The Convention at Sea

"Thank ye. Trained it hard." He answered gruffly. Smirking at his Raichu's pokeball, it clipped it to his belt. "Ye did good, soldier. Rest now." Walking up to Lucas, he shoved some items in his hand. "Here, the Thunder badge. And take this TM too."

(I just realized I didn't add the money from Brock's and Misty's battle. So it equals up to 6039.)

Lucas gladly took the Thunder Badge that Surge gave him. "Yeah! Just got the Thunderbadge!" Lucas said. He looked over at Blue. "Now that makes three for us!...and one for Bill..." he said

"B - But I didn't battle." Bill blustered. Blue nodded happily. "Well, congrats!" As she extended her elbow, Growlithe hopped on. Wartortle eyeballed it evilly but kept it's peace. "So, where to next?"

"Geez Blue, why are you always in such a rush. I'm the leader in this Shinanigan, aren't I." said Lucas.

Then, Chef Gordon went up to Lt. Surge, and the two were chatting and shaking eachother's hand. "Surge m'boy! I haven't see you since the war ended! And now you're a gym leader! How've ya been."

Blue wrung her face and enlarged her eyes sadly, looking all the world like a cute puppy. "Oh come on. Please?" Bill looked aside at Surge and Gordon chatting away.

"No!" said Lucas comedicaly, making his face look a stern Korean man. Then he laughed and patted Blue's shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll leave soon enough, but still...whoever knew Chef Gordon and Lt. Surge would be War buddies..."

Bill raised his hand. "I did~" Then flipping out an extraordinarily large book from his bag, he flipped through the pages and stopped somewhere near the middle. "Here, all the names of the soldiers who fought the war." He said, gliding his finger down several thousand names.

"Really? Surprised you didn't say so." Lucas scratched his head. Then Jace came over to the group. "Well, I knew Gordon was in the War, but I didn't know he served with Surge." he said. "And by the way, that was fantastic fighting you guys. It was...tasteful..."

Lucas muttered over to Bill and Blue: "Well, I can certainly tell he's got his connesuier spirit back...he's starting to make food puns..."

Blue snickered, which soon bloomed into full fledged laughter. Her shoulders shook with the effort of keeping her laughter suppressed. "So, what now?" Bill chimed in.

Jace looked Puzzled. Then Jace looked back at Gordon, then all the Chefs. "Well, I guess I'll get going back to our ship soon. Once we set sail again." Jace said. "You don't have to do that. Come on, join our group! What do you say about him joining guys?" Lucas asked Bill and Blue.

Blue wiped a tear away, finally done with her laughing. "W-What?" She looked up. Bill nodded. "No problem by me." However, Blue remained tight-lipped.

"Well...the thing is...I can't go..." said Jace. "Why not?!" Lucas said. "Cause...you wouldn't understand Lucas..." said Jace.

"But...what about the Red Gyrados?" said Lucas. Jace's eyes widened. He had wanted to find the Red Gyrados, but something was keeping him from doing so...a debt he could never repay. "Oh...well..." said Jace. "Hey Bill, surely you must know something about the Red Gyrados?" said Lucas

"Hmm...by what I know, induced evolution using electromagnetic waves. Due to the forced evolution; the Magikarp it evolves from retains its red color, having no time to change its scale color to blue. Therefore, it can also be called a Shiny Gyarados." Bill said, eyes closed in thought.

"Yes...but Legend says that it gives off some of the greatest Spices, and holds the greatest, tastiest Secrets of cooking of all time! It's every Chef and Connesueir's Dream!" said Jace, looking happier than ever.

As he went on excitedly rambling about the Red Gyrados, Chef Gordon and Surge watched him express his dream. "He sure has grown Surge...that boy has certainly become one of my greatest chefs...but he surely wants nothing more than to search for his dream..." Gordon said, waiting for Surge to say something about the matter.

Surge nodded. "Ye know, ye can only leash 'em for a certain period of time."

"Really? That wasn't in the book..." Bill said, obviously flustered as he flipped through the some million pages in the book. Blue patted him and slapped the book shut. "Legend says. And this book speaks of only fact, doesn't it?"

(It will be fun if there's this small enemity along the journey.)

I wonder Blue, is there ever a book that says that 'ol Big Bird is a Legend? Lucas thought to himself.

"Then Obviously, this book hasn't confirmed it yet. But all the Sailors and Sea Chefs talk about it. It's a dream worth fighting for..." Jace went on. "That's right!" said Lucas. "Jace, if you believe it, then you should pursue it! Let NO ONE try and tell you otherwise."

"Mhm. We're all pursuing our dreams in this team." Bill added a word of encouragement. Blue was busy flipping through the books. Hey Bill- Augh!" As she tried to lift the book to take it across to Bill, the weight dragged her down. Straining against the weight, she could barely lift it off the floor. "Wow...this thing weighs a ton...!" She grunted as she finally gave up.

"What are you talking about?" He said as he walked over and picked it up, leaving Blue goggling at him. "Surge, say this isn't heavy." He said, tossing it at Surge. Surge neatly caught and letting out a cry, fell to the ground, book on him. "...Can't....breath..." He gasped. Pushing the book off with difficult, it fell to the floor and actually caused a crack to appear on the smooth polished surface of the floor. "Never in the army have I held anythin' as heavy as this..." Surge gasped as he picked himself up, eyeing the book.

Bill shook his head in confusion and picked up his book, replacing it in his bag.

The Lucas grabbed the Book out of his Bag and lifted it up. "What? It's not heavy." he said. Indeed, Lucas was lifting it as if it were a plate of food.

(>.> It's supposed to be, but nevermind.)

"See?" Bill said, taking his book back. "Say, how many pokemon do you have, Blue?" She swirled around. "Hmm? Uh...Wartortle, Parasect, Arbok, Growlithe and N- Wait. I have a mystery pokemon!~" She winked playfully. "You're gonna have to find out over time. And lets double the funsies. I have two pokemon which you both have not seen."

Lucas shrunk his eyes. "Wait, I thought Growlithe was the Mystery Pokémon..." he said

"Uh uh. I already used him in battle. I have two more. That means a full team!~" She winked at them, holding a pokeball against her cheek.

"Well good for you." said Lucas. He was wondering if he should catch Pokémon and make a full team. He really didn't want to catch too much, then he'd have to worry too much about training too much Pokémon. But he always wanted to explore more, and catch all sorts of diverse Pokémon.

Jace had at that point, gone outside. All the chefs, including Si and Patty, were sitting around and eating what looked like soup. Jace then looked around, confusingly. "What the...are you guys eating MY soup...the kind that I made?" he asked. Patty wiped some off his mouth. "Yeah. It's all we got left since that Team Rocket attack. I'm just surprised we didn't settle for our own legs before eating your crap!" he said. The other chefs continued eating their soup, showing faces of disgust.

Then a familiar face showed between all the chefs: Celine. Lucas' eyes turn to hearts and his body turned to squiggles, and he quietly chanted "Mellorine!...Mellorine!...Mellorine!". Celine went up to Jace. "Jace, I'm the one who brought the soup out for them..." she sad. Jace then looked down. "The only thing left to eat...they still won't accept it as food." he turned and ran back into the Gym. Celine then followed after him. Lucas looked at them go in. Then a thought came to his head: His fainted Pokémon. He turned to Blue. "Blue, why don't you try out the Soup...I need to go take care of my Pokémon..." he said. Then, Zorua jumped out of his Bag, and went straight to a bowl of soup. "Okay Zorua, you try it too..."

Zorua started slurping the Soup. Despite the Chef's faces, Zorua seemed to like it a lot. Lucas thought, Well, Zorua seems to like it. And it does look good...maybe these sailors are doing those fake reactions...

Then, he gathered up his Pokeballs, and went to the Pokémon Center. He put them on the counter, to let them be healed.

[Yes, the Soup is suppose to be Delicious]

"Wait up! I need my pokemon healed too." She said, sprinting after him. Setting down her pokeballs, Nurse Joy soon came in and healing them, gave back the pokeballs with the usual smile and low bow. "All right. Try the soup, you say?" She said quizzically. She scooped up some and tasted it and could barely supress a gasp. "Wow, this is great!"

Lucas took some soup and ate it. "Wow! You're right! It is good!" said Lucas, devouring more. Genesis came out of his Pokeball, feeling refreshed, and started eating some too.

Meanwhile, Jace sat in a corner, miserable. Then Celine came up to him and said "Jace...". Jace looked up and said "What is it Celine...they're still making me feel like that little child that was only a dream-cook..." he said. "Jace...I think you should listen to outside." Celine said. Jace, for some reason, decided to go with Celine, and listened from behind the entrance door, the conversation outside.

All the Chefs continued eating the soup, with faces of disgust. "I know it's fowl...but...nobody wastes food around here!" Chef Gordon said. "You know, I understand your code and all...but what's so bad about the soup? It's great!" Lucas said. "We know that!" Gordon said. "It's delicious. Better than anything I've made in my years." said Gordon. Then Si and Patty spoke up. "Yeah, we're just teasing the J-Kid! All an act!" Si laughed. "It's for his sake." Patty said, happily slurping his soup. All the Chefs then showed the true colors on their faces: Happiness, and a liking for what they are eating.

"Oh yeah...the chefs are trying to make Jace think they don't want him around...so he'll...leave...for..." Lucas said to himself. "Listen boy. You say you want Jace on your 'Pokémon Adventure' Team? Well, if you want a Chef, he's the best you could get. Trust me." Gordon said to Lucas. Lucas thought for a second. Then he looked back at Blue.

"Hey Blue...you're not still mad at Jace for...insulting us earlier, are you?" Lucas asked.

Blue turned her head away, pretending she didn't hear that. Ah, such was the temperament of a girl. With feelings constantly in turmoil, as with thoughts, she hadn't yet decided. She quietly put away her empty bowl and walked away to the sea edge. With the small waves licking at her heels, Wartortle half made to jump in, but seeing Blue's face illuminated in the glowing sunset, turned towards the orange globule gradually slipping beyond the horizon, he refrained and sat down beside her feet.