Karmic Voyage

 

Her fingers cramped while her arms ached, but she continued her climb. Her clothes were kind of wet too, but it couldn’t be helped. Having needed to dive through some waters and climb some areas, Sootoplis City was proving really hard for Ash to navigate. Her back still stung a little, but everything had healed over, so at least it wasn’t a bleeding mess anymore (or wouldn’t be).

 

And, to be honest, she was really depressed as well.

 

After a while, she realized she was near the sea, and she could see the vast waters before her. It was beautiful, and with a sad air, she had the urge to just walk towards it and keep walking into the water, hoping it would embrace her.

 

She really was useless and pathetic. It was a good thing she left Maxie before she dragged him down with her.

 

Maybe she really should just head towards the waters…

 

The cold metal of a gun was pressed obviously against her head.

 

“Funny finding you here,” Howard Stone’s voice croaked out, and she turned to see him looking unlike his usual clean and proper self. His suit was rumpled and dirty, and his hair was matted to his skin.

 

She cringed back, and looked at him fearfully. “W-what happened to Steven?”

 

“Don’t you worry about him,” Howard muttered. He gestured for her to get up. “We’re going to meet up with a group. They’re going to help us get out of here. And don’t think about running away from me.”

 

For a second, she did contemplate it. She eyed the gun, wondering if he’d shoot her. Maybe she wanted him to.

 

“Hurry it up, Miss Ketchum. We’re on a tight schedule.”

 

Her head snapped up to face him, looking at him with wide eyes.

 

“How did you know my name?” she gasped, since she’d never spoken her last name to anyone.

 

He smirked slightly. “The police talked about you, when I was getting arrested. They were whispering about how you’d just been there and they’d almost got to rescuing you. Oh? You didn’t know they were looking for you?” he laughed lightly, as he saw her surprised look. “Well, they are. Hearing that and your name, made me remember a certain League meeting. I’m on the League Board, so I was able to attend the meeting from the Hoenn charter. Imagine, to my surprise, Giovanni Rocketto lecturing us all about the traffickers. He’d even swore that he’d look for an Ash Ketchum no matter what –and hearing your name from the police officers made it click in my head. You are that very girl Giovanni’s been looking for.”

 

Ash was in shock. Even after all these years, Giovanni remembered her and now he was even looking for her. She suddenly felt a surge of happiness and determination.

 

She wasn’t done yet. She could still be herself. She wouldn’t let anyone take everything from her. Now she just had to find a way out of this situation she was in.

 

“Where are we going?” she asked shakily as Howard gestured for her to get up again with the gun.

 

“We’ll be meeting with a group of the traffickers. They’re using a ship to get around, and will be heading to Slateport. We need to leave now,” Howard grabbed her as soon as she got up. He then started yanking her towards a direction quickly.

 

 

Ash kept quiet, but internally she was readying herself for an escape attempt. Giovanni hadn’t given up on her after all this time. She wouldn’t give up on herself either. Not again.

 

The ship was large. Ash could see the ship’s name on the side, titling the S.S. Aqua. She spotted various people around, a lot of them wearing an odd combination of white and blue striped shirts and canvas leggings. Their strange sashes and black ankle-length boots were only matched by the odd bandanas covering their heads and with a stitched blue symbol onto the front of it.

 

Her observations were cut off as Howard yanked her closer, hiding the gun as it continued to press against her side. She stayed quiet as she was dragged towards a man, who Howard had a whispered conversation with. He gestured at her with his chin, and the man looked her over. Another exchange of words had the man nodding and letting them through, and she knew once she was on the ship, there was no escaping or going back.

 

“Be good, and act like the obedient girl you were before my nephew got it in his head to ‘rescue’ you,” Howard muttered into her ear.

 

She nodded her head, tensed but also desperately looking everywhere. There was nothing. But she just needed to bide her time, that was all. She had to be patient. She boarded the ship with Howard, and forced herself to even her breaths. She had to be calm and focused. She could do this.

 

Ash would get back to Kanto.

 

“Now that we’re on the ship, I expect you to continue to serve me as you did back at my home,” Howard told her, once he’d led her to what she assumed was his assigned room. “Be good. I can be kind to you, as I was before all this,” his severe look lightened, and he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ears.

 

Her breath caught in her chest.

 

“Your hair’s gotten so long,” he noted quietly. “It used to be around your shoulders, and now it’s gotten to your lower back…”

 

She tried not to shy away, but she couldn’t help flinching as Howard reached out and grasped her head. He pulled her to him, making her climb onto his lap and straddle him, and then kissed her forcefully.

 

If what happened with Howard then happened, she would just remember Maxie and Cyrus. Remember how they touched her, how they kissed her, how they made sure she was happy and felt good each time.

 

 

Most of all, as Howard pulled her onto the bed, she would remember how kind they were to her.

 

A week onto the ship and Howard was letting her out more and more. To her consternation, there was plenty of traffickers around and she was afraid any one of them would see her and recognize her, and then take her from Howard and bring her back to Tobias. Even if she didn’t care for Howard either, especially now that he’d taken to sleeping with her, at least he was the lesser evil between he and Tobias.

 

Even if she had never slept with Tobias, there was something about him and being around him that was so much worse than being with anyone else, even Miranda.

 

Suddenly, she bumped into a firm chest. When she looked up, a stocky, burly man stared down at her in bewilderedness. She shied away, quite intimidated by his appearance and gruff attitude. Aside from his physical appearance, his clothes also was like the ones she saw of some of the ‘workers’ around the ship, wearing a blue and white striped shirt, but with an open collar that showed off his chest. His pants were long enough that she couldn’t see if he wore leggings like the others, but his boots were taller than the ankle-length ones everyone else wore. He also wore a bandana covering his head like the others, alongside a large, golden medallion with a pretty stone set into it.

 

“Hey there, lassie. What are you doing, running around?” he asked, his voice as gruff as his looks.

 

“I-I,” she stuttered, unsure what to say. Her stomach growled, answering for her. She winced at that.

 

However, it just made him burst out in boisterous laughter. He grinned down at her.

 

“Well, well. If you were hungry, you should have just said so.”

 

One of his hands clasped down on her shoulder, and he began steering her away from Howard’s room. She had only taken just a few steps outside of it, before she’d run into this man. Looking back worriedly, she hoped that Howard didn’t get upset at her disappearance.

 

Finding that she’d been led to the kitchens, he’d sat her down at a table and then headed over to the large, metal refrigerators. He began gathering ingredients, while she stayed silent.

 

“What’s your name, luv?” he asked casually as he set himself up.

 

“It’s Ash,” she said quietly.

 

“Ash, eh? I’m Archie,” he told her, throwing her a grin over his shoulder. “Nice to meet you.”

 

For the rest of the time as he cooked, he concentrated on it while she kept to herself. And then, after, he proudly presented some type of sandwich to her.

 

“There you go! A crab sandwich, lass. Enjoy it, alright?”

 

Intrigued, she hesitantly took the plate and smelled the dish. It did smell wonderful.

 

“Never had a crab sandwich before?” he asked, taking his own sandwich and biting into it messily.

 

She shook her head, experimentally taking her own bite. It was really good.

 

“Thank you,” she politely told him. “It’s delicious.”

 

“No need to be so quiet and polite, lassie!” he laughed loudly, patting her on the back. “Despite despising it, I’m happy you ate it at all. But don’t you be forcing yourself!”

 

“I don’t despise it,” she ended up pouting. “I do like it! I swear, you big lug!” she ended up calling him, playfully hitting his shoulder. But then she realized what she said and did, and looked at him fearfully.

 

Only, it all seemed to have amused Archie instead and he was guffawing.

 

“Cute, girl! You sure are a feisty one!”

 

She started to slowly, shyly smile at him, until a throat cleared and her head whipped towards that direction, finding Howard watching her with a blank face. She stood up in a hurry and bowed.

 

“Thank you for the food,” she said, before going to Howard’s side.

 

He was quick to grab her arm tightly. He nodded towards Archie, before pulling her away and moving outside.

 

“I’m sorry,” she bit her bottom lip.

 

“Were you hungry?” he asked in a short tone.

 

She flinched but nodded.

 

“Next time tell me, and I will make sure you are provided sustenance,” he said, but he didn’t strike her or hurt her in any way.

 

That relieved her at least, though she knew he was still upset. But she could count on Howard to not hurt her in any way, minus forcibly taking her to bed.

 

“It’s late,” he grunted as he shoved his door opened. “You’ve had dinner so let’s get to bed.”

 

 

At that, Ash felt herself deflate and want to dig her heels in. But she didn’t since she knew she had to try to keep Howard happy for the moment.

 

Archie hadn’t seen that girl in a while. It was bothering him a bit, especially after seeing the way that pompous bastard had practically barely manhandled her away from Archie and to somewhere else. She was a sweet, petite thing. All doe-eyed and grinning doll that she was.

 

He still wasn’t sure how she’d gotten onto his ship or why, but the man who’d hired him and his Team to travel on his ship and to carry some cargo had said she was with him and the pretentious fop.

 

Something in his gut bothered him, had been since he’d accepted this job, but now had worsened after meeting that girl named Ash.

 

“Shit,” he muttered, scowling to himself as he rubbed his goatee.

 

“Something the matter, Archie?” Shelly, his faithful first mate, raised an eyebrow at him.

 

The voluptuous, exotic woman leaned into his space, scrutinizing his face. He waved her off irritably, and she huffed as she flipped her dark, wavy hair over her shoulder.

 

“Geez, I was just trying to be worried about you.”

 

“For once,” he snarked. “Do me a favor and don’t. You’ll give me a heart attack.”

 

“Down to the depths to you, you bloody bastard!” she glared at him. “See if I care!”

 

“Why, you wench!”

 

“Are you two fighting again?” Matt interrupted them, the tall dark-skinned man frowning at them.

 

The two sheepishly looked at him and shrugged in unison.

 

“Yeah…I was just going to say to you, Boss, that those people we took on seemed a might bit shady,” Matt said instead, choosing to ignore his boss and his teammate’s behavior.

 

Archie threw his hands up. “I knew it! I’m not the only one,” he crowed in triumph. “I thought so too. And we should know shady, eh? With who we are.”

 

Then he realized someone else thought what he did, and he went back to being uneasy.

 

“Look, you two,” his serious tone further added to his previous statements, causing the two to earnestly listen. “I haven’t felt alright with those people on board. And this girl I met, she’s with one of them. After meeting her, that gut feeling told me that something ain’t right.”

 

“What are we going to do about that, Boss?” Shelly asked him.

 

He thought about that. “Nothing for now. Keep quiet and a lookout for anything. I’m going to go see if I can find that girl again, and get her to say anything.”

 

 

Archie wasn’t liking the way things were, and he knew that girl was the key somehow.

 

Ash was glad it was night. She was glad that everyone else seemed to be quiet and in bed. She was also glad that Howard was a heavy sleeper and that she’d managed to leave him behind.

 

Now she had time to check out that cargo box that had been brought aboard by the traffickers.

 

Doing her best to be as stealthy as possible, she managed to make her way to the cargo box’s locked opening, thinking on how to open the chained and padlocked doors.

 

“Looking for something, girlie?”

 

Gasping, Ash whirled around and found herself face to face with Archie. He glanced behind her, and then waved around a metal cutter that he’d previously been resting on his shoulders. He pointed it behind her then.

 

“Looks like you and I had the same idea tonight,” he said lightly. “Wanna step aside, lass?”

 

Feeling relieved she wasn’t going to be in trouble, if still confused, Ash moved out of the way for Archie to step forward and settle the metal cutter onto the chains. He used his brute strength to cut it, and the chains fell away to the ground. The metal cutter was put aside as well, and he then opened the heavy metal doors, his muscles bulging with the effort. The inside was exposed, showing a dark space. Archie took a flashlight from his side and shined it into the inside, showing what was within.

 

Archie cursed up a storm, his face growing dark as he saw the multitude of people all huddled inside, many of them unconscious, beaten up, or even tied up.

 

“Shelly, Matt, get your asses in here. And get some grunts in here too!”

 

All the commotion woke up a bunch of people. Unfortunately, that included a few traffickers, who saw what had been revealed about their operation.

 

“Hey! You weren’t supposed to open that!” the man Ash saw that day at the docks, the one who had been talking to Howard, rushed towards Archie.

 

Archie struck out quickly, punching the man across the face.

 

“Wrestle them bastards down and tie ‘em up!” Archie ordered to his subordinates. “None of them goes free and roamin’ around my ship!”

 

Ash flinched back when Archie turned back to her, but his tough façade softened for her.

 

“Hey, lass. Were you taken too?” he asked, his gentleness the opposite of his exterior look and usual tough attitude.

 

Ash hesitated, but she nodded. “Howard bought me in Sinnoh,” she confessed. “But I came from Kanto originally.”

 

Archie scowled and straightened. “Sumbitch,” he muttered under his breath. “I knew I didn’t like that bastard.” He turned back to her and gently took her arms, pulling her closer. “My people are gonna get things straight. Why don’t we go to the kitchens and get something to eat, maybe get something ready for these folks once they’ve been settled into some rooms and take cared of, alright?”

 

Looking back at the victims, Ash turned back to Archie and nodded. She was glad to be in the kitchen and doing something she was good at, and have something to do to distract her and take her mind off of things. Afterwards, if the chaotic happenings caused her to see things pass in a blur, she really couldn’t find it in her to protest Archie leading her to a room that she would later realize was his, and settle her into his bed, tucking her in gently.

 

 

She really was sure that he wasn’t one to be a gentle person normally…

 

Ash awoke to an empty room, and blankets tightly wrapped around her. She felt warm and wanted to continue to snuggle into her bed, but figured she should get up and see where she was. That then made her panic and remember the events of last night, causing her to sit up and have the blankets pool around her.

 

Glancing around, she noticed how larger the room was compared to the others, and how nice it looked, if still crowded with knickknacks and stuff, and clothes thrown everywhere. With an uneasy feeling, she figured this was the “captain’s” quarters, and she bet that the man who was ordering everyone around and who she’d met as Archie, was the Captain.

 

Worried, she went outside of the room to hear jeering and chants. Following where all the sounds were, she saw the group of workers from the ship encircling the group of traffickers. Looking as rumpled as the day he’d caught Ash, Howard was also part of the group of traffickers, arms tied up tightly behind him like the rest. At least he was cleaner than then.

 

“You scallywags are the worst!” the beautiful woman she saw before, briefly remembering her from last night, sneered at the group, tossing a tomato at them.

 

“Off the plank!” someone else yelled.

 

And suddenly there was loud echoing of that spread out through the group and she saw Archie appear.

 

“Shall we make them walk the plank?”

 

“Let’s do it, Archie!”

 

“Come on, Boss! Throw ‘em off!”

 

“Run ‘em off the plank, Captain!”

 

“W-Wait!” she yelled, but her voice was drowned out by the cacophony of the voices around her. “WAIT!” she screamed.

 

Everyone else quieted, and soon enough she had everyone staring at her. She cringed and shrunk back, unnerved and nervous at the attention.

 

“You guys can’t,” she made herself speak up, though she fidgeted and couldn’t help looking down. “It’s not right and I don’t want you all to get in trouble. They need to be turned in.”

 

Archie jumped off of his platform and strode towards her. Once he was in front of her, she reluctantly looked up.

 

“You sure about this, lassie? I know they’ve personally hurt you and taken you away from your home, so why are you so willing to let them be?” Archie frowned at her.

 

“Because it’s the right thing to do,” she implored. She didn’t want these people to be in trouble either, especially Archie who seemed like a really good guy, and who reminded her of a giant teddy bear. “They’re not worth all of you guys getting in trouble for them.”

 

There was some laughs and Archie’s lips twitched up, although Ash had no idea what was funny.

 

“You’re a real sweetheart, you know that?” he told her in amusement. He turned to his people then. “You heard the lass! Put these bastards together and shove ‘em back into the cargo box! We’ll drop ‘em off where they belong. If not at the bottom of the office, then with the cops!”

 

“You bastards got lucky!” the exotic woman yelled. “You’re really lucky the lass is a sweet one, and worried with the likes of us folks!”

 

No one was able to say another word then, as suddenly the ship was violently smashed into.

 

“Everyone hold on!” Archie screamed. “All hands on deck. Matt, what’s the situation?”

 

“Boss, there’s…there’s a pokémon smashing against the side of our hull!” a shirtless, muscular man yelled back. “It looks like it’s a…It’s Kyogre!”

 

Ash perked up, wondering what Kyogre was doing around there. She thought he would have swam off and gone as deep and far away as he could, keeping away from civilization. And yet here he was…But why?

 

She looked around, even as she realized Archie was holding onto her while holding onto a pole, trying to keep her from flying off and rolling off of the ship. People screamed as they were thrown off the vessel, smashing into things on the ship, or even as they were in the waters around it. The violent sways of the ship wasn’t helping anyone to keep balanced and staying on the boat, but plenty of people had also managed to find ways to stay on, a lot of them getting their pokémon out and helping them from being thrown off.

 

“Archie, Archie,” she said urgently. He looked at her hurriedly, visibly gritting his teeth. “I think I can do something to stop this!”

 

“There ain’t nothing you can do, luv. This here is a beast of the waters. It’ll be wanting a reckoning! Arceus damned if we have that stupid Red Orb, instead of the Blue Orb like we needed!”

 

Ash bit her lip before making a decision. Using the distracting chaos around her as well as surprise, she harshly pushed herself away from Archie and ran towards the side of the ship. She threw herself forward to try to use momentum and toss herself over, landing with a hard splash into the icy waters.

 

She couldn’t swim. She knew she couldn’t swim, but she needed to get to Kyogre. She tried to swim towards him, but she was panicking in the waters and thrashing more. However, she felt the familiar feel of Kyogre pushing against her, and then she was being pushed towards the surface. Breaking through the water, she breathed in a huge gulp of air, even as she shivered from the cold. Kyogre was calm underneath her, no longer thrashing himself against the ship they were beside.

 

Ash caressed his head and looked into Kyogre’s eyes, and was surprised to see worry in them.

 

“Did you come to find me and wanted to get me off of the ship?” she asked, taken aback.

 

He gave a musical, whining sort of sound, and she nuzzled his head.

 

“Oh, sweet, sweet, Kyogre. Thank you for coming after me.”

 

She looked up and saw Archie (and a few of his group) gaping down at her. She waved back at him.

 

“It’s okay! Kyogre was just worried about me!”

 

 

She couldn’t really figure why they were all looking at her in amazement and awe.

 

Remembering Maxie’s frequent grumbling and sometimes even rants about his rival Hoenn boss, she was surprised she hadn’t recognized and thought of Archie as the boss of Team Aqua sooner. Finding out now made her feel like giggling, given her previous thoughts about the Teams, and how it just kept coming true.

 

However, then she remembered Maxie, how she’d left him, her time in Team Magma, and her depression. She was still unable to fully shake it off, or stop thinking of herself as disgusting and worthless. And she still couldn’t stop feeling tired and unhappy, despite the second wind she seemed to have gained from the knowledge that Giovanni remembered her and was looking for her.

 

She just felt terrible about herself, and it was hard for her not to.

 

“You look like a sad pup,” Archie snuck up on her, teasing as he made to lay back on the railings.

 

She blushed and picked at her new uniform, her old clothes useless and gotten rid of.

 

“Sorry. I know I’m supposed to be mopping the deck, but I got distracted with my thoughts.”

 

He waved her off. “Eh, you’ve been working harder than the others, so you can be excused. Everyone knows you’re a good girl anyway. Plus, you’re a better cook. Maybe I should have put you on cooking duty, instead of Matt?” He shook his head. “I got distracted now too. Now spill it, Ash. Why are you looking sad?”

 

Ash looked down, feeling herself become unhappy again. “It’s really nothing,” she lied. He knew it too, as he gave her a look. She gave him a sad smile. “Really, it’s nothing.”

 

He forced himself to not push her, but he didn’t leave her alone.

 

“I don’t know what to call you anymore,” he mused aloud. “I call all the little ladies, ‘lass’ or ‘lassie.’ I call the women ‘luv.’ I can’t figure what to make of you, Miss Ancient Tamer.”

 

She blushed again and shrugged. She smiled widely at him. “How about just Ash?”

 

He grabbed a strand of her hair and tugged it playfully, winking at her with a mischievous grin. “Got it, Ash.”

 

Her face turned fully red then.

 

He straightened up. “Ever gone swimming before?”

 

Ash scrunched up her nose, shaking her head. “I don’t even know how to swim.”

 

He looked at her in surprise. “And yet you jump off a ship into the sea. Madness, girl. Anyway, let’s go!” Archie said as he grabbed her hand and started to lead her off.

 

“Go? Go where?”

 

Archie laughed loudly. “I’m going to teach you to swim. Then you can introduce me to Kyogre!”

 

Offset, Ash just followed him along, shrugging inwardly to herself.

 

Once they’d set down on a boat onto the waters, they moved only just slightly away from the ship. She hesitantly looked over at the waters, not sure of this.

 

“Don’t worry about the temperature,” Archie reassured her of that at least. “This boat, and I bet Kyogre, keep the waters around them warm. You’ll be fine.”

 

Soon enough, he’d gotten her into the water, and she saw he was right. Kyogre continued to drift nearby, still shadowing the boat ever since he had caught up to it and Ash.

 

“Not cold?” Archie asked.

 

“No actually,” she turned, but found herself caught off guard and blushing once again as she came into contact with Archie’s chest. Backing away, she could see his torso was bare, though he at least wore swimming trunks.

 

Time passed after that and Archie patiently taught her how to swim. It was strange because she didn’t think he was used to being so patient about things.

 

“Let’s take a break,” Archie suggested, and Ash agreed.

 

She rested against the side of the boat, too tired to pull herself up. The water gently splashing against her felt soothing, and she relaxed to it. When she looked at Archie though, she found herself wondering at his scrutinizing look. He swam closer to her, and she was suddenly trapped against the boat as his muscular arms grasped the railings on either side of her.

 

“You looked sad earlier,” he said flatly. She didn’t deny it, so he softened his look and tone. “Sometimes you really do, but I can never figure why.”

 

“My, princess~ Look at how pitiful you are. Worthless.”

 

Ash flinched, looking blankly down. She felt Archie tilting her head up then, and she looked into his eyes. They were so sweet and tender.

 

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” he murmured. “Inside and out, you’re bloody gorgeous. Ain’t anyone like you in the universe. And I know all of the pretty, little baubles in the world put together can never compare to you.”

 

She looked at him in amazement. And to be honest, she’d been so miserable and close to giving up before. Then she heard about Giovanni, and that had been her lifeline that she had clutched desperately onto. But she still struggled and couldn’t completely keep herself from going under…until now.

 

He was suddenly even closer than before, the distance closing between them as his body started to touch against hers. He ducked his head and leaned in.

 

“All the empires in the world would have waged war for you, dear Helen. And Troy would have been left burning a long time ago.”

 

Archie kissed her then, and she felt like she could believe and love herself again.

 

His hands moved from the railings of the boat, to travel to her waist underwater. From there, Archie gripped them tightly and brought her against him, and she could feel his erection straining against his trunks. He kept to himself though and didn’t go further than that, and Ash contemplated everything in her life and for that moment. So she reached down between them and grasped his manhood, massaging him in her hand. He groaned against her mouth, while bucking up against her.

 

He reached down, pushing aside her swimsuit’s bottom panty line, and inserted a thick, blunt finger into her. He moved it around in a circle, kissing along her neck and jawline as he pleasured her. As she began to whimper and clutch onto his back, he inserted another finger. He rapidly began to harshly thrust his fingers in and out of her until she came, her back arching. However, he didn’t stop then, continuing until he started inserting more and more fingers. Soon enough, all five of his fingers had grouped together and were thrusting into her cunt and impossibly filling her, fisting it mercilessly.

 

“Archie! I-I’m going to cum again!” she gasped.

 

He grunted against her. “Cum, babe. It’s okay. Cum for me!”

 

Her toes curled in the warm water and her body tensed, then she was coming again. But before she could relax, he had pulled down the straps of her one-piece and had her breasts fully revealed to him. She didn’t have time to blush, as Archie surged forward and mouthed one eagerly. He sucked on it and licked the mound, happily nipping at her nipple in turn. He just as eagerly repeated his actions with the other breast, and switched off every few seconds.

 

He backed off, but only with his mouth. His hands took over, squeezing her breasts and happily pinching her nipples until the peaks hardened. He pushed them together, and then playfully moved them in circular movements, going in opposite directions of each other.

 

“Get on the boat, alright?” he said gruffly.

 

Breathing heavily, she nodded and pulled herself onto it, and Archie helped her up as he grasped her waist and hefted her up.

 

“Spread your legs,” he told her and she did.

 

When he started to move in towards her covered pussy, she stopped him while her face flushed bright red.

 

“We’re…we’re visible,” she glanced nervously at the ship. “Anyone can see us!”

 

He grinned roguishly at her. “All the better! Let’s give ‘em a show.”

 

And then he plunged in and his facial hair momentarily tickled her, before her mind was busy in pleasure as his tongue found her clit and began playing with it. Right before she was close to the edge, this time he stopped. Before she could cry about it, he clambered onto the boat and over her, moving aside her one piece’s panty line again, and grasping his cock. He plunged it in, but this time his movements were slow and unhurried. He thrust lovingly into her, and the gentle waves of the ocean guided their movements, both of them rocking to the water’s swaying.

 

 

Even as he came into her and they just lay there and rested, the ocean continued their rocking for them.

 

There was dancing and lights, and everyone was drinking and having a good time. Ash didn’t know why everyone was there, or why they were all partying. After earlier with Archie and then introducing him to Kyogre, night had come and they had finally come back onto the ship. But she hadn’t expected any of this, or why any of it was going on.

 

Archie embraced her from behind.

 

“Happy 17th,” Archie murmured into her ear.

 

Oh! She’d forgotten her birthday. She’d remembered, having seen the calendar in Archie’s room, and had mentioned it not too long ago, but she’d not remembered that day.

 

“Boss! Don’t you hog the lass!” Shelly hollered from her perch on top of a crate. “Bring ‘er ‘ere!”

 

“To the party?” he grinned widely at her.

 

She laughed freely and nodded. “Let’s go!”

 

He pulled her along and then pulled her into an unfamiliar dance that she quickly caught onto, the fast jig fun and wild for her. He leaned in at the end of it, whispering into her ear.

 

“What do you want for your birthday, Ash?”

 

She looked up at him with wide eyes. “I want to go home.”

 

He smiled a little sadly at her.

 

By the end of the night, he’d announced their heading in Johto’s direction.