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"Whoa," Locke said, catching the waterstone. He examined it closely; he wasn't an expert, but it looked real. He'd been half-expecting the pair to burst out laughing and letting him in on the joke, but now he was pretty sure that they were serious. Evolution stones were not cheap.

"Thanks," he said, a little confused. Was it as easy as that to become a pirate? Didn't he have to sign his name somewhere? Or... something? But perhaps pirates simply weren't organized people.

"I'll see you there in a few days, then..." he said, waving as the pair left.

He looked down. In one hand, he held the waterstone, and in the other, the box of potions. He glanced at Shuca. "What do you think?"

Shuca yipped and jumped up at Locke, trying to get a better look at the shiny blue stone.

"You've been an eevee for so long; it'll be weird to see you as something else," Locke said lightly. "But if you evolve into anything, it should be a water pokemon. Then you can learn to fight, and you can keep us both safe..." He tightened his grip on the stone and headed back to the pokemart.

Locke dropped the box of potions carelessly on the counter; a few bounced out of the box and onto the floor. "I quit," he announced. He pulled off his apron and dropped that on the counter as well.

"What? Locke-- wait!"

But he and Shuca were already gone.

***
A few days later...

Locke and Shuca, the newly evolved vaporeon, arrived at the docks. It didn't take them long to spot the ship with the gaudy Team Aqua emblem on the sail.

The pair approached the ship; Locke was feeling nervous and growing suspicious that the whole thing had been an elaborate prank. Shuca was excited.

"Hello?" Locke called, looking around for the pirates who had recruited him. "Um..." He realized that he didn't even know their names. These pirates really weren't very organized! Had he been foolish? Well, even no job is better than working in that **** pokemart another day, he thought grimly.

Hearing Aqua talking to someone unfamiliar, yet another pirate broke off from stashing the loot to head to the railing for a look. She eyed the landlubber who'd signed on to the crew. A quick look and the few words she'd been told of him didn't leave much to recommend them, but they were short on hands and an recruit would have to do. He'd just have to prove whether he was a knave or a worthy matey.

"Ahoy there!" Mira called out as she leaned on the railing. "So you're the fresh hand, ey? Let's see if you can keep your sea legs." She put her fingers to her lips and blew out a quick, piercing whistle.

From around the other side of the ship there rapidly swam a large blue pokemon, who soon coasted to a stop near Mira. The Lapras looked up at his trainer to see what was required of him. "This here's our new crew member," she told the pokemon, pointing towards Locke. "Give him a lift aboard, will ye?" To Locke she explained, "No need for a jolly boat when we have my Breaker here to to the task quicker and more accurately."

The Lapras swam to the dock and stopped neatly in front of Locke, looking over to him expectantly.

Locke looked nervously at the Calder. That was a big pokemon... with very large teeth. He took an involuntary step back when the lapras came into view. He wasn't used to seeing such large pokemon; every now and then, someone would let their pokemon out of their pokeballs in the pokemart, but they were always something tame like a pikachu or a pidgey.

He tried to get over the initial shock. He knew that pokemon came in all sizes, but it was one thing to see it in pictures and quite another to be face to face with them. He clambered atop Breaker and held on tight his shell with one hand, and rested the other on Shuca's back to make sure he wouldn't slip off. And also to make sure Shuca didn't intentionally jump off and into the water. The vaporeon was impossible to see once he submerged himself, and Locke didn't feel like playing hide-and-seek while at the mercy of pirates and their pokemon.

He stepped on deck once the lapras reached a full and complete stop; Shuca jumped up with him.

"Hello..." Locke greeted a bit awkwardly. "My name is Locke, and this is Shuca. I guess I am the new recruit." He forced a laugh.

Shuca spotted Aquamarine and made a beeline for her. He stopped a few feet away from Calder and sank into a play bow, wagging his finned tail in the air.

Mira had her own priorities in regards to the recruit's education. "I hope you don't get seasick," she chimed in. "If you do, throw up over the side or swab your own mess. We can show you where the buckets and scrub brushes are. Save fresh water for cooking, especially if we'll be as sea a while, and use sea water for washing the deck. There's plenty of that around," she told him, a broad sweep of here arm indicating the ocean around them.

She regarded the watery expanse for a moment before asking, "You know how to swim? It's a handy thing, even with water pokemon around to town you about."