I'm over a week late for Aiden and Michelle's birthday; I feel so bad! But the past 2 weeks have been absolutely crazy and I've hardly had any downtime to just sit and write. This one came along super slowly, getting pieced together little by little each day. So now, with the weekend here, I was finally able to finish writing and clean it up!

This story takes place shortly before the twins' 5th birthday.


Birthday Battle

"What do you think Pokémon want for their birthdays?"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Aiden beamed, unaffected by his sister's bewildered stare. "As presents! They probably ask for presents for their birthdays too, right?"

Michelle shrugged. "I don't know. How would I? You should ask a Pokémon, not me."

"Good idea!" Aiden cheered, jumping to his feet and running out of the room.

Michelle watched him go, still confused by her brother's eagerness. Nevertheless, she was just grateful she once again had a quiet room to herself, so she didn't complain or ask questions and simply returned to her coloring book.

Aiden, meanwhile, knew exactly where he was going: the backyard. He was certain he had seen his father and Pikachu go back there before, probably to train. But his father always made time for him, and never minded taking a break from training whenever the boy came calling.

When Aiden got outside, however, he found his father fast asleep on the patio couch, half his limbs dangling off the furniture with his mouth hanging open. The boy groaned and shook his head; his father loved to train with his Pokémon, but it always seemed to make him really tired. His mom said it was because his dad did "way too much" when it came to his training and was always doing a whole bunch of crazy stuff alongside his Pokémon that he really didn't need to do.

Inching closer to his sleeping father, Aiden quickly realized that Pikachu was nowhere to be found. The electric type tended to do whatever his trainer was doing, so Aiden found him missing to be pretty strange. He soon heard some giggling, however, and looked out into the yard.

Pikachu was chasing one of his and Michelle's rubber balls, pouncing on it and ultimately getting thrown off. It looked like he was having lots of fun, and Aiden wanted to join in. Running away from his sleeping father, Aiden cried out unintelligibly to catch Pikachu's attention. It did manage to work, and Pikachu excitedly scurried over towards the boy.

"C'mon, Pikachu!" Aiden cheered. "Let's play!"

The mouse nodded before spinning on his heels and racing Aiden back to the ball. The two pounced on it at the same time, sending the blue and white rubber sphere high up in the air. Aiden watched it in fascination, but Pikachu leapt up with ease, smacking the ball back down with his tail. It bounced once before Aiden jumped on top of it, rolling over the ball and holding it up over his head.

"Got it!"

"Pi-ka, Pipika!"

Aiden chuckled as Pikachu landed back on his paws, rolling the ball towards the mouse. "I wish I could jump that high! And I wish I had a tail so I could hit the ball like that."

Pikachu stopped the ball with his nose and rolled it up onto his head, tossing it back before whipping around and once again using his tail to hit the ball back to Aiden.

Aiden giggled and caught the ball, dramatically falling onto his back. He quickly sat back up with wide eyes, however, and gasped, "Oh, I forgot! Hey Pikachu, what kind of stuff do you want for your birthday?"

The electric type blinked and tilted his head. "Chu?"

"Presents!" Aiden clarified, remembering that Michelle had also been confused. He guessed he had to be clearer when he asked questions. "Don't you ask my daddy for presents when it's your birthday?"

Pikachu still appeared bewildered, but finally shook his head.

Now feeling just as confused as his father's partner Pokémon, Aiden furrowed his brow. "You don't?"

Pikachu shook his head again. "Pikachu pika chupika."

It took Aiden a moment to understand what Pikachu was saying; outside of certain names or phrases he heard all the time, he wasn't as familiar yet with the Pokémon's language the way his parents were. Eventually, however, he seemed to get the idea, and asked, "you don't have a birthday?"

This time, Pikachu shrugged. It was hard to explain to a little kid. Technically, he did have a birthday. Everyone did; even Pokémon. But it wasn't like he knew when it was. There wasn't really anyone around to keep track of such a thing when he was a young Pichu, so he'd never celebrated it. And it didn't really bother him, either. Pikachu was perfectly happy to celebrate the birthdays of his human family; after all, he still got cake and treats when it was someone else's birthday!

So, he did his best to provide that explanation to Aiden. He wasn't sure how much the boy really understood, but at least some of it must have registered, as Aiden frowned about halfway through the mouse's response. "Oh. So…if you did have a birthday, then what would you ask for?"

Pikachu blinked. Aiden was really stuck on the subject for some reason, and the Pokémon wasn't sure why. He also wasn't sure of how to answer. Pikachu's favorite things were apples and ketchup and battling and spending time with his family…and he got those things all the time. It didn't need to be a special occasion like a birthday (which, again, he didn't have.)

"Whoa, you two seem to be having some kind of deep conversation over here!"

Aiden looked over his shoulder and furrowed his brow. For someone who was so loud while he slept, his dad sure was quiet when it came to waking up. But there he was, wide awake and hovering over Aiden and Pikachu with his hands on his hips and an amused smirk on his face. His young son, however, was not as jovial.

"Why didn't you give Pikachu a birthday?!"

"Huh? What're you talking about?"

Groaning, Aiden explained, "Pikachu told me he doesn't have a birthday!"

"Well, I don't really get to decide when someone's birthday is…" Ash murmured. "Besides, Pikachu never asked! I don't really think it bothers him all that much. Right, buddy?"

Pikachu nodded to confirm that no, it was not something he really thought about.

"But it sure seems to be bothering you," Ash mused, raising an eyebrow. "What's up, champ?"

With a sigh, Aiden replied, "I don't know what I want for my birthday, so I decided that I'd ask for something that a Pokémon would want! Because I love Pokémon. So, I thought they'd have good ideas."

"Oh, I see," Ash breathed.

"But Pikachu doesn't have a birthday, and he doesn't know what he'd ask for even if he did!" Aiden cried. Glancing back up at his father with a look of defeat, Aiden bemoaned, "it's very fris-chasing."

Ash snorted. "I think you mean frustrating, little guy."

Aiden stared blankly at Ash, unaffected by his grammatical error. In fairness, Ash could hardly blame him. Big words like that could definitely be confusing, and Aiden took a lot after him, meaning he didn't really care about getting those kinds of things right.

"You don't have to ask for the same thing a Pokémon would want," Ash continued, sitting down beside his son. "I highly doubt you really like the same things anyway!"

The young boy pursed his lips. "We both really like to battle."

"Yeah, but Pokémon like to actually battle," Ash chuckled. "You like to watch battles!"

"I play battle with Michelle all the time," Aiden refuted.

"Yeah," Ash repeated, his smile growing, "and Mommy hates it."

"Mommy doesn't like that word, either."

Ash sighed. Aiden was half right; Misty didn't like the twins using that word. She said she hated stuff all the time. Something about setting a good example for them (and ignoring Ash when he asked if such a thing was hypocritical when she was always using it.)

"Fair enough," Ash conceded. It was never worth arguing with a kid; you almost always lost. He did, anyway. "Either way, you should come up with your own idea for what you want for your birthday. I think that's what Pikachu would really want, right, buddy?"

The electric type beamed and nodded.

"But I don't know what I want!" Aiden groaned. "That's the problem!"

Despite his son's frustration, Ash chuckled. "You don't have to decide right now! You've got a little time."

Aiden scowled, but finally conceded, "kay." His face suddenly lit up, however, and he shrieked, "wait! I know! Daddy, can we play?"

Ash inclined his head. "You mean for your birthday?"

The boy beamed and nodded.

"We don't have to play just because it's almost your birthday!" Ash guffawed. "I'm happy to play with you anytime!"

"Yay!" Aiden cheered, once again grabbing the ball that he and Pikachu had been playing with earlier. "We can use this and play battle!"

"Battle, huh?" Ash sighed, shiftily glancing towards the house. "Well…alright. But you have to help me keep an eye out for Mommy! Got it?"

"Yep!" Aiden chirped. "She won't ever know!"


Spoiler Alert: Misty knows. She always knows.