Athena gulped nervously as the dock seemed to drift out of sight while the Pokétanic seemed to have frozen for a second in her mind. But she knew it was really the other way around, the dock stayed in a safe spot all the time while the ship floated away into the Atlantic Ocean, into dangers only Arceus knew of.

Athena knew it was highly unlikely for anything bad to happen while she was on this ship, though. She tried to put the thought out of her head as she padded back down the grand staircase to D-Deck, where she hastily walked to her cabin. She went inside, and saw Axe still asleep on the chair in the other room. She smiled at her peaceful Pokémon and wearily plopped on her bed.

She was bored. She decided to walk around the ship some more, maybe even explore some second-or-third-class areas. So she did. She woke up Axe first to see if he wanted to come, and he seemed excited. She explored the third-class areas last, and reached their reception room first.

It was much less appealing than the first-class reception room. It was still nice for third-class passengers, of course. Athena looked around the room, many passengers dressed in raggedy clothing staring back at her with some sort of curiosity and fear.

There was one that looked at her differently. He had ruffled black hair and hazel eyes that shone with yearning interest, and Athena wondered if it was in her or in first-class passengers down here in general. His skin was tanned nicely. His clothes were actually appealing for a third-classer; the boy wore a blue jacket and black jeans. Athena found herself slowly approaching him, and he sat up out of his chair.

"Hello," the boy said with a friendly attitude and smile. He looked to be about 15 or 16, maybe even 17. "I'm Xavier. What's your name?"

Athena was partially surprised at his welcoming greeting. He didn't seem to care about what classes they were in, and acted as though she was an old friend or something.

Athena was at a loss of words for a second, until Axe lightly head-butted her cheek. "Oh," she stammered quickly as she spoke, then took a breath and continued, "I'm Athena, and this is Axe. I'm exploring all around the ship, just to get familiar with the place." That was actually a lie, she had wandered around to get her mind off of the omen that had occurred a few hours ago.

Xavier politely stuck out his hand for shaking. "It's nice to meet you, Athena and Axe!" Athena flinched at the thought of shaking hands with a steerage passenger-she heard the stereotypes all her life about them being dirty and rude, but this one seemed to defy every stereotype she ever heard. But Athena found herself happy to shake his hand after realizing how stereotypical and rude she would have been if she didn't. The thought of a friend her excited her quite a bit, and even Axe seemed happy.

"Nice to meet you too, Xavier!"

The two acquaintances sat down in chairs next to one another and immediately struck up conversation. Xavier was 17 in a few days, on April the 14th. He would be celebrating his birthday on this magnificent ship. He also had no Pokémon. He came from a poor family and saved up for years just to get half-decent clothing for the voyage. He could not afford Pokéballs that were required for catching Pokémon. He planned to get a job in Hoenn and overall get a better life. He also wanted to be able to get a Pokémon when he arrived.

Athena couldn't help but feel sympathetic. She reached and navigated her hand around her bag, and pulled out a handful of Pokéballs for him. He was amazed at this, and was very grateful.

The two shortly became friends, but Axe did seem disappointed that he wouldn't have a Pokémon friend to play with. The two walked around the ship, having planned to meet up more.

Athena slept that night happy with the thought of having a friend throughout this week-long voyage.