After a come from behind victory by Brock, the Pokepals decide to celebrate by having dinner at Pokemon Dome's famed restaurant! It also turns out to be amateur talent night, and one glance at the piano player sends Brock's heart a flutter! He proceeds to wow the crowd with his harmonica skills, and even proving to the audience that a tuba is cool! But the real showstopper comes when Ash, Misty, and Maya join Brock onstage. and play their own harmonicas in four part harmony! It proves to be a special night for everyone!
Now the Pokepals wish to tour Titian City, and sample more of what the city has to offer...
What will the Pokepals see on their tour? Does a challenge wait for them? Find out!
The Heart of the Cards, part 9: Titian Tours
"Unngh..." Ash rolled over in his bed, trying to shield himself from the sunshine peeking in the window. "I'm still tired from last night..." he thought as he pulled the covers up over his head and went back to sleep. "Boy, this bed feels better than my bed at home! I wish I had a bed like this... He rolled over onto his back and watched as Brock got up, stretched, plodded into a nearby bathroom, started the shower, and shut the door. "I guess if Brock's awake, I'd better wake Misty up..." With this thought in mind, he turned to face Misty's bed. "Hey, Misty...
"...mrrgh...what, Ash?" Misty asked as she sat up in her bed and yawned. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah...I'm still a little sleepy from last night though..." Ash replied. "Let's just go back to sleep." he suggested, fluffing his pillow
"At least until Brock gets out of the shower." Misty agreed. She also pulled up her covers and went back to sleep.
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"Good morning, guys!" Maya called as she strolled into the room where Ash and Misty were snoozing. Brock sat on his bed, struggling to put on a shirt. "How is everyone?"
"Tired...but okay..." Ash yawned as he trudged over to the clothes pile and selected a shirt for himself.
"Pikachu, pi ka..." Pikachu begged, nuzzling Ash's shirt.
"I know you're hungry, let me get dressed first." Ash pulled the shirt over his head, put on some jeans, his vest, and cap. "Okay...now I'll feed you." With that, he got some Pokefood out of his pack and filled a bowl for Pikachu.
"When you guys are ready, come on out to the front and I'll take you on a tour of Titian City!" Maya called.
"We're coming!" Ash and the others hurried down the hall to the Dome entrance, where Maya was waiting.
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"...and over on your left is Titan Mill, a great historical landmark." Maya pointed out a mill as the group walked along. "That mill used to be the only place you could get flour back in frontier days."
"Wow!" Brock decided to take a picture.
"Take my picture too!" Misty stepped before Brock and smiled as the flash went off.
"Me too!" Ash stepped before the camera and hugged Misty close as the flash went off again.
"Now do something really silly!" Brock laughed as he loaded more film in the camera. "Say cheese!"
"Cheese!" Misty stuck out her tongue and Ash made a silly face as the camera went off.
"All right, you guys...on we go!" Maya giggled as she led the group onto the main square. "This is the town square, or as we like to call it, Performer's Square, since lots of people come out here and perform. There's also some shops out here if you'd like to go look."
"Performing?" Brock was impressed. "I have an idea..." He grabbed a Styrofoam cup out of Misty's pack and wrote 'TIPS' on it in big black letters. "I'll see if I can rank any tips up while you guys shop." With that, he settled down on a bench with his harmonica and played as the others walked off.
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"How's it going?" Misty asked when she and the others returned several hours later.
"Slow..." Brock sighed. "All I have in the tip jar is..." He fished out a piece of lint, several marbles, a few wood chips, and pieces of string from the tip jar. "all of that."
Maya sighed as she emptied the contents onto the ground. "We'll play with you...want to reprise our performance from last night?"
"Yeah!" Brock switched out his instruments and grabbed his low harmonica. "Maybe we'll draw a crowd with four harmonicas!" With that, he and Ash lead the group into their performance from the previous night. By the time the group started 'Oh Susanna', a small crowd had gathered, mostly parents and children. When they were done, the crowd applauded.
"Thank you..." Brock replied as the girls collected the tips. "Okay...this next one we're gonna do...was written many years ago..." and he proceeded to tell the story of the song as the tip jar circled around the crowd.
"Hmm...I didn't know Brock made a good emcee..." Maya whispered to Ash.
"He has experience performing, so of course he makes a good emcee." Ash whispered back, toying with his harmonica. "Do you like playing the rhythm, or do you want the melody?"
"No, you do fine with the melody...I'm not that good to play melody yet..." Maya smiled.
"Okay...' Ash replied. He readied his instrument as Brock concluded his introduction and counted everyone off, then began to play a slow and relaxing melody. Misty added a subtle harmony in the background as Brock and Maya worked on a waltzing rhythm. Then Ash decided to pick up the pace into a faster melody, causing some people in the audience to clap along, which turned into more applause when the song ended. The audience buzzed with anticipation as the group huddled together to discuss their next number.
"Let's do the 'Greensleeves' medley next!" Misty suggested.
"Nah...I'm not that good at harmony yet." Ash disagreed.
"How about the Old Smokey set?" Maya suggested.
"Yeah!" everyone agreed. With that, Brock turned to face the audience. "Okay... we're going to do a set of songs you should know...so feel free to sing along!...." He turned to the others and counted "And...one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three, one-two-three..." The group then started to play "On Top of Old Smokey".
"On top of spaghetti...all covered with cheese..." came a familiar voice from the audience. "I lost my poor meatball...when sombody sneezed...."
Ash tensed up when he heard the singing. "Oh no...Gary's here...and he's trying to ruin our performance!" he thought. "I've got to keep focusd on this..." He tried to continue the melody, but Gary's singing only made it harder to focus.
"It rolled off the table...and onto the floor..." Gary continued as he approached the group. By this time, Ash was so tense he could barely play his instrument. "Come on...must not laugh.... he told himself. "Must not laugh..." Finally the urge to laugh got so large, he completely stopped playing and burst out laughing at Gary's "song".
Just then, Brock stopped his part. "Funny...where did our melody go?"
"It cracked up over somebody in the audience, apparently." Maya noted, pointing out the still laughing Ash. Gary stood nearby, with a proud smirk on his face.
"Gary!" Misty cried. She stormed over to where Gary was standing and stared him in the face. "Why did you have to mess up our performance?" she demanded.
"I came to give Ash a challenge." Gary began, shoving Misty aside. This caused several people in the audience to gasp.
"A challenge?" Ash asked, trembling.
"I challenge you to come up with a deck better than mine!" At this, Gary unfurled his deck before the audience, causing some to ooh and ah over the rare cards.
"I didn't know he had Jirachi lv. 30!" Maya gasped. "That's one of the rarest cards of all!"
"I will admit, he has some good ones..." Brock agreed as he admired Gary's deck.
"Now, wait a minute!" Ash protested. "I have my fair share of good cards too!"
"We'll see how good they are when they're up against Kyorge, Groundon, and Jirachi!" Gary snapped. "You better watch it, Ash, and stay out of the way! Those Legendary cards are gonna be mine!" With that, he flicked his hair back and strolled off. "Smell ya later!"
"Ooh...that Gary...." Misty grumbled. "I'll tear him limb from limb for threatening Ash like that!"
"He apparently doesn't understand the concept of teamwork." Brock sighed and turned his attention back to the audience. "Now...where were we before we were so rudely interuppted?" The audience stood, silent. "Okay, we'll just pick another song...."
"I have one!" Ash suggested. Everyone readied their instruments as Ash counted "And a-one, two, three, four!" and a rousing four part rendition of "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In" filled the air!
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That evening, Misty and Ash settled on a bench not too far away from the arena and counted the tips from the afternoon's streetcorner performance. "I can't believe we made all this money in one afternoon!" Ash exclaimed as he counted his share.
"Well, who knew the harmonica was this popular?" Misty giggled as she counted the last of the tips. "Okay...we made a grand total of two thousand credits this afternoon!"
"That's perfect! Five hundred credits between the four of us." Ash smiled and pocketed his share. "Now, where are Brock and Maya when we need them?"
"Maya's in her room, and Brock's in the card shop getting more cards. They'll be back in a minute." Misty assured Ash as she stretched her legs and watched the passersby. "We've been seeing a lot of familiar faces around here lately..."
"Don't remind me..." Ash sighed, shuddering over the encounter with Gary.
Misty noticed Ash's uneasiness. "Look, don't let what Gary said get to you. He was probably just trying to scare you. But we won't let a cocky braggart like him stand in our way! We're a team, remember?"
"Yeah..." Ash mused, fumbling for the Ponyta tin Maya had given him earlier. "Let's just see what Maya put in this deck....that I can use to thrash Gary!" He ruffled through the cards, telling Misty some of the good ones. "Hmm...oh, Celebi....Articuno....Zapdos....Moltres...Dragonite...Entei..."
"Wow...Maya earned those Legendaries herself?" Misty was impressed.
"With these, I'm more than ready to take him on!" Ash cried, turning his cap backwards. "Bring it on, Gary!" he cried into the air. "I'm ready for you!
"Easy, Ash..." Misty cautioned. "He didn't officially challenge you, so don't get excited just yet." Ash calmly sat back down and sighed, apparently bored. "I wonder who else we'll see..."
"Misty? Ash?" a voice called from the crowd. "Is that you?"
"Huh?" Ash looked up and noticed a familiar face looking at him. "Tracey!"
"Hi, Tracey!" Misty got up and gave Tracey a hug. "It's great to see you!"
"Well, Marill, Venonat, and Scyther were getting anxious to go somewhere, so I thought I'd come here!" Tracey explained. "I heard you guys were competing, too!"
"We won the first round, if that's any indication." Misty smiled.
"Right now, we're waiting on our teammate and sponsor to get back..." Ash trailed off. "When they do, we've got to get back in the arena for the next round..." Just then, he noticed Marill climbing up on his lap. "Oh, hi, Marill! Remember me?"
"Marill! Mar!" Marill replied, giving Ash a playful spritz.
"I guess he does remember you!" Tracey laughed. He was about to say more when he was interuppted by the loudspeaker:
"Attention, competitors: A challenge has been received. All competitors report to the arena, repeat, all competitors report to the arena."
"We've got to go, Tracey..." Misty explained.
"I know, you two need to meet up with your teammate and sponsor. I won't keep you waiting." With that, Tracey disappeared into the crowd as Ash and Misty hurried into the arena.
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"What took you guys so long?" Brock asked as Ash and Misty arrived in the arena. "Maya and I were waiting for you guys for at least thirty minutes?"
"Uh, we met up with an old friend and had to talk." Ash explained. "He traveled with us while you were with Professor Ivy."
"Oh..." Brock mused. "You never told me what your companion in the Orange Islands was like..."
"I have a photo album of Orange Island pictures we can look at later, okay?" Misty assured Brock. She was about to say more when a handsome blonde haired boy approached the group and studied Misty carefully. "Yes?"
"Well, if it isn't the famous Misty of Cerulean Gym..." the boy mused. "I am Brain O'Leary, Water Pokemon duelist and explorer."
"Pleased to meet you..." Misty stammered.
"May I have the honor of challenging you?" Brian asked. "I would very much like to see how well a Gym Leader duels with cards..."
"Okay!" Misty hurried over and stepped up to the Sapphire platform as the deck information appeared on the scoreboard: RUBY AQUA BREEZE SAPPHIRE PSYCHIC RAIN
Will Misty make some waves in the second round? Stay tuned!