*thinks she will update early today and maybe more than once*
*lolnope.*
Okaaayyy, here's the new chapter.
Sisterly
Ash Ketchum nervously knocked rang the bell in the lobby of the Cerulean Gym. He set the the four bouquets of flowers previously in his arms down on the front counter and nervously adjusted his hat. He sincerely hoped Misty would be the one to bustle to the bell rather than Daisy, Violet, or Lily. Pikachu jumped from his usual spot on Ash's shoulder to smell the flowers.
"You sure like flowers, huh?" Ash chuckled.
"Pika!" Pikachu happily exclaimed, continuing to sniff at the assortment of flowers Ash had picked out.
Well, Ash didn't pick them out. The store clerk did, having taken pity on the clueless seventeen-year-old. Once Ash had stumbled into the boutique with his starter for company, the saleswoman watched him stare blankly at the different flowers. He'd immediately explained that he was having dinner with his girlfriend and her three sisters and he wanted to continue to make a good impression after years of knowing the family and months of dating their sister.
Besides, Waterflower women had an uncanny ability to make him uncomfortable.
Ash wasn't sure what kinds of flowers he had purchased, but clerk handed him lavender ones, pink ones, and white ones. And then there were red roses for Misty.
He wasn't stupid.
No, not stupid, Ash thought to himself, watching Pikachu smile at the flowers. Just terrified.
Misty's phone call asking him to have dinner with her and her sisters had left Ash completely dumbfounded and more nervous than when he had actually asked her out.
"Nothing formal," Misty trilled over the phone. "Just a casual dinner this Saturday night here at the Gym."
Ash gulped into the receiver.
"Believe me, I don't want to do this anymore than you do, but they're insisting," Misty continued. "God, they're so weird."
"Well," Ash chuckled shakily. "I know how Waterflowers get when they really want something."
Hearing his girlfriend's laughter added a small amount of confidence back into Ash's system.
"Well I can't say you're wrong on that one. But I have to go! Daisy said there's a challenger waiting. Great. Probably some ten-year-old with a Caterpie. Ugh."
"Probably. At least I had a good starter," Ash laughed. "Alright, Mist, I'll talk to you later."
"Oh, and don't be nervous about dinner. They'll just question you about your intentions or something. Don't be surprised if they claw at you, bite you, and tear your hair out. Normal family stuff. Bye, Ash!"
Ash held the phone limply at his side.
Ash snapped back into reality upon seeing four figures rush into the lobby one after another.
"Ash!"
"Hi, Ash!"
"Pikachu! Oh, he's even cuter than the last time we saw him!"
"Lily, that was like just last week."
The four girls came to a stop in the lobby, all giving off identical pearly, dazzling smiles. The single redhead stole his lips in a swift kiss while Daisy, Violet, and Lily stared on.
"AWW!" the three chorused.
"They're so adorable together!"
"They're even cuter than the last time we saw them!"
"Lily, that was also last week."
Ash watched Misty's eye twitch as she turned away from him to pat Pikachu's head affectionately. At the same time, all four girls directed their attention to the electric mouse, as well as the flowers.
"Ooh, flowers!" Daisy trilled, piquing the interest of the other three, who all gushed over the flowers.
"Ash, are these for us?" Misty queried, her look of surprise quickly changing into a smile.
"Oh!" Ash blushed and seemed to remember that he was the one who brought the flowers. "Yeah! Here, this ones are for you, Daisy!" Ash picked up the purple bouquet and handed it off to the tall blonde.
"Oh, hydrangeas!"
"And, uh, these are yours, Violet." Ash gave the pink bouquet to Violet, who was standing between Daisy and Lily, gleefully squealing along with the other two girls. Misty stood off to the side, watching her beet red boyfriend awkwardly hand flowers to her giddy sisters. She pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Tulips! That's totally sweet of you, Ash!" Ash fumbled with the bill of his hat.
"Heh, yeah, um, here Lily!" Lily took the white bundle from the gloved hand that awkwardly held them out.
"Wow, gardenias! They're so pretty!" Lily gushed. Ash turned to the final bouquet on the counter and literally snatched it from under the sniffing Pikachu's nose. The ensuing whine caused Ash to roll his eyes and all four of the girls to giggle.
"If you wanted flowers, you should have said something!"
"Chu!"
Ash ignored his partner's snap and handed the roses to his waiting girlfriend.
"Here, Misty. These roses are for you." Misty took the flowers from him and giggled.
"It's about time. I was worried these were actually for Pikachu."
Ash chuckled and leaned down to press his lips against hers before he felt three foreign kisses invade his cheeks, effectively ruining the moment. Misty's eye twitched again.
"Thank you so much, Ash!" the three Sensational Sisters exclaimed collectively. Misty rolled her eyes at the older girls but thanked Ash anyway.
"No problem, guys!" Ash put a hand on the back of his neck.
All four girls walked out of the lobby and led him into the adjoining living quarters of the Cerulean Gym. Violet grabbed four large vases from under the sink in the kitchen and snatched all the bouquets from their owners, promptly sticking them in the water-filled glasses.
"Uh, why do you just have vases?" Ash asked confusedly, taking a seat on the sofa with Misty by his side.
"Well, since we're like, models and stuff, people are just always giving us flowers!" Lily giggled.
"Yeah, so we just keep these vases around in case anyone thinks we're extra beautiful at any given time!" Violet added. Daisy nodded in agreement while Misty snorted.
"I think they just think you're extra available at any time."
"Oh, Misty, you know that's not true! Besides, I have Tracey and Violet and Lils have... uh, who do you have?"
Lily and Violet immediately went red behind the visible kitchen counter.
"No one!" Lily exclaimed faux confidently.
"Yeah, we're single and strong!" Violet added.
"Whatever," Misty laughed, leaning back into the sofa and grabbing Ash's hand.
Ash only sat there, marveling at the conversation. He tuned out around the same time Daisy rounded the corner from the living room to the adjacent, open kitchen to check on dinner.
Is this what girls talk about all the time? I wish Daisy would have invited Tracey...
Ash sank back in his seat, hoping Misty wouldn't notice his discomfort.
She'd only make fun of him for not being a girl.
"Dinner's ready!" Daisy sang from in front of the oven. Ash's spirits rose immediately. He got up, forgetting that he had a hold of Misty's hand and consequently yanking her up with him.
"Ash!"
"What?"
"Thanks for yanking my arm out of its socket," Misty sarcastically replied, letting go of his hand and rubbing her shoulder.
"Sorry," Ash said bashfully. "I'm hungry."
"Of course you are," Misty muttered. She led him into the dining room, trusting her sisters to take care of bringing the food.
Daisy returned carrying three plates, terribly unbalanced, as if she was nearly going to fall over.
"Gee, Daisy," Misty sneered from her spot next to Ash at the table. "What happened to all that talk of being graceful supermodels who have no trouble doing anything ever?"
"Can it!" Daisy snapped, setting filled plates down first in front of Ash and Misty, and the third one at place mat on the other side of the table. Violet and Lily came in with their plates shortly after and sat down on either side of their eldest sibling.
Completely oblivious to the slight animosity in the room, the other two girls chatted away happily. Soon, the conversation grew and Misty and Daisy also took part, forgetting their previous annoyance at each other.
Ash scarfed down his his chicken pasta, rather surprised at the quality of it. He had never expected Daisy to be able to cook.
"You know, Misty, I've been meaning to tell you how much I love that sweater you're wearing! Where'd you get it?" Violet asked, not bothering to finish chewing her food. Ash inwardly wondered if they only talked about being ladylike.
"Oh, this?" Misty gestured to the long, light green sweater she wore, which hugged her form all the way down to nearly her mid-thigh.
"And the black leggings you have on under it!" Lily added.
"I got these from you, Lils. And the sweater. You gave them to me, remember?"
Lily chose to take a drink of water at that precise moment. Unfortunately, Ash, who was sitting directly across from her, failed to notice the warning signs.
Not a second later, the water that had previously been inside Lily's mouth ended up flying straight into Ash's face. Pikachu, who had been sitting on his trainer's shoulder after having finished his Pokémon food, quickly jumped out of the way, landing lightly on the floor while his trainer's face became soaked from Lily's spit take.
Ash cursed himself for not seeing it coming.
Misty, Lily, Violet, Daisy, and Pikachu all watched in silent horror as Ash's face remained expressionless. After a long, long moment, Ash finally spoke.
"Well, that was... wet," Ash laughed, trying to shake off his annoyance. At the sound of his voice and the sight of him sitting there doing absolutely nothing as water dripped from his hair and face, all four women started speaking at once.
"Oh my God, Ash, I am, like, SO sorry!"
"I can't believe you just spit water all over my boyfriend!"
"Misty, Lily didn't mean to!"
"Violet's right, Misty, it was just an accident!"
Misty stood up and hovered protectively over Ash, while he and Pikachu looked on, waiting for the scene to unfold. Ash hoped maybe someone would get him a towel.
"Accident or not, she needs to apologize!"
"But, Misty, I already did!" Lily stood up too, flicking her pink hair out of her face.
"Well do it again!"
"I don't need to listen to you, runt!"
"Take that back," Misty growled.
"Misty-"
"Shut up, Ash."
"How a perfectly nice boy like Ash wound up with a runt like you, I don't know!" Lily snarked, leaning over the table at her sister.
"Take that back," Misty repeated, dangerously emphasizing each word. Daisy and Violet had risen from their seats as well, by this point, hoping they could stop the ensuing brawl.
"Give my sweater back, runt!" Lily snapped.
Daisy and Violet shared a defeated look and resumed their sitting positions.
"This is my sweater, whore!"
"Oh, you are so dead!"
"You're so weak, Lily, you're not going to do anything!"
"Oh yeah!?"
"Yeah!"
"Well you—you're—," Lily sputtered dumbly, having lost the insult on her tongue. "You're just a big ugly bitch!" Lily pointed at Misty over the table. They were each leaned over so far that their foreheads were practically touching. Ash couldn't see Misty's face, but Lily's was quite visible, and her eyes were dark with a rage that looked disconcertingly familiar to Ash.
"That's it!"
Before Ash knew it, Misty had hopped over the table and tackled Lily. The older girl screamed, Misty roared, and Ash heard the unmistakable sounds of struggle. He immediately jumped out of his seat and ran over to the two brawling young women.
"Ow, don't dig your claws into me!" Lily yelled.
"I'm going to bite you if don't say you're sorry!"
"Misty, stop!" Ash yelled, too stunned to physically break them apart. Instead, he just stared on, panicked, while the two girls in front of him fought it out. "You're acting like little kids!" Again, he went unanswered by the fighting sisters. He looked up, wide-eyed, at Daisy and Violet, who sat quietly at the table, ignoring the scene before them as if it were a simple Spearow flying through the air.
"Aren't you guys going to do something?" Ash asked, wildly confused at why Misty's and Lily's own sisters wouldn't attempt to stop their fighting, let alone bat their long, curled eyelashes.
"No," Violet said simply, sipping her wine.
"They'll fight it out and get over it. Besides," Daisy narrowed her eyes at Ash over her fork. "We all know there's no stopping Misty."
Ash couldn't disagree with this.
"Well," he said hesitantly. "I guess... I guess you're right."
"So come sit down and chat with us!" Violet said excitedly.
"Um, okay then," Ash agreed, taking one last glance at Misty and Lily.
"Don't you DARE pull my hair!"
"Maybe you should just shave that dreadful pink mane off!"
Ash tried to ignore them as he awkwardly sat back down.
"So," Daisy began. She used a narrowed facial expression which also seemed undeniably familiar. "What are your intentions with our sister?"
I will never tire of loving the Sensational Sisters. :) Ash will have to learn to deal with their family dynamic at some point. One day, he won't be so panicky and nervous. Someday. He'll stop being so shocked when they act like little kids.