Last time on Explorers of Prehistory…

Venom, Aero, Kiara and Cotton woke up and found themselves the prisoners of the Dark Claw pirates! But before they could be sold off as slaves, they were saved by Ace, a police officer from the Dragonite Kingdom! Now, they enter a battle royale to escape from the clutches of the brigands!

What will happen next? Find out now!

"SOLARBEAM!"

With a tremendous smash, the body of Captain tore through the wooden door that led to the brig. The Crawdaunt his the deck with a crack, waking several of the sleeping pirates.

With a snarl, Captain pulled himself up. The escaping prisoners ran up the steps and faced him, Ace at the head. "So!" Captain spat venomously. "This was yer plan all along! Get into me crew and fool me with that cheesy eyepatch!"

Ace nodded. "You pirates may be small timers, but you're still a threat! Just be thankful the council even considers you that!"

The Crawdaunt snarled back. "Yeh even cut a deep scar in yer face so yeh couldn't be recognized, yeh sneaky siren!"

Ace chuckled sheepishly. "Actually," he said, wiping the scar with his hand, "I just drew that on there with some red paint. Now that I think of it, I actually can't believe you fell for it." He held up his hand, revealing the wiped away red paint on his palm, and shrugged sheepishly.

"THAT DOES IT!" Captain screamed. "NO ONE MAKES A MANKEY OUTTA ME!"

"We were caught by this guy?" asked Kiara, surprised.

"Don't remind me," Venom said.

"Don't just stand there, yeh loafers!" snapped Captain to his shocked and drowsy crewmen. "Tear 'em limb from limb!" He raised his claws at Ace. "Take this! Ice Beam!"

A frozen blast wizzed over Ace's head, narrowly missing him as he ducked. "Get to the lifeboats!" he shouted. "I'll handle these guys!"

Aero growled when she saw Jaws emerge from another door, sleepily looking around. "And miss a chance for payback? I don't think so!"

Venom growled, never one to back out from a fight. Tiny Island sinking, being kidnapped by pirates, having to sit in a dark, dirty cell with Kiara had made him very angry. Kiara looked equally miffed, and she wasn't ready to back down without a fight.

"Get them!" shouted Captain again.

A swarm of pirates shot towards the Pokemon, but they were ready. Venom struck out with his poisonous fangs, Kiara sliced and diced with her sharp claws, Aero's teeth shined as they bit down on their foes, and Cotton did what she could, her sharp teeth finding their marks. Ace was a green tornado. He was surrounded by a Nidoking, a Ninjask, and a Magmar. They struck out at him with deadly accuracy, but he was faster. He jumped over the Ninjask as it short towards him and leaped onto the Magmar's shoulders just as the Fire Type unleashed a Flamethrower. The attack struck the Ninjask, blasting him back. The Nidoking roared angrily, unleashing a Hyper Beam, but Ace ducked behind the Magmar, using the unlucky pirate as his shield. When Nidoking ran out of juice, Ace tossed the Magmar at him. The two Pokemon collided and were knocked out.

With a roar, Captain charged in at Ace. "VICE GRIP!"

The Sceptile gasped as Captain's sharp claws siezed him, lifting him into the air. "Yeh should've stayed undercover, cop!" the Crawdaunt spat, raising his free claw. "CRAB HAMMER!"

Before he could swing his claw, Captain's eyes widened and he screamed in pain. Cotton was gnawing on his tail. He grabbed at her with his free claw. "Why yeh lousy little-!"

Before he could say anything else, Ace grinned as he broke free. "Leaf Blade!" he shouted, cutting the Crawdaunt across the face. The Water Type screamed in pain and released Cotton.

"And another one!" Ace shouted, slicing the Crawdaunt in the face again. He then wrapped his arm around Captain's head in a powerful headlock and charged the dazed pirate, ramming him right into the mast with a might CRACK! With a groan of pain, Captain fell down, out cold.

"Thanks!" Ace said to Cotton. "Now get behind me!" he ordered as three more pirates closed in. "I can handle these losers!"

Cotton shook her head. "No way!" she said. "I'm tired of getting pushed around!"

Ace sighed, but nodded. "Alright, but if it gets too hard, back out!" he ordered, before Leaf Blading a charging Zigzagoon.

Whilst clawing a Swellow, Kiara grinned. "Hey, look at that! The cop's a real gentleman!"

"Unlike other males in the regular vicinity," said Aero, before putting a Brick Break into a Mankey's face.

"Humph!" Venom huffed as he struck a Delibird in the face with his coils.

"Ah, I think Scaley over here is jealous!" said Kiara.

"Of who?" Venom said, snidely. "Captain Ace over there?"

"Well, you could use his manners!" said Aero.

"And his charm!" agreed Kiara.

"Please, forgive me if I don't want to take advice from a criminal and a brat!" grunted Venom as he dodged an attack from a Scyther, before wrapping the Bug Type in his coils and squeezing the breath of out of him before tossing the out cold foe aside. "Now stop talking and start fighting!"

"Typical male reaction to jealousy," said Kiara, smugly.

Venom grumbled angrily as he slammed another pirate aside.

"Sheesh," Kiara muttered. "Tough crowd..."

"DIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

Venom turned to see Jaws running towards him, the Mawile screaming angrily as he raised his fist to strike the Snake Pokemon.

Rolling his eyes, Venom wrapped his coils around the Mawile, immobilizing him completely. "Idiot..." he muttered.

"Uh, may I?" asked Aero.

"By all mean," Venom said, dangling the now frightened Jaws like a pinata.

"Uh, hi," Jaws said, nervously. "I just wanted to say I'm profoundly sorry..."

"Not good enough!" Aero said. "BRICK BREAK!"

She punched the Mawile straight in the face, and Venom tossed the out cold pervert aside. "Good riddence," the snake muttered.

"Tell me about it," Aero agreed.

For once, something the two could agree on!

"Well," Kiara said, as he knocked out a Krabby that had been leaping at him from behind. "That was easier than I expected. Not bad."

Ace growled as he turned his head. "We're not out of the woods yet!" he said. "Look!"

A sleek, elegent looking ship was sailing towards them. It had deep violet sails and a crew of Espeon were at the ready.

"Looks like the idiots are coming to the aid of their so called allies," said Venom.

A line of Espeon were at the ready, organized and accurate, unlike the pirates. "First volley!" the commander of the Espeon said. "Fire!"

A bright spray of Psybeam shot towards the Pokemon, hitting all of them. Venom, being weak against the attack, gave a snarl of pain as the Psychic Type attack made contact. He groaned as he hit the deck, struggling to stand.

"Second volley!" the commander said. "Fire!"

Another spray shot overhead, but this time they managed to duck. Still, they were in bad shape. The pirates were pirates; they were thieves and bullies who relied on intimidation, rather than pure skill in battle. The Espeon, however, were a trained fighting unit for warfare, not just a bunch of pirates, or wild, angry Pokemon fighting for survival. The only one who stood a decent chance was Ace, as he was a trained fighter as well, though he was a policeman, rather than a soldier. He was trained to keep the peace, while soldiers were trained to kill on sight.

"Any ideas, Captain?" asked Venom drily, as he ducked under another spray of fire.

Ace nodded. "I've got a few." He pulled himself off the ground as the Espeon prepared to fire again. "Bullet Seed!" he shouted, firing off a powerful volley of his own. A few Espeon took hits, and got knocked down. "Get to the lifeboats!" he ordered the Pokemon. Soon, a full fledged firefight was going on. Ace was holding his own against the Espeon, but he couldn't keep it up forever. To make matters worse, the Espeon were bringing in reinforcements. Thirty Espeon were blasting at the rickety pirate ship with Psybeams, obviously with intent to kill the escapees.

As Ace took a fierce blow, Cotton began to panic again. "We have to do something!" she cried.

"Like what?" asked Kiara. "We're outnumbered, and I don't have any ranged attacks. We should be focusing on getting away!" she said, ducking under a Psybeam.

"Look," Venom said, quietly. He pointed over to the other side of the boat. A life boat was hanging onto the side of the ship. "There's our ticket out of here."

"But we can't just leave Ace behind!" Aero said, folding his arms.

Venom sighed. He hated it when Aero was right.

"What can we do?" asked Cotton.

Aero struggled to think, frantically searching for an idea when she caught sight of an outcold pirate lying on the ground. She ran over and pulled off the Machamp's eyepatch (which was fake too, seeing as how the Fighting Type had both eyes) and put it on. "Come on!" she said. "Dress like pirates!"

"Is now really a good time to be playing dress-up?" Venom hissed.

"Ah, shut up!" shouted Aero said. "I have a plan! Check to see if there are any pirates still asleep below! We can turn them against each other!"

Venom rolled his eyes, but did as he was told, taking a bandana and wrapping it around his right eye. "Alright, let's get this over with," he muttered.

Aero nodded, before shaking the nearest pirate, a Skarmory. "Hey!" she shouted, deepening her voice to a deep pirate tone. "Wake up, wake up!"

After a few slaps on the face, the Skarmory awoke. "Wha-?" he said, still dazed.

"We've been betrayed!" Aero said, trying to sound like a boy. "The Espeon are taking the slaves for free!"

The Skarmory bolted up with a start. "What? How could this happen?"

"Help me wake the others!" shouted Aero. "We need to fight back!"

"Right!" the Skarmory, standing up. "Wake up you fools!" he screeched shrilly. A few more pirates woke up, and the Skarmory filled them in. Dizzy and beaten, but still determined, the pirates quickly fired back at the Espeon with whatever attacks they could.

One pirate began to shake the Captain awake. "Whazzit?" he moaned, in pain. "What's goin' on?"

"Sir, we're under attack!" the crewmen, a Raichu said. "The Espeon are takin' the slaves away... fer free!"

"What?" Captain was on his feet. "Fire, fire!" he ordered. "Hit 'em with everything we've got, and then some!"

Ace blinked as the pirates ran past him and began to fire on their own allies. He was surprised and confused. "... The heck..."

"ACE!"

The Sceptile turned to see Aero and the others commandeering the lifeboat. "Come on!" the Mawile shouted. "We have to escape!"

Ace grinned. "Alright!" he shouted. "Let's go!" He ran over to the lifeboat, slicing the ropes that held it up with his Leaf Blades. The boat fell to the water with a splash.

"Come on!" Ace told the Arbok. "Help me row!"

"Why me?" Venom said. "I don't have any hands!"

"Well, we can't just be rude and force the women to do it!" laughed Ace, as he began to row.

Aero and Kiara giggled, flattered. Venom was angry about it, but he rowed anyway.

"Water..." moaned Cotton quietly as they rowed away. Still, it was better than staying with the pirates...

Ace licked the tip of his finger and held it in the air. "This way!" he said, pointing off into the distance. "The wind is bowing in the opposite direction, so we can gain some sea between us and the pirates!"

"Right!" Venom grunted. It wasn't easy to row with a tail, but he did his best. The life boat shot away from the two ships, while up above, pirates and Espeon still battled fiercely.

Pirates weren't very smart. If they were, they'd be in another line of work.

"Are you sure we should go this way?" asked Cotton. "Look!" Dark storm clouds were in the distance.

Ace gritted his teeth. "It's risky, but we have to chance it! It's a lot better than what'll happen if we go back there!"

Kiara growled unhappily. "I hate water," she muttered.

No one bothered to argue with her.

Meanwhile, back on the two boats, the battle continued.

Pirates fired at their enemy with everything they had; Hyper Beams, Flame Throwers, Hydro Pumps, Signal Beams, you name it. They tossed Blast Seeds and Sleep Seeds at the Espeon, and catapulted Geodude over to the enemy ship, the Rock Types Selfdestructing and taking out chunks of deckplates, sending sharp splinters of wood everywhere. But the Espeon weren't taking it lying down; years of battle training had made them deadly accurate with their Psybeams, and their mental powers allowed them to toss their foe's projectiles right back at them!

"Fire, fire!" ordered the Espeon leader, enraged that the pirates would betray them. "Show them the price of betraying us!"

"Ma'am!" one of the higher up Espeon said. "We should secure the slaves onboard! The pirates might try to send them into battle against us!"

The Espeon glared at her companion, but nodded at the male. "Very well!" she said. "Prepare a boarding party! We'll take them at close quarters!"

"Aye!" the male said. He turned to a group of Espeon soldiers, standing at the ready. "We're going aboard the enemy ship!" he said. "Charge!"

The Squad charged foward, leaping over their own allies, and then leaping over the watery gap to the enemy ship.

"Nice try!" growled Captain. "HYPER BEAM!"

A massive burst of energy erupted from his claw. He quickly waved the way, striking down all of the Espeon but the leader. The Psychic Types screamed as they plunged into the water below.

"Die, you brute!" the Leader shouted, as he charged at Captain.

Captain grinned as he grabbed the Espeon by the neck, throwing him aside. Before the Espeon could get up, Captain's claw come down with CRUNCH! and the Espeon went motionless, never to move again.

Captain glared over to his former ally on the Espeon vessel. The Espeon leader glared back, anger in her eyes. "Why don't ya come over here and we settle this personally, eh, ya lavender broad!"

"You don't have a chance, Captain!" she shouted back. "We have tactical superiority!"

"Tactical superiorty my craw!" shouted Captain. "Yeh're a bunch of wimps and yer cheapskates! Next time yeh try to steal, make sure it ain't from me!"

The Espeon blinked. "What do you mean, you infernal idiot?" she shouted.

"What I mean is, get ready teh die!" shouted Captain. "FIRE!"

A large Graveller was catapulted over. "SELF DESTRUCT!" he shouted.

The Espeon rolled her eyes and mentally grabbed the Graveller. She effortlessly tossed him back to the enemy vessel, amongst the screaming pirates. With a fiery explosion, pirates were tossed into the air, landing on either the deck or in the sea.

"Keep fighting, ya sea dogs!" shouted Captain. "We can't let an insult like that go unpunished!"

"Ma'am!" an Espeon shouted. "We need to fall back! We're being throttled!" she shouted, as a Hyper Beam shot overhead.

"Anyone caught falling back will be killed on sight!" the Leader shouted. "We will not admit defeat to these inferiors!"

Before the other Espeon could answer, a Hyper Beam struck her right in the chest. The Espeon screamed as she hit the deck, and then said nothing more.

The Leader growled. "Argh!" she growled. "RETREAT!" she shouted. "Fall back! We need to escape! Set course for the mainland!"

"Aye aye-!" the pilot began, before being hit by a Shadowball. He hit the ground without a noise.

"INCOMING!" an Espeon shouted as another Graveller fell towards the deck.

"BLAST IT!" shouted the Leader, grabbing the Rock Type and tossing him as he charged his Self Destruct back at the other ship. However, much to her shock and horror, another one was falling towards them. "NO!" she screamed as she tossed the Graveller aside. She prepared to grab the other one, but it was too late. The Graveller landed right in front of her, and exploded.

The Espeon Leader screamed in pain as she was tossed into the sea, her skin burning and bleeding as the sharp splinters from the deck sliced her skin open. She plunged underwater and sunk below the waves. Her last thoughts were wondering where that lifeboat was heading...

At the same time, the battle was still going badly for the pirates. However, they weren't going to give up that easily. The Espeon screamed as their ship began to sink underneath the waves. Fires were roaring on the deck, and bodies lay everywhere. But they weren't giving up. The fight was still raging, even though both of the crews were now mostly dead.

"Keep firing!" Captain shouted, his eyes practically glowing red. "Show those wimps their way to the afterlife!"

"But sir!" a pirate said. "We've sustainted heavy casulties!"

"And yeh'll be one of 'em if yeh don't fire!" shouted Captain to the Dratini. "FIRE! FIRE!"

Another Graveller was tossed overhead, towards the enemy vessel. However, an Espeon grabbed the Rock Type and tossed him back with mental energy.

Captain's eyes widened as the Graveller landed on him. He felt his exoskeleton crack under its weight, and the deckplates as well.

"G-get off of me..." begged Captain. "Don't explode..." he said, breathlessly.

"I can't... hold it... in!" shouted the Graveller.

With a mighty BOOM! the Graveller was knocked out, and the Captain's life was snuffed like a candle.

Rowing was a pain in the butt. Especially if you didn't have arms.

Venom felt his entire body aching as he and Ace paddled into the dark seas ahead. He growled as the desire to throw the paddle into Aero's lap and order her to row was immensely powerful. The only comfort was the sounds of explosions and battle behind them. Evidently, Aero's plan to turn the pirates against the Espeon had worked.

So, the Mawile had done something right for a change. Not bad.

"Alright!" gasped Ace. "Break time!"

"Already?" asked Venom, gasping himself. He had never rowed a boat before, but this had been very, very trying.

"Yeah," the Sceptile said, placing his paddle inside the boat and rubbing his arms. "Geez, we got about a hundred yard away!" he said with a wry grin. "Not bad, for a guy without any arms."

"Humph," grunted Venom.

Ace flipped open a compartment on the bottom of the liferaft. "Alrighty," he said, reaching inside and pulling out a bag of slightly smelly but still edible apples. "Looks like we got some food. This'll last us a few days."

"A few day!" asked Kiara, incredulous. "There's hardly any food in that bag!"

"Ha," Venom huffed. "Wonderboy and me here are reptiles, so we don't need to eat as much."

"True," said Aero with a nod. "Besides, we should just be thankful we're out of that mess."

Cotton nodded. "Right..."

Kiara huffed. "Fine..."

"So, Mr. Ace," said Aero, kindly. "Thanks for saving us and all, but why were you on their ship? I don't think a policeman should spend time with pirates."

"You'd be right, civilian," said Ace, with a nod. "I was undercover there. The pirates were a threat, so the Dragonite council decided that an agent should be planted. I was free, so I volunteered. My two partners, Char the Infernape and Sqeeb the Marshstomp were supposed to join me, but they got seperated at port and I ended up going onboard solo."

"Wow," Kiara said, very impressed.

"Yeah," Ace said. "When I found out that we were heading to Tiny Island, I managed to get a message out to the council via Pellipper mail. They said they'd have a group of police ready to arrest the pirates when we landed, but..." His voice trailed off. "When we got there..."

"Tiny Island was gone, underwater," finished Venom.

Ace nodded solemnly. "I take it you're all from Tiny Island?" he asked.

"That's correct," Aero said. "Now we don't have any home," she said, sadly.

Cotton sniffled unhappily.

"Don't you worry!" said Ace. "I'll get us back to the mainland! Once we're there, we can tell the Council what happened!"

"Will they believe us?" asked Venom, incredulously.

"Sure they will!" said Ace. "Don't you know that natural disasters are becoming more and more common nowadays? Earthquakes, floods, forestfires, and now entire islands sinking! This needs to be adressed, before it can get any worse!"

Aero nodded. "Right!" she said. "Venom! Keep rowing! We need to get to the mainland as soon as we can!"

Venom growled. "Of course, your majesty."

The life raft moved slowly into the murky waters beyond, the crews' dire mission now quite apparent.

ZOMYGOSH AN UPDATE WITHEN A WEEK! HURRAH!

Anyways, I loved writing that huge fight scene between the Pirates and the Espeon. That wasn't a Pokemon battle, that was a friggin' Pokemon WAR. I mean, there was actual death and stuff! That was awesome! I hope I get to do more stuff like that in the near future!

Til next time folks! See ya!