Welcome back, everyone! We're very sorry for the long wait, and unfortunately, have some unexpected news. The tournament we'd been setting up was beginning to take a lot of our time and energy, and we felt it best to push the event aside, for the time being, and focus on the main plot. Remnants of the tag tournament still exist, and could certainly be released as bonus content after the story is done! But, for now, we'll give a rough reflection of the event for this chapter, and hope that none of you are too upset by the news. Real life obligations have once again made writing difficult, so we can't absolutely promise on-the-dot posts every other Tuesday as we have, but please know that there are plans, and this story is going places! Don't forget to get excited for the Indigo League, looming on the horizon! We appreciate your patience and hope that you stick around for the rest of the story.
The day had been hot. After almost ten hours of on and off battling for the entertainment of others, as well as a rather handsome promise of prize money, our heroes and their newfound friends were particularly famished.
And, thirsty, if the way that Misty drained her glass of water was any indication.
"You're actin' just like a Magikarp, uh-huh," one of their newer friends noted. She had long black hair tied in two pigtails, sporting blue from head to toe.
Ritchie laughed. "Himashi, was that a pun?"
She shrugged. "If it made you laugh, then sure!"
"I like her! Where'd you find her again, Ritchie?" Ash asked.
Not noting how she seemed to duck shyly at Ash's attention, the boy jerked a thumb at her. "In Hoenn! Rangers have to stick together, y'know. She's real nice. Kind of a space case."
"How're you gonna call me out in front of your friends?!" Himashi gasped, thoroughly insulted.
Dawn put a hand on Himashi's shoulder. "If it means anything, you were really great today!"
"Don't worry. Ritchie isn't the only guy at this table that doesn't know how to handle girls."
Brock groaned at that, knowing it was intended for him. "I already said I'm sorry… To you and Europhia."
"Yeah, but you and her having a falling out cost me a chance to go on a date," Misty pointed out.
"You can't be that upset; you and Dawn won," Ash said.
"Yeah," Brock agreed. "I've gotta find a way to show Euphoria I'm not just playing around with her when I get back…"
Noting that he seemed to be still upset about that, Misty patted his back. "Well, at least us winning let me get a Dragon Scale." She picked up her new Kindra's pokeball, squealing a bit in memory of how he'd looked upon evolving. "He was so cute as a Horsea, but he's flat out handsome as a Kingdra!"
Stuffing a tater tot in her mouth, Himashi jerked a thumb towards the carrot top's bag. "It was nice that you and Dawn gave Chigusa the money. Her dojo seemed important to her, and she was only competing to get the prize money."
"Yeah… Until she said that, me and Brock were really surprised to see her here, especially with Raiden of all people," Ash added.
"Well, it makes sense, doesn't it?" Brock asked. "They're both martial artists. They're supporting each other."
"That makes sense, but why was Giselle with A.J.? I wasn't crazy about her, but she seemed classier than hanging around with that jerk," Misty interjected.
Brock leveled a hand, silently asking her to tone it down. "Hey, Giselle's always valued her strength. Her ground types aren't anything to sneeze at, even with a team full of water or grass. A.J.'s strong, so she probably liked that." He paused. "A.J. probably didn't mind being around her too much, either…"
"A.J. wasn't the only one," Dawn mumbled, cutting her eyes to the boy sitting next to her.
Ash threw up his hands. "Will you let that go?! I didn't mean anything!"
Not in the mood to see a couple bicker, Ritchie spoke up. "Hey, hey, A.J. isn't all bad. He does like his pokemon a lot. Seems the rumors I heard about him training under Surge are true, though, judging from his style and that new Raichu he had…" He took a swig out of his soda. "Speaking of strange, did I tell you guys how tough it was to battle Sparky and Mikey?!"
Right on cue, his Sparky, the Pikachu, looked up from his bowl of food.
"See! See! That's what I'm talking about!" the trainer shouted.
"The Eevee brothers seemed nice, though," Himashi offered.
"Meeting Rainer and Pyro for a battle was nice. I got to battle a lot of water type trainers. The battles against Trinity and Sakura, though…" Misty seemed to trail off, a distant and delighted look in her eye.
A smug look overcame Dawn as she leaned to look at the water gym leader. "Oh? What about Georgio? He and Shinjo seemed nice."
Misty visibly flinched.
"... Man, speaking of people, I wonder why Max and Koda didn't come eat with us." Very much so a people-person, Ash knew he would have enjoyed the company of more friends. Having four old friends and Himashi was nice, but Max and his rival would have made it a real party!
"Well, they're younger than us," Brock explained. "They need all the training they can get, and nobody knows that like Max, after having watched you."
"Thanks for the praise."
Brock tutted. "That's not what I meant, Ash, and you know it. Anyways…" He looked at the drink menu. It was for an older crowd than them, but it was clear that it was representative of the general price range of the place. "... We can only afford it because we're all more secure in our careers."
Dawn nodded in agreement. "It's been so nice having more prize money from winning contests!"
"Rechallenging gyms unofficially hasn't netted me much, but even when exciting stuff that I guess would be worth talking about isn't happening, I still do a little prize battling," Ash agreed.
"Without my sisters running the show, we're well out of the red, too," Misty noted.
"Well, the expenses explain why that Leaf girl was here." Ritchie adjusted his hat. "I still can't believe she tried to make off with your wallet!"
"I'm just glad Zippo and you stopped her," Ash said with a laugh.
Himashi grinned, tilting her head. "Hey, since you got your wallet back, why don't you cover everyone's dinner?"
Ash only let out a barking laugh at that. "Yeah, right! You and Ritchie eat as much as I do! Fat chance!"
With that, the whole table burst into laughter. It had been a long, tiresome day, but the tag battle tournament had gone over smoothly. Or, rather, it had gone over smoothly with our heroes…
Elsewhere in Kanto, something evil was afoot. In the darkness of the night, a flash of lightning fired off, its fizzle too distant to even be heard by the group.
