It was a beautiful winter day in Cerulean City, the sun just rising above the clouds. The warm yellow light began to spread across the room of a young girl, forming the furniture's shadows over light blue walls. It made the lightly colored wooden floor shine brightly, and just lit up the whole room. From underneath the green and yellow floral printed sheets rose the young girl. She had just woken up, but she was effortlessly beautiful. The girl's fiery red hair, which was arranged in layers, fell gently so that it hung an inch or two below her shoulders. She opened her eyes, which were so green they resembled emeralds, and the sun's rays made them sparkle. Slipping out of bed, the girl walked towards the full length mirror that hung on the wall next to her dresser. Smiling, she straightened out her blue tank top and the blue, yellow, and green bubble printed pajama pants she wore. Just as she was about to turn towards her dresser to take out some clothes, the girl's red hair swung lightly in front of her face. Standing up straight once again, she sighed and tugged at one of the middle layers.

Elsewhere in the house, the sunlight filled another room, although this one not as neat as the girl's. The golden rays drenched piles of clothes, papers, and plenty of other things lying around on the floor. The dark blue walls did have a certain glow to them in the light, though, and it was almost enough to take away from the mess. The red and blue covers of the bed shifted, and a young boy, who was no where near as graceful as the girl, came up from sleep very slowly. His messy raven black hair stuck up in all different places. The boys' dark brown eyes would only half open, only to shut again once the sunlight hit them. He moaned and threw himself back down, but the boy rolled over the wrong way and fell off his bed, making a hard thud noise as his body hit the wooden floor. Moaning once again, but this time in pain, the boy didn't even bother to get up. He just opted to lie on the floor instead.

The girl walked gracefully down the stairs, keeping her arms down by her sides. She loved the dress she wore, but hated when she walked down the stairs and the skirt had a tendency to fly up a little bit around her. Standing finally in the kitchen, the girl's face lit up when she saw her mother setting the table.

"Good morning Mom." She smiled.

"Good morning Michelle."

As her mother turned around to look at her, it was obvious where Michelle got her good looks from. Her mother, Misty, the Cerulean City gym leader, had the same emerald eyes, and the same fiery red hair, but hers was wispy and falling just below her shoulders, with equally wispy bangs just brushing her forehead.

"Or, should I say, happy birthday." Misty walked towards her daughter and kissed her on the head.

"Thanks Mom." Michelle continued to smile as she went to sit down at the table. This birthday was unlike any birthday she had ever had before, however. It was Michelle's tenth birthday, meaning that tomorrow; she could leave and become a Pokemon trainer, or a coordinator, in her own case.

"Where is your brother?" Misty asked, placing food on the table.

"Probably still asleep." Michelle rolled her eyes. "He's so lazy."

"I wouldn't exactly say lazy." Misty smiled but saw the seriously? look on her daughter's face. "Okay, maybe lazy. But it isn't exactly his fault. He gets that from your father."

"Dad's not lazy." Michelle raised her eyebrows. "He trains really hard."

"When he wants to." Misty snickered. "Trust me, when he was Aiden's age, there was no difference."

As if on cue, a loud thudding noise came thundering down the stairs. Aiden, the black haired boy, emerged before them, looking absolutely exhausted and out of it.

"Look who decided to show up." Michelle giggled. Misty turned to her and gave a warning glance. Michelle covered her mouth and tried to stop.

"Happy birthday sweetheart." Misty grinned and went to kiss him, but Aiden moved away quickly.

"No Mom." He mumbled as he sat down and put his head down on the table. Misty sighed, raised an eyebrow, and turned to him.

"What time did you go to sleep last night Aiden?"

"Uh…I don't know." He responded without raising his head. More giggling began to fill the room, but this time it wasn't from Michelle. Instead, it came from a small girl, running down the stairs. Like Misty and Michelle, she had bright emerald eyes, but her red hair was darker and ended just at her shoulders.

"Mommy!" she continued to giggle excitedly as she ran to Misty and hugged her leg. Misty smiled down at the little girl.

"Good morning, Elizabeth." She bent down and picked up the four year old, whose eyes were glowing bright with glee. Looking around the room, Misty sighed yet again.

"Where is he?" she asked herself quietly.

"Good job, Pikachu!"

A warm and charming voice came from behind Misty, as she turned around. The little electric Pokemon bounded inside, its trainer walking behind it. His black hair was essentially neat, just a bit wind swept. The tips of hair just slightly hung above his dark brown eyes. And when he looked up and saw Misty, his eyes lit up.

"Were you actually out training, Ash?" Misty smiled slyly.

"Come on Mist, you act like I'm the laziest person on Earth."

"Daddy!" Elizabeth smiled and reached out to Ash.

"Hello Lizzie." Ash smiled back and took the girl, kissing her forehead. Still smiling, he put the little girl down into her chair at the table. Now Misty smiled. Ash was so sweet, such a good father. She leaned in to kiss him, and he was about to do it, until he smelled the food.

"That smells so good!" Ash's eyes widened as he stood up straight again.

"Ugh," Misty rolled her eyes and tugged Ash's hair as he sat down. "Some things about you will never change, will they?"

"Ow." Ash rubbed the back of his head. "Guess not. But you still love me." Now his smile was sly.

"Yeah yeah." Misty closed her eyes so Ash couldn't see them sparkle. As she placed the food on the table, Ash looked at his two older children, but knitted his eyebrows when he saw them.

"What's up with them?" He whispered to Misty as she sat down.

They both examined their children very closely. Aiden's hair was messy, he was still in pajamas, and he had all but fallen asleep at the table. Michelle looked like her usual self, all dressed up in her new party dress for the day's later celebration, except for the fact that her hair was pulled back in an extremely messy manner, obviously trying to be hid. Elizabeth was still in her pajamas, but she was wide awake and happily eating, unlike her brother. Michelle caught eyes with her parents and elbowed Aiden.

"Wake up." She hissed at him. Aiden tiredly raised his head and opened his eyes, seeing his parents.

"Dad?" he asked, rubbing his eyes. "When did you get here?"

"What were you doing all night?" Ash skipped the question.

"Uh…not staying up all night, that's for sure." Aiden laughed nervously.

"So that's exactly what you did."

"Yeah." Aiden put his head back down.

"Aiden, why would you do that?" Misty asked in an annoyed tone. "You know what was happening today! You kind of need to be awake for it."

"The boy's just excited." Ash shook his head.

"He doesn't leave until tomorrow though."

"It doesn't matter. When I was about to leave on my Pokemon journey, I didn't sleep for a week."

"Aiden didn't sleep." Elizabeth giggled. "He was up, and talking, and then he threw something at the wall!"

"You did what?" Misty turned back to her son, arms crossed.

"Last night, I apparently threw my alarm clock at the wall." Aiden responded. "But I did it in my sleep. I actually did get some sleep, you know. Just starting at like…four in the morning."

"So is this same thing going to happen tonight?"

"Guess not. I'm out of alarm clocks." Aiden snickered.

"Aiden." Misty said sternly.

"It's okay Misty." Ash smiled. "After breakfast, I'll take him outside to help me train. That should wake him up." But he now turned his attention back to Michelle.

"Hi Dad." She said warily, putting her fork down.

"Why is your hair up that way?" Ash raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, uh…I don't want to talk about it." Michelle lowered her eyes.

"I'll deal with that after breakfast." Misty looked at her daughter.