Yeah, hey there guys...you probably all hate me right now. Sorry it took so long for this chapter...but I've had alot of work to do recently (like my road test and my final Italian project and preparing for my dance recital...) and then when I had free time, I kept coming up with one shots that were begging to be written. So, I apologize. But, here's the new chapter, so...you can read it now :P

Character Ages:

Ash: 16

Iris: 16

Cilan: 19

Delia: 35

Misty: 16

Daisy: 21

Violet: 20

Lily: 19

Tracey: 19

Gary: 16

After getting changed into her regular clothes, Iris spent much of the morning meditating underneath the giant oak tree in Ash's backyard. Axew sat next to his trainer and imitated her perfectly, calmly swishing his little tail as he focused all of his energy.

"Let's see…" Iris murmured, "How can we get Ash and Misty to realize their feelings towards each other?"

"Ax…" Axew breathed.

"Iris, dear, are you alright?"

The purple haired girl opened her eyes and found herself staring at Delia, who was now outfitted in a light blue apron, dark green gardening gloves, and a tan colored sun hat with a delicate white fabric flower atop the brim.

"Oh, yes, I'm just fine!" Iris giggled. "I'm meditating is all. I do it when I need to think up things!"

"Meditating? That's an excellent idea!" Delia trilled. "That always helps me to relax and collect my thoughts after doing my yoga exercises."

Iris smiled kindly at the woman and refrained from informing her that this kind of meditation happened to be a little more spiritual. But Iris had developed quite a fondness for Mrs. Ketchum, and still had been unable to figure out how such a kind and well put together woman had wound up with such a childish son.

"Well, I don't want to disturb you too much," Delia smiled as she began to waltz away from the violet haired girl, "but, if I might ask, do you know where my Ash has run off to? Because I know he didn't go with Misty like I asked him to."

Iris blushed out of surprise. Ash hadn't even faced his mother, nor had she seen Misty leave without the dark haired boy. It must've been her mother's intuition, although still quite puzzling for the aspiring dragon master.

"He went to go visit and train his Pokémon," Iris answered helpfully. "At least, that's what he told Cilan and me after breakfast. He just came running down the stairs, fully dressed, and blurted that out. Then he burst through the door and we haven't seen or heard from him since."

"He must've headed over to Oak's lab," Delia concluded, sighing as she lowered her head so the brim of her pretty hat fell over her amberite eyes. "Such a stubborn young man. I wish I could get through to him."

"I wouldn't be too worried, Mrs. Ketchum," Iris giggled. "Ash will see the light somehow."

"I certainly hope so," Delia nodded, heading back towards her gardening. Iris watched the older woman leave before looking down at Axew, who was staring up at his trainer with curious red eyes.

"Ax?" Axew tilted his head.

"I'm working on it," Iris sighed, once again closing her eyes. "This is going to take some serious time and effort, Axew. We have to be patient."

"Ew," Axew agreed, closing his own eyes to once again focus his energy, much like his sweet and loyal trainer.

XXX

Misty sighed tiredly, throwing her light blue backpack onto the floor as she entered the gym and stretched her arms out. The long trek back from Pallet Town had all but drained her, and now Misty's mind was consumed by thoughts of sleeping and relaxing.

"Oh my gosh! Misty is back!"

Unfortunately, Misty knew that the high pitched shriek meant that she wasn't going to be getting any of that any time soon.

Violet and Lily both came racing into the room, their eyes shining bright once they saw that their youngest sister had returned from her visit.

"So…" Violet couldn't help the smirk that was growing on her face, "how did it go with Ash?"

"Yeah, was he like…super adorable still?" Lily crooned.

Misty sighed and rolled her eyes. Her sisters still knew how to work every single one of her nerves. At least they had managed to grow out of those obnoxious valley girl accents that they had picked up early on in their teen years. Only Lily now would occasionally slip up and speak like a stereotypical teenage girl, though she was getting better all the time at maintaining it.

"Yeah, he's still cute," Misty narrowed her eyes, "now let's not talk about it."

"Uh oh, that doesn't sound good," Lily observed, crossing her arms as she glanced over at Violet.

"I bet he turned her down," Violet sulked, giving a little shrug as she pouted.

"What? He did not," Misty's eyes snapped open.

"Then what's with the face?" Violet pressed.

"Ash is still as dense as a board," Misty retorted. "He probably doesn't even know the definition of the word love, and at this point, I'm not even sure that he knows what a definition is. I think that maybe it's just time to give up."

"Oh no you don't!" Lily planted her hands firmly on her hips. "You love him too much to just give up!"

"Lily, I don't-"

"And don't tell me you don't love him," Lily interrupted darkly. "That's, like, the stupidest lie I've ever heard."

"And you just threw in that word," Misty shook her head. "Bad Lily. No more using the word "like" in your sentences anymore, remember?"

"Oh, who asked you?" Lily threw her arms down. "I'm trying to help you!"

"That would be a first," Misty rolled her eyes.

"It's a pain to listen to you two," Violet noted. "Besides, Misty, we all know that you're not going to give up on Ash. You've fallen so hard on your head for him that I'm surprised you still know what your name is."

Misty's cheeks flashed red, but otherwise she didn't say anything. She knew Violet was right…she just didn't want to admit it.

"It will work out, Misty," Violet sighed, her tone becoming much softer all of a sudden.

"And what if it doesn't?" Misty muttered.

"It will," Violet shook her head. "It may take some time, but it will work out. Trust me on this one, Mist."

The red head rolled her eyes and resumed to keeping her mouth shut. Arguing with her sisters was just as useless as getting into it with Ash. Neither quarrel would ever get them anywhere; brains against an empty head was like running around in circles.

"Now, come inside," Violet waved her hand to regain Misty's attention. "We need your help."

"With what?" Misty raised an eyebrow.

"Daisy's wedding, of course!" Lily squealed in excitement.

"That's still in the planning stages?" Misty asked incredulously.

"Of course it is!" Lily laughed airily. "It takes a long time to plan the perfect wedding, baby sister!"

"Maybe you three are just being perfectionists," Misty sighed.

"No, you'll understand when it's time to plan your own wedding," Lily shook her head before smirking. "To Ash, of course."

"Violet!" Misty whined, staring at her second oldest sister with pleading emerald eyes.

"Oh, leave her alone, Lil," Violet exclaimed in an exasperated manner as she turned around to head into the waiting area of the gym. "Don't work the poor girl up before she gets to Daisy."

Lily shrugged but followed after her blue haired sister. Misty didn't particularly want to do this, but really, she didn't have much of a choice. She knew that her defiance would equal Daisy storming in and dragging her into the planning kicking and screaming. So, Misty figured that she might as well give in and go as willingly as possible.

Calmly striding into the waiting area, Misty found Daisy and Tracey sitting at one of the tables that was normally set up for trainers who were awaiting their gym battle. Violet and Lily were retaking their seats across from the young engaged couple, while looking over their shoulders to make sure that Misty had followed them in.

"Hi Daisy, hey Tracey," Misty greeted cheerfully.

"Oh, Misty, you're back!" Daisy beamed. "This is wonderful. We need all the help we can get, right Tracey, dear?"

"Uh, yeah, right," Tracey nodded timidly, his voice sounding rather distant.

"I don't think Tracey wants to do any of this," Misty commented.

Tracey began to nod, but his action was quickly cut off by Daisy's overly enthusiastic voice, "oh no, Tracey is just fine! He loves planning all of this out! He just barely voices his own opinion because he's so nervous."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," Misty mumbled sarcastically.

"Misty, quit muttering under your breath and offer some assistance," Daisy narrowed her eyes and planted her hands on her hips.

Rolling her eyes, Misty walked over to the table and took a seat next to Tracey, shooting the former Pokémon watcher and current research assistant a sympathetic look. He, on the other hand, just smiled feebly at her.

"I am happy, you know," Tracey whispered to the young gym leader once he was sure her three older sisters weren't listening. "With Daisy, I mean. I'm just not into all of this planning."

"I believe you," Misty nodded. "They're crazy about this stuff…a little too crazy if you ask me. I'll bail you out if you need it."

"Thanks," Tracey chuckled quietly. "So, how was it visiting Ash?"

"I wish everyone would stop asking me that question," Misty groaned.

"Why? Was it bad?"

"No, of course not. Seeing Ash is never a bad thing." After uttering these words, Misty's face turned bright red. She knew that those words would be taken and twisted into something completely different.

"Then what happened?" Tracey continued, causing Misty to sigh inwardly. Thankfully, Tracey didn't tease her as much as most everyone else did. He had his moments in the past, but after spending so much more time alone with her due to dating Daisy, Tracey knew not to bug Misty too much.

"He's just dense, that's all," Misty shook her head.

"Now," Daisy's trilling voice cut through Misty's daze and brought her emerald eyes back onto the blonde woman. "We know that the colors of the wedding will be white and red."

"So pretty!" Lily squealed.

"There's going to be lots of roses," Daisy grinned. "They are my favorite flower, of course." At this, she threw a sly glance at Tracey, which caused Misty to let out a short, clearly amused giggle.

"Come on, Misty," Tracey sighed in exasperation.

"I'm sorry," Misty apologized, using her hand to cover her still smiling mouth. She would never get over Tracey's dark mistake when he and Daisy first started dating, when he brought the pretty blonde a bouquet of daisies, assuming they were her favorite flower. Daisy, of course, had seen this done one too many times, and didn't find the irony to be charming. She felt differently about Tracey than any other guy before him, however, so instead of dumping him right away, Daisy opted to sternly tell him that she did not appreciate being given daisies. Violet and Lily had to deal with the same thing; Violet with violets and Lily with lilies. It was times like that were Misty was grateful that she wasn't named after a flower.

"Right, so I'll be in a white dress, no duh, holding a bouquet of red roses," Daisy continued. "And you girls, my lovely bridesmaids, will be wearing red dresses and holding bouquets of white roses."

Misty certainly couldn't complain about that. Red was one of her favorite colors, and no matter what anyone said, her vibrant hair color did not clash with red. In Misty's eyes, it only made her look more sophisticated.

"Now, I'll talk more about food and decorations in a little bit," Daisy looked between her sisters, "but before that, there's another important matter we have to discuss."

"Which is?" Violet raised an eyebrow.

"Your dates," Daisy folded her arms.

"That's easy," Violet scoffed. "I'm bringing William!"

William was Violet's boyfriend who worked for the Pokémon League on the business side of things. They had been pretty serious for a little while, and Misty assumed it was only a matter of time before they got engaged themselves.

"And I'm bringing Dorian!" Lily chimed in.

Dorian, of course, was the leader of the unofficial Coastline Gym in Johto. He and Tracey had become good friends over the last few years, what with them dating sisters, and it had been decided awhile ago that Dorian was going to be one of Tracey's groomsmen. Since Daisy was going to have three bridesmaids, Tracey wanted to have three groomsmen, but only Dorian had been decided so far, mainly because Daisy hadn't given him any time to think on the subject.

Misty remained silent, and when everyone realized she wasn't about to say anything, Daisy turned towards her youngest sister and prompted, "What about you, Misty?"

"I don't have to bring a date," Misty murmured.

"Yes you do," Daisy huffed.

"Why?" Misty groaned.

"My wedding, my rules," Daisy smirked.

"This is so dumb," Misty sunk down further in her chair.

"Oh, you're such a baby," Lily rolled her eyes. "Why don't you just bring Ash as your date?"

"Lily, shut up!" Misty snapped, having finally heard enough out of everyone on the subject of her raven haired best friend.

"She might have a point, Misty," Tracey piped up.

"Tracey, you've got to be kidding me," Misty's eyebrow twitched.

"Well, I have a good reason for it," Tracey pouted slightly.

Sighing, Misty rested her head in her hand and asked, "What would that reason be?"

"I think that Ash is going to be one of my groomsmen," Tracey glanced over at his fiancée. "If Daisy is okay with it, that is."

"Of course that's okay with me!" Daisy trilled. "I think it would be absolutely adorable if Misty's date was one of your groomsmen! It'll be like their own mini wedding."

"Stop!" Misty snapped, her cheeks bright red.

"Misty, taking Ash as your date is the easiest option, especially if he's going to be one of Tracey's groomsmen," Daisy sternly informed her youngest sister. "Besides, you two are just friends. This doesn't have to become anything more. So stop acting like a child and just go along with it."

Misty furrowed her brow and let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Under one condition!"

"What?" Daisy folded her arms.

"Stop teasing me about him," Misty practically whispered, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"You have yourself a deal," Daisy grinned. "Everyone, no more prodding Misty about Ash! Or you're going to face my wrath. Now, let's move onto the menu…"

Misty, however, wasn't paying any attention to the conversation anymore. Ash as her date…to a wedding.

She thought she might faint.

XXX

The next day, back in Pallet Town, Iris and Cilan sat down for breakfast and were surprised to not find Ash already downstairs eating.

"How strange," Cilan mused. "Ash is always the first one to be eating!"

"Maybe he's finally growing up," Iris grumbled behind a long yawn.

"I certainly hope everything is okay," Cilan murmured as he sat down. "This isn't like Ash at all."

"I wouldn't be too concerned," Iris smirked as she took her own seat next to Cilan. "He's Ash, remember? As childish as he is, he's pretty capable of taking care of himself."

"That's true," Cilan agreed.

"Besides," Iris giggled airily, "his mother hasn't screamed or torn the whole house down, so I'm sure everything is just fine."

Cilan suddenly frowned, his expression becoming rather worrisome. "Unless he snuck out without her permission."

XXX

Needless to say, that's exactly what Ash had done.

He had woken up at dawn, which was highly unusual for the trainer. He'd gotten dressed and not bothered to wake Pikachu, fearing the ultimate electric shock that would've surely come his way had he interrupted the little mouse's peaceful slumber.

Afterwards, he quietly left his room, tip toed past his mother's room, the guest room where Iris was sleeping, down the stairs, and then past the living room, where Cilan had kindly offered to take residence during their stay in the small Pallet Town home.

Closing the door just as gingerly, Ash took a sigh of relief, clearly happy that he had managed to do all of that without waking anyone up in the house. Particularly his mother, who was a very light sleeper due to all of Ash's antics as a child.

Now in the clear, Ash bolted off towards Oak's laboratory, eager to see all of his Pokémon. He had already visited them the day before, but he'd been gone for so long in such a far off region that he wanted to give his old buddies plenty of attention. As he ran, Ash looked up at the sun, watching as it settled into its proper place and began to spread light across his quaint, peaceful town.

Fortunately for Ash, Professor Oak tended to be an "early to bed, early to rise" kind of guy, so he was already up and about when Ash reached the building that stood out so prominently in the otherwise uniform settlement.

"Hello, my boy!" Professor Oak greeted when he opened the door and allowed Ash in. "You certainly are up bright and early."

"I couldn't really sleep," Ash chuckled. "I completely passed out yesterday because I was so tired from all the travelling and walking. But now, I guess it's really sunk in that I'm home, and I'm too excited to do all of this stuff that I haven't done in so long."

"That's likely it," Professor Oak hummed amusedly. "Would you care for some tea? It's just about to finish up on the stove."

"No, I'm okay," Ash smiled. "I'm just going to go outside and see my Pokémon, if that's okay."

"Of course it is!" Professor Oak nodded as he headed towards the kitchen. "You go right ahead, my boy."

"Thanks Professor!" Ash called as started running again, this time towards the back door so he could free himself to the reservation where all of his and other trainer's captured Pokémon lived. He decided to head right over to the grass preservation, hoping that Bulbasaur and Heracross hadn't gotten into any more squabbles since yesterday. When he reached the grassy field, Ash was surprised to see another figure. Their back was facing him, but with such a mop of brunette hair and familiar black polo shirt, Ash immediately knew who it was.

"Gary?" Ash gasped, stopping dead in his tracks.

The Pokémon researcher spun around, grinning mischievously at his childhood rival. "Well, well, if it isn't Ashy-boy!"

"Would you quit calling me that?" Ash whined as he crossed his arms against his chest.

"No, it's a fitting nickname for you," Gary smirked. "How have ya been? I heard you were back in town."

"Yeah, since two days ago," Ash's expression softened.

"Did you have fun in Unova?" Gary inquired.

"Sure did, it was cool to be in a really different place with a whole bunch of Pokémon I've never seen before! Though, it would've been a lot better if I had gotten further in the Champion League."

"I'm sure you'll get there soon enough," Gary nodded. "Where are you going on your next journey?"

"To tell you the truth, I haven't thought about it yet," Ash admitted. "I was considering just staying home for awhile. You know, taking a rest."

"Ash Ketchum, taking a break?" Gary scoffed. "That's unheard of."

"There's a first time for everything," Ash shrugged.

"Like a relationship?" Gary snidely remarked.

"What?" Ash blinked, completely missing the point of Gary's comment.

"I heard you had a certain, red headed gym leader over your house the other day," Gary snickered.

"You hear a lot of things about me," Ash eyed the boy suspiciously.

"So, did you two get it on?" Gary ignored Ash's last remark. "Did little Ashy finally get his first kiss from a girl other than his Mommy?"

"Shut up!" Ash snarled, his face turning a deep shade of red. "I don't…like her that way," Ash grumbled, his heart pounding a little as he uttered those words.

"Do you like any girls?" Gary teased. "I'm beginning to wonder…"

"Yeah, because you're so cool, Gary," Ash rolled his eyes. "Have you kissed a girl yet?"

"Of course I have," Gary rolled his eyes.

"Wait…what?" Ash took a step back, surprised by this little revelation.

"The first time I kissed a girl, I had just turned 13," Gary shrugged like it was no big deal. "Now I don't even have enough fingers to count how many girls I've made out with."

"You're gross," Ash bit.

"See? This is why I wonder."

"Not because they're girls!" Ash screeched. "Because you've kissed so many of them! Don't you just want to be with one girl?"

"I don't really care," Gary shrugged once again. "None of them seemed like the right fit. They were all into me, of course. I'm pretty irresistible."

"Yeah, and pretty annoying too," Ash muttered.

"What was that, Ashy-boy?" Gary raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Ash smirked mischievously.

"Yeah, I'm sure it was nothing," Gary rolled his eyes. Quickly changing the subject, he continued, "So, have you heard the news about Tracey?"

"No…what news?"

"He's engaged."

Ash's eyes widened. "To Daisy?"

"The very same."

"Wow, so Tracey's really grown up, huh?" Ash blinked. "When's the wedding?"

"In a few weeks, I think," Gary scratched his chin in thought. "Gramps and I are invited. I don't know about you, of course…"

"I'm friends with Tracey, so I probably will," Ash raised a curious eyebrow. "But, if it's a small wedding and I don't get to go, then I'll be okay with it."

"Even though your girlfriend is going to be there?" Gary smiled slyly once more.

"She's NOT my girlfriend!"

"Who isn't your girlfriend, Ash?"

The young trainer turned around and found the aforementioned Tracey to be staring at him, blinking a few times in bewilderment.

"No one, it's nothing," Ash refuted. "Gary is just being an idiot."

"Hey!" Gary whined indignantly from behind.

"You two and your rivalry," Tracey chuckled. "Anyway, it's great to see you, Ash! I heard you were back from Unova, and that you came over to the lab yesterday. I'm sorry that I missed you, I had something to do."

"It's no problem," Ash grinned. "So, Gary just told me that you're getting married! Is it true?"

"Yeah, sure is!" Tracey blushed slightly. "In fact, I was planning to go by your house later to give you this, but since you're here now…"

He pulled off his backpack and opened it up, reaching in to pull out a pure white envelope that read "Ash" on the front in large red script.

"What's this?" Ash asked, taking the envelope from Tracey as he held it out.

"Open it and find out," Tracey chuckled.

Ripping open the back of the envelope, Ash pulled out a white card with lots of writing on it, typed up in a similar fancy script to what was on the front of the envelope. Ash read it over, grinning when he reached the end.

"Wow, Trace, you really want me to come to the wedding?" Ash beamed.

"Of course!" Tracey nodded. "You're one of my best friends! In fact, I'd like you to play a pretty important role in the wedding."

"Like what?" Ash was still grinning.

"I want you to be one of my best men!" Tracey replied joyfully. "You know, stand behind me during the actual ceremony and help out with some other stuff too. What do you say?"

"That sounds awesome! I'd love to!"

"That's great!" Tracey's expression changed slightly, and Ash wasn't entirely sure why. "But…there is kind of a catch. And it wasn't my idea! It was Daisy's…"

"What is it?" Ash leaned in.

Holding his breath to some extent, Tracey answered slowly, "Misty has to be your date."

And that's when Ash lost all of the color in his handsome young face.

I feel like these chapters aren't long I mean, they are pretty long, since this one is like 4K words. I just can't get into this one as much as my others. I still like it, though, I'm not going to stop. So...no worries.

I'm gonna try to start on the next chapter, but I have my APs coming up (the end of school! I can see the liiight :P) so...we'll have to see. No promises! But I will try :)

Until then, read and review!