Busy season at work, gonna upload when I can.

S. S. Anne (Part 2)

I made my way back up to the upper floors without being detected. Once I was in the area of the ship where it wasn't suspicious for a guest to be on, I relaxed and pretended nothing had happened. I followed the signs up the floors towards the Captain's room, and ran into none other than…. Gary.

"HA!" He pointed once he saw me. "So you loser somehow got a ticket to the ship, huh? How'd you pay for it? I was able to afford the FIRST CLASS TICKET."

I showed him my VIP ticket from Bill, in its shiny gold form. Gary looked down at his own ticket, a silver one.

"Whatever," he said. "Let's battle!"

Here we go again! More free money from Gary.

"One second," I said. "Quick phone call first."

He sent out his Pidgeotto first. I had to think for a moment because I had too many options.

I also had to think about Gary's potential involvement with Team Rocket. Being a selfish and proud person he is, he probably wouldn't join Team Rocket to be someone's pawn. At the same time, it wouldn't be beneath for Gary to run some errands for Team Rocket if it meant he would somehow gain something from them. I remembered that I had to try to stay under Team Rocket's radar. Would Gary tell Team Rocket about me? Another 10 year old boy that destroys him in battle all the time…? I thought not. He would be the LAST person to tell another person about how I embarrassed him in battle.

"What are you smiling for?" he shouted. "Are we gonna battle for what?"

Pikachu one-shotted Pidgeotto with Thundershot. I needed Pikachu to power up her electric moves, given that I needed to prepare for the battle vs. Lt. Surge.

"Urgh!" With a grunt, Gary threw out his Rattata. I couldn't believe it was still just a Rattata. Come on Gary, get on that.

Then I remembered that it was Gary's first Pokemon, and I started laughing like crazy.

I brought out my Raticate, who basically bullied Gary's Rattata with all kinds of disrespect. My Raticate being bigger, stronger, and faster, Gary's Rattata just had no chance. Poor guy.

"ARGHH!" Gary started clutching at his hair and sent out his Kadabra.

I responded by sending out my own Kadabra.

"Huh? You have a Kadabra, too?!" Gary was confused.

That's right. With all the training I got on Route 6, 11, and on board the ship, my Abra had evolved. Even when Abra had been too weak and got defeated, I kept on sending him out against other trainers' Pokemon to give him fighting experience. His Psychic powers developed as a natural defence mechanism, because his lack of physical strength meant that he'd always be defeated.

The difference between Gary's Kadabra and mine was that besides similar Psychic powers, my Kadabra had been trained to exert both Psychic and physical moves simultaneously. So while Gary's Kadabra tried to use Psychic powers to subdue my Kadabra's mind, they were locked in a Psychic battle in their heads. But my Kadabra started MOVING towards Gary's Kadabra.

I saw Gary and his Kadabra's eyes go WIDE in surprise, shock, and fear, as my Kadabra went up and started PUNCHING.

The training paid off: I had Butterfree and Hypno in a Psychic deadlock vs. Kadabra, and had Primeape go against him physically at the same time. At first, Kadabra was able to handle the Psychic attacks, but got pummeled by Primeape. But after a few more tries, he learned how to move more freely while using psychic powers. And after more training, well, Gary's Kadabra got the smack down.

"This is not FAIR!" Gary shouted. "You're CHEATING somehow! Just like how you probably STOLE the VIP pass to get on this stupid ship in the first place!"

I saw two uniformed police officers turn the corner onto where we were battling. I withdrew Kadabra and put out my hand.

"Pay up, Gary."

Gary was livid. "What do you mean, pay up? I can still beat you! I still have another fighting Pokemon left!"

And he brought out the Eevee.

"Actually," I said. "You don't. And speaking of stealing… officers, this is the stolen Eevee. I have the poster right here. You can see the clear birthmark and distinct coat of fur."

"What?!" Gary shouted in disbelief, but the police were already investigating and confirmed that the Eevee was from Bill's property.

And that's how Gary lost the battle on S. S. Anne as well as "his" Eevee.

Without any other distractions, I went to the Captain's quarters and knocked on the door.

"Come in," an old gentleman's voice said.

The captain was clad in a white uniform, clean and pressed neatly. His hat was resting on his large wooden desk, so his hair, white, neatly trimmed, was exposed. His considerable beard was also white. He was the very image of a professional sailor, full of dignity and integrity. Actually, if he wore a different outfit, he could've been Santa Claus.

"Who are you, young man?" the Captain asked.

"Hello sir," I said. "I'm a VIP guest on the ship." I showed him my ticket. "And I just wanted to make the acquaintance of the Captain of such a fantastic vessel. I also wanted to ask, just personally, if everything was okay with you."

The Captain must've thought that I was going to be one of those self-entitled jerks who shove VIP tickets in his face to demand things. Impossibly demanding things. I saw his face warm up a bit at my words.

"Ah, well," the Captain said, getting up from his chair and walking around his desk to stand in front of me. "It is very nice to meet you, young sir. I am, as you noticed, the Captain of the S. S. Anne."

We shook hands. He was like a loveable grandpa.

"I'm a bit concerned, Captain," I said, carefully. I still didn't know how much he knew about Team Rocket on his ship, or his involvement otherwise. "That I heard rumors of the ship not departing for a few more days?"

"Ah," the Captain tensed up. I saw genuine concern and fear in his eyes and I knew right away that he was not working for Team Rocket.

"Some unforeseen delays with some important equipment, I'm afraid," the Captain lied.

"Not an issue with some despicable stowaway in the storage area on floor B4, I hope? Near the engine room?" I said.

I saw the Captain stiffen up with suspicion and anxiety, not knowing how to respond.

"I'm not WITH them, Captain," I reassured him.

"You- You're not?"

"No, but I was SHOCKED to see who was working with those who were helping these stowaways," I hinted.

"Oh, yes," the Captain replied. "So you know how it would be unwise for me to go against certain people. For the safety of all my guests, and the ship. There's nothing I can say. The ship will leave when it is… ready to leave. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave now."

I couldn't talk him into revealing more information. It saddened me to think that the Captain had been blackmailed by Lt. Surge and Team Rocket to keep the ship running on THEIR schedule.

But later, when I returned to my suite, someone slipped a paper note under the door. It had directions to a particular storage room and its security code.

"A "shocking" special delivery, tomorrow 0600," it said. "Watch out for rats on the ship."

The reference to the word I had used with the Captain showed that the secret note was from him, and the warning showed that it was not a trap.

Next morning, at 0600, I sent Jigglypuff down a hallway where a particular storage room was located, and had her sing her song.

A minute later, I snuck up to the door and entered the code. As it opened I sent in Charmeleon to secure the room. He found two Team Rocket goons on sentry duty that were knocked out, sleeping.

There was a small desk with a metal suitcase in it. I forced it open to find a machine in it. I couldn't figure out exactly what it was: it looked like something you'd put on your pet dog or cat, but was all metal. It was mostly silver, and had a few buttons and dials on the control panel. There was an etching that said "EM12 Prototype," but beyond that I had no time to inspect it. It was something that Lt. Surge wanted, then it's something I was going to intercept. I put it in my bag and got out undetected.

I knew that S. S. Anne couldn't leave until Lt. Surge and Team Rocket closed their deal. With this machine - whatever it was - missing, I was sure that the cruise ship wouldn't be able to leave. It gave me a few days to set up a plan to screw over these losers even more. I left S. S. Anne for now, heading back into Vermilion City.