Orange Island - Kumquat Island

The group left the researcher to his work after spending a day playing with the Magikarp under the watchful eyes of Gyarados. They didn't leave empty handed however as both Misty and Gou had befriended two young Magikarp who insisted on following them. It had been a fun day for them all in all and soon they were at Kumquat island for the last badge. As they were walking towards the Pokemon centre after woman came out of nowhere and hugged Ash tight.

She said, "Travis you are back! Why didn't you tell me you were home son?"

Lucario, -Excuse me lady, but my trainer is not this Travis.-

Pikachu, "Pika pikachu Pikapi!"

The woman looked at Ash, "Oh! Oh! I'm sorry, it's just you look a lot like him so I thought."

Ash shook his head, "It's okay, ma'am. I can understand, my mom reacts the same way."

Misty, "Your son really looks like Ash, ummm Miss?"

She turned to Misty, "My name is Luana and yes, he does, from his height to having a cute Pikachu, to the cap and even the blue jacket and pants."

Silver sweatdropped, "Well, I can see how you confused them."

Tracey laughed, "Well, it could be worse."

Chloe, "You said your name is Luana, aren't you the gym leader of Kumquat island?"

Luana smiled, "Why yes I am dear! I suppose you are here for a gym battle?"

Ash nodded, "Yes ma'am, it'll be my final badge."

Luana, "Well I would love to but right now I'm helping a friend of mine set up decorations for his event. Also just call me Luana, Miss makes me feel older than I actually am."

Ash, "Okay Luana it is, I don't mind, not really, I usually take around three days off to train a bit before challenging the Gym Leaders."

Luana clapped her hands, "Wonderful, his event is day after tomorrow. So after his event we can have our Gym battle."

Lucario, -That's fine by us.-

Luana, "Oh my! I have heard rumours about you but to think it's true!"

Gou, "Rumours?"

Luana, "Ahem! Do not worry about it, as long as you are in the Orange Archipelago, we'll watch your back."

Chloe, "I'm missing something, aren't I?"

Silver frowned, "I see, thank you Luana. We appreciate it."

Tracey, "How about we all go to the Pokemon centre now?"

Ash, "Sure, bye Luana, we'll see you around."

The group looked around Kumquat island as they went towards the Pokemon centre which was located in the middle of the island. It was a very peaceful and beautiful island with clean pristine beaches and a decently large city that was still growing. Tracey explained that the Island City was built with the natural disasters kept in mind. Kumquat was known for dealing with large tidal waves and tsunamis during the late summer and early spring. As the island was located in the three sea meeting zone, it occasionally faced problem with large waves caused by the clash of different sea water.

A voice came from behind them, "Look out! Look out! Look out!"

Tracey and Silver was hit by a teen who was carrying a lot of packages, it would have been no problem however if there was no Vileplume infront of them. Tracey and Silver hit the Vileplume hard and the flower like Pokemon released stun spore that had the two of them gasping. Ash watched what happened dumbfounded as Vileplume's trainer checked over Vileplume and Feraligator and Maril nudged Silver and Tracey.

Misty grabbed the teen and shouted, "Hey what's the big deal? Can't you be more careful?"

The teen, "I'm sorry but it's hard to see where I am going with so many boxes in front of me."

Chloe, "You really should be more careful though."

Ash helped Silver up, "Are you okay? I hope you didn't breath in too much of the stun spore."

Gou, "I got you Tracey."

Vileplume's trainer approached them, "Oh no! That's not good! I'm Gulzar and this is my Vileplume."

Vileplume looked at them miserably, "Vile vileplume vile!"

Lucario, -Apology accepted! Do not fret, it was an accident!-

Vileplume, "Vile vileplume vile plume!"

Lucario smiled, -That is very kind of you. Meema she wishes to help us.-

Ash, "Alright let's get them to the centre, they'll have the antidote."

Feraligator, "Liga!"

Silver, "I... I'll b... be fine, o.. once I get t... the antidote."

Feraligator picked Silver up before grabbing Tracey and walking straight towards the Pokemon centre. Ash and the others hurried after them while Misty and Chloe decided to stay with the teen, Zack to help him out so he could avoid getting in trouble. To say Nurse Joy was shocked to see two humans who looked like they were stunned being carried by Feraligator was an understatement. She quickly ushered them to the side room that had human beds and checked them over.

Nurse Joy, "What happened?"

Gulzar, "An accident in the town square. We were hit by a teen carrying way too many packages than normal."

Nurse Joy deadpanned, "It was Zack again, wasn't it? Honestly that boy needs to learn to relax."

Ash, "Will they be okay Nurse Joy?"

Nurse Joy smiled, "They'll be fine, do not worry!"

Gou, "Man what a turn of events! And to think things were going smoothly then this happened."

Ash looked at the two on the bed a bit perturbed, "Yeah, who would have figured our luck would run out in a while. That too in such a manner."

Ash, 'That was Tracey and the og in the anime, I don't know whether to be happy I was not the one this time or feel bad for them.'

Lucario, -Meema!-

Ash, "Nothing just lost in thought!"

Gulzar, "I can't believe your Pokemon call you mother."

Gou, "All the ones who were born from poke eggs do."

Nurse Joy returned holding a tray that contained two steaming glasses, "These are two glasses filled with the the antidote."

Ash took one and sniffed, "It smells kinda sour."

Nurse Joy chuckled, "Well it's suppose to be after all that is the boiled Salveyo weed. It taste sour but gets rid of the spore effects."

Gou, "So they'll be okay?"

Nurse Joy nodded, "A full day rest and they'll be back to normal tomorrow."

Ash and Gou decided to get a six bed room for them instead of the usual single rooms for just one night. The next day they could get separate rooms for themselves and their Pokemon, for now they had sick friends to care for. Misty and Chloe returned in the evening telling them about their adventure outside. Apparently the teen guy they met worked for the company that belonged to his girlfriend's brother. His girlfriend was a petite blond that went by the name Cloud, she was a cute girl with blue eyes and blond hair. She was with her older sister, Aerith and best friend Tifa when they had helped Zack out with his deliveries. Her older brother looked just like her and went by the name Rufus who looked them up and down before challenging them to a Pokemon battle. Misty won of course and then she got hired as extra security.

Ash, "Pffffffffffft, looks like our good luck ran out on this island. We all got caught up in some trouble or another."

Chloe gave a laugh, "It was bound to happen at one point I guess. I mean things were going really smooth."

Misty, "So as it turns out the big event Luana talked about is the Kumquat Island Junior surfing Competition."

Silver grumbled, "So that's why that guy was in a hurry."

Misty, "You're awake and yeah! Guess we are all gonna be busy the next three days."

Ash nodded as they decided to turn in early for the night, it was already dark by the time Misty and Chloe returned and Silver and Tracey were able to get up. The next day they were able to move around and Gulzar checked on them and Vileplume brought them flowers. The poor Pokemon was feeling very guilty so Tracey offered to ask Vileplume's help in finishing a sketch of a wild Vileplume.

Gulzar, "Thank you, my buddy here felt really bad about what happened."

Tracey, "Accidents happen unfortunately in large cities. It can't be avoided, all anyone can do is stay prepared to handle it."

Silver pat Vileplume, "He's right, I'm gonna go train with Ash, you all have fun."

Silver walked over to the field Ash and Gou were battle training in and told Ash he would be his opponent. Ash grinned accepting it and trained together with Silver, and the experience and difference was pretty telling between the two of them. It wasn't that Ash and his Pokemon were weak or anything but Silver just like Red and Blue had loads of experience under his belt. Silver pushed Ash to train harder and to focus on control of the attacks, heavy attacks were lethal to both Pokemon and humans if they were uncontrolled. Ash grumbled, when he realized their control was really bad and he was pretty lucky their battles had not caused much property damage. Soon the day of the event came and teens both local and from outside of Kanto took part in the annual event.

Ash could see Misty by the water with her water Pokemon keeping an eye out on the surfers and the teen who had hit them, while Chloe was keeping an eye on the stands. Zack was beside a blond haired girl, Cloud, Ash presumed cheering for a dark haired surfer girl out on the waves. As it turns out the dark haired girl, Tifa, won the first prize of the event and she gave a speech thanking her family, best friend and kissed her red headed boy friend.

Ash, 'Huh! Why are they familiar?'

Lucario, -Pokedollar for thoughts, Meema?-

Ash, "It's an interesting and fun event."

Gulzar, "It's very popular around here."

Silver, "Misty and Chloe will get letters of acknowledgement after this right?"

Tracey nodded, "Yeah, looks like Chloe is taking to heart what we talked about a few days ago."

Gou, "It's good though, she'll have more avenues to follow."

After the events Ash met up with Luana who told him they could have the gym challenge later on in the evening if he wanted. Ash agreed to it, his Pokemon were getting really itchy for a fight and restless. Luana laughed and told Ash to be at the gym in three hours for the battle making Ash grin. Gulzar decided to follow Ash to watch his gym battle against Luana. As it was a double battles challenge, Ash decided to let Blastoise battle as a way to get used to his new power and Charizard was back up.

Ash, "Let's go Charizard and Blastoise."

Luana, "Come Nidoqueen and Maganium."

Referee, "Begin!"

Ash, "Blastoise use water pulse, Charizard dragon breath!"

Luana, "Oh ho! Maganium magical leaf, Nidoqueen icy wind!"

Blastoise fired the water pulse which was followed by dragon breath while Maganium used magical leaf which covered in icy wind made them more hardier. The two combo attacks collided and created an explosion that resulted in a green, blue and white glitter sparkles spreading across the arena.

Luana, "How beautiful! Maganium, Nidoqueen earthquake, now!"

Ash, "Charizard into the air with Blastoise quick and use seismic toss, Blastoise prepare to use body slam."

Silver, "He's really using that?"

Misty, "What's up?"

Gou, "He just started training with that combo, it's not exactly mastered yet."

Chloe, "I see, that's risky right?"

Tracey, "Sometimes you just gotta take a gamble."

Charizard flew up holding Blastoise, he was used to carrying his lightweight trainer around and so carrying Blastoise or Venasaur for that matter was a bit of a challenge. Lucario had snorted when he heard Charizard complain while Ash had pouted saying he was not a lightweight! Which got incredulous looks from his Pokemon that made him grumble even more. Charizard managed to do two seismic turn with Blastoise before releasing him towards Nidoqueen. Blastoise gave a roar as he prepared to body slam the surprised Pokemon and hit her really hard. Luana watched in interest as Nidoqueen and Blastoise both got up after the attack before Nidoqueen fell forward unconscious.

Referee, "Nidoqueen is unable to battle."

Ash gave a sigh of relief, "Blastoise, are you okay?"

Blastoise nodded, "Blast!"

Charizard rumbled worried as he looked dizzy, "Zarrrrrd!"

Luana, "Return, Nidoqueen, this match is not over yet, Maganium use leaf storm!"

Blastoise retreated into his shell telling Charizard to fly off which he did to dodge the attack of large vines. Charizard gave an impressed whistle, he had only seen Venasaur use that move so far and that too only once a day. The move was a very powerful one which was mostly used to give forest that were destroyed a boost to grow and heal faster. Charizard gave a questioning rumble asking if Blastoise was alright, and Blastoise poked his head out of his shell nodding.

Ash, "Blastoise use razor shell to cut yourself free, Charizard sword dance on Maganium, don't give her.... him another chance to attack."

Luana, "Recover Maganium and counter with sword dance!"

Ash ordered Blastoise while Charizard and Maganium were battling, "Prepare hydro pump Blastoise, as strong and compact as you can. Remember our training with Sil?"

Blastoise nodded and focussed on preparing hydro pump and compacting it to hit one point, Charizard flew up and distracted Maganium. He was pushing Maganium towards the front of Blastoise and flew up as soon as Ash gave a shout. The next thing Maganium knew they were hit by a very powerful hydro pump which looked half the normal size but definitely had more pressure and strength behind it. Maganium flew backwards and hit the wall making a crater on it which made Ash wince and give a mental apology.

Referee, "Maganium is unable to battle, Blastoise and Charizard win the match. Ash has won the final challenge and the last badge."

Luana clapped, "Well done! I must say you have done really well in training your Pokemon. Allow me to present to you the Jade Star badge as proof of your victory. Most challengers that I get, have one problem always, their Pokemon are not used to battling together and end up battling each other instead."

Ash took the badge, "We won guys, and seriously?"

Luana nodded, "Seriously and there is a hidden prize for those who win the last badge."

Lucario, -Hidden prize?-

Luana produced six cards, "The trainers who win the last badge get to stay at my famous Quat resort for a weekend for free. It also has a Pokemon centre so we can all go there to get our Pokemon checked out."

Misty, "That's so cool."

Chloe, "A weekend at the resort sounds nice."

Gou, "Well it'll be good to have a break from training right?"

Silver nodded, "I don't see why not."

Tracey, "Let's get going then."

[A. N.: Orange Island arc will end soon!]