Chapter 3: PlazaPalooza


As the sun rose on Isle Delfino, one room had some noise. Kurkio muttered in her sleep. "Ash!" she moaned. "Stay with me… You're the one I want… Kazuki's dead… I want to be here…" Her muttering while asleep and constant rolling in bed woke Kazuki and Yuna just as the sun began to peek in their room.

"She's been like this through the night?" asked Yuna.

"Yeah, and most of it may have been seeing Ash at the airport," Kazuki pointed out. "I don't really know what Kuriko saw with him but… didn't you say Ash's too young for Kuriko?" Yuna nodded to the claim.

"I shouldn't necessarily be upset over this but still… It's Kuriko! She's been one of us since Doctor Akai mentioned you having that lineage… not that I care about it." As the morning rose, some of the vacationers reached the dining hall where they had that dinner with everyone. On a large tray on the main table were fried turnovers with edges crimped. Ash came to pick one up while Joey, Rachel, Tenchi, Kari, Edward and Shū saw the turnovers. By the tray were a variety of drinks from coffee to milk to orange juice.

"What do we have there?" asked Joey. "Not breakfast I'd consider."

"Yeah, these are more like snacks than something for the morning," Rachel believed. Shū came to see the turnovers and sniffed them. He broke one in half, finding cream cheese inside the baked thin crust as Conan and Serena entered.

"I see now!" he realized. "These are pastelitos!" Everyone blinked to the name of the turnovers.

"Pastel… what?" stumbled Tenchi. Shū nodded to offering information.

"They're Cuban pastries. It's common in places like Florida. They're filled with cream cheese, guava, pineapple…" The pastelito in hand, Ash bit into it, tasting guava.

"This is good!" he judged while chewing on the pastry. Everyone took a pastelito each with different fillings.

"Ash's right," Kari agreed. "But I wonder who made it?" Studying the pastelitos, Conan had an educated guess.

"I believe it's Diego," he replied. Listening, Serena awed the one who made the pastelitos being the one who gave everyone dessert last night.

"Really?" she wondered. "You're saying Diego's Cuban?" The subject of the matter walked in with a cup of iced coffee to shed some light to the subject.

"American, actually," he corrected. "I take up residence in Florida, but my family roots do come from Guatemala." Taking a sip, Diego refocused on an item he wanted to bring up. "Anyway, Pete refueled the Wiggler Bus so I can take you to Delfino Plaza today." Hearing about their new destination, everyone wanted to go and see the plaza. When the rest of the people woke, they stacked the bus and headed to the plaza. On the bus, May allowed Madison to hold Bulbasaur.

"So, there are Pokémon like this in your world?" questioned Madison with glee. "I mean, Pikachu's cute but…" May laughed, not making a big deal.

"Well, as my dad said, there's a favorite Pokémon for everyone," she referred. Soon enough, the bus stopped at the entrance of the plaza. Diego allowed everyone off to see the plaza firsthand.

"Here we are: Delfino Plaza," he announced. About everyone awed the sight of the plaza, including marble statues of a mustached man in overalls and a plumber's hat and a woman with long hair wearing a crown and dress.

"So that must be Mario and Princess Peach," thought Nodoka. Diego came to see the statues as well.

"Those are. Mario has been protecting the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser and others like the Smithy Gang and X-Nauts." Chad looked up to a pair of towering sculptures in the back holding a golden sun with a crown-like top.

"It could be me but isn't that the same decoration as the airport?" he spoke up. Hearing the tanned teenager, they all saw the sculptures as well.

"Hey, you're right, Chad!" gulped Yugi. Diego heard the two and came to see the gawking pair.

"You referring to the Shine Gate?" he asked. "Or what's up there?" Chad pointed to the sun figure.

"Up near the top! That sun was on the Sunshine Airport sign!" Diego saw the figure and nodded.

"That's a hanging statue of a Shine Sprite." Everyone turned to Diego for a better explanation.

"Shine Sprite?" repeated Alphonse.

"Believe it. Shine Sprites are entities that protect the island and give the residence comfort as they… shine to ward off any darkness." As they walked through the plaza, more Piantas appeared, some wearing brown grass skirts and coconut bikinis and blouses. They also observed more Nokis frolicking about, making some of the vacationers question.

"So, Piantas have both genders, I see," Elie pointed out. "But what's with the palm trees on their heads? It just looks so… weird." Diego would beg to differ.

"Not really. The trees actually provide relief from the heat the sun scorches on them." The information allowed Max to connect Diego's dots.

"I get it!" he figured out. "Shade! That way, the heat is blocked by their leaves so the sun or the UV rays don't affect them." Even Conan and Ichigo awed Max's calculation.

'And I thought I'd be the one to answer that,' Ichigo minded while Rini awed Max's intelligence.

'Nice guess, Max,' nodded a voice within Conan. Diego had more to offer.

"Same could be said about the Nokis, hiding in their shells," Diego added. As they continued on through the plaza, a purple Pianta woman lined up some smoothies and saw the vacationers.

"Hey, everyone!" she greeted while carrying the tray. "How's Isle Delfino going for you?" All answered positively to the asking. "That's wonderful. I figured on a day like this, I could give each one a smoothie. How about it?" The kids gone first and tried the smoothies.

"Hey, this is really good!" awed Sasami.

"So, this is a smoothie?" wondered Shippo. "This would be something Ed can get behind." Edward came to the Pianta who had a cup for him as well.

"Homegrown?" he guessed.

"Indeed. The fruits here are ripe and blend well to create coolant-style smoothies, especially with how hot it gets on the island." Edward took a sip of the smoothie, the taste of pineapple and strawberry started to seep in his stomach. That's when he tasted something that he didn't want to have.

"Is there… milk in this?"

"Coconut milk, indeed." The extra word made Edward blink, as well as Winry, Alphonse and InuYasha.

"Milk, from coconuts, not milked from cows?" guessed Winry.

"But of course… though I've never had milk from a cow before." Edward drank some more of the smoothie.

"It's definitely better than that vomit I drink back home," he compared. Ash sighed to Edward's weight on the topic.

"So much for asking him to try Miltank Milk," he suggested. Pikachu mulled as well to Edward's complaint to which Kagome had a guess about the blond.

"Ed, are you admitting to being lactose intolerant?" she questioned. Edward blinked, befuddled to the naming.

"Lactose… intolerant?" he repeated.

"Basically, your body cannot handle milk-based products like yogurt or cheese," Rebecca educated. To Winry, it wasn't the case.

"Nah, Edward's a baby when it comes to milk," she teased. Edward's face told everyone to stop the mocking.

"Shut up!" he snapped. Alphonse snickered before eyeing small dinosaurs with smooth bodies and boots on their legs while having human-like arms.

"Diego, what are those over there?" he asked. Diego spun to turn and find the dinosaurs who also have what seemed to be saddles.

"Those are Yoshis, and they've been around this world for a long time," he named. "Yoshi can eat a lot of fruit and almost anything Bowser has thrown at Mario. You can also ride them." Everyone rushed over to see the Yoshis… except for Kazuki and Yuna who yawned and looked drained. Musica saw the two and reached to make sure they could move.

"You guys engaged in roughhousing last night?" he asked.

"No, we hardly slept from Kuriko's talking in her sleep about Ash," Yuna clarified.

"We're still trying to figure out why she's going after the kid and not me," Kazuki shrugged. "Not that we mind the latter but still…" Musica nodded to the problem they faced.

"Give it some time," he advised. "I'm sure everything will work out before long." The kids boarded the Yoshis who wanted to show them around. Chad and Alphonse helped Amy, Max and Sasami onto a Yoshi each. Madison whipped out a video camera and recorded the plaza, as well as some of the Yoshis and who rode them. While the Yoshis gave their new friends a ride, Ash journeyed to find an ice rink with plenty of Nokis and Toads skating on it.

"A nice place to beat the heat and have fun," he viewed. "I mean, aside from the beach, of course. Maybe during a day where Diego or anyone else isn't taking us to a different location, I could come back here and try skating myself." Seeing Ash, Kari and Gatomon came by to check on him.

"Thought you'd have Pikachu by your side," Kari assumed. Ash turned to the brunette girl and cat.

"Pikachu wanted to be around Serenity and I trusted him. After all, she took care of him after Serena and I got a shock from how she squeezed him." Kari nodded, trusting his word. More came to her, however.

"I'm kinda worried about you and I got it from TK. Kuriko seemed to have gone from her group and wanted to have you for some reason." Ash knew about the ordeal.

"Right, I told her that she's a little old for me, but I think there's something bothering her." Kari and Gatomon weren't sure about the briefing.

"How so?" the cat asked. Ash stood up straight and recomposed himself.

"I don't know. I wanted to ask Kazuki about it but… I guess I was still a little shaken by the approach." Kari giggled to the response.

"I guess I'd be the same way if… say Chad or Tenchi did that to me," she joked. Ash softly laughed, thinking how ridiculous that would be. "Well, they'd be better than Davis. That's for sure." That's when a white slip of paper flew to and stuck on Ash's back. He felt the sticking.

"Was that Pikachu with something?" Looking to his back, Karo and Gatomon didn't see anything.

"No…" they replied. Out of nowhere but a puff of smoke, Kuriko appeared. She leaned onto Ash's back while wrapping her arms around his body.

"Hey there, my little bottle of Ketchum," she flirted. "Wanna have a tandem on a Yoshi? It'll be fun…" Ash became nervous in an instant.

"Hey, not so rough!" warned Kari. "I know you like him…!"

"Don't get your shorts tightened around me… Besides, what about the Teaker? Aren't you two seeing each other?" Kari jumped in nervous shock.

"Shots fired…" mumbled Gatomon. The statue of Shine Gate began to light up.

"TK and I are just friends!" stammered Kari. "We're not going out!" Kuriko sneered to Kari's quip.

"My, aren't we acting defensive…" That's when a flash lit the area from the Shine Gate. All covered their eyes for the moment. After the shine, all looked up.

"What the hell are those?!" screeched InuYasha. To Yukinari, the answer came from something they've seen.

"Diego, those Shine Sprites?" he asked.

"What do you know~!" laughed Diego as Kari whipped out a camera. "They are! The Shine Sprites, and it looks like all 120 are here!" Everyone had their cameras out and took pictures of the golden sprites blinking down to them. Many of the sprites posed for pictures with the vacationers and Diego.

"Pikachu, how lucky are we?" chuckled Serenity while a sprite allowed itself to be held. Pikachu palmed the sprite which shined. Yuna and Kazuki awed the sprite.

"They're adorable!" she squealed as one came to the two. It shined for the two who started to glow. After a little time shining with the sprite, both felt re-energized. They began to laugh and move like they had a full-night sleep. "Thank you!" The sprite twinkled before joining the rest. Kari snapped photos of the sprites.

"Everyone and their Digimon will want to come here now!" she joked. That's when several surrounded the three humans and Gatomon. They danced around before regrouping with the rest. After their time to show themselves, the sprites flew upward and away.

"So those were Shine Sprites," Kuriko awed.

"Talk about lucky to have seen them," Gatomon mewed.

"Let alone meet them," Ash finished. "But why did the three of us get a lot of them?" The vacationers recovered and spent the rest of the day awing the landscape as the sun began to set.

"Okay, people!" called Diego. "Let's head back to the hotel!" May wondered about food heading back.

"Why?" she wondered. "You got another dessert you wanna give us?" Diego scoffed to May's wonder.

"Nope, though I am making something real special for the last day. I won't say what it is." Serena also wanted in on Diego's secret dessert.

"Oh, tell us!" she yelped. "Tell us!"

"Nope. You'll need to wait until the last night." May and Serena groaned to Diego's untold dessert. Regardless, everyone gathered in the bus. Back at Hotel Delfino, Ichigo and InuYashaeyed the beach at the bottom of the hill.

"You want to do it, tomorrow?" asked the half-demon. Ichigo eyed the beach and sensed InuYasha's request.

"You and me to see who's stronger?" he pondered. "It can settle our nerves about each other. I can't wait to see you face-down on the sand." Both grinned to each other.

"You first." Haru saw the stare-down, a battle brewing soon. The night settled but tension built between InuYasha and Ichigo Kurosaki. What else could happen tomorrow?


TO BE CONTINUED…