Chapter 14:Kids
Sorry for the delay, I've been a little busy working on some one-shots for other fandoms. Quick question, if anyone who reads this is a Daily Life With A Monster Girl fan, would they be interested in a Kimihito/Cerea and a Kimihito/Rachnera one-shots? I don't own Pokemon or Daily Life With A Monster Girl.
WTLM
Nine year old Jack Ketchum woke up the way he usually did - to the infernal chirping of the local pidove. Grumbling to himself, he rose from his bed and walked over to the window. He opened it and stuck his head out the window, shouting out to the forest around his home. "SHUT UP, YOU JERKS! CAN'T A GUY SLEEP IN ON HIS BIRTHDAY!?"
On cue, a flock of the annoying flying ratatta took to the sky, fleeing the fierce sounding possible predator. Jack retired to bed, slipping back into the comforting warmth.
As soon as he closed his eyes, they snapped back open and he leapt of bed with enthusiasm befitting his energetic age. "It's my birthday!"
He quickly brushed his teeth in the bathroom connected to his bedroom, then threw on his favourite tee-shirt and a pair of jeans.
He took brief glance in the mirror to see if he managed to get his darn hair to stay down properly. Alas, no. It seemed like his father, his hair was controlled by some mysterious outer force beyond his ken.
It was getting a little too long, he noticed, blowing a strand of black hair out of his eyes. His mom would say something about getting a hair cut, not that she could talk. Come on! Her hair went down to her knees! And Selene was copying her, claiming to want pretty princess hair too. But nobody said anything to her!
They were the exact opposite of the other, his sister and himself. He had traits of his mother and father, grey eyes and black hair, and Selene was blonde with brown eyes. While he had the some of the personality of his mother, her seriousness and natural intelligence, Selene had boundless energy and their dad's gift for making friends with anybody.
She was kind of ridiculously over-the-top adorable, in his opinion. Maybe it was her big brown eyes or the way she seemed more hair than human, but nobody could resist her charm, it was like she was the human equivalent of an eevee. Well, those people never had to pull out her hair when it was clogging up the shower.
Himself on the other hand... Jack wasn't great at making friends to say the least. He was shy, believe it or not and maybe it was because he came off as a little cold sometimes, most kids in their age group seemed to avoid him, despite Selene's insistence that he was a nice guy.
Whatever. He had his sister, that was what counted.
Well, Selene and maybe Eve, his Uncle Brock's daughter who was a year or two older than him and Abby, his dad's friend, Ethan's kid. But he didn't get to see them often and they were girls anyway, so he wasn't sure if they counted.
Jack walked over to the calender on his wall and taking a marker, he happily marked off another date, September the second.
"Just another three-hundred and sixty-five to go!" He stated cheerfully. Just one more year and he'd be able to get his trainer's license and take off on a journey just like his mom and dad!
He walked out of his room, fantasising of such a day, and into the vice-like grip of his seven year old sister, Selene. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKY!" She shouted gleefully, wrapping her tiny arms around her sibling.
Selene was a chubby-faced little blonde child, who ever since seeing pictures of her parents as a child, decided to grow out her then shoulder-length hair down to the small of her back. Her brown eyes were a lighter shade then their father's and were always alight with mischievous energy.
She adored her older brother and parents, always creating some new game to involve them in. While unable to choose a favourite family member, those who knew her could tell that she was a daddy's girl at heart, always cuddling up to Ash after waking up during the occasional storm or bad dream.
"Selene...you're crushing...me!" He managed to gasp out, his torso being crushed with the unnatural strength all little sisters seem to have when dealing with older siblings.
Selene released him and he collapsed to the floor struggling for air. "Oh?" Selene looked down at her brother and grinned as he groaned in pain. Jacky was so silly sometimes, pretending that her super big brother birthday hug was anything but great!
"C'mon Jacky, get up! Your presents are downstairs! Presents, presents, presents!" Selene chirped, running off down the hallways and towards the stairs.
"Little idiot..." Jack smiled. It was just too much effort to try to stay mad at her when she was just excited for him.
WTLM
While this was happening, the parents of Jack and Selene, thirty-four year old Ash and his wife of ten years, Cynthia Ketchum were cooking up breakfast.
Well, Ash was, Cynthia had been relegated to pouring out glasses of orange juice and not killing anything. So it was the same as every meal, really.
The kitchen was modern, a black and white tiled floor, a medium sized table in the middle of the floor that the family used for meals, a large stainless steel large refrigerator and oven, and of course, a sink.
With all the money that they had saved over the years, from Cynthia's archaeology expeditions and their titles of Champion, the Ketchum family were rather rich. They weren't the sort of people to spend money recklessly however, the only real cost they payed in recent years was for the deed to the large forest that they turned into a preserve for their pokemon. It was even better than Prof. Oak's ranch, with a lake, large open spaces in the centre, a small cave system and thick woods, there was something for all of them.
The best thing about the kitchen though, was the view. The windows gave a perfect view of the lake glittering in the early morning sun. There was just something so calming about looking at the window and watching the pokemon play in the water, Ash thought. He could see Cynthia's milotic breaking in and out of the lake's surface followed by Lapras and Floatzel, his kingler and crawdaunt struggling against one another in a game of claw-wrestling, while Samurott, Blastoise and Feralygatr were engaged in some kind of Hydro Pump based Mexican standoff.
Ash smiled knowing that somewhere in the forest, Pikachu was attending to his own family.
Back when Cynthia and Ash lived in Celestic Town, he and Pikachu had come across a raichu, who had been set free by her trainer. The two had instantly hit it off and both begged for Ash to capture her.
Sadly, this had given Cynthia more material to tease him with, claiming that the trainer/pokemon similarities he had brought up years ago also extended to taste in women. Considering that Cynthia was a bit taller than Ash and that Raichu was about double Pikachu's height, she wasn't wrong.
And Charizard and Charla, his mate, were in there too, along with Butterfree and his pink mate. Somewhere along the line, most of his and Cynthia's pokemon had paired up, their lucario, their garchomp, despite the age difference, another thing Cynthia quickly pointed out. Her spiritomb and his gengar, he really didn't want to think about that one, Pidgeot and Braviary, even Sceptile and Meganium.
And then there was his own family.
Cynthia, perfection incarnate. He didn't see her as perfect because he ignored her flaws. No, looking after a girl who's sick and leaking a constant stream of mucus from her nose not only takes away rose-tinted glasses, it throws them to the ground and smashes them too.
No, she was perfect to him not despite her faults, but because of them.
She was a slob, leaving important documents and reports lying in haphazard piles all over their bedroom, and though she had certainly toned it down over the years, she still seemed to non-verbally challenge every non-attached woman they met, like a pokemon scaring an enemy off their territory and she still made him sit through those cliché romance movies, no matter how much he fought.
But he had never seen adorable until he saw Cynthia sitting on the bed, surrounded by piles of paper, her brow cutely furrowed as she concentrated on a photo of an ancient ruin's particularly difficult passage of hieroglyphs that detailed how to get past the various traps without loss of limbs.
He had never seen beauty until he saw Cynthia's naked body glow in the moonlight as she reaffirmed over and over again that she was the only one who deserved him, the only one who could ever love him the way she did.
He had never seen love until he looked into Cynthia's eyes as she cuddled up to him and whispered that the films she watched, although silly at times, reminded her that happy endings exist, and that she was well on her way to one.
He had never seen perfection until he saw her sick, her hoarse voice and pouty lips grumpily asking him to feed her soup while snuggled up under a pile of blankets.
Then there was his children, his pride and joy. Jack, so much like his mother, smart, studious, taking in any new facts about anything that caught his interest.
And Selene, his little angel. If Cynthia was a valkyrie, then Selene was a cherub, a ball of cuteness and energy who brightened up everyone's day just be being in it.
Many years ago, Cynthia had expressed concern that she would wake up and find that everything they had been through together had be some wonderful dream. But if all this was really a dream, he hoped that he never woke up.
This, Ash Ketchum decided, was the life.
Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Cynthia slowly creep up behind him to engage in her favourite pastime: Distracting Ash.
She wrapped her arms around his chest, enjoying the feeling of his warm, strong body against her own. "Cynthia?" Ash asked, placing his hand over one of Cynthia's.
"Yes?" Cynthia's free hand still moved up and down his chest.
"I'm happy." He said, with a smile Cynthia felt, rather than saw.
Sensing the emotion behind the seemingly simple statement, Cynthia tightened her grip. "Me too."
Cynthia smirked to herself and then ran her moist tongue up the side of his neck. "Cynthia!" Ash gasped.
"Hmm?" She replied, sounding as if she wasn't making sure her love-bites were still there.
"I'm making breakfast!" He protested, trying not to shiver too noticeably.
"I know, I'm not blind." Rolling her eyes, Cynthia placed her nose at the junction between his jaw and neck and sniffed, an almost lewd moan escaping her pink lips. "It's your fault, you know. I just can't resist you after you shave, this aftershave just makes me want to jump you."
Ash closed his eyes to focus his resolve. "Don't tempt me."
"Are you sure we just can't go back to bed really quick?" She asked, her hot breath against his ear. Did Ash really think that he could resist her? Poor, delusional Ash.
"Now, now, Cynthia, when have I ever been quick?" Ash laughed.
"Um, the first time I gave you a-" She started with a teasing smile.
"That was rhetorical." Evil woman, evil, evil woman.
"Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, my love." She sniffed again. "Seriously, it's like your wearing liquid sex."
"SHUT UP, YOU JERKS! CAN'T A GUY SLEEP IN ON HIS BIRTHDAY!?"
"Jack's up." Ash stated to get Cynthia off of him, for now at least.
Cynthia glanced at her watch. "9:13 AM." She replied. "That kid's like clockwork." A small silence came over her. After a moment, she spoke up again. "Nine years... Nine years ago today, our little baby boy was born. I feel old all of a sudden." She whispered, nostalgia clear in her voice, no doubt remembering the day he was born.
Ash smiled warmly at the memory, the doctor nearly had to physically tear the new-born Jack from Cynthia's arms after she refused to let her baby down for a second. Hell, she even told him to get his own when he asked to hold Jack.
"You're only thirty-seven, Cyn. How is that old?" Ash took a brief break from the bacon to turn around and return her hug. "After all, you are just entering your sexual prime!" Ash quipped as he grabbed a handful of her backside and breaking her from her reverie.
Cynthia gave a small yelp and laughed. "And apparently you never left yours, you horny teenager!" They kissed, their lips and tongues no longer fighting and clashing for control like the early days of their relationship, now they danced, a dance they practised everyday for over a decade and a half. But there was always room for improvement, as Cynthia often said.
Unfortunately for them, humans need air. That was the sole reason they finally broke apart. Cynthia hummed in happiness, revelling in his taste and set her head back down on his shoulder. "So when do you leave?" Ash asked, referring to their conversation the night before.
"We head out to the Orre region in two days. Lenore's pretty excited about whatever it is. She's paying half my usual commission just to investigate." In the years since Cynthia had retired as the first ever undefeated Champion, she had dedicated herself to her first love, archaeology. She was, in her own words, "a freelance seeker/purveyor of ancient historical artifacts." In her husband's words, "a badass treasure hunter."
She usually sold her discoveries to the Narcene Natural History Museum, her findings from an excavation years ago - the Temple of the Great Beasts, one of the many she had brought Ash on - being the most popular exhibit for visitors.
The call for her skills had been so great, that Lenore had begged them to move from their home in Celestic Town and to a large two-story cottage house about fifteen miles outside of Narcene City several years ago. "How long do you think you'll be away?"
"Two weeks, two and half tops." She let out a forlorn sigh. "I wish you could come." Cynthia whispered in his ear. It was always hard being away from her family, without her husband or children with her, every second felt like an hour.
"Me too. I know Mom would love to look after the kids, but the publisher's been on my ass lately."
"You'd think with three books under your belt, they would give you a little slack. So, how's it coming along now?"
"Well, the Prince has travelled through the continent of Nihson and to the City of Phantoms, home of the Lady of Ghosts. But little does he know that outside the city, in the ruins of an ancient castle, he and his companions, the Knight of the Stone and the Princess of the Leaf, will meet the fabled Black Queen!" Ash exclaimed with the exuberance and pomp of a terrible Shakespearian actor.
"Oh!" Cynthia mock-gasped. "How exciting! And what's this Black Queen like?"
"She wears long robes, the colour of the darkest night that give her an unparalleled air of elegance and grace, a sword at her side that grants her the powers of the great drakon of the earth, and last, but not least, beautiful, long blonde hair." Ash explained.
"And what does her hair have to do with it?" Cynthia asked while laughing.
"It makes her look like a queen, of course. All queens have long blonde hair." Ash stated matter-of-factly.
"Is that so?"
"It's true in my experience, at least."
Years ago, Ash had made up a bed-time story for Jack and Selene, based on his own adventures, about a young prince who travelled to distant lands to seek his fortune.
Along the way, the prince met many strange creatures and gained many friends, like the Knight of the Kingdom of Stone, the runaway Duchess of the Kingdom by the Sea, the children of a wise man of a faraway land and the Princess of the Leaf Kingdom.
Cynthia had encouraged him to put the stories to paper and had her friend Shauntel get in touch with her publisher to put in a good word for Ash. They had liked the idea and the books had become very popular with children.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACKY!"
"And there's Selene... Remember when we couldn't wait for them to start talking?" Ash asked, shaking his head.
"We were so young and naïve." Cynthia replied fondly.
Just then, the sound of rapid steps came into the kitchen. "Eww, Mommy and Daddy are hugging again!" Selene giggled, covering her eyes with her hands.
"You'll understand one day, Selene." Cynthia told her without moving her head from Ash's shoulder and ignoring his muttered, "Not any day soon, I hope."
"And what have I said about running down the stairs?" She asked with a note of stern authority in her voice, the one she usually used to command pokemon on the battlefield.
"Sorry, Mommy." Selene said back, sounding suitable chided, sadly slumping in the chair she seated herself in.
"Well don't do it again."
"Sorry..." She repeated, rubbing the back of her head.
Cynthia couldn't help but smile at the mannerism Selene no doubt adopted from her father. "It's okay, Selene. Don't do it again, okay? I just don't want you getting hurt." She said, her voice laced with maternal concern.
Almost like she was hit by lightning, Selene instantly came alive again, now that her light scolding was over. "Okay, Mommy!" Came her chipper agreement.
Cynthia then turned towards Jack as he walked in, releasing Ash only to snatch Jack up in another bone-breaking hug. "Happy birthday, Jacky."
"Happy birthday, Jack." Ash greeted.
Jack smiled widely and hugged back, despite his constricted lungs. "Thanks, Mom and Dad." Say what you like about their parents, but Jack thought they were pretty cool. They had lots of strong pokemon, most of them were his dad's, as his mom always stressed quality over quantity, she only had thirteen pokemon, while his dad had over forty and that's only counting the one tauros he used to battle.
Plus, his dad always let them stay up late whenever their mom was working away from home and his mom and him watched really scary movies together, so long as they didn't tell his dad, because he hated those movies, especially the ones where pokemon went on killing sprees.
They ate breakfast quickly while having a conversation of various topics, carefully avoiding the topic of Cynthia leaving for two weeks, the kids always hated seeing her go and they didn't want to spoil their good mood.
"So, I bet you want those presents, huh, Jack?" Ash, with a small grin, asked. He was so like him, he thought to himself, nearly the spitting image, but his mother's mind, thank goodness for that. The two of them had probably taught the two kids everything they knew about pokemon. Jack did his own reading and helped Selene with reading, both of them were a lot like a much more tolerable Max.
Speaking of Max, he should probably give the kid a call, see what he had been up to.
"Yeah! Where are they?" Jack responded, his body almost vibrating with excitement. This was the best part of birthdays, Jack thought, the anticipation of a new gift, the rapid tearing of wrapping paper, the joy and satisfaction of seeing the present for the first time... This was what it meant to be a kid.
Ash left the kitchen and returned with a small red box with a white bow on top and two packages wrapped in green wrapping paper.
"Open this one first, it's from Selene." He said, setting the three present down in front of Jack and pushing one of the packages towards him.
"Yeah, open mine first!" Selene exclaimed while bouncing in her chair. Oh, she really, really hoped Jacky liked her gift! Then maybe he'd get her something even better for her eight birthday!
"Okay, okay, calm down." Jack carefully tore apart the paper to see a stack of drawings of their parent's pokemon and their family, most were in crayon, but she made a valiant attempt to use a pencil when drawing Gengar and Torcoal.
Selene had also had the luck to inherit Ash's eye for drawing and could usually be found drawing any pokemon she could find when she wasn't playing with/annoying her brother. "Wow, these are really good, Selene. Thanks." Jack smiled.
"You like them? They took me HOURS!" She reached over to give her big brother another, though much gentler hug and a kiss on the cheek. "But I'd do anything for you!"
Cynthia kissed the top of her daughter's head. She was just like her daddy, so kind and caring, the attention span of an excited zigzagoon, though.
"And this is mine." Ash said, pushing the other package towards Jack. He sat back in his chair to observe his reaction.
Jack opened the other package and gave a gasp that sounded almost reverant. "Dad, t-this...this isn't..." No, it was impossible. It simply could not be!
"It is. This is the very hat that I sent in a million postcards to win and wore when I first began my journey." Ash spoke seriously, presenting the battered red and white cap to Jack. "This has seen me through some of my greatest triumphs and devastating defeats." He told Jack while lost in distant memories. Heroic victories, soul-crushing losses, the bonds of friendship forged and shattered, the first two years of his journey, all viewed from under the brim of this very hat.
"I can't take this..." Jack said with trembling hands as he had to visibly restrain himself from reaching out to the hat. The hat, not just a hat, THE HAT. It was a beautiful as the legends foretold...
"You can. You must! This is the legacy I present to you, my first born son. Jack do you accept what I'm offering to you? Do you accept this hat, to wear it proudly, in the hottest dessert, in the coldest tundra, in brightest day and darkest night, taking it off only to bathe and sleep?" Ash asked with great conviction in his voice.
Come on Jack, make the choice, the legacy of this hat is one that must be chosen to be upheld.
Jack met his dad's eyes and nodded with determination. "Yes, father. I accept." He took the cap and carefully placed it upon his head as if it were a crown and he were a prince at his coronation.
The grim line of Ash's mouth grew upwards into a smile. "This day, you are a man." He nodded with pride.
Selene and Cynthia merely observed the strange father-son bonding moment/pagan ritual, until Selene stated what was on the mother and daughter's minds. "Boys are dumb."
"You learn to live with it eventually, Selene." Cynthia paused, realising something. "Well, I say live, what I mean is, you learn to ignore it."
"What are talking about? Hats are cool! I'd still be wearing one if it wasn't "Idiotic for a twenty-seven year old man to still be wearing a cap." Ash told them, appalled at the lack of respect and awe that such an important artefact of his personal history deserved.
"It is, you moron." Cynthia tiredly interjected, as if this was an argument they often had. Sadly for Cynthia, it was.
"Ah, we'll agree to disagree!" Ash said, eager to end it and get back to Jack.
"And this box is your present, Mom?" Jack asked after a few moments of touching his new hat that was practically a Ketchum family heirloom.
"No, I baked you a birthday cake, actually." Cynthia happily told him. "Chocolate, your favourite!"
"Mom, you shouldn't have... You really, really shouldn't have... Why on earth would you do that?" Jack asked with a slowly dying smile. His mom was great at a lot of things, that was true. But two things she wasn't good at, cooking and accepting the fact that she wasn't good at cooking.
"Don't worry, I helped." Ash whispered, winking at Jack, knowing what he was thinking.
"I heard that! Don't I make you a cake for your birthday every year!" Cynthia demanded, feeling her womanly skills being attacked. "You're saying you don't like it?" The nerve of some people, really! And after all the stress she went through, the blood, sweat and tears, with only blood being the literal part this time.
Now, what was the best way to deal with an angry Cynthia? Easy as pie. Kiss her ass, then kiss her mouth.
"Of course I love it. My beautiful wife putting in so much effort just for me, even knowing she isn't a great cook?" Ash exclaimed, placing a deep kiss on Cynthia's lips. "How on earth can I not love it? I can always taste the love you put in!"
And the salt, he added silently.
"Oh, well, you know I don't mind putting in the work, but only because it's for you..." Cynthia said, her feminine anger now subdued as she drew shapes on the table's surface with her finger and a small smile grew on her face. Damn him, you'd think after fifteen years, she'd be used enough to his surprise kisses so that she wouldn't be left giggling like a school girl.
She really, really hoped she never got used to them.
"Gross." Jack shuddered. Why were his parents always acting so weird? It was embarrassing!
Ash placed the box in front of Jack. "This is from your mom and me. "Ash said, taking on a very rare serious tone. "Jack, in a year you'll be ten and you'll be able to go a journey with pokemon." He said. "You've always been a clever kid, way smarter than I was at your age, responsible too."
"That's why," Cynthia said, taking over for her Ash. "We've decided that although you aren't old enough to strike out on your own, there isn't any reason why you can't have a good head start."
It was the right thing to do in their minds. Jack was a good kid with a good head on his shoulders, but he was...awkward with kids his own age. No parent wants to see their child friendless and many people could claim that their first friend was a pokemon, Cynthia included and after all Cynthia's grandpa had caught Garchomp for her as a gible when she was eight.
"That's why we both think that it's time for you to..." Cynthia trailed off.
No, Jack thought, it wasn't possible. His parents weren't that awesome.
"Catch your first pokemon." Ash finished.
"Really?!" Jack sprang from his chair to grab the box, he tore off the lid to reveal the most amazing sight his young eyes had ever seen. A single pokeball, red top, white bottom and in it, his first real friend.
It was a great day to be nine.
Taking the pokeball, he walked to the middle of the kitchen, assuming it was okay to see his new pokemon since his parents didn't tell him to take it outside.
Slowly moving his hand to the brim of the hat, Jack twisted it one-hundred and eighty degrees so it was backwards. He took a deep breath.
Another fatherly smile made its way onto Ash's face. He was just so much like his old man. The only regret he had was that he wasn't recording this next moment.
"Pokemon! I choose you!" Jack cried, throwing the ball to the floor to reveal...
...Nothing...
Silence permeated the room and Jack stood stock still for a full ten seconds. Then the silence was shattered like a glass window by the loud laughter of his dad.
"Oh, oh that was fantastic!" He chortled, struggling for air as the laughs kept coming. "That was hilarious! I can't believe how great that was to watch!" Ash gleefully pounded the table with his fist. "You were all, "Oh, boy! This is the first day of a new life of fun and adventure!" And then you were like, "Oh, no! This must be some horrible mistake! There goes my childhood innocence!"
Ash was now dangerously close to falling out of his chair. "How did Professor Oak manage to keep a straight face when I did it three time!" He snorted. "Everything in the last nine years that have built up to this moment was so worth it!" Oh, this was the kind of thing that made having a kid enjoyable.
Jack still stood there, his hand still outstretched, trying to comprehend what just happened. "Ashton! Shut up!" Cynthia commanded, sensing Jack's shock, embarrassment and soul-crushing agony. She adored Ash more than words could ever say, but mess with her children, no matter who you are, and you're going to get chewed out!
"Okay... Okay... I'm done." He said around another fit of giggles. "But it was just so-"
"Ashton!" Cynthia repeated coldly, the air seemingly dropping by a couple of degrees.
"Sorry, sorry!" Ash waved his hand placatingly.
"You... I'm your son! How could you do that!" Jack, his mind now over its shock and now settling on anger.
"It was a joke! Besides, I said you could catch one, I never said that we'd give it to you. You just got a little ahead of yourself!" Ash laughed again.
"It's mean to laugh when people act dumb, Daddy." Selene emphatically stated, trying to defend her brother's mistake. "It's not Jack's fault that he doesn't listen."
She kinda thought it was funny too, but it was Jacky's birthday and people weren't allowed to be sad or angry on their birthday, it was the law.
"Gee, thanks, Selene." Came Jack's dejected gratitude. Still, actually catching his first pokemon? That was even better than being given it!
"So what kind of pokemon would you be interested in Jack?" Cynthia asked. "Maybe a ground-type, or a dragon-type? Maybe both?" She casually hinted.
"Or maybe a good pokemon, like an electric-type?" Ash snarked.
"Gible are good pokemon!" Was Cynthia's heated reply, not this crap again!
"Well, so are pichu!" Ash retorted.
"Pichu are for girls!" She sneered.
"You take that back!" First it was the argument about whether Pikachu could stay in the bed with them after they started dating and now this! He married such a strong-willed woman!
"Hey! It's my decision, right?" Jack butted in.
Cynthia tore her glaring eyes away from Ash's. "Of course it Jacky, I just want to make sure you make the right one. You know, the opposite of the one your dad wants you to make."
"Ouch! Did anyone else get the feeling of an arrow to the heart?"
"Well, I don't think I want a gible or a pichu."
"Why not?" Ash asked.
"Gible are very difficult pokemon for new trainers and I'm not even a trainer yet, so I think it would be a bad idea."
Cynthia nodded at his reasoning. "But I had a gible since I was eight and look how I turned out." She pointed out.
"True, but there's no-one else in the world like you, Mom." Jack smiled at her.
"Aw, thanks!" Cynthia cooed.
Jack didn't bother to tell her it wasn't a compliment. "And sorry, Dad, pichu are for girls."
"Are not." Ash responded in a calm and mature fashion. So what if they evolved into pikachu when experiencing happy feelings? That wasn't girly at all.
"Are too, Daddy." Selene sadly informed him. Pichu were tough and cute, but tiny and sweet. In fact... " Since they're girly, can I get a pichu? I'm a girl!" She excitedly asked her daddy.
Ash hmm'd in contemplation. "Maybe when you're older and we know we can trust you to look after yourself and a pokemon. Right now, you're only a little baby!" He said, patting her on the head.
"No I'm not, I'm seven!" Selene complained. Just cause she was little! Well, all seven year olds are little... but she'd show them, she'd be even taller than Daddy and even Mommy!
"And you're still a little baby to me!" Ash lifted Selene into his lap. "When you're older, okay?" He offered.
Selene huffed, but eventually resigned and settled in his lap. "Okay..."
Ash turned back to his son. "So anyway, Jack, maybe we should just wander around the forest until something jumps out at you."
"Okay, that sounds good. Let's go!"
WTLM
An hour or so later, the Ketchum family still wandered through the thick trees, the branches inter-twining overhead and blocking out most of the sunlight, casting pretty shadows of the leaves across the ground. Little Selene held tightly onto her mother's hand, taking in the sights and sounds of the forest and the pokemon, Jack, searching for his future partner and Ash and Cynthia still arguing.
"And I'm telling you that bulbasaur would ultimately be dragged behind it's lack of speed in it's evolutions and that a budew, while not much faster, granted, has much more manoeuvrability as it evolves!"
"But I got around that with Venusaur with his Forest Creation move!" Ash countered.
"That's because you're an savant when it comes to move combination and creation, but that's partly due to Venusaur's almost unnatural control over the grass half of his typing!"
"That's true," Ash conceded. "And there's no promise of any of his children inheriting that control..."
"And also, roserade and venusaur suck." Jack added, but was ignored.
"Have we definitely ruled out an anorith?" Cynthia asked. "Good attackers, quite speedy when evolved, great defence, they're like a kabuto and kabutops with less chance of accidental disembowelment."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Oh, so we want him to be that kid, huh?"
Selene looked up with an expression of cute bewilderment. "Mommy, what's desi...disa...dasi... Augh, I can't say it!" She stomped her foot in frustration.
"Disembowelment, sweetie," Cynthia gently corrected. "Trust me, it's bad."
Nodding with childish acceptance, Selene turned her eyes to the trio of mankey flitting through tree branches. After a few minutes of listening to her parents indifferently, she noticed that somebody was missing from their party. "Hey, where's Jacky?" She asked.
"How dare you say that umbreon are statistically the weakest eeveelution! Take it back!" Cynthia told Ash.
Ash crossed his arms. "Oh, sure! Right after you take back what you said about unfeazant's lack of a viable movepool!"
"Make me!" Cynthia half-purred, half-growled. She bet that she wasn't the only just a little bit turned on right now.
"Mommy, Daddy, where's Jack!" Selene repeated loudly.
"And next you'll be saying that Serperior is a near useless flesh wall!" Ash narrowed his eyes and licked his lips, keeping his eyes on Cynthia's pretty pink ones. So it was going to be like that, huh? A fun game of Who Can Dominate Who?
"I wouldn't be the first!"
"That's it! No home-made ice-cream for a week!" Ash threatened.
Cynthia let out a half-muffled whimper. "I take it back, I take it back, I take it back!"
Ash smirked in triumph. Ash: 1, Cynthia: 0.
"JACKY'S DEAD!" Selene screamed shrilly. Really, what did she have to do for some attention?
"Huh!?"
"What?!" The two adults swiftly looked around the area they were in, searching for any signs of distress.
Selene innocently stared up at her parents. "Jacky's not here. Should we look for him?"
Ash quickly snatched up Selene and ran off into the woods, quickly followed by Cynthia. "Jack!" Ash roared. This was bad!
While the pokemon in the forest that Ash and Cynthia had, or were related to them, would never harm Selene or Jack, they loved the kids almost as much as they did, there was always a chance of a dangerous wild pokemon roaming the preserve.
"Jacky, where are you!" Cynthia panicked inwardly, but stayed strong, if anything tried to harm her son, she would tear it apart with her bare hands!
WTLM
Jack Ketchum zipped up his jeans and sighed in relief. "Ahhh... They always say go before we leave the house but I never do..." Turning around, he let out a small yelp as he tripped over something small and grey.
"Agh!" Quickly hopping to his feet, he took in the obstacle. "Oh, hey, an aron? I didn't know there were any of you guys here?" That was weird, he thought that aron in the Unova region kept to the caves in the western part of the region?
The little pokemon tilted her head curiously. "Aron?" (A human?) She questioned.
Jack lay himself down on his chest, face to face with the steel/rock type. "Hi, my name's Jack!" He greeted.
The aron blinked her round blue eyes. "Aron? Aron ron aron." (Jack? Aron is aron." She returned.
"Hmm, you look kinda smaller than from the pictures, so you're girl, huh?" Jack asked, wanting to get the topic of gender out of the way, in case he offended the pokemon.
"Aron ar, aron ron?" (Aron is a female, Jack is a male?)
"Nice to meet you, Aron!" He smiled. This was cool, it was the first time he met a wild pokemon that wasn't related to one of his parent's.
Aron pointed her small fore leg at the pokeball that Jack had clipped to his side. "A aron ro?" (A trainer?)
"Huh? Oh, the pokeball, right? I'm not trainer, not yet, anyway, but I will be! That's why I'm out here, looking for pokemon to be my friend." Jack put a hand to his chin. "Hey, you look pretty tough, I mean you are a steel-type and a rock-type, so I bet you'd be pretty good in a fight, right?"
Aron bashfullly looked at the ground, then pointed at the pokeball again. "Aron aron ron. Aron ar ron aron. Aron aron?" (Aron is strong. Aron would like friend. Jack is Aron's friend?) She asked.
"You want me to capture you? Really? That's great! This is turning into the best birthday ever!" Jack held the pokeball out to Aron and the small pokemon reached out with her tiny limb. The little grey pokemon was instantly caught in a bright red light and was absorbed into the pokeball.
Jack spun around, proudly sticking the pokeball into the air, unknowingly reminiscent of his dad. "Alright, I caught an aron!"
Let it be known that the legend of Jack Ketchum began with a leak in the woods.
Jack stared at the red and white sphere in his hand. "I caught an aron..." He whispered, sounding awe struck. "I caught a pokemon... I caught a pokemon! I caught a pokemon! I caught a pokemon!" He shouted delightedly. "Mom, Dad, Selene, I caught a pokemon!"
Jack glanced around in confusion. "Mom? Dad? Selene? Where are you guys?"
Okay, don't panic Jack, you're just lost in the woods, you don't know where Mom and Dad are and no idea where the house is... The last thing he should do is... WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!
There was something in the bushes, right next to him, something with four legs and moving quickly!
The whatever it was suddenly burst through the dense foliage, with thick blue legs, easily three times his size with horns coming from it's yellow head, it was horrible, it was traumatic, it was terrible! It was... His dad giving Selene a piggyback ride...?
"Jack! Ash shouted, his relief evident in his voice. "There you are!" He leaned down to crush Jack in a hug. "You scared me, kid! Where'd you go?"
"I'm sorry, Dad, I just got a little lost, is all!" Jack mumbled, slightly ashamed to have made his parents worry.
"You silly big brother! I got scared that you coulda got disaboweleded!" Selene angrily pouted from her perch with her arms crossed.
"Hey, hey, I'm okay, got it?" Jack reassured her.
"Cynthia! We found him! He's fine!" Ash shouted.
Like lightning, Cynthia suddenly appeared next to Jack, checking him over for injury while simultaneously berating him for making them worry.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you worry." Jack apologised.
"Hey," Cynthia gently rubbed his head. "It's okay, you're safe and sound, and we should have payed more attention, we got so caught up in a silly argument that you didn't even get to catch a pokemon." Cynthia frowned.
"Actually," Jack smiled. "I did!"
"You did! That's great, Jack, can we see it?" Selene asked, maybe this was one she never saw before, she really wanted to draw it if it was.
"She, actually. Everyone, meet my new friend, Aron!" Jack threw the pokeball, for real this time, to show his family.
The grey pokemon turned to her new trainer and noticed the two adult humans and the little one smaller than Jack. "Isn't she great!"
Ash and Cynthia glanced at one another and smiled. They couldn't be more proud. "She's great, Jack, and you caught her all by yourself!" Ash congratulated him.
"She going to be a really killer when she gets bigger, I can tell." Cynthia agreed.
"She's cute!" Selene piped in her opinion.
With his new pokemon at his side, Jack and his family made their way back to the house.
WTLM
Hours later, after a day of fun and celebration and playing with his new friend, young Jack Ketchum lay in bed with Aron beside him, she was, of course, much too heavy to leave on his chest.
He gently ran his fingers down her cool steel hide, admiring the sheer toughness of it. This had been the best birthday ever, Jack thought, not only had he caught his first pokemon, all by himself, but he had made his first friend and the made the first step on his path to being a trainer.
And he had his parents to thank for that. Jack loved his parent and his sister and they loved him, that much was obvious. That's why they had searched for him so frantically. That's why when they found him, they weren't angry, just happy that he was safe. That why his dad entrusted him with one of his most prized possessions and why his mom went through the sheer frustration of making him a cake and why Selene made all those drawings for him that he now had pinned to the wall above the desk in his bedroom.
Jack slowly drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face. He had his parents, he had his sister and he had his friend.
And it seemed that from here, things would only get better...