13.Ash's Rikoto Story

Chapter 7 Mossy Forest

Ash groans awake as he hears the noises from the Budcheep outside the window. He tries to move his body to sit up, but he feels trapped. He remembers last night when Alice had a nightmare, and he offered to cuddle her for the rest of the night. Now, he sees her hugging him like a teddy bear, not wanting to let go. Her face wears a smile instead of fear, which makes Ash blush a little.

Pikachu yawns as he wakes up, but his eyes widen when he sees how close Ash and Alice are. Pikachu gets an idea and starts making kissy faces at them. Alice is still asleep, so she doesn't notice, but Ash does and glares at Pikachu. He can't yell because it would wake Alice up.

"Please stop it, Pikachu..." Ash whispers.

"Nope," Pikachu teases. "Ash and Alice are sleeping in the same bed..."

Ash rolls his eyes as he notices Alice stirring. She must have heard Pikachu and starts to wake up.

After a cute yawn, which Ash finds endearing, Alice sees Ash smiling at her.

"Good morning, Ash," Alice says.

Before Ash can answer, Alice realizes she's hugging him tightly. She quickly pushes him off the bed, and Ash crashes onto the floor.

Ash winces from the crash. "Oww..."

Alice panics at what she's done. "I'm sorry, Ash, I didn't mean to hurt you..."

Ash grabs Alice's hands to help himself up from the floor. "I'm fine, Alice..."

Once they are both up, they still blush at each other based on what happened yesterday.

"Morning to you as well, Alice. Did you sleep well?" Ash asks.

Alice's embarrassment turns into a smile. "I was having a terrible nightmare, but thanks to you and the song, I feel better. So, are you ready to go into the Mossy Forest?"

"Sure. But first, we need to get some breakfast. And because of what that mouse did this morning, I might have to throw all my ketchup bottles into the trash can," Ash says, casting a playful glance at Pikachu.

Pikachu freezes and rolls around on the floor. "No! My ketchup is going to slip away from me! Don't do this, please!"

Ash laughs at Pikachu's reaction. "You'll have to beg for more if you want me to keep it."

Alice feels weird about Pikachu's affection for ketchup and slightly giggles. In the end, they dress up and head downstairs for breakfast.

Once they finish breakfast, they head into the forest. After a long trek, they decide to rest near a tree. Just then, they notice a Pokémon sleeping under a nearby tree. The Pokémon is brown-colored, with a sapling branch growing out of its head and a hard shell.

Alice points it out, "Will you look at that, it's a Stickit. And it's sleeping."

Ash nods. "You're right, we shouldn't disturb him."

They decide to leave the Bug-type Pokémon alone, but Ash accidentally steps on a twig, causing a loud snap that wakes the Pokémon.

"Uh oh..." Ash sweats nervously. "I guess we woke it up."

Alice reassures him, "Don't worry. He's a defense-type Pokémon. We just need to be careful."

Stickit looks around for the source of the noise and notices the two humans and Pikachu. He freezes upon recognizing Pikachu and quickly approaches the group.

"Pikachu, is that you? Then is that Ash?" Stickit asks excitedly.

Ash and Pikachu are both surprised. "What?"