14. Ethan and Kris

The air was filled with the smell of the ocean and nothing but sparkling blue waters below and the clear blue sky above. Robert was currently standing on the deck of a fancy looking yacht looking out at this view. This was the first time Robert had been on a yacht before and he was excited by the experience. The novelty soon wore off.

This was his third day at sea and Robert was bored out of his mind. There were four floors that he knew of, the bottom two floors were the living quarters, the third floor was not open to anyone yet. The fourth floor was split between an open deck at the front with a dining and kitchen at the back. Above the kitchen/dining was where the captain was, it had all the equipment to navigate and operate the ship. No one besides the ship staff was allowed up there. It was rumoured the captain was a strong trainer and even the inspectors behaved themselves on board.

"I knew you would be up here again." Robert turned his head to see Joel walking towards him. "Sigh, where else would I be. It's too boring here, nothing to do but eat, sleep and look at the same view. I thought there would at least be some Pokémon to see out here, then I find out that the inspectors are using their Pokémon to scare them off." Robert couldn't help but slump on the railing after he finished. He found out after the first day of seeing nothing that the inspectors that had water types were taking turns using their Pokémon to scare away any wild Pokémon, in case they attacked the ship.

He heard this was a pretty common practice when travelling by sea, especially in deeper waters like they were now. It made sense but he still felt incredibly disappointed. The only saving grace was that the inspectors had some impressive Pokémon, two in particular caught his eye. The first one was a Blastoise, this was the first region war Pokémon he had seen and true to its reputation it seemed quite fierce.

The second one was what especially caught his attention, a Milotic. At first, he was more interested in the Blastoise, it was everyone else's reaction to Milotic that got his attention. Very few knew what Pokémon it was. Robert knew Milotic was more on the rare side, he still found it odd so few would even know about it. the few who did know about it didn't seem to know much else besides what it was.

After asking Joel about it he found out that it wasn't just Milotic that was like this. Most Pokémon that needed special circumstances to evolve was very rare in this world. Pokémon like Sneasel and Rhydon that needed certain items to evolve was not common knowledge, those who did know liked to keep it to themselves.

Unfortunately, this was still nothing more than some noteworthy trivia to Robert and not enough to alleviate his boredom. Joel ginned a little seeing Robert so deflated. From what he saw of Robert so far he was rarely on the losing end of anything but it seems that he was easily bored. "Well, I've got some good news for you then. The level above our rooms that have been off-limits so far is about to be opened. according to the inspectors, it will keep us all entertained for the rest of the trip."

Robert immediately perked up and looked at Joel with star-filled eyes. "Really?! Why didn't you say so earlier, Let's go already." Before he finished speaking Robert was already running off to get there. Joel only chuckled a little in response and followed after.

On the third floor, there was already a crowd of people gathered. There wasn't much to this floor from what could be seen. There was a short corridor with a set of stairs at either end. In the middle of the corridor was a wide archway that led into a large room that resembled a waiting room. On either wall on the side of the room was a large monitor screen that were both off. At the other end of the room was a large doorway with a little pin pad beside it. there was a couple of inspectors standing by the door and most of the Junior league applicants were wandering around in the waiting room.

After Robert rushed in through the archway a few eyes glanced at him but not many paid too much attention. These kids were all talented trainers and none wanted to admit they were worse than the other. While Robert had defeated the kid with the Beedrill, in the end, he was only a lacky. The only reason he beat so many before was that his Beedrill was already fully evolved, so while he seemed strong now no one paid too much attention to it.

Most trainers who aimed for the Junior league had their Pokémon suppress their evolution. This wasn't difficult if the Pokémon itself was willing. The Junior League had many rare items that could be used to improve their Pokémon's potential so most would rather wait. Robert himself was keeping his Eevee from evolving. Without an everstone this did put a little strain on the Pokémon, this wasn't harmful in the short term but could be if delayed too long. Unfortunately, Magikarp was a bit dumb and couldn't intentionally delay its evolution.

Soon after Robert arrived Joel walked in. This time a lot of people took notice. With not much to do on the boat, the kids could only gossip about their soon to be rivals. They all soon learned about each other and certain well-known individuals. Joel was one of them. With the Junsar family behind him, there was little doubt about his ability. After Joel walked to Roberts side a few people even looked at Robert a little scornfully.

Robert cracked a little grin when he noticed, "hehe, looks like they still think that I am clinging on to your great name, young master Junsar." Joel's expression crumbled a little at Roberts sarcastic words. "I already tried explaining so many times that we are friends, they just don't believe me. Also, why is it that even when the words are nice it sounds so nasty from your mouth."

"eh, what do you ever mean young master Junsar, I am nothing but your loyal follower here to make you look good." Joel immediately felt his skin crawl, "how could you spout so much rubbish with such an innocent face. You would make a better acter than trainer I swear."

"ahahaha, that face was worth it. hahaha." Robert only stopped laughing after Joel's whole face started twitching. Robert put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, alright I had my fun. Just ignore all of them. The more you try to explain the more convinced of their own theories they will become." Joel could only sigh in resignation. He knew Robert was right, he just found it all ridiculous.

As they were talking someone walked out from the crowd towards the two boys, more specifically Joel. The boys soon noticed and stopped bickering and looked over to see Ethan heading their way. Ethan didn't even glance at Robert and stared down at Joel, "hmm you don't seem too impressive for someone from the Junsar family. You even lost to that snotty rich kid."

Joel quickly became stone-faced as soon as he saw Ethan walking over and his face didn't even twitch at his comment. "and why would I care about the opinion of someone who accepts handouts and can't be bothered to put in any real effort." Robert looked at these two as they continued to back and forth.

Turned out Ethan was an arrogant prick. From what Robert could tell Ethan had let his talents as a trainer get to his head and was incredibly arrogant. He even mentioned on numerous occasions that Prof. Elm had provided an item for his Poliwag when it evolved and now it was a Gold Phase talent Poliwhirl. The only people he would take the initiative to talk to was the rich kid Richard Caishen, Joel Junsar and the other trainer Prof. Elm recommended, Kris.

Kris was the only person he saw as a worthy "rival" and talked down to everyone else. Unfortunately because of the no battling rule, even Robert couldn't do anything about it even if he wanted to.

"Seriously Ethan, can you stop trying to annoy everyone possible. You're going to give Professor Elm a bad name at this rate." Robert couldn't help looking over with shining eyes when he heard this voice. The girl walking in had a red shirt with a white jacket over it and yellow shorts. Her hair was navy blue and tied in what looked like pigtails but they kinked upwards in the middle.

This was Kris. Unlike Ethan who seemed to enjoy letting people know how amazing he was, Kris was more reserved and avoided talking to people for the most part. Except for two people. The first was Ethan, Kris had a lot of respect for Prof. Elm and was worried Ethan's actions would make him look bad. As a result, she often played an unwilling mediator.

The second was Robert. Kris aspired to be a Pokémon researcher like Prof Elm one day. Most of her time was spent studying Pokémon and had little interest in socialising. One time Kris come to the deck for some fresh air, as Robert spent most of his time here he was also there. Robert excitedly walked over and started talking to Kris.

At first, Kris was annoyed but the more Robert talked the more amazed she became. This kid seemed to know more about some Pokémon than her! She was soon enthralled in the conversation and time seemed to disappear from them. Robert himself was relieved, he was already disappointed with Ethan, he didn't know if he could handle it if Kris was a letdown as well.