Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Pokémon, ect. ect.
A young lady sighed contentedly as she and Dodrio awoke from a nap. "Ah, this is the life." She looked the ship from her cabin window, and the atmosphere around her. She came all the way from Verdanturf in the Hoenn region, and they certainly didn't have stuff like this back home. "I wonder how many people are really on this cruise..." She hopped off the side of her bed and decided to take a look for herself.
The Pokémon coordinator checked the time on her PokéGear (a gadget from her travels; she preferred it over the Hoenn region's PokéNav) and then stuck it back in her mud-brown messenger bag, which matched her old canvas sneakers. Yes, this traveler participated in Pokémon contests with her three Pokémon--Numel, Marill, and Dodrio--as often as she could; growing up in a town with a Contest Hall influenced her to do so. She looked around and went to the pool with her bird pokémon beside her. "I'm sure Marill would enjoy this..." She pondered out loud.
As the sea breeze hit her wavy, long black hair, the young lady took in a breath. Her hazel eyes and lightly tanned skin shone in the sun of the city. The trainer sat down in a beach chair, trying to comfy. She looked to the left and smiled at Dodrio, one of which's head's was pleasantly napping beside her. The girl rested her hands on her green tank top and looked out into the ocean. As her eyelids shut tightly for a nap; Pokémon trainer/coordinator Erika Bedoe made a promise to her to do nothing but relax as long as she was a passenger on the luxury cruise ship, the S.S. DeLuca.
"Hey! Erika Bedoe! Is that you over there?" A loud voice came calling, giving Erika a rude awakening. "Ehhhh?" She sat up in her seat, and looked around for the source of the noise. "Ah, no autographs, please..." She said; obviously talking as if she was in her dreams.
"Oh wake up, Erika. You know who I am." A shadow loomed above the young lady as she looked up at its face. "Ummm...Oh! I remember! You're Becky from back home!!" Erika's face lit up as she remembered an old companion.
"Urk. How many times am I gonna' have to tell you? It's Beck. I don't go by Becky anymore. I'm not a little kid." He turned his face away. "I'm thirteen now. Not five." This however, did not faze Erika at all. "Hee hee, oh Becky." She sighed contentedly.
"So, what have you been up to? I haven't seen you since I left Verdanturf three years ago." She looked up at Beck with a smile, seeing him as the pasty-faced ten year old boy in tears upon the last of his childhood friends leaving on their adventure with Pokémon. Now he was the lean and tanned teenage Becky with a slightly improved sense of fashion.
As a kid, Beck was the boy with the buzz cut. His short, dark green hair was as trim as a healthy front lawn; and had the same color as one too. Erika noticed that he started growing out his hair as soon as he left Verdanturf--his deep green locks fell lazily in front of his cool-as-ice eyes.
Also, Beck started dressing better than he used to. His attire consisted of mud brown cargo pants and a matching long sleeved thermal shirt; and over than was a zipped up sleek-fitting faintly tanned vest. Around his waist sat a green belt just a hue away form his hair, along with matching green boots that went up to about four inches above the ankle. His new choice in clothes sure was better than the hand me down shorts and tube socks! He looks like the epitome of an ace trainer. Erika thought to herself as she looked over Beck and his new look. I wonder if he battles like one.
"I always thought you were somethin' else, Becky. The runt of the litter, forever and true..." Erika started off as if he was a character in a movie or something. However, it was true. He was the youngest and last of the children in his family, the youngest in his group of friends, and was the last kid to leave Verdanturf.
"In time I too left on my journey with Pokémon." Beck stated as he sat down in a beach chair. "I can see your Doduo evolved...Hey, you haven't seen any of my pokémon yet, have you?" The trainer asked his old friend. "Huh, I sure haven't. Let me take a look at 'em!" Erika said with a chipper grin.
Beck fumbled around in his green backpack for a Poke ball. "Where is it...ah, here we go." He took out four small red-and-white capsules in both of his large hands and showed them off proudly. "I've been traveling around Sinnoh for a while now. Some of my guys even evolved!" Beck chuckled; as he was quite proud of his achievement. "Not bad for a little runt, eh Erika? I've got a Machoke, Misdreveaus, Buneary, and a Grotle."
"Huh. That's pretty cool. So what do you do now, Becky? Challenge gyms? Or are you a contest character?" She asked him intently. "Oh, I dabble a little in both." Erika arched her eyebrows in interest as he said so. "But I tend to focus on battling. I even trained under a gym leader for a bit." Beck smiled with confidence and pride.
"You sure do like to brag, don't you, Becky." Erika stated in a matter-of-fact tone, taking a long drink of her fruity beverage. She glanced over at Beck, who was making a slightly mopey face to himself. "How did you get a ticket, anyway? I won mine through a contest. I'm a Pokémon coordinator now. Of course, I battle on the side."
"I got mine as a gift, but I don't know if I should have really boarded this ship today..." Beck stated off, his voice laced with worry. "I've heard weird stuff happens on these cruise things. Remember the S.S. Anne?"
"The sunken ship in Kanto? Yeah, wasn't there some sorta' criminals on there or somethin'?" Erika asked Beck. Dodrio's gloomy head awoke, and started a little quarrel with a short-tempered head. "Becky? Do you think there's someone on this ship that shouldn't be?" She had heard that the DeLuca had taken the best security measures to ensure the passengers' safety, but someone could always sneak on board undercover.
"There just might be. I don't know, Erika...I just don't know. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious, alright?" Beck stood up and looked around his surrounds. "If you spot anything out of place...give me a call." He held out his midnight blue PokéGear. It was the same model as Erika's, only hers was as deep as a rose petal. "I'll be seeing ya." He turned his back and walked away, waving one last time as he walked over to his cabin.
Well. Looks like Becky is the same old same old--still paranoid as ever. Still; a part of me can't help but to believe him about the dangers of the ship. Erika thought again about the possibility. "Well...I suppose I should expect the unexpected, eh Dodie?" The coordinator glanced over at the three headed pokémon. The little quarrel had turned into a pecking fight; and if it went on any longer a third of the bird would be blinded. "Hey, you two! Cut that out!" Erika snapped at them, and they made one last sneer before she called them back to the Pokéball. This was clearly going to be a long, long week.