I really want to get myself back into the habit of regularly posting stories, so I thought this one was a good way to start! It's cute lil one that I really enjoyed writing.

Aiden and Michelle: 3 years old


Training Wheels

"You really should've just paid someone to put these things together."

Ash looked up at Misty with a scowl. "No way! I wanted to do it! What kind of a father would I be if I didn't put my kids' first bikes together?"

"A smart one," Misty replied, playfully winking at an amused Pikachu.

Ash rolled his eyes and returned to his work. "It's fine, I'm almost done."

"Okay," Misty sighed, looking over her shoulder. "I'll start rounding the twins up, then. They've probably got Brock tied up by now."

Ash chuckled at the image before suddenly hissing and shaking his hand out. "Ow! Son of a – "

"How many times has that happened since you started building these bikes?" Misty cut him off with a smirk, while Pikachu jumped in surprise.

"Enough," Ash grumbled before sucking on his finger.

"Enough times or enough from me?" Misty teased.

Removing his finger, Ash gave Misty a sardonic smile. "Both."

Misty laughed and shook her head, turning around and heading for the backyard as she called, "I'll be right back with the kids!"

She opened up the gate and the first thing she saw was Brock, fortunately not in any sort of bind like she had joked he might be. At the moment, the Pokémon doctor was helping Michelle down the slide of the twins' playset while Aiden was on one of the swings, Vaporeon watching closely nearby.

"Brock, push me!" Aiden cried.

"I'll be right there, buddy," Brock replied, first sliding Michelle down as she giggled delightfully. Once she reached the bottom of the slide, the little girl saw her mother and squealed, jumping up to her feet.

"Mommy!"

"I was only gone for a few minutes, you silly girl!" Misty giggled, reaching down to pat her daughter's head.

"Ya but I missed you," Michelle replied, hanging onto Misty's legs.

"Well, I missed you too," Misty assured her. "Have you and your brother been playing nice with Brock?"

"Yes," Michelle chirped. "Come see!"

The little girl ran back over to the playset, Misty giggling and following after her. Michelle ran over to one of the swings, diving onto it so she was swinging on her stomach. Brock had gone back to pushing Aiden on his own swing, while the little boy cheered, "higher, I wanna go higher!"

"Aiden, if I push you any higher, you're gonna end up in space!" Brock laughed.

"Sometimes I think that's what he wants," Misty commented. "He's such a daredevil that nothing shocks me anymore."

"Ya, I wanna go to space!" Aiden cried.

"Well, not right now," Misty playfully refuted. "Daddy has a surprise for you two!"

Michelle gasped, and although her back was still facing her mother, she asked, "a surprise?!"

"Yep!" Misty confirmed. "Want to go see?"

"Ya!" Michelle squealed, hopping off the swing and running towards the gate. That move caught Vaporeon's attention, and she was quick to follow after the girl.

"I wanna go too!" Aiden shouted.

"Then let me slow you down," Brock chuckled.

"I can jump!" Aiden chirped.

"No, Aiden, do not jump off that swing," Misty warned him.

Once the boy got close enough to Brock, he grabbed the swing's ropes so he could stop it from moving. Immediately, Aiden dismounted and charged after his sister, going as fast as he could to try and catch up to her.

"I was going to say that you and Ash probably get an amazing night's sleep with the way these kids run around, but I know better than to think those two ever give you a break," Brock chuckled.

Misty sighed and shook her head. "I don't think I've had a good night's sleep in years."

"Three years, to be exact?" Brock presumed with a smirk, walking over to her.

"Bold of you to assume I still slept well when I was pregnant with them," Misty teased as she and Brock headed towards the twins. Before they could even make it to the fence, however, Aiden managed to open the latch on the gate and run out.

"I hate that he knows how to do that now," Misty groaned. "It was a lot more fun to come back here when they were totally contained and we didn't have to worry about them escaping."

"Gotta give him credit, that's pretty good," Brock marveled, examining the latch himself. "This thing's not that easy to get open!"

"Don't tell him that," Misty warned. "He'll start teaching himself something else to cause mischief."

Now that they were free, Aiden and Michelle ran to the driveway, both of them becoming very excited when they saw their father sitting with what must've been their surprise.

"You guys know what these are?" Ash asked with a chuckle when he saw the twins' faces light up.

"Bike!" Michelle squealed.

"Yep!" Ash confirmed, smirking as Pikachu retreated to his shoulder to get out of the excited kids' way. "Real, big kid bikes for both of you!"

Aiden's had an all red frame with blue and gray details. Both the main wheels and the training wheels were black, and the seat was covered in an interesting blue, red, gray, and black pattern that matched the frame's details.

Michelle's had a predominantly light blue frame that faded into white at the front, with a light blue seat, main white wheels with purple rims, and purple training wheels. The light blue handles had streamers in the colors of pink, white, yellow, and orange, and a white basket on the front with decorative pink, yellow, and orange weaving.

"What do you think?" Ash prodded, getting to his feet.

"Is cool!" Aiden exclaimed, running over to his bike. "I wanna ride it!"

"Me too!" Michelle added.

Ash beamed. He knew these would be a hit! "You can! But before you get on them, you have to put on your helmets. There's no riding bikes without helmets, understood?"

Aiden and Michelle both nodded, and they were soon fitted with their own helmets: Aiden's red and covered with a black poke ball pattern, and Michelle's blue from the back transitioning into pink in the front.

"Aw, you two look so cute!" Misty giggled, having finally made her way out of the backyard herself with Brock in tow.

"Yeah, you look like you've been riding bikes for years!" He agreed.

Aiden wasted no time in hopping on his bike, grabbing the handlebars and placing his feet on the pedals. "Go!"

He pushed forward on the pedals, but only managed to move the bike a few inches. The boy frowned and tried again but didn't get much further. Glancing over at his mother, Aiden yelled, "mine's broke!"

"It's not broken, silly boy," Misty giggled, walking over to her son. "You're probably not pushing hard enough on the pedals! Make sure you're really using your legs."

Aiden poked his tongue out of the side of his mouth and pressed his feet against the pedals with all of his might. That seemed to do the trick, and he was soon moving the bike along at a slow but steady clip. "I'm doin- it!"

Brock chuckled as he watched his godson go. "Wow, look at you! Very impressive!"

While her brother was on the move, however, Michelle was finding herself totally stuck. No matter how hard she pushed against the pedals, the bike wouldn't budge, and she was starting to become frustrated.

"Uuuugh!" Michelle grunted, lifting herself all the way off her seat to step on the pedals. Still, that didn't do the trick. "Grr…"

Ash chuckled and knelt beside his daughter. "Need some help?"

Michelle sat back down and nodded, the pout still on her face. Smiling, Pikachu hopped off of his trainer's shoulder and situated himself in the basket of Michelle's bike instead, causing the girl to giggle. Standing back up, Ash moved over to the back of the bike and grabbed onto the seat, gently pushing the bike forward. Right away, Michelle's giggles intensified, and she made sure to pick her feet up so they wouldn't get hit by the spinning pedals. "Whee!"

"Okay, Shelly, now try putting your foot on the pedals and pushing them!" Ash instructed.

The little girl hesitated for a moment, but finally put her feet back in place and watched them move along with the pedals. Ash released the bike, and when it continued to roll for a couple of seconds, he got excited. That ended when the bike stopped just as quickly, however, and instead led to Ash furrowing his brow. Michelle, meanwhile, looked over her shoulder at her father and frowned.

"What happened?" Ash asked sweetly.

"I got stuck!" Michelle cried.

"Were you pushing the pedals hard enough?"

"Uh huh."

Ash twisted his mouth, but soon conceded, "alright, let me give you another push to start."

While Ash tried to work with Michelle, Aiden had managed to get pretty good with his own bike and was now zooming around much more quickly. It didn't take him long to skid to a halt in front of his mother and Brock, hopping off his bike and kneeling beside the back wheel.

Misty raised an eyebrow. "What're you doing, little guy?"

"Tryna take the training wheels off!" Aiden called back, yanking at the smaller wheel on his side.

"No, we're not going to take the training wheels off just yet," Misty refuted with a laugh.

"I don't need -em," Aiden replied with a frown.

"Aiden, you just learned how to ride that bike," Misty reminded him. "There's no reason to rush and take the training wheels off. You have to keep practicing with them!"

"But I don't wanna!" Aiden whined, standing up to stomp his feet.

Misty sighed and shook her head. "You're not going to change my mind. The training wheels stay on."

Aiden huffed and folded his arms. "They're for babies."

"No, they're not," Misty calmly argued. "They're there to help you learn!"

"Yeah, babies can't ride big boy bikes like that," Brock added. "Not even with training wheels! They have to ride tricycles and things like that. And when was the last time you rode a tricycle?"

"Ummm…like a long time ago," Aiden mused, grinning afterwards. "Those are for babies!"

"Yep, there you go," Brock supplemented. "Definitely not training wheels, though! Those are actually for big kids only."

"Okay!" Aiden chirped, hopping back on his bike. "I'm a big kid!"

Misty giggled as Aiden sped away once again, turning to face Brock. "You are a lifesaver."

"Oh, it's nothing," Brock laughed, nervously rubbing the back of his neck. "I have a lot of experience with that kind of stuff thanks to my nieces and nephews! Which means I also know they'll listen to pretty much anyone who aren't their parents, especially at this age."

"That's true for Aiden, but not so much for Michelle," Misty murmured, looking over at her daughter. Ash was just letting go of the bike, watching on as Michelle cruised for a little while before stopping again. "She's still really good at listening to us and doing what we ask, especially if Ash is the one doing the asking. I know that's kind of an anomaly, and I'm sure it won't last forever, but for now I really enjoy it! Even more so since Aiden is all about testing boundaries."

"Daddy, push me again!"

"Michelle, are you sure you're pedaling?"

"Ya!"

"…are you lying to me?"

"No!"

Misty sighed and looked back over at Brock. "She's also still a little too attached to him, but I guess I'd rather have to contend with that than her defying us."

Brock laughed heartily. "I'm sure Ash doesn't mind!"

"Not at all," Misty confirmed. "It's become his favorite thing to brag about: how his little girl just adores him and has become his sweet, constant shadow." Glancing over her shoulder once again, however, Misty smirked. "Although, the bike thing might be enough to take him out for once."

Ash had gone right back to pushing Michelle on her bike while the little girl giggled once again. He was starting to look exhausted, probably from all the running back and forth while he was hunched over, and as a result, had failed to notice that Michelle's feet were no longer so much as touching the pedals. Instead, she was holding them several inches away from the gearshifts, letting them hover in the air while Ash did all of the work in getting the bike to move.

Brock, who was watching on as well, smirked in amusement. "Michelle might admire Ash, but she's clearly got him wrapped around her little finger, too!"


I realized that getting their first bikes would be the perfect way to really see the difference between the twins: Aiden would want his training wheels ripped off in 5 seconds, and Michelle would basically prefer someone else to do all the work for her :P