Disclaimer: This story, the OC -main, secondary or otherwise- don't belong to be but to a dear friend of mine who decided not to share it here. So I took it upon myself to do it for her.
However as to not be accused of plagiarism, I still made a few changes so it was more in my style than in hers (but that's about all that'll be changed). If anything, think of it as a remake.

Regarding the main cast from Pokemon, they belong to Game Freak or whoever own them.

On board to new adventures

The boat belonged to Professor Kukui, he used it to travel around the archipelago for his study or during his leisure time. It was slightly worn out, though I reassured myself thinking that he'd not use it if he wasn't certain it wasn't going to sink.

Beside, even though it didn't look brand new, once we were all onboard, our Pokemon included, we had a lot of rooms for ourselves without feeling cramped. And, what was best was that it went at a fast speed. And I was sure it could go faster.

"Hey, Professor Kukui!" I called in a loud voice to be heard over the loud engine and the wind blowing throughout everyone's hair. "Can we speed this baby up? We're going too slow!"

But the professor shook his head. "No."

"Why not? Don't you want us to start our field trip sooner?"

"Oh, that's not the problem." he answered. "Look." He pointed over at brown shapes, sharp and nasty looking rocks, getting out of the water. "We could crash against these if we were to go too fast. And I don't think any of us could swim all the way to Akala… Well, except for Lana maybe. Besides, we could also hit those surfers."

'Those surfers' weren't actually using a surfboard as I primarily thought when I looked at them, but Mantine! They were surfing on Mantine! Using the tall and powerful waves to raise through the air to the point the Mantine seemed to be flying and gliding. Those who were the most daring performed moves and looping.

"That looks so great! Why didn't you tell me about it?" I excitedly asked.

"I guess the topic never crossed my mind. Though you could have asked Nurse Joy, I am sure she'd have been more than happy to share the information." he answered with his usual soft smile.

His mentioning the women who run the Pokemon Center brought me to the battle I had yesterday. And Justice's hesitation.

"Say, Professor. You have witnessed when I challenged Ash's Rowlet with Justice."

"Yes, I even was the referee, if you recall. So?"

"Do you know why he didn't obey my command at the end?" I have been thinking about this for a while and I couldn't figure out what had happened. I had asked him to use 'Wing Attack', and he hadn't followed my order, costing us the victory, I was sure of it.

"Hm… Can you find Ash's Rotom-Dex and bring him here?" the professor asked, his attention focused on the ocean.

"Sure, professor." I answered, a bit surprised by the request. It didn't take me too long to find Ash and his Rotom-Dex. I was on my way to the deck of the ship where I noticed Kahuna Olivia. She seemed to be crying, listening to Ash, and petting his Litten who was in her arms. I felt some jealousy as Sabretooth was still rather opposed to petting and didn't hesitate to bite or claw my hands whenever I tried to brush his fur. For now, my little black and red fire fur ball was quietly grooming himself, for a change.

"Ash? What did you do now?" I exclaimed harshly while marching in his direction. "How did you manage to upset a Kahuna?"

"It's… It's fine, Jade." she said through sobs. I was surprised she knew my name. But I shrugged it off, Ash must certainly have told her what my name was. "He was just telling me about his Litten and… and how he got him… This poor baby has been through so much!" she cried in a shaky sob.

I grumbled a bit under my breath and looked at Gaïa who was still sitting on my shoulder. I had heard about Ash's Litten and his story with that huge Stoutland in that abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. It was a moving story, that was for sure, but this… It was overreacting.

"Yes," I still answered. "Both our Litten had sad back story." I evasively said, kneeling down to pet Sabretooth. However he didn't look at me, his attention focused on the Litten up in Olivia's arms. My Fire Pokemon meowed and hopped onto Ash's laps. I opened my mouth to call back Sabretooth but Ash shook his head, signaling that it was okay and didn't mind it. I sighed loudly. It may be alright for Ash, it didn't mean it was for me. Yet I couldn't take my Pokemon back as Olivia clasped her hands together, still sniffling.

"Both of these Litten are pure angels!" she said.

"Angels?" I repeated sarcastically. My hands and the scars on it begged to differ. Olivia nodded with a tiny laugh.

"Of course they are. They care for each other, Jade! That's obvious."

"Yeah… Of course they do." I agreed with a nod. "They are buddies, even though they don't hang out a lot with each other… Ya know… Litten being loners and all… By the way, Ash, can I take Rotom? Professor Kukui asked me to bring it to him."

"Me?" Rotom-Dex asked in his high pitched robotic voice. "Does he need me?"

"Oh, sure." Ash agreed.

"Thank you. Com'on Rotom." I said, getting down the small flight of stairs leading to the steering wheel. "I am back Prof."

"Hm? Oh, that's great! Now, Rotom, can you play the battle between Jade's Rufflet and Ash's Rowlet?"

"What? You've recorded it too?" I exclaimed. "Why?"

"For the same reason I recorded your Pokemon's hatching." Rotom answered matter-of-factly as images of my most recent battle appeared on the screen located on its 'torso'. "It's always useful for future reference."

"Whatever…" I crossed my arms over my chest. "How is this supposed to explain why Rufflet didn't follow my order?" I asked Kukui, as I watched the replay of the battle, with Justice and Rowlet flying at one another up to the point Ash's bird Pokemon used his Razor Leaf move.

"Wing Attack! Cut right through them!" I heard myself saying to Justice, my voice sounding strange to my ear, distorted and unnatural.

"Here is why your Rufflet didn't obey you." Professor Kukui finally said.

"What?" I asked, raising a brow. "I told him to use Wing Attack."

"No, you said 'Wing Attack' and 'Cut'. Your Pokemon knows Wing Attack and Cut. For him, you were telling him to use two different moves at once, so he didn't understand what you wanted."

"Oh… I guess it makes sense… Justice is still young… It's normal he doesn't know or understand everything." In itself, it was actually a wonder he understood the move names I asked him to use. "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. Thank you professor."

"No worry."

"Oh, Professor…" I stopped in my track and turned around "Are we there yet?" I asked with a giggle as I was leaving, making him laugh, soon joined by Rotom-Dex.

My giggle soon faded as I reached the deck and the bow of the boat where Lillie was staying, watching the waves, with her Vulpix sitting on her laps. I dropped beside them.

"Hey! You're not seasick, are you?" I asked loudly.

"Eh? Oh, no." she answered so quietly that I had to lip-read to understand what she was saying. "I was just… thinking."

"Thinking about what?"

For a while, she remained silent and I didn't break the silence even though I was growing restless by the minute. I supposed her brother was taking all her mind, and I too wondered where Gladion could be now. Was he still in Mele Mele Island?

"Have you met Gladion?" Lillie finally spoke.

"Huh? Yeah.. Yes I have!" I said with excitement in my voice, remembering the early battle I had against him. "He agreed to meet me and go against Gaïa." My Snivy stuck out her chest proudly. "It was a difficult battle, but I think we did manage very well even though we lost."

"Hm…" Lillie looked away. "Gladion has always been a good trainer. Much better than I. Would you believe that, when I was little, I wanted to be as strong a trainer as he was? I dreamed of having a Pokemon battle against him…" Her already low voice trailed off and I couldn't make out anything she was saying. Though she got me curious. How could someone as Lillie, so well-behaved, soft spoken and, above all, afraid of Pokemon, have ever dreamt of being a Pokemon trainer?

However that was some information I wasn't meant to know as the boat suddenly swerved and we heard screams coming from the stern of the ship. Lillie and I raced to there to see Ash, Mallow, Lana leaning over the fence.

"What happened?" Kiawe asked, followed by Sophocles.

"It's the Kahuna!" Lana said, pointing at the water. "She was standing close to the fence and she bumped and fell in the water."

"She what? Sophocles, go tell the Prof to stop the boat!" The small overweight boy passed by me to do as he was told as I looked at the ocean. "Olivia!" Kiawe hollered out.

The Kahuna popped out from the clear water and laughed joyfully, waving her hand. I could see she wasn't wearing her yellow jacket anymore. And she seemed to be quite enjoying her unexpected swim.

"Come on in! The water feels great." she laughed carelessly. Of course, it was all that Lana required to climb on the fence and elegantly dive in the water below after she had thrown her sandals aside. She was soon followed by Ash and Pikachu's dive-bomb. I huffed out an annoyed 'You've got to be kidding me' under my breath.

"I guess the travel to Akala will take longer than expected." Kukui's pleased voice said behind me. "I should have known this would happen." His presence here explained the lack of move from the boat.

"Come with us. You were so impatient, adventure starts now!" Mallow said to me as she was getting undressed.

"I know… And I want to. But my clothes will be drenched, and I don't intend on catching a cold any time soon."

"That's why we told you to bring your swimsuit!" Under her usual overalls, she was wearing a green and pink swimsuit that fitted her rather well.

"I also don't want to lose this baby." I countered, clutching my collar and its jewel, trying to get some comfort from the touch.

"Then take it off!" Sophocles butted in.

"I… I can't!" I said, shaking my head. "I… I feel insecure without it." I confessed, blushing much harder than I wanted.

"Jade, you're not saying you'll stay here on the boat while all of us are having fun in the water!" Mallow sternly said. "Look at Ash and Lana! They're enjoying themselves." She was telling the truth, both of them were happily swimming around, Pikachu resting on his trainer's head. A splash erupted when Kiawe jumped in the water to join them under the Kahuna's clear laugh.

"I don't believe it…" I sighed. "Don't tell me you're going with them Sophocles!" I exclaimed.

"Sure am!" he replied. He had removed his shoes and pants, though he kept his wide shirt with the orange device printed on it. However he didn't climb over the fence but took the steps on the other side of the boat and jumped. Or rather did a belly flop and swam to where the other were. Amazingly enough, he seemed rather comfortable and swift in water.

"You're not going to let Sophocles be more adventurous than you are, right Jade?" Mallow teased with a wink. She knew how to get to me and what nerve to hit. It was even worse when Marie decided on her own to leave her Pokeball where I thought she was sleeping and hop into the water.

"Tu quoque, Marie?" I exhaled, though I was smiling.

"Or she could stay with me." Lillie's soft voice interrupted. She was barefooted and not wearing her usual white dress anymore. Instead she was wearing a blue and white bikini with a short – and white – beach towel tied around her waist. She was also wearing the white bracelet she had gotten from Olivia. "Would you?"

"No problem!" I eagerly accepted, grateful for the escape. Besides, maybe we could resume what we were talking about earlier.

"Suit yourself." Mallow said with a shrug. "It's just a shame you don't take this opportunity."

"I'll. Later." I promised. To be more at ease, I removed my leather jacket and boots. Now the boat was unmoving, the wind wasn't blowing anymore and the sun was shining as bright and hot as ever. "I should have brought some sunscreen." I complained as I could feel my fair skin burning under the sun rays.

"I have some of that." Lillie exclaimed with a bright smile, fetching her big white bag where she rummaged for a while and proudly extracted a small orange bottle. "Here! Let me!" she moved to remove my shirt, but I didn't let her. I even moved a few inches away.

"That's… nice of you. But I can do it on my own."

"No prob…" The bottle Lillie was handing me escaped her hands when a new and stronger swerve of the boat made us lose our balance and almost caused me to fall face first on the deck.

"Professor! What's going on?" I called. Even down in the water, our friends were suddenly not laughing and having fun.

"I am not sure…" came the replies from my left. "There must be something bumping against the boat."

I looked over in the water, Ash, the Kahuna, Kiawe… All of them were here, but holding their head as if they were in pain. Even their Pokemon, from Pikachu down to my little Marie, looked sick. I raced to the other side of the boat, trying not to fall again, even though the boat was tossing about.

And that's where I noticed what was responsible for all these erratic move: a Wailmer, only the top third of his body showing out of the water. It was bumping against the boat again and again as if it couldn't see it, or even feel it.

"Gaïa, try to change its direction with your vines!" I commanded her. My Snivy hopped onto the fence, already growing her vine and directing them towards the big Water Pokemon and pushed its big muzzle to the side. Or that was what I had in mind. Yet, no matter what, the Wailmer would still go back to push the boat.

"Here!" Lillie exclaimed, pointing at something in the water. I was about to say that I had seen the Wailmer when I noticed she wasn't even looking in its direction.

"What's that?" I wondered out loud when I saw a pink, oddly and rather ugly patterned fish with gnarly – and sharp looking –teeth.

"Bruxish!" Rotom-Dex answered.