The mid-morning weather was perfect; it was nice and warm, the gentle breeze cooled it down just enough to where it was absolutely perfect. The breeze also carried the fresh smell of pollen and flowers, one could just sit there all day and get lost in nature's perfection. Red certainly felt like it.
It had been 4 days since he woke up in the hospital and he had finally been released. Hilbert and Nate still felt like what happened was on them since they invited him to the tournament, so they insisted on paying for the hospital bill. Delia tried to convince that that it was OK and they didn't have to but she eventually relented. Red and Delia were extremely touched by this act of kindness.
Now that he was out of the hospital he felt great. Probably the best he had felt in a long time. Guess it's true when they say you never feel more alive than when you almost die. It also helps that Leaf came to visit him every day. It seems like ever since that day he's been closer with her than he ever had before, he also started to notice that something about her was...different. Not the bad kind of different it was just something about the way she was acting around him and every time he would ask what was wrong she would just brush it off. Whatever was going on in that pretty head, Red hoped it was something good.
Back in reality, there was a number of buses parked in the parking area and people were filing into them by the dozens. Due to a very important upcoming event, Professor Oak scheduled for a camp-wide trip throughout the nearby sights in Kanto that would last the next few days. There were only a select few that were not partaking in this trip; those being Red, Leaf, Ethan, Lyra, Delia, Professor Oak, Tracy, and Blue. It was certainly gonna be weird having an almost empty camp all weekend.
Soon enough, all the buses were full and Professor Oak waved at everyone as they drove off. He swore he could already hear one of the bus drivers yelling about the noise. Boy, he hoped everything would be Ok. Red watched as they drove off from the sidelines, he was already enjoying the almost eerie silence of the now almost deserted camp. Ethan came up to Red, "Welcome back to the land of the living!" Ethan said pulling him into a bro hug, it was the first time he had seen him since he got back from the hospital.
"Yeah and just in the knick of time too!" Red said rather chipper, "It's a beautiful day today isn't it?"
"As always. You're in a good mood," Ethan replied.
"I'm just happy to be here. Almost dying gives you a new lease on life."
"Oh, I'm sure. Tell me, did you see the light?"
"Nope, I just saw darkness. The next thing I know I'm waking up in the hospital bed. I gotta tell you there's no other feeling like that."
"Are you just saying that because Leaf was there?" Ethan said with a knowing smirk.
"You know me too well," Red replied.
"So when are they gonna be here?"
"Any minute now," Red replied looking into the sky. As if on cue, he saw the large, draconic form of a Charizard flying towards the camp. A familiar face popped out from above it and he started waving at Red.
"Hey Red we're here!" he called.
"Pika, Pika!" Called another Pikachu.
Red got the biggest smile on his face and waved back as Charizard came in for a landing. The person on Charizard's back wasted no time and hopped off. He was someone that everyone knows all too well, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. In place of the blue and white shirt he wore throughout his Kalos journey he wore an open blue button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a black t-shirt underneath. Perched on his shoulder was his best buddy Pikachu. Clutched onto him from behind was his beautiful fiance Serena who was smiling like the sun itself. Unlike Ash, she retained her old look from their Kalos adventures. She still had her short honey-blonde hair, she wore a pink dress with a blue ribbon tied to her collar, a long red vest, a red fedora, long black stockings, and brown boots. "Welcome home Ash," said Red.
"It's great to be back," Ash replied, "man I'm feeling nostalgic being back here after so long."
Ash held out a hand to Serena and she gracefully landed on the ground. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder and Pika came out his Pokeball and met Pikachu giving him a high five. "Yeah, I bet," said Red, "This is one of my friends I told you about, Ethan."
"It's so awesome to finally meet you guys," said Ethan.
"It's great to meet you too," said Ash.
"Yeah, if you're a friend of Red then you guys must be something special," said Serena.
Ethan got a little red in the face, "Well I try, Red's been a great friend."
"Ash!" Delia interrupted as she ran up and pulled her other son into a bone-crushing hug.
"Ahhh I'm happy to see you too, Mom," Ash wheezed.
Everyone got a good chuckle out of the whole display. Ash took several deep breaths as Delia released him from her tight grasp. "Sorry Ash," she giggled, "How are you doing Serena?"
"I'm doing great, I'm so excited to finally be here," Serena replied.
"I bet, it's so hard to believe one of my little boys is about to get married," Delia said getting a little teary-eyed.
"It's gonna be a great weekend," said Ash.
"It sure is," Delia said, "Come on, let's go meet up with everyone else."
So everyone walked over to the dining hall and inside was Professor Oak, Blue, Leaf, and Lyra as well as a few familiar faces from Ash's travels. Red knew a couple of them as Ash's first traveling companions, the Pewter City gym leader Brock and the Cerulean City gym leader Misty. The others were Ash's friends from Hoenn, May and her boyfriend Brendan. "Hey everyone!" Ash greeted his old friends. All of them immediately surrounded him with May giving him a big hug.
"It's so great to see you again!" said May.
"Yeah, it's been awhile May. I'm glad to see Top Coordinator life is treating you well."
"It's been fantastic, Brendan and I have been the ultimate power couple of contests!" May said with a fist pump.
"Hahaha, I'm glad to hear it. What about you Brendan? Are you loving this life as much as she is?"
"Every day I spend with May is a great day. I'm sure we can both agree that having that special someone by our sides makes life that much sweeter," Brendan said looking at Serena.
"Definitely, now it's time I officially introduce you all for those who don't know her, this is my fiance Serena Yvonne."
Everyone welcomed her with open arms, it made her and Ash feel good to know that everyone was accepting of her. Though they weren't worried about that anyway. The one thing that surprised everyone was Leaf's reaction; turns out she recognized Serena. "It's the Kalos Queen, in the flesh!!!" she fangirled.
Leaf took ahold of both of her hands, "Oh my gosh it's such an honor to meet you! You're so pretty, the TV doesn't do you justice! Your performances are amazing I've watched them SO many times-"
As cute and humorous as it was to watch Leaf lose her mind, Red decided to step in. He walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulders snapping her out of it, "OK Leaf, let's give her some space."
Leaf looked back at Serena who looked just a little bit flustered, "S-Sorry, I guess I got a little bit carried away," she said with a slight blush.
Serena looked back at her with a gentle smile, "No worries."
"Wait so what is this I'm hearing about performances?" asked Misty.
Ash and Serena looked at each other before Serena explained everything to them. "Wow, your performances must be amazing!" said Misty.
"If you like, I can show you all one of my routines at some point," Serena replied.
"That would be great," said Brock, "I'll be interested to see what kind of talent the Kalos region has to offer. Although, I think we should probably wait at least until the wedding's over. We don't want you tiring yourself out too much for your big day."
"I guess you're right," said Serena.
Over the next couple of hours, the rest of the wedding guests arrived ready to prepare for the wedding. Every friend Ash and Serena had made on their journeys was there; there were Gary, Tracy, Max, and his and May's parents, Dawn, Iris, Cilan, Clemont and his little sister Bonnie and his girlfriend Korrina, Serena's mom Grace, and Serena's friends Shauna, Tierno, and Trevor. After going through quite a few introductions, mainly between Red's friends and Ash's friends, everyone gathered to form a game plan to get things in motion. Professor Oak was the one delegating everything. "Alright everyone, now that we're all here let's get this wedding in gear. The ceremony begins tomorrow at 5:30 so let's make sure we make everything the best it can possibly be for our bride and groom. Half of us will work on the altar and decorations outside and the other half will work on the dining hall for the reception and we'll delegate tasks from there. That sound good to everyone?" he said.
"Yeah!" everyone said.
"Great! Now before we get started Ash would like to say a few words."
So Ash went up in front of everyone, "Thank you, Professor," he said, "I just wanted to say thank you all for being here today. You all have supported me on my journey every step of the way. I'm proud to say you're all my friends."
"Pikachu!"
Everyone smiled happily. "Thank you, Ash. It's been a blessing having you in all of our lives," said Professor Oak, "Alright, let's get to work."
xxxxx
The next few hours were crazy busy for everyone; floral decorations were being made and hung up all around the dining hall, many boxes full of stuff for the wedding were stacked up, many yet to be opened. There wasn't a dull moment especially with all the talk amongst Ash's friends, several of whom had never met before. In the dining room, Leaf was striking up a conversation with Dawn, it was amazing how well they were hitting it off. Dawn was telling her about her performances in pokemon contests. "Wow, I admit hearing about pokemon contests from a Top Coordinator makes it sound a lot cooler, maybe I'll give it a try when I get out and explore again," said Leaf.
"Oh it's an absolute blast, you should definitely give it a try!" said Dawn. Dawn got a nostalgic look in her eyes, "It's so crazy, it seems like it was just yesterday that I was traveling with Ash on the beginning of m journey to become Top Coordinator. And now I've finally made it, plus I'm at Ash's wedding, it's weird to think that the dense-as-a-brick trainer from Pallet Town that I traveled with back then would be one of the first ones to get married."
"Sounds like it was a great journey, so was he really that dense?" asked Leaf.
Dawn giggled, "Yeah, you can ask anyone here and they will tell you that he was absolutely CLUELESS about girls."
"Serena must be really special if she can get through to him."
"You can say that again. So Leaf, since we're on the subject have you met anyone special here?"
"Well, there's Blue-"
"Wait a second, Blue? As in Gary's twin brother?" Dawn asked in surprise.
"Yep, about a month ago we had this big Valentine's celebration and he wrote this amazing song for me."
"Must have been some love song. Sorry to sound rude but has he let out his annoying little cocky attitude yet?"
"Yeah, he has," said Leaf.
"Frankly I can't imagine anyone would want to stick with him once they see that side of him. Do you really want to stay with him?" asked Dawn.
"Well actually..."
flashback: the day before
Leaf was resting in her room. It was a particularly long day at the lake and she was dead tired. Now she just wanted to rest and catch up on sleep. The door to her cabin opened, "excuse me, ma'am, you look cold, want to use me as a blanket?" Blue said in a flirty manner. Leaf just rolled over facing the wall. "She didn't say no," Blue thought.
So he lye down next to her and wrapped his arms around her so that he was spooning her from behind. Leaf inwardly sighed, she just wanted to get some sleep. With anyone else, this position would be great but having Blue wrap his arms around her like this just didn't feel right anymore. Blue moved his head and started kissing her cheek causing Leaf to groan in annoyance. "Blue I'm trying to sleep," she said quietly.
"I know," he said, "I'm just trying to soothe you into dreamland."
Leaf stayed silent and she let her eyes rest hoping she would drift off soon. But her eyes shot open when she felt Blue lift up her tank top. "Blue!" She said as she sat up and pulled her tank top back down, "what are you doing?!"
Blue tried to explain, "I just thought maybe you had changed your mind since you said you weren't ready last ti-"
"No!"
Leaf let out a sigh and stared at the floor. After a few moments of deafening silence, she spoke again, "I think we need to break up."
Blue shot up like a missile, "What? Come on Leaf this was going so well," he said in disbelief.
"Not for me. I'm sorry Blue but I just don't think you're right for me."
"What do you mean? I'm the frickin best, anyone would be lucky to have an incredible genius such as myself."
"That attitude right there is why it can be so hard to be with you," Leaf said firmly, "I'm sorry Blue, but it's over."
Blue remained silent for a moment and the sighed, "Alright fine, whatever," he said quietly. He stood up to leave the cabin, "Just so you know if you're ever feeling, you know, aroused then you can always co-"
"Get out!" Leaf said in annoyance and Blue finally left.
Leaf let out yet another sigh as she lied back down, she was happy to finally have that weight lifted off of her shoulders. She also couldn't believe he would offer something like that, he sure is ballsy. She's not that kind of girl anyway.
back to the present
"Good grief, at least you dropped that piece of work," said Dawn.
"I'm just glad it's over," Leaf replied, "So what about you, do you have a special someone?"
Dawn started getting flustered, "Uh, uhh, well I...well...maybe. I don't know."
"Sounds to me like you do, who is it?"
"Well...he's an old friend of mine. We've known each other since we were little and we've been through a lot together."
"A childhood friend. That sounds really sweet, Dawn," said Leaf.
Leaf briefly looked out the window and saw Red helping Ethan and Brock move some stuff around. Just seeing him made her heart flutter. That night that Red was hospitalized was one of the worst nights of her life and seeing him unconscious in that bed made the feelings of dread and despair that much worse. More than anything it made her realize just how deeply she cares about him. Leaf unknowingly found herself blushing as she continued to gaze at him. "Leaf you there?" Lyra said.
Leaf jumped in surprise, her face growing even redder. "What?! What?!" she said flustered.
"You spaced out, are you OK?"
"Y-Yeah I'm fine," Leaf replied.
"If you say so, Misty and I need help with something really quick can you guys help us out?"
"Of course."
xxxxx
Red and Ethan were chatting up a storm as they hauled chairs over to the site of the wedding ceremony. Ash, Brock, Gary, and Clemont were already there lining up the chairs in front of the wooden deck. This deck was generally used for things like small talent shows and things like that. It sat in front of one of the best views in the entire camp; there were a couple of trees on either side and the deck sat in front of the lake, in the distance were the beautiful forested hills (no Hill Valley to ruin it). In the evening, the sun would set behind the hills, it was perfect for the big day. "I haven't officially said it yet Ashy Boy, congrats on finally breaking out of that dense shell," said Gary.
"I'm glad to see you two so happy, especially after all of our adventures together," said Clemont.
"Haha, thanks guys. Yeah, I'm really lucky to be able to be with someone like her," said Ash.
"Yeah...so very lucky..." Brock said in a depressed state. All these years and he still couldn't find someone to love. And now Ash, who has always been denser than a brick of gold, was getting married. Brock was still more than happy for him but it depressed him to no end that Ash found his special someone before he did.
"It's OK Brock, you'll find someone one day," Ash said.
Brock shot up almost immediately, "You're right, soon enough I shall find my one true love and we will in blissful union. Oh, I can only imagine the radiant beauty that will make every star in the sky look like specks of dust. Maybe she'll be as caring and outspoken as the lovely nurse joys, or rock-hard and tough like the Pike Queen Lucy-"
All of Ash's friends looked at Brock with a tinge of exasperation as he continued to ramble on. "So the Pewter City gym leader is a pervert," Ethan whispered.
Red chuckled, "Nah I wouldn't go that far. But in my experience, he is quite a lover of pretty ladies."
A pair of arms wrap around Clemont's stomach from behind. There was no mistaking the comfortable embrace of his girlfriend. "How're things going over here?" Korrina asked.
"Everything's falling into place," Clemont said as he turned around and pulled Korrina into a side hug.
"Man, the nerds get all the girls nowadays," said Gary.
"'Cause they're just so loveable," Korrina said squeezing him even tighter. Clemont's face went red and he had a crooked lovestruck smile on his face. Everyone got a good chuckle out the this. Although as Red looked at the two a different feeling came over him. Just seeing Clemont and Korrina so in love and together like that made him feel alone. It made him wish he could have someone to hold in his arms. A small emptiness started to form in his heart.
xxxxx
The day continued to be a busy one; everyone was doing something constantly, Ash and Serena were all over the place helping out making sure everything was the best it could possibly be. Leaf, Ethan, and Lyra got to know a lot of Ash and Serena's old friends. Serena told Leaf about her different exploits on her journey with Ash and her time as the Kalos Queen. Leaf was totally starstruck as she listened, Lyra could've sworn she had completely short-circuited by the time she was done talking to them.
Red had finally gotten acquainted with all of Ash's friends, he had met most of them before but he hadn't talked to them much because of how antisocial he was. Once again, his mom was proven right; all of them were happy to finally know the real Red, turns out he's more like Ash than they thought. Albeit less hyperactive.
By the time the sun started to set, the wedding preparations were getting close to being done. The stage outside has vines covered in white flowers wrapped around the rails, white chairs were sat up in multiple rows, there were white and green floral decorations everywhere in the dining hall. Serena was directing her Delphox as she positioned a big wreath in the middle of the wall opposite the doors using Psychic. When it was finally in position and hanging Delphox ended her Psychic Serena got a big smile on her face as the final major piece was in place. "Great job Delphox!" she said. The tall firefox let out a happy cry in response.
"Everything is looking fantastic," Serena's mom Grace said, "I just know it's gonna be perfect."
Absolutely! My bestie is getting married!" Shauna said pulling Serena into a big hug. Grace couldn't help but get a little emotional knowing that time was nigh.
"Alright, I'm ready to call it a day. We should have everything done by tomorrow morning," said Serena. Everyone agreed and walked out of the dining room and out to meet with everyone else.
That night was mostly a time for hanging out, mostly. Ash couldn't resist challenging some of his old friends to battles. In the span of an hour and a half, he had battled Brock and his Mega Steelix with Charizard, Korrina and her Mega Lucario with Pikachu, and Clemont and his Luxray with Sceptile and he had won all of his battles. Now he was battling Gary and his Electivire with Infernape.
Several of Ash's friends watched as the two former rivals duked it out. "Still such a kid," said Iris.
"That's Ash for ya, always itching for another battle," said Misty.
"You've gotta admit, seeing Ash battle at his skill level now is simply marvelous," Cilan chimed in.
"Yeah, I'll give him that. Ash has come a long way from the little kid that destroyed my bike," said Misty as she started reflecting on those days.
On the battlefield, Gary's Electivire stumbled backward and passed out, unable to battle. "Man looks like I'm way out of practice," Gary said as he returned his pokemon, "Great job Electivire, get a good rest."
Ash did the same with Infernape and approached his old rival, "That was awesome Gary! You're just a strong as you were the last time," he said.
"Yeah but that's not saying much considering you've become Champion since then."
"You're still one of the strongest trainers I've ever face. We should do this more often, for old times sake," Ash said holding out his hand.
Gary grinned and shook his hand. Serena came running over to see him, "Great job, Ash!" she said as Ash pulled her into a hug. The two rested their foreheads against one another just enjoying their embrace.
"I gotta say you sure are a lucky guy Ash," said Gary, "A woman like this deserves to be treasured. So take care of her."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure Serena's the happiest girl on the planet," Ash said as the two tightened their embrace even more.
"I know you will. But Serena, on the off chance that he does screw up, come talk to me, I'll set him straight for you."
Pika, Pi," Pikachu said sparking his cheeks.
"That is if Pikachu doesn't beat me the punch."
Serena giggled, "OK Gary, thanks."
Ash laughed, this life could not get any better.
"Da**, Ash is a tough cookie," Ethan said as he, Red, Lyra, and Dawn were watching nearby.
"That's the power of the Kalos Champion," said Red.
"Geez, and to think I thought I might stand a chance against at least one of you," Ethan said referring to Red and Ash.
"You'll get there one day, I know you will," Lyra said wrapping her arms around Ethan and kissing him. Dawn giggled at the adorable display while Red looked at the two with a slightly forced smile. He felt that the hole in his heart was slowly growing bigger. He had no idea why he was suddenly feeling like this, maybe it was the fact that he was about to be at a wedding, maybe the fact that many people around him had girlfriends/boyfriends. Maybe it was a combination of both, whatever, it was it was a horrible feeling.
Dawn seemed to be getting a little sentimental as she watched Ash and Gary battle it out which both Ethan and Lyra noticed. "Hey Dane, what's wrong?" asked Lyra.]
"Oh nothing, this just makes me kinda nostalgic is all," said Dawn, "You know in the Sinnoh League Ash had this exact same matchup."
"Wow, that's funny," said Ethan.
"Yeah, Electivire's trainer was a big rival of Ash's and he was a massive jerk who didn't care for the wellbeing of his pokemon. It was so satisfying to see Ash finally knock him down a peg."
"That guy sounds a lot like Silver," Ethan muttered.
"I'm so happy I got to travel with Ash and Brock. Those were some of the best days of my life."
Red smiled before turning to look at Leaf who was sitting on one of the neighboring logs talking to May and Brendan. Moments later, the two left hand-in-hand leaving Leaf all by herself, so Red got up and went to see her. "Seems like you're taking to everyone well," he said as he sat down next to her.
"Of course, Ash has made a lot of really awesome friends," she said happily, "I haven't gotten to tell you yet, I'm really happy you're back with us."
"Me too, I've missed having you guys around."
"Ditto, things just haven't been the same without you around," Leaf said blushing slightly.
Red's face grew a little red as well, "Well I'll be happy to bring things back."
Leaf giggled quietly and looked at all the people around her, several of them were together and looking so happy to be together. "Look at everyone, seems like the wedding's really bringing out everyone's romantic side," said Leaf.
"Yeah..." said Red. They both noticed Clemont's little sister Bonnie talking with Max, the two seemed to really enjoy being with each other. It almost seemed a little too friendly with each other; both of them would look at each other with faint blushes on their faces. This didn't get past Korrina who alerted Clemont, "Hey Clemont, I think Bonnie's found herself a keeper," she whispered.
Clemont looked over and saw the two still happily chatting. A devious grin came over his face and he adjusted his glasses.
"So you've got 6 badges?" asked Bonnie.
"Yep, it hasn't been easy but I've pulled through. And to think I used to give Ash such a hard time for making mistakes," he said sheepishly.
Bonnie giggled in response. Before she could say anything else, Clemont suddenly appeared between them and bent down on one knee in front of Max, "You're a keeper! Please take care of my little sister!" he said in an almost dramatic fashion."
Max had gotten red in the face, "W-W-What?" he said.
"Clemont no!" a red-faced Bonnie shouted as she dragged her brother away from the scene. Karma is a bigger jerk than she ever could've imagined.
"Please think about it!" Clemont said as he was dragged away leaving a blushing Max behind.
No one could keep a straight face, everyone was laughing. Serena and Korrina were laughing the hardest, seeing Clemont turn the tables on her like that after so many proposal attempts was hilarious. "What a unique little girl," Leaf said as she calmed herself down.
"You can say that again," Red laughed.
The two went silent for a minute and Red decided to ask a question he probably knew the answer to and would probably regret asking. "So, if you don't mind me asking, how's it going with Blue?" he asked.
"Blue? He's not my boyfriend anymore," she said.
Red had to keep himself from overreacting, did he just hear that right? She and Blue aren't together anymore? "Wait seriously?" asked Red.
"Yep, I broke up with him last night. I just couldn't keep doing it any longer."
"OK, what are you gonna do now?" Red asked hopefully.
Leaf was feeling her heart and her mind start to overload again. "I-I don't know," she said, "it seems like my heart and my mind are all over the place. I guess I just need to spend some time on my own to get myself straightened out."
"O-Oh, OK," Red said quietly.
"I think I'm gonna go get some dinner, you hungry?"
"No thanks, I'm good."
"OK," Leaf said before she walked away. Red let out a disappointed sigh, it seems like every time he would get closer to her his chances would slip away again. Now that emptiness really started eating him up, could ever really hope to be with someone like her?
Leaf let out a sigh as she walked away from Red. Once she was away from Red she felt...cold. Like a small part of her just left her. She briefly stopped and glanced back at him, her heart rate started to increase, her cheeks glowed pink. She quickly turned back around and kept walking, her cheeks getting even redder. "When exactly did I start feeling this way?" she thought.
Alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllright another one finally done. Good lord, that took longer than it should've. I'm so sorry for the wait -_- last week ended up being extra busy with classes and I've been trying to give all the different characters at least a small chance to shine and trying to come up with good ways for all of Ash and Red's friends to play off of each other. Now that that's been said what do you think of this one? Realistically there's probably a lot of room for improvement so it would be helpful if you could tell me what you liked and what you think could've been improved upon. I hope you enjoyed, God Bless you all :)