The Wedding Day

-Disclaimer- I don't own the Pokemon franchise and I never will. You know the rest.

Part 3

An hour later, Ash and Misty were riding Lapras, well on their way to the secluded island Ash had talked about. They would get there by approximately 11:00, eat, leave by noon, and arrive in the Seafoam Islands around 3pm, in plenty of time for the ceremony to start at 5:30. Ash had been using the ride to fill Misty in on further details of his trip to the Orange Islands, patiently trying his best to remember each species of Water Pokemon he'd seen there. At one point, when he told her about spotting a mother Tentacruel with her five babies while on the boat looking for Lapras, an excited Misty pressed him for as many details as he could possibly remember. Tentacool and Tentacruel had been two of her favorite Pokemon for years. She now possessed a well-trained Tentacruel, having captured it as a young Tentacool about two years before, and that had only made her even more interested in the jellyfish Pokemon.

Attempting to describe an oddly-colored red Shellder he'd also spotted, Ash suddenly stopped in mid-sentence and pointed. "There it is, Mist, there's the island." He was excited, since his plan was working perfectly so far. He just hoped their lunch would arrive on time. Misty hadn't known about this island before, so as Lapras got closer to shore, she took the time to study it. The island was relatively tiny, roughly the size of the pool back in the Cerulean Gym, but it was beautiful. Her eyes roamed across the small sandy beach that, as far as she could tell, encircled the island. Her vision was blocked from the other side by a small but thick stand of palm trees, their leaves wafting slightly with the warm breeze. There was just enough room on the beach for a full-grown man to lie his head just in front of the palm trees, stretch out towards the water, and have his feet not quite go far enough. Misty knew it was high tide, so the water wouldn't go up any farther than it was now.

After Lapras let them off on shore, Ash thanked it, then produced a clean rag from his pocket. He spread it on the sand, and poured some Pokemon food from his other pocket onto the rag. "Eat up, Lapras, we've still got a bit of a trip to go." The Water/Ice Pokemon smiled and began eating. Ash walked a few feet away to where Misty had sat down in the sand, and the two exchanged a quick kiss. Suddenly, Ash saw a movement from above out of the corner of his eye. He and Misty both looked up to see a familiar Meowth-shaped hot-air balloon slowly descending towards the little beach.

"What? How did they find us here?" Misty groaned. She certainly hadn't expected this. When she looked over to see Ash's reaction, she was shocked to see him grinning up at the balloon. Noticing her expression, Ash opened his mouth to try to explain, but was interrupted by a voice from the balloon.

Jessie's face appeared over the side of the basket. "We've got your lunch, now prepare for trouble!"

James' face popped up next to her. "We packed food for one person, then made it double!"

"To keep our friends from going without food!"

"To help out with the wedding and set the mood!"

"To denounce the evils of hunger and thirst!"

"To make sure you don't eat so much that you'll burst!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket prepares and delivers at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now to our expert meals or prepare to fight!"

Meowth and Wobbuffet then popped up at exactly the same time, and simultaneously exclaimed "Meowth, dat's right!" and "Wooo-buffet!"

Misty was by now totally confused. "So, lemme get this straight...these guys have been our enemies for years, trying to steal Pikachu and generally cause trouble, and now all of a sudden they're delivering our lunch on our wedding day?"

Ash grinned. For once, he got to be the one to explain things to a confused Misty, instead of the other way around. "Yep. Do you remember that secret trip I went on about six months ago? The confidential Pokemon League trip that they wouldn't even let me tell YOU about?"

"The one where you were gone for the weekend, then you surprised me by cooking breakfast for me when you got back?"

"Yeah. The reason I went on that little trip was that the Celadon City Police had been investigating a surge in Team Rocket activity there, and had it narrowed down to a certain warehouse. They figured that it was the entry point to this big series of underground rooms and tunnels and stuff that had become Team Rocket's new base. As usual for high-profile stuff like that, they called in the Elite Four to help conduct the raid with their Pokemon. So I had to go too. To make a long story short, during the raid, we arrested these three," he gestured to Jessie, James, and Meowth, who all blushed slightly as they set up the picnic, "and brought them back to Police HQ in Celadon. They pleaded with us for hours not to throw them in jail. It was then that I got an idea. I checked their criminal records, and neither of them had nearly as long of a record as I had thought they did."

"Huh?" Misty was still confused. "But what about all the bad things they did when they were following us in the years we were travelling?"

Ash smiled. "Think carefully about that one. You know how sometimes when they were following us, they'd try to do other stuff on the side, like sell fake badges or steal a bunch of other Pokemon? How much of that did they actually get away with?"

"Not much..." Misty said slowly.

Ash nodded. "Exactly. They had a few attempted Poke-nappings and thefts and stuff like that on their records, but we were able to stop most of their offenses before they'd really successfully gotten away with much. Their record was significant, but relatively short, when compared to some of the higher-up Rockets we captured that day. Their organization is spread out all over Johto, Kanto, and Hoenn though, so even though we had a large arrest count in that raid, we haven't come close to taking down the whole organization. So when I proposed to these guys that they work for us as double agents, they jumped at the chance. You've gotta admit, they have the perfect cover."

Misty giggled. "Yeah, who would guess that Team Rocket's lowest-ranked agents are actually double agents?"

"We heard that!" Jessie exclaimed from behind them.

"Sorry guys, but you've gotta admit, it's the truth," Ash apologized. The three double agents sighed. They were sincere when agreeing to work as double agents, but they knew they had to be careful around Ash. There was no point in arguing with the young man who had the authority to throw them in jail anytime he wanted. They DID still have criminal records, after all, as well as several other offences hanging over their heads with which Ash could charge them should the need arise. Despite that, they were comfortable in the knowledge that the League Champion and leader of the Elite Four now counted them as allies. Now that they no longer feared retribution from any attempt to get out of Team Rocket, since they had protection with the Pokemon League, their lives had become quite a bit more relaxed. Once Ash had learned that Jessie and James had been officially dating for quite some time prior to the raid, he had even allowed them to have a secret wedding in one of the Pokemon League office buildings at the Indigo Plateau. After getting the idea to make the trip to the Seafoam Islands on Lapras, Ash had contacted Jessie and James to arrange for them to deliver a picnic lunch. They jumped at the chance, since as usual they were low on funds. Ash met with them to plan the meal carefully, and paid them well for their work.

Having finished setting up the picnic, the three double agents stepped back to admire their work, and then James went over and tapped Ash on the shoulder. "Dinner is served," quipped the blue-haired Rocket, bowing slightly as if he was a waiter in a fancy restaurant.

The couple both grinned at him, then noticed the picnic. Misty was stunned when she realized just how much trouble Ash had gone to to arrange for a perfect picnic. The blanket--no, tablecloth, Misty realized upon closer inspection--was aqua blue, almost the color of the ocean. A large plate sat in the middle of the tablecloth. A small bowl in the middle of the plate was filled with dip. Cheese, crackers, sliced cucumber, and baby carrots formed circles on the plate around the dip bowl. Another large plate held about a half-dozen sandwiches that had been cut into quarters. A jug of ice-cold lemonade sat between the two plates, with a cool-looking blue plastic glass on each side. A large, new-looking blue blanket had been placed in front of the tablecloth for Ash and Misty to sit on while they ate.

Ash looked up at Jessie, James, and Meowth. "Thanks a lot guys, it's perfect."

"It sure is," Misty nodded her agreement.

The three smiled. "Just remember what to do when you're done," Jessie reminded him as she, James, and Meowth climbed back into their balloon. Ash nodded. It had been agreed that once he and Misty were done eating, they would roll whatever was left up in the blanket, wrap the tablecloth around it, and leave it in the trees while they continued on with Lapras to the Seafoam Islands for the ceremony. The three Rockets would be back to pick the stuff up later.

"Well, let's dig in!" Ash exclaimed as the Meowth balloon lifted into the sky. He knew they were headed to the site of the wedding itself to help with the last-minute preparations. Misty laughed, realizing that the excitement of the day must have really jumpstarted Ash's already sizable appetite. That thought become even more amusing when she glanced at her watch to realize it was still only 11:15.

The couple ate heartily and exchanged laughter as they shared memories of their travelling days. Neither of them could escape the exciting thought, however, that in just a few short hours, they would be man and wife. Both soon found themselves looking forward to the afternoon.