Chapter 16 "Pikachu dodge it!" cried Ash. It was midway through his gym battle against the leader Lt Surge. So far both had lost one pokemon each in their two on two match, Surge's Magnemite to Ash's Phanpy, Phanpy to Surge's Raichu who had grown a lot stronger since their last match, able to knock out Phanpy with a single hit, despite the type disadvantage. Pikachu and Raichu had been sending sparks around the arena, forcing the referee and Misty into a rubber lined viewing box to avoid being hit, the two trainers dodging the currents as they came. Springing off his tail, Pikachu leapt into the air as Raichu sped below from a missed Spark attack. Landing, both pokemon crouched on four paws, each on the other side of the arena from their trainers and therefore able to see both their trainer and opponent. Panting, they eyed each other up. WOOSH! At the same time both pokemon shot forward at incredible speeds from quick attacks commanded by their trainers. The two attacks should have appeared identical however, Pikachu's attack differed from Raichu's as electricity flew around him before the two pokemon crashed sending up a dense smoke that covered the entire arena. Nothing could be heard except the panting of one pokemon. "Pi...pi...pi..." the dust cleared to reveal the fainted Raichu and the exhausted Pikachu who stayed up through sheer determination alone, collapsing once he was declared the winner. "Alright buddy that was great!" said Ash as he gently took Pikachu into his arms, walking over to Surge who returned his Raichu, shaking his head. "Well Ash, that's the second time you and your Pikachu have beaten me. Even after extensive training to increase speed and power you’re both still stronger than us and I have no regrets in awarding you the Thunder Badge!" he handed the sun symbol badge over to the excited trainer. "You must have trained your Pikachu well for it to have just learnt Volt Tackle." "Pikachu just learned Volt Tackle?" said Ash, clueless and looking from Surge to Pikachu and back to Surge. "It's a strong electrical attack. However it also hurts the user when used and therefore a risky attack." he informed. "Way to go buddy!" said Ash, high fiving with his favourite pokemon who looked pretty please with himself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stepping out of the pokemon centre the next morning, Ash deeply inhaled and exhaled, Pikachu perched on his shoulder while Misty walked behind, yawning. "Do we really have to get going this early?" she asked as Azurill gave a large yawn in her arms. "We've gotta get to the harbour and onto a ship as soon as we can so I can go win my next gym badge!" exclaimed Ash, setting off at power walk down the street out of the town. Shuffling her feet and shivering in the crisp morning air, she reluctantly followed, her mind still in that warm soft bed she had occupied last night. Walking behind Ash, she found she was able to think properly for the first time since leaving the Gym in Cerulean. What was it in her that allowed her sisters to send her off to Hoenn with such little protest on her part? And even they why had she been so reluctant to go back to the Gym after leaving, but preferred to stay with him round Kanto? There must be something more to it than the old feeling of responsibility over Ash, that it would be her fault if he got lost or injured alone. Surely it couldn't be the camping, that was terrible. Ugh and all those bugs that could be anywhere... Nor the food, for now that Brock had gone, their meals on the road had become very plain and very simple. And often very similar. What was it that pulled her away from her comfortable gym and into the wilderness. Casting her mind back to when she had been 11 and she had first met Ash as she pulled him out of a river and vowed to follow him for ever until he paid her back for her bike. Lord how immature they were back then! she smiled, thinking of all those petty fights she had shared with Ash, fights that may have ended badly but had always been resolved moments after being finished. Neither being able to remember what exactly had started the fight in the first place. It had always been an adventure when travelling with Ash, it still was. Through her mind, memories of their times together flew, like a blur while some remained longer than others, when she had seen him lying there, dead with Pikachu by his side, a smashed chandalier nearby...the dread she had felt when she'd seen him...then the relief when he came back to life! That feeling to stay with him had started around then, she decided, but was too young to notice. Had ever he had the same feeling she had? Doubting her own question she shook her head. Nah, he was much too interested with pokemon and battling to notice her! Not wanting to give up on this thought she again looked through her memories of their times together. There had been a few occasions...like the time he helped her shelter from a storm when she was too tired to continue when they were in the orange islands. But surely he'd do that whether he thought of her as a friend...or more than a friend, she reasoned. But what about the time when she'd been doing that underwater play for her sisters...he had lept into the pool, despite his terrible swimming skills to saver her from team rocket...but Brock had come too... Seriously though, reasoned one side of her mind, he had won Togepi fair and square...yet he had still given the little pokemon to her. Surely he would have only given the pokemon to her if he had feelings for her...but no, he still would do that whether he thought of you as a friend or more than that, responded the other side of her mind. It was impossible to tell. "Hey Misty, are you ok?" shocked, she realised she had caught up with Ash, and tears had been making their solitary way down her face. "Oh, yeah, yeah I'm fine, really." hurriedly she wiped her eyes and marched ahead, attempting to get control of herself. She had allowed her thoughts to settle on her little Togepi. Her baby who had grown up and had to leave her to look after others of it's kind in the Mirage Kingdom. "Misty!" Ash took her hand and brought her round to face him, concern in his eyes as he searched her face for a clue. "C’mon, you can tell me anything, you know that." "It's just...nothing, we should get going." again he held her back, refusing to let her move off until the issue had been resolved. "I...I was just thinking of Togepi...I just miss him so much!" and with that came another fresh batch of tears down her face. Hurridly she tried to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand. "Shhh, it's ok. Here." said Ash, holding forward a pink kerchief with yellow triangles and red binding. Gently he wiped away the tears for her face. With a light exclamation, Misty recognised the kerchief as the one she had given him years ago when they parted after the Silver Conference. "You've kept this with you?" she asked. "Of course. Don't go anywhere without it." he replied. "I know you miss Togepi, I miss him too, but think of all the good he's doing, protecting the Mirage Kingdom from harm. What would he think to see you crying like this?" "I guess your right...he missed you so much when I returned to the gym. Every day for weeks he used to say "Togi togeprii?..." The two smiled at each other, both knowing the meaning of the little pokemon's words. "Where's daddy?". "Anyway" she began "we should get going." Turning away from Ash she began walking down the road, stopping when she realised he wasn't with her. "Come on slowpoke! Race you to the top of the harbour!" and with that, she took off. "Hey! No fair, you got a headstart!" he yelled, taking off after her, Pikachu zipping alongside. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Arriving at the ticket office at the harbour, both completely out of breath they struggled to control their breathing as an old woman surveyed them at the counter. “You cheated!” gasped Ash. “I didn’t! You’re just a sore loser!” she retorted. “I am not!” “Are too!” “Am not!” “Are too!” Pikachu gave out a small sigh as he observed the two arguing teenagers as they drew closer together as their argument continued. Deciding to take the matter into his own mischievous little paws, he gave them a small shock each that ended their argument with a smouldering bump as they hit the ground. Laughing the incident off and getting to their feet, Ash approached the lady behind the counter for the tickets. “Could we have two tickets please for a boat to Saffron City please.” He asked while rummaging through his backpack. “Of course…” She began checking a few things on her computer, “Well I’m afraid you’ve come too later to get on out express ferry to Saffron, it’s fully sold out due to the sudden swarm of coordinators for the new contest hall. You can either stay here until tomorrow afternoon for the next express ferry to Saffron, or you can have tickets on a different ferry that travels around the bay. It leaves Vermillion before following the coast south towards Fuchsia City, then cutting across the bay towards Viridian City where it stops for one night and then continues with a few more stops before coming to Saffron. The journey in total takes a week but I’ve suggested this to you both as there is a pokemon tournament when the ship travels from Fuchsia to Viridian.” “Wow…what do you think Misty?” asked Ash, unable to come to a decision as he was tempted by both options. On one hand, he really wanted to get to the next town for his next gym badge, but on the other the cruise ship would be a nice break for both of them for the week, and there was a tournament he could win on the way! “Hmm…I want to go on the cruise ship! It would be great to just sit around and not have to do anything for a week. It’d be a nice break for us all, right Pikachu.” She smiled at the little electric rodent who beamed right back at her. “Alright then” chuckled Ash “Can we have two tickets for that ferry please.” Tapping things into her computer, the old woman looked up at them for a moment and asked “All our cabins are for two people. Would you like two single beds or a double bed?” “Waaaah! Single beds please!” exclaimed Misty. “Yeah, we’re not a couple” agreed Ash as both their faces turned a brilliant shade of crimson while Pikachu snickered from the floor. “Oh, I’m sorry, I just assumed that…never mind, here are your tickets” offered the old lady who seemed equally embarrassed by the mix up. She handed them the two tickets and gave them directions to dock E3 where their ship would be waiting. Their ferry was huge, at least 500ft long and quite a few stories high. From the docks it could be seen that a large area of the deck was open to the skies and revealed to hold a swimming pool on closer inspection. Flashing their tickets as they boarded the ferry, they were given a pamphlet to indicate what was happening and where during their trip, as well as a map to the ferry and directions to their cabin, C8. “C4…C5…C6…Great, we’re yet another corridor along!” complained Misty as their directions for their cabin had proved to be completely useless. “Finally!” she cried once the door with the brass “C9” hove into view. Entering the cabin, they were pleased to discover that they had their own bathroom, a dresser and two cupboards to store their clothes in. Spying this, Misty immediately took the left hand bed and began storing her clothes on hangers and shelves, thrilled to be able to unpack fully rather than living out of her bag like normal. “Do you have to do that now Misty?” whined Ash, impatient to see the Nurse Joy in the ship’s pokemon centre to find out more about the tournament and to enter. His bag and other belonging had been unceremoniously dumped on his bed and he was waiting by the door as she placed the last few items away. “I’m nearly done. Surely even you don’t want to live out of your bag for the whole week. Unpacking now means you won’t have to later!” she lifted Azurill off the bed and into her arms to join him at the door, locking it behind him. “You know what Misty, I really don’t care about all that stuff when there is a pokemon tournament to enter!” he chuckled and neatly dodged the light slap she aimed at his head. Laughing and giggling they made their way back up the ship in search of the pokemon centre. The horn of the ship suddenly made a rude announcement to the world and the peace of the water against the side of the hull as it advertised its departure. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Finally, I thought we would never find this place!” exclaimed Misty after they had wandered the ship for the best part of an hour, searching for the illusive centre. Approaching the desk together, Ash asked, “Nurse Joy, can I sign up for the tournament please?” “Of course. Which class do you want to enter?” she smiled sweetly as she opened up the correct page on her computer. “Errr there are classes?” he replied with a very puzzled look on his face. No one had told him that… “Well, if you’re staying with us for the trip between Fuchsia City and Viridian City you can take part in our tournament that is similar to a normal pokemon competition where trainers face off against each other, knocking out competitors at every stage until only one trainer remains. We have a partner’s tournament where you enter in pairs and battle together in double battles against other teams until only one pair remains. But if you’re not into battling, we have three fun contests that take place on every round trip of the bay with one being held later on today.” She explained, picking up three separate leaflets that contained information and rules for each division. “Wow…I never knew you could pack so much into just one boat.” Murmured Ash. “Well, I think I’ll definitely enter the main tournament cos we’re here until Saffron City. What about you Misty?” “I dunno...can I come back to you later Nurse Joy?” she asked, looking up from the leaflet with the information about the contests. “Of course you may. But please remember that there are only two more hours until the registration for today’s contest closes. The contest itself takes part in the evening, starting the appeals at 6pm.” Glancing up at the clock and noting the time of ten o’clock the two left their pokemon at the centre to have fun and play in the playpen while they grabbed a bite to eat. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “You know,” said Ash though a mouthful of food, “you should enter the contest today.” “Don’t be so ridiculous! I’ve never even seen one before.” She scoffed back. “So? I’ve seen loads while travelling with May; it’s really not that hard. You’d do great in a contest as it’s basically just performing with your pokemon and you’ve done loads of that when doing shows for your sisters. Plus all the information and rules is written down here.” He replied. “Hmm I dunno…there must be loads of people here who are really skilled and I’d never get past the appeal stage.” “Nonsense. You could use Azurill for the appeal, she’d be fantastic in front of an audience as she’s so cute.” He said while leafing through the little book with details of the contest. “You wouldn’t even have to battle with her if you don’t want to as you can change your pokemon between the appeal and battling stage. Go on, what do you have to lose?” Smiling she looked him in the eye and asked “Do you really think I could do it?” “Definitely.” “Thanks Ash…that means a lot” she smiled at him again, already formulating ideas for her appeal stage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “There we go Misty, you’re all signed up for the contest today. It will take place on the second deck in the main contest auditorium,” beamed the cheerful Nurse Joy. “All you pokemon are in perfect shape and any could do well in the contest.” She handed back both trainers their pokemon along with Pikachu who received his packet of ketchup from Ash with great thanks, tearing into the little packed with razor sharp fangs. “Thank you very much Nurse Joy. I suppose I should start working on an appeal. Is there anywhere I can practise training?” Misty asked once Azurill was let out of her ball to rest in her arms. “Yes, we have various training areas all over the ship. The closest one is just down the hall way on your left.” Directed Nurse Joy. “Thank you. Well, we’ll see you later.” Said Misty as she followed Ash and Pikachu out of the centre and down the corridor, stopping at the correct doorway. Entering the training room, the observed other trainers, mostly coordinators with their pokemon, either partaking in battles with each other or practising appeals in a specially designated area. The battle arenas were of the plain variety with lines to mark out the centre of the field and the boxes for trainers to stand in. Deciding to work on her appeal first, Misty made her way over to the second half of the room where numerous other trainers were practising their fantastic skills. She could feel her confidence seeping away as she watched a Hoppip let out two streams of powder, one yellow and one purple before grasping the two clouds with it’s confusion and sending a spiral to the ceiling around itself and merging the two in a dazzling display of glitter. An Arbok fired out large droplets of poison before spearing each drop with a poison sting. A Likitung sent out a ball of water from a water pulse attack, froze it with an ice beam before shattering it completely with the use of hidden power. ‘What am I doing here?’ she found herself thinking, retreating to the corner in an attempt to remain unseen. “Hey, it’s ok Misty. You’re only doing this for fun. What’s the point in even trying if not for fun?” supported Ash with a smile. She attempted to return the gesture but found her face had oddly frozen with fear. “Azu! Azu Azurill!” chirruped the little blue pokemon from her shoulder with her body on one side and her tail looped around her trainer’s neck for her tail to rest on the other shoulder. “Alright then, let’s give it a go.” She tried another smile as Azurill leapt boldly from her shoulder onto the ground and bounced forward on her tail, awaiting instruction. ‘Let’s see…’ she began thinking ‘What can we try that will capture the audience and the judges…’ “Azurill,” she began, “start with your bubble attack.” The little pokemon opened her mouth and let out a beautiful stream of blue bubbles. “Now try and hit with all with your swift attack!” a plan was beginning to formulate as her baby pokemon hit every bubble with a single golden star, bursting each one in a small fountain of sparkles. The result was beautiful as the tiny droplets of water from each bubble fell around Azurill as she bounced excitedly on her tail. “See Misty, I told you you could come up with something. If that appeal doesn’t get you through to the next round, then nothing will.” Praised Ash, a smile over his face while Pikachu jumped excitedly on his head, clapping his hands. “Thanks Ash, but I really don’t think so…actually, would you mind leaving us to work on the appeal a little on our own?” An idea had just formed in her mind of an appeal she really wanted to come up with that could be a complete surprise for Ash in the actual competition. “Well, ok then Misty…” he replied, a puzzled look on his face. ‘Girls are strange things…’ he thought to himself as he made his way to the door, ‘one minute you have to reassure them through every step, the next they want you to leave them alone…’ Pausing at the doorway, he took one last look at Misty as she was conversing with Azurill and went down the corridor, up to the main deck. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen to the first contest of the S.S. Lily’s round trip from Vermillion to Vermillion.” Announced the MC, Jillian. Her brown hair was set in a display of curls that bounced with every step she took. Her blue blouse and skirt outfit enhanced her figure and floated about her as if a shroud. “This evening promised to dazzle and amaze you with appeals and battles of infinite beauty between our selection of coordinators.” She paused a moment for the crowd to cheer their enthusiasm. “And without further ado, let me introduce to you all our panel of judges. Firstly, we have Dr Jones, our chief judge for every contest this ship holds. Secondly Miss Parsons the ships captain and our very own Nurse Joy!” Each judge waved his or her hand to their introduction, smiling at the enthusiastic audience. “And now we have our first coordinator, Crystal!” A young girl with blonde hair walked out from backstage, a pokeball clutched tightly in her hand. Releasing the pokemon inside she began the contest off with an amazing display of fire from her Quilava to give her a total of 24.3. Ash continued to watch the entrants with mild interest as numerous participants showed off their pokemon’s skills and beauty with attacks he barely knew existed. Pikachu was completely restless and went from his head, to his shoulder, to his lap and back to his head in an endless cycle after each performance. “Pikachu” he grasped the being around the waist, “I’m nervous to see Misty and Azurill as well, but will you please calm down!” He received a cheeky smile and a “Pika!” from his pokemon as he finally decided to rest on his left shoulder. “And now, let me introduce to you all, in her first contest, Misty from Cerulean City!” Jillian’s hair bounced further as she introduced the person Ash was most looking forward to seeing. Nervously stepping on to the stage, panic and fear spread through Misty, evaporating every ounce of confidence she had. Looking around like a stantler caught in the headlights of an oncoming car, she looked straight into the audience. The first thing she saw was Pikachu waving frantically from Ash’s head with a large grin on his face. Looking directly down, her eyes locked with Ash’s as he gave her a grin that sent her confidence levels soaring again. As a smile spread across her face, she jumped into the air and performed an elegant swirl to release and call upon her appeal pokemon. “Azurill!” cried the little pokemon as she emerged in a flash of white, performed a summersault in mid air to land on her tail and bounce of the ground a few times before coming to rest. Her little face was ecstatic with all the applause and coos of cuteness she was receiving. “Azurill, use your bubbles!” commanded Misty. Taking in a deep breath, the little pokemon expelled a long stream of bubbles to hang in the air, bouncing on her tail on each bubble to the top of the ceiling as instructed. “Now use charm, followed up by swift!” Standing on the highest bubble, Azurill looked directly down to the floor to release a stream of beautiful red hearts that exploded when coming into contact with each bubble, showering her trainer in a red and blue sparkling mist. To finish up, she leapt from her bubble to land on Misty’s head and send out a stream of gold stars that went up and showered down around the two in the continuing red and blue cloud. The audience went wild with such a beautiful appeal and the two performers beamed as they took their bows and stood to the side to await their scores. Clutching onto Azurill, she waited nervously for their comments. “The incorporation of yourself into the appeal was truly unique!” said Dr Jones as the microphone was presented to him. “Yes, and using the charm from above was wonderful use of two different heights.” Complimented Miss Parsons. “It was a picture of beauty.” Finished Nurse Joy with a smile. “Thank you for your wonderful words judges, now please present your total score!” The main screen over the stage went blank and numbers flashed to finally stop at a highly respectable score of 27.3. Ecstatic with her score Misty cuddled her pokemon even tighter and looked into the crowd again for her travelling companion. But he had vanished, along with Pikachu. Her happiness fading slightly, she left the stage and passed the next performer, murmuring “Good luck” in response to the trainer’s well done. Not looking where she was going, she bumped into someone standing in the corridor. “Oh, sorry” she looked up and giggled when she saw it was Ash as he pretended to faint from their collision. Laughing together, Ash brought her into a big hug and whispered “Well done, I told you you could do it!” “Thank you Ash, that means a lot.” Together they made their way back to the waiting room to watch the other coordinators perform with their pokemon. Soon it was time to announce the four people who would go on to the semi-finals for a one on one battle with the normal five minute time limit. “Well Ladies and Gentlemen; please turn your attention to the main screens to see who will be our lucky semi-finalists who will have the chance to progress on to the finals for the ribbon.” The pictures of every participant flashed over the four slots and one by one, each picture went still. First was a boy with messy purple hair and a black jacket. The next was a young girl with blonde hair and cute pig tails and a pink dress. The third semi-finalist was a middle aged woman with blue hair in a neat bob, held back by a red clip. The fourth and final finalist was, of course, Misty. “Well Mist, that’s the first stage.” Said Ash over the groans of other trainers who hadn’t made it. “Now it’s time for some battles. And you’re up first.” He added in response to the voice of the MC over the sound system. “I’m going to go back to the stands. Good luck and I’ll see you after your battle.” He and Misty made their way out of the trainer’s room to separate in the corridor. “Oh Ash, would you mind looking after Azurill for me during the battle?” she turned quickly and began to unwind the pokemon’s tail from around her neck. “I just don’t want her to get in the way during the battle.” “Or course. Come here Azurill.” Giving Misty another smile of good fortune, Ash departed for the stands again with Pikachu on his shoulder and Azurill in his arms. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Can we have five minutes on the clock please!” asked Jillian to no one in particular. Immediately the timer on the main screen read 5 minutes, waiting her signal to begin the count down. “This is the first semi-final match between Misty from Cerulean City and Tannu from Slateport City. Begin!” The crowd cheered on the two coordinators as they released their pokemon. Tannu, the young boy with messy purple hair introduced his Tangela, it’s grassy vines wiggling around it as it moved and jumped into the air once released from the confines of it’s ball. “Go Gyarados!” she released her giant blue lizard onto the arena to tower over it’s opponent and gave a deafening roar once released. The clock began to tick down. “Alright Tangela, let’s start off this match with your stun spore!” commanded Tannu, a grin smacked on his face at the type advantage he had. “Gyarados, blow it right back with your water gun!” instructed Misty, waiting for the opportune moment to truly strike and show off her pokemon’s ability. Tannu’s points took a hit as the stun spore was dissolved in the surge of water that leapt from Gyarados’s mouth, hitting Tangela in the process. “Tangela, use your vine whip and smack it around the face!” The grass pokemon snapped out it’s vines faster than expected and grasped Gyarados by it’s eyebrow. “Alright, now swing yourself onto it’s head and use your poison power!” yelled Tannu, his face twisted with malice. “Gyarados, swat it back with your tail.” The sea snake’s large tail hit it’s mark straight into Tangela’s face. Tangela was thrown right across the arena to land with a thump at Tannu’s feet. “Get up! You can do better than that!” berated it’s trainer, fury all over his face. “Get back on your feet and use sunny day.” Propelling itself up with it’s vines, the tendrilled pokemon sent a fake sun into the air, increasing the lighting by ten fold and making the crowd squint. “Charge up your Solar Beam!” “Perfect” said Misty to herself, this was exactly the moment she was waiting for. “Gyarados, use your flame thrower and knock it right out of the contest!” She performed this last command with a spin and a flick of her wrist. All colour drained from her opponents face once that last command was issued. ‘How could a Gyarados know flamethrower!’ His Tangela just didn’t have enough time to charge up it’s solar beam, even with the added light from sunny day. It was engulfed in fiery orange flames and collapsed on the ground as three identical crosses showed on the judges panels. “Well, with a stunning display of battling, Misty advances to the next round.” Announced Jillian as Misty gave the crowd a wave, returned Gyarados and retreated backstage to meet Ash. “Misty that was truly fantastic!” cried Ash once she came into view. “Pika pikachupi!” added Pikachu, leaping into her arms to be shortly joined by Azurill. “Thanks everyone, I’m glad you agree.” She beamed back at the others. “Shall we go to the wai-“ BOOM! The noise reverberated throughout the whole ship, sending people tumbling to the ground or out of their seats. Falling forward, Misty’s abrupt meeting with the floor was only halted by Ash as he remained able to stay on his feet, catching her at the last moment. Their fleeting eye lock was broken a people came pouring out of the coordinators waiting room. “Please do not panic.” Spoke a voice from above their heads over the PA system. “Could all passengers with very strong water types please come to the bow of the ship on the main deck while can other passengers please return to their cabins. Thank you.” There was a flurry of movement by people either heading for their cabins, the pokemon centre or for the top deck. Grasping Misty’s hand, Ash directed her and the two pokemon into the steady flow of people onto the main deck. All around them people were questioning what in Kanto had caused the ship to shake in such a violent way. “What’s the matter Officer Jenny?” asked Ash when they were on the top deck as she went striding past. “Well, it seems that the ship had angered some passing Tentacool and Tentacruel and one large one decided to attack the ship. The propellers have been disabled so the water pokemon may be required to help pull us to land.” She informed before being called away again. “Wow…doesn’t look like we’ll have the final for the contest for a while then.” Mused Ash as they fought for a place on the rails. The entire top deck was a hive of activity as the crew and other passengers released their large pokemon into the water, throwing down loops of rope afterwards to grasp in their teeth of loop around their bodies. It was darkness all around when removed from the many lights that had been erected to allow the crew to see and the stars sparkled in the sky above. Sending her Gyarados into the water, Misty grasped hold of a rope and sent it flying into the air that Gyarados caught neatly in his teeth. Securing the other end of the rope to the ship, she ordered her pokemon to join the gathering throng of pokemon at the head of the ship. With Gyarados’ help, the ship began inching forwards, slowly gathering speed. At the head of all the pokemon was the ship’s captain, Miss Jones, standing on her own Blastoise that directed the pokemon towards the shore and into the harbour of the local town. Luckily it was Huyantai Town, a large port many years ago, now deserted but with berths large enough to hold the gigantic ship. Dawn was beginning to show its pale tendrils of light over the scene just as the captain’s Blastiose made it to the shore, immediately stopping and ordering the other pokemon to help slow down the ship’s progress to come to a gentle stop next to the pier. Exhausted, all the pokemon used to pull the ship through the night looked up for their trainers and felt relief relax through them once they were returned to their pokeballs for a good long rest. “Thank you to everyone who donated a pokemon to help pull the ship into the harbour.” Said captain Parsons over the PA system. “Unfortunately as many of you know, our engines were disabled and this ship will now be out of service for some time. The next ferry has been informed of this problem and will be taking all passengers from Fuchsia City with valid tickets from this ship. A bus shuttle service should soon be running for those who are unable to walk to the city in time. In the mean time, everyone is invited to remain on the ship to sleep what remains of the night away in their cabins but we do ask for all passengers to have left the ship by noon. Thank you.” Yawning, Ash turned to the sleepy Misty beside him. “Shall we go back to our cabin then and sleep before setting out for Fuchsia?” “Yeah,” she stifled a yawn, heading for the stairs down to their cabin. “Do you want to challenge Koga while we’re here? It will save us searching for the gym later on in the year.” “Might do.” He replied, holding the door open for her. Silently they walked down a further flight of steps and along the corridor, coming to rest outside their cabin. Without even bothering to change into their night clothes the two toppled into their beds. “I bet you with you hadn’t unpacked all your stuff now.” Chuckled Ash before sleep overtook him. “Oh shut up.” She replied before she too fell into a slumber. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~