Shafts of the sun's first light flashed across the dark water, signaling the dawn of another day in the Hoenn region. Approximately one hundred and fifty miles west the coast of route 105, an anchored boat bobbed to and fro in the salty sea. All was still, except for the constant motion of waves, and the gentle lapping noise they produced when they made contact with the craft's hull. For a personal vehicle it was rather large, no less than twenty-five yards long and about five and a half wide. It produced the appearance of a luxurious club owned yacht. It was painted a glossy white, with one black stripe running horizontally along its length, except where broken by regularly placed portholes. A rush of wings broke the tranquil scene. Two Wingull alighted on an antennae jutting out of the prow. Raising their long black tipped beaks to the purple-blue sky, the couple announced the new morning before alighting to begin their search for food. Below the deck of the boat, more life began to awaken.
Moor had been submerged in deep dreams for most of the night. He'd opened his eyes in the mouth of a giant Wailord, and before he'd known it, passed through time and space until he was on the tip of a massive cliff, facing a wall of water rushing toward him, unstoppable, inescapable…until it'd touched the tip of his nose, and he woke up in an instant in the aft bedroom of the Shelly's Dream. Moor often wondered if it was the briny scent of the ocean, ever in his nose, that was the cause of the constant water related dreams. He couldn't remember a time when he hadn't smelled the aromas of the ocean, or a time when he hadn't been above or below the deck of a boat. He was still pondering over this fact when he heard the squawks of the Wingull. Moor groaned to himself. Not soon after, his alarm clock rang to life, chattering ~Squirtle Squirtle Squirtle!~ and blowing cloud after cloud of bubbles into the confines of his cabin. He thought about feigning sleep, just to stay in bed a little longer, maybe explain his unawareness of the alarm by blaming it the neutral hum of the engines his quarters placed him in close proximity to. They filled the space with a calming, slight rumble.
"Yeah..Besides, they do help me get to sleep anyways. Why not help me stay asleep?"
Moor was about to roll over and pull the thick quilts over his body once more, when a loud voice pried through the cracks of his door from above deck.
"Mooooooor!" "Morgannnnnn Greensea!" "You wake up this instant! The days' started and you're still snoozing like a baby Teddyursa! Up up up up Mister!"
"Ugh", Moor groaned to himself. " She thinks she's such an adult." He was referring to his baby sister, Brooke, who thought herself the opposite. She was always on top of him for everything, from the way he ate to the state of his often untidy hair. "I'm 14 and she's 12. What business does she have telling me when to get up?"
He could hear the agreeing chuckles of his parents as his sister continued to berate him from upstairs, and he knew it would be a matter of time before they joined in, or worse, before his sister decided it would be a good time to send a water gun into his bedroom to rouse him. "Always the prodigy…" he thought to himself. Contemplating the fact that a water gun added to the many bubbles that were still circling the room would create a rather soapy mess, Moor decided to get up. He yawned once more and dragged a hand through his jet black hair. ~SQUIRTLE SQUIRTLE! SQUIIIIRTLE~ Moor went to his clock and fingered for the off switch built into the shell. The iridescent bubbles stopped flowing from the the alarm's mouth. He gazed at the smiling Squirtle. "Kinda ironic. Brooke has a Pokemon, where I don't and probably won't for awhile. Always bragging about her Squirtle." He remembered when his parents had first given the blue and brown egg to his sister. The look of joy on his face for her, that had then changed to sadness when he realized there was not one for him. His parent had told him that being the older, he would understand. He still didn't.
"Well soon its gonna be different." A defiant grin spread across his face. Yeah."
He sat down on the footboard of the bed and reached for the drawer that contained his clothes. Hat. T-shirt with a Pokemon Championship logo on it. And a pair of swimming trunks, just one of the many that he owned, patterned with Pokeballs. He looked around the room as he always did before he left it for the day. Everyday he wished it would be the last time he saw it. Soon.
The ladder to above deck was coved in water. Not unusual, but it made for a slower ascent. He peeked his head slowly out of the opening and looked around, a spy on his own ship. Brooke also like to have her Squirtle spray him in the face when he came out in the morning. Today however, she was in the small lounge, munching on some chips and watching the plasma screen his parents had installed before they left Johto. The Jigglytummies probably.
He called out to her "Aren't you a little old for that show? What's so entertaining to a twelve year old about a show with overweight Jigglypuffs?
She handed to a chip to the little turtle Pokemon seated next to her. She didn't look at him as she spoke. "For yourrr information, I find this show extremely entertaining. I've already learned about five new Pokemon from Hoenn!"
"So where's Mom and Dad?" he inquired with his head stuck in the galley fridge." And where's my breakfast?
"They launched the sub a while ago, while you were still downstairs glued to your sheets. And breakfast is gone, Dad ate seconds and Squirtle had your share", Brooke said." They'll be back in couple of hours.
"Ugh! Couldn't they just have put in in the microwave ?" Moor said this even though he knew the rule. If you weren't at the table by the time the meal was finished, you didn't get food.
"You know how it is Moor. If you're not at the table by the time the meals' done, you don't get food.", Brooke preached. " guess soommeeoness just gonna have to go overboard for breakfast today!"
Moor groaned. He didn't gathering food for himself in the slightest, but it annoyed him how his sister enjoyed saying exactly what was on his mind. He went for the gear locker, and unlatched it with the small key he wore around his neck, next to his copy of the boat ignition keys, and his copy of the emergency sub keys. There were rods, reels, and all sorts of assorted items in the locked, and Moor decided to go with a spear gun. "Looks like its into the water for me today." He closed and relocked the gear locked, and stowed the key beneath his shirt. Turning back to his tv entranced sister he said, "Don't leave the boat."
"Okay busybody.", replied Brooke haughtily. "And you don't get eaten by a Sharpedo."
"A Shar-wha?" said Moor.
Brooke smiled evilly. " I'm onlllyy kidding, it's just a Pokemon I learned about on Jigglytummies. But still be careful Morgan"
Moor waved goodbye in reply and then left the lounge. He strode to the railing of the boat and looked east. To Hoenn. He hadn't glimpsed the region yet, they'd sailed around the tip of it, far from the coast as they'd come from Johto, for his parent's research and exploration. The wind stirred his hair as he gazed. "Well I must look very dramatic. He swung the spear gun onto his back and dived for the water.
Moor thought that no matter how experienced a swimmer he might become, there would always be a slight shock when he went from dry air to water. However, when he plunged into the Hoenn sea, he became accustomed to the temperature a little more quickly than he had in Johto, or Kanto. The water was warmer and slightly more saltier than the other region water bodies his family had explored.
He took a giant breath, careful not to take in too much air, and therefore lessening the pressure on his chest. When he submerged, a few bubbles trickled from his mouth like inverted tears. "Wow.", he thought. He was still amazed at the quality of the water, crystal clear. For some reason, he'd assumed it be different than the previous regions as well. "This makes my job easier." He loved the suspended feel of water. The easy of movement. He saw nothing in the direction he was looking and spun to the opposite direction. As he did, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow. It was rather large he observed, and he pulled the spear gun from his back and flicked the safety off. The shadow was gone, and Moor thought for a moment about returning to the ship. "But I'm soo hungry…." He resolved to take a catch first. Moor felt a tugging in his chest, a sign his body was compelling him to take a breath at the surface. He rose using his feet, the spear gun still kept on guard, pointing in front of him.
~Splosshhh.~ Moor's head broke the surface loudly. The boat was about twenty yards away, still anchored. The wave activity was increasing and he found himself lifted higher and dipped lower with each passing swell. A few more deep breaths stretched his lungs for the next dive. Looking around for anything that might require his attention, and seeing none, Moor dived to the deeps for then second time.
Almost immediately after putting his head beneath the water, Moor saw a delicious looking fish with a dull gaze drifting through the water. It crossed Moor's path closely, apparently unawares of him, and still ignored Moor when he raised the spear gun. The spear darted swiftly through the water, faster than the fish would have been able to swim even if it had wanted to. A thrum went along the attached rope and blood mixed with water. The fish went limp. Moor hauled the rope towards him quickly, knowing all too well that blood signaled predators who would arrive at the scene quick for a morning bite. And he didn't want a young boy to be available for biting. No sooner had he told himself this, the shadow. This time it was below him. He quickly shoved the fish into the net he kept tied to a loop in his trunks, all the while keeping his eye on the apparition. Still unable to identify the creature, he returned the spear gun to his back and used both his arms and legs to swim to the surface. Limbs milling furiously, cheeks poofed, Moor remember his sister and the Sharp-something. He pictured himself digesting in a sea monsters stomach acid, and his eyes bugged slightly. He made a mental note to ask his parent why they never home schooled him in the Pokemon of regions they had never been to. "That is, if I survive this!", he told himself. He turned back, expecting gaping jaws and saw…nothing. Where there had been a giant Pokemon, there was only crystal clear sea.
"Why", he thought," Hadn't I been able to see it? The water's clear enough."
He thought he'd better get to the surface before a revisit. Moor turned….and it was there. The rest of his air burst from between his lips. It was there. Hovering motionless, and this time, clear as day. The majority of its body was blue, with a whitish chin and red line patterns here and there. And it was big, at least fifteen feet long. It floated there. Gazing at him with red rimmed, deep yellow eyes. And then the motion of it's fins ceased. It sank out of Moor's view.
He swam like no one's business. Fear and starvation of air drove his weakening limbs.
"Not gonna make it…not gonna make it…"
His head broke the surface, and he flung it back, gulping air like jugs of Miltank milk. His face was wet, but he could still feel the raindrops falling from the thick black storm clouds that occupied the sky where minutes ago had been stretching blue. The raindrops increased in size and frequency, splaterring all around him.
"What was that…"
It was raining.