So this was supposed to be done for one of the day's of Pokeshipping week last year, but I had the longest time thinking of a title for this. Anyway, this is a shorter chapter fic. Enjoy.

Sarah

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

1. News Flash

The sun shone brightly over the crystal clear waters of Trovita while the red-haired beauty sat out on the veranda of her small cottage along the shore. She drank her morning coffee thoughtfully as she watched the pidgeys flap their wings overhead. Her wedding was in a week, and she couldn't put this terrible anxiety feeling to rest. Everything about the planning had gone smoothly so far, but she couldn't quite shake the feeling like something was going to go awry. Sighing, she did her best to relax about the situation. She stretched her legs out, the chair creaking under her.

She knew that this was an inevitability—being asked to be someone's wife—when she had decided to stay on Trovita and quit traveling, but she never expected it to feel so underwhelming. She wasn't regretting her decision per se. Her fiancé treated her like a queen for one thing. She wanted to marry him. It was just that something felt missing.

She tucked her long red hair behind her ear before finishing the coffee. The cup touched back down on the saucer with a clang before she put it down on the wood and snatched the morning's paper, her engagement ring glinting in the sun.

She perused the paper without a sense of much interest. The warm sun had made her a bit sleepy. She had been considering a nap, though she knew that her fiancé would deem her lazy for it (not that she cared about that anyway), when a headline on page three caught her eye.

Former Orange Island League Champion becomes Kanto League Champion

She looked closer at the picture of a tall, handsome young man in a dark T-shirt and jeans. His messy black hair was mostly covered by a red baseball cap on top of his head. Perched on his shoulder was a familiar yellow mouse Pokemon, sparks flying out of his red cheeks. She took one look at his broad smile, and her heart missed a beat. Her pulse quickened slightly as she went to read further:

Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town has successfully taken on the Elite Four and defeated Champion Lance, earning him the title of Pokemon Master, making him the new Champion for Kanto and Johto. The Champion battle, which took place a week ago, was an epic battle that lasted almost two hours. Ash ended the battle by defeating Lance's third Dragonite with Pikachu. Locals may recall this move being almost identical to when Ash defeated Champion Drake in the Orange League Challenge more than a decade ago.

The article continued on about his future plans as Champion, but she didn't read further.

Now that wasn't a name to which she hadn't given much thought for some time. She had been there when he defeated Drake. He had called her when he earned his last Orange Crew badge. She had been hesitant to go as she had just left and chosen to stay with Rudy. However, Ash had begged her to come—said it wouldn't feel right without her.

So, she went, although Rudy hadn't been too keen on the idea. She reminded him that she chose to stay and it was only to watch a match. She had to admit that he seemed awfully jealous for some reason, considering that she gave up traveling the world with Ash to stay with him.

And that had been the last time that she had ever seen him. They stayed in touch, at first. She heard all about his adventures in Johto with Brock. She had been the first one he would call when they got to a new city, even before his mother or Professor Oak. This was the case even though she had fewer things to report on her end. Not much happened on their tiny island.

Over time, the letters and phone calls grew fewer, and eventually, they had ceased all together. She couldn't even remember the last time that they had spoken. It must have been sometime when he was in Hoenn. He had another female companion by then—April was it? Or was it June? All Misty could remember was that she had been named after a month.

She had often wondered about what would have happened if she had chosen to stay with Ash. How would her life have differed? Would she have separated from Ash eventually or would she still be travelling with him, holding onto some meaningless hope that he would want more from her at this point?

There had been a time when she would have followed him to the ends of the earth. However, it became apparent that he would always be that dense little kid, only thinking of Pokemon. He could never have reciprocated her feelings. Thus, when Rudy had asked her to stay on Trovita, she knew that it was time for her to move on. It had been useless to chase down an impossible dream.

"Misty?" The voice and accompanying knock at the door shook her from her thoughts.

"Come in!" she called, turning in her seat.

The door opened to reveal her future sister-in-law, Mahri. She pushed back her shoulder-length brown hair as she gave Misty the once-over. She was wearing a white and red floral sundress and tan sandals, her purse already slung over her shoulder.

"Daisy's downstairs," she said. "You ready to go?"

"Uh yeah," Misty replied. "I thought that we were going to go over last minute wedding details first."

"Daisy said that we could just do that on the way or later tonight. I think she's more anxious to do some shopping."

"Somehow that does not surprise me."

"Don't look at me," Mahri said. "She's your sister."

Misty sighed. "Yeah, well, sometimes I wonder if we really are related. Do you think you can keep her entertained for another five minutes while I get changed?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks, Mahri. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it."

The teenager left the room, closing the door behind her. Misty picked up the cup and saucer from the floor, dropping the newspaper on the chair. She placed the cup on her bedside table before moving to her closet. She grabbed a tee shirt and some jean shorts. She discarded her lounge set on the floor and hastily threw her clean clothes on. She slipped on some old flip flops before rushing downstairs.

Misty came down the stairs to see Daisy and Brock sitting in her small living room with Mahri. The teen looked slightly relieved when Misty arrived. Knowing her sister, Misty couldn't blame her. Daisy's dress hung tightly against her figure. Her ankles were dressed with a pair of red strappy heels. Hidden at the top of her blonde hair was a pair of designer sunglasses. She gave Misty a quick glance before opening her mouth.

"You're going dressed like that?"

"What's wrong with this?" Misty asked.

"What's right with it?"

Misty rolled her eyes. "Daisy we've gone over this. I don't have the same style as you." Daisy opened her mouth to protest, but Misty continued on speaking. "Hi, Brock. How are you?"

"I'm great. Thanks again for inviting me."

"Why wouldn't I invite you?"

"Yeah, I suppose that's true," he teased. "Besides it's not like you have that many friends."

"That's not true," she retorted.

"Sure. You'll have to introduce me to some of them then," he said with a wink. Misty rolled her eyes.

Though still girl-obsessed, Brock had been partially correct. Brock was the only person from back home with whom she had kept in touch, other than her sisters. She did have a few friends from Trovita, but they weren't really that close. They might hang out for the occasional afternoon, but that was pretty much it. She spent most of her time with Rudy and Mahri and the others that worked at the gym.

She wanted to ask Brock if he had spoken to Ash recently, but she decided to leave it. Ash Ketchum was a subject that they had dropped a long time ago. She was with Rudy and part of her suspected that Brock was too afraid to bring him up to her for some reason. Either that or he had lost touch with Ash too.

Daisy kept tapping her foot as the two were catching up. After a few minutes, it started to become hard to ignore.

"All right! We'll go. Jeeze, you would think it's your own wedding in a few days."

"Well if it were my wedding," Daisy began. "I would be a bit more enthusiastic."

"It's not like things would drastically change in my life. We already live together. It's basically just a piece of paper."

"Well my brother is excited," Mahri piped in.

"Let's just go, okay?" Misty snapped.

"Okay, little sis. Chill. We'll go," Daisy said before heading to the door.

The others followed suit. Once outside, they headed to Rudy's boat. Misty took her place at the wheel as Mahri untied it. Once everyone was on board, she started the engine with a rumble. The boat exited the marina slowly. Once they were past the dock, Misty gave it more power and they sped off toward a neighboring island.