Ship Fics: Drowning In Love (LokaXDecoda PKMN:BtTG AU)

Warning: This fanfic was written entirely for fun and not to be taken seriously.  It's also AU (Alternate Universe) so obviously holds no weight in any story's canon.  If you have a problem with the content or character portrayals in the story, please leave a comment or send me a Private Message.
I plan to make more of these with other couples from any fandom: OCxOC, OCxFC, FCxFC, essentially anything I like/ship, and there's a lot of that! If you like something else, that's fine, you don't have to read this one (maybe write your own?).  As is against the rules, there is no pornography written below, so there will be no lemons.  Mostly fluff!

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LokOda: Drowning in Love
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Her pigtails whipped around her head like untamed Tauros tails.  She covered her eye with her right hand to avoid the wild strands from piercing her sclera.  Her other eye... well, didn't need any protection due to the condition that it was in.

Loka stood out on the deck of the ship in the light of the evening sun.  It reflected brightly off of her pale skin and silver bracelets, buckles and ivory horns.  Her other hand was gripping tightly to the railing of the moving ship, slightly singeing it the bouncier the boat moved over the waters.  She was nervous, but told herself not to be afraid.  She had 3 skilled Pokemon and a group of trainers here to help her if she ever needed anything.  As much as she tried to hide it, though her younger brother, Rizu, could easily see her tense up.

"Hey," the purple haired Chicole spoke from behind her, holding his Trapinch in his arms.  "You could go inside, you know.  You don't have to worry about getting so sea sick when you're in there."

"It's not that Ahm seasick," she said sternly as she turned around to him, still not letting go of the rail.  Her now uncovered eye flicked towards the water before locking it back onto Rizu's.

"Right," he sighed.  "You don't have to force yourself to face your fears like this, ya know."

"How'm Ah gon' learn, then?" Loka questioned, her red eye narrowing.

"I could teach you," Rizu suggested, shrugging a little as Albion opened up its mouth as if it gasped at the good idea.  Loka snorted.

"You couldn't teach yerself out of a hole in the ground," she blasted back.  He wasn't making the situation better.  She could handle it herself.

"Okay, fine, but I was only trying to help!  Don't come cryin' to me when you go overboard and can't figure out how to tread water!" he yelled, not looking back at his sister as he walked off in a huff.  This infuriated her; he dare jinx her in a situation like this?!  She reacted immediately, letting go of the burnt railing and charged at Rizu, but instead, rammed straight into a familiar figure.  Her head slammed against his and she stumbled back a little, putting her hand on her head to rub off the pain.  Decoda, whom she had hit head on, was doing the same after taking off his hat.

"Oww, Loka, what's with the running?  Are you okay?" the red head asked her with a concerned tone.  After stepping back and looking at the guy to see what he was doing out on deck, she noted his jacketlessness (of course) and his guitar in his hand.  He looked pretty good in the light of the slow setting sun...

"Yeah, Rizu's causin' trouble, an' Ah ain't havin' any of it," she growled, looking away from the handsome teen as he took his hand from his head.

"Ahh... I see," he sighed, idealizing that it was a sibling problem.  He'd never experienced those before, never having siblings or close relatives.  After his mother died, every cousin and grandparent seemed to disappear.  It was strange, but it certainly didn't phase him too much.  Though, he'd always wanted a younger sibling...

"Yeah, well, he's left now, so you saved his scrawny neck from me," Loka commented as she peered behind Decoda, who turned behind to double check her words.  She folded her arms across her body, under her bouyant chest.  Decoda couldn't help but blush when he glanced over at her doing this.  Of course, her top wasn't the only thing appealing about her...

"Sure, but you still look a bit stressed.  You sure you're alright?"

"No, really, it's okay.  Ah don't need babysittin'," Loka said as she pushed past him to get to the other end of the ship.  She didn't want anyone to notice her showing weakness.  She didn't want to be weak.

Decoda only watched her go by in confusion.  The group encouraged the idea of sharing fears and dreams, not judging others on their pasts or what they wanted to be in the future.  He was comfortable sharing things, but not everyone was like him.  It's why he never really pushed for that kind of information, at least anymore.  So why was Loka so distraught?

Decoda then took a seat on the front deck, situated himself and guitar for something comfortable and began to play an upbeat tune.  It sounded something like the music that usually played on speakers of most Kanto Pokemon Centers, but with a bit more electric to it.  It could be heard around the ship, on the inside too.  Loka sighed after deeming the music unavoidable once she reached the furthest point of the ship's deck. It wasn't that she didn't like it.  Heck, it was great, but she just wasn't in the mood for it.  She wanted him to play something less chipper, maybe something more hardcore...

Something to get her mind off of water.

Moments later, Cerise and the shoulder-bound Chespin exited the cabin and stretched.  Knowing where Decoda was based on the doppler affect of the music, Cerise headed around back to find Loka sitting with her back to the water, her head hung low so an arm could cover it, but a hand still clamped to the railing.  He found the behavior suspicious and approached her.

"If you're feeling sick, you should go inside, Loka," Cerise kindly suggested to his friend.

"Ah don't think that's gonna help at this point," she glumly responded to him.

"O-Okay, if you feel you need us, don't hes-"

"Ah know, Ah know, it's all good!" she snapped, revealing her disturbed face for a moment before returning it to cover.  Chespin frowned, but then pat Cerise on the back as if he had said, "you tried."  The two left Loka alone again, but if they had looked back they would have seen her face yet again, this time showing fear.

An hour passed and Decoda had practiced half a dozen songs before ceasing to strum again that evening.  He looked around to find that it was getting much darker out on the open water than it would be on land.  As he wondered why this was, the ship lights turned on fully, and Loka was startled awake.  She had let herself fall asleep?!  She internally panicked as she realized she hadn't been holding on the railing that whole time.  At some point she had let go.  It was disgusting how loose her guard was recently.  What was easing her tensions?

Could it have been the sweet melodies of Decoda's music?  It had to be.  Who else could lull someone as tough as her to bed?  That kind of music could knock out a raging Ryperior!  Bitter at the musician for this treachery, she began to carefully stand on deck, clammering for the railing.  She clung onto the rail all the way up to him as he began to pack up his equipment into its case.

"Decoda!"

He turned around to see a semi-furious Loka, her hot hands creating steam on the wet rails.  "Loka?  What's wrong?" he asked as he got up from his crouched position.  Had she seen something dangerous?  Was it a Pokemon?

"You could'a killed me back there!  With yer music and lullaby crap!  Can ya let me know before ya nearly catapult me into that there dark water?!" Loka yelled, lurching forward and letting one hand go from the railing to swat the air to emphasize her point. Decoda's eyes widened.  She was blaming him for falling asleep on deck?  That seemed like her fault, to him.  She could have went inside, but refused!

But then it hit him.  'Dark water' sounded scarier and mysterious.  Was that what she feared?  The ocean water?

"Loka, I swear I never meant to drown you or let you fall into the water!  Please don't think that," he spoke to her quickly and calmly.

"Don't patronize me!" she screamed at him, her hand sliding down the rail and evaporating the droplets of water with ease.  She continued to back away from him, now outstretching a hand to her.

"Please, Loka, I don't want you to be upset.  Just come back inside with me and-" Decoda was cut off by the flash of a green wall that blocked his hand from getting closer to hers.  Her eye was shaking, knees trembling and her teeth clenched tightly.  Decoda stepped back a little in shock.  Did being on this boat turn her into something so afraid?!

A sudden rumbling came up from inside the cabin and burst open the door to the deck.  Rizu appeared with his Swablu curled up on his head.

"Loka!  I heard you-" he stopped as his sister turned to glare at him, too.  He flickered back and forth between her and Decoda, concerned of what was said between them. "What did you say to her?!"

"I've-I've done nothing!  I've been blamed for almost drowning her when I can't control what she does with herself!" he retorted aggressively, not wanting to fight.  Rizu didn't look convinced.  Instead, he looked angrier with the red head.  Loka moved again, further down the railing, steaming more and more as she crossed into the wettest part of the ship.

"Yeah, right!  Instead of playing your mediocre music, the least you could do is warn someone-"

"I DID ask her if she was alright and she rejected my help, twice!"

The two boys were too engulfed by the steam and the inner flames of anger to see Loka reach the back of the ship once more.  From inside the ship, Cerise and Catia detected the rise of steam from the amount of condensation covering the windows.

"Where did all this steam come from?" Catia asked aloud, sounding a little nervous.

"There's no boat horns sounding off and it isn't storming outside... and we're too far away from any volcanic activity to get this amount of coverage..." Cerise answered, having a bad feeling it could be a giant Pokemon or other dangerous foe.

"We should find out if the others are okay!" Catia suggested, gathering her courage and opening the main door to the outside.  They were just in time to witness Loka slip on the back deck, lose her grip on the railing and slip into the deep water.

"LOKA!" they both screamed in unison.  Cerise ran to the rail she fell at and Catia ran inside to get Rotom to stop the boat.  As Cerise released Chespin from his Pokeball, Catia dashed back outside to stop the unaware guys from choking each other.

"Rizu!  Decoda!  Loka slipped off the boat!" she screamed as she tore the two apart.  They stumbled back with frightful expressions, mouths wide open and complexions ghostly.  Immediately, they followed the martial artist down to the stern.  Now that the boat was stopped, Chespin could vine whip the waters around to latch onto anything Loka, but no one could see anything.  Rizu then directed his Swablu to find Loka from above the water, and when it found where she last went under, another big splash was heard from beside the teens.

"Where's Decoda?!  Where did he go?!" Catia panicked, almost slipping off herself while spinning around to look.  Rizu caught her midfall, and Cerise helped her up, but Chespin screeched to the waters.

"He's out there!" Cerise confirmed after wiping off his wet glasses to get a better look.

"What an idiot!" Catia exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the railing.

"He really didn't mean harm..." Rizu mumbled, surprised by Decoda's actions.

In the darkness of the freezing cold ocean water, Loka fell further and further under.  Her lungs began to close up, her nose, mouth and ears all congested with salt water.  Her body moved slowly, but stiffly.  She grasped for the surface, her hands freezing before her eye.  Her legs were over taken by the cold and soon ceased to move.  This was the end so it seemed.

Loka thought about all the things she should have explained to her teammates.  She should have told them who she was, what she stood for and what she'd done.  How foolish was she to waste her last moments yelling at one of the few people she cared about the most...

A fast moving cover of darkness shrouded her body, almost cradling her in a set of arms.  My, death was forgiving to her.  What had Arceus planned for her on the other side?  The more she was carried, however, the more she began to think that this wasn't death.  What was it?  What did she feel?  Whatever it was, it was as warm as she was cold... and she welcomed it more than she did death.

"There they are!"

"Oh my Arceus!"

"LOKA!"

Calls kept coming from the boat as Loka's hearing began to come back as the sea water was leaking out of her orifices.  Her scent began to return, as well as her sight once she hit the surface.  A flash of of a light blue tail and brick red hair overtook her visuals until the rough waves shut her eyes once more.  Her body began to heat up again, leaching off of the one who brought her up to the surface once more, though not hot enough to generate steam.  Closer and closer came the ship, blurred images of hands and vines with muffled voices surrounded Loka in her entirety.  This wasn't death at all, but her grand return to life.

"Check her pulse!" Cerise shouted as he returned Chespin to its Pokeball.

Catia reached over to Loka's wrist and hurried to take off her wrist bands and long gloves to measure it from her wrists, but Rizu had already put fingers to her neck.  "Slow, but there!"

"Mudkip, return!" Decoda shouted, panting, sucking the helpful mudfish back into its ball.  He then quickly moved the soaking wet hair off of Loka's face and adjusted her head upright.  "Please be okay, Loka!"

Air slowly began to return into her inflating lungs as the CPR worked its wonders.  Coughing and spitting up the salty water, Loka's color came back into her face.  She folded her body up as she turned to face the extremely grateful teammates.  Decoda's face was especially joyful.

"Ya'll are... Ya saved me..."

"Decoda jumped into the water and rescued you!" Cerise explained, dropping to his knees to help Loka sit up.  Slowly Loka began to gain feeling in her arms and legs.  She noticed one of them was exposed for skin-to-skin touch.

"Who...?"

"I wanted to check your pulse, but then Rizu beat me to it.  Decoda's the one who gave you CPR, though," Catia admitted, a light blush on her face as she carefully stood up on the drenched deck.  Loka put her hand on Rizu's shoulder as he helped her stand.  Her legs wobbled, but that was to be expected.  Everyone else stood too, on standby.  She then turned to look at him.

"Yer not such a little twerp after all..." she said with a light smirk.  Rizu nodded to her and sighed heavily as if he held his breath for as long as she was unconscious.

"Haaah, well, I can't say I wanted you dead...  I'd never be allowed back home again if you died on my watch."

She widened her smile quickly before looking towards Decoda, who had taken off his sopping wet belt and began to ring it in his hands.  She watched him for a moment before making two steps towards him, letting go of Rizu's shoulder on the third.  The fourth step forced her to collapse, but acting quickly, Decoda had dropped the belt on the deck to catch her.  After lifting her back up to her feet using his upper body strength, their eyes met.

"You should probably go inside now," he jested, smiling.  He then turned away from her daze to signal the others to prepare the bed reserved for her inside the cabin of the ship.  As Cerise led the others inside, Rizu took one last look at Loka and Decoda, snorted and left the premises.

The two were finally alone again.  It was just a couple of hours earlier that Loka had been so hard on the young man that saved her life.  She almost felt bad, her body loosening up in his grasp, knowing that even when Decoda had been angry with her, he still risked his life to make sure she still had hers.  Did he want repayment?  How would she return something like this?  Or... did she need to?

Loka didn't want to let herself fall into his arms.  She never wanted to show him that she cared about all he had done and tried to do for her.  She didn't want to reveal her warming, blushing cheeks once her face touched Decoda's muscular, bare chest.  But it happened anyway.

"Loka," Decoda spoke softly as he embraced her body.  With one hand cupping the back of her head and the other closing in on her waist, he held her close for as long as he could.  He closed his eyes and appreciated her affections, leaning his head on the side of hers.  Her hair was still dripping with cold ocean water upon touch.  He had to get her inside before she got sick.

"Come on," he pulled her away from his body and spoke, a special kindness in his eyes and voice. "Let's get you warmed up."

"Ya leave that to me.  I ain't needin' any help with that," she blushed and turned away from him, carefully hobbling to the door that led inside the ship's cabin.

It took forever to get the weak and wet girl down there, but everyone was supportive enough to speed up what they could.  Catia had warmed up leftovers of a soup they had eaten, Cerise made her bed with extra sheets, and Rizu got the ship running again with Rotom's help, continuing their journey.  After eating, Loka had warmed up enough to change into something less soaked, and thanked everyone shyly before getting comfortable in her bed.  Decoda was about to leave with the other two when Loka reached out and grabbed onto his pants' pocket.

He stopped, then attentively turned to her and sat on the edge of the bed.  He had taken her hand off of his pocket and into his own, but Loka had not noticed.

"What is it?  Do you need anything?" he asked in a soothing voice.

"Ahm sorry about what Ah said about yer music.  Truthfully, its lovely and you shouldn't feel pressure from us to stop doin' what ya like doin'," she confessed, a short sigh leaking out of her mouth afterwards.

"It's okay.  Really, I've received much worse criticism before, and I still do my best... I can get over it," he said with some tinge of sadness, but finished with levity.

"...Can Ah ask that ya sing me a lullaby?"

"You promise you won't get mad if you fall asleep?"

"Ah swear I'll never do such a thing again," she said convincingly as she lifted herself up from her bed.  It was in this moment that she let go of his hand, grabbed the sides of his face gently, and pulled him into her lips.

Decoda's heart pounded rapidly as seconds passed without any lift.  For the first time in his life he had felt this strange boost of ecstacy, his mind racing with thoughts on what this truly meant.  Was this how she really felt about him or was this her way of promise?  He didn't know whether to accept this as it was or to follow along!  But as he was caught up in the adernaline of it all, he closed his eyes and deepened this kiss.

Loka hadn't expected this return, but in the heat of the moment encouraged it.  As his hands wrapped around her body, Decoda began to lower the girl back into a laying down position.  He ended the kiss and lifted himself off of her, knowing that she needed the rest more than anything else.  With both of them blushing feverishly, Loka raised an eyebrow at him, still expecting the lullaby she requested as she relaxed on her pillow.  Decoda looked away for a moment to think of the perfect song for her.  He began to sing, his voice silvery and smooth.  He kept it low, so that no one else would hear it but Loka and himself.  In just a short while Loka was asleep, safely and soundly.

Unlike her other partners in the past, Decoda was at least there for her, no matter what happened.

Why did this take me so long to get around to reading?? I seriously love the LokOda chemistry seen here and in the RP! Easily one of my favorite ships of BtTG.

The story itself was beautifully written, and I look forward to seeing any other fics you come up with!

I'm glad you like it!  I've been struggling so much to actually write solid chemistry and companionship between characters, but it helps when there's a lot to work with. There should be even more material later on too, so there may not be just one fic per couple. ^_^ Definitely one of my favorite ships too!  >w<

Thank you so much!  Your words mean a lot!  I'm definitely interested in writing more PKMN:BtTG ship fics in the future (CeriseXDecoda maybe, some rival ships once we get there), but also some other character ships that I like too.  They'll all likely to be one shots, like this, and specifically AU because I don't want to mess with canon too badly.