Chapter 2: Hoenn Boundward

(Ash's POV, few hours ago)

Pikachu and I came on this ferry after getting word of a new league in the Hoenn Region. After breakfast this morning of what we were told the ferry's arrival in Hoenn, we decided to relax, sunbathe on the deck. I must have dozed off for a few minutes when the captain and his Machoke came to the deck chairs and saw us. Machoke's shadow woke me and I saw the two. "Sorry if we stirred you," the captain apologized. "We just wanted to know what you think of the ferry ride to Hoenn. In a few hours, we'll dock near Littleroot Town."

"Pikachu and I've had fun on here," I chuckled. "We're just anxious to get started on a new journey and a fresh start." My dream of being a Pokémon Master did take a hit after losing in the Quarterfinals back in the Silver Conference. I'll talk about it another time. Anyway…

"Well, if there's anything I can do before we reach land, don't be afraid to ask." Pikachu answered for me. It turned out that wearing my swimming trunks on deck was a blessing and not in the way I believed. Before I could relax again, I saw Pikachu's ears twitch before he stood up.

"Pikachu, what is it?" Instead of talking to me, he dashed to starboard and looked down. I slowly followed my partner's lead. Over the side, I saw some Pokémon I never seen before in the ocean or in the sky. I grew excited. However, Pikachu saw something else. When I turned to where he faced, I saw you two bobbing face-down. "Oh no!" I turned to the captain and just in time. "Man overboard!" The captain and Machoke turned and saw me grab a life ring from the ferry's side.

"Cathy, stop the ferry!" he yelled as I dove after you two. After hitting the water, I grabbed you two and ringed us. Machoke saw me signal with a thumb up and began pulling all of us from the drink. Once back on land, the captain and I laid you and Biyomon on deck when your helmet fell off. For some silly reason, I thought you looked familiar.

"Misty?!" Believe me, I probably couldn't tell you apart. I thought Misty wanted to travel with me instead of going back to Cerulean City. Of course, I didn't account for Biyomon. You weren't responding and I wasn't sure I would even attempt to chase my latest adventure on a death of someone. Neither did Pikachu and he put his tail on your arm. I thought he was going to use Thunderbolt but he let off a light amount of electricity. A minute later, you began to cough. I knew that you'd be okay. "That's it. Just breathe." After you coughed a couple more times, Nurse Joy and her Chansey came out with a stretcher. I helped load you on the board and Machoke and Chansey carried you inside.

"I'll get you a towel." Once the captain left, Biyomon started coming around.

"Sora?" she weakly called. Pikachu and I heard her but didn't see anyone else. Eventually, we spotted Biyomon trying to get up and tended to her aid.

"Hey, relax," I tried to stop her. "You just got pulled from the ocean." Being in this world, I believed Biyomon was another Pokémon. Boy, was I wrong.

"I gotta… help Sora!" Needless to say that Pikachu and I became flabbergasted.

"You can talk?" I know of a few Pokémon that could talk human. Then again…

"I'm a Digimon! Of course, I can talk!" Biyomon collapsed on the deck. She was wiped out. The captain came back with a pair of towels. I grabbed one and Pikachu took the other and dried Biyomon off. "Thanks. Anyway, did you two see a redhead with a helmet on?"

"Yeah, Nurse Joy's watching over her right now. Pikachu used his electricity to restart her. All she needs is rest." Realizing that you'd be okay, Biyomon sighed in relief.

"Thank goodness. I didn't want to fail protecting Sora after what happened." Now Pikachu and I got to know your name.

"So that girl's Sora, huh?" Right then and there…

(END POV)

"...That's when we got to know each other," Ash concluded. Sora seemed to understand what happened Tai and MetalGreymon defeating Etemon to now.

"I get it," she believed. "You and Biyomon got to know the differences between Pokémon and Digimon while I recovered."

"Yep. As Biyomon and I figured out, Digimon and Pokémon have so much apart that it's amazing about what else could be out there beyond this world." Just then, a brunette man in a white sailor uniform and a pink-haired woman wearing a brown trench coat and slacks came out. The pink-haired had her hair looped on each side of her head. Also joining them was a muscular blue man-like creature wearing black skin-tight underwear and ridges on his head. Another creature was a pink egg-shaped creature carrying an egg in its pouch.

"I see that you're up and about, miss," the sailor noticed. "Having your chance to meet your rescuers?" Sora and Biyomon turned to the four.

"And you are?" asked Sora. Ash knew of who they were.

"The captain is the one in the sailor outfit," he clarified before pointing to the muscled creature. "And that's his Machoke. It helped pull you and Biyomon out of the water." The Machoke stepped up, offering its hand to shake which Sora obliged.

"Machoke is powerful but only in battle," the captain explained. Next was the pink-haired woman who had a necklace and a hand-held device.

"I believe you need these?" she guessed. The necklace was an odd octagonal-shape tag with a red tab through a window. The tab had a heart in the center. The device was small, fitting in the woman's palm. It had one circular button on the left of a monitor and two oval buttons on the right. It also had an antenna sticking from the upper-left of the device. Sora recognized the items.

"My crest and my Digivice!" she identified as she received her items.

"I found them when I removed your wet clothes to dry them." Sora now realized the woman gave her the gown when she was out and not either Ash or the captain.

"Thanks!" To Ash, the woman acted the way he'd expect… for good reason.

"That's Nurse Joy for you," he named. "She's on a trip to see family while away from her Pokémon Center in Vermillion City."

"Yes, Chansey and I'm visiting my sister who's in Rustboro City," she notified. The egg creature agreed to Joy's claim. "Now you look to be okay." Sora bobbed a nod to Joy, a sign that she needed no more help.

"I'll be fine," she acknowledged.

"Okay." That's when the captain had an announcement.

"Well, I did come out to say that we're half an hour away from Hoenn shores," he spoke up. "I doubt you have anything to pack up." To Sora, the Hoenn Region was a big deal.

"What's so special about the Hoenn Region?" she asked. Ash chose to answer her query.

"You see, Professor Oak told me about new Pokémon in this region," he explained. "I mean, they're not originally seen in Kanto, Johto or the Orange Islands." He came to find new creatures but Sora pondered the reasons.

"But how will you know what the Pokémon are?" It did seem as if Ash had no way to tell the identities of Pokémon.

"I would say that's what makes my adventure fun. Pikachu and I need to see Professor Birch to get a new PokéDex which I was told has a bigger encyclopedia of Pokémon with a bigger RAM and a new voice."

"That's a useful tool to have around!" squawked Biyomon.

"It is!" The captain looked up, finding a series of piers and buildings pass the waters. To him, they reached new land.

"There it is, kids!" he alerted. "Littleroot Town! We've finally arrived in the Hoenn Region!" Ash, Sora and the two creatures dashed to the front of the ferry, eying the town approaching.

"We're here, Pikachu: new region, new adventure, new Pokémon..." Pikachu's happy squeak told everyone how ready he was to journey. Sora wasn't so enthused. She didn't want to get separated from her friends and now she may be forced to travel with Ash with no idea how to return. Pikachu alerted Ash to Sora's sadness. One look, Ash realized he needed to do more than simply go through a new land. "You want to go back to your home, right?" Sora snapped her head to Ash who caught on to her demise.

"Biyomon and I belong back in the DigiWorld, not here," she whimpered. Biyomon bobbed her beak in agreement. Pikachu came over to Sora and patted her arm, a way to say not to worry. "Thanks, Pikachu. I'll be fine." This sounded like a difficult task to Ash but felt it need to be done.

"When we see Professor Birch, he'll try to help you with whatever he's got in the lab." Sora jumped in a stunned surprise.

"You wanna help? But what about your journey?" Fortunately, Biyomon had a clue to where Ash had led on.

"We are going to see this Birch about our dilemma," she beaked. "And besides, we can see Ash and Pikachu in action along the way." This could help illustrate more differences between Pokémon and Digimon. The ferry reached the piers and once parked at a dock, a staircase lowered. Joy and Chansey walked off first. Soon enough, Ash and Sora exited the boat and touched down on new land. Sora eyed the crowd going about their businesses like shopping and conversing with others. There were also a wide array of creatures she and Biyomon saw.

"These are... Pokémon?" The creatures stayed with their humans like housebroken dogs. Speaking of, a brown puppy with spiky fur came up to Sora while moving back and forth, interested with the redhead. The barking alerted Sora to which she knelt to pet it. "Aren't you a curious little thing." The pup leaped up and licked on her face, the slobber tickling Biyomon's master. Ash returned to Sora and found the pup just as it wandered back whence it came.

"Never saw that Pokémon before," he shrugged as Sora tried to dry her face.

"Wait, you haven't?" All Ash could do was shake his head.

"It's gotta be from here." Turning, Biyomon found another puppy, slightly smaller than the first and with pink fur standing on its hind feet. It looked like a bulldog from the head but wearing red ribbons.

"How about that one?" she cawed while pointing her wing. Ash looked over, finding and knowing the creature in question.

"That's a Snubbull. I saw them in Johto." More creatures, this time in the air where Sora found them. The flock of flying pods had different colors and accessories. The pink pods had twin grass feelers, the blue had cotton seed clusters and the green had a flower worn like a cap.

"How about them?" she asked. One look was all Ash needed.

"The Hoppip Evolution line. Hoppip are pink, Jumpluff are blue and Skiploom are green. They evolve in that order." This left Sora a little confused.

"Um, isn't it suppose to be 'hop, skip, jump,' not 'hop, jump, skip?'" Another shrug from Ash told Sora that he had no responsibility in naming the Pokémon. That's when a horde of children dashed to see Ash, pens, ink pads and paper in hands.

"It's Ash Ketchum!" one boy shouted. They nearly pushed Sora away from Ash if only to reach the trainer and Pikachu.

"We saw you battle Harrison in the Silver Conference," a girl chimed in.

"You were awesome!" another boy cheered. "I thought you could beat his Blaziken." Another girl with an ink pad reached her item upward.

"Can I get Pikachu's paw print, pretty please!?" she requested. Flopping a nod to his partner, Pikachu leaped down and and pawed the pad before the paper. "Thanks!" Ash entertained the boys with his signature on their sheets. That's when one girl took stock of Sora… sorta.

"Misty, did you get a new style?" she asked. "And is Togepi with another trainer?" Sora balked at the mistaken identity, the thought of her being Ash's friend from his earlier travels. Ash came to her defense with a correction.

"That's not Misty," he clarified. "Misty's actually back home at the Cerulean Gym. Brock is also back home in Pewter City." Hearing that his friends didn't tag along upset the kids.

"I wanted to play with Togepi!" Despite the news of Ash's friends, they did leave with smiles about the autographs and paw prints.

"They were a bunch to contend with," Sora sighed.

"Yeah," he laughed. "Kids who can't wait to be trainers." The redhead looked at Ash, perplexed with that summary.

"You mean there's an age requirement to be a Pokémon trainer?"

"Trust me, I couldn't wait to be ten years old to start training. Do you have a minimum age to have a Digimon?"

"No, we weren't asked about it. The youngest of us DigiDestined, TK, is only seven and he's taking care of Patamon." Suddenly, a theory popped up. "Say, can Birch issue me a Pokémon when we see him or her?" Ash crossed his arms and dipped his face down, a deep thought in the process.

"It is the reason I came back to you when I got directions to find his lab. When we get there, I'll ask about it." In Biyomon's mind, Sora wanted to try some Pokémon training, wondering if she could be like Ash and forget the digital world.

"But what about Tai and Matt and the rest?" she cawed in fear.

"Relax, Biyomon! I just wanted to humor myself." Although it did sound like she didn't mean to say that she may prefer training, Biyomon had her concerns sketching her beak.

"Anyway, Professor Birch's lab is around the mountain side," Ash explained the route. "There's a road that will get us there without much hassle." This would be the beginning for Ash's new adventure and Sora and Biyomon's journey back to their world.

"Well, if you have the directions, feel free to lead the way." And so he did. They headed out of the town and on their way to the beginning of a new chapter in their stories.

TO BE CONTINUED...