Love in the Time of Tropics

Chapter 5: An Arrival

To correct things, after receiving so many well-wishes last chapter: I wrote these chapters about 2 months ago, ha ha. So when I say I lost my moxie, I've long since gotten it back. But thank you for everyone's kind words! Now, time for Chapter 5!

Chapter 5

An Arrival

The plane touched down on the dew-laden asphalt that made up the landing strip. It squealed a bit as it slowed itself to a halt, the steam created in the crisp morning air puffing from its engines. The ramp lowered and those few passengers that had caught the red-eye flight to Alola stepped out, yawning and rubbing their eyes.

James and Meowth were no exception.

"Da sun is too bright..." Meowth commented, adjusting the sunglasses on his face. He was bedecked in a floral-patterned shirt with shorts, a topless visor on his head. "Remind me why we traveled here overnight?"

"Because the booooooos," James yawned out, bringing the brim of his cap down to hide his eyes from the sun, "asked us to. And we couldn't exactly say no! Not when Inkay was approved to come along with me this time!"

"Inkay!" Inkay called out, clearly happy to be soaking in the sun rays. James smiled at his companion and reached over to cuddle it tightly. Suddenly, James felt something bump up against his back and he instantly pitched forward, wanting to move out of the way of the surprisingly well-rested diva that he knew was approaching from behind him.

"Ah, now this is my kind of region!" Jessie sang out, Gourgeist floating around her happily. James rolled his eyes in exasperation. Just a few seconds into the new region, and already Jessie was acting like this was her new home where she'd be beloved by all. Sighing a little, James took out a small bracelet from his pocket and attached it to his hand, touching some invisible buttons on the surface. "An island beauty such as myself could only belong to the Alola Region and its crystal shores! I can already picture it!"

"Picture yaself workin' Jess. We ain't on vacation here," Meowth reminded her. James rolled his eyes again as a map of the city they were in, Hau'oli City, popped up.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet concurred with his feline companion. Jessie, as expected, did not.

"What are you trying to say, Meowth?" she snapped. Gourgeist sounded off angrily as well, the two leaning in towards Meowth while Jessie lowered her sunglasses to glare. Meowth didn't back down.

"I'm tryin' to say dat da boss wouldn't be happy if he found out we were doin' nothing but sittin' around tannin' on da beach," Meowth shot back. James backed off a bit, worried that Jessie was really going to completely lose it and continued to scroll on his own through the data coming through his bracelet, including a map of the region, dossiers on their target, and information on various Pokémon native to the region.

"You're just jealous, Meowth, because I almost made Kalos Queen last year and could do it all over again in Alola!" Jessie proclaimed, sticking her nose up in the air. The expression suited her well, but James wasn't about to tell her that.

"Yeah...dat's it..."

"Wobba!"

"Why don't we stop talking about this and find a suitable spot to contact the boss and let him know we're in Alola?" James pointed out. "I'm sure he's waiting to give us better instructions for our mission of taking down Team Skull and ARC." Jessie and Meowth appeared to stop their bickering a moment, blinking at him like he'd grown a second head. He worried over their possible impending outburst before both looked thoughtful.

"James is right," Jessie pointed out, folding her arms across her tanktop. Smirking a little, she tapped her sunglasses back down over her eyes. "Well, let's go then."