Tears.

Disclaimer: I don’t own Pokémon. I created Aaron though, so hands off!

Summary: Misty explains why it rains to her son… well, sorta…

Note: In case you were wondering, I used to be Aussie Wolf. Also, this fic is fluffy as a newborn Pichu, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. J

Extra Note: I had to re-submit this after I discovered that I’d written daughter in the summary, instead of son. This is because I originally wrote the fic with Amber, Misty’s young daughter, but later changed it, as a lot of my fics have a girl called Amber. It’s my middle name, well… one of them, anyway… and it’s easier for me to remember, so I don’t have to have a separate list of all the different names of my characters in all of my fics. It’s mostly for convenience, you see.

Speech. Thoughts.

“Ahhhh” The small black-haired boy ran screaming through the house, finally finding refuge in his father’s arms. “Aaron… what’s wrong?” The man asked, his dark brown eyes filled with concern. “Daddy…. I’m scared!” Ash ran his free hand through his dark hair and glanced at his wife. Misty smiled and put aside the paper-work she’d been filling out at the kitchen table. “Aaron, it’s just a little rain, that’s all…” She wrapped her arms around the pair and kissed Aaron on the cheek. “It’s loud… and scary…” The boy, who was barely two, insisted. Misty sighed and pushed a strand of her long orange hair out of the way, as an idea came to her. “Aaron, look at me.” The boy sniffed and lifted his head slightly to see his mother’s blue eyes sparkling at him. “I’m gonna tell you something, okay? Something that not many people know…”

Misty settled herself down beside her husband and son. They had moved the conversation to the couch. “Okay, Aaron. Look out the window…” The boy half-turned to glance at the view, and quickly retreated into Ash’s chest as the rain was lashed fiercely against the window glass. “I’m scared, mummy…” he moaned. Misty kissed him gently on the small part of his face that was still exposed. “Don’t be. It’s just Ho-oh, crying.” Aaron lifted his face and risked another glance at the window. “Ho-oh?” Misty nodded, smiling. “Yeah. He flies around, keeping an eye on us pesky humans, you see. Why, your father here has seen him at least twice… or so he claims…” she nudged Ash gently in the ribs as the boy look up into his father’s face in wonder. “Really daddy?” Ash grinned. “Yep. He’s bright, and trails rainbows behind him, everywhere he goes.” “Wow…” Aaron breathed, fear temporarily forgotten as his head filled with thoughts of a bright bird, trailing a beautiful rainbow behind it.

Misty tapped his nose. “Yeah. Ho-oh flies around, watching over cheeky little boys like you, and your father, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble…” she glanced at Ash with a grin. “The thing is, as he flies across the lands, he sees a lot of bad things, and I mean a lot…” “What kinda bad things?” “The kind that you, hopefully, won’t have to worry about for a long time, Aaron. And, when he sees these horrible things happening, he gets sad, so he cries. That’s why it almost always rains in Cerulean City, because a lot of bad stuff happens there.” She finished with a nod. Ash smiled at her. “You happened there… I wouldn’t call that a bad thing.” Misty smiled and kissed Ash gently on the cheek, causing a look of disgust to flash across Aaron’s face. “Ewww, gross!”

“Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah…” She pointed at the window, and Aaron glanced out, looking a bit more interested, at the rain lashing against the window. “The reason the winds get so fierce, and push the rain around, is because of Ho-oh too. It’s the force of his wings, as he flies overhead. His wings push the rain down towards the ground, and into anything that’s in the way.” Aaron looked curious. “But, why does the rain go so long? Why don’t Ho-oh just fly away?” Misty smiled. “He circles around, trying to see a way to fix the problems he sees, without interfering too much. You see, he’s not actually supposed to meddle with us humans, but he cares so much, that he kinda can’t help himself.”

She cupped Aaron’s chin in her hand. “So, when it rains, it’s just Ho-oh, worrying about everyone, okay? He just needs to cheer up, and see that it’s not all bad down here.” Aaron nodded, and half-turned. “Cheer up, Ho-oh!” he called. Ash shook his head as his eardrums stopped rattling. “Okay, I think it’s time for bed now…” he stood up and carried Aaron up the stairs. “And you’ve already had your bed-time story for tonight, so straight to sleep, okay champ?” Aaron yawned widely. “Okay, daddy…” he mumbled sleepily, fear all but forgotten.

Misty looked up from her paper-work and smiled. “He asleep?” Ash nodded and sat down. “Yeah, out like a light.” He watched as Misty signed a couple of forms, and shuffled them in her hands. “Misty?” “Hmm?” she mumbled, checking she’d filled out everything she was supposed to. “Was that true? Or did you make it all up?” Misty glanced up. “Huh? Oh, the thing with Ho-oh?” she smiled. “Who knows? It could be true… or not. I don’t think even the Professor could tell you the truth. But it calmed Aaron down, and made him just a little less afraid of the world, and that’s what counts.” Ash smiled and leaned over, gently kissing Misty on the mouth. “I told you you’d be a great mum…” Misty blushed. “You’re not too bad a dad…” she grinned and threw the papers aside for the night. Standing, she led her husband over to the stairs, stopping only to turn off the light. “How about some more practice?” she whispered, moving up to the second floor, leaving Ash standing at the bottom of the stairs, stunned. He watched as she reached the top of the staircase, turned and winked at him, and walked calmly to their bedroom. ‘Move, you idiot!’ he raced up as quietly as he could, as not to wake Aaron, and wrapped his arms around Misty as she opened the bedroom door. “Maybe we can try for a girl this time…” he whispered into her ear.

Awww, isn’t that sweet! Yes, I know this was kinda fluffy, so sue me. Actually, don’t, cause I’m broke!

This only took about half-an-hour to write…

I got this idea cause it was raining like crazy for about three days here, and I got to wondering how they explain rain in the Pokémon world, and to a small child too, which is always complicated… Making it Ash and Misty’s kid just came automatically. The bit about having another one was on the screen before I even knew what was going on!

Final Note: I also changed a few things at the end. I noticed that I said ‘stairs’ a lot, and at one point had Misty lead Ash to the top of the stairs, and suddenly, he was back at the bottom, looking up at her. So, I altered the last few lines to make more sense.

PROFESSOR WOLFSBANE.

11-Nov-09.