Hey readers : ) I know I say this a lot, but I really wanted to say thank you to everyone that reviews this story. The response that each chapter gets simply amazes me sometimes, and it reminds me why I want to continue with this project, even if sometimes I get stuck with it. So thank you, I really do appreciate the support : )
I can't wait to finally get Ash and Misty into Hoenn now, because that's when the real changes will start, but we still have a few chapters to get through before they arrive in the new land : )
Anyway, please remember that Pokemon is not owned by me.
I hope you enjoy this chapter : )
Tallulah Showers
Considering herself to be somewhat of an expert on the subject of all things relating to the ocean, Misty liked to think that she was also quite knowledgeable about marine-based methods of transportation.
Like the ship she was currently a passenger on for example.
Misty would easily be able to look at every single piece of the ship's engine and tell you exactly what it did.
She would know what effect the ship was having on the local ocean environment.
She could list endless ways in which ships were legally required to deal with any number of emergencies that might crop up.
And it was through all those pieces of information that Misty was able to come to an important realisation about the ship she was currently aboard.
The St. Valerie had to be the fanciest ship she and Ash had ever been on.
It truly was a resplendent piece of work.
Everywhere Misty looked there were priceless works of art lining the walls. Each floor was lined with crimson red carpets. Dazzling chandeliers and thick velvet curtains adorned the bedrooms. And the beds themselves almost felt like they'd been crafted from clouds, they were so soft.
All in all, just travelling on a ship this high-class had definitely been worth the week's wait.
And the facilities the St. Valerie offered were second to none.
The ship had six different swimming pools, four gyms (the type you worked out in), two cinemas, a bowling alley, twelve differently themed restaurants offering food from regions Misty had never even heard of, two Pokemon Centres with resident Nurse Joys, a convention room where trainers could check out other trainers' pokemon and offer a trade, and six battle arenas.
If she wasn't so excited about arriving in the Hoenn region later that night, Misty would be extremely disappointed that she and Ash were only going to be on the cruise ship for less than twenty-four hours.
Seriously, there was more to do on this one ship than there was in the whole of Pallet Town.
In a way, the St. Valerie actually reminded Misty of the St. Anne - but she had cut that thought off before it could be voiced.
The St. Anne was not a memory Misty liked to dwell on.
Even a water fanatic like her could not deny that having the entire weight of the ocean crushing down on them was beyond terrifying.
It truly was a miracle that herself, Ash and Brock, along with Team Rocket had all returned to the surface alive, let only uninjured.
She just hoped that the St. Valerie wouldn't meet a similar fate.
Ash and Misty had just finished storing away their backpacks in their joint room since neither felt like carrying them around the ship as they weren't likely to need them for anything right now.
Misty was grateful that Mrs Ketchum had thought to include a belt with her new outfit. It was the kind that allowed Misty to attach her pokeballs to it so she could carry them around on her person.
The two trainers had decided to just share a joint room since they weren't even going to spend the night in it. It would have doubled the cost of their tickets to get them each a separate room.
And to get onto a ship like this one - well, their tickets had been pricey enough already.
"So, what do you want to do first?" she asked as they exited the room, holding up the map that she had been given upon arrival by the guard checking their tickets when they'd boarded the ship, "There's so much to do here, I can't pick".
Ash peered over at the map.
"There's a swimming pool up on the deck" he pointed it out to her, "Maybe we could check that out?"
Normally Misty would have loved the idea.
Swimming was one of her favourite things to do in the whole wide world. It kept her in great shape, plus she found it extremely relaxing and stress-draining.
But right now she couldn't help but cringe at the idea of any more relaxing.
"Ash, we just spent an entire week doing nothing but relaxing in Pallet Town" Misty couldn't help the whine in her voice, "Please, can't we do something a little more... I dunno. I just know that if I spend anymore time relaxing in the near future, I'm going to go insane".
Ash bit his lip thoughtfully.
He could understand where she was coming from.
Eyeing the map again in Misty's hands, Ash looked for something a little more engaging for them to do.
His eyes quickly landed on something he thought might just be perfect.
"Okay, how about this then?" he asked, pointing to a spot on the map.
Misty followed his finger.
Immediately, her eyes lit up with excitement.
He was pointing to one of the ship's battle arena facilities.
Misty couldn't help the grin etching its way onto her face.
After spending the last week doing practically nothing, the thrill of a few good battles would hopefully be enough to get her heart racing and the adrenaline going again.
Plus, due to them both being stuck in Pallet Town for so long, neither Ash nor Misty had had the chance to test out their Balance Bracelets and see exactly how the League's new financial system worked in practice.
This would be the perfect opportunity to rectify that.
"Looks perfect to me" she winked.
Ash beamed.
Truth be told, he'd been awfully bored too whilst they'd been grounded in one place, so relaxing didn't sound all that appealing to Ash right now either.
Plus, he never could turn down the opportunity for a good battle.
Their decision made, the duo began following the map in search of the closest battle arena.
Meanwhile, watching the two young trainers with great interest whilst hiding behind a corner, was a rather shady trio.
"Ha!" Jessie smirked smugly at her two companions, "I knew we'd be able to sneak onto this ship with no trouble".
"I'm still surprised we were able to do it" James mused thoughtfully, "I thought we'd have been caught for sure".
"But we weren't, which means that this is the perfect opportunity for us to steal Pikachu at long last" Meowth grinned at the thought.
"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet exclaimed.
"Agreed" Jessie nodded, "I want this whole Pikachu stealing thing wrapped up once and for all, so let's get on with it".
All of them nodding in agreement, Team Rocket swiftly followed after Ash and Misty, determination burning through them.
Upon locating one of the St. Valerie's battle arenas, Misty and Ash quickly learned that they couldn't simply walk through the door and challenge anyone they saw to a battle.
First, they had to check in with the facility's manager, who sat in a small booth close to the room's entrance.
They had to hand over their pokeballs to him, so he could scan them through a computer. It would tell him exactly which pokemon they had, and what moves they had. Pikachu and Togepi were a little trickier, since neither ever went into a pokeball, but Ash and Misty quickly rattled off their movesets to the manager.
He then told them which moves they were allowed to use.
Misty had been surprised at first, but when the manager explained why, she realised it made sense.
Due to them currently being on a ship, certain battle moves were forbidden on-board.
Misty couldn't blame the company that owned the St. Valerie for being so cautious. Not only was the ship high-class and very expensive, but they were literally responsible for thousands of peoples' lives.
So if some idiot tried using Hyper Beam or Dragon Rage or a destructive move like those, it could cause serious damage to the ship's structure, which if left unchecked, could result in a shipwreck in the worst-case scenario.
Ash was also forbidden from using his Snorlax.
The ship could only support so much weight after all, and although it was extremely unlikely that one Snorlax would cause a ship as large as this to sink, the manager wasn't prepared to take any chances.
After they had agreed to the manager's terms, he'd allowed them entrance.
Misty had to say, she was very impressed by what they found.
Clearly the company that had built and owned the St. Valerie had spared no expense anywhere on the ship, and that was more than evident in its battle arenas.
The arena was gigantic.
Ten battlefields the size of football pitches filled the room, and each one had their own referee. And as if that wasn't enough, lining the hall at each end of the room were high stands that would easily seat two hundred people, so that people wishing to simply watch some battles rather then participate could enjoy the facility too.
Add in the fact that there were two online transporter machines so that trainers could have their pokeballs transported onto the ship, and the room was almost like being at a League facility such as the Indigo Plateau.
"Hey!" a voice call over to them, "You! You with the Pikachu on your shoulder! Wanna battle?"
A bright grin lit up Ash's face.
"Looks like I've found my first opponent" he beamed.
Before Misty could even open her mouth to reply, Ash was off like a shot, and within seconds he'd taken his place on a battlefield opposite a boy was platinum blonde hair that was almost white.
A battle between the two quickly got underway.
"Excuse me!" a second voice trilled, causing Misty to turn to see a young woman with cherry red hair wearing a yellow dress beckoning her over, "If you wish to battle, I'm looking for an opponent".
Misty grinned eagerly.
It seemed things were finally picking up on the excitement front.
Jessie, James and Meowth cautiously peered through into the room Ash and Misty had entered, being careful not to get caught.
The last thing they needed was to be thrown off the ship.
Especially considering it had already departed and was now in the middle of the ocean.
"Looks like the Twerps are doing some battling" Jessie observed, "Do you think they're trying to raise their League accounts?"
"Perhaps" James shrugged.
"Never mind the hows and whys" Meowth said gleefully, "Don't you guys see? This is perfect! If the Twerps keep battling until they're all tired out, it'll give us the perfect chance to swoop in and snatch that crafty Pikachu whilst he's too pooped to fight back!"
"Brilliant!" Jessie cheered.
"Shush!" James reminded her, and nodding, Jessie hastily quietened herself.
It was only a matter of time now.
Soon enough, Pikachu would be theirs.
Forever.
"Alright Magnemite! Use Spark!"
Misty scowled in aggravation as her current opponent's Magnemite shrouded itself in electricity and charged towards Misty's own pokemon, which in this case happened to be her Politoed.
Over the past hour, Misty had been in seven battles, including the one she was currently in.
Out of those, she had won five of them, only losing one so far, and that was only because Psyduck had popped out of his pokeball unannounced again. He'd quickly fallen to a huge hulking Vileplume.
Misty couldn't help but enjoy herself.
After sitting still for the last week, being back in battle was nothing short of invigorating.
Her new money account was just going up and up, and she was finally down with how it all worked, so all in all, her day was going just great so far.
But her latest opponent - a boy called Andrew - was proving difficult to defeat.
They were having a three on three battle.
Misty had easily wiped out his Growlithe with her Corsola's Bubble Beam, and even managed to beat his Hoppip with her Staryu's Double Edge attack. Unfortunately for MIsty however, Andrew had then brought out his Magnemite, and it had defeated both of them.
Now it was between Magnemite and Politoed, and whoever won this one took the match.
But with his Magnemite having such an advantage over Misty's Politoed, she was afraid that Andrew had the advantage in this battle.
"Dodge it Politoed!" she cried anxiously.
"Poli!" Politoed used his bouncy legs to propel himself high into the air.
"Mag!" Magnemite, unable to stop its path through the air, cried out in alarm as it collided with the floor instead of Politoed.
Seizing her chance, Misty ordered a command whilst Magnemite was distracted.
"Mega Punch Politoed!" she yelled.
Misty knew it was risky - having Politoed go in so close to an opponent with such a type advantage - but she just knew by instinct that if Politoed's Mega Punch landed, Magnemite would have a hard time getting back up.
"Toed!" Politoed barrelled towards Magnemite.
Unable to dodge in time, Magnemite was decked clean in the face by Politoed's powered-up fist.
"Nemite!" Magnemite crashed into the ground for the second time in thirty seconds.
Both trainers waited with baited breath.
Magnemite did not get back up.
"Magnemite is unable to battle" the referee announced, "Which means that Misty is the winner of this match".
"Alright Politoed! You did it!" Misty cheered as her Politoed happily clapped his hands, "I knew you could turn this around for us!"
"Poli" Politoed clapped ever harder.
"That was a great battle" Andrew nodded politely at her after returning his Magnemite, "Your Politoed is incredible".
"Thank you" Misty giggled, "Your Magnemite was really strong too".
With polite nods and smiles, the two trainers went their separate ways.
"Well that sure was a good turn around" a voice commented behind her.
Turning, Misty smiled as she saw Ash approaching her.
"You were watching?" she couldn't help but ask.
"Well, my last match finished before yours, so I figured I'd watch you finish up" Ash nodded in confirmation, "Nice job".
"Thanks" Misty beamed at him, before it faded slightly, "But my pokemon are getting a little tired, so I think we should stop for now, and go take them to one of the ship's Pokemon Centres".
Ash nodded in agreement.
His pokemon were getting a little worn out too.
Like Misty, Ash had been in battle after battle. In fact, he'd managed to squeeze in ten of them, and had won eight. Unfortunately his Cyndaquil had lost one of their matches to a Slowking, and his Heracross had fallen to a really strong Magmar.
Still, he was happy with all those matches, and his pokemon were really coming through.
The amount his League Account had just gone up was a testament to that.
"Excuse me" a voice caught the two trainers' attention.
Misty and Ash both turned to see a teenage girl headed towards them.
Even from just a passing glance, they could both tell that the girl was extremely beautiful.
The girl had waist-length golden blonde hair that fell around her slender frame in elegant curls. She had skin so pale she almost seemed to glow, and her eyes were a majestic blue so dark her irises are almost purple. She stood taller than Ash and Misty, and wore an aqua coloured tunic over tight-fitting white jeans that only served to show off her impressive figure even more. Around her neck on a fancy silver chain was a shimmering blue crystal that almost looked like a wave frozen in time.
Although the girl could have passed for much older, Misty's keen sense of being able to guess people's ages was telling her that the girl was either thirteen - the same age as them - or just slightly older by a few months.
Clutched in the girl's arms was a pokemon that both Misty and Ash were quite familiar with.
It was a Totodile, and judging by the pretty pink bow tied around its tail, it was a female one to boot.
Not the easiest of pokemon to capture.
Both the girl and her Totodile were smiling warmly at the two of them.
"I was hoping that I might be able to challenge you to a battle" the girl said to Misty hopefully.
"Toto" the Totodile in her arms nodded, eyes just as hopeful as her trainer's.
Misty quickly noticed that the girl had a Johto accent, and her voice was rather reformed and proper. She sounded like she came from a high-class family, but by no means was the girl's tone one of superiority.
In fact, Misty felt quite bad about what she was about to say.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, but my pokemon are really tired, so I was just about to take them to the Pokemon Centre" Misty apologised sincerely.
The girl looked crestfallen.
"Dile" the Totodile in her arms whined in disappointment.
Misty bit her lip.
She really hated disappointing people, and that extended even to complete strangers.
"If you're willing to wait, I could come straight back here after Nurse Joy heals them" Misty offered, and the girl looked at her with an air of hope, "None of them were seriously injuried, so they should just need a run through a Restoration Machine".
"That would be great" the girl cheered, perking straight back up, "I was watching you battle you see, and I noticed that depite that cute little Togepi you're carrying, all the pokemon you used were water types".
"You were watching her because she has water types?" Ash blinked in confusion.
The girl turned to him and smiled, nodding her head so vigorously her blonde hair whipped about wildly.
"That's right!" she announced happily.
Misty raised an eyebrow in amused bewilderment.
It wasn't often that they came across a trainer quite as... well, bubbly as the girl before them.
"You see, whenever I see a trainer with water types I just have to watch them. Literally, my eyes refuse to move away" the girl trilled delightedly, "Water types are my absolute favourites, which I why I specialise in them".
Misty's jaw dropped open.
Next to her, Ash had to work extremely hard not to groan.
He knew exactly what was going to happen after all, having seen it before.
"Whoa! You're a water type trainer too!" Misty beamed in sheer happiness, "So am I!"
"Awesome! Don't you just love how cute they all are, especially when you hold them?!" the girl started talking faster and faster as her excitement grew, "I love how sometimes they feel kind of squishy and rubbery!"
"I know what you mean" Misty replied very enthusiastically, "And don't you find it simply adorable when they waddle around? Or love how graceful they are as they swim about?"
"Of course I do!" the girl beamed.
Ash was very quickly starting to feel very much like a third wheel.
"And I really love your Totodile! She's so cute, especially with that pretty pink bow around her tail" Misty giggled, smiling down at the pokemon in question, "You've obviously done a good job raising her, I can tell by how rich her colouring is".
"Aw, that's so sweet of you" the girl blushed lightly, "My little Marina here is my partner. I love her so much that I never ever put her in her pokeball".
"Marina?" Misty blinked, before returing her gaze to meet the Totodile's, "Is that your name?"
"Toto" the Totodile, no - Marina - nodded happily.
"And can I just say, despite not being a water type, your Togepi is just precious" the girl beamed, "I normally only like water pokemon, but its just so cute I can see why you made an exception and added this little guy too your team".
"Toge!" Togepi giggled at the compliment.
He had no idea who this girl was, but already he liked her a lot.
Judging by the smile on her face however, so did Misty.
"It didn't quite happen like that" Ash grumbled.
Depite knowing that Misty was the perfect mother figure for Togepi, he couldn't help but still be a little bitter over the way things had worked.
After all, he was the one that had found Togepi's egg, and he'd won that tournament they'd held fair and square.
Still, seeing them now, Ash wouldn't even think of trying to split them up.
"What a kind thing to say" Misty beamed happily, "I wish I had seen you battling before. I just love watching water pokemon battle too".
"I saw how your Politoed took down that guy's Magnemite" the girl trilled, "I knew then that I just had to come over and meet you. I mean, you must be really talented for you to get Politoed to defeat an electric type".
"I'm glad you decided to challenge me" Misty giggled happily, "But thinking about it, we haven't actually introduce ourselves yet".
"Oops!" the girl blushed, looking embarrassed, "I'm so sorry. That was really bad-mannered of me. My name is Tallulah. Tallulah Showers to be precise, and I'm from Cianwood City in the Johto Region".
"Oh, we were there not too long ago, weren't we?" Misty turned to Ash.
Ash blinked slightly in bemusement.
He had been under the impression that Misty, in her excitement over making a new friend, had all but forgotten his presence next to her.
"Err... yeah" he nodded, "I had a gym battle there".
"It's such a shame we never got to meet then" Misty sighed, before she smiled again, "My name is Misty Waterflower, and this is my friend and travelling companion, Ash Ketchum".
"Nice to meet you" Ash greeted Tallulah politely.
"It's a pleasure to meet the both of you too" Tallulah grinned widely, "Can I just say, that although I wasn't watching your battles because you didn't use a water type, your Pikachu was really impressive in that battle against that girl's Weepinbell. You've done a good job raising him".
"Thanks" Ash beamed at her praise.
"Pika!" Pikachu smiled at her from Ash's shoulder.
"I'm really looking forward to having a battle with you Misty" Tallulah continued breathlessly, "I mean, I'm really sorry if I'm interrupting your plans or anything like that, but you see I'm only on the St. Valerie for this one day. In a few hours, I'll be getting off".
Misty blinked.
She had checked the ship's itinerary when booking the tickets, and the only stop the St. Valerie was due to make today was at Littleroot Town in the Hoenn Region.
In other words, the exact same location where she and Ash would be docking later today.
"Wait a minute" Misty said thoughtfully, "Does that mean you're heading to the Hoenn Region?"
Tallulah blinked, uncertain how Misty knew that.
"Um, well yes actually, I am" she nodded her blonde head.
"So are we!" Misty informed her gleefully, "What a coincidence!"
"Wow! Maybe that means we'll run into each other and we could show each other all the water types we catch whilst we're over there!" Tallulah said hopefully.
"I hope so" Misty agreed.
She knew she was getting a little giddy and maybe just a bit carried away, but she couldn't help it.
Misty simply loved it when she met people that understood the charm and beautiful of water pokemon the way she did.
Ash shook his head in fond amusement.
Same old Misty.
Get her on the subject of her beloved water types, and she'd go on for hours.
And so - fearing he might get his head bitten off but knowing he needed to remind her of this - Ash was forced to bring her back down to reality.
"You know I hate to interrupt you when you go into fan-girl mode" he started in a sarcastic drawl.
"Yeah? So why are you?" Misty grumbled, narrowing her eyes.
"Well, weren't we supposed to be getting our pokemon to the ship's Pokemon Centre?" Ash reminded her pointedly, "I thought you two wanted to battle".
"You're right!" Misty gasped, "Tallulah, do you mind waiting here for me? I'll be back in two shakes of a Mareep's tail".
"Of course" Tallulah giggled happily, "If it means I get to battle those awesome water types of yours, I'll wait all day if I have too".
"I promise I won't make you wait that long" Misty winked, "Come on Ash! The sooner we do this, the sooner we can get back to battling!"
"Sure thing Mist" Ash chuckled fondly, "Whatever you say".
Practically brimming with excitement over the thought of battling with her new friend, Misty all but dragged Ash out of the room.
And there's another one : )
Yeah, so this was basically just about introducing Tallulah again, but hey, she's going to be a recurring character in this so I felt that she sort of needed her own chapter. I know she's a bit over the top on the whole water pokemon thing, but I'll try to tone it down from now on. I just needed her and Misty to bond fairly quickly ; )
Anyway, now it's time to play the game : )
Firstly, congratulations to – Marylopez0812, ArmyWife22079, MrPosbi, DragonMack, Kitsunells, Kurakuma, Pokesean, Mewmaster89, Guest 16, Kagedoragon, Azure Dragon of the East, Sleepyautumn, Nonny Mouse, FireEmblemMaster101, Sesshoru, SPeCTeR-117, OverseerBishop, Deant33, RHatch89, Oliver W.K Twist, DT-THUNDER, Lykos, Magic135, MidnightStorm022, Jeet Granger, Legoboy20, Siggimondo, WhiteKnightofHyrule, Link The Hero of Light, QUEENSPELLER67, The Unknown Shinigami, Jg13145, JZuCuadra, Disruptor, Lugiaman14, Teddi 8347, Breakawayfan, UltimateCCC, LovingGinger30, and Pokemon Trainer Tom - the correct answer was indeed Magmar.
Better luck next time too - MerlockVonBaron who was really close with Magmortar, and Jamesharold13, who thought it was Numel. OmniDragon10 was pretty close too, guessing Magby.
WHO's THAT POKEMON?
This pokemon is a final evolution of a pokemon that cannot be found in the wild in the games. It has petals growing from its neck, the aroma of which contains a substance that calms aggressive feelings. Its breath has the amazing ability to revive dead grass and plants and make them healthy again.
And there we are : )
Again, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that continues to support this story, and to everyone that reviewed the last chapter.
Until the next time, keep on reading : )