His first reaction was a snort and a very firm hell no.
But then the letters kept coming, and each time it made him more and more tense. Just who were these people, how did they know him, and how did they find him…?
“Sounds suspicious as hell, if you ask me.” Duking’s voice had crackled over the line, and Wes quietly cursed himself for not finding a place with better reception before the call. Not that Orre had many of those places, but still.
Duking’s next line was one Wes wasn’t expecting. “You should go.”
Wes raised an eyebrow at that. “Seriously?”
“This could be a trick up Cipher’s sleeve, and if that’s the case, we should investigate.”
“If it’s Cipher, then it’s a trap,” Wes said pointedly. Plus, it’s not even in Orre.”
“All the more reason to look into it. If Cipher tries to drag other regions into this mess, we could have a much larger issue on our hands. The League doesn’t exactly hold Orre in high regard.”
Hah. That was an understatement.
Wes didn’t reply right away. He stared out across the desert, acutely aware of the sun beating down on his shoulders. He could see the faint silhouette of Phenac in the distance. To leave right now…well, hadn’t he already left for a while? He’d spent the last week in the desert, trying and failing to clear his head, to forget recent events, to shut out the image of her betrayed expression, the anger and hurt and tears in her eyes—
He tightened his grip around his phone. Yeah. He could use a distraction right now. Another mission. A change of scenery. Anything. “All right. I’ll go.”
“You said they’ll only let you bring up to two Pokémon, right?” Duking’s voice crackled again, and Wes shifted his position a bit, as if that would somehow help. “Go ahead and send the others to us through a PC. We’ll take good care of them.”
Wes couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. “Just like that, then? Not worried I’ll take off and never come back? If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were starting to trust me.”
He heard a low chuckle on the other end of the line. When Duking spoke again, Wes thought he could almost hear the man’s smile in his tone.
“Well, kid. Maybe I do.”
The smell of salt. A steady breeze. Wes couldn’t help but choke out a bitter laugh when he saw the ocean for the first time. After all this time, he was finally on a boat and leaving the shores of Orre, but they weren’t heading anywhere near Johto. Figures. It really was comical at this point.
And then there was the boat.
He stared up at the massive thing, at a loss for words. After a moment, all he could manage was “What. The hell?”
“Isn’t she something?” A man passing by, who appeared to be a crew member based on his uniform, paused to reply with a grin. “Newest and greatest boat we’ve seen around these parts!”
Wes stared at him. “That’s not a boat.” It couldn’t be. Surely. Boats weren’t any bigger than a large house at best. No way could something this big actually float, this had to be an elaborate trick, or—
The man simply laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “You’re right, eh? She’s a whole lot more than that! Well, I hope you enjoy what we have to offer on board! Speak in’ of which, you should follow me this way, make sure you have your ticket ready…”
Thirty minutes later and against his better judgement, Wes found himself on the top deck, staring dazedly out over the endless expanse of blue.
He felt more and more on edge with each passing second as they set out to sea. Not only had he been teleported to—to gods know where, but this boat itself was…fancy. Too fancy. Nobody with this kind of money would spend so much on a bunch of strangers. At least, nobody without some sort of hidden agenda.
The fact that they were on the ocean, with no land in sight, certainly didn’t help matters. Wes tried not to think about that too much. Somehow this thing could float, so it wouldn’t just suddenly sink…Right? Oh gods, why did I think coming here was a good idea.
Neo was practically vibrating with excitement at Wes’ feet. He kneaded the ground with his forepaws, his head turning this way and that, as if he was trying to see everything at every angle all at once.
“Remember, this isn’t a vacation,” Wes said to him in a low murmur. “Stay close to me and keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Got it?”
Novo stood at attention and replied with a sharp bark. Neo sighed, his ears and tail drooping a bit. “Spiiiii…” he whined.
“Look, I don’t trust this place, and neither should you. Let’s take a look around and get a feel for the layout.”
And so they did. Wes had never known a boat could be this massive; it was like an isolated little city. He was sure the staff alone had more people than any small town in Orre. They even had a gym, and a spa, and—pools. Pools? What, being in the middle of the gods-damned ocean wasn’t good enough? Holy hell.
The sparkling water fountains surrounding some of the pools reminded him of Phenac, and the image left a bitter taste in his mouth. Damn these rich people and their bizarre obsession with surrounding themselves with water.
Wes noticed a man lurking in a far corner of the bar near the pool, maintaining a healthy distance from anything that breathed, and couldn’t help but agree that this guy had the right idea. It seemed most people were milling about in this area anyway, so he decided to take a seat in another secluded area along the bar and observe what he could. Neo and Novo followed suit and sat dutifully as his feet, with Novo sitting alert and upright and Neo sulking and staring longingly at the other Pokémon that were frolicking in the water.
Wes managed a tiny, strained smile and scratched the Espeon between his ears. “Don’t worry, bud. Let me get a better feel for this place first, and then I’ll let you play—but only if you promise to dig for some info while you do.”
This was going to be a long two weeks.
