The next morning, earlier than he’d like but not so early as to have to operate in the dark, Ran boards the ship to Olivine City alongside Doro. They’ve both got their bags full with all of their possessions once more, their pokémon all in their balls and on their trainers’ belts. After the long stay in Cianwood, which between its beachwear and the sheer convenience of having everything he needs in very close proximity to the pokécenter, his gear actually feels quite heavy, the habit of lugging everything along with him clearly having withered over the past two weeks.

  Doro shows none of the weariness Ran feels at once again being loaded with gear like a pack Tauros, though with her habit of personally working out every day, that isn’t really a surprise. That doesn’t make the sight of her easily bouncing on her feet any less irksome though, as Ran mulishly swallows a complaint about Doro’s good cheer.

  He’s fully aware that his bad mood is his own fault, the discomfort of his full backpack on his shoulders a logical result of not keeping up with his physical fitness over his stay in Cianwood City. But that knowledge doesn’t actually help to cheer him up, it only just about keeps him from snapping at Doro unfairly.

  Fortunately, there’s enough distraction to be had from the weight of his backpack.

  The ship they’re on is quite similar to the ferry Ran took from Goldenrod City, to get to Cianwood City in the first place. Though the ship they’re currently on is a bit larger, that’s easily explained both by the greater number of passengers and by the less challenging route, as the waters on this side of the Whirl Islands are calmer.

  Yet again, even with the trip slated to take until well into the afternoon, Ran hasn’t seen the need to book a cabin, something Doro agreed with, having come to the same decision. The logical consequence is that they go and explore the ship together, even as a glimpse of the four pokéballs on Doro’s belt, compared to the five on his own, draw a question from him.

  “You mentioned wanting to add a Heracross in Ilex Forest, right?” He asks, clearly catching Doro slightly off-guard, as they wander into the ship’s bowels, both having agreed to start on the lowest accessible level and work their way up from there in their exploration.

  “I did, yes.” Doro responds simply after a moment, looking towards him as they walk side by side, clearly curious to know why he broached the subject.

  Ran hums thoughtfully, “I was wondering about your plans for your team. My own team is going to end up looking pretty different to the plans I drew up before setting out, so I’m curious to hear the thoughts of another rookie who’s ended up with an unplanned pokémon on her team.”

  “I see,” Doro acknowledges, pausing for a few long seconds, which Ran takes as a sign that she’s looking for the right words, before she finally asks a question of her own, “You had all six of your team members planned out in advance, then?”

  “I did,” Ran confirms without hesitation, “You know Caesar, Aria and Golbat. I originally planned to add a Gastly and a Nidoran. Then, for my final team member, I wanted a Bulbasaur, if I could somehow get my hands on one, though that was always meant to be something for late in the season and even then I admit it was a long shot. The alternative was either an Oddish or a Bellsprout, which I could have added way sooner, but I didn’t want to give up on my hopes too soon.”

  “But then you received Skorupi,” Doro mentions, “And now, Croagunk as well.”

  “I did, yeah,” Ran affirms swiftly, “It’s thrown my plans for a bit of a loop, to say the least.”

  Doro nods slowly, “But now there is only one spot left on your team and you are left with three, or five, depending on your count, options to choose from, no?”

  Ran hesitates for a moment, the conversation derailing further than expected, as he wanted to discuss Doro’s plans for team building rather than his own. Still, expecting her to share her plans when he isn’t willing to do the same would be pretty dumb, so he answers honestly, “Yes and no. I had my reasons for each of the possible additions, and some of the concerns they’d address can be answered in other ways now, so it isn’t as much of a choice as you might think.”

  The conversation comes to a natural lull then, as they reach the lowest accessible floor of the ship. It’s just a large hangar filled with parked cars, which hardly makes for an interesting sight and so, after a few seconds, they turn for the stairs, to head up to the next floor. Once more on the move and having used the brief reprieve to order his thoughts, Ran starts to explain his reasoning.

  “Assuming all of my current team members eventually evolve, I’ll have three who are super weak to ground-types and four who are super weak to psychic-types. At the same time, the team will have one member with an immunity for each of those types, plus Aria, who isn’t weak to ground and who can at least counter psychic-types with her own super-effective hits. That’s a super solid core. Solid enough for me to dismiss Gengar entirely, as Drapion’s even better against psychic-types than it could ever hope to be.” Ran explains, drawing a nod from Doro, as she indicates that she’s following his reasoning so far.

  “At that point, it’s a choice between a grass-poison-type and a Nidoran-line pokémon.” Ran continues, only for Doro to interject with some insight of her own.

  “You’re only considering defensive weaknesses? Outside of Aria, you haven’t mentioned your offensive advantages yet.” She posits, which gains her a pleased grin from Ran, even as they arrive on the next floor, the pokémon hangar. Perhaps because of the early hour, it’s currently entirely abandoned, nobody having come down here to let their pokémon stretch their legs just yet.

  “I’m taking them into account, but there I can compensate by teaching my team enough coverage moves,” Ran offers, shrugging as he continues to speak, “Poison isn’t a particularly great type for offense, but perhaps because of that, most poison-types can learn a lot of moves. Ground-types are always going to be a problem of course, which is why a grass-poison-type would make a lot of sense, but, honestly, I just don’t really like Vileplume or Victreebel and Venusaur is just as much of a long shot now as it was three and a half months ago.”

  He pauses then, waiting for Doro to come to the only possible conclusion, which she does after a few seconds, when she realizes that he’s waiting for a response.

  “A Nidoran-line pokémon, then? Poison-ground, no?” She asks eventually.

  “When it’s fully evolved, yes.” Ran clarifies, not accidentally wanting to claim that a Nidoran has a dual-typing.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Doro remains quiet for a few long seconds, but just as Ran is about to inquire about her own plans, she finally speaks up, “I can’t help but note that you forgo an extra answer for psychic- or ground-types in favor of one that might help you against steel-types.”

  Ran’s expression pinches together at that particular observation, though he doesn’t give voice to the instinctive denial he feels burning on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he waits for a moment, before responding more coolly.

  “Steel is a very strong defensive typing that’s growing in popularity,” He finally formulates, not quite denying Doro’s observation so much as he tries to recontextualize it, “But more importantly, the Nidoran-line gets enormous type-coverage. I’d have to check my notes, but I’m pretty sure that, with the right TMs and tutoring, there isn’t a pokémon in the world that a fully evolved Nido can’t hit for super-effective damage.”

  Doro remains quiet, their wandering exploration by this point having brought them to an on-board personal gym, of all things. From the stars in her eyes, Ran can tell that he won’t have Doro’s company for the entirety of the trip, though with an empty stomach, she at least doesn’t insist on getting a workout in immediately.

  Finally, yet again moments before Ran can try and turn the conversation to Doro’s own plans for her final future team member, she breaks the temporary silence that’s settled over them once more.

  “You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into planning out your team. But does that not feel… restrictive to you? Does it bother you that you made such elaborate plans, only for at least a third of your final team to have been unplanned for? Or what if you run into a Weezing which you feel a real connection to, before you add your sixth member? Will you not attempt to capture it because it does not suit your plans?” She asks him slowly, her words clearly carefully chosen.

  Ran’s answer isn’t immediate, the two of them continuing to ascend up the ship’s innards until they finally reach the restaurant. With the hour now a lot more suitable for breakfast, it’s a quick mutual decision for them to take seats and have a look at the menu, a waiter swiftly taking their drink orders as they browse the menu, before Ran finally answers Doro’s questions.

  “I like having a plan,” He starts with dryly, before, at Doro’s unamused expression, elaborating with a slight smile, “It’s comforting to have something more tangible to fall back on, at times. Obviously, in this case, things haven’t gone as planned, but they’ve still turned out more than fine, so that’s alright. I guess you could consider the time I put into research and planning a waste, but maybe I’ll use that knowledge or those skills at some other point in the future? Even if I don’t, I enjoyed coming up with the plan and it’s not as if I could have spent my time, before journeying, very differently.”

  “And if you run into a wild pokémon you feel a strong bond with, before you can find a suitable Nidoran? Or if you don’t find a Nidoran that suits you?” Doro prods cautiously, even as she nods along in understanding for the rest of his explanation.

  “Then that’s a bridge I’ll cross when I get to it. I have a plan, I intend to carry it out, but if circumstances change, I’m not going to freak out over it either.” Ran replies confidently, drawing an approving smile from Doro.

  “I understand,” She accepts with a nod, before throwing him completely for a loop, “As for myself, I intend to add a Heracross to help with psychic-types. It is, outside of Quick, Precise and Strong, the only pokémon I truly believe I need to add to my team. Toff, my Croagunk, has been a pleasant surprise and I am sure that, somewhere along the way, another pokémon with a suitable warrior spirit shall cross my path.”

  At the flabbergasted look on Ran’s face, Doro chuckles huskily, “You were about to ask about my own plans for my final free ‘slot’, were you not? I can’t give you a clearer answer, my rival, for I don’t know who my sixth member will be any more than you do.”

  Ran can’t muster up a response, silence hanging over their table for a minute until he’s finally shaken out of his surprised stupor when someone comes by to take their orders - eggs and bacon for Doro, a panini for Ran - and to deliver the drinks they’d ordered mere moments after sitting down. Only then does he finally reply to Doro’s admission that she has no concrete plans for her final team member.

  “There’s not enough fighting-types native to Kanto and Johto for this to be a hard decision! It’s either Primeape, Machoke or Poliwrath! You should at least have a preference between those three, unless you’ve got something more exotic in mind?” He asks in disbelief, unable to comprehend Doro’s claim that she really has no concrete plans for the completion of her team.

  “I do not have a preference between those three and I have no specific foreign pokémon in mind either,” Doro responds placidly, smiling lightly at the look on his face, “It will sort itself out in time.”

  “I’m going to change the subject, because you’re giving me a headache.” Ran tells her mock-seriously, waving his panini in her direction ‘threateningly’.

  Doro raises her hands in faux surrender, the rest of their breakfast passing pleasantly as they discuss their plans - reading and relaxing on the deck for Ran, working out and then having her team spar amongst themselves for Doro - and enjoy their meals. Afterwards, they pay before putting words into action, going their separate ways as Ran wanders out onto the deck, where the sun has climbed high into the sky and is shining down pleasantly.

  Claiming a deck chair is easy work, though actually sitting in it is another matter. Because he decides to let Skorupi out of his ball again, at which point he ends up in another half wrestling match with the poison-bug-type over their seating arrangement. Ultimately however, he manages to cajole Skorupi into settling for a reasonable position on his lap, so that Ran can actually enjoy his seat without having Skorupi’s sharp carapace digging into him.

  Then, he digs out a book, before losing track of the world for a while, as he enjoys the read. It is, for once, not part of research or study, but rather a book of fiction, about a trainer whose bond with his starter, a Sandshrew, is so strong that it doesn’t just evolve into a Sandslash, but it becomes capable of temporarily evolving again in moments of need. The premise is ridiculous of course, but it’s an enjoyable read, the words evoking a very clear picture of the world and the characters seeming just about ready to leap off of the page.

  By the time Ran is drawn away from his book once more, a few hours appear to have passed, Skorupi dozing peacefully on the back of his chair. At first, he doesn’t know just what it is that’s disturbed his focus, but then he notices the large and growing congregation of passengers near the ship’s starboard side railing. Leaving his chair to go and have a look of his own, Ran soon realizes that they’re passing the Whirl Islands and the wild waters that protect them from human intrusion.

  The Whirl Islands are notorious for being a notoriously hard to reach Trainer-only location for anyone who can’t fly there directly. Ordinarily, simply Surfing a sufficiently powerful pokémon should be able to do the trick, but the whirlpools that surround the islands are supposedly a genuine challenge for even the strongest swimmers. Though there’s also rumors of Chuck’s Poliwrath regularly swimming over to work out in the whirlpools before swimming all the way back to Cianwood City, so Ran doesn’t quite know how seriously to take those claims.

  It’s not particularly relevant to him either way, as his team’s not slated to have any team members whom he would willingly try to Surf on for any serious distances. Besides, most trainers who visit the Whirl Islands do so by flying there, as evidenced by the distant silhouette of what appears to be a Fearow with what has to be its trainer riding on top of it. So why would Ran risk the waters, if Golbat or, by then hopefully Crobat, will be more than capable of safely getting him to the islands? If he even ends up ever visiting them in the first place, seeing as the Whirl Islands aren’t exactly known for having much to offer to anyone that isn’t interested in water- or ice-types.

  After watching for a few moments, Ran wanders back to his chair, not as impressed by the distant isles and the whirlpools surrounding them as so many of the other passengers. Instead, he happily devotes his attention back to his book, pausing only for lunch, which Doro comes to collect him for at one point, before getting right back to it once more.

  By the time late afternoon rolls around, he’s made an enormous amount of progress in his book, only to be interrupted once more, when another hubbub breaks out. Though this time, people are gathering further towards the bow of the ship. As Ran stands up to join them, the reason becomes readily apparent, as Olivine City becomes more and more visible in the distance.