It's Valentine's Day, which in my little headcanon world is Ash and Misty's anniversary!
I've been rewatching Kanto (one of my goals for this year was to rewatch every Pokémon episode in order) and I always forget just how much I love the relationship between Ash and Misty from that series. Their personalities were so vivacious and they always played off of one another so well!
So I figured, with all of that fresh in my mind, I really wanted to write a piece with all three of the kids (and their parents, of course) that really evoked the spirit of the original series.
Aiden and Michelle: 13 years old
Elizabeth: 7 years old
An Anniversary Adventure
"Ugh, why does everything for Valentine's Day have to have hearts all over it?"
"Because that's literally the point of the holiday. Are you really that dense?"
Aiden narrowed his eyes and glared at his twin sister. "No, I'm not."
Michelle shrugged her shoulders. "Well, can you blame me for asking? That was a really stupid question."
Aiden huffed, only growing more annoyed. "It wasn't a real question! It was re-technical!"
"I'm pretty sure you mean rhetorical," Michelle scoffed.
"I'm pretty sure you're a know-it-all," Aiden fired back, his hand balling into a fist.
"And I'm pretty sure you're both super annoying!"
Aiden and Michelle instead turned their ire onto their younger sibling, who had been standing quietly between the two up until that moment.
"Who asked you?" Michelle pressed.
"No one," Elizabeth replied frankly, flicking her green eyes upwards. "But it definitely had to be said."
Aiden rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Michelle, I told you it was a mistake to let Elizabeth tag along."
"It wasn't exactly right to leave her out of finding a gift for Mom and Dad, although I'm starting to regret my own decision," Michelle begrudgingly admitted.
"You two need me anyway," Elizabeth interjected once again, waving a hand at her older siblings. "Neither of you could pick out anything good if you tried!"
Michelle swore she could feel a vein pop out of her forehead. "We always try!"
"Seriously?" Elizabeth asked, sounding positively confounded. "Wow, now I feel really bad for Mommy and Daddy."
Rolling his eyes, Aiden turned away from the shelf full of Valentine's Day gifts he'd been browsing and instead started marching towards the door of the store.
"Hey, where are you going?!" Elizabeth cried, hurrying after him.
"I don't need to stand around here and be insulted by a little kid," Aiden replied tersely, earning a glare from his sister. She hated being referred to as a little anything. "It's already bad enough we've got to run all over town to try and find a gift for Mom and Dad! We should just agree to leave them alone for a night and forgot buying anything. I think they'd like that better anyway."
"But we can't get them nothing!" Elizabeth cried. "That's really lame, and it makes us look like we didn't care at all!"
Michelle came striding up to her siblings. "I hate to say it, but Lizzie is right. We've got to get them something."
Aiden groaned, frustrated by the nagging. "Fine. But there's obviously nothing here. We'll have to try a different store."
Before Michelle or Elizabeth could argue, like he feared, Aiden turned on a heel and walked through the sliding glass doors. His sisters followed behind, fortunately for him not protesting, and instead began to look up and down the long street of downtown Cerulean.
"Let's see…where should we check next?" Michelle wondered aloud.
"Maybe we should get them some potions and other Pokémon medicine," Aiden suggested. "They're always battling, so they always need it!"
"Mom and Dad get a bunch of that stuff from the Pokémon League, and also from Brock," Michelle pointed out. "There's no point in us spending money on those when they get them for free."
"Guess you're right," Aiden grumbled, folding his arms.
Elizabeth was staring ahead in deep thought, but was broken out of her trance when she saw something across the street that caught her eye. Blinking, she quickly looked both ways before running across, causing both Aiden and Michelle to panic.
"Elizabeth!" They cried simultaneously, following after the girl.
It didn't take them long to catch up to her, and once they did, they grabbed onto both of her arms, angering the child. "Hey!"
"How old are you?!" Michelle hissed. "Mom and Dad taught you not to do that as soon as you could walk!"
"I looked both ways!" Elizabeth argued.
"Right, because that's gonna stop a car from speeding out of nowhere and running you over!" Aiden barked.
Elizabeth growled and wrestled her arms free. "I'm fine! I only ran across because I saw something!"
Michelle blinked before snarling, "That's not an excuse!"
"It is when I think it's something that would make a really good gift for Mommy and Daddy," Elizabeth calmly argued, holding her hands behind her back.
Although Aiden and Michelle were still unhappy with their younger sister's stunt, they were both intrigued by her implication. Noticing this right away, Elizabeth smirked and turned around, pointing at the store window they were all standing in front of. Aiden and Michelle looked at the window, both of their eyes widening when they saw what Elizabeth had meant.
"I think it's perfect!" Elizabeth squealed.
"It's not bad…" Aiden admitted.
"We might as well go in and take a look," Michelle conceded. "Make Elizabeth's potentially deadly race across the street worth it."
"Quit it!"
XXX
"Here's some food for Pichu, and here's some food for Pikachu!"
The two electric mice chattered happily as two full bowls were placed in front of them by Ash. They quickly began to chow down, earning a chuckle from the man. Standing back up, he walked over to the kitchen table, where his wife was sitting down flipping through a magazine.
"So…where are the kids again?"
Misty shrugged, and without looking up from her magazine, replied, "I'm not really sure. Aiden and Michelle said they had something to do, and Elizabeth insisted on tagging along."
Ash furrowed his brow. "I'm kind of surprised they let her. Those three have been a bit testy with one another lately."
Misty sighed and finally looked up at Ash, a smirk on her face. "And we thought toddlers were bad. Teenagers are on a completely different level."
"I'm not sure which is worse," Ash admitted, shaking his head.
"That's a fair point," Misty acknowledged, closing her magazine. "Well, while they're gone, I think we ought to do something on our own too!"
Ash blinked before grinning and wiggling his eyebrows. "Ah, Misty-"
"Not that," she cut him off, narrowing her eyes. "You've got to get your mind out of the gutter, Ketchum."
Ash frowned in response. "But I don't wanna."
"Sometimes I miss when you had no idea what any of that was," Misty muttered, crossing her arms as she leaned back against the chair she was sitting in.
"That I refuse to believe," Ash scoffed.
"Your mind revolves around sex, food, and Pokémon battles," Misty teased. "Not particularly in that order, either."
"That's not true!" Ash cried. "I also think about our kids a lot!"
"Is that why you forgot where they were just now?" Misty snickered.
Ash rolled his eyes, but soon let a smile overtake his face. "Actually, that's not a bad idea."
Misty tilted her head. "What's not?"
"A Pokémon battle," Ash replied, grinning at her.
"You realize that just validates my last statement, right?" Misty pressed. "About you only ever thinking about three things?"
"It's a pretty nice day out for February," Ash continued, choosing to ignore her last point. "We could go in the backyard! What do you say, a quick one-on-one?"
Misty smirked mischievously at her husband. "With conditions like that, how do I know you're actually angling for a Pokémon battle and not something else?"
Ash nearly fell on the floor, earning laughter from the electric mice behind him as he cried out, "Mist!"
"I'm just teasing you," Misty giggled, getting to her feet. "Fine. We can have a battle."
The Pokémon Master straightened himself up and beamed at his wife. "Alright!"
"But you have to do something for me when we're done," Misty informed him, her smirk returning.
"Oh no…" Ash groaned.
"It's not a big deal!" Misty laughed. "I just have to run downtown to pick something up, and I think it would be nice if you came with me."
Ash essentially deflated at the proposition. "I was afraid you were gonna say that…"
"Why do you act like taking a trip downtown is like being lead to your death?" Misty demanded, folding her arms.
"Because it basically is," Ash deadpanned.
"I only have to pick something up!"
"That's always what you say! But then you see something in the next window, and you have to go in the store and look, and it just keeps happening all the way down the street! And before I know it…"
Ash took a dramatic pause, leading Misty to raise an eyebrow. "Yeah?"
"So much time has passed that I basically have one foot in a retirement home," Ash finished with a heavy sigh.
Misty choked back a laugh. "You are the biggest drama queen in this whole house!"
"It's not dramatic when it's true," Ash quipped.
"Whatever, you big baby," Misty snickered. Pichu, who had finished her food, scurried over to Misty, who grinned at the little mouse and picked her up. "You want to battle me or not?"
Ash let out a low growl, but as soon as it passed, he loosened his shoulders and relented, "yeah, I do."
"And you'll come downtown with me after?"
Now he seemed even more reluctant to answer. Finally, he broke down and begrudgingly replied, "Fine, I'll come. I don't want to, but I will."
Misty giggled sweetly. "Fine by me!"
XXX
"I thought you hated everything with hearts on it."
Aiden whipped around to face his unimpressed twin. "No, I hate all the cliché Valentine's Day stuff with hearts all over it. This is not a cliché for Valentine's Day! It's actually useful!"
Elizabeth stopped between her older siblings and thought about it for a moment. "If Mommy and Daddy got married on Valentine's Day, is that a cliché?"
Aiden pursed his lips. "Hmm, you know, I've never actually thought about that before! It might just be."
"No it's not, it's romantic," Michelle scoffed.
"A lot of 'romantic' things are total clichés," Aiden calmly argued.
"You're only saying that because you're a guy," Michelle challenged.
"No, I'm saying it because I'm smart," Aiden pressed.
"Ugh, I'm sorry I asked," Elizabeth grumbled. Glancing up at the two, she added, "Can we please get the present for Mommy and Daddy and go? It's kind of embarrassing being out in public with you guys."
Aiden and Michelle instantly flashed red, causing Elizabeth to recoil.
"What do you mean it's embarrassing?!" Michelle barked.
"Exactly that," Elizabeth sighed, shaking her head.
"Yeah, well…have you ever thought that we're embarrassed to be seen with you?" Aiden bit back.
"No, because I'm adorable, and I'm also way cooler than the two of you," Elizabeth refuted.
"Says who?" Aiden sneered.
"Says me," Elizabeth chirped before turning on a heel and flitting towards a saleswoman. Neither Aiden nor Michelle could react before their younger sister piped up, "excuse me?"
The woman turned and, as soon as she saw Elizabeth, her face lit up with recognition. That look was familiar to Elizabeth, but it disappeared almost as soon as it appeared. "Yes, how may I help you, dear?"
"I was looking at those poke balls in the window," Elizabeth elucidated, pointing towards them.
The saleswoman looked in that direction to see exactly what Elizabeth was referring to. "Oh yes, the love balls!"
"That's what they're called?" Elizabeth asked before giggling. "So cute!"
"You can use them to catch Pokémon of the opposite gender of the Pokémon you're using," the saleswoman explained. "We don't always have them; it's a special we're offering for Valentine's Day!"
"That's perfect!" Elizabeth squealed. "We'll take two of them!"
"Let me just check in the back," the saleswoman requested. "Those balls have been flying off the shelves!"
Elizabeth nodded her head as the woman sauntered away. Once she was gone, Elizabeth skipped back over to her perturbed siblings, beaming at them.
"Super easy," Elizabeth remarked, a smug look on her face.
"You know, it would've made a lot more sense for the Pokémon trainers here to ask about buying poke balls," Michelle reminded her sister.
"Yeah, you're obviously too young to need them," Aiden added. "I don't even know why this lady is entertaining you."
"I already told you, it's because I'm cute," Elizabeth sighed. "Besides, what does she care if I'm too young to use one or not? They just want to sell stuff and make money!"
"And how does she know you have money?" Michelle prodded.
"She knows who I am, I could tell by her face," Elizabeth replied. "It's the same look everyone gives me when they realize who I am."
"And that means you have money?" Aiden droned.
"No, but they know Mommy and Daddy do," Elizabeth muttered.
Aiden opened his mouth to argue, but quickly closed it when he realized the point Elizabeth had been trying to make all along. "Oh."
The saleswoman suddenly returned, a frown on her face. "I'm very sorry, but we're all out of love balls."
Elizabeth's face fell instantly. "What?!"
"The last two we have were put on hold yesterday for another customer," the saleswoman explained. "I didn't realize how quickly they'd sold out. I apologize."
Elizabeth frowned, but managed to reply, "It's okay. Thanks for checking."
She trudged back over to her older siblings, the pout still on her face.
"Well that didn't go the way we were hoping," Michelle sighed.
"Yeah, not even Elizabeth's cute face can make love balls appear out of thin air," Aiden quipped.
"Not funny!" Elizabeth cried.
"Now we're going to have find something else to get Mom and Dad," Michelle reminded her siblings. "We're seriously running out of time!"
"Well we ran out of ideas before we even started, so we might as well start running out of time too," Aiden commented.
Michelle groaned and rolled her eyes, frustrated by her brother's attitude. "That's not helping. Come on, let's keep looking."
She and her siblings turned towards the door, but before they could go out it, two other people appeared in the doorway…two people who were very familiar to the kids.
"Mom? Dad?" Michelle squeaked.
Ash and Misty, for what it was worth, seemed just as surprised. Pichu, who had been in Misty's arms, instead jumped over to her trainer, while Pikachu, who was perched on Ash's shoulder, twitched his ears.
"What're you three doing here?" Misty asked.
"Um…shopping?" Michelle replied lamely.
"For what?" Misty prodded.
"It-it doesn't matter!" Michelle stammered, laughing nervously.
"Smooth," Aiden muttered, earning a glare from his twin.
"Wait, Aiden, you actually agreed to go shopping with your sisters?" Ash asked, pointing at his son. "Your mom had to bribe me with a Pokémon battle to come down here!"
Misty rolled her eyes at his exclamation. "Does it really surprise you Aiden's managed to gain more patience than you?"
"What? No way!" Aiden cried. "They forced me to come here! All because we were trying to get you-"
Michelle quickly threw her hand over Aiden's mouth, while Elizabeth yanked at his shoulder and harshly shushed him.
"Trying to get us what?" Misty questioned, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah, you guys are being weird," Ash added, folding his arms.
"Well, no use in hiding it now," Michelle grumbled, lowering her hand. "We were here trying to get you guys an anniversary present."
Ash and Misty's faces softened.
"You three didn't have to do that," Misty cooed.
"But we wanted to!" Elizabeth cried. "And we had the best idea ever, but they didn't have any more of what we wanted, so we couldn't do it. And then we got stuck."
"That's really sweet of you guys," Ash chuckled. "But Mom is right. You don't have to get us anything! Hanging out with you is more than enough."
"Well I wish we'd known that before we wasted our afternoon shopping," Aiden whined.
"Just out of curiosity, what were you trying to buy us?" Misty asked.
"Those love balls!" Elizabeth announced, pointing at the ones on display in the window.
Misty's eyes widened, which earned her another confused look from Ash.
"Oh, Misty! Good afternoon! You must be here to pick up your order!"
The gym leader laughed nervously (much like her older daughter before her had) and scurried over to the same saleswoman who had been assisting the children before.
"Liesel, shh! Not in front of Ash!" Misty whispered urgently.
"Oh!" She gasped, covering her mouth. "So sorry!"
"It's alright, don't worry about it," Misty giggled lightly.
"I'll go fetch that for you," Liesel assured her.
"Thank you!" Misty chirped as the saleswoman skirted away.
While she was distracted, Ash came up behind her and droned, "You sure look panicked when the kids brought up their gift idea."
Misty jumped, startled by Ash's sudden appearance, before defiantly huffing. "What?! No I didn't! You're totally making things up."
"Here you are!"
Liesel came running back out and handed Misty a box neatly wrapped in pink and red paper with a bow slapped on top.
"You're the best!" Misty chirped, taking the box from the saleswoman.
"What's in there?" Ash asked, glancing down at the box.
"Could you ever just be patient?" Misty scolded, moving the package away from him.
"No, not really," Ash replied plainly.
"Chu," Pikachu chimed in.
"Wait a second…" Michelle murmured so only her siblings could hear her. "We couldn't get the love balls because the last two had been put on hold for someone else. And if Mom had that already ordered…"
Aiden wasn't getting it, but Elizabeth apparently did, as she gasped very loudly.
"Mommy bought the last love balls!" She cried, just as loudly as she'd gasped before.
Misty shot her youngest daughter a horrified look, which in turn led Elizabeth to cover her mouth.
"Lizzie!" Aiden groaned.
Ash, on the other hand, appeared quite pleased. "Wow, you bought us love balls as an anniversary present?!"
"It was supposed to be a surprise," Misty grumbled. "I guess bringing you down here was a mistake."
"It's always a mistake to bring me shopping," Ash concurred.
Michelle sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "At least in the end they still got the love balls…"
Elizabeth's smile returned as she boasted, "And it means I really did have the best gift idea!"
Aiden scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Great, case your ego really needed more boosting…"
