Author - Chibi / Warlordess

Disclaimer - I don’t own Pokemon. At this point, that’s a very good thing, seeing as I barely have enough time to spend writing up my fanciful fics, let alone if I owned the actual series. . . I own Dr. Sampson! Only, kind of not really, because, like I noted at the bottom, I stole the last name from one of my bestest gal-pals, Ashley!

Notes - I have a sickness. I obviously have a sickness. I've started a new fic when I have so many others in progress. Then again, "Illicit Saints" and "Blind" might as well be on hold. . . and I've already got the first eight chapters of this fic all planned out. Gods, this fic might actually be one of the longest (chapter-wise) yet. Anyway, I think I'm going to add this chapter as a, er. . . test-drive? You know, because the idea might be a little too different, or a little too popular. . . I don't know, I'm hardly able to get online and search for myself anymore.

So please read and review and tell me if you think I should continue this immediately.

OoOoO

Pokemon - "The Strangest Kind of Love"

Chapter One - "You Make the First Move"

Fic Facts:

Summary - Many years into the future, Ash and Misty are both looking to settle down. The only issue is, neither one is very good at keeping a relationship going. Then, by odd convenience, they end up moving in together. . . Pokeshipping fic.

Rating - Teen. Or PG-13. Whichever works for you. The rating is alluded to the fact that there will be adult fluffiness, alcohol, and pregnancy, eventually. Plus it just feels right.

Characters and Ages -

Ash / 23

Misty / 24

Brock / 26

Tracey / 25

May / 19

Drew / 20

Gary / 24

Delia / 45

Professor Oak / 49

(Note that not all of these characters will be that important.)

The idea for this fic was created in August of 2005.

This fic was officially started in February of 2006.

This chapter was officially created February 8th - 11th of 2006.

OoOoO

The years had changed them; there was no doubt about that.

Brock's refined skills had brought to fruit the greatest breeding center in the whole of the Kanto region, and he was thoroughly proud of it. He had yet to find a girl desperate enough to think his blubbering hormones worthy of her attention, but he at least recognized that he had a problem and had learned to seek medical attention. As his physician said, acceptance was the first step to recovery. And he was getting there, he knew, as he continued living off of the profits from his small breeding center in Pewter.

Tracey was still sticking it out under Professor Oak's mighty wing, and very eagerly so. He'd published two books already, now, and was working on another as he continued his apprenticeship.

Gary was still traveling off and on, although it wasn't as a Pokemon trainer. Under the technological guidance of his grandfather, he journeyed the regions, studying Pokemon and their ability to evolve. He used certain devices and calculations to devise if there was a chance of more types of evolutions that were still unheard of between certain already discovered Pokemon. He was well-known for his scientific conclusion that Nidoking and Tyranitar were distant brothers, and for his geographical mapping systems for young and eager trainers that helped deduce Pokemon migration patterns throughout the year.

Max had returned home after traveling the Hoenn and Kanto regions and succeeding in both of the leagues by coming in tenth place or above. He was now the proud leader of the Petalburg Gym at the tender age of sixteen. His parents, although not permanently retired, had taken a long-term vacation to the Orange Islands for now.

May, after finding out that her former home was in the more-than-capable hands of her brother (although she'd never tell him she thought that), had taken up residence with her boyfriend Drew in Viridian City. They'd been dating for nine months and had been thinking about renting out an apartment together for awhile at the time, but hadn't been brave enough to bring it up with May's parents until they heard that, otherwise, they wouldn't have another chance, as the Beech's were going to be leaving the country.

Caroline and Norman trusted their daughter, however, and as she'd traveled the regions with two boys for three years earlier on in her life and handled herself just fine, they were sure that they had nothing to worry about. Besides, from what they'd seen, May and Drew seemed to be so in love that nothing could deter that relationship, let alone their personal opinion about it. So the Beech's entrusted their daughter's health to the young Coordinating Champion, who indeed took splendid care with her.

Ash's mom, Delia, and Professor Samuel Oak had been wed two years before, and since then, had moved in together. They now resided in the large laboratory/home at the edge of Pallet Town, down the road from the old Ketchum house, where, unfortunately, Ash was to live alone.

This had proved to be a problem for Ash, although he wouldn't have told his mom that, because, if he did, he would have upset her. As was proven through his many years of traveling on the road, he hated spending evening after evening alone. And while he had Pikachu there with him, the companionship was limited. It was still strange, somehow, to know that he had grown to understand his Pokemon's language, but even so. . . Anyone else who happened to overhear the two of them talking would presume that he was insane.

And he couldn't just leave the house. The mortgage still hadn't been completely paid, and he couldn't sell because his mother wouldn't allow it. There were too many memories there. It was such a beautiful starter family home, it probably would have been off of the market in less than a month, but the portraits hanging from the walls and the faded and age-old items laying in boxes in the attic proved that the grains in the oak, the places where you put the tranquil feelings of love and comfort and sadness and anger and, well, everything that was related to a family. . . all of that was already taken. It already belonged to the Ketchum family. Giving it up then would have been a waste. There was no point.

So Ash lived there alone, not having the ability to leave for months at a time to travel, otherwise the place would be left to turn decrepit, which was also not an option. And so he was going to have to find other things to occupy his time. He found himself in the middle of a couple of odd jobs, for none of them ever lasted long, and even a couple of relationships. . .

And for Misty, life had been rather crazy. After returning home, yet again, she was made to take up partial Gym leadership in Cerulean because Violet and Lilly couldn't care less and Daisy still hadn't gained enough prowess in her training ability to take over on her own. Times were hard. The dream of becoming Pokemon Master was sought after by so many that Misty was forced to battle at least five times a day. Her Pokemon were always exhausted. Given, Gym Leaders were allowed to turn down a challenge, but what excuse would she give to the trainers who asked? Her Pokemon were too weak and worn out to take them on? Yea, right. She wouldn't allow that phrase to leave her mouth.

And then things started falling apart. The ceiling tiles were being flooded out in the arena because of all of the water-oriented battles, the plumbing was leaking and stopping up more often than not, taxes were going up and soon the expenses for Pokemon care and food, along with their own, were becoming too much to afford on a couple thousand dollars a week. It didn't help that Misty's sisters spent quite a bit on manicures and hair appointments. All three of the Sensational Sisters (and Misty) had to get part-time jobs.

Misty had an incentive, however, to keep going. She knew things would fall into place, eventually. Already, things were starting to get better. She'd been picking up a few things at the market when some guy had walked up to her and charmed her into a date. She'd felt so flattered that she'd accepted. And then, a few days later, she'd gotten a call from Brock. A very interesting call.

Brock had told her that his breeding center was doing very well and that he could afford to close up shop every once and awhile. He'd already talked with May and Ash and both of them could afford some time off from work to meet and catch up with everyone. He'd set up a date for the following Tuesday in Viridian at a quaint cafe in the middle of town, and he was hoping she could find a way there.

Things were maddening for her at the moment. Things were disgustingly maddening. But she couldn't afford to miss a chance to finally see her friends again.

Misty leant all of her Pokemon to Daisy that Tuesday in hopes that the extra powerhouse would give her older sister the ability she needed to win. And then she took the Houndoom Bus out through Mt. Moon and past Pewter City, before making it around Viridian Forest.

It was the first time she'd seen them in, quite literally, years. It had been so long. . . They talked for hours about all sorts of things, whether they were of importance or not. It just felt so wonderful to be near them all again, she knew that she wouldn't let herself give this up if she could help it.

Unfortunately, there were times when she couldn't. As she knew, she couldn't always afford to take the bus through Mt. Moon, and there were times when she was far too exhausted from working her two jobs to walk through all of that (and she wasn't in the mood for learning how loud she could scream as she remembered the pathway through Viridian Forest). As much as she hated to cancel, she found herself calling Brock up in lieu of an apology more than once.

And then her boyfriend broke up with her, claiming that she didn't seem to have enough free time for "them". They had been dating for seven months, things were starting to get serious, she was starting to get serious; she was beginning to think that. . . he might have just been the one she could have spent the rest of her life with. After that blow, work at the gym became somehow twice as hard, but her sisters lacked what she needed most at the time; a sympathetic ear. And so, even though she couldn't remember where she pulled the strength from, she found herself attending the first bi-weekly meeting in almost three months.

OoO

". . . And then, well, I asked her to move in with me. . ."

"Ash. . . !" Brock said, looking rightly appalled, "I would have expected that of myself, but, well, you've always put quite a self-restraint on yourself when it came to the ladies! What's been your problem lately? This isn't the first time!"

Ash scowled. Misty couldn't help the small grin that formed on her lips. Brock was, of course, just toying with him. Of all of the years they'd known Ash, he'd never shown so much of an interest in girls. While hormones had an inkling to do with it, they all knew that, in the end, he was simply maturing. He had that large family home in Pallet just sitting there and he was the only one occupying it at the moment. . . It was only natural to want to find someone else to move in with him.

"It's only the second, Brock! The second girl I've asked in the second relationship I've been in over the course of three years and the second girl whose turned me down! She said that she hadn't been looking for something so serious at the moment, and then she just walked out the door. I tried calling her the next day and she freaked out on me, saying that obviously I was a bit dense if I didn't get it when someone was trying to break it off with me. . ." Ash finished and ducked down, allowing his forehead to collapse against the surface of the table.

"Well, you are. . ." Misty started, but Brock and May glanced in her direction to stop her before she could continue. The expressions in their eyes were fairly obvious. She really had no place to talk about something so deep, considering how little she'd been involved in their lives as of late, "Er, so. . . May, how's your relationship going with Drew?"

Misty felt just a tad ping of jealousy make its way through her at the blissful sigh that elicited itself from her best female friend.

"It's so. . . wonderful, you guys. I mean, I never would have expected it of him when we were kids, somehow, but he treats me like I'm the greatest thing in the world. We have this daily tradition where he leaves a rose in bed, in my hands for my to wake up to, and he's always telling me he loves me, and. . . Well, I've been worried since we haven't. . . you know. . . gone all the way yet. . .” At this point in time, May broke off and she and Misty suppressed a laugh at the uncomfortable expressions on both Ash and Brock’s faces, “. . . that he's going to think I'm just holding out on him all this time and leave me. . . but he told me a few days ago that it doesn't matter if we never do it, because he didn't fall in love with me for my body so many years ago." ((1))

While Ash and Brock seemed to be edging around in their seats at the topic, Misty felt herself swoon. That, after all, was the type of guy she wanted to meet, the type of guy she wanted to fall in love with, the type of guy she wanted to spend the rest of her life with. . . If only there had been more of them born out there into the world. (Given, it’s not like she was a virgin anymore, but the point was, she wanted to be in a relationship where romance was to the point, and sex was to wait until after phase five, “the honeymoon”.)

"So, Misty, what about you and - and that guy you were dating? What was his name. . . ? Something like. . . er. . . Trevor. . . ?" May asked.

"Terrance." Misty corrected, and flicked at the straw wrapper sitting on their booth table in front of her in frustration, "And it's over, thanks very much. He ended it with me about a week ago, saying that I didn't have enough time for him or something. It's not like we did much when we went out anyways. . . !" Her thunderous personality getting the better of her, Misty's fists collided with the table a bit harder than she first intended and everyone in the cafe turned to stare, ". . . Oops. . . But, really, I mean, I thought things were going really well with the guy. We went out almost once a week and he never complained to me before. . ." She moaned for a moment, "I wish he would have just said something to me. . . Then I could have tried to fix it somehow."

"Well, maybe it just wasn't supposed to work out." Ash shrugged. Misty turned and glared. How dare he try to lecture her on relationships when he couldn't even handle one of his own? "I mean, you said things seemed to be going so well beforehand, but if he never brought it up with you that he was unhappy, then he was probably looking for a way out way before all that." Misty's glare only deepened. And how dare her best friend be right about it!

"Hn." Was all she chose to reply. She couldn't trust herself with anything more than that.

"So, Brock, how's the breeding center going? And, er, the treatment. . . ?" Ash quirked an eyebrow as though the topic might be off-bounds in such a public place, but Brock swatted a sugar packet at him as he went to empty it into what was left of his coffee.

"It's just fine, Ash. The income from the center has allowed me to take the best of care of the gym, which my father has retained leadership of over the years, thank god, and the 'treatment' is. . . getting there. There are twelve steps. I've been in the program for months, and I've only gotten to step three."

"While it's amazing to believe that there's even a program for your type of problem to begin with, I would have thought the recovery rate would be a lot faster. Why only step three after so long. . . ?" Misty asked, also glad to have attended this meeting just so that she could catch up with her friends.

"It's because," and here May had to break off and allow herself a chance to giggle, "he keeps having relapses. . ." They caught sight of their oldest friend hungrily eyeing a waitress who was attempting to hand a receipt to the customer sitting just behind them, and Ash pinched Brock's arm to wake him back up.

"Not now, Brocko; I'm really not in the mood to deal with it."

"Fine, fine; then I suggest we wrap this up for today. And. . ." He rubbed his arm awkwardly, which was starting to turn a bit red, "Not so hard next time. So, I'll get the tab?" He asked them, raising his hand, and the same waitress began walking towards them, but May tackled him and held his arm down and Ash pulled out his wallet.

"Not a chance. I've got it today." He said with a grin at the disappointed look on the breeder's face and the confused one on the young female waitresses.

After the bill had been paid, May began her trek back to her apartment and Brock made his way to the town's PokeMart. That was what he did every other week, because he liked to inspect the public product and test the ingredients against his own inventions. Ash was left to walk Misty to the bus stop, which would take her back through the forest, Pewter, Mt. Moon, and into Cerulean. It really was a grueling trip.

"So. . . this was the first time I've seen you in awhile, Myst. What's been keeping you lately? You know, we actually start to miss you when you're not there." He joked as he walked at her side with his arms held up behind his head and a nonchalant expression on his face.

"You might not see me for another long time, yet. It's getting so expensive for me to travel all the way out here every other week. I've got responsibilities, Ash. . . And, unfortunately, they call for a lot of my time. I do a lot of battling at the gym, and I've got a second job at a local convenience store. We don't have any private maintenance teams or anything; we have to pay them all ourselves. And it's been so long since my sisters have thought about taking responsibility for something, since I'm always there to bail them out. . ." Misty ended with a wry grin that betrayed the bags under her eyes.

"You look rather exhausted." He noted soundly, "Maybe you should take a break, go on vacation; everyone deserves one at some point."

"I can't afford to do that right now." She yawned a bit as they reached the bus stop and took seats on the bench beside the road, waiting, "Daisy still needs help with her training, and Lilly and Violet won't do anything on their own unless I'm there to bite their heads off everyday and remind them that we've got bills to pay and mouths to feed, namely our own. Maybe, if they'd just be a bit more responsible with our profits. . . I never would have thought my family would be living on the verge of poverty is all. . ."

Ash frowned as her eyelids drooped. He'd wondered for awhile why she hadn't been attending their meetings, been a little worried, and angry, because he thought that she thought that he, May, and Brock weren't worth her time. And now he understood. And he didn't like the fact that she felt she was healthy enough to come to this one. She seemed to be sagging into her shoes.

"Well, the bus won't be coming for another. . ." Ash checked his wristwatch, ". . . five or ten minutes. . . Why don't you catch your breath? Take a little nap?"

"Nah. . . Can't afford to do that. . . The ticket I bought is non-refundable. . . If I miss my bus, I can't afford to buy my way back and, like you said, I don't look awake enough to walk all the way there. Plus I left my Pokemon with Daisy to take care of the gym." She yawned again and, whether she noticed it or not, her head was tilting slowly but surely against Ash's shoulder and her eyelids were closing in a relieved sort of way.

"It's not like I'd let you miss your bus!" Ash didn't seem to be noticing what was going on either, but at the tone of his rather exasperated voice, Misty's eyes blinked open again and she sat up straight, stretching herself inconspicuously so that she ended up moving just a few inches away from him.

She chose not to reply and so they sat in silence for the next few minutes. Soon Misty heard the slightly familiar groaning of a large engine and a giant bus with a straight logo of a Houndoom dashing at high speed on its side came towards them. She reached her feet and Ash joined her and he seemed to be working his way up to saying something, and then he found his tongue.

"You know, i - if you ever. . . I mean, I've got all that extra space, and no one to share it with. So, if you ever need a place to crash for a few days or something like that. . . be sure to call me up." He grinned sheepishly at her as the bus came to a stop in front of them and Misty made herself busy searching her pockets for her ticket, noting the slight embarrassment that made itself known by the colouring on her cheeks. She was way too old for this.

"Thanks, Ash. . ." She returned the smile and gave him a small hug before jumping onboard and disappearing from his immediate view.

OoO

Half a week later, things had basically returned to normal. Ash was back to doing the simple odd jobs, May was involved in the perfect relationship, Brock was on his way to recovery, and Misty was still being thoroughly overworked. She knew that she should've argued with her sisters the first time she felt just a bit nauseated at the feeling of the sun in her eyes. She knew she should have asked for a break or two every so often. . . but no one could simply put to rest a mountain-range of fears when they thought that their home could be taken away from them.

She had to keep working.

But there was a problem with that, even though she hadn't told anyone yet. She had been so exhausted yesterday after her shift at the convenience store that she'd not done the weekly paperwork for the Gym. It was still sitting upstairs, on her desk, in her bedroom. And now she was avoiding it, stressing over a fifteen year old challenger who was actually putting up a pretty good fight, pitting his Ratticate against her Starmie.

Misty wasn't focusing on the battle. However she could spare the eyesight to concentrate on the flecking paintjob of the arena, the stained wooden benches that needed replacing, the flickering lights in the raised high ceiling. . . There was just so much work to do. . . Why did she have to take so much responsibility here. . . ? Why was her family so far in debt at this point?

She turned to glance at her siblings, the only three people to also find shelter in the shabby-looking stadium. Daisy was cheering her on with one arm while the other continuously matted down her permed hair, afraid that the moisture in the air would make it curl. Lilly and Violet were busily applying eyeliner and lip gloss to their already pasty faces.

Misty rolled her eyes. Oh, yea. That was why.

She'd always wondered how her sisters thought themselves beautiful like that. Given, she had her own complexity, but that could have been their fault, too. . . ((2))

Her brow creased. It was funny, though. Daisy was supposed to be cheering her on, but she couldn't hear anything. Had the oldest Sensational Sister learned Mime? And, come to think of it, Misty was in the middle of a battle. . . She should be hearing battle cries, sloshing water. . . Yet, there was nothing.

What a strange. . . feeling. . .

She fainted.

Three and a half hours later, she woke up again at Cerulean General Hospital. Her sisters were there and, for once, seemed more worried for her sake then for the mascara that was slipping down their cheeks with the tears leaking from behind their eyelids. There was an I.V. supplying liquid food straight into her body, sugar basically, probably because Daisy had noticed she hadn't had much of a chance to eat much in the past couple of days and had told the doctors that. Still, that couldn't have been what had caused all of this, right?

"Like, little sister. . . ! We were so worried! Don't you ever do that again!" Her oldest sister told her after seeing that she was awake. She looked ready to fling herself at the youngest of the family, whether out of violence or relief was unsure, but she did manage to hold herself at bay, which Misty was grateful for, because she realized only a moment later that she was the victim of a monstrous headache.

"What happened?" Misty asked after all three of her old siblings had calmed down enough to answer her questions. She toyed with a hole in the messily thin blanket covering her, "Er, start with the results of the Pokemon battle I was in the middle of, I guess. I already know the drama that started it all."

"Well, like, you were kind of losing that one anyways since you were spacing off so much, but it was a bit lucky. . ." Violet contained the urge to giggle here, finding something funny, "The kid saw you, like, collapse and ran off before we could do or say anything to him. He might have thought it was his fault, for all we know." She shrugged.

"Anyway, we didn't really know what caused it either, so Daisy went to, like, call an ambulance, Violet returned Starmie to its Pokeball, and I managed to get you off of the ground. We raised you between us and laid you down on the spectator benches and, like, waited. We were so totally freaking out. You haven't given us such a run for our money since you ran off when you were eleven years old. . ." Lilly continued.

"Then the ambulance got there and, like, checked your vitals and stuff and, well, your blood pressure was, like, totally manic-high so they said that that, along with you fainting, was enough of an excuse to bring you straight here." Daisy gave a wry grin. "And then they asked for some information and we kind of went off on the bat; we mentioned stuff like your name and your blood-type, and then your medical allergies because we were sure they needed to know that, and then they asked us what might have caused this, and, well, like we would know, right? So we told them about the stress of the Gym. . ."

". . . Which they said explained the exceedingly high blood pressure. . ." Violet interrupted.

". . . And the second job. . ." Lilly continued.

". . . And the less-than-adequate meal choices. . ." Violet went on.

". . . Which they said were all unhealthy risk factors for a young working female, especially when considered long-term." Daisy finished.

". . . Oh." Was the only thing Misty could conclude.

This was just in time for a young male to make his entrance into the room, a young male with short auburn hair and a long white coat. His geeky authenticity was completed with the pocket-protector visible by all four women sitting patiently in their seats.

"Miss Waterflower, is it?" He asked in a nonchalant fashion, flipping one page, and then another on a clipboard that he'd picked up from just outside the door. He didn't look up to see them nod their ascent, but was instead reading over the report that the paramedics had prepared, along with the medical history that Daisy, Violet, and Lilly had made him well-aware of, "My name is Dr. Sampson."

"Uhm, I know this might make me sound clinicly insane, but I have a second job, and my shift is going to be starting in. . ." Misty took a moment to let her eyes graze the wall for a clock since her wristwatch had been removed along with all other personal items, but there wasn't one, "Er, what time is it?"

"Oh, don't worry about that." He said, and the grin that suddenly appeared on his face was almost sickly, "You see, the ill shouldn't be worried about time, whether it's about how much they have left, or how much they have until they're able to leave here. Just take it all in pace. And you. . ." He unclipped a pen from his white coat and began scribbling almost furiously on the clipboard, ". . . are going to need at least a few day's rest before you will be allowed to return to work. And that's my professional opinion. I won't be keeping you overnight for observation, but I'm requesting that you take an extended leave of absence from your job, for a couple of weeks, I suppose. And then, I want you to hold shift for a maximum of five hours a day for at least a month."

"You can't be serious!" Misty said, her jaw dropping. She felt her fists clenching at the worn through material of the ragged blanket thrown overtop her, "I have things to do, obligations! I have responsibilities to my family, and bills to pay!"

"Yes, about that. . ." At this point, Dr. Sampson turned to her older sisters, who were looking just as disbelieving as her, "I don't think that your current environment would be the best for you while in your state of recovery. Well, it is my personal view on the matter that you locate somewhere else to stay, lest you find yourself right back here, and in far worse shape than this time around. And we wouldn't want that, would we?" He went back to signing off on the referalls held to the clipboard for a moment before managing to undo them from the clasp and holding them out for her to take them, "I know that when you get back to this crazy life, you'll want to be at full health, right?"

Misty's gaze dropped to the bedspread again. That was true. A couple weeks here and now would probably do her a lot more good than a ton of ignorance and medical bills covered in even more expenses later on. . .

". . . Yes."

"Good. So, then, I suppose that you also have a place to stay?"

"Actually. . . I think that I do."

He smiled at her, "Good for you."

OoOoO

((1)) - I decided that, even after all of these years, May would keep her modesty. Eh, I guess that’s all that I really have to say on the topic.

((2)) - About Misty’s, er, “complexity”. . . Well, you won’t find out much about it until a lot later on into the fic, way later on. . . Let’s just say it has a lot to do with her relationship with her sisters and her sex-life. It may seem kind of funny, but it’s almost sad when you hear of it, yourself. . .

((Other anonymous things that probably should have gotten tagged with a number but didn’t)) --

Brock’s Medical Assistance - Well, doesn’t he need some after all this time?

Mrs. Ketchum and Prof. Oak’s marriage - I’m not even sure if I am an Eldershipper, but for the sake of this story, Ash had to live alone, and, well, Delia shouldn’t have to be dead or shoved out onto the streets for that to happen, so I figured this was good enough.

The Contestshipping - Woohoo! Finally a fic with some Contestshipping! And there’s going to be this one chapter that centers on their relationship in particular! . . . But that’s not until chapter ten. . . Poo. . .

Notes - Oh, my God, I am so going to enjoy writing this. . . I guess that I should first-off thank my friend Ashley (er, Silvie-chan) for lending me her last name, even though she won't know it until she reads the fic. . . Or until I tell her. Lol. Over the course of writing just this first chapter up on my foster-mom's computer, I've gone from having eight chapters summarized, to having -goes to check- eleven chapters summarized. And eleven's going to be a doozie. Lol.

Yea! So, next chapter, Ash and Misty will have moved in together in Pallet Town! Woohoo! But it's a long step from the perfect living arrangement! They've got no boundaries, unfortunately, and everyone's naturally assuming that they're together! (Actually, only May assumes that, but the thought's a funny one just the same.) Crap! And then, during their next bi-weekly meeting, which Misty now has the time and money to attend, Brock suggests throwing a housewarming party to welcome her to the neighborhood! He even agrees to cater it! But will it help with Ash and Misty's more personal disagreements?

Huh. . . I think that actually counted as a spoiler. . . Er, beware the spoiler! -points above- Though I guess it's too late to warn you all now. . . Lol. . .

Er, do I still get reviews, or are your lives so busy in today's world that you can't grace me with a few of those? Remember, this fic, for right now, is like a test-drive type-of-thing. I won't continue it at the moment unless you really want me to and request it in your reviews. . . Unless I really want me to. -grins- But just because I don't update this one doesn't mean that I'll be updating anything else, either. . . So sorry. . .