And so, the story continues

Prologue

The morning sun rises over the Resort Area, most of the vacationing inhabitants still fast asleep as it shines. The few locals of the luxurious vacation town were the ones who were waking up, and Chris Harper was no exception to that rule. Since moving in just a few months prior, the Trainer's Weekly magazine rookie of the year had hardly left the area, not even to battle to hone his skills. Considering that the gym leaders he had defeated had come looking for him, wanting to challenge him with considerably stronger teams than the ones they battled him with originally, leaving the area almost seemed pointless. His house had been redecorated to his liking, and he had purchased several acres of land around his house, with the intention of making habitats for his Pokémon to live in.

The woman lying nude in his bed was a huge help to this. The Champion of the Sinnoh League Cynthia had grown closer to her one time challenger, with her being by far Chris's most common visitor. She had helped him to remodel the house in a way where he could avoid taking a huge financial hit in the process. And when he had mentioned his plan on making habitats for his Pokémon to the parents of the deceased girl he grew close to in Jubilife City. They would be funding it, and Professor Rowan would oversee the expansion when Cynthia had her challengers.

At the start of his career at eighteen years old, Chris was a long way from home. Now at nineteen years old the location of home had changed, and Chris was going to be a long way from home once again. Having befriended a man with his own ship capable of sailing from Region to Region, Chris would be hitching a ride with this man as he said to the Hoenn Region. He had spent months planning the hunt for Rayquaza, and now it was time for that hunt to begin. His friend would bring him to a beach by a city called Petalburg, lower the ramp and allow Chris to walk his motorcycle onto the beaten path. From there, he'd start with an Petalburg's elderly gym leader, which felt as good a place as any to start.

As he quietly brushed his teeth, Chris saw Cynthia stirring awake behind him. After what she did to him last night, he had a strong suspicion what her first move was going to be, so he hurried up to finish swishing to toothpaste laced water in his mouth, and spit it into the sink. Sure enough, Cynthia gave him a smack on his ass afterwards. "Good morning, sweet boy." She said, before kissing him tenderly on the cheek. "You feel okay after last night?"

"I was." He said, the feeling of her spanking making him shift a little uncomfortably.

"Oh, sorry about that. It was a little harder than I intended."

"I'll have plenty of time to get over it on the boat ride."

"Off to Hoenn?" She asks, as she starts to softly rub his shoulders.

"Yes. Time to track down Rayquaza."

"I saw that your belt only had two spots occupied." Cynthia says.

"I'm curious to see if any Pokémon catch my eye while I'm there, so I'm only taking Hawke and Zapsquatch."

"I understand. Hoenn has a lot of Pokémon that can't be found in Sinnoh, not just Rayquaza." Cynthia pauses while Chris starts to brush his now shoulder-length hair, to prepare her own toothbrush. "Just be careful while you're there. There's talk about some gangs that are plotting something... grandiose."

"Can't be much more Grandiose than what Team Galactic wanted to do."

Chris stepped inside the shower afterwards, already done washing everything by the time Cynthia joined him in it. "Your turn." She told him as things started to get steamy. His friend was waiting for him in the Fight Area, which was not far away at all. The two lovers had plenty of time before Chris had to leave.

The time did come however, and fortunately Chris had packed everything into his Harley's saddle bags the day before. After eating breakfast, he was going to have to get going immediately. He put on a pair of blue jeans, a Megadeth T-shirt, and his leather jacket before sliding the trainer's belt through the loop of his jeans. Keeping everything else for when he actually mounted the bike, he stood at the front door with Cynthia. "Keep in touch with me." Cynthia starts. "I'd really like to hear about the process, since I've never hunted a legendary Pokémon before."

"Neither have I. If this woman at the Petalburg Gym doesn't know much, I might just be taking shots in the dark for a while."

"Perhaps. But I think your lead here is as good a first lead as any. Once the goal has been accomplished," She pauses, and gives Chris a kiss on the cheek. "Come back here and we'll celebrate." Chris catches a wink from her when she pulls back.

He smiles, as he has grown to enjoy both of Cynthia's ideas of "celebrating." He places his hand on her cheek, and kisses her lips. "Sounds good to me." He says, smiling back at her.

"Ride safe Chris. I'm gonna clean up the toys before the Professor gets here."

"Oh yeah, better get to that. He doesn't need to see any of that." He walks away from the door, Cynthia smiling and waving at him before he turns around to walk towards his bike. Once he's seated on it, Chris puts on his gloves and his sunglasses, kick starts the engine, and rides towards the long bridge on Route 230.

Chris's friend waited patiently for him to arrive, although considering he made it clear that he wanted to depart the Fight Area's port no later than ten in the morning, Chris was rather pushing it. The Harley he was waiting for pulled up five minutes before he was about to pull up his anchor, and by the looks of things any cargo was secured to the sides of the vehicle. As Chris slowly rode up the lowered ramp, he caught his friend shaking his head as he parked the bike in the designated area. "Bedding a Champion must be time consuming." His friend said with a hint of sarcasm.

"It certainly can be." Chris responded, as he tied down his Harley. He looked up to see his friend shaking his head with a slight frown. "Hey, I may have been pushing the time, but I made it Eleazar."

Eleazar's frown turns into a half smile. "Yeah, you did. Hope your ready, because we've got at least six hours worth of sea to sail."

Chris takes a seat. "Then we best get to it then." The ship begins to move right when Chris is certain his bike will be secure. Heading up to join Eleazar at the controls afterwards, Chris takes a second to check his phone. It still has a signal. "How long until we're out of range for cell phone signal?"

"Not long at all." Eleazar responds. "If you need to make a call, I'd do it now and keep it short."

Chris nods his head, then moves away to keep his conversation private. Having not heard from his acquaintance from the International Police Force in a few months, Chris places a call to agent Looker. The phone rings four times, as Chris expects to be either directed to voicemail, or find out the hard way that Looker's number has been changed. But to his pleasant surprise, Looker does indeed answer. "Chris Harper. It's been some time."

"It has. I sent you a text about Danielle. She didn't happen to move to Sinnoh in the last six months, has she?"

"I've had someone staying up to date on such in the time since your last text. She isn't there. I'm sorry, young man."

"It's okay Looker. I'm actually leaving Sinnoh myself."

"Truly? To where are you bound?"

"I'm on a ship sailing for the Hoenn Region. If there's any chance that your coworkers could look into Hoenn..."

"Say no more, Chris. Your aid was invaluable in saving not just Sinnoh. I shall dedicate the time, and call you when I have the information you seek."

Chris nods. "Thank you." He then pauses to take a look back at the increasingly fading Battle Zone behind him. "I'm gonna lose signal soon, so I'll let you go for now. I'm sure you've got important work to get back to."

"Indeed I do. Bon Voyage, Mr. Harper." Chris hung up the phone, and returned to pass the time with Eleazar for the long trip through the oceans ahead.