Chapter 5

"I'll admit this op has its strong points" Kite said while leaning on the railing of the deck.

Sange sipped his margarita "You only say that because of what you're wearing". Kite silently agreed. He was wearing a red tropical shirt that was open to expose his chest and stomach. Farther down was a white and orange tropical swimsuit. His hair was currently tied into a pony tail and his eyes were concealed behind a pair of aviator sunglasses. More than once he was given a approving glance from a passing girl. He hated that.

"Good point, Southlanders aren't too keen on beaches" He turned his gaze towards the boarding ramp. Even from three hundred yards away he could make out the faces of everyone that was assembled. Ash still hadn't shown up. And in two more days the boat would be leaving. He sighed and stretched his arms. He had spent the last three days cooped up on the ship waiting for him. And even though the tropical weather was good for his soul, he was still restless.

"Jeez how long does it take for him to get here"

"I thought you didn't want to meet him"

"Yeah I don't, but I would rather be doing something instead of waiting around all day"

"Have a margarita?"

"You know I hate alcohol"

"I know, but it would give you something to do"

"How about I throw you overboard and see how long it takes for you to swim back"

"How about I rip out your spleen, throw it into the water, and time how fast it takes you to find it"

"How about I…" Kite began to say but a voice cut him off.

"Can't I leave you two alone without being worried one of you will kill each other?" Kite turned to see a tall man that looked just a tad older than kite walk towards him.

Kite smiled and walked towards him "I would only worry about that if Sange get's drunk". He shook the man's hand.

"Good to see you Kite"

He slapped his "unofficial" partners back "you too Dean. I trust everything went well over in Kanto?"

"Perfectly. But what about you Kite? Haven't seen you since Aeryn Bay months ago, and suddenly I find a mission dossier in my lap about tracking some kid. Whatever happened to small talk partner?"

"Went into a barf bag…among other things, the night I tried flying with Zach" He grinned.

"Ouch, I remember it felt like someone was giving me rug burns in my tract after that little episode"

Kite laughed. Out of the tiny, tiny, tiny group of people that Kite trusted, Dean Kidon was probably the only one he could call a friend. It wasn't a friendship that was born from laughter or common interests. It was a friendship that was born from the fires of battle. If the shit hit the fan during one of Kite's operations, Dean would be there covering him all the way.

"So about this mission…" Dean began.

"What about it?"

"….your babysitting a kid"

"So what?"

"You're the least qualified to do this…."

"Hey, I may hate making new friends, but I can probably pull this off"

"Did you bring C4?" Dean asked suddenly.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're the only person in the world that would bring C4 to a mission like this" He said laughing.

"You never know when you need C4…plus this kid could be part of the advent"

Dean looked at him for a moment and sighed. "Kite, if you spend 5 minutes around this kid, you're going to wonder how he manages to put his underwear on every morning without causing a international incident. He's dense, in a lot of areas. And I mean the important ones. Trouble seems' to follow him around like Sange to booze and it gets to the point that he usually dives into danger head first"

"How do you know all this?"

"I met the kid four years ago when I helped with security for the Wallace cup"

"Will he remember you?" Kite asked. If he did it could present a problem.

"Not him, but one of his friends might. I only talked too…..what's his name….he had no eyes…"

"He had no eyes?"

"Well of course he had eyes….but you couldn't see them?"

Sange giggled "Invisible eyes?"

Dean reached over and slapped Sange in the back of the head.

"Gahhh….yes boss". Sange only partial respected Dean, but respected him none-the-less.

Kite picked up a folder of all the information he had on Ash Ketchum, including known associates. He flipped a page before he found what he was looking for.

"Brock Takeshi?" He said.

"Yeah that's him. I talked with him about his journeys during the contest. Seems like a nice guy"

"hmm, I haven't really looked through his known associates yet…..Lesse….Dawn Berlitz, Misty Kasum, Gary Oak, Tracy Sketchit, Max maple and……"

"Kite?" Dean asked him. Kites hands started to shake a little, but quickly it stopped. But Sange had seen it.

"once second guys" he muttered.

Kite closed the file and looked back towards the ocean, thinking. Behind him, Sange and Dean started talking about the finer points of Northern beverages. He closed his eyes and thought about the picture of May Maple.

Brown hair, blue eyes….her face looks almost the same

He shut it out of his mind and looked towards the dock again. He had more important things to do than think about his own past. If there was one think he was good at doing, it was shutting it out. Always putting it behind some door in his head.

He sighed and turned around "Dean, do you think you can figure out what the weather will be in the Corridor? I really would like to be prepared in case a squall comes up"

Dean turned away from Sange and gave him a look that said want to get rid of me all the sudden? But nevertheless, he did it. "Sure thing, I'll go find a PC" he began walking away "See you later Kite, I'll catch up to you in the evening".

Kite watched his friend go, and then he jumped up and sat on the railing. He let out his breath, closed his eyes and let the sea breeze caress his body. Although he loved the harsh and rugged southlands, there was something about a warm sea breeze and a sparkling ocean that made him relax. He loved the ocean. He loved it's beauty during its calm periods, and its power when a storm came. The ocean was something that almost demanded respect. Not to mention, he loved fishing.

He could practically feel Sange's eyes boring into his skull. Without looking at his Lucario, he spoke.

"A problem?"

"What the hell was that a second ago?" He said in voice that sounded like care and anger had a head on collision. Care was in the motorcycle, while anger was in the eighteen -wheeler.

"What was what?"

"You know what 'what' is, your hands were shaking"

"It was nothing"

"Kite, I've never seen you lose control like that, what's going-"

Kite turned around and took his sunglasses off. Sange stopped talking and shuddered. He hadn't put on his contacts today, deciding to rather keep his sunglasses on, revealing his natural eye color. No matter how well anyone knew Kite, his natural eye color still made them shudder.

"I said nothing" He said in a low and menacing voice. It was the voice he used when he was pushed too far. Just that moment a voice yelled from the other side of the deck.

"ESPEON GET BACK HERE"

Kite and Sange looked over to see a girl with black hair chasing a small light purple feline like Pokémon across the deck. In its mouth was a large straw hat. Sange stepped forward blocking it's way. The girl caught up too it and picked it up.

"Come on girl, I know you like my hat, but my neck burn's easy" She sighed and turned to Sange.

"Thanks"

Before he could answer, Kite cut in. He didn't like it when people found out Sange could talk, but it did nothing to Sange's ego except poke it with a large stick. He hated it when Kite did that.

"Just hold onto your hat more miss" He said. She smiled and placed it back on her head. The large yellow hat stood out against the color of her dress. Next to him, Sange elbowed him in the side. Hard.

Kite doubled over.

"Umm are you ok?" The girl asked.

"Yeah…ow…err, just make sure you hold onto your hat more Miss…?"

"Kiri"

"Yeah, well, Nice meeting you and all but I'm in the middle of something"

"oh" Kiri said, she looked slightly let down "Well I'll leave you too it" She turned away with her Espeon "Cio!"

As she walked away, Sange turned his attention back to Kite.

"Kite, I know it was the picture of May that made you shutter, I was watching you"

Kite slowly turned towards Sange again; luckily his glasses were back on.

"Are you just trying to piss me off again?" he said. Just then his phone started to beep. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open.

"Hello?"

"HEY KITE?" Screamed Dean from the other end. Kite jerked his ear back. Tropical music was blaring from the speaker, and he could here others.

"Yeah?"

"JUST WALKED PAST THE DOCK'S AND SAW ASH AND HIS FRIENDS"

"How many friends?"

"BROCK AND TWO OTHER GIRLS"

"Alright thanks dude, you get that weather report?"

"NO BUT I'M WORKING ON IT"

"alright, see you later"

"YOU GOT IT, now let me tell you ladies the time I-"Click.

Kite managed a small grin. He knew personally that Dean wasn't a ladies' man, but he could when he wanted to be. He usually went out and had a good time before traveling to the southlands.

"Our target is here" Kite said simply. Sange gave a bark of approval, their previous argument forgotten now that their mission was moving forward.

"Are we going to go meet them?"

"And say what? 'Hey can we be friends?' I don't think so. I have t find something I can use to get closer to him"

Sange said one word "Beer".

"This is the north, drinking age is 21, and Ash is 18"

"BUT!!! Once in international waters with the intent to travel to the Southlands, The drinking age then becomes 16! Everyone wins; you can even let May drink!"

"Sange, I'm here to become their friend, not teach him what a hangover feels like."

"I'm just saying it can be plan B"

"Plan B involves using C4 to blast our way outta the ship"

Sange shrugged. Kite sighed and passed him a pair of binoculars.

"give me the who's who"

Sange hopped onto the railing and trained the binoculars onto the boarding area. He kept looking around until he found what he wanted.

"Ok, Found Ash" He said. Kite pulled out a small notepad and pencil. "Spiky hair, Blue bathing suit, sandals, black T-shirt and green backpack" As Sange said all of it, he wrote it down on to his paper.

"Ok who's he with"

"Looks like, Brock, Dawn and May"

Kite reached forward and tanked the binoculars from his hand. "Hey!" he said.

Kite ignored him and focused on Ash and his group. They were patiently waiting in the boarding line, talking amongst themselves. Brock was looking through some pieces of paper that Kite assumed to be tickets. Dawn was telling Ash a joke that he apparently didn't get because he wasn't laughing. And also listening, wearing a long blue skirt with a bikini top and white over shirt was May. Kite had secretly hoped that she wouldn't be coming.

Sange tapped him on the shoulder.

"What?" He said without taking his eyes off the binoculars.

"I think I'm going to go make your job a lot easier"

"How so" Kite said absent mindedly.

"I'm going to go introduce myself to them, buh bye!" Sange walked away.

Kite kept staring through the binoculars, but he suddenly jerked his head up.

"Oh crap!" He took off running after Sange. "SANGE YOU'LL CORRUPT THEIR POOR INNOCENT MINDS!!"