Season: Welcome all to chapter 43! I managed to finish writing and editing it in record time and since it was already finished; why make you wait two months!? Wow! Amazing. I should be sick more often so I can get these out faster. (kidding, kidding!)
Can you believe that at the end of the year this story will be a decade old? That's a bit too long to write a story for don't you think? So I have decided to end your suffering and say that we are almost to the end line. My plan is to hopefully end this story in seven more chapters, giving it a total of 50 chapters. Two of which will be dedicated to Delia FINALLY meeting Dawn and Brianna, the engagement party, and then finally (because of course since this was slightly based off a soap opera) the wedding will be the final chapter.
I have to start writing those but I think I know more or less where I want those to go and since I'll have a month off to think things over, I can start to plan out the remaining seven chapters.
Thank you to everyone who has stuck by for over nine and a half years with this story. You guys are seriously the best and I wouldn't do this without your support.
Again, no chapter next month as that's when my surgery will be (and this the one I was going to post then but you're getting it early!) and I'll use the rest of the month to recover and plan out the rest of this story. Kind of like a break without a break? Lol
See you in September! :3
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Stupidity Does Not Earn You Heaven
by: Season Of Magic
{~}
The following morning, as promised, Johanna and Ash walked into Dawn's house. They were talking about places in Kanto that might interest Johanna and weren't too far a drive to. Johanna closed the door as Ash placed the box he had been carrying with him on the living room table. Johanna then placed down her purse as well and then followed Ash into the kitchen.
Brianna was already there, munching on crackers and cheese scrolling through her Poketch while the sandwich she was making finished toasting.
She glanced up upon hearing shuffling footsteps and grinned widely. "Grandma! Dad!" She cheered as she stood up from the stool in the counter.
"Morning munchkin you're up early for someone who's on break." Ash said in greeting as he leaned in to ruffle her hair.
Brianna giggled. "I recall being promised a early visit." She winked, glancing over to her grandma. "I was just starting on breakfast."
Ash nodded. "Ah, yes, I recall you've been upgraded to you can use the toaster as long as you disconnect it after you use it now."
"I can be left alone to do things. I'm not going to burn down the house." Brianna said, pretending to roll her eyes. "I can be trusted:"
"That's what your mom said around your age and the house almost didn't survive." Johanna said, bemused smile in her face. "You'd also be surprised to know how Dawn nearly started a fire simply by trying to use a curling iron." She added, laughing at the memory. "As for breakfast I already ate at Delia's place." She apologized as she leaned her elbow on the island.
Brianna gawked. "My mom did what!?" Then she pouted. "But I was just about to ask what you wanted in your sandwich."
"Yep. A curling iron was the least of my worries with her. Should have seen how she almost exploded the stove."
"That is slander mom. You wouldn't even let me NEARthe stove." Dawn walked in pretending to be unamused. Hands on her hips and everything. "I wasn't that terrible." She puffed her cheeks.
"Morning dear:" Johanna said: "I see you followed my example."
"Yes. My daughter may be a genius but I'd rather not wake up to the Squirtle Squad knocking on my door becauee a parrot burned down the kitchen again."
Brianna sighed. "You try to use a electric toaster at five, ONCE and they never let you live it down." She raised her arms as if asking the gods why she was stuck with this family.
Ash, Dawn and Johanna laughed at that.
Dawn hugged her mother as Ash plugged in the coffee machine and was deciding what flavor to use. He took the basket and shook it. "Alright. What's the poison going to be today ladies?" He asked. "What are we feeling like having?"
"Vanilla cappuccino!" Brianna chirped.
"You don't even drink coffee." Ash said with a deadpan look.
Dawn was now pouring Bri a cup of orange juice and gave a sheepish expression. "Actually last week I let her try coffee with milk."
"Dunking the bread into it was the best part!" Brianna piped in.
"Is this why she's been so energetic all through last wek?" Ash asked.
"I'm energetic even without coffee." Brianna said, as if offended.
"Probably." Dawn said to Ash as she poured another cup for her mother and sat in one of the stools, taking a cracker from Bri's stash. "And yeah, you totally are." She agreed with her daughter.
"Thank you sweetheart." Johanna said as she sat next to her and drank the juice. "I personally don't mind what flavor the coffee is but whatever it will be should probably be decided soon." she added as she pointed to the machine.
"I think Bri meant mocha cappuccino so let's just go with that." Dawn stated.
Ash stopped shaking the basket and brought up two packets. "There actually is a vanilla one as well."
"I say we mix it!" Brianna exclaimed joyfully.
"Can't taste that bad." Johanna said, a hand to her cheek as she kept drinking her juice.
"Mocha vanilla cappuccino coming right up." Ash bowed as he placed the basket back and began the instant coffee making process. "MOCHA VANILLA! MONILLA!" Brianna yelled.
Ash shook his head laughing at her antics. "Still none for you even if the name is interesting."
"Meanie." Brianna stuck out her tongue.
"Love you too munchrrot." Ash said with a laugh."See what I did there? I combined munchkin and parrot."
"Stop copying me daaaaad." Brianna whined, crossing her arms. "Even if she's gifted I'm glad she can still be just a child." Johanna whispered to Dawn. Dawn nodded in agreement.
As Brianna was on break for the start of spring, Dawn had taken time off from work, giving May a much needed break as well. That woman desserved it. So she, with nothing to do had gone back to Hoenn.
Someone should check up on Max, the store and my parents. Hoenn is a mess without me was all she had joked about when she had told them her plans.
They could go missing one at a time, but there would always be someone around. May was currently absent but that did not stop Tracey or Gary however. Those two had come by right before lunch, bringing with them their bickering about something or other along with bags full of food from the local Chinese restaurant.
Brianna simply glanced up from her seat on the couch, pausing the tv. "Um. I'm trying to watch this with my grandma..." was all she said.
Gary and Tracey stared as they closed the door behind them.
"Is it Mermaid Tale again?" Gary couldn't help but ask. "Never mind I don't want to know." He shook his hand dismissively.
"Twelve dancing princesses." Johanna piped in. "I don't know how the king hasn't gone mad yet over his daughters ruining their shoes over and over." She mulled over the situation. It was quite bizarre to her.
"Twelve pair of shoes sound like a lot to make." Brianna agreed. "And to pay for."
"Daily." Johanna added.
"Twelve pairs of shoes DAILY!?" Gary asked. "Not that I'm interested in the story or whatever."
Brianna pat down the empty side of the couch then waved a bucket of popcorn. "I can start it over."
"If I have to see those two fight over the princesses dancing the night away again I will go insane." Dawn mumbled from where she was currently typing on her laptop. She was sitting on the dining room table, leaving her mom and daughter to bond over movies as she worked on her blog. Just became she gave herself a week off did not mean she didn't have work to do. She stopped typing enough to look up from the screen.
"Oh alright, rewind." She said. Just because she was working, did not mean she wasn't paying attention to her surroundings. She had been listening to the movie. Eating popcorn from Ash's bucket, who was also sitting beside her. He too had wanted to give Johanna and Brianna time to bond.
Gary raised a eyebrow. "You actually like this?"
"Hey that's what I grew up on. Don't insult my childhood." Dawn chastised him.
"I thought you saw the one with the flying Pegasus and a butterfly mermaid, wasn't that what it was dear?" Johanna asked curiously.
"There are so many different plot lines and movies that I'm fairly convinced it's its own universe at this point." Dawn retorted. "
Barbie Cinematic Universe." Gary piped in. "Wait. Where does the mermaid fit in? Before or after that School Princess who wasn't even a princess?"
"Which one?" Dawn asked laughing. "There must be at least ten different mermaids at this point."
"Mermaid Tale is the best one!" Brianna said with a fake gasp. "Second only to the switching princess and the pop star, followed then by the geeky fairy."
"Cinematic Universe?" Gary mouthed.
"Cinematic Universe." Dawn agreed.
"I don't know about that. My favorite was that one about the castle. The friends had such a strong friendship it made me cry." Ash said from where he had been munching popcorn beside Dawn. "What? I follow these stories too you know." He said with a shrug.
"Well while you guys figure this out I'll go make more popcorn? Tracey offered in a compromise.
"Guess we're not eating this then?" Gary said waving the bag full of food in his hand and the other Tracey had as well.
"Did you bring me spring rolls and dumplings?" Brianna couldn't help but ask as she saw where the bag was from.
"And over two dozen fortune cookies." He uttered, wiggling the bag again. Brianna stood up. "LUNCH BREAK!"
In the end they ended up watching over five Barbie movies, trying to end the debate about which was the best once and for all. Which left them with a unresolved issue and happy, full stomachs as they ended up ordering more food when they realized what they had wasn't going to be enough with Ash's appetite. They had plenty of food left which Tracey was currently reheating.
"Do you have any stir fry sauce?" He asked Dawn.
"Check the lower cabinet." Ash replied. "Gary and I saw it when we ate those shrimp tails last week."
"When did you guys ea..." Dawn shook her head. "Never mind. It's going to be ridiculous and I don't want to know."
"Last week." Ash repeated. "It was around the same time of the hot wings accident. Maybe one or two date before. May wasn't back from picking up Bri yet."
"So we snuck in and ate some thawed shrimp before we gave you the frozen ones to save for dinner the next day." Gary piped in.
Dawn wanted to roll her eyes so badly. "It's not sneaking in if you actually know where the emergency key is." She said with a sigh. "I still have to cook those."
"We made those on Friday to send May off since she was leaving in the early flight today." Ash replied. "Sorry."
Dawn gaped."Where was I!?"
"Still at work." Brianna stated. "Gary made a delicious sauce to go along with them."
Dawn didn't know whether to be impressed or not. "I didn't even know you could cook."
"I am not here just for entertainment." Gary said with his arms crossed.
"Could have fooled me." Brianna said.
"Don't make me take the fortune cookies back."
Brianna gasped. "Bad."
"Ha." He said, sticking his tongue out.
"Alright so you guys sneak into my house, eat my food and throw parties without me. Anything else I should know?"
"There was that one time where we...–" Ash began but Gary glared at him. "Where we nothing haha."
"They ate cheese puff balls in the jacuzzi." Brianna blurred out. "Singing along crying histerically to To Be A Master. Hugging each other as if they were in the titanic."
Dawn almost choked on her drink. "They what?"
"Gary I'll never let go. Even if these cheese puffs say otherwise. Ash! I won't forget you. Goodbye my dearest." Brianna mimicked a cheese puff ball sinking into water. "And scene."
Dawn spit out her drink. "I should be at work more often if that's what I miss." She said as she tried to breathe.
"We are comedy gold why would you want to miss that?" Ash grumbled.
"Aren't you enough at work as it is already?" Brianna mumbled.
"She forgot the part where she and May were the ones throwing us the cheese puff balls from the door." Gary couldn't help but say.
"We ran out of marshmallows." Brianna said with a shrug.
Johanna bit back a smile but then burst out laughing anyways. "Friendship at its finest."
"Mom don't encourage them." Dawn almost yelled out. "They won't stop either way.
You're stuck with a hilarious group." Johanna replied.
"In their defense May did challenge them to who could eat the most in one minute." Tracey finally said as he walked out carrying a tray of stir fried rice and noodles.
"I won!" Ash replied. "I let you win because of your voracious appetite."
"That's a big word are you sure you know what it means?"
"Big eater. Selfish with food." "It doesn't quite mean that."
"No. Those are the other things you are." Ash sighed and stood up to grab his plate and refill it with the food.
"I don't know if I have the stomach for dessert." Dawn mumbled as she finished passing plates around around with the cake Delia had made for her,
"At least try it or my mom will not shut up about it." Ash said.
"Can I have two slices then?" Brianna asked.
"You've eaten enough for one day parrot." Dawn said as she still gave her the biggest slice of them all.
"This is delicious." Ash was already done with his slice and was poking into Dawn's cake with his fork, taking half of it with him.
"Your appetite is seriously astounding." Dawn uttered.
"Duly noted." He replied.
Johanna's smile had not left her face the entire day. Her daughter and grandchild had been, and will continue to be just fine in Kanto without her.
That thought made her a bit sad but also grateful that they had such a good support system. Whatever the future brought, she knew they would thrive. That's all a mother could ask for.