Hey guys! Kyoko is back with another chapter!

Ahh, spring break! I'm so glad to have some time off. It gives me more time to work on this thing! ...Hm? A social life? What's that? I've never heard of that fanfiction before... I have no life.

Anyway, here we go: chapter 15! I daresay things will be picking up here... Enjoy!

Chapter 15: The S.S. Wailord

The journey started out simple enough. The explorers walked uphill to the river, but instead of jumping across it, Flygon led the teams to the left. According to her, this river led to Wavy Sea, which would be the first leg of their journey.

The teams chattered excitedly about the expedition. Magby was still in shock that he was chosen to be part of it, and Jay had to put up with him excitedly murmuring "I can't believe it… I'm going on an expedition…" It got really annoying after a while.

Jay found himself oddly fascinated with the water flowing in the stream. It was crystal clear, and he could see every pebble on the bottom. Sometimes, he'd see silvery fish dart by, but he couldn't tell if they were Pokémon or just normal fish.

The journey continued for about thirty minutes with nothing exciting happening. Magby's side began to cramp up after a while, and he practically begged Jay to let him eat an apple from his bag.

"You have an Explorer Bag, though… so why don't you have any apples?" Aria reasoned. She glanced at Magby's tiny leather satchel that was bouncing at his side. It didn't look like there was much in it.

"They were all out of apples! I know, it stinks…" Magby complained.

"Okay, fine… I think I have too many apples anyway. Here." Jay fished out a shiny red apple and handed it to his small pal. He happily scarfed it down and tossed the core into the river.

"Don't get too tired; the best is yet to come!" Altaria called from ahead.

"You're right! I can see the sea from here—if you'll forgive my pun," Whimsicott said.

Sure enough, when Jay peered past the fluffy Pokémon, he could see the blue ocean up ahead. The familiar scent of seawater filled the air, and it grew stronger with every step.

"Ahh, the ocean! It smells so nice…" Aria said.

"I know! I just wanna dive right in!" Jay agreed.

"I don't…" Magby said with a shiver.

"Don't worry, Magby. Nobody's going for a swim on my watch!" Flygon said with a grin.

"Yeah, that's right! You said there was a Pokémon that would ferry us across the water… Who is it?" Plusle asked.

Flygon just smiled mischievously.

"She smiles a lot," Jay noted.

"A smile a day keeps the worries away!" Aria chipped in. "Well… that's what she always says when we're feeling down. It looks like she's really living up to that policy, though." She shrugged.

Soon the ocean was practically in front of them. The grass had turned to sand and the scent of seawater was stronger than ever. Looking past the other guild members, Jay could see something very large in the water, along with two smaller figures, one of which was floating in the air.

They somehow seemed vaguely familiar…

"Hey, guys!"

It was Chespin and Wingull, the same two Pokémon Jay and Aria had helped earlier.

The Pokémon in the water was massive; Jay had never seen it before, but he recognized it all the same: it was a Wailord, a giant blue and gray whale with tiny eyes and a big mouth. Chespin and Wingull were dwarfed in comparison.

"Whoa…" Magby craned his neck to look up at Wailord. Wailord winked and smiled back.

"That is one big whale." Jay's words were a severe understatement—the whale was at least twenty feet tall, and that was only what he could see.

"Oh, hey! It's you guys!" Chespin had noticed Team River Song, and he waddled up to them with Wingull flying above him. Wingull cawed and Chespin beamed at the two. "I'm so glad you could make it!"

"What're you guys doing here?" Jay inquired.

"We're just here to see you off. See, after you guys saved Wingull—thank you, by the way—we figured we had to repay you. The Guildmaster told us about your expedition, and we figured we could help out! Say hello to our old friend Wailord!" Chespin explained.

Wailord opened his mouth and spoke one word: "Hi!" His voice was deep and made the ground tremble; Jay didn't expect anything unlike his booming voice.

"So we're going to ride on him to get to Dew Island?" Plusle asked.

"Yep! He's a great ferry. Sometimes we call him the 'S.S. Wailord'. I mean, just look at him! He's great at doing what he does," Wingull chirruped.

"You'll have a safe journey on him. There's plenty of room to stretch and roam around if your legs get cramped. Plus, he's very fast; I'm sure he'll get you there in less than two hours!" Chespin added.

"Are you calling me fat?" Wailord asked.

Chespin chuckled nervously. "Oh, that isn't what I meant at all! I was just saying that you're… um… ahem. Moving on!" From then on, Chespin didn't meet Wailord's beady black eyes.

"How will we get up there?" Aria asked.

"Just climb up Wailord's tail, and when you reach his back, feel free to make yourselves comfortable," Wingull explained.

Wailord began to slowly turn around so his tail faced the explorers. He lowered it so it made a sort of ramp. "Climb on, guys!" he bellowed.

Jay glanced at Chespin and Wingull, who were smiling encouragingly. "C'mon! Hop on. There's plenty of room for everyone!" the seagull said.

"Thanks, you guys! I don't know how we could've gotten across the ocean without Wailord here…" Jay said.

"It's our pleasure!" Wailord said jovially.

"Last one to the top is a rotten egg!" Plusle said happily.

"Yeah!" Aria cried.

Jay charged to Wailord's tail and jumped on it. He was surprised to find that it was as sturdy as the ground he had just left; it was like he was walking across a strong blue bridge. He struggled a little bit as he reached Wailord's back, but with a little help from Aria, he was hoisted onto the large whale's back.

He grabbed Aria by the tail, and despite her violent protests and thrashing, he managed to pull her up. Altaria fluttered up with Whimsicott following behind; the cotton ball seemed to take on an almost weightless quality as she floated up his tail.

Magby scrambled up with a bit of effort; he was trying to outrun Plusle and was only barely doing so. Krokorok rode up on Flygon's back, and as the green dragon perched on Wailord's blubber, Krokorok stepped off and gave Jay a sour look.

"Are you all up there? All comfortable and stuff?" Chespin's voice was barely audible. The two Pokémon were tiny dots on the beach, almost indistinguishable from the tiny grains.

"Yep!" Flygon called down.

"Good!" Wingull cried.

"Well, I guess it's time to shove off… See you guys later!" Chespin yelled.

"See you soon, friends!" Wailord thundered.

Jay gave one last jovial wave at Wingull and Chespin, and with that farewell, Wailord began to swim forward into the ocean of blue.

Wailord swam forward with a gentle rocking motion. Twenty feet below, Jay could see his fins flapping as he tread water. His pace was slow but steady, and in only a few minutes, the beach was lost in the distance.

Ocean surrounded the explorers. Jay felt a gentle tug in his gut, and even though it was dizzying looking down at the ocean, he found himself at ease as he watched the waves break ahead.

After a few minutes, idle chatter began to break out. Flygon and Krokorok conversed in hushed undertones, and Magby began to talk with Team Fluffy. Aria scooted closer to Jay and smiled.

"Ah, the open ocean! Wonderful place, isn't it?" she asked.

"Yeah… Really pretty," Jay mumbled distractedly. He was busy staring forward at the crystalline waves; the gentle bob made his stomach sway, but he didn't feel sick at all.

"Hey… you okay? You seem to be a bit distracted," Aria questioned.

"Eh… just thinking." It was the truth; Jay had a lot on his mind. He felt like he should ask Aria, as she seemed to know a lot about the world of Pokémon… but he figured it was a rather insensitive question. He kept his mouth shut.

However, Aria didn't seem to take that for an answer. "About what?" she pressed.

"Oh, I was just wondering… it's a silly thing, really. Why is it that not many Pokémon have names?" Jay asked, finally conceding to Aria's inquisition.

It was just as he feared—Aria didn't respond right away. Her face relaxed, and he could tell from the trembling frown on her face that it he had asked a touchy topic. He didn't understand how he could read his partner's expression just by staring into her squinty eyes, but he could see a certain sadness in her pupils.

"I'm sorry. Is that a bad question?" Jay apologized.

"It's sad, really," Aria replied.

"What's sad?" Jay pressured.

"Some Pokémon… they never got names," Aria continued cautiously.

"What do you mean by that?" Jay asked.

"Their parents weren't around to give them names."

Jay felt a pang in his heart as Aria continued.

"I don't want to get into the nitty-gritty details about it, but when eggs are laid, more often than not, the parents abandon it. Either that, or the egg's taken away from them, or they're killed before the egg hatches…" Aria didn't seem to hold any emotion in her words—it was like she was reciting from a script. That just made it all the more heartbreaking.

"But… you have a name, right? So that means you have parents…" Jay asked.

"Yeah," Aria said shortly. "When I was born, they gave me my name… Aria. I guess they thought I'd grow up to be some musical prodigy or something… and I can sing pretty well."

"Do you ever miss your parents?"

"I miss them more than ever now."

"Well, why don't you go visit them?"

"Are you saying you want me to jump off Wailord?"

It took a moment for her last sentence to sink in, but when her words finally did break through, Jay felt worse than ever.

I have parents, or at least someone to watch over me… even if I can't remember their names, I know I have them… but Aria… aw man…

"I'm so sorry…" Jay mused.

"That makes two of us. You can't remember your parents, and I…" Aria looked down at Wailord's blubber and sighed.

"I-I didn't mean to bring up such a painful subject…" Jay apologized. And he truly meant it—if he had known better, he never would've asked her such a question.

"It's okay, because I know they're not suffering… Plus, I have a family. You. You're like a brother to me. Sort of annoying, but still… You and Flygon and Altaria and—and even Krokorok. He may be all big and scary and stuff, but I'm sure he's a real softie at heart," Aria said quickly.

Jay felt something warm flutter in him as she said he was family. He had sort of considered the guild as his "other family"—the way they supported him during his times of trouble made him feel at home. But he had never thought Aria would consider him family, especially considering his up-and-down personality…

"Thanks," Jay said.

"No, thank you for being here for me. Even if I can be a bit weird." She smiled.

"I was just thinking the same thing!" Jay said.

"See? When you're family, you can read each other's minds!" Aria said. Her usual chipper attitude had returned. Jay laughed along with her, and he felt much better about it all.

Once the laughter died down, Aria added one more thing. "About the whole 'name' thing? I think some Pokémon just choose not to use their given names. You know the purple Kecleon? I heard his name is actually Charles… no wonder he doesn't use his real name!" She giggled again as she finished her sentence.

Jay laughed once more as he imagined it: walking up to the purple Kecleon and referring to him as "Charles". He found it funnier that he should have.

"Ah… It feels good to laugh." Aria sighed. "I wish I could laugh more often…"

"Well, they say laughter is the best medicine," Jay pointed out.

"You're absolutely right…"

After this, Aria simply stared off into the distance. A strange, lost look adorned her face, but it wasn't one of sadness or fear—Jay could see a hint of a smile.

About half an hour passed before anything of note happened.

During this time, the sun reached the middle of the sky. It blazed bright in the azure heavens, making Jay sweat. There were no clouds to be seen, no hope of any sort of shade. The ocean stretched out in all directions, and if he didn't know any better, he would've sworn that they had just been treading the same water for the past few hours.

Chatting was idle; sometimes, someone would make a comment about the ocean or ask when they were going to arrive. Wailord just gave the same vague answer: "Sometime today." Although he did like the beauty of the endless waves, Jay was eager for some sort of change.

He fished out an apple from his bag and nonchalantly chewed it. He wanted at least something to do; Aria was curled up next to him, fast asleep, and everyone else looked like they were about to nod off too.

Even Magby and Plusle had tired out—for almost the entire journey, they had been chasing each other around like playful kindergarteners. Now, there was just the occasional low-energy pursuit that was over quickly.

After one such chase, Magby settled down with Plusle, giggling excitedly. He caught Jay's eye and grinned, waving.

"Hey!" The Totodile could hear Magby speaking from several yards away. "I should bring Jay over here! He's a really cool guy, and I want you to get to know him better. Whaddya say?" he asked.

"That'd be great! I was thinking the same thing. I mean, I barely know him, and he's been here for two whole weeks!" Plusle replied.

Magby turned to Jay and gestured for him to join them. He walked over to the youngsters on shaky footing.

He sat down next to Magby and smiled, trying not to look threatening with his massive chompers. "Hey! Thanks for inviting me over here," he said casually.

"No problem! I figured now was a good time to get to know Plusle. She's nice," Magby said.

"Why, thank you! I never thought you of all people would compliment me!" Plusle said, looking honestly flattered. "I mean… weren't you trying to push me down just a second ago? That's really mean, you know!"

Magby turned to Jay and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, she's a bit childish, just like me…" he said sheepishly.

"I heard that!" Plusle called.

"Honestly, I think she has a bit of a… crush on me," Magby whispered.

"I-I heard that too! And I don't like him!" Plusle stammered. Jay couldn't help but notice her cheeks had a tinge of red. Her shifty eyes didn't do much in her favor either.

"Good luck, man. I don't have any experience with relationships or anything… but I'd say you're gonna need it," Jay said, patting him on the back.

"Shut up!" Plusle cried. "I don't like him, and he doesn't like me—at least, I hope he doesn't!"

Jay guffawed. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna tell anyone else."

Plusle looked down and trembled in anger. Meanwhile, Magby continued talking to Jay.

"She's really good at doing her job, though. Even though she's a bit silly, she's a great guard!" The Fire type turned to the blushing Plusle and smiled. "Hey! Why don't you tell Jay about that one time you kept a giant Ursaring at bay?"

Plusle looked up and smiled, her face returning to its normal color. "Ah… Well, I don't know who he was or where he came from, but a few months ago, there was this giant Ursaring… big, scary guy, he was. He wanted to get in, but he wouldn't tell us why. So of course, me and my bro were suspicious," she said.

"I could see why," Jay noted. When she said "Ursaring", his mind told him what it looked like: a giant brown bear with a yellow ring on its chest. It had narrow eyes and an elongated snout full of sharp white teeth. Even the mental image was enough to give him the chills.

"We didn't want to let him in until he let us know who he was and why he wanted to enter. And eventually, he snapped. He went crazy and started yelling obscenities—we figured he was a robber or something, and he was very kind to let us know that was exactly the case. Pretty stupid on his part," Plusle said.

"Tell him what happened next! It's the best part!" Magby pressured.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm getting there!" Plusle sighed in annoyance. She cleared her throat and continued her tale. "Well, we were going to get the Guildmaster, but with that giant bear raging and screaming, we figured it wouldn't be a good idea. But then we remembered… there was nowhere in our job description that said we couldn't subdue threatening Pokémon!"

"So you went in and fought that Ursaring? Just you and Minun against a raging bear?!" Jay cried. Plusle certainly didn't look like the type to rush into battle.

"Sort of." Plusle stood up and stretched her arms and legs. "We gave him a nice Thunder Wave attack; that paralyzed him for a while. I kept an eye on him while Minun went to go get the Guildmaster. But before they could come up and apprehend him, Ursaring got over his paralysis. He was really scary—had terrible breath, you know. He was about to make a meal out of me, but then, I gave him a big ol' Thunderbolt! That stopped him nice and good!" Plusle said proudly.

"BOOM! I heard it all the way from the second story! I was scared, but then I realized, it was just her doing her job! It was like—Bam! Crack! Yahoo!" Magby said passionately.

He waved his arms about as he hooted these words. Jay saw him accidentally hit Plusle in the side several times. He didn't notice this immediately, and it wasn't until the last word that it happened.

Plusle at first seemed mildly annoyed, but when he said the last word, he accidentally pushed her to the right. As luck would have it, she was right by the edge of Wailord.

She lost her footing and stumbled, yelping in fear and shock. She waved her arms around and hopped on one foot, trying to regain her balance. She stepped back, and before she could even gasp in surprise, she fell down, coursing towards the choppy sea.

Plusle screamed, and as she fell further down, her scream grew more distant until it was silenced by a distant splash.

Magby stepped back from Wailord, inhaling sharply and glancing frantically around. His eyes widened in fear, and he opened his mouth to scream her name.

"PLUSLE!" he screeched.

By now, everyone had realized that Plusle was gone, and panic ensued.

Aria had woken up and had taken to Jay's side, her ears pointed straight up. Krokorok's jaw had dropped open, revealing his yellowed teeth. Flygon was frantically flying around, trying to keep the panic in check, but her efforts were futile— her words were drowned out by screams and panicked shouts.

Magby continued to scream her name, but each time he did, his voice grew quieter and quieter until he was whispering her name. "Plusle…" he breathed.

Jay was not surprised to see Magby had tears in his eyes.

Seeing his friend's damp eyes ignited a passion within him. He couldn't stand to see his friend sad while another Pokémon flailed hopelessly in the water. At that moment, he made a split-second decision that could save him and Plusle—or kill them both.

"I'll be right back," Jay whispered to Aria.

"Jay? Where are you going?" Aria asked.

"You said I could breathe underwater? Well… I'm gonna put that theory to the test."

Jay took a deep breath and approached the edge of Wailord. He looked down at the thrashing waves below and could barely see Plusle floundering about. He glanced once more at his friends, and before he could lose his nerve, he jumped off Wailord and began coursing towards the churning ocean below.

XxX

Gotta love the ol' cliffhanger!

That's one of the questions I've always had: why is it that the hero and partner are the only ones to have names? In the games, I guess it's just so they could differentiate the two from normal Pokemon, but... it doesn't make much sense if you look at it from a Pokemon's point of view. It's like... if everyone except for you was called "Human". That'd be more than a little weird, huh?

See? This is why I shouldn't stay up until ten o'clock writing stories. I tend to get a little loopy and go off on random tangents that no one's gonna read anyway...

Anyway, I hope you like you like this chapter. Don't forget to review! :)