Hello everyone. Welcome to Chapter 2 of Chosen Path

Just an important update before I forget. A majority of the upcoming chapters will be quite long, so there may be a long length of time between chapters being posted, so be patient if that occurs.

Now that that's out of the way, on with the story!

The scent of saltwater mist reached the airways of all the humans and Pokémon around the edge of the island. The party stepped down the stone staircase leading to the docks, with the three humans carrying their bags of supplies around their shoulders. Excitement gripped them, as they hastily shuffled down the cold steps to the docks. Salty winds, permeated with Wingull calls swept around them, and soon, they were eye level with the sea.

The small line of sea vessels lined the wooden dockage, one of them being the Lapras Express.

"So...are we taking the Lapras Express or what?" asked Louis.

"I don't know," answered Taki. "It didn't say on our confirmation slips."

While the three trainers attempted to work out which vessel they would be taking, Staraptor spotted one particular ship that she had never seen parked at the docks - A yacht.

"My guess? It's that one," she said, pointing a wing at the large boat.

Overhearing the bird's sentence, Taki turned to the direction Staraptor pointed toward. Once she caught a first glance, she was stunned. However, she noticed that Louis was busy tying his shoe, who apparently didn't hear his Pokémon's chosen words. Sensing the opportunity, Taki grinned slyly.

"Oh yeah," she said, slightly dramatically. "It must be the yacht. The one with the tall, metal pole at the front."

Having finished his shoe-tying, Louis looked up to see the large vessel. A fifty-meter ship, with a big pole at the front and a giant fin placed on the top of the yacht, caught his attention. Roy approached the duo with sparkles in his eyes.

"Whoa..." he gasped.

"That's a big ship," added Louis.

"We're going on that?!" shrieked Dragonite, sweating bullets.

"Looks like," answered Lycanroc.

The creaking of wooden boards rang out behind the party. Multiple creaks. Suddenly, the dreading alert that the docks may be about to collapse filled Lucario's subconscious.

"I think we should move," he said.

When the aura Pokémon turned to run, however, the source of the creaking noises entered his field of view - It was, fortunately, the trio of Miguel, Suzuki, and Coach.

"Leaving so soon, Lucario?" joked Miguel.

Slightly embarrassed, Lucario moved back to his friends. This was met with laughter from the rest of the party. There was even the sound of laughing coming from Roy's backpack, causing it to shake a little.

"Uh...did you stuff a Pokémon in your bag, Roy?" questioned Louis.

"No," replied Roy.

Then, Roy's bag started to shake again. This time, something popped out from the zipper, something red and electronic.

"Ta-daa!" Roy's Rotom Dex cheered.

Louis' pupils shrunk.

"AHH!" he cried as he fell backwards onto the docks, breathing heavily in freight.

"I seriously forgot you had that," added Louis.

"I know, right?" replied Roy. "I figured Rotom here would come in handy while we're away."

"Assistance that I'm always happy to provide. BZZT," buzzed Roy's Rotom Dex.

As he rose back to his feet, Louis stammered, "Uh...yeah...sure."

The ever-present sounds of small waves splashing on the wooden structure of the docks distracted the main party. Then, Miguel stepped toward his son.

"In life, few events will come along with the ability to change you," he began. "It's important that you take these opportunities and grow...and change."

Louis blinked twice and raised an eyebrow.

"Say what?" he said, confused.

The man placed a hand on his son's shoulder.

"This journey will be one of change, Louis, but I want you to remember that you are the binding soul here," Miguel continued. "All of these people and Pokémon love you, and will do anything you say, because of that bind. Be very careful, not only for yourself, but your friends, too, to never break that bind."

Taking his father's wise words to heart, Louis gave a smile and nodded.

"Don't worry, Dad. We'll be fine," he reassured.

And just like that, a slither of doubt crept into the father's heart.

"Be careful."

Then, a loud and sudden blare of noise rang out from behind the circle of friends. It made Dragonite jump in fright.

"Relax Dragonite," assured Inteleon. "It's just the yacht."

Coach sighed.

"I will admit, I'm a bit jealous," he said. "I haven't traveled anywhere in a long, long while."

Miguel looked at his friend.

"Me either..."

Taki blinked.

'I thought Miguel still did some cataloguing,' she thought, quizzically.

Then, Roy zipped his backpack shut and picked up his supplies.

"Shall we go?" he inquired.

"One moment..." Suzuki interrupted. "You seem to be forgetting something."

– "What?"

The staff member with glasses stepped toward his friend. They stared at each other for a brief moment, before Suzuki wrapped his arms around Roy's body.

"Take care, man," he said.

Suzuki soon relinquished his grasp, trotted over to the remaining travellers, gave them a big hug, and wished them well on their adventures. The yacht's horn sounded off one more. It was time to board.

The entrance ramp rolled from the ship toward the dock. Two members of the crew stepped down the slope and stood either side of the metal ramp.

"All passengers for the National Pokémon Academy World Excursion, right this way," a crewmember called out.

In the blink of an eye, a red and white blur rapidly passed by the group and dashed toward the ramp. Cinderace was already halfway up before she turned and yelled;

"Last one on is a rotten-"

Her foot clipped a foothold on the ramp.

"-Eaaaargh!"

Cinderace flopped face-first onto the yacht's polished, wooden floorboards.

"Watch where you're going next time!" berated Inteleon.

"No running on the yacht!" called the young, female crewmember.

The rabbit Pokémon's friends and teammates laughed at her calamity as they carefully walked up the entryway, except Roy. Incineroar was the most cautious. His heavy feet creaking the ramp with every step he took. Roy, still at the bottom of the ramp, waited until the large mass had cleared. Lycanroc leapt onto the railing and made a few growls at his trainer.

Louis appeared beside the wolf-like beast and translated;

"He said...'Roy, are you coming?'"

"Nah, I'd rather stay," he joked.

"Huh?!" his friends exclaimed.

– "Just kidding. Let's go!"

Roy jogged up the metal structure and onto the yacht, lugging his bag of supplies along the way. The two members of the crew boarded the vessel, retracting the ramp afterwards.

"Attention passengers, we are now ready to depart," a voice on the loudspeaker said.

The yacht sounded off one last time as it inched away from the dock. The group of friends ran to the edge of the yacht closest to the docks, waving at Miguel, Coach and Suzuki.

"See ya, guys!" called Louis.

"Have fun out there!" yelled Miguel.

"You can count on it!" cried Roy.

"We'll contact you guys every chance we get!" shouted Taki.

"We'll be waiting!" called Suzuki. "See ya!"

The yacht floated further away from the docks as the three adults waved, until, eventually, the vessel was no longer visible to the naked eye. Then, Miguel turned his head to Coach and said;

"So, about that adventure..."

And they're off on their exciting adventure. This should be fun.

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