At around midnight that night, Matt awoke and decided to go and train with his Pokemon on the beach. He saw nobody either in the corridors or at the check-in desk, and upon his arrival, he released Combusken and Mawile from their Poke Balls and began to spar with both Pokemon together. After a while, having been knocked backwards by Combusken’s double kick, he saw an old-looking man with a stoop walking towards him. At the same time, he heard the cry of a solitary Wingull. The Wingull circled a couple of times in the air before landing on the old man’s shoulder. “It’s rare to see anyone out this late” spoke the old man with a pleasant smile. “Just getting in some late night training” replied Matt. The wind blew through the minutes of silence. “I enjoy a nice peaceful night like this” began the old man,” I haven’t visited Dewford in a while with my work at Slateport. It’s a shame I have to go back tomorrow, but the sea is beautiful both here and there.” Matt smiled and nodded, “Your words are very wise sir.” The old man laughed: “Please, call me Mr Briney.” “Mr Briney, if you’re going back to the mainland, do you know of a boat service to get back there?” asked Matt. “I have my own boat” replied Mr Briney, “Would you like a lift?” Matt smiled and nodded, “If you can take my friends along too I’d be glad to join you.”
The next morning, in front of the pier leading to Mr Briney’s boat, Matt and the others were assembled on the beach. Tobi was still looking abstractly at the sky, Matt was loudly training with press-ups, and Natalie was talking to Morgan. As this happened Dan and Emma were discussing their next move. “Well we can’t go anywhere if we have no idea where we’re going” pointed out Emma. “I had thought of this,” began Dan, “Rustbro City is fairly close and there we will find the Pokenav Company. That will give us both the maps and the communications we need.” Emma nodded her assent to this idea, and the two of them promptly explained it to the others.
A short while, later, Mr. Briney poked his head out of the cabin and motioned to the group to get on board. The short voyage passed by without incident and everyone was in the highest of spirits when they disembarked at the pier outside Mr. Briney’s house. “Thank you very much sir,” nodded Dan, as he stepped off the boat, the last of the group to do so. Briney simply smiled, waved after them and returned to his cabin preparing to set off towards Slateport City. Releasing both of his Pokemon, Dan set off ahead of the others towards the forest; the others soon followed at their own pace, Matt predictably sprinting ahead of the others and overtaking Dan a short distance along the track.
Finding themselves in a large clearing, Natalie, Morgan, Emma and Tobi came across Dan, who had retrieved a few bowls of food from his and was sitting eating with Mareep and Bulbasaur. “If you’re wondering, Matt’s through there,” said Dan, pointing behind him into the trees: “the last I heard was him shouting.” “Why are you still sitting here? He might be in trouble,” said Morgan, in the loudest voice that anybody had yet heard her use. Dan glanced up in some surprise but his tone remained perfectly calm and steady: “It’s Matt, it could mean he’s just found a battle for all I know.” There was a moment of silence before Morgan rose to her feet and walked off into the forest without a word.
There was a while where no-body spoke whilst eating. Natalie eventually looked up to see that Tobi had disappeared from his seat at the table. His bag was missing and his plate was clean. Natalie looked over to Emma who was once again reading and then to Dan, who appeared to be having a nap. Natalie quickly hashed out a note explaining where she was going and then ran off. It was a good while before she realised she had no idea where she was going. Fortunately she was able to locate a sign pointing to Rustbro city and quickly made it out of the forest. Staring down the path she saw Toby walking ahead. She ran to catch up with him however he made no move as to greet her or even acknowledge her presence. They kept walking all the way to Rustbro city without saying a word.
