MAJOR NOTICE: If you reading this as of April 3rd, 2018, I made updates to this chapter. I was going to include a kidnapping and make the story dark, but I felt that it would've ruined this story. I just don't think this type of story needs it, but that doesn't mean I won't try to add some dark elements way into the future.
Enjoy! I'm also trying to add elements of anime Ash, you know, the one where he is a bit reckless. Again, sometimes I do a bit poorly at that, but I hope this is okay.
I'll be completely honest: I have more of WAWL planned out (to a degree) than this story, but I'll try to make it interesting regardless of the choices I make!
I got inspired to do the eating contest from the game, Hey Arnold!, and Shokugeki no Soma, an entertaining cooking anime which I definitely recommend. Be cautioned; it's got really weird movements.
Ash laughed as he saw the entrance of the restaurant: The Jade Roof Diner. It was nothing overly fancy except that it did have of a roof of said color. Ash was just about to open the door of the diner, but he was stopped by Erika who grabbed his hand.
"Why are you doing that?" he asked as he looked at her with surprised eyes.
"It's just that...I don't know, I somehow have a bad feeling," she commented as she looked at him with sparkling eyes. Erika sometimes was overly cautious and that was something that was good at times that it was needed, and bad at times. Now was a bad time because it was coming in between Ash and an eating contest with a rare HM prize!
"What's the matter, Erika, are you afraid that I'm gonna get indigestion?" teased Ash. Ash was still gleaming with pride over his victory with her and he felt that it was time to relax and have a little fun. He had a lot of excess money from when Melanie gave him that prize money that one time, so surely he wouldn't be at a disadvantage either way. Erika sighed in defeat and she figured it was pointless to get it through his head, so she followed him into the diner and looked around and saw that it was full of people. A woman appeared and said to Ash,
"Are you participating in today's contest?"
Ash turned towards her and said, "Yes, yes I am! What is the prize?"
"It's actually an HM called Surf," said the woman. "It will allow pretty much every water Pokemon except Feebas and Magikarp to transport people on their backs, but you require the Soul Badge from Fuchsia's gym in order to use it outside of battle."
"That sounds awesome!" said Ash as he looked at Erika. "We can ride on Gyarados' ba-" he started. "Oh, wait, you don't have the Soul Badge because you aren't a trainer."
"I'm afraid not, and since I'm not a gym leader any more, I don't have the privileges of using all the HM's anymore," explained Erika with a saddened face. "Wait a minute, Ash. I believe you have one who can."
Ash's frown immediately turned into a smile as he realized who could use it. "You're right. She can learn it!" He didn't want to say Dragonair's name out loud in case there were any creeps who could overhear them and wanted to look at his Pokemon. It also seemed slightly strange to be able to ride on Dragonair since they generally weighed between 16 and 20 kg, about that of 4 year old child. He had some very valuable Pokemon and he didn't want to attract any attention since the people around him were adults and they appeared to fit in a demographic that would favor that of thieves.
"Okay, good, there are two seats left. Will you be joining, miss?" she asked as she addressed Erika.
"No, I won't," she said with a sigh of mild frustration. "But I will be watching, Ash." The woman went away and Ash turned towards her with a frown.
"Why are you so upset, Erika?" asked Ash as he turned towards her.
"It's just that...I don't want you to lose and spend your money on something like this," confessed Erika as she looked away from the other for a brief moment. "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to the washroom."
Within a few minutes, Erika returned and she smiled at Ash. "I decided that I am not going to get upset about your participation in the eating contest. You are allowed to make your own decisions, Ash, and I respect you for what you do."
"Okay," said Ash, "I'm just really hungry, too. I like being your friend, Erika, and I appreciate your looking out for me." He smiled and then he took a seat.
A chef appeared in front of the guests who were participating in the contest; besides Ash, there were seven other people and a few bystanders who were watching.
"So, looks like we have a fairly large crowd this go round," he chuckled as he looked at his guests. "Okay, the rules are simple: eat as much as you can until you can no longer eat. The one who remains gets HM 03, Surf, a powerful move to use in battle and allow you to be transported by your Pokemon once you have obtained the Soul Badge. Second place gets three rare candies and Celdaon's famous Rose Incense, and third place gets a max revive and a water stone. The remaining five get a super potion and a paralyze heal for participating, so all of you will not walk away empty handed. There is also another stipulation. The more you eat, the less you pay! You will be charged for the dishes that you were unable to eat, so it is strongly advised that you pace yourself accordingly."
"Hehe, this is gonna be easy," Ash whispered to himself as he watched as several waiters brought out food. He was gonna get to take home something regardless of the outcome.
"The first dish is a special dish from the Kanto region; tonkatsu with curry sauce, cabbage, and steamed rice!" said the chef as he felt proud of himself as the waiters set a plate in front of the guests. It was pretty large for Ash's standard, but he was not gonna back down because of this. He took a pair of chopsticks and took a bite of the fried pork and began to savor its amazing flavor. Erika watched in amazement as she saw how large the portions were; this was easily a meal for two people and she couldn't even begin think how much more was in store for Ash. Maybe Erika was wrong to allow Ash to still participate in this contest, but she wasn't going to say anything. She decided to take a step outside and get some fresh air. She hated the idea of one person eating so much while the food they were shoveling down could be distributed to less fortunate people, but she couldn't do anything about it.
Ash resumed eating the pork meal and was feeling good about himself. He already had managed to eat a little over a third of it, but then a woman got up from the table.
"Ow...ow...stomach crap, dammit!" she said as she went to a vacant table and sat down. Her plate was already completely empty and was quite a "I ate too fast and now I got major heartburn!"
A few members of the audience began to laugh at this, but you could tell that she was not amused in the absolute least. There was no telling how much her bill was going to be since she completed just one dish. Ash had to pace himself effectively and so far, he was doing very well; in about eight minutes, he managed to eat the rest of it and it took about 11 minutes in total. Some of the audience was a bit in awe that he was able to consume that much food. Ash looked into the audience and tried to find Erika but he didn't see her at all. Maybe she was outside enjoying the nice weather because it was a bit warm in the building.
The next dish was set in front of them. "My grandmother's super secret and super spicy mapo tofu!" It was a small portion, but Ash knew that there had to be some gimmick to this dish. It was quite small, but it had to pack a monumental punch if it were to be served in a bowl that was so tiny. Ash got his chopsticks and bit into the tofu and his eyes widened; the chef was not lying in the absolute least when he said that it was spicy. It, however, was not as spicy as this festival he had where they pretty much put lava-hot spice on these pieces of chicken, but man, was this the spiciest thing he has ever eaten after that event! His face began to water as drops of sweat began to roll down his cheek and he got a glass of water and was able to bring relief to his body.
"This is way too much," said a man as he got up. So did a woman after him. Ash was almost reaching his limit as well, but he knew that the best thing he had to do was pace himself at an appropriate speed. But it was impossible to know what was considered good since this was his first time.
Ash and the other four were still there hanging on, but he desperately wanted to get that prize. Ash knew that the amount of calories he was consuming was definitely unhealthy, but after this was over with, he probably wouldn't eat for the rest of the day and probably not even until dinner tomorrow so that all the food could settle. Ash was the first one to finish his serving of tofu and waited about thirty seconds until his competitors had finished.
"Our restaurant's famous curry!" said the chef as he placed a plate in front of the guests and Ash. The dish looked somewhat similar to a pot roast and a few people who were watching were amazed that Ash was still there.
"That kid has some appetite," one of the bystanders said.
"He's gonna become obese if he keeps on eating like this," another one murmured. But all that Ash had to think about was winning, and that included ignoring the derisive comments these people had no right to say. The curry was heavenly, but Ash knew he could've enjoyed it significantly more if he had an empty stomach. Ash wondered how many plates they had to eat; was there a fixed amount or would they just keep on serving indefinitely until someone finally won? Ash wanted the prize to himself, but he'd be lying if he said that this wasn't uncomfortable. He had literally eaten more than he would consume in an entire day with the tonkatsu and the tofu since the pork dish was fairly large.
Ash's mouth began to water and he felt like he was going to give in after this bite, but he had Erika's support. He turned around and saw that she wasn't there and gasped at this. Where had she gone? Nonetheless, presenting the prized HM would be enough to show her that Ash's resolve was more than overwhelming and impressive, to say the least. He resumed downing the curry as if his very life were at steak (Bad pun, lol XD)and defeat felt like it wasn't an option. Sure, he still had to get the Soul Badge before Dragonair could be used before using surf, but that was Ash's next objective: to go to Fuchsia City and fight the gym leader there. He remembered Erika informing him that Sabrina was very hard to beat, and Ash was a bit nervous to face against her this time. He had to have a lot of strategy because Psychic Pokemon had very high special attacks and Ash had yet to think of a good strategy.
With a full belly, Ash managed to finish the curry, but now it was getting flat-out painful. He couldn't press on like this much longer and felt that he had to forfeit really soon. Ash saw that two people were already left besides him and knew that he would get third place, at least. So It wasn't a total lost. Ash felt like he could toss his cookies at any moment. The chef came out and there was a huge cake.
"It's something we got from the Americans! It's called a chermumple: a three-layered cake that has one layer of cherry pie, another layer with apple, and another layer with pumpkin pie!
A few people gagged at how disgusting it sounded and Ash thought it sounded gross, too. Just who in their right mind would eat this garbage? Ash was determined to persevere through this eating contest and win, at least, that's what his mind was telling him. His body, on the other hand, was about to reach the point of bursting.
Ash took two bites of the weird dessert and all the sudden, he couldn't continue anymore. He and the person next to him collapsed. Ash felt so disappointed in himself, but he got third place and at least got a prize out of it.
"Which one quit first?" said one of the bystanders.
"It was that man! That kid got second place!" said a woman. A few people began to say stuff in amazement at what Ash was able to do for such a young kid. Ash knew one thing: he was never going to participate in another eating contest again. He turned around to see if Erika was there, and thankfully she had returned and she had a smile on her face with approval of her friend's effort. She didn't like that he had eaten all that food, but she was impressed that Ash had persistence, a good quality overall for the most part, assuming that the situation called for it.
Erika walked over to Ash and set her hand on his shoulder. "I got you some tablets for heartburn in case you need them. I'm very amazed at how well you did." She smiled at him and actually was proud of her travel companion, even though she wished it was over something other than overeating.
"I've never seen a kid like you eat so much!" said the Chef as he handed Ash the bill. He looked over it and saw that he was just being charged for the cherpumple, which cost ¥3600. Yikes. That was kind of a lot, but at the same time, Ash didn't even want to know how much that the entire bill would've cost if he had passed out at the first meal, but curiosity was getting the better at him and said, "How much would each dish normally cost?"
"The tonkatsu dish normally is ¥2350, the tofu is ¥850, the curry is ¥2075, and the cherpumple is ¥3600. Had you lost, you would've shelled out ¥8875! You got an excellent deal since those rare candies normally cost ¥4800 each and the incense cost ¥9600."
"Wow!" said Ash in astonishment. He pretty much got a steal; ¥24000 worth of merchandise for just ¥3600! Ash took out five bank notes from his wallet and gave it to the cashier and she in turn gave Ash's prize in a large paper sack. He opened it and laughed at what he saw: the three rare candies and the small jar that contained the incense. It smelt wonderful and it probably was a lot stronger for grass Pokemon, but it would probably be a more suitable gift for Erika since Ash didn't have a grass type at the moment. He turned around and sat down at a bench outside and Erika joined him.
"Hey, Erika," he said as he took the floral potpourri-like incense out and showed it to her. "I want you to have this. You have grass types and I'm sure they would make better use out of this than I could."
"Oh, Ash, that's so sweet..." said Erika as she took it and looked at it before she politely returned it to him. "But I think that you can hopefully capture a grass Pokemon and make full use of it. I appreciate it, nonetheless."
Ash took it back and said, "Do you really think that I can catch a grass Pokemon that will make good use of this?" It would help his team become more well-rounded to a degree, but the one issue was that Dragonair could use a water move which was strong against rock and ground, which grass were also good at. Plus, thunderbolt would take care of water and flying. These would seem like sufficient reasons to not have a grass type, considering the fact that grass Pokemon also had a lot of weaknesses, but that didn't mean he could find one that would be useful.
"Of course!" said Erika. "How do you feel?"
"I feel as though I ate four days worth of food..." he said. "I don't feel that well. It may best if I went to lie down at the Pokemon Center for a while."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Erika with a nod of agreement. "If you go lie down, I think I may visit my mom a bit more in the hospital."
"Go on ahead," responded Ash. "I'll be fine, I promise."
"Take care," she said as she walked towards the hospital. Ash made his way to the Pokemon Center and lay down to take a nap. He still couldn't believe he had eaten all that food and would later tell it to his mother, whom he knew would definitely scold him for doing such a thing. This was a lesson to be learned, not just with his money, but also with health as he was having really bad stomach aches. He took some of the medicine which Erika gave him and took a small sip of water before lying down.
After waking up from a two hour nap, Ash made his way to the nearby bathroom and soon found Erika sipping on some tea. Once he left, he went over to her and sat down.
"Hey, how is your mother?" he asked calmly as he looked at her softly. She reassured him earlier that it wasn't anything major, but Ash was polite to inquiry anyways.
"She's doing fine, she should be able to leave by tomorrow," reported Erika softly to the other. "Are you feeling any better after eating all that?"
"A little, but I'm still stuffed!" chuckled Ash nervously. "I think you should spend time with your family today since we are here. I don't feel like walking towards a new city today, so I'm more than likely just going to take it easy here."
"That sounds like a really good idea. Just make sure you stay hydrated, Ash; drink some water to keep your body hydrated, okay?"
Ash nodded at the suggestion. They talked for a few minutes and then Erika left. Erika was gone for the remainder of the day and then returned the next day. They had a good plan which they hoped to follow: Travel west to Cycling Road and make their way to Fuchsia City to go after the Soul Badge.
Also, sorry if the ending seemed a bit rushed, but I wanted to update this ASAP so I could resume on the next chapter which I hope to upload within a few weeks, hopefully.