The crystal-clear ocean glittered brightly in the light of the sun, glistening like a diamond. Not a disturbance to be recognised.
However, small ripples began to appear on the ocean surface, as if something was swimming past. Then, the sounds of a man yelling in a panic began to ring out across Poké Island, reaching the ears of everyone on campus, including the team of Louis, Taki, Tracey, Roy, and their Pokémon.
"What on earth?" yelped Roy.
"Where's that coming from?" wondered Taki.
Curious about the yelling as well, Louis shifted his gaze to Staraptor.
"Staraptor, could you go see what's making those shouts?" requested Louis.
"On it," replied Staraptor.
The bird launched itself into the air and followed the sounds. After a brief moment of searching, Staraptor found the source. She turned back around and returned to the party.
"Well?" said Louis.
"It's at the docks," explained Staraptor. "But you may wanna see for yourself."
Louis nodded.
The young adult gestured for the party to follow him.
"Wait, where are we going?" said Roy.
"The docks," answered Taki.
After a brief stroll, the group reached the top of the stone staircase, leading to the docks. From that height, the party got a better view of the spectacle. There was a man hanging on to the fin of a Sharpedo, not wanting to let go. Louis squinted his eyes, hoping for a better view of the individual.
"Whoa hey! Stop!" the man yelled. "I'm slipping!"
The young adult immediately recognised the voice.
"Dad?!" he shrieked.
Louis' face turned a bright shade of red, a sight not missed by Taki, who chortled. Nearby, Lucario shifted on the spot under the waves of embarrassed emotion sweeping from the young adult.
"What's he doing on a Sharpedo?" wondered Cinderace.
"Never mind that, what's he doing here?" added Feraligatr.
Tracey peered past Louis' shoulder.
"That's your father?"
Many drops of sweat began to roll down Louis' face. Without warning, he began to slide down the railing of the stone steps. Successfully reaching the bottom, and landing on both feet, Louis took big steps toward the edge of the docks.
Focusing on the rushing speed of the Sharpedo and his father hanging on for dear life, Louis took in a deep breath.
"HEY!" he called.
Startled, Miguel turned his head toward the docks. Even with the current speed he was travelling at, the man was able to make out the figure standing on the docks, with his arms folded.
"Louis!" he cried.
With quick thinking, Miguel pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket, surprising his son.
'What's he doing with that?' thought Louis.
To his surprise, the Sharpedo was turned into red energy and beamed into the Pokéball, sending Miguel sliding across the ocean surface. This caused the remaining members of the party to wince.
"That's gotta hurt," groaned Incineroar.
The man eventually ceased his horizontal sea slide and sank beneath the surface momentarily
Eventually, Taki, Roy, Tracey and the horde of Pokémon reached the bottom of the stairway, meeting up with Louis. Soon after, Miguel emerged from the ocean, spitting out a mouthful of water. Then, he climbed up onto the docks, wincing in pain.
"Why didn't he just take the Lapras Express here?" wondered Roy.
On the horizon, Taki spotted a boat getting smaller and smaller from their view.
"There it is," pointed Taki.
This made Roy raise an eyebrow.
After some time, Miguel sat up, rubbing his head. He turned his attention upward to see his son.
"Uh...hey Louis," he said.
"Dad..." paused Louis. "...what the hell are you doing here?!"
"More importantly, how did you get that Sharpedo?" added Roy.
Miguel went on to explain that some time after he departed from Johto, he and Janet found a poster advertising for a position at the academy. He contacted the campus a few days ago, saying he was interested and now...here he was.
"Hmm, I guess that makes sense..." said Feraligatr. "But that doesn't explain how you have a Sharpedo now."
"Well, uh..." Miguel paused.
"I...kinda accidentally caught it when a school of Sharpedos began bumping into the Lapras Express," he explained.
"Accidentally?" said Roy.
"Yeah. One of the Pokéballs I had in my jacket fell out and bumped it on the head and...I caught it. I mean, I let it out a few moments ago and then...this happened."
Lucario, Louis and Tracey blinked twice.
"That's...unbelievable," said Tracey.
Soon, Miguel followed the group up the stairs. They gathered at the sakura tree, where Suzuki sat nearby, as Miguel began drying himself.
"I see Miguel arrived," said Suzuki.
Taki turned her head to the staff member with glasses.
"You knew he was coming?" she inquired.
"Yep, I found out about it yesterday," explained Suzuki.
Taki nodded.
"Oh, and Louis," said Suzuki.
"Yeah?" replied Louis.
"If you need somewhere to train for the Battle Royale, you can always use my training ground."
The young adult gestured a thumbs up to Suzuki.
"Battle Royale?" said Miguel.
Then, knowledge of the different regions appeared in his train of thought.
"Oh yeah," he said. "I've heard of that."
"Heh, I've been looking forward to training for that," smirked Incineroar.
"I'm sure you would be," said Marowak.
Unsure of his surroundings, Miguel peered in different directions.
"So where do I go to report my arrival?" he asked.
Suzuki answered, "The Office."
Miguel again looked around, perplexed.
"I don't know where that is," he said.
Roy explained the office's location, as the group readied themselves for the day ahead. As he left, Miguel turned and spoke
"Thank you!...and hey Louis! Good Luck!"
Louis nodded as his father departed.
Then, Louis stood up and gathered his belongings.
"What do you guys say we get started on training?" the young adult suggested.
Almost immediately, Louis' Pokémon stood up simultaneously.
"Couldn't agree more," said Incineroar, with a confident grin.
The young adult focused his attention on his remaining friends.
"You guys interested in coming?" he asked.
"Sure, got nothing else to do," Taki responded.
"I can probably sketch a few things while you're training," said Tracey.
Suzuki led the party to his training ground. The walk, along with the warmth of the sun eased the travellers.
"Just like old times," said Feraligatr.
"I concur," replied Taki.
Not long after, the group of friends arrived at the outside of Suzuki's training ground, separated by a chain-link fence. The staff member unlocked the gate and swung it open. As Louis turned his attention to his Pokémon, where six sets of eyes were supposed to be focused on, there were only five. Someone was missing.
"Hey...where's Marowak?" he said.
The group inspected the area to see where the ground-type Pokémon had vanished to.
"He was with us a few minutes ago," said Braixen.
"Did you see where he went?" questioned Louis.
"No. I didn't realise he was gone."
Thinking that something may have happened, Louis gently passed by his friends.
"You guys can wait for me," he said. "I'll go look for him."
The young adult made his way back in the direction he came.
"Classic Louis," mumbled Taki.
Louis remained attentive to his surroundings, in case he found something.
"Marowak?" he called. "Marowak! Where are you?"
For a short time, Louis couldn't catch any glimpse of Marowak. Fortunately, his worries would soon subside as he spotted Marowak in some sort of battle stance, as he glared at the bushes.
Not wanting to scare him, Louis carefully approached his teammate and knelt down beside him.
"What are you doing?" he blurted.
Unsurprisingly, Marowak became startled. He swung his bone club at the young adult and struck him on the head.
"OUCH!" cried Louis.
Marowak snapped out of his impulsive trance as he saw Louis rubbing his head.
"Next time I try talking to you, I'm wearing a helmet," the human groaned.
"Sorry Louis, I can't help it," apologised Marowak.
Still in pain, Louis raised an eyebrow at Marowak, sternly.
"What are you doing over here?" he asked. "We thought you got lost or kidnapped!"
"I thought I saw something," answered Marowak. "And I had a strange feeling that it would attack."
"Well thankfully, you thought wrong," said Louis.
The head pain endured finally subsided, while Louis got back on his feet.
"Come on, we've got some training to do."
Marowak nodded and followed his trainer to Suzuki's training field.
"Next time, let us know before you disappear again, okay?"
Time flew by as the two specimens arrived at the field. As they stepped through the entryway, Marowak noticed Taki, Tracey, Roy and the rest of Team Venus on one side of the field, while Louis spotted a figure standing alongside Suzuki on the other.
"Hey, there's Zack again," he said.
Suddenly, the young adult caught a sudden movement at the corner of his eye. He turned to the right and saw a Greninja sitting on the dirt ground with its arms folded. Louis could carefully notice that the Greninja was wearing a pendant.
'Azul?!' yelped Louis, internally.
Uh-oh. I don't like where this might go. Let's just hope things don't get hectic.
Anyway, thanks for reading. Is there something you enjoyed? Can you guess what happens next? Or...what do you hope to see in future chapters? If so, go ahead and leave a review explaining any of these reasons. (Please don't leave hurtful reviews)
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Thanks again. See you next time
P.S. I've created a community here on Fanfiction consisting of all the current stories in Louis' story. If you want to see it, the community is called "Pokémon: The Louis Serrano Chronicles"
Ok. Bye.