It had been a couple weeks since Keala first set foot on this boat. Plenty of other aspiring trainers-to-be were on board, but unlike most of them, there was something Keala in particular lacked. A pokemon. The time between realizing Fern's boat was in the Alola Region and it then leaving was too short for her to stop and catch something, but being a professor, surely Fern would have plenty of pokemon to give to the newbie trainers. Was that part of their job description or something? And with any luck, he could get the Dhelmise behind Keala to stop stalking her. Every time she turned around to check if it was still there, it tried hiding, but as it turned out, 12-foot-tall anchor ghosts weren't exactly sneaky.

Even now, she could hear it creaking and groaning right behind her with every movement. This thing was distracting, but it wasn't really [i]doing[/i] anything, so it wasn't like she could just throw it overboard for no reason. Unlike when it first crawled on board and nearly dragged some unlucky sap down for a one-way ticket to the ocean floor. Apparently, the best way to make an anchor ghost stop trying to drown someone was to just hit it. Just in case it was targeting her instead though, Keala had been careful not to get too close to the edges of the boat ever since this Dhelmise started following her around.

More importantly though, Professor Fern had finally shown himself! The crowd was already drawing itself toward him, and Keala followed suit. He introduced himself, explained that this world was inhabited by pokemon (hopefully everyone on-board already knew that though), and - in true professor spirit - was willing to provide anyone without a pokemon with one that he had caught. That was her opportunity. Along with a few others, seemingly younger than her, Keala sifted her way through the crowd, making for the good professor himself.

[color=ff0000]"Excuse me, Professor Fern. I'd like one of your pokemon."[/color]