A/N: Sorry that this took a while for me to update. I've been working on other projects and life things. Next chapter should be up on November 1st. Planning on having the rest written and a new chapter posted every day for Pokeshipping week. We'll see how that goes.

For now, please enjoy the latest chapter.

Until next time,

Sarah

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

Chapter Eight: An Unexpected Guest

The sky was almost completely dark, except for the faint pink line that hugged the horizon. Ash gazed out at it, watching the line grow thinner and fainter. He still couldn't believe that he was doing this. The ferry had left not long ago—just as the sun had been beginning to set.

The boat was due to dock early the following morning. Ash had managed to find an empty cabin to crash for the night. He had dropped off all of his things before coming up to the deck with Pikachu.

He peered around. It was deserted other than a pair of women lounging in a couple of deck chairs, as though they were hoping to catch some sun in the middle of a cloudless night. They appeared to be harassing one of the staff members from what he could overhear of their conversation.

"What do you mean 'there's no wait service?'" the one with pink hair said.

"Yeah," said the other one with blue hair. "How are we, like, supposed to get a martini around here?"

They seemed so familiar to Ash, but he couldn't place from where he knew them.

"I'm so sorry, miss," replied the young man. "But we don't have any alcohol on this ship. It's a ferry, not a cruise."

"This is unacceptable," the pink-haired woman said angrily. "Where's your manager?"

"The captain?" the man asked. "Uh, he's steering the ship at the moment."

The girl with pink hair opened her mouth to retort, but was stopped by the other one placing her hand on her arm.

"Forget it, Lily," she said. "It's not worth it."

"But Violet—"

"He's clearly an idiot. Not worth our time. You can go now," the one called Violet said, waving the man away with her hand.

He stalked off in the other direction, grumbling to himself. Ash couldn't help but feel sorry for him. The two of them seemed like a bit of a nightmare.

Ash gave them a second, scrutinizing look. It took a few moments, but he finally realized who they were—Misty's other two sisters, Lily and Violet. They had met a couple of times in his youth, once at the beginning of his journey when he had hopes of earning a Cascade Badge, and another to help out with their underwater ballet, in which Misty had starred. They must have been on their way to the island for the wedding as well.

He hesitated. Should he go over and say hello? It was tough. He didn't know how coming to the wedding would be received. Would they be annoyed or angry? Ash shook his head. They would know that he was there soon enough. He inhaled, squaring his shoulders. Pikachu perched on top of one, he marched over to them.

"Good evening, ladies."

They turned their heads in his direction. Both narrowed their eyes at him, shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. Lily had scrunched up her nose at him before opening her mouth.

"Uh, who are you?"

Ash stared back at them, nonplussed. Had he changed that much that they didn't even recognize him anymore? Or was it the mere fact that he was so insignificant that they didn't remember him at all?

"Ash Ketchum…remember?"

Violet shook her head. "No, sorry. Doesn't ring a bell."

Ash blinked, beginning to feel his annoyance rising. How could they not remember him? He saved their gym on two separate occasions for heaven's sake. It was absurd. Ash sighed. Okay, say that they might not remember him from a decade ago, but surely they would know who he was being gym leaders in the Kanto Region—the very one of which he was now the new champion. Were these girls that out of touch?

"Um, I'm the new Kanto champion…was just crowned a few weeks ago."

Lily turned to Violet. "Did you know that we had a new champion?"

She shook her head. "No. News to me."

Ash wanted to bang his head against the side of the boat. How could they be so stupid? These girls were driving him crazy. Perhaps it hadn't been the best decision to approach them. All it was doing was leading Ash to utter frustration. Sensing the tension, Pikachu patted his head in an attempt to calm his trainer.

"Anyway," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm old friends with your sister, Misty. We used to travel together when we were kids. Do you remember now?"

Clarity washed over Violet's face. "Like oh my God! You grew up!"

"I did."

"Oh that's right!" Lily said. "You're that kid that Misty used to l—"

She stopped short when she caught the dangerous look on Violet's face.

"So what are you doing here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Well, I, uh…I'm going to the wedding."

Ash swallowed as he witnessed their stunned expressions. Was he doing the right thing here? Was he intruding into her already established life? Maybe he was. Yet, she—but maybe that didn't matter. She might not have meant that with what her state of mind had been. He felt a twinge of guilt. Why did he have to always react so rashly to every situation?

"How come Misty didn't mention it?" Lily turned to her sister.

"I mean," Ash said, interrupting. "I got my invitation pretty last minute, so that might be why."

"I wonder why she decided to do that."

"Might be something to do with Rudy," Violet whispered into Lily's ear. "You know how he gets. Sis might be in trouble with this one."

"Well," Ash said, shifting his feet. "I just thought I'd say hello. I'll probably see you later at one point or another. Have a good-night."

Neither of them replied as they watched him walk away from them and out of sight. They exchanged looks with each other. They knew that tomorrow morning would be interesting to say the least, especially if Rudy was going to be with Misty to greet them. If they didn't really need the alcohol before, they did then.

Fatigue setting in, Ash knew that the thin mattress in his room was calling him. There would be plenty of time over the next few days to make small talk with them if he wished. He flopped down on the bed, not bothering to change. Turning out the light, he closed his eyes. Even though he knew he should, he didn't care about what was about to come. What was the use of fretting over it? With no worries about the next morning, he let sleep carry him away.

Misty stood on the dock, staring out into the horizon. The dawn was steadily approaching, the sky a bright orange. Rudy, sitting impatiently on the edge of the dock, kept running his fingers through his hair as she watched the horizon. Brock and Daisy were still asleep in their beds, the lucky bastards. Brock was one thing, but Daisy should have been there with Misty and Rudy. Violet and Lily were her sisters, too. It was unfair, Misty thought bitterly.

While irritated with her eldest sister, Misty felt a bit guilty making her fiancé wait here for her sisters like this. He had got up at the crack of dawn with her, only bothering to throw on some clothes before they made the trek down to the docks to meet the early-morning ferry. They were planning on having breakfast all together once her sisters were there.

Rudy was in the middle of stifling a yawn when Misty finally saw a faint shadow against the horizon. She nudged his shoulder as she saw the boat approach them. He groaned as he swung his legs back over the edge of the dock. He lifted his body to an upright position, joining her. They stared out at the ocean, a breeze blowing, spraying salt water on their faces.

Misty tried to calm the storm raging in her stomach as the boat came closer. She knew that it was only her sisters, but any time spent with her family ended up being extremely stressful, especially when all three of them were there. Misty had half-considered just eloping for this very reason. As she watched the ferry coming to dock, she was beginning to regret that decision.

After another fifteen minutes, the couple watched as a few people started filing off. There wasn't much to do on the island except for the gym and a tiny house resort on the opposite side of the island for those who were looking for an off-the-grid experience. Most of the time, they never got any visitors. Misty nudged Rudy again as she saw them at last. They were looking rough, with their disheveled hair and the bags under their eyes, concealed by giant sunglasses. She shook her head. They, like Daisy, had not changed—still as high-maintenance as ever.

"Misty!" Violet shouted as she rushed to give her baby sister a hug.

"It's good to see you too," Misty replied, as she broke away. She moved over to Lily who had caught up to them, also giving her a hug. "How was your journey?"

"Awful," replied Violet.

"Yeah," Lily said. "Like we couldn't even get a drink on this stupid boat."

Misty did her best to hide her smirk. They were also the reason why she had decided against an open bar. That was a choice that she was far from regretting. "Oh. I see."

"How are you, Rudy?" Lily said, turning to her sister's fiancé, who had been just idling in front of them.

"Oh fine, thanks," he said, stifling another yawn.

"Did our little sis make you get up early on account of us?" Violet commented. "You didn't need to do that."

Rudy smiled, shrugging his shoulders. "It's no trouble. You're our guests."

Violet frowned. "Yes," she said, rotating to face her sister. "Speaking of guests, why didn't you tell us you invited that kid?"

Misty stared at her. "I'm sorry…who?"

"You know, that annoying kid that you used to hang out with before coming to live here. He has black hair and this goofy expression on his face."

"Tracey?"

It was true that Misty had invited Tracey. They had still kept in touch over the years. He had replied about a month ago, stating that he was going to be unable to make it. He had an art exhibition in Kanto at the same time, showing off all of his Pokemon art. It would have been nice to see him, but she understood. It was a big deal, after all. She didn't think she had to inform her sisters about every person she had sent an invite to, especially when the person wasn't even coming.

"No, not him," she replied impatiently. "The one with the Pikachu."

She froze. Why would she be asking about him? He wasn't invited. What was Violet playing at? Misty was about to open her mouth to demand to know when she saw him coming off the boat. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sight of him, Pikachu perched on his shoulder. What the fuck?

Her heart was trying to beat out of her chest. She took a side-glance at Rudy. What was she going to do? What was he doing here? Panic was beginning to set in as she stood there frozen. She was dead now. There was no way getting out of it.

Everything around her seemed to stop as he walked toward her. Her breath was caught in her throat. She didn't know if she should laugh or cry. Why was the universe doing this to her? What had she done in a past life to deserve this?

Ash stood before all of them, dropping down his bag. Pikachu leapt from his shoulder toward Misty. Taken aback, she barely managed to catch him as he hit her chest. Ash gave Misty a sheepish smile. She didn't return it.

"What are you doing here?" Rudy said.

"Uh," Ash said, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Misty invited me?"

Rudy whipped his head in her direction. "You did what?"

"Uhh," she said. What the hell was Ash playing at? He just showed up on his own accord, but what else could she say? If she said too much, he would know something wasn't right. Dinner with Ash was the secret that she wished to continue to harbor. It was only going to make it worse.

"Well?"

Misty looked at him defiantly. "I have a right to invite anyone I want. It's my wedding."

Rudy glared back at her. "It's my wedding too. I have a right to know who is coming, you know."

"Why do you care so much?" Misty asked, throwing her hands up in the air. "Why does it matter to you about every single little thing I do. I don't have to ask for your permission."

"I don't do that—"

"Don't give me that bull shit," Misty snapped. "You may not say it, but I know if I did certain things that you would flip out on me like you're doing right now."

The two of them stared each other down, oblivious to the other three. Pikachu, still in Misty's arms, kept turning his back and forth between them as if he were watching a tennis match. Ash stood, also watching, teetering back and forth on his heels. Perhaps this hadn't been the best idea.

"Whatever," Rudy finally said. He started marching off in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Misty yelled at him.

"I'll be at the gym!"

She watched him smash his hands into his pockets as he stormed off. He was mad this time. Other than an omission of information, she couldn't see why. She never understood what his problem was when it came to Ash. She always got this feeling that her friendship with Ash had always bothered him in the past. Now, it seemed even more obvious. Why was it such a bad thing even if she actually had invited him to the wedding? She should be able to share it with the people for which she cared most.

She shook her head, trying to push the argument out of her thoughts. Her stomach lurched. Maybe she shouldn't have been so harsh. She chewed on her cheek as she absent-mindedly stroked behind one of Pikachu's ears. What could she do though? If she told him the truth, he would ask how Ash knew about when the wedding was anyway. What could she say in this case? She could admit the truth about the other night or she could throw one of her other friends under the bus. Either way, she was completely screwed.

She turned to her sisters and Ash. They stood there in stunned silence as the sun continued to rise above the horizon. A small breeze had kicked up. The waves knocked against the dock, rocking it gently. Violet cleared her throat.

"Uhh," she said. "We're going to head up to the cottage, if that's okay with you."

"What?" Misty said, being pulled out of her thoughts. "T-that's fine. Go ahead. I'll be right behind you…just give me a few minutes."

Violet and Lily grabbed the handles of their suitcases and began to drag them along. They struggled a bit once they had had hit the sand. After a few moments of fighting to yank them through the dunes, they resigned, picking them up by the handle and carrying them in the end. Once they were out of earshot, Misty rounded on Ash.

Ash took a step back as she stared him down. He gulped, knowing that she was ready to explode. It was no different than when they were kids, but this time it wasn't over something as stupid as getting a little bit lost. With age came a depth of problems that he wasn't exactly equipped to handle. Yet, here he was, and because of his careless error in judgment, he was risking losing the friendship he had only just salvaged days prior. His stomach was in knots as she gently placed Pikachu down on the dock.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Uhh…" he replied, casting his eyes down. "You did invite me here."

"No I didn't," she hissed. Boy, he had some nerve!

"Yes you did—"he began to argue, but stopped short. His eyes grew wide. "Oh my gosh—you don't remember, do you?"

"Ash, what the hell are you talking about?" she said. "I think I would remember sending you an in—"

"You didn't," he admitted. "But you did ask me to come the other night when we were hanging out in my hotel room. I'm a little hazy on the details, but I know you told me to come to your wedding."

She gawked at him for a long moment. He looked back at her earnestly. Misty wanted to believe that he wasn't lying to her, but she was struggling to remember ever uttering such words. It felt like groping in the dark for something intangible. A lot of details were hazy for her as well. It took a few minutes of staring off in the distance at the glowing scarlet sun for the memory to flood back to her.

They were sitting on the carpet of Ash's hotel room. The television mounted to the wall had been turned on, but neither of them was really watching it. Misty was more interested in the bottle of champagne and, though she was loath to admit it, the man sitting next to her. She knocked her head back, her lips firmly pressed against the champagne flute as she finished its contents. She lowered her arm back down, hand still tightly on the glass as she leaned up against the box spring behind her.

He was nursing his own drink, not too eager to finish it in one gulp. Pikachu was above them, fast asleep on the bed. A cardboard box containing half of a pepperoni pizza lay between them. Ash glanced at the clock on the bedside table. It was just past midnight. He should have been getting to bed by now, considering he had his lecture the next day. However, in that moment, he didn't seem to care. Rather than sleeping, he preferred the hours spent with the redhead next to him.

He didn't know how it popped into his head. He didn't know why it was nagging at him in that very moment. However, somehow the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop them.

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting married? I still don't understand."

She gazed back at him, her stomach lurching uneasily. She sighed before grabbing the bottle with her free hand and pouring another tall glass. She placed the bottle back into the bucket of ice that rested behind the pizza box before pressing the glass back up to her lips once more. She took a couple of large gulps before lowering her arm once more, her throat gasping for breath. She inhaled sharply, shuttering.

"I thought about sending an invitation to your house," she said finally. "I knew that your mom would get it and let you know as soon as she could. I don't know…something held me back. I thought about doing it multiple times. I think there's even an addressed envelope to you somewhere in my vanity drawer. In the end, I just couldn't do it. Too much time had passed…and I didn't think you would want to come anyway."

"That's not true," he replied. "I would have gladly come."

Misty bit her lip. She knew that she wasn't being entirely honest with him. While what she said was almost entirely true, she was omitting the part that the fear of Rudy's reaction was the main thing that had held her back. She couldn't tell him that though. He might comment about that, and she wasn't in the mood to deal with it.

Guilt was a knife plunging itself into her core, twisting in her stomach every time she glanced up and saw him staring at her with his warm brown eyes. How could she have excluded him like that? She had invited Brock without a question, but she had left him out in the cold. What kind of person was she?

"Come then."

"W-what?"

"I'm inviting you now," she said, her face turning scarlet. "I should have in the first place, and you're already here anyway. Just come over once you're done with what you need to do."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"

"Y-yeah," she said. "I want you there."

"Okay," he said, beaming at her.

His gaze was so intense that she had to avert her eyes, focusing more on the flute in front of her. She drank the rest of it in one gulp, shuttering as she felt it pass her throat. She was going to regret this decision, but in that moment, she didn't care. Besides, they probably wouldn't even remember the conversation in the morning, so it was fine.

Misty gaped at him once the memory was now fresh in her mind. What could she say to him now? She couldn't take back that invitation, not now that he was already here. Oh, why did she have to be so stupid?

"Oh God," she muttered. "What did I do?"

"Do you want me to go then?" Ash asked, tilting his head at her.

"No!" she said, almost too quickly. Ash's brow furrowed. She cleared her throat. "I mean—you shouldn't go. I meant it when I said you should come. I just forgot all about it, that's all. Rudy—he doesn't like surprises. I didn't get a chance to prepare him for that."

"I see," Ash said, gripping his suitcase tightly, lifting it off the ground. "Well, I'll see you later. I need to see if I can find a good spot for us to sleep for the night."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah," he said. "You know…? To camp out…?"

She looked away, rolling her eyes. "Oh, you are such an idiot."

She yanked the suitcase out of his hand, clasping it in her hand firmly. She grabbed his hand with her free one. His body gave a jolt when her skin came in contact with his. Oblivious to his face going a dark shade of red, she began to drag him along toward the cottage overlooking the cliff.

"You really think that I would let you camp out in the woods?" she said, shaking her head. "We'll find you a place to stay. It's not a big deal."

"O-okay," he replied, not caring for anything other than the fact that she was holding his hand as they trudged through the sand.

"I'll make breakfast as soon as we get to the house," she continued on. "I'm sure you're hungry, right?"

"Uhh…yeah."

They fell silent as they walked up to Misty's house, hand-in-hand, with Pikachu following at their heels.