"It's cold!" Whitney rubbed her forearms as she shivered from the frosty air, another gust came down on them resulting in another bite, "brrrrr!"

"I can lend you one of my hoodies if you want?" Virah offered to her friend, "I don't think your T-shirt will help with the cold,"

Virah's eyes went over her friend's clothing, Whitney had nothing on her but a simple T-shirt and a pair of shorts.

It was the standard set she commonly wore and the lack of thickness helped with Johto's warm weather but since they were on the ocean, it now worked against her.

"I-I'm fine thank you!" Whitney stammered, she pulled on the edges of her pink T-shirt as the wind blew for the third time, "I- okay maybe I should wear something thick?"

"That's a good idea," Grene nodded, "that or you run your aura through your body, it'll help warm you up,"

"I'll just wear something on top of my shirt," Whitney grinned, "I don't think I want to practice my aura right now,"

"Maybe you can do both?" Virah suggested as she unzipped her hoodie, cold air bit her skin for a split moment before it was replaced by warmth as she circulated her aura, "it feels nice,"

"Does it?" Whitney stopped rummaging bag and looked at her.

"Yep," Virah nodded, "it feels like I'm sleeping under a blanket, it's that type of warmth."

"Hm…" Grene narrowed her eyes, "let me test it out-" The martial artist took out a jacket from her bag and put it on, "you're right,"

Virah grinned, "it's great right?"

"Mhmm…" Grene nodded.

"Oh that's so much better," Whitney commented in relief as she finished buttoning up her cardigan. Her face slowly became energetic as she looked around, "so, the deck huh?"

"The view is definitely nice, like the sailor said," Virah mentioned, "and there's arenas too, and referees along with them,"

Virah kept her sights on the white squares drawn on the ground as they walked forward, the referees consisted entirely of Kadabras and a good portion were playing checkers with each other as they waited for battlers to come.

"It's low level," Virah said, her friends turned to her, "the battles," she met eyes with them, "they're on our level,"

"What are you implying?" Whitney asked.

"We can earn Pokedollars during our trip," Virah replied, she looked at Grene.

"I…" Grene pointed at the logo on Virah's left breast, "don't you have a sponsor already?"

"Yeah but it's not only about the money, you can also train Knuckle while we're here," the poison specialist argued, "learning how to battle together now sounds like a good idea isn't it?"

"…" Grene faced the ocean, "… maybe later,"

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Virah nodded, 'good enough,'

The three of them made their way over to the railing and the first thing that Whitney did upon reaching it is to put her hands on the bars and raise herself high.

"Careful-" Grene scolded as she grabbed the edges of the pinkette's cardigan.

"I'm fine!" Whitney released on hand to wave them off, "see? I have my feet on the guard rails, I'm not going to fall."

Grene looked at Virah and the poison specialist shook her head, the martial artist sighed and let go, both stuck themselves on the rails on either side of Whitney to silently watch over her.

"The air feels fresh," Virah eyed the vast ocean beyond them, the trainers back at the docks were nowhere to be seen now.

Well, most of them, the occasional Elite Trainer can still be spotted, some in the skies and a good few on the ocean.

Other than them, there were also Pokemon, like schools of Magikarp jumping out of the water, Starmie spinning on the air like flying saucers, and Golducks surfing on the surface while still wearing their iconic, perpetual glare.

On the far distance, Virah even spotted the back of a Gyrados as it broke out of the water like its pre evolution, despite its relative distance, the gigantic Pokemon dwarfed everything in her sight.

'Goes to show just how big a Gyrados can get in the wild,' Virah thought.

Usually, that particular species only goes up to 20 - 30 feet when under a trainer but the one she spotted just now was infinitely larger than that.

'100- nope, 130 meters, definitely,' Virah estimated the Pokemon's size from just how long its serpentine body disappeared back down the waters.

Virah looked up at the flocks of Pidgeot and other Flying Types watching over them, they were meant to be on the lookout for any Gyrados going near them and Virah thought that they weren't so useless after all.

She looked downward at the Vaporeon swimming around them, they were hard to see but their presence was clear thanks to the giant swirl of water surrounding the ship.

"It's interesting," Virah said.

"What is?" Whitney faced her.

"There are a lot of Pokemon here," she answered, "there's probably more beneath us," ones that are far more powerful than a giant Gyrados, like a Kingdra maybe, "and all of them seem tense,"

"It's completely unlike the city isn't it?" Grene replied, the martial artist grabbed her Pokeball and held it out, "Haley would be eyeing the water out of paranoia if I release her,"

"Mhmm." Virah nodded, "I think the same goes for Jet, and maybe even Nitro," the poison specialist chorused, "the wilds are something else,"

"It makes sense though doesn't it?" Whitney hopped down and rest her cheek against her palm, "we're not really safe out here, and most of the Pokemon aren't Water Types so if the boat sinks, it's the end for them."

"Mhmm." Virah nodded, "I guess there's more to this than just dangerous Pokemon lurking underneath the boat,"

"That's definitely a good reason though," Grene shook her head, "I'm feeling scared from just knowing about it, I can't imagine what it would be like if I activated aura perception,"

"Do you guys think our journey would be like this?" Virah asked.

"Probably," was an answer that was more pragmatic than what commonly came from Whitney but it also made sense, "forests aren't cities after all, and the Pokemon there live by their own rules,"

The pinkette sighed, "they also eat each other," she shook her head, "no, that sounded wrong- they need to each other, and they know it,"

"Survival of the fittest," Virah said, "forests aren't as carefree and convenient as cities,"

"I don't think cities are safe and convenient, some parts of them at least," Grene retorted.

Virah gave the martial artist a side glance, Grene had her eyes on the sea, she looked relax. Virah looked away, when she remembered the state of the slums, she couldn't help but agree with her friend's words.

"Cities are only safe because of the Pokemon League," the poison specialist mentioned, "if they aren't here then gangs would definitely be everywhere and a powerful trainer would do the same thing to all of those ruined buildings,"

"What do you think happened there?" Whitney shuddered, "I… so many- why was it so-"

"That much rubble definitely came from hundreds of buildings," Grene said, her insightful words took over the gap that Whitney's speechlessness left behind, "whoever did that was more than an Elite,"

"Not that Elites can't cause that much damage themselves," Virah sighed, she read between the lines and thought that Grene was underestimating the power of Elite Trainers.

"A fire type specialist can end burn down entire forests, water type specialists can drown docks, and sink ships, and other things," Virah looked up.

She spotted a Dragonite zipping through the skies, its speed was so fast that its movement caused a line of air to streak along its flight path.

"And that's not mentioning the blackthorns," she said.

"Heh," Grene chuckled, "dragon types are on a whole nother level," she said, "we're lucky whoever ruined the slums doesn't have a dragon/ground type,"

Silence reigned between each of them as their conversation died down to a lull, Virah's thoughts slowly spiraled as the minutes ticked by and at the thought of the ruined slums, she remembered the vendor's words about the "big man" of team rocket going there and causing havoc.

She kept that particular information to herself since she learned about it to not discourage her friends but now that she's seen just how dangerous Pokemon outside of gyms and cities can actually get, she thought that what she did was a stupid idea.

"I think it's the head of team rocket," Virah quickly mentioned, "the uh, person who ruined the slums, it was him,"

"How do you know this?" Grene asked.

"It's a common rumor around the area apparently," Virah answered vaguely.

She didn't want a repeat of what happened in the past so she was satisfied with what she said, hopefully, she doesn't get hunted down again and that the vendor is still alive when she comes back to Goldenrod a week from now.

'I didn't mention Cyrus so it should be okay,' she reassured herself while scanning the deck, thankfully, no one seemed to be around them to overhear their conversation.

"You know, I agree with the whole circulating my aura to keep myself warm, it feels nice," Whitney said, clearly wanting to change the topic.

"You just did it?" Grene asked, going along.

The pinkette shook her head, "nope, I've been doing it since the start,"

"Huh, no wonder you didn't wobble when you only held on to the railing with one hand earlier," Virah considered.

"Yep!" Whitney giggled.