Legal Notice: "Fighters Megamix" and all related stuff TM and copyright Sega. All rights reserved. 
The characters and events are entirely fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons and/or events is purely coincidental. 

 
Harbortown Summer
Chapter 1- Away They Go 
 
 

 It was late one Friday night, and the gang was returning home from their night out. Actually, they were returning to Jim's house first to put the Vipermobile back where it belonged. And Jim's parents had invited them all to stay a little while, because Jon, Jim's dad, had found out about something that "would interest them". 

 "So what is it?" Jim asked his father when everyone was in the house. 

 "See for yourself," said Jon, handing his son part of a newspaper. When most of the gang saw it, they were stoked. 

 "Wow! A music festival!" exclaimed Heather. 

 "With all our favorites!" Raxel put in. 

 "And since, it's this summer, nobody'll be in school then!" said Candy. "We're goin'!" Most of the others nodded. 

 "Uh, guys," Jim said soberly, "I hate to break everyone's spirit, but I just noticed this." With that, he pointed to a sentence that read "Coming to Fairwestern Harbor". 

 "That's all the way on the other side of the country!" said Ruth. "We couldn't possibly make it! Or can we?" Fairwestern Harbor was in Maine, hundreds of miles from Armstone City. 

 For days, about the only thing anyone could think of was how they would get to the concert. At last, Candy had an idea. She told it to Bonnie, Laura, and Aoi one night when they were sleeping over at Laura's. 

 "None of us have really made plans for the summer, right?" she said. "Well, I've heard that Fairwestern Harbor is a great place for a vacation. So why not go up there for a few weeks and go back a day or two after the concert?" 

 "That's a great idea, Candy!" said Bonnie. "But what hotel will have enough vacancy?" 

 "Oh no! I didn't think about that!" exclaimed her friend. "Well, I guess some of us are gonna have to stay here." 

 "I doubt that'll be an issue," said Laura. "Not all of us were excited when we found out about the festival. Even before we found out the location." 

 "Okay," Candy told her friends."Here's the deal. When we meet to hit town next week, we'll see who goes and who stays, and then I'll search the 'net and see where we could stay." 

 "Cool," said Aoi. So that Friday, the girls explained the plan to their friends. 

 "Now here's the thing: we can't all go," Laura said. "Of course, I want to go. And I know that Jim, Candy, Bonnie, and Aoi are in. How about the rest of you?" 

 As it turned out, Picky, Grace, Tokio, Bahn, Jane, Raxel, Otto, Heather, Ruth, Akira, Pai, Sarah, Jacky, Kage, and Lion were going, too. Because there were still a lot of people going, Candy decided against searching for a hotel online. Instead, she remembered that a relative of hers had a house in Fairwestern Harbor. So she went home and asked her parents to contact that relative and see if some kind of arrangement could be made. 

 By the time everybody met again, it was settled- they'd all stay in the house up there. "Now how do we get there?" Pai asked. 

 "We could take the Vipermobile," Jim suggested. "That way, we can still follow our usual Friday night routine. I'm sure Dad won't mind." 

 "You mean we should take a road trip?" Picky asked. "In that old thing?" 

 "Yes," was the reply. "We can see what the good ol' US of A has to offer between Armstone City and Fairwestern Harbor. It'll be fun." 

 "Someone has to drive, though," Tokio pointed out. 

 "I'll see if I can't get my chauffer to drive us and fly back after dropping us off," said Lion. "It can just be the other way around when we go home." 

 Once the matter of transportation had been settled, all anyone had to worry about was packing. Days later, the gang said goodbye to those not coming along, climbed into a loaded down Vipermobile with Lion's chauffer at the wheel, and set off for Fairwestern Harbor.