Chapter 5.

Ash stretched with a yawn as he waited to be boarded onto the S. S. Anne with Ritchie. As he dozed where he stood in his new teal t-shirt and black jeans. Sparky was asleep on his backpack. Outlaw and Honey were also napping in his own backpack. Covering his mouth he yawned once again he decided to do something while he waited in this line. He started to braid his hair in a French braid. When the line moved he pulled Ritchie forward. Then he moved onto flipping through the store feature on Dexter. Finding nothing of use at this time he moved onto brushing Honey, Outlaw and Sparky.

It was worth it when they boarded. They set up in their rooms; which were next to one another; and having lunch on the deck. Ritchie was bright eyed and bushy tailed after lunch. They explored the accessible areas. Stopping to watch as some of the booths were put up and even helped a vendor or two. The sights of the arenas being set up for different contests and fights made the two excited. There were enough activities planed for every type of trainer to last until they got to Hutber Port.

They were standing on the deck of the S.S. Anne watching the last of the passengers boarded. Ash spotted Misty, Brock, and Ashton rush to get on the ship. Turning to look at Ritchie, "didn't Uncle say you had to win the first try to get a ticket," he asked.

"Yes, but maybe she was asked to be a judge as she is registered as a Cerulean gym leader."

"No a trainer from the islands is doing it."

"Oh, right. Maybe a busy trainer sold them the tickets?"

"Possible." Ash tilted his head. Then they heard their names being yelled in fury. A sly smile crossed their faces and turned to see Surge storm onto the dock. They couldn't hear what he was yelling as the ship blared its' horn; but the people around him were slowly going red in the face. The two just waved at him as the S. S. Anne moved forward. LT. Surge sighed "brats," as he gave a small smile and waved goodbye.

Ash and Ritchie rushed off with their pikachus on their shoulder to see if anything was open yet. While walking into that area set up for fire type contest they saw three 13 year old boys. The one with a large puffed up Charmander was bragging about it to his two friends.

Ash rolled his eyes as they stepped forward. His fingers brushed Nova's and Charmander's Luxury ball. Ritchie bounced as he called out Zippo. Zippo was larger than the puffed up one at almost 2'11" in height. "Hey you." The boy said pointing to Ritchie. "I bet my Charmander can beat yours." The cousins turned to one another and then back to the boy.

"You're on," both said. The boy looked confused Zippo smirked at the other Charmander. Ash sent out Nova and Charmander; getting jealous looks from the other three boys.

"You have two?" The boy whined a little. He straightened and pointed at them. "You're still going to lose." The judge, a top fire trainer from Blain's gym, stepped forward with a chuckle. A large dark red charizard; with a black bow on its right horn; was standing behind him.

"So you need to heat the rods of metal as hot as you can make it and hold it for as 10 minutes." He pointed to the rods. "It's about heat and endurance. My darling Darla please demonstrate." The charizard gave a small growl and a nod. The flamethrower was made up of a mix of white and pale blue flames. The metal rod slowly melted dripping into the molding tray that was underneath it. They could feel the heat rolling from the flames. By the time the time was called half of the metal was in the tray. The five kids stared in awe at the feat.

The three were motioned to line up and stood eagerly waiting for the start. Ash stood between Nova and Charmander. Ritchie and Zippo where between Nova and the boy and his charmander. Nova bounced a bit but Charmander leaned on Ash's leg. Zippo was blowing smoke rings and the other was preening at Nova. At the judge's call the each Charmander released their flamethrowers and hitting their targets.

The two bystanders cheered for their friend and his Charmander. He heated the metal to white hot; but broke out in sweat; as he struggled to hold it. Zippo slowly heated the metal and held it easily. Nova's flame heated it quickly and slowly increased the heat like Zippo. Ash's Charmander built up the heat and struggled to maintain it. At the 10 minute mark Zippo and Nova tied for the win. Nova held the higher heat, but lost to Zippo's endurance. Ash's Charmander beat the other in heat and endurance.

"Nice going guys and gals, but there always room for improvement. How long have you had them?"

"My father gave me Zippo for passing all my Classes." Ritchie smiled as he messaged Zippo's head.

"Nova was given to me by my Uncle after I beat Cerulean gym and Charmander a few days before I got to Vermillion."

"My mother gave him to me." He sulked as he stalked away. The cousins shrugged and left to check out the other games. They played Catch 'em all, a game where they threw a special ball at moving metal pokémon cutouts. The rarer the pokémon, the higher the score. The ball was white with a glowing red ring and designed to return to the basket to the right side of the trainers. The ring changed color if they hit the a upgrade orb, which double the points gained. The trainer's Alakazam and Espeon where switching the metal cutouts behind the screen.

Ash and Ritchie tied. Ritchie won a wrist guard with a thunder stone sphere in it, and Ash got a pair of Thunder stone dangle earrings. The next game they stopped at was called Surge. It had an Electivire standing beside a trainer dressed in a yellow Jumpsuit. The man greeted them with a smile.

"Welcome to Surge. Electric type moves only. Lets ride the surge." The two cousins sweat dropped. Another boy scoffed at the man. Looking at one another the cousins shrugged. Outlaw, Sparky, Honey and the other boy's Elekid jumped onto the table. "Nice pikachus, sweet elekid," the bright smile got a grunt from his Electivire. "So what are your names?" He was setting up the lightning rods.

"I'm Ash."

"I'm Ritchie."

"Paul," the purple haired boy said.

"The higher voltage you use the better the prize." The man grinned a flashy smile. The cleared his throat as the trio just stared at him awkwardly. "All right lets begin. Ash you first." Honey went first followed by Outlaw. Honey output 10,000 volts and Outlaw released 15,000 volts in a single burst. Elekid went next releasing 9,000 volts and sparky released 10,000. Ash got a tm Charge beam and tm Volt switch. Paul got tm wild charge. Ritchie got tm Volt Switch.

They made their way to the dinning hall. With their meals ordered they watched a match until a pair of hands covered Ashes eyes.

"Guess who?" Ash relaxed at the voice.

"Jason." Ash and Ritchie called out. The man laughed as plopped down next to Ash. He had spiky red hair, sparkling green eyes, dressed in a black muscle shirt and camo pants tucked into combat boots. At 17 he looked like a body builder, but they could still see similarities to Chrissy.

"So, I heard from my dear sweet twin that you beat dear old dad in a gym battle, my favorite cousins." He chirped as his white Raichu sat beside Honey and Sparky. Outlaw was on Honey's other side. The four pokémon started to talk amongst themselves.

"Chrissy talked to you?" Ash tilted his head as he looked at the teen.

"Yep she let me know you were on board." Jason nodded his head with a satisfied smirk.

"Yet she didn't inform us, her favorite cousins, that you were here," Ritchie whined.

"Well, you know what they say brothers before cousins."

"You made that up," Ritchie glared.

"Doesn't matter dose it, we are both here. So, tell me about your journey so far."

"As you know. I hitched a ride with my dad on his Pidgeot, Mist. I was supposed to meet Ash in Pewter, but I fell asleep." Ritchie looked sheepish as the others sweat drop on the back of their heads. "Well dad forgot I was on Mist as well. Therefore we missed that stop and I ended up being dropped off at Silt, a town somewhere north-west of Cerulean. That is were I got the Geo badge. Ended up buying a ticket for a boat and headed south. Stopping in a town just east of Vermillion and got my second badge, the Rapids badge." Ritchie groaned as he leaned back, "but I got the Thunder Badge."

"I see the apple doesn't fall to far from the tree." Jason smirked at Ritchie.

"Hey. You're one to talk." Both glared at each other. Ash coughed to get their attention, causing both to blush.

"So how was you adventure so far?" Ash started his story and paused when their food arrived. Jason looked on with amusement and a tilt of his head as he eat his own food.

"So you let a young potential Alpha to kiss your forehead."

"We are both Ten. I don't see what the big deal is. Grandpa and mom kiss my forehead before. Ritchie kisses his sisters foreheads. It didn't mean anything." Jason leaned back and tilted his head.

"But you spent a few hours with him."

"We spent the night and left in the morning."

"You spent the night at the boy's tent? And you told uncle about him?" Ritchie snickered.

"'We?'" Jason asked for clarification.

"Yes, we. As in Brock, and Misty were there too."

"Ok. I trust Brock. He is a good kid on his way to being a great man. A bit awkward around attractive women, but he would stop any inappropriate behavior from happening." Ritchie snickered again at Ash's face as Jason kept talking.

"Jason, AJ is ten." Ash pointed out again.

"Just saying." Jason shrugged as he leaned back with his hands raised in surrender. "Well, kiddos look at the time. It is bed time." He clapped his hands and stood up. "Come on White-lightning." The Raichu waved to the younger Pikachus and moved to follow his trainer. "See you two later." Jason waved over his shoulder.

"You know, it is a good thing this is a fully paid trip." Ash said as he looked at Ritchie. At his nod they both stood up and made their way to Ash's room.

Entering Ash's room Ritchie flopped on the bed grabbing the remote for the TV. Ash rolled his eyes and made his way to the bathroom. After a nice soak in the tub he dried and changed into a light green t-shit and black knee length shorts. His hair was pulled into a twisted wet bun. He crawled onto his bed as Ritchie scooted over as he settled on a live broadcast. Honey, Outlaw and Sparky lay curled together on the extra pillow.

"Hello and welcome back to ' Talented or Hopeless.'" A man with short, gelled blonde hair, with black sunglasses, and nice black suit with a red shirt and bright smile at the camera. "I'm your host Kai. We are here in Cerulean city, home of our favorite triplet gym leaders, the beautiful Daisy, the spectacular Violet and the marvelous Lily." The three girls beamed as they waved at the camera. "Today their challenger is the Johto native Johnny from Goldenrod city." The camera panned over to a 12 year old boy that was smiling smugly.

"So you decided to try your hand here in the Kanto region." The man smiled at the camera as the boy nodded. "So far, how many badges have you obtained?"

"Five."

"So soon. The season has only just began," The man blinked. "So, are you confident in taking on one of the Legacy 8 gyms."

"Legacy 8?"

"Yes, the 8 gyms that have been around since the very beginning of our region. They are Pewter city's Boulder badge, Cerulean city's Cascade Badge, Vermillion city's Thunder Badge, Celadon city's Rainbow Badge, Fuchsia city's Soul Badge, Saffron city's Marsh Badge, Cinnabar's Volcano Badge, and Viridian city's Earth Badge." The badges appeared on the sides of the screen with a picture of the gym leaders. "In the beginning they had their own special locations for their challenges, but over time they moved to a more accessible location. Image if you would, battling in the glacier cave just North of the city were it was once held. The deep arctic water in that cave is deceptive in its' nature. Only those with strong water pokémon are allowed to dive there." On the screen was a picture of the cave Ash got Black-ice from. Johnny snorted. Kai smiled to the girls. "Ladies. This young trainer has five badges."

"We can see that." Lily giggled as she looked at her pokédex.

"You ready for the fight?" Kai turned the mic to the challenger.

"Yes. About time. You are going to lose." Daisy rolled her eyes as she stepped up to battle pool.

"Go Tundra." Daisy threw the ball into the pool. The deep water flashed red, but no pokémon appeared.

"Go Ivysaur." Ash tilted his head.

"Not a bad choice." Ritchie said laying on his stomach.

"Actually, that may not be true," Ash watched the camera pan over the still pool, "with a name like Tundra." Ritchie tilted his head.

"Ice and Water type?" Ash nodded and hummed. They watched as hail started to fall. "He should use Sunny day." Ritchie reached for the popcorn he got from room service. They watched as the Ivysaur used growth but was slammed into by an ice covered tail. Johnny's eyes widen as he looked at the black Dewgong, that had launched itself from the water to hit the Ivysaur. It had a twisted horn, longer fins and a longer powerful tail. Red eyes watched him for a second before launching itself back into the water where Ivysaur was trying to get back onto the platform.

"A Cerulean Dewgong." Kai turned to the camera and smiled. "This dewgong calls the northern caves their home. Their tails and fins are made for swimming and gliding through the violent currents that dominate the submerged cave system."

"What the," beep, "I went to that cave and saw only white seels."

"Yes, they are very picky on who they show themselves to. Just be glade you saw them. There is not very many of them. As they the offspring of grandpa's Dewgong" Daisy said as she looked up at him. He growled he watched as hail rained down striking Ivysaur. Before Ivysaur could make it back to the platform he was struck from below with an Aqua jet. Ivysaur landed on the platform with a thud as dewgong glided around in the deep, darkened water.

Ivysaur stood with a breathless growl, and glaring at the water. "Synthesis."

"Ice beam." Daisy called as ivysaur was healing, Tundra launched himself out of the water and released the attack Freezing the soaked grass type; freezing it in place.

"First round goes to Daisy as the challengers pokémon is unable to battle." The Judge of the fight called lifting his arm for Daisy. Johnny glared at the man for not saying his name as he returned his Ivysaur. "Next round between challenger and Violet at the beach set."

"Why do you have a beach setup?"

"Well we are, like, so busy we can't go to the beach so we had one built." Violet said shrugging with a smile.

"Besides we are actress in our spare time and a beach scene is always moving." Lily said fanning herself with her hand.

"Take this more seriously."

"We are," Violet said as she steeped to the trainers box. The artificial sunlight streaming through the glass ceiling. He smirked.

"Go Sunflora." The sunflower pokémon appeared.

"What is this guy doing?"

"Throwing the fight really hard." Ash glared at the screen. "He should know that gym leaders have to earn the title and have ways to counter the weaknesses of their preferred type."

"I know that, but I don't think he is throwing the fight on purpose."

"Well. Are you going to Summon your pokémon?"

"He is already here." Violet said.

"Let the match between gym leader Violet and the challenger begin."

"Charge up, Sunflora," He called.

"Pin Missile Shelly." Five large purple spikes shot out of the sand and hit Sunflora off her feet. The Solar beam hit harmlessly against the steel beam holding up the ceiling. Johnny eyes widened as a large Cloyster rose from the sand with a large smirk on her face. Sunflora pulled herself back to her feet with a shack of her head.

"Synthesis." Sunflora healed up quickly.

"Dig." The Cloyster snickered before burrowing a tunnel in the sand. "Unlike some pokémon who have to worry about being crushed in a cave in. Cloyster's shell protects them against tons of pressure. All the while holding an air pocket in its harden shell." Johnny's eyes looked for movement in the sand.

"To your right," Sunflora released a flurry of leaves only for shelly to dive under the sand again; laughing all the way.

"She is making turret tunnels?" Ritchie asked looking at the screen.

"Looks that way. Uncle said that they used that tactic in the war for Terror-volt and a few other long range attackers."

"I see. That is smart especially telling him that fact on loose sand. That should keep Sunflora above ground in the kill zone." Ritchie sat up with his legs crossed under him and his head tilted to the side. Three more holes appeared during their talk.

Pin Missile after Pin Missile was launched form different holes. Forcing him to try to guess out of the five holes where the attack would come from. It was like a game of Whack a Diglett from hell. He got one attack on the cloyster before Sunflora fainted. Johnny looked ready to pull his hair.

"Winner is Violet. As the challenger's pokémon is no longer able to fight.

"Do you want to go through the last round?" Lily asked as she stepped forward.

"No," with that Johnny returned his pokémon and stomped out.

"Well there you have it my dear Audience, another spectacular win for our favorite sisters. Next time we will be in Vermillion City. So join us next week."

"Goodbye." The three sister said as one to the camera. Then it rolled into an ad for one of their shows.

Ash turned off the TV quickly and yawned. "Goodnight Ritchie." He said as Ritchie stood up and stretched.

"Goodnight Ash." Ritchie scooped up a sleeping Sparky, before he made his way to his room. Ash flopped back and snuggled under the soft sheets. He was asleep not long after. The next morning he went through his normal routine. Stepping out of his room with Honey and Outlaw on his shoulder, he spotted Ritchie stumbling from his own room. "Mornin'," Ritchie slurred Sparky was the same laying across his neck.

"Good morning to you too, Ritchie." Ash chirped.

"It is natural for you to be so awake in the morning." Ritchie mumbled as they made their way to breakfast. After getting some food in his belly Ritchie was wide awake. So he noticed his cousin in a black Yukata, with a black outline of pikachu on his golden honey obi. While he was in a button down t-shirt and Swim Shorts. "Over dressed much?"

"No, a Kimono would be. We are on a cruise ship. It is okay to look nice beside some of the people here are wearing suits, Kimono and other fancy stuff."

"Your right about that. Well to each their own. Where are we heading any way?"

"Porta Vista, the home of the Gemini cities of Acapulco and Hutber port."

"Gemini?"

"You could have one foot in Acapulco and one in Hutber port at the same time. There is a road called Great Divide Street that runs between the two cities."

"Ok. Anything else to know."

"Both cities are huge tourist cities that run along the beaches with a protected forest between them in land."

"So they only connect on the beach?"

"From what I remember of it." Ash nodded, "so want to check out the forest when we get there?"

"A potential for new pokémon. Heck yeah."

With that Jason sat back down with a bright smile. "Well my favorite cousins are out and about quiet early. Well Ash, you I can see but not you Ritchie." Ritchie grumbled. "So since I missed your tenth birthday. Happy belated birthday." He placed two gifts on the table. One was in black wrapping with a blue ribbon and the other was in hunter green wrapping with a yellow ribbon. Ash to the black one and Ritchie took the green one.

Ash opened it to see an a dark gray egg. Pulling it out he fond an envelope in the bottom. "Don't open that till its hatched okay." Jason said, and Ash nodded. "That goes for you too." Ritchie looked up from his hunter green egg and nodded. With a happy smile Jason got up to leave only to be hugged by to two. "Glade you like them. Take good care of them, okay."

"We've taken care of eggs before." Jason nodded and messed up Ritchie's hair. Ritchie groaned and fixed his hair. "This is why I wear a hat." Ash just giggled at him as he picked up his new egg and headed to the trainer shops that took over the a good portion of the 2nd floor. Ritchie rushed after him. There were a lot of booths set up from all over. They found a breeder's booth and bought an egg case. With Ritchie grabbing some care products for his pokémon. Then they split up to explore the shops set up by the foreign vendors. With them being grouped by specialty made finding things easier.

Ritchie was searching through the different booths set up from Kanto when he found a magikarp being sold. He could tell the magikarp was painted gold but he didn't really care. The look in her eyes sold him before the vendor opened his mouth. With a quick barter he paid half the price for the pokémon, much to the anger of the salesman. With his new pokémon in a poké ball he made his way to the center to get the paint removed safely from her scales. Once the magikarp was give a cleaning and a full check up, he was greeted with an orange girl magikarp with a green heart over her right eye.

He called her Siveth, after the main dragonair from Dragonheart- vengeance. The magikarp liked her new name, her new trainer and her new Luxury ball. Ritchie's next stopped at a water trainer run booth to ask about what he would need in specialized training equipment for fish and water types. Ending up buying a few items and moved on to see a few items he wanted to cheek the prices with other vendors. Getting an electric orb for Sparky, a special charcoal chew from Johto for Zippo, a purple scarf for Happy and a Mystic water for Siveth. Even stocking up on a few small things he needed.

With Ash looking around he found the vendors that sold evolution items, where he picked up a metal coat and a few items that he heard evolved Kanto native pokémon. Then he moved forward glad he saved most of his money. He moved through the booths buying some items that helped his pokémon. A kimono got his attention so he bought it as well. It would be nice to wear in Cinnabar and the Indigo Plateau. Getting his measurement taken was a bit of a pain though.

Ash pushed past the magikarp salesman glancing at the floating pokémon. Tilting his head he turned to the pokémon but another man walked up. He went through a barging bin and found somethings that he bought like a pair of cool dark sea-glass glasses, a magnet, and a few eviolite stones. He was really low on funds by the time he found everything he needed and wanted to snag as the prices were not outrageous. With all his new things shoved into his bag for now he sat at a small café set up to sell specialty teas and cakes. While waiting on Ritchie he pulled another chair close to him so he could tend to both his eggs.

Ritchie plopped down not long after; looking tiered. "Now that we are done shopping. Can we do something fun now?"

"We can go sign up for some of the contest. They should all be open by now." Ritchie regained his energy almost instantly. "Sit and finish your snack. What do you want to do first?"

"Hum?" Ritchie thought about all the different contest they saw being set up yesterday. "A race."

"Well, there are a few set up and spread out over the week." Ash pulled up the itinerary on his pokédex. "There is one that has the sign up ending soon. It is for small flying types."

"Butterfree," Ritchie asked popping another Lava cookie into his mouth.

"Yep, and zubats."

"Cool." Ritchie stood draining his tea, "Done, now lets go." Ash was barely finished his. Before he was dragged to the upper deck; where several obstacle courses were set up. Ritchie signed up there pokémon. As there was not physical limit on how many you could sign up; they were put into different brackets. As the time they signed up there were 6 brackets of 24 pokémon in each.

The first bracket had Happy and Butterfree facing off against each other and four other small flying types. Breeze was in the next set and the 6th set held the younger pokémon with Frostbite. The first round was won by Happy with a pidgey coming second and Butterfree in third. The second round Breeze came in fourth just behind a Spearow. Little Frostbite came in fifth, but Ash still praised the all his flyers. While Ritchie and Happy spun in a circle. The other trainers gathered around and talked to the two for a few moments. with the older trainers giving tips on speed training.

Ritchie saw a Magikarp jump contest and wanted to see how well Siveth would do. Ash saw a cutting contest. The Bamboo stands were evenly spaced so accidents were less likely to happen, but their were trained staff on hand with first aid bags. So he entered Sapphire, Spore wasn't interested in trying, getting lots of curious looks from the other trainers. The bug catchers were almost star struck. They were standing in their assigned space when a 12 year old boy with dark green hair and hazel eyes walked up to their space's boarder. He looked similar to Bugsy a Johto gym leader.

"Hello. I'm Ace, a bug type trainer."

"I'm Ash and I train every type. This is Sapphire," Sapphire was giving Ace a glare for taking her trainer's attention from her.

"Nice to meet the both of you."

"Sycther." Sapphire nodded and went back to stretching.

"Looking forward to the contest, I see."

"Yeah, she wants to see how much she needs to grow and how far she has come already."

"I see. Though I gotta say she is beautiful." Ace watched the light shine of her Dark blue exoskeleton. "Looks to be in great heath though on the small side."

"That is her max height. She is different from the average Sycther found in Fuchsia forest."

"Really. You know I heard they imported pokémon to help boost the local's numbers some years ago."

"That could explain it. I will check that out." Ash tilted his head, "are you related to Bugsy."

"Yes, he is my older brother." Ace smirked at Ash's shocked face. "Talk to you later the contest is about to start." He walked away to stand by his Scizor in his own space. A man dressed in green walked to the center platform and started to over the rule.

"No boost like swords dance. No held items. One smooth cut. If the attack stops move away from the stand so the judge can tally the points and replace the bamboo stalks. Those who cut every stalk moves on to the next round until there is one left standing. We are starting with three." When the judges moved away from the last plot, "Begin."

Sapphire cut threw the three stalks no problem. Then she cut through the next three challenges, before she started to have a bite of trouble, by that point 1/4th was already out. The meowth next to them had decided that the bamboo was a scratching post. The munchlax was eating it instead of cutting it. By the time there was 9 stalks it was a struggle that stopped Sapphire at the last stalk. With a huff she pulled her scythe free and leaned into her trainer.

"Alright ladies and Gentlemen, we have our winner. 1st is Ace and Scizor, second is Ash and Sapphire and third was Luke and Electabuzz." Sapphire blinked up as the Scizor towered over her causing her to blushed as she took in his figure. Ash huffed as Ace looked amused as Scizor started to flex.

"Looks like a breeding pair has formed. It is fairly common at these contest, as they get to show off." Ash bit his lip and looked at Sapphire. She was walking around Scizor before nodding at her trainer in approval.

"I guess so. Nurse Joy can send them to the breeding room." Honey looked amused by the pair. Outlaw was glaring at the older boy. They talked about raising Scyther, Scizor and a few bug types. Turns out a few trainers have already dropped off their pokémon. Ash handed Sapphire's Luxury ball to Nurse Joy who was smiling encouragingly and Ace handed over a worn Net ball.

"Ash." Ritchie called as he rushed toward him.

"Ritchie." Ash greeted his cousin as he stopped in front of him. "So."

"Did you win?" Both asked at the same time. Getting a chuckle from Ace.

"Who are you?" Ritchie raised an eyebrow at the older teen.

"Ace. The winner of the Cut contest."

"He is Bugsy's younger brother." Ash filled in.

"Oh. So what place did you get?" Ritchie turned to Ash.

"Second. How about you?" Ash said as he rubbed his hand down Outlaw's back to sooth the slightly raised fur.

"Not bad 5th out of 10."

"Middle of the pack for a newly obtained pokémon is not so bad. So any other contest for today?" Both whipped out there pokédex.

"Well, I see there is a weight lifting contest that Happy was interested in.'

"A rapid fire contest right after that," Ace pointed out.

"Then a few high flying races to close the night on." Ash looked at the list "Looks like Flying races today, Water tomorrow, then obstacle course the day after that and to end it trainer obstacle course." He scrolled down to see the future plans.

"So do you want to enter the Weight challenge. From what I seen it is not a race but a time trail, testing endurance and strength. The pokémon dead lifts boulders to a set height and then they move on to the next. The better your time the better your prize."

"Well lets go." Ace clapped with a smile.

"Why are you coming with us?"

"Well, first I would like to get to know you two as you seem interesting and second meeting new trainers and making friends is one reason they did this. Third my Scizor and Ash's Sapphire are breeding so I would like to get to know her trainer."

"That last one is Tauros crap." Ritchie said and the twelve year old laughed. Ash rolled his eyes and smacked Ritchie's arm. "Lets go." They moved through the ship it was awkward between them for a moment until Ritchie released Happy. Ace gushed over the healthy bug type. Ritchie and Happy were glared at by a fighting type trainer, but they just ignored it.

"What are you doing here? This is a fighting type challenge." The trainer glared. Some of the other trainers rolled their eyes.

"This challenge has no limit on who can participate." A voice said.

"Stay out of this." His voice faded at the sight of the four people walking toward them. The three people that walked up where two 16 year olds and a 12 year old. The taller 16 year old was a muscular male with dark brown hair and bright hazel eyes. His twin was a slightly muscular female with long white blonde hair with a bright hazel eyes. The 12 year old was male with dirty brown hair and hazel eyes. All three where dressed in karate gi. The girl raised her eyebrow at them.

"What was it you were saying?" She purred as she stalked forward.

"Lucy." Her twin said, "you shouldn't scare the ignorant."

"Michael, he should know every challenge is open to those who qualify. If the novice thinks his Butterfree can hand the challenge then he can go for it."

"Lucy, Michael how about they do a verses." Ritchie looked intrigued.

"If the pip squeak want to."

"I'll do it." Ritchie looked annoyed as Sparky's cheeks sparked slightly. Ash put his hand on Ritchie's shoulder. "Lets do this." Ritchie turned back to the organizer.

"Hello. This is my cousin Ritchie with Sparky, that is Ace and I'm Ash with my partners Outlaw and Honey."

"Who cares." The man glared and pushed past them.

"This is my younger brother Gabriel, My little sister Lucy and my name Michael." Michael said and the three bowed toward Ash and Ace. As Ritchie and the unknown man stood behind the line with the judge. The unknown man had a Hitmonchan beside him. Happy fluttered around Ritchie.

"Okay the rule is to lift the boulders to the max height then move onto the next. There is 5 boulders that get heavier as you go. Gabriel stood beside Ace and Ash.

"How have you been Ace?"

"Good. Ash this is Bruno's youngest son."

"Nice to meet you." Ash watched as the Hitmonchan rushing to lift every boulder before Happy who was taking his time. By the last boulders he had wore himself out. While Happy was tired but he was able to lift the last boulder. Hitmonchan's hands kept slipping off the boulders. "Yes. Go Happy." Ritchie and Ash cheered.

The other trainer stormed off as the Judge gave Happy a green belt with the League symbol on the hem, it powered up bug moves, and Ritchie put it on him. "Hello." Ritchie said. Michael and Lucy rolled their eyes at their brother as they walked off with a wave to Gabriel. They made their way talking back and forth to the next challenge. That had a bunch of bug types, a few Jolteon and Nidoran. Rin took center stage for the bug maniacs and her pin missile was on point. Winning a poison stone bracelet. The challenge was to hit the target quickly and as close to the center possible.

They went to Gabriel's challenge with his Hitmontop. Ace entered with his Heracross. Heracross tossed his opponents from the ring only hitting a wall known as Snorlax, who punted him from the ring. Hitmontop triple kicked many of his opponents out and pulling out the win against the Snorlax. Winning a black belt that had the League symbol on the edge.

The last challenge they went to were another flying race for large flyers. Sparta got a lot of nervous looks from both trainers and other flyers. Ash climbed on his back and off they went. Flying through the rings held up by Pidgeot. The large flyers caught the attention of the hole ship. Sparta was riding Flygon's tail until the last ring where he shot forward and threw the last ring. The Flygon's trainer cursed up a storm before he landed and shook his hand. The prize was a sky plate.

After retrieving Sapphire, Scizor and their two eggs, they went their separate ways to get cleaned up for dinner. They met back up in the dinning room. Upon entering the room they spotted Ashton poké battling the old man from the night before. They seat down at a table and watched as Ashton's butterfree get run into the ground by Raticate. They started to talk about their adventures. The cousins listened to the two older teens talk about their two league challenges. Suddenly the lights went out for a split second, but when the lights came back on there was team Rocket grunts surrounding the trainers.

"HAND OVER YOUR POKÉMON." A grunt grunted at them, while holding a bag for the poke ball.

"Hm? How about no." Ritchie said standing up. He looked over at his cousin and nodded.

"Thunder shock." They called out together and the three pikachu lit up the room being careful of the other trainers. With a spin Ritchie kicked the grunt away from them.

"Are we not pokémon trainers. It is time to act like it and not children getting their lunch money stolen." Ash jumped onto the table. That caused a wave of other trainers releasing their pokémon to fight. A grunt squealed as a growlithe bite him. Amidst the chaos the ship suddenly launched to the side. Ash fell off the table into Gabriel. "Now what?"

"A huge storm." Ace said as he looked out the window it was almost touching the water. The alarms started to sound.

"EVERYONE TO THE RESCUE BOATS." The captain screamed over the intercoms. Ash pushed himself from Gabriel and rushed to his room with Ritchie following on his heels. Bouncing off the walls all the way. They grabbed their bags and rushed back to the deck when the floor snapped to the side so suddenly that they slammed into the wall and their world went dark.

When they came around Ace and Gabriel was crouched over them a Venonat was leaning against Ace's leg. "You two ok?"

"Yeah." Ritchie said sitting up. Ash scrambled to opened his bag and saw his eggs were okay because of their cases. Ash pulled his pokédex from around his neck and saw there was no signal. "We're fine. What happened?"

"The storm caused the ship to capsize. We are lucky we are not submerged as well." Gabriel said as they helped them up. When suddenly they we pitched forward and them back slamming in to the metal wall.

"What the? Is that an earthquake?" Ritchie said smearing blood on the sleeve of his jacket when the rocking stopped.

"Don't think so."

"Veno." The Venonat took Ace's pokédex and pulled up an Onyx picture. "Venonat."

"Someone released their Onyx." Ace groaned as he rubbed his bruised arm. "Idiots." A groaning echoed through the corridor as the floor shifted below them for a split second.

"We have to spilt up." Ash said holding his bag to his chest, "if we are trapped here others maybe as well and we someone has to find the Onyx owner."

"What are we going to do if we can't meet up?" Ritchie looked at his cousin.

"Meet on the surface." Ash shrugged as he felt Outlaw settled on his right shoulder. He released Sapphire as Ace released Scizor, Gabriel released his Hitmontop. The Scizor ripped through the metal wall in front of Ace. "Be safe." With that Ace ducked into through that room and through the jammed half opened door. Gabriel took the left path and the cousins went right.

Ace cut through multiple rooms until he ran into Misty, Brock, Ashton, Jessie and James. "So you are still here I see." The five were looking at the him as he stepped through a newly made hole. Before Misty started to scream at the Scizor stepping out behind him. His claws still smoking from his bullet punch.

"Ace, you are still here?" Brock looked worried, "How many are trapped in here?"

"There were three others before we split up to look for others." Ace pushed his hair from his face. "The ship capsized."

"We know." Ashton snapped looking annoyed. Ace rolled his eyes and looked at them.

"Did you happen to feel the ship shift?"

"Yes. Sorry that was us. There was a miss understanding."

"Well it tossed us around pretty good." Showing his bruised his arm. "Lets move to find anymore people."

"Shouldn't we be trying to get out?" Jessie said looking at the young teen, "and who made you the boss. As the oldest I should be in charge."

"We need to help anyone that is trapped here." Then he went through the corridor. "Or we will be dooming them to a slow death."

Gabriel looked through the windows finding chaos filled rooms. At a storage room they forced the door open. Stepping inside he found a Houndour, growlithe, and an eevee curled up under an overturned medical cart. "Hey there." He picked up the poké balls that were on the ground. The rings where flashing red. "You left your balls before the emergency recall to take you to the nearest center." They moved to him whimpering. He nodded as he heard a muffled meow, "I'm coming," before returning them. He watched the balls vanish in a red light. Searching through the room with Hitmontop helping him lift the heavier things. Finding a few potions, antidotes and assorted heals, but the most important thing he found was a pinned Meowth. Their ball was shattered from the machine. So he used his heal ball and watched it vanish.

He continued to search the different rooms and grabbed the things that would come in hand later. Saving a pidgey from a bird cage and a Electabuzz trapped in a bathroom. Luckily their poké balls where close by. With them gone he moved forward.

Ash and Ritchie ran into a dead end. Scyther slashed her way through the door. The room was wrecked with a hole in the floor. Digging into their backpacks they pulled out their diving masks. Sparky and Outlaw had their own on. Honey was recalled into her ball. Ritchie called out Siveth while Ash called out squirtle and returned Sapphire. With carful movements they entered the water. The two water pokémon helped the two trainers through the dark water. It wasn't long before they were outside the ship. With a quick snap of the wrist Coral joined them. Looking back at the ship they could see the ship was upside down with jagged mountain piercing through the ship where the ship's middle smoke stack was welded to it. The smoke stack was ripped off to the right side.

"Oh man." Ritchie said through his mic. "What now?"

"We search through the windows for any signs of life."

"So we split up, again." At the nodded they started going from window to window Ritchie found and rescued three pokémon eggs in a flooded room protected by their egg case. By finding his way through the broken window. A drowned man was also floating near the ceiling. Taking a shaky breath he attached the cases to his backpack. Sparky curled around his neck. Rushing outside he moved onto the next window and spotted Gabriel. Knocking on the window he got Gabriel's attention. Bubbles raised from his mask as he gave a thumbs up to show that his section was clear.

Ash didn't find anyone alive, but he did see two drowned men trapped under the ruble in one of the flooded corridors and a woman who was impaled by a busted pipe. He swam way from the ship to regain his composer. Taking a few deep breaths and a shaky gulp to keep from losing the contents of his stomach. Outlaw petted his neck. When movement in the depths caught his eye. So he chucked a ball at and watched it vanish in a red light. His heart was pounding in his chest.

The echoing sound of pokémon rang in his ears. Some where far off, but the one that was closest was a gyarados. They were easily angered and highly territorial. Not to mention they were huge. He jerked feeling a shift in the sound and watched as a column of bubbles rose to the surface. A groan from the ship from the internal pressure shift; caused golden brown eyes to widen as the ship broke in half. Releasing more air bubbles and debris to the surface. Holding onto Coral's and Squirtle's shell he moved toward the surface. These shoes were had to swim in. Ritchie and Gabriel were not to far from him. After breaching the surface the water types gathered the large wooden debris to make a raft. They pulled themselves up onto the raft.

"We made it back together." Ace smiles at them. "Was there anyone else?"

"No. We searched through the windows," Ash said, "and I didn't see anyone alive." Trying to shack the sight of the dead he saw, but he threw up over the side of the raft. Ritchie rubbed his back looking pale as well. Ash curled into his side.

"I found a dead man with three pokémon eggs." Ritchie gave a shaky smile as he placed the three eggs into his backpack. Ace and Gabriel placed their hand on his shoulder. Everyone looked pale at the news from two of their youngest. Ritchie curled over Ash and buried his face into Ash's black locks. Taking and giving comfort to each other.

"Found 6 pokémon. They were sent to the nearest center." Gabriel sighed.

Ace shook his head, "and I found these 6. Though we are missing three." When bubbles rose to the surface with a tired magikarp and three half drowned Team Rocket. Ace, Brock, and Gabriel pulled them out of the water. They recovered rather quickly.

Sometime later Ash was sitting down with his feet in the water looking at Dexter. "We still have no signal. So we need to find land soon."

"Who has a flying type?" Gabriel asked as he leaned back.

"I have a Fearow and a Pidgeotto." Ash looked at the clear skies. It was still a shocking to discover that they had been trapped beneath the waves for 12 hours on top of the 4 that saw them floating on the waves.

"I have bug types." Ace said scratching his head.

"Fighting types," Gabriel sighed.

"Water types."

"Rock types."

"Poison." The duo of Team Rocket said.

"I do not." Ashton said with a sneer. Ash sighed as he stood up.

"Go Sparta, Pidgeotto." The two bird pokémon appeared. Sparta made a large lazy swooping circle looking at the stretching ocean for an opponent. Pidgeotto cooed as she looked around as well. "I need you to search for land," the two nodded "Fly quickly and safely." With that the two took off.