Chương 68: The S.S. Anne

Ash was walking towards the hotel he was staying at over the past days, the hotel in particular was one of the ones owned by Surge who had a surprising monopoly in the town, so he was given a room for free.

Though his friends were pestering him as he walked, "What do you mean your arm is in a cast!"

"Nothing happened."

"You're bandaged like a mummy!"

"Nothing happened."

"Your abdomen is covered in bruises."

"Look Nothing happened OK now come on we can get a room here, Surge has been covering most of my costs of living so you guys can just grab a room". Ash said going into a hotel complex near the Gym.

Going inside there was a receptionist who greeted them. When she saw his bandages she sighed, "Was it Surge related?"

"It was Surge-related"

The receptionist girl sighed, "Well like always everything is on us, and I see you have some friends. Should I prepare some rooms for them?"

But immediately when Ash looked back to talk to everyone the only thing left of Brock was a blinking outline, then looking back Brock was already kneeling at the receptionist.

"I only want one room a r-" Before he could finish his sentence Ash and Misty Covered his mouth and pulled him back.

"Brock, listen can you dial it back just a little bit you are dancing on the line between flirting and harassment, just a little bit I don't want to pay for your bail," Ash told him while Misty continued holding him.

Ash also turned to the reception, "Yes a room for everyone I'll take Brock here to the one next to my room the girls can choose whichever they want OK."

Before anyone said anything Ash grabbed Brock and dragged him away, everyone looked at them then the receptionist showed Misty and Yellow to their rooms.

The night and the next day passed by without much happening, they just caught up on everything they did, Brock just spilled the beans on everything he did, Yellow told the group her experience training with her uncle, Misty told them about their Parents coming back and making her train, and Ash talked about the side journey he did and checked his birds

–

[Fearow (M)]

[Nature:Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)]

[Alpha mutation - gain a permanent +1 to Spe and Atk]

[Pidgeotto (M)]

[Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)]

–.

Obviously, they left out some things, except Brock, about the whole thing but they did Ask about the little Charmander. Ash smiled and put his finger on his mouth, "Maybe you'll see when we get to the SS Anne."

At that moment they finally noticed his new ring on his finger, "Hey Ash what's with the ring?"

"Oh yeah kinda forgot about it, well let's just say it was a gift, I don't know anything about it but hey at least it looks nice," Ash said chuckling.

That explanation seemed good enough for them so they dropped it and the day of the cruise came.

They stood out in front of the Ship, Ash could take the Cast off but he kept it on for dramatic effect. Surge was also walking with them onto the ship as everyone was looking at the large ship, except Brock who was looking at all the girls.

Ash was looking over to the side, he didn't see Jessie and James dressed as schoolgirls passing out tickets but he did see some girls wearing sailor outfits who presumably were hired to hand out a handful of tickets, as far as he could tell they weren't with team rocket they were probably hired by the League to fill the ship with more people.

They got on the ship at around 7:00, they were early the ship would be leaving in 2 hours at 9:00 so they got first pick of rooms, thankfully they didn't have to bunk and the room they chose was one of the bigger ones, they could all easily sleep on the bed if they wanted/needed to, thankfully they didn't.

Surge pulled them all aside before anything, "Alright I'm going on ahead to make some preparations you guys can go do whatever you want, also there's no dress code but if you want you can change, I really don't care." Surge then walked away leaving them to think.

Ash sighed and looked at everyone, "Be honest did any of you bring anything that could remotely be considered 'fancy'" Misty was going to raise her hand before, "Fancy Swimsuits don't count."

When none said anything Ash sighed again, "Next time you go shopping I'm going to buy you guys more than 1 pair of clothes, but whatever let's go look around this is the most famous ship."

Yellow seemed to be the most excited looking over even though the Ship wasn't moving yet, "I wonder what we can do here. I've never been on a cruise before, I've barely seen boats before."

Brock was equally as excited, not because of the ship, but because of all of the beautiful women wearing eccentric clothes.

Misty was walking by Ash keeping her composure, "I can't believe Brock, he can't just calm down sometimes I wonder who the youngest is, Yellow I get but still maybe she shouldn't be so hyper."

Ash leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I hear Lorelei of the Elite 4 is coming-" Before he could even finish the words, 'Lorelei' was enough to make her Join Yellow in acting like they've never been outside.

Ash just followed them leading to the sundeck of the ship where there was a banquet, and despite not everyone having arrived yet there still was a large amount of People around.

Ash walked around on his own looking at the People seeing if he could find any Team Rocket agents, he didn't find anyone who obviously was part of Team Rocket he did see a girl with a kimono who was socializing, and Ash recognized her.

'That's the Bellsprout girl, what was her name? I think it was Jeanette. She is here Oh boy it's going to be one of those BS plotlines isn't it.' Ash though also walked away quickly before he was seen, but he bumped into someone else.

He literally bumped into a boy with a blue hat and T-shirt, behind him was also a Pikachu which Ash also recognized as Travis, the one boy who looked like Ash if you squint hard.

"Oh I'm sorry are you Ok?" Travis said quickly getting up and apologizing since he made an assumption due to Ash's cast.

"It's fine, so what brings you to the S.S Anne," Ash said furiously looking for a chance to keep moving while the two Pikachus started making faces with each other.

"Oh right I should introduce myself, I'm Travis, I come from Kumquat Island and this is my partner Pikachu."

"I'm Ash and I also started with Pikachu, what a coincidence."

"That's Cool, oh right I won my ticket in a raffle, they picked me up in the Orange Archipelago, that's why so many people are here despite only docking an hour ago."

"Well that is interesting," Ash said looking at his non-existing watch, "Sorry I need to go meet up with some friends, enjoy the cruise maybe we'll meet again."

Ash speed walked away looking around and also seeing some people he recognized, if he didn't have his Eidetic memory he wouldn't even know half of these people.

There was a man in a trenchcoat named Giant, Dario flexing his Dodrio, a young purple-haired girl Yumi, and more. But the ones that surprised him the most were Ritchie and Otoshi.

Ash went to sit at a table since seeing everything made him dizzy, when suddenly 2 people sat next to him looking at the noise he saw 2 familiar faces being Samurai and A.J..

"Hey there, fancy seeing you here, how have you been?" A.J. said

Ash blinked, "You 2 are here, how and when."

"I'm also surprised A.J. also met you, but we met up after we both earned our first badge there we battled and after we ended in a draw we traveled together to one day settle our battle. As for why we are here we were aiming to fight the lieutenant but the Gym was closed, then we were approached by a girl who gave us a ticket." Samurai said.

"She was totally into me, why else would she give me a ticket for the S.S Anne," A.J. said, nodding to himself.

"Keep telling yourself that we only agreed after hearing about the tournament," Samurai said, putting his hand on his sheath.

"Hey, bud that sword may be a model but don't pull it out you will be thrown off the ship," Ash said, putting a finger on the hilt and pushing the sword back into the sheath.

Samurai blinked and looked embarrassed again, "So what brought you here and where is that girl you were traveling with?"

"Well after I beat the lieutenant he gave me a bunch of tickets so we came on. she is here, she is just looking around."

"I assume your other friends are also here," A.J. asked and Ash nodded.

Before they continued catching up Ash's arm was grabbed looking back there was a girl with a sailor outfit similar to the ones outside the ship.

"Excuse me Sr we need to speak to you about your companions."

Ash sighed and got up and was dragged off by the girl, when they were out of sight the girl turned to him and took off her hat revealing Green again, "Hey miss me."

Ash looked unfazed, "I wish I could say I didn't expect this but I grew up with you, I also know what your voice sounds like."

"Wow, I can't believe it creepy much, Either way what do you think of this uniform I borrowed from the employees?" Green said, doing a small pose.

"Well besides the fact I know that uniform isn't the only thing you took, and the probably 3 wallets you have in your pocket, you look good," Ash said, giving her a thumbs up.

"Wow close I have 4, but thank you, that cast you have really brings out the color of your eyes."

"Yeah I worked real hard and it just happened so not much I can do about it except wait. But anyway what have you been doing while we were gone?"

"What else, train and make money, also beat Surge after I reaped the rewards from your efforts." Green said as a waiter walked by, "Also make that 5."

Ash shook his head, "What am I going to do with you, whatever you do your own thing just leave me out of it." Ash said walking away.

He walked around looking for his friends. He was led by the sounds of battle looking at the place he saw the Gentleman from the Anime battling Yellow of all People, Yellow was using Dody vs his Rattata.

Ash tried to approach before he felt a hand on his shoulder, "I guess this is a thing now" before he was pulled back which he didn't bother resisting. When he stopped he looked up and saw Gary grinning.

"Sup Gary,"

"Sup, nice cast really suits you," Gary said letting go of Ash

"Green already said try being original, anyway how'd you get here?"

"I bought a bunch of tickets, you?"

"Remember Surge, yeah he gave me a bunch, he was going to give them to you but you stormed out."

Gary looked like he wanted to scream he was about to ask something but Ash beat him to it.

"I know what you want to say and the answer is enough."

Gary took a deep breath and walked off, presumably to yell in a corner. His cheerleaders who were literally acting as background characters followed him.

Ash finally walked over to the battle where Yellow was about to claim victory until the Gentleman returned his Rat and wiped some sweat from his head, "Great battle but let's call it a draw"

Ash was annoyed and so was everyone else since it was clear Yellow was going to win so Ash started something, "Oh brother this guy stinks"

"Booooo" and everyone started joining in.