aiden's away from him.

"No, Aiden," Misty gently warned the baby. "You have to wait for Mommy, okay?"

The baby babbled unhappy nonsense, still reaching for his bowl.

"I know you're hungry, but Michelle has to eat too," Misty sighed. "Just give me a second, I promise you'll have some more soon!"

Aiden burst out into tears, causing Misty to groan. "Alright, alright! Here, baby."

She picked up Aiden's spoon and offered him more of the banana. As soon as the spoon was in Aiden's mouth, he stopped crying and began eating instead.

With Misty's back turned to Michelle, the little girl reached into her own bowl and began splashing the banana around. Pikachu caught sight of this and gasped, crying out, "Pikachupi! Pipikachu!"

Misty's head whipped around, and as soon as she saw what Michelle was doing, her eyes widened and she quickly pulled the bowl away from the baby.

"No, Michelle!" Misty gasped. "Your food is for eating, not playing!"

Now it was Michelle's turn to start sobbing. Aiden, meanwhile, had finished his latest bite of banana, and was reaching for his bowl once again, whimpering as he realized it was still too far out of his grasp.

"This is a nightmare," Misty breathed, sounding a bit tearful herself. "It's so much easier when Ash is around to help out. I don't know if I'll ever be able to feed these two on my own!"

Pikachu scowled. He would not let Misty continue to struggle like this! It may have been hard for him, but he was going to help out no matter what.

Ash told me to look after everyone, so that's what I'm going to do. I can't let him down!

He climbed up Misty's chair and onto her shoulder, jumping from there onto the tray of Aiden's highchair. This alone mesmerized Aiden and got him to stop whimpering. Now that he was no longer fussing, Pikachu used both of his paws to pick up Aiden's spoon and feed the baby more of his mashed-up banana. Misty watched the whole scene with wide eyes, amazed by what she was seeing.

"Pikachu?" She murmured.

The electric type glanced over at Misty and smirked. "Pika, pikachu."

At this, Misty smiled and, to Pikachu's alarm, sniffled a bit. He went to move forward in order to comfort the gym leader, but she gasped a bit and shook her head.

"Sorry!" She rushed out the apology. "I'm sorry, Pikachu. I didn't mean to scare you! I'm fine. You just keep feeding Aiden…as long as it's not too much trouble for you!"

"Pi!" Pikachu assured her.

With Pikachu focused on Aiden, and Misty on Michelle, the twins were done with their breakfast in record time, and with no bigger of a mess than what Michelle had made when she'd managed to get her hands in her bowl.

"Crisis averted," Misty sighed, collecting the empty bowls and standing up from her chair. "Thank you so much, Pikachu! You really saved me!"

Pikachu blushed and rubbed the back of his head. As soon as Misty was done placing the bowls in the sink, she walked back over to the twins and scooped Pikachu up in her arms, giving the electric mouse a hug. The Pokémon let out a happy squeak in response and snuggled up against the gym leader's neck.

"Ash will be so proud," Misty cooed, pulling Pikachu away so he could see her warm smile. "I know he constantly asks you to look after me and the twins, but you're always going above and beyond that. It really does mean the world to me!"

Pikachu squeaked happily and licked the tip of Misty's nose, causing her to giggle. Her own amusement sent the twins into a frenzy, both of them belly laughing wildly in response. At this, Pikachu's ears perked. This was something new for the babies; he'd only heard them do it a couple of times before, but it was certainly a delightful sound!

"Isn't that precious?" Misty asked the mouse, her face lighting up. "I just love it when they laugh like that! Makes me feel like I'm doing something right by them. As long as they're happy, how bad can things really be?"

Pikachu nodded his head in agreement. She did have an excellent point!

"I'm just too hard on myself sometimes," Misty admitted, placing Pikachu on her shoulder. "Don't tell Ash I said that; he always says it and I don't want him to know he's right."

"Pi pika pi pikachu, Pikachupi!" Pikachu assured her.

"See?" Misty stressed. "I can always count on you!"

The twins were finally done laughing, but they were still grinning up at their mother and Pikachu; big, toothless grins that made their mother and their father's Pokémon both snicker.

"Alright, let's do something a lot less stressful with these two cuties," Misty declared to a delighted Pikachu. "Playtime!"