"I thought restaurants were only supposed to have five stars, not seven."
Ursula chuckled at Lucas's lack of knowledge. As was typical of most people, Lucas enjoyed eating lots of food, but lacked appreciation for the culinary arts. "You're right. Restaurants are graded from one to five. This one simply named itself as the Seven Stars Restaurant. I suppose it's arrogance, saying that they exceed anything that you've ever experienced before."
Lucas was trying looking around, seeing an entire roomful of hungry customers, slowly leaving and handing their number cards in when they were called. "I'd say it was deserved, based on your description. I assumed this was the best restaurant in Sinnoh."
She shrugged. "So people say."
That statement drew a sharp glance from Lucas. "You've never been? I thought it would be, uh, right up your alley. The old you, I mean."
"It does attract people from all over Sinnoh, especially the wealthy and haughty," Ursula mused aloud. It had been one of the reasons she had always been eager to be seen eating inside it, back in the day. "But it caters to all people, not just food connoisseurs. That's why they have this enormous line, and why they came up with this system to reduce the number of people that can eat per day."
It didn't take Lucas long to put two and two together, for why so many people who didn't seem to be together were being called forwards at the same time. "We have to battle for our spot? I guess it does help work up your appetite.
"Mhmm," Ursula agreed, watching an older gentleman and his partner along with a camera crew on lunch break being the next pairs chosen. "The owners are tag and double battle enthusiasts. Which didn't help my chances of winning and getting to eat here. But that changes today."
"Not that you aren't much better than before," Lucas began hesitantly. "But shouldn't this be something you should be doing with Luna? When she feels better, that is."
Ursula bit her lip. She had invited Luna to the restaurant, but last she had seen her friend, she was fast asleep in the Pokémon Center, having stayed up all night with Glaceon, who was in a round the clock incubator, being fed through tubes. "I'm not sure if or when she'll get here. It was rather scary yesterday. I didn't even know Ice-types could be susceptible to hypothermia."
"She lost the ability to regulate her own body temperature, is what happened," Lucas murmured, looking downcast. "It could have been stress, or exhaustion, or any number of things. I can't believe none of us noticed anything wrong."
"It is somewhat scary to think that Pokémon would hide their own condition from us," Ursula said, shuddering at the thought. "But to answer your question, I didn't bring you along just to be a replacement."
"But I am the replacement," Lucas said under his breath.
Ursula tapped her foot impatiently. "I thought this would be a good chance for some redemption, since our first foray as a tag team didn't go so well. We might need to cooperate in a battle, depending on how things shake out."
Lucas stared at her. "Do you- do you want us to tell you the details of everything we know? Because I can-"
She cut him off, inspecting her nails to show her disinterest. "No. I don't need to have all the facts. Sinnoh is my home, and I despise the poachers and their allies as much as any self-respecting person who loves Pokémon should. I'll stand against them."
"Besides," she added, as Lucas gawked at her. "I can't very well let the first year I make the grand festival be ruined by a bunch of thugs, can I?"
He laughed at her joke, though it sounded a bit forced. "Alright, fair enough. Whatever your reasoning, thank you. Now, let's go win some food, shall we?"
It wasn't long before their number was called up. Ursula isn't surprised that the hotel has a fully equipped battlefield as well. Hotel Grand Lake was about as luxurious as you could get in Sinnoh, without traveling to the Battle Resort.
There was even an electronic scoreboard, like the ones they might have at the Pokémon League. Not that they would need it for this battle.
One of the waiters was explaining the rules to them, and the people across from them on the battlefield, a heavily made up woman with purple hair that didn't quite come down to her shoulders, and a man with red hair in a giant man-bun. He must have had quite a lot of hair, judging by the size of it.
"It's going to be pretty simple," the waiter is saying. "A tag battle, with one Pokémon each. You lose when both Pokémon on one side are defeated."
"And then do we get to eat?" the opposing woman asked, in an oddly high-pitched voice. "I'm quite famished, you know."
"We've been all around the world, and we've tried some pretty good food!" her husband boasted, in an equally odd sounding low voice. "I hope it lives up to our extremely high standards!"
If Ursula had to guess, they, like she, were faking their status. You never really needed to tell anyone that you were of a higher class. People just looked at the way you carried yourself and assumed.
"It most certainly will!" the waiter assured them. "Our all you can eat buffet is the envy of every restaurant in Sinnoh! You might have to win another battle though, "
Their opponents positively drooled at the prospect of eating until their stomachs bulged. "You can have the first move!" the man offered.
They weren't exactly being courteous, considering they were forcing her and Lucas to show their hand first, but Ursula still had confidence that she could beat these two. For some reason, she got the sense that these two were far better at stuffing their faces than they were at battling.
She threw out her new Growlithe, which was quickly joined by Lucas's Rockruff. She gave him an irritated sideways glance, considering both Pokémon shared a typing, and therefore weaknesses.
Her tag partner shrugged. "I figured for a first battle, it was better to pick a partner that Growlithe was familiar and friends with, rather than someone new."
Well, she couldn't argue with that logic, even their opponents sent out a Golett and a snake that Lucas whispered to her was a Silicobra, two ground types.
This would be difficult, but Growlithe had an interesting set of moves, courtesy of being born in Hisui. Ursula felt after working with him for a few days, that she had only begun to scratch the surface of what he was capable of. As in, Growlithe might turn out to be the most powerful member on her team.
Assuming she could find a Fire Stone.
"Sillicobra, use Dig!"
"Golett, use Shadow Punch!"
Their opponents started the battle rather unceremoniously, Sillcobra burrowing a hole in the dirt battlefield, while Golett held its arms out, sending two shadow copy versions of fists flying at them, twisting in the air as they copied and tracked movement.
"Crunch!" Rockruff waited for the two fists to close in on her before snapping them up in her powerful jaws.
"Try and sense Silicobra's movement and use Will-o-Wisp," Ursula opted for, knowing that Growlithe's lack of sight had honed his other senses.
It was all too easy for her newest Pokémon to hear and feel the vibrations in the ground from Silicobra's tunneling. He jumped into the air, creating three balls of ghostly blue fire that were launched at SIlicobra as it emerged from the ground, fangs bared.
The man stomped in concert with his snake as it hissed at them, scorch marks on its body. "How dare you mess up my Pokémon's beautiful skin!" he tiraded, though it was cut short by his partner tapping him hesitantly on the shoulder.
"Look," the woman pointed out, as Silicobra wiggled out of its skin, leaving a translucent, burned one behind.
"We shouldn't let it shed its skin too many times," Lucas murmured to her, taking the opportunity to speak as the battle was temporarily paused as the man gushed rather girlishly over how shiny Silicobra was, though it looked as plain and brown as it did before to Ursula.
"Why not?" she asked back.
"That's how snakes grow, by shedding their skin. They might get an evolution out of it, if it constantly keeps doing that."
Their opponents were gearing up for another attack. "I can't burn Golett if Silicobra is going to get in the way," she said.
"We'll make an opening somehow," Lucas replied, keeping his eyes on the battle. It wasn't the most inspiring speech, but Ursula supposed waiting for a mistake was all they could do when they were disadvantaged so heavily.
"Mud Slap!" Both their opponents shouted in unison, causing their Pokémon to throw, or spit up, in Silicobra's case, clumps of dirt their way.
Despite being extremely well dressed, it seemed their opponents weren't above literally fighting dirty. Ursula could relate.
"Block and heal through it!' she ordered. Growlithe leapt in the way, shining red like the rising sun in the morning, even as mud splattered all over him. Again, Ursula was counting on him not being bothered accuracy wise like most Pokémon would.
"Golett, use Bulldoze!" the woman called, seeing that their mud slinging wasn't going to get them anywhere.
There was no recourse to this attack, barring having a tag partner looking out for you.
"Roar!" Lucas shouted. Rockruff puffed up and let out a roar fit for a much larger Pokémon, causing Golett to trip and stumble backwards as it was preparing to stomp on the ground.
"Flame Charge!" Ursula followed up, as it occurred to her that increasing Growlithe's speed might help them dodge further moves thrown their way. The Mud Shot Silicobra sent whizzed past him as Growlithe raced forward, as confirmation.
The snake hissed while coiling itself tightly and defensively, as Growlithe bounced off it without inflicting much harm. Golett had gathered itself, and was charging towards them with a Brick Break attack.
"Fall back!" Ursula ordered, as Lucas called for Double Team. Golett paused as it was suddenly surrounded by two dozen Rockruff.
"Howl!" they both shouted.
If Golett and Silicobra weren't confused before, they certainly were now, as the sound of howling assaulted their ears from every direction. As with most people who were confronted with Double Team, their opponents chose to use attacks that covered a wide area.
The attacks they chose were rather unique though. Silicobra opted to last out in a semicircle with Poison Tail, which seemed way out of its wheelhouse barring it having a Seviper for a father, while Golett created a Shadow Ball and punched through it with Shadow Punch, sending much smaller versions of the attack flying towards the other half of the clones.
Maybe she'd see the woman in the Wallace Cup, because that was a nice combination of moves. Unfortunately, all that was revealed once all the clones were dispersed was Growlithe, clamping down on Silicobra's tail with a Bite attack, preventing the snake from pulling away.
While the man seemed completely flabbergasted by their ruse, the woman seemed to have a better head on their shoulders. She stared suspiciously at where Growlithe was standing, realizing there was a new hole in the ground.
Luckily, she was a bit too hesitant in warning her partner. Rockruff burst from the ground, smacking into Golett, and Growlithe threw Silicobra into its partner as the snake sneakily tried to wrap itself around her Pokémon. Rockruff trapped them with Rock Tomb as both opposing Pokémon were trying to untangle themselves, and Growlithe put them inside a Fire Spin as well.
One last Ice Fang from Rockruff on Silicobra and Bite from Growlithe on Golett put the enemy Pokémon out of commission. The referee waitress was delighted at their victory.
"Congratulations!" she said, elated. "That was some of the best teamwork we've seen! Now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor and eat our delicious food to your heart's content."
"What about us?" the man they had just defeated asked angrily. "We want to eat to our hearts content, too!"
"That's right!" his partner added. "We skipped breakfast today in preparation for this. And dinner last night. And lunch last afternoon!"
"I'm so sorry!" the waitress apologized profusely, though neither of their opponents seemed to accept it. "You can always try again tomorrow!"
"As if," the man grumbled under his breath irritably. "We're tasting that food today. Come on!" He stomped away, woman in tow.
Ursula didn't see that as being possible, barring changing their appearances and waiting in line again. Regardless, she and Lucas didn't have anything else to prove. They were ushered into a palatial dining room, complete with tables and chairs covered in fine red velvet, beautiful artwork on the walls and ceilings, golden curtains, and of course, at the center of it all, a banquet of delectable food on gilded trays, with the smell wafting to every corner of the room.
They piled their plates high before finding an unoccupied table, because despite being all you can eat, and the staff insisting that you can take as many plates of food as you wanted, it was still awkward to be walking up to the buffet multiple times.
Despite being as hungry, if not more, as their previous opponents, Lucas was hesitant to touch his food. Ursula sighed, between bites of hers. "Are you still feeling some kind of way about the whole secret poacher plan you and Luna have going on? I told you, I don't need all the details."
"It's easy to say that now," Lucas muttered. "You don't know how serious this is starting to get. We were granted an audience with Cynthia. If everything goes well, we might even be invited to join her elite task force. Things could get really hairy, really quickly. Neither of us would blame you if you only wanted to focus on contests…"
"Enough of that," Ursula rebuked him sharply, letting Lucas focus on his food in silence for a few minutes. "Yes, I might not be the best battler, especially compared to you two, and so I can't directly fight against people, but I think I've proven that I can help in other ways."
"Besides," she continued," her appetite suddenly having disappeared temporarily. "To know that my friends were involved, and turning my back on them and running away? I don't think I have the stomach for that. Sinnoh is my home, too."
"Okay then," Lucas said slowly, seemingly convinced by her impassioned argument. "You're already well aware of what poachers are capable of, but Luna's also got her eye on Team Galactic. I have my own suspicions of them as well. Don't feel like you're abandoning us if things are getting too intense."
Ursula cast her mind back to the encounter she sort of had with Team Galactic, the night of Vivillon's departure. Between their ridiculous uniforms and mannerisms, it was hard to view them as anything more than a bunch of idiotic hooligans. "What makes you so wary of them, anyways?"
"I don't know," Lucas answered frustratedly, chewing on his food more harshly than before. "If you met one of their commanders, it would give you pause as well. They're so far above the grunts in competence, it's almost funny. They're smart, and they can battle, and they're driven." He cut off his sentence.
"And?" Ursula prompted him, after swallowing and wiping her mouth.
"They're interested in the mythology around Sinnoh's creation. And with the way things happened, with the Adamant Orb being stolen, and us finding that portal to Hisui right after, I can't help but wonder." Lucas paused. "The Adamant Orb is a remnant of Dialga. And Dialga's power has to do with time. Those two events happening back to back can't be a coincidence."
"So, what does that mean?" Ursula asked, turning the idea over in her mind. They could potentially go back in time and change outcomes of events?"
"That's certainly one possibility," Lucas said darkly. "Whatever the case, they've been doing a masterful job, purposefully or not, of playing the dummy. They're much more than they seem."
They finished their meal in relative silence, with only the sounds of chewing, utensils scraping plates, and people making conversation around them to distract them from mulling over all the ideas of what a group could do with the power of time on their side.
When they were finished, Lucas set down his fork and knife to reach into his bag, pulling out an oddly shaped item wrapped in cloth.
"I should have given this to you a long time ago," her friend admitted with a heavy sigh, pushing it over to her side of the table. "But I didn't really know you as well as I do now, and then there was the whole incident situation between you and Luna, and then I was in my own head for a while, and then we went to Hisui…"
"You're rambling," Ursula interrupted, poking at the bundle, and finding out that it was hard as a rock. What was in there? At Lucas's nod, she opened it, and gasped.
"Where'd you get your hands on a Sun Stone?!" she questioned intensely, as the light from the chandeliers danced off the stone, making it actually look like a miniature sun. "I would assume Hisui, but you said it was longer than that."
Lucas scratched the side of his head awkwardly. "I actually got it way back in Eterna City, from Luna's mom. I think she gave it to me so her daughter wouldn't ransack their place looking for it after Oddish evolved into Gloom, though she insisted it was to help with my Hisuian research. But I think you'd make better use of it."
The stone felt warm, Ursula noted internally, as she picked it up. "If I give this to Helioptile, he'll evolve?" she asked despite already knowing the answer, going over the scene in her mind.
"That's right," Lucas confirmed. "I'll leave the rest up to you. Whenever you feel the moment is right, because you're in danger, or you want to bring something new and surprising to a contest, or because you want to reward Helioptile, you can use that."
"Thank you," Ursula replied warmly, her mind racing with the possibilities, as she carefully rewrapped and placed the Sun stone in her own bag, for the time being. "I should hope that I wouldn't have to use it to save my own skin, because I already have a few ideas for this. One that you'll have to wait and see," she tacked on, to preempt Lucas's follow up question.
"Fair enough," he said, with the slightest of disappointments in his tone. "Evolution with a stone like that is a one time thing, so I guess a preview isn't possible."
"You'll be one of the first to know whenever I put it to use," Ursula teased him, getting up and putting their money down, as Lucas did the same. For now, let's try and find our wayward friend and cheer her up a little, hmm?"
"What did you have in mind?" Lucas asked, as they walked off, waving goodbye to the enthusiastic staff who called behind them to return, soon. "I was thinking about taking her to the Safari Zone."
Ursula snorted. "Really? Be my guest, but I'll pass, and watch you struggle with binoculars from the observatory. I don't think you'll have much fun there."
"It's not that bad," Lucas defended the Great Marsh from her. "They have trams to take you to different areas. This whole part is sectioned off from the rest of it, remember? That's how they can bring in Pokémon."
"You can have all the walls and trams and airboats you want, but it's still the swamp." Ursula shrugged. "You'll see. You'll be scraping dried mud from the inside of your boots for weeks."
"If you're so against it, why don't you tell me your brilliant idea, then?"
She was still working on that. "What about Wailmer watching?" Ursula suggested, after a few moments. I myself have been out a few times, and always found the trip enjoyable."
Right," Lucas replied, with a deadpan expression. "The only issue with that is that there haven't been any Wailmer sightings recently, and I would get pretty bored of looking at the open, empty ocean after a while."
They didn't have that much time to perfect their plans, because, as it turned out, Luna hadn't spent the entire day at the Pokémon Center, as she had been doing. Instead, it appeared she had come to join them, only to be caught up in the spirit of this restaurant.
"Good timing," Luna quipped, raising an eyebrow at their appearance back into the battle room on their way out of the restaurant. She was currently on one side of a battlefield, facing off against the kid who always carried his Pikachu around on his shoulder. The one who went around with Dawn. What was his name again?
"Hey, Ash, Dawn, Brock," Lucas greeted the trio, and waved at a fourth member who neither of them knew, a girl in a green bandana sparing Ursula from having to make up one for him. "About to battle?" he asked, stating the obvious, a bit hesitantly.
"I did promise one to him earlier," Luna mused out loud.
Ash pumped a fist. "Yeah! We've been really looking forward to this! It's not a tag battle like last time, but a double battle is close enough!"
"You're probably much better off without a tag partner," Lucas muttered to himself, no doubt casting his mind back to the battle where Ash and the angry boy Paul could not seem to form a semblance of teamwork.
She, however, sidled up to Luna to whisper into her ear. "Are you really up to this?" Ursula questioned concernedly. "Your mind's been all over the place ever since, well, you know…" She didn't want to say it out loud, but Luna understood.
"What I need most right now is something to concentrate on," Luna said to her sharply, enough so that Ursula stepped back with her hands in the air. "Maybe a battle against one of my rivals is exactly that."
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
She hoped her friend was right, considering Luna needed a victory, preferably not a moral one, right about now.
Luna chose her second and third Pokémon in the absence of Glaceon, which made sense, if she truly considered this boy Ash as a rival. Not to mention that Bellossom and Charmeleon covered up each other's weaknesses rather effectively.
Ash let his ordinary-looking Pikachu jump off his shoulder onto the battlefield, though it was anything but. That was to the excitement of Charmeleon, if the lashing of his tail back and forth and his flame growing larger was any indication. He then threw out another Pokéball, this one materializing into a small insect like Pokémon, with green trapezoid wings, allowing it to hover above the ground.
Vibrava's ground typing would protect it against the powerful Electric attacks that were no doubt going to be thrown around, and Dragon-types did resist both Fire and Grass. It wasn't a bad strategy. Ursula's eyes flickered to the taller boy of the opposite trio.
Even if someone had probably put it together for Ash.
"Charmeleon, Flamethrower on Pikachu! Bellossom, Moonblast on Vibrava!" Luna shouted, getting this battle kicked off.
"Pikachu, Iron Tail! Vibrava, Dragonbreath!"
Ash opted to reverse targets, with Iron Tail smashing through Moonblast easily, and Dragonbreath, despite being much weaker overall than Flamethrower, managing to stave the attack off with the advantage it had against fire.
Luna pursed her lips. "Charmeleon, Dragon Dance," she called. "Bellossom, buy some time with your Leaf Blade."
The Grass-type created her four blades with Magical Leaf, twirling them erratically as she advanced. Ash and his Pokémon looked on hesitantly, as Charmeleon started the first form for Dragon Dance, albeit more harshly and less precisely than usual.
That wasn't a good sign, but at least Bellossom was pushing Pikachu and Vibrava back with, swinging her Leaf Blades at the enemy Pokémon. Even when they were sliced in half by an Air Slash from Vibrava or warped from the raw destructive power of Pikachu's Thunderbolt, they grew back rather quickly.
Charmeleon wrapped up his Dragon Dance rather quickly, from Ursula's memory of the move, but the red aura around him indicated that his speed and power had still increased.
"Flamethrower-" Luna said slowly, clearly wanting to warn Bellossom, but as soon as the word was out of her mouth, Charmeleon was blasting out the attack.
With no regard for his teammate. Luckily, the river of fire went right over Bellossom's head, burning her Leaf Blades to a crisp as Charmeleon went for Pikachu and Vibrava. The wild attack missed, and when Bellossom whirled around angrily, she was sent flying back from a Volt Tackle and Faint Attack combination.
Now that she was paying more attention, Ursula realized that this was the first Bellossom and Charmeleon had so much as looked at each other, let alone exchanged a nod or any other form of greeting.
Had they been so focused on what had happened to Glaceon that they missed some sort of argument or altercation between Bellossom and Charmeleon? Luna certainly seemed surprised, and at the worst possible time, during a battle that required precise teamwork.
Still, her friend was good at thinking on her feet. "Charmeleon, Fire Punch. Bellossom, cover him with Petal Dance," Luna ordered, switching her Pokémon's positions so Charmeleon was in the front and Bellossom was in the back.
That way, even if one of Bellossom's attacks was off target, it wouldn't hurt Charmeleon too much. Charmeleon charged forward, his whole body on fire, though his fists had the most. He rushed forward as his partner started twirling, summoning petals to fill the air from the flowers on her head.
Just as they started to take shape, as Bellossom loved to do, all the petals froze and fell to the ground as static crackled across her body.
"Aromatherapy," Luna ground out, with an incredibly annoyed expression. Bellossom took several deep breaths before putting out the sweet, healing aroma that would eventually cure her.
Charmeleon didn't get the message, however, continuing to press the attack on Pikachu specifically, trying his best to ignore the rather effective interference that Vibrava was doing. The levitating Pokémon didn't have to worry about anything, other than throwing Sand Attacks, Mud Shots, and Dragonbreaths in the Fire-type's way.
It was all too easy for Pikachu to dance around Charmeleon with Quick Attack, almost tauntingly, launching one of those absurd Thunderbolts to blow up Charmeleon's Flamethrower when needed.
Inevitably, Charmeleon too became paralyzed, forcing Luna and Bellossom to waste more time curing him as well, leaving Bellossom open to being hit with an Air Cutter attack in the meantime. Charmeleon didn't even issue a thank you before charging in, intent on striking Pikachu down.
Lucas leaned in. "Those two have a history, don't they?" he asked rhetorically, nodding towards the Fire and Electric-type. "It looks like Charmeleon's taken his previous loss way too personally, and it's impacting his battling."
"Not only that," Ursula murmured back. "Their battling is extremely choppy. It's fine to have Bellossom in the back supporting, and Charmeleon in the front doing the bulk of the fighting, but there's no rhythm or flow to what they're doing."
"No coordination?" Lucas suggested, with a wry smile.
Ursula made sure to exaggerate when she rolled her eyes. "Very funny."
Unfortunately, there was nothing humorous about their friend's battle. It was almost hard to watch, actually, since Ash and his Pokémon were basically running circles around Luna, Bellossom, and Charmeleon.
It was mercifully coming to a close, at least. There should be no way that Luna nor Charmeleon had lost track of Vibrava going underground to attack, but their heads were in outer space, and Bellossom wasn't really in the mood to protect Charmeleon.
Vibrava burst out with Dig, landing an uppercut straight onto Charmeleon's chin, leaving him wide open to what seemed to be Ash and Pikachu's favorite attack, Volt Tackle, even though a Thunderbolt would have done exactly the same, without any adverse effects.
Chameleon was blasted back, and Luna recalled him, silencing the frustrated sounds of him slamming his fist on the floor. There was a brief moment where she eyed the battlefield, giving consideration to whether Bellossom could take Pikachu and Vibrava one versus two, but eventually she too was pulled back to her Pokéball.
Luna didn't seem despondent, at least. Merely resigned, as if she had expected that she would lose.
Not that it mattered to the victor. "Awesome! Now we all get to go eat! I've really worked up an appetite!" Ash exclaimed.
The rest of his friends and their Pokémon cheered, heading to the dining room, but they were intercepted by two distraught looking waiters. "I'm sorry, there's going to be a bit of a delay before you can be seated," one offered diplomatically, managing to stay professional.
"What happened?" Dawn asked in concern. "Is something wrong?"
The other waiter was not as composed as his coworker. "We're ruined!" he wailed, distraught. "Someone snuck into the back storeroom when we weren't looking. They took every morsel of food we had out of our fridges! How are we supposed to feed all of our hungry guests!"
Brock gasped. "That's horrible!"
"Who would do something like that?!" Ash asked in righteous indignation.
They all looked at Luna as she snorted. "Carry on," her friend said, like nothing happened. "There was something in my nose."
Luckily, their counterparts weren't the sharpest tools in the shed, so they bought that excuse. The brunette girl with the green bandana that Ursula didn't recognize was certainly keen to do just that. "I didn't come all the way to Sinnoh and wait all this time for some crooks to steal my lunch right under my nose!" she raged, waving a clenched first. Dawn leaned away from her, but Ash and Brock didn't seem all that surprised at her outburst. "Munchlax, come on!" she shouted, sending out a short, squat Pokémon. "Let's find these food filching fiends and teach them a lesson!"
As the four of them ran off, Munchlax leading the way with its nose for food, Luna swiftly excused herself as well, mumbling something about the bathroom, and disappeared out the door.
Ursula turned to Lucas, and tapped her foot impatiently. "Well? Are we going to do something?"
He glanced between her and the door where Luna had gone through. "I think four of them is enough to find a few hungry people, right?"
She rolled her eyes. "Don't play the idiot. It doesn't suit you."
Lucas seemed a bit uncomfortable. "I think Luna will be alright with a little time and space, don't you?"
Ursula had a pretty good idea of what Luna needed, and it wasn't time and space. That would only make things worse. Leaving Lucas to his own devices, she quickly found out that, as she suspected, Luna wasn't in the bathroom, or anywhere inside the hotel or restaurant, and instead was wandering around the premises, almost dazedly.
She idly wondered if a slap to the face would be appropriate in this situation to snap Luna out of this funk. As it was, she hardly noticed Ursula approaching, until she cleared her throat pointedly.
Her friend looked around in surprise, further confirmation that her mind was in the clouds. "Oh! I didn't see you there. What's up?"
Ursula stared at her, long enough to make Luna start squirming. "What's up with you?" she finally questioned. "I haven't seen you battle so poorly, well, ever, actually."
"Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it can't happen," Luna retorted, which wasn't much of a defense, something her friend realized a few moments later, eventually turning around and slumping her shoulders.
"I don't know, Ursula," Luna mumbled in a very small voice. "Maybe I overstepped, looking way too far into the future, and didn't see what was happening right in front of me. I missed Glaceon getting sick. I missed Bellossom and Charmeleon having problems. What else have I overlooked?"
"Listen," Ursula said, grabbing her friend by the arm and dragging her bodily with her, as Luna almost tripped keeping up. "These things happen. You're a smart girl, Luna; you can handle whatever you and Lucas are worried about. All you need to do is to clear his fog from your head."
Luna tried to pull away, but Ursula tightened her grip on her arm so it was futile. "Where are we going, exactly?" she eventually asked, huffing in annoyance.
"I told you, you need some fresh air and to get away from this for a little," Ursula repeated, pulling her friends down the stairs and along the beach, dodging kids in inner tubes, sunbathing ladies in bikinis, and half-asleep fishermen, until she saw what she was looking for. "It's doing you no good to continually beat yourself up. We need to take a little trip where you can relax that mind of yours a little."
"And where are we supposed to take a fun field trip around here? The swamp?"
Ursula laughed, gesturing with her free hand at the vast expanse of blue in front of them. "To the ocean, obviously. There are supposed to be boats that take people Wailmer watching."
They both sidestepped a large sandcastle a young boy was making, with his Azurill looking on. "Aren't they having trouble with that recently?" Luna asked.
"That just means the Wailmer are hiding," Ursula dismissed, letting Luna go as they came to a stop. "I'm sure someone that has experience with this can still find them."
Looking up at the only ship currently docked on the pier, Ursula assumed Luna must be thinking the same thing as her. "They must be, if they're taking people out to sea on that thing," Luna said.
This old wooden sailing ship must have been in vogue hundreds of years ago, but surely not today, Ursula thought to herself. They went down the pier, to where a small crowd was milling about. She barely noticed the name, S.F. Ophelia, painted on the side in large cursive letters.
What was odd was that the opposite of what should be happening was occurring. Instead of taking money and inviting people on board, people were being given a uniform and being sent away.
"I think they're interviewing people for their crew," Luna said, observing the interactions on the tips of her toes.
They both turned as a man spoke up behind them. "That's right, young ladies. This trip is for free, as long as you're able to handle the sea."
He almost sounded musical, oddly enough. Their jaws both dropped at the flamboyantly dressed man.
This man towered over everyone here, wore tight leather pants, no shirt, and some sort of mask that covered parts of his face. But what probably caught most people's eyes was that he wore no shirt.
For good reason, since he was so muscular that even his muscles had muscles. There were statues less defined than his man. He couldn't be anyone else.
"You seem to be a trainer and a coordinator! Allow me, Crasher Wake, the triple threat of wrestling, Pokémon, and song, to welcome you to our great and glorious city!"
Somehow, Crasher Wake seemed even larger in life than his humongous frame appeared on television. Despite his huge smile and boisterous voice, however, Ursula got the sense from his tired eyes that this was a man under a lot of stress, with all that was going on in his city.
Luna was the first to recover from the speechlessness upon seeing Pastoria's gym leader. "Is Crasher Wake your real name, or like a stage one?"
"Only those closest to my heart know my true identity," Wake said, clapping a hand to his chest for emphasis. For that was the name of a boy who was sickly and weak. Not that of a man that represents the might of the sea!"
Apparently, the character that he portrayed had actually become his whole personality. They were saved from more exaggerations by someone else coming over.
"You have enough fans, Crasher Wake; quit trying to win some more over," A grizzled, old sailor with arms like tree trunks grumbled. The golden stripes on the shoulders of his uniform indicated that this was probably a high-ranking member of the ship.
That was confirmed shortly, as the two men got into a hand-shaking match, seeing who could squeeze harder. "Always good to see you too, Captain Grimes. You headed out?"
The captain peered around the gym leader's enormous frame. "That was the plan, but I don't see anyone with you…"
"Well," Wake apologized with a shrug. "All my gym trainers are occupied with other things. You understand, don't you?"
Ursula didn't think the captain could get grumpier, but it was happening. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. Half of my regular crew are out making coin on all these events. Too busy to help an old man out, I suppose. Hopefully, we'll convince a few more landlubbers to join up. They've got it in their heads that a kaiju is behind these Wailord deaths. Some of the more brave ones are eager to get a glimpse."
"What's a kaiju?" Luna asked her, seeing as they'd been ignored in the conversation.
"A giant monster, as tall and wide as a skyscraper," she replied. "I thought it was just a myth, or something that's put in movies, but I suppose a giant Tentacruel could take a Wailord…" For whatever reason Luna was rubbing her chin thoughtfully at the notion of a giant Pokémon. Surely she didn't think it was real, did she? "Come on. You can't go hunting for a kaiju in this old thing."
The insult drew their attention. "I wouldn't count it out so quickly," Crasher Wake warned them. "This here's the captain and the ship that brought the dread pirate Captain Claw to justice and sent his ship to the bottom of the ocean!"
"That pirate was hunting Wailmer, wasn't he?" Luna said, putting the pieces together out loud. "You're headed out again to find what's hunting them this time? Can we come?"
"What?" Luna asked, at Ursula's unspoken question. "We'll still see some Wailmer. probably."
"Sorry, but no," Grimes told them gruffly. He didn't expand on that, falling silent.
"You just said you were searching for people," Ursula pointed out.
"We can't have women on the ship," the captain said. "It's bad luck. Makes the men nervous. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a full crew before sundown, so we can leave tomorrow morning."
"I didn't realize his thinking was as antiquated as the ship he sails," Ursula muttered spitefully under her breath, as Grimes turned away from them. Luna looked to Crasher Wake hopefully, but the gym leader held up his hands.
"That man is as stubborn as an old Gogoat," Wake explained. "He's been doing things the same way for forty years, and he's not about to change his ways today. Hopefully, he'll find whatever's causing this, and you girls will be able to go out to sea with someone else. Until then, enjoy all our city has to offer!"
He also left, humming a tune, making up words to a song as he went. "Oh, the sea, the wonderful sea, it was the maker of me, lalalala…"
Luna apparently was taking their abrupt dismissal much better than she herself was, already walking off. "Guess we have some work to do, if we're going to make it onto the boat by sundown."
Ursula hurried to catch up to her. "What are you talking about? He said we weren't allowed on."
"He said girls weren't allowed on," Luna corrected, not slowing her pace down.
"What does that mean?" Ursula asked sarcastically. "Are we going to disguise ourselves as boys to get aboard?" When Luna stayed quiet, she started to grow suspicious. "Seriously?"
"I knew I'd eventually start rubbing off on you," Luna said, wrapping an arm around Ursula's shoulder and pulling her in so they were cheek to cheek. "This is gonna be some fun. First though, I need to ask you something. How do you feel about getting a haircut?"
"...Absolutely not."
----------------------------------------
Thankfully, they opted for a change of clothing instead. Ursula hardly recognized herself in the mirror, once she had put on the brown jacket, white undershirt with a small tie, baggy pants, and worn boots Luna had given her. They really did look like a couple of street boys from another era, ones who would loiter around looking for some work to do in exchange for some spare change.
It was all tied together with large caps that they were hiding their hair in. Surely, a man whose eyes were honed by the sea would be able to see through them, right?
Ursula couldn't really tell what Captain Grimes was thinking behind his thick white beard and large mustache, as he glanced between them. "Let's say I do let you two aboard. What can a couple of shrimps possibly have to offer?"
Nothing nautical, obviously. Ursula glanced at her friend, and realized Luna's confident bluster was quickly fading. It would be up to her to salvage this.
"We can battle," she blurted out. "If you've lost some of your regular crew, we can fill in as some muscle."
"We can?" Luna repeated in surprise.
"Yes," Ursula said to her friend firmly. "We can. This is simply a rough patch. Trust yourself to work your way out of it!"
Captain Grimes was not convinced. "I'll be the judge of that. My left arm has more muscle than you two combined," he told them sternly, waving two sailors over, one tall and thin, the other as muscled as he was, though much younger. "Otto, Santos, teach these runts how tough life at sea makes you."
"Aye-aye, Captain," the more muscled sailor said, cracking his knuckles and throwing out a Pokéball, revealing an eight armed Pokémon wearing a mask not dissimilar to Crasher Wake's. The other man remained silent, simply nodding as he sent out a graceful white bird Pokémon.
Ursula bit back a smile, sending out Helioptile against the Swanna, while Luna took on the octopus, called Grapploct, as the Pokédex told them.
The Hydro Pump sent her Pokémon's way was no joke, but Helioptile was no doubt grinning in happiness beneath the deluge. When Swanna finally let up, they zapped it out of the sky with a Shock Wave.
"Cheater," the tall sailor said, not elaborating any further, as he sprayed down his Pokémon with a potion.
"Having an Electric-type on the high seas is never a bad thing. Especially one that likes the water," Captain Grimes said, though his face was not revealing anything behind his thick mustache and beard. Meanwhile, in the water Luna and Basculin were holding their own against the Grapploct.
Her training on trusting Basculin to take care of himself in the water was paying dividends. Psychic Fangs in particular was making Grapploct think twice of where it was grabbing at with its tentacles, lest one or more of them get bit, painfully.
That said, they weren't making much progress on knocking it out, either, but it was enough. Captain Grimes held up his fist, bringing the battle to an abrupt end. "See if we can't find some extra small uniforms for the runts here," he told his sailors.
As soon as they returned the veteran captain then turned to them and handed them each a pearly white uniform, complete with a sailor's cap, perfect for hiding their hair in. "We leave at sunrise. With or without you." He paused, then issued them what appeared to be a small smile. "Welcome aboard."