In their last encounter Gary only saw Charmander battle and thought that his 'Rival' only won that one battle as a fluke but now seeing the strength of his other Pokemon including him having a Pidgeot on his team now showed that he truly underestimated Ash.

"Tch." Gary turned away with Austin looking back at him. "At least you're raising your Pokemon."

Austin just rolled his eyes at that.

" But nice battle." Okay that surprised Austin and he was pretty sure it showed up on his face when Gary looked at him. "Next time however I'll be sure to win Ashy-Boy."

With that he walked off, although his face had a frown as he saw the surprised look.

Something was seriously wrong with Ash and he intended to find out what.

Maybe he could speak with him while they were on the Ship?

"Chu?" Pikachu forced himself to sit up so he could climb on Austin's shoulder and a few seconds later, Charmander joined him on the other one.

"Mander." Charmander shrugged at what Pikachu said both of them finding that a bit odd as they remembered Gary's last interaction with their trainer pretty well.

"Right well come on, let's get you guys healed up." Austin told his Pokemon.

Later that day, Austin sighed as he went to meet up with the others to eat dinner.

After he healed up his team he's been bombarded by other trainers for battles and he used them to train up his team a bit-especially where Fearow was involved as while he was gentle with the bird Pokemon he didn't want him to feel left out.

He won some and lost others but just about everyone on his team gained experience.

Although he also lost sight of Green after a while as the girl slipped away while he battled.

His mind froze as he saw Brock, Misty and Yellow but they also had three people he didn't think he would see for quite awhile.

Rudy he knew he would eventually meet but not this soon but the other two.

'Gold and Crystal?' Austin thought in shock knowing it was them because of the Aipom and Smoochum next to them.

"Ash." Brock called out snapping him out of his shock.

"Hey Brock." Austin said walking up to them .

Sitting down, he looked at the three he hasn't met-yet- and smiled.

"Hi name's Ash."

"Nice to meet you." Kris said giving a polite grin in return. "I'm Lyra, but call me Kris."

"Or Crystal." Ethan butted in earning a look from his friend. "I'm Ethan or Gold whatever you prefer."

Austin gave a nod, feeling relief that they had those nicknames so he wouldn't slip up.

"And I'm Rudy from the Orange Islands." Rudy greeted holding his hand out for a handshake that Austin accepted.

"Pi." Pikachu jumped off of Austin's shoulders onto the table while Charmander climbed down to sit in Austin's lap as he sat down.

The food looked amazing as Austin had to keep his mouth from watering while they all began to eat. "So what have you guys been up to on this cruise?" Austin asked curiously, switching to Ash so he could enjoy a bite to eat.

As they ate he learned about what they did with Misty sunbathing and meeting Rudy in the process, Brock exploring the ship before winning an egg much to his surprise and he had to keep himself from laughing when he learned of how he met Ethan. Hearing at how Yellow and Kris took to the stalls made him smile.

Despite how he was a bit afraid of what will happen on this cruise he was happy that everyone was enjoying themselves.

"What about you?" Yellow asked curiously .

"Ran into Gary again and we battled." Austin said surprising them. "Although it ended in a tie."

"Chu." Pikachu grumbled under his breath.

"Hey we'll win next time buddy." Austin said with Pikachu giving a nod. "Oh and Pidgeotto evolved."

"Already?" Brock asked not expecting that but it did make sense with how Austin trained everyone.

In fact he was surprised that none of the Kanto Starters evolved yet with the training Austin was giving them.

"So I take it you're doing the Gym Challenge?" Rudy asked curiously as Austin seemed to be the battler of this group.

"Yeah I have three badges so far." Austin said a grin on his face. "Just five more and I can compete in the Tournament later this year."

Austin knew he wasn't going to win though considering the sheer amount of people there who have been at this for years compared to him but he was still going to give it his all.

"The Pokemon League? That's pretty ambitious." Ethan said scratching his nose.

"Didn't you say you wanted to compete once?" Kris asked looking at him earning a laugh from the gambling addict.

"Yeah but everyone's doing it so I might do something else." Ethan said to her. "Not all of us are intent on catching every single Pokemon out there."

"That's pretty ambitious." Misty said in surprise at hearing that.

"No one's done it before, so I want to be the first." Kris said her eyes glinting at the challenge. "The person who has caught every single one out there."

"Some fine dreams at this table." Rudy said with a sweat drop at how these guys definitely dreamed big.

"Ah you are enjoying yourself, no?" Everyone turned to see the Gentlemen that Austin battled earlier approaching them with a woman in a dress by him-most likely his wife or date.

Brock went red at seeing the woman while everyone else was confused at who this was before Austin spoke up. "Yeah this ship is great, I've had a lot of fun on here."

"And you were so reluctant to come on before." Misty said with a smirk while Austin rolled his eyes.

"Well excuse me for being cautious with how we got the tickets randomly." Austin pointed out to her.

"Your Charmander was pretty magnificent." The Gentlemen said to get the conversation back on track.

"Thanks , so was your Raticate," Austin said forcing a smile on his face as he could see what was going to happen. "I was actually thinking of trying my Raticate against him but figured Charmander would like to battle."

He saw the Gentlemen twitch a bit at realizing that Austin already had a Raticate, showing that he narrowly dodged the man asking to trade as he placed a hand to rub Charmander's head making him happy.

While that could be seen as a sign of affection, it was also a guarded one and he gave a look to the man to let him know without saying that he was not going to trade any of his Pokemon.

The Gentlemen saw that and gave a polite smile saving face. "Well if you ever want a rematch I'll be more than happy to oblige." He said making seem as if that was what he was going to say before walking off.

"What was that about?" Misty asked with Austin shrugging pretending not to know.

Best not to continue the issue as it was done with.

0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

"You what?!" Jessie demanded as James told her what to do. "You bought a Magikarp?!"

Meowth gave a nod of agreement. "How stupid can you be?!"

"It's not as if I fell for the scam, do you even realize how strong it will be when it evolves?" James asked making Jessie stop short as she wasn't the expert on Pokemon that James was so she didn't know anything about Magikarp except that it was laughingly weak.

"It evolves?" Jessie asked skeptically with James nodding.

"Into a Gyarados."

Meowth's anger immediately changed to fear as he took a step back. "G-G-Gyarados?"

"Yes imagine us with the might of a trained Gyarados on our side?" James explained to them. "They're pretty powerful."

"And temperamental." Jessie said now agreeing with Meowth. "I'd rather not have one try and kill us."

"Unless you raise one from a Magikarp which many people aren't willing to do," James explained to them. "A Gyarados that's raised from a Magikarp is extremely loyal to their trainers where wild Gyarados are the most temperamental."

Jessie quirked a brow in thought.

All together they had five Pokemon now-six if Meowth counted himself as a part of their team as they forced him to train with the others in order to keep up and not be a liability.

Now that James explained everything she could see the genius in this plan with how he thought it through and the rewards far outweighed the costs he already paid.

"Are you sure you'll be able to get that fish to evolve?" Jessie asked looking at her partner in crime who gave a nod.

"I'm pretty patient with this type of thing and I intend to take my time to do it correctly." James said with Jessie sighing.

"Fine, it was your money anyways."