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C** hapter Two: "Bound for Petalburg"**

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Although not the biggest seafaring vessel in history, the S.S Arrow was still a big enough sea traversing ship to hold up to thirty to forty passengers. Thus, for those disciplined creatures who were allowed to do so by their trainers, there had been plenty of space for pokemon to explore during the course of the day. And as for exploring the said space of S.S Arrow, the mystery pokemon that Mordecai had released from the pokeball a moment ago and Loki now looked after was all for searching every nook, every crevice and every little bitty place she could manage to find. Without stumbling over her feet, anyhow, as the ship rocked steadily upon the waves every so often.

As Loki had come to know her during the course of the last seven days, the mystery pokemon that his master Mordecai had recently released onto the ship deck to stretch her legs was meant to be a gift tonight for his nephew in Petalburg, Antony. Before now, before she was being brought to Hoenn, she had been an injured, local pokemon of Kanto that'd been adopted by Mordecai during his career in the pokemon center in Cerulean City. She was a petite reptilian, dinosaur like creature with cyan-green skin, wide red eyes, along with what looked to be the closed bulb of a plant on her back.

Loki had learned enough about the bulbous mystery pokemon from his master for the last week to know that she was what was called a Bulbasaur. And my oh my, what a ball of energy she'd forever been since the day she'd been included into Loki's master's life. Even now, even when she didn't know where she was going or what she was doing, that didn't stop the young, excitable female Bulbasaur from sniffing every inch of the S.S Arrow's deck, from curiously licking a passenger's shoes every so often, from leaning precariously out over the side of the boat to smell the salt of the sea all around her.

"Hm, this is different. Yes, I like the smell of this. Ooh, blah, that doesn't taste very good." The Bulbasaur female muttered to herself all during her investigating, her nose literally pressed to the deck beneath her as she waddled along while people giggled at her eager if not adorable antics, "And what's with this ground moving all of the time underneath my feet? Last I knew, the ground didn't make me feel like I was going up and down like this... Nor did it make my stomach feel this tad bit queasy."

"That's because the last time you were let out of your pokeball, my dear girl, it was in the port city of Vermilion this morning. During then, you were on solid ground." Loki explained patiently, getting the curious grass pokemon's attention in turn, "However, now you are on the S.S Arrow. You're on one of the smoothest yet fastest boats of Kanto. Did you not hear anything sir Mordecai has said about it all today?"

"Oh, hey, I remember you. Hi there, uh, whoever you are!" Bulbasaur exclaimed happily at seeing Mightyena with her, not at all taking notice he'd been lecturing her a moment ago on where she was supposed to know they were, "Hm? What about sir who had to say what?"

"Honestly, girly, my master Mordecai went out of his way to adopt you back home at that Poke' Center in Cerulean a week ago... And you still haven't gotten around to remembering his name? Nor my own?" Loki sighed, rolling his magenta eyes in patience, "Do you even recall the day that my master found you hurt in the wild near Cerulean? Do you remember him healing you? Do you remember how you wouldn't let go from hugging his leg for the whole day afterward?"

"Hey, hey, hey, take it easy there, stripes." Bulbasaur bravely huffed back, looking a bit ruffled around the feathers at being talked down to, "It's only been a week. And yes, I remember all of that. I remember me saying to you that I wanted to stick around for some more fun. Well, I've come to learn that your master has an odd way of having fun, you know."

"How so?"

"How so?! I've been kept crammed in that pokeball during most every day since I met you guys! I mean, you get to stay out in the open whenever you wish, stripes. Me? Pft, I'm given intervals to stretch my legs. Then, as soon as I'm done stretching, it's not "let's get to know those buddies of mine who adopted me". Oh no, it's right back into the pokeball AGAIN! Without any say in the matter, I might add!"

"I... Alright, alright, yes, you're right. I understand. I'm sorry about my attitude." Loki admitted, knowing that the last week had probably been hard on Bulbasaur. She was to be Mordecai's nephew's gift for tonight. Although having proven to be a bit eccentric in the past, she was to hopefully be Antony's first pokemon. She was precious cargo. And as such, not having wanted her to be scuffed or anything, Mordecai had mostly kept her inside of her respective pokeball. "Listen, girl, my human master is Mordecai Cousiteau. During this last week, you've come to know him as the man who healed you in cerulean. As for me, my own name is Loki. Does that ring any bells?"

"Of course it does. And my name isn't girl, girly or gal. It's Solar. Or did you forget that your master gave me a name before I was locked away in that pokeball of a prison?" Bulbasaur, Solar, huffed heatedly.

"Ah... No, I did not forget."

"Hah! You're not a good liar, stripes - er, I mean Loki. Look at you getting impatient with me about not remembering personal things about you when you can't recall some stuff about me either!" Solar laughed jokingly, nudging guilty Loki in the side with her nose, "Anyway, buddy, let's get over all of this hostility we're showing each other. The last time you and I spoke this morning at the docks or whatever you called them, you seemed happier. You as well as master Mordecai seemed happier."

"That is because... my master has found a sense of peace at last. One that has very much eluded him for the past week since he received the bad news." Loki admitted, looking concerned over the thought of what his pokemon trainer would have to go through in Petalburg tonight, "Now, he's finally found the courage to face the future. He had to discover that courage, mind. He had no other option. A child's future depended on it."

"And this child whose future depends on sir Mordecai finding courage... That would be the boy, Antony, wouldn't it? He would be our master's nephew, right? The nephew who you and our master will want me to take care of soon, correct?" Solar wondered curiously, starting to energetically explore the deck of the S.S Arrow again with her somewhat baffled Mightyena companion trailing her, "Oh, don't look so surprised that I know something that's been discussed all during this trip to Hoenn, Loki. I may be fast with everything but that doesn't mean that I'm stupid. I admit, it just takes me a few minutes to slow down my body for my brain to catch up with it. At this very moment, though, I do remember us being at the docks in Vermilion this morning. I also remember the reason for why you, me and sir Mordecai are here on this vessel sailing across the ocean at this very moment."

"Do you now?"

"DUH! You haven't been the only one listening to sir Mordecai talk about the loss of his brother and his brother's wife. I may have been in a pokeball most of the time for the last seven days but I could still hear our master waking up crying in the middle of the night. The only problem was that I couldn't do anything..."

"You couldn't?"

"Well, maybe I could have tried something. Yet, knowing me, I probably would have screwed up and made things worse for our master. I mean, c'mon, Loki, I haven't been with sir Mordecai for more than this week. I didn't know what to do every time our human woke up yelling about nightmares.... Not like how you did, anyway. I didn't imagine me cuddling up with him would make things better. I'm only me, not a miracle worker."

"Now that's not true, Solar. Yes, you're young. You're still inexperienced in the ways of working alongside humans and will be for some time to come. Nevertheless, as I came to realize during my twenty years of being at his side, sir Mordecai has forever appreciated me for whatever I did for him. By just being myself, I have been a miracle worker for him on numerous occasions. During this last week, my simple "cuddle" - as you called it - kept our master on his feet. And when you are loyal to my master's nephew, Solar, when you become young Antony's pokemon... you will learn of what I speak. You will learn to never be afraid of being yourself."

"I won't? I'll be a miracle worker for just being myself? How on earth does that work?"

"It just does. Since the beginning of time, since the first of their kind befriended the first of us, an unfaltering relationship of unity was struck between humanity and pokemon alike that has lasted to this very day. I cannot exactly say what it was like for the first pokemon to aid the first human. Yet, having helped my master for the past twenty years, I do believe I can guess that the friendship they shared must have been tremendous."

"And despite the fact that I've been kept crammed in a pokeball or whatnot for the last seven days, seeing as I've come to like our master and he's come to like me in so little time... Will I make such a tremendous friendship with his nephew sometime in the future? Just like the one you have with sir Mordecai, Loki?"

"I wouldn't doubt it. I have met young master Antony only several times in the past. Every time I met him, mind, left me with a grand memory to remember him by."

"So, this Antony boy will be a good trainer to me?"

"Oh yes, Solar. Yes, yes and yes. If I remember him correctly, which I do, and even after all he has been through these last seven days, Antony will be thrilled to receive you tonight. During the days to come, he will be more than a good trainer to you. Not only that, he will be family to you in due time."

"He will be family? Just like how master Mordecai is more than a friend to you, Loki, right?"

"Correct. If he were a Mightyena, Solar, master Mordecai would be like a brother to me. Not that he isn't now as a human. Still, he is someone that I couldn't dream of losing. I would rather give my life for his."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Solar jumped in, her eyes growing wide at the mention of Loki sacrificing himself for Mordecai if it needed to ever be done, "Maybe you would do that, bub. Still, let's pump the brakes here, okay? I've only begun to meet your family. I haven't even seen this Antony kid yet and we're talking about giving lives for lives here?"

"My apologies, Solar. You are right. I should not have brought up such talk with one so young as yourself." Loki chuckled, smiling a wide smile at his grass type companion, "

At the end of this exchange of words, there was a pause of silence where Solar actually hesitated at what she was doing. Instead of behave like the youngling she was in years, she perhaps figured out something more important to focus on rather than her surroundings demanded her attention. For next moment, she seemed to mature in a sense. She turned back to her Mightyena fellow, approached him, sat down, then began to discuss with him a conversation that'd been repeated by Mordecai so many times during the past seven days of journeying from Kanto to here.

"Okay look, Loki, I know that I can't even begin to understand what it means to be an appropriate pokemon under a trainer. Where you've had so many years to learn the trade of having a poke' trainer, I only just met you last week. I'm still a bit wild here. I can still feel the wilderness in my heart. Yet, I'm not trying to say that I'm utterly ignorant of humans. I've listened to sir Mordecai's troubles as much as you have each night before bed. And... I'm very sorry for him."

At this, Solar lowered her eyes to the ship deck where she looked very saddened as she added, "I'm sorry that his brother and his brother's wife died. I'm sorry to hear that their son, Antony, who will soon be my master, will be an orphan because his folks were... hit by something called a car?"

"Yes. That's about right." Loki admitted, nodding his head while also feeling pretty sad over what was about to be clarified between them, "You see, Solar, last week on the 8th, my master's brother and his wife had been out enjoying the night. Then, as they had been driving back home happy, well... another human had driven into their car with his at full speed."

"Why? Why did another human hit them?"

"It was and it wasn't an accident. The driver of the car who hit sir Mordecai's brother... he was drunk."

"Drunk?"

"Let me put that differently; the man who drove into and killed our master's loved ones hadn't been in his right mind at the moment. He shouldn't have been behind the wheel of the car or anywhere near a vehicle that night. And because he was allowed to drive something on four wheels while drunk, my master's life will be forever scarred."

"And a car is like something on wheels then, right? It's something made of steel and runs off of some kind of energy?"

"I can't really explain what a car is at the moment, Solar. It's a human thing. Trust me though, the world is full of cars. You'll come to know them well enough during your lifetime like I have. All that you need to know is that cars travel fast at times. And when my master's brother's car was hit by another human's car on the eighth... the car that had hit the other car had been going much too fast. For everyone was killed in the resulting crash afterwards."

"Hold on, everyone was killed?"

"Well, no, I shouldn't say that. As you've come to know this past week, there was one survivor who made it out of the car crash; our master's nephew, Antony. He's just a little boy though... so I can't say that this whole incident hasn't had a terrible effect on his mentality. I hope he's alright. I hope he'll be alright growing up in the care of sir Mordecai. I hope you will be able to bring back a spark of happiness into his heart tonight, Solar, when you become his first official pokemon."

"Well, there's only one way to find out if all these hopes you as well as master Mordecai have stacked up during this last week will be fulfilled tonight, correct?" Solar put in, suddenly going from looking somber to happy in a second, "And that'll be when we get to the region called Hoenn! Which will be shortly, right?"

"Yes. That's right." Loki agreed, smiling at his young, eager, grass comrade's sudden attitude adjustment in facing what would be the unknown future, "Many things will come to a close on this night. Hopefully, most if not all of those many things will end successfully."

"Yeah. Hopefully my young master Antony will be happy to see your master Mordecai coming to get him. Hopefully I'll be able to make my trainer happy once more. Hopefully nobody drunk will try to run us over when we get off of this ship sometime soon." Solar began saying, checking things off of her mental list of things that would hopefully not happen tonight while Loki began leading the way back towards their human trainer, "In general, hopefully everything we hope will end well tonight... will end well."

"That's what has been hoped for since the start of this journey to Hoenn. And looking back on the seven days that led up to this moment, seeing how much progress this group of ours has made during that time, I do believe in the idea that tonight will be the beginning of not something vile but of something very good. Although young, young master Antony has proven in the past to be a very capable human boy. After tonight, with sir Mordecai guiding him, Antony will go on to become a proper adult."

"You mean with me, you and sir Mordecai guiding him."

"Yes, yes, yes. Of course. That is what I mean. Thank you." Loki chuckled as Solar playfully bumped him in the side with her own, "Last week, as sad as it was, Antony lost his family. Now, if he is willing, he can gain a new one. He can gain another that will be more than caring with him."

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"Ah, there you both are. I was starting to wonder if mi'lady Solar had fallen off of this tub and you would have to swim her all the way to shore for the rest of the night, Loki. Good thing it didn't turn out that way, huh?" Mordecai laughed when seeing Loki as well as Solar returning to him from across the ship deck, both of the pokemon looking happier than when they had left him, "How are you feeling, Solar? I'm sorry for not letting you out earlier than now."

"That's alright. I forgive you, sir. Just don't forget about me again." Solar said through her actions next which involved rubbing against Mordecai's ankles who scratched her on her head gently in turn.

"And what about Loki, huh?" The pokemon trainer wondered jokingly next, tugging on his smiling Mightyena's muzzle while Bulbasaur watched, "Did this fella crowd you again, Solar? Did he give you your space or not?"

"Yes. Loki gave me my space. He treated me well." Was Solar's reply as she wordlessly nuzzled happily into Loki's furry coat whose grin grew bigger.

"Well, well, well, look at you two. You're like peas in a pod. Excellent! That will be a bonus for me to tell Antony when we see him tonight." Mordecai declared, "Solar, dearest... I want to know from you here and now... You do wish to become my nephew's first pokemon, right? You truly don't have any problems with that?"

"No, I don't have a problem with that." Solar stated through shaking her head and the happy twinkle in her eyes, "I would be more than happy to become your nephew's, Antony's, first pokemon."

"You are sure?" The pokemon trainer asked again, looking critical.

"I am sure that I am sure, master Mordecai." Was Solar's answer with a vigorous nodding of her head.

"Then I cannot thank you enough, Solar. Still, thank you." Grath admitted, hugging the Bulbasaur close to him, "You have my utmost gratitude for understanding my need to give you to my nephew tonight. You will make his life ten times better, you know. You will be part of the reason he will grow into a good man someday."

To her pleasant surprise, Solar was not returned to her pokeball after she was shown all of the gratitude from her trainer. Instead, Mordecai set her down beside Loki and together, the three of them took to staring across the endless darkness that was both the night sky as well as the sea. For a long time, there was only silence to be heard on the deck of the S.S Arrow. Then, there was a shout from someone that made everyone excited.

"There it is! I see it! Land ahead!"

"Where?!"

"Can't you see the lights? That's Petalburg City ahead. It has to be!"

As the happy laughter and excited talk began between the humans on the deck, Loki exchanged a thoughtful look with Solar when she wondered of him, "So that's Hoenn ahead then, Loki? Doesn't your species, the Mightyena, come from there?"

"We do. And I did come from there to Kanto twenty years ago when only an egg. That was back during the time when master Mordecai had adopted me as that same egg from his own world wandering uncle."

"Huh... How funny."

"Funny? How?"

"Well, I may not be an egg but here sir Mordecai is coming back to Hoenn twenty years later to give his nephew a pokemon from Kanto; me. Now, in a way, I'm beginning to feel what you felt twenty years ago, Loki."

There was a moment of thoughtfulness at Solar's words. Then, with a chuckle, Loki admitted to his grass companion, "Alas, you're right about that, Solar. How very odd for me to have been brought from my region of Hoenn to Kanto twenty years ago to be given to a little boy there... Only to be going back to Hoenn twenty years later so that you can change another little's boys life."

"Change his life for the better, of course."

"Indeed. I have faith that you, Solar, will change Antony's life for the better tonight as I changed my master's own so long ago. You can and will do it."