A/N: Wow, thanks so much for all the support! Here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or the picture used as cover (though I did edit it).

Days

The day when there is excavating

Iris

Monday, December 23rd

Sweat was pouring over Iris's back as she rearranged the last stones in the rocky tunnel. After heaving a big sigh, she stepped back to look at the big wall that was blocking most of the passage, just as she had intended.

"There, that looks good, don't you think?" Iris said, looking towards Excadrill next to her, who nodded in agreement.

"Alright, time for a break, then," she said, while picking up the big flashlight that she had placed on the ground when she had started working. She walked back through the tunnel, which ended in a wider, shorter one with five other branches. Four of those tunnels ran parallel to the one she had just exited and went deeper into the ground, but the main tunnel in front of her led to a bright patch of light.

Iris ascended the slope, and ended up face to face with the entrance doors of her Gym. With a satisfied smile she turned around, glancing around the expanse of the smooth battlefield. Besides the main opening of her cave right in front of the doors, there were no signs of the cave structure she and Excadrill had spent the whole day creating.

"Great work, Excadrill. You really outdid yourself," Iris praised her oldest Pokémon, who simply shuffled in place at the compliment. "Come, let's get you a nice berry."

Excadrill made an approving sound and Iris smiled at him. Excadrill followed her to the kitchen, where she handed him some berries and then plopped down on a chair with a glass of cool water.

Her legs hurt, her back hurt, she was covered in sand and dirt, and yet she couldn't be more satisfied. The whole day she had been working with Excadrill to create a proper challenge for her Gym, after making a plan for it with May and Cilan yesterday evening.

A cave system under the battlefield, with five pathways leading to five different challenges for Pokémon and Trainer. There was a rocky wall to scale, a mess of ropes that had to be cut, a gully (yet to be filled with water) to cross, a puzzle to solve (with much thanks to Cilan), and lastly a room where the challenger would try to get a berry from one of her Pokémon. The Pokémon they had to face and the amount of time the challenger would have would depend on how many Badges the trainer had, thus allowing her some wiggle room with the difficulty of the challenge.

Or the trainer could decide to go straight to the battle with her, but that would mean no substitutions, for each challenge that was completed within the time would give the trainer the right to one substitution.

Of course there were still some minor things that had to be done, like filling the gully and finding a way to place camera's inside the cave – but for now, she was done.

And it was only four in the afternoon.

Iris smiled and thirstily gulped down the water, before rising and filling the glass again.

"I can't wait to tell May how well our plan worked- she would have arrived in Hoenn by now, right?" Iris asked Excadrill, who shrugged in response.

May had left very early this morning to catch a flight back home, where she would spend Christmas with her family. After the holidays she would come back to help with the rest of the wedding.

Though, truly, there wasn't much that May still had to help with. Everything was done and ready. The catering and music were taken care of, the papers were drawn up, the dress was chosen – the hem had had to be shortened, but it would be done tomorrow – and the decorations were picked up.

"I can't believe I'm getting married in just five days…" Iris murmured quietly, more to herself than to Excadrill, who was too focused on his berry to respond anyway.

All that remained to be done was putting those decorations up, which would be done the day beforehand, and then the actual wedding.

Iris took a shuddering breath.

"It'll be fine," she said quietly.

"Exca?"

"Nothing. It's nothing," Iris reassured him. "Just… a bit nervous, I suppose. But it'll be fine. Cilan and I have been best friends for years."

Excadrill looked up from his berries with a teasing smile on his face and Iris ducked her head, chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah, and I've had feelings for him just as long," she said, to which Excadrill let out an amused rumble.

"It's probably normal to be nervous," Iris said with a decisive nod, trying to push the feeling aside.

"Exca- Excadrill?"

"Well, yeah, it's probably better to talk to someone about it, but you know how the holiday season is for restaurants, and Cilan has just started with his new Connoisseur job…"

"Excadrill?"

"Someone else?" Iris considered this. Besides Cilan and May, she hadn't spoken to anyone in depth about recent developments yet, and May didn't even know about the pregnancy. Iris hadn't expected that her acting skills would hold up, but distracting herself and May with doing other things helped her not to worry too much about it, and it kept May from looking at things too closely. But besides the practical problem that May was in Hoenn, Iris would also feel that it would be unfair towards May to discuss these kind of things with her.

But who else?

"Misty," she said in realization. She had experience with weddings, she could surely help her with these conflicting feelings.

"Good idea, Excadrill," she said. "I'll get to it now." And after downing the rest of her water, she made her way to the video phone.

She dialed the number and the call was almost immediately answered. However, it was not Misty on the other side, but Ash.

"Hey, Iris!" He greeted her very enthusiastically, which already made Iris feel better.

"Hey, Ash." An amused smirk made its way onto her face. "You seem happy. Busy training?"

Ash's face fell in an almost comical way, and he groaned. "Reading strategies. So yes, training, but uh… It's rather boring."

"And here I thought you were happy to see me," she said with a laugh.

"I am, I am!" He said hastily. "But well, it's reading…"

"You're such a little kid," Iris teased, just to needle him a bit more, and his pouting really did remind her of a little kid. "But seriously, how is your training coming along?"

So Ash gave her an elaborate report on his preparations for the Indigo League, followed by some more stories about his Pokémon. Iris returned the favor and talked enthusiastically about her new Gym and the challenge she was setting up. Ash was sufficiently impressed and was itching to try it out, but the next time he would be in Unova would be with the wedding, and then they probably wouldn't have time for a battle, would they?

"Well, it's my wedding, and I'm not gonna say no to a battle," Iris said with a grin. Ash's hopeful expression morphed to a beaming one.

"Awesome! It's been ages since we've had a proper battle!" Ash fist-pumped in the air.

"Not sure what Cilan will say about it, though…" Iris mused, the topic of conversation now having found its way to the actual thing she had wanted to talk about. As soon as Ash had started about the wedding, the wriggling in her stomach had returned in full force.

"I'll convince him," Ash said, full of confidence.

Iris hummed in response, a vague smile on her face. A lull in the conversation followed, and then she asked, "Is Misty at home, by the way?"

"No, she's still out for League business. You needed her for something? I can pass on a message if you want."

"No, no, never mind, it's nothing," she said, shaking her head quickly.

"You sure? Or if it's something I can help with, I'd sure like to try," Ash said, and Iris was surprised to hear worry in his voice. Damn it, she must have been more obvious than she had thought.

"No, it's just… I mean, it's probably nothing- but there's just- I mean, it's stupid, really, but, uh, I just-" Man, this was more difficult than she had thought. "It's difficult to describe… But I guess I'm just feeling a bit nervous for the wedding," she finished with a shrug.

"Oh." Ash nodded slowly. Wryly, Iris thought that he must regret asking her now. "So… like cold feet?"

"No!" she denied immediately. "No, not like that…" Right? "No, it's not that bad. It's not like I don't want to marry Cilan-" She shook her head. "No, it's not that bad."

Ash frowned. "More like chilly feet, then?"

Iris shrugged. She was quite in touch with her feelings, usually, but she always had a hard job putting those feelings into words.

"Is it normal? Were you nervous?"

He scratched the back of his head. "Well, Misty was very stressed, but she was also doing most of the planning… She wanted to blow it all off a few times, and we thought about eloping-" Ash grinned slightly. "-but no way Mom would have let us do that." He paused. "But, uh, nervous, yes, I suppose I was a little bit nervous. But mostly about if Team Rocket would show up to try and steal Pikachu again, or if something else would happen, like some big explosion or a flood or something…"

Iris couldn't help but chuckle at that. "Those things do always seem to happen to you, yeah." Then she sobered again. "So you weren't really nervous?"

Ash shrugged. "Well, no…" He glanced away, a dark look passing over his face, before he looked back at her with a thoughtful frown. "But I suppose it's normal to be nervous about things like these… Big, life-changing events, and so."

A small smile appeared on his face and he placed his fist into his other hand in a gesture of determination. "But you and Cilan are best friends, so it'll be fine. Right?"

"Right," Iris said, and then repeated, "Right. Yes, you're right. It's normal to be a bit nervous."

"Yes." Ash nodded quickly, seeming relieved. "Yes, it's totally normal to be a bit nervous about big things like these. It'll be fine, you'll see."

Iris smiled. The wriggling in her stomach was still there, but she felt lighter somehow. "Yes, it'll be fine. Thank you, Ash."

"Anytime." He beamed. "Anything else I can help you with?"

Iris grinned. "Nope, I'm afraid I can't give you an excuse to put off your reading any longer."

Ash pouted. "Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that."

"Oh, you're such a little kid," she said, and Ash pouted some more before smiling widely. She grinned back at him.

"Thanks, Ash, and I'll see you in a few days, right?"

"Absolutely! Oh, and a Merry Christmas, of course! See you at the wedding!"

"Merry Christmas, Ash, see you soon," she said, waving back at him before ending the call.

For some moments, she stared at the screen with a vague, satisfied smile on her face, before realizing that it was dinnertime and she had hungry Pokémon to feed.

"Alright, let's do this," she said to herself. With new energy, she jumped up from the chair and got to work.

A/N: Thank you all for reading! And an especially big thank you to anjumstar, who helped me with brainstorming on ideas for Iris's Gym. I had fun writing this chapter, though it wasn't an easy one. In the original version, Iris actually got to talk to Misty, but I think this works better. Please tell me what you thought about it, reviews encourage me to keep writing!

Thank you!

Recommendation:

Hobbit: The Line of Durin by kaotic312. FFN. Rated M! This is an in-progress, long, multi-chaptered story following an AU in which Fíli and Kíli live, but had to give up the throne to keep their lives. It follows their tale in surviving and trying to find a new life, but their destiny beckons. Also featuring a Tauriel and Kíli romance!

Recommendations are welcome!