Shadows on the heart window to the soul by mal1958 Chapter 4 Shadows on the Heart Window to the soul

Shadows on the Heart Window to the soul
by mal1958
Chapter 4



Stories and Rings and and Weddings, Oh My.

It took Ash ten minutes to get cleaned up and get to the dining room while his friends waited for him, and an explanation as to why he looked like a piece of toast when he answered the door. He told them the reason, glancing warily at Pikachu all the while. When he was done, both Misty and Brock were sitting in their seats in open mouthed amazement. He watched as Brock pulled out a small notebook and began to scribble in it furiously. Then he looked up.

"You said that Professor Oak told you that pikachu take about three to four years to fully mature?" Brock asked, almost breathlessly.

"What are you doing Brock?" Misty said, amazed that Brock would sit at a dinner table and start to write things. She thought it was rude.

"Misty, I'm a pokemon breeder, or I will be," he began, glancing at the red headed girl. "And I just learned something about pikachus that I don't think anybody else knows much about." Then to Ash. "could I borrow your computer tomorrow so I could type this up and print it out?"

"Sure Brock." Ash responded, with a grin.

Misty saw Ash reach for the large platter of meatloaf that was near him and thought, 'some things never change' and then froze when he passed it to her without taking a single slice for himself.

"Guests and lady's first." He said simply.

Misty felt a small smile form at this, and was even more amazed that Ash refused to accept the platter back. He indicated Brock, then his mom. This was a first, she thought, Ash not going berserk for the food. She noted that at one end of the table, Pikachu sat in his. no her special chair with two small bowls. One contained pokemon food that Brock had brought with him, and the other contained a generous helping of ketchup. She looked over to Ash and saw that he had pulled off two large pieces of the meatloaf and was attacking it in his usual manner. 'Some things never change' she thought again, and began to eat.

"So Ash," Brock said with a cheek full of food. "When are you planning to start towards Sinnoh?" Sounding even more eager then Ash.

"Give it a rest, Brock." Misty interjected, cutting off Ash before he could respond. "The soonest we could leave is the day after the wedding. The ferry to the Sinnoh region had some problems on their return trip three weeks ago and has been doing repairs since."

"What?"

"They had engine problems on the only ferry that goes from Kanto to Sinnoh, The Verity. The Marie, its sister ship won't be done for six more months" Misty was speaking slowly, like to a small child. "Nobody has been able to travel to Sinnoh for three weeks."

Ash noted her tone and was about to tell Misty to stop, when part of his mind stopped him. She was not sniping at him, right now, and he seemed to enjoy that feeling. Of course he wanted to defend Brock, but a certain part of his mind was practically screaming that this was not the time.

"Thanks Misty," Brock took a drink of water, then grinned. "That means that Susie can't have left and I still have a chance."

"Oh, so that's it?" Misty exclaimed with a grin which faded and was replaced by concern. "Brock, I hate to say this, but Susie is going with another breeder named Zane. I don't want you to get hurt." But she didn't finish because Brock interrupted her.

"Not any more, she isn't" and he went on to tell them what he had learned at the Salon in Pewter City.

After the explanation they were all angry, but it was Delia that shocked them all, uttering an oath that had both Brock and Ash turning red at. She told them that one just doesn't do that to another persons pokemon, then asked them all who wanted seconds. Misty and Brock both begged off, and Ash shocked Misty again saying that he was full. 'Since when is Ash ever full' she wondered in her thoughts. They all volunteered to help with the dishes, even Ash, despite the protests of Delia. They got the dishes out of the way, and soon were ready to go to bed for the night. Delia offered Misty a roll away bed in her room while Ash took another of the roll aways into his room. and soon both groups were making preparations to sleep.

In Delia's room Misty was remarking to her about the changes in Ash, like not diving into the food right away and offering to do the dishes like he did.

"My Ash has grown up so much, since he started training his pokemon." Delia said, grabbing a brush and starting on her hair. "He left here three years ago, full of the love of adventure, and with his dreams, and he is so close to realizing those dreams. And now he has someone special in his life, I think that he is trying to practice so he can impress her."

"Somebody special?" Misty's voice was just above a whisper, and she felt something akin to pain in her chest. She was praying that Delia wouldn't notice.

Delia caught the look in Misty's eye but hid it well. She would like to spare the young girl, but knew that things would work out and both Ash and her would be together in due time. They both would learn, and love is best when it is learned from the one that loves you. Still, she could help the girl a bit.

"I don't know if Ash has met her yet, or not, though." She saw relief flood through the young red headed girl. "My mother always told me, There is a special someone for everyone. I just hope that the one who falls for Ash has a lot of patience, since he is so shy about telling his feelings to anybody."

Misty felt that tight feeling in her chest loosen and she could breath again. And she wondered to herself, why, should she have felt that way?

In Ash's room both Brock and Ash were arguing. Brock said that he should take the roll away and Ash was insisting on giving his bed to Brock. Ash shook his head.

"Brock," He grinned as he used the nickname he had for his best friend. "I really don't mind using the roll away, and you are a guest. The only reason that you and Misty are not in either of the guest rooms is that one has no window since a spearow crashed into it. That and the other is being painted. We'll be in the wilderness soon enough, enjoy a little comfort."

With that, they retired and both Ash and Misty dreamed again.

The alarm that Ash had set went off and he hit the off button quickly, looking towards his bed he saw that Brock had not even stirred. Breathing a sigh of relief, he got out and dressed quickly in the early morning chill. No sunlight came through his window yet, he had gotten up before the dawn and he silently congratulated himself on pulling it off. Going through the house, he heard the quiet breathing through his mother's partially open bedroom door, telling him that he was the only one awake in the house, which suited him great right now. He quietly went into his mother's room and pushed the button that would turn off the alarm. He got to the kitchen and brought out the pans and started to prepare to cook breakfast for the whole house. He wanted to do something special for his mom. He knew that he could deal with cooking on a stove with a kitchen and all. He had just gotten to the point where he was crumbling up the bacon and beating the eggs when he heard a quick intake of breath from the doorway. Spinning, he saw his mom there, dressed and wide eyed at his antics.

"I figured I would surprise you." He said with a smile as he washed his hands to get rid of the bacon grease.

"You succeeded." She responded, watching him dry his hands on a towel thrust through his belt. "But I should be making breakfast dear."

"Mom," He said with a chuckle. "Your getting pampered a bit today and tomorrow morning." His tone was firm and his smile showed all the love that he could muster into it. "Your getting married tomorrow, and you won't spend a minute doing any kitchen work if I have anything to say on the matter." He went to his mother and hugged her tightly.

She knew better then to argue with him. He was doing something that he wanted to do and she had never stopped him before. She looked down at the top of his head and smiled warmly, before making a decision. She broke the hug and looked into those chocolate brown eyes, eyes like her late husband had, Ash's father.

"OK, sweety," she said quietly. "I'll let you pamper me. But first, I want you to have something that your father and I had saved for you. I'll be right back."

Ash looked after his mother as she went into the short hallway, reached into a drawer of the small cabinet that was there and extracted a long box from it. Then he joined her at the kitchen table. She put the box down and opened it and Ash saw three rings on a cushion in the box. Two were plain bands of gold with a herringbone pattern in it, and four small deep blue stones set in a row on each. But it was the third ring that nearly had him gasping. It was a Band of gold with an onyx plate, almost a half an inch square, set into it. Set onto this plate was an ornate letter 'A' with four small stones of deepest blue set into the letter. One at the apex of the letter, two at the base and the fourth was set into the center of the bar in the A. She took this ring out and placed it on the ring finger of his right hand.

"Quite some time ago," she began, catching his eyes with hers. "Your father and I were on the sea and heading for Sinnoh, ourselves. There was a very bad storm and our boat was destroyed and we both thought that were going to die. Then we felt ourselves lifted out of the water and we began to move, or whatever we were on did. We cleared the storm and found out that we were on the back of a huge pokemon. Your father called it Kyogre. We fell asleep at that point and when we woke up we were on the shore of Sinnoh and we found about a dozen of those blue stones. We never spoke of it since then. Then when Sam, Professor Oak, asked if I would marry him and I agreed, I went to Celidon and had a Jeweller make the rings. I was going to wait until your fourteenth birthday, but it's better if I give it to you now. You may not be around here at that point." Her eyes filled with tears at that moment and she clutched her son to her.

"Mom?"

"I am so proud of you sweety," she uttered in response. "And I know that your father is too, where ever he is, he is watching over us both."

"You visited 'his place'?" he asked quietly, referring to the grave site where Mark Ketchum had been laid to rest.

"Yes," Her answer was quiet, just above a whisper. "I had to. I know it sounds silly, but he made me promise at one point that if anything ever happened to him that I would continue on with life. While I was there, I could almost feel him approving of my choice."

Breakfast was eaten and then Brock and Misty learned that Ash had cooked it, and would be cooking Dinner as well to allow his mother time to relax before her big day. Brock noted that while Ash could handle the breakfast well enough, he told them that he would cook the dinner for them to help out. Misty felt strange. She had had that dream again, and was afraid. She knew that she loved Ash, but she felt, despite the words of Sandy the day before, that he couldn't possibly like her. Not with all the name calling that she had done in the past, not to mention the picking on and insults. Then a phone call came from Professor Oak asking that all three of them come to the lab and bring the pokemon that they were going to be taking to Sinnoh.

The group made their way to the lab and were ushered into the main lab by one of the Assistants. Professor Oak was on the video phone with a slightly elderly man with white hair, large bushy moustache, and stern visage.

"Yes, it is a pity, yet thankfully nobody was killed in that accident." The voice of the other man was deep, and filled with compassion despite the sternness of his looks. "They won't be able to pick up their starter pokemon for three to four months and we don't have anybody else scheduled to come in for over a month. That is why I was asking if you needed any starters." The man shook his head slowly. "I don't want to keep those young pokemon here too long or they may form attachments to somebody here and it would hurt them when they were picked."

"As it stands," Oak replied, "I don't have anybody coming in for starters for about four weeks." He held his hand up in a placating gesture. "However, I know three trainers who will be coming to Sinnoh, before this week is up, and they might be able to help. I know it's unorthodox, but...."

"I am more worried about the pokemon, then how orthodox anything may be, Samuel." Then the man on the other end of the phone gripped his chin between his finger and thumb. "Hmm, Are they good trainers?"

"Yes," and he motioned the trio to come forward into the cameras range. "The tall one, is Brock, and he was the Pewter City Gym leader and is now trying to become a breeder. The girl is named Misty and is Cerulean City's Gym leader and a specialist in Water pokemon. The other young man is named Ash Ketchum and is not only the winner of The Orange League, The Silver Conference in Johto, and The Hoenn League, but he is also going to be my stepson soon. I trust all three of them."

Two bushy eyebrows shot up at that, and the man looked at the trio with what seemed to be respect.

"Samuel, I trust your judgement on this. I have heard of all three of them, and agree, they would be perfect." Then he seemed to look into Professor Oaks eyes. "Do you wish to tell them, or should I?"

"If you would, Professor Rowan?"

"Very well," And the now revealed Professor Rowan looked at the three. "There was an accident here and three trainers that were to pick up their starter pokemon are now in a hospital. They will not be able to get their pokemon for at least three to four months, and I have nobody scheduled to come in for at least a month. That is not very good for the pokemon, though. I am wondering if I may prevail on you three to each choose one of them, and raise them so that they will not be left behind or feel unwanted?"

"I'd love to," Was Ash's reply

"Of course," Misty chimed in.

"It would be my Pleasure," Brock stated with a big smile.

"Good, and thank you." Rowan said with obvious relief. "The starters are Chimchar a fire type, and they saw a picture of a reddish monkey like pokemon with a flame for its tail. Piplup a water type, and the picture now showed a blue penguin like pokemon with a white belly and disc on its face, and Turtwig a grass type, and now they saw a turtle like pokemon with spike on its head and two leaves growing out of it."

"I already know which cutie I want." she nearly squealed.

"I am assuming that you are going to choose piplup, Just to let you know, when it finally evolves the final time it will become a water steel type. Chimchar, becomes fire and fighting, while Turtwig becomes grass and ground." He nodded to them all. "I will await your arrival here. I know the ferry is due to leave Celidon city the day after tomorrow and it will take them a little over twenty eight hours to get here. After you are settled into the Pokemon Center here in SandGem Town, please come to the lab and pick them up, and I will also update your pokedexs. Thank you Samuel, I knew I could count on you when pokemon welfare is concerned, and I wish you a happy day tomorrow, and a happy life."

**********************************

The rest of the day went quickly and soon they were all preparing for bed. The night, Ash noted with relief was dream and cloud free, as was the morning when he again made the breakfast for the house. Gary dropped over a little after they had eaten and dropped off a pearl white tuxedo with red trim and cummerbund for ash, and asked if he could use their house to get ready in. Ash readily agreed. The whole morning was taken over by the group getting dressed, and preparing for the big day. Ash felt out of place in a tuxedo, and mentioned it several times while he tried to tie the red bow tie, and failed miserably. Then a knock at the door saved him from cussing out loud. When he opened the door, he stared in open mouthed amazement. It was Misty, but a Misty that he had never seen before.

She was dressed in a pearl gown, that billowed down from her waist to just above her ankles, above the waist it seemed to hug her figure. her shoulders were bare and the dress had a deep plunge in the back while two small half puff sleeves were on her arms. Her hands were encased in gloves that reached to her elbows and made of the same pearl coloured cloth the dress was. Her hair was up, but not in a ponytail, instead it was shaped and formed to pile high on her head, and a silver tiara was perched on her flaming locks. Ash was speechless and stared at her like he had never seen her before. He did note that there was somebody behind her, dressed similarly to her, but that was all he noticed. For several moments he lost himself in her eyes, and it was only when he noticed her blushing madly, that he took his eyes off of her.

Misty could not believe her eyes. Ash looked great in that tuxedo. The red trim and cummerbund were just the right touches, and she noted that it hugged his figure like a glove. Then she noticed him staring at her, and for a few moments could not take her eyes from that brown eyed gaze of his. It was almost like he had hypnotised her and himself was hypnotised by her. She felt colour rushing into her face and he broke the gaze, colouring a bit himself. Then she saw the untied red bow tie still around his neck. She reached for it and began to tie it, trying to cover the momentary lapse of anything. Her glove encased fingers occasionally brushed his neck or face during the process, each time sending a little electric shock through her. She felt her hands tremble slightly and suddenly had to fight the urge to run. What was the matter with her? She finished with the tie, placing two fingers between the shirt collar and his neck to make sure that he could breathe, yet that contact seemed to rob both of them of breath.

Ash felt as if he had just gotten shocked by Pikachu, every time her fingers touched his face or neck while she tied his bow tie. And then he felt unable to breathe when she put two of her fingers into the space between his neck and shirt collar. He felt colour rising in his face and was relieved when Gary, Brock and Duplica, the other girl there, suddenly made their way towards the door. He found himself stealing glances towards Misty as they walked to the gardened area that was set up for the wedding. He took a cue from Gary when he saw his once rival, now friend offer his arm to Duplica and did the same to Misty. When she put her arm through his, he had to fight down a tremor, but he noted that it seemed to be a very pleasant one. The approached the flowered archway where the groom waited in a similar pearl coloured tuxedo, but with blue trim and cummerbund, and then the age old wedding march music began to play. stealing a glance around he noticed that the 'small' wedding involved close to seventy people from the area that they lived. Then he saw his mother in a gown similar to Misty's save it was a sky blue colour and she wore a gold tiara pinned to her hair and he smiled. The local pastor began the ceremony and he felt Misty tremble slightly and heard her sniff, when he looked towards her she was both smiling and crying.

"Are you alright, Mist?" he spoke in a barely audible whisper, worry clear in his voice however.

"Yes," she replied just as quietly. "I always cry at weddings."

Ash placed his other hand into hers and gave it a light squeeze, smiling while he did it.

During the reception they watched the bride and groom cut the cake and all the traditional things that were normally done. Then Delia came to Ash and told them that they would be at the main hotel in Goldenrod city for their honeymoon. Professor Oak reminded Ash to take the keys for the house to Gary and Tracy at the lab before they left and then all the young girls were waiting in a group near a long stretch limo that waited for the newly married couple. His mother took the bouquet that she carried and threw it high into the air, and though five girls tried to intercept it, is seemed to fall into a pair of pearl coloured gloved hands. When the crowd of girls parted, Ash saw Misty staring in wonder at the flowers in her hands, colour flowing into her face. Then he felt an elbow in his side and glanced to see Gary smirking at him.

"Better watch out Ashey boy."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he was bewildered.

"Tradition says that the girl who catches the bridal bouquet will be the next one from that group that gets married." He gave Ash a sly wink, and went to join the rest of the crowd in waving to the honeymooners as they drove off, leaving a confused, and now nervous Ash standing alone .