Pokemon Fan Fiction ❯ The Champion's Ball ❯ Shopping and Cruises ( Chapter 6 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

I don’t own Pokemon. It’s owned by Pokemon USA. I make no money from this.


Chapter 6: Shopping and Cruises


Pikachu woke up at dawn. He looked around and saw how Ash and Misty had curled up with him and Azurill last night. He had heard Ash and James’ conversation a couple of days ago and hoped everything would work out for his best friend. He saw Misty wake up and he greeted her with a loud “Pika Pii!” She sat up and petted his head and got up to get ready. His shout woke up Ash and Azurill who also got up. After getting ready, they left to meet Rudy and Kasumi.

After meeting up with the other couple in the lobby, they started to walk to the mall. Rudy and Ash walked ahead of the girls so they could plan how to get away from them to look for the ring. When it came time to shop for underwear, which Ash knew Misty needed because of her strapless dress, they would feign embarrassment and offer to meet them when they were finished. Having their plan ready, Ash asked Rudy about the cruise. He told him the ship would make a slow trip around Pummelo island a half mile from shore. After leaving port at seven, there would be a cocktail hour. They, of course, couldn’t drink, but there would be snacks. At eight, they would set up the buffet style dinner. There would be a D.J. that would be playing all night from seven on. Rudy had just told him that the cruise would return at about eleven, when they reached the mall.

They went in and grabbed a map of the mall. After finding where the Celebi Coffee shop was, they went and had breakfast. As they ate, they looked at the map and decided what stores to go to. They didn’t realize that their were so many stores that sold formal wear. They all groaned when they saw that there were fifteen different shoe stores, not including the four department stores that were there. Rudy, thankfully for him, didn’t need anything except a tie so he could match whatever color dress Kasumi would buy. After eating, they started to shop.

As they looked, they realized that it was a really bad day to shop. Between people shopping for the ball and for Christmas, the mall was packed. A couple of hours later the foursome was sitting on a bench only carrying one dress bag. Kasumi had found her dress in a small store. It was exactly what she wanted. The dress was red. It was a spaghetti strapped, calf length dress with a simple row of red sequins at the waist. It was tight at the top, but flowed out under the row of sequins.

They went shoe shopping after their rest. Surprisingly, in the first store they went into, they all found shoes. Ash went with black slip-on dress shoes. Misty found flat aqua blue shoes that had a satin ribbon that went up her leg, which resembled the back of her dress. Kasumi found some simple, low heel red shoes. Then the moment arrived. Misty and Kasumi started talking about underwear, which was Ash and Rudy’s cue. They both blushed and started to stutter. Misty believed them while Kasumi, knowing Rudy actually liked shopping with her for it, had her doubts. Before they separated, Rudy told Kasumi of their plan. She smiled and gave them more time by telling Ash to shop for his suit while they were separated.

As they walked towards the jewelry store, Ash became nervous. Rudy helped him as they wandered from one store to another. Ash became frustrated as he came up empty in every store they went into. He started to panic when Rudy told him there were no more jewelry stores. As they almost got back to the girls, Ash saw a store that wasn’t on the map. In the window he saw it. The perfect ring. The ring was a gold band that had a heart- shaped blue diamond in the center of two smaller ones. The stones were the perfect size, not too big and not too small. Rudy came up to him and told him “It’s perfect.”

Ash went in and asked about the ring. He found it was actually not too expensive. Since he got such a good price, he bought the matching earrings to give to her as a Christmas present. After hiding them in the bottom of his backpack, the boys turned their attention to Ash’s suit. He bought a simple black suit that was made of a thin material because of the heat wave that was to hit next weekend. He finished his shopping by buying an aqua blue tie to match Misty’s dress. Rudy bought a red tie and they met up with the girls.

Misty and Kasumi were also successful. They found the perfect underwear for their dresses after looking in four stores. The two had also found jewelry for Kasumi to wear with her dress. It was now one o’clock and they were getting hungry. They went and had lunch. As they ate, they talked about their shopping experiences and their new clothes. Since they needed gifts for Christmas, they decided to split up, shop, and meet up at the mall entrance in an hour.

Packages in hand, the group returned to the hotel. They said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Ash and Misty put their clothes away and sat down to wrap their Christmas presents. An hour later, presents were wrapped and the living room was again clean. Misty went to the kitchenette and made dinner. After dinner, they sat on the couch and watched TV. They stayed up late watching a movie and then went to bed.

All the next morning and afternoon, Misty started to become worried about Ash. He was extremely nervous about something and as much as she tried, he wouldn’t tell her anything. During breakfast and their day at the beach he always seemed to be thinking about something and wouldn’t look her in the eye. It being Christmas Eve, Misty tried to be romantic, but Ash just quickly gave her a hug or a peck on the cheek and then went back to being nervous. About 5:30, they started to get dressed. By six, they were at Rudy and Kasumi’s door to drop off the Pokemon. As Rudy and Ash talked more about the cruise, Misty pulled Kasumi aside.

She explained to Kasumi about how Ash had been all that day. Kasumi knowing about the proposal, patted Misty on the shoulder and reassured her by saying “ Honey, Ash has something very important on his mind. By the end of tonight, he’ll be alright again.” Misty was about to ask her what she meant by that when Ash announced it was time to get going. She kissed Azurill on the top of her head and pat Pikachu on his head and left with Ash. Outside the hotel, they hailed a cab and headed to the cruise.

They got out of the cab and stared at the ship in wonder. It was about half as big as the S.S. Anne and looked very elegant. It was decorated for Christmas with lights strung all over the ship. There was a mix of colored lights and white lights. Wreaths were placed in between each string of lights. It was beautiful. As they walked into the ship, they noticed the inside was decorated the same way. They walked into the banquet hall and gasped. It was made to look like a winter’s night. Fake snow was everywhere, beautiful crystal snowflakes were hung from the ceiling, and the dance floor was made of white tiles to make it look like a skating rink.

They looked around to find their seats. They found that the tables were all tables made for two. Ash spotted a good table about halfway between the DJ at the front of the room and the dance floor. They sat down and talked while they waited for more people to show. They talked about Brock, who was going to be there the day after next. He was coming for the ball and a small vacation. By the time they looked to see how many people had now shown up, the place was now almost full. After Misty put the wrap that she had borrowed from Kasumi on the chair, so they would remember where their seats were, they went up to get some food.

As they ate, they met a few people that they had met on their first journey through the islands. They talked and after a while, Misty brought their plates to the table while Ash got them some sodas. As Misty picked at her bacon- wrapped scallop, she tried to figure out what was going on with Ash. He wasn’t pushing her away, he was just distant all of a sudden. Ash came back to the table to see Misty staring off into space. This made him realize what he had been doing to her all day. He laid her drink on the table and kissed her. She came out of her daze and kissed him back. After sitting down, he looked at her with a smile on his face and asked her “ What were you thinking about?”

“ Oh, nothing, Ash.” she replied. They continued to eat and talk for a little while. The ship’s staff started to take away the appetizers and replace them with the salads. Ash and Misty decided to skip this course and they went out on the deck of the ship. They just stood with Ash’s arm around her and listened to the soft music the DJ was playing as they looked out at the water. Since they were only about a half mile from shore, they could still see the island. It had turned dark about a hour ago and the lights of the island were beautiful. Misty grasped the hand that wasn’t around her shoulder and looked into his eyes. He bent down and kissed her. She laid her head on his chest and they just stood like that staring at the lights.

After a while, the wind picked up and Ash felt Misty shiver. They went back inside just in time for dinner to be set up. By the time they had finished eating, the DJ had started to play some dancing music. Ash surprised Misty by standing up and asking her if she wanted to dance. After the party at Maiden’s Peak years ago, every time she asked him, he had never wanted to dance. As they danced, she realized that at he was a really good dancer and that he actually was enjoying himself. Misty was glad she had bought the flat shoes instead of the heels she first had her eye on. Her shoes made her think about how she was lucky that her blue sequined tank top and matching skirt that she had decided to wear for the cruise was the same color as her new shoes. Even with her comfortable shoes, forty- five minutes of dancing was starting to tire her and make her feet hurt.

Ash noticed this and he led her off the dance floor. They went back to their table and talked for a while. Misty commented that dessert was taking a long time to come. Ash told her about how Rudy had told him that last year they had waited about an hour and a half after dinner was served to serve dessert. Misty then asked if they could go back out on the deck for a while. Ash became nervous again when he realized this was the moment he was waiting for. He quickly hid his nervousness and agreed. As Misty walked ahead of him, Ash put his hand in his pocket and touched the ring box nervously.

They got to the deck and stood as they did earlier. They could now see the carnival and further away you could see the hotel. He looked at his watch and saw it was about 9:30. He pushed down his nervousness and seeing they were alone, decided to go for it.

He pulled away from Misty and looked into her eyes. She smiled at him and the smile faded as she saw his expression had turned serious. He grabbed her hands and smiled at her as he told her “ Misty, you’ve been with me on my Pokemon journey since the very beginning. If not in person, you were in my heart. First as a friend, then you became even more special to me. I love you and I want you by my side for all my journeys wherever they may lead.”

Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out the box. He kneeled on one knee and opened the box. He looked up at her and asked “Misty, will you marry me?”

Misty gasped and covered her mouth. As she remained silent, Ash started to worry. After about a minute Misty smiled and answered. “Ash, Of course I will.” Ash stood up and put the ring on her finger. She hugged him and he kissed her. While they stood watching the lights of Pummelo Island, Misty turned to Ash and told him “ This ring is beautiful, where did you get it?”

He told her about the small shop that wasn’t on the mall map. He had almost let it slip that he had bought the earrings when he heard some people come up onto the deck. They were talking about the great desserts the ship’s crew had brought out. Ash took Misty’s hand and they went back down to the party. They had dessert and danced a little more. A while later, the DJ announced that they were almost back to the dock and if they went out quick enough, they could all see the fireworks going off above the carnival. They went out and just caught the beginning of the fireworks. They stood and watched them until Misty could hear the DJ from downstairs make his final announcement of the evening “ We’ll be docking in about five minutes. I hope everyone had a good time and I hope to see everyone next year.”

As the crowd inside cheered, the microphone was picked up one more time. This time it was Luana, the gym leader from Kumquat Island. “Everyone I just found out some great news! I know a lot of people here know and love these guys, so I know that you will all want to join me in congratulating our newly engaged couple.” Misty looked at Ash in surprise. He quickly told her “ Who knows? We were alone when I asked you.” Downstairs Luana started to speak again.

“ Last year it was Rudy the Trovita Island gym leader and my niece Kasumi. This year it’s the two people who helped save our islands years ago: Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and the Cerulean Gym’s leader Misty Waterflower.” Ash and Misty both smiled as they heard everyone cheer for them. They went downstairs after hearing everyone start to look for them. They were welcomed with more cheers. Everyone congratulated them and wished them luck. As they met with everyone, they realized there were more people here that they knew than they thought. The ship docked and everyone went their separate ways. The Pummelo Cab Company was smart and had a line of cabs waiting by the docks waiting to take people home. This was a good thing since Ash had seen a few people that had enjoyed the open bar a little too much.

Ash hailed one of the cabs and they drove back to the hotel. They held hands as they walked through the lobby and went to the elevator. They went up to their room and got ready for bed.

Two floors below, Pikachu sat with Rudy and Kasumi as they watched the late movie. Since most people were asleep at this time, Pikachu could easily hear the couple upstairs. Rudy watched as his little ears swiveled in order to sort out all the sounds he could hear. Pikachu eventually could hear his best friend and his, now, fiancee celebrating their engagement and blushed before shouting “Pika! (Yes!)”.

This startled Kasumi. She looked at Rudy in confusion. He smiled at her and watched as Pikachu woke up Azurill and told her. As they shouted and danced around in joy, Rudy turned to Kasumi and told her “ Looks like our wedding won’t be the only one we’re going to be attending.”