"Did you hear? The newly built super large cruise ship, the St. Anne, is about to begin its maiden voyage!"
"I heard! But I heard it's the most luxurious cruise ship in Vermilion City so far. It's said to require special invitation tickets, so it must be very expensive, right?"
Coming to a coastal city, taking a cruise is naturally the most interesting thing. Many people come for tourism, and even traveling trainers don't want to miss such an opportunity.
"Heh heh! You don't know this, do you! Because it's a trial voyage, to celebrate the St. Anne's maiden voyage, there's an event giving out free invitation tickets!"
"What? There's such a good thing? Where is it? I'm going to check it out too!"
"It's said to be distributed randomly. You need good luck to get one! I just got one!"
Ash and his friends, eating in the restaurant, overheard the conversation of people not far away. Misty also stopped what she was doing and listened to the conversation of those few people, looking at them with a bit of envy.
"A luxurious cruise ship trip! So nice!! Why aren't we so lucky?"
For someone like her, who loves Water-type Pokémon, she also loves things related to Water-type Pokémon. And she had always traveled arduously on foot. It was rare that she also wanted to enjoy herself.
But unfortunately, those invitation tickets were probably very expensive to buy. As for the ones being given out, it was probably just a gimmick, and they wouldn't actually give out that many.
Ash ate his meal without much thought. St. Anne? If he remembered correctly, it was a trap specifically created by Team Rocket to lure trainers with the purpose of travel and then seize their Pokémon.
"Ash, why aren't you saying anything?" Seeing that Ash and Brock hadn't spoken, Misty immediately turned her head and said.
"Say what?"
"Don't you want to go on a luxurious cruise ship trip?" Misty looked at Ash's indifferent expression and felt a little sad. She really wanted to go.
"It's alright! Traveling by foot or by cruise ship is pretty much the same, right?"
Ash didn't care. To be honest, he had just received a substantial prize money when he caught the Pokémon hunter earlier. Going on a cruise ship wasn't really a problem for him.
It just wasn't necessary to spend money on this. That was originally a trap, so it didn't matter whether he went or not.
If he didn't go, he would just travel normally. If he went, he would treat it as an encounter with Team Rocket. After all, he would inevitably deal with Team Rocket in the future. Even if he didn't look for trouble, trouble would find him.
"Hmph! You really don't understand romance!" Misty snorted angrily after hearing this and turned her head away. Brock beside her couldn't help but chuckle, accustomed to Ash and Misty's bickering.
"You might not find it so romantic once you get on board." Ash said casually, putting down his fork.
He didn't know if other cruise ships were romantic or not, but he was sure the St. Anne wouldn't feel romantic to her. Even in Ash's memory, the most romantic cruise ship story eventually ended in tragedy.
"How can that be? Enjoying luxurious food on a cruise ship, and sunset sea views, and maybe even a beautiful encounter. A cute girl like me will surely be approached by many charming gentlemen."
Misty clasped her hands to her chest, already fantasizing about being on a luxurious cruise ship.
"Sigh!!" Ash and Pikachu both couldn't help but spread their hands, shake their heads, and sigh.
"What do you mean by sighing?! Ash is so annoying, why is even Pikachu like this?" Misty said angrily, seeing Ash and Pikachu's reaction.
"Alright! If you want to go, I have a feeling we'll get an invitation ticket soon!" Ash, seeing this, stopped teasing her. He stood up and walked towards the front desk with Pikachu.
"Huh? What does that mean? Ash isn't going to buy an invitation ticket because of me, is he?" Hearing this, Misty was a little confused. But then she propped her chin with both hands, blushing shyly, thinking it must be so, muttering that this blockhead was finally getting it.
Alas... you're probably going to be disappointed!
However, Brock beside her watched Misty fall into fantasy, and helplessly sighed and shook his head. Fantasy was destined to be fantasy. From what he knew of Ash, Ash wouldn't do that.
Ash's group arrived at the front desk. After confirming that the other Pokémon were fine, he waved to Misty and Brock, packed their things, and left.
Leaving the Pokémon Center, they came to the dock. Vermilion City's dock was the largest dock in the Kanto region. Over ten cruise ships were docked here, and people came and went. The daily foot traffic exceeded six digits, showing no signs of crowding.
"Ash, where's your invitation ticket?" Seeing Ash arrive at the dock, Misty became even more excited, because if they weren't going on a cruise ship, there was no need to come to the dock.
"Invitation ticket? I don't have one!" Ash replied calmly to Misty's question.
"What?? You... weren't you just going to buy an invitation ticket?"
"No! I wouldn't spend money on something like that." Ash replied seriously.
"Then... then you still said..." Misty was immediately choked by Ash. All her fantasies shattered. Recalling her previous words, he was still a blockhead.
"Didn't you just say someone was giving them out?"
"What are you talking about! That's just a gimmick. If someone really gave them out, I would..." Misty heard this and immediately got angry. So you just wanted to try your luck?
Bang, bang!! Whoosh!
A sudden noise rang out. Countless colorful streamers flew through the air, startling Misty and Brock. Then they saw two "girls" in student uniforms, with dark skin and heavy makeup, appear before them.
"Congratulations, you two are super lucky!" Misty's flag wasn't even fully set when she was interrupted.
"Wh... what's going on?" Misty asked the two people before her, confused.
Ash, however, looked at the two and thought to himself, It was these two guys by chance. Because this time, he didn't want to be defeated by Lt. Surge like in the anime, they hadn't appeared.
He had indeed come to try his luck, because he knew that even without Jessie and James, there would definitely be some disguised Team Rocket members distributing invitation tickets.
Ash recognized the two at a glance. Jessie was fine, but James was a bit of an eyesore. However, they were indeed quite dedicated.
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