The Doctor closed the door behind Delia Ketchum and blew out a breath, "Mrs. Ketchum, I'm afraid that you should prepare yourself for the worst. Do you want the bad news or the worse news first?" Delia looked up at him nervously, "What are you talking about? what happened to my baby?" she asked. The doctor sat down heavily into his chair, "You mean that they didn't tell you?" he asked incredulously. When Mrs. Ketchum shook her head, he sighed and said, "Well, you son was hit by all three stingers of a Beedrill. I would have given him one chance in a million to survive even this far if I had been there at the start, but now, he has about one in ten billion of ever fully recovering. If we had gotten to him sooner, then maybe we could have done something, but, as it is..." he trailed off. Looking up at the anxious mother in front of him, he said regretfully, "I'm sorry, Mrs. Ketchum, he is paralyzed from the legs down, and will be for the rest of his life. The poison, while most of it is out of his system, is making a comeback, and the best dosage we can give him would be like spitting into the wind. He will be dead in twenty four hours. I am sorry. But I thought that I should put everything on the line to make sure that you knew how serious the situation is." Rising, he bit his lip as the heart-broken mother began sobbing hysterically. "Guys," Brock said, "Let's try to have a little optimism here, okay! I mean, he is the best trainer I have EVER seen. There is no way that he can die now! I mean, look at it this way, he has defeated Team Rocket, the Elite Four, and most of the gyms in Kanto! He can-Mrs. Ketchum? What's wrong?" he interrupted himself a Ash's mother walked slowly along the hallway. Mrs. Ketchum ignored him and went straight to Misty and hugged her, sobbing hysterically. Brock caught Gary's eye, and both of them left the room. "Misty," Delia sobbed, "Ash is dying!" Misty stiffened, and felt tears spring to her eyes, "Are you sure?" she asked, "I mean, there has to be some antidote!" Delia looked up at her, "There IS no antidote, I'm sorry, Misty, I know that you loved him." Misty smiled through her tears, whcih were streaming down her face by now, "Was it that obvious?" Delia smiled again, the smile a sharp contrast to the pain that Misty could see in her eyes, "As clear as the nose on your face...And now I'll never see you get married!" Misty suddenly sat up. "I have an idea!" She quickly outlined her plan to Ash's mother, and asked, "Will you help me?" Delia smiled, "Misty, dear, if I have to move the entire universe, I'll help. now, let's go get the boys!" James looked unhappily at Jessie, "I don't like it," he said, then glanced over at Butch, "He only put one card back! Cassidy didn't put any back! how am I supposed to defeat them now? I have my entire life savings and Meowth on the line!" "I told ya not to be me!" the annoying cat-like creature burst out, "What did I tell ya? Bad luck to bet a Meowth in a Poker game! Did I tell ya's or did I tell ya's?" "Shut your mouth!" a commanding voice said from the door, "Before a Beedrill flies into it." Butch grinned, "Ohm, so the twerp got our little present?" Gary stepped forward into the light, "Those were YOUR Beedrills?" Cassidy laughed, "Yeah, it was pretty funny watching everyone get into a fuss!" Jessie suddenly spoke up, "What are you guys talking about?" Brock piped up, "They poisoned Ash, and now he is on his deathbed!" James looked at Butch and Cassidy in surprise, "We never joined Team Rocket so that others could do things like this." "Shut your mouth before a Beedrill gets YOU too!" Butch snarled. Jessie shot to her feet, "Why you little-" Brock coughed, "Jessie, James, Meowth, we need you. Butch, Cassidy, you are under arrest!" Cassidy sneered, "You and what army?" Suddenly, the back wall blew in and none other than Madie jumped through, her Pokemon, an Espeon, an Umbreon, an Evee, a Vaporeon, a Jolteon, and a Flareon followed her,who were followed in turn by fifteen Officer Jennies and their Arcanines. "Need we say more?" Gary asked, a triumphant smirk on his face. Mandie walked over to Brock and kissed him on the lips for a full thirty seconds, when she let Brock go, he said, "WOW!" Mandie grinned, "That's for bringing me on the best date I've ever had!" Butch and Cassidy scowled at them, and released a Drowzee, "Team Rocket will never fall! Drowzee! Teleport!" then Brock did something that was ether incredibly stupid, or incredibly brave, though Gary always suspected the latter. Brock rushed forward, tackling the two Rockets just before they would have dissapeared in a blinding flash of light. The Drowzee dissapeared, and the Officer Jennies rushed forward, and dragged them out of the room. Gary walked over to the door and waited for them. glancing back, he saw that Brock and Mandie were in the middle of a kiss. "Whoa! take it easy there!" he glanced away, then looked back at the two, "Get a room guys," he said, chuckling quietly to himself. Then they finally came up for air, then began their kiss again. Gary stared at them with wide eyes as they began to sink to the floor, "Oh! That's not right!" he exclaimed. At the hospital... Ash looked up at Misty and asked painfully, "Misty, do you really love me? I heard what you said in the helidopter, but..." He trailed off, and his face twisted with unspoken pain when he was even talking. Misty looekd up from where she had been cryinginto the sheets, "Yes, Ash, I do. You knwo that better than anyone else. I love you!" Ash's face relaxed from the tension that he always wore when she was around, "Then get rid of that stupid mallet!" Misty smiled through her tears, and put her head back into the sheets. she felt Pikachu jump up onto the bed next to her and her hand being lifted up. Suddenly, she felt a band of metal go over it, and she jerked her hand back, and looked at the ring that sat there. It was a gold ring that had a deep ocean blue color and was custom made, she saw to have Ash's face in it, and Pikachu on his shoulder. The sheer worksmanship and size of the stone took her breath away. Misty felt her other hand being closed over by Ash's, and he raised her head up so her overflowing eyes looked straight into his pain-filled ones, "Misty, I never thought that I would ask anyone this, well, maybe May," Misty looked at him strangely, and Ash grinned, "Ask Gary, but will you marry me?" Misty felt a strange feeling rush through her. At once she felt excited, yet scared; wonder-filled, yet confused. It was unlike anything that had ever happened to her before. But, without a moment's hesitation, she looked deep into those eyes of Ash's and said, "Ash, you mean more to me than you know. You were the glue cementing our group together. I love you, Ash, and that's enough of an answer." Ash smiled, "Alright then, get your Mom, Oak, and as many people from our journeys as possible. I don't have much time." Suddenly, Misty was reminded again of the stark reality that Ash would die less than fifteen hours after they got married. A single doubt arose, and with it, many others came flooding up. Then one thought smothered them all. The thought of Ash in his younger days. When he had been so naive, so young, and not at all a good trainer. She had been there, even when Brock had left. And so she was going to stay by him to the end. No matter what. It was her duty as his fiance. He had asked, and she had accepted. The wedding was small, even for one as famous as Ash Ketchum. Mrs. Ketchum became Mrs. Oak hat day, and Brock married Mandie in a triple wedding. There were few guests, only Gary, Sandra (Mandie's sister), an Officer Jenny (who also presided over the ceremony), the local Nurse Joy, several Nurse Jane's, Jessie, James, Meowth, and a few Doctor John's. After the ceremony was over, all but Misty left the room, leaving one of the new couples together for their last moments together. "Mishty," Ash began, the poison making him begin to slur, "I am shorry for not giving you a bkie shooner, but shoon, y-you'lkl have one! It'shall takencare of. don't you loshe shleep over it. Msity-" he swallowed hard, trying to get the strength up to speak, "I-I'm shorry for the bike. Pikachu needed to be healed. I'm shorry for calling you shcrawny. I'm shorry for getting into your life at all, sho you would have to experience thish." Misty gripped his hand hard, and flethis grip weaking quickly, "Ash! No! You can't die! It's all right! Everything! Who cares abot the stupid bike? I needed the exercise, anyway! Don't you see how many people you've touched with your kindness?" Ash struggled, and Misty wondered why,and he looked straight into her eyes, and said, "Thank you, Misty, it means a lot to me," as clearly as if he had been before the stings. "Ish it shupposhed to hurt thish much?" he goraned, tossing this way adn that, then, his hand, that had been clasped tightly in hers, went limp, and he stopped breathing. "Ash? ASH? ASH WAKE UP!" Misty said, shaking him, "Ash! come on! We're married now! We have to have our happily ever after!" Misty felt a hand on her shoulder, and she leaned against it, crying, "He was a good guy, Misty, better than I was. I'm just privileged to have been his best friend, even if it were only once, long, long ago. I'm sorry about this Misty. I know how much he meant to you. But you have no idea how much of a blow this is to me." Gary pulled up a chair, and they began crying their eyes out together, and were soon joined by Delia Ketchum. Outside the door, emergency response personnel began appearing, but the Doctor John kept them back, "That kid's heart is so eaten up by the poison, it would be a miracle to get it working again. Besides," he said, turning to the window, "It would be hell to come alive again after enduring so much pain, only having to endure more pain."