The S.S. Anne was the pinnacle of modern engineering. It was the biggest boat in the harbour – two hundred metres of brand new, gleaming chrome and glass. On the deck trainers playfully sparred, nothing excessively violent, just playful duels of strength and speed. It looked fantastic, a great place for busy trainers to have fun and relax.
A tap on the shoulder interrupted Jack's daydream. An elderly couple dressed in expensive rich clothes looked earnestly at him. 'Are you a trainer?' asked the women, diamond earring glinting in wrinkled skin. Jack nodded. 'We both used to be trainers but in our twilight years it has lost its sparkle. We don't need our tickets. Perhaps you would like one?'
Jack's mouth dropped open at the unexpected kindness, 'yes please! I would love a ticket, thanks.' The women handed over a laminated, silver ticket with the words V.I.P. written on in sparkly red letters. 'Have fun kid, because even trainers need time to relax,' said the man in a deep baritone, speaking for the first time. Shouting his thanks Jack walked onto the S.S. Anne flashing his ticket at the burly sailor guarding the entrance.
He did not see the old couple smile evilly at each other, the sun highlighting the red "R" tattooed on their forearms. If he did, he might not have been so happy and relaxed walking onto the ship. If he did he might have seen the dark figure detach itself from the shadows to stalk him from behind, just out of reach.
On the huge main deck of the S.S. Anne large Pokémon contests had been set up. Each one tested a different ability and Pokémon competed to see who was the best in a given activity. Jack saw contests for strength, speed, agility, psychic ability, fire manipulation and toughness to name but a few. No-one seemed to be taking the contests that seriously, people were laughing and chatting whilst their Pokémon competed and the winner would be heartily congratulated, the loser playfully mocked.
Jack walked over to a large marquee set up at the far end of the desk, lifting aside the white velvet flap so he could enter. "PRIZE AND INFROMATION DESK" was written in large letters on the back wall of the marquee above a pretty woman dressed in a smart white uniform. 'How can I help you?' she asked in a sweet voice.
Jack thought for a second before replying, 'what are the prizes for winning the competitions?' The girl laughed, a light, tinkling sound, 'ah, that's what all the boys want to know. If you win one competition you get five special Pokéballs, we call the Premier Balls. Any Pokémon captured inside will have an extremely luxurious stay. If you win two competitions you receive five special items that your Pokémon can hold to increase their abilities in certain ways.'
'If you win three competitions you get a special Pokémon egg found and donated to us. Neither we nor the donator know what is inside. Oh, and if you win five competitions you get to choose two of the prizes I have already described.' Jack nodded, 'thanks for the help. I'll be seeing you for that top prize in one to two hours.' The girl laughed at his confidence, 'we'll see,' she said, disbelief quite evidence in her voice. 'Yes we will,' answered Jack.
Jack headed straight over to the strength contest. Inside a large metal cage two Pokémon were wrestling. A large Golem was lifted into the air by a powerful looking Machoke and slammed hard onto the floor, the metal cage vibrating with the force. 'The Golem is down, Machoke is the winner.' The audience cheered, swamping both trainers and congratulating them on a good fight.
'Next fight is the last one. The champion after that fight will be crowned the winner. Anyone care to challenge our champion here?' There was silence as all the trainers shook their heads. 'Anyone?' asked the commentator again. Just as the commentator was just about to pronounce the Machoke the winner Jack stepped forwards. 'I do.'
With a resounding cheer Jack was shunted through the crowd to the trainers' box. He stood next to the Machoke's trainer and had his hand shaken warmly by a tall, buxom woman with long blonde hair. 'Let's hope you live up to your expectations,' she said, giving Jack a calculating look.
'Challenger release your Pokémon,' ordered the commentator and Jack released his Snorlax into the win. The Snorlax appeared to much clapping and cheering, and with this as cover Jack quickly tried to explain and placate the Snorlax. 'Hey Snorlax, I know you're feeling angry at me but I'm your trainer and we need to work together. You can start my telling me your name.'
For a second the Snorlax was silent then she replied I'm Kabi. Jack smiled, 'well Kabi, you're wrestling that Machoke over there.' The Snorlax broke out into a wide, confident smile. Piece of cake! Jack rubbed his hands together and looked up at the women beside him, 'scared?' he asked. She pursed her lips, 'more like interested.'
The two Pokémon grabbed each other and at a shrill whistle from the commentator/referee they started fighting. The muscles in the Machoke's body bulged and rippled as it tried to budge Kabi, but the creature was too heavy for it to even move, let alone lift. Kabi yawned and began to use her considerable strength. She began to push the Machoke back to the edge of the cage, smashing it hard against the thick metal railings.
All the while the Machoke was huffing and puffing and pushing with all its strength, and failing miserably. With a great heave of her powerful body Kabi lifted the Machoke into the air and slammed it back down onto the floor. The Machoke was a better opponent than Jack expected and quickly got its legs under its body, pushing off with enough strength to halt Kabi's throw. Growling it pushed Kabi backwards with all its strength and the huge Snorlax backpedalled hurriedly, her initiative lost.
The Machoke pinned Kabi against the wall and began to lift, the muscles in its huge arms and shoulders writhing and bunching with the strain. Jack looked on worriedly until he saw the smile on Kabi's face. With surprising speed and deftness that belied her huge size Kabi pushed the Machoke backwards, hooking her foot under his legs and tripping him up in one fluid move.
The Machoke hit the ground on its back and punched the floor in frustration, making a sizeable dent in the thick metal. 'The Snorlax is the winner!' shouted the commentator, 'and our overall Champion.' Jack recalled Kabi and amidst sincere and slightly over-the-top congratulations he walked towards the commentator and received a golden ticket to show he had triumphed. 'Well done, that Snorlax of yours is a beast!' Jack smiled at this, 'you have no idea.'
Next Jack visited the speed contest. Asrael would be fantastic at this he thought. It was all about straight line speed and the course spanned the whole length of the boat. Jack took a look at the times written in chalk on a blackboard, they're not so fast he thought Asrael can win this.
He entered the competition and found that his race would only be with one other Pokémon and it would be the last one. When Jack's time to race came he released Asrael and strutted around, supremely confident. His confidence only rose when he saw his opponent. It was a flying bug Pokémon with large segmented wings, red, orb-like eyes and thick golden skin at its head. Jack didn't recognise it, but it didn't look so tough.
The two Pokémon lined up side by side and with a sharp, loud whistle they were off. The bug Pokémon moved so fast that it was only a blur, within three seconds having traversed half the length of the ship. Asrael had only travelled about seventy metres in that time and was left for dead. Within another two seconds the other Pokémon finished, and had to wait for enough ten until Asrael caught up.
Its movements were so fast that it looked like it was attacking with quick attack – in fact Jack had seen quick attacks slower than that - but Jack knew it wasn't. He stared in shock, 'that is one speedy Pokémon,' he whispered in awe, not believing what he had just seen. The bug Pokémon's trainer looked at him in sympathy, 'yeah, old Tekky there is a Ninjask. They are the fastest Pokémon in the world, no other comes even close.'
To Jack's chagrin the trainer and his Ninjask followed Jack to the agility ring. The agility ring was a large aerial course made out of metal hoops on wooden sticks, ranging in size from large to small, arranged in a viciously twisting and turning course. Again Jack looked at the times and estimated that Asrael would be at least two seconds faster than the fastest one, but he knew that with the super-fast Ninjask there Asrael would have a hard time winning it.
Jack watched as a magnificent Pidgeot set a blistering time round the course – still well within Asrael's abilities of course – banking and turning with minute adjustments of its wings. An announcement snapped him out of his daze. He swore as he was again put last against the trainer and his Ninjask, and held a small team talk with Asrael. 'That Ninjask is really, really fast,' he said quietly, 'so we need to obstruct it in some way.' Asrael grinned knowingly I think I have just the thing that you want. Jack opened his mouth to question him but he was stopped Ah, I don't want to ruin the surprise for you do I?
After a small wait Asrael lined up next to the Ninjask for the second time. The Ninjask was raring to go, its wings humming as they moved so fast it seemed like they were merely vibrating, but Asrael just hovered there, languid and careless. The race was started and both Pokémon shot off the line. As Asrael whipped is tail fast from side to side he "accidentally" caught the Ninjask a glancing blow and knocked it to the floor.
Its trainer exploded in anger but the commentator waved away his protests, 'clearly an accident,' he declared, and his word was final. With five seconds the Ninjask had caught up with Asrael, but when they finished the long straight it stopped, turned its body and then flew off after Asrael who had easily manoeuvred himself around the turn. Ah though Jack triumphantly that is its weakness. Excellent.
This pattern continued for the whole course. Asrael took each turn and twist fluidly, but the Ninjask had to stop and adjust itself for even the minutest change in direction. Its straight line speed managed to help it catch up with Asrael, but Jack could see that the commentator was frowning at the Ninjask. It seemed a travesty that a Pokémon who couldn't change direction whilst flying would win an agility contest.
The final series of bends weren't as sharp as the beginning and middle sections so the Ninjask began to slowly but surely catch Asrael. They were neck-and-neck going into the final bend and here Asrael pulled off his master plan. He took the turn at great speed, slewing wildly and purposefully creating a small pocket of twisting currents in the air.
Just as Asrael suspected the Ninjask flew straight into the currents and was caught unawares. It was immediately stopped in its tracks and thrown about as it struggled to release itself from currents' unpredictable hold. With great effort the Ninjask managed to haul itself into the calm air and shoot determinedly towards the finish line, but Asrael was too far in front.
Asrael crossed the finish line with a flourish, barrel-rolling and flipping much to the delight of the ever-present crowd. Asrael took a small bow, his face alive with excitement but was stopped as Jack recalled him, not wanting his already large ego to inflate even more. Jack ignored the booing and jeering and hastily collected his prize. He knew that the boat was setting sail in a cruise around the regions of Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh and he didn't want to be stuck on it when it finally left the harbour.
Jack tried his hand at three more competitions but had success in none of them. Dante was beaten in a toughness contest by a seemingly invulnerable Golem. Asrael was beaten in an electricity contest by a seriously powerful Magnezone and Harry was out-psychiked by an impressive Alakazam. With the announcement that the S.S. Anne was leaving in half an hour Jack began to get desperate.
He wanted that top prize, but he would settle for the egg. Pokémon eggs fascinated him and he wondered what powerful creature was hidden inside. He stopped at the only contest still open, a fire manipulation contest. That is made for Dante Jack thought, but then again he had thought that about the toughness contest at that Golem had destroyed him.
This contest was obviously very popular and still going strong. A huge orange lizard with a flaming tail and thick, leathery wings was trying to wrestle control of a fire ball from a magnificent Arcanine and failing. With a roar the Arcanine took control of the fire and it smashed into the lizard, winning the battle. Jack quickly signed up, this contest was perfect for him to win.
A ball of fire would be created between the two Pokémon and using their affinity with fire each one had to make the fireball hit the other Pokémon, whether through coaxing or brute force. Currently the Arcanine was the undefeated Champion, but this was quickly changed when a Flareon took to the stage and beat it hands down.
There were three challengers before Jack, and each one was destroyed with ease by the Flareon, which became more and more confident as each battle went by. Jack smiled grimly at this, it wouldn't be confident after it faced Dante, that's for sure. The Flareon looked confident when it saw Dante, but its trainer didn't share this sentiment. She started chewing her nails worriedly, her uncertainty written in stone on her face.
With a small whumph the fireball was ignited, orange flames flickering madly, and the battle begun. Straight away the ball of flame began to move towards Dante as the Flareon pushed, but Dante quickly quashed this movement and began to move it back towards his fiery opponent.
When the fireball passed the centre mark the Flareon lost its confident air. When the fireball passed the quarter mark and the Flareon could feel the heat on its skin it began to get worried. In a last ditch attempt to save the match the Flareon put all its strength into halting the inexorable advance.
For a second the fireball waved and stopped, then Dante smashed through the Flareon's resistance as if it were cobwebs and the fireball hit the Flareon in the face. 'Jack and his Pokémon is the winner,' called the commentator and Jack punched the air. He would be getting his egg.
Jack strode into the prize marquee and spread his three golden tickets on the desk. 'I'll be having my egg now thanks.' Slowly the receptionist but down her magazine and looked up. 'So you're back. I'll show you to the egg.' She got up, ever so slowly and walked into the back room, 'stay there, I'll be right out,' she called, her voice muffled by the thick velvet of the marquee.
After nearly five minutes of agonised waiting she reappeared with a medium-sized egg, about the size of a melon. It was completely smooth and indigo with light cobalt spots and cold, almost like it was incubating ice inside instead of a living creature. The woman handed over the egg, 'congratulations on your victory. I hope you look after the egg.'
'The scientists who looked at it said they had never seen an egg like it, so the Pokémon inside is probably very rare.' She looked and sounded bored, as if handing over a rare Pokémon egg to a fourteen year old boy was an everyday occurrence. As Jack walked out he realised he had seen something on her forearm. A tattoo of some sorts....
He never saw it coming. One second he exiting out of the dark marquee into the light, the next a rough, hemp sack was over his head, a sharp knee was jabbed into the back of his legs so he collapsed to the floor and a hard, cold metal object was pressed against his neck. Jack lay there panicked, breathing heavily inside the sack before a tremendous force collided with his temple and he was knocked out. A familiar voice that he could not quite place spoke just before he did so. 'I told him he would regret crossing Team Rocket. I told him he would pay!'
Author Notes: Sorry for the slow build up but it was necessary as you will see. Now the story starts to get exciting. Will Jack escape Team Rocket? If he does how? You'll just have to wait and see.