Twenty Pages. Now, get down on your knees and worship the ground I walk on. –traps foot impatiently- Fine, don't. See if I care. –acts offended- I'm watching Beowulf, so there.
Suggested by: Kryptonian250 and Super Reader
Teen rating, my lovelies, teen rating. But I can't do a honeymoon. Sorry, I'm fifteen. Goodness gracious, let me retain some innocence! (I've actually had, like, six people ask me for this kind of stuff. Not to say that I haven't read some of it on fanfiction…(or that, strangely, my mom's given me romance novels))
Oh, and by the way? Savor this. It's going to be a LONG time before I do anymore marriage stuff.
AAML, a trace of DAML
Engagement
"So," Ash asked, sitting beside his girlfriend as the extremely romantic waterfall next to them trickled down to the river below. "I heard from somewhere that you like water. I heard, that next to chocolate and me of course…" Misty snorted. "That water is your absolute favorite thing in the entire world, water pokémon, oceans, rivers, and waterfalls are pretty romantic. It's just a guess, but I thought this would be a pretty romantic place to celebrate our fourth dating anniversary."
"Great idea," She agreed with a smirk. "We're twenty one, my dear Ashton, and you know what that means?" Misty raised the bottle in her hands. "It means tequila. I can know legally drink this fantastic liquid, even though I have been drinking it since I was fourteen. Not getting drunk, of course, just loving the taste. It's a fantastic flavor, Ash. You want a sip?" She tilted the bottle back and took a long swig.
Ash rolled his eyes. "We're nineteen and you're drinking flavored water."
"I like pretending we're grown up," Misty giggled. "I feel grown up with you. We're like a married couple, I guess, but we've always acted like one. Bickering, teasing, flirting, the only thing we were missing was the wild sex and make out sessions. Do you want any of my tequila Ash? It tastes great. It's like lemon flavored water, but we both know that it's tequila, I'm twenty one, and I'm starting to get a little tipsy."
Ash made a face. "It's not tequila, Misty. You're so weird," He giggled at that. "Besides, I hate the lemon stuff. It's like watery, crappy lemonade." He sighed and shook his head "You're such a spaz, you know that? What wild sex? I think I would've remembered that."
"Ash, you know I won't do it, not because I don't love you, but because I hate my sisters." She fell back to the lush grass, looking up at the starlit sky. "I can't wear that white wedding dress if I'm not a virgin. I'm the only one who gets to wear it. After all that work making sure they got married after they had wild, naked sex, do you think I'd just give it up like that? I can wait a little while longer to get married."
Ash pause, thinking for a moment about the thing in Pikachu's hands. "Do you really need to say 'naked' when it comes to sex?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, most people make love naked."
"I guess I'm just ensuring you that my sisters are like most people and do it naked."
"Well, I needed to know that."
"You did," She giggled, tugging the back of his shirt to make him fall back with her. "So, my wonderful, loveable boyfriend, why? You're being all romantic tonight. You're always romantic but…it feels different tonight. You seem nervous. I hope you're not breaking up with me or anything. I'll have you know that if you do break up with me, you better be planning on giving me hundreds upon hundreds of wonderful presents to make losing you easier."
"How many presents do you need to replace me?" Ash grinned teasingly. "Just so I know if I have it in my budget to finally get rid of that redheaded tomboy tagalong that's been following me around for the past nine years." He sighed. "Tagalongs, man, what I wouldn't do right now for a box of those. Those or thin mints. Girl Scout cookies have to be the best kind of cookies in the whole wide world."
"Ash," Misty murmured. "Tell me what you did all this for."
"Do I have to have a reason to be romantic?"
"I can tell the difference between a romantic moment and something important."
"This spot is that obvious?" He sighed. "I was hoping to surprise you."
"I don't know what's happening, I just know something's happening. It's you. You're just so…I don't know. You're twitchy or something. I don't know. You're just…" She sighed again. "I guess when you know people after so long you can tell when they're up to something. So tell me what you're up to. I think I'm tipsy enough with my tequila to accept anything you're going to tell me. You can't afford to break up with me though. It's too pricey."
"I'm not breaking up with you," Ash sighed.
"Well, that's a relief," Misty grinned.
"I'm asking you to do something much more scary. Hey, Pikapal, want to come over here?" Ash grinned, rolling onto his stomach as his favorite pokémon bounded over. She dropped the small case in his hands, blue velvet, then sat in the grass to see the events that would unfold. "Thanks buddy. I don't suppose you're going to leave me alone?" He asked hopefully. Pikachu shook her head. "Of course not. Make this more awkward."
Misty's breath was catching in her throat. "Ash…Ash, is that a promise ring? Arceus, Ash, you've already gotten me a million promise rings. Can't you try something new? What else do we have to promise? Why do you want Pikachu to leave."
"You're starting to hyperventilate, Misty, breathe," Ash soothed, touching a hand to her shoulder.
"What's in that box, Ketchum?" She said, a bit snappishly, shifting uncomfortably in her spot. She sat up with shifty eyes. "I'd rather it be a promise ring than what I…Ash, we're nineteen, Ash!" Her voice leaped up and cracked. "Oh, Mew, Ash! If anyone knew what you were planning on doing, they'd kill you for it don't you think?"
"Misty," He said softly. Ash got on one knee, fingering the box in his hand. "You knew it was going to happen all night, Mist. You could always read me, I guess you always will. I think that's why I'm doing this, because I always want you to be there to read me. I know you're scared, I am too. But there's no one else I'd rather be with. After all this time, I should be sick of you, but I really think that I fall in love with you more and more each day." He opened the box and took out the ring. "It's not the biggest ring in the world, and it's definitely not a bike, but it's the best ring I could buy with my salary."
"Marry me?" Ash asked hopefully.
Misty closed her eyes, shaking. "We're so young and…Ash, what will your mom say?"
"She'll wish us good luck."
"And everyone else?"
"We'll tell them later."
"We're only nineteen!"
"I thought you were twenty one."
"I can't get married! I've got so much to live for! There's so much to do!"
Ash smiled. "Well, I'm still planning on traveling, you know. Misty, just tell me. Do you love me?"
"I do."
"Do you ever want to leave me?"
She shook her head tearfully. "I don't."
"Then will you marry me?"
She eyed him carefully, sighing. "When we're older. Not now. When everyone's ready to handle it. I guess I'll just consider this another promise ring." She took it form him. "I just can't show anyone what you bought me. I guess I'll have to start planning our wedding now. Twenty five seems like a good age to get married. If I haven't done everything I wanted by then…well, I guess I probably never will."
"I can accept that."
"Ho-oh, we're a weird couple."
Ash chuckled. "I got myself a wild stallion, tamed and ready for riding."
"That better not mean what I think it means."
"Sorry. It slipped." He grinned slyly. "Soon-to-be Mrs. Ketchum."
"I'm still not taking your name."
"Dammit."
Marriage
May, much like a romance movie involving many wedding dresses, always liked to look at the groom when the bride walked in.Unfortunately, this was near impossible to do as everyone gasped at the bride coming in.
Misty's face, doused in make up, could clearly be seen blushing even under the artificial color. Her eyes flickered down to the floor as she made her appearance. There was nothing wrong with her dress, at least. The white wedding dress of her grandmother's. It was a plain dress, nothing complicated, a practically ageless style that complimented her personality. Her shoes? Unfortunately, one or two people managed to see the sneakers she was wearing under her dress when she walked.
The real kicker seemed to be her hair. It was not done in the grand style of most brides. There was no hairspray, no hair extensions, no highlights to be found. In fact, it wasn't even hung in a simple, beautiful style behind her or held up with any kind of sparkling hair clips. It was pulled to her right hand side with a blue rubber band, the exact same way she wore it practically every day of her young life.
Her sisters practically screamed when they saw her. To her surprise, it was more laughter than horror.
"Ohmigod, like, little sister," Violet giggled. "Only, like, you would come dressed like this on your wedding day. Like, I'm so glad this all is going on national TV since Ash is, like, totally a candidate to becoming the next pokémon master!"
"Quiet," Misty snapped, still red.
Ash grinned at her, beckoning down her towards him. "Aw, Misty, come on. I think the romantic atmosphere was ruined when Pikachu and the others started a little war. We already got married, just do this one for the cameras and haul ass down the hall!"
"Ash, why'd we have to have another one for the cameras? Wasn't the first one good enough for you? We've got the freaking rings on our fingers, can't we just flash those to the press?" Misty called, running down to her guffawing husband anyway.
"You know the answer as well as I do: Because I'm famous," He chuckled.
The priest rolled his eyes. "Okay, can we please start this wedding now?"
"One day and we're already renewing our vows," Misty giggled, shaking her head in wonder. "I can't believe we're got Pikachu and Togekiss as our Best Man and Maid of Honor. I can't believe I can be this unromantic. This is all your fault. I used to kill people for doing things like this. I used to kill you for ruining all these romantic moments between us and look where I am now?"
Ash gave her a quick peck on the lips.
"Ahem, I don't think I've said the magic words yet," The priest coughed, gathering the two lover's attention off one another. "Should you really be kissing yet?"
"Not anymore than I should be wearing this dress."
"You look stunning," Ash smiled, taking Misty's hand in his. It was the night before, and their private wedding, filled with only their closest family and friends, and the two of them were looking their best. "Really, you're beautiful. It's just us. Twenty five. You promised we could do this when you turned twenty five. It's time to cash in on the stupid promise you made. It's not my fault you chose an idiot to be your husband."
"Ash, it's not that," Misty blushed. "It's just…I honestly didn't think that when I said when I turn twenty five that we'd be getting on my birthday!"
"One less date for me to remember," He whispered back, clutching her hand. It was slick and wet with sweat. "I know I'm not really, you know, a romantic, but…" He breathed in and out. "I don't know what I did to deserve you, and I don't know why you're not running away from me, but I really love you. I want every day to be with you, and I know we'll have our rough spots but it's the good times that make it all worth doing."
"That's beautiful, Ash," She grinned. "You romantic. You don't have to worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'll be right here besides you. Whether you're in bed with me or sleeping on the couch because you're a horrible person, I promise I'll stay here."
"Aren't you sweet?" He grinned, bumping her playfully.
"Just as sweet as you are."
The priest smiled lightly at their blushing faces. It was nice to get the young ones married. Poor fools were so happy, not realizing exactly how torturous a union would be. "You're both very sweet children. Now, are you two going to keep those words as your vows or would you like me to say the traditional ones?"
"Erm, yours'll be fine," Ash grinned sheepishly as their closest friends and families giggled. "I guess you better get used to us, because we'll be back with you tomorrow. You're going to love the cameras. You don't mind marrying us twice, do you?"
"No."
"How much extra does it cost?"
"Oh, Arceus, Ash…"
The priest cleared his throat, opened the old, red bible that lay in his hands and began, "Dearly beloved, we gather here today…"
Pregnancy
She closed her eyes, breathing deeply with her hands folded across her bare chest. Some of the breaths came out as whimpers, others came out as frightened whispers. She wasn't worried too much about waking her husband. He was down and out for the night, snoring loudly. She couldn't wake him up if she tried. He was always like this in the mornings after they…well, let their relationship be intimate.It wasn't the first time they'd been together, no. It'd been a few weeks after that. They'd been married for at least a month.
She wasn't showing the symptoms yet, she hadn't gone off her period and yet…
She knew.
She knew what was happening to her. She knew she was pregnant. Somewhere deep inside her she just knew without a doubt that she had someone inside her. Motherly instinct, she supposed. It had to be something along those lines. There was no other way she could be positive there was a little kicking baby inside her without taking a pregnancy test. And, Arceus, how she should've been taking a pregnancy test everyday!
She wasn't exactly surprised. They hadn't used any kind of protection. They'd either get pregnant or they wouldn't. They weren't trying to have a little monster running around, but they weren't going out of their way to make sure it didn't happen. Maybe she should've pretended to want a baby. Maybe he would've gotten stressed out enough that this wouldn't have happened. Stress was a major factor in reproduction, supposedly.
Oh, who was she kidding! Ash would take it all in stride. Little bastard would probably be jumping with joy that she wanted one as bad as he did. If anything, it probably would reduce stress, worry, and any of the other crap. Huh, she should've killed him in his sleep when she still had the chance. She still had a chance now. Kill Ash…throw herself down the stairs to kill the baby…get her tubes tied…run down to Mexico…
Well, she shouldn't just assume. Why delay the inevitable?
She rolled out of bed, looking down with a sad sigh. A few months and her cute red nail polish on her toes would be out of sight thanks to a huge baby growing in her uterus. Ugh, why did women even have those things? Why couldn't they reproduce asexually? Her husband rolled over in his sleep and he muttered something about 'Misty' and 'whipped cream' and 'really, you'll do anything I want you to tonight?'
She blew her bangs out of her face. Oh, now she remembered. It was because half the population was male, and they didn't have to go through childbirth and they always had fun during sex meanwhile the women was thinking about the fact they needed a new apartment and the electricity bill and what the hell did this boy think he was doing when he thought it was okay to hit her during intercourse? Too much stand up comedy about it. She had to wean him off Comedy Central or something…
After she'd broken the pregnancy test out of the box, 'read' the instructions (skimming, if you could even calling it that, more like glancing at it as she tossed it into the trash) took the test and waited for the results, naked in the Ketchum's home bathroom. Mrs. Ketchum was on vacation this week, but, damn, did they ever need a new freaking apartment. She guessed that'd be their next goal in life. Somewhere to live and raise a family with the little thing inside her stomach. That seemed awfully important. She read the readout.
It said smiley face.
Misty made a frowny face.
"Dammit," She wrinkled her nose. "You know, a smiley face is not something a lot of women want to see on their pregnancy test. In fact, it's an absolutely horrible thing to do to some people. It could be really ironic. A woman would be hoping and wishing that she didn't get pregnant. Maybe she was a rape victim or something and she takes out her pregnancy test and what does she see? She's pregnant. Not only was she raped, she had to raise a kid. That's a horrible thing to do to people."
"What's a horrible thing to do to people, Misty?" Ash asked drowsily, sitting up and rubbing the back of his neck. He blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up. "What do you have in your hands, baby? It looks weird. What is it, a tongue depressor or something?"
She rolled her eyes. "I told you not to call me that."
"Why not?"
"Because it sounds weird coming out of your mouth," She retorted.
He sauntered out of the bed and by her side, completely naked and grinning a bit. "A pregnancy test? Ooh, you never take those. What, you think you're pregnant? Lemme see. Are we having a baby? Please say yes."
She grinned. "Well, Ash…" He groaned and shook his head sadly, already assuming the answer was no. "What are you groaning for? I guess I was wrong when I married you. After all those times we go unprotected, after all those I want to be a father speeches and now you're all sad because I've finally got a bun in the oven." Ash jerked his head back up, grinning with delight, but his eyes still looking questioning. "Yes."
"You mean…?"
Misty grinned, biting her lip for a second before throwing her arms around him with giggles. "Yes! We're going to have a baby!" She nuzzled into his neck with a happy sigh. "We're going to have a little baby. It's just like having a puppy except a baby can scream louder and a puppy usually knows where to go after a few noses in the rug. We're having a little baby. I've got something living inside of me."
"You're happy about that?" Ash laughed.
"I've always loved the idea of having a baby growing inside of me," Misty sighed. "I'm just not so keen on how it's getting out of me. What do you say? Straight to the cutting board? I get a cool looking scar and it'll hurt a hell of a lot less that giving birth."
Ash began kissing her neck with a grin, whispering in between in word, "baby, baby, baby, baby, baby…" His hands slid down to her lower stomach and his smile grew. "Baby. Right there. I helped make that. You couldn't have done that without me."
Misty grinned and pulled away from his gentle touch. "Well, actually, I could've done it without you. You'll be happy to know I didn't, however. This baby is one hundred percent totally yours. At least, it should be. Someone could be having sex with me while I sleep. It might be that one guy I had an affair with. Maybe that vasectomy didn't take after all," She teased, pretending to look thoughtful. "He was pretty good, better than you. Maybe that's because he knocked me up?"
"Oh, ha ha, Mist, you're a laugh riot."
"I am," She giggled. "I'm absolutely hilaaaarious, dahling."
"Well," Ash said after a moment. "I think we should celebrate. It seems only right. I mean, having a baby is one of the most important things in a person's life. It's a wonderful, beautiful experience and we should relish every minute of it. I know I will. I'll be here through all your mood swings and pains and your constant complaints of getting fat and your horrible ugliness. I promise, no matter what, I'll still have sex with you even if I have to wear a blindfold or close my eyes."
"Aw, well, with that declaration of love, how could I say know to a celebration?" Misty rolled her eyes again. "Alright, so where do you want to go? Don't tell me we're going to get burgers to celebrate, because that's a horrible way to celebrate."
"That's more of a feel better meal," Ash corrected. "Remember, like when I didn't get the Master title? We had burgers then. I was thinking of something completely different. Something to celebrate the joy of life in the world. Do you want me to tell you exactly how you should dress?"
"Sure."
"Ever heard of a reenactment?"
"Yup."
"I think we should have one of those. A reenactment of the night we conceived," Ash grinned. "Go put on something sexy. We shall celebrate!" He threw his arms up proudly, only laughing when she put on an obviously displeased face.
"I hate lingerie."
"It's not for you. It's for me to look at you."
"But it's uncomfortable."
"Well, you're not going to be in it very long."
"Men…"
Apartment Shopping
"What the hell are we doing this for?" Drew asked, rolling his head over to May inside the car. "We don't even live together. I've got a place to live. You've got a place to live. We don't need anywhere else to move into. Why the hell am I here?""Because they're our friends and we love them and care for them and all that junk," May replied. "Ugh, they could've left the conditioner on. I'm sweating in this car. We're going to overheat and die. How does a car get this hot? It's not nearly this hot outside!" She moaned and let her head hit the back of the seat. "Drew, just hotwire the car and drive us out of here. I've finally decided to side with you. It's too hot."
"It's called the greenhouse effect," Drew explained.
"It's called it's hot as hell," May argued.
Ash and Misty strode back to the car, opening and closing the doors as they strode inside, Ash on the driver's side. Misty looked rather displeased, whereas Ash looked frantic and began to run the motor the best he could. A bit of sweat was beginning to form on his brow, and Misty continued to mutter crossly under her breath beside him. Apparently, things had gone wrong, yet again, on their quest to get an apartment.
"Misty, you're a fucktard!" Ash snapped, narrowing his eyes as the old car's engine stalled. "We need to buy a new car after this. Ugh, fuck. Misty! How could you just…what were you thinking? Can't you control your temper? Don't you have some kind of impulse control in you? This is the fifth apartment today you can't find good enough, and I can't believe you just shot your mouth off on some poor guy! There's no such thing as a perfect apartment. You have take something. Why won't you just take a good neighborhood?"
"Don't call me a fucktard, Ash," She snapped. "And I want more than just a good neighborhood. It's somewhere to start our lives, where our child is going to be living for the first few years of his or her life before we finally get a real house to live in! Why don't you set your standards higher?"
"Because I'm sick of looking at houses!"
"Well, how else do you expect to get a mewdamned place to live if you don't look at apartments! We're shopping Ash, and it's something important! We need to look around to make sure we get the best deal available. You know that and you're being stubborn and you should stop yelling at your lovely pregnant wife!"
"It's not about the shopping! It's about what you said to the guy!"
"I didn't say anything to the guy!"
"You called him a fucktard when he told you how much the apartment costs! You can't just go around calling everyone who tries to sell us stuff idiots the second they say a price that's too high for you! I'm an idiot, and even I know that! You're getting us thrown out of house after house! Someone's going to shoot us! Especially with the neighborhood we're in now, someone's going to pop a cap in our asses. And I swear this one had a gun on him!"
"Huh, I thought he was just happy to see me," Misty joked.
"Misty!"
"Aw, come on, Ash. I'm just teasing," She smiled. "I'm sure it wasn't a gun and we'll find an apartment. Next time I'll try my best not to yell at the guy. I did pretty well with the girl from before. I didn't start cursing until we got inside the car."
"And what a lovely string of curse words it was," Drew piped up. "Which, now that I've gotten a chance to speak, can you drop us off at my apartment? I don't see any reason why we have to be here. I think you two know what you're doing. May dragged me along and even she's sick of this so…what do you say."
"Huh, your apartment," Misty mused.
"You're not…you're not thinking what I think you're thinking," Drew said nervously.
"Nice school district."
"Wait, what?" May blinked, finally catching on. "No, no! You can't…"
"Nice neighborhood, nice people, nice building," Misty grinned.
"It's a horrible place to live! There's crack addicts and child molesters everywhere!" Drew shouted. "You don't want to live anywhere around us! It sucks! Stay away from our place. It's an ugly place to live. I'm trying to warn you, keep you safe, keep your children safe! Don't do it! Think of your offspring."
"The rooms are wonderful, I see them all the time," Ash agreed.
"They're ugly. I'm just a really good decorator," Drew explained.
"There is one negative thing. I've heard that there are actually quite a few engaged couples in room 304 with very thin walls and very loud voices."
The engaged couple in the back flushed a bright red, Drew speaking up once more. "Oh, Mew, no. Don't go there! That's disgusting! Both of you! Completely perverted! Just drop us off at that mewdamned apartment before I kill myself! Mew! You're both sick!"
"Well, that's go drop them off and see if they've got anything for rent."
Drew and May moaned in the back seat. "Reconsider? Please? Remember when you were engaged and in love and that whole romantic thing was still there? Remember when you whispered sweet nothings into each other's ear and went on romantic evenings out and held hands and went on moonlit walks and serenaded each other and kissed and all that stuff?"
"Remember how embarrassing it was when your mom tried to teach you how to use a condom? Do you really want that for us?"
"Oh, it's not about you," Ash grinned. "It's all about our children and getting them the best place to grow up. Even if the walls are paper thin and Misty and I happen to be very good at sexual jokes."
"…Fucktards…"
Promotion
Misty quietly turned the dial to 'low heat' on the stove, one hand sitting on her swollen stomach with the slightest bit of a smile. How long until the baby came? Still a while now. At least the morning sickness had gone. Here came the high of pregnancy, a few months of feeling incredible, untouchable, able to take anything the world threw at her and toss it back even harder. You had to love it, really, the undeniable strength and power in her veins. Maybe this was how being a pokémon felt.As if about to answer her question, Pikachu leaped up onto the counter, weary of the fire, and nuzzled into her. Pikachu's small nose nuzzled into her hand, insistent on pulling her away from the flames to a better place, probably a safer place. Pikachu, as many pokémon did after having their egg, was nesting insanely, and Misty sitting down in a way Pikachu liked was one of the things the electric rodent imply needed to have in order to make her nest (the apartment) perfect.
"I'm sitting, I'm sitting. Don't worry about it, it's only a few seconds. The water's almost boiling. I'll be right there, you crazy rat." Misty soothed, running her hand along Pikachu's back and scratching around her ears. "We'll sit down after I get my tea and I'll talk to you, how about that? We'll each take care of our babies and watch Court TV." She smiled down into Pikachu's face, wondering exactly what her reaction would be.
The lightning bolt tail flicked one or twice, one ear rose and another pinned against her head, and then she nipped Misty's finger (enough to draw blood) and ran off to her darling egg. Pikachu had long given up speaking, like most pokémon during this special time. She seemed to revert to her most primal nature, frantic and needing to protect her litter over all else. She had also gotten quite nippy lately, especially when Ash tried to take the egg in for a check up with Nurse Joy. That was a feat that required rubber gloves, even with the best friendship a human and a pokémon could ever have.
Misty took the hot water off the burner, a quick flick of the wrist switching the fire off, then poured a hot cup of her favorite tea into her favorite mug (the one with a tentacruel on it) half filed with sugar, honey, and a little bit of cocoa. The kettle went back to the cold burner and a spoon tilted into the mug with slow stirs. "Smells good, doesn't it Pikachu? Are you sure you don't want me to make you a cup?"
The electric rodent, ears still flicking as wildly as her tail, leapt onto the couch, where Misty was supposed to be sitting, and bounced up and down furiously on the cushion. Misty couldn't help but be reminded how much she absolutely loathed that cushion. Though nothing but a low, primal growl emerged from her throat, the message was clear. 'No, I don't want any of your mewdamned tea! Put your butt down on the sofa before I have to electrocute you there!'
Misty grinned, shaking her head, and strolled back to the couch, watching Pikachu skid out of the way as she sat. The remote, situated beside her (as she knew well enough by now it was a lot harder to get up then it was to fall down), was picked up to flick through the channels, searching for something other than "The Price is Right" or "Judge Joe Brown".. Sometimes being pregnant was worse than being sick.
Then, the little rodent was back on her stomach, licking it through the cotton pregnancy shirt. "The baby kicks when you do that, sweetheart," Misty chuckled, feeling the little thing squirm with delight inside her. "I think she likes you. It looks like we've got another Pikachu trainer on our hands. What do you think, you're baby and mine teaming up and traveling around the world? Electrocuting bad guys and fishing their traveling companions out of lakes? History does tend to repeat itself, you know."
(Baby,) Pikachu spoke thoughtfully, a single word out of her normally silent throat. She nuzzled into Misty's pregnant belly before jumping behind the couch, where her nest was. (Baby,) The word came again, this time she was nuzzling her own egg. She bounced back up to Misty and smiled. (Together!)
"Attagirl," Misty grinned, giving her a good rub down. "Now you're getting it. Are you going to start talking to us again, or are you going to be silent until that little Pichu finally crawls out of its egg? I love talking to you, and it's really depressing when we're here together all day and you can't even talk to me about it."
Pikachu's head tilted to the side as she looked up, confused. Apparently, she wasn't completely back to normal, long sentences were still baffling her, but she smiled and prodded Misty's stomach with her nose once more. (Babies together,) She insisted. The electric mouse then leaped back behind the couch, probably intending to stay there until dinner time.
Honestly, it wasn't like Pikachu eggs needed to be incubated. That was the only thing that fed up Ash so much. He hadn't been able to use his favorite pokémon in ages, and he had plenty of battles coming up now that he was applying again for Pokémon Master. Last time he came in second, and sometimes Misty felt that it would be better to come in last than to lose to only one person.
"Hush, little baby, don't say a word. Momma's gonna buy you a rocking bird. And if that rocking bird don't sing, Momma's gonna buy you a diamond ring…" Misty crooned to the little thing in her stomach. It was good to sing a lullaby every once in a while. Supposedly, music affected the baby through intelligence and probably a little bit of personality too.
If that was true, this baby was going to be bipolar. Half the time Misty was singing lullabies and the other half she was blaring the heavy metal.
Then, the door blasted open. A spark of electricity hit Misty with a painful twinge and her eyes narrowed. Did this boy ever learn? She'd gotten a full on thundershock because he stormed into the apartment once. At least the baby was fine. In fact, the baby was better than fine. The electricity had stimulated some kind of brain cell growing hormone or something like that, something the doctors had been worried about. She swore she was going to through Pikachu at his ugly little head.
"Misty! Something incredible happened! Where are ya?"
"I can tell buy the way you stormed in," Misty rolled her eyes. "I'm in the living room! I can't get to you."
"Why not?"
"I'm sitting down!" She shouted irritably. "And because of you, I got electrocuted by the damned rat again! Are you trying to kill me, Mr. Pokémon Master?"
"Heh heh, right," The young man sweatdropped, his face appearing. "We've got a big fricken apartment, you know that?" He sat beside her. "But, I don't suppose you'd mind getting ourselves a bigger one? Maybe even a house if you'd like. I'm sure we can splurge."
"We can't splurge, r-tard," Misty snorted. "We're on something called 'a budget'. Since I'm the one who handles the money in this family, I'm going to let you know that, uh, no we do not have enough cash to buy ourselves a beautiful country home. This apartment is the best we're going to have for some time until I'm no longer fat enough to avid work. What was your big news?"
"That we can buy a country home."
"We can't buy a country home."
"We could if I was…"
Misty snorted again. "Yeah, if you were a Pokémon Master." Her eyes lit up. "Holy crap, can I really refer to you as Mr. Pokémon Master?" She squealed. "As in, they finally voted on your performance and even without Pikachu you still managed to get the title and the huge ass oh-so-wonderful, we're-rich, holy-fricken-moly-we're-rollin'-in-the-dough salary raise?"
Ash grinned. "Well, that's one way to put it. Yes, we got that great stuff. I'm a Pokémon Master, Mist! After all these years! Everyone said I couldn't do it but I did! I can't believe it! I actually got the freaking title! It's a miracle Misty! I swear, I don't know what we're going to do with all that extra cash!"
"Oh, Mew, Ash, I knew you could do it!" She flung her arms around him. "I'm so happy for you, for us! We're going to get everything so much better. I'm so happy you got this, Ash. Everything's going our way. It's amazing Ash. I'm just so…I'm so happy for you!"
"It's going to be a lot of traveling."
"As long as you come back to me," Misty laughed, "What's to worry about?"
First REAL Fight
Obviously, there was plenty to worry about. It only made sense, since they hadn't had an earth shattering fight since they had been engaged. There high point of pregnancy wearing off, down to the final stretching where all the crappy feelings came back once more. Anger, cravings, insecurities, morning sickness, tired, cranky, everything that could possibly go wrong, was going wrong. What's worse? Well, Ash wasn't exactly there to make her feel better.He walked in, late one night, a slight hint of alcohol on his breath. Misty tried to keep it all inside, honestly she did. She didn't want to go off on him. She tried to convince herself that it was just in her mind, that it was all in her head and she was just being stupid and overreacting and dear Mew she just needed to calm herself down because of pregnancy hormones and Ash never did anything wrong.
"Where the fuck do you go?" She shouted, fist clenching and unclenching at her sides. "What do you do? Why do you do it? It can't all be your job! It can't! No job means you come home smelling like mewdamned liquor! What do you do? Do you get wasted every night, too scared to come home and face me? Do you go to another woman? Got sick and tired of tending to your fat cow at home? What the hell are you doing that you're never here!"
Ash looked up through his alcohol fuddled mind, trying to make sense. "Misty," He slurred, "I dunno what you're talking about. I love you and there…there was a business drinking, er, a business meeting and there was booze and I guess it was stronger than I thought it was…"
"So you're drunk then?" Misty asked with narrowed eyes. "Completely drunk. Wonderful. I always love it when my husband comes home smelling like liquor! What wife doesn't? Can't fight back, can you? You've got no idea what the fuck is going on around here, but you know what? I don't have any damn idea either! I want to know where you're going! Why you're leaving! You can't always be going on business trips. You can't possible be gone more than you're here."
"I wanna stay, Misty, I do. I wanna sty with you because I love you and you're beautiful and you're wonderful and I…I ask them to lemme go but they don't do it. They never do it. I can't stay because they won't let me off from the jobs. Misty, oh, really Misty I swear it's just you. I've always loved you. I'm just…ugh, the room's spinning. Please stop yelling Mist. My head hurts so bad and I feel so bad…"
She rolled her eyes. "Of course, you're fucking drunk."
"I wasn't trying to get drunk, I swear…"
"You swear a lot of things," She growled.
"And I always mean it!"
"How am I supposed to know?" Misty shivered. "How am I supposed to know when every time I turned to you, you're doused in alcohol? I never find out what's wrong with you. Why are you doing this? Whether it's a business meeting or you just need to go out for a night, you're always coming home like this. Why do you do it? Are you trying to get away from? Is someone pressuring you? Ash, you're starting to worry a lot of people and…and I think you might need to go sober for a while. Maybe you could…maybe you could join a place to help you out. I mean, go to an alcoholic meeting or two…"
"I'm not a drunk!" Ash exclaimed.
Misty gave a bitter laugh. "Then what do you call it?"
"It's just a drink now and then!"
"Then you should be fine going without it."
"No, I need it!" Ash shouted, panting.
"You need it?" Misty inquired. "That certainly sounds like alcoholism to me."
"No I…I don't need it. I just…the job's stressful, Misty. It's just something to take the edge off. It's not like I've got a problem or anything."
"Ash, you're drinking every night. It's okay to have a problem. I…I understand that you've got something wrong going on in your life, but we've been through stuff like this. I know this is a lot harder, because this is fighting yourself, but I can help you. Your friends and family can help you. You can do it if you try, Ash. We can get you help. It's going to be okay. You'll just go without a few drinks for a while."
"I don't need to! I don't have a fucking problem!" He snapped.
And then he slapped her.
Misty's hand slowly came up to her face, disbelieving, horrified. He'd been drunk plenty of times. He'd tried to pressure her into sex while drunk plenty, and he'd yelled at her and called her names, but never, ever had he laid a single hand on her until now. And, judging by the horrified look that had alighted in his drunken, glazed eyes, he knew it too.
"Misty…I…I…oh, fuck I…" And his voice cracked, the hot tears spilling to his face and he fell to his hands and knees, the sound of his body hitting the floor echoing throughout the almost empty apartment, soon followed by deep, wracking sobs.
She went to the floor with him, pulling him into her chest and resting her head on his, humming a soft lullaby under her breath. "It's going to be okay, Ash, alright? Everyone's got problems, baby. We'll get through yours. We can do it, okay, honey? We'll get through this. It's…it's all going to be alright, Ash. We've still got your job and the baby's okay. It could be worse. I could be the one with the problem."
"I'm so, so sorry, Misty," He sniffled. "I'm so sorry. Mew…I never…holy crap, Misty, I'm so sorry. I'll never, ever touch you again. I'll never touch another drink again, either. I'm not going to drink ever again. I'll never hurt you, Misty. Oh, fuck, I'm so sorry."
There was an awkward silence. "Misty?"
"Yes, Ash?" She whispered.
"I think I need help."
"I know, Ash. I know."
Moving
"Pikachu?" Ash beckoned. "Come on, sweetheart. Get out from under the bed. We're going to our new house. Nobody is going to touch your baby. I still love you, you pretty thing. It's going to be a while before that baby hatches so let's just get out of here and go to our pretty new house. The only thing we haven't moved is the sofa and you so let's get this show on the road.""She is going to kill you."
"Shut up, Drew!" Ash snapped over his shoulder, glaring at the three 'friends' sitting on the floor a few feet away from him. "Why don't you help me out here instead of laughing at me, huh? You guys didn't even want us moving in here in the first place and now that we want to leave you're not helping."
"Well, what's your wife's excuse?" Drew retorted, looking at Misty.
"Uh, gee, I don't know," Misty rolled her eyes, while leaning on the wall. "Maybe it's the fact the if I even move an inch, I'm going to fall flat on my face and not be able to get up. May, I think I'm starting to tip. Uh, yeah, I'm definitely starting to fall to the right…"
May yelped and grabbed Misty's left arm, hauling her back up into a sitting position. "Wow, Misty, how many babies do you have in there? You're a pregnant beast! How much do way now, three hundred pounds! Man!" May fell to her back, panting. "You're heavy, woah."
"Shut up," Misty snapped. She blushed. "Well, multiple births are common in my family. We usually come by the twos and threes. My grandma was a quintuplet. They looked, though. There's only one in here. Just one. There better be just one or I'll be pissed." She glared down at her stomach.
"Please, Misty, There's just one," Ash rolled his eyes. "Now, can we get the fricken Pikachu out from under the bed so I can get out of this stupid apartment! She won't move! My hand is covered in scratches and bites and I've been shocked so man freaking times it's really not even funny anymore and no one wants to help me move my hormonal rat from under the sofa."
"Hey, what's that noise?" Drew asked.
"Pikachu's growling."
"It growls?" He gasped.
"Ever since we got that egg out of her. She doesn't talk, just growls. Go help my husband. He's cranky. Withdrawal can do that to a guy," Misty sighed. "May, I'm starting to tip again. To the left this time. I think I'm going to squish you."
"No!" She yelped, pushing Misty upright again. "Can't you balance yourself? Man! You're just so intent on squishing me, aren't you? What did I ever do to you?"
"And it's not withdrawal, it's the fact that there's an evil electric rodent under my bed who wants to freaking electrocute me! I don't like being electrocuted, in fact, it kind sucks. You know what would be fantastic? If someone could help me get her out!" He shouted, pounding his fist down. Pikachu jerked away from him with an evil lower growl. "Sorry, girl, that wasn't to you."
"Where's your rubber gloves?"
"She can control her electricity, you know. She doesn't try to shock through the gloves because she's not stupid. She sends her spark arching over my hands and straight to my chest. It hurts like hell. I ought to ask Team Rocket if they've got any of those shock proof glass containers for me to use. Maybe then I won't get turned extra crispy." He sighed and clucked to his Pikachu once again. She merely continued to growl and huddled protectively over her little egg.
"I don't think she wants to come out," May remarked.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Ash growled.
"You are awfully testy today, huh?" Misty giggled. "I'd love to help you, Ash, but, as you can see, I'm kind of caught up at the moment with staying balanced. Maybe you'll get lucky and Pikachu will randomly decide to come to you. She's been having quite a few moments of being her old self. She's just scared, Ash. You're destroying her nest. Why would she want to leave?"
Ash sighed. "I know, but the next place really is better."
"And how's she supposed to know that?" Misty retorted. "She barely understands what we're saying to her anymore. Poor baby, maybe if you're nice to her she'll crawl out. May's nice. Maybe she can bribe Pikachu come out. Go ahead, May, give it a shot."
"I'm not trying it," May snorted. "Ring, ring, ring," She said, covering her mouth. "Oh! Wow! Er, uh, I think that's my brand new phone ringing! What a weird sound, huh? Come on, Drew. I think it's something important. Let's get out of here. Good luck with your electric rats!" She grabbed his hand and the two raced out the door, giggling.
"Yeah, well, we heard what you did last night, you perverts!" Ash retorted. "Damn. Pikachu, please come out. We're going to take you somewhere nice. It's a beautiful place. There's lots of grass and trees and I'll give you anything you want to make a nest."
Pikachu eyed him wearily. She remembered him. She didn't want him to touch her baby. She didn't want him to ruin her nest. That's what he appeared to want to do. He wanted to ruin her nest and take her egg. Even if it was all for the better. Ash could be wrong. This was still her baby, and Ash could not touch her. (My baby. Don't touch…get away! She bared her teeth at him.
"Misty, she's not coming out."
"Well, what do you expect?"
"She loves me."
"She loves the baby more."
Suddenly, a surprised remark from Pikachu, (Baby!) She leapt out from under the couch and licked Ash's hand before racing back under. (Baby, Ash, baby. Come here. Baby!) She exclaimed excitedly. She raced out again, twitching once more with excitement. This time she nudged Misty before running back to the sofa and hiding under it once more, starting to giggle.
"Pikachu, what are you doing?" Ash blinked, dropping down to his stomach to look under the couch. He giggled excitedly. "Misty! The egg's hatching! I can see the crack in it! Aw, I think I saw its nose. Isn't that cute? Misty! You should see this."
Misty glared at him, her voice deadpan in the corner. "You're right, Ash. I should. Give me a second for me to crawl over there." She shifted her weight forward, attempting to crawl forward on hands and knees to see the baby. She looked awfully strange, but she made it alright. "Can't you help me out here? Your pregnant wife is having problems moving!"
"Aw, and Pikachu's helping it out. Aw, it's out of the egg now. I guess you missed it. Pikachu, will you come out now? Can we see the baby?" Ash asked sweetly.
(Of course, Pikapi!) Pikachu squealed, pulling out the pink blanket in her teeth and dragging the new baby out from under the couch. (Isn't he cute? Where are we going now? I think I'm better now that the baby is here.) She licked her little Pichu on the head.
"Oh," Misty blinked.
"What?"
"Uh, Ash, either I just lost bladder control of my water just broke."
(Baby!)
Labor
"Get him out of here!" Misty screamed, narrowing her eyes at the one who dared call himself her husband. "Good for nothing bastard. I don't want him in here. Nobody even likes you! Everything you have you got out of pity! I only married you because I knew you couldn't live on your own! I'm getting paid to be with you by Team Rocket! You hear me? Nobody loves you! This isn't your child! I had an affair with Brock! And you know how we started it? We talked about how much we hated you! Ask him! He won't lie anymore! It's time you learned the truth about your so-called friends, Ashton!""Well," The doctor remarked thoughtfully, grinning at the clearly frightened Ash. "This has to be the most interesting pregnancy rant I've ever heard. And the little missy can scream like this even with the epidural still flowing strong within her. Well, sweetheart, how does it feel to be going into your twenty third hour of labor? I think I'm starting to see the head down here."
"Fuck you!"
"Very lively," The doctor confirmed. "I take it this is your first baby? Cute little things. I never get tired of bringing in new life to this world. I hate hearing these rants though. Misty here sure can scream. I think they can hear you all over the hospital sweetheart. Maybe you ought to quiet down, you're scaring the children who are about to get their tonsils removed."
"I'll scream as loud as I fucking want! Have you ever given birth doctor? I don't' think you have! You have no idea how much pain I am in right now! Mewdamned babies! I'm going to kick you where the sun won't shine, maybe then you'll know what kind of pain I'm in!"
"You want some more ice cubes, Misty?"
"I want a fucking joint! Yeah, of mari-fucking-juana!" Misty screamed. She tossed her head back in an animalistic moan. "Get it out of me!"
"Are you sure you don't want ice cubes?"
"I want Coca Cola," She whimpered.
"You can't have anything to drink or eat. Just ice cubes."
"Who the hell came up with that rule?"
"A bunch of doctors after watching women like you throw up," The doctor interjected. "It'll make you nauseous. Come on, sweetheart, you want to give a few more pushes for me and get that little bugger out? By the way, what is it, boy or girl?"
"Go to hell and rot!"
"So what's that, a hermaphrodite?" He chuckled.
"We didn't want to know," Ash explained. "Well, not exactly. At the time, money was tight. So we went to this ultrasound place that barely knew what they were talking about. All they could tell us was whether or not the baby was healthy. We didn't change because, er, Misty got used to the place and didn't want to change. She got really stubborn at the end. Not that she wasn't always stubborn."
"Ashton!" Misty growled.
"What?" He grinned, taking her hand. "Sorry."
"Don't touch me! You're never touching me again! You're a good for nothing-" Her words broke off into a banshee scream, clutching down on his hand so hard he thought it might break. When it finally subsided, she panted again, a bit of a whimper joining in. "Ashton, would you mind getting me a few ice cubes, please? Wait, no, don't leave. Shout for Brock to get some ice cubes."
"A second ago you were begging me to get out of here."
"But now I don't want you to go. It hurts Ash! What if I shoved a watermelon up your ass then made you push it out, huh? It hurts!" She bought his hand up to her face and kissed it gently. "Don't go away, please Ash? Even if I start screaming at you again?"
"Misty, you've been doing this on and off for the past day," Ash grinned. "Don' worry sweetheart, I'm not going anywhere. It's going to take more than a fiery temper to get rid of me. Come on, let's push that little bugger out of you. Twenty bucks says it's a boy."
"I'm not going to bet on the gender of our child, Ash," Misty scolded. "Just…Brock! Could you bring in another bucket of ice cubes? I could really use some right now! Can I please have some delirium inducing drug too? Anything's better than this reality."
"We can't give you anymore drugs, Mist, we'll kill the baby. I'd rather have a living child, not a stillborn, alright? You can get through the pain, can't you?" Ash smiled. "Let's push again, okay? The more we try the faster we get this over with. Ready doctor?" The man nodded. "Ready to push, Misty?"
"No," She muttered, but sat up anyway. "And what's this 'let's' you're talking about! It's all me!"
There was another bout of pushing, sweat dripping, screaming and wet eyes, before the doctor spoke up about something along the lines of 'keep pushing' and 'I can see the head'. More screams, more pushing, more crying, and finally a new scream of a little baby girl with a little scruff of red hair and green eyes. Her little arms and legs flailed, and nothing appeared to be wrong.
"You did it, Misty," Ash grinned. "See, it wasn't so bad. You want to have another one?"
"No, I'm done."
"Not quite," The doctor blinked. "I think they missed something."
"Excuse me?" Misty growled. "You better not be saying what I think you're saying."
"Well, twins are common in your family, no?" The doctor grinned. "I guess you just got an extra kiddo. No big deal. Smile, you're about to be a mother again. What do you think, identical or fraternal twins? I'd say identical judging by your sisters."
"Oh, no," She groaned.
The next thing that came out of her was a boy with black hair and blue eyes. And, it turns out, after that was an identical twin of the first baby, red haired and green eyed again. Ash and Misty we're the proud parents of triplets, and Misty couldn't understand why.
She had used birth control after all, even when they stopped using condoms.
And then, it all made sense when Ash spoke up and said he'd switched her birth control with fertility pills.
The rest of the group prayed the babies would see their father in something other than a casket.
First Anniversary
"Brock, are you sure you can take care of all the kids?" Misty asked. "I know there's, uh, there's a lot of kids and if you can't handle it I'm sure we could stay in for tonight. I mean, triplets. They're two months old. Should we really be leaving them? What if they imprint on you and think that you're their mother?""Then all the more time we'll have alone." Ash chuckled, pulling her away from the door. "Come on, I've got some awesome junk planned for us tonight, honey. Let's go! I put a lot of work into being romantic tonight, don't ruin it for me, huh?"
"But…Ash, our children. They're only two months old and-"
"You haven't left the house in two months."
"Because they need me."
"They're two months old. They just need nourishment. You, however, need to leave the house," Ash encouraged. "We just walk out the door and leave the children. It'll be okay. It's our first anniversary, Misty. We've been together for a year. Let's not ruin the moment, okay?"
"I know," Misty nodded. "Alright. We can go. It'll be fine. There's nothing wrong with leaving. Brock has, like, fifty brothers and sisters. He can handle it! I don't know what I'm thinking! We'll see you in a bit, Brock. You'll be fine. You took care of us, didn't ya?" She laughed and let Ash tow her out the door.
…Only to burst right back in a few seconds later.
"How can I leave them? My babies," She crooned. She ran right up to Brock and snatched one of the twins from his arms, clutching the little one close to her chest. "Hey, sweetie. Little Charlie. I can't believe we named you Charlotte. I'm such an insensitive bitch but that was my grandmother's name and she did great things in my family so we had to name you Charlotte. Charlie's a cute nickname though."
"Misty," Ash chuckled. "I take it we're not going on our special trip?"
"No!" Misty yelped. "We can go! We can…er, where can we go that we can take the babies?" She blushed, keeping her eyes down on the bundle in her arms.
"We can't take the babies anywhere, Mist," He sighed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and put his chin on the top of her head. "You know what Brock, we'll pay you anyway. I don't think we're going to be going anywhere for a while. I think Misty's still a little to into the band-new-baby phase to let the little ones go for the night. How much was it going to be for three hours?"
"You don't have to pay me, Ash-"
"Ash!" Misty moaned. "Please! I can…I can let them go for one night. I'll be fine. Really. Let's just walk back out. I can let go of Charlie and Stephen and Ashley and…" She whimpered. "I want to let them go, Ash. I'm so sorry. I can do it! If I try hard enough I can leave my babies." Another sad sigh.
"It's fine, Misty," Ash smiled. "You sure we don't owe you anything Brock? It's a long drive. I want to pay you something for your trouble."
"Knowing you named one of your kids Ashley is more than enough," Brock grinned. "If only she had come out with blonde hair. It would've been perfect. You two have a good night. I'll have fun calling all our friends and telling them that Misty's gone soft."
"They're my babies!" Misty snapped as the door shut behind him. She looked up at Ash meekly. "I know you put a lot of thought into tonight and I…I ducked out on you at the last minute. I'm sorry, Ash. I ruined everything for you. I always do whenever you try to do something for us."
"It's fine," He chuckled. "I'm here with you. That's what an anniversary is supposed to be, isn't it? It's just something to remember the day we got married."
"But you worked so hard and-" She was silence by a soft kiss on her lips, a delicate hand drift from her ear to her chin to her collarbone. When he pulled away, she gave a quiet but happy sigh and leaned into him, mindful of the baby she still carried in her arms.
"I don't give a damn about romance. I give a damn about you. You're a beautiful, wonderful mother, and I'm happy to be married to you no matter where we are. Whether we're in here or out there, as long as you're happy on this anniversary, I'm happy."
"It's my birthday," She stated.
"Mmm-hmm."
"I'm one more year older than you. I love it when you call me beautiful. You're the only one who does that when I'm not all dressed up," She smiled up at him. "Why do you do that?"
"You're beautiful because I love you, so I tell you," Ash grinned, moving the hair out of his wife's face. "Am I being romantic? This is all I can manage to pull off tonight, so I'm hoping I still come off as a great husband. If all else fails I'll take the baby from you and you can have a quiet night down here."
"Aw, how sweet."
"Or, since they're still little and have no idea what's going on, we can go upstairs and have wild sex."
Misty groaned.
"Wrong answer? Damn. I thought I was doing real good too!"
Christmas Morning
"Christmas time!" Charlie giggled. She leapt onto her sister's bed. "Ash! Wake up, you stupid! It's Christmas time so move your butt, get out of bed and do a happy dance or something! We've gotta go downstairs before Stephen does and get our toys.""Why do we gotta beat Stephen?"
"Because he's a boy, y'retard! We have to prove girls are better than boys."
"You're not supposed to say retard."
"Y'gonna tell anybody? Cuz I'll kick your ass if ya do."
"You're not supposed to say ass either," Ashley grumbled, rolling out of bed anyway.
The two had long sense ruined their twin image. Ashley loved her hair long, Charlie loved it short. Ashley loved makeup. Charlie loved dirt. Ashley loved skirts. Charlie, well, Charlie would run around naked if she really had the chance, but she stuck to pants and t-shirts anyway. They bickered so often that they only wished that looking at their sister wasn't like looking in the mirror. Sibling rivalry was a powerful thing, even strengthened by learning from their darling parents.
The two tumbled down the stairs after one another, giggling happily, until coming onto the most horrifying of horrifying scenes. There was their brother (little brother to one, older brother to another), sitting amongst the presents. Their color coded presents. Pink paper for Ashley, red paper for Charlie, and blue paper for Stephen. But, there was no pink, no red, no blue. No presents under the tea.
"Where are our presents, Stephen?" Charlie growled, putting her little six year old fists up. "I'll kick your ass, y'little monster. You better give us back those presents! I'll slit y'throat! I'll slaughter ya! You just wait! I'll do things that you can't even think of y'little monster!"
"I'm older than you," Stephen smirked.
"Aw, shut up! Just because you're older don't mean nothing! I can still kick your ass! You're a weakling! Little boy! Come here and play with me! I'll get you to talk about those presents. Just you wait! You come over here, you present stealer!"
"Charlie," Came the scolding voice behind her. "What have I told you about saying those words and threatening your brother?"
"Ladies don't start fight, but they sure can finish them?"
"Charlie!"
"But mooooooooommmmm!" She whined. "You have to admit, he did start it. He hid all the presents and…and how'd he even get up so early! I always wake up first! I'm always up earlier than that little dork! Nobody likes Stephen, because he's like a girl in a boy body."
"Shut up," Stephen snapped. "I'm not a girl! I just like drawing and making crafts and cooking and stuff. I'm artistic. Maybe if you did something with your hands instead of balling them up into fists you wouldn't be such a mean, stupid, tomboy!"
"I'm not stupid!"
"That's not what the D in math told me on your report card!"
"Daddy! Lookit what he said to me!"
"Well," Ash shrugged. "You aren't really that talented with numbers, kiddo. In fact, you're like your father when it comes to school stuff. I'm sorry, sweetie, but when it comes to brains, you really lucked out on that one. You're a strong little vixen, though."
"Ash, she's your daughter," Misty moaned.
"She deserves to know the truth."
"You're telling your daughter she's stupid!"
"But it's true!" Ash retorted. "Have you seen the girl's report card? Have you spoken to our daughter? It's a miracle she can feed and dress herself! She's about seven IQ points above retarded and you know it." Ash knelt by his daughter. "Sweetheart, tell Daddy. What's two times seven?" Her face scrunched up. "Okay, let's make this a little easier because we don't have all day for you to answer. What's two plus seven?"
"Twenty seven?" Charlie asked with a touch of hope.
"…No, sweetie. I'm sorry, no," Ash shook his head. "But you've got the power of twenty men in your pint sized body. You're the fastest runner I've ever seen and you've got an incredible knack for video games. I'm sure you'll be a great trainer one day."
"I'll be a kick ass trainer," She agreed.
"Don't say ass."
"Where are we going for Christmas, Dad?" Stephen asked, hands looped through jean belt loops. "We heading over to Tracey's? I could use another sketching lesson from him. I wouldn't mind a cooking lesson from Tracey though. Even a coordinating lecture from Drew would be pretty cool."
"Actually, kids, we're going to Professor Oak's."
"How come?" Ashley asked. "Why are we heading over there? We never visit him during Christmas. We only go there during St. Patrick's Day."
"Well, I could say that there's an extra special present that only a pokémon researcher like Professor Oak could give you is over there, but I wouldn't want to ruin a surprise Christmas gift, now would I?" Ash grinned, loving the delighted look on his children's faces as they ran from the room, planning on running all the way to the Professor's Lab to pick up their presents.
Ash slung his arm around Misty's waist pulling her close. "Merry Christmas, my queen."
"Merry Christmas, King of the Stupid," She rolled her eyes at him, laughing lightly. "Did you get your queen a good present? I hope it's something shiny that rhymes with new diamond wedding sing." She leaned into him. "Well, that or a good bin of chocolate."
"You mean box of chocolate?"
"I said what I meant."
"You know what I want for Christmas? It starts with an f, end with a k, and it means a whole lot of excitement."
"You're sick."
"Hey, I was thinking firetruck. What were you thinking of?"
"Haven't changed a bit," Misty sighed, as he ran out ahead of her.
In good spirit, she grinned. Suddenly feeling like it was just her and Ash, alone like the few days they had been at the very start of his journey. She was eleven, he was ten. There was a small electric rodent riding on his shoulder, one that wasn't older and could fire electric bolts that no creature could match, and there was a small egg like creature in her arms that often waved its arms in a metronome attack.
"Wait up, Ash Ketchum!" She shouted, shaking her fist. "You still owe me a bike!"