Happy late Mother's Day! I've had this story waiting for a while but figured it was fitting to celebrate Mother's Day. After all, Michelle and Elizabeth both recently had one shots that focused on them, so now it's Aiden's turn! And I get to feature one of my favorite relationships: his and Misty's.

Aiden: 4 years old


Baseball Mom

Misty grimaced every time she picked Aiden up from practice.

He was always covered in dirt. On his face, his arms, his shirt, his pants, his hat…it was almost unbelievable. Misty knew that Aiden always tried his hardest, even in practice, but to be covered in that much dirt? Literally from head to toe?

She would've been pretty impressed if it wasn't such a pain to get it all out.

Today, naturally, was no different. As soon as practice ended, Aiden came hopping out of the dugout and over to the bleachers where Misty was sitting, dragging his baseball bag behind him and totally caked in dirt.

"Oh boy," Misty sighed once her son was close enough to hear her. "Aiden, what in the world do you do to get so dirty?"

"I practice!" Aiden chirped.

"You sure do," Misty giggled nervously, watching as Vaporeon scurried over to Aiden to try and brush some of the dirt off of him with her tail. "Those clothes are going to need some serious washing! But, in the meantime, I think we should at least take your cleats off before you get in the car."

"Why?" Aiden asked.

Misty wordlessly looked down at her son's feet, where his red and white cleats were also visibly full of dirt. When Aiden glanced down and saw them himself, he giggled nervously. "Oh, that's why!"

"Yes, that's why," Misty laughed. "It's alright, I'll clean them off good once we get home! But for now, we'll just take them off so you don't track that dirt everywhere."

Misty led Aiden and Vaporeon through the rest of the fields and back to the parking lot, where their car was waiting for them. Once they were there, Misty united Aiden's shoes and pulled them off his feet, the boy scrambling into the backseat as soon as his cleats were off. Misty just smirked and nodded at Vaporeon, prompting her to follow after the boy. She, meanwhile, struck her son's shoes against the concrete, trying to knock off as much of the dirt as possible. It was something Misty had gotten pretty good at, which was a little strange. She had never really been expecting one of her talents to become getting clumps of mud out of her kid's baseball cleats, but it definitely had. The first time Misty had done it, she'd probably looked spastic and was just glad Aiden was at an age where his mother didn't really embarrass him. She had smacked the cleats against the ground over and over and over again, trying to get every speck of dirt out of the spikes. Parents, who obviously had more experience with their kids playing sports than she did, kept looking at her like she was unhinged. But now, she knew exactly which spots to hit, exactly how hard to hit them, and exactly when she'd gotten as much dirt off as she possibly could by doing just that. That way, she didn't end up sitting there for too long looking like she had totally lost her mind.

"Didja get it all off, Mommy?"

Misty smirked. As it turned out, Aiden had learned all of those tricks too, because he always asked that question as soon as she reached what she now knew to be the finish point. The boy didn't necessarily pay attention all the time, but when he did, it was to an impeccable degree.

"I did!" Misty confirmed, standing back up straight and holding up the cleats for Aiden to see that there was still some dirt stuck to them. "Enough for the car ride home, anyway."

She placed the cleats on the floor of the backseat, right beside Aiden's baseball backpack, before closing the door and getting into the driver's seat to take them all home.

"Mommy, do you like to watch me play baseball?" Aiden asked before the car had even left the parking spot, simultaneously petting a content Vaporeon who was seated beside him.

"Yes, I do!" Misty exclaimed. "I have so much fun watching you play! And you're so good at it, too!"

"Thanks!" Aiden chirped, his face lighting up. "You know what? I think maybe I might want to be a baseball player and the Pokémon Master when I grow up."

"Both?" Misty asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah!" Aiden cheered. "Can't I?"

"Of course you can, sweetheart," Misty replied. "You can do anything you put your mind to! But you'll be very busy if you're traveling around playing baseball and battling Pokémon. I'm worried you might not have time to come visit me!"

Right away, she saw Aiden frown in the rearview mirror. "No! I wouldn't do that! I'll visit you, Mommy. I promise!"

"That's very sweet of you, Aiden," Misty cooed.

"Yeah, cause I love you!" Aiden added before his eyes widened. "Oh, maybe you can come with me! That'd be fun."

Misty giggled. "That would be fun! But what about Daddy and Michelle? I can't leave them behind!"

"They can come too," Aiden commented, turning to look out the window. "We'll all go!"

"Now that sounds like a good plan!" Misty laughed.

This was Aiden's first year of playing baseball, and he'd been having the time of his life. Misty, in all honesty, was a little surprised. Aiden had never expressed any interest in playing sports; all he'd ever cared about was Pokémon and becoming a Pokémon trainer. But the sheer amount of energy he possessed had made her desperate to find a way to get him to expend it, and Ash had managed to sell him on baseball simply because he'd likened throwing the baseball to throwing a poke ball.

But as the time to play had gotten closer and closer, Aiden had become more excited, and as soon as his practices and games started, the boy was fully invested in the sport. Granted, he was still very young, and was still learning the game, so things didn't always go super smoothly. Aiden would swing at every pitch that came his way, chase after any ball that was hit (even if it meant leaving a base he was manning) and try to make his catches as flashy and dramatic as possible…often causing him to miss the catch at all. But that wasn't much different from any of the other boys his age who were playing, and Aiden gave 110% effort at every practice and every game, which was all his parents could ask of him. Besides, it was so funny to them how Aiden was always the first player to tear out of the dugout when it was time for his team to be on defense. He would just run onto the field, all by himself, and continue to be by himself for a solid 30 seconds or so until the rest of his teammates managed to catch up. It was very evident how passionate Aiden had become about baseball, and it made his parents very happy that he'd found something he loved to do.

Before long, Misty and Aiden made it back home, where the young boy unbuckled himself so quickly that his mother hadn't even opened the car door by the time he'd freed himself.

"You never can wait for me to unbuckle you myself, can you?" Misty sighed with a smirk.

"No, Mommy, I can do it myself!" Aiden cried, jumping out of the backseat.

"Trust me, little guy, I know…" Misty laughed tiredly.

Glancing up at his mother, Aiden asked, "are we gonna clean my shoes off?"

"Yes, we are," Misty replied. "Can't have you tracking all that dirt and mud through the house!"

"But that'd be funny!" Aiden giggled, following after his mother.

"It most certainly would not!" Misty argued with her own laugh. "Then we'd have to clean it all up! And by we, I mean you."

Shaking his head, Aiden hurriedly suggested, "have Vaporeon use an attack on my shoes! That'll get them clean!"

Vaporeon, who was still standing beside Aiden, tilted her head. "Vay?"

Misty was about to argue that wasn't a very good idea, but she quickly stopped herself and hummed. "Actually, that could work. It'd definitely be easier than me trying to get all the dirt out by hand!"

The water type's eyes gleamed with excitement. She was all for using her attacks whenever and however she could. If it meant cleaning off her trainer's kid's cleats, then she was fine with it.

Holding the cleats with its muddy bottoms facing Vaporeon, Misty entreated, "trying using hydro pump on these, but not full blast."

Nodding, Vaporeon got to her paws and pulled back a bit before unleashing what was usually her strongest water attack. Heeding Misty's request, however, Vaporeon had lightened it up considerably, and the usually fierce hydro pump had been cut down to more of a hydro sprinkle.

Aiden was usually all about the strongest and most impressive attacks, but in this moment, he was simply amazed that a Pokémon was able to clean his cleats. He had knelt down right beside his shoe, watching closely as Vaporeon's water attack rinsed off their bottoms and broke up the packed dirt from between his spikes.

"Whoa," Aiden marveled once his cleats were totally clean and Vaporeon stopped spraying. "They look brand new!"

Misty turned them around so she could look at the spikes herself and smiled. "They sure do! You can actually tell they're red again."

"Yeah, they started looking brown cause of all the dirt!" Aiden laughed.

Smirking, Misty handed the shoes off to Aiden and asked, "could you leave these on the front step for me, sweetheart? They need to dry off before we can take them back in the house."

"Kay!" Aiden chirped, grabbing his cleats and running them towards the door.

Giggling, Misty turned away from Aiden and instead reached out to pat her partner Pokémon's head. "Thanks, Vaporeon! You're such a big help."

"Vay," Vaporeon purred, leaning into Misty's petting.

"Mommy, will you practice with me?"

Misty looked back up at her son with wide eyes. "Practice what?"

"Baseball!" Aiden chirped.

"More baseball?" Misty gawked. "Aiden, you just had a whole hour and a half of practice! Don't you want to take a break?"

The boy shook his head. "When I come home from practice, Daddy always practices more with me!"

Misty sighed. Ash was the one who usually got in extra practice time with Aiden. Sure, Misty had tossed the ball back and forth with him, but she'd never helped him to practice his swing or anything more technical like that. With Ash being away for a tournament, however, she was really their son's only option.

"Maybe after dinner," Misty reasoned with him. "Grammy should be back with Michelle soon, and then we have to eat! You must be starving by now."

"I guess…" Aiden grumbled. "But I just wanna practice more."

"And you can," Misty assured him. "After dinner."

Aiden pouted and sat down on the step, beside his newly cleaned cleats. And, of course, that just about broke Misty's heart. She knew it was difficult for Aiden whenever Ash wasn't home. She knew the little boy loved her and his twin sister, but being the only boy in the house when his father was away wasn't really the most fun for him. Even though Michelle wasn't a girly girl, she still wasn't one for playing too rough, and she certainly didn't want to practice baseball with her brother. Those were the things that Aiden could always turn to Ash for, but when he wasn't home…

"Okay, we can practice a little bit," Misty decided, a little smile appearing on her lips once Aiden's face lit up. "But just until Grammy and Michelle come back! Otherwise, I might end up eating my arm because I'm so hungry."

"Kay!" Aiden heartily agreed. Without any hesitation, he ran over to his backpack and pulled out his bat and a ball, tossing the ball towards his mother before getting into his batting stance.

"Where's your helmet?" Misty immediately asked.

Silently, Aiden pointed towards his backpack.

"Can you put it on?" Misty continued.

Aiden groaned. "Mommy, we're only practicing!"

"I know, but that doesn't make the ball any softer," Misty fretted. She knew Aiden was rough and tumble, and she had plenty of experience with the boy getting hurt. It was still miserable for her, however, and the fear of him suffering an injury because he got nailed with a baseball was very real. "Could you please wear it? For me?"

Sighing, Aiden conceded, "fiiiiine. But only cause you asked me to! And I love you."

Misty snickered. That was an Ash line if she ever heard one! "Thank you, baby. I love you, too!"

Aiden rushed to open up his backpack and retrieve his red batting helmet, shoving it on his head before running back to his original spot. Once he was ready to go, Misty tossed the ball the same way she always did when she played catch with Aiden and was surprised when he pulled up before the ball even reached him.

"Mommy!" Aiden cried.

"What?" Misty asked innocently.

"You gotta throw the ball harder than that!" Aiden instructed.

"Harder?" Misty repeated. "I don't know if I can…"

Misty had grown up a tomboy, but outside of swimming, she hadn't really played any sports…nor was she ever interested in them. She hadn't even really watched them. Again, not particularly interested in the first place, but it would've been impossible even if she was, considering her sisters always outvoted her in terms of what would go on their TV as kids.

"Try it!" Aiden encouraged, rolling the ball back towards his mother.

Sighing inwardly, Misty bent over to pick up the ball. She held it in her hands for a brief moment before closing her eyes and remembering what Ash always told Aiden.

"Throwing a baseball is just like throwing a poke ball! Just imagine the baseball is a poke ball, and there's a really cool Pokémon you want to catch standing just behind home plate!"

Opening her eyes again, Misty wound her arm back and threw the ball with such force that when Aiden tried to hit it, he ended up spinning in a full circle before losing his balance and falling right to the ground.

"Ah!" Misty shrieked, running over to her son. "Aiden, sweetie, are you okay?"

The boy looked up at his mother with wide, excited eyes and a glowing expression. "That was so cool!"

"I don't know about that," Misty unsurely replied. "You fell down pretty hard…"

"Yeah, but I fall down all the time," Aiden reasoned with her, effortlessly jumping back to his feet and showing her that he was, in fact, perfectly fine. "That was like the fastest ball ever! I don't think even Daddy throws the ball that hard!"

"Probably because he's trying to avoid what I just did," Misty groaned. "You're too little to try and hit a ball like that."

"But I tried," Aiden commented, inclining his head.

Misty smirked. "Yeah, you sure did!"

"I wanna hit a ball that fast!" Aiden declared. "Do it again!"

Misty giggled nervously. "No, no, not again. I already scared myself enough for one day!"

"Don't be scared!" Aiden laughed, running up to his mother and giving her a hug. "You're a good pitcher!"

"You think so, huh?" Misty chuckled, returning her son's embrace and lifting him off the ground as she stood up.

"Yes," Aiden murmured, moving his hands up so he could grip onto her shoulders.

"Well, that's a very big compliment from such a talented baseball player!" Misty crowed, earning a sheepish smile from her son.

"Mommy?" Aiden squeaked.

"What is it, baby?"

Burying his face against his mother's chest, Aiden admitted, "I'm hungry."

"I had a feeling," Misty giggled. Looking up, she caught sight of something that made her smile widen, which she followed up by gently poking Aiden's back. "But look! You won't have to wait much longer."

Looking in the direction his mother was now pointing, Aiden gasped when he saw Delia and Michelle walking up the street.

"Mommy, I wanna go down!" Aiden cried, his fervor having suddenly returned. "I wanna tell Grammy and Shelly about how good you throw the ball!"

"Okay, okay," Misty laughed, placing Aiden back down by her feet. "I hope you plan on bragging about me to Daddy, too!"

"Yeah!" Aiden cheered as he ran off. "I'm gonna tell everyone how good you are, Mommy!"

Misty smirked and pulled her shoulders back. "Maybe this baseball stuff isn't as hard as I thought it was!"


Yes, Misty brags when Ash comes home.

Yes, he begins practicing his pitching just to try and one up her.