The crowd waiting to get on the S.S. Anne was a big one. Hundreds if not thousands of people were waiting on the dock of Vermilion Harbor where the famous luxury liner was going to set sail from. Red and Yellow were waiting among the crowd for Daisy to meet up with them.
"Hey, guys!" She called out as they came into her view. "I'm sorry I'm late."
"It's no problem." Red said as Daisy reached them.
"So you managed to get a ticket?" Yellow asked.
"Yeah. I had to call my dad and have him order me one, but I did manage to get it."
The three continued chatting for a bit until they were interrupted by an unexpected group of visitors.
"And here I thought this was supposed to be a private cruise. But I guess this is just open for any old losers to show up."
"Hey, Kat! Good to see you." Daisy ignored her brother's sarcastic remark and greeted her cousin instead.
"Good to see you, too. How's life been for you?"
"Don't just ignore me!" Gary shouted angrily.
"Then maybe you should give us a reason to pay attention to you."
Gary was about to retaliate with an insult towards his sister when suddenly someone ran into them and they both fell to the ground.
"Hey! Watch where you're going… Ash?"
Gary looked up at his old friend-turned-rival in surprise.
"I thought I heard your voice." Ash said.
"Wow, I guess the gang's all here." Daisy remarked enthusiastically. "What are the odds?"
"Yes." Carmine grumbled. "It seems almost a bit too coincidental. I feel like at any moment now a certain someone is going to turn up and tell us Team Rocket is here."
"You're intuition serves you well." Everyone was startled by the sudden appearance of Looker. "But the time to speak of our current problem has not yet come. We will discuss things when we get to the privacy of our cabins."
And just like that, Looker disappeared back into the crowd as quickly as he had shown up.
"Who was that?" Red asked.
"Didn't Team Rocket disband years ago?" It was Gary's turn to ask questions now. "Why would they be here?"
"It's a long story." Ash answered. "And it looks like we're all probably going to have to catch each other up on what's been going on later, so we might as well wait until then before we start talking about it."
Just then, the crowd suddenly started moving as the S.S. Anne opened up for passengers to board it. The group went along with the crowd onto the luxurious ship and made their way to their rooms. They were all stationed on the same deck along with Looker and his team as well as a few other people.
"Come on, Charmander. You need to get up." Bulbasaur tried to nudge the Fire-type onto his feet.
"No." A crying Charmander insisted. "You heard Damian. I'm worthless, I don't deserve to do anything but sit down and wait for the end."
"We all know that's not what he said!" Squirtle yelled at Charmander with ferocity to his speech. "And besides that, he's wrong. You are strong and you have the potential to be far stronger than your former trainer could have ever hoped for you to be. I see what you can become. One day you will be a Charizard, revered by everyone as one of the strongest and most courageous Pokémon of the Kanto region. The humans use your species and your evolutions as a symbol of power and a national icon."
"Really?" Charmander asked in amazement as he finally stopped crying.
"Yes, and I know exactly how we are going to prove that you are better than him."
"How?" Both Charmander and Bulbasaur asked.
"Damian wants to take on the league challenge by earning eight Gym Badges and entering the Pokémon League, right?"
Charmander nodded.
"Then all we have to do is earn eight Badges ourselves and beat him in the League."
The others just started at Squirtle in confusion.
"What are you talking about?" Bulbasaur finally asked. "We can't do that. Only humans can enter the league."
"I admit that I haven't figured out all the details of how we'll pull this off yet. But I'm confident that if we work towards this goal, anything will be possible."
Ash, Brock, Carmine, Misty, Red, Yellow, Daisy, Gary and his cheerleaders all sat around Looker's room along with Looker himself, Lance, 009, Wes and Rui. Having 19 people in a room meant to only have 5 at the most was a very tight fit. They had just finished catching each other up on what had happened to each other since the four trainers had left Pallet Town.
"So, why are you here, anyway?" Ash asked Looker. "Is Team Rocket here?"
"We have heard from a reliable source that several of Team Rocket's highest ranking agents are hidden somewhere on this ship. They are planning to steal all of the Pokémon on the ship before we make land again."
"That's terrible." Daisy said.
"Ja, that's why we need to stop them." Looker continued. "And I would ask that all of you look for suspicious behavior in the other passengers and report anything out of the ordinary to us. Now, I believe that is all that must be discussed for now. You may now leave to do whatever it is you wish to do. If we need to speak to any of you again, we will contact you."
As the trainers and their traveling companions left the room, Red and Yellow approached Carmine.
"There's something I wanted to ask you." Red said.
"What?"
"When we were talking to Bill up at Cerulean Cape, he showed us a video of a news report from when a giant, Black Tyranitar attacked in Johto. The video cut out just as two trainers rushed up to fight it."
"So?"
"The two trainers were you and Mr. Ketchum."
"Wait, what?" Ash was startled to overhear that.
"That was a long time ago." Carmine said. "What did you want to ask?"
"How did the battle go? What happened?"
"We beat it, obviously."
"But how? That thing was huge and extremely powerful. What happened to it after that?"
"That's not really something I feel like talking about right now." Carmine turned to walk away and nearly walked right into Kat.
"Hey, I couldn't help but overhear that you're a strong trainer."
"And?"
"Would you mind having a battle with me?"
Carmine put his hand up to his face and sighed.
"Why did I agree to come here." He put his hand back down and looked Kat in the eyes. "Fine. I heard that there are some places to battle up top. Let's get this over with."
Meanwhile, three decks above, Team Rocket were having a meeting of their own.
"So we've all got our cover stories straight, right?" Attila asked his fellow agents.
"James and I are a married couple enjoying our anniversary. We can't have kids on our own, so we have Meowth as a surrogate. We've also never met any of you before, we just happen to be on the same floor as you." Jessie said.
"And I'm just a normal Meowth, so noes talking or walking around on my hind legs while I'm in public." Meowth added.
"Oakley and I are newlyweds on our honeymoon." Said Hun.
"And we're also on our honeymoon." Annie gestured towards Attila as she spoke. "Oakley and I are sisters like in real life and you two are close friends from childhood, so we all know each other and specifically wanted to have a shared honeymoon."
"And you?" Attila looked towards Hunter J, sitting in the corner of the room stoking the Zorua in her lap as usual. The small fox Pokémon seemed more relaxed than normal, almost like it could feel a familiar presence somewhere on the ship.
"I don't really care. I'm just here to enjoy myself and make sure things don't fall completely to pieces for you."
Attila stared angrily at her.
"What do you care, anyway? I'm not even a part of Team Rocket, I'm just a mercenary. Even if someone notices me, they can't connect it back to you. And make no mistake; I have no intention of being found out."
"Fine. That's good enough, I suppose. Just keep a low profile."
Jessie, James, Meowth left the room together. After waiting a few minutes, Attila and Hun left as well, leaving Annie and Oakley alone with Hunter J.
"So girls," Hunter J said, "I have something I want to talk to you about."