4

Archaeleus ran as fast as he could, despite the pain that stabbed his abdomen the instant he had began running. Behind him, a ghostly character with a fedora pursued him nonchalantly, with his hands tucked into his pockets. Archaeleus ran by an upright barrel and knocked it down, and the ghost simply sidestepped it and continued running.

"Come on, I just wanna talk with you," the ghost said.

"Stop chasing me then!" Archaeleus replied.

The ghost didn't stop. Clearly, it was impossible for Archaeleus to pass himself off as lost. He was a stowaway.

Archaeleus kept running until he found his way to the deck. He ran straight into a group of sailors and he pushed his way right through, knocking down two protesting sailors. Blocked by the sailors, the ghost shouted out, "Someone stop him! He's a stowaway!"

Running towards the edge, Archaeleus took a leap of faith over the edge. Fortunately, being a rather small ship landed on the wooden dock. As he landed, he tripped, and Archaeleus crashed into the dock spectacularly.

As Archaeleus struggled to his feet, a sailor from the ship threw his Pokéball at the end of the dock, and a muscular Machoke appeared. As it materialized, the Machoke roared, clearly displeased like his owner that an intruder was around. Archaeleus had no idea that the Pokémon in front of him was so strong that it limited its strength with a unique power belt, but its huge muscles were clearly bigger than his own. Had Archaeleus known the true strength of a Machoke, he might have never made the decision to run straight towards it.

"Move it!" Archaeleus shouted.

The Machoke's only response was run towards Archaeleus, intent on catching him. Maybe's it's deaf, Archaeleus thought.

"Get off the dock or I'll make you get off it!" Archaeleus thought. The Machoke nearly tripped, surprised at the thought speech running through his mind from his prey's thought. It managed to pick itself up and jumped into the air, winding up its arm for a devastating punch. This punch would definitely kill him.

As the Machoke got closer, Archaeleus noticed a particular detail: it was wearing a belt, and had pants. On impulse, Archaeleus quickly accessed his psychic vision and was greeted with an unpleasant sight. The blue aura around Machoke was concentrated, but even so, there was so much of it that Archaeleus was sure that all the humans in the ship put together couldn't equal this one Pokémon. The only thing that prevented Machoke from stressing its own body out with its energy was the belt it wore.

The Machoke roared at Archaeleus as it descended.

Archaeleus raised his hands, palms open.

Why is he running straight towards the Machoke? There's no way he'll survive! Alex thought. The stowaway didn't even have any of his own Pokémon to cover his back. In Alex's mind, fighting a Pokémon by one's self was reserved only for martial art masters, suicidal people, or masochists. Even if the stowaway had a gun, or a Pokéball, or any sort of weapon at all, a wild Pokémon would not die from a gunshot wound as easily as a human would. Guns were overrated in this day and age.

The Machoke jumped high and aimed its fist at the stowaway.

The stowaway raised his hands, bracing for impact.

The Machoke landed, and the wooden dock beneath him was instantly demolished. The Machoke continued through the dock, and an explosion of water covered the entire dock. Splinters of wood flew through the air, and a long piece nearly skewered him through the head.

When the water and debris calmed down, Alex squinted into the wood. He stared harder, not sure what he was looking at. After a few moments, he finally comprehended what he was looking at.

There was no stowaway. The Machoke lay unconscious underneath the rubble. Alex looked up and saw the stowaway, who was very much alive, running back into town.

As the Machoke descended towards him, Archaeleus made a split-second decision. In less than a second, Archaeleus did two things. With his left hand, he closed his fingers and pulled the Machoce towards him so that it would overshoot its landing. With his other hand, Archaeleus punched the belt, dislodging it for a pure millisecond.

The effect was instantaneous. Every muscle in the Machoke's body became immeasurably powerful, too much for its body to handle. Every other muscle contracted, crushing every bone that it had. At the same time, its heart pumped an extraordinary amount of blood too quickly for its brain to handle, and it was unconscious in the air before it could feel the pain.

The Machoke landed behind him, demolishing the deck. Archaeleus forced him to slow down a tiny bit so that he would not trip. After the debris settled, Archaeleus ran like the wind, back into town.

He had gotten about twenty feet when a dart hit him in the neck. In another five seconds, Archaeleus fell to ground, just as unconscious as the Machoke behind him.

"Damn it." Alex said.

"Damn?" The sailor beside him inquired. "You just knocked the bugger out with a tranq dart! He's ain't going anywhere after you shot him."

"That's not the point. I didn't want to use my dart gun. Wasted a good dart I could have used on some idiot's Pokémon or a real criminal. It's bloody disappointing."

"Oh." The sailor said. "Whatever. Just tie him up and drop him off at the Pokémon Center."

"There won't be enough time. The ships leaving in two minutes." Alex pointed out.

"Your loss then. We'll still pay you, you know."

Alex stood over Archaeleus, watching him intently as his target snored like the devil. The tilted fedora blocked his eyes from view, leaving anyone to guess what he was thinking.

"I'll come on board, and I'll bring this fellow with me."