Disclaimer: Same as always. I didn't own anything before and I don't now.
Chapter 5: Wedding Day
The next day was the big day they'd planned and prepared for. Everything was ready—and Mr. Mime was sick. It had come down with a virus during the night. "Mime, mime," it said weakly. It didn't want to let everyone down.
"Don't worry, Mimie," said Ash's mom. "It's not your fault you got sick. We'll just find someone else to be the ring bearer." [A.N. I think it's funny that I'm listening to the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack as I write this, so "ring bearer" takes on a whole new meaning! Just a useless bit of info no one will be interested in.]
Ash felt a tug on his pant leg. He looked down at Pikachu. "Pika, pika chu!" Pikachu was saying.
"You're saying you want to do it?" Ash asked. Pikachu nodded.
"Okay, we have a volunteer!" Ash's mom exclaimed. "But Pikachu can't wear Mimie's tuxedo jacket. It's too big!"
"Don't worry, Mom," said Ash. "Pikachu's still got one from the time he performed with that Raichu." He reached into his backpack and pulled it out. "I kept it here and almost forgot about it."
Pikachu put it on. "Pi! Pikachu!" it said happily.
"All right! We're ready to go!" Ash cried as he led the way out the door.
The wedding was going to be held outdoors. They'd decided to have it at Professor Oak's place. He had plenty of yard space, so it seemed like a logical choice for everyone.
Ash was stuck inside at the moment, however. "Ow! Quit it, Brock!"
"Well, sorry, Ash, but how long has it been since you brushed your hair?"
All the guys were almost finished getting ready. Brock was trying to comb Ash's hair, without much success. Ash shoved him away. "You're not helping me, Brock. You're torturing me! Just leave me alone!" Ash put his hands on his head to protect his hair.
"Come on, Ash! Your hair looks like a rat's nest!" Brock said.
"I'll just wear my hat, then. No one will see my hair."
Professor Oak turned to them. "Ash, we already talked about that. You're not wearing your hat during the wedding."
"That's not fair!" Ash pouted.
Professor Oak ignored him. "Brock, I think you'll have more luck if you use gel on Ash's hair."
"Yeah, that's what I did for mine," Gary said. He handed the bottle to Brock. "How do I look?"
"Great," Brock said. "What about me?"
"You look fine. Man, I like this tuxedo. I could be, like, a secret agent! Or even better—the Godfather. Like Marlon Brando," Gary said. "Now that was a good movie! I just watched it last—" Gary suddenly stopped talking.
"You watched that movie when?" Professor Oak asked, looking at Gary sternly.
"Uh, I meant I saw commercials for it when they were showing it on TV, and it looked really awesome, but of course I didn't watch it! What do you take me for, Grandpa?" Gary said, sounding offended.
"What the heck are you guys talking about?" Ash asked. While he was distracted, Brock put gel on his head. "Hey! That stuff's cold!"
Brock finished with the gel and began to comb Ash's hair again. This time, the tangles came out. Within minutes, Ash was ready. Since they were all finished getting ready, they went outside to wait for the guests—and the women.
"I'm glad the weather's so nice. It's just so beautiful!" Ash's mother cried.
Misty smiled. She'd never seen Delia so happy.
Delia and Misty were with Daisy, May and Molly in Daisy's room, getting ready. Delia Ketchum was lovely in a cream-colored gown and the veil Misty had given her. The bridesmaids and maid of honor wore pastel yellow, as did Molly, the flower girl.
"Here, Mrs. Ketchum, wear this," May said. She handed Delia her new turquoise necklace. "Now you have something blue."
Misty wanted to take part in this, too. She dug in her pockets. "Here! You can borrow my most special lure—my Mini-Misty! That's something for 'borrow'."
"Oh, how thoughtful, Misty. I know how important this must be to you. I'll wear it on my dress." Delia pinned it to her gown. "There! Now I'm wearing my old shoes, my new dress and veil, my borrowed Mini-Misty, and the blue necklace. That's everything!"
"Well, if we're all ready," May said, "let's go!"
Ash fidgeted in his itchy tuxedo. He felt like he'd been standing in the hot sun forever. Why were the women taking so long? Why did girls always take longer than guys to do stuff?
He also missed the feel of his cap on his head, and his hair felt weird with gel in it, but at least it was combed for a change. Another problem was his tie. It was choking him. He tugged on it.
"Stop that!" Brock whispered, nudging him. Brock, of course, wasn't bothered at all.
Professor Oak waited nearby, along with Gary. Pikachu kept busy by playing with Togepi.
When the guests started to arrive and it was almost time for the ceremony to begin, Ash went to meet his mom. She was with her bridesmaids and flower girl.
"Mom, you look great!" Ash said. She really did look great. She carried a bouquet of cream-colored roses, and somehow her swollen belly made her look even more beautiful, although Ash wouldn't have thought it would.
"Are you ready, Mom?" he asked.
"Honey, I've never been more ready!" his mom answered, practically glowing with happiness.
Ash took her arm and they lined up behind Pikachu and Molly. Molly smiled up at Ash's mom. "This is fun, Other Mama!" She'd called Delia that ever since the events they'd been through as a result of the Unown's spell.
Misty, Daisy and May were ahead of Molly and Pikachu. Ash's mouth dropped open when he saw them. Misty was beautiful! Her red hair was down, long and shiny, with flowers in it. He'd never realized she could be so much like…like a girl!
The music started suddenly, and they began walking down the aisle. When Molly and Pikachu were heading down the aisle, Molly's Teddiursa ran out and started following her. Everyone laughed.
When Ash's mom walked down the aisle arm-in-arm with him, everybody stood up. Ash felt proud to be the one to give his mother away.
Finally they reached the altar. Ash let go of his mother's arm and took his place with Brock and Gary, standing to one side of Professor Oak. The bridesmaids were on the other side of Ash's mom. Misty smiled at Ash.
The minister droned on and on until Ash thought he was going to go crazy, but eventually Daisy and Gary handed the couple the rings to exchange, then Professor Oak and Ash's mom were pronounced husband and wife. Ash turned away so he wouldn't have to see them kiss. He hoped it would be time for cake soon.
Now that the serious stuff was over, it was time for the reception. Ash sat with the rest of the wedding party at a long table. He looked around to see what everyone else was doing. He saw Gary arguing with Professor Oak about something.
"How am I supposed to give a toast if I can't have champagne?" Gary was asking.
"No one expects you to give a toast," his grandfather said.
"But I'm the best man! And the wedding etiquette book clearly states that the best man is required to give a toast!"
Boy, he's sure taking this best man thing seriously, Ash thought.
"All right, Gary, how's this idea? You can do your toast and take a sip of champagne, but no more, do you understand?" Professor Oak said.
Gary seemed satisfied with that. "Okay." When all the guests were seated at tables, he stood up to toast the bride and groom. His speech was short, just wishing the couple luck and happiness and so forth. Ash was only half-listening; he was staring at the cake, over on a small table, and hoping they'd cut it soon.
Gary finished his toast; then he shot his grandfather a 'try-and-stop-me' look and drank the full glass of champagne in his hand. Ash had been sipping his own glass of fruit punch in that instant, and couldn't hold back his laughter at Gary's boldness, which meant he ended up spraying punch all over the place, particularly at Misty, who'd been unfortunate enough to be sitting across from him.
"Ash!!" Misty cried. "How could you?! My dress is all wet now!"
"I'm sorry," Ash said, though he secretly thought it was funny. "I didn't mean to. It was just that Gary—"
"Save your excuses!"
"Ash, Misty, you may go inside and clean yourselves up," Delia said quietly. "Come back when you've calmed down."
"But the cake—" Ash began.
"Just hurry and you won't miss anything," his mom said. "Now go!"
They both got up, grumbling at being banished from the party, even if it was only for a few minutes. As they left, Ash noticed that Professor Oak was talking to Gary. His voice was quiet, but he looked pretty mad, and Ash had a feeling Gary would be hearing much more from him later, when there weren't people all around.
Good. It was all Gary's fault anyway, Ash thought.
He and Misty rushed inside to clean up, and they were both back outside in record time. Of course, they hadn't missed anything. The bride and groom cut the cake a few minutes later, and Ash ended up helping to pass it out to the guests. He looked around and saw his friends helping with refreshments, too. He quickly finished serving everyone, then grabbed a piece of cake for himself and ran to join his friends.
"Ash," said Misty, "you forgot to get us some cake."
"Yeah," Brock added. "We didn't get any yet."
"Get it yourselves. I'm eating," Ash said with his mouth full of cake.
"You're so lazy!" Misty cried. But she and Brock got their own cake and sat down with Ash. Gary sat with them too. He was acting kind of weird, talking about stuff that made no sense, and the other kids were confused.
"How much alcohol was in that champagne?" Misty whispered to Brock. He shrugged.
"I can't believe you drank that champagne, Gary!" Ash said between bites of cake. "I think your grandpa's really mad at you."
"Oh, I know he is. But so what? What's he gonna do about it? Spank me?" Gary laughed. "Oh, man, did you guys see that gnome go by just now? Ash, he was right behind you! Oh well. Do you think there's any champagne left? I had more when no one was looking, but it's really good."
Misty ignored Gary. "Hey guys, did you know that if you take a piece of wedding cake home in a little box and put it under your pillow, you'll dream of the person you'll marry?"
"Really?" Ash asked.
Misty licked her fork. "Uh-huh. My sister told me. She said—oh, look! Your mom's about to throw the bouquet!" She jumped up and rushed over to the swarm of girls and women waiting to catch the bouquet. Ash's mom tossed the flowers backward over her head, and everyone reached and jumped—and Misty emerged, holding the bouquet over her head triumphantly.
"I got it! Now I'm the next to get married!" She ran back over to her friends. "And I know just who I'm going to marry, too!" She grinned at Ash.
"Who? Brock?" Ash asked. Misty rolled her eyes.
After all the guests left, the kids had to clean up.
"Hey, I just thought of something," said Ash. "Why are we the ones who have to clean up? We already helped with stuff!"
"Quit complaining, Ash!" Misty said. "It's not that much work! And besides, you didn't do much anyway."
"I served cake!"
"Ooh, big deal."
"Will you two just hurry up and get to work?" Brock said. Ash and Misty resumed their work, grumbling the whole time.
The next day, Ash was sitting on the couch, watching TV. His mom came into the room and switched it off.
"Mom! I was watching that!" Ash cried.
"Sorry, honey, but there's work to do."
"Hey, Mom?"
"Yes, Ash?" She was in the kitchen now, dusting.
"Why didn't you go on a honeymoon?"
She came back to the living room. "We decided not to because it's too close to the baby's due date. It could be born in the next few weeks!
"Now hurry up. Go to your room and start packing your things."
"What for?" Ash asked.
She smiled. "We're moving to Professor Oak's house, silly! Did you forget?"
"How could I forget? You never told me! Why do we have to?"
"I'm sure I did tell you, honey. And it wouldn't make sense for us to live in different houses. So get moving!"
Ash trudged to his room. He knew she hadn't told him before! Everything in his life was changing, and there was nothing he could do about it.
Well, that's it for now. I'm sorry this was such a stupid chapter. I'll try to make the later ones better. Anyway, please read and review, like always! Thanks!