Hello All, please forgive this short chapter, I ended up having to split a longer chapter into 2 parts and this is where it broke. Next chapter to be up very soon. Also, I'm on vacation rn, and I wrote this ocean battle at the ocean, which was very cool.
Zoro deflected a cannon heading for the ship as they landed on the deck. Nami and Sunny charged across Laboon's slippery skin. Just as the blue-haired woman skated off the harpoon line. The fire-type's back burst into flames as he saw the injuries Laboon had.
Sunny charged at her, hitting her legs so she lost balance and fell on her stomach on Laboon. She gathered her wits a moment later, when she flipped around and parried Nami's bo staff with her bladed fan, and kicked her away. In a slick motion most impressive for a biped, she shifted her weight to her shoulders and was back on her feet in a flash. She lashed out at him, fury in her cold eyes, her fan extending on the chain. Had he not assumed it had a range, it would have pierced his legs. Instead, Sunny pulled back on his back paws in time and reached to grab the chain, channeling the heat as he held it in his mouth and paws.
When the woman tried to jerk it back, he skidded but held on with his full 18-pound might. Nami struck her in the back with her bo staff with a look of fierce determination. Sunny could tell even with what the girl was doing, Nami wasn't happy with this fight. But to him, it didn't matter. A human, like any pokemon, was defined by their actions—not gender, beauty, or age.
The blue-haired woman finally regained her composure and yanked back her fan, flinched, and adjusted the grip as she touched the hot metal near the fan. A small pit of disappointment grew in Sunny's stomach. His attack hadn't been anywhere near strong enough. But he knew now wasn't the time to lose himself in that.
Nami and Sunny positioned themselves on opposite sides of the girl, circling her slowly. They had to act fast, he could feel the minute vibrations of Laboon trying to prevent himself from flailing for their sake. Seeing the final loaded harpoon on the whaling vessel only steeled his resolve. Rage burned in his ears. The blue-haired poacher slashed out with her fan again, this time, it arched slightly, slicing the cyndaquil's cheek as he tried to move out of the way. In a second, it had returned to her hand in time for her use it to block Nami's strike again. She was strong.
On the tug boat, Luffy lifted his foot in the air and brought it down on the ship with his Axe attack, Sanji snuffed out the fuses on the lit cannons with a foot. Zoro sliced through two harpoon lines before the man onboard jumps in to stop him. The man was sorely out-matched and desperately looking for something to salvage the situation.
Nami and Sunny moved carefully, this woman was used to being dangerous and diving in for his regular attacks would not end well for him. He growled in frustration. It would have to be a last resort, he decided.
Then he heard a low rumble below them.
"It's from your stomach, the spot between your stomach and lungs, it's always been there."
What was he saying? He must be talking to me, Sunny realized, I'm the only one that can understand. For a moment, he thought Laboon was referring to his own bleeding wounds.
"And it feels warm. It's your core, little cyndaquil."
Oh, Sunny paused in his movement and the woman's eyes darted to him warily, preparing her bladed fan. He knew that feeling, that warm spot Laboon was talking about. Sunny pushed into it.
"Your inner strength. For me, it is a torrent of water, for you—"
Sunny fed the warmth there instead of forcing the heat to grow in his mouth. He let the force of energy rise, warming his lungs, and release a ball of fire the size of his head that impacted with the girl, scorching her robes and leaving soot on her hands. She had tried to shield herself with her fan, and it combusted in flames, leaving nothing but a charred metal skeleton as it had taken the brunt of the attack. She fan fell out of her hand, a look of terror on her face.
Sunny could barely believe it himself, that was an ember, he just knew it. And under the sunny weather and the chaos, and Laboon's help, it had exploded forth.
Just as she was about to run, there was a splintering crack and the boat shifted in the water in protest. Luffy.
"Tell your crew to get off the ship now."
Sunny nearly jumped in surprise.
"Off the boat?" Sunny clarified, whipping around to look toward it where his friends were fighting. What was Laboon planning? Nothing the crew wanted to be caught up in. He looked toward Nami and frantically gestured to the armored tug boat, miming moving them over to the Merry, Laboon, and stomping on his back.
Suffice to say, Nami fixed her comrade a confused look, her bo staff dropping slightly in her hands. The blue-haired woman took the opportunity to jump back onto the remaining uncut harpoon line and head back to her ship, ignorant of the warning.
Sunny repeated the actions insistently before giving up and shouting as loud as he could toward the boat. He was quiet usually. Cyndaquil by nature are small and hidden. He hadn't ever tried to be loud, it just wasn't done.
Despite that, when he yelled they heard him, and stopped fighting to look at him. Sunny gestured desperately to the Merry as he felt Laboon begin to shift beneath him. The poachers had made a mistake—they underestimated a pokemon. Not only a pokemon, but one deeply respected by every one of pokemonkind that walked or burrowed through the earth, swam the vast waters, or swarmed the endless skies. They had angered a giant. There would be hell to pay.
Nami saw the fear in Sunny's expression and took a guess. "Luffy, Sanji, Zoro—get back to the ship!"
Luffy immediately wrapped an arm around his crewmates and slung them onto the Merry. The woman, who had just reached her boat, and her partner, looking quite beaten up, froze and watched as Laboon came to face them, the still-attached harpoon spinning their boat.
Nami scooped Sunny up and jumped off Laboon's nose as he passed their ship. Usopp blinked and asked, "Wait, what's supposed to happen?"
Laboon moaned and floated further up to the surface with the ease of the lighter-than-water buoyancy of his body. He opened his massive mouth slowly, water pouring off and from in between his teeth. Sunny couldn't suppress a shiver, lost in Nami's much more apparent shake.
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIILLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORDDDDDD
A jet of water over twice as wide as Merry's mast exploded from Laboon's gaping mouth. The poachers bailed out of the ship seconds before what could only be a massive hydro pump slammed into the side of the ship, cratering it. The water shot in every direction, bouncing off the buckling metal and wood; tearing apart the guardrails, cannons, flag, shooting into the water like shrapnel. The tug buckled, taking in seawater at every angle and beginning to sink under the water.
In the wreckage, Sunny could make out two shapes tearing toward the shore. The silence was broken, predictably, by Luffy.
"WHOA! I DIDN'T KNOW WHALES COULD DO THAT! WAY TO GO!"
Sunny braced as the waves rocked their ship. "Laboon, are you okay?"
He hummed as the tug started to disappear under waves, then looked at the smaller pokemon with a beady eye. "I won't let anyone get in the way of my dream-I can't on my pride as a Rumbar Pirate!"
He breathed a sigh of relief. The large water pokemon was unbelievable in a way he could only hope to achieve someday.
Laboon shot the Straw Hats a wide smile. Then he twitched, twice, three times.
Sanji seemed keyed in too and looked to me for answers.
"You there! What are you doing to Laboon?" The voice was not Laboon, it was human. We all looked around, searching for the voice.
"Laboon?" Sunny hazarded.
"Up here!" The voice was coming from on top of Laboon, but how was that possible when Nami and he had just been up there? A tall, gray-haired man stepped into view on Laboon's head. He was carrying three giant, bloody harpoons over his shoulder as easily as he would a plank of wood. Oh. And he also had a little flower growing on the top of his head.
"You'll regret doing this to Laboon!" He yelled, leveling a finger at the Straw Hats.
"We didn't hurt Laboon, poachers did!" Sunny yelled out, knowing it would do no good. Usopp and Nami began to protest too, as Zoro and Sanji assumed defensive stances. Then Laboon spoke in his bellow.
"Crocus, they helped me," Laboon's eyes rose up to look at the old man.
To Sunny's shock, the man Crocus relaxed slightly and dropped the harpoons into the water with a salvo of splooshes. Then he jumped into the ship. Had he-? Sunny jumped down from Nami's shoulder and approached him.
He looked oddly comfortable on a stranger's pirate ship.
"You can understand us?"
His eyebrows rise in interest. "You're like him, aren't you? So different and stronger and smarter than any animal should be," the intelligent sparkle in his eyes suddenly went blank, "that said, I have no idea what you're saying."
Sunny sunk to the floor like all his hopes of communicating with the crew, exhaling a small tongue of fire. Crocus looked interested again.
"I don't really understand what's happening, why do you have a flower on your head?" Luffy asked, digging a finger into his nose.
"That's what tripped you up?" Sanji yelled.
Crocus laughed out loud. "Why don't we sit down and talk? I have a feeling we're going to have plenty to discuss."
While I was editing the Laboon located fight scene I could not stop thinking about that one Smash Bros Melee level where you had to fight on top of massive floating pokemon lol maybe it was in my subconscious this whole time
Also, I'm trying to decide on movies. I do have one movie I'm planning on doing but I want feedback on if/which movies I should do bc if 3-4 people have strong opinions on a movie, it's probably a movie I should be doing. LMK. Thanks again, and please review!