A/N: Chapter 5 ready to set sail... get it? Because this chapter takes place on a ship... ah man do I love puns.

Tyler: Dude, that was painful.

DrPhill26: Water you not a fan of my puns?

Tyler: No actually I'm not.

DrPhill26: Hey, no need to be a beach about it. I'm having lob-sta fun.

Tyler: Oh my God stop it!

DrPhill26: Whale you do have a point. It is a-boat time we started this chapter.

Tyler: AAAUGH!

It had already been five days at sea since the S.S. Mirage took off from Gateon Port bound for the Sinnoh region with Tyler aboard. It was fun when it started, but now he was starting to feel the effects of being at sea for so long. It wasn't that he was feeling sick or nauseous from the cruise ship's constant rocking in the ocean, he'd gotten used to that on the first day. Instead the problem lay in that Tyler was unable to deal with not being able to physically see land. If it wasn't for looking at the wake the large luxury liner left in the ocean, you could be fooled into thinking that the damn thing wasn't moving at all. He'd vastly underestimated the distance from Orre to the Sinnoh region and his impatience with the apparent slowness of the ship was beginning to affect his mood. The sunny disposition that he and all the other passengers had started out with had already faded away at this point and was replaced with bitterness.

"Staraptor!" Caelum cawed loudly flying around the back of the ship and snapping Tyler back to attention. At least someone was having fun here. The open ocean air was a perfect place for Caelum to enjoy himself with all the mixing air currents to play around in. The gentle breezes felt at ship level were constantly shifting once you got above its influence and provided a great area for the avian Pokémon to play around in his own little world. How Tyler longed to be able to join his Pokémon in the skies as well, just so he could have an excuse to get off what was now turning into a luxurious floating prison.

"The Sinnoh region had better be worth the fucking wait." Tyler grumbled staring distantly to the horizon. His stares were met with an endless painting of blues of varying shades in every direction broken only by the occasional cloud formation off East. "This is so Goddamn boring!" It's not like he could just curl up into a ball and nap for the rest of the trip like Eevee and Magnus were. Neither Pokémon shared Caelum's enthusiasm at being on the high seas. Eevee was acting her usual spoiled self while the normally excitable Magnus was now perfectly mirroring his trainer's disappointment in the journey so far. With nothing better to do, Tyler took out the P*DA and flipped through menus looking for a map of some sort to find just how far out they were. Finding the blip that showed where he was, it was his best guess from where they had come in this week that he still had another few days to endure before they would arrive, causing him to let out another exacerbated groan.

Nothing fun was going to happen by just watching Caelum soaring around as he had been. Tyler decided he needed to find his own entertainment. He called for his Pokémon to come back to the end of the ship where he stood. Taking an opportunity to show off his agility again, Caelum rolled out of the sky and plummeted to the ocean water below glowing white as contrails came off his wing tips. But as Tyler watched his Pokémon fall, something looked different to him. It might have just been the light refracting off the ocean but he thought Caelum had a bluish tint around his body. The bird Pokémon must have sensed something was different as well, as he tucked his wings in and continued falling dangerously close to the ocean surface without pulling up from his descent.

"Caelum!" Tyler could only helplessly yell, hoping his Pokémon could realize the danger he was in. His leg was already sprung up on the ledge, ready to dive into the ocean after his friend if need be. The bird's flight path wavered slightly as Tyler's call floated out over the waves. The aura faded from his Pokémon as his wings unfolded, springing outward in an attempt to stave off crashing into the water. His altitude changed as he finally pulled up from his descent flying low along the waves, before catching an air current and heading back to his master. He ruffled his feathers some as he landed on the back guard rail in front of his trainer quietly cawing his name. Tyler reached out to the bird in an embrace and felt wetness on his back that must have come from the ocean spray.

"Jeez, what the hell was that?" Tyler asked concerned. Caelum's only reaction was to cock his head slightly to the side sharing in his trainer's confusion. "No more flying today okay, I don't want you scaring me like that." Staraptor nodded as his trainer nuzzled the red crest above his head, reassuring him that he was okay. In a pulse of red energy, Tyler returned the bird to his ball with a blink. Avoiding what could have been a potential disaster, Tyler knew he really needed to find a way to relax on this ship and took off for his room at the bow.

His trip to the front of the ship took him past a number of other passengers and their Pokémon, but the one person he was keeping an eye out for had been impossible to find in the sea of people. Wendy said she'd be on the next ship out of Gateon Port and would be heading back to the Sinnoh region, and since this was the only one departing to Sinnoh, she had to be on board somewhere. But even with her unique highlights as a guide, Tyler was unable to find his acquaintance over the course of this voyage. This might have been the reason why Tyler was so anxious now that he started to think about it. If he found her, he'd have a cute, quirky girl to talk to again and that would quickly make up for most of the dullness he'd endured so far.

Taking a left about half way up the ship's starboard side and descending a few flights of stairs Tyler turned down the hallway where his cabin was located and opened the door. It was a lot more cramped than Tyler had initially expected it to be. Not that he was expecting to be in a room the size of his back home but this was maybe a plus size college dormitory and that was about it. But the amenities in the room made up for its cramped feeling. His Eevee was curled up on a purple couch against the wall on the near side of what could be called the living room. Magnus was also enjoying an afternoon nap, but his body was sprawled out over the double bed Tyler would sleep in at night, that was in a section that could be curtained off from view of the rest of the cabin. Tyler sighed as he noted the strewn bed sheets on the floor next to the nightstand and the room's lamp.

"I guess I'll go swim in the pool for a bit." Tyler thought as he took things out of his backpack leaving only a change of clothes and a towel. He let Caelum out of his ball again as he finished changing and after asking him to take it easy he closed the door behind him.

The Mirage's pool was located at the top level of the ship, an open air deck that had all sorts of recreational activities to it besides the pool. There were a couple basketball courts and one volleyball court as well which were constantly in action with other passengers on the ship. In addition to this was an open air battle deck on the opposite side of the pool with a handful of trainers occupying it beyond a raised chain fence. Most modern cruise ships had put these types of decks in place to help relieve their customer's itches to battle, and keep those battles away from more cramped locations. Tyler stepped into an elevator joined by about five other people as they made their way to the top floor. The doors opened and Tyler and the other occupants left the elevator into the crowd of people relaxing on the top level. Taking his backpack off one shoulder he walked carefully through a crowd of people over at the nearby bar and identified an unused deck chair. He figured it was as good as any other spot on the level and put his backpack on the chair and taking off his shirt and stuffing it into the backpack.

In a word, the water of the pool was relaxing. There wasn't even that initial cold shock when Tyler jumped in, only an all encompassing warmness that invigorated his core. He remained motionless as the cascade of air bubbles tickled his skin as they escaped to the surface before he felt the bottom of the pool with his feet. In a kick, he jumped up breaking through the surface, half rising out of the water again. Shaking his head back and forth a few times and wiping the water away from his eyes Tyler felt a smirk find its way to his face as he swam over towards a place in the pool that allowed lane swimming. He wasn't the fastest swimmer, but doing laps in a lane put Tyler in a Zen like trance that he found greatly enjoyable. It was nothing more than going back and forth and back and forth, just repetitive exercise to the onlooker. But to Tyler, it was also hypnotic, a way for the entire world to just be drowned out by the sound of his moving through water. His breath and actions became rhythmic and formulaic as he swam through the pool.

Tyler was unsure of just how much time had passed sense he first dove into the pool, but he could feel that he was closing in on his limits. His whole body felt weighed down in the water from the exhaustion he'd been putting on himself. His razor sharp arm strokes had dulled, the elegant flutter kick he'd started with had since become awkward and staggered. The checkered tiles on the edge were only a few meters away but they felt like miles. Drawing up what reserves he had left Tyler forced himself to think only of moving his body. Right arm, legs, left arm, turn, take a breath, repeat. Water parting in his eyes, he was finally within an arm's reach of the edge and with what he had left, flung his right arm over the edge of the pool and let the rest of his body lazily sink down into the pool. His breath gradually returned to him as he stared back into the blue sky, still lacking cloud coverage. After regaining enough energy to actually move instead of rest, he turned around and climbed out of the pool.

There wasn't as much of a crowd relaxing as there was when Tyler first arrived, but it was still a chore trying to dart through it. He found the deck chair he'd left his backpack at and sat on the edge of it, water still dripping from his body. Tyler grabbed his backpack and reached inside looking to find his towel but it wasn't there. A quick look around saw his towel had apparently fallen out of his backpack and was underneath the chair. He grabbed it and quickly threw it onto his face finding it was already wet.

"What the…" Tyler asked himself as he looked again at where he picked up the towel. He'd left his backpack on the other side of the chair from where he was sitting on it, and that's where he'd found the towel. That pretty much ruled out his towel being wet from the puddle he himself was creating with the pool drippings. Even if that wasn't the case, there was no way it could have been as wet as it was; the thing was almost completely soaked through. "Great." He sighed trying to dry off his hair anyways.

"Um… what are you doing?" A voice crept into Tyler's ear. He couldn't see exactly where the voice came from because of the towel covering his eyes. Its volume was muffled by him drying his hair but the fact that he was able to hear the whole sentence made Tyler think maybe it was addressing him.

"I'm trying to dry off my hair." Tyler muttered continuing to rub the towel along his face.

"With my towel?"

"Uh-oh." Tyler pulled the towel off of his face finding a woman wearing a white and blue colored two piece swimsuit with a sunhat and what Tyler assumed was her Lucario staring back at him. He comedically looked back and forth from the Pokémon to the woman and the towel as jumbled words came out of his mouth. He looked closely at the towel again to make sure it actually wasn't his. The towel was dark blue and had no real distinguishing features to it, so it could be easy confused for another person's. "I'm sorry. It looks just like mine that I swore it was."

"Well it isn't, it's mine." The woman grabbed a bag that was on the chair on Tyler's right, as he grabbed his backpack. Tyler looked through the backpack's various pockets and found the shirt he was wearing earlier and an orange colored t-shirt with a white outline of a Poké ball in the center of it he was planning to change into, and his P*DA which he didn't remember putting in there. Did he really forget to take a towel to go swimming? Like he'd noticed earlier it was easy to mistake for someone else's but he could have sworn that he put a towel in his backpack.

"See take a look." The woman continued, regaining Tyler's attention. She started pulling out objects of her bag, naming them as she did. "Sunscreen, my copy of Brave New World, Pulse's Poké ball, a blue towel… that's still dry… uh-oh." The woman held up her towel and looked back at Tyler who was already trying to and failing to suppress a laugh. When their eyes met, they both couldn't contain it any longer and both burst out in laughter, the set up was too perfect.

"Here." The woman tossed her dry towel to Tyler so he could finally dry himself off completely. "Why don't I get you a drink to make it up to you, what do you want?" There was a pause.

"Uh… a Strawberry sunrise I guess." He said remembering Wendy's drink from the other day.

"Really? That's a surprise. Not many guys I know would order something like that."

"Yeah well I'm feeling a bit fruity today so I figured why not."

"Okay, I'll be back in a bit. Can you keep an eye on Pulse for me?" she asked motioning to her Lucario.

"Yeah, no problem." The woman turned and disappeared into the crowd of people still hanging around the bar. The Lucario, Pulse, sat down only staring at Tyler. He thought it was incredibly awkward as it felt like the Pokémon was staring directly into his soul. He'd heard that Lucario had the ability to read other people's auras, whatever that was, and the appropriately named aura Pokémon appeared to be doing exactly that as time passed. Somehow in his presence, the noise of hundreds of other people was drowned out leaving Pokémon and human in their own private, isolated world. The only word that could be used to describe the moment was eerie. Tyler couldn't deal with the intensity of Lucario's gaze and forced a break by putting on his dry orange shirt. When he did so, he noticed the woman returning with a pair of reddish orange drinks in her hands.

"Here you go mister sunrise." She sat down on the deck chair besides Tyler and her Lucario. "You know this is actually one of my favorite drinks too."

"Really? Small world I guess." Tyler said surprised. There must be something to this drink besides its pretty sounding name if he'd met two people who liked it so much.

"Cheers!" She raised her own sunrise as the sun by contrast began to fall in the sky. Tyler raised the drink to his lips, unsure of what exactly would fall on his taste buds. To his surprise the drink was very sweet. Normally Rawst berries had a somewhat bitter taste to them but the other ingredients must have masked it effectively. If there was any alcohol in it he couldn't taste it upfront, it was probably smothered in the aftertaste beneath the overpowering sweetness. All in all it wasn't bad. Tyler looked back at the woman after he'd swallowed, seeing her completely cocked back in the chair drinking almost half of it in one go.

He hadn't looked closely at this new acquaintance but she too was quite pretty. Her body was both very well toned and tanned, and she looked absolutely ravishing in the two-piece she was wearing. He liked its design a lot. Instead of a more traditional bikini this had a sportier feel to it, looking more like a zippered sports bra with the top having the white and blue colors divided on other sides of the zipper. She must have noticed Tyler's staring because she looked back at him and winked and making him blush. He really needed to work on that blushing whenever a pretty girl looked at him thing he seemed to be developing. Sheepishly, he returned to his drink while she giggled briefly. Abruptly, a gust of wind came from the ship's starboard side, knocking the woman's hat completely off her head. In a blur, the Lucario who had been remaining motionless this entire time, leapt into the air grabbing his trainer's hat as it was about to fly away landing with a flip.

"Thank you Pulse." The beauty said as her Pokémon returned her the hat. As she went to put the hat back on her head, Tyler snuck a glance again noting that she was a brunette, but she had a peculiar looking blonde colored highlight along the front of her hair. "I'll have to give you a treat later."

"Wait a second, is your name Wendy by any chance?" Tyler asked aloud as gears in his head began to spin.

"I don't recall telling you my name." The woman responded petting her Lucario's head.

"Holy crap it is you! It's me, Tyler; from the Krabby Club in Gateon Port remember? You told me that I should head to the Sinnoh region last time we met." The woman looked at Tyler closer than she apparently had and her eyes widened.

"Oh my God, it is you! I'm so dumb; I can't believe I didn't recognize you right away." Wendy looked completely embarrassed at this revelation. "You're about the only person on the ship with a beard. You'd think I would have remembered that."

"I know right? I thought I'd find you easily because of the lightning bolts in your hair." Tyler admitted pointing at her highlights. "I must have spent the better part of the past week looking for you and we just happen to run into each other again only by complete accident. Talk about cliché."

"So you decided to head to the Sinnoh region after all."

"Yeah well, it was either get on this one, or wait about another week and a half for a ship to the Unova region. I figured I should get started sooner than later." Wendy swallowed the rest of her drink. Tyler, remembering he still was working one of his own took another drink, letting the tropical blend wash over his tongue. "Plus I stood another chance at running into you." Tyler slyly added getting a giggle from Wendy.

"I'm glad I ran into you too. I don't know about you, but I've been so bored lately. There aren't nearly enough cute guys to talk to on this ship."

"Does that mean what I think it does?" Tyler asked raising an eyebrow in an amused fashion.

"Maybe…" Wendy said looking right back at him. "Or it could be the drink talking instead of me." Tyler sighed; of course that's what she thought. "Or… it might be that I think you actually are one of the cute guys." The only response Tyler could offer up was nervously taking another drink. "You put off this really innocent charm that I find adorably cute."

"So uh… your Lucario, how long have you had him?" Tyler asked trying to steer the conversation away from one where his face would turn ember red. Wendy smiled playing along.

"Pulse and I have been together for quite a while." She said rubbing Lucario's back. "My father is a Pokémon breeder, and we had a bunch of Riolu eggs after a litter, so my dad picked one out and gave it to me when I was 16. We've been together ever since."

"Carr." Lucario softly growled as Wendy continued with the back rub.

"Do you have any other Pokémon?"

"I also have an Ampharos back in my room named Tess, and a Lilligant named Yuri, but she's at the daycare center in Solaceon Town."

"I've heard of that place." Tyler admitted before finishing off his sunrise. "I think I read an article about it a few months ago."

"I'm not surprised. The Solaceon daycare is world famous for quite a few reasons." Wendy had now turned fully towards Tyler. "The owners are really nice people, and I've seen firsthand they definitely know how to treat a Pokémon right." In his head, Tyler pictured a homely facility with various Pokémon being chased after by daycare workers, running in a field, eating food out of their hands and everyone full of smiles, having a good time.

"What about you? Last time we met, you said you were just starting out but I don't think you said who was tagging along with you. Wendy asked snapping Tyler out of his thoughts.

"My Pokémon are all back in my cabin right now. I've got a Quilava named Magnus, a Staraptor named Caelum…" Tyler started but was interrupted.

"Wait, Staraptor? I've seen one flying around the ship the past couple of days. That was yours?" Tyler nodded his head with a 'mhmm'. "Damn, I wish I'd known that. I could have followed him straight to you."

"Then there's my spoiled princess of an Eevee."

"Oh my gosh! I love Eevees! "They are just the cutest little things." Wendy squealed uncontrollably.

"So you do have a girly side?" Tyler thought to himself, snickering as Wendy tried to recompose herself. "Maybe I'll swing by sometime and you can play with her."

"Really? I would love it if you did that!" Wendy's eyes were practically sparkling this time. It was almost like she seemed was a completely different person to her suaveness she'd been portraying up until now. "You have to tell me what room you're staying in."

"3216."

"That's a shame; we're on opposite ends of the ship. I'm in 1725." Tyler took out his P*DA and using the memo pad option, took down Wendy's room number. Wendy did the same using her phone.

"Does that thing get texts?" Wendy asked.

"Huh… oh no, this is my P*DA."

"What's that?"

"It's kind of like a Pokédex but not really. The guy I got it from told me I just need to download a region update when I get to my next Pokémon Center and it'll function exactly like one."

"So do you have a phone?"

"Yeah, but I left it in my room too."

"That's fine; I'll just text you my number if you give me yours." Tyler said his phone number and Wendy started typing it into her phone. "Alright, done. Aaaaaand done." Wendy said adding Tyler into her contact list, and sending him a text. "I've got to go check up on Tess so I'll see you around."

"Yeah see you around."

"Bye Ty. Come on Pulse let's go." Wendy waved a goodbye as Pulse stood up and took his place behind his master as they made their way to the elevators. Tyler looked back over the deck staring at the sun above the horizon, as his eyes closed and weariness set in. Today felt like a good day to take a nap by the pool.

The sun was on the verge of setting as Tyler woke back up from his nap on the deck chair. He hoped he didn't get sunburn anywhere as he stood back up, stretching and began the walk back towards his cabin. There weren't nearly as many people wandering around the Mirage as there had been when Tyler first left and making his way back to his cabin was much less of a hassle because of it. Opening the door and being greeted by his Pokémon, Tyler sat down on the purple couch in the room. His phone was lying on the table in front of it with a blip saying he had a new message from someone.

"Hey it's Wendy ^_^" The message read, and Tyler added her to his contact list. He then grabbed his laptop from off the nightstand, plugged his headphones in and started listening to some music as Magnus curled up next to him, getting a scratch behind the ears that he enjoyed so much.

A/N: That's another chapter in the books. What do you think Tyler, you reunited with Wendy, got her number and you know she thinks your cute. I'd say there's nothing but smooth sailing ahead for you.

Tyler: Please... no more puns. I can't take it anymore.

DrPhill26: But I've got so many more I could do.

Tyler: NO! If I hear another pun I'll cut my ears off and feed them to a Sharpedo.

DrPhill26: Okay jeez I get it, I'll stop.

Tyler: Oh thank God.

DrPhill26: This is DrPhill26 signing out and I hope to sea you next time.

Tyler: *Jumps off ship*

DrPhill26: Oh crap! I didn't mean it that time I swear! *splash* Uh-oh...