Author Notes: Hey guys FireFoxDriver here! Welcome to my new story "The Loop". It has been a really long time since I've done an SYOC story and personally, they are my favourite to write. Reviews and Criticisms are very much appreciated since it's been a long time since I've tried writing seriously but I'm really excited to get back into the groove of things.

I'll be writing this story alongside my other Project "The Intersect" so if you end up liking this one I'd encourage you to try reading my other stuff. Anyway please enjoy and as always for my SYOC stories, the SYOC form will be at the end of the chapter and in my bio for a convenient copy-paste.

A luxury cruise ship named the S.S Atlanta was sailing off the coast of the Strato Region. On this cruise ship stood a young man who had grown quite successful from his success in the engineering field and medical field for his cutting edge prosthetics. Normally he would be on a ship like this to converse with researchers from around the world or to promote his new design however this time he was on a week-long vacation with his younger sister to celebrate the start of her pokemon journey.

It was midday and this young man stared out into the open ocean inhaling the salty breeze. He liked the way the air cleared his nostrils and lungs. He looked up at the bright blue sky and smiled at the sight of Wingull flocks flying by the ship. Their coos were pure bliss to the ears and a few of them flew down near to the railing of the ship to greet him. He waved to the flock in a friendly response. He was soon interrupted by the loud pitter-patter of some flip flops running towards him, he knew it was his sister he adjusted his button-up shirt and black dress vest to greet her. His sister was about half his height. She had long blonde braided hair and a cheerful grin that could brighten his day no matter how dark.

"Justin! I got some tacos!" His sister said.

Justin smiled, grabbing one of the tacos making sure to not get the contents of it on his clothes. He took a big bite and smiled in delight at the wonderful flavours.

Maria placed both of her hands on her hips. "Justin! You promised to eat with me! How can I eat with you when you've already scarfed down half the taco!" She said in an annoyed tone.

Justin giggled at his sister's remark. He pointed to both his and his sister's wristbands. "Maria, relax we have VIP status on the ship we can get as much food and as many drinks as we'd like."

Maria let out a loud sigh before leading her brother to the table she had reserved. The two of them quickly scarfed down their food and Maria was extremely excited to be spending the week with her older brother. It had been months since she had last seen him it wasn't because of a strained family relationship though it was mainly because of Justin's extremely busy schedule.

"You know we're a long way away from Fender Town right? Are you sure you don't miss mom?" Justin said.

"Yes, I'm sure!" Maria said. She took a pokeball from her belt and pointed it at her older brother.

"Woah Woah I surrender Maria! I'm not exactly a Pokemon Trainer." Justin said.

"I know! I'm just sooooo excited to start my journey! Taking on the Strato League has always been my dream! I'm going to catch lots of Pokemon and make tons of friends!" Maria excitedly said.

"I know you will. So have you decided on the starter you're going to pick? The Strato League has a lot of choices?"

"I already chose mine! I got it from the Fender Lab! Eevee come on out!" The pokeball that Maria was holding opened up letting out a bright white light. The light had formed a small brown four-legged pokemon in front of Justin's eyes.

"Well hello there Eevee aren't you a cutie!" Justin said as he scratched the pokemon's head. The small pokemon cooed at Justin's touch. "So out of the many starters Strato offers you chose the Eevee, I'm a little surprised what happened to always wanting a Bulbasaur?"

Maria smiled and pointed at a chart on her phone. "You see as awesome and as cute as Bulbasaur is. It has probably some of the worst defensive typing you could get! It's weak to bug, ice, fire, flying and psychic! However, with Eevee, it already has immunity to ghost and is only weak to fighting. Some people might say the normal typing is bad, but it's actually amazing defensively! Also with an Eevee, I have a large variety of options when it's time to evolve! In the Strato region, it's way better to have more defensive options since it's the only region with a gym for every type!"

"Wow, you've really put some thought into this! I guess your dream of conquering the League is much closer when you've got a mind like yours." Justin praised.

Maria leaned back in her chair awkwardly laughing. "I'm just someone who likes to nerd about battle theory. I'm nothing compared to you! Mr up and coming Pokemon Prosthetics Researcher and Engineer."

"Please Maria, you're smart in the field of battling. I don't know anything about that stuff. I'm just someone who helps people and pokemon with my smarts but in a different way. Now c'mon let's have some fun! It is your tenth birthday after all!"

Maria smiled following her older brother's lead. The two of them did every activity they could think of on a cruise ship. The two of them hit up the arcade which was filled to the brim with tons of mini-games that the two easily won at. Maria was extremely frustrated at some of the luck-based games and Justin tried to explain to her that they were programmed to be rigged, but she was determined to prove him wrong.

After the arcade, they went swimming in the wave pool and it turned out that Eevee had a natural talent for swimming which Justin suggested that maybe Maria would have a Vaporeon in her future. The two of them had a complete blast that day until it was finally time for dinner at the end of their first day on the ship.

There was a fancy party happening on the ship which was actually a large gathering of pokemon scientists and researchers. It was being held in a large dining room on the ship. The room itself had red carpets on the floor laced with golden thread. The walls were snow white and looking up was a large glass dome where you could see the light of the stars illuminating the room. Maria definitely felt out of place in a room so nice, but she knew that this was something her brother enjoyed.

The siblings were sat down at a VIP table which had a great view of the dance floor below them. Justin was now wearing a really nice dress shirt and a grey blazer with some black jeans. While his sister wore a white button-up shirt, a long black skirt, and a blue vest which was provided by their mom.

Maria took in the sights. "You really do live in a different world from mom and me."

Justin choked on his wine. "I think you misunderstand. This isn't an everyday thing for me. I'm usually eating delivery pizza. This is something special that I don't normally do. If I'm going on a cruise it's usually to talk with other researchers or pokemon professionals. It's very rare that I actually get to enjoy the luxuries of a cruise. I also wanted to give you a nice vacation before you set out on your long journey."

Maria stared into her brother's blue eyes and smiled. "Well, thanks a bunch!"

The two of them were enjoying their dinner. Justin had a medium-rare Bouffalant steak with a side of roasted potatoes and blue cheese salad, while his sister had a simple bowl of mac and cheese from the kid's menu with a glass of grape soda. The two of them were having a ton of fun sharing the desserts they had ordered when the lights of the cruise ship seemed to dim causing Maria to miss her spoon accidentally hitting Justin on the nose and hair with ice cream. Justin leaned back in his chair wiping the ice cream out of his nostrils, and Maria helped him fix his messy black hair.

Looking around the lights were beginning to dim and flicker a few times. Justin and Maria thought this was for the dance to help set the mood, so they excitedly stared at the dance floor. However something was odd, there was no music but the lights continued to flicker on and off. The waiter that had been serving both him and his sister soon approached the table.

"Excuse me sir and miss, but I have word from the captain that all passengers must return to their rooms for the night. I'm sorry for any inconvenience that this has caused." The waiter said.

"Awwww! but my Ice-cream sundae! Justin! can we take it back to our room at least?"

Justin looked to the waiter but unfortunately, they had to go back to the room and couldn't bring the glass bowl with them to their room. Justin promised Maria that they would go get some soft serve from the ice cream dispenser when they got the chance. Maria was saddened but understood.

The two of them made it to their room Justin held his keycard up to the lock and opened up the room. The first thing he noticed is that the room was really warm as if the air conditioner wasn't running at all. He watched Maria run over to the couch and try to turn on the TV, but unfortunately, the TV wouldn't turn on. He tried to turn on the lights but once again the lights didn't work. Justin walked over to his sister.

"Looks like the power is out. That's probably why they had all the guests return to their room. The ship must be on the emergency generators now. I guess we'll have to sit tight then." Justin took off his blazer hanging it on a coat rack and loosened his shirt undoing the buttons around his neck. He grabbed his watch from his bag. His sister watched some movies she had downloaded onto her phone while Justin looked out his window.

The sight of what was occurring outside worried Justin. He had a clear view of the ocean from his room, and despite it being night time the flickering lights beneath the water's surface gave him some concern. It looked as if Pokemon were locked in battle underneath the surface. Each flicker of light caused the waves to swirl and crash in on themselves. The water appeared to darken as the flickers stopped and after a few seconds what sounded like a loud explosion echoed throughout the ship scaring both Justin and Maria.

Maria's head darted towards Justin. "Justin, what was that?"

Several more explosions could be heard on the ship one after another and Justin knew that his safety and his sister's safety were on the line. The scent of smoke and oil began to leak into their room and Justin knew that their time was limited. He quickly packed some water bottles and food into his backpack and gave it to his sister. He held her by the shoulders and looked at her in the eyes. "Maria, listen to me closely ok. Something is clearly wrong, but I need you to listen to everything I say. I don't know how bad the situation is so stay close."

Both of them walked up to the door and Justin placed his hand on the metal handle only for there to be the sound of steak on a hot pan followed by the smell of burnt flesh. Justin clenched his hand squealing in pain. He bit down on his lip trying to get the pain off of his mind. Maria was extremely worried about her brother. She grabbed one of the water bottles from the bag and opened it up.

Justin, who could hear the crack of Maria breaking the plastic cap yelled out. "No, don't! I'll be fine! I don't know how far out from land the ship is and if it goes down we'll need that water!"

Maria nodded, placing the water back in the bag, and handed Justin his blazer. Justin wrapped the blazer around his hand and opened the door only to be greeted with a blast of heat. Poking his head out of the door frame he saw a massive fire to his right and a cloud of black smoke to his left. Holding the door open with his back and body weight he ripped his blazer into cloths using the corner of the door. He took one of the bottles of water from the backpack on Maria's back and was careful to not use a lot. He made some makeshift masks to block out some of the smoke. He made sure to put a mask on his sister first before himself.

"Alright let's go we have to get out of here. I know for a fact that there are lifeboats up on the main deck. We have to get on one before they're all gone, cause for sure people are already loading themselves onto them." Justin said.

"Justin, I'm scared." Maria whimpered.

Justin tried to reassure his sister, "I promise to do everything I can."

He held tightly onto his sister's hand as the two of them stayed close to the floor. What felt like forever was only a few minutes. A few more explosions could be heard in the background and screams of other passengers could be heard. As the two of them made their way up to the main deck the explosions were getting louder and louder. Justin walked onto a scene that he wished he'd never have to encounter in his entire life.

There were many men and women in black suits with the Fulcrum Logo. They were battling some of the trainers on the ship and it was clear to anyone that the Fulcrum grunts were winning quite easily. Looking to his left and right were giant Tentacruel. Above the large squid, pokemon were swirling clouds and it was clear they had been dynamaxed. Their large tentacles pierced the ship causing it to rock back and forth. The deck itself was covered in large holes caused by the Tentacruels.

Maria hid behind Justin, but he also didn't know what to do. Justin wasn't a pokemon trainer he didn't even have a trainer card or even a single pokemon to call his own. He scanned the whole main deck and saw that most of the lifeboats were gone, but there was one more left. Unfortunately for him, it was on the opposite side of the main deck.

Justin held tightly onto his sister's hand. "Maria, I can see one of the lifeboats across the main deck. We're going to have to make a run for it."

Maria nodded in response and the two of them made a mad dash for the lifeboat. They ran past fires and battling pokemon. Justin ducked his head into his arm to try and put all of his focus into saving his sister's life.

"Arcanine use fireblast!"

Justin's eyes were in shock as he saw a star-like beam of fire headed towards him. With his quick thinking, he shielded Maria from the attack using his back. The blast sent the two of them flying. They had a rough landing on the main deck as one of the grunts approached both of them.

"Now where do you think you're going?"

Justin let out a strained cough and he slowly got up. He made sure Maria was alright and shielded her behind his back. He tried to make eye contact with the man that stood before him but his face was hidden behind a pair of black visors. "You better back the hell away from us!"

The grunt took a glance at Maria. "Oh my well don't you match the description? Sir I'm going to need you to hand over the little girl."

Justin stood up clenching his fist. "There's no way in hell you're taking Maria!"

The Arcanine landed in front of the grunt and slowly circled the two of them letting out a soft growl which sent shivers up Justin's spine. The hairs on the back of his neck stood tall as he began to shake from fear. He made sure to keep Maria close; he wasn't going to let anything happen to her.

Maria could see the fear in her brother's eyes and she knew she had to do something. She clenched onto the pokeball on her belt. "Eevee we need your help! Come on out!" The pokeball on Maria's belt opened up and Eevee formed at Justin's feet. "Eevee use tackle! Get that Arcanine off of us!"

Eevee charged towards the Arcanine at full speed. Eevee leaped up into the air slamming its full body weight against the Arcanine, but much to its horror the Arcanine seemed unfazed. The tackle did almost to no damage, and the large fire-type pokemon scoffed at the weak Eevee trying its best to harm it.

"Damn it! Eevee use tail whip then follow it up with a tackle!" Maria yelled.

Eevee nodded in response. Eevee leaped up into the air smacking its soft tail across Arcanine's face which seemed to do absolutely nothing. Eevee landed on the ground and once again ran at full speed charging towards Arcanine. It slammed its full body weight against the fire-type pokemon, but once again Arcanine was completely unfazed by the weak attempt.

"I'm sorry ma'am but orders are orders. Too bad for you it seems you're a new trainer at best. I'll take your Eevee out quickly so it won't suffer. However, you will be coming with us whether you like it or not. Arcanine make sure to take out Eevee in one hit use crunch!"

Arcanine charged at Justin slamming its full body weight into him knocking forcing Justin on the ground gasping for air. Arcanine then opened up its largemouth biting down on Eevee's torso with all of its might instantly knocking out the small brown pokemon. It tossed Eevee at the feet of Maria. Maria kneeled down and held Eevee in her arms. She took out her pokeball and returned the pokemon into it.

The grunt pointed at Justin who was still trying to recover from Arcanine's tackle. "Arcanine pin that guy on the ground, we're extracting the girl."

Arcanine ran over to Justin's body and using its mouth it grabbed onto his wrist and using its body weight held him down. Justin watched in horror as he saw the grunt grab his sister by neck and hair. He saw the grunt dragging Maria away. He tried with all of his might to escape the pokemon holding him down, but the moment he began to wiggle and weave his way out of its grip. It tightened its grip and twisted his arm sending a sharp unbearable pain through his shoulder.

Maria screamed at the grunt and cried for help from her brother, but Justin couldn't do a thing the Arcanine was already on the verge of snapping his arm in two. Maria's eyes were streaming down tears as she screamed and yelled for help. The sound of her screams were getting burned into Justin's ears and his soul. It was the only thing he could hear as even the burning hellscape around him seemed to fade out as the only thing that mattered right now was saving his sister.

"To hell with it… Maria is the only thing that matters… She has her whole life ahead of her… I'm not going to let some damn grunt take that away from her!" Justin screamed at the top of his mind. He bit down on his bottom lip and with all of his might began to push against the Arcanine. The Arcanine pulled up on his arm making a loud snapping noise that echoed through the air. The pain was just too much and Justin's body completely gave out, despite his effort, everything went black as the last thing he felt was his body thud against the main deck of the ship.

Justin didn't know how long it had been, but he could feel that he was on his back, and the air was quite warm; it even smelled like the beach. He could hear sirens in the distance and the murmurs of people. He slowly opened his eyes to see first responders, his vision was quite blurry, and looking down at his own clothes they were covered in sand. He tried to get up but as soon as he put weight on his right arm a sharp pain was sent up his shoulder causing him to wince. It was the middle of the night and all around him were the bodies of passed-out passengers from the cruise. He carefully got up holding his dislocated shoulder when he saw there was an officer who seemed to be sorting through some papers.

Justin walked up to the officer. "Are you sorting through people in those papers?"

The officer took one look at Justin. "Son, you need medical attention right away. Please sit tight."

"My health doesn't matter right now! I need to know if you guys found a ten-year-old girl by the name of Maria Palmer. She's my sister! I need to know if she's ok!" Justin yelled

The officer pointed towards a corkboard behind him. "Son, my team and I are searching the wreckage of the ship. Every passenger that we have accounted for so far is on that board you're more than welcome to take a look."

Justin limped over to the corkboard and started scanning through the names. The first list he checked was the found dead list. He scanned for Maria's picture and name, and a wave of relief washed over him as he couldn't find her name there. He checked the missing person list and immediately found his sister's name and picture there. The relief he felt quickly disappeared.

One week ago tragedy struck as the S.S Atlanta cruise ship was attacked by what seems to be an operation from the Fulcrum organization. The attack occurred at around 7:30 pm which resulted in the death of the captain, and around 70% of the staff. Nearly 1200 of the passengers were unfortunately found dead at the site while 1300 are injured and about 500 are still missing. This is truly a sad day for the Strato Region. This has been Electrode news signing out.

Justin turned off the tv in his room clenching his fist. It was his last day in the pokemon center as his shoulder had healed enough for him to do regular activities. He already filled in his mom about the situation and she was inconsolable to say the least. Each day he checked in with the police station in the city to ask if they had found his sister, but a week had gone by and still nothing. He knew that with each day that passed by the chance of his sister being alive grew ever more slim.

If the police weren't going to find his sister he'd have to do it himself, but how was he supposed to take on the largest crime organization in the whole Strato Region. He'd have to chase after the same dream that his sister had. He'd have to become a pokemon trainer and become strong. Strong enough to save Maria. That was his new mission, he was going to become a pokemon trainer and find his sister no matter what it takes. Justin got up from his bed rolling his shoulder taking in a deep breath looking out of his window. The ocean could be seen in the distance and he clenched his hands knowing what his next steps would be.

Author Notes: Well what did you guys think? I'd love to know your opinions or any predictions on how the story will go. Well, you're probably here for the SYOC form so here it is. The one in this chapter will be explaining the rules for your character and the one in my bio will be for your copy-paste pleasure.

Also, I will only be accepting OCs through PM.

SYOC Form

Name:

Age: How old is your character? The minimum age is 10 but as a quick reminder, Justin in the story is 21 so if you want your character to play a major role in the story I recommend the ages 16-23.

Height:

Gender:

Home Region: Where does your character come from? If you want your character to come from Strato, just put Strato and we can discuss further.

Sexual Orientation: Optional

Physical Features: What does your character look like?

Clothing: What clothes do they wear on a day-to-day basis? What do they wear when sleeping, swimming, when it's really hot and when it's really cold. If they're going to a fancy party what would they wear?

Personality: Give me a rundown on their personality.

Favourite Colour: This one is important trust me.

Goals and Ambitions: What are their goals in life? What do they want to accomplish at the end of their journey?

Likes: What are their hobbies and interests.

Dislikes: What do they dislike and fear.

Significant Relationships: Relationships towards things like parents, siblings, or lovers.

Backstory: How did they grow up? This must also contain why they're coming to the Strato Region, and what their reaction is to the attack on the S.S Atlanta.

Pokemon: The Pokemon that your character will have access to will be chosen via point system. You will have a total of 6 points to allocate to their team. The first form of a three-stage evolution line will be 1 point, the second forms are 2 points and the final forms are 3 points. Two-stage evolution lines example being Crogunk and Toxicroak will be the following. Crogunk would cost 2 points while Toxicroak would cost 3 points. Also, single-stage pokemon like Absol will cost 2 points. Pseudo Legendary Pokemon and any of their forms will be 5 points no matter what. Finally, Legendaries, Ultra Beasts, and Mythical pokemon will not be allowed on anyone's team. Also, any of the Hisuian pokemon and forms will not be allowed because they are brand new, and we don't really know a whole lot about them.

As a side note you don't have to have a total of 6 points you can be under 6 points and personally I find it more interesting to have more open slots on your trainer's team since it'll be fun to see them obtain more pokemon as the story continues.

Pokemon Info

Name: If they have a nickname put it here

Species: What Pokemon are they

Personality:

Relationship with their trainer:

Likes:

Dislikes:

Moves: Pokemon in this story can have more than 4 moves with a max of 6. The first four moves you put are their main moves, moves that they can pull off flawlessly and any other move after the main four are accident-prone.