Sarah Reyes
​

Sarah patiently waited on one of the benches near the dock. When she had first arrived she had thought that it had been something special, that this cruise would have only been for a few individual trainers. She had been dead wrong. As she glanced around she noticed that so many of them were young and energetic. Don't get her wrong, she was energetic and anxious to get on board as well, but she was more.... subtle with it she would say. She wasn't getting up and talking to the other trainers. From the few experiences she had on the road most young trainers didn't want to have an adult ruining their fun.... well, unless that adult was battling them. She looked down at the mirror she carried around and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face and looked over her make up. She wasn't searching for a man anymore, but it still didn't hurt for her to look her best. She put the mirror back in her purse and began to tap her foot. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up and smiled at Blaze, her Blaziken. "I know! Aren't you anxious?"

The Blaziken just shrugged and crossed his arms once more. That was just like Blaze, always trying to calm her down. She couldn't help that she was anxious to start! Many times throughout her journey it had actually been thanks to Blaze that she had gone a step further. Just a month after starting her journey she had wanted to head back home to Stuart. She had given numerous reasons: The kids would eventually return home for a few days, Stuart still needed help around the house with the cleaning and cooking, etc. Blaze had been the one to talk her out of it.... well.... not really talk, more along the lines of being too stubborn to leave with her and forcing her to continue and battle more trainers to re lite her fire. Sarah was about to get out her book to continue reading when Blaze tapped her shoulder. She looked up and smiled as the ship came into port. Now they could finally start their journey! She got up to head over, but saw two men leaving the boat. Just by his dress code alone Sarah could see that one of the men was the captain. Well, the ship wouldn't be leaving yet then.

On top of that various sailors hauled boxes of supplies onto the ship and she sat back down. "We'll just wait for now Blaze." She said. She fished her book back out and continued reading for a bit. An hour slowly passed before the last of the supplies had been loaded and two of the crew were asking for the trainers to line up. A gift bag didn't sound too bad to Sarah and it would likely have a souvenir that she could give to Stuart once she returned home. She walked up and got in the line with Blaze next to her and holding onto the two bags of luggage she had brought. Despite their weight Blaze showed no discomfort. Having fighting types with you really helped when you had a lot of stuff that needed carrying, Sarah thought with a smile. She walked along with the line and gave her thanks as she was handed a gift basket and she finally walked onto the deck of the ship. Already the other trainers were heading around and talking to each other. She smiled at Blaze, "Well... time to claim our room." The Blaziken just nodded in response.

It took some exploring but Sarah finally found where the rooms were and found her own room. She used the key she had gotten in her gift basket and smiled as she looked around the room. It had a series of bunk beds and a small bathroom with a table, a microwave, and a small fridge. She pointed over to the corner and Blaze set down her bags. She looked through the rest of the bag and happily put the three extra pokeballs in her purse as well as the potion in as well. She really didn't know where to put the seatreats so she just put them in the small fridge she had. She lay down on the bed and giggled, "It's about time I get pampered!" Blaze smiled and lay down on another bed. Sarah smiled, "Enough beds for both Yipper and Tim. I wonder what kinds of pokemon we'll see?"

Blaze just shrugged in response. Sarah spent some time laying on the bed before she got back up, "Right! We aren't going to have any fun down here!" She picked up her purse and Blaze got out as she locked the room back up and followed her up to where the rest of the trainers were out on deck. She found a bench and sat down and pulled out her book and read once more as Blaze stood near her with his arms crossed.

Giselle crossed her arms leaning against the wall. Here she was in Vermilion City in the Kanto region. She stayed at the back of the crowd not wanting to interact with the other trainers. But she could hear the chatter around her and it was starting to get on her nerves. Vermilion City was a big change from Undella Town. Where she lived it was small and quiet most of the year only in the Summer time was it extremely busy. Giselle just shrugged before looking down at Jet who was looking at her with his head tilted. "Don't get me wrong Jet, I'm excited to be here, it's just...different than back home, much bigger and there is a lot more people here" she gently patted the Dewott on his head.

Glancing back at the ship she took in the size of it, the ship was huge, and there was movement everywhere. Trainers were moving around on the dock talking to each other and there were sailors loading crates of supplies onto the ship. It seems they were still getting ready so Giselle sat down and closed her eyes thinking back to when she got the invitation.

*Flashback*

Giselle panted wiping sweat from her forehead as she stopped hitting the punching bag. "H-How was that dad?" she asked catching the bottle of water that was tossed to her and taking a long drink out of it.

"Great Giselle, you've gotten faster at getting more punches and kicks in" her father smiled his brown eyes an exact replica of her own, the only difference being that he had brown hair and not blonde. "go shower and change and you can spend the rest of the day doing whatever you want"

Giselle nodded putting her palms together and doing a small bow. "yes dad, thank you" she smiled running out of the training room. Fifteen minutes later she was out of her karate uniform, clean, and dressed in her normal outfit, Her hair perfectly done as usual. She called out to her dad saying she'd see him later and then ran out of the house toward the beach. Once she got there she called out Jet, Flara and Rosie and sat down on the sand taking off her shoes. "We have the rest of the day to ourselves guys, done training with dad for the day" she smiled looking up at the clear blue skies and the clouds. It was a beautiful day out, not to hot and there was a slight breeze. She could hear the sounds of children playing in the sand a ways down the beach and smiled to herself. People were busy getting ready for the summer when it gets busy. After a few minutes a shadow covered her and Giselle narrowed her eyes. "do you mind, your blocking the sun" she snapped.

The shadow moved and Giselle looked to see a blonde man in a dark outfit, even with dark sunglasses so she couldn't see his face. "a-are you Giselle O'Brien?"

"Yeah, what's it to ya" she stood up and looked at the man.

"I've been sent to give you this." he said handing her an envelope. "because of how you did in the Unova League" the man then ran off not even waiting for an answer.

"weirdo" Giselle muttered under her breath before opening the envelope, inside was an invitation to the S.S. Anne a luxury Trainer Cruise in the Kanto region. Giselle smiled to herself and ran back towards her house her three Pokemon following.

*End Flashback*

After that it was simple, her father had agreed right away saying it was a great opportunity she couldn't pass up and Giselle had agreed with him. She had traveled to Mistralton City were she managed to get passage on a cargo plane heading for Olivine City in the Johto region. Once she reached Olivine City it was just taking the ferry the S.S. Aqua and she had reached Vermilion City the day before the S.S. Anne was to leave. Hearing a voice call out over a megaphone Giselle opened her eyes to listen. "Welcome!" a woman's voice rang out "The S.S. Anne awaits you all here today! My name is Carla Raines, and I'll be the hostess for your journey. Any trouble, I'm here to help, If you'd like to form a line, then you can collect a gift bag and board! Inside we've decided to give you a few treats, and trust me - there's a lot more to come!"

Giselle stood up and looked at Jet. "Do you wanna stay out of your Pokeball?" she asked grabbing the handle of her suitcase glad she had gotten one with wheels. When the Dewott nodded Giselle smiled softly "alright lets go". Once Giselle got to the front of the line she was handed a gift basket and boarded the ship. It took a few minutes but she found her room right next to a room that an older woman with brown hair was leaving followed by a Blaziken but Giselle paid them no mind. Unlocking her room she entered it and looked around. There were a few bunk beds. Enough for her and her three Pokemon. The room had a mini fridge, a table, and a microwave as well as a small bathroom attached to it. "Finally, I get my own bathroom" Giselle said to herself as she set her suitcase down on one of the beds. She opened her suitcase and took out a small pink shoulder bag her father had bought her and put the three empty Pokéballs in it, as well as the Potion, and the Pokétreats. She then took Jet, Flara, and Rosie's Pokeball's out of her pocket and put them in the bag before leaving the room locking it and putting the key to her cabin in it before making her way to the deck and sitting down leaning against the wall.

1.
Johnny​

It was eight thirty inside the pokemon center of Vermillion City and most people were barely getting out of bed. In the pokemon center people, mainly trainers were free to check in and out of the center as if it was a hotel and the greatest part of it was that the place provided food. Most people were inside the pokemon center to wait for their injured pokemon to be as good as new and to relax before and after training.

However, there was one trainer who wasn't all that relaxed at the moment. Johnny was having a hectic morning. Fifteen minutes earlier he was explaining to a girl why her phone was dismantled and why it was left in the toilet; the courtesy of Twitch, his venasaur, who was now lounging around watching very bad soap operas, who stole her phone and dismantled it in the bathroom only to get bored of it once he saw something else more interesting. There was a rumor going around the center that the janitors closet was haunted (especially since one quit at eight). Johnny really didn't want to explain that it was his litwik, Lucy, scaring all these poor janitors and did not want to explain why she had this fascination with hiding in the closet. And this morning, people were up a bit earlier than usual because they heard squawking. What they didn't know was it was that the squawking came from Jamie, Johnny's pidgeotto, who was now surfing the internet, squawking every once in a while to call for help.

With all these events combined, Johnny was sure having one hectic morning and all he was trying to do was pack for goodness sakes. It didn't help that he had backtracked all the way to Vermillion instead of staying in Cinnibar Island and it was all because of a free ticket to the S.S. Anne he had gotten off of someone. His day would have been a little bit better if it hadn't been in Vermillion City. The past two days he was trying his hardest to avoid Lt. Surge because the last time they had met, Johnny was reduced to a bumbling, stuttering, and blushing mess and for some reason Lt. Surge found it very hilarious that once Johnny got a look at him he would stutter, blush, bumble, and apparently make weird faces. He got an entire kick out of it too and because of Johnny's problem he barely won against Lt. Surge, thank goodness for confuse ray. However, Lt. Surge continued to haunt him. He had told all of the other gym leaders and Johnny had developed a pity party, except for Janine, who had laughed and tried to win her battle by showing a picture of Lt. Surge on the beach to him.

Let's just say she almost won. It wasn't like Johnny could help it, he liked blond men.

While packing he came across two books. One was "A Single Dad's Dummy Guide to Raising a Baby" and the other was "Top 100 Baby Names for both Boys and Girls". It really brought him to reality and the fact that he had about three months left. Three months left until his baby boy or girl was born, three months left till the start of fatherhood, and three months to finish the Kanto gym circuit to gain enough money to support him and his child and to earn a full ride scholarship to a school of his choosing. No pressure.

Yes Johnny, a gay teenager, managed to get a girl pregnant. It was a really out of this world for him as he could never imagine getting a girl pregnant or even having a child. He had managed to convince his parents to let him keep the baby and so he was on a ninth month long journey to gain enough money to support the both of them. To this day, he still blamed his older brother for dragging him to a party where he got intoxicated off of the unknowingly spiked punch.

Seeing those two books, he messed up his luggage to put them at the very bottom before piling up everything into his suitcase. Once everything was packed he returned his pokemon into their pokeballs and left his room. He gave his key to Nurse Joy by the front desk and exited the pokemon center. Vermillion was known for its harbor and for being a seaside town. Many ships docked and left and at the moment, Johnny's feet took him to the harbor.

There was a long line from the harbor to the large ship Johnny assumed was the S.S. Anne. People in the line, most likely trainers, were off whispering to each other about how great the S.S. Anne would be. Johnny listened in a little bit before a feminine voice rang throughout the harbor, "Welcome! The S.S. Anne awaits you all here today! My name is Carla Raines, and I'll be the hostess for your journey. Any trouble, I'm here to help. If you'd like to form a line, then you can collect a gift bag and board! Inside we've decided to give you a few treats, and trust me - there's a lot more to come!"

The line moved forward quickly ever since the announcement. One by one, each trainer showed their ticket and went inside with a gift basket. Soon, Johnny was in front of the line and he flashed his ticket. He then received his gift basket and was inside the S.S. Anne. He observed the contents of the basket.

A key to my room, three poke'balls, a potion, and organic poke treats. Let my one month on this ship begin.

_________________________________________



"Thank you! I'm Skylar Weathers, and this is my assistant Anna the Gardevoir." Skylar and Anna took a bow as they finished their performance. Some of the audience members were still giggling as the duo began packing up their props. "This was our third show today. You're not tired?," the green-haired Pokemon spoke calmly to her Trainer. No heads were turning at Anna's ability anymore. The show had made it quite apparent that she was capable of human speech.

"Nah... I'm fine!," Skylar answered, grinning sheepishly. It was apparent from the tone in his voice and the sweat on his clothes that wasn't entirely true. Sure, they made it look easy, but standing up in front of a crowd telling jokes and doing stunts really took a lot out of someone. The Embrace Pokemon narrowed her gaze at her Trainer and best friend. "Okay, okay, I am a little tired... but it's mostly just the heat, I swear!" Anna just kept staring as she levitated a rubber Torchic, a paper fan, among other props and piled them into a backpack. "Fine... let's go rest and grab some dinner." Anna smiled and gave a sigh. Skylar had psychic blood in him all right, always wanting to overexert himself, even if he didn't have any powers of his own.

"Hey hey hey!" came a spunky female voice quickly growing in volume as the source approached the comedy team. There were two of them, teenagers by the looks of it, dressed as cheerleaders. "That was like, a totally radical performance!," the taller of the two spoke cheerfully. "Which means you're our lucky winner!"

"Uh... I am?," Sky responded casually. This was... strange to say the least. Of course, he wasn't just going to walk away without finding out exactly what he'd won. "Cool!," chirped the shorter girl, taking out a small slip of paper and passing it to the boy.

"This is... a ticket on the S.S. Anne?!," Skylar replied in shock. "I don't remember entering a contest... are you sure I really won this?" Something seemed fishy in the back of his mind. The boy recalled a video game from some years back in which the main character had won a mansion in a contest he didn't enter, only for it to be full of ghosts. Of course, that was just a game, but something still seemed off. Anna patted her Trainer's shoulder casually. "Just take it," she replied happily. "Look at how hard we've been working lately... You really could use a vacation."

"Th... thanks!," Skylar said as he placed a hand sheepishly behind his head. The tall girl continued, "The ship departs tomorrow, so like don't be late! We'll see you there!" The shorter female only responded with another "Cool!" before they both winked their eyes and darted off. There was no arguing with Anna- she was right of course, but there just had to be a catch.


"I guess we weren't the only ones who 'won,' eh?," Skylar asked Anna. The Gardevoir looked around at all the other Trainers waiting to board the cruise liner. "And none of them seem worried about anything fishy," she answered sternly. "Relax and we'll both have a good time. Just don't let Kame-sama out of his Pokeball until we're away from the crowd and we'll be fine." Skylar nodded. His other Pokemon, a Wartortle, was quite the prankster and was constantly getting him in trouble, both on and off the stage. There was also the matter of the egg he had found on the beach the other day. It was probably close to hatching by the way it jiggled occasionally, but it still had some time to go. There was a good likelihood that it would hatch while on the ship.

After some waiting, a woman's voice finally boomed over a megaphone, welcoming Trainers aboard the ship. The line slowly began moving. Skylar flashed his ticket to the officials and was granted passage, being handed a gift basket as he boarded. "Let's take our bags to our room, shall we?," Skylar mumbled, wheeling his rolling suitcase behind him. Anna following, levitating another back which held all sorts of comic props among essential items. Finding the cabin wasn't hard, but neither the boy nor the Gardevoir wanted to spend time unpacking. Skylar pocketed the three Pokeballs and the sea treats and the duo made their way back to the main deck, where other Trainers were gathering.

Anna's eyes flashed white for a moment before speaking to her Trainer. You know... I can sense that those sea treats are chocolate flavored. Smiling, Skylar immediately took one out and unwrapped it. "Hey, it may be made for Pokemom, but who can't resist chocolate," he replied happily before taking a hefty bite."

Clamping his mouth shut, the male's eyes widenend. As a very foul taste filled his mouth he quickly rushed to the railing, spitting the treat into the ocean. "Yuck!," he screamed before looking at the candy's wrapper. In large blue letters it read, "Pokemon Sea Treat: Kelpsy Berry Flavor." His eyes narrowed at the Gardevoir, who had a rather large grin plastered to her face. "Why you little..... Ah ha ha ha ha!!!!" He had fallen for Anna's joke hook, line, and stinker. In seconds the two were laughing together, smiling.

''What do you mean you're not coming?...''

Link Hunter, a young man of twenty-two was led on his bed at the Pokemon Center in Vermillion City. Wearing black jeans and a white vest, his back resting against the headboard of his bed, his legs stretched out, with his Pokenav in his right hand, while his left hand continuously threw a Pokeball into the air, before catching it effortlessly without looking.

''You promised you would be here!''

On the screen of the Pokenav was Link's brother Michael, a man of thirty, possessing dashing good looks that mirrored Links, the only differences being their hair, Michaels shining blonde and tied back in a neat bun, to Links black, shorter but still long, but very scruffy with a fringe dangling in front of his left eye, with an air that suggested a severe lack of care towards his appearance, this wasn't to say that Link a dirty person, he showered every day, brushed his teeth and spent a good amount of time looking in the mirror, but it was almost like he was trying hard to make it look like he hadn't put in any effort. The only other difference between the brothers besides the obvious maturity that comes of being eight years older; was their eyes, Michael's cool, calming blue, Link's almost envy green. Michael staring into his own Pokenav from somewhere in the pokemon world frowned slightly

''I know I did Link, but you've got to understand, the Unova league is starting in 5 weeks, I thought I'd have time to go on the cruise and be back in time, but I have too much preparation to do, besides, if there were delays in getting back to Kanto on the ship, I may not have time to get back here before the league...''

''You can do your preparation on the ship, there are bound to be hundreds of pathetic trainers just waiting for a beat down!''

Links mouth stretched into a closed lip smirk, the corner of the right side of his lips rising slightly in an arrogant way as his tossing of the Pokeball into the air becomes gradually higher

''I'm sure...''

Michael spoke with a similar tone of higher intelligence, but not in the arrogant way that that came and in hand with his brother link, Michaels tone was calming and smooth, but demanded attention and came with the sense of a man who had a great deal of experience and mature intelligence under his wing

''I'm sure that if they were pathetic trainers then they wouldn't have been invited to the ship in the first place, or is that the category of people you want to put yourself into LJ?''

''Don't call me that...''

Link snapped back through gritted teeth. LJ stood for Link James, his first and second name, and was a nickname that Michael had used for his younger brother his whole life, who never used to have a problem with it, until about six years ago, when the incident occurred...

''Whatever'' Michael said dismissively. ''the fact remains that I know I promised I'd be there, but I just can't risk missing this tournament, you must understand?...''

''Whatever''

Link spoke sharply and within another second had hung up on his brother. He put the Pokenav on the bed next to him and ran his right hand tightly through his rough hair, leaning on his hand between the back of his head, and the headboard of the bed. He threw the Pokeball in his left hand even higher into the air before catching it, and suddenly springing to life, letting out a huge roar of anger, threw the ball across the room where it crashed into the door of his small Pokemon Center room, and opened in a pool of blinding red light which soared into the air, before coming back down to the floor and sketching out the figure of a small bird pokemon, the red light quickly turning to the black fur of a Murkrow.

The Pokemon stood still for a moment before stretching out its neck and lifting its wings up and then down again with a sense of grace and the feel of a pokemon longing for attention, before turnings it's head to face it's master who stared into it's big black eyes for a moment before jumping off of the bed, and walking across the room to pick up the Pokeball.

''Back inside you go...''

He spoke without a care in the world without even looking at the flying dark type, merely holding the ball up between his index finger and his thumb. The Murkrow attempted to meet his eyes, before sighing deeply, and evaporating into the red light produced by the ball, and back inside.

Link clipped the ball back onto his belt, grabbed his white jumper, tossing it quickly over his head and lifting the hood over his black hair. He grabbed his Pokenav off of the bed, tossing it into his pull string bag which also contained his Pokedex, wallet, and a few everyday pokemon trainer items, which he slung over his shoulder, as well as picking up his suitcase in preparation for the month long trip on the S.S Anne before briskly opening the door and leaving the room, slamming it behind him without bothering to make the bed, turn off the light, or generally clean up his mess.

Link had arrived in Vermillion city only the day before, he had arrived late having walked all the way from his home in Lavender Town., and was already in a bad mood having been woken at the crack of dawn by the frustrating sounds of squawking that could only have come from a pokemon inside the center, which undoubtedly meant it had a trainer, some people just had no control over their pokemon, it was pathetic...

He walked at a fast pace through the Pokemon Center, purposely looking down at the floor so as to make sure anyone in his path would get out of his way, after all, if they thought that Link hadn't seen them, they'd have no choice but to move for him.

He walked up to the desk behind which Nurse Joy was leaning over some paperwork writing things down, she looked up to Link straight away with a smile, but the bags under her eyes suggested she was stressed and probably hadn't had a full night's sleep in a few days.

''Ahh hello dear, you'll be pleased to know your pokemon are feeling fully refreshed!'' She spoke while picking up a tray behind her holding two Pokeballs and placing it on the desk in front of her. Link without a words picked them up and clipped them to his belt.

''Are you on your way to the S.S Anne?'' she said with a smile

''Yeah, thanks...'' Link muttered before turning without another word and heading straight towards the exit, leaving Nurse Joy looking quite shocked.

As Link left the Pokemon Center his eyes met hundreds of pokemon trainers of all ages rushing around, many with their pokemon following them, Link gave a snarl, he never approved of trainers keeping their pokemon out of their Pokeballs outside of battles. Ignoring the desire to stop and slap every trainer he passed with a pokemon outside of it's proper place, he made his way towards the dock where most of the trainers were starting to assemble, a voice booming over a megaphone became gradually louder

"Welcome!" the voice rung out across Vermilion docks,
"The S.S. Anne awaits you all here today! My name is Carla Raines, and I'll be the hostess for your journey. Any trouble, I'm here to help,"[/COLOR] she gave a cheesy thumbs up to the crowd.

"If you'd like to form a line, then you can collect a gift bag and board! Inside we've decided to give you a few treats, and trust me - there's a lot more to come!

Link began shoving his way past various people, noticing that some of them stopped abruptly to give him a look which he ignored and continued to make his way to as near the front of the queue as possible. He waited in line, moving slowly forward and unclipped one of his Pokeballs, impatiently throwing it into the air and catching again, which was something of a habit he picked up for when feeling particularly irritated or impatient. Finally, he reached the front of the line and was handed a small basket by a lady who smiled at him. He grabbed it without so much as a look and made his way on board.

''So...this is the S.S Anne''

Eve Murphy​

"…And that is why I just LOVE Rapidash and Fearow! Don't you just LOVE Rapidash and Fearow?!" the old man asked enthusiastically. A moment of silence followed and the black haired girl with mismatched blue and brown eyes said nothing. The Sneasel perched on the back of her head yawned a huge yawn, and roughly licked her hair. "U-uh, yeah," Eve responded, not able to hold in her nervous chuckle. "I think you shou-"

"Of course you do! Who doesn't just LOVE Rapidash and Fearow? I know I do!" The old man adjusted his black hat and lowered his dark sunglasses to get a better look at Eve. Eve's eyes widened slightly and she forced a smile. "So do I, really!" she told him, anxious to leave the Pokémon Fan Club. This is why I really shouldn't have come in here… I bet the S.S. Anne is going to leave without me. "Want to see photos I took of Rapidash and Fearow? They're marvelous, utterly marvelous! I just LOVE them!" the old man exclaimed joyfully.

"I'm sorry sir, but I really must go," Eve said quietly, not wanting to hurt his feelings. "No, you must stay here and see my photos!" the old man said again, completely oblivious to the fact that Eve's patience was running out. "I said NO, thank you, I must go," Eve stood up from her chair. "Thank you for that very... detailed story about Rapidash and Fearow," she turned and walked away from the old man and stuck her tongue out in annoyance and disgust at how anyone could possibly talk for so long about something so boring. "Please stay longer! I'll give you a bike voucher!" the old man pointed his cane in Eve's direction as if doing so would stop her from leaving. Eve opened the door and ran out, slamming it behind her. "Children these days just do not appreciate the beauty of Rapidash and Fearow… I just LOVE them."

As Eve and her Sneasel, Achilles, made it toward the huge crowd gathered around the dock, she noticed that a line was forming, and it was a long one. She knew she should have come earlier, but she was greatly interested in checking out the Pokémon Fan Club. Keyword: was. She learned her lesson, and she would never go back in that cursed building again.

Eve looked around at all the unique and unfamiliar faces with a grin as she put her earphones in her ears and turned her music up. She noticed a boy who was pushing his way through the line to get in. It was so manic out here due to all the excited tourists and trainers alike, that nobody seemed to bother to try and stop him from forcing himself in first.

Eve walked over to the line and waited for her turn to go in the S.S. Anne. When she finally did, she received a gift bag with items inside, but she did not feel like looking to see what was in it. Most likely brochures of the cruise or something like that. She would check it later.

Eve pushed through the crowds and made it out to the deck, where she sat down and continued to look around at everybody who was on board. Achilles yawned again. "Shut up Achilles, it'll get more exciting once we start to sail," Eve told him. She paused for a while as she continued to look around, noticing an old man who seemed to be conversing with his Mr. Mime. "If you start to drool I will throw you overboard," Eve said in a monotone voice. Achilles always had to yawn and drool on Eve's head as his way of telling her he was extremely bored. He couldn't just complain, he just had to be disgusting.

"Lucas?" Called a voice from below, resonating all the way up the stairs to the rooftop floor of the Celadon Condominiums. It sounded… enthusiastic. And although the voice had been somewhat jolly over the past few months, it hadn't produced real enthusiasm for ages.

The boy standing at the top of the building was genuinely curious as to why his father would take such a tone. He stood there, confused, still staring through his binoculars at a bird arcing through the sky.

"Lucas!" This time it seemed more assertive.

"What is it?" The boy, Lucas Harding, shouted back. He lowered his binoculars.

His father, rapidly growing impatient with him, yelled back, "Just come downstairs and see!"

"Fine," Lucas moaned. He raised his binoculars again for a second, pinpointing the bird he was monitoring moments before. Making sure he was directly in line with it, he whistled sharply. The bird made a sharp turn and streaked straight for him, before landing on his outstretched arm.

"Blu," it chirped. Lucas pulled a red-and-white sphere out from his pocket and pressed the center button. It emitted a harsh red light, recalling his Swablu.

When he turned to go back down the stairs, he came face-to-face with… someone. They were tall, blonde and dressed in thick black clothes, thick enough that Lucas could tell absolutely nothing about them. Pitch-black sunglasses obscured his face, so no dice there either.

"Are you Lucas Harding?" The shady person asked.

"Yeah," Lucas responded. "Any particular reason you're wearing such a thick coat on a sunny day like today?"

The shadowy person paused a second before responding. "It's none of your business." Pulling an envelope out from under his coat, they continued, "I've been sent to give you this."

Lucas carefully reached forward and retrieved the envelope from their hand, making sure it wasn't rigged or anything. He opened it, and inside was… a ticket to the S.S. Anne.

"You're awfully nice for a shadily-dressed stranger. How do I know these tickets aren't rigged to explode?"

But when he looked up from the ticket, the person was gone.
---
"…and that's how I got this ticket to the S.S. Anne," Lucas finished. "Hey, you asked." His Swablu, Atlus, was pecking at a bowl of some mysterious food courtesy of the café chef. His Minccino refused it on principle, and was currently sulking in a corner. It wasn't often both left their pokéballs at the same time.

He glanced at his pokénav. Barely more than a keepsake from his Hoenn days, but at least it still told time. Speaking of which, wasn't he running --

"Late!" he blurted, recalling his pokémon. He exited the café, breaking into a sprint and heading straight for the Celadon condos.

He was exhausted by the time he got there. He burst through the door, panting, before resuming walking pace up the stairs. Thankfully, he and his father lived on the third floor, so he didn't have to wait for the lift. He hastily unlocked the door to the apartment (Dad was out, it seemed), grabbing his backpack of stuff he'd prepared the night before. He practically leapt down the stairs on his way back, breaking into a run. He was determined to make it to the cruise in time.
---
He only just made it. No sooner had the docks of Vermillion City come into view than a woman's voice filled the air, megaphone making her audible from hundreds of meters away.

"Welcome! The S.S. Anne awaits you all here today! My name is Carla Raines, and I'll be the hostess for your journey. Any trouble, I'm here to help. If you'd like to form a line, then you can collect a gift bag and board! Inside we've decided to give you a few treats, and trust me - there's a lot more to come!"

He was exhausted, but nonetheless Lucas grinned. He'd made it, just in time too by the look of things. Lucas never wanted to run that hard again. And the crowding in Saffron was atrocious. He worked his way over to the back of the line. He extracted a pokéball from the mess that was his pocket, and summoned Atlus. She immediately fluttered up and settled down on his head.

He sighed, exasperated, as the line progressed until he hit the front. He thanked whoever it was that handed him the gift bag, before ascending to the interior of the grand ship.

It was here he opened his gift bag. In it was a set of 3 pokéballs, a potion, 3 'organic pokétreats' and a cabin key. It was labelled #345.

"That's what I get for being late, I suppose," he muttered to himself as he began the long trek towards his cabin. The fact that Atlus falling asleep on his head was attracting looks from other people wasn't helping much.

Rajay Murdock​

​

"This ship has been waiting for trainer like me" Rajay's voice was just overflowing with confidence as he set his eyes on the ship infront of him and as he pierced through the crowd of onlookers to reach closer to the ship. Who would have imagined that just a few days earlier he was being beaten by Janine in 3 consecutive battles with relative ease.

"The opponents Heracross is unable to battle" The look on Jay's face was clear he had heard the referee say these words at least 2 times before this moment and he knew exactly what was coming next "Janine and Ariados are the winners" Rajay had to suck up another lose and return his pokemon to their pokeball and leave without a gym badge once again. This time he didn't even want to hear any of Janine's so called wise words or advice for the battle, he just wanted to go to the pokemon center heal his pokemon and come back and try and win again.

Jay took a seat after getting his pokemon quickly healed up, he threw down his pokeballs unto the table and in his usual fashion began reminiscing about his finer moments in the fight. "Uggh when Ace hit her Weezing with flamethrower that was great" but failed to mention the sludge bomb that knocked out Ace moments later. "Hahaha" Jay began to hear laughing from a nearby table before turning around in curiosity.

"You just don't learn do you young man" The mysterious man's word had found their way straight to Rajay's ears prompting him to jump up quickly and walk towards his table. "What did you just say?" Obvious anger in Rajay's voice was followed by him slamming his hand on the desk wanting the man to look up from the paper he was reading. "Hey look at me!!!!" The pokemon center was almost empty and Rajay's voice was the only one that could be heard.

The man sighed and looked up at Rajay slowly. "Young people, so ignorant and stupid" The man obviously seemed to know how to push Rajay's buttons and chuckled a bit as his comment had Rajay's nostrils flaring in anger "Oh stop giving me that look, you look like a Taurus using tackle" Rajay was more than ready to shout and attack him but the man was quick to shush him. "Here you go" The man left a ticket on the table and walked away he was the first person to ever keep Rajay quiet even for a second and added to the mystery that he brought forward he just left a ticket to Arceus knows where.......

.........And now the S.S. Anne was where the ticket led him to. Rajay was in no mood for waiting and quickly made his way to the front of the line skipping as many people as possible without regard for the time they spent waiting. Flashing the ticket and walking unto the boat receiving a gift bag upon entry dropping it into his own bag without even checking it.

There were many trainers already on board, with mostly girls catching his eyes, but he made his move to the front of the boat, to the edge looking to the see ahead of him. Although Rajay wouldn't be thinking about the possibilities of what could happen, S.S. Anne could be the start of something new, different and great but only if Jay could open his eyes.........

Eve Murphy​

Achilles smirked down at Eve as she continued analyzing the faces out on the deck. Man with a mustache. Man with no mustache. Woman with red hair. Woman with no hair. Eve looked completely lost on this ship, as if she didn't even belong here and had somehow managed to sneak on and was now looking around for a place to hide and blend in. What time was it, anyway? And how long would it be before the S.S. Anne started the journey? Not that Eve was impatient or anything, she was just curious since those short ten minutes felt like hours to her.

The air that blew through Eve's hair smelled of Magikarp. Ocean Pokémon were amazing to her, and Eve had always had a large interest in the legendary ocean Pokémon Kyogre. She'd seen many pictures of it in books. Well, not pictures as in photographs, but pictures as in drawings made by artists who wanted to show what their interpretation of Kyogre was.

Eve herself had drawn Kyogre a couple of times as well. Maybe I should draw something to look busy. She pulled out a medium sized drawing pad from the black backpack she was carrying around. Achilles climbed down Eve's arm and poked at the pocket of her green jeans.

"What?" Eve asked, turning her head and glancing at Achilles and then her pocket. She reached in and pulled out her crumpled S.S. Anne ticket that she received a few weeks ago. "This?" she asked just as Achilles snatched it. Eve made an annoyed face at him and looked down at her sketchpad. "What do you want with it?" she asked him.

Achilles just stared at her with the ticket in hand. He wasn't a very vocal Sneasel, and mostly communicated with facial expressions and body language. Eve turned to him with a frown. "Ugh." She snatched the ticket back from Achilles and pulled out her earphones, punk music blasting out of them. She stuffed the ticket back in her pocket. The crowd on the deck was growing more and more excited, and their voices rose higher and higher.

"I have come to saaaaave you all from that icky-bicky… ONOMONOKO…. BOREDOM!" a feminine voice shouted some distance away. She must have been really loud, to be able to overpower all the other voices on this ship. Eve turned to Achilles, her confusion right on her face.

"You heard that right?" she asked before turning to continue scrutinizing the crowd, forgetting that she was about to draw. She saw a girl with curly blond hair and a pink tanktop sitting alone with her arms crossed. She didn't seem to be very happy to be here. Maybe she was just lonely?

Eve put her sketchpad back in her backpack and gave Achilles a look. The Sneasel quickly perched on her head again. Eve stood up and walked over to the girl, sitting next to her. Eve glanced back and forth between the floor and the girl before wetting her lips and speaking. "Hi there. I'm Eve! It's a nice day out isn't it?" Eve said, admiring the sky to reinforce that it was nice enough to look at. What a cliché conversation starter.

Giselle sat quietly looking up at the sky. She just wanted the ship to leave port already to officially start this cruise. She closed her eyes for a second to relax and was thinking of calling Jet and her other two Pokemon back out when something made her snap her eyes open. "I have come to saaaaave you all from that icky-bicky… ONOMONOKO…. BOREDOM!" Giselle frowned and looked over to see a girl with blonde hair looking very much like one of those rock-stars who are always in the news.

"I hate Rock Music" she muttered sending a glare at the girl who was to loud for her own good. Though she was glad someone else had told the girl she was loud before she could. Though it didn't seem like today was her day, just as she was about to close her eyes another girl came and sat next to her.

"Hi there. I'm Eve! It's a nice day out isn't it?" the girl said looking at the sky. Looking at the girl Giselle could tell that even sitting down she was short. She had black hair that was straight and shaggy and was dressed in a black t-shirt that said something Giselle couldn't read and a pair of green jeans that in her opinion were way to bright.

Giselle looked back up at the sky and sighed "I'm Giselle" she said not showing any emotion in her voice at the moment. "and it is, though there are better ways to start a conversation" Giselle still wasn't showing any emotion and wasn't even looking at Eve. She was remembering what her father had taught her, and wasn't going to make friends unless Eve could impress her, be it with Pokemon, a talent, or something else.

''So, this is the S.S Anne...''

Link, hands in his jumper pockets, his body lazily slouched over, stood at the front of the ship. Behind him, people were still showing their tickets to ship staff, and receiving their complimentary gift baskets before making their way onto the ship's deck. In front, the deck ran a long way forward, this ship was truly huge, and the whole thing was sparkling as if it had been built yesterday, obviously that wasn't the case, but it had sure been kept in good condition, every inch of the captains pride had obviously been well scrubbed and cared for the way a mother would groom her child.

''Yuuuuuuuuuuck!''

Link turned his eyes to meet the back of young guy who was spitting something overboard, a Gardevoir which was assumedly his was cackling it's head off, Link immediately felt sick, a Pokemon laughing at its trainer? Disgusting...

This sickening feeling was only enhanced by the trainer turning to face the Gardevoir and laughing himself. Link turned away to notice an old man accompanied by a Mr. Mime also surveying the sight with a disgusted look on his face, perhaps he felt the same? Maybe this ship wasn't completely filled with losers, just losers and old men that should be sitting at home with their pipe and slippers.

Link raised his hands to pull his hood down a bit further so that it was nearly completely covering his eyes, before reaching into the basket he had received on entry to the ship, he looked inside and found three Pokeballs, a potion, and some sort of organic Poke treats. Well, his Pokemon certainly wouldn't be getting them. He picked up the Poke treats and carelessly tossed them overboard, before slipping the Pokeballs and potion into his draw string bag. Lastly he retrieved a key from the basket which he inspected closely

''Room 106...''

He pocketed the key and dropped the basket on the floor, despite the fact that a bin was clearly about 2 feet away from him, that's why the ship hires cleaners after all. He then picked up his suitcase which was resting on the floor next to him and proceeded to walk down the long deck of the ship. There were tons of people already on board, trainers and their Pokemon, as well as ship staff all dressed accordingly to alert people to the fact that they were working on the ship. Lots of trainers were admiring the ship, whilst others were playing with their Pokemon, and others clearly lost, probably trying to find their way to their rooms. Suddenly Link let out a cry of pain

''Aaaaargh!''

Managing to barely keep his balance, Link watched as a Raticate stormed past him having barged into his leg on the way.

''I do apologise young man!''

Link turned to see yet another old man standing there, he was obviously rich, dressed in a very smart black suit complete with a cane and top hat, on his arm stood a just as well dressed beautiful woman.

''Raticate here is just excited to be on the ship! He never meant you no harm!''

Link looked up at the man with a scowl.

''If you can't control your Pokemon, may I suggest a leash?''

Link then stormed off muttering under his breath ''Stupid Rat...''

As he continued down the ship there seemed to be dramas going on everywhere, he noticed a young girl with a Sneasel on her shoulder which had just snatched away her S.S. Anne ticket, followed by the scream of a nearby blonde girl

''I have come to saaaaave you all from that icky-bicky...ONOMONOKO...boredom!''

She looked like she was trying to impersonate the lead singer from the 'Rocking Roggenrolas' a rock band from the Unova region...what a wannabe.
Further down the ship were even more assortments of Pokemon; there was a young boy with two people that were assumedly his mother and father who was rolling around the floor with a Persion, a teenager girl feeding treats to a Houndour, and an older woman sitting on a bench reading a book with a Blaziken stood next to her. Link sneered to himself, you come all the way to a cruise on the S.S. Anne to read a book...pathetic...

Further along was a pretty young girl accompanied by an equally beautiful Ninetales, Link overheard her as she walked by
"Look at those people, Ninetales. Would it be amazing that some of these passengers could be awesome trainers like myself? I can't wait to challenge them."

Link made a mental note to demonstrate to her what a real 'awesome' trainer was like at some point during the voyage, if of course there was someone actually worth battling.
Link then made his way to the interior of the ship, the plan was to find his room, and wait for the ship to set sail.
as he made his way down a corridor he turned his head as a young man with binoculars round his neck, and a Swablu on top of his head hurried by. That just topped it off, Pokemon out of their Pokeballs was bad enough, but on top of the kids head?!

''Pathetic''

Link muttered to himself, as he turned his head back to the direction he was headed, a male of around 16 with his head down was racing down the corridor straight towards Link who dashed out of the way just in time

''HEY!''

Link roared right in the ear of the passing boy who was also carrying books, an whom in apparent shock at being yelled at fell crashing to the floor, his books falling out of his arms, and a pair of glasses falling off of his head.

''Don't you ever watch where you're going?!'' Link snapped at the boy who was frantically moving his hands around the floor next to him to find his glasses which he soon found and placed back on his nose, staring up at Link, his cheeks bright red.

''I...I...I'm sorry! I..''

''Save it!'' Link snapped once again, kicking his foot out from underneath one of the books that had landed on top of it, before storming off down the end of the coridoor and turning into what looked like the rooms marked to be staring with ''1''

''PA-THETIC'' Link said to himself as he pulled his hood down off of his face. if the way this trip was starting was a sign of things to come, perhaps he should have stayed well away. He began looking at the room numbers on the doors

''103...105...ahhhh 106''

Link pulled his key out of his pocket and put it into the keyhole below the handle.

Eve Murphy​

The blond girl looked up at the sky as well and sighed as if she had been asked this same question for the millionth time today. "I'm Giselle," Giselle said without any sign of emotion in her voice, seemingly bored or upset at something. Eve would have asked what was the matter, but that's not exactly a very polite thing to ask a stranger. Plus, when you're sad it usually makes you sadder when another person happens to notice and question you.

Eve continued staring at the sky and saw a cloud that was somewhat shaped like a Charmander. A rounder cloud appeared from a cluster of clouds and started to float toward the stationary Charmander. Oh! A cloud trainer is going to catch it! "And it is, though there are better ways to start a conversation," Giselle said as if reading Eve's mind. Eve raised an eyebrow and looked at Giselle, though the girl wasn't even looking back at her. It was obvious that she had no interest in meeting her, but it didn't matter. Eve didn't give up so easily.

"Ohhh?" she said in amusement. "Do you have any pro tips for me? The only conversation starters I have are 'Isn't the weather nice today?' and 'What would you like to be like when you're an old geezer?' but the weather is very pretty today and you're not a male," Eve said in a serious tone.

Achilles stared challengingly at Giselle from atop Eve's head with his glassy red eyes. Something about Giselle made Achilles think she must have been a very haughty person, yet Eve was apparently too dumb to see that and was treating her as kindly as she usually did with unfamiliar people. The Sneasel was well aware that his trainer was too much of a pushover, and if not that, just plain oblivious.

_________________________________________

Ayame sighed as she and Dorian almost arrived in Vermilion City. She glanced once again, with her aqua blue eyes, up at her best friend who she had known since her childhood while brushing trough her long, straigh black hair. Hikari, Ayame's Poochyena, travelled together with them sitting on her shoulder. Normally Obilivio would be outside his pokeball too but this time he stayed inside for an unknown reason.

As Dorian and Ayame kept walking on to the City Ayame remembered how he once protected her from this bully, thanks to him she had started to show expressions.

*Flashback*

"hey Snowqueen! when will the snow arrive?" a boy said to a little girl around 4 years old, sitting on the playground of the kinderfarten. She ignored him and kept staring at the floor with her cold looking eyes. "stop ignoring me, weirdo!" the boy kicked her leg, the girl flinched as he did this but kept ignoring him. "Hey Ayame-wierdo-IceQueen, he asked you something." another boy walked up to them and smirked down at the 4 years old Ayamee, ofcourse she didn't like this, but she didn't want to pick up a fight with them either.

"Hey! Leave her alone!" before Ayame knew it a boy stood forward her with his arms wide. "Who are you?" the bully asked him. "hahaha! the Snowqueen has a guardian ridder!" the other boy laughed. "Leave her alone!" the boy who stood forward Ayame repeated. "or what? will you smash us with your paper sword?" the bullies laughed, but their laughter was gone quick when the boy started to move and smashed them two times, Ayame watched with widened eyes as this event happened.

The bullies ran away crying, back inside the kindergarten. "are you okay?" The boy asked Ayame who only glanced at him. He reached out to her as he showed her a soft smile. "My name is Dorian, what's yours?" He asked her. "i'm... Ayame..." Ayame answered quietly. "that's a beautiful name!" Dorian grasped her hand and brought her back on her feet. "t-thanks..." Ayame smiled as she was slightly blushing, showing a expression for the first time.

*Flashback end*

Ayame smiled at Dorian as she remembered that day, it was the day they became friends. "(Ayame? are you alright?)" Hikari asked her as she saw how Ayame suddenly started smiling. "yes, don't worry." Ayame answered her Poochyena. Ayame could understand what pokemon said and understand them, it was pretty much a suprise for herself when she found out she could understand her friends.

Ayame always played in the forest with all kinds of Pokemon, even when she became friends with Dorian she kept visiting them, this probely is the reason she can understand them.

Ayame blushed a little as she glanced at Dorian again, just little, not noticeble, she remembered the night of the movie, back when they were still young teenagers.

the night? it went a little like this. Ayame's father wasn't home, so Ayame invited Dorian to watch a movie together with her because she knew he also liked that movie. Nothing was wrong, both had alot of fun... untill both had fallen asleep at the end of the movie, they woke up, holding each other and cuddling. This was the very moment Ayame's feelings were awaken, her feelings for him.

Suddenly a red beam appeared forward both of them coming out Ayame's bag. "we're almost there?" Obilivio had come out to take a look around. "almost." Ayame said.

They were on their way to the S.S Anne, a ship in Vermilion City, Dorian got tickets from a contest and offered one to her.

It didn't take long before they reached the City and reached the harbor. "here it is! S.S Anne." Ayame said.