Chapter 8: Water Strike

Mare and Nadlew pulled the last human body to the back of the boat. There was a trap door open. Down there was where the trash, garbage, rubbish, etc. of nasty items went. They tossed the human down there, with the rest of the dead. It would begin to smell soon, but it was better than having them lie around on top of the boat. They were lucky that the ship did not catch the dead humans lying around. It was probably because their black clothing they were using and the similar dark color of the floor. It camouflaged them.

Just watching the humans piled where they were made Mare and Nadlew sick; they closed the trap door, sealing them in there for however long they were going to be on the boat. When they turned around, they only found two of the young ones running around the top deck. Most were at the control room. They were able to count the young ones; 8. It seemed like more when they were in the cavern. Unfortunately, that was because there was more when they were in the cavern. They suffered…the fate of what humans passed on to the much older Sneasels.

"So what would you think might be the new plan?" Nadlew wondered.

"We don't have a plan; just move the farthest away from the humans as possible," Mare answered.

Nadlew accepted the answer and stepped over some of the spilled blood on the floor from what had remained of the dead Sneasels. As much as they hated it, they needed to get the dead ones away from the children. They did this by lining them up in the bottom burnt cabin. No one was allowed to go down there.

Mare walked into the control room. It seemed very crowded with everyone inside. Irathie seemed to be busy talking with the only other female besides Wendy. Wendy herself was driving the boat. Well…not as well as expected. She only steered. What made matters worse was the fact that she could not see what was in front of her. She had to rely on what the other male said that stood above a panel, watching the sea.

Over the time that they were together, they had all gotten to know each other better. The other female was Grik. The male that helped navigate was Larnlo. He said that he better preferred just Larne. They both introduced along with everyone else that did not know each other. They had the children do the same with each other, and present their names to the older Sneasels. It was not helping much; only Grik knew all of the younglings by name. The others would eventually learn them all.

The boat eventually began a swish and sway as they reached rougher waters. The two Sneasels that had been playing on deck returned, unable to keep their balance on top. Though, they were not having any better of a chance inside either. As a matter of fact, none had a good grip on any item during the swish and sway. They were not used to this; eventually, maybe, but as of the second, it was confusing. It only took one Sneasel to throw up for the entire group to begin to feel that feeling in their gut as they smelled the stench they would rather live without.

Being on the boat was a strange experience for them all. It took awhile before Wendy found out how to slow the boat down. That stopped the major swishing and swaying. That was most likely the reason. They were going too fast, which caused the boat to hurry over waves coming and going.

The rest of the drive over water was calm. Though, it began to feel very crowded in the control room. Most of the Sneasels left to see what was happening outside. It was not like they could see much in the distance; they seemed to have gone a bit far from any of the islands. The weather swayed from windy to calm every once in awhile. And then something that made matters worse; the thought that they would eventually lose gas (or whatever the boat ran on). Only Wendy knew that the boat had to be fueled by something. She told no one, hoping that she wouldn't have to, and that they would find land soon.

But land was not coming. They had been flowing through the waters for hours. They even got the chance to see the dark clouds make way to clear skies. It seemed that the smoky atmosphere was going to disappear now, and give way to daylight. It appeared to be some time nearing the evening based on what Wendy saw.

It took another hour for the others to all be outside of the control room. Except for one; the one that lead her through by telling her what was up ahead. That Sneasel had been alternating positions with the others. The new navigator happened to be Mare, staring out into the open sea.

He was quiet most of the time. Before he started his shift, he had told Wendy that he was not going to say anything unless she asked, or he saw something. Seemed reasonable enough, but got very annoying when he kept quiet. She knew that it was because he saw nothing, but she so badly wanted him to at least say that there was water ahead, the most unhelpful comment. With him there, she felt that she was driving blind.

"Mare," Wendy began, wanting to start some conversation if anything; "what did you do in your free time; back when you were with the colony?"

"I did an unsigned job; I watched over the cavern, only protecting."

That might have figured his quietness. She waited for him to say something else, but he did not. So she began again. "You know, when I was with my trainer, we—,"

"Took on battles of all kinds, collecting small shiny objects to add to a collection in either a box or your trainer's back pocket? It's the same with all that I see."

"Oh," Wendy said, kind of shocked at the sudden break in of her sentence. "Well, yes actually. But it was more than a battle I had to help gain these 'shiny objects' as you say. It was a bond of friendship we had. I did a similar job to what you did whenever I was not in my place; I protected my trainer from any thieves that would come by. The world of humans is strange; some humans go after each other, and more than once I found that they would chase after our kind, and many others for the wrong reasons. And these 'shiny objects' are actually called—,"

"I know what they are called; I just refuse to say the name. And I assume by when you say that you are not in 'your place,' you mean when you are not in your Pokéball."

"…Yes Mare; that's exactly what I mean," Wendy began to feel annoyed. Maybe the better idea would have been to just wait for him to spot something. That thought hadn't completely gone through her mind; she continued to speak. "But, I guess what I'm trying to say to you is that we're somewhat the same. I think."

"Did you just make that up?" Mare said it as a statement. He had his glare at her, and she had her glare at him. "The only similarity between us two, I'm sorry to say, is that we are of the same species. Otherwise, we are different in everyway. I have to ask you something; what do you think of the humans? Or, what did you think of the humans? Before all of this happened; what were your honest thoughts on them?"

Wendy thought the question over in her mind, trying to find a way that he could possibly twist it around. She did not want to be talking about her opinions on humans; dramatically, they had been changed over the past few hours. "I thought of them as only helping to thrive our world, and needing us to help overcome difficulties. And I don't only mean physical difficulties; I mean emotional too."

"And do you know what I think of the humans? I thought they occupied space; they always have, and always will. But then again, I think of all other creatures the same way. As you can tell, I am not very much of what the humans would call a 'people person.'"

"Where did you get that from; that, 'people person?'"

"From watching the humans work. I am only mildly interested in their advancements. Now, I do not really care anymore. I just want them all off of what is our land."

Even though Wendy did not know Mare beforehand, she could easily tell that the last few hours had changed him somehow. The hours had made him bitter to all that was in any way related to humans. She felt sorry for him. "Some of what is our land was prospered by the humans; it was tended to by them when nature could not fix it. It was most likely because of them that the entire plantation around your home was there. They were once the ones you could turn to, even though you spoke a completely different language. Did you know that?"

"You are wrong. I will admit that there are some that are the kind hearted you are trying to picture, but they are not all this way. There is a dangerous world out there that you are blocking out most likely because your trainer never spoke of that world."

"I know that that dangerous world exists. I've helped fight those humans out there; they are part of an organization known as Team Rocket. Have you ever heard of them?"

"I am not only speaking of a group here, Wendy, you aren't paying attention. I am speaking with the side of the human mind that is unhealthy."

"What part of the human mind is unhealthy?"

"The part that destroyed my home. You spoke of a Team Rocket, did you not? I know about them. I've seen in the Tee Vee's. They are the ones that have that large pattern on their uniforms, yes?"

"Those are letter 'R's. How do you know what the humans say by watching a TV? They speak a different language from you."

"I watch. But back to what I was saying; did you see any of them 'R's on the clothing of those that attacked our home? Did you?"

That's when Wendy had to submit what he was saying. It was true; she did not see much of their symbol on those that had destroyed Four Island. It seemed as if they were not part of that organization at all. Then…what were they? Why would they do that? "I am very sure that what happened at Four Island was an act of Team Rocket. I did not know about this attack that was going to happen. My trainer would have told me of this attack had it been anything other than Team Rocket. This was a surprise attack from Team Rocket; I'm sure of it."

"No; this was not a surprise attack from 'Team Rocket.' You may not have known about it, but the humans did. They had this all planned, and that was why the ones that were residence along side us here had left. That's why you trainer left you alone—," Mare did not get to finish that last part. As soon as he began the comment about Wendy's trainer, Wendy used the momentum of the wheel to thrust herself to him, where she brought a nice cold ice punch to his face.

They both went down, but once on the floor, Mare held onto Wendy's arm and pulled over her, pulling her arm behind her at a breaking point. She screamed at the pain, and immediately brought her foot to Mare's back, wobbling him for a moment. That was enough time for her move her body just a little and slash at his ankles.

The wheel was turning to the right sharply with no driver, and both Wendy and Mare kept on wrestling on the floor. Finally, Mare got his balance standing and thrust Wendy towards the back wall. She used faint attack to fall through it, and ended up outside where the others stood. She sensed that Mare was also going to use faint attack, and quickly kicked behind her. It was a lucky guess; she hit him as he appeared, and he crashed into a crate, breaking it. On his spot on the floor, he shot an ice beam at Wendy, locking her arm in ice with the wall.

He then pulled himself up and readied to crash into her. She ducked and thrust her sharp claws at his stomach, hitting directly, but far from digging deep into him. Mare pulled the arm up and forcefully pulled it back, trying to break the bone between her humerus and ulna. In return, she smashed her head into his. Hard. All the while, the others watched in confusion and wonder of who was currently driving the boat.

Irathie quickly entered to break the fight, pulling Mare back. When Mare punched back, Irathie ended it with an even harder punch at the jewel on Mare's chest, tossing him back to the broken crate.

"Mare! What is the meaning of this?" Irathie questioned.

"And what kind of a name is 'Mare' anyway?!" Wendy shouted. "I'd expect that from a Rapidash; not Sneasel!"

"Wendy," Irathie began.

"Yes Irathie?"

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, but—,"

"Go drive this boat."

"But—,"

"Please just go. I will come back in there in a second. Nadlew, be her eyes."

"Yes Appointer Irathie," Nadlew said, and with one glance at Mare, went into the control room. Wendy feeling defeated followed afterwards. That left all the other Sneasels out there, plus Irathie and Mare.

Irathie came closer to Mare, who seemed to have a shocked expression on his face for awhile. Irathie kept a serious expression. Mare knew this expression, and quickly shook his shock away. "Mare, what happened in there? I want to hear from you first."

In all honesty, Mare was not quite sure. He was speaking, and then from nowhere she seemed to attack him. Would that be the right way to say it to Irathie? Quickly, Mare searched through his memory on anything he could have said that could have led to her hitting him. But he found nothing, so he told Irathie what he saw had happened.

"I see," Irathie stated. "Are you hurt?" Mare shook his head and stood from his spot. He did not say anything; he just looked off into the sea. It was as if he had no other direction to look at, and was afraid to look upon the others. This further led Irathie to believe that something else had gone on in there. A fight did not happen for no reason. Figuring he was done with Mare, Irathie moved into the control room, ready to question what had happened from Wendy. Her answer was not very clear either. She just said that Mare had touched a part of her that was personal, and she wanted him to take it back. She did not want to tell of what happened to her trainer. Because she hadn't made it clear to Irathie on what the reason was, he still had no clue on how to solve this.

He sighed and figured that it was better to just separate the two. They were far too different; there was no chance that they could possibly get along. He left the control room, and for awhile, all was quiet.


The rest of the trip was basically the same as it was before. Minus the fighting. Mare was always staring over the rails behind the ship, trying to catch a glimpse of Four Island. But it was long gone by now; there was nothing to see. No one neared him the entire time, further isolating him in his mind.

He looked down at the water before him. It rushed by, slowly beginning to pick up speed. Most likely they had spotted some type of land and were rushing towards it. Mare did not really care at the moment; he just looked at the water rush by. It was being distorted by the ripples the boat made.

Slowly, the boat speed just a little faster. They must have really spotted something. He turned around. There were only a few outside. They probably had gone back into the control room. Mare stepped away from his spot and went to the other side, closer to the control room to see exactly what they were heading for. In the distance, there was nothing.

"Why are we going faster?" that was Vie. He was one of the younglings.

"I am not quite sure; I don't see anything," Mare answered.

And then, as an answer, the ship completely stopped to a halt. The halt was so strong that the back was lifted in a 40 degree angle into the air, tossing all on the boat forward. Mare and Vie ended up crashing into the control room door. Those that were in the control room smashed into the wall in front, while a Nadlew and one of the younglings hit hard enough to break through the window. just before they rolled off into the water, Nadlew held onto the end of the ship with one arm, and onto the scruff of the young female Sneasel, who began to scream and cry. Nadlew tossed her with a strong hand back onto the top of the boat once it was still and told her to go back to the control room. He pulled himself up and crawled back the same way the female had.

Once everyone had their balance again, the questions began; what had happened? Mare burst in through the door and immediately looked at Wendy, as if she was to blame. "What happened?" he asked sharply.

Irathie answered, "Relax Mare; we did not do anything. The boat pulled faster forward on its own. We aren't sure what made it happen, but obviously something made it stop."

"So what happened?"

"For crying out loud Mare, we don't know!" Wendy answered. "We're trying to figure that out here."

Mare rolled his eyes and turned away, leaving the doorway. He and vie were the only ones outside now. Soon, some of the rest began to exit the control room. Among them, Irathie appeared. "Has anything been destroyed?"

"Not that I know of," Mare answered.

The Sneasels that had gotten out began to look all around the ship, looking for any damage. The only damage that there seemed to be was the same damage that was on the boat when they had taken it. They were okay.

So then there was the big question; what was that all about? It very much confused them all. Unfortunately, they were to find out in just a few more seconds. The seconds ticked down to zero, and the boat rocked as a beast rose from the waters. It was a Gyarados; it's huge form jumped out of the water, jumping over the boat. It left a large shadow in it's jump, and landed on the water in the other side. It disappeared into the ocean. When it had landed, it forced a wave strong enough to slowly begin to tip the ship to it's side, slowly flipping over.

Mare pulled himself as fast as he could to the right side; the side that was turning to the sky. At the rails, he pulled himself up, and connected the boat to the water with an ice beam. It was enough for him to create a small ice block in the water to keep the boat in it's position, and in only a mere matter of seconds, the boat returned to it's natural position, swaying for a second.

"It's a Gyarados!" Nadlew pointed out the obvious. "What is it doing?!"

It only took Mare a few seconds to process it all in his mind. "It thinks we're humans. The humans probably did a similar thing to them that they had done to us; it thinks we're humans, and wants revenge…" Mare looked around the water. He knew that the Gyarados was not finished yet. Not by a long shot. "Tell Wendy to take the boat full speed ahead; we have to get out of here!"

But as he said that, the boat shook yet again. From the back, three large items were tossed into the air. They looked fairly heavy, and began to descend onto the Sneasels on the ship. "Run!" Irathie exclaimed.

The three objects hit on several parts of the ship, one hitting at the center, breaking onto the deck below that they had turned into a graveyard. They were the three propellers of the boat. The Gyarados had plans on bringing the boat down; it wasn't going to stop until the entire boat and its crew were underwater.

Alright, Mare thought. They wanted a fight. He had just about had enough with everything that had happened within the past few hours. He was severely pissed off. He did not care who he took out his anger on. He was ready to fight.