Chapter 2: All aboard the SS MANTINE

Julie, Greg, and Brian were on the ship's deck which was smooth and made of brown hardwood. There were some sailors on board doing various jobs. Julie watched Cianwood slowly get smaller and smaller as the boat cruised farther and farther away.

"Hey! We're going the wrong way! Last time I checked, the Whirl Islands were straight ahead not to our left!" Greg noted.

"Remember Dunce, there are two stops: Cianwood and Olivine. There is only one sea in Johto; everyone else has to wait in Olivine if they want to do their adventure in the Whirl Islands. Enjoy the space while you can," Brian replied.

Sunkern and Machop were practicing their attacks. Sunkern didn't mind the Karate Chops because of her tough shell, but in return, Sunkern had to go easy on how much energy she absorbed from Machop. Greg watching them annoyed.

"Why do you guys get to have such amazing pokemon? Their already practicing while my Slowpoke is just staring at Melissa's Shellder!" Greg moaned.

Melissa, a tall brunette, turned shocked and grabbed her Shellder, a small grey shellfish pokemon, and scurried to the lounge. "What's her problem? Wait a sec, the PokeGuide thing said you can do some attacks! Show me a Water Gun!"

"Slow?" The pink bear pokemon droned. He stared at Greg for several seconds then at the seas below. He did not move, rather just decided to stare at the hardwood floor.

"Hey! Machop and Sunkern cut it out now or you guys are going to be rushed to a pokemon center as soon as we land on the island," Julie yelled to the two obedient pokemon who immediately stopped.

"Let's head downstairs; that's what everyone else is doing," Brian suggested.

They began to head toward a door in the other side of the boat. Machop and Sunkern immediately went to their owner's side while Greg tugged at Slowpoke's tail, begging the idiotic pokemon to follow him.

For the first time in many years, Slowpoke finally made a reaction that didn't involve gazing blankly with his mouth hanging wide open. Slowpoke turned to face Greg looking furious. His large eyes were narrowed in dislike, and his mouth resembled a thin line. He then opened his large mouth wide, and a thick pillar of water bolted out and struck Greg in the face, sending him flying backwards into the rail. Several people on the deck turned to face them for a few seconds of entertainment.

Greg struggled up and touched his damp hair. He could not feel the little wave sticking out in the front. "You stupid Pokemon; you ruined my hair! I'll show you how a true Pokemon battles! Greg, use Dynamic Punch!" Greg declared as he sprinted toward the livid bear with his fists bared.

Slowpoke began to glow a blinding light. "What's happening? What's Slowpoke doing?" Julie asked, quite indifferent about Greg being attacked.

Her PokeGuide answered for her. "Slowpoke can use Curse attack which raises its attack and defense but lowers its speed," it replied in it's usual monotone.

When Greg was only a few feet away from Slowpoke, the furious bear launched himself toward the enraged human in a Tackle attack. Greg screamed in agony and clawed his hands in preparation for a Fury Swipes.

"Looks like that Slowpoke is stronger than we thought. Machop, you better separate them; Slowpoke might get hurt!" Brian commanded.

Machop shook his head and ran to the two, who were on wrestling top of each other and sent them flying to opposite sides of the boat with a Low Kick. Slowpoke and Greg quickly recovered and got up, breathing hard.

"Greg, use Flamethrower!" the incredible genius ordered to himself. Greg inhaled deeply and exhaled, finding no flames bursting out.

"I think that would be a Poison Gas attack," Julie said. "Sunkern, you better help out too."

The seed pokemon hopped off of Brian's shoulder with a curious expression on her face as if she wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Slowpoke inhaled deeply and exhaled sending another stream of water toward Greg. Practically everyone in the deck was staring appalled at the two pokemon—err pokemon and human. Sunkern jumped just in time to take the full blow of refreshing water while Machop struggled to keep Greg from attacking Slowpoke. He resisted and tried to send what looked like a Hyper Beam.

"This is just getting ridiculous now! Jigglypuff, use your Sing attack!" Natalie commanded.

She was a girl from the Cianwood School that Greg and Brian got along with very well; Julie said a bit too well. She was a creamy skinned girl that had a cascade of black hair that fell to her waist along with black eyes, not dark brown but black. She wore a white tank top and awfully short pink skirt.

Her Jigglypuff was a pinkish round balloon pokemon about one and a half foot high, but two feet wide. She had adorable large, green eyes similar to Julie and Greg's. Jigglypuff pointed her little marker she thought for years was a microphone to her lips and began to sing.

"JIGG A LEE PUFF JIGG A LEEEE A LEEE PUFF JIGG A LE PUFF JIGG A LEE PUFF JIGA LEE!" she sung. Slowpoke and Greg immediately became drowsy and plopped asleep onto the floor.

"Thanks a lot Natalie!" Julie said as the other people on the deck resumed to their talking and water pokemon watching. Machop and Sunkern sighed out of relief and plopped down against the side of the boat.

"No problem. What are you guys planning to do for the next few months?" Natalie asked

"Oh Julie's undecided, but I'm gonna collect the eight badges, and Sleepy Head over there is going to enter the Whirl Cup. What about you and your Jigglypuff?" Brian replied.

"I heard Whitney's retiring in a few years. I want to take her place, so I'm going to collect the eight badges and some more normal pokemon to take her place. The more accomplishments you have, the higher chance you have of becoming a gym leader. Nathan just wants to hit the waves and check out the ladies, but he's gonna get the badges too. He wouldn't be able to live with it if I become the league champion, and he didn't get a chance at the apple," Natalie replied.

Nathan was a typical stereotypical surfer dude. He was Natalie's best friend and got along with Julie very well; Greg said it was a bit too well.

Nathan walked up to the three of them. He had wavy blonde hair, dark blue eyes that always seemed to be zoned out, and a dark tan from countless hours of being in the water. He wore a white t shirt and swim trunks; it was clear he planned on surfing as soon as he hit land. He had a strong athletic built, which the girls loved. Greg complained his one pack of steel should attract just as many girls as Nathan's six pack of flab.

"Yo, do you want to go downstairs and have a couple of little practice battles. Me and my Tangela will vine whup your butts!" he proposed. Unlike the normal surfer, he had more of a ghetto accent.

Standing three forth's up to his waist was his Tangela, a mass of interlocking, blue vines, shielding her true form from the outside. The only part of her body not covered in vines was the small space in the center of its face where two eyes peered out. Its little red feet were great for maintaining balance on a surf board.

"Sure let's go, but what about those two," Brian said, pointing at the sleeping Slowpoke and Greg, who was now using a very powerful Snore attack.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Machop grab Slowpoke! Tangela you get Greg!" Julie ordered. Machop hoisted the bear pokemon onto his soldier and scurried down. Tangela elongated two of her vines to carry Greg with a little strain, and she followed Machop down.

The four humans began to make their steps, until they heard a large cry from above.

"PELII PER PER" a large sea bird with a white body and wings tinted blue at the end cried. Practically all of the body was blinded by its large mouth with a small upper beak and a giant lower beak that looked big enough to fit five Sunkerns.

Brian pointed his PokeGuide at the pokemon, but it responded, "Data is currently unknown for this pokemon. It may be a new species or come from Hoenn."

"Whoa, cool, this is one of them Hoenn pokemon. I wonder what it's doing here," Nathan pondered.

The large bird looked straight down at them at spit out a large brown parcel and flew away.

"It says "To Brian Thomas" on it, but you're not going to touch all that spit are you!" Natalie said, but Brian was already halfway done unwrapping the moist package. When he finally got every piece of damp paper torn out, it revealed to be a letter and a white box.

The letter read:

Dear Son,

It is none other than I, your father! I am really sorry I couldn't make it to see you embark on your journey! I was helping your cousin Brawly set up his new gym in Lilycove and taught him the skills needed for being a more advanced gym leader. It was always my dream to see you replace your Uncle Chuck has fighting pokemon gym leader, but it's all right kiddo! In fact, I think there are too many fighting pokemon trainers in our families! Your cousin has all these new pokemon now; you can see them when we visit him next summer! The pokemon I sent this letter with is a common Hoenn pokemon known as a Pelliper. Pretty cool right? I'm sure your Uncle Bruno told you all that you need, so I'll let you go and continue your journey wherever you are. In that little box are fifteen pokeballs! You better share them with Julie and Greg. I'll be in the Whirl Islands to see you soon. Stay out of trouble, don't do drugs, and for the love of God, don't get a girl pregnant!

Sincerely,
Andrew Thomas

"Who was the letter from?" Julie asked.

"Dad. He also sent us a bunch of pokeballs for us in that box," Brian replied grabbing the white box.

"Tough luck pal there's plenty of pokeballs provided the first PokeCenter where we sign up for the league," Nathan commented, but when Brian opened the box there was a variety of different colored pokeballs. Natalie uttered a soft gasp, and Nathan snorted.

"WHOA! Brian your dad is nice! Look at all those different types of pokeballs. There's four normal ones, two great balls, four lure balls, two heavy balls, two love balls, and a friend ball!" Julie exclaimed, and Brian gave her a puzzled look, "Well Kurt's granddaughter told me all about them when I went to Azalea Town last summer."

"Lucky dogs! Anyway, can we please go downstairs now? I'm sure Machop and Tangela are sick of waiting," Natalie said.

After countless delays, they finally opened the door on the far side of the boat and climbed down the ladder to a large entertainment room.

The floor was comfy carpet and there were ten different big screen TV's, each with a Gamecube along with them. Several kids were playing games while others were watching shows. There were several comfy chairs and couches in which Machop and Tangela placed Greg (who was using both Snore and Sleep Talk) and Slowpoke. At the far corner, there was a bookshelf, pool tables, foozball tables, and much more. There was a door at the far right with a large pokeball picture over it.

"Pretty good for an eight hour boat ride," Brian commented.

"There's that room we can battle each other," Natalie said, practically pushing Nathan away from the Pokemon Surfer show. Machop and Tangela came from the couches to their owner's sides.

They entered the door with the pokeball over it and walked down the stairs to see a whole new world. The room was about the size of half a football field with four different sections: Rock, Grass, Normal, and Water. Each section was occupied with a pair battling. A grumpy looking sailor walked up to the four.

"Hey you kids, I need to see what pokemon you guys are using! Don't use attacks that are too powerful and can hurt the boat! The S.S. Lapras was sunk when some genius had his Onix use Earthquake. So if my Fearow catches you about to do anything dumb, prepare for a Drill Peck!" he threatened. A large brown bird with a long orange beak flew over them and growled manically.

"Don't worry. I doubt you're going to find any super powerful pokemon with super powerful attacks among beginners," Brian commented.

"Anyway, I was thinking maybe we'll start out with me against Brian and Natalie against Julie. Then winner take winner?" Nathan suggested as the grumpy sailor and his Fearow went away.

"Looks like the people on the normal section are about to finish off," Julie pointed out. No sooner than they arrived at the normal section the match was finished as one kid's Aipom, a small purplish monkey, used Double Slap against a Rattata, a purple mouse. It was a white tiled battlefield with absolutely no special features.

"Ladies first?" Brian offered. Julie and Natalie smiled sweetly and took their spaces on opposite sides of the battlefield as the previous battling trainers left. Julie held out her PokeGuide toward Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff, the normal pokemon. Jigglypuff is famous for its ability to force its opponent into sleep with a Sing attack. It currently knows the attacks Double Slap, Sing, Defense Curl, and Pound."

"Neat device you got their Julie. I didn't even know Jigglypuff knew half of those attacks!" Natalie said in awe.

"You ready Machop? We have the advantage!" Julie said to the pokemon who has his arms out looking focused.

"Chop! Chop!"

"Jigglypuff, they might have the type advantage, but we have the power! Let's go!" Natalie declared as the balloon pokemon gave an evil look to Machop. "Let's start things off with a little singing!"

The balloon pokemon held her marker to her mouth and began to sing. "JIGG A LE PUFF JIGG A LE A LE PUFF!"

"Machop quickly put your fingers in your ears and use a Low Kick!" Julie commanded. Machop immediately obeyed and began running toward the little balloon pokemon who had her eyes closed, serenely unaware of what was coming.

"JIGGLYPUFF! Quickly, use Defense Curl." Natalie ordered. Jigglypuff stopped singing and screamed and curled up into a ball as she realized Machop was coming at her. Machop released his leg full force into Jigglypuff, sending her flying like a soccer ball into Natalie's stomach.

"Oww! That hurt you know! Jigglypuff, you okay?" asked Natalie. The balloon pokemon uncurled out of her ball and looked furiously at Machop and expanded her cheeks to a great size. "You know what to do!"

Jigglypuff exhaled, returning her cheeks to a normal size. She then began to take little inhales of breath that made her go higher and higher into the air until she was about five feet above Machop.

"Machop, try jumping and using Karate Chop attack," Julie ordered, looking a little nervous.

Machop leaped into the air to face Jigglypuff with his hand glowing, ready to send the pokemon flying.

"POUND!" commanded Natalie.

Jigglypuff took one of her small hands and struck Machop's karate chopping hand away causing him to lose his balance and fall rear down onto the cold ground. "Now show him whose boss with double slap!"

Jigglypuff released all the air in her mouth and fell onto the groaning Machop's chest. She wasted no time in slapping Machop, who flinched as he got struck repeatedly on the cheeks.

"Umm try a Leer attack?" Julie ordered confused. It was much tougher to order attacks at the right time in a real battle rather than in tests.

Machop opened his eyes while Jigglypuff was still slapping him, and the balloon pokemon immediately stopped and leaped off her victim. Machop's eyes were bright red and glaring at Jigglypuff. The pokemon realized it was too late to fix her mistake of stopping the attack as Machop's hand glowed white and struck Jigglypuff in the stomach, sending her flying across the field. Natalie ran to the pokemon who had swirls in her eyes.

"Go Machop! You won you're first battle!" Julie cheered to the jubilant fighting pokemon.

"Looks like you won Julie! That was an awesome battle. Now let's see you guys dish it out!" Natalieexclaimed, slightly disappointed. Nathan turned and smiled at Brian. It was their turn to face each other.