Spinning itself in the air, the quick moving Hitmonlee swung his spring like leg down on the shoulder of the Abomasnow in front of it, landing a powerful Mega Kick. The ice and grass type pokemon took a heavy hit from the its type weakness and soon fell forward onto it's face as it blacked out. Crossing his arms, the Hitmonlee stood up tall as the crowd cheered the victor of the first battle. A red jagged beam of light shot out from a pokeball as its trainer withdrew his pokemon in defeat.
"The Hitmonlee missed a lot...", Draco said as he stared from his beach chair that he had taken up to a viewing point above the battle arena.
"Yeah, even Saphia could have beaten those two quicker than the Hitmonlee took to finish the battle... no offense, Saphia", Saphia said as she leaned back on her own beach chair.
"None taken", Saphia said as she looked on as the next two trainers took their places.
Sighing, he leaned to the side and rested his chin on the knuckle of his fist as he watched the little girl and boy send out their pokemon. The little girl sent out a Pichu, while as the boy sent out a fully evolved Raichu. Junior's tail wagged furiously as he peered through the large opening of the white railing that went around the front of the viewing platform. Everyone had made it to the registration table before the event had started, but the captain had made arrangements for Draco and Susan to battle whoever wins the last battle, which would take place tomorrow. Though both Susan and Draco were the final battlers, Robert would only need one of them for the battle. Steven and Sora were down by the arena, waiting for their turn to battle.
"When do I go?" Junior asked excitedly to Robert.
"Your turn won't be for a while", Robert said as he leaned against the railing, watching as the Raichu missed several times with a Tackle attack.
"Okay!" He said as he turned back to look at the battle again, only to see the Raichu smack into a metal flag pole, knocking itself out.
"...This. Blows. Hard", Draco groaned as he let himself fall backwards onto the beach chair.
"Oh don't worry about it, sweetie. Your turn will be tomorrow", Susan said as she crossed her fore paws in front of her as she laid down by Robert's feet.
"I know, Mom! But that's not what I'm worried about. By the time it's my turn, or yours, we'll only get really weak opponents, just look at them!" Draco shouted as he pointed down at the arena.
"I know, I know, but just try to make the most out of it", Susan said as she finished with one of her throaty giggles.
"The finalist should at least be of some challenge to you two", Robert said.
"Ah the hell with this, I'ma go look around the ship. We're fighting tomorrow anyways", Draco said.
Throwing his legs up above him, he rolled himself backwards and off of the beach chair. Walking forward, he planted his foot on the first mid railing and then stepped over the railing and dropped down to the arena area. Going past the staring eyes of the surprised on lookers, he took a random direction and began to walk around. Getting up from her chair as well, Scarlet lifted her arms up and stretched out her arms.
"I'm bored too. Bubby, I'ma go follow him around", Scarlet said as she walked towards the railing and looked over.
"Can I come too?" Junior asked as he pulled on the short length of her white shorts.
"Sure thing...", Scarlet paused and then looked around the base of the viewing platform, "Bubby, where's Timmy?" She asked, causing Susan to lift her head up and look around as well.
"With Steven, he wanted to watch the battles a little closer", Robert said as he walked over and sat down on Draco's seat.
"Oh, nevermind then", Scarlet said as she crouched down and picked up Junior and then leaped over the railing.
Quickly moving the Riolu to her other arm. Grabbing hold of a pipe that was running down the wall, she slid down and then landed by the arena. Walking through the crowd, she quickly jogged over to Draco, who was turning into the building areas of the ship. Placing the Riolu on top of her head, she bumped Draco with her hip.
"So, where ya' headed?" Scarlet asked as she hugged his arm.
"... I honestly have no idea", Draco said as he looked around the hall.
"Well, maybe we can find map or something... wait, you smell that?" Scarlet asked as she sniffed at the air.
"Hmm... smells like... food?" Draco said.
Upon hearing the word, Scarlet and Draco's stomach both growled in unison.
"That reminds me, we haven't had breakfast yet", Scarlet said as she looked to the right and the to the left hall to see if she could spot the source of the smell.
"If I'm correct... the foods to the right. Maybe it's a dining hall", Draco said as Scarlet pushed him down the right hall.
"Then let's get going! I want food!" Scarlet said.
"Food, food!" Junior said as he flailed his arms and legs around as he laid on his belly.
"Race you there!" Draco said as he suddenly took off running.
"Riolu ball attack!" Scarlet said as she snatched Junior off of her head and hurled him at the back of Draco's head.
Turning around. Junior clasped onto Draco's face, causing him to fall over onto his back. Reaching down as she ran down the hall, she snatched Junior back up and ran towards the source of the smell. Letting out a laugh, he pushed himself off of the floor and ran down the hall after her. Making a sharp turn, he spotted her just standing in front of two open doors.
"Did you find it?" Draco asked as he stopped running, but went into a jog.
"Draco... babe... I think I'm in heavy...", she mumbled as she pointed at a sign in front of the door.
"Ehh... what?" He said as he walked up to Scarlet and then turned to the sign.
"Breakfast Buffet... Dear mother of Mew...", Draco said as he looked away from the sign and then into the large dining room.
"... FOOOD!" Scarlet shouted as the two charged into the dining room, startling several of the chefs as they carried out large metal containers towards white table clothed tables.
While the two stormed into the dining room, Junior had wandered off without them noticing as was now happily exploring the halls. Wowing at the décor of the hallway, he giggled and laughed as he began to ran down the halls in search of whatever new things he could find. Hearing a lot bang from beneath his feet, he stopped and stared down at the ground. Cocking his head to the side as he looked down, he squatted down and patted the floor with a paw, earning a loud slam. Smiling, he looked around and spotted a door labeled, "Staff Only". Not knowing what it was, he turned away, only to hear another slam and a grunt coming from behind the door. Wagging his tail madly, he hopped up and grabbed hold of the metal knob with both of his paws.
Flailing his legs about, his body turned enough to open the door. The door swung outwards with the Riolu still hanging from it. Letting go of the door knob, both of the knobs fell outward in their respected directions, landing on the soft carpet, muffling the sound of it falling to the ground. Sniffing at the air, he smelled something in the air. Drooling slightly, he continued to smell the air and then stormed into the dimly lit stairwell leading down, not knowing that he was getting close to the sound of the slamming against metal. Following the scent of the strange yet tasty aroma, he kept low to the ground as he sniffed the ground.
After a whole minute of blindly wandering around the dim maintenance area, a bloody and battered body went flying in front of Riolu, causing him to jolt backwards. Gasping and panting, blood dripped from several cuts on his face and mouth. Seeing the blood, Junior froze in the darkness as memories of his clan and family being slaughtered flashed before him. Too lost in his nightmarish slide show, the sound of hard boots clanged over and over until a man stood in front of the badly beaten man.
"*Spits* Damn, these punks are getting real weak nowadays. Even with me being this old, they still don't put up a good fight-Oh hey, what are you doing here?" The man asked as he turned his head, still shrouded in darkness from the lack of lighting.
Snapping out of his nightmare filled memories, he looked up, but stopped at his waist. A orange wrapper with some sort of brown bar sticking out of it, a bite missing from the tip. Finally discovering what the smell was, he was too busy staring at the mans face.
"You okay little guy?" The man asked as he crouched down, his face revealed as the light from a light attached to the wall.
"Daddy?" Junior asked as he cocked his head to the side, completely forgetting the slowly dying man next to the man.
"Daddy?" The man laughed as he lifted his hand up and tore a chunk from the snack bar, "kid, I ain't your dad, but I got a son of my own. You kind of remind me of a Riolu I used to have", the man laughed as he reached out with his other hand and rubbed the Riolu's head.
Becoming even more confused, Junior stared up at the man as he removed his hand from his head. Reaching up to his head with both paws, Junior touched the top of his head as the feeling of the rub reminded him of Robert. Not only did his touch feel the same, but he even looked like him! The only difference was he lacked the still lingering, serious attitude that Robert had, and this man had hair that was close to silver, but the color was hard to make out from the darkness. Laughing, he took another bite of the snack bar, finishing it entirely. His nose twitched as the smell from the snack wrapper hit his nose, he stared at the wrapper.
"Eeeeh, sorry about that. Did you want some? Here, I got some more with me", the man resembling Robert said as he reached into his pocket and took out three nameless snack bars out of his pocket and stuck them out to the Riolu.
"Enjoy'em, they don't make these no more", the man laughed.
Staring at the three orange bars, he reached out and took them from the mans had and held them as the man got up. Some clanking sounds came from a ways away from behind Junior could be heard as someone came pounding down the stairwell.
"Well, gotta go kid. I've got a date with this guy over here", the man chuckled as the wounded man on the ground trembled in fear.
"Don't worry pal, I'm not gonna kill you... yet", the man grinned as he took out a butterfly knife and swung it around his hand, fastening the tiny little metal clamp onto both handles.
"Anyone down here?" The captains voice came from behind Junior.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw a ball of light surrounding a Klinklang as it used a Charge attack to light the way, the captain to the left of it. Turning back to look at the man, he saw that he and the wounded man were gone.
"Huh? Hey, you're that Riolu that was with Robert. Why are you down here?" The captain asked as he crouched down, his Klinklang floating lower with him.
"Food?" Junior asked as he held up the three snack bars he got from the man that looked like Robert.
"Where did you get those? Well, if you want food, the chefs are about done making breakfast, so go ahead and get yourself some food to eat. Come on, let's get you outta here", the captain said as he stood up again.
The captain walked back down the metal path with his pokemon, leaving Junior behind to stare behind himself, wondering where the man went. Turning back around, he quickly ran after the captain.
"Jeez, I thought we had some hoolagins down here messin' with the systems. The door knobs looked like someone had smashed through the metal door and then placed the bits of the knobs back into the door", the captain mumbled as they re-entered the hallway.
"Robert was with me", Junior said as he stared into the darkness of the maintenance area.
"Junior, didn't you go with Scarlet and Draco?" Robert asked as he and the two female canines followed behind him.
"He said that he saw you down in the maintenance room", the captain said as Junior cocked his head to the side.
Junior frowned in confusion. Spotting the snack bars in his paws, Robert's eyes opened wide.
"Hey, I remember those", Robert said as he squat down and looked at the bars, "they don't make these anymore. How did you get these?" Robert asked as he said the same words the other man said.
"You gave me them", Junior frowned as he stared up at Robert's hair.
Robert's hair was back to the color it was, and he was no longer wearing that outfit he saw on the other man in the maintenance room.
"Heh, kid must be seeing things in the dark, is all. Robert was up on the deck", the captain said as he took out a Dusk Ball and withdrew his Klinklang.
"Come on, sweetie. We should go get breakfast before the last of the final matches end and everyone comes swarming into the dining room", Susan said.
"Okay...", Junior said as he stared back into the darkness of the room, hearing a single faint slam against metal as the captain shut the door and stuck the outer knob into the hole and twisted it into place.
"Gonna have to fix this after the ship reaches Unova", the captain said as he clapped his hands together, "you know where the dining hall is?" He asked, facing them.
"We saw it on the way here, we'll find it", Steven said said as he came towards them with Sora in his arms, snoring away.
"So this is where the kids been, eh? Sorry kid, but you got disqualified from the battles since you were missing during your turn", he said as he held Sora in his arms.
"Too bad Sora lost, I would have liked to see my son go up against your Growlithe", Saphia said as she looked at Sora as she rested from her fight.
"Yeah, Sora's tough, but not too tough", Steven chuckled as he ruffled the top of Sora's head.
"We should probably get something to eat before Draco and Scarlet eat everything in there. I saw them when we walked past the dining hall", Susan smiled as she walked past them and made her way back to the dining hall.
"There will probably be close to nothing left", Robert said as he picked up Junior and followed Susan, the others following behind the two.
"Say, where's Timmy?" Susan asked.
"Oh, I took him to our room, he said he wanted to sleep. He'll be fine", Robert said.
"He hasn't been doing much", Steven said as they closed in on the dining hall.
"Yeah, but he's just a kid. Can't blame him for feeling sleepy at his age and waking up at this hour to get onto the ship", Robert said.
Once they were at the entrance, Scarlet and Draco walked out and saw the others.
"Oh, hey guys", Draco said as Scarlet leaned against him.
"Hey, you two okay?" Steven asked as Sora let out a yawn, waking up.
"Yeah, just ate a lot. We're gonna head back to our room and see if we can catch up on some sleep", Draco said.
"Huh, I forgot to go to sleep as well...", Steven said.
"Didn't you say you and Sora were gonna sleep? What happened to that?" Scarlet giggled.
"'Bout that, Sora and I saw a notice for the pokemon battle, so we decided to sign up, then eat or sleep first", he said as Sora smacked her lips as she looked up with sleepy eyes.
"Well, whatever then. We're headed to bed now. Wake us if you need us", Draco said as the two slowly waked away from the others, leaning against one another.
"Time for breakfast then-...", Steven said as a man wearing a chefs uniform came out and placed a sign in front of the door.
"The Foods Gone... Seriously?" Steven said as he read the handwritten sign.
"Yeah... those two ate all of the food we had for breakfast... I think I'm going to quit as a chef now...", he said as he walked back into the dining hall, closing the double doors behind ihm.
"Okay, seriously Robert, your family eats more than a group of starved Snorlax's", Steven said as he glared at Robert.
"Hey, I don't keep watch of what they eat", Robert said, "come on, I saw a outdoor food court near the pool at the rear of the ship, hopefully we can get something to eat there", Robert chuckled as he patted Steven on the shoulder.
Everyone followed Robert and Steven to the stairwell that lead to the top level. Junior was still in the hallway, staring at the corner of the hall, still wondering who that man that looked like Robert was.
Here's Chapter 20 :D I don't really have much to say... toaster waffles, that is all...
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