Boarding the SS. Anne

"Alright, is everyone about ready?" Professor Oak asked as we entered Cerise lab.

"Yep!" I answered as the girls and I pointed to our bags.

We were all preparing to board the SS. Anne now that it had arrived in Vermillion city, as every single one of us 'mysteriously' managed to get tickets.

The girls and I got ours through the League since Lance knew we, mostly I, needed to be present when Team Rocket attacked. Professor Oak, Daisy and Gary all obtained their tickets themselves with their wealth, while Ash, Tracey, Bruce and Jackie all got theirs through 'random' people giving their own tickets away. Goh and Chloe meanwhile managed to get their own tickets from professor Cerise, who would be staying behind alongside his wife, Talia.

Speaking of Goh and Chloe...

The former had agreed, partially at the urging of professor Cerise, to join Ash and Tracey on their journey in order to see more of the world and work towards capturing Mew, even after what happened during our guys day. Speaking of, Goh had barely spoke two words to me since then, though he did manage to throw dirty looks in my direction every chance he got.

Chloe on the other hand, decided to join the girls and I after numerous days of deliberation.... In other words I fucked her hard several times a day for the last several days until she decided to go with us.

"Oh! I can't believe my little girl is about to go on her very own journey!" Talia declared with all of the emotion and dramatics only a mother could muster.

"Mom..." Chloe groaned as her mother wrapped her into a hug.

"Indeed. It seems like just yesterday you were just a little girl. But now you're a young woman, taking your first step out into the world." Professor Cerise said as he looked down at her with pride in his eyes.

Of course, I had heard him discussing with Goh and Chloe how he would be sponsoring the two of them in the same way professor Oak had sponsered Gary, Ash and I. He had even offered them both their own starter pokemon from the Kantonian trio, but both ended up refusing. Goh because he was still fixated on Mew being his first pokemon, and Chloe because a different pokemon had decided to be her first one instead.

"Yamp! Yamp!"

The little Yamper, which was apparently from Galar, ran in circles around Chloe's legs excitedly at the prospect of going on a journey.

"Hey sis, does this mean I get your room now?" Asked Parker, Chloe's younger brother.

"NO!" Chloe denied with all of her being, despite the fact that she had already taken the spare bedroom in my house.

"Is there anything we're forgetting?" Professor Oak asked one last time as he looked out at all of us. And as if on cue, two figures materialized out of thin air in front of Lucario and I.

"How cruel to leave us behind." A voice said inside my head, along with everyone elses, courtesy of the taller figure, Gardevoir.

"Me.....go...!" Said another voice, however I'm pretty sure it was projected inside my head in particular from the second figure, a tiny Ralts. The Ralts then used Teleport again to appear while sitting on my shoulder.

"Are the two of you sure though? We can send you both back Hoenn if you want." I offered to them.

"Stay....!" Ralts said while clinging to my hair.

"Indeed. We both wish to stay." Gardevoir said with a hint of amusement in her telepathic voice, before it was replaced by venom. "Besides, there is nothing for us to return to anyways. Especially since my mate abandoned us when we were attacked by those humans, leaving us to be captured."

Though she had mentioned so in the past few days, I still wanted to hear the full story of that since Gardevoir usually mated with Gallade. And Gallade traded their fairy typing for a fighting type upon their final evolution, making me wonder why one would run away when his mate and daughter were being attacked.

"Well, if you insist." I finally relented, pulling out two pokeballs that I thought would be more appropriate for them, premiere balls.

I tapped the first one to Ralts, sucking her inside before it instantly dinged to signify capture, before doing the same with Gardevoir. A moment later I let both of them out before using my pokedex to register Ralts as one of my breeder pokemon. When she saw what I was doing, Gardevoir then said with humor,

"Master, if you intend to breed with my daughter, I only ask that you at least wait until she had evolved."

I deadpanned at Gardevoir while the girls around me snickered, finding her comment funny.

"I'm not even going to justify that with a response." I said while shaking my head, making Ralts hold on tighter so she didn't fall off.

I then said to the professor, "When Gardevoir isn't with me, do you think its possible to send her to my mom's to stay? I did promise to catch a pokemon that would keep her company, and I think Gardevoir would be a good choice due to her Telepathy."

"I think that might be doable, despite how much I would LOVE to have a pokemon that was able to translate at the lab with me." Professor Oak said while looking at Gardevoir longingly. Telepathy was an incredibly rare ability for any pokemon to have, even amongst psychic types.

"So I will not always stay with master?" Gardevoir asked with sad tones, though I noticed she was looking specifically at Lucario.

"Nope. That was why I registered Ralts as a breeder pokemon, so that I wouldn't need to send her back and forth. Plus I plan to have her help me and Joy take care of my pokemon to an extent, so she would be like my assistant along with a battler." I explained, patting Ralts on the head as I did so.

"Stay...!" Ralts said once again, making me smile from how excited she sounded.

"Alright, I think we've procrastinated long enough! Lets go before they leave us behind!" Misty declared while taking the lead, obviously the most excited that we were going on a cruise ship.

We ended up following the throngs of people all throughout the city as they too rushed to see the massive ocean liner, despite the fact that the majority of them would not be boarding. This was mostly because of how exciting it was to see the SS. Anne, the largest and most luxurious ocean liner in the world, especially after hearing about Surge and Team Rocket nearly non-stop for almost a week.

"Pardon us!" Professor Oak called out as we pushed our way through the crowds of people, trying to get to the boarding lane.

On the other end of the ship were those who were disembarking, either because their destination was Kanto to begin with, or because they were merely seeing the sights the city they were stopped in had to offer.

Either way, as they got off the SS. Anne, we were getting onto it.

With professor Oak leading the way, we were able to skip most of the waiting in line due to the fact that several amongst us had VIP passes. As for those who didn't, no one was willing to say they couldn't board alongside us with the rest of us here.

"Amazing..." Joy uttered in awe as we stepped on board for the first time, her attention turning every which way as she seemingly tried to take in everything at once.

She wasn't the only one though, as each of us were looking in every direction while approaching the reception desk.

"I'll take care of this." The professor said while accepting our passes and approaching them, allowing us to look around.

"There we go." He said after a few minutes, calling us all back over.

"Ace, Misty, May, Dawn and Joy are in the executive suite...." He said while handing us our keys, one for each of us. I swore there was a grimace in his expression as he did so.

After us were the rooms for Ash and Tracey, Goh and Chloe, and the professor along with Daisy and Gary. Of course, Daisy and Chloe shifted closer to the girls and I to indicate their intention to bunk with us. I just hoped the bed was big enough...

After the professor Bruce and Jackie went to settle their own rooming situation.

Once the keys were distributed we separated to find all of our rooms, with Ash, Tracey, Goh, Bruce and Jackie all heading to the lower levels since their rooms weren't near ours. Professor Oak and Gary however accompanied the rest of us since they were also in an executive suite, which were on the upper floors.

"Here we are." I said while opening the door with our keycard, to reveal the room we'll be staying in for the forseeable future.

Naturally the entire room was ocean themed, with most of the furniture being modeled after coral while a painting of the seafloor hung over the bed. We even had our own little kitchen, a balcony, living area, and television. Then there was the bathroom, which wasn't as good as the one in my home, but had a large bathtub, walk-in shower that could fit all of us, and a vanity area that the girls could pretty themselves up at.

"It's amazing!" Dawn declared happily as she and the others started to explore.

"I'm absolutely in love with this decor!" Misty squealed as she gushed over everything.

"The sea breeze feels heavenly..." May said as she stood out on the balcony.

"We should definitely leave the windows open when we go to bed!" Daisy stated as the wind blew through her hair.

"I wonder if we would be able to let our pokemon out anywhere?" Joy uttered quietly.

"I just hope there's enough room for all of us..." Chloe said as she looked at the bed.

"If not then we can just go in a rotation. Or I can just take the floor." I offered, which earned me numerous pointed looks.

"Or, we can just unfold the couch into a bed as well." May said while showing me it did just that.

"Huh..." I uttered in surprise, making the girls giggle.

After exploring the room we quickly set up our amenities and such in the bathroom, while also transferring some of the food from our bags to the kitchen in case we decided to make something. Though I was more partial to just using the twenty-four hour room service while were here.

"Alright! Now that we've settled somewhat, I'm going to go meet with my dad!" May declared, departing suddenly as she went to go meet with professor Birch, who was on the ship somewhere with his wife last I heard.

"Same here. I'm going to go check in with professor Rowen." Dawn followed up, also departing.

"I hate to say this, but I REALLY want to check out some of the gift shops and stuff here." Daisy said apologetically.

"And I need to go check in with the Nurses Joy that are stationed here." Joy said, and the two of them departed as well.

"I guess that just leaves the three of us." I said, looking at Misty and Chloe.

"That just means you get to explore the ship with me buster!" Misty said as she hooked my arm with hers, and dragged me out of the room to explore. With Chloe following along behind us.

No sooner than when we left the housing area and stepped out onto the deck, did a voice call out, "Are you Ace Ketchum of Pallet town?"

"Depends on who's asking?" I replied while turning to look at the speaker.

"Someone who wants to challenge you to a pokemon battle!" She declared while holding up a pokeball.

I looked the woman up and down to take in her appearance, her tanned skin, black hair tied into a ponytail with a few strands of green in her bangs, orange eyes and a splash of freckles on her face, coupled with some casual clothes like she was on vacation.

"Alright then." I said, smirking at the thought of taking down some scrub right off the bat.

...

"This will be a one on one match between Nemona of Cabo Poco in Paldea, and Ace Ketchum of Pallet town in Kanto!" Declared an official as the girl, Nemona, and I took our positions on either side of the arena that sat at the bow of the ship.

I noticed a crowd gathering as we prepared to do battle, though I forced myself to ignore them as I grabbed the pokeball I planned to use against her.

"Battlers ready?"

We both nodded.

"GO!"

"Go Charizard!"

"Go Lycanroc!"

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

"Lyyyyyy..."

Charizard greeted the battle full of piss and vinegar as he roared and spewed a gout of fire into the air, making quite a few people recoil despite not being in the slightest bit of danger.

Nemona's pokemon on the other hand, a brown wolf-like pokemon with a mane behind its head, growled lowly as it got into a position like it was about to pounce.

"Lycanroc, use Accelrock." Nemona casualyl and confidently ordered.

'Use Dragon-'

"!!!"

I had just been about to give Charizard his first order telepathically, when suddenly Lycanroc was right in front of him.

"ROC!"

"ROC!"

"ROC!"

Before either Charizard or I had time to register what was happening, Lycanroc slammed into him with enough force to send Charizard flying backwards, before appearing behind him and hitting again while turning his momentum against him, and then doing it a third time.

"Shit!" I swore, struggling to keep up with the speed of Lycanroc.

Never before had I seen such a fast pokemon, thinking and moving even faster than I could react to. As soon as I could read it's intent through it's aura, it was already hitting Charizard yet again.

'Use Steel Wing to protect yourself!' I commanded Charizard telepathically.

"CHAR!" He roared in frustration as he righted himself and his wings began to glow with steel type energy.

*CLANG!*

The sound of Lycanroc's claws hitting the steel-inforced wings echoed across the deck of the SS. Anne, making me flinch slightly even before I saw the result.

Despite Steel Wing being a steel type move, and Accelrock, along with Lycanroc itself, being a rock type move, I could see numerous cracks spreading across Charizard's wing from where Lycanroc hit it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I uttered in disbelief.

"No way! You actually managed to stop Lycanroc's attack?!?" Nemona exclaimed with just as much disbelief as me, though for some reason she appeared extremely happy about it.

For some reason, that pissed me off.

'Flamethrower.'

"CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

Charizard was only too eager to comply as he proceeded to expel a torrent of the hottest flames he was capable of producing right in Lycanroc's face.

"Alright! That's what I like to see!" Nemona cried out.

What the hell was wrong with this girl?

"Lycanroc, use Stone Edge!"

"LYCAAAAAN!"

Crying out as if it were perfectly fine from within the flames, the next thing I knew sharpened rocks shot up out of the ground all over the arena while being centered around Charizard, dealing significant damage to him while also trapping him inside of them.

"Break out." I said 'calmly', to which Charizard responded by using both Iron Tail and Flamethrower to either smash or flat out melt any and all of the rocks that were in his path.

As a result, he was greeted immediately by Lycanroc with another Accelrock.

But this time we saw it coming, as Charizard made one final swing with Iron Tail, hitting Lycanroc squarely to send it flying.

We all watched as Lycanroc flew to the other end of the arena, and skipped a few times on the ground before using it's claws to bring itself to a halt. The damn thing appeared a little scuffed from the Flamethrower to the face earlier, but I could tell the Iron Tail did a fair amount of damage.

The kicker was, Lycanroc wasn't showing the slightest bit of it as it prepared to attack yet again. I wanted to call Tauros-shit at that, since Charizard's Iron Tail was strong enough to send Golem flying like a baseball, and even make Onix reel from one hit.

"Amazing! Lets kick this up a notch Lycanroc! Drill Run!"

"Roc!"

Despite not increasing it's speed with Accelrock, Lycanroc semed to turn into a blur as it shot across the arena right at Charizard, fast enough that he would never be able to fly away in time with the power it had in it's legs.

'Flamethrower and Iron Claw!' I quickly ordered him telepathically, to which Charizard expelled ANOTHER torrent of flame from his mouth at Lycanroc, and just barely managed to raise his claws up in time before it hit him while spinning.

*CRASH!*

All of the remaining stone spires from Stone Edge were shattered as Lycanroc hit Charizard, sending both of them flying through them while also creating a massive cloud of dust that prevented anyone from seeing what had happened.

The suspense was palpable as everyone waited to see the result, though I could already tell what it was. As such, I was unsurprised when the dust cleared to reveal Charizard, lying unconscious on the ground while Lycanroc stood over him victoriously.

"Charizard is unable to battle! Lycanroc and Nemona win!" The official declared, announcing my first official loss since the day I received my League license.