I woke up to the sound of a bell ringing.

I opened my eyes. Sam was packing up our stuff, and Rou was on the lookout. It seemed that I was the last one up.

"Hey guys." I said as I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"Good morning Eva!" Sam said in a somewhat cheery tone. "We are already in the Far 'or region, almost to the Fav 'oor district!"

"Yep!" Rou joined in, surprising me that Sam and him were getting along. "Once we land at the docks, we can sneak off the boat and start on our may to the town!"

"Yeah, we can-" Sam said before he stopped suddenly. "Wait. Did you say sneak off the boat?"

Rou paused. "Uh, yeah!" he said, now helping to clean up. "It's easier if we don't get in the way of the crew when they're unloading."

"Okay..." Sam said uncertainly.

We finished packing up all of our stuff and watched as the shore drew closer. The morning sunrise was waning, and it was becoming a nice bright day. It honestly felt kinda hot out, with my fur coat and all. I actually caught myself panting a little. Why wasn't I sweating? Do I not have sweat glands as an Eevee? Maybe this is why dogs pant? One thing I did know was that panting made me feel a lot cooler, all the cool ocean air passing through my lungs. It was actually really refreshing!

Eventually, we got pretty bored, and so we pulled out a couple things from our bags. Sam pulled out the human-Pokémon book, and I pulled out the Elucide pendant. I looked at the stone on the little string. The stone was grey, with a slight blue-green tint to it, and had many dings and scratches embedded on it. It was almost as if it had been tossed around with junk, forgotten in a pond, and roughed up a bit. I licked my paw and tried rubbing the rock. After scraping off some of the dirt and debris, it started to look a bit better. I smiled. This rock had enabled me to speak to Sam, and it was because of that that we had gotten this far! I never wanted to lose it. I swung it over my head and around my neck.

I looked over at Sam, and found that he was trying to read the old book. His forehead was ruffled, his face determined but unsure.

"Need any help?" I asked him.

"Uh, yeah." He replied, looking over at me.

I sat next to Sam and read out the words on the page. This page had a picture of a snowy mountain range on it.

"Fayoor mountain range." I read, putting a finger under the words as I read. "This is Rebecca's favorite place because of the cold air and the peaceful atmosphere. The highest mountain is called Mount Faron. The peak is roughly 20-30 thousand feet above sea level."

Sam and I looked at each other. "We're gonna have to climb that." Sam said.

"Yep." I replied, reality settling in.

"Maybe let's buy some coats or something once we get into town?"

"Probably a good idea."

It was around this moment that we heard a panicked screech. I popped my head up over the crates behind us to see Rou now taking off in flight towards the mainland. "Fly!" Rou yelled.

"Rou!" I yelled out impulsively.

I then regretted my decision.

There was the Pelipper captain from seaport village, curling his wing like a fist at Rou! I thought this was that same boat! The only problem now was that he had seen Rou, and he could see us!

"Augh, and t'at dang feral!" He exclaimed. "Son-of-a-swellow was hitchin' a ride again, and bringin' others too!"

I gulped hard as I saw him hopping towards our hidden spot and so I ducked down. "Sam! Time to go!" I hissed to my partner.

"What, what?!!" He quietly exclaimed as I pulled him over to the side of the ship. "Like, go go?!!"

"Yep! We have to jump!"

"But-water-" Sam looked over the edge in a panic. "What if we try to...?"

I glanced back towards the captain. If we stayed, he would capture both of us, and seeing how mad he was with Rou... I didn't like to consider what he would do to additional stowaways.

"I don't think that'll work." I quickly said. "We'll have to jump."

"Al- alright..." Sam said with a shudder as the large bird loomed closer. He stuffed the book into his bag and closed the latch. I took a deep breath. Maybe this won't be as bad as last time. I dove over the side, and Sam followed after me.

The ocean water was nice and warm, but that's not what I was worried about right now. I was just trying to stay afloat! The choppy waves and ocean spray in my face was making me confused as to what direction I was facing! I tried to remember what my mom taught me when I was in elementary school swim class, but kicking with my back legs worked differently then, my back legs are backwards as an Eevee!

"Ackpplplplep!" I spat water out as I tried to breathe.

"Stop flailing around!" Sam said through clenched teeth. "Move your legs like you're running!"

What?!! Like I'm running? What did he want me to, doggy paddle-

Oh wait, duh! I'm like a dog!

I started moving my front paws like I was running, and then instinctively kicked my back legs. It was working! "It's working! I can swim!" I exclaimed joyfully to Sam. I glanced back at the boat, with the captain seeming irritated and storming off. Good. He wasn't following us.

I glanced over at Sam to find him already swimming to shore. "Wait for me!" I shouted after him as I tried to keep up.

Eventually we swam all the way to shore, and the first thing Sam did was toss his bag onto a sandy patch of ground and then curl up onto a rock. As I shook myself off, I saw some slight steam rising from his body. I watched as his unlit tail sparked and sputtered.

"Hey Sam?" I said as I inched closer. "Are you okay?"

Sam didn't answer. Now that I was closer, I could see him trembling. Maybe he was cold-blooded and needed heat? That's probably why he was curled up on the dark-colored rock and was trying to stay warm! I left him alone and looked at our bags.

Sam's bag was closed tight, so the books and things he had brought were dry and safe. Mine on the other hand, not as much. I dumped the remaining water out of my bag. The salt water had ruined any food I had in my bag and had gotten my handkerchief soaked. I laid it out on the sand to dry. It didn't seem as special anymore... Did the water wash out any effects it gave me before? Honestly, I hadn't worn it in so long I couldn't even remember what it did.

I saw a shadow on the ground in front of me. I looked up to find Rou land and perch on a boulder nearby with some berries in his talons.

"There you are! Sorry about the end of our ride! I'm glad to see you guys got to shore okay!" Rou chirped happily.

Sam stayed silent, but I knew he must've been frustrated. Rou had just flown off, leaving us to the mercy of the captain! "Rou, next time, you need to be more honest with us. That Pelipper obviously didn't want us on his ship, and now see what happened to Sam because of it! Look at him!" I said, pointing over to Sam.

Rou glanced over at Sam, blinking. "Sorry. I didn't think he'd have such a bad reaction to water... I brought you guys some oran berries..."

"What'd ya think would happen?!!" Sam finally snapped at Rou. "Were you too busy thinking of yourself to worry about how scary things could be to others?! Huh?!! I could've died!"

Rou blinked, then narrowed his eyes. "And I didn't think charmanders were that afraid of water." He retorted back.

I stared wide-eyed in shock. I had never seen Sam like this. And Rou was not even apologizing at this point!

"You know what I think?" Sam replied, his tail flame now flaring. "I think you're just a proud stupid little pidgey, who can't seem to get his act together!"

"And you're just a know-it-all treecko, who can't get over being such a snotty little crybaby!"

"GUYS, ENOUGH!!!" I yelled out. "We can't be doing this! We are supposed to be working together, not tearing each other down!"

The two fell silent and looked away from each other.

"Now can we all get along and work together?" I asked.

"Fine." Sam said.

"As long as he keeps to himself." Rou replied.

"Good enough." I said, collecting our things. "Let's head to town and get some more supplies."

We walked along the coast on the way to the closest town. We knew it would be close to the shore, so we stayed near the waterline. Sam and Rou weren't talking to each other, and although I felt they should apologize, I decided it would be better to just let them stay quiet for now.

This would be an interesting climb if we didn't sort things out together pretty soon.