Since there's only one chapter left, I won't leave y'all hanging. Here's the final chapter of Sometimes Life Happens!~
Chapter 25
Epilogue - 10 years later
"Wake up, Dad!" exclaims a boy with the same unruly black hair as the tired man.
"Okay, I'm up, Cam." The man gives up and sits on the side of the bed. He looks at his son's cerulean green eyes. "I'll be down in a minute." He groggily smiles and stands up.
"Okay. Mom says she'll use Pikachu if you aren't." Cam replies before running off down the stairs. Knowing the threat is indeed serious, Ash quickly changes and brushes his teeth before hurrying down the stairs. He sees his family sitting at the table eating pancakes and plants a kiss on Misty's head, pecks his mom's cheek, and kisses a girl with dark red hair on the head.
"'Bout time." snickers his wife. Ash shoots her an innocent smile.
"Morning, daddy!" the little redhead smiles.
Ash looks at her matching brown eyes. "Morning Coral." He smiles at the 6 year old. He and Misty had just decided to stick with the C names by the time Coral was born.
"Hurry! We have to get to the lab!" Cam exclaims while shoving food down his mouth.
"He is totally you." Misty looks at Ash who is now pouring syrup on his pancakes. The man shrugs as he cuts up his breakfast.
The doorbell rings and Delia excuses herself to get it. The Ketchums spend their summers in Pallet Town with Delia since Ash and Misty are too busy with the Pokemon League during the tournament season, but Delia does visit Cerulean City often. Soon, the older woman returns with a teenage bluenette who is wearing an old red and white cap with a green L on the front. Everyone stops eating.
"Clem!" Cam exclaims and tackles his cousin in a hug. Misty gets up and hugs the girl tightly too. Before Ash can get his hug in, Coral beats him and doesn't let go of the older girl, so Ash has to hug around her. Pikachu and Politoed, sensing her presence, sprint down the stairs and into the girl's arms.
"Pikachu! Politoed!" She excitedly greets the Pokemon.
"I thought you were in Kalos with Cole?" Misty asks her niece.
Clementine smiles as everyone resumes their meal and Delia gives her a plate of pancakes. "Thanks, grandma!" she says to Delia and then turns her attention back to the rest of the family. "I'm not gonna miss my oldest cousin leaving for his Pokemon journey!"
Cam grins at her. "I'm gonna choose Bulbasaur and beat you and Ruru!"
"No way that will happen!" the teen grins at him and then notices the clock on the wall. "But you better hurry before Professor Gary runs out." she tells him.
"Not fair. Dad gave you Ruru." he pouts. Then Cam looks at the rest of his family. "Hurry!" he rushes. Misty rolls her eyes.
"I only gave her Ruru so that'd earn me enough points for your mom to marry me." Ash answers with a smirk.
"Oh. So you were using me to get closer to Aunt Misty?" Clem crosses her arms and squints at her uncle.
Ash practically chokes on his food. He coughs and drinks some water before turning to his niece with an innocent smile. "You know I love you too, Clem." He awkwardly scratches the back of his head. "But you and your aunt are a packaged deal. I have to earn her love like I earned yours."
Clementine laughs at her panicky uncle. "I know, Uncle Ash. I'm just joking. I love you too! And I'm glad you joined our family." She smiles at him. Cam and Coral have since heard the story many times, and they treat Clementine like an older sister more than a cousin.
Much to Cam's delight, the group finishes their meal as Delia snaps pictures of them. Mimey helps take pictures too when Delia joins them. After complaining far too many times, Misty finally allows Cam to go to the lab. The boy rushes off and arrives shortly after with a Bulbasaur. Once they bid their family goodbye, Cam and Clem leave together. She said she has to get back to Cole in Kalos as she rides off on her Salamence.
Delia leaves Ash and Misty with the task of putting the pictures she took of the day in a photo album while she takes Coral and Pikachu to run errands with her. Misty flips through a photo album to see if there are any empty slots for the pictures Delia left them. She stops flipping and smiles at the pictures of Cam as a baby. Ash, noticing his wife has stopped flipping, looks at her and sees the pictures too. He scoots closer to her and the two flip through the album together.
"This was when Clem colored half of Cam's body with markers, remember?" Misty laughs at a picture.
Ash laughs too, "And then she tried to use Ruru's water gun to wash him."
His attention turns to a picture of him and Misty at the altar. "Hey! This was our wedding." He smiles. "It was right here in Pallet Town! There's Brock!""
"Clem was our flower girl." Misty smiles and then gasps. "Oh and that's when Lily brought Danny!"
"I remember when you and Tracey were making fun of him being another one of her tools." snickers Ash.
"Hey! He's her type! Handsome and muscular. He just wasn't stupid." Misty tells her husband who frowns.
"Are you checking out other men, Misty Ketchum?" She rolls her eyes at him. "Remember, I said I'm the jealous type."
"Calm down, Ash. I've only ever loved you." She plants a kiss on his lips and he smiles.
"I know. Just joking!" He laughs. "But Danny and Lily are still together and going strong, soooo you and Tracey were wrong about that relationship."
"Whatever, Ash." She rolls her eyes. "I'm happy for her though." Misty then looks at a picture of Coral as a newborn.
"She was so tiny." Ash stares in awe.
"Ash, she's 6 now." Misty tells him knowingly. Coral had been a premature birth and stayed in the hospital for an extra month before the family could bring her home. She is still small for her age, but healthy overall.
Next, Ash looks at a photo of a reunion they had with their distant friends. It was in Delia's backyard, and the woman had taken the picture. There's Ash carrying a 5 year old Cam while Misty is carrying the 1 year old Coral. Clem is standing between them with Pikachu in her arms. Brock, Roxanne, their 8 year and 5 year old sons are there too. Next there's Gary and Leaf and their 3 year old daughter. They recently welcomed a baby boy to the Oak family. Drew and May are carrying their 2 year old twins: Rose and Romeo. Then there's Dawn and Paul with their 2 year old son Kane. Lily and Danny are also in the picture as well as Tracey, Daisy, their 5 year old son Mike, and their 2 year old daughter Fiona. The reunion occurred because Clem was the first one of the next generation to leave for her Pokemon journey. "We need to have another reunion soon." Ash mentions.
Misty nods. It's difficult for everyone to meet up with their busy schedules. She then looks at a picture Delia took when Clem came to challenge Misty for her badge. Delia had been visiting that week and the timing just happened to match up. Misty smiles. "It took her 4 tries to beat me."
"Well, she did want to face Gyarados with just a Wartortle." Ash knowingly tells his wife. Clem made it to the final 8 that year at the Indigo Plateau while her traveling partner, Cole, made it to the final 16. Clem and Cole started traveling together after they had run into each other in Saffron City. The two have been inseparable since, despite having other traveling partners come and go.
Ash looks at the next photo and it is of them at the Indigo Plateau before the tournament that year. Cam is standing in front of Misty while Ash is carrying the young Coral. Pikachu is in Clem's arms and Ruru the Blastoise is standing behind her. Clem is also sporting the familiar red and white cap Ash had given her years ago. Cole, who Delia encouraged into the picture, is next to Clem.
"You know they're dating, right?" Misty says nonchalantly, which makes Ash jump. He gives his wife a startled look with his mouth open.
"What?"
The redhead shrugs. "She told me last year before she left for Sinnoh." She then raises an eyebrow at Ash. "You didn't know?"
"She shouldn't date until she's at least 21!" exclaims the man.
"Ash, she's a teenager. She's fine. And Cole is nice."
"He used to bully her in school!"
"They were 4, Ash." Misty narrows her eyes at the panicky man. "She is happy, and he treats her well. You will not ruin this relationship." Before Ash can retort, Misty spots a familiar photo in the album. She smiles at the picture of her, Ash, and Clem at Cerulean Cape years ago. "This is our first picture together."
"Oh yeah! Pikachu took that." He smiles. "Mom must've printed it. It's our first family picture."
Misty kisses him on the cheek. "We had a lot of fun back then."
"Are you saying we don't have fun anymore?" Asks the man.
She shakes her head. "Life was crazier back then. It was stressful." She laughs. "I love our peaceful life now."
Ash nods. "But I would go through the craziness all over again. It was worth it." He then frowns.
"Ash?" She gives him a concerned look.
He looks into those gorgeous green eyes he loves. "Sometimes, when I am really loving my life, like right now, I think about how it all came to me." Misty stares into his sad brown eyes and gives him a sympathetic look. "All of this happened because of Violet's accident." Ash swallows an uncomfortable gulp. "And I just feel so selfish enjoying this life."
Misty grabs her sweet husband's hand. "Ash, Violet would've wanted us to enjoy our lives, and she would be happy for us."
"I know. It just sucks." The man runs a hand through his hair. "Let's stop by her grave on the way home." he suggests.
Misty agrees and the two continue flipping through photo albums silently until she says, "Sometimes life happens," while smiling and locking eyes with her husband's warm chocolate orbs.
Ash smiles back. "And we just make the most out of it."
Something else I regret not adding in this story is a huge argument between Ash and Misty since no couple is perfect. However, because I have Misty getting pregnant pretty early on in their relationship, Ash attributes her moodiness towards pregnancy hormones, so he doesn't argue back. Maybe I could've had Misty get pregnant later or not get pregnant at all? But then I'd have to change a bunch of things, and I'm lazy.
Also, I wish there were more mourning scenes in the beginning, but I didn't know how to do that without making the story seem like a drag. There's implied mourning, especially with all the time skipping I do.
I'll also be honest here, but towards the last couple of chapters, I didn't really care for this story anymore. Like I said in chapter 15 or so, I started to get bored with the plot. You can probably tell by how disinterested my writing seems.
If you want a better Pokeshipping story I wrote, there's Friends With Benefits. I feel like I put more effort up until the end in that one. There's only 10 chapters in it, and it centers around a pregnant Misty.
Anyway, thanks for riding out this story with me! Tune in for my future stories! I appreciate y'all!~