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"Yeah, lemme see!" Skye said, leaning over to take a look at the screen. "Oh, that's awesome! Looks like we'll be heading to see your parents sometime soon, then!"

In the time it had taken for Ginga's mother to answer the email, Skye had picked up a detailed brochure of the trip off the bedside table and begun leafing through it with Pancake in her lap, who always 'helpfully' turned the pages a few seconds too early to finish reading it, not that Skye minded. "Looks like we'll be docking in Slateport City. Wow, look at those beaches! How far is your hometown from there?"

"I didn't know you had a sister...!" Skye said, looking up at her with interest, "Is she older than you? What's she doing now?"

"Well hopefully we can meet up soon! I'd love to meet her too!" Skye grinned, "Take a look at this brochure yourself - this ship's got sooo much stuff on it! There's tennis courts and food courts and a bar with live shows on the C deck - there's THREE pools! One has waterslides!" she babbled, passing it over, "What do you fancy we try first?"

"That sounds good to me!! But FIRST!" Skye said, closing up her case and standing up purposefully, "We hit the ice cream bar and have the most epic brunch ever known to man. I fancy... bubblegum flavoured. And chocolate. And toffee. And soooft vanilla. But not all at once!" she stipulated gleefully, mouth watering, "At least half a bowl of each. One at a time. And then maybe seconds. I'm going to enjoy this...!~"


~~~~~~~~~


The next morning, Skye wasn't regretting her decision to eat an inhuman amount of ice cream one bit, though she theorised that she may soon end up doing so if it were a repeated occurence. Ice cream and waterslides, for instance, weren't the very best of combinations, and so instead of zooming around in the flumes she'd spent most of her time by the pool lying back in a lounger and recuperating, though she did join Ginga for a bob around in the water and a game with a very large and colourful beach ball that turned out to be Pancake in disguise when it exploded in a violent shower of fireworks and streamers (and giggles).

Another few hours of shopping were also in order once it was discovered that the ship housed a respectably-sized shopping complex in addition to everything else, full of gifts and beachwear and all kinds of novelties. Skye amused herself by purchasing an inflatable ring in the shape of a flamingo and another in the shape of a phanpy, and ended up signing copies of her own CDs when they stumbled upon a rack of them.

Evening at the Tropicana bar was a fun affair - she and Ginga ended up sitting together with a very sweet couple whose daughter Skye had once taught in her studio days. She wasn't with them - her parents were having a romantic holiday alone! - so they were all free to have adult conversation that might otherwise have left a child feeling, well, left-out. Skye ended up being asked to dance by a handsome stranger whose name she never caught, but whose abs were simply fantastic, and later hopped up on stage to give a impromptu concert when one of the performers invited her up. It was all good fun and great atmosphere, and everybody sang along!

At least, to the songs they already knew. Skye had a surprise in store for everyone. After the end of what was supposedly her last song, she laughed into the mic as everyone cried for more. "Haha! What else do you want to hear?! ...Okay, okay! I have an idea. We're all here for a good time, right? New experiences? Right!" she said, as everyone whooped their agreement, "Well, I have something hot off the press for you guys..."

A few minutes passed while she asked the stagehands to mic her up with a clothes mic. She asked the pianist to kindly step aside, and sat down at the keyboard in his place. "There we go. Okay, guys, sorry for the wait. This year, our Summer show is called Meloetta, and I'll be playing the titular character... you know, seeing as the pokemon herself is so hard to get hold of!"

She played a few chords, which drifted satisfyingly through the room. Pleased, she broke into a slow, melancholy introduction, repeating it until she was ready. "It's very different to everything I've done up until now... I wanted to do something different. It's definitely grown-up... it's... I think it's great. It's elegant. I wanted it to convey so much more through movement and sound than through words. The soundtrack is going to be mainly orchestral music. But there are still a few big numbers... and this is one of them."

"In the show, I sing this as a duet with a wonderful young actress who plays a woman whose new husband has just gone off to war for the second time since their wedding day... but I'll be singing a second version, album-exclusive, alone... here it is. I hope you like it."

The room was completely silent as she sang.

"I wanted you to hear me,
But I never used my voice.
My need for you was silent as the lonely, drifting swan.
I see now, I was wrong.

My last morning here with you, you looked towards the dawn.
I was afraid,
Afraid you'd hear my pleas and turn away.
Now you're gone anyway."

The intricate piano part rose into the chorus.

"Words of the heart,
So long locked away.
I'll send them off on wings of song,
We'll cross the desert and span the sky,
Silhouette against the sun,
Until one day,
Someday,
They'll hold on to you like I should have done."

So on the song continued, and when it finished, there was a moment of silence before an eruption of cheering applause.

"Bravo! Bravo!" shouted one man near the front row, nearly bursting into tears.

"You're meant to say brava to a lady!" his friend chastised, though without heart, as he was too busy clapping.

"I don't care!" the first man wept. "Bravo! Brava! That was wonderful! We have to go see that show! I don't care how much it costs!"

"Thank you, everyone.." Skye said, bowing as the applause continued, "I'm humbled... thank you for showing me I'm doing something right! Anyone who'd like tickets for their show, come and leave your names with me tonight and I'll make sure you get a discount!"

It was obviously the wrong (or right, depending on how you looked at it) thing to say, as she spent the next half an hour at least just taking names and phone numbers, before sitting down for one final relaxing drink and finally escaping for their planned slumber party. They'd both picked up a nail decorating kit earlier that day, and spent ages painting their nails in glittery shades and carefully glueing on tiny fake jewels, which looked just as good in the morning sun as they did under dim electric lights.

"I'm really glad I only had one glass of champagne last night," said Skye, breathing in the fresh sea air as she and Ginga stood together by the railings on the upper deck. "In fact, I'll make that a note to myself - not too many cocktails on the beach after all! I want to be able to enjoy every moment of this. I can't be drunk or hungover or I won't be able to enjoy all these beautiful moments...!"

Skye, who had been so emphatically appreciative of the beauty of their situation just a few moments ago, was distracted. "PANCAKE! Get back up here this instant!" she shouted, leaning down over the railings.

Down on the open sea, Pancake appeared to be trying her hand at waterskiing off the back of a passing Sharpedo. The toothy, dangerous water pokemon didn't seem to appreciate the fun of the situation and was racing around erratically trying to buck the little creature off. Faster and faster it shot through the water, but it was only playing into Pancake's hands. Her wild giggling could be heard up from the top deck, where Skye and Ginga were.

At the shout from her mistress, Pancake abandoned her play and flew back up to them, shaking with laughter. Skye raised an eyebrow at her, hands on her hips. "How many times do I call you 'naughty' in a day? I suppose you're going to be terrorising the local population once we get to Hoenn?"

Completely unashamed, Pancake, with a wide grin, nodded enthusiastically. "Mime!~"

"C'mere!" Skye smiled, scooping her up for a snuggle. "Just try not to get us all arrested... please?"

Not even a few minutes after that, the shadow of a great mass of land appeared in the distance. Hoenn's mighty volcano could be seen rising above everything else. "Look Ginga!! Ooooh, white sand, sun and sea, here I come!"

The vacation of a lifetime was here. The best thing about it was, once they disembarked from the cruise ship and checked in to their beach-side hotel - a private-feeling place with a walled-off pool area and lots of shady palms - Skye could actually walk more than ten yards without being recognised. The cruise-ship patrons had all dispersed and here, in Slateport city, she was just another beach-goer. One amongst many. After so long, the feeling of anonymity amongst a crowd was strange, and thankfully, uplifting.

Days on the beach were hot, but the night, and the nightlife, was refreshingly cool. That first night, Skye sat at the bar and sipped cocktails, resisting the siren call of the karaoke machine with all her might. Somehow she couldn't bring herself to sacrifice her new, leisurely inconspicuousness just yet. Her passion would just have to take a break of its own. As the night wore on and the noise of the crowds thinned to trickles of laughter, Skye felt warm, comfortable, and somehow... complete. As she and Ginga walked back to their hotel, with the pavement beneath them lit by starlight, she said to her friend: "I know we have four amazing weeks ahead of us... but somehow I wish it could stop right here, right now. I haven't felt this happy in a long time."

~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning saw the two girls out on the beach before the sun could become really scorching. Skye wasn't going to want to do anything but sit in the shade once it got too hot, so they'd best get in as much play time as possible before then! They paddled in the water and played with a beach ball which was not Pancake this time, Skye was sure. The little pokemon played piggy in the middle with them for a while. Then, Skye hit the ball hard, and a sudden gust of wind took it into the sea, further than she'd thought it could go. "Ahhh!! Damn it! I'm so sorry, Ginga!"

"MIME!" said Pancake, pointing out where the ball had landed. A shadow moved under the water, and then a sudden jet of water sent it flying high into the air.

"Eeek!" she squeaked, rushing forward into the water to catch it. She got it, but the current pushed her legs out from under her, and she fell onto her front. For a moment, there was nothing but water underneath her - then, there was a surface. Something vast, hard, and rubbery.

The Wailmer broke the surface with Skye on its round back, braying in a way that made Skye think it was laughing. It probably was! Wailmers were notoriously playful creatures. She'd managed to keep hold of the ball, and she started laughing too. "Ginga!! Look at this!! Thanks for passing our ball back, Mister Waily!~"


(( YESSSSS RETURN OF THE POKEMON RP *HIGH FIVEEEE* ))

The Wailmer, despite its hulking mass, proved it could zoom around in the water like a speeding Sharpedo. Bringing Skye along for the ride, of course. When things settled back down, the girls headed back towards the shore, and the Wailmer followed. It seemed to swell as it went, sucking up water and growing to an even more enormous size - and then it started to bounce! It bounced and bounced and bounced back and forth around the beach while the girls chased it. It was way better than any boring old beach ball.

Eventually the heat started becoming too much for Skye, who stumbled back to a shady deck chair and flopped down into it. "Phewwwww.... oh my god. What a morning! I'm just gonna lie here for a while... hope I don't die of TOO MUCH SUN AND FUN"

Mr Waily had slowly deflated himself to keep cool as the sun got higher. Now, with the game apparently finished, he did a surprising thing - instead of retreating back to the water, he flopped up towards Skye and sat beside her deck chair. She reached out and patted his rubbery forehead. "Awww, Mr Waily! You wanna stay here with me? Thanks! I appreciate your company!"

"Here, are you feeling dry?" she asked, picking up the pitcher of ice (long-melted) water off the table by her deck chair and gently pouring it onto the Wailmer, distributing it as evenly as she could. The pokemon cooed and gurgled in pleasure, and his skin just seemed to soak the water right up. "Awww, there, I hope that feels better. You need to keep your skin nice and wet, don't you?"

Mr Waily gurled again as if in agreement, and Skye ran her hands across his massive back. "Awwww. I haven't trained that many water pokemon in my time, but I've always loved Wailmer! You're just my kind of pokemon! You know how to have a good time! And I love you especially, Mr Waily!"

"Suuuure thing sweety! Me and Mr Waily'll just chill out here. Text me if you need anything!" she sang, as Pancake appeared at her shoulder, waving and blowing kisses.