One of the #1 requests I get is for more stories that have the kids hanging out with the Pokemon. This one is for all of you!

Aiden and Michelle: 4 years old


The Art of Pokémon

"Aiden, Michelle, I have a little surprise for the two of you!"

Michelle abandoned the game of soccer she'd been playing with her brother and some of the Pokémon and instead charged towards her uncle, who had called out to them. Aiden appeared disappointed for a brief second, but he soon followed as well, leaving the Pokémon to play amongst themselves. Torkoal, who had always held a particular interest in the sport, kicked at the black and white ball with one of his stubby front legs, watching as Corphish and Bulbasaur chased after it.

As the Pokémon continued their game, Aiden and Michelle approached Tracey, who had an excited smile on his face.

"What kinda surprise?" Aiden squeaked.

Tracey held up a clear plastic container, the inside of which was stuffed with thick, colorful cylindrical sticks.

"Chalk!" Michelle squealed, pointing at the package.

"That's right!" Tracey confirmed. "Professor Oak and I thought you'd have fun with this out here."

"I wanna use it!" Michelle cried, throwing her arm up in the air.

"Alright," Tracey chuckled, handing the container over to his niece. "Make sure you share with your brother, okay?"

Michelle grabbed the handle and ran off with it, Aiden trailing right behind. Tracey smiled as he watched the two kneel on the nearby pavement, opening the plastic container and rifling through it to pick out the colors they wanted. Naturally, red was the first one Aiden grabbed, while Michelle selected blue.

"I'm gonna spell my name!" Michelle announced, clutching the chalk and dragging it against the pavement. "M…I…C…"

Tracey moved closer to the twins, watching as Michelle scrawled across the ground. "Wow, look at you go, Shelly! You really know how to spell your name, huh?"

Michelle beamed up at him and nodded her head.

"What about you, Aiden?" Tracey asked, turning his attention onto his nephew. "Can you spell your name?"

"No," Aiden replied casually, instead using his piece of chalk to draw a giant circle.

"No?!" Tracey repeated with a gasp. "I don't believe that for a second!"

"It starts with an 'A' but that's all I know," Aiden continued, drawing a line across the inside of his circle.

Tracey appeared perplexed by his nephew's claim, and wanted to prod further, but he was cut off by an excited shriek from the boy.

"I drawded a poke ball!"

On the pavement, Aiden had indeed created a portrait of the sphere, complete with its two sides and center button.

"Yeah, you did!" Tracey marveled. "That's a great poke ball, buddy!"

"I hafta make the bottom white," Aiden determined, reaching into the bucket for the right piece of chalk.

"I finished my name!" Michelle announced, smiling as she observed her handiwork. "Now I wanna draw a mermaid!"

She reached for a green piece of chalk and began scribbling the outline of a tail. Tracey chuckled, crossing his arms as he observed the twins.

"You two are wonderful artists!" Tracey complimented. "And so creative!"

"Tor?"

The lab assistant glanced down and smiled kindly. "Hey there, Torkoal! Done playing soccer now?"

The fire type ignored Tracey and instead approached Aiden, who was still very focused on coloring in the bottom of his drawing. Torkoal silently watched the boy for a few seconds before stepping forward again, right on top of the poke ball portrait, and poking his snout against the center circle. Aiden pulled back and observed Torkoal, watching as the coal Pokémon tapped the pavement once, and then twice. It was after the second time that Aiden burst out laughing, startling Tracey a bit.

"He's being funny, huh?" Tracey asked Aiden after composing himself.

"Torkoal thinks it's real!" Aiden giggled. "Silly Torkoal! That's my drawing!"

Torkoal looked up at the boy and tilted his head. "Tor?"

"It's so good that Torkoal actually thought it was a poke ball!" Tracey crowed. "Aiden is great at drawing, huh?"

"Koal!" Torkoal agreed.

"Hey, Torkoal!" Aiden chirped, regaining the Pokémon's attention. "How about I draw a picture of you next?"

"Tor? Torkoal!" The fire type began to cry, causing Aiden to laugh nervously.

"I think Torkoal is honored that you want to draw him," Tracey noted, his own smile widening.

"You don't hafta cry!" Aiden assured the Pokémon. "I'm happy to draw you! Now, hold still!"

Aiden reached for the orange piece of chalk but was intercepted by his sister. The boy looked up and scowled, while Michelle appeared unaffected.

"Hey, I need that to draw Torkoal!" Aiden whined.

"Well I need it to draw my mermaid's hair!" Michelle cried.

"You can make her hair any color," Aiden huffed. "But Torkoal is orange, so I need that one!"

"Nuh uh, I want my mermaid to have the same hair as me!" Michelle argued. "So, I need it!"

As soon as the two started to bicker, Tracey's anxiety rose. He was an only child, his daughter was an only child…he had no idea what to do when the twins started fighting, even after dealing with it for four years. Ash assured him that he'd figure it out eventually, just like he had, but Tracey highly doubted that, especially since he'd watched Ash struggle to deal with it numerous times (telling him that Ash had not, in fact, "figured it out"). Misty and Daisy, on the other hand, were able to handle it like the experienced veterans of sibling rivalry that they were.

He really wished at least one of them was there right now.

Fortunately for Tracey, there wasn't much he ultimately had to do about it. As he was internally wrestling with how to shut down the arguing, Corphish had scuttled his way over to the children and, in one fell swoop, used his claw to clamp down on the orange chalk and cut it clean in half. One end remained in Michelle's hand while the other went clattering to the pavement, causing some small fragments to flake off around it.

Both Aiden and Michelle's jaws dropped. Aiden reached out to pick up the half of chalk that was on the ground, observing the chopped off edge. Corphish, meanwhile, looked very proud of himself, puffing his chest out and holding his claws up towards the sky.

"Well…that's one way to settle it…" Tracey murmured.

The twins both glanced up and exchanged looks before breaking out into laughter, taking their uncle off guard. He really found it amazing that those two could be at each other's throats one minute and then getting along like nothing had happened just minutes later.

He supposed it was very reminiscent of their parents, in a sense.

Apparently satisfied with Corphish's solution, both children returned to their masterpieces. As Michelle began to create a long, orange mane for her mermaid, Aiden went to work on an outline of Torkoal, who had once again started crying thanks to the twins' reconciliation.

"Don't cry, Torkoal!" Aiden beseeched the fire type, standing up for a short moment to pat him on the head. Once Torkoal had calmed down, Aiden grinned, looking even more remarkably like his father than usual. "Great! Now, hold still!"

He knelt back down and continued working on the Pokémon's portrait. Corphish, meanwhile, was out of a job with the kids now settled and had instead set his sights on Aiden's work. With a curious garble, Corphish inched closer to the drawing, leaning down a bit to observe it more closely. Aiden was so engrossed in his work that he only noticed the ruffian Pokémon once he moved the chalk closer to the creature. This caused Corphish to take a step back, and Aiden to look up, smiling when he saw the water type.

"I'm drawing Torkoal!" Aiden informed the confused Pokémon. "I can draw you when I'm done, if you want!"

Corphish beamed and nodded his head in agreement. Michelle, who had just finished her mermaid drawing, only happily observed it for a few seconds before instead turning her attention onto Aiden, Torkoal, and Corphish. She noticed right away that the two Pokémon were totally enthralled by Aiden, and frowned, jealousy tugging at her heartstrings.

Tracey, who was better at dealing with individual emotional turmoil, was about to offer Michelle something to ease her mind but was once again interrupted by one of Ash's Pokémon, this time his trusty (and highly intuitive) Bulbasaur.

"Bulba, bulbasaur!" The grass type called out to the girl, approaching her in order to nudge at her arm with his snout.

"Huh?" Michelle murmured before her eyes widened. "Oh! You want me to draw you like Aiden's doing for the others?"

"Bul!"

Michelle giggled and picked up the same blue chalk she'd used initially to spell out her name. "Okay! I'm gonna make this my best drawing ever!"

She, like her brother across from her, began to recreate Bulbasaur's likeness on the blacktop. While Michelle was busy with her outline, Bulbasaur glanced up at Tracey and smirked, much to the research assistant's amusement.

"Tracey! Could you come help me with something?"

The man looked over his shoulder and called back, "sure thing, Professor!" Returning his attention to the grass type, Tracey asked, "you've got everything under control here, right, Bulbasaur?"

"Bulba!"

Feeling comfortable with that, Tracey informed the twins, "I'm going to be right back you guys! I just have to go see what Professor Oak needs."

Neither Aiden nor Michelle seemed to hear him; both were so busy with and focused on their Pokémon drawings that they refused to look up or even offer a verbal confirmation. Tracey chuckled and, after throwing the twins and the gathered Pokémon one last look, headed up towards the lab.

It didn't take long for several of Ash's other Pokémon to become curious as to what was going on, especially since Tracey was now gone and three of their friends had yet to return to the fields. Rowlet and Donphan approached the group, the former riding lazily atop the armor Pokémon's head. As soon as Donphan got close enough to see what the twins were doing, however, he trumpeted in delight and picked up his pace, causing Rowlet to go tumbling towards the ground. Fortunately, the fall jerked him from his half-asleep state, and Rowlet was able to flap his wings and get himself airborne before he hit the dirt. Donphan, on the other hand, hadn't even realized he'd lost Rowlet and was totally focused on the picture of Bulbasaur that Michelle was currently drawing.

"Do, do-phan!" Donphan exclaimed, moving his gaze from the picture to Michelle.

The little red head glanced up at Donphan and let out a soft giggle. "You like my drawing, Donphan?"

"Do!" Donphan confirmed. He started to move his trunk around, mimicking the movements of Michelle's hand from just moments ago. The girl shifted her eyes from Donphan to the chalk in her hand, mulling over the Pokémon's actions before gasping in realization.

"Oh! You want to draw like me?"

Donphan trumpeted once more and jumped lightly on his back legs.

"Of course you can!" Michelle assured him. She picked up a piece of pink chalk and held it out towards armor Pokémon. "You can draw anything you want!"

The ground type reached out with his trunk and took the chalk, earning more giggles from Michelle. Rowlet, meanwhile, had finally fluttered over to the blacktop and landed on the 'M' that Michelle had initially drawn, leaning down to closely examine the other letters. With a curious coo, the grass quill Pokémon hopped onto the 'I', standing there for a short moment before moving on to the 'C'.

Michelle snickered at the Alolan starter. "Hey, Rowlet, why don't you try and draw something too?"

The dual type cooed and rotated his head, not fully understanding what Michelle meant.

"Draw something," Michelle repeated, holding the stick of green chalk she'd used previously out towards the bird. "Take this!"

Although he still appeared confused, Rowlet used his foot to take the chalk from Michelle and lifted himself up in the air, dragging the colorful stick across the concrete. Michelle watched curiously as the Pokémon drew a series of straight lines, eventually creating what Michelle perceived to be a forest.

"Oh, is that like where you came from in Alola?" Michelle asked. "My daddy told me all about how you lived with a really cool Toucannon and a bunch of Pikipek!"

Rowlet cooed and nodded his head, causing Michelle to giggle.

"All done!"

Aiden's excited declaration caught Michelle's attention. She inched closer to her brother and quickly realized that he had finally finished his drawing of Torkoal. It was pretty blobby and a bit messy, but for a four-year-old, it really wasn't too bad; it was at least recognizable as the coal Pokémon.

"What do you think, Torkoal?" Aiden asked the fire type.

Torkoal took one look at the picture and immediately burst into tears.

"I think he's happy," Michelle giggled nervously.

"Yeah?" Aiden asked. "Torkoal, are ya happy? You like my drawing?"

Torkoal began to bawl more loudly, but still managed to nod his head.

Aiden chuckled and hugged the fire type. "Aw, thanks! You're the best!"

"Cor! Phish! Corphish!"

Aiden glanced up and realized Corphish was throwing a fit right in front of him. Smirking, Aiden let go of Torkoal and assured the water type, "I didn't forget about you! I'm gonna draw you now!"

Michelle's eyes lit up. "Oh yeah! I should finish my drawing of Bulbasaur too!"

"Bulba, bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur called, assuring the young girl that everything was alright, and, unlike Corphish, he didn't mind waiting for the finished product.

From a window inside of the lab, Tracey took a quick peek through the glass and smiled to himself when he saw the twins and Pokémon were still busy with his little gift. Professor Oak, however, noticed Tracey's expression, and smiled himself in response.

"They're still having a ball out there, I imagine?" Professor Oak chuckled.

"Absolutely," Tracey confirmed, looking over his shoulder at the researcher. "And honestly, I'm not sure who's having more fun: the kids or the Pokémon!"