Chapter 5
Deciding there was no real reason not to, Kent approached the nurse hand handed his pokemon over one more time. After waiting for a few moments, they were returned to him, leaving nothing to tie him down to Lilycove City anymore. All told he had no idea what they were going to find in Mossdeep; hell, he had no idea what she was even looking for. She had, after all been a bit vague with her description – all she told him about was some anecdote from when she was in Johto… Kent couldn't help but wonder what she was in this for… Though he supposed that he would have plenty of time to find out. Finally ready to depart, Kent approached Leanne and waited for her acknowledgement which of course came almost immediately.
"Time for us to leave, then. The ferry is docked just south of here; it'll be leaving soon enough, so we really shouldn't wait around. Let's head out." She said, waving Kent on. Leanne led Kent out the door, and headed south. At the first intersection, the pair turned right; the building marking their destination was clearly visible. On their way, Kent took his last chance to take in the sights – they passed directly by the Lilycove Contest hall, vaguely wondering if doing such a thing would catch his interest someday. Before long, Leanne had taken them inside the building which contained the sheltered dock for the ferry; a servicewoman was standing immediately in front of the ship that would sail them to Mossdeep City. Kent waited as Leanne showed her pass. There was some talking, and Leanne pointed back to him in the process. A moment later, and the two were being ushered onto the ship.
Kent strode through the bowels of the ferry for a time, looking around at the interior. It was a very sterile environment, nearly covered in white. As a ferry meant for passenger travel, it was, however, decorated somewhat. There were cabins down below deck for particularly long journeys, each of which were adorned with simple decorations. Leanne was quickly making her way toward the stern of the ship; with no other real plans, Kent decided that he might as well follow her. Doing so led the two of them up a flight of stairs, then out the door, which neighbored one of two large smokestacks. There was an observation deck here, guarded by a railing to prevent passengers from falling overboard. Leanne wasted no time in reaching the railing, where she merely leaned and waited for the ferry to leave shore.
Kent followed suit, resting his hands on the railing; almost immediately as he did so, the machinery below sprang to life. The smoke stacks slowly began to bellow out their yields, and the ship sounded its horn. The ferry slowly began to leave the dock, though it picked up speed quickly enough. In a moment, they were out in the open air and Lilycove City was before them. Kent watched appreciatively, examining the tall buildings of the large port town as they shrank against the horizon.
Over time, however, this grew monotonous. His eyes wandered to the young woman standing next to him; curiosities began springing up in his mind once more. She, however, beat him to the punch. "Say.. I'm curious, Kent. You've had Ryko for a long time… Why haven't you evolved him? He's bound to be ready for it by now, isn't he?" asked Leanne, her face turning to Kent.
Kent thought about it for a moment. It was, of course, a question he'd been asked a few times before, so it was an easy one to answer. "Well.. I'm not really after the badges yet. I had decided to build my team up, you see, and it's not really there yet. Whenever I decide to get serious about taking on the Pokemon League, I'll think about evolving Ryko. For now, though, I'm quite happy with the way he is, and he seems to agree, all told." He explained, turning around to lean his back against the railing.
"That so? Because, in all honesty, if that Skarmory of yours is one of your lesser trained pokemon, I think you could handle gathering badges just fine…" she said, doing the same.
"Well, that may be true, but to tell you the truth, I'm quite happy just catching and raising pokemon for now. I've built up quite a catalog of caught and trained pokemon, you know. Unfortunately, I'm not so sure about a type-matched team that'll have good synergy with each other. Not yet, anyway…" Kent replied. He then paused, thinking for a moment. "Speaking of which.. Since we're travelling together, you may want to know what pokemon I carry with me. I've got Ryko and Mistral – those two you've seen. The other two I carry with me are named Orpheus and Tryce. Tryce is a Jolteon; he's been around for a long time, as well, making him one of my primary party members. Orpheus is actually Tryce's son. I bred him a little while before coming to Lilycove. He's still getting used to me, though. In fact…" Kent trailed off, reaching for a pokeball on his belt. As he had done before, Kent released the small Eevee onto the deck. The light faded, revealing Orpheus as he grew acquainted with his surroundings.
Kent allowed himself to slide down the railing, now sitting in order for Orpheus to approach. He then gave a light whistle before patting his hand against his leg – Orpheus was quite a bit more obedient than he had been in the past, and immediately came and sat in Kent's lap. Leanne merely watched all of this unfold with marked interest. He was certainly good at earning his pokemon's respect, she'd give him that… "I see… Well, in that case, I'll let you know that I've been carrying my team of six around for quite a while – We just wrapped up our travels in Kanto recently and decided to head back home before taking on our next challenge. I carry my Sceptile, who I picked all those years ago when I got started, as well as my Vaporeon, Manectric, Noctowl, Sandslash, and finally, Ninetales. Sceptile, Vaporeon and Ninetales are my longest lasting pokemon, personally." She explained, sliding down to a sitting position. Her hand reached over to Orpheus; gently, she began to scratch him behind the ears. Clearly, the Eevee enjoyed this – his body practically went limp.
And so, the journey to Mossdeep City passed by, the two occasionally speaking up to swap stories of their adventures. Leanne appeared to lead a particularly interesting life after leaving home; she had been all over, seen all sorts of people, places, and pokemon. Trainers like her were rather rare, so it was quite interesting to be able to listen in on her advice and history. It was mid-afternoon when the horn sounded again, signaling their approach to Mossdeep's waters. Heading over to the side of the ferry, Kent could make out the tower that indicated the building that served as Nova's headquarters – center for all research related to Astronomy, aeronautics, and ballistics.
The ship began to slow down; this simple act got Kent thinking about their objective. "Hey, Leanne.. What exactly are we looking for out here, anyway? Where's our destination?" Kent asked, turning back to his partner.
"Well, I can't say for certain, but… I'd assume the berserk pokemon will be taken to Nova; it's government-run, and they own a massive amount of land in Mossdeep… Probably the only place they could fit the lot of these pokemon, honestly. Not to mention, Mossdeep is an island meaning that any potential escape attempts won't get very far. We're just here to observe the pokemon involved – I want to see if we can find any trends, that's all." She explained, standing. "C'mon. We'll be docking soon, and I don't want to waste any time. If we can beat them there, then it's all the better for us." She added as she walked to the door which led below deck. "Now, then.." she said, as the ferry began to come to a stop. "No telling how long it'll take for the freighters to arrive… One of us ought to stay near the docks, while the other heads into town. Doesn't matter to me who does what, though; we'll just need to give each other the numbers to our Pokegears." She said, as she rooted around her bag for the aforementioned device.
"Well, alright. If it's fine with you, I'll stick around by the docks. Orpheus hasn't had a whole lot of experience with the ocean before now. Who knows? Maybe he'll like it." He said, shrugging after he exchanged numbers with Leanne. She merely nodded before making her way to the exit. They were forced to wait for just a moment while the ferry went through the standard disembarking procedures, but soon, they were able to set foot on solid ground again. Kent waved good-bye to Leanne, who returned the gesture as she headed deeper into town. Then, Kent merely took a seat on the beach and waited.
Through taking care of Orpheus, Kent was able to pass the time easily – he gave the Eevee some exercise, as well as a meal and a treat while he waited. The young pokemon seemed to really be warming up to him, something that always pleased Kent to see. It was times like these that really kept him in the habits he had formed – he enjoyed simply raising pokemon quite enough to focus the entirety of his journey thus far on doing just that. After around forty-five minutes, another horn sounded, and Kent's eyes were diverted to the sea. A large freighter was coming in toward the dock he was watching, ever-so-slowly. Shortly before it landed, he received a message from Leanne stating that a shipment from Slateport City had arrived as well, and was now being carried toward the headquarters of Nova. "Come find me when the other freighter arrives." She requested at the end of the message.
Kent watched from a distance as the freighter docked. In almost no time at all, workers began unloading the cargo – crates clearly built to contain pokemon, as well as a number of pokeballs were being carried by the men… Did that mean that it wasn't just wild pokemon that were going berserk? There were pokemon that belonged to trainers that took part in the rampages, as well? Kent pondered at the prospects… It was a very intriguing notion, to be sure; not to mention somewhat frightening. Just what had caused all of this commotion, anyway..? Kent began to follow the men, Orpheus trailing at his heels, but his attention was soon diverted to something else – a group of laborers headed toward the freighter. They were very carefully carrying several boxes, though Kent could not make out what could possibly be inside. He did, however, catch one quick snippet of conversation: "…To the old couple outside of Mauville City, yeah…" said one of the laborers. Kent couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at this. It was vague, to be sure. For the moment, Kent wasn't quite sure what to make of the statement…
Deciding that he had seen all that there was to see near the docks, Kent began heading further inland; before long, he had regrouped with Leanne. After recanting what he had seen, she shared very similar observations with him. "There was something odd, though… They weren't just bringing the rogue pokemon in; they were taking something off the island, as well. Something about a couple in Mauville City. Any ideas?" asked Kent, who folded his arms as he pondered the situation.
"Well… Unfortunately, there's not as much information as I had hoped. They took the cargo inside and locked the door. No one's getting in, and nothing's getting out – that much is certain." Leanne muttered, staring at the ground her forehead creased in concentration. "So, there's only one thing for it. We're heading to Mauville City, then. " she said, looking back up at him. Those eyes of hers were once again filled with a fierce determination.
At this, Kent couldn't help but give a weary look – not that he hadn't expected her decision. She seemed to pay it no mind, and instead of addressing his concern, she turned and waved for him to follow. "No reason to stay here. C'mon, let's go, then, Kent. " Again, she left no room for argument. The way this was going, she was going to run him ragged before their little investigation was over… Still, this time, he had to admit that his curiosity was piqued.
As Kent moved to follow, Orpheus looked up at him with decidedly weary eyes; Kent bent down and stroked the Eevee's head one more time before returning him to his pokeball. For one last time, Leanne's voice sounded – "Hurry it up! The ferry's going to leave soon!" she called, sounding marginally irritated, though not completely without understanding. Kent only called a confirmation back, and jogged to meet with her. The two of them were back on the ferry again by nightfall.
Author's note: And so ends the early rush of chapter updates. As of March 6, 2010, this is as far as the story has gotten. I will be updating fairly often, if the last few days are any indication, though readers should keep in mind that I have a college schedule to contend with. My typical trend with this story leaves me updating once a day, at a random time.