Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Outlaw Star or anything affiliated with said show.


The next morning Jim blearily stumbled out of bed, silently cursing the new game he'd ended up buying the day before. Sure the game had looked interesting, but if he'd known how addicting the thing was he never would've gotten it. He'd been up until nearly six o-clock in the morning trying to finish all the little side quests and beat the game. Damn RPG's.

Rubbing a hand over his eyes, he yawned and thought about curling back under his covers for a few more hours when a small card poking off the edge of his bedside table made him pause. Glancing at the clock and seeing that it was well after two in the afternoon, Jim pushed himself out of bed and grabbed his phone from under a pile of parts magazines.

He hit the numbers listed on the card and then waited patiently for a voice on the other end to pick up. What he got was the answering machine. "Hey Lisa, this is Jim. I ran into you yesterday at Fei Sei's. Anyway, I've been thinking about your offer and I'd like to take you up on it…if it's still available that is. Call me back a-."

Suddenly there was a very chipper voice on the other line. "Jim buddy, so glad you called." Lisa's voice said. "And yes the offer is still good. In fact, I'll be here for the next several hours if you'd like to come have a tour of the place. There's also some paperwork that needs to be filled out, boring though it may be it still has to be done, and I'll need to give you the rules handbook and our practice schedule."

Eyeing his state of undress, he'd fallen into bed in nothing but his boxers, Jim sat up and began searching for some clothes. "Uh, sure. I can be there in a half hour." He said, grinning triumphantly when he found a clean dark blue shirt under one of the blankets he'd kicked off in his sleep.

"I'll meet you in the front lobby then. See you soon!"

Tossing the phone back on the table, Jim pulled a pair of grey cargo pants out of his drawer and headed to the bathroom for a quick shower. Ten minutes later he was out the door, a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and his jacket in the other.

The rec center was only about a mile away, and Jim made it there in just under fifteen minutes since he'd chosen to take several back alleys instead of dealing with the busy afternoon streets. Staring up at the huge construct, it had at least four different buildings all connected together by the main lobby area and each one was at least five stories high, Jim couldn't help but be in awe. The entire place was made of intricately connected pieces of metal and glass and looked more like something you'd find in an art museum than on a main street.

Walking down the stone path that lead to the front doors, Jim spotted at least three different fountains in the open courtyard he was walking through and what appeared to be an outdoor tanning salon…not that he'd ever been to one, but he'd seen pictures. By the time he'd reached the door, he was beginning to think that maybe he'd made a big mistake. A fancy place like this had to be filled with snobs which meant he was likely to find himself on a team filled with spoiled rich kids. Suddenly the door was pulled open and he found himself looking up into Lisa's smiling face.

"Jim, you're early. Good." Lisa said as she grabbed his hand and began pulling him inside. "Welcome to the Late Summer Moons Resort and Recreation Center. They've got everything you need for…well, just about everything. I'm not joking either, there's a tennis court, a climbing wall, a bike trail, and even a place to hanglide here."

As Lisa rambled on about all the different amenities, it was obvious that she was an employee there, Jim looked around the lavishly decorated lobby area. There were expensive leather couches and chairs spread out in several areas, fancy pictures hanging everywhere, and even a waterfall on one of the walls. Then he noticed something peculiar about some of the guests. "Hey, what's up with all the suits?" Jim asked curiously. "I thought this was supposed to be a resort, not an office building."

"Oh those are probably just Mr. Luo's bodyguards." Lisa replied offhandedly. "He stops in every month or so to see how the place is doing and to sit in on employee meetings."

Jim paled slightly at the name. "…Fred Luo?"

"Of course. Didn't you know he owned this place?"

Ignoring the question when he caught sight of a familiar head of black hair, Jim immediately ducked behind the nearest thing he could find that would hide him…which just so happened to be Lisa. "Crap, how did I not know that?" He muttered to himself as he continued to use the woman in front of him as cover.

Lisa raised an eyebrow before shaking her head at Jim's behavior. "I take it you know the man then?" She asked, chuckling when she felt him nod into her back. "Well that explains the reaction then. I've personally never met the guy, but I hear he's quite…eccentric."

"That's the understatement of the century." Jim said with a snort. "The man's certifiable."

"Good to know." Watching as the men in suits disappeared with the black haired man between them, Lisa turned her head and glanced over her shoulder. "You can come out now; the big scary man is gone." She said with a smirk.

Stepping back, Jim ran a hand through his hair and pretended his cheeks hadn't turned a bright shade of red. "Ehem, yes, well I believe you mentioned something about paperwork."

"You're absolutely right. Let's go get the boring stuff done so I can show you the real treasure of this place…the pool!" Smiling, Lisa took Jim's hand once more and led him towards a door on the left side of the front desk.

Apparently Fred had spared no expense when building the place because even the doors were fancy. They were metal with gold piping running along the edges, had flower images inlaid into the material, and slid open automatically when they neared them. Jim wanted to get a better look at some of the designs, they were quite interesting flowers, probably from exotic worlds, but a sharp tug on his wrist had him stumbling after Lisa before he had a chance.

Immediately after walking through the doors, Lisa turned right and headed down one of the three hallways the door led to, entering the second door on the left. She pulled out a chair in front of the desk that sat near the far wall and motioned for Jim to take a seat before sitting down behind her desk. Sliding her chair forward, she opened the top drawer and pulled out a packet and several files. "Okay, here we have the rulebook, read that in your free time to familiarize yourself with what the judges are looking for, and this is our practice schedule." She said, pushing a small booklet and spreadsheet across the desk towards Jim.

Grabbing the schedule off the desk, Jim looked it over quickly. "So you guys run drills two times a day during the week for two hours, and one four hour session on Saturdays?" He asked, continuing when she nodded. "That must be exhausting with all the traveling back and forth."

"Actually, we stay at the resort during tournament weeks. It makes things easier for everyone. During the off weeks, our training times are cut in half so the students have time for school and other activities." Lisa replied. Digging through one of the files, she pulled out several forms and handed them over as well. "These are the legal forms you have to sign in order to swim here. They all say basically the same thing; you won't hold the resort liable if anything happens to you, blah, blah, blah."

Nodding, Jim glanced through the pages and set them down next to the schedule. "So these are for the resort, what do I need to sign for the team?"

"Ah, yes. That would be these." Sliding three more papers over, she continued. "The top one is all about our policies; no hitting, swearing, fighting, cheating, etc. The second one is for your personal information; emergency contact, allergies, etc. And the last one is the agreement to join the swim team." Holding up a pen, Lisa smiled. "Go ahead and read through them and I'll be back in a few minutes to see how things are going." Standing up, she looked Jim up and down and then gave a quick nod before turning to leave the room.

Jim stared at the sheets of paper in front of him and began the arduous task of reading through everything. Minutes ticked by and one page was set down and another picked up. By the time Lisa came back in, Jim had managed to complete all but the last piece of paper, and he was nearly done with that as well.

"Good, I see you're almost finished there." Lisa said as she placed a small paper bag on the desk and sat back down.

"Yep, just two more things to fill out and…done." Jim replied as he set the pen down, stacked the papers together and held them up in the air.

"Congrats." Lisa said as she gathered up the papers and moved to put them in a file cabinet behind her desk. "You're now officially a member of the Late Summer Moon's swim team." Turning back around, she held out two small cards. "Here's your membership card, it's for a whole year as promised, and this is your room key."

"Room key?" Jim questioned, taking the cards and shoving them in his pocket.

Lisa nodded. "Yes. As I said earlier all team members stay at the resort during tournaments, and we just started one a few days ago."

"Wait a minute, I thought you said I was only needed for a small match between one other team. You never mentioned a tournament." Jim said with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Would you relax." Lisa said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at his childishness. "I told you the truth; we only need you for our match against the Heifong Country Club's team. However, our match against them is part of a much larger tournament that takes place over the next three weeks. If you decide to stick around we could definitely use your help, but you don't have to."

"…oh, I see." Rubbing the back of his head, Jim looked down embarrassedly.

Sighing, Lisa walked around her desk and leaned down in front of Jim. "Look, if you don't want to stay here, it's no big deal. We just find it nice to have our stuff so close during our busy training weeks." Pausing, she smiled. "And did I mention that all the amenities are free…including room service and the fabulous five-star restaurant on the roof."

At the mention of free food, Jim looked up. "What about cleaning and laundry?" He asked curiously.

"Taken care of as well."

After hearing all that, it didn't take Jim long to make a decision. "So when can I move in?"

Lisa glanced at the clock on the wall before answering. "Since the afternoon drills are at 6pm you should have plenty of time to get back to your place, grab your stuff, get back here, and get settled in before meeting everyone at the pool."

Seeing as it was well after 3pm, Jim stood up and tipped his head in farewell. "Then I guess I'll be going now."

"Wait." Lisa called out, grabbing the paper bag off her desk. "You should probably…oh, never mind. I'll put your suit in your room for when you get back, and you can see the pool later. Right now you should probably just focus on getting your things."

"Alright." Jim said as he turned back to the door.

As the door was pulled open, Lisa said one final thing. "Don't forget, practice is at 6pm and anyone late has to swim laps!"

"Got it." Waving over his shoulder, Jim headed back out the way they'd come in. Making his way back to the front doors, he stepped out into the fresh air and stretched with a smile. He'd had no intention of joining a swim team, but it was a great way to pass the time while the rest of the crew was off doing their own things. And the fact that he got a yearlong membership to the resort Gene had been dying to go to since it was opened, and a free stay in the place as well…that just made things all the better.

He made the trip back to his place in a kind of daze, his thoughts focused on what he wanted to bring, and what kind of foods they'd have available for him to try at the fancy restaurant. Don't get him wrong, Mel was a great cook, now anyway, but the idea of getting to eat expensive dishes, especially one's he'd normally never even get to look at, well, let's just say he was already working up quite an appetite.

Throwing open the door to the flat, Jim raced inside and began tossing things inside a small red bag he kept under his bed. It wouldn't hold much, just a few days worth of clothing and his personal hygiene stuff, but it wasn't like he was going to be gone for all that long, and he was close by if he really needed something.

Glancing around his room, he decided to at least make his bed before leaving and set his bag down to get to work. Pulling up the comforter, he tucked it under the mattress and straightened his pillow. Brushing off his hands, Jim was about to grab his bag when he caught sight of the mess of clothes spread across the floor. He was tempted to leave them there and deal with it later, but after looking at the clock and seeing that he still had a little time, figured he may as well get it over with.

o o o o o

A half hour later Jim hung up the last of his shirts and nodded his head at what he'd accomplished. Not a single thing was out of place, all his clothes had been ironed, folded and put away, and he'd even done a quick vacuuming job. Satisfied, he grabbed his bag and threw the strap over his shoulder on his way to the door. It was now nearly five and he still needed to get settled into his temporary room.

After locking up Jim made his way back towards the resort, absently humming a tune he'd heard on some random commercial a few days ago. This time he made it there in under ten minutes, and after walking through the glass doors, he looked around the place with a smile. Which immediately turned to a frown when he realized that although he did have a room key…he had no clue as to which room it belonged to. Sighing, he pulled the card out of his pocket and began heading to the counter to ask the lady behind the desk for help.

He made it five and a half steps when a thought occurred to him and he quickly turned the card over. Sure enough, on the back was the number D-308 written in gold. Now that that dilemma had been dealt with, all he had to do was figure out what the D stood for. Starting towards the desk again, he caught sight of a directory on the wall a few feet away and turned towards it instead.

He scanned through the different listings, the top half was reserved for all the recreational places and such, until he finally found what he was searching for. Apparently the letters next to the room numbers signified which building the room was in. According to the map, D building was on the opposite side of his current location. Turning around, he saw an elevator on the other wall labeled D and walked over to it.

While waiting for the doors to open, Jim checked the lobby clock and was pleased to see he still had a little less than an hour before practice started for the evening. While checking out the directory, he'd found out that the pool was located a few doors down from where Lisa's office was so he knew where he was going. All he needed to do now was find his room, put his stuff away, grab his suit, and head down to meet the team.

Ten minutes and several wrong turns later, someone had decided to hit every button on the elevator and the signs for the room numbers were really confusing, Jim came to a stop outside room D-308. Slipping the card key into the slot, he pushed open the door and his eyes widened at the sight before him. Sure he expected the room to be nice, but this went so far beyond nice it wasn't even in the same galaxy. It was almost like he'd stepped into a room in a royal palace or something.

The room itself was huge, nearly half the size of their flat, and had plush, beige carpeting that looked soft enough to sleep on. There was a king size bed against the left wall with gold and red sheets and five fluffy pillows adorning it. Against the other wall there was a desk with two chairs and a small lamp, a leather couch with a glass coffee table sitting in front of it, and a small kitchenette. Jim was in heaven and he hadn't even looked in the bathroom yet.

Speaking of which, peaking behind the door he spotted a glimpse of a rather large looking tub and stepped inside to get a better look. The bathroom was even nicer than the rest of the room. It had an enormous Jacuzzi tub in the center, with a waterfall shower on the right side of the room and a double sink on the left. The bathroom was larger than his entire room!

Jim pumped his fist in the air and cheered before dropping his bag just outside the bathroom so he could run to the bed. A small paper bag sitting on the foot of the bed stopped him moments before he leapt into the air. Cocking his head curiously, he finally recognized it as the one Lisa had said held his swimsuit and he sat down and pulled it into his lap. "I wonder what color it is." He thought out loud. "It better not be pink."

Reaching inside the bag, he grabbed hold of the article of clothing and pulled it out to get a good look at what he'd be wearing in just a little while. Holding it up, Jim froze as he stared at the small piece of black material in his hand with a look of utter horror on his face. In fact, he was certain he'd have run from the room screaming if he hadn't already signed all the paperwork and moved into the really nice room he was given for the duration of the tournament. Never had he imagined the swimsuit would be a speedo. I mean sure, he'd seen Olympic swimmers wear them, but a league for teens…no.

He sat that way for some time, just staring at the suit in his hands, when he caught sight of the time out of the corner of his eye. Turning to really look at the clock next to the bed, he frowned. More time had passed than he'd thought and if he didn't hurry up he'd end up being late. Then he'd be forced to do laps, which was not something he was looking forward to. Moving his eyes back to the offending piece of cloth, Jim sighed before resigning himself to his fate.

Five minutes later he walked out of his room, a large towel wrapped firmly around his waist, and headed to the elevator that would take him to the pool. Shaking his head, he couldn't help but compare himself to the woman in the ancient Earth song about the polka dotted bikini. How he knew that song…well, everyone has their own little obsessions and his happens to be music.

Hitting the button to call the elevator to his floor, Jim doubled checked his towel to make sure it was securely tied, wouldn't do to have it fall off and show everyone his lack of attire. Looking up when the doors opened, he stepped inside the empty elevator and pressed the button for the first floor before leaning back against the railing as the doors slid shut and the metal contraption began its trek down.

By the time the elevator reached its stop, Jim was beginning to feel a little nervous. Sure he knew what he'd signed up for, and he was in no way shy, but it had finally sunk in that soon he'd have to remove the towel in front of a room full of strangers. Not a very appealing thought to say the least.

He found himself frozen, one foot raised slightly off the floor, and was tempted to turn around and head back to his room. As the doors began to close, Jim shook his head and jumped off the elevator before he could follow through with his thought of running away. He'd never gone back on his word before and he wasn't about to start now.

Walking down the hallway, the elevator he'd taken was on the opposite side of the building from the front desk, Jim followed the signs that pointed to the pool and soon found himself standing right outside large metal doors that smelled of chlorine. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his resolve and pulled the door open so he could step inside.

The first thing he noticed was that there were actually two pools, a smaller one that had two teenagers and several older couples swimming around, and the Olympic sized one Lisa had mentioned. Those took up most of the right side of the large room and what space there was left was lined with lounge chairs, lockers, and a small beverage bar. On the other side were three hot tubs and several doors that led to what he assumed were saunas.

After his quick perusal of the room, Jim made his way to the far side where a group of five kids, all around his age, were swimming laps. Lisa was standing next to the pool, her hair once again pulled back and wearing the same suit he'd seen her in the first time they'd met. Next to her were two other women, a redheaded one who was wearing a light blue bikini and waving her arms around to emphasize whatever it was she was saying, and a brunette with a lavender bikini who nodded her head every few seconds.

Turning his focus back to the kids in the pool, he counted two girls and three boys…four if he counted himself. And sure enough, all the guys were wearing the exact same thing he currently had on underneath his towel. Whining to himself about how unfair it was that the girls got to wear one pieces and he was stuck with a small scrap of fabric, Jim scratched the back of his head nervously when he came to a stop a few feet away from Lisa.

Catching sight of her newest recruit out of the corner of her eye, Lisa turned to face him with a bright smile on her face. "Jim." She said happily. "I see you've made it." Grabbing him by the hand she pulled him to stand in front of the two women she'd just been chatting with. "Amy, Sarah, I'd like you to meet Jim. He's agreed to join us for our match against the Dragons…he's going to be Kyle's replacement."

"Well isn't he a darling." The redhead said as she held out her hand. "I'm Amy, it's nice to meet you."

Jim raised his hand to shake it, but the other woman snatched it out of the air before he could. "And I'm Sarah." The brunette said as she pulled him into a hug. Squeezing him tightly against her chest, Sarah grudgingly released him when Lisa cleared her throat.

Pulling the bright red boy back towards her, Lisa rolled her eyes at the two women who were still cooing over how adorable Jim was. "Okay, enough you two. Why don't you go keep track of the rest of the swimmers times." Giving them a shooing motion with her hand when it looked like they might argue, she turned to face Jim after they walked away. "Sorry about that, they can be a bit…overzealous when they meet new members."

"N-no problem." Jim stuttered slightly, his cheeks still burning red and his eyes glued to the ground as he stood there thoroughly embarrassed.

Chuckling, Lisa placed a hand on his shoulder and led him to one of the chairs that sat next to the pool. "Well now that you've met the other instructors, how about you put down your things and I'll introduce you to your fellow teammates."

With a nod, Jim slipped off his flip-flops under the chair and reached for the towel around his waist. He slowly undid the knot he'd tied on the side and with a deep breath, removed the towel and dropped in on the chair. He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but nothing happened. There were no comments, laughs, nothing.

"Hurry up over there or you'll have to swim laps!" Lisa's voice called out. At some point she'd made her way over to the pool and now everyone appeared to be waiting on him. With as much dignity as he could muster, wearing a speedo was so embarrassing, Jim walked over and stopped at the side of the pool to stand next to Lisa.

"Everyone, this is Jim Hawking. He's going to be swimming with us for the next week or so." Lisa told the group around her. Then starting on the left she began introductions. "The blonde guy at the end is Greg, and next to him are the redheads Trey and Tony, they're brothers in case you couldn't tell. The brunette there is Julia and the little blonde girl next to her is Sasha."

"Hi." Jim said meekly.

"It's nice to meet you, I'm sure we'll be the best of friends." Julia said sweetly and Jim blushed when Trey and Tony snickered behind their hands.

"Alright, since you've all met it's time to get back to work." Lisa cut in before they could start joking around. "I want all of you to do fifteen laps each of backstroke, front crawl, and the butterfly." When the kids looked over at Amy and Sarah to see if they had anything to say, Lisa growled. "Move it!" Looking over at Jim, she raised an eyebrow when she saw that he was still standing there. "Well?"

"Um, yes?" Jim asked hesitantly.

Rolling her eyes, Lisa jerked her thumb at the pool. "You're a part of the team as well so get your butt in the water and start swimming."

Jim was in the pool in seconds, arms and legs working furiously as he tried to catch up with the rest of the team.

o o o o o

Practice seemed to fly by and before he knew it, Lisa was calling them all back to the edge of the pool. Resting his arms on the side, he took several deep breaths and tried to slow his breathing. It had been some time since he'd last been in the water and Lisa turned out to be quite the slave driver. He was certain that every muscle in his body was going to ache tonight.

"Good job today guys." Lisa said as she crouched down closer to eye level. "Some of you managed to cut off a few seconds in your laps, and others…well you'll be getting some extra training later this week."

"So long as Amy's the one putting me through my laps I've got no problem with it." Trey said cheekily, and Tony laughed at his brother's comment.

"I'd much rather work with Sarah, she's so much nicer." Greg added with a grin.

"Oh, that's so sweet of you." Sarah cooed, reaching down and pinching the boy's cheek.

"You know if you'd stop letting them goof off all the time then they wouldn't need the extra training in the first place." Lisa muttered annoyed, but her fellow instructors were too busy chatting with the team about that night's dinner menu to hear her. Shaking her head, she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face.

Sarah and Amy never really did any actual work for the team, choosing instead to lie around and chat, but they always managed to make the mood lighter and keep the kids on track when it was needed so Lisa was willing to overlook their laziness…for the most part anyway.

"Alright everyone, practice is dismissed." Lisa said, smiling at the cheers her team let out as they all jumped out of the pool and raced to the lockers to grab their gear. Returning Sasha's wave, she called out. "I'll see you all tomorrow!" Her fellow instructors left as well and now that it was relatively quiet, there were still a few people relaxing in one of the hot tubs, but the pools were basically empty, Lisa took a deep breath and climbed into the pool to swim a few laps herself.

"Lisa?" Jim questioned, startling her slightly.

Blinking, she looked over and was surprised to find him in the water next to her. "Oh, Jim. I thought you went with the others."

"Actually, I thought I'd go soak in the hot tub for awhile and relax my muscles. What about you, aren't you hungry?"

"Not really, I ate a pretty big lunch. Besides, there's something very calming about being in the water, and after dealing with you guys for several hours, I need a break." Lisa replied with a smile to let him know she was only half serious.

Jim returned the smile before pulling himself out of the pool. "I see, well I'll leave you in peace then." Grabbing his towel off the chair and slipping on his flops, he paused. "I don't think I ever said this, but thanks for asking me to join. I hadn't realized how much I'd missed this."

"We would've had to forfeit if you hadn't decided to swim with us so I really should be thanking you. I mean could you imagine what I'd have to listen to if we weren't able to take on the almighty Dragons, I'd never hear the end of it." Lisa finished with a shake of her head. Jim chuckled and she continued. "You'd best be going though if you want to relax your muscles properly."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you later then."

"Bright and early in the morning." Lisa chirped. "Practice starts at seven!" Grinning at his groan, she sank deeper into the water and pushed away from the wall to begin her first lap.

Rubbing the towel through his hair so it wouldn't fall in his face so much, Jim shook his head as he made his way over to one of the empty hot tubs. "Why does it have to be so early?" He groaned to himself. "Sure I'm a morning person, but even I like to sleep in a little." Dropping his towel a few feet from the edge, he stepped into the steamy water and sighed in content. "So long as I get to enjoy this whenever I want though, who cares."

He soaked for a little more than ten minutes before deciding it was probably time to head back to his room and catch some sleep…right after ordering some delicious room service that is. With that goal in mind, Jim climbed out of the hot tub, wrapped his towel back around his waist, slid back on his flip-flops and began the short trek up to the third floor where a very comfy bed with silky sheets awaited him.

Being as it was nearing nine at night, there weren't many people around so Jim had the elevator to himself. Whistling along with the music they played over the speakers, he stepped out into the hallway as soon as the doors opened on his floor. And practically ran right into Greg.

"Yo Jim, what's up?" Greg asked, and Jim was surprised to see him dressed in black slacks and a dark blue button up dress shirt.

"Just heading back to my room." Jim replied. "What about you, is there a party or something I don't know about?"

Laughing, Greg gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "You're pretty funny, but seriously, are you joining us for dinner or what?"

Jim shook his head. "Actually I'm just going to head back to my room and order in. I'm really tired tonight."

"That's not a surprise. Lisa may be one of the best instructors on Heifong, but her training regimen is crazy. Don't worry though, you get used to it after a few days…either that or you quit." Grinning, Greg glanced at his watch. "Well maybe you can join us next time. I'll see you later buddy." Tipping his head slightly, he headed off down the left hallway.

Turning in the opposite direction, Jim walked down the hall until he reached his room. Slipping inside, he dropped his stuff in a pile by the door and headed straight for the bathroom for a much needed shower. He probably could've used the showers at the pool, but this one had been calling to him since he'd seen it and he just had to try it out.

Fifteen minutes later he stepped out of the bathroom dressed in an overly large white t-shirt and blue flannel pajama bottoms, and collapsed onto the bed. He thought about calling out for some food, but he was far too comfortable to even move his arm. Besides, his stomach wasn't screaming at him so he figured there really wasn't any reason to make the extra effort.

Pulling the pillow closest to him under his head, Jim burrowed into the soft material and closed his eyes. He was sound asleep in minutes.