The Biggest Fish

 

Misty kept nodding off, Ash held loosely in her arms.

 

“We’ll get through this, Ash. You’ll see,” she murmured.

 

Misty finally nodded off, the lack of oxygen getting to her. Time was running out.

 

One of the pokéballs on Ash’s belt glowed and Espeon came out, having felt her mistress’ distress and finally managing to escape the pokéball’s mechanism. She glowed again, covering Ash and Misty as well. They disappeared from the ship, landing on shore just seconds later. It was there that a lucky tourist caught sight of them and found help, transporting them to the hospital.

 

This led to the huge media circus that was surrounding the two former missing pokémon trainers, reporters eager to get into the hospital and the room itself for a chance to talk to the two and get a comment or even possibly an interview with either one of them.

 

“An amazing event happened today, here in Aopulco! Missing passengers of the St. Anne, Misty Waterflower and Ash Ketchum, have been recovered today. And thank goodness, they seem to be in stable health.”

 

When Ash awoke, Misty was still unconscious and that was the first thing she’d heard off of the radio that was on to her side of the hospital room. She slowly got off of the bed, legs wobbly, and then without warning she fell after a few steps away from the hospital bed.

 

That wasn’t good.

 

“Oh dear! Miss Ketchum, your body is currently recuperating. It’s been under a lot of stress and you need your rest,” a nurse, not Nurse Joy, came in and helped her up and led her back to her bed.

 

“But I’d like to get out,” Ash said quietly, not at all genki and happy like usual. “Please. Maybe just one phone call?”

 

The nurse hesitated, but the imploring look on Ash’s face made her cave in easily. She agreed, but Ash could make the phone call in her room and just have a quick ride on a wheelchair through the part of that level of the hospital. Ash waited on the bed for the nurse to come back with the wheelchair, and was helped into it once it was near. Then Ash quickly made a round on that floor, before being brought back and shown how to use the phone there.

 

Misty was still asleep and Ash stared at the phone in her hand, wondering and at a lost at who she wanted to call. She didn’t want to call her mom, because she’d just worry and fuss. And Professor Oak would be much the same, before bringing her mother into it and making double the fussing. She didn’t have anyone else’s number, except –

 

She dialed the numbers hesitantly and waited for the other to pick up.

 

“Hello?” Giovanni answered irritably, voice sounding really rough.

 

She blinked, surprised at that and how pissed off and upset he sounded.

 

“I-I’m sorry if this is a bad time –”

 

“Ash?!” Giovanni interrupted quickly. “Is that you? Are you okay? Where are you?”

 

She took a second to catch up to the rapid questions and the relieved and yet panicked tone of his voice.

 

“Yes, it’s me,” she started out slowly. “I’m fine. I’m…in Aopulco, according to the nurse. Um…sorry for being a little disoriented. I wish I could be a little clearer to you and be more informative, but I just woke up and still trying to get caught up.”

 

“No! No, no, it’s fine. Really. In fact, I’ll probably be there in around an hour or two, so don’t worry. Okay? I’ll see you soon.”

 

“Wait, what? Hold on!”

 

But Giovanni had already hung up and Ash was left staring at the phone.

 

In fact, he had arrived there in an hour, on the dot. In the meantime, Misty had awaken around the same time as Brock had burst into the room, bawling about how he was so happy she was safe and alive and asking for forgiveness for being shoved into a boat and having to leave her behind. Misty had glared halfheartedly the entire time as Ash comforted and reassured Brock it was fine, with her head killing her and wishing the idiot would leave her and Ash alone. And in silence.

 

Misty really wanted to just go back to sleep.

 

But presently, Giovanni had managed to get access into the room and had proceeded to ignore both Misty and Brock as he tended to her, reaching her bedside and smiling softly at her as he handed her a bouquet of fresh flowers.

 

“Oh! You didn’t have to, Giovanni. These are just lovely,” she accepted them from him.

 

He adjusted her pillows as he spoke. “No, I wanted to. I’m glad you liked them.” Taking the other chair by her bedside, he ignored the tense and uncomfortable Brock by his side, who fidgeted and twitched being next to the ‘legendarily strict and harsh authoritarian Giovanni.’

 

It was a very awkward afternoon.

 

“We have no money.”

 

The declaration from Misty seemed to put them all into a funk. Giovanni stared in bemusement at them, before opening his mouth to volunteer his services. While he didn’t care much for the other two, he was very fond of Ash and very happy that she was actually alive…and that his organization hadn’t been the cause of her death.

 

“We could enter that Beauty Contest,” Ash suggested brightly. “It’ll be fun too!”

 

Misty brightened up. “Yeah, it’ll be fun!”

 

Brock’s head was filled with images of Ash in beauty costumes and bikinis and cosplay –he smiled goofily and agreed very loudly.

 

Giovanni frowned and was about to offer his services again, when he was surprised to see Ash glance at him and shake her head slightly. Keeping quiet, he backed down and said nothing, waiting for when Ash would explain herself.

 

“Giovanni, can you take me out?” Ash asked suddenly. “I’m getting restless in here! Brock, could you watch over Misty for me?” she continued, cutting off Brock’s offer to take her instead.

 

Brock inwardly pouted.

 

Once outside of the room, Ash didn’t dawdle and went straight into it.

 

“I appreciate you and your willingness to spend money for me and my friends, but I think I’d like to try earning some money on my own,” she gave him a wry smile. “I’m pretty sure you’re loaded, if that suit you gave me and the other stuff wasn’t an indication…but I shouldn’t be relying on rich friends to get by through my pokémon journey. I should at least try to travel like a normal trainer, and not slip on by so easily.”

 

Giovanni kept looking at her closely for a few more seconds, before sighing. “Alright, Little Miss Independent,” he ruffled her hair. “Have it your way.”

 

And well, it wasn’t really what he wanted, but it was what she’d wanted. That didn’t mean he couldn’t continue to slyly help her over the course of her journey…

 

It wasn’t long until they were given a clean bill of health and released out of the hospital. And as they were in a beachside tourist town, they decided to quickly head over to the beach and enjoy themselves for once. They all got into swimsuits, though Ash was unfortunately not in a bikini as Brock had hoped. She had even managed to get Giovanni into one, though he steadfastly refused to go into the water, and instead watched her from the sand.

 

Suddenly, the next events were all a blur as Brock took over a boat that he’d thought Ash had borrowed, since Pikachu was on it, and had accidentally crashed into a…Gyarados submarine? Anyway, it had then crashed into the dock.

 

The owner, named Moe, came out, looking upset and despondent at seeing the state of his boat.

 

“I’m so sorry,” Ash apologized yet again, bowing several more times. “We’ll cover the cost by working for you! Please accept our offer and forgive us!”

 

“Well…alright then. Sounds good to me,” Moe agreed.

 

Giovanni backtracked and stared. Had he…just been volunteered to work?

 

Minutes later, he couldn’t believe he was in a restaurant, dressed up as a waiter, and actually doing labor. He didn’t do things himself. There was a reason he had servants and minions around!

 

“Giovanni?” Ash asked, looking up at him questioningly as she smiled slightly.

 

He crumbled easily.

 

Minutes later, an older, short female walked into the restaurant, with three very familiar and unwanted people around. Giovanni twitched.

 

“Moe! Look at you and your empty restaurant!” the woman cackled. “My restaurant is doing much, much better than yours, it seems.”

 

“Brutella,” Moe growled, glaring at the woman.

 

Ash and for some reason his blue-haired subordinate stared at each other. While the two restaurateurs bickered, with the rest of Team Rocket and Ash’s two friends adding their tidbits, Ash and James were quiet and looking at each other, and Giovanni paid more attention to them instead. It wasn’t long until Brutella left with a huff, with most of Team Rocket following. James hesitated before striding forward and hugging Ash tightly.

 

“I’m really happy that you’re alive,” James said softly. “I’m sorry for before, and you have no idea how happy I was when I saw you were alive on the news. Bye for now, okay?”

 

Then he left to catch up to the others. Giovanni scowled, watching the other retreating.

 

“Why are you hiding behind that menu?” Misty asked, suddenly beside him and startling him.

 

“I’m not hiding behind the menu,” he said quickly. “I’m…looking over it. We’re working here; we should at least get complimentary food.”

 

Misty hmmed. “Yeah, you’re right. I’d like to try that…”

 

Whatever else she said trailed off through Giovanni’s ears. Instead, he focused on Ash, who seemed to get a sort of determined aura.

 

“Alright! We need to work harder!” she then had her Pikachu, Espeon, and Milotic go around outside, handing out fliers.

 

Her Seviper began entertaining around the restaurant, doing snake-like dancing through the floor. At first the crowd had been wary, before easily becoming entertained and eager to keep watching.

 

“You know, it’ll be even more better if you went around as a girl,” Moe commented out of nowhere, and Ash, Misty, and Brock froze, while Giovanni glanced at him sharply. “Just sayin’. You’ll attract more customers yourself.”

 

Ash hesitated, before thinking about it. Generally, she was known as Ash Ketchum the Girl. She battled as herself, usually was herself. She only journeyed as a boy, walking around in boys clothing on the road and a little around towns, unless she wanted to be herself (though she was pretty sure her mother wouldn’t approve). So she didn’t really see what was the harm in it…

 

“Okay,” though Ash didn’t really understand, Brock and Misty (and Giovanni, but he was trying not to think like that, because he was pretty sure a man his age shouldn’t be noticing something like that) understood that Ash was a really pretty and charming girl that could really get a crowd in.

 

Not that any of them wanted to notice or think that.

 

Ash went in the back, putting some more girlier clothes on, before happily trotting back out. And soon enough, she was flitting between the restaurant and outside, and then a larger crowd was coming in, filling up the restaurant until it was full.

 

Brutella came in again, much more aggravated-looking, with Team Rocket following her, and Giovanni immediately put up his menu cover.

 

“I see your restaurant is doing well,” she spat out. “Since it’s doing so well, you better get ready to pay me the money you owe me, Moe! Get it to me tomorrow, or else I’ll take your boat as payment!”

 

She left just as abruptly, but the only one despondent was Moe.

 

“Why are you upset, Moe? You’ll be fine!” Ash said encouragingly.

 

“I don’t think I can get the money to her by then,” he explained. “I’d always planned on taking a world cruise with my boat,” he added wistfully.

 

“Don’t give up! Hold on to your dream and don’t let go of it! I believe you can do it, and fulfill your dream, Moe!” Ash urged him.

 

Moe brightened up a little. “You think so?”

 

“Yes! And to show you how much I believe in you, my pokémon and I will work doubly hard. Double time, guys!” she directed to the others, before moving off herself to work.

 

“Ah, if only she was two years older,” Moe sighed happily, earning a glare from all three left.

 

Giovanni was almost tempted to have one of his other Rocket members come back here and destroy the restaurant…if it would not have rendered all of Ash’s hard work useless and moot.

 

“You remind me of my granddaughter,” Moe would be saying to Ash later, while thinking ‘Oh, the fun I could have with you if you were 2 years older…’

 

The perverted grin on his face did nothing to hide his thoughts from Ash’s three companions, who thought ‘Liar!’ in their heads when they heard what he said. Giovanni viciously bit off a piece of meat off of his stick, while Misty stabbed her shrimp with her chopsticks.

 

Brock was meditating and losing himself in his own head, trying to remember his teacher’s calming techniques…else he tackle the man and scream “Unfair!”

 

That night, they went to sleep in the rooms prepared for them by Moe in his home attached to the restaurant. Ash, Misty, and Brock were quick to fall asleep, but Giovanni stayed up and went back in to the restaurant, seeing Moe humming quietly to himself as he drank a bit of saké and mournfully looked over the entirety of his restaurant.

 

“Up, eh?” he asked Giovanni, without looking over.

 

Giovanni let himself be known, no longer making an effort to be quiet as he walked over to the older man. He handed a check over to him, the man taking it in surprise and then his eyes widening at the amount.

 

“Take that to repair the dock and your boat, as well as pay off Brutella. It should be enough,” Giovanni said with ease. “The money Ash will receive from the contest, that I have no doubt she’ll win, she’ll probably also give to you. In that case, take it as back up and put in either investments or your retirement fund. Anything leftover could be used for you on your travels. You shouldn’t have problems financially from now on.”

 

Moe gaped at him, glancing down at the check. “I…I see. It’s really generous of you and she’s also been very helpful…thank you, and to her as well…”

 

“Do not mention it,” Giovanni waved it off. Then he grew a menacing look. “However, don’t you ever dare think or talk about Ash like that again,” he warned, narrowing his eyes at the other.

 

Moe nodded rapidly.

 

With that, the older man decided to hit the sack and Giovanni took a seat tiredly, morosely watching over the restaurant. A noise behind him, several minutes later, alerted him to the fact that someone else was awake. He turned and saw Ash tiredly walking towards him, a sleepy smile on her face. She gave him a small wave, and he smiled slightly at her adorableness and her cute Vulpix pajamas.

 

“You’re still awake?” she asked him after a yawn.

 

“Just a little,” he said fondly.

 

Ash yawned again, but took a seat next to him.

 

“Are you still going to enter tomorrow? Both the Beach Beauty and the Pokémon Costume Contest start then. You could probably even hand out fliers to the audience there. You could even hopefully win some prize money to help out Moe.”

 

“Yeah, yeah I could,” Ash grinned, waking up a little.

 

“In that case, since the prize money you originally wanted will go to him…would you accept money from me now?”

 

Okay, part of his offering money to Moe earlier had been because he realized that what Ash earned in one day and half of tomorrow wouldn’t be enough to pay off Brutella, fix the dock, and fix the boat. It was unimaginably impossible, no matter how hard Ash worked at it. But having Moe also accept Ash’s prize money (again, he was completely sure she was going to win) was partly to make Ash feel like she’d helped out and she’d managed to make sure Moe reached his dream and would be okay…but also partly so that he could get Ash to agree to taking his money and allowing him to pay and take care of her and her needs.

 

“Well…okay. I mean, we won’t have any money after making sure to repay and help out Moe and all, and we can’t stay in Aopulco forever, trying to find odd jobs for money,” Ash mused aloud.

 

“Good,” Giovanni hid his smugness. “I’ll even take you to the Giant Pokémon theme park I own after all this.”

 

“Yatta! That’s awesome, Giovanni! Wait a sec…you own a Giant Pokémon theme park?!”

 

 

Giovanni mentally patted himself on the back and allowed himself a moment to feel a bout of self-satisfaction.

 

“You’re not entering, Misty?” Ash asked, as Misty tilted her head back and began putting on lip gloss.

 

“Nope. But it’s okay! I want to play Life-size Barbie.”

 

“What?!”

 

But Misty distracted her when she moved Ash’s head again and continued her ministrations.

 

“If it isn’t the twerps,” Jessie’s voice sounded through the tent, and the two girls looked over to see the red head standing there, with James in a…bikini with inflatable breasts. They missed Meowth hiding with a camera.

 

“Like them?” James winked at Ash, cupping them and preening, causing Ash to start giggling and also blush a little. He smirked over at Misty. “When you’re older, you’ll have a chest like this.”

 

Misty glowered at them, though they all pointedly ignored that Ash, a sixteen year old, had a chest as big as Jessie’s, who was twenty one. Which put into perspective that Misty was nineteen, and had a smaller chest than Ash, making James’ statement very…sardonic.

 

“Look forward to losing, losers~” Jessie taunted, turning and waving backwards, though Meowth was finishing up taking pictures of Ash.

 

James followed after a finger poke to Ash’s forehead and sticking his tongue out at Misty.

 

“Ugh! Those two…” Misty twitched. “Anyway, you ready?”

 

“Mmhm,” Ash gave her a thumbs up. “I just need to put on my swimsuit.”

 

Of course, the swimsuit Misty had prepared for Ash, after the debacle that was the bikini in Cerulean Gym, had been a black t-shirt and boys swimming trunks. Black because it wouldn’t be see-through, a t-shirt because it covered everything, and the trunks for the same reason. She really wanted to keep Ash in it…but she was also sure that Ash wouldn’t win by wearing it.

 

She twitched again.

 

“‘Lo, Ladies,” Moe popped up suddenly, scaring the two. “What’s the problem? Ash is about to go on.”

 

Misty explained it reluctantly, and Ash understood while Moe looked thoughtful.

 

“Just go for it,” Moe said bluntly. “I mean, you only live once, right? YOLO!” he cackled before clearing his throat and looking sheepish. He whipped out a bright red bikini and handed it to Ash. “Go change.”

 

While Ash went, Moe looked to Misty.

 

“So…let me guess. You want to make sure she stays innocent and protect her from all sorts of creeps and pervs, right?” he asked Misty frankly.

 

Misty blushed, but nodded. “She asked me when we first met if I could help her out, looking out for those kinds of jerks because her mom was really worried about it and Ash admitted she’s kind of oblivious about that kind of thing. I just didn’t realize how oblivious. At first, I tried to tell her, but she would always be too nice and think I was over thinking it, because –you’ve seen her –she’s just so sweet and trusting and she just believes the best of everyone. And she’s so cute and charming, she can’t help but draw in all sorts of people, especially those kinds of jerks.”

 

Moe nodded in understanding before saying, “Let it go.”

 

“What?!” Misty shrieked. “But you just –”

 

“You can’t stop everyone,” Moe shrugged. “She’s just that charming and you can’t keep everyone away. Just stop them, beat the shit out of them really, if they ‘go too far.’ Guys will be guys, and I know there are girls like that as well. And you’ll smother her too. So just watch, and kick the asshole’s ass if they do something too bad, and/or really upset Ash.”

 

Misty nodded grudgingly at his explanation and suggestion, but realized that was what she had been doing and it wasn’t really working.

 

“…Thanks…”

 

“No problem. Just don’t tell Giovanni I gave her that bikini, eh?”

 

Misty stayed quiet for a second before slapping the back of his head.

 

“Perv.”

 

And then Ash was walking out onto the stage, amongst whistling and cheers, with Brock the Emcee trying to stay unbiased but happily floating as he watched her. Giovanni blinked and then his brain shut down when he saw her, and he really knew that his thoughts should not be like they currently were like, in regards to Ash…and her bikini…and everything about her…

 

James just let out a wolf whistle and grinned roguishly at her when she turned to see who it was, blushing and giving a shy wave to him when she saw him.

 

Then Ash’s Seviper was costumed as Seiryuu, the mythical Dragon of the East, with Espeon using its psychic powers to float it around the air, like it was flying.

 

Of course, Team Rocket’s Gyarados sub burst out of the waters, causing panic amongst the crowd who thought it was a real Gyarados, and was actually pirated and piloted by Brutella, who then launched a missile at the stage…and which then hit the psychic barrier Espeon put up, redirecting it towards Brutella’s restaurant and destroying it.

 

But that was just details.

 

At least, Ash and her pokémon won the contest. And Giovanni didn’t even have to rig it…

 

Meanwhile…

 

“I’m so happy she made it out safely,” Lorelei sighed happily.

 

“Me too!”  Bruno pumped a fist into the air, scribbling doodles of Ash on his paperwork. “And she won that contest! Wasn’t she pretty?”

 

Agatha smacked his arm with her cane. “Do your work! And did you really doubt her?” She huffed.

 

“Hey, let’s start a fanclub about her,” Lance said suddenly, the idea just popping into his head. It made sense anyway, with all the focus they were fixating on her.

 

“What, why?” Lorelei blinked.

 

“‘Cause I’m bored. ‘Cause we’re all bored,” Lance shrugged.

 

The rest of the group thought on it for a second, but nodded enthusiastically.

 

“Yeah, sounds fun,” Bruno grinned.

 

And so, that is how Ash became the subject of a fanclub started by the Elite Four, because they were bored and focused their attentions on her…when they’d already been unfortunately focused and interested about her in the first place.