A pink-haired woman in a lab coat walked through the hall towards me in a familiar sense. For the first time, something in me recognized this woman... It was my mom! Or at least the mom of this body, of the original guy. Oh man, I don't want to worry anyone yet until I can gather my thoughts...

"Ephiron, is that your Trainer Card? How lovely. That means you're officially ready to go! Aevium is a beautiful region with lots to do and see. Once we disembark at Oceana Pier, we're off to Akuna Town." Mother giggled as the other girls. I am starting to see a pattern here. "It's a colder but cozy place to spend our days, you'll see."

"Dear, are you doing okay? You've been so quiet since last night..."

"OH-H! I am fine! It's just, you know... this whole thing of starting from zero and stuff can be... quite shocking hahahaha!" I replied with such a weird gesture, trying to be cool about it. A mix of shyness and excitement in my voice. I mean, if I was this stylish, I suppose I was acting cool. Right?

After my answer, something strange happened in the air. On top of the woman, a couple of musical notes appeared in green and blue. I already knew she liked my answer, but I didn't get why I could see that. From the reactions of the people around or herself, nobody else noticed it. Perhaps it's the same logic as when I obtained my Trainer Card... Is this some sort of power... maybe... Anyway, mother continued, seeing my reaction, she relaxed, and her face felt comfort in my reaction.

"I'm glad to hear it! I know moving is hard, but this is for the best, I promise. Anyway, we should be docking at Oceana Pier later tonight. In the meantime, why don't you go speak with the Captain? He's a long-time friend of mine. As for me, I... I have to be somewhere right now. Please take care, Ephiron. I love you."

"I love you too, Mom!" I nodded in confidence, although I had no idea what she was talking about. Perhaps the family had a break-up or something... I don't know, but I must be careful with my words. She went dashing away down the stairs, not before stopping and looking back in reassurance before leaving off. I followed her a bit after she was gone. But I lost her in sight.

I went back to my room to inspect it if anything was out of the usual, but nothing. Only the pink suitcase of Mother. But nothing more. I lay a bit on my bed, thinking of everything that happened, taking a moment to rest. Hoping I would wake up.

I waited... and waited... a whole ten minutes before seeing that, nope, nothing happened. After stretching, I was curious around, so I checked and inspected other rooms on the floor as other Pokémon trainers do. I guess I better start doing it, wondering if it will be okay... I wonder too why any door has no locks.

Since it would take a couple of hours at least to get lunch, and I heard rumors that it was gonna be a Banquet! Meanwhile, I get to exploring everything. The next floor, where the clerk and Mother and I talked, was a beautiful hall decorated with elegance and luxurious furniture all around. Ceiling glass lamps lit up the white-painted walls with lines of sea blue, reaffirming that we were indeed in the middle of a cruise. Walking a bit, I noticed that the hall split out to a couple of open spaces before proceeding. One was for a closed door where a sailor was on guard. The other was for an open space with some more sofas, a lady playing a white piano, and a...

Jigglypuff!

An actual living Jigglypuff singing! And the people around there were sleeping like the Pokédex says about Jigglypuffs! I cannot believe that I can see Pokémon actually living. I got nearby, enjoying the performance that the piano lady and the Jigglypuff were giving. Strangely, i felt totally fine enjoying their symphony in this troubled mind. Neither a bit of sleep or drowsiness. Looking from near, Jigglypuff was perfectly describe and done, even had a tiny cape of pink fur protecting them. But I didn't want to interrupt their jobs. After a song, the lady clapped to me instead of backward, "You're the first one not to fall asleep. Thank you, and please stay to enjoy your stay."

"Thanks, but I must keep going. Beautiful song, really! And have a good day to both of you!" As I walked back up while continuing down the hall.

We exchanged a couple of smiles. "You too, darling!" "Have a nice day!" Huh, I didn't know the singers could have ... two... different... voices.

I turned around, looking at the couple who went back to their business, but everything seemed back to normal. This day is getting worse and worse the more time passes.

Damn, this cruiser is big, haha! On the next floor, I saw some stern-looking women before I went out to a platform in front of the ship, where I could see the sea and open skies opening to me, the smell of the saltwater flowing through my lungs, and most importantly, more Pokémon!

Wingulls and Pelippers flying with us! They are like seagulls but with some style I couldn't pin down, more like "watery." The people there were mostly friendly, however, I didn't know what they meant sometimes. The Aevium region discovered just a century ago? That's not even more than five times my lifespan! Dayum!

There was not much on that floor that didn't catch my attention, other than some luxuries that I felt bad even getting near. However, a person caught my attention. A woman with a different look than the others and seemed to be my age. She was on the extreme of the bow, where the railing ended, enjoying the wind against her.

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She wore dark purple leggings on top of dark pink heels. The combination of a flounced black skirt that didn't reach the midway down her legs, connected to her pintuck rolled sleeves shirt made a great combination. Finishing it with a darkish violet flower on one side of her head, her long curly black hair, and a ribbon on top of the shirt around her throat would make her perfect for any photograph...

Except for her stern and disappointed face when she turned around, noticing my presence while I stared at her too much.

[https://i.imgur.com/ptfjGev.png]

She stopped to judge me in pure silence and indifference before I broke it with a simple, "Hey-" but was instantly interrupted by her cold voice.

"Do you know who I am?"

I immediately responded while backing up, "No, shit, I'm sorry I... I'll go now." As I immediately backed up a little bit. I wondered for a bit if I should continue the conversation, but part of me believed I would act creepy. Sigh, no clue of her face either. No clue even why I'm here. Anyway, up exploring next, on the other side, they were playing the FGC or the Pokémon cards... I somehow recognized it too! Okay, bits of memory, good... Good... But why only pop references of Pokémon?... I wish I knew...

With nothing more, I went up to the next floor, but it was actually just a single office, where a not-so-old man was behind a desk filled with papers, books, and an earth globe. Behind him, a poster of Lapras swimming through a rush and a sea map. No one needed to be a genius to pinpoint he was the captain of the cruiser. And not to mention all the classical uniform that he was wearing.

"Oh-hoho! You must be the wonderful Ephiron, aren't you? Please, please, come. I've been expecting you." Aw, thanks... Although, why wonderful? Well, it must be son-mother things. Anyway, I stepped forward, to the other side of the desk when I noticed the notes and the map behind him. It was clear by the title. "Aevium." Alright, that's good, that's the region but... it was a bunch of islands! That was new! And I don't mean it like Hoenn being one main island and then little ones, no. They're more or less the same size with few exceptions but way more islands than I expected! But apart from mountains... I couldn't pinpoint anything more...

"My name is Augustus. Augustus Briney." The captain interrupted my train of thoughts, and I responded with the same respect and admiration he gave me. "Ephiron... Just, Ephiron."

The captain laughed in his old sympathetic tone while continuing his explanation, "I come from a family of sailors. I happen to be the Captain of the S.S. Oceana. So tell me, how is your voyage so far? Surely it must be enjoyable?"

"It's been great so far! Although I must admit that I am anxious and a bit hungry. Is there seafood in the lunch?" I scratched the back of my head. A green note appeared on top of the captain.

"Oh-hoho! That's what I like to hear. I've done my very best to keep things nice and orderly on this ship." We exchanged a couple of compliments until he pinpointed the situation. He was nice to chat with for once and felt like the calm in my tornado of questions. "Anyway, your mother asked me to go through a few things with you before we disembark in Aevium. Is there anything you'd wish to know in particular?"

I lit up! ANSWERS! Finally some stuff I can work on! I slammed the table in excitement as the Captain backed off, my face and heart opening to him. "Please, tell me about Aevium itself! I've never been there before!"

The captain reclined his chair while his tone took on a more adventurous tone of an old sailor, "Oh-hoho! Yes, Aevium is quite the vast area. Aevium is one giant archipelago, consisting of four main islands: Floria, Terajuma, Terrial, and Artica. Something peculiar is that Aevium used to be one huge landmass, but a mysterious event caused the land to split apart. The S.S. Oceana will be docking on Floria Island very soon. Anything else, my boy?"

I took notes rapidly on a sheet of paper I found and quickly asked the next thing impatiently. "They told me that Pokémon won't obey me if I am not worthy. What does it mean?!"

The captain laughed a bit more, seeing my excitement. I didn't know what it saw in me, but was satisfied answering me. "Pokémon seem to act somewhat differently in this region. They only follow the orders of trainers they respect. We've done a plethora of research on this phenomenon. As a result of that research, it seems that Pokémon obedience is directly linked to the number of Badges a trainer has. Oddly enough, Pokémon stop gaining experience at a certain level until a new Badge is received as well. You'll never have to worry about when this phenomenon will happen though. It is standard that each Trainer Card has these level caps listed below each Badge slot."

Okay! Noted! I'll review the trainer card later on! This is quite interesting, although difficult... I wonder why that is. Pff, imagine having a Pokémon evolve in the next level of the level cap... FOCUS EPHIRON! ANSWERS. NOW! "Why are there 18 badges and 8 Elite Four members?! Why not reduce it like other regions?"

The captain was already getting up, finishing his explanations. He showed me some documents to provide proof of his facts. "The Aevium League is a little different than the old traditional. The league consists of 18 different gym leaders and the Elite Eight. That's correct; there are Eight elite trainers this time around." Stop repeating, as he said... I am already getting anxious hearing this... "Usually there are four. I'll get into how that works, but I feel like that would be jumping the gun a little bit, don't you think?"

WAIT... THERE ARE GUNS... Please let it be just an expression... Sigh... I was a bit shocked, but I had more questions, but the captain interrupted me. "Very well then, in that case, let's end our little conversation. The Farewell Banquet is about to begin after all."

"Farewell Banquet?" I asked about the name, I knew what a banquet was, but mostly to put it in good eyes with Mother, now she was good to me.

"Surely you've heard of the Farewell Banquet, and even if you haven't, the name is enough to explain what it is, yes? Today is the final day of your journey, and as such, we'll be celebrating a successful voyage. Feel free to explore the ship at your leisure, but don't take too long! Mostly because we're all starving..."

And then he was gone. I was left alone with that last thought... "Explore at my leisure." But I explored everything... Right? A pinch of curiosity ignited inside me. What if not?! And so, I explored the ship once again, only to be disappointed... except... in the end, discovering something sinister.