The little brown boat swayed and creaked as it cut through the rough waves of the stormy sea on the way to the far away island long thought to be lost in the mists of time.
The captain of this old tub had practically glued his pipe to his lips. He had traveled and survived far worse, but it was the manner of the destination that had reopened his old habit. He blew smoke away from the struggling first mate, straining his muscles to keep the ship on course. The rest of the crew could be heard stomping all throughout the ship, checking for holes and other damages. This area of the sea held the darkest waters and the sharpest rocks; many ships and men vanished up here.
"Captain!" Wearily shouted a drenched man in a raincoat. He looked panicked.
"Yes, Crewman Davis?" The captain asked. Davis took a moment to catch his breath before continuing.
"Our preserves were flooded, sir!" Davis got out. "We got about two days of rations left!"
"Damn." The captain said under his breath. It took four days to get here, and the men didn't want to be here anyway. A mutiny was inevitable. "Stay here. Our guest needs to be informed." He pointed to Davis before exiting the cabin.
The rain hit hard, instantly soaking his clothes. He dumped the tobacco out and placed his silver-plated redwood pipe into his pocket. He made his way to the hold as fast as he could, the ship was turning 20 degrees with each wave, and the deck was slippery as ice. Under the deck was better, but the heavy rain flooded down through the cracks as the crew ran like mad to get the water out.
"Captain, what brings you down here?" Asked a red-bearded man. The captain never got his name; he got assigned a bunch of criminals at the last port. It was twenty-thousand for each one and forty-thousand if they pay their debt to society. Too good of an offer to let up and so far, nobody reported anything of major importance missing. Time for a new boat.
"I believe that our special guest needs to be informed of a problem." The captain replied.
"Good. A friend of mine disappeared around here a year ago, and I don't want to know what happened to him." The red-bearded man replied. "Besides, I owe him money."
The captain sighed as the red-bearded man laughed hoarsely. Same old, same old. As he strode away from the bearded man, he felt his own beard. Crusty despite being out in the rain, and looking down, saw some faint strands growing. He figured he was in his last decade of sailing, if this journey didn't finish him first.
The guest responsible for all of this was just behind the door to the storage. This guy was weird. Approached the captain at the hotel in the last port, and offered him a vast fortune worth the weight of the entire crew. Normally, this wouldn't fly with the captain (As he was drunk at the time, the guest was lucky to escape intact.) but the guest showed proof of wealth through one phone call.
The captain's four ex-wives were suddenly paid off for the next two years. The captain was going to give the guest his own cabin, but the guest preferred to stay in the storage for unknown reasons. He remained out of the way, only coming up to eat, or rather to pick up and return. Whenever the captain came down to talk, the guest was always sitting on a box filled with dried fruit, reading some title-less book.
Lo and below, there he was, reading his black cover book.
"Captain. The weather bothering you?" He asked. The guest still wore that black and blue suit and it looked clean. Did this man keep copies of the suit? And why would he wear it on a voyage to a island far away on a dingy ship? Then again, someone of early 20's with long shiny silver hair and purple eyes wasn't someone to be normal.
"I've seen worse." The captain said. "But I'm here to tell you something. Our preserves were drowned, and we don't have enough food to make the trip back. We're going…" He as interrupted by a crashing sound. Hopefully jut a crate. "…we're going to dock in a port some miles from here."
The man got up and closed his book, placing it down on the crate. "We'll be off-schedule by several days if I'm not mistaken." He sounded slightly angry. Something just occurred to the captain. The guest never showed an emotion, not in face nor in voice. This was the first time he sounded…human.
"Sorry." The captain ignored the obvious anger and proceeded. "We could make it to the island by tomorrow, but you know the place is barren. If we go there first and go back to Port Nacarado, we'll starve first. Besides, wouldn't you want to do some provisions when we get there?"
"No." The guest defiantly. "We will dock at Conpulsus Delectáre tonight."
"Don't be daft!" The captain roared. "This storm is trashing us, and it's getting worse as he head further in. Nacarado is safe! Do you want to die?"
"…and here I thought you're a man of the sea. Someone who could navigate through the bowels of a kraken." The guest said, his voice returning to his normal emotionless state.
"If you heard that when I drunk, I never did that."
"You seemed like a man who could get this done. This earth-bound storm is that much of a problem? I thought this wasn't the worse."
"I'm not stupid. I know what fights aren't worth fighting."
The guest sighed. "This is why I am here. People like you who give up too easily." The guest pushed the captain aside as he went up. The captain growled and followed, asking various questions about the guest and his current actions. The guest ignored the bellows and opened the hatch to the deck.
"YOU WANT TO DIE?" The captain yelled, trying to be heard over the roar of the ocean.
Then his anger gave way to amazement.
The guest wasn't getting wet. He remained dry as the water drops just seemed to divert past him.
The guest walked calmly on deck, ignoring both water and the rocking of the ship. He was in his own world as reality flooded around him. A crewmate rushing to bring carrying a wooden plank passed by him before tripping on a cracked board. His plank slipped and flew backwards, near the guest.
The plank vanished from existence in a cloud of white light. The guest continued without any more trouble, reaching the bow. He spread his arms out as the white light returned and create an aura around him.
He began to chant in a language unknown to the sailors. It didn't sound demonic at all, rather, it sounded heavenly. All the sailors stopped and dropped whatever they were doing to listen in. Apparently, even the storm thought his words were great, and it stopped to listen. The sea stopped rampaging and the skies cleared up to the vast empty sky from hours before.
The guest lowered his arms and turned around. The crew was all bowing and praising his name, despite his name never once being mentioned before. A sly smile came to his face. Conpulsus Delectáre was just ahead. The wicked-looking rock looked even more dead than it did in the pictures.
The perfect location to begin.
"HEY!" The guest turned to see the captain run up to him, looking quite steamed. He must not have a good ear for music. "What in the ten levels of hell did you do?"
"I pacified the storm." The guest calmly replied. The captain's breath smelled like old whiskey.
"How? And what did you do to my men?" The guest could hear the captain's muscles tighten. "They wouldn't be seen inside of a church if even the angels themselves came down and dragged them."
"How quaint." The guest said.
The captain said nothing. Instead, he threw his best right hook.
Before he could even connect the blow, he was sent flying across the deck into the awaiting arms of his crew. Fifteen years ago, he could have easily broke free. But years of heavy drinking and irregular diet has made him weaker. His crew now dragged him forward to the guest, who was directing some men to get ship moving again.
"Captain…you continue to disappoint me. I calm your little storm and then you punish me with physical force." The guest said without any anger. "Still…" He rubbed his chin. "…you resisted my song. Your talk about the devils of the sea now makes sense. You obviously need some time to understand my song."
"You bas…" Before the captain could finish, one of the crew hit him from behind, seeing him to a cold sleep.
The island of Conpulsus Delectáre was really just a large rock with just enough flat ground to be considered an island. Many have tried to take it over as an outpost for various reasons, but all have failed. The island had gained the reputation of being cursed for some good reasons, mainly due to the impossible weather patterns and rumors of the rocks being able to descend into the ocean to drown anyone who attempts to dwell on it.
And all of it was true.
The guest knew this. The island had long been held in the hands of the spawn below the crust of the earth. All it was a practical joke so the little demons could claim souls while enjoying a good laugh.
"Now then."
The guest cleared his throat. All the crew were all lined up and ready for the next order. The captain was awaiting his trial in the storage.
"This island, as some of you know, is cursed. This is the work of a powerful authority, much more powerful than me. But fear not, my new flock, for I have the seed of hope that shall cleanse the evil from the land." He pulled from his pocket a literal seed, white with some faded black near the tips.
"But, like all seeds, this will take years to grow. Thankfully, we don't need soil, water nor warmth to sustain it. All it needs prayer, which I shall help you with." And with a mighty swing of his arm, he delivered the seed into the ground. The light glowed, and the grey turned into green as a small sprout grew out of the crack. "We need to make our flock grow. The ship still has some years in it. We shall journey around the world and gather the supplies necessary." The man cheered.
"May the great work begin."
It shall take ten years for the guest's seed to grow into the garden. But we shall cut forward nine years and six months. The garden is nearly fully gowned. The guest's ten-year plans are about to come to literal fruition. His flock has reached number of three hundred thousand. The world is about to change…
…but put that aside for now. It's summer. The sun is blaring down on the people who walk on the earth, and the popular hotspots are filled to the brim.
Save for one. Sonrisa del Sol, a resort located five hundred miles away from Conpulsus Delectáre. Not exclusive, but not cheap.
"First thing I'm going to do when we get there is to kiss the person who gave us these free tickets!" Shouted the monkey over the crashing of the waves.
"Poor man." Replied his emperor penguin companion.
"Oh, Solstice, you're just jealous!"
"Of you, Ace? HA!"
As the two bickered (Rather Solstice than Ace.) a giant red rock monster looked on, with a swallow resting on his shoulder.
"Will he ever learn?" He said.
"Who?" Asked the voice on his shoulder.
"Solstice." The creature replied. "Ace is just going to egg him on, and then they get into a one-sided argument."
"Then go over there and smack the one that annoys the most."
"Charles."
"Yes, James?"
"…I could kill you by tapping you on the head."
"H-hey, now!"
As Charles attempted to calm down James from sending him into the next week, the last two of our heroes were farther down the long deck of the cruise ship. They laid out, basking in the sun.
"Oh, Samuel." The green woman-like creature said. "After a long winter of nothing but fighting, it's finally nice to kick back!"
"And time for our selves, Garcia." The green reptile named Samuel replied, placing honey on the name of his lover next to him.
"Oh, yes indeed…"
These six are our heroes. We have Samuel The Sceptile, Garcia The Gardevoir, Charles The Swellow, James The Groudon, Ace The Infernape and Solstice The Empoleon. All of them have experienced many a great adventure, and this one will be one of their greatest. They don't know that yet, they're just trying to have a vacation.
Real shame about that. The beaches there are real beautiful…