This was the first fanfic I worked on when I started getting to work on fanfic writing. I have corrected many errors and mistakes since the first time I wrote it. However, this story is incomplete.
However, also...it will not stay that way. I am on Chapter 7, and I have every intention of finishing this fic, even if it kills me. Good day.

I dont own Poke'mon either! (cries again) but I do own a few made up characters in this story. Enjoy.

To melt the Heart of a Champion

Chapter 3- Unwanted chores

Ash, Brock, Misty, and Max all walked into the Captain's quarters. There were pictures of the Captain hanging on the walls, showing pictures of him with his kids and wife. The Captain was standing in front of the window. He turned around and greeted them with a warm smile.

"Hello kids"

The Captain had a gray mustache, and was wearing a white Captain's uniform. He took his Captain's hat off as he exposed his baldness and sat in his red chair.

"I understand that you came aboard without a ticket" he said, suddenly turning serious.

"Umm, yes. But how did you know?" Ash asked, nervously.

"One of the mates on the deck saw you land and reported to me. I just assumed the obvious that none of you had a ticket to come aboard"

"Yes, we're sorry about that. But can we get a ticket now?"

"We dont carry the tickets on board son"

"Oh"

"But, since you're here, I think we can settle a way to pay off your debts" he said, smiling again, as he got up from his chair and put his hat back on.

"Uhhh, how's that?"

"I think these will be suitable for you fi...wasnt there a fifth person on board?" he asked, grabbing a metal bucket in his right and a mop in the other.

"Yeah, she's outside on deck" Brock answered for Ash.

"Well, she can help you too" he said, chuckling and handing the bucket and mop to Ash as he went to grab another. "You can start by filling it up with some water and soap. Then start mopping the deck.
The red haired one can help you mop, the short one can count the money, and the other two can help the the men in the boiler room. After thats done, come back to me" he said, turning his back to them,
as he walked out onto the deck, closing the door behind him.

"Awww, now we gotta mop?" Ash moaned, his head down.

"Look on the bright side. Quit complaining Ash. We're on the boat, right?" Misty said, her arms folded.

"guess you're right" he said, as he sighed.

Brock and Max headed out onto the Deck to look for May, as Ash and Misty grabbed their mops and buckets and started getting to work.

"What? The boiler room? They cant just stick a pretty girl in a boiler room like that" May said angrily, and she folded her arms and looked away from Max and Brock.

"It's not that bad May"

"Max, you dont know what that does to a girl's looks!" she yelled furiously, her arms raised high.

"Doubt it can do much more than you already have"

"WHAT WAS THAT?" she clenched her fist tightly, as she pulled out what seemed to be a mallet the size of the ship.

"Calm down May!" Brock grabbed her tightly, trying to take the Hammer away.

"DONT TELL ME TO BE CALM!"

"May! If you keep this up, they could kick us off the boat!" Brock said, trying to talk sense into the infuriated May.

"Fine then!" she yelled, setting the Mallet down, breathing heavily. "I'll be in the boiler room"
she walked off with her eyes closed, into the boiler room.

Brock and Max looked at each other and chuckled, as Brock walked down to the boiler room himself, and Max walked off to the Captain to ask him directions to the room he'd be working in.

The Captain was standing at the edge of the ship, watching the sea and listening to the moppping that Ash and Misty were doing. He turned around to see Max walking up to him, and he raised an eyebrow to the young boy as he came closer.

"Umm, Captain? Where do I need to go?" Max asked, twidiling his thumbs nervously.

"Ok, head down to the door to my quarters. Go straight to the end of the hall, take a left, and it will be the 4th door on your right.

"Thanks alot. I'll head down there now sir" Max saluted, as the Captain saluted back, smiling and Max walked away past Ash and Misty.

The Captain looked at his watch and saw that ash and Misty still had alot to do. He looked at the two and saw that it was his lunch break.

"You two can take a break when I get back, alright?"

"Thanks Captain" Ash started to mop harder and faster, trying to speed things up so they he wouldnt be stuck here all day.

The Captain walked past the two, as Ash and Misty kept mopping.

"I should be training, not mopping decks. How am I ever going to get any training in now?"

Misty stopped mopping for a second and looked at Ash in a concerned manner.

"Dont worry Ash. I'm sure you'll do fine. You did good in the Silver conference, Orange league, as well as the Indigo league, so I'm sure you'll do fine in this one too" she said, giving a happy grin.

"Well, I'm gonna shoot for the top. I wont settle for anything but the best!" he said, giving a determined smile towards Misty as he stopped his mopping.

Misty always loved that about him. His determination. It was usually what always kept him going.
That, and his smile. How he always kept training, and always kept going for the top.

Misty started to continue her mopping as she started mopping slowly away from farther and farther.
Ten minutes later, they finished and they both took a look at it proudly. Ash put his mop down, next to the rail, and he looked over at Misty do the same at the other side of the deck.

"Be careful. Its still a little wet" Ash said towards Misty. But she couldnt hear him too well, being on the other side of the deck.

"Phew" Misty wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the top of her right hand, as she took the hair band out of her hair, letting her hair down. She shook her head around, trying to get some of the sweat out. She clenched her hands into fists and set them on her waist, looking at the mopping job she had done. She smiled and started walking towards Ash. As she was almost there, her right foot slipped and she feel face forward. She feel right into Ash's arms and he gripped onto her tightly, stopping her from dropping. She had her eyes closed. She opened her left eye, and slowly opened her right eye, as she looked up into Ash's eyes. There was a pause for a few seconds, and she quickly got up, blushing a deep red, turning around and covering her face. Ash also blushed a deep red, as he sit there, his heart beating quickly.

"Uhhmmm, thanks Ash" she said, not turning around.

"Sure, no problem Misty. I said the floor was slippery"

"I guess I didnt hear you" she couldnt stop blushing, and then then she felt his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, we should probably go look for Brock, Max, and May"

"Yeah, alright Ash" she quickly got rid of her blushing and turned around and smiled warmly at him.

Unknown to Ash and Misty, things were starting to get a little out of hand.

"I'm not a MAN!" May was screaming at one of the workers. She had her bandana taken off and was wearing one of the workers uniforms which were dirty, smelled horrible, and were overalls with greens pants and a slightly blackened, white T-shirt.

"Then, what are you doing down here?"

"I'm doing this because we dont have a ticket!" May screamed louder at the worker.

"You sure dont look like a woman" That had done it. She couldnt take it anymore.

"Huh? May! Dont! What are you doing?" Brock was scared, as he started running away at the sight of what she was about to do.

Max was almost done counting the money, when suddenly the Boat rocked off to the left, knocking all his money to the ground.

"WHOA!"

As the boat rocked, it knocked Misty off balance and she was sent flying into Ash as they rolled down the boat and ran smack into the railing, Ash was the one who hit the railing.

"Owwww! Ash put a hand on his back, with a look of defeat on his face.

Misty was sitting towards Ash, and she got up quickly and started blushing again. She sweatdropped, putting her left hand on the back of her head and gave a hand to Ash. Ash took her hand and she pulled him up.

The Captain came running out of the Cafeteria, yelling at some of the sailors asked them what happened. The sailors were looking around quickly and started panicking from possible rocks or coral from underneath the boat. As they started inspecting things, they found that nothing was wrong and the boat was still moving. The Captain looked around and calmed down.

"Huh. I wonder what that was?"

Brock was hiding behind a wall, looking at May who he thought had killed one of the workers. But luckily, she had only knocked him unconscious. She looked at them angrily, holding her mallet behind her, and gave an evil smile to the rest of the workers. The workers flinched and started groveling at her feet.

"Now thats more like it. At least you know how to treat a lady" she smiled evily as she closed her eyes. Brock shook his head and sighed.

Ash and Misty walked to the room Max was working in and saw him picking up all the money.

"Want some help with that?" Ash asked his small friend.

"Yes, please"

Ash and Misty got down on the floor and started helping Max pick the money, and they could tell this might take a while.

The Captain headed down to the boiler room to see how the men were doing and to give May and Brock a break. As he headed down there, he saw that the room was remarkably cleaner, and the men were working alot harder.

"Wow. This is looking great. How did you get them to work so hard?" the Captain asked May.

"Oh you know, just a little motivation" she said as she smiled happily at the Captain and turned around to give the workers another evil smile, and she cleanched her right fist tightly at them. Brock sweatdropped.

"Ahh, well its time for your break. I believe you've been working quite hard. Come on down and I'll get you all something to eat. Go gather your other friends"

Brock and May nodded, and replied with an "okay" as they walked up the stairs.

Ash, Misty, and Max were almost done picking up the money, and they were quiet the whole time.
There was still one last dollar bill left on the ground and Ash and Misty both tried to grab it and Misty's hand landed on Ash's. She was quiet for a moment, as Misty started sweating, until Max snapped them back into reality.

"Cmon!"

"Oh, right!" Ash quickly took the dollar out from under Misty's hand and handed it to Max, who smiled.

Brock and May came in, and they noticed Brock had a weird look on his face.

"You ok Brock?" Ash asked his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Its time for our break guys" he smiled, and and the other three got up on their feet, and followed Brock back to the Cafeteria.

At the Cafeteria, there was more food than Ash could ever believe. And when it came to Ash and food, that was quite surprising.

"Look at all this food!" Ash's voice and the call of food woke up his little yellow pal, Pikachu, who instantly popped out of Ash's green backpack and replied with a "Pikaaaa"

Ash immediately ran up to the food, grabbing a tray and throwing all kinds of food onto the tray.

"Ash! We're on a limit ya know. We cant just buy as much food as you want!" Misty yelled at him, her hands on her waist.

But it was too late. When Ash turned around, he had a donut dot in my mouth. "Whats that Misty"
Misty sighed and started grabbing some food for herself and she was followed by Max, Brock, and then May, who wasnt putting much food onto her tray.

They all grabbed their food, and started looking around for a table. But whether or not they were going to find one in time before Ash finished his food was starting to wander around in their minds. Pikachu pointed out to a table that was sitting next to the Captain.

"Pika!"

They walked over to the table, ignoring Ash's complete onslaught of eating.

It was a big, round table, with 6 chairs surrounding the table. Ash sat down and took Pikachu out of his Backpack and put him onto the chair next to him. Misty walked up to Ash, but May cut right in front of her and sat in the chair to the right of Ash.

"Jeez whats her problem?" Misty thought, moving to the left of Ash, passing Pikachu up.

Pikachu tugged on Misty's shorts and got up off the chair to let Misty sit in it.

"Thanks Pikachu" Misty smiled and rubbed Pikachu's head as Pikachu jumped out of the chair and sat on the table, enjoying its Pokemon food that Brock had prepared for him.

"Chaaa" Pikachu said happily as Misty rubbed its head.

Max and Brock sat in two of the other chairs, Max to the right of Brock. May eyed Misty, raising an eyebrow to her, and Misty saw this and looked towards May, when she quickly turned around and looked at Brock, starting a conversation with him.

The Captain walked up to the 5 trainers, and greeted them with a proud, big smile.

"The ship will be docking in within the hour. You 5 should ready your things soon and Max. Dont worry about the money ordeal. Its all been taken care of. I understand that the rocking of the ship caused the money to fall to the ground. I've had one of my other sailors take care of it, so dont worry about it"

"Thank you sir" as Max saluted. The Captain did the same, and walked away.

Twenty minutes passed and Pikachu looked like a beached Wailord, as well as his master, Ash who had a huge smile on his face, indicating that he was quite happy about the food he ate.

"That was great!" he said, a toothpick in his mouth.

"Sure was!" Brock said as well.

"Well, I guess we should go up to the deck to wait for the ship to dock in now, huh?" Misty asked Ash.

"Yeah, lets go. I wanna see another view of the ocean" Ash said, getting up, and handing his arm to Pikachu, who climbed up it, and onto his head, as this was Pikachu's usual spot of hanging out.

They all headed up to the deck and looked out to the ocean, which they all commented was beautiful.
They watched as the ship slowly began to dock in, as Ash wore a confident smile, and raising his right arm into a fist, and said "Are you ready Pikachu? Cause this time, we're going for the top!" as Pikachu gave a big "PIKA!" and the group smiled at Ash.

End Chapter 3