An Unusual Turn of Events
Chapter 6: Plans within plans
by Kenshin

"James, are we there yet?" asked Jessie. "Meowth! My feet are tired," complained Meowth. "Yes, yes. We're almost there," said James confidently. "That's what you said an hour ago....are we lost?" "Uhhh...no..." James said, slightly less confidently. "James..." Jessie started, sounding angry. James hurried on ahead, stepping through a thick stand of trees.

"Ooooo! I told you we were almost there!" he said giddily. Jessie stepped after him to find herself standing in the middle of Pallet Town. "How did we....without......JAMES, HOW THE HELL DID WE WALK SO FAR INTO TOWN WITHOUT REALIZING IT?!" "Eh heh-heh...." laughed James nervously. "Meowth! We've been walking circles in that orchard for hours!" said Meowth. "WHAT?!" screamed Jessie.

"AHHHHHH!!" yelled James as he sprinted away from his fuming partner. 'She's so cute when she's mad....too bad that look usually leads to pain!' he thought. He skidded to a halt in front of a house whose mailbox read "Ketchum". "Hey, I found the twe...I mean, Ash's house!" he yelled over his shoulder. He took a quick glance back and say Jessie running after him with a big white mallet with a red "R" on the head. "AHHHHH!" James squealed again.

He ran up to the door and started to beat on it. "HELP! LET ME IN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "WAAAHH! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!" Suddenly, the door jerked open and James, who had been leaning against it, fell into the house. James looked up to see Delia Ketchum standing over him. "Hello. Who might you be?" asked Delia. James quickly picked himself up, dusted himself off, and flashed Delia a grin. "Hi, I'm James," he said cockily. "Oh, that's ni....AHHHHH!" screamed Delia.

"WHA?!" James screamed again as Delia picked up a broom from the corner. "TEAM ROCKET! HELP!" Delia continued screaming. Just then, Jessie caught up to James and swung her mallet. Delia swung her broom. Jessie screamed like a girl. *WHAMO CRASH POW*

"Hey mom, what's going on? Oh, hi Jessie," Ash said calmly. "Hey twerp. Sorry about the mess, but James was being stupid again," she shrugged. "Ash, why is Team Rocket in our house and WHY ARE YOU CHATTING WITH THEM?" Delia was nearly hysterical.

"Calm down mom! I invited them to the wedding." "Oh, why didn't you just say you were here for the wedding, dear?" she said, completely calm again. She picked James up and had Mr. Mime dust him off. "Ooooo! That tickles! Stop it!"

"James! Stop acting foolish! We're guests here!" Jessie yelled. "Meowth! That's right!" said Meowth. That was when Delia noticed the little pokemon standing next to Jessie. "What...an....ADORABLE LITTLE THING!" squealed Delia as she picked Meowth up and bear hugged him. "MEOWTH!...I can't.....breathe!"

"So...uhh...how ya been James?" asked Ash, not quite knowing what to say. "Great! I mean, besides just getting out of prison, your letter really picked my spirits up! I can't believe I get to be in a wedding!" James sounded ecstatic, "I only wish it were me getting married!"

"Huh?! You like Misty!?" Ash sounded slightly peaved. "No, no! I'm in love with someone else...." said James dreamily. "Uh...Jessie, right?" ventured Ash. '!!!' thought James, 'How did he know?' "How did you know?" Ash looked surprised. "I thought everyone knew that, James," he said simply.

James looked stunned, "I...I...I've been trying to keep my feelings for Jessie secret for years." Ash nodded knowingly. "I know. Misty and I were the same way. If you look at it, our situations are a lot alike," he stated. "You're right twe....errr, Ash," agreed James. "So...uhhh....James?" Ash mumbled, trying to think of how to change the subject to the issue he was wanting to discuss.

"Yeah?" "So, are you...uh...looking forward to participating in the..uh..ceremony?" asked Ash. 'Oh man, that sounded *so* lame...I bet he'll quit just for that! I'm such a *dork*' Ash thought, mentally kicking himself. "Well put, Ash," said James, "I feel like I've finally met someone who understands me!" Ash's jaw almost dropped. 'I can't believe James is this sappy....gotta focus!' "Well, James, about that... I..." James cut him off, "I just want you to know, I was really stunned when I read the note asking if I would be your best man. At first Jessie didn't want me to, but I finally convinced her," James said, his eyes beginning to tear, "...I'm sorry tw..Ash, but weddings just make me a little teary. Excuse me..." James ran off to bawl his eyes out at how beautiful marriage is. (GAG! Ok....hehehe, now you can see how twisted I *REALLY* am!)

Ash sighed. 'Yep, it's hopeless. I may as well accept the fact that James is going to be my best man...' "How did it go Ash?" asked Misty, coming around the corner. "You were listening, weren't you?" he asked. "Well...yeah, but do you have any ideas on how to handle this?" *sigh* "Misty, I think it's hopeless. I think we're going to have to accept that he's going to be the best man. I'm really sorry. It's my own stupid fault," he said, his eyes begging for forgiveness. "Ash, don't worry. I think after listening to the conversation you just had I have a few ideas on how to get him to back out of it," she said, her heart melting at the puppy dog eyes that Ash was making.

"Well...I guess that would work. I just can't ask him to not do it, because I'm the one who asked, and he seemed to really want to," he said. "Okay, we won't force him to not do it, but if we can convince him to freely give up being the best man, you won't have a problem with it?" she asked. "No, I won't have a problem with that. I really want Brock to be my best man...I'm so stupid! Why did I get himself into this mess?" he was starting to sound frustrated again.

'This can't be good for his nerves....I better do something,' Misty thought. She sat down in his lap, causing him to lose focus on the issue at hand. "Don't worry about it. Leave it to me. But for now, let's get our minds off of it for awhile," she said, mischievously. "...Okay!" said Ash, beginning to cheer up.

"Okay, so that's the two options I see to get James to voluntarily give up being Ash's best man." Misty was holding a strategy meeting with Brock, since she needed his help to pull off her ideas. "Okay...can we go over them one more time?" Brock begged. *sigh* "Okay, but just *one* more time...First, we can convince Jessie to convince him to not do it." "That still sounds iffy to me," commented Brock. "OR," continued Misty, "we can tell him there was a mix-up with the invitations and he got yours instead of his. That way, he'll think the note was for you." "That also sounds iffy. I mean, wasn't his name in the invitation?" Misty's shouldered slumped slightly, "You're right...well, scratch that one..."

"So, what do we need to do to put 'Plan A' into action?" asked Brock. "Okay... here's what we'll do...."

"Hey Jessie," said Brock, "can I talk to you for a second?" "Umm, I guess so. What's up twerp?" she asked. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about James." "About James?" she repeated, "Why? Did he do something wrong...I swear, if he did...." "No, no, it's nothing like that...I just wanted to talk to you about him being Ash's best man."

"Oh, that," said Jessie, as if it was no big deal. "Yeah..." began Brock, but Jessie obviously wasn't finished talking, as she cut him off. "I didn't really want him to do it at first, but he got so depressed when I told him 'NO'. I can't resist his demands when he uses his puppy dog eye attack on me." she giggled. "On the other hand, he seems so happy right now. I guess being a best man is kind of a dream of his or something....Oh, well, as long as he's happy...."

suddenly Jessie realized who she was talking to and clicked her mouth shut, turning a crimson color. "Don't...DON'T YOU EVER REPEAT WHAT I JUST SAID, ALRIGHT?!" she almost screamed at Brock. "Ummm...okay." said Brock. 'well, there goes Plan A,' thought Brock, 'she actually wants him to do it because it makes him happy....' *sigh* "Well, bye," sighed Brock. "Wait a second, you have to promise not to say anything....please!" "Yeah, okay, fine," said Brock as he walked off.

"Ooooo! I'm so excited! I'm gonna pick out my tuxedo today!" James cooed. "That's nice James," said Jessie nonchalantly. "Fine, be that was Jessie. It won't ruin my good mood!" said James defiantly as he rushed downstairs. *sigh* 'I'm not trying to ruin his mood....I just wish he would be this happy around *me* more often."

NEXT CHAPTER: MAY THE BEST MAN WIN!