Chapter 8: Six Years Ago…

“Most kids can’t wait to get as far away from home as possible for college, and you want to stay here? You’re crazy, Sammy.”

Sam and Tommy stood outside Ilex Hall, the largest educational building on the University of Goldenrod City’s campus, hosting most of the math and business courses that the school offered. Seeing as how Tommy had attended the university, however briefly, Sam couldn’t have imagined anyone he’d rather have guide him around the campus. The first place they toured had been, of course, Whitney Williams Stadium, the school’s official pokemon stadium, just a short bus ride off of campus and named in honor of one of Goldenrod City’s most famed trainers. Tommy was very insistent that Sam enter the National Collegiate Pokemon Association right away in his freshman year and see if he could translate the success he had in high school to a more competitive level. Not that it would take much prodding for Sam to do that; he knew he’d be signing up as soon as registration for first-years was open. After that, they’d visited the cafeteria halls; Tommy had made it clear that while the cafeteria was a good bargain with the meal plans the university offered, the restaurants around campus were the better option taste-wise. Since then, they’d been visiting the various educational facilities. Harrison Hall, where most of the science labs were located, was a very modern building whose eastern wall was entirely glass window panes, and it stood in stark contrast to the gothic layout and worn concrete walls of liberal arts building, the Abeshire Building. They had skipped the southern area of campus where most of the dormitories were located; Sam had made it clear that he wanted to live at home for at least his freshman year.

“I mean, with your grades and your marks as a trainer, I’m sure most of the universities in Johto would accept you in a second. There’s no reason to feel tied to Goldenrod if you don’t want to be.”

Tommy wasn’t wrong, and it made Sam feel egotistical to think so. But UGC was a respected school, not to mention the only one Sam could attend entirely on scholarship due to his late father’s employment there. Tommy was already working so hard to provide for them both that Sam knew he couldn’t entertain the notion of adding college costs on top of that. 

“Yeah right. And what happens while I’m gone? You sit around and talk to yourself until you go crazy? Or you finally start working the ten hours a week you don’t already and drive yourself into the ground? Face it, you don’t know where you’d be without me.”

“I’d be neck-deep in women is where I’d be. Without the oh-so-sexy declaration of ‘No, baby. We can’t go back to my place. My kid brother is up watching pro wrestling’, I’d be solid gold.”

Sam sputtered a few words, but nothing pointed was coming to him as he tried to imagine his brother meeting women. It was a disturbing thought, broken up by Tommy’s laughter. “Oh man, you need to see your own face, Sammy. I think I just broke your brain.” Tommy patted his brother between the shoulders. “Like I have time to date? Wishful thinking. But man…you are so gullible, kiddo.”

Sam was relieved, first that he did not have to imagine Tommy dating any further, and then by the fact that his living with his older brother wasn’t the reason Tommy didn’t get to do so. He’d never admit it to his brother, but the weight of the guilt he felt over everything that Tommy did for him was pretty heavy. The fewer things he could add to that pile, the better. 

They moved away from Ilex Hall so that Tommy could show him the Banner Memorial Library that was on Sitrus Avenue, the main road through campus. Every so often, Sam would notice Tommy take a deep breath and just stare off at a building or a university transit bus or a bench on the lawn outside of a building. It would only last a moment, but there was definitely something there. A memory, Sam thought, or perhaps a regret? If Tommy felt bad about his failing out of UGC, he’d never let Sam know it. He still remembered the day the letter came and his questioning his brother over it. Tommy just chuckled and replied, “College is hard, kiddo. You better get your grades up so you can see just how hard some day.” And then he effortlessly changed the subject to using his new Fire Stone to evolve Vlam. As Sam thought of it like that, college was the only thing that Tommy didn’t make seem effortless. He was constantly on the receiving end of promotions at work, he had more friends than Sam could count, and he usually made short work of Sam when they sparred their friends. His brother was everything Sam was and then some; if Tommy couldn’t handle college, how would he be able to?

He hadn’t consciously stopped walking, but he knew the fear of his upcoming freshman year had halted him when he saw that Tommy was now several feet ahead of him and turned back looking at him.

“Hey, you only need to stop and look both ways at an intersection. It doesn’t really apply to the middle of the sidewalk.”

“What if I can’t do it?” He instantly felt ashamed at having to speak loudly enough for Tommy to hear him. Any of the other kids milling about campus could just have heard him, and what if he had to share classes with them this year? They’d remember him as that whiny freshman who can’t hack it.

“Can’t do what? Stop at an intersection? I’d kind of hope that’d be a skill you’d have mastered by now…”

“No. College.”

Tommy bridged the gap between them. He studied Sam for a second, and Sam waited for his advice. “Well we’re always hiring at the department store!” Sam looked back at him expectantly. He needed something real now, and Tommy seemed to understand. “Hey, listen. You got this. You’re a better man than you know. For someone, you know, who’s barely a man.” A short jab in Sam’s arm punctuated his last point… 

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“Are you even listening? Does senility really hit this early?”

Sam was shocked out of his recollection of another time by this youthful voice next to him. When his eyes refocused on the present, he saw what had sent him into his own memories so many minutes ago.

“Waves.” Sam swallowed a burp. “Seasick. God…”

Barry and Sam had boarded the ferry bound for Canalave City about an hour ago. By that estimation, it was approximately fifty-five minutes ago that Sam’s insides began revolting against him. He could only remember one other occasion when he’d been aboard a ship, and that was when he was twelve. Tommy, his father, and he had taken a summer vacation cruise to Cianwood City. Not far from the coast of their destination, the sea had turned rocky and a storm battered their ship. If Sam were to put it crudely, he figured he must have lost 5 pounds just from regurgitating into their cabin washroom. That memory made even the mild waves brushing their ferry almost more than he could bear. After that, he enjoyed no aspect of the vacation. It was no wonder, Sam figured, that his mind saw fit to distract him with a more pleasant memory of years gone by.

“Really? Wuss. It’s just some water. Look,” Barry started doing jumping jacks on the deck of the ship. “See? I’m fine.” He kept going. Jumping. Up and down. Up and down. Up and–

“Oh god, please stop that!”

“What?”

“The jumping and the moving all the time!” Sam exclaimed while pressing his palm to the side of his head. “Stop it!”

Barry finally settled back down. “This plan is failsafe. We’re totally going to find out what the Phoenix Shipping Corporation is up to. You know, as long as they don’t do anything dastardly like bounce around.”

“I’ll be fine once we’re on land.”

“Better be. By the way, while you were ignoring me, I was trying to show you the herd of Wailmers along the side of the ferry. Too bad we aren’t allowed to catch them from here, though.”

“Do Wailmers really come in a ‘herd’?”

Barry shrugged. “What would it be then?”

Sam pursed his lips in thought. Nothing was coming to him. Flock? No. Pack? Maybe. “Herd it is,” he finally replied, done wasting brainpower on the matter. Barry nodded, triumphant.

The ferry’s speaker system broke the sudden silence between them, “We’ll be docking at Canalave City momentarily. We hope you enjoyed your time with Canalave Ferry, and we look forward to serving you again.” A shot of static signaled the end of the announcement. 

Canalave City was supposed to be to the Sinnoh continent what Olivine City was to the Johto: the region’s major port and import/export town. Sam had rarely been to Olivine back home, and one of those few times was when he was boarding his unfortunate cruise. It was an awful town as Sam remembered it. The air constantly smelled of dead fish no matter where you went, and the boardwalk was loaded with garish, tourist-trap souvenir shops trying to sell sweatshirts with pictures of Krabby or the Olivine Lighthouse on them. The lighthouse seemed to account for all of the town’s history; apparently it was a big deal twenty years ago when it had to be physically moved backwards into the shore a few hundred yards due to the erosion of the land by water over time. It was all anyone talked about when he had visited. The ships coming in and out of the docks were loud and obnoxious, and the huge crane devices propped on the water’s edge to assist with removing cargo were a tremendous eyesore. Even thinking just these details about Olivine was enough to ball Sam’s fists, but at least he’d stopped thinking about the water.

He still wasn’t sure why he was doing this. After the disaster in the forest hoping to catch a glimpse of Mesprit, and instead getting a glimpse of possible illegal activity, he and Barry had met up with Professor Rowan in Barry’s sleepy hometown of Twinleaf Town. Rowan asked Barry and Sam to take this trip to Canalave to see what they could find out about Phoenix Shipping. Barry was, of course, excited to go. Sam, less so. But what was he to do? Barry was brash and reckless, and if everybody at Phoenix had the same violence-first crisis management skills that those workers at the lake had, the kid could be in real trouble. Sam cursed Rowan for sending Barry on such an errand, and then he cursed himself for not just letting them dig their own graves without involving him. 

The ferry slowly docked, and Sam’s first impression wasn’t a bad one. The city was constructed around an inlet of water that dug into its heart. As the ferry cruised to its final destination, Sam saw buildings on both sides. It was an impressive feel, as if the city was welcoming him fully into itself. Sam inhaled deeply as he took in the encompassing city. Dead fish smell. “I hate port towns,” he muttered to himself. 

“Hey excuse me!” Sam noticed Barry was banging on the window of the ferry conductor. “How do we get to Phoenix Shipping? We’re supposed to meet someone there.” The conductor mouthed a reply from inside his cockpit, but Sam couldn’t hear it from where he was standing. Barry seemed to be able to, however, as he nodded and gave the conductor a thumbs up. “It’s pretty close to here,” he noted to Sam. “Just right up the boardwalk.”

They were halfway between the ferry dock and the Phoenix building when it finally occurred to Sam to ask the most rhetorical question he imagined he’d ever ponder. “You don’t really have a plan for what to do when we get there, do you?”

“Nope. Just gonna play this by ear.”

“Okay, yes. Tell me, what is your ear playing right now?”

Barry scratched his chin with his index finger. “Hm. Walk in. Find the receptionist or accountant or CEO or whoever’s at the front desk. Say ‘why were those guys performing illegal construction at Lake Verity?’ in a very menacing voice. Get answers.”

“Yep, that’s pretty good. But how about instead of that, we do anything else?”

“I like the sound of that, too. What have you got?”

Sam grabbed Barry’s shoulder to stop their progress down the boardwalk. Getting to the building before the plan was fully fleshed out seemed unwise. “Okay. You work for Professor Rowan. Professor Rowan is the legally authorized Pokemon Professor of Sinnoh, right?”

“Right.”

“Okay. I’m going to assume that, just like in Johto, Regional Pokemon Professor is a cabinet position, yes? Rowan was appointed by and serves under your Minister Benicini. Am I right so far?”

“As rain.”

“Then you–and by extension, I–are legally representing not just the Pokemon Professor Rowan, but Secretary Rowan. We greet the receptionist as such, prove our credentials by contacting the professor, and ask to speak to Phoenix Corporation’s legal advisory team regarding some–and we won’t say what kind–but some kind of ‘sketchy legal matters’. Still with me?”

Barry nodded, but it seemed to Sam as though the assistant was looking through him. He certainly didn’t seem like the kind with an attention span large enough for a detailed plan. Undaunted, Sam continued.

“We ask the legal team why the Phoenix Shipping Corporation would be performing illegal drilling and construction on government-protected land, and why they responded to queries about their licensing with violence.” Sam pulled his hands up to his chest in an innocent manner. “We explain that we are sure it is just a misunderstanding as to how they ended up there, and perhaps their employees were just startled by our presence, but we are required to report back to Secretary Rowan with answers on this matter regardless. We make it seem like it’s all a big inconvenience, and we want to help them clear it up as quickly as–”

“We’re going to sneak onto a boat.”

Sam smacked his lips in response to Barry’s latest interruption. He sighed, “Yes, that is also a robust plan. Detailed plan of action filled with subterfuge and tact, vis a vis sneaking on a boat. Dilemmas like this keep men up at night…”

Barry pointed out past Sam, to the docks behind them. Curious, Sam turned and saw the boat to which Barry was alluding. Sam’s frustration grew, but he felt it best to continue to humor Barry. “It is a nice boat, I’m sure, but I think you’ll find my plan has more–”

“It’s a cargo ship.” Suddenly, it was Barry who sounded exasperated at Sam. “And the cargo being loaded was labeled ‘Acuity Project’.”

Sam was struck silent. A second of the three Sinnoh lakes that housed the legendary trio was Lake Acuity. Was it possible that whatever this company was doing at Lake Verity, they also had planned for Lake Acuity? And, if that was the case, it seemed almost certain that the Phoenix Corporation was after the legends, as well. If that vessel made it to Lake Acuity while Sam and Barry were busy pussy-footing with a bunch of lawyers, who knows what its crew could do?

“Gotta say, Barry. Loving this boat plan.”

They studied the cargo ship in silence as they slowly made their way close to the pier, being careful not to get close enough to rouse any kind of suspicion. A total of five more crates, labeled just as the ones Barry had seen, were loaded onto the deck. Some of the crates were as small as compact cars, others were as large as a storage unit. From the boardwalk, they had counted just a handful of crew onboard, not many more than what they’d seen working the site at Lake Verity. This crew seemed harried, checking tie-downs and scanning in crates, but as the crates finished being loaded, they disappeared into the ship. Taking this as their opportunity, Sam and Barry rushed to the side of the ship.

Sam’s heart sank. They couldn’t just walk in the pier entrance, but the boat was at least twenty feet tall. Now that they were next to it, he couldn’t think of any way to get on board. He shrugged his shoulders to Barry, still careful not to make more noise than necessary in case they missed a crew member on deck. 

Barry shook his head and then tapped his temple. He snatched one of his regular pokeballs from his pocket and released Monferno. The fiery monkey bobbed happily on the pier until Barry waved for its attention. Still trying to remain quiet, Barry made a cup with his two hands and bent forward. Then he sprung back upright, bringing his cupped hands upward as he did so. Monferno nodded in understanding, and likewise cupped his hands and bent forward. 

Barry pointed to Sam, who arched his eyebrows and shook his head. Having this little monkey who could fit on Sam’s shoulders heave them up and onto the deck? It seemed crazy. Barry nodded his head in reply to Sam, and Sam realized he might not have any choice. The ship would undoubtedly be departing, so it was now or not at all. He reluctantly placed his right foot into Monferno’s hands.

Sam was not quite sure how he stifled his screams as he was heaved upwards and then landed on the metal deck with his back, but he had. He would have never imagined Monferno had that kind of power in him. Moments after Sam’s landing came Barry’s; it was equally graceless, but he seemed less disturbed by it than Sam had been. They both sprang up to their feet; Sam did it to look around and ensure no one saw them, while Barry did so to withdraw Monferno back to the safety of its ball from its spot on the docks. Sam saw no one, but he still didn’t want to take a chance. He pointed to an array of crates, and the two of them ran to conceal themselves in it. As they got there, they felt the cargo boat pulling away from the dock. Whether it was the superior plan or not didn’t matter now; they were on their way to Acuity.