Mr. Mayor and RJdude(Possibly): I am fifteen years old, and my birthday is in November.

Hello, all. Your patience rewards you with Chapter three of "Pokémon: A Philosophy"! Enjoy!

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Chapter 3
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Another week has passed and today, in the late afternoon, the S.S. Eauis will be docking at the Ceness ports. Vinzer still had the rest of his morning and early afternoon to get ready for his journey. Fortunately, Torchic’s assistance was able to hasten the process of packing, thus giving him extra time to think about his new adventure.

I think that’s that last of them, thought Vinzer as he closed his food luggage. In the Twenty-Second Century Onaria, this innovation was much convenient for a trainer, as it acted as a refrigerator as one traveled. Just like any other items, however, this portable refrigeration wasn’t without a reasonable price. Vinzer’s food luggage was able to pack enough food for five days. Yes, at last, everything is ready as it should be, thought Vinzer.

“Hey, Torchic, we still have one and a half hour before lunchtime. Would you like to go to the park, or watch me play StarCraft again?” Vinzer asked his Torchic. Torchic gave a response by floating to the door, indicating that it wished to go out.

“All right then, Torchic. To the park we go!” said Vinzer as he put his shoes on. Once outside, he stated his password and secured all systems in his apartment. Due to Torchic’s excitement, Vinzer had to ran the entire way to the park, but had sufficient energy when he arrived there. Suddenly, a young boy with a blue T-shirt and a green pair of trousers, approached Vinzer and his Torchic. He seemed to be in his early teens, and had dark orange hair.

“Hello, your Torchic seems pretty tough. How about a friendly battle?” the boy asked smiling.

When Vinzer saw that the trainer only had one Pokéball in his hand, he accepted the challenge.

“First, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Vinzer,” said Vinzer as he gave the boy a kind smile.

“I am Richard,” the boy replied, returning the smile.

“We’ll have a one on one battle with no time limit,” stated Vinzer. “Is that all right with you?”

“Yes, it’s fine, thanks. Let’s begin!” replied Richard, throwing his Pokéball in the air. “Let’s do it, Electrike!” The Pokéball opened and white energy descended to the ground, revealing the Pokémon.

“Torchic,” Vinzer looked at Torchic for a brief moment, giving it a warm smile. “Good luck!” Torchic stepped up against Electrike like it did in the previous battle with Duskull.

“Electrike, try a Thundershock!” ordered Richard, his face now a little grim. Immediately, blue flashes of lightning surrounded the electric Pokémon. Electrike waited two seconds before releasing it. The thin blue bolts hit and zapped Torchic. However, the fire Pokémon showed no pain whatsoever, and was ready to execute its first move.

“Torchic, it seems as if Electrike has electricity surrounding its body, so physical attacks will not be wise. Let’s try an ember!” Vinzer stated, with eyes narrowed and smiling, as if he was arrogant. Torchic complied by opening its tiny beak and beginning to fire tiny flame rockets at its practice partner. All those flames hit Electrike, causing it to step back just one step. Apparently, Vinzer knew that Eletrike didn’t receive too much damage from the chick Pokémon’s attack.

“Wow, Vinzer, your Torchic is strong, but the battle isn’t over yet! Electrike, use a Tackle!” Richard stated, his look now reflects that of Vinzer’s. Electrike charged towards Torchic with undeniable speed.

“Torchic, evade!” Vinzer ordered. Torchic immediately levitated higher, giving the electric Pokémon nothing to hit. “All right, great work! Now try another Ember!” Torchic’s mouth re-opened and flames filled it. A second later, it fired one large fire missile at Electrike, hitting it on his head. Eletrike, this time, seemed to fall, but wasn’t injured.

“Oh, Electrike! Try to get up!” said a worried Richard.

“Richard, I think we should stop. Torchic and I do not wish to hurt your Electrike any further,” suggested Vinzer as he gave the fallen Electrike a sympathetic look. “Torchic, come back.”

“Yes, Vinzer. You are right, I should call Electrike back,” Richard immediately pointed his Pokéball to the fallen Pokémon’s direction. A beam of red light touched, and returned Electrike to the orb. “But that was a great battle, Vinzer. I don’t regret this at all. Thank you for helping me train my Electrike.”

“It’s a pleasure, Richard. I see your bond with Electrike is very close. You do have the potential of an outstanding trainer!” praised Vinzer, giving Richard a warm smile.

“Thank you, Vinzer. I will do my best to get into the Onarian League,” said Richard, his attention directed to Electrike’s Pokéball.

“Oh, the Onarian League, you say? I am beginning my journey today, by taking the ship, S.S. Eauis to the mainland. From there, I will battle the ten gym leaders in cities throughout the continent. It is a long and difficult journey, but it is far from being impossible!” said Vinzer.

“Wow, what a coincidence! I’m also taking the S.S. Eauis to the mainland later today. Maybe we can travel together?” replied a surprised and happy Richard.

“A great idea, Richard! Let’s meet here at 4:30PM this afternoon, if you can,” suggested Vinzer, his expression in surprise.

“Sure, I can. I’ll meet you here at that time, then. I have to get going now. Good bye, Vinzer!” said Richard.

“Good bye. We’ll meet here again soon.”

After the Richard’s departure, Vinzer jogged three times around the Ceness Park without faltering. Torchic also reflected its energy build-up in the previous weeks by floating next to Vinzer without losing a breath. After the jog, however, Vinzer and Torchic grew tired for at least five minutes.

“Torchic, I must say I’m impressed. You are becoming stronger day by day!” Vinzer praised his Pokémon. Torchic gave Vinzer a familiar chirp. “Let’s head home, we should have an early lunch.”

The time was 11:45AM, and Vinzer inserted some food he didn’t pack into his food luggage into a large machine. This machine is known as the auto cooker and is able to prepare a decent meal within a few minutes. This innovation could be found in every home across Onaria. Lunch was prepared in just ten minutes. Soon enough, Vinzer and Torchic filled themselves with some of their favorites.

Two large bags of luggage seemed almost too difficult for an ordinary person to take with them, but with his strength, Vinzer pulled the two pieces of luggage with pure ease. One bag contained his clothing and other necessities, while the other one was the portable refrigerator. Before heading out, Vinzer gazed out his large apartment window for one last time before saying, “Torchic, I will miss one special thing on our journey. It is certainly the magnificent view of the ever-blue ocean...”

After readying everything, Vinzer and Torchic exited the apartment.

“Hiros three-two-eight. Activate stasis system in the apartment,” ordered Vinzer. Simultaneously, the interior of his apartment turned blue and everything froze.

Once Vinzer and Torchic arrived back to the park, Richard and his Electrike was there, waiting with two pieces of luggage, but much smaller than Vinzer’s.

“Hey, Richard! You sure seem ready to go,” said Vinzer as he put one hand on Richard’s shoulder.

“Yes, I am. You seemed pretty well prepared yourself,” Richard replied, giving him a familiar smile.

“We still have an hour before the ship arrives. Why not take the subway to the Ceness Ports, while its still quite early? You know, the subways will be filled around 5:00PM,” Vinzer suggested.

“All right, let’s go catch the subway right now,” Richard returned. The walk to the subway from the park took them approximately eleven minutes, but once there, it was a smooth trip to the ports. Once they exited the subway station at the ports, all they saw were huge container terminals, but to their far right was a building which looked like an enormous shopping center, but there was a boarding path protruding from the walls. They immediately headed for the large shopping center, knowing that the building was for boarding the S.S. Eauis. The interior of the shopping center was, of course, of luxury. Vinzer, Richard, and their Pokémon traveled to the passenger waiting room, a couple of meters into the shopping center. The two were surprised to see the room filled with Pokémon trainers. Many trainers didn’t notice the two of them coming, for they were busy packing and confirming their bags, playing with their new Pokémon, or saying their last good-byes to their loved ones.

“Magnificent! I never saw this many trainers waiting before!” exclaimed Richard as he and Vinzer moved to two vacant seats in the enormous waiting room.

“Vinzer! It’s great to see you once again. It has only been a week, but it felt as if a year has passed!” shouted a familiar voice at the entrance.

“Professor Larkin, it’s great to see you again! I knew you would come!” Vinzer exclaimed as he approached Larkin.

“Well, Vinzer. Today, you will finally begin your dream,” Larkin said. “I do have something for you: It is the Innovative Pokédex.”

“Oh, I can’t simply thank you enough Professor! You are just too kind!” Vinzer said gratefully as he received a cell phone sized device, with red painted all over, a picture of a Pokéball in the middle, and buttons at the top.

“This, Vinzer, is the Pokédex I worked on for the last three years. It has amazingly new features,” Larkin explained. “Try opening it and look up Torchic.”

Vinzer complied and a small hologram of Torchic appeared on top of the Pokéball picture. Afterwards, Larkin instructed him to press the “voice” button. Once Vinzer pressed it, the hologram emitted a chirp, just like a real Torchic. The professor then instructed him to press the “size” button. Vinzer complied and a real-size hologram of Torchic abruptly appeared on the ground.

“Wow, this is truly amazing, Professor. I promise to keep this as a very special gift from you!” Vinzer exclaimed.

“The S.S. Eauis will be arriving in twenty minutes. Be sure to have everything ready,” said Larkin as he gave Vinzer a large smile.

“Yes, Professor, I have everything ready. Oh yes, I have made a new friend today and coincidentally, he is also going on a Pokémon journey as well,” said Vinzer as he showed the way to his seat.

“Ah, hello there. I’m Professor Larkin, Vinzer’s old university instructor,” Larkin introduced himself.

“Hello, sir. My name is Richard Samuels,” Richard replied.

“Ah, nice. I’m sure you’ll just be as successful. You sure have a powerful-looking Electrike!” Larkin complimented as he looked at the electric Pokémon.

“Thanks, sir, but my Electrike is still young. Vinzer’s Torchic was able to stand up to it in a battle,” Richard replied.

“So, you had a battle, I see,” Professor Larkin confirmed.

“Yes, Torchic was truly amazing. I guess Vinzer must have had it for quite a while,” Richard replied.

“Actually, Richard, I’ve adopted this Torchic two weeks ago. He was rejected by a really selfish trainer,” Vinzer explained.

“Oh, I see. I feel sorry for Torchic, but now Torchic must be really fortunate to be with you. Man, I really hate those selfish trainers!” Richard said, clenching his fists .

After their conversation, Vinzer, Richard, their Pokémon and Larkin could hear a large hoot from a distance. The S.S. Eauis was arriving.

“Here comes the S.S. Eauis. Have a last check before boarding,” stated Larkin.

Vinzer and Richard waited in a long queue at the check-in as they readied their identifications. For trainers, riding the large ocean liner was free.

“Vinzer, Richard, good luck to you both on your journey! I’m sure all will be well. Farewell!” Larkin has said his last good-bye.

“Farewell, Professor Larkin. I’ll surely miss you and Ceness Island!” Vinzer said with a large smile as his eyes grew a little wet.

“Farewell, sir. I’m sure we both will succeed. Take care of yourself!” said a very optimistic Richard.

After passing through check-in, Vinzer and Richard recalled their Pokémon back into the Pokéballs and handed their luggage to two officers for customs inspection. Once they were done with that, the two rookie trainers peered out the small window of the boarding path. The S.S. Eauis was a giant floating on the surface of the sea. The tiny windows on its hull were too small for neither of them to see. Soon, they entered a narrow path to their left, which connected the ship to the structure. The upward path took them quite a while to walk through, but they were greeted warmly when they reached the end.

“Welcome aboard the S.S. Eauis,” said a lady at the entrance. “May I please see your Pokédexes?”

Vinzer and Richard handed her their Pokédexes. Richard’s Pokédex seemed a little more primitive than Vinzer’s, but it still worked for his new journey.

“Your cabins are on deck three, numbers fifteen and sixteen,” the lady informed them. “Enjoy your cruise!”

The two stepped on a teleportation pad near them. Once on it, Vinzer stated, “Deck three.” They immediately arrived at a large hall filled with rookie trainers and their Pokémon. The two knew that they had to find their cabins first and secure their luggage. They walked towards an aisle with the sign “1-20” on the top. Cabin 15 and 16 wasn’t that far, but it did take them a good three minutes. When they were at Cabin 15, Richard put his Pokédex into a slot with the word “Pokédex” carve on top. The door simultaneously opened, revealing a room about 25 square meters with a large bed to the right and a desk with a computer to the left. There was another door in the middle, which led to the cabin’s bathroom. Richard and Vinzer arranged to meet outside in the main hall after they unpacked. After Richard made the arrangements, Vinzer headed for his cabin, and did the same thing Richard did. Once inside, Vinzer released his Torchic from its Pokéball. Torchic looked a little puzzled at first, but immediately realized that it was inside the S.S. Eauis. It didn’t take him long to unpack, so he met Richard and Electrike in the hall five minutes later.

“Hey, Vinzer, I heard that you can trade and battle on this ship! It’s awesome!” exclaimed a surprised Richard.

“Oh cool, let’s do that tomorrow, I’m quite tired. All that’s in my mind is going to the restaurant now!” Vinzer replied.

“Okay, then let’s find the restaurant,” Richard concurred.

Before Vinzer, Richard, and their Pokémon headed to the teleportation pad, the intercom went on, “Welcome aboard the S.S. Eauis! This is Captain William Josone. I would like to inform you that the S.S. Eauis will set sail in half an hour. Our facilities will be opened for the duration of this trip starting now. We will dock on the mainland city of Clariford in approximately forty-eight hours. Please enjoy this cruise. Thank you!”

Once the announcement was over, Vinzer, Richard, and their Pokémon teleported to one of the restaurants on the S.S. Eauis.

“Welcome, sirs. Here are your menus,” a waitress said, handing Vinzer and Richard a red colored menu. Vinzer glanced through the large menu, trying to make a decision. Richard did the same. Five minutes later, the waitress returned.

“What would you like to order?” she inquired. Vinzer and Richard stated their requests and ten minutes later, their meal arrived. It took them about an hour to complete their meals, for they had in-depth discussions about their history and their Pokémon. After their meals, they headed out for the semi-crowded exterior of the ship, embracing one final moment the distant view of Ceness.