"Already having fun, professor?" Margaret asked when the screen came on. At her voice, Mew perked up and shot over to the screen.

"Mew!" it squeaked, waving.

"Yes, yes. Mew is quite fascinating. Rather jovial, too." Professor Oak moved a bit so Mew could see the screen too.

"I'll bet," Margaret replied. "Well, we just got on a ship bound for Hoenn. Any idea where we should go first when we get there?"

"Yes. Head to Littleroot town to talk to Professor Birch. He's the Professor for that region. He'll be able to tell you more about the legendaries that are there."

"Right, Birch in Littleroot Town," Margaret obediently repeated. "Let me know if there's any trouble with that one," she added, tilting her head towards Mew. "I'm usually not half-bad at figuring out how psychic-types think."

"Well so far it's been very well behaved." Oak smiled. "Have fun. Say hi to Professor Birch for me!" And then he hung up so he could go back to his research. Aka playing with Mew.

Margaret snorted a bit before hanging up on her end and going back to find Aleron. Time to settle in for the trip to Hoenn.

Aleron had waited until that night to let out Gyarados, and then they had a little argument.

"No, you cannot terrorize the ship!" Aleron glowered up at the pokemon. "I told you, no terrorizing! We're out in the open ocean!"

Gyarados rumbled and it seemed to say "So?"

"Okay, tell you what. I'll let you terrorize people and pokemon once we get to Hoenn. Okay?"

Gyarados thought about that for a few moments before rumbling an agreement and sinking under the water rather sulkily.

Margaret had ventured out as well, to give her Starmie some time in the water at night. Captured and trained or not, Starmie was still technically nocturnal.

"Keep an eye on him," she told it. It flashed at her a few times and followed Gyarados into the water. It knew one good Zap Cannon would take the red pokemon out if he got a bit uppity.

Gyarados was relatively well-behaved. Meaning he only bumped the boat once or twice during the night, and scared off a couple of other water pokemon before he was content to go back in his ball for the day.

Starmie was ready to relax for the day, as well after keeping an eye on Gyarados. The shiny pokemon was every bit as bad-tempered as the day it was caught, and was exhausting to look after.

Aleron was very happy when they got off the boat in Hoenn. She shivered briefly and just stood on solid ground for a few moments. At least she hadn't gotten sea sick.

It took Margaret a little while to get her land-legs back, but not too long. She adjusted the bag on her back; it was heavy on her shoulders because of the egg she and Aleron had found a few days before while out at sea. Not a legendary egg, though: an Eevee egg.

Aleron looked over at her and grinned briefly. Jolteon had been supremely proud of himself since that egg had shown up, not that she could really blame him.

"So, we never did decide who's going to get the little Eevee," she said conversationally as she started walking.

"You probably know more about raising Eevees than I do," Margaret said. She didn't mind if Aleron claimed it, at least this time.

Aleron shrugged. "Yeah. I've raised a couple. I've still got one back home, actually." She smiled a little. "Eevees really are too cute."

At which point Vulpix nudged her with a displeased growl.

"Not as cute as you, darling."

Margaret giggled at them and looked at her Espeon draped across her shoulders.

"Do you have any objections, sweets?" she asked. The pokemon considered for a moment, looking over Aleron, before shaking her head. She knew the other trainer well enough to trust her with the egg and besides, the egg's sire belonged to that trainer. It would be safe.

Aleron nodded. "Once we get to a good stopping point I'll take the egg, if you want." So that way Margaret didn't have to carry it the whole time. While Eevee eggs were not as heavy as Legendary eggs, they got pretty heavy the longer you carried them.

"Sure," Margaret replied. Sounded good to her. "So from here, we need to make our way to Littleroot Town," she said, "to see Professor Birch."

"Okie dokie." Aleron paused and moved over to the side to ask someone. She successfully got directions and thanked the man before returning.

"Okay, it doesn't sound too far away. He said if we don't dawdle we can be there before dark."

"Awesome," Margaret replied. She grinned. "Let's not dawdle, then, I'd rather get there before dark."

Aleron nodded her agreement and started walking, following the directions from the nice man.

They arrived a little before sunset, and Aleron grinned briefly over at Margaret. "Well, we made it. Didn't even get lost."

Margaret grinned.

"A miracle," she teased. She looked around. "Think there's a pokemon center around here where we can spend the night? I don't know about you, but I want to relax for a bit."

"I don't know about a pokemon center, but I know the Professors usually let people stay if you ask nicely. Mentioning Professor Oak can't hurt our chances, either." Aleron shrugged. A cot sounded nice for the night.

"Sounds like a plan to me," Margaret replied. She looked around for a street sign, and grinned when she saw one that even had a little arrow pointing them towards the lab in town. "I think it's that way."