Pokémon: Hoenn Travels.
-The Important Stuff:-
1) I am not at all affiliated with Game Freak nor Nintendo, or any other companies that write/produce Pokémon.
2) I do not own any part of Pokémon.
-A Waiver:-
1) This is not a direct steal from anything already Pokémon-related that exists, not the show or a game or a novel/book. It is my own creation, therefore I may bend the rules a little bit to fit my needs.
2) The names of Professors, Gym Leaders, and Cities were taken from Ruby Version.
Chapter Nine:
Seaward
I was struggling to rouse myself from sleep. I couldn't remember the last time I had slept so soundly and so comfortably. As I became more and more conscious, I became aware of the fact that I was no longer sleeping with my nose against the wall. Rather, I was positioned more centrally on the bed. And I realized that my back was flush with Doug's chest.
My eyes immediately flicked opened. I found Doug's arm extended over my waist, his hand flat on the mattress beside me. Luma was laying between me and the wall and as I opened my eyes, she met my stare. A little smile appeared on her face.
Sleep well?
I shot into an upright position, forcing Doug's arm off of me and back onto himself. As his hand slapped hard against his own face, he groaned loudly. He slowly rotated onto his back, his eyes still closed.
"What time is it?" I asked, my voice falling out in a panicked croak.
Doug continued to grumble to himself as he slowly sat up and reached for the clock next to the bed. "Uh, ten?" He guessed.
"Ten?" I echoed.
"Yea, ten," he agreed, setting the clock back down. It took a moment for the same thing I had realized to settle over him, but when it did, he swore. "We missed the fucking ferry again."
"Guess we are catching the afternoon ferry."
"I'm sitting on the damn dock so we don't miss that one too." He was standing completely now and stomping over to his bag to grab clothing.
I shifted over to the edge of the bed, kicking my feet over the side. "Probably a good idea."
"Or," Luma spoke, I could hear the smile in her voice.
"Why are you guys talking so loudly?" Phantom grumbled. He was still at the end of the bed, curled in a tight ball.
"Why didn't you wake us up early?" Doug shot back at him.
"I am not your mother, Douglas."
"You act like it."
"Or what, Luma?" I prompted, mostly to end the argument between Doug and Phantom.
"Instead of sitting on the dock and ignoring that amazing beach out there," Luma said, "we just have a beach day."
I smiled. "Fantastic idea, Luma."
I had found a small shop that sold towels and bathing suits not far from the PokéCenter. Though Luma, Phantom, and Doug had already disappeared out onto the beach, I took my time changing and covering myself head to toe in sunblock.
When I left the center a short time later, it was easy to spot my Pokémon out on the beach. She was lying on her back, all four feet in the air, soaking up the sunshine. I dropped my bags next to her, laughing as she flipped onto her feet and threw sand in all directions.
"Want to lay on a towel?" I asked her.
"Do you have an extra one?"
I spread out one of the towels I had bought and she immediately sprawled out across it, purring loudly. I noticed Phantom hunkered down next to her, his ears flat and his tail flicking with irritation. "Want me to throw one over you, Phantom, so you can cower under it?"
He hissed in response, but after a moment, he replied. "Yes."
I laughed as I grabbed a second towel of the three I had bought and threw it over Phantom's form. I heard him mumble a thank you. I was still laughing as I stripped off the shirt and shorts I had put on over the bathing suit I had bought. Apparently Dewford Town loved bright and colorful two pieces, but the yellow and orange bikini made me feel like a beacon that everyone was staring at.
"Where's Doug?" I asked as I headed away from Luma and toward the water line.
Bathroom, I think. Luma answered via thoughts as I made it into the water. Instead of responding, I walked out into the water and submerged myself. The waves were calm, the salt water wasn't overbearing, and the temperature was perfect considering the heat of the sun pounding down on the shoreline.
I soaked for a few moments before leaving the water and slowly making my way back towards my Pokémon and stuff. As I neared, I found Doug standing beside my bags. He had dropped his own stuff to the ground, but his eyes were glued on me as I neared.
My eyebrow arched, but I glanced down. Sprawled across my abdomen and curving around toward my back, I had a huge, irregular scar. It was the result of me hugging my father's Charizard's tail when I was a kid. After that incident, my mom had made him give it away to a trainer instead of keeping it at home. Incidentally, he traded it for their first breeding Eevee.
I waved to it, looking back at Doug. "Fire Pokémon," I said.
"Huh?" He asked, his brow furrowing and his gaze finally raising to my face.
"The scar," I reiterated. "It's from my dad's Charizard."
"He wasn't looking at the scar, Rowan," Luma chuckled.
Doug's lips pressed together and he released a slow breath. He looked down at Luma, who was still rolling around on the towel. "It's really great that you can speak aloud now."
She smiled up at him. "Isn't it?"
I cleared my throat, waving to his hands. "What did you get?"
"Oh," he lifted the wrapped pieces of food he had, "lunch."
I took one of the items from him, finding a sandwich as I unwrapped it. I took a small bite as I sunk to my knees in the sand. Doug remained standing. I waved over my shoulder and out toward the water. "Going to go in?"
Doug laughed. "No, I hate sand."
"I didn't mean roll around in the sand, Doug, I meant the water."
"You get wet, you get out, and you get covered in sand," he said, shaking his hand. "I'm good."
I laughed and rolled my eyes, taking another bite of the sandwich. "The water's great, so I am gonna head back in."
"Have fun."
I took a few more bites before standing and heading back out into the water. I was floating on my back a short distance from the shore when I felt something bump me. I dropped out of my float and looked around, trying to ignore the panic that was forming in my chest.
I found a Pokémon circling me. It was not a particularly large Pokémon, but I noticed a bright, yellow light illuminating from the front of it. Bobbing in the water, in continued to circle me for a few moments.
Finally, it broke the surface and chortled happily at me. The blue, water Pokémon had front fins and a back flipper. While its body was mostly blue, it had a yellow mask over its eyes and part of its rear flipper was yellow. It was still chirping at me.
I laughed, reached out and patted its head. It discharged a small, pain-free amount of electricity into my hand. "Oh," I said, surprised, "you're electric."
It chortled again and swam in a tight circle in front of me. Then, it swam away from me and started splashing. I swam after it, diving under the water and pulling it down with me. It was immediately thrilled by me playing with it and starting to swim around me and through my arms and legs.
When I swam upward and broke the surface, the Pokémon followed me. It leapt out of the water and arched through the air over my head, splashing beside me wildly as it fell back into the water.
I laughed as I swam back to shore, feeling the Pokémon following after me. When I walked up onto the sand, I was surprised when it too left the water and dragged itself across the sand as a Seel would.
"Doug," I called to him.
He was immediately alert, grabbing a pokéball and readying himself to throw it out.
"No," I hurriedly said. "Bring me an empty one, I think this little guy wants to come with me."
At the words, the water Pokémon beside me barked happily.
Doug did as I requested, bringing me an empty pokéball. I tossed it out into the air and as it opened, the Pokémon immediately got sucked into it. The ball clicked shut and I smiled triumphantly.
I faced Doug after picking it up. I held it out toward him. "This means I am ahead, doesn't it?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I brought you the pokéball, it's my catch."
The ferry arrived shortly after two in the afternoon. Doug and I were the first and only patrons to board, earning us the best seats on the small ferry. It stayed docked in Dewford Town for about twenty minutes before leaving and heading out across the opened water.
Doug and I discussed for a short time how there was clearly no real schedule for the ferry. The ships just showed up and left at their leisure. After our conversation ceased, Doug returned to playing with his Pokédex. The constantly beeping and buzzing steadily started to annoy me.
I left Doug's side and went to stand at the front of the boat. The wind coming off the water was strong and the ferry was moving at a quick pace. I closed my eyes, leaning into the wind and therefore against the side of the boat. I felt Luma wrap around my ankles.
"Aren't you glad you stayed?" She asked me.
I opened my eyes and glanced down at her, smiling. "I gotta admit," I replied, "that battle against Brawly felt pretty good."
"It wasn't pretty good, Rowan, it was fantastic!"
I laughed, thanking her. "I almost forgot that we were here for a reason while we were on Dewford," I further admitted, sighing softly. "It was like it was just Doug and I doing our thing as trainers again."
"Why don't you talk about it with him, Rowan?"
"Talk about what?"
Luma rolled her eyes. She propped herself on her back legs, aiming to look over the front edge of the ship, but she was too short. I scooped her up, holding her tightly against my chest. I could feel her body rumbling with purrs.
"About the feelings you have," she finally answered me.
"Yea, are you talking to Phantom yet?"
"Irrelevant."
"How?"
"Because I said so," she giggled.
I walked away from the front of the ship and sat down on a bench nearby. "Right now it's fun, Luma, because we are back doing what we were doing when we met," I said. "But Doug's life and mine are way different and I would never expect him to change everything he is used to for me."
Luma released a loud huff of air. "You're too thoughtful, think of yourself sometimes."
"I will, just not about this. Besides, don't you remember that Olivine doctor that was interested in me? And his Persian was pretty entranced by you."
"I could never be involved with a Persian, far too narcissistic," Luma said as she jumped off the bench and headed back into the covered area where Doug was still seated.
I laughed to myself as I looked back out across the water. At least there wasn't a foreseeable deadline anymore, I had more time to decide what I wanted to do about Doug Evergreen.
