The outside world seen through my luxury pokeball was dark and placid, but my thoughts were stormy.

A ranger!

We’d made our way down into the belly of the beast, and we’d come back mostly empty handed, and yet… and yet…

Sly was a ranger! Was the ranger!

And yet we’d been triumphant. We’d been challenged. We’d become victorious. We’d been changed. A trial by almost literal fire.

I wasn’t a ranger. What was I? Who was I?

Shadow and I, we’d tracked those bad guys all through the complex. Tracking scents was new and exciting. It was like… smelling how much you needed a shower, but then using that to taste with your nose as it pulled you this way and that. A medley of smells — aftershave, cologne, fabric softener, the tint of their jewellery, each thug’s own unique musk — all wove a tapestry that I could read like I’d been born to it. But I hadn’t been born to it.

Of course I was — had been — partly a human, but I’d thought I’d got that sorted out. A ranger, gone to ground on a mission to do good in any way he could. Only that wasn’t me, that was never me. The brief, fleeting hold on sanity — the lie of a past I could believe in, could build something around — was shattered into motes of failure. I had to start at zero again. And yet… and yet…

Shadow and I though, we’d done it. We’d tracked those Aqua and Magma guys to their… clubhouse? Hideout? No, the whole place was their hideout. Their headquarters? Whatever. And we’d dragged out of them their truths and returned to tell the tale. Not without injuries and scars, but they were hard-won in battle. My ribs still twinged from where they’d been broken by a steel-toed boot, for all they’d been mostly healed by the pokecenter. I still remembered that feeling, the utter… no, not disregard, the loathing — the utter loathing that that man had had for me. He’d not only kicked me in a cheap, surprise attack, but he’d tried to finish me off afterwards.

I couldn’t help it, I felt the change in me as I contemplated the day, that battle. I hated that thug. I hated humans like him. Not Ed, not even Becca, certainly not Sly — though I wanted to hate the ranger for who he was and who I wasn’t — but them, those nebulous humans who would hurt an eevee like me just because they could. Those who would take an eevee, a pikachu, a weedle, any one of the hundreds, thousands of pokemon that lived in our world and use them up and throw them away without a second thought. Not for the first time, I wondered if whoever I had been was better off where he was, in every sense of the word. I didn’t want to be a human like that. And… I wasn’t, was I? Had I been? I didn’t need to be, at least. I didn’t know who I was still, but I knew what I could become, and that was better, better than I was.

With a thought, the bedroom shimmered, and was gone. A rude hollow replaced it; a close, warm cave, the floor covered in moss and straw, clean and simple, no bugs. I was an eevee, I should be an eevee. I curled up, tail on my nose, as I slumbered away in my virtual space, not quite at peace, but at least peaceful.

Leaping out of my ball the next morning, my legs took a moment or two to get used to the swaying of the boat. I twitched my ears and sniffed as I paid attention to the engines. Grease, oil, fuel. A thrumming that made itself known throughout my entire body. It was exciting. It spoke of adventure, travel, purpose. The boat was well underway and cruising purposefully.

I nosed my way up the few stairs to the outer deck, emerging from a cramped door — at least for humans — just behind the captain’s bridge, to pitter patter my way around the ship. Everything smelled so interesting! Salt and brine and fishy rankness pervaded the ship in a miasma of coastal exuberance, whilst the myriad people that were and had been onboard overlaid themselves on that. I could smell Ed, he’d been here at some point in the early morning. Becca’s scent was fainter, from last night. Sly’s was stronger. I followed his trail around until I found him at the prow of the boat, nursing a cup of coffee with a blanket around his shoulders.

“[Good morning trouble,]” said Sly, with a relaxed smile on his face. I stuck my tongue out at him, he chuckled as he took a sip from his cup. I padded up to him and hopped up into his lap. He grudgingly arranged himself so I wouldn’t fall off. “[And what’s gotten into you this morning?]”

I head-tilted up at him peering into his eyes. He really was a good guy, huh? Then my nose twitched. I liked coffee, or used to. A memory surfaced; I took my coffee black. Sly liked miltank milk in his, with some sugar — or it was possibly honey. I lapped at it before he could lift the mug out of my reach. It burnt my tongue, but that was the price of victory.

“[Hey! That’s mine!]” he complained, lifting the cup out of my reach before peering down at it and making a face. He sighed and dropped his arms down again. I mrrp’d at him and just drank my way through what I could reach now it had eevee cooties in it. He gave another long suffering sigh and, picking me up with one hand under my belly, went to furret out a dish, which he poured the rest of his cup into before putting it on the deck for me and getting himself some more. When I looked at the fresh cup in his hand, he scowled. “[No, you menace! Besides, this stuff’s too hot.]”

I mrrp’d again and finished off the now luke-warm coffee, smacking my lips, before shaking myself out. I hopped up onto his lap again, and then from there onto the gunwale. The sun was rising high in the azure blue sky as the agate green waters beneath sparkled like rainbows with every wave crest. I breathed in deeply, the wind ruffling my fur and the sea-spray spattering my face.

“[Hey! Be careful there, Lux!]”

I stuck my tongue out at him again, just as a massive swell hit the prow of the boat and I was launched into the air. For a moment I hung there, suspended between sea and sky, and then I fell. Moments later I crashed into the jade depths, the shock of the cold forgotten as — paws and tail akimbo — I tumbled deeper and deeper.

“[Lux? Lux! Captain! Come about! Eeevee overboard!]”

The crisp sounds and bright light of the sea were slammed into a twilight of bubbles and muted colours. I dimly heard Sly shouting out in fear far away as I kicked all four legs and started yamper paddling in a panic — was it yamper paddling when eevees did it? — as I tumbled my way through the richly populated waters. A quick bark of surprise — and an even quicker slamming of my jaws closed as precious air escaped — and I fought to get my wits about me. I’d been thrown overboard! Above and to one side of me thundered the boat, its propeller churning the water into bubbly soup as it receded from view. Beneath, far beneath, were rocks and sand and weeds, home to myriad forms of life. And in between? The seas here were alive with all sorts of wildlife; carvanha, mantine, even a few sharpedo, staryu, starmie, tentacool by the dozen… the list was endless, as endless as the bluey green expanse that surrounded me on all sides. I’d never been afraid of big places before, not in either life, but this deep twilight, this void, it shook me to my core. I had to get away! Not only to breathe, but because it was just… too much!

I powered my little legs along just as rapidly as I could, barking up a storm of bubbles, as I struggled to make it to the surface as one of the hungrier water-types sped past. The blunt-nosed aquatic killer of a sharpedo slid through the water like a hot knife through butter as it came closer and closer and… a brown and cream blur slammed into it with incredible force as a second brown and cream shape wound its way through the briny depths and pulled me up and along in its wake. With an explosion of force and a massive spray of water, Benny — or was it Hill? I never did get them straight on the night — chirruped at me as he threw me skywards.

“Hey girl! Fancy meeting you here!” he called.

“[Lux! You scared the shit out of me!]” cried Sly from the boat, breathing heavily as he gripped the gunwale with white-knuckled fists. I sailed overhead, tumbling, to fall into the water on the other side of the boat, where I was surreptitiously caught by the other member of the buizel duo and ushered forwards with the flashing white light of a move, probably Water Jet.

“[Lux! Will you stop messing around out there and get back onboard?]” shouted Sly as he leaned over the side of the boat, having run across the deck after my airborne form.

I mrrp’d again as, with a flex of will power, I sought out what Benny and Hill had used and connected with it, letting the power of the ocean speak to me through it, and then dove beneath the waves, suddenly aware with some sort of secondary sense of everything near me in and around the water.

So that’s the trick of it, huh? With an exertion of will, I forced the water surrounding me to slough off backwards and at an angle, wresting control of my own locomotion as I too used Water Jet, propelling my small, furry body forwards and downwards with a sudden burst of speed and a similar residual glow of white infinity energy. The sunlight, which had been growing dimmer and bluer as I sunk downwards, brightened again as I angled my body upwards until with, a burst of water and the resumption of sound, I was airborne once more.

“Wahoo!” I yelled my enthusiasm to the universe at large, and it answered. I spun and twirled, held in streamers of water, arcing to and fro over the boat, before plunging back down beneath the waves again. The sharpedo had all darted off now the buizels had arrived; sharpedo may be excellent hunters and well adapted to life beneath the waves, but Benny and Hill were champion-level pokemon. There would be easier prey elsewhere. The waters were our playground, and I intended to make the most of them!

“[Lux! Is that…? Are you…? Get back here! You can’t just… Lux? Lux!]” Ed shouted, red-faced and half-dressed as he leaned far enough over the edge that Sly had to yank on his clothes in case he fell. There was a burst of white light and a black and white furred form leaped over the edge of the boat, slicing into the water before another burst of energy sent Ziggy slicing along the tops of the waves, hopping and skipping between crests as he went up one edge, over the top and crashed back down again in a nimble Surf.

“Lux! I didn’t know you could do that!” the zigzagoon called. “Race you!”

“I didn’t know I could do it either!” I called back as I flipped over his head, upside down. “You’re on! Count to three! One!”

“Three!” Ziggy powered upwards using his tail and, somehow, stood on his hind legs on the surface of the water, zooming forwards with a rooster tail of water spraying out behind him.

“Heeyyy! Cheater!” I cried good-naturedly, exerting my willpower with the echo of Benny and Hill’s move. I cavitated through the water after him in a race to nowhere in particular, whooping for the sheer fun of it.

“[Oh come on Ziggy! Not you too! No! Lu-u-u-ck-k-kyyy! Come on guys!]” Ed went from terrified to exasperated very swiftly. More pops and flashes followed as more of Ed’s pokemon left their balls to enjoy the day. Lucky just dove over the side of the boat, making a sizable splash as the croconaw entered the water. He propelled himself through the waves with strong lashes of his tail and hind paws; not quite as fast as me or Ziggy, he still could shift his bulk at quite a clip.

Tully took to the skies to play with Peeko whilst — much to Ed’s continued chagrin — Guy lifted Barb with his telekinesis and the pair hovered out over the waters, refusing to be left out of the hijinks.

Ed hung his head, defeated, giving a long sigh. “Can… can you slow down in case they get tired, Captain?”

“Aye lad, I’ll leave no pokemon behind,” replied Mister Briney with a chuckle, easing back on the throttle. As the boat slowed, there was the loud creak of a door opening and Becca stumbled out onto the deck, yawning.

“Urrgh, what’s going on? What’s the commotion?” She rubbed her eyes, grumbling and groaning as she struggled to wake up.

“Oh nothing much, Lux was just giving me a heart attack again.” Sly wryly wrangled another cup, and poured a generous amount of hot coffee into it for the girl. He added some spoonfuls of sugar, a dash of milk, and then held it out. “Here, looks like you could do with a bit of wake-me-up.”

Becca wrinkled her nose but accepted the cup with a small gasp of happiness, taking a careful sip as she wrapped her fingers tightly around it, a shield against the last of the morning’s chill. Forced to jump about, swearing softly as the precious juice of life sloshed onto the deck, Becca made way for her pokemon. Shadow and Bart nosed their way through her legs to peer over the edge of the gunwale into the water.

“Man man!” barked Shadow, his tail wagging up a storm.

“Oops, there he goes,” commented Sly, sighing with resignation as the manectric dove in over the edge with nary a pause.

“Slaassssh!” Bart complained, but Sly reached a hand down to gently pat and reassure him. Sissy and Chompy joined the sandslash to watch from on deck, though Chompy quickly slithered her way up onto the cabin roof to enjoy the sunlight in peace.

“The day Lux doesn’t give somebody a heart attack over something is the day Arceus himself will come down from Mount Coronet to join my team. Shadow! Just… don’t drown, okay?” Becca called, already done with the morning’s hijinks.

“Man! Manectric man!” Shadow replied, yamper-paddling his way happily around the boat as he barked to the rest of the pokemon.

“Wait for me!” Shadow didn’t have a chance of keeping up with the more aquatically mobile pokemon by himself, not that that was going to stop him, and not that it mattered in the end. He wasn’t yamper-paddling — head barely above the waves — for long before he was picked up.

“I’ve got you! Hold on!” Ziggy powered back towards the manectric, flexed his attack move and, with a glittering burst of light and energy, attacked Shadow along the surface of the sea in a continual wave.

“Woah… woo! Yeah!” Shadow spun and juked until he found his sea-legs and finally let himself be carried along as Ziggy’s Surf swept him at great speed towards the rest of his friends. Tongue hanging out, he panted for joy as the salt-laden spray crackled through his fur. As he neared Lux and crew he had an awesome idea. “Ziggy! Jump on my back! Then let’s buzz past them real close!”

“You got an idea? Yeah, you got an idea!” Ziggy wagged his own tail, his stripety ears up and at attention and his whole body wriggling with nervous excitement as the pair beared down on the rest. He pushed down on the waves and, with a subsequent burst of water, ejected himself from the waves to land on top of Shadow.

“Let’s show ‘em who’s boss!” yapped Shadow, and dug his paws in, sending a massive sheet of spray not only arcing over the eevee, but also drenching Lucky, who of course spat a column of water at Ziggy and Shadow but missed, downing Guy and leaving Barb spluttering for air before she was buoyed up by a wildly grinning gengar. This was approximately when the manectric and zigzagoon learned that not only did telekinesis work on water, but that it worked on manectrics and zigzagoons, as they and a vast quantity of water was sent skywards. Which was unfortunate for Tully and Peeko, because the swellow and wingull had been gliding through that part of said sky as it happened.

Tully was not quiet about being dunked into the biggest drink there was, and his boomburst let everyone know it. This would have been fine, but the leading edge caught Shadow, and he’d already been quite excited about the whole thing.

There was a burst of white light, then several arcing bursts of lightning, a smell of ozone and the distinct need for two buizels to rescue everyone from their prospective watery graves.

With an expertly refined splattering of water, the two buizels that had rescued not only Lux but the rest of Ed’s and Becca’s teams landed themselves on the deck of the S. S. Peeko 3, pointedly ignoring the chastising that several members of said teams were still loudly receiving.

“Mornin’ buizels,” acknowledged Briney, giving them a nod. “Comin’ with us for a spell are ye?” Briney was back at the helm, humming a tune to himself as the boat motored along through the waves.

“Bui buizel!”

“Zel ze bui bui!”

“Yarr, good to be hearin’ it. Me scurvy seadots’ll find ye something if ye be hungry?” The man waved in the general direction of the other occupants of his boat before giving the pair of buizels a wide grin and a belly laugh.

“Buibui!”

“Hehe, least I could do for the save. Keep an eye on the little’uns if’n they go for another dip, y’hear?”

“Buizel!”

The two buizels saluted at Briney’s wink, then scampered over to where Ed and Sly were towelling off their pokemon, and Becca was sorting out breakfast — or maybe brunch — for everyone.

“Oran-bran for you, Bart. Persim-porridge for you, Sissy. Chompy dear, is your lepancake good? Mm, I bet it is, I’d like some!”

Chompy whipped her tail at the plate, and with two swift-as-lightning cuts, chopped out a bit for Becca, who gratefully snagged it. Not all pokemon food was good for humans — tamato berries seemed to cause some humans to spontaneously learn the move ‘flamethrower’, and when it gave some of those tummy troubles, well… — but leppa berry pancakes were safe enough. She’d nibbled the poke-kibble to see what that tasted like, everybody did at least once, but didn’t see the attraction. Still, she parcelled out generous enough amounts to all hers and Ed’s pokemon. The boys would get their partners’ favourites wrong, which would inevitably lead to bowl swapping and then poor portion management, especially on behalf of Lux who seemed to just have no preference except for ‘more’. Becca wasn’t sure where the little monster put it all, but the eevee was either going through a phase or growing into a ball-shape of fluff.

Maybe she’d feastamax? Becca checked the back of the box on a whim, making sure none of the materials were sourced from Galar. They were probably safe, she reasoned eventually.

“You two are friends of Lux then, I hear?” Becca smiled at the two buizels as they padded their way towards the group. “Hungry?”

“Buiz!”

“Buibui!”

“Thought so. Here you go then, I don’t know your favourites, so there’s a plate of assorted berry pieces — they’re for everyone Lux! — and a couple of bowls of… Lux! Lux these are for… you had your… oh good grief. Fine.” Becca gave a long-suffering sigh and just shook out some more kibble.

Lux had been dried off first, mostly because she’d track water everywhere they didn’t want her to if she hadn’t been, and had subsequently eaten first. And had then pestered everybody for more; more food, more coffee — as if she needed any — and more berries. And for some reason the two buizels were happy to let her share their bowls. Becca rolled her eyes as she packed away the rest of the food into her backpack.

“How’re you two doing with the cleanup?” she asked Ed and Sly, who seemed to be in need of another change of clothes. “There’s another couple of patients for you if you’re up for it.” She threw a thumb over her shoulder at the two buizels.

“Almost done,” laughed Sly. “It’s mostly Shadow to go now, he’s got a lot of floof.”

“Manman!”

“And I’ve got Ziggy,” added Ed, struggling with a black-and-white mass that was vibrating itself towards his breakfast. “Barb’s taking some sun,” he added, pointing to where a demure nidoran was daintily picking at her fruit with her claws one at a time, swaddled in a warmed blanket.

“Lucky’s got the laundry going, mostly to get the salt out before we can give things a proper wash.”

“Cro-cro!” enthused Lucky, from somewhere below. The croconaw padded his way back up on deck as his name was called, to rub his head against Becca, who caught herself against his oversized form to stop from falling.

“Oof! You’re too big for that now! I know it won’t stop you either, you big lug. Mm, glad to see your hide hasn't suffered from the salt water, but we’ll need to get some ointment on you tonight, alright? And a wash-down with some fresh water, so save up at least some of your energy for making sure we have enough of that, please.”

“Crrrr.”

“Yeah yeah, off you go… noo! Oh fine. Come here then.” Becca was pushed gently down to sit on one of the many padded seating areas around the boat by Lucky clambering on her, conveniently in the sunlight, as the now-bordering-on-huge croconaw slumped over her for some personal attention. “I do have other things to do today, you know,” she said reproachfully.

“Croco naw.” Lucky grinned, it showed his massive teeth which would’ve been scary to the unprepared, but the expression in his eyes was one of smugness.

“Well, we’ll see. I suppose I can take a bit of a break.” She ran one hand down Lucky’s back, picking at his scaly skin and scratching his eye-ridge just how he liked it. The big jaw pokemon started to purr like a litten as he made himself more comfortable, a rumbling noise that could be felt over the vibrations from the ship’s engine. Becca smiled indulgently and coddled the big lizard for a few minutes in happy bliss. “What’s our status, captain?” she asked finally.

“Weather’s going to be fine for the day, according to Peeko,” replied Briney, heaving on the wheel to adjust course slightly.

“Gull! Wingull!”

“So I thought we could stop for lunch at Table Rock whilst I get me bearings. Got a course change over the radio.” Briney winked.

“Table Rock?” Becca asked.

“Aye, unofficial name o’ course but seein’ as it’s flat as a table, it’s a good ‘un. A trainer came through a few year ago, had a bit of a set-to with some Team Rocket goons. That monstrous pikachu o’ his blasted the top off during the battle.” Briney pointed off into the distance, where lo and behold, there was indeed what had used to be a crag coming up out of the waves, only instead of the usually pointed top, there was just an expanse of flat, blasted rock.

“A pikachu did that?” asked Sly, hand shielding his eyes from the sun as he squinted into the distance. “Whew, last time I take a pikachu’s power for granite.” He paused for a moment, then grinned. He grinned wider as everyone replayed what he’d said in their heads and groaned.

“What? That’s… ugh. That’s not even funny!”

“Oh come on, it’s hilarious! For granite! Eh? Eh?”

He was still mugging wildly as Mister Briney heaved to and dropped anchor.

“Lux! You’ve just got dry! Don’t you dare…”