Act 1: Chapter 13

Act 1: Chapter 13

"Thats about everything, lad. I hope the wisdom of old Johnny helps you out." The sea-weathered man sitting across from Lee says as he scratches his salt-n-pepper beard. In his lap, his Vaporeon dozes lightly and barely stirs when he leans back in his desk chair.

Across from the sailor and leaning against the wall of Johnny's quarters, Lee jots down one last line in his notebook, his face locked in a grin. It's less than he had hoped, considering the sailor is a career seaman rather than a full-time trainer, but any info on a rare pokemon like Vaporeon is worth its weight in gold. "Hoho. I knew Vaporeon is a heavyweight contender, but this just cements it. I don't suppose you'd know where I can..."

The old man barks out a harsh laugh. "Son, you can buy a brand new car, or you can buy an Eevee. Aha! Your pale face tells me exactly how you feel about that."

One interesting tidbit Lee learned early on in the world of pokemon, is that cars are expensive. No one needs passenger cars when paved roads are largely restricted to cities, and unpaved roads are much easier to traverse on foot, on a bike, or on a pokemon mount. Motorcycles and scooters exist for towns and cities, but most of the examples Lee could find were little electrically powered things. Lee had to ask if Birch was joking when the subject of his jeep, and subsequently the price, came up one day. He even looked up the model of Oldale's sole taxi and found the price of such a barebones vehicle staggering.

Long and short, if you have a car, you either have serious money or serious debt.

"Well... I'll just have to save up I guess," Lee mutters, mentally counting up his money and coming up laughably short. He steps off the wall, prompting Treecko to rise from his place by his trainer's feet. "Thank you for all the info, sir. It'll be a tremendous help. I hope I didn't take up too much of your time."

"Worry about it none, lad." The old sailor waves him off. "Now off with ye. I gotta get back to it before the Captain wonders where I slinked off to," he lifts his pokemon from his lap and tosses her to his bed, where she doesn't even bother to land on her feet, but rather just flop lazily.

A glance at the wall clock makes Lee's eyes widen. Has he really been here for over an hour? "Right, thanks again. C'mon, Treecko." He turns and starts for the door when he feels Treecko leap to his shoulder. The pair exit and find themselves on the port side of the ship. A stiff and unusually chilled wind washes over the man and pokemon, throwing seawater droplets against them.

Treecko looks up, his eyes widening just the slightest amount. He taps Lee's shoulder and points to the sky in the west, the direction the ship is going. Lee follows Treecko's finger and grimaces.

Rapidly approaching from the horizon is a black, rolling storm. Lightning flashes in the clouds like a demented strobe light in a smokescreen and the faint sound of rolling thunder begins to reach his ears. Over the side of the ship, most of the Water pokemon loitering near the top of the choppy water dive deeper out of sight or turn and begin to swim away from the coming storm.

A door opens then closes behind them, and First Mate Johnny stops by the railing with Lee and Treecko, Vaporeon at his heels. He looks in the direction of the storm with a contemplative expression. "Hmm. Looks like a bad one. Back to your room with ye. Don't need you or green bean there getting swept off the ship and eaten by a Sharpedo. Bad for business and althat."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Lee murmurs. "Back to the hold we go, Treecko."

Treecko just rolls his eyes in reply.

The pair walk back to the guest side of the ship, passing a few other people yet to be corralled by the sailors watching the encroaching storm. "Tch, if worst comes to worst, I'll jump ship and make it there on my Lapras!" One young hotshot tells a pair of crewmembers as Lee and Treecko pass by. "She's won me countless contests, y'know?" He beams.

One of the sailors shakes his head. "A Lapras, eh? Might be the best pokemon for calm waters, but in a storm? Son, the rain is going to make her shell slick, then it takes one good wave to throw you off. After that, you're in the water or on a painful collision course with said shell when you come back down. Do yourself a favor and stay on the boat."

The young trainer gulps and doesn't reply.

When Lee and Treecko return to their cabin, they find Brendan has finally fallen into a nap free of any sea-sickened fits and Zinnia sits upon her bed with her pokemon out. Swablu dozes upon a pillow while Goomy has taken residence on Zinnia's folded cloak at the foot of her bed. Zinnia herself sits behind Shelgon as she polishes his metallic shell with a rag, and judging from the smell, a touch of chemical polishing compound. Shelgon himself rests with his legs folded under his bulk, eyes closed in contentment.

The dragon tamer looks up when Lee closes the door behind him gently. "You took your sweet time," she says quietly. "Get lost?"

"No," Lee answers back in an equally low voice. "Found out that the first mate on this ship has a Vaporeon, so I had to seek him out and ask about her. What a fascinating pokemon, Vaporeon. Unique with powers ripe to be abused in battle. I have to have one."

Zinnia smirks. "Well, better start finding tournaments and competitions to enter. Even an Eevee runt is going to cost you an arm and a leg. The Water stone is an extra kick while you're down, too."

"Don't remind me," Lee grunts.

"So, what are you planning on doing with this hypothetical Vaporeon?" Zinnia asks, going back to polishing Shelgon when the pokemon grumbles his displeasure at her stopping. "Something special?"

"I watched that Vaporeon turn her whole body into water and slip into a drain pipe. That alone makes it worth it to me," Lee begins, resisting the urge to draw his notebook from its place stuffed in his back pocket. "If a Vaporeon can do that, what's stopping them from morphing to water mid-fight to negate incoming blows? Maybe shapeshift mid-battle? Can they control other aspects too, like temperature or matter state? Could a Vaporeon literally turn into vapor and become untouchable? If they can do all this, what is stopping other pokemon from mimicking such a stunt? Could Vulpix turn into a literal ball of flame to dance around attacks? Treecko into a storm of leaves? I have to know how it works!"

Lee covers his mouth when he accidentally raises his voice, but Brendan barely even stirs. When he looks back to Zinnia, she stares at him with her jaw dropped just the slightest amount. "What?"

Zinnia shakes her head and closes her mouth. "Heh. Nothing. I guess I should have expected that from you," she says, her smirk back in place. "Some of that seems a little, ah, fanciful though?"

"I'm sure the prospect of keeping large pokemon was fanciful until someone invented the pokeball, too," Lee shoots back, seating himself on his bed and letting Treecko dismount from his shoulder. "Speaking of pokeballs..."

Lee takes Vulpix and Corvisquire's pokeballs from his belt and pops them open, depositing both pokemon on the floor in flashes of light. Near instantly, his connection to Vulpix is restored and it almost knocks the breath from his lungs. Idly, he's glad he sat down before releasing Vulpix, lest his legs wobble from the sudden drain of tension in his body. It only takes a tiny prod from her mind for his to show the memories of what she's missed.

He feels her rapidly shuffle through the memories like one might do a stack of photographs, taking in each one quickly but thoroughly. Vulpix stops on his heart-to-heart with Treecko with a measure of surprise, physically looking up at him. Then, a gentle, vulpine smile blossoms on her muzzle and her proud approval flows into his psyche, making Lee's insides grow warm as he grins in reply.

Corvisquire glances between Vulpix and his trainer before looking around, his beak pulling down into a dour frown that quickly transforms into a scowl.

"You don't need to look so down. Corvisquire," Lee says glibly, his grin still in place as he hugs Vulpix to his side. The vixen's fan of tails slowly wag. "Would a hug make you feel better? I've got a free arm over here."

The snap of the crow pokemon's beak makes it obvious what he thinks about the offer and what he would do to said arm.

Before anything else can be said, a crack of thunder makes everyone jump and jolts Brendan awake with a yelp. The whole ship seems to shake from the noise. All eyes turn to the porthole window, where the tropical sun is rapidly being overtaken by black clouds. White-capped waves slowly make the sway of the ship worse.

Overhead, the old PA system crackles to life. "Attention, please," The grainy, gravelly voice of a man echoes all around the ship. "This is your Captain speaking. We're headed through a storm to Dewford that is expected to last several hours. All passengers, please return to your quarters and stay put. All hands, secure cargo and stand by. Thank you." With that, the line dies, leaving the now howling wind as the only sound in the cabin.

Lee releases Vulpix and stands, quickly walking to the window and shutting it, though not fast enough as a raindrop nails him in the eye with unerring accuracy. "Ow! Fucking-!" He rubs his eye and sits back down, almost tripping and landing on Treecko when the ship rocks under him.

With a grumble, Brendan abandons trying to sleep again when the staccato of thunder and rain pelting the ship like bullets makes far too much noise. "Man, I was having a great dream too," he complains, standing and stretching. "What's up with this storm? It was perfectly clear when we left."

"We've been on the water for a couple of hours, shrimpy. Weather out here can turn deadly at the drop of a hat." Zinnia comments blithely. "Gee, I sure hope nothing bad happens to us~!"

"Don't bring that evil in here, woman. I'll toss your ass overboard myself if I don't get at least a week without some dumb adventure," Lee warns with narrowed eyes. "Everyone just hunker down and try to get comfortable. It's going to be a long day."

"Urg, easier said than done," Brendan moans, looking decidedly green when the ship lurches under them. He draws his pokeballs and releases Marshtomp and Shroomish in flashes of light before laying back on his bed. "Lee? Can you feed my pokemon, please? I don't think I can look at any food, even pokechow, without feeling like hurling..."

"That's fine, just relax and rush to the bathroom if you're actually going to puke," Lee stands and grabs Brendan's backpack, unzipping it and reaching inside for Marshtomp and Shroomish's food.

Marshtomp looks at his ill trainer with his brow creased in concern. The mudfish pokemon then turns to Lee with a low, inquiring croon. "Maaash?"

"Caw, ha." Corvisquire answers before Lee can. "Craw!" He finishes with a dry, cackling laugh that plants a frown firmly on Marshtomp's face.

"Ko, Treecko," Treecko speaks up, from his spot lounging on a pillow with his forearms behind his head. His answer is apparently much less inflammatory than Corvisquire's as Marshtomp smiles at him.

Lee turns to his sole flyer with a flat expression. "Can you not pick a fight with everyone?"

Corvisquire has the gall to smirk.

Lunch is a quick affair. Lee feeds both Brendan's pokemon as well as his own, with Zinnia following suit shortly after. Brendan, as expected, eats nothing and just lays on his bed staring at the wall. Zinnia scarfs a wrapped-up sandwich from her bag while Lee forces down a simple granola bar before the rolling of the ship begins to upset his stomach like Brendan's. With food out of the way, all the pokemon huddle on their respective trainer's bed for the rest of the ride.

Lee sits with his back against the wall on his bed, pokedex and notebook in his lap. One earbud hangs from his ear as he busies himself transcribing his verbal pokedex logs into his notebook. He has to rewind the recording several times as he gets lost watching his pokemon from the corner of his eye during this rare idle moment.

Vulpix and Treecko lay by one another, both talking between themselves in various purrs, hisses, and yips broken up by short verses of their species names. Of what they talk about, he has no idea since Vulpix doesn't seem to deem it important enough to give him a telepathic translation. Both pokemon are obviously at ease with each other, but the cool demeanor of both makes it difficult to tell if they're true friends or merely being professional.

Further behind them perched on the edge of the bed, Corvisquire does not deign to give any of them his attention, instead watching the rain pound on the window with as placid an expression as he can manage... Which is to say a resting scowl. In a dull part of Lee's mind, he's faintly amused by watching Corvisquire's head, which like many avians, remains gyroscopically stable while his body rolls with the rest of the ship under it. The crow suddenly seems to realize he's being watched and turns his head, looking at Lee with a narrowed red eye.

"I'm just admiring you, is all. No need to give me the stinkeye," Lee says, raising his hands. "You've got some good sealegs despite being built to fly."

Corvisquire visibly mulls over the words before turning back to the window without a reply.

Lee pats the left side of his face where his scars lay. "These, probably. Adds an instant ten years. Glad they're finally good for something."

Zinnia stares at the burns for a moment. "I never asked. Where did you get those? They almost look like..."

"Burns?" Lee finishes, feeling a sardonic smile pulling uncomfortably at said burns. "They are. Before you ask, let's just say the only thing worse than playing with fire and getting burned, is someone else playing with fire and burning you. An accident, and we'll leave it at that." Under the table, he can feel Vulpix listening closely.

Zinnia frowns at the non-answer.

"Now let me ask you some uncomfortable personal things," Lee leans back in his chair. "What's this mission the draconid tribe put you up to? That e-book had bits of lore and whatnot, but nothing concrete."

The waitress chooses that time to drop their drinks off. A rather plain glass of brown liquor is placed on Lee's side of the table while Zinnia gets a much more flamboyant red and yellow drink in a tall glass. "Anyone ready to order their meals?"

"Sampler for two, please," Lee says, surprising Zinnia as he hands his menu over. He shoots her a look and she too hands in her menu. "All of this on one check, too."

Again, the waitress jots down the order and hurries off. "Back soon!"

"Not that I'm not grateful, but why?" Zinnia blinks.

The scarred man takes a chaste sip of his drink first, smiling when it goes down smooth. "You were just bitching about being broke, and you did get me breakfast so I'm just returning the favor."

"Yeah, but I don't think a three credit snack and a full dinner and drinks really compare," the dragon tamer points out, lifting her own drink for a sip. She smirks. "Mister Henson, are you trying the old wine-n-dine on me? The fastest way to a draconid's heart is her stomach, after all."

"That fruity drink of yours is thirteen credits," Lee deadpans, making Zinnia choke as her eyes bug out. He smiles at the reaction and rests his head in a propped up hand. "Again, you were just bitching about not having money, and I'm a cool guy like that. Besides, I'm married to my job now and I'm certain Vulpix wouldn't be amused if I made googly eyes at another female. Right, love?"

Under the table, Vulpix chuffs.

"See?"

Zinnia grumbles into another sip of her drink. "Funny how you mentioned draconid lore, earlier. I'm actually the Lorekeeper of the Draconid Tribe."

"And what does a lorekeeper do?" Lee asked, an eyebrow raised. "Obviously not anything scholarly like it might suggest since you're out here with us."

When Zinnia doesn't answer, instead looking down at the table with a conflicted expression, Lee relents. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

The tanned woman is silent for another few seconds before answering. "The Lorekeeper... is supposed to be the strongest of the tribe. There aren't a lot of us, so it falls to the Lorekeeper to be strong enough to survive if the rest of the tribe does not, or to undertake special missions for the good of the tribe. That's what I'm doing, currently. The Lorekeeper before me, shes... Not around anymore, and she chose me as the next Lorekeeper before she passed. I and my pokemon have to become strong to fill the shoes she left behind, so the draconids can live through me were something unthinkable to happen."

Suddenly, much of Zinnia's ruthlessness and manic eagerness to battle makes sense. "Swablu would have gained nothing from that battle, so why bother?" Her words from her battle with Ash echo inside Lee's head.

Dying wishes make the most dogmatic people.

Lee nods, swirling his rum in its glass before taking a long pull from it. The liquor is starting to get unpleasantly warm. He sets the glass back down. "She was special to you, the last Lorekeeper?"

Zinnia nods silently, not looking at him.

"What was her name?"

The woman across from him stops halfway through a pull of her Sunrise, the bright colors of it out of place in the somber atmosphere. "Aster," she says after a long moment, her face morphing into a blank mask.

'I thought her Whismer was named Aster? Come to think of it...' Lee thinks back, never recalling such a pokemon in Zinnia's ownership in the weeks he's known her. 'Another timeline thing I fucked up?'

"Aster, huh?" Lee drains the last of his glass. "You're a good trainer, Zinnia. She'd be proud, I think."

Her breath hitches and the stoic mask upon her face cracks, showing something underneath too briefly for Lee to identify. Then without any preamble, she throws her head back and laughs. "Ha! Arceus above, a few sips of tequila and I get all sappy. I was hoping to loosen your lips, not the other way around. How about this, since I didn't get what I want outta you, you've got to help me with something tomorrow."

"A free dinner wasn't enough for you?" Lee asks, shaking his head and holding his hands out in the universally recognized 'really?' pose.

Zinnia easily ignores him and reaches into her back pocket to pull out a crumpled flier. She smooths it out as best she can and hands it to Lee, who takes it and looks it over.

BRAWL ON THE BEACH!

Double Pokemon Battle Tournament!

Bring the whole family! Shops, foodstands, games, music, battles, and more!

Celebrate the new league year with a thrilling tournament on Dewford Island's own white sands! Contestants will battle two-on-two until only one team is left standing! The winner's will receive a shared prize of $10,000 and the bragging rights of being Dewford's best Brawl On The Beach Duo!

The rest of the flier details the rest, like the bands showing up, the restaurants setting up stands, and a little section at the bottom with the usual legal disclaimer.

"Nothing against shrimpy, but I feel like the chances of a win are better if it's you and me," Zinnia says as Lee sets the flier down. "Plus you have to have three pokemon anyway, so unless he has a new one by tomorrow morning, he's out."

"I dunno..." Even with the warming booze in his stomach, Lee still bites his lip as a little flare of anxiety flickers inside him.

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Zinnia argues. "I'll even split the prize with you~!"

The scarred man snorts. "You're so generous..."

"But really, I am kinda broke and it's money to put towards that Eevee you want," she presses. "Unless you want to do bitch work for that school, this is the fastest way to get one."

That makes Lee's resistance crumble. With a sigh, he agrees. "Alright, I'm in. I need to register for a gym match and give Vulpix and possibly Corvisquire a check-up first thing tomorrow though."

Zinnia grins. "Fine with me. We need to get proper attire, too, so factor that in."

"...Attire?"

"Duh, look at yourself!"

Lee slowly looks down at his clothes. They're the same camo green jacket, black shirt, jeans, boots, and gloves he normally wears. "Whats wrong with my clothes?"

Zinnia groans and drains the rest of her Sunrise in one unlady-like gulp. "You drive me to drink, you know that? You can't go to a beach like that! You need a speedo and maybe some crocs if you insist on being a nerd."

He glares back at her. "I'll do a lot of things, but wearing crocs and a speedo at once is not one of them."

"Here you are! Sorry for your wait!"

The waitress walks back with a huge tray of assorted bar food and sets it down on their table, making Zinnia's eyes light up.

Lee quickly makes a plate for himself before Zinnia's grabby hands can take everything. "Jeez, woman. Where do you put it all?"

His table partner laughs past a bite of an onion ring. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

The rest of the evening is naught but small talk as two traveling companions slowly turn into actual friends.