Last we left off Ash and Co. began their vacation. Will they be able to enjoy their vacation to the fullest, or will they find themselves in the midst of a conflict that could well spiral out of control. Well, let's find out.

XXXX

Time went on and before long it was time for the S. S. Anne to begin its cruise. During the time, Ash and Co. made sure to get any and all business they wanted to do in Vermillion City taken care of. With that, the group were once again in their room on the S. S. Anne, preparing to go out on the deck to watch the beginning of the cruise. But before that, Ash had a few things he wanted to do.

"Yeah, we really got lucky that Misty won that pass. So now we're really going to ride on the S. S. Anne," Ash said, talking on the phone. Whoever he was talking to responded for a bit before he responded back.

"The Journey's been great so far. It hasn't been easy, but it's satisfying and I've already earned 3 Badges," Ash smiled. "So I guess you could say this is a bit of a break for us."

"Yeah, we'll be sure to have fun. Kinda wish you could be here too," Ash said after the person on the other end responded. "Where we're going? We get off at Porta Vista. Dad, Mom, and Professor Oak will be there when we arrive, so we're meeting up there."

The voice on the other end said something to which Ash nodded. "Sure. I'll be sure to include them in my next email. I'll take plenty of shots of the trip," he said, earning a happy sound from the other end. "Anyway, I'd better hang up. Everyone wants to be on the deck for when the ship sets sail, and I don't think they'd be too happy if we ended up missing it or it got too crowded before we could find a spot," Ash chuckled, earning an understanding sound from the other end before he ended the call.

Once he was done, he got up, before exiting the room to find Misty, Brock, and Pikachu waiting for him. "Done with your call?" Misty asked.

"Yep. Sorry I took so long," Ash apologized.

"It's no problem, we still got time," Brock smiled. "Though mind if we ask who you were calling?"

"Though if I had to guess…" Misty said, gaining a mischievous look. "Perhaps it's someone special. Does the future Pokemon Master have a girl waiting for him back home?"

"Quit it…" Ash groaned, not helped by the fact Pikachu had climbed onto Misty's shoulder and was joining in on the teasing, making cutesy sounds. "And for the record, I was just calling...an old friend," he said.

"And old friend you apparently want some privacy to talk with," Misty continued to tease.

"Okay I think that's quite enough for now," Brock chuckled. "If Ash doesn't want to talk about his friend, he doesn't need to."

"Honestly, it's not a big deal," Ash sighed. "Her name's Serena. She lives all the way in Kalos."

"Wow, that's pretty far away," Brock blinked, a little surprised both at the reveal...and the fact that he told them straight after seeming a bit embarrassed about it.

"So she IS a girl," Misty chuckled.

"For the record, we're just friends. We've been friends since we were kids, but she's been in Kalos for a few years now, so we've been talking via emails and the occasional call," Ash sighed.

"Still think you two are pretty close to be doing this," Misty winked. "But yeah, I'll stop. Besides, we're running out of time."

"Yeah, we'd better get to the deck if we want to see the start of the voyage," Brock nodded, while Pikachu quickly went up to Ash's shoulder.

The group soon made their way to the main deck, the ship full with passengers as everyone eagerly awaited the beginning of the voyage. Slowly the sun started to set, and the appointed time arrived. The moment it did, an echoing horn sounded, signaling the start of the cruise ship's departure.

"There goes Vermillion City," Ash said as the ship they were on slowly drifted further and further away from the city.

"But now we've got a week to look forward to, and after that, we're off to Porta Vista," Misty grinned.

"You're enjoying yourself," Brock chuckled.

"I've always wanted to go on the S. S. Anne, and on top of that we get to go to Porta Vista, one of the best places in Kanto for the beaches. For a Water Pokemorph AND a Water specialist like me, this is a dream come true," Misty chuckled.

"You're right though, since we have the chance, we definitely should make full use of it," Ash nodded.

"The schedule said the cruise long convention will start tonight, so we've got a couple more hours before then," Brock said.

"Guess we'll just continue enjoying ourselves. But for now, I say we watch the sunset as we leave. It's a really nice view," Misty smiled.

"No arguments here," Ash chuckled, Pikachu grinning in agreement. The group continued to watch as Vermillion City faded from view, the sunset making it an even more breathtaking view. Eventually the sun set and they could no longer clearly see Vermillion City. And with that they soon made their way back into the ship as the festivities were beginning. The area allotted for the event was quickly filling up, people standing on various levels of the ship, while at the bottom floor, the various stalls were filled up, food was being distributed, and games were already set for everyone to have a good time. Merchants from all over the world were present to try and catch the interest of passengers with their wares, while various Pokemorphs, be they Trainers, Fighters, or both, socialized and shared stories and experiences, compared their teams, and generally had a good time.

Naturally the three didn't waste time joining in with the festivities. Brock naturally started mingling with others, and try his luck with some of the ladies. Of course, when he was shot down, he settled for mingling with some of the vendors that offered food from all over the world, finding some more open conversation from them, even getting a few small tricks they knew. Misty was having fun talking with some of the other women on the cruise as well, some of them comparing notes on their careers as trainers and fighters, while also sharing a few little beauty tricks that they had. Similarly, Ash was all too happy to compare Pokemon with some of the other Trainers on board, some even asking if he'd like to Battle them later during the cruise, which he gladly accepted, always keen on a friendly match, his Pokemon making plenty of friends with the various Pokemon from all over as well.

For the first day of the event, there was a buffet available which provided freeflow food and drink, something a lot of people were more than happy to take part of, while the food vendors provided treats and the like that weren't available for the ones who were willing to pay a bit to get something extra. Games were also provided, prizes included, which the younger people present wasted no time in joining in, eager to win some prizes of their own. All in all, everyone was having fun, and even those who weren't too eager to join in the heart of the party could still enjoy it from the upper levels, watching the crowds mingle.

"This place is great," Ash couldn't help but say, Pikachu letting out a 'Pi' of agreement as the mouse munched on a candied apple from one of the vendors.

"No surprise there. What's basically a convention and on a fancy cruise liner at that, its bound to attract a lot of attention," Brock said, coming over towards Ash, holding a plate full of a few skewers he'd taken a liking to.

"And we had the luck to be able to join in," Misty said with a grin as she took a bite of some ice cream she'd gotten from one of the vendors.

"And that's why we should enjoy it while we can," Ash agreed.

"No truer words have been said," a male voice said from nearby.

"You'd have to be a fool to waste a chance like this," a female voice said as well.

"Dats right!" a third voice said…and the trio realized who it was. All three of them turned and saw…Team Rocket stuffing themselves as well, though unlike usual Jessie and James were wearing normal clothes rather than their usual uniforms, a simple shirt and pants for James and a fancy albeit not overly so dress for Jessie.

"What are you three doing here?!" Ash gasped, the three of them and Pikachu immediately on guard.

Team Rocket seemingly just registered who they were talking to, and actually jumped back a bit…while still able to hold on their plates perfectly balanced, not spilling any of their food. "We should be asking you that!" Jessie glared.

"How is it you three are here too?!" James agreed.

"We're passengers of course," Misty said, holding out the pass she'd won.

"Well dat's what we are too," Meowth said, James taking out a similar pass, albeit one that was listed as a 'Couple's Pass'.

"Is that a real pass or did you fake one or steal it?" Ash glared.

"We're allowed to get lucky too ya know," Jessie said, sounding honestly offended by that. However, before things could escalate…

"Excuse me, is something wrong?" one of the staff working to ensure the event went off without a hitch asked, having noticed the slight commotion.

"Perfect timing," Brock smiled, but before any of them could say anything…Team Rocket were immediately on them.

"Oh nothing at all, sorry for the trouble," James said quickly.

"Yes, sorry to cause some trouble. We'll be sure to clear up our disagreements somewhere else," Jessie agreed, and with a surprising amount of strength, the three found themselves being dragged off to the side.

Naturally Pikachu didn't take kindly to this, and after a bit, made his displeasure known and electrocuted them first chance he got that wouldn't involve electrocuting Ash and Misty in the process. He'd have included Brock into that list, but Brock was literally immune to his electricity so…yeah.

"You three better have a really good reason why we don't call security on you," Ash growled as they'd gotten out of the slight grapple…and Team Rocket had shaken off the slight frying.

"Okay fine, you got a reason to be mad," James sighed. "But believe me when I say we're passengers too right now."

"And for that matter, even if we WERE trying something, what would we do? Try and fight an entire ship worth of Pokemon Trainers and/or Fighters?" Jessie pointed.

"How stupid do ya think we are?" Meowth added.

THAT caused them to pause. "They…make a very good point," Brock admitted.

"Okay so maybe you aren't going to try anything with the ship as a whole, but how do we know you aren't trying to steal Pikachu again," Misty glared.

"...what makes you seriously think we've got a plan to get away from a massive gaggle of trainers if so much as ONE of you shouts something like 'They're stealing my Pikachu!'? Pretty sure like 90% of them will jump us with some huge foreign powerhouses." James said in deadpan.

"That's…a really good point," Ash admitted.

"And here's another one if that's not enough. How exactly do you expect us to escape? The only way off this ship is a lifeboat, and fun fact, sailing isn't as easy as tv makes it look. We know. We've tried…" Jessie shuddered violently.

"...okay, yeah, you've convinced us," Misty said, all of them, even Pikachu having huge sweat drops at that one.

"So yeah, we're off the clock, and since we got a ticket, we decided we'd take a small vacation like anyone else who'd be lucky enough ta get a chance to ride on the S. S. Anne, and we'd really like to actually get to finish it without issue," Meowth said.

"So basically you're calling for a truce?" Brock checked.

"Exactly. Whatever problems we have, let's put them aside till AFTER the cruise is over. Maybe even longer than that since we get off at Porta Vista after all," James said.

At that Ash and Co. pulled into a huddle.

"So…think we should agree to that?" Ash asked.

"I dunno, I can't say I'm too happy knowing we're on a cruise with criminals," Misty frowned.

"But they do have a point. Trying to do anything here is just plain stupid," Brock noted.

"And they haven't actually DONE anything yet," Ash hummed.

"Well…I guess that's fair," Misty frowned. "Plus if they DO try anything they're the ones who are out."

With that said, the group nodded then broke the huddle. "Alright, we'll agree to that truce. Of course if you break it…" Ash frowned.

"We know. It's all on us," James sighed. "Can we please go back to enjoying the cruise now?"

"We can, yes," Brock nodded.

With that agreed, the two groups went back to enjoying the festivities, even if Ash and Co. kept a small eye out for the Rocket Trio just in case.

The opening party continued on without a hitch, everyone enjoying the facilities offered, and even those who couldn't do everything could look forward to enjoying the facilities that would still be available throughout the cruise. Eventually it became quite late, and the event ended for the night, the various passengers either returned to their rooms, or for any of the night owls, continued to use any of the 24 hour facilities provided by the cruise, with Ash and Co. being among the former.

"That was fun," Brock smiled as they were back in the suite, sitting around the living room.

"And we've got a whole week of this to look forward to," Misty grinned.

"Plus so far those three kept their word," Ash mused, though Pikachu still seemed annoyed to see them around even if he honored the truce.

"Let's hope they keep it though," Misty sighed.

"I think they will. As they noted, they stand to lose a whole lot more otherwise," Brock said.

"Well if they do, then good for them," Ash sighed. "Anyway, I think we can get ready for bed soon."

"Yeah, we want to be rested so we can enjoy the rest of the cruise," Misty grinned.

XXXX

The next few days of the cruise came and went and it was all an enjoyable time. Each morning the group woke up and they and their Pokemon enjoyed breakfast at a buffet provided for guests that was free of charge. After that, they were free to do as they'd like throughout the day. The convention still offered a variety of events, including several local celebrities showing up as guests for certain events. Admittedly nobody Ash and Co. were TOO interested in, but it was always fun to listen to various perspectives on Pokemon Training and how to take care of Pokemon. There were even a few vendors offering Pokemon they'd collected from all over the world to any Trainers who'd be interested in buying, though Ash and Co. didn't care much for that, preferring to catch Pokemon the normal way.

What DID interest them though were a few games that were put up during the third day or so that were offering prizes, and among them while many were offering normal prizes, several of them were offering Pokemon Eggs as among the prizes, something that caught their interest.

"A chance to win Pokemon Eggs, huh?" Misty mused. "Wanna try our luck?"

"I guess it couldn't hurt," Brock chuckled.

"And we can get new friends too," Ash agreed.

Unlike buying and selling Pokemon, Pokemon Eggs were generally viewed as more favorable, not only due to the fact that an unhatched Pokemon could grow with the Trainer and were generally known to be able to better adapt into various teams. On the other hand, buying and selling already hatched Pokemon was something of a slightly questionable practice, as Pokemon could have various personalities and people buying Pokemon were noted to sometimes end up with a Pokemon that they just straight couldn't get along with, making it a potential terrible investment. On top of that, due to the fact many Pokemon are fully recognized as having similar if not same levels of sentience as Pokemorphs, there have been many questions on the ethics of treating intelligent creatures as commodities. Even so, as long as the merchant was ethical they weren't considered an illegal business and thus why some could be present here.

"Alright then, let's pick a game and try our luck," Brock nodded as they started looking around for their options.

Ash walked around the stands, before taking a moment to stop and close his eyes. It was a small technique his Father taught him, and one he admittedly hadn't had much practice with, but he'd once told him that sometimes the auras of some 'called to each other'. He didn't fully understand how it worked, and his own inexperience meant he might not do it right, but he tried anyway, and slowly extended the senses of his aura.

At first nothing, but as he tried, he felt something from one of the stands and went over to it, revealing to be some kind of arm wrestling game. "Welcome, try your strength against the arm wrestling machine. Win and you win a prize! Only one Pokedollar per attempt," the stall owner, a male Machoke Pokemorph wearing a body builder type outfit of all things with short black hair said with a grin.

"I'll give it a shot. Do I get to choose the Prize?" Ash asked.

"You can, but that'll up the difficulty depending on what you got your eye on, and yes, this machine has been tuned to adjust to your type, so don't think you're gonna have an easy time just because you're a Fighting-type too," the stall owner chuckled.

"Alright then," Ash nodded, before trying to sense again, this time being closer he could feel it a bit better among some of the Pokemon Eggs, and after a moment…he was pretty sure he knew which one it was. "I'd like that Pokemon Egg, please," he said, pointing at a Pokemon Egg that had a notable igloo-like pattern on its icy blue shell.

"Okay then, Pokemon Eggs are high on the difficulty, so…" the stall owner said before adjusting the difficulty of the arm wrestling machine. "Okay, give it a try."

Ash nodded and soon placed his elbow on the table and grabbed on to the robotic arm. "Ready," he said.

"Alright, we'll begin in 3…2…1!" the stall owner said, as he hit the switch. Immediately Ash grunted and grit his teeth as the arm started to push against him, forcing the Riolu to strain as he pushed back against the arm. Pikachu had gotten off his shoulder when he'd locked hands with the machine and was now cheering for him as Ash continued to push back. As the Stall Owner told him, the arm had been calibrated to give him a challenge, being able to keep up with his natural strength, enough so that it wasn't long before the young Trainer-Fighter found his arm being pushed towards the table. Even so he didn't give up and pushing himself further, fought against the force and started pushing back. For a time it was a stalemate, sweat dripping from Ash's brow as he kept fighting, and slowly but surely, he started to turn the tables, the machine doing its best at its current setting to claim victory, but it was ultimately for naught as with a shout of exertion and victory, Ash managed to make his opponent touch the table.

Ash panted as the machine powered down at registering its loss. After taking a moment to catch his breath, he looked towards the stall owner who seemed somewhat surprised that he managed to win, but quickly smiled and took out an incubator. "Congratulations!" he grinned as he took the Egg that Ash had wanted and gently placed it into the incubator and closed it up. "As agreed, one Pokemon Egg. Take good care of it, because a life long friend is sure to hatch," he grinned, giving Ash the incubator.

"Thank you, I will," Ash smiled before looking towards Pikachu and showing him the incubator. "Look Pikachu, we're gonna get a new friend," he smiled, to which Pikachu climbed up his leg and to his shoulder before examining the incubator, sniffing it a bit, and letting out a 'Cha!' in delight.

"I'm excited too, buddy," Ash smiled as he looked at his future new team member.

At another section of the stands, Misty had picked out a fishing game. Apparently what she'd win depended on what 'fish' she caught, and there was really no way of knowing which was which, though to ensure nobody could claim that the game was rigged to not allow any of the higher end prizes to be won, the stall owner, a rather portly looking Seal Pokemorph, had a system to lift up all of the 'fish' to allow players to see that indeed there were high end prizes among the mix, before lowering them and mixing them up again.

"Okay, one more try," Misty said, as she'd already tried a few times, but so far she hadn't landed a target that would get her a Pokemon Egg. Oh well, it wasn't as if she was blowing her money, and even then, this meant more souvenirs for her to remember the trip. Once again looking at the fish carefully, she readied the fishing rod provided, and picking a fish that looked good, slowly lowered the rod, and at the right time, she went for her target, the fish snapping at the rod, allowing her to pull it out. The moment she pulled out the fish, the stall owner stopped the game, and quickly examined the fish. "What did I win this time?" Misty asked.

"Congratulations, you've won one of our Water-type Pokemon Eggs," the stall owner smiled, before taking out a few such Eggs. "Each of these Eggs came from a Water-type Pokemon. Take your pick, and I'll provide an incubator for you," the stall owner said.

Misty looked over the eggs, thinking carefully which one she wanted. Granted there wasn't much of a way to tell with Pokemon Eggs sometimes, but she looked carefully anyway before eventually choosing an egg with a mainly dark blue shell with a bit of lighter blue on the bottom. With her decision made, the stall owner gently placed the egg into an incubator and gave it to Misty.

As that was happening, Brock was thinking quickly before making choices as he pressed the corresponding buttons before a screen. The game he'd picked turned out to be a trivia game, and to get the best prizes he had to try out some of the hardest difficulties. He was just glad that the quiz in question was focused mainly on topics related to the Pokemon of Kanto, or he might have been in trouble.

Either way, he maintained his focus as he answered question after question within the time limit, and eventually he reached the last question. Sighing a bit, he waited as the game checked his answers and to his delight, he found that he'd earned a perfect score.

"Huh, not bad at all," the stall owner, a Kadabra Pokemorph, said.

"I'm just glad that it was all related to Kanto," Brock chuckled.

"I'm impressed you still managed to get them all right. Even just Kanto is a lot of information," the stall owner said, before taking out the prize, a Pokemon Egg that was mainly colored a rocky brown with a bit of white and orange mixed in at times. "Congratulations, as promised, one Pokemon Egg. Just between you and me, this one is apparently pretty rare," the stall owner said, placing the Egg into the incubator.

"Thank you, I'll be sure to take good care of it," Brock smiled as he accepted the incubator.

"I'm sure you will, enjoy the rest of the cruise," the stall owner nodded to which Brock soon left, though as he left, he heard the stall owner muttering to himself. "Hm…maybe I SHOULD have included that 'Jigglypuff from above' question…yeah no, I'd be lynched if I did that."

Brock quirked an eyebrow at that, but shrugged. It was probably best if he didn't question it.

The group soon reconvened, their Eggs in tow. "Looks like all of us won something good," Ash chuckled.

"Yep, I wonder what these Eggs will become," Misty said, looking at her own Egg.

"Whatever they are, we'd better raise them well," Brock smiled earning a nod from the others, the group soon returning to their room to keep the Eggs safer for now.

With the Eggs secured, the group soon continued enjoying the cruise. As the days went by they spent the time generally enjoying all the Cruise had to offer. They spent the days mingling with the various guests, playing the various games on offer, shopping at the shops available, and of course making use of the various facilities, among other things the gyms and battle areas to keep their skills sharp. Even on vacation they wouldn't want to slack off on their training after all.

Of course, another thing to note was that while uncomfortable at first, the group started to get…used…to Team Rocket whenever they happened to run into the three. So far things were…cordial, as they all kept their word. As long as neither side caused problems deliberately for the other, they'd maintain a truce, and if they were being honest…the Rocket Trio actually weren't so bad when they weren't doing well…bad things.

Jessie and James were actually quite knowledgeable about fashion and the like…and apparently had a liking for cross dressing sometimes if the fact that there was that couple of times they saw the two pull it off quite well all things considered. On top of that, while the two used their Pokemon for less than honorable goals, if the way they cared for both Ekans and Koffing was any indication…those two were at least good Trainers for their Pokemon, and looked out for their needs properly. Even Meowth while he could be a bit abrasive, was actually rather affable and witty when he was in a good mood. All in all, Ash and Co. were pleasantly surprised by what they found out about the three when they weren't being criminals.

Even so, all good things must come to an end. And while they could confidently say they enjoyed the cruise as well as they could, it was eventually time for the cruise to end, but the S. S. Anne wasn't about to leave them off so simply. No, the producers of the event wanted to end it with a bang. That was why on the last day of the event, where they would be docking in Porta Vista by the next morning, the Cruise was positively abuzz with lights and sounds as a full on concert was being held for the final night. Everyone was taking advantage of this time to enjoy the cruise as much as they could, and up on the deck, there was a fireworks show for people who didn't care much for the concert.

All in all it was a great time for everyone on board, and certainly one of the biggest highlights for Ash and his friends for their journey so far. Even so, they enjoyed it while they could, knowing that it would soon be time to move on.

XXXX

Yep, I'm a bit of a troll. Lol. I kept acting like there was a chance that they'd have the canon events happen…when I ultimately decided that that incident wouldn't really serve much purpose, so I decided to just let them have a normal vacation. But even during a vacation things can still happen that can move the plot forward, such as build up for future events. Also, as many of you guessed, the friend Ash was communicating with was indeed Serena, even if that probably wasn't TOO hard of a guess. Lol.