Chapter Twenty-seven- Registration

~*~

"In trouble?" Anya asked, blinking. "What do you mean?"

"Well..."

"What in the heck is going on around here? First my Bishonen wander off, then people start falling out of nowhere! What's next, flying pigs?!"

The group turned around to see a young woman, another trainer, watching them with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Be happy they didn't fall on you," Paul muttered, standing up and rubbing his neck. However, he couldn't be upset or in pain for very long; in instants he was back in his own little world figuring out which Bishies he wanted to catch.

"You said your Bishonen wandered off?" Miya-chan asked worriedly.

"Oh, don't worry." The trainer waved an arm. "Squall came back. He just saw a Rinoa. You know how THAT can be." She rolled her eyes.

"All too well, Misha," another trainer nearby agreed. "My Bishonen race off all the time."

"I know! Sometimes it's funny, but it can really..." the two trainers moved up in line, completely forgetting that they had been talking to someone else.

"Oh, okay," Anya said with relief. "Good."

"Where are we anyway?" the trainer called Bryanna asked. She was rubbing her back and stretching a bit, looking around. "And where are my- oh, they went into their Bish-balls, eh? Smart Bishies," she noted, glancing down at her belt. "For once," she added.

"In Treah City," Jacky said.

"Oh, good. That's what I set it for," Bryanna said. She grinned. "Now to get away from here!"

"Eh? Why?" Jacky asked.

"Because then that ***** can't find us," the other trainer explained.

"...Huh?"

"It ties in with us being in trouble," Jessica chimed in. "Look, are you guys busy here?"

Chichiri nodded. "We're in the middle of registering for a tournament that'll be in a couple days, no da."

"That we are!" Chibi Kenshin piped up.

Miya-chan turned and smiled. "Ne, you're that Bishonen I talked to the other day on the Dex, aren't you?"

The blue-haired Bishonen gave her a small smile and scratched the back of his head. "I am, no da."

"You look better without that mask." Miya-chan turned back to Anya as Chichiri's ears and neck turned pink. "Well, if you're that busy..."

"We can come back later," Anya mused.

"Uh-uh, I ain't waiting in this line any longer than I have to," Sano declared.

"You can be so impatient!" Anya said.

"And the hell's wrong with that? It's SENSIBLE! The line'll be longer than ever if we come back later!"

"True..."

"Aah, it can wait until you guys are done," Miya-chan said.

"Miya-chan!" Jessica said.

"What? It can! Besides, we're in public."

"That's true," Bryanna chimed in. "She hasn't gotten the guts to go for anyone in public yet. So we should be all right for a while."

"Okay, it's decided," Miya-chan said.

"There's a restaurant a few blocks from here," Jacky said suddenly. "How about we meet there in a couple hours? Then we can head back to the hotel and talk for a while."

"Sure, I could use something to eat," Jessica said.

Bryanna considered it, then nodded at the same time Miya-chan did.

"All right, we'll see you at..." Anya checked her Dex. "About noon, I hope?"

"Okay, see you then," Bryanna said.

"Wait, what's the restaurant?" Jessica asked.

Anya glanced at Jacky. "The Silver Dolphin Diner," she said after a moment.

"Thanks."

The three trainers walked off.

Chichiri tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well, that was weird no da..."

"Whoa, hold the horses!" Anya said.

Everyone turned to look at her. "What's up, Anya?" Jacky asked.

"That girl's name is Bryanna!"

"Yeah, we noticed," Sano drawled.

Anya hit him on the head. "Baka! You don't remember?"

"What're ya talking... oh." He rubbed his head. "That's right, that guy said she was some elite trainer or other, a friend of his... What's that matter, anyway?"

"It's just a small world, that's all."

"Ack! You will NOT get that EVIL song in my head!" Abby suddenly cried, covering her ears with her hands. Seeing as this freed Caramon, neither Paul or said Bishonen did anything to comfort her on the matter. Instead, Caramon discreetly slipped behind Paul, and disappeared into his Bish-ball.

The line moved up again, and the group moved with it.

"Well, at least we're moving now," Jacky sighed. "Hopefully it won't take as long as we thought it would."

"Yeah," Anya agreed.

"Caramon? Where did you go?!" Abby said, searching frantically. She went so far as to pick up Paul and look under him. Paul sweat-dropped and hit her on the head, causing both of them to fall on the ground. Raistlin moved away and pretended he didn't know any of them.

~*~

Finally, the group made it to the front of the line. There, they could see two women off to one side, apparently signing autographs, while other trainers (and their Bishies) wrote down trainer's names, Bishonen, and so on.

Anya and her Bishonen ended up registering with Cammi, who had a Tamahome sitting next to her and a Goku leaning against the nearby wall grinning and waving cheerfully at everyone who glanced in his general direction.

"Hi, how can I help you?" Cammi asked.

"I'd like to register, of course," Anya said.

"Yeah, I guessed that," Cammi said with a laugh. "I meant which Bishies do you want registered with you, and what categories of Bishonen are they?"

Anya blinked.

"You see, we'll be working with the same rules as in a gym," Cammi explained. "Bishonen with magical properties will only fight with others who can cast magic. Mecha Bishies only fight with others who use machines, etc."

"Ah. Okay." Anya turned back to her Bishonen. "Well, what do you think?"

"I'm in!" Sano announced, banging his fist on the table Cammi sat behind. Cammi jumped and squeaked in surprise, and Tamahome frowned at him. "Fighter Bishonen, Sanosuke Sagara, Sama stage, domo arigatou!" This entire speech was delivered in a cheerful, almost high-pitched, voice that made the group stare at him.

Cammi, however, quickly recovered. "Ah, okay." She scribbled that down. "Anyone else?"

"Hai! Ore wa Chichiri no da!" the blue-haired Bishonen said. He gave the girl a small wave.

"How's it goin', Chichiri?" Tamahome asked.

"Pretty good. You find a Miaka yet, no da?"

"Iie. I'm happy with my trainer," the other Bishonen stated.

Suddenly, an all-too-familiar voice announced, "TAMAHOME MUST DIE!"

Out of nowhere, Abby appeared bearing a huge hammer. She proceeded to hit the Bishonen three or so times on the head before disappearing back into the crowd. She didn't say anything during the beating. However, Anya was pretty sure she heard something along the lines of, "Oh, I'm just a passerby!" when Abby left. The trainer sweat-dropped.

"Itaiiiii..." Tamahome lay on the ground with an @_@ expression on his face.

"Tamahome! Why that-!" Cammi glared into the crowd. "When I find that blue-haired meanie..."

"Daa..." Chichiri sweat-dropped.

"Oh, I don't mean you!" Cammi said with a ^.^. "I mean that girl!"

"I know, no da. She's a companion of our- DA!" He winced as both Sano and Anya stomped on one foot each. "What was THAT for, no da!?"

"We never saw her before," Anya stated innocently. "Anyway, this is Chichiri. He's a magical Bishonen, as I'm sure you know, and San stage."

"Cool!" Cammi wrote that down too. "What else?"

Anya glanced at Kenshin and Heero. Kenshin looked at her hopefully, while Heero shook his head. "No, no one else unless Kenshin evolves," she said. Kenshin pouted at this.

"Okay! Oh, as a routine check, please ask your Dex how many times you've won in a gym."

/Huh?/ "Okay..." Anya pulled out her Dex and obeyed.

It told Cammi, "One victory at gym."

"Oh, that's not good," Cammi said with a shake of her head. "Sorry, but you can't participate."

"What? Why not?" Sano demanded.

"Because you need to win at least two times at a gym to register." Cammi shrugged. "There's a guy to challenge at this one, but... you need to win by the tournament day for me to be able to keep you registered."

"Um, okay. Thanks for the tip..."

"Let's go kick his ass!" Sano declared.

"Wait! I promised to meet Miya-chan and the others at this time!" Anya said, grabbing his arm before he could march off.

"Come on, woman..."

"Look, I'll hold your registration," Cammi offered. "Just show up during tournament day, here, and look for me- we have a couple last minute registers open during the tournament itself. Show me your Dex again and let me see you've got two. Then there'll be no problem! Just look for Cammi with her Tama-kun and Goku-kun."

When his name was mentioned, Goku grinned and waved at them. "Hey, I'm hungry! Let's all go out and eat together sometime after we spar, mmkay?" he called.

The group collectively sweat-dropped, but to be polite Anya waved back and called, "Okay." Then to Cammi, "Thanks a bunch. Well, guys, let's check on the others all right?"

"Sure!"

~*~

"Where are they?" Bryanna yawned, stretching her arms over her head. She glanced at a clock. "It's been over two hours."

"They'll be here," Miya-chan assured her. "Trust me, they'll be here shortly."

"Mmkay, as long as you mean shortly as in within the next few minutes."

"Yeah, that's what I mean-"

"Hello!" Anya called, waving.

"Hi!" Miya-chan jumped up. Then she frowned. "Where're your Bishonen?" she asked the group. "And... where's that other girl you had with you?"

"Oh, Kimiko? The Bishies all decided to train at the gym for a while, and Kimiko volunteered to watch them while we were here talking," Anya said. She sat down next to the other trainer. "She figured it was better to watch them and find out what was up later."

"Okay then... Well, I don't know all of you guys..." Jessica hinted.

"I'm Jacky!" said trainer told them.

"And this is Abby and Paul," Anya said, indicating the other two trainers. She sweat-dropped when she realized they were thumb-wrestling again. "Uh, don't mind them..."

"Okay..." Bryanna sweat-dropped too. "Do they do that often?" she asked, gesturing towards them.

Anya glanced again to see they were now arm wrestling. "Uh, yeah..."

"...No comment."

The group of somewhat-sane trainers pointedly turned away from the obviously insane ones to continue their conversation.

Anya took a breath, then assumed a more serious expression. "So what's this about all of you guys getting into trouble with someone, and having to run from them?" she asked.

The three trainers glanced at each other. It wasn't really a look of unease, like they didn't want to talk about it. The look was more of a 'who wants to spill it' glance, that finally Jessica took up.

"I'll tell you. You see, in the mountains, well, a LONG way from here, there's this lab that's used to experiment on Bishies and their trainers..."