The ocean waves shimmered with sunlight as they rippled off the side of the high-speed ferry. The boat was powering across the sea and on deck, sunbathed our heroes.
"Ah, this is the life," exclaimed Gray, "No more fighting Team rocket grunts and just relaxing. This holidays to the Sevii Islands is gonna be fantastic! Though I think the sun here is a bit odd. My skin is turning a weird pinkish colour."
"I did say Oddish Ointment doesn't act like sunscreen, Gray," Yob responded, "In fact, it tends to have the exact opposite effe..."
Yob was cut off as Tene poked Gray in the arm, resulting in high-pitched yelps of pain that didn't cease until they reached their destination, Knot Island.
Once they disembarked from the ferry, the trio rushed into the Pokecentre so Gray could get some Aloe Vera that was typically meant for Pokemon. After recovering, the trio noticed a large, computer-like machine on the side of the room with a few people in white cloaks fidgeting with it.
As the trio approached, one the them, a smart looking scientist with wispy black hair, spoke, "Ah, it's almost ready to go!"
"What is?" Tene questioned.
"My masterpiece. This beauty is designed to allow long-distance Pokemon trades between regions, even over the ocean." The man looked like he was about to cry but stopped and spoke, "Oh, sorry. I should introduce myself. My name is Waffledoctor108, or LED for short. I'm a doctor of science and an aspiring inventor. I have spent my whole career working on this machine. Not only does it perform the trades but while you wait for them to process, it has an inbuilt screen that plays reruns of my favorite anime!"
"Can we see it work?" asked Tene.
"Oh yes, the show is really awesome! There's like swords and people trapped in virtual..."
"I mean the trading part."
After the mixup, Dr. LED explained that it wasn't ready yet but that he was about to finish his work and returned to tinkering. After some time past he proclaimed that it was ready to fire up.
"Here we go!" He exclaimed before pressing the big red button on the front to no effect.
"Hm, seems to not be starting properly...if I just tinker with this..."
He was cut off by Gray, "Don't worry! All the machine needs is a good smack to get going."
Before LED could respond, Gray sent out his Hitmonchan who used Mega Punch on the machine, resulting in a massive hole and smoke.
"Noooo!" yelled LED, "My babyyyyy."
"Oops," responded Gray, returning his Hitmonchan, "have you tried turning it off and on again?"
After attempting to salvage his work, LED spoke, "I can probably repair most of it but this hyper-gear is broken beyond repair and will need to be replaced. I only had one spare though and it went missing a few days ago. I may have misplaced it somewhere on my daily island walks."
"Don't worry Doctor!" Yob announced, "It is our fault your machine is broken and we'll make sure it's repaired. We shall scale this island to restore your splendiferous machine for glorious, global trading!"
The trio left embarrassed, heading out to look for the missing hyper-gear. They searched on a beach that was filled with people also looking for treasure but all the found were a few pokeballs and potions. They headed north and after spending some time relaxing in a natural spring, they began to scale the mountain at the northern tip of the island. It was a long trek upwards but it was the last placed they hadn't looked.
"Ugg, who just randomly carries gears around with them as they go for walks," Gray complained as they reached the summit, "Maybe the gear will just magically appear before our eyes."
However, at the summit was not a gear but a nest of burnt twigs with a large flaming bird Pokemon that was awoken from all of Gray's complaining. The legendary Moltres was angry at the intruders and began letting off flamethrowers in their direction as they began to sprint down the mountain, screaming. Gray tripped and tumbled into his companions, resulting in them all rolling down to the base of the Mt. Ember, in a mess. Moltres circled high above, screeching but no longer pursuing. As they struggled to their feet, they noticed a sign off to the side saying: 'Beware: Giant Flaming Bird up Ahead. Do Not Climb.'
The trio begrudgingly wandered back to the Pokemon Centre, Gray now stinging twice as much from burns. As they confronted LED, they explained that they had not been successful in locating his missing hyper-gear.
"Oh yeah. I have a spare at my house on Boon Island, if you could go and get that."
"Uhh, I thought you lost your last one on your island walks.." questioned Tene.
"You know, after destroying my machine, I was a bit bummed and decided to mess with you a bit. Who just randomly carries a gear around with them as they go for walks?" But anyway, I think the ferry is about to leave so you should probably hurry along."
***
The Trio reluctantly trudged over to the ferry and sailed to Boon Island. They were on a mission and by-passed the local markets and the event that was on, where it seemed a handful of trainers were using their Pokemon in a berry hunting competition that Yob was upset about not getting to participate in. Making it to LED's house, they were confronted by an old lady who stated that she was his grandmother. She allowed them to search LED's room but it was in a mess and all they could find was an oddly human-shaped pillow. After half an hour of searching, the grandmother remembered that the hyper-gear had in fact been stolen quite recently, by a mysterious, unspoken figure in the night that she had tried to chase down but they fled too quickly onto the midnight ferry. She recalled that it had headed in the direction of Kin Island.
"What's with you people and making us search in the wrong place," complained Gray before the grandmother apologised and offered to teach Gray's Blastoise and Yob's Venasaur some special TM's she had hidden away, containing the powerful hydro canon and frenzy plant, respectively. Afterwards, our heroes yet again made their way to the ferry and continued their painstaking journey.
***
Arriving at Kin Island, they resumed their search, looking through the town and along a cape where they encountered a weird, derpy Pokemon that the Pokedex described as Dunsparce. Yob was in love and immediately caught one.
Night was fast approaching and the only place they had not searched as a scary looking forest.
"Uhh, I'm not scared or anything but maybe we should wait for tomorrow before going into those woods," Gray shuddered, "You know, with the whole bit about tracking down a dangerous thief and whatnot."
"Don't worry Gray, "Tene responded, "My Umbreon will be right at home."
The Trio wandered through the dark forest, with Yob jumping and Gray screaming at every sound. Even Tene was beginning to get a little spooked. Gray yelped and jumped into Yob's arms as a small spider Pokemon slung down from its web. After composing herself, Tene smirked and ordered Umbreon to hit it with a dark pulse before throwing a net ball at the Pokemon, capturing it.
"Spinarak. You'll make a good ally to the team."
The trio continued into the depths of the forest and just as they were about to give up in fear, they heard a creepy, hypnotising lullaby. Tene got PTSD, recognising the sound immediately and sent out her Hypno.
"Hypno, use your psychic powers to draw them out."
Hypno began to spin its ring and in front of them, another hypno appeared with the use of Teleport, this one with a gear stuck around its neck, seemingly in pain. The two hypno blankly stared at each other in a weird display before Tene approached the uncomfortable mon, removing the gear from its head with the help of her Spinarak's string shot as lubricant. The Hypno was grateful and wandered off, as did the Trio, staying the night in the local Pokecentre before heading back to Knot Island the next day.
***
LED was overjoyed when they arrived with the hyper-gear and thanked them repeatedly before sending out a curious looking gear Pokemon, that left Gray and Yob stunned.
"Klink, help me apply this gear to the machine."
The Pokemon did it's job and the machine began to power up. LED was filled with anticipation and pressed the red button once more, this time with the machine coming online. A connection with a far-off, tropical-looking region was immediately established and the inbuilt TV turned on with anime streaming.
"It works perfectly!" LED exclaimed, wiping a tear from his eye, "and thank you to you guys for getting the hyper-gear...even if you did break the first one."
"The journey was a bit more difficult that we expected. A Hypno had taken it and we found it with it stuck around its neck," Tene explained.
"Oh yeah, that Hypno has been trying non-stop to steal my pillow. It travels all the way from Three Island just to get at it. It must have gotten stuck as it was rampaging through my room again and ran off home. Foolish mon."
"Your pillow?" one of his colleagues questioned.
"Uh, nevermind. Anyway, as thanks for your help, please feel free to use my machine anytime. You know, the anime is just about to get to a really great part. My favorite character is about to come in and he has like this awesome gun that if shot in game..."
"Thank you for the offer," Tene interjected, "but we are in a bit of a rush to get...um...elsewhere."
The Trio said their farewells to the impressive doctor and departed, intent on salvaging their holiday. They headed to the docks and boarded the ferry to Floe Island, in hopes of the relaxation they craved.
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