Just Crusin'

"Esss�Piiiiii�" Dark heard soft whines coming from somewhere around her. "Essssss��" Something brushed her cheek. She leapt up and shoved the thing that had touched her, only to see that Kaguya had obviously taken offense to the push, and was now standing defensively next to her owner. Cypris, who was sitting on the ground, smiled.

"Good morning. Kaguya wasn�t trying to hurt you, y�know."

Dark rubbed her head and took in the sights around her. They sat in a small room. Dark was sitting on her sleeping bag, but Cypris had put her belongings away. Cass�s bag was out, but she was no where to be seen.

"Where�s Cass�?"

"She went out on deck for some air."

"On deck�?" The room suddenly raised up and sunk back down. "We�re on a ship�"

"You don�t remember? Cypris stood and took Kaguya into her pokeball. "Well, I guess not. We were all tired last night."

"Oh yeah. We escaped from Sliph.." Dark remembered now. After they had gotten separated from Kaumi and Genro, they�d left on a small boat early in the morning to go to Wakaba Town, a port city south of Fuchsia. They were going by boat on Hane River, a man-made waterway that fed into Okimizuumi, Kanto�s main sea.

"So we�re going to see Cass�s home."

"Yeah," Cypris said with a smile, "she was really happy; she told me all about it."

"Where�re we going after that? I mean, Wakaba being a port town, I�d assume we�re going elsewhere�"

"Cinnabar."

Dark gawked. "WHAT?! That�s were we just came from!"

Cass walked into the room about that time. "What�s wrong, cous?"

"Cinnabar�?"

She smiled and let out a little laugh. "I knew you�d say that! Kaumi managed to page me on my Pocket Com, and we�re gonna meet up there. He says Genro has contacts there, and can get us on a helicopter to wherever we want to go once we arrive. It may be a while before we see them, though."

"Why?"

"They were in Cerulean when I last talked to them. They�er�got lost."

Dark sweatdropped. "Why can�t guys ever ask for directions...?"

"Oooh, yeah, another thing, Dark." Dark looked up in question. Cass grinned. "There�s word of another stone. A �Seadra Stone�, by what the guys told me."

"Really? Where?" Her voice was anxious.

"They don�t know. Apparently, it used to be on Rainbow Island (of the Seafoam Islands), but someone recently lifted it and is supposed to be in Cinnabar now."

Dark now got on her feet as well. "All right! Let�s get this one. Cypris."

"Hn?" Cypris looked up from adjusting her skirt.

"Do you have any pokemon that can communicate telepathically?"

"Umm� Tokugawa, but it�s not with me�" Cass and Dark showed blank looks. "Oh, that�s my Porygon. It�s not in my current party. Need it for something?"

"Yeah," Dark replied, now understanding. "Get it in here. I need it."

"O-kay� but it only obeys me."

"Then will you help me out?"

"Mm-hm." Cypris took a hand-held computer from her skirt pocket. "Access PokeNet System."

A computer voice responded, "Accessing� please wait."

When it made a dull �beep�, Cypris went on, "Pokemon storage; trainer, Cypris Palnguata."

"Password?" the computer buzzed. She hit a few keys. "Access granted. Welcome to PokeNet."

Cass was already over Cypris�s shoulder admiring the computer. "Hey, where�d you get that?"

She raised a fist in the air somewhat triumphantly. "From the greatest professor ever to live, the woman who started me in my travels, Professor Ivy!"

"THE Prof. Ivy?!?"

Cypris stood with her head held high. "That�s right! The one-and-only! She�s started so many trainers that she had her assistants make these computer transport storage systems for them all."

The computer let out a loud beep. "Request not listed. Please try again."

Cypris sighed and pushed a button on the keypad. A tray that resembled a CD-ROM drive slid out. Cass watched, simply amazed, as she acted. Dark hardly took interest. Cypris then took a pokeball from her waist and placed it on the tray. "Deposit: Ashikaga." Within instants, the pokeball vanished. "Withdraw: Tokugawa." A new pokeball took its place. "Logout and close."

"All functions disabled. Goodbye."

Cypris put the computer away. "Nifty, huh?" After Cass nodded, she sent out her Porygon. "What�ll it be, Darkness?"

Dark huffed, but brushed aside the pun. "I have a Kadabra in Lavender. I need him to Teleport here and bring my stones. Okay?"

"Sure. Porygon, you heard her." The strange pokemon whirred its head around and emitted a screech so high-pitched it was nearly inaudible. In seconds, Kadabra appeared before Dark holding a bag.

"Good. Thanks, Kadabra."

"Brrrra!" he said with a happy look, handing the back out to his trainer. She took it and put him into his pokeball. Tokugawa was also recalled.

A speaker in the room now sounded: "Entering Wakaba Town. Please clear the deck. Upon docking, take all your possessions and exit in an orderly fashion. Repeat: Entering Wakaba Town�"

Cass snatched her bag. "C�mon, let�s go on down to the doors!" The other two followed the eccentric Cass out of the room and down some stairs. They were among the first to get off. Cass led them to her home, which was only two blocks from the dock.

"Lemme see my parents and change my clothes, okay? I�ll be back in a second! You two go to the port office and get tickets to the next ship for Cinnabar!"

As Cass dashed off, Dark and Cypris strolled down the street to the office. Dark whispered to Cypris, "We have to be careful when we get there. The Shadow Gang almost had us last time." Cypris nodded.