As he made his way back to the hospital that night Ash's immediate concern was how his mother was going to react. Misty took full responsibility for what had happened, but Delia said there were important things to do than decide whose fault it was. Knowing that how this could hurt Ash's already damaged reputation everyone agreed to keep Misty's pregnancy a secret, for the time being.

"So… what's the plan?"

"There's only one thing to do. We need to arrange a wedding within the next month, and then we can tell them that Misty got pregnant on the honeymoon."

"Uh… putting everything else aside, won't they think it's a little odd that Ash is getting married a month after his nineteenth birthday?" asked Dawn.

"Well it's either that or just come clean right now and tell the world that she's pregnant." said May.

"I don't know if we can keep it a secret." said Ash.

"What do you mean?"

"He knows…"

"Who knows?"

"Who do you think?"

"The Man with the Black Charizard?!" exclaimed Max.

Ash and the others had refrained from talking about him, especially in front of his mother.

"It's probably all over the internet by now!"

"No…"

"Mrs. Ketchum?"

"David… has done many things… but he would never endanger his own grandchild."

"His name is David?" asked May.

"He didn't even give a damn about me until I became the Regional Champion and caught Omegamoah! Why the hell should he care about his grandchild?!"

"Well… he cared enough to fake his death so no one would suspect he was your father."

"Thanks a lot May."

It wasn't easy for anyone, least of all Ash. It seemed only yesterday Misty had given him his first kiss, then she ends up being the woman carrying his child and his fiancée.

"How long do we go on not talking?"

Ash didn't answer.

"Ash I'm sorry I…"

"I don't blame you Misty… You're the best thing that's ever happened to me, and it's as much my fault as it is yours. It's just that I never expected to become a father after I turned nineteen… and especially not right after…"

"You're not him."

"I'm not? Then why do I seem to be in exactly the same position he was?"

"You won't make the same mistakes that he did."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because I know you… You didn't run that night."

"As much as I hate to admit it, part of me wanted to."

"But you didn't, and that's all that matters."

"Pika."

Ash knew that if Pikachu was on her side then there was no way he could win this argument. Misty had to be right.

"Tell me… did you really feel threatened by May and Dawn?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's an odd coincidence that you make your move on the day they show up here in Pallet Town."

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"Sometimes it scares me that I don't know everything that happened after the Silver Conference. I was worried that after all this time you might have found someone else…"

"I told you once before… I thought of you every day since we parted."

"How was I supposed to know you weren't just saying that?"

"When have I ever lied to you?"

"Do you want the short list or the long, chronologically or alphabetically?"

"Never mind; the point is that you didn't have to force me into that position to prove I wasn't."

"So you didn't enjoy it?"

"What? No! That was the best night of my life! Even better than becoming Regional Champion! But given the consequences of our actions, I wish you hadn't put me in that position, regardless of how much I enjoyed it."

"Well pardon me for being thorough."

"Very thorough… but there were other ways you could have found out."

"Like what?"

"You could have talked to Brock. He was also with me when I was traveling with May and Dawn."

"You and I both know Brock is as good with romance as Jessie, James, and Meowth were at stealing Pikachu."

"Point taken… but I'm sure there were other things we could have done besides let our hormones get the better of us."

"Let's not dwell on the past… right now there's work to be done if we're going to have a better future."

Misty brought his hand to her stomach.

"For all of us."

It wasn't long before the impending matrimony of Ash and Misty became known. For obvious reasons Ash and Misty were doing their best to avoid being in public. As busy as everything was Ash still found time to go up into the mountains and train, it was one of the only ways he could forget about his problems for a while. One day when he was just getting ready to leave Pikachu just stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it Pikachu?"

"Pika!"

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, when it faded there was a teenage girl standing there. She had long dark hair and was wearing a pink hat, a blue tank top, a white vest, and blue jean shorts. But the thing that attracted Ash's attention was the Pokémon that was with her.

"Bi!"

"What's going on out here?"

"Oh my gosh! Is that a Celebi?!" exclaimed Max.

Not only was the Pokémon with the girl a legendary Celebi, it was pink.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" asked the girl at last.

"Yes."

"And have you just celebrated your ninteenth birthday?"

"A few weeks ago, yes."

"And is Misty pregnant?"

"How did you know that?! Who are you anyway?"

"Oh, I'm sorry… I was so focused I forgot my manners. I know this sounds crazy… but I am from the future."

"The future?"

"Don't you know May?" asked Max "Celebi has the ability to travel through time."

"Prove it."

"Okay here's your demonstration, look over there."

Moments later, another girl and Celebi appeared in the place she had been pointing.

"See?" asked the girl who just appeared.

"We'll go back in time a couple of seconds." said the girl who appeared first.

The first girl and her Celebi disappeared and the pair that appeared second took their place.

"That's good enough for me." said Dawn.

"If you're from the future why aren't you wearing a silly silver leisure suit?" asked May.

"You're being stereotypical. And I'm only coming from seventeen years in the future."

"You still haven't answered my question. Who are you, and if you are from the future why have you come back?"

"Tell you what… beat me in a Pokémon battle and I'll tell you."

If this girl had captured a Celebi, not to mention a pink one, there was no telling what other kinds of Pokémon she had, but Ash had been looking for an opportunity to see if his new training regime had born results.

"You're on."