Pokémon Type: Poison
Shipping: BridalWishShipping

One-Shot 11: Wed a Minute

Continuing on their quest through the Johto Region, Ash, Misty, Brock and their Pokémon friends decided to take a break and have lunch. "Hopefully, the light lunch should give us enough fill to reach the next town," Brock offered.

"Of course, a light lunch isn't enough for someone who tends to eat like a Snorlax," Misty teased. Ash scoffed to the mock.

"So, what's the occasion that we need to eat quickly?" he asked. "A pretty girl asking for some help?" Brock irked to the question.

"Well…" he stuttered. His hesitation to answer clued his friends of the ordeal.

"I'm not surprised," Misty mulled. "He'd do anything for a girl." Togepi giggled to Misty's discovery. Brock had a different take to it.

"Not quite… See, there's a sale down the road from here which has a new brand of polish for Rock Pokémon. In fact, the first 100 customers to the door will receive it free of charge." Ash awed the reason for the quick meal. Misty wasn't buying into it.

"You really think I'll accept something like that? From all I know, that store's got some girls that will want more than money." Ash's take wasn't as ridiculous as Misty made it out to be.

"We are running a little slim on Pokémon Medicine," he noted. "A stop to the next town would be ideal at this point." Misty thought back to the past few days and the encounters with Team Rocket. Plenty of injured Pokémon, some their own.

"I suppose a stop by the next Pokémart wouldn't hurt." The boys agreed to the task that awaited them.

"I'll get some firewood to start lunch."

"Okay, but don't get a lot," Brock advised. Ash nodded before stepping out. Just before he took another step, a Nidorina and Nidorino bolted pass him. She turned to find someone familiar snailing behind.

"What's wrong with Nidorina's trainer?" Ash came out to see who was pursuing Nidorina… and gawked to see her face. "Temacu?!" Hearing her name, Temacu looked up to find an old friend.

"Ash?" she recognized. She raced to see the familiar friend but in her haste, she tangled her legs. "Whoa!" Ash dashed and caught her before she planted her face on the road.

"Gotcha!" Ash and Nidorina sighed in relief, thankful to have saved Temacu from injury. "You alright?" Temacu took a little while to recover.

"I am…" That's when she shot her head up, eyes replaced with hearts as she gazed passionately to Ash. "...With my new love!" Ash jumped back, her surprise scaring the Pallet Town trainer. "You caught me like I was the bouquet in a wedding we'll be in!" Her behavior told Ash that she's the new groom for her.

"Here we go again…" Temacu's shout brought Ash's party to find their lovelorn friend from awhile ago.

"It's Temacu!" gawked Misty. Temacu saw the rest, finding old friends in new places.

"Misty…" she remembered. "Brock, how are you?"

"Okay… I guess..." gulped Brock. Ash got to his feet before helping Temacu.

"My love, thank you!" Her praise irked disturbed reaction from everyone else.

"Ash… your love?" questioned Misty.

"He saved my life when I tried to keep pace with my Nidorina and Nidorino!" Nostalgia struck the heroes from Temacu's words. When they first met, Brock caught Temacu after she tripped and, unlike before, she proposed to the breeder. Then Team Rocket's James protected the turquoise-haired young girl before a young doctor helped her recover from her fatigue. Now Ash became the next young man to be asked by someone seeking marriage of her own. From before, Misty suspected her hearts to Ash won't last too long.

"If I know her, she'll be saved by someone else and she'll go after him." To Brock, this could give him another shot at love.

"Then I'll do it!" he offered. "If anyone knows a thing about love, Brock the Pokémon Breeder is the man with the plan!" Misty wasn't a fan to his ploy.

"And I'll be the one yanking those dreams away." Temacu clasped Ash's hands in a familiar act that mimicked Brock's.

"Ash, for you," she began rambling. "I want to be there for you, every win, every loss, every time you're sick or hurt… " Ash felt unprepared for all Temacu offered.

"Are you sure you want to do all that for me?" he wondered.

"And more!" Misty felt something off about Temacu and decided to ask.

"Temacu, what happened to the doctor that treated you after you fell from exhaustion?" she wondered. Temacu gasped to the question before releasing her hands from Ash and looking somber.

"I didn't know that my doctor… that he was already married." The heroes collapsed, shocked to hear of the doctor's status now disclosed.

"I did not see that coming." Ash recovered and sympathized with a heartbroken Temacu.

"I'm sorry about the fallout," he apologized.

"It's okay!" she forgave. "At least I have you now!" Without warning, she scooped Togepi as it ate. "Perhaps after we wed, we can think about children." Togepi liked the idea. Ash and his friends nearly fell from their seats at the thought.

"She's moving fast," Misty gulped. Ash felt the urge to move on.

"Anyway, we're going to eat and then head to the next town to stock up on supplies," he explained. Temacu understood before everyone returned to have lunch. The meal seemed to have given the turquoise-haired girl another idea.

"Brock, do you own or make a cookbook?" she asked.

"I have a list of dishes and ingredients, if that helps," Brock offered.

"I'm just thinking that if you have a published cookbook, you'd be making a lot." To Brock, the recipes weren't anything special. Her compliment left Brock a little bashful.

"Come on! Anyone can make what I make at home." Ash had a different idea of a cookbook's author.

"Nothing against Brock but my mom has dishes you could fall in love with," he suggested. Temacu awed the thoughts of the numerous dishes from Delia.

"Perhaps when we are declared husband and wife, I could ask your mom about that!" she thought in glee. The Poison Pin Pokémon chortled to the thought.

"As if it wasn't enough to please her, now her Nidorino and Nidorina want in on it," Misty mulled. After they finished their meals, the gang geared up for the next town. Brock grabbed his guidebook.

"We should be about a couple of miles from the next town," he studied. He led as Pikachu joined Misty on her shoulder. Temacu held Ash's hand, her new beau. As they continued down the path, there was a chorus of sinister laughs. To the group, the sound could only be Team Rocket. The Pokémon besides Togepi readied themselves in defense.

"They're somewhere..." warned Ash. Out from behind trees, a roped missile in the shape of a hand wearing a rubber glove came flying from behind. The missile headed straight for Temacu. "Look out!" He tackled Temacu as she fell from the missile's path. However, Ash stood in that same path and had no chance to clear out himself. BOOM! "OOF!" The missile bashed at Ash's face, blasting him into a tree and crashing the back of his head with a sickening thud. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Ash!" shouted Misty and Brock out of fear.

"Ash, oh no!" shrieked Temacu as she got to her feet and rushed to Ash's side. "Ash, please get up! Please!" Turning to where the missile came from, Misty, Brock and the Pokémon found Jessie with a bazooka with James and Meowth behind her.

"Team Rocket!" scowled Misty. Jessie scorned Ash's interference.

"Those twerps got in my line of sight!" she complained. "Otherwise, Pikachu would've been ours!" Her partners didn't see the same sight as Jessie.

"We told youse to be patient!" argued Meowth. "But no… youse just lifted da bazooka and pulled da trigger!"

"Not to mention going after that one girl that actually loved me at one point!" added James.

"Big whoop," Jessie muttered. "If neither twerp was in the way of my shot, he wouldn't have been hurt. Now let's get the Pokémon and beat it." The two Rockets disobeyed, stepping backwards from her. She didn't want a coward. "I said get the Pokémon!" Noting the retreating Rockets, Misty and Brock realized Jessie acted alone.

"So, you'd injure anyone in your way just to get the Pokémon you wanted?" questioned Brock.

"Hey, my deal is with the boss. Anyone else is beneath me!" That crossed the line with Ash's friends, and they wouldn't allow her to walk from damaging a child.

"It's one thing if you get any of our Pokémon, but to hurt a child… you're despicable!" Jessie scoffed to the anger.

"Call me whatever you want, it's nothing but words."

"Maybe not!" shouted Misty. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Pikachu let out a jolt of a Thunderbolt when shocked Jessie. The strike stunned the redhead Rocket. Misty decided to add to the punishment. "Poliwhirl, Water Gun!" Misty threw her Pokéball and released her Tadpole Pokémon. Poliwhirl splashed Jessie with its Water Gun before Pikachu offered another Thunderbolt. After that shock, Jessie couldn't move, paralyzed from the multiple jolts. The boys chose not to fight.

"That was not Team Rocket material," James mulled. "Let's get out of here."

"You said it," Meowth agreed before James carried Jessie away. With Team Rocket gone, Misty and Brock now turned to Ash, still not up.

"Don't die, Ash!" pleaded Temacu, tearing up to believing Jessie killed Ash. "No..." She began to cry. She believed Ash died by Jessie's bazooka. Temacu dove on Ash's unconscious body, hugging him frantically. However, Ash started to come around. He opened his eyes while Temacu held his body. Misty and Brock saw the awakening.

"Anyone get the license of that truck?" he groaned. Temacu heard Ash, her mood switching.

"Ash!" She hugged Ash tightly, not willing to let him go.

"Team Rocket… gone?" Pikachu and both Poison Pin Pokémon met up with Ash. "Nice to know you're okay." Misty and Brock sighed in relief.

"You alright?" asked Brock.

"Winded, still." Misty and Brock understood, his breath short and shallow. Not only did Jessie belt Ash in the head, he also had the wind knocked out. Temacu lifted Ash to his feet while Nidorino and Nidorina stayed with the rest as she finally felt ready to speak.

"Ash, you saved me again!" she claimed. "No one has rescued me more than once. No one has cared that much about me since my parents when I was born or my cousin who gave me this thought to marry someone I'd love." Ash gulped to Temacu's trail. She clasped his hands again, now Misty and Brock cringing to the sight. "I thought those who cared about me loved me, but those who'd care about me like you did today… I no longer want to chase someone because they kept me from harm once… because you're the one who I would want for the rest of my life." The Pokémon wondered if Ash would take her proposal. Misty and Brock could only watch, though neither wanted the outcome as him saying "yes."

"Ash, you're still young-" alerted Misty but Temacu shut her mouth by kissing Ash on the lips. Ash's friends gasped, disbelief at seeing Ash receive love from someone who had her moment to have either Brock, James, the (married) doctor or anyone else after her cousin's wedding. Misty dropped Togepi in shock but Pikachu caught it before the Spike Ball Pokémon got hurt. Brock dropped to his knees, unable to keep quiet about the meeting of Temacu and Ash's lips. Ash closed his eyes and let the kiss ride out.

'I still remember Misty saying that we'd be married at some point,' he recalled in his head. 'If this is love… I think I'll be okay. Temacu… just needs someone to care for.' Their lips broke but the smiles grew for the two. The Pokémon met with the engaged pair, grateful for their health and their new bond.

"I don't know what's worse," Misty cried. "Losing my bike or losing my friend to love?"

"I don't know, Misty," Brock whimpered. "All I know… is that I'm extremely jealous!" While they just declared themselves to love, they still have a few years before the thought of marriage would come. However, the sounds of church bells could be heard from far away.

END of POISON
Last Type: Electric