Wanted to share a cute one of two of the best buddies :)
Michelle: 5 years old
Flower Girl
"Daddy, help me practice!"
"Practice what, baby girl?"
"Throwing flowers."
Ash smirked at his daughter. "For Dawn's wedding?"
Michelle rapidly nodded her head. Ash's longtime friend, who was also Michelle's godmother and someone the girl simply adored, was getting married and had asked Michelle to be one of her flower girls. She had excitedly agreed…and then promptly asked her mother what a flower girl was.
"They go up the aisle right before the bride at a wedding and throw flower petals on the ground so that it's all pretty for her," Misty had explained with an amused smile on her face. "That's why they're called flower girls!"
Michelle had followed that question up with asking if it meant she'd have to wear a dress, to which her mother replied that yes, she would.
That wasn't much of a thrill to Michelle, but she was willing to do it since it was for Dawn. Besides, knowing that Dawn was also going to be the one picking out her dress actually made Michelle feel a little better. The woman was a top coordinator after all, and Michelle had seen her wear some really beautiful dresses on stage, so the girl could only imagine that maybe her own dress would look like something a real coordinator would wear. Considering she wanted to be one herself once she grew up, Michelle figured she could get into the spirit for one day and get all dolled up.
She also wanted to make sure that she was going to do her best as a flower girl, however, and felt that she needed some practice ahead of time. After all, Michelle had never been a flower girl before, or even seen one. And she wanted to be perfect at it.
And when it came to practicing…well training (which was basically the same thing) Michelle knew her father was the best.
"Sure, we can go practice!" Ash replied, hopping up from his seat on the couch. "Do you have a basket? Or some petals to throw?"
Michelle hummed and shook her head.
"No?" Ash repeated with a frown, folding his arms. "Well…that's okay! I'm sure we can find something else to use in the meantime!"
He started to look around the living room for a workable substitute, Michelle following suit.
"Ooh, what about this?"
Ash looked up as soon as he heard his daughter's excited squeal and found that she was holding up a piece of yellow construction paper.
"We can rip it up into pieces and then I can throw it!" Michelle giggled, tossing her arms up in the air.
"Great idea, Shelly!" Ash crowed, his eyes lighting up. "Now all we need is a basket for you to carry them in!"
"Pi-ka!"
Ash's partner Pokémon popped his head out of a nearby fabric cube…one that he had removed all of the twins' toys from.
"Uh…yeah!" Ash nervously commented. "Good job, Pikachu!"
Michelle furrowed her brow and turned towards her father. "I'm not cleaning all that up."
"Don't worry, Pikachu and I will take care of it," Ash assured his young daughter. "Right, buddy?"
"Pi!" Pikachu confirmed, hopping out of the box and pulling it towards Michelle with his little paws.
Giggling, Michelle knelt down, gratefully taking the cube from her father's Pokémon. "Thanks, Pikachu!"
She quickly went to work on tearing up the construction paper and dropping the resulting pieces into the box. It didn't take her very long, and as soon as she was finished, Michelle picked up the cube and beamed at her father. "All set!"
"Great!" Ash cheered before walking across the room. "Okay, I'll stand right over here, and you start walking over from the stairs. That way, you can pretend you're walking up the aisle!"
Michelle tilted her head. "Are you gonna be Dawn?"
Ash nearly fell on his face. "Huh? No! Dawn is going to walk out behind you, remember? You're throwing the petals for her!"
"So…who are you pretending to be?"
"I don't know," Ash sighed. "Kenny, I guess? He'll be standing up here with all the bridesmaids and the groomsmen."
Michelle frowned. "Does that mean they're all gonna be watching me?"
Ash froze. Although she had become slightly more comfortable with being noticed as she aged, Michelle was still pretty shy. She didn't like to be the center of attention and being the flower girl kind of meant exactly that, if only for a few seconds. Still, Ash wanted his daughter to remain excited for her role as flower girl, and feared her innate timidity would ruin it before it even began.
"Yeah, but they're not gonna be judging you or anything like that!" Ash hurriedly assured his suddenly horrified daughter. "And it'll be over so fast, because really, everyone is most excited to see the bride!"
"And that's Dawn?"
Ash smiled at Michelle's coy question. "Yep!"
The girl hummed nervously, still uncertain about the whole thing. "Did you and Mommy have flower girls when you got married?"
"We did," Ash confirmed with a nod.
"Who?"
"Dakota, Vanessa, and Lola."
"And everyone watched them?"
"Yeah, but they had fun. You know all three of your cousins love to show off!"
"Even when they were little?"
"Yes, especially when they were little."
Michelle giggled at the image in her head. "Okay, then, I will too!"
"What, show off?" Ash asked with a chuckle.
Michelle beamed and nodded her head.
Ash grinned. "I'd like to see that! So, if you're really looking to show off, then you should definitely practice before the wedding comes."
Michelle nodded and pulled her shoulders back, standing up as straight as she possibly could. Ash's eyes widened as soon as he took in Michelle's figure. She was of pretty average height for a girl her age, but when she stood like that, she looked a lot taller. She did have Misty's long legs, so he was sure that was part of it, but Ash still couldn't help but to feel like he was looking at an older version of his little daughter.
He'd be lying if he didn't say it kind of scared him.
"How's this?"
Ash blinked hard and realized that Michelle was talking to him. "What?"
"How I'm standing," Michelle replied, unaware that her father had gotten distracted.
"Oh!" Ash exclaimed. "Yeah, it's perfect!"
Smiling, Michelle reached into the fabric bin and grabbed a fistful of paper scraps, carelessly tossing them in front of her. They landed in a near heap, Ash and Pikachu watching on as the toss ended anticlimactically.
"Pi…" Pikachu murmured, obviously disappointed.
Michelle scowled as she glanced down at the pile of paper. "That was no good."
Ash hesitated, but when Michelle looked back up at him with imploring eyes, he conceded, "it wasn't the best. But look, those aren't real flower petals! Paper falls differently, I think…"
Michelle's frown deepened. "What if I'm just bad at being a flower girl?"
"No, no, no!" Ash rushed out. "That was only your first throw, princess! You need a lot more practice than that! Maybe you just took too much for that throw. Try picking up less paper and see how that works."
Already, the little girl looked dejected. Unfortunately, she didn't have the same kind of confidence and tenacity her parents and brother had. It was pretty easy for Michelle to get down on herself. Ash, however, was determined to help his daughter realize just how amazing she was, and to give her that extra boost of confidence that she needed.
So, heeding her father's advice, Michelle reached back into the cube and picked up a smaller amount of paper bits. She tossed them again, and while they got a little more flight than the first batch, they still landed in a rather mundane pile.
"That wasn't good either," Michelle sighed, slumping her shoulders.
"Hey, don't give up," Ash calmly encouraged his daughter, standing up and walking over to her. "Maybe you just need to try a different method!"
Michelle raised an eyebrow. "I dunno what that means."
"That's okay, I'll show you!" Ash chuckled, reaching into the bin himself. He pulled out his own fistful of paper and carefully thought back to how Michelle had thrown hers before. Smiling in understanding, Ash turned around so he was facing the same direction as his daughter and gently instructed her, "watch this."
He tossed the paper with a flourish, and the scraps fluttered around him and Michelle like the wings of a Butterfree. The little girl marveled at them, while Pikachu ran over to dance around in the paper shower. The bits of paper landed all around them on the floor, scattered about like confetti instead of the small mountains that Michelle had previously put together.
"Ooh, that was amazing!" Michelle squealed.
"Thanks!" Ash chuckled. "But all I did was change the way you were throwing the paper. You just need a little more movement in your wrist; like throwing a poke ball!"
Michelle frowned. "I dunno how to do that."
"You don't have to know how; you just have to feel it!" Ash assured her. "Come on, give it a go!"
The little girl reached in to grab some more paper and, more dramatically waving her wrist, watched as it flew around in a manner less impressive than her father's toss, but far more appealing than what she'd managed before.
"Alright, there you go!" Ash cheered. "That looked great!"
"Pika, Pipikachu!" The electric type agreed.
"Thanks!" Michelle giggled sheepishly. "But I think I still need to practice more."
Ash nodded in agreement. "Practice makes perfect! But you're already on your way to being an awesome flower girl!"
Michelle's eyes lit up. "You think so?"
Her father grinned. "I know so!"
When in doubt, Ash will always compare whatever he can to catching and training Pokémon, lol.
