Again, it's technically not the update date I set, but I've been snowed in my house on and off for two weeks and thus am super bored. Has it been snowing at anyone else's house? I feel so weird with all these beach and ocean scenes when there's six inches of snow outside.

If you see any formatting issues in this chapter, please let me know. FF seems to be having difficulties for me lately!

Chapter 11: Setting Sail

The night air was chilly, but she loved the feeling of it against her.

Far below her, she could see land. Tiny lights marked the homes of the few humans stirring at this time, but all was silent and peaceful in the Hoenn region. Peaceful for her to fly, to fly in the place she was born to be.

"Get up, Snorlax. It's time to go meet Mr. Briney."

May groaned and pulled her covers over her face. She would much rather stay in her warm bed with her weirdo dreams.

Something poked her in the shoulder. "Get up!

"Go away," May breathed. She reached out lazily for Soren, who had fallen asleep in her arms last night, but both he and Demi seemed to have already vacated the bed. She frowned and latched onto her pillow instead.

"Hey, Demi, how about a nice water gun?"

"Ril ril!" Demi squeaked. Brendan sighed, revealing that she had turned him down, presumably out of loyalty to her trainer.

"Oh well. Maybe Neptune can help me out then."

May shot up in her bed, sapphire eyes glowering at Brendan. His form was slightly blurry in her sluggish state, but she could see that he was already out of his pajamas and ready for the day. She felt a flash of irritation. Every morning, without fail, he was always awake and dressed before she was even out of bed.

"Stupid morning person," May grumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

Brendan raised an eyebrow, fingering Neptune's pokeball teasingly. "What was that?"

She chose not to answer him, and instead she snatched her pokeballs off of her nightstand and returned Demi and a sniggering Soren. She grabbed her backpack and marched towards their tiny bathroom, making sure to step on Brendan's toes as she passed.

May changed swiftly into her traveling clothes. Her reflection was pale and tired looking from the rough day she had had yesterday, and her hair looked like it had served as a frolicking ground for rattata during the night. She frowned; all she was able to do was swipe on some mascara and pull her hair up into her everyday ponytail with bangs framing her face.

Oh well, she thought, glumly trying to tame her hair a bit better with her bandana-turned-headband. It's only Mr. Briney and Brendan, but who cares about his opinion? Right?

Right…

"I'm ready," May announced, shouldering her backpack and returning to the bedroom.

The lobby of the pokemon center was empty except for a lone nurse. She waved a short farewell to them as they left, and even when they got outside, the normally bustling city was relatively abandoned under the light of dawn.

May followed after Brendan, fiddling around with her new Pokenav obliviously. She had no idea where Rustboro Harbor was, but her companion seemed to, leaving her content to trail behind him.

"Better eat this before we go. I know how you get when you're hungry," Brendan said, passing May a granola bar to snack on. She yanked it out of his hand, sending him a nasty look in the process.

"Says the emboar himself," she said. Brendan ignored her, taking a large bite out of his own granola bar in favor of responding.

While they slowly transitioned away from the main part of the city and the smell of salt and fish entered the air, May alternated between munching on her granola bar and playing with her Pokenav. She had already tested out the phone app to call her parents the night before, but there were so many cool features to play with. She could even check the news with her Buzznav app!

"Ooh, a camera!" May grinned. "Hey, Brendan!"

The boy spun around in mid-bite, a grumpy expression on his face. May pressed the photo icon at just the right time, capturing the moment in a picture. She snorted.

"What?" he asked grouchily.

"What's Wally's number?"

Brendan rolled his eyes, but he scrolled through his own Pokenav to find the number nonetheless. May couldn't stop smirking the entire time she was entering it into her contacts.

"Why do you need it?" he asked. His russet eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he slowed to walk beside her so he could peer over her shoulder.

"Because he's my friend," May said cheerfully. She flashed her screen at Brendan so he could glimpse the terrible picture of himself. "Oh, and I wanted to send this to him!"

"What?" Brendan sputtered.

"Hey, this is May. I got a Pokenav!" she typed under the picture. Laughing and dodging Brendan's attempts to grab her Pokenav, she pressed send.

"I will get you back," Brendan said sulkily.

"Mhhmm," May replied. Suddenly, she was out of her morning funk and in a much better mood. Maybe she should take unattractive pictures of Brendan more often.

Soon, they reached a small bay where several ships were docked. The water that lapped at their hulls wasn't the vibrant blue green of the open ocean, but rather a duller brown color that came from a combination of being inland and being around so much human activity. May felt an uncomfortable reminder of Team Aqua and their seemingly noble cause to protect the sea, but she tried to shake it off.

After weaving around several large fishing vessels, they finally spotted Mr. Briney. He was standing in front of a small, slightly rusted speedboat, and Peeko was perched loyally on his shoulder. The words "S.S. Wingull" were printed in faded letters across the side of the boat.

"Morning!" he called, smiling cheerfully. The wind whipped through his gray beard, and his expression was so content that May got the feeling he wouldn't be at home anywhere but near the sea.

"Good morning," May said, and Brendan waved less enthusiastically. He still didn't seem to have gotten over her earlier stunt with the picture.

"Ready to go?"

May nodded eagerly, and Mr. Briney pulled down a ladder so they could all climb aboard. She was excited; she had never been on a boat apart from the large ferry she had taken to get to Hoenn, and she knew being on a speedboat would provide a completely different experience.

"Anchors away," Mr. Briney said, laughing joyfully as he stood behind the wheel of the ship and started the motor. Peeko fluttered her wings on his shoulder, her eyes shining. "We're setting sail for Dewford!"

He steered the boat out of the harbor, going slowly at first and steadily picking up speed. Underneath them, the water became clearer and brighter as they sailed further from Rustboro.

May released both of her pokemon onto the floor of the vessel. She wanted them to be able to experience things with her, and besides, she hated for them to have to stay cooped up in their pokeballs all day if it wasn't necessary.

Soren took a step closer to May so that he could wrap one of his hands around her calf. His expression was carefully curious, although she could tell that he secretly wasn't quite sure about the situation.

Demi, on the other hand, absolutely loved it. She hopped around the wooden floor from rail to rail, happily reaching muzzle out so she could feel the spray off the ocean. Every time a drop splashed her in the face, she would giggle infectiously.

The boat bumped as they went across a large wave, causing May to wobble on her feet and reach out for the railing. Soren gripped May's leg even tighter.

"Tree," he said, annoyed. He pointed towards Demi, who was rolling dangerously towards the edge of the boat.

"Demi!" May cried, uselessly starting towards her. Fortunately, Soren rolled his eyes and darted over to the azurill so that he could firmly grab ahold of her tail.

"Ko, treecko!" he scolded. His yellow eyes flashed at her.

Demi giggled.

May sighed. "Please, could you just make sure she doesn't fall off?"

Soren made a show of crossing his arms, yet he continued to trail behind Demi nonetheless. May smiled after them for a moment before making her way to the bow of the ship. They had officially reached open ocean at this point, and the only land was the hazy outline of various islands in the distance.

"This is awesome," May said, beaming. The sharp wind carried her hair in all directions, and her clothes became lightly spattered with the sea spray.

Brendan groaned from behind her. She turned around, blinking curiously, and she saw that he had slid down the side of the boat, clutching at his stomach.

"Are you okay?" May asked.

"Just a little-" He cut himself off with a loud belch, and his face paled. "Queasy."

She scooted farther away from him, eyeing him nervously. "Oh. Um. Can I… Uh, get you something?"

He answered with another groan, and Mr. Briney laughed. "Aye, it looks like a bit of seasickness. Let it out, boy," he advised.

Brendan mumbled something unintelligible, although May assumed it went somewhere along the lines of "I'm fine." She shook her head at him, but the tiny white bird pokemon soaring above them soon distracted her. Peeko had taken to flying along with the ship.

"Hi, Peeko," May called, waving at the wingull. Peeko glanced down at her, chirped halfheartedly, and then slowed her pace to fly closer to Mr. Briney. May frowned. "Why doesn't she like me?"

"She does like you, lass," Mr. Briney assured. May looked at him doubtfully, and he sighed. "She's just a shy wingull. I found her in a fishing net when she was only a hatchling, and she's been wary of other people ever since."

"That's so sad," May said. She thought about all of the water pokemon that were undoubtedly left to die in fishing nets every year, whether it was by pure accident or just carelessness.

"Aye," Mr. Briney agreed solemnly.

May distracted herself from the depressing train of thought by staring down at the clear water below. A pink fin suddenly broke the surface right alongside the ship, followed by another and then another. There was an entire school of luvdisc swimming next to them! One went so far as to leap from the water, sending a river of cascading droplets after it that glimmered in the sun.

May braced herself against the railing, excitedly grinning down at the pokemon. "Brendan, you've got to see this!"

Brendan moaned and didn't budge from his spot.

Mr. Briney craned his neck to see the luvdisc, some of which were evidently close to his end of the boat as well. He nodded knowingly. "Aye, it's their mating season. They're traveling to Ever Grande to spawn."

"Cool," May said, staring at the glimmering pink scales. If she didn't already have a water type, she would consider catching one, because they were so beautiful.

"You know," Mr. Briney said, and he eyed May and Brendan slyly. "There's a legend in Hoenn that says any couple that finds luvdisc will love one another for all eternity."

Blood rushed to May's face immediately. This embarrassed her, which in turn made her face all the redder.

"Too bad there's no couple here," she blurted loudly. Brendan groaned again and put his face in his hands, although she thought she saw his ruby eyes shoot a glare at Mr. Briney from in between his fingers.

That better be an 'I'm in pain' moan and not a 'that's disgusting' moan, May thought irritably, even through her humiliation.

"It's true," Mr. Briney said innocently. "Couples from all around search for a sighting of them, and look how lucky we've been here."

May didn't like the way Mr. Briney said 'we', as if he was excluding himself. Before she could argue, however, Brendan suddenly shot up from his spot on the floor and ran to grip the railing right beside May. She barely gathered the sense to look away before an awful retching sound filled her ears and the luvdisc swam away in fright.

How romantic, she thought, wrinkling her nose in disgust.

Mr. Briney's chuckles carried even over the sound of the loud motor and waves combined. Thankfully, her Pokenav buzzed then, indicating that Wally had texted her back, and she welcomed the distraction.

"Hi. That's good!" the message read. May smiled; she could practically feel his awkwardness even over text.

"Treecko, tree!" Soren said, pulling her attention back away from her Pokenav. He was holding his nose with one hand and a tight grip on one of Demi's ears with the other. He stared at Brendan in revulsion.

"Better watch it, or I'll aim for you next," Brendan muttered, wiping at his mouth and leaning away from the edge of the boat. He was still pale, but May could tell he felt better simply by the fact that his attitude had returned.

Soren made a face at Brendan and then scurried to hide behind May's legs, Demi in tow. May looked at Brendan warningly. "There'll be no aiming in this direction!"

Brendan slumped back over to his spot against the side of the boat, but he didn't puke again since he had already emptied the contents to his stomach. May busied herself with straining hard to spot every water type she could. Nothing came as close to the boat as the luvdisc had, although she thought she saw a couple fins splash out of the water from far away, and the occasional flock of wingull flew by.

However, as the hours passed and the midday sun climbed to the center of the sky, the temperature began to take its toll on her. It was terribly humid this close to the ocean, and this combined with the cloudless sky caused sweat to pool up in places that she definitely didn't want sweat to pool up in. Finally, she saved her pokemon from the heat by returning them and moved to sit against the cool side of the boat next to Brendan (Close enough to talk every now and then, but far enough away for her to dodge any repeats of earlier).

By the time they finally reached Dewford Island, May couldn't wait to get off the boat.

Beautiful, glowing white sands covered the northern face of the tiny island, and simple wooden beach houses made up the majority of the man made structures present. Some of them likely belonged to seasonal tourists, but judging by the small-town, semi-deserted atmosphere, May suspected that most were the homes of residents.

Far behind the signs of civilization, an expanse of tropical jungle took up the remainder of the island. May itched to know which types of exotic pokemon inhabited it; she really wanted another team member before she challenged Dewford's gym leader.

Mr. Briney pulled the boat to a stop next to one of the few available docks branching off of Dewford Town. As May and Brendan gathered their things (Brendan more quickly than May), many of the people hanging out on the beach stopped what they were doing to watch them curiously.

"What's with them?" May asked, glancing at Brendan warily out of the corner of her eye.

"They don't get many visitors," he said. He obviously wasn't in the mood to elaborate after his terrible experience on the boat.

"Thanks so much, Mr. Briney," May said, waving to the old man. "You too, Peeko."

Peeko chirped shyly. To May's surprise, she fluttered off of her perch on Mr. Briney's shoulder to give a brief, affectionate nip to her ear. May beamed.

"I told you she liked you!" Mr. Briney chuckled. He waved jovially at them as they stepped off the ladder and onto the sandy dock below. "Don't be strangers! Visit us at my cottage in Petalburg if you get the chance!"

"We will!" May said, watching them depart a bit sadly. Mr. Briney was odd, but he was a very nice man.

"I'm not visiting that crazy old coot," Brendan said, although May had been around him long enough to realize he didn't entirely mean it. He reached down, grabbing at some of the moist sand beneath his sneakers and letting it filter through his fingers. "Sweet land."

"Jerk," May remarked casually. She glimpsed the shallow waters glinting below the dock, and the thought of how funny Brendan would look flailing about down there in his clothes crossed her mind.

"Why're you smiling like a creeper?" Brendan asked. He raised an eyebrow and shook his head at her.

May faltered. She hadn't realized she had been smiling! "Oh! Sorry, just thought of something funny," she said sheepishly. Her foot brushed over a nail jutting out from the dock, and she was forced to scramble back for her footing.

Brendan snorted, and then he jumped down into the sand. He pointed in a seemingly random direction. "Pokemon center's that way."

May didn't bother to ask him how he already knew that, seeing as he had obviously had to stop here on his previous journey, and the place was so darn small. As they walked down the beach, she remained uneasily aware of a lot of people's eyes on them. They kept pointing at their pokeballs, and some even whispered obnoxiously behind their hands as if they wouldn't notice.

"They're here to challenge Brawly!"

"They don't look that strong. Brawly will wipe the floor with them!"

"I've seen the boy before. Isn't that Brandon Barkely or something?"

May scowled, and Brendan's lips turned down in a frown. "I'll show them strong!" she said, pointedly making her comment audible to some of Dewford's citizens.

"Barkely? Really?" was all Brendan could say.

Catching onto the fact that the visitors realized they were being talked about, the beachgoers pretended to return to their own business. Despite this, May could still feel eyes on her every time someone thought she wasn't looking, and it really tried her nerves.

"Geez, why are people from Hoenn so weird?" May exploded, once they had gotten away from the Dewford residents. Much to her relief, the red roof of the pokemon center was visible just up ahead.

"You're from Hoenn, too, genius," Brendan said. He rolled his eyes, and then he pointed his thumb towards himself importantly. "Besides, there's nothing weird about this."

May could think of a lot of weird things about Brendan: his sense of style, for one (Where did he buy that hat?), and his strange affinity for trees, for another.

"Just keep telling yourself that, weirdo," she mocked, cutting him off from the pokemon center's sliding doors so that she could enter first.

The decor inside was beach themed, unlike the plainer designs of most other centers. Two large conch shells sat at either end of the nurse's desk, and May inspected them curiously as Brendan checked them in. According to the nurse, they were the first guests in two weeks.

"It seems like this place would get a lot of tourists," May said, as they walked down the hall to their designated room. The walls were lined with aged paintings of various water types, although the color was peeling off of several of them.

Brendan shrugged, sliding the cardkey into their door and pushing it open. "Slateport's the place to go on vacation. There's nothing really to do here unless you're a trainer."

May threw her bag onto one of the beds immediately, but the mess on the floor soon caught her eye. She wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Look at all of this sand."

The tiny grains were spread all across the tile, although they were gathered in particularly large globs near the entrance and in their bathroom. May could even feel it in her sheets. Apparently, whoever had stayed here last hadn't cleaned up after themselves, and the nurse hadn't bothered to either.

"Oh well," Brendan said, and he plopped down onto his bed with his hands behind his head.

"What are you doing? Don't you want to go find Steven?" May cried, throwing her arms up. They had no idea where he was, and they didn't even know how long he was going to remain on the island! She'd hate to miss him and let the president down after he had given her such an expensive Pokenav.

Plus, she was kind of excited to meet Steven. Well, it was more like she was practically dying with anticipation of seeing him, but Brendan didn't have to know that.

"I just puked my brains out. I don't feel like doing anything," Brendan said.

"You don't want to get something to eat, at least?" May tried. He was almost always hungry, and they hadn't eaten anything apart from a measly granola bar for breakfast. She knew she was certainly ready for lunch.

He shuddered. "No food."

"Fine. I'll look for him."

Brendan sat up in his bed. "No way. I want to go with you when you give him the letter," he said quickly. May laughed at his expression.

"Aww, are you a fan of Steven?" she cooed. Brendan fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment, but then his usual confident expression settled back onto his face.

"I'm not the one who kept staring at his name on the letter and smiling last night," he said dryly.

Oh. So he had noticed, then. May willed herself not to blush, but she felt her cheeks grow hot anyway.

"Whatever," she said quickly. "I'll just ask around and see if anyone knows where he is. We can go find him tomorrow."

"Fine," Brendan agreed.

May started for the door, but something occurred to her at the last second. She had bought two swimsuits specifically for the island, so she might as well wear them while she was in an acceptable environment. Eager to change her usual outfit, she headed for the sandy bathroom to put on one of the bathing suits instead.

She selected the plain red bikini, both because it was simple and she wouldn't have to do anything to her hair (The color matched her headband, after all). After putting it on, she inspected her reflection with a critical eye. For an almost-sixteen-year-old, May had always been… rather developed up top, and it often led to her being self-conscious in skimpy clothing.

Her mind kept darting back to Brendan waiting outside in the bedroom, and there was something decidedly awkward about her walking out clothed this way. Sighing, she pulled her dad's old Mossdeep Marshtomp t-shirt out of her backpack to use as a swimsuit cover.

There, May thought, relieved. Her legs were still exposed, but at least nothing else was. That's less awkward.

May carried her pokeball belt out of the bathroom with her backpack and dirty clothes. She couldn't really take it with her, but at the same time, she didn't want to leave without any protection whatsoever. The whole Team Aqua situation had left her on edge.

"Hey Brendan, I'm gonna leave Demi here, okay?" May said, setting the belt down on her nightstand and simply snatching Soren's pokeball off of it. She glanced back at Brendan, only to do a double take when she realized he was staring at her with a peculiar expression.

"Um. Does this look bad?" she asked worriedly, pulling at her t-shirt.

He froze. "No worse than usual," he snapped, and then he rolled over to face away from her.

May glared at his back. "Hmph. I don't know why I thought your fashion advice would be helpful, anyway," she said meaningfully.

"Have fun stalking Steven," he said in a sing-song voice just before she closed the door behind her.

In the hallway, May released Soren. The treecko stretched and gazed around the new environment curiously before turning his attention expectantly to his trainer. She picked him up, and he predictably wiggled out of her arms so that he could sit on his favorite place: her head.

"Brendan is so annoying sometimes," May complained.

"Tree," Soren agreed gleefully.

She paused before the sliding glass doors. "Hey Soren, I don't look funny right now... Do I?"

"Treecko…"

"Okay, good." May decided to go the positive route and take his confusion as a 'no'. She wouldn't want the people outside to talk about her more than they already were, after all.

May weaved around the sand dunes to get back to the shoreline, wondering where would be the ideal place to ask someone about Steven. The gym would be her best bet, but she didn't want to disturb the gym leader (Brawly or whatever it was he was called) if she didn't have to. Thankfully, a run-down, wooden shack on the most crowded part of the beach caught her attention. It looked like a lunch bar of some sort!

She walked over to it, passing several more curious Dewford citizens in the process. A tan, blond girl in a bikini smaller than May's was manning the bar, and she looked quite bored. She perked up when she noticed May's approach.

"Well if it isn't Dewford's newest tourist," the blond girl said. "What can I get you?"

"Oh!" May quickly scanned the menu. She should probably buy something, just to be polite, but it was all seafood. She wasn't the biggest fan of seafood. "Just a strawberry smoothie. No bananas, because I hate bananas-Uh. Please"

"Here ya go," the girl said, after mixing an assortment of ingredients into the blender. She propped both of her elbows on the bar, staring at May with unbridled curiosity. "So, you're here to challenge Brawly."

"Yep," May said. She took an experimental sip of the smoothie, which caused her taste buds to dance with joy, and then she offered the straw to Soren for a drink.

The girl observed Soren with interest. "Cool pokemon. I'd battle you if my shift was over." She fingered a pokeball lying to the side of the counter. "This is my wailmer, Moby."

"Oh," May said, because she didn't really know what else to say to that. Maybe she could have a battle with the girl sometime after she found Steven. "Have you seen Steven Stone around? I'm sort of looking for him."

The girl laughed really loudly at that. "Oh wow! Brawly and now Steven. Don't you think all the girls in Hoenn are looking for him?"

"It's not like that," May said irately, despite the sort of excitement she was definitely feeling about Steven.

"If you say so," the girl replied, although to May's annoyance, she could tell she didn't really believe her. "I'm Kyla."

"May," she said, sucking on her smoothie somewhat grumpily. This girl wasn't being as helpful as May had hoped, so she might have to resort to finding Brawly after all.

Kyla sighed. "Last I heard, Steven got his pokemon a checkup at the center a week ago, but no one has seen him since. It's really a shame he didn't stick around here longer. He's even hotter than Brawly."

May frowned. It looked like they might have missed him, after all. But it was only yesterday that Mr. Stone had asked them to find him, and he still seemed to think his son was in Dewford. Surely he hadn't left that quickly!

"Isn't there anywhere that he could be?" May urged.

"Well," Kyla trailed off thoughtfully. "The jungle, but someone would've spotted him by now if he was there. There's always Granite Cave, but only really brave trainers or crazy stone collectors go there. It's super dark and creepy."

May didn't hear anything past the words "stone collectors", which reminded her of all the glittering rocks on display in Mr. Stone's office. Steven was his son, and it made sense that they might share a passion…

Steven was in Granite Cave. He had to be.

AN: Mr. Briney is a Hoennshipper XD There was such an overflow of teenage awkwardness in the chapter.

Wally got a cameo! I know several of you really want to see more of him than what the games provide, and trust me, you definitely will. However, that'll all come in due time. Speaking of that, please tell me I'm not the only one who enjoys taking horrible pictures of my friends? Hahah.

I think I've decided on an update policy. Some of you know that I write ahead, so for now, I'm just going to post the next chapter on here whenever I finish the one I'm currently working on. This will ensure I have time to edit before posting, and 'hopefully' it won't take two whole weeks or longer per update. My general goal will be to update every Friday, but there may not be an update weekly and it may not always be on a Friday. I will try to get at least three chapters (Preferably four) out per month.

What do you think May's third pokemon will be? Hint: She'll get it on Dewford, but expand your horizons.

PS: I know this chapter was kind of filler, but it's totally luring you into a false sense of security before next chapter. It's the most intense one yet!