Starling - ooh, a penny might drop for you very soon then :P good luck with the story! there's a pretty tough battle coming up for you. (at least I had a hard time)

...

"WHAT?!" I gasped, my jaw dropping open. What in the name of... I was a hundred percent CERTAIN I had seen Cameron down in the copper mine. There was no mistaking it!

"Don't tell Theo," Kellyn said darkly. "I don't want him to worry and come back here. I need you both safe in East Tandor."

"That's shitty," I said disapprovingly. "What if Cameron dies? Theo should be with him..."

"You're not coming back here until we sort this out," Kellyn said firmly, "Neither of you."

Of course. Why had I expected more from Kellyn? Despite the touchy feely sentiment fest we'd had on route 11, I had to remember Kellyn was still the heartless beast who had abandoned his vulnerable child in exchange for his job.

"I feel better," I grumbled, throwing off my covers. "I'm gonna head to Route 4."

"I'm serious," Kellyn warned. "Don't tell Theo."

There had to be another reason... Was Kellyn even telling the truth? I was sure I'd seen Cameron in the Baykal! What was even real anymore? Maybe I'd just become too suspicious of everyone around me. One of these days I would even start to suspect Amy or Solana or fucking Theo.

"We'll be fine here. We just need to find and destroy Urayne and its trainer. That's it. Those blue rangers will become normal again afterwards. The styluses are a bother... but we'll figure it out. I promise, Ari. Don't worry about it. Stop worrying, okay?" Kellyn's voice was passionate and his eyes bore into me intensely. I admired the bags under them. Wow. Someone hadn't been getting any sleep recently.

"Wilma here will give you a lift on her Pajay... Just as far as the route 4 surf route. Ari... please be safe."

I waved half-heartedly to Kellyn. Whatever faith I'd found in him had been shattered. Whatever! I was fine without him, I'd be fine again now.

It was kind of nice to have someone care about me though. Even though I paid him out for being a dick, I could tell that he did care.

I got the call after I hopped off my free ride at Sr. Goldkorn's capitalism lair. A familiar face popped up on the screen.

"Hey Solana," I said, cutting off 21 Pilots mid-line. I really did like that song.

"Ari, hey!" Solana's breathless voice came over the phone. "Whereabouts are you?"

"Just about to hit the high seas," I responded. "Route 4."

"Oh, good! I just got off the plane at Belbeach, I can get the metro to Burole. Wait up for me? I need a good trainer I can trust."

So she was back in Tandor. "Sure," I said. It would give me time to eat my lunch.

Kitty lounged beside me on the bridge as I peeled open the cling-wrapped sandwich Kellyn had given me. Kitty had taken a shine to its Master ball, I could tell, and didn't protest so much at travelling in my bag now.

I ate in silence. Kitty's tail flicked lazily. We watched Gentleman Sr. Goldkorn hand out marketing flyers to innocent passers by.

Eventually I caught sight of the dark blue shock of hair, tied back today. Solana was about to reach Sr. Goldkorn. A corner of my mouth turned up.

Goldkorn reached out with his propaganda. I saw Solana waving her hands in front of her, protesting profusely. She quickly ran past him and he chased her a few metres down the bridge before giving up. Lol.

"Whew," Solana said, gasping as she ran up to us. "That was creepy."

"He's harmless," I said with a flick of my wrist. "I thrashed him in a battle once."

Solana grinned. "That's why I need you."

"So what's up?" I asked, as we dawdled side by side through the long grass, towards Comet Cave.

Solana sighed. "The research isn't going as well as we'd hoped," she said. "Morgan's idea worked in the lab, but we just can't get large scale production going. I've been sent back to scope out alternatives. You know, get out, see sunlight for the first time all week, it's supposed to help your thinking, hah..."

"Probably good you came back," I said casually. "Just found out yesterday they've made a new stylus. It works on Tracton now, and people. They used it on me."

Solana groaned so hard I swore I saw the grass bending back in front of her. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Fine and dandy," I replied. Wow, I was feeling charismatic today. Actually, maybe that was just being around Solana, she seemed to have that effect on people.

"No lasting effects, that's good at least... Argh! That's so frustrating!" Solana exclaimed. "What could be in those signals, then? Tracton's fangs can draw anything to it, alpha and beta particles, gamma rays, photons, literally anything!"

"What is it then? Dark energy?" I joked, making ghost hand gestures.

Solana stopped short in her tracks. "You could be right..." she said solemnly.

"I was joking," I said with a nervous laugh.

"Well you could be onto something. We know what matter's made up of and everything these days, but dark energy, dark matter... nobody knows that. I tell you what, if they've managed to harness that stuff, they've probably solved the secret of the universe."

This was getting too existential again. "Or you know," I wailed. "Tracton could just have been really tired. We were hiking all day in this insect dungeon."

Solana shrugged. "Either way, we're pretty much back to square one."

We reached the surf route beside the cave and stared out at the waves. Shit... How was I going to surf? Kellyn hadn't given me anything... I let blades out of its pokeball and placed it in the water, climbing onto its back. We sank.

"Wait, you don't have surf?" Solana yelled from the shore as I spluttered to the surface. "I do."

I dog-crawled back and blades trailed behind me in the water.

"Sheldon made me carry these as bribes," she said good-naturedly. "Like if I need a ride or something, or a hand from a trainer. Safer than carrying a bunch of money around. I literally said I'd call Ari and they'd take care of me, but Sheldon was convinced you'd been blown up or kidnapped or whatever."

"Thanks for the confidence vote."

"Well, you know, it wasn't statistically trivial with all the BS that's been happening here. Everyone in Zhery's been freaking out over the news –" Solana gasped. She clamped a hand over her mouth. "I said Zhery," she whispered.

I put my fingers in my ears. "Lalala, I didn't hear anything."

"It's too late!" Solana wailed. "It can read your memories! Oh no... Well, I guess the Tractonite's a flop anyway, so it's worth nothing to them to find us now."

I opened Solana's HM on my pokepod and taught Surf to blades. Bit of a useless move for a physical attacker, but I wasn't about to have to cart some weak pokemon around every time I needed to surf.

Solana and I squeezed onto blades' back. This was ridiculous. There was barely sitting room for both of us. Yet blades sailed along on the waves, totally at ease despite us literally crushing and immobilising all its steel fins. HMs, amirite. (Or maybe the surf was just really strong that day).

We headed north, rounding the bulge of Comet Cave on the ocean side (bit like a glorious short cut allowing us to bypass the place). We would turn for the corridor leading east a few hundred metres further, opposite Fisherman Luke's fishing jetty.

The wind billowed through my hair. I hadn't combed it in a while. I reached up to subtly work on the knots.

"This is really beautiful," Solana said sunnily. "I'm guessing we're headed for Venesi City?"

I shrugged lazily. "If that's what comes next." I tried to remember when I'd last seen my town map. What was that big piece of paper I'd used to smuggle cat food out of the pokemon centre...?

"That's great," Solana said. She sounded happy. "There's a friend I'd like to visit there. He works at the Epsilon Mine. Maybe some uranium discourse will jog my mind." Solana giggled. "You know how they're big on safety and PPE." It was my turn to laugh.

We turned east. I waved to Fisherman Luke, fishing serenely on his jetty. He started when he saw me, lifting his hand in a tentative salute which could also have been interpreted as a protective recoil.

I beat up some aggro swimmers who obviously hadn't released enough energy pounding the waves. These buff speedo-donning characters were all left blushing and spluttering and suddenly very interested in the sea floor corals.

I packed away my OP kitty.

We came across a small island sporting lax fishermen and a training dojo (HP stat though, so I fluffed around with Shalegas for a bit and left it at that). Solana was keen to get to Venesi so we stacked ourselves back onto blades.

We almost made it. We were almost safe. We were so close.

Solana squinted at the horizon. "Is that... Are those jet skis?"

I joined in the recon. Two shapes were converging towards us from the north-east and south-east. But they weren't sending up any spray.

A strong gust of wind blew past, but the water didn't stir...

"Invaders," hissed a voice behind us. "Trespassers."

"Ah!" Solana screeched, spinning around. What in the name of... The shapes in the distance had disappeared. The people they turned out to be were now mere metres in front of me, joined by two who had approached from behind.

They circled us menacingly, faces covered, riding crouched on Saidines which seemed to jump from place to place by magic. One cut close past us and I felt blades being dragged along by some sort of powerful current. Underwater engines?

"Hi," I said, waving awkwardly. "Nice day, huh?"

"You have breached ninja waters," said one of the surfers, scrutinising me from behind a balaclava-like hood.

"Surprising, didn't think they were man enough to breach anything," another sniggered.

"Yo, you wanna watch yourself," I snapped.

"At least I can do that without a microscope."

What the fuck? These were the worst dick jokes I'd ever heard. "Shit show, I wanna refund."

"Stay cool," Solana whispered to me. "Rise above it."

They snorted and laughed and closed in tighter around us. "We don't like bad feedback, especially from visitors. Now hand over your wallet and your pokemon!"

So this was robbery on the high seas.

I was getting angry. This had been a pretty good afternoon so far. I gripped kitty's ball and cursed myself for not opening a bank account.

"Your balls are just dropping down now, are they?" one of the ninja mocked me, tightening his grip on his Saidine and its sword-like fins. "Pity you'll only have four seconds to enjoy them if you don't give us your money RIGHT NOW!"

"They're acting like five-year-olds," Solana growled in my ear. "Don't do anything rash – it's not the end of the world to lose some money. You'll win it back. Rise above it."

The ninja and I hung in a stalemate, staring at each other. "Okay," I said eventually.

"Thank god," Solana whispered to herself.

I reached into my bag. I brought something bulky out in my hand.

"That's right," Solana said encouragingly. "Just give it to them."

I reached out my hand...

I slammed the shiny water stone into blades' steely chest. "You got it Solana!" I shouted, as the water started to churn around us. "I'm going to rise above it! Hold on tight!"

The ninja were taken completely off guard. They shielded their faces as blades let out a thunderous clatter of steel and started to raise itself vertically onto its back fins, throwing up spray as its body and fins lengthened and tilted up into the air.

"Ari, NO!" Solana shrieked, holding on for dear life to blades' thickening steel guns as the floor dropped away from beneath us. My arms were clamped tightly round blades' neck, the water stone still pressed deep into its body as my feet lost their hold.

It was like watching mountains form on the edge of two continents. Blades' huge steel body rose from the water and ballooned outwards until the ninja had no choice but to back away. When it eventually stopped evolving, Solana and I towered over them atop our mighty warship of a Daikatuna. I smirked.

I'd never really been into water pokemon, but this was fucking sick.

I let the now blackened water stone, void of any remaining energy, drop into the sea with a plop.

Another one for the dex, Bamb'o better have a bonus in store here.

"Holy shit Ari," Solana said, gasping, pulling herself onto an easier seat straddling the guns. "There's four of them."

"Meh," I said, waving. I was feeling cocky riding on this colossus.

"SAI! Use Aqua Jet!" one of the ninja suddenly shouted, totally without warning. His brothers joined in. "Faint Attack!" "Aqua Jet!" "Fury Swipes!"

I gulped. The Saidines closed in at once and poor blades was pummelled from all four sides. These Saidine weren't far behind in levels, my pokepod told me, and the evolution seemed to have mostly raised blades' attack stat, leaving its defense lacking. Solana and I gripped on tight as blades roared and wobbled on its back fins.

My eyes flew from one Saidine to the other. Which to attack first?! Blades was already on yellow health. I started to sweat. They were circling back round to attack again.

I ripped two balls from my pocket. Cheating, you think? No problem. Look who I was playing against. Guess the reach of the law didn't extend this far out in the Maskara Channel.

"Go kitty!" I shouted. I lofted kitty's ball into the air and it emerged with a yowl, plummeting down to land in the sea with a splash.

"Go Tracton!" I shouted, and Tracton sent up a tidal wave as it landed, pushing the Saidine back slightly. The sea was somewhat shallow here and its attacking fangs were left above the surface as it came to a rest on the sea floor.

"SAI! Aqua Jet!" They were coming again. "Kitty, leaf blade, north west! Tracton, wall it!" I quickly rapped out the commands.

My hand flew into my bag and brought out a super potion, feeding it to the beleaguered blades, using up Tracton's turn. Three Aqua Jets landed on my stronger pokemon and one on blades, leaving everyone in good health. It was working!

"Solana hold on! Blades, Aqua Tail, north west!"

Blades roared and surged forward, bringing its huge steel tail up and crashing down on the already weakened Saidine, sending up a blast of spray. Solana and I held tight as blades came back upright.

"Oooooooo," the other three ninja jibed as the fourth retreated on his fainted Saidine. The visible parts of his cheeks were bright red. "Ronin," they taunted. "We told you to cut out the dick jokes."

I patted blades on its steely head. The remaining ninja flocked in a quick confluence, whispering amongst themselves.

"SAI!" the leader shouted. "Aqua Jet! On the TUNA!"

So they were copying my tactic, picking off my team one by one. "Kitty!" I shouted. "Leaf blade, south east! Tracton, shift gear!"

As my pokemon roared into motion, triple Aqua Jet landed on blades, buffeting it from side to side. "God!" Solana shrieked, trying to keep her balance. My hands were gripped tightly on the steel rods in front of me. I was starting to feel dizzy.

"Blades!" I shouted. "Aqua Tail, south east!" I was going to spew. Blades' head plunged down like some ghastly showground ride, and its sword-edged tail slammed into the next Saidine, knocking it out. I shut my eyes tightly as the head came back up. Hold it in, you fool. Keep yo shit together.

"Juunin!" southwest ninja shouted. "We almost have them! SAI! Aqua Jet on TUNA!"

"Tracton! Dragon Claw, south west!" I shouted, my voice quavering. "Kitty, leaf blade!"

The attacks were too much for blades. It let out an enormous roar of fury and pain and started to fold down into the sea... "JUMP!" I shouted to Solana.

We made it just in time. The huge Daikatuna slammed into the water's surface, making Juunin yelp and rush backwards on his Saidine. The steel rods on blades' head poked out of the water at murderous-looking angles. I surfaced and spotted Solana. We bobbed in the settling waves. "Close," I said, pointing at the rods and mopping my brow.

The attacks from kitty and Tracton had KO'ed southwest's Saidine, which left only Juunin. He whooped in satisfaction, facing towards his defeated brothers and pummelling his chest. They weren't pleased. Ronin spat.

"Come at me!" Juunin hollered.

We came at him. With my tank of a kitty and attack-boosted Tracton, he was an exceptionally easy win. Without the backup of the others, lone Saidine was laughably weak.

"Oooooooo." It was the other ninja's turn to mock Juunin. He glared at me, red faced, and slinked away to join his jeering brothers. They'd backed off. We were being offered passage.

"Thanks, Ari," Solana said to me, relieved. "I'd never have made it through here alone." I imagined Solana trying to bribe the ninja with HM Surf. She was right. I straightened my back so the sun could glance off my badges.

"What's going on here, GIRLS?" a voice roared. My head snapped up. "Oh no," said Solana.

"H-h-hokage!" Ronin stammered.

"Boss!" Juunin cried, straightening up and trying to make his fainted Saidine presentable.

"Do you mean to tell me..." This Hokage squinted towards me, took in the various pokemon scattered around the battlefield. "That this... child... has beaten my best fighters, outnumbered four to one?" The colossal sea snake he was riding lifted its head from the water and hissed.

"Oh, boss, we were just taking it easy on them... Because they're just a child..." Ronin blustered.

"Nonsense!" Hokage silenced his minions. I gulped. "Child, what is your name?"

"Ari," I said, immediately regretting not hiding behind a pseudonym.

"Ari!" Hokage repeated. "Very good..." He pursed his lips, then opened them to reveal a wide, yellow-toothed smile. "Well done, for beating my fighters. They have spent years in training. It takes a very competent trainer to sweep them like that."

Solana and I looked at each other. The situation was taking a turn...

"Thanks?" I said awkwardly.

"BUT!" Hokage boomed. I smiled nervously. "My brothers and I still need to eat! And for that, I must annihilate you for your considerable wealth!" He pointed to my bulging wallet. FML, the bank was just two blocks down the road from Auntie's...

"Go, Tubareel!" Hokage roared, and the sea snake lifted its head again, baring its enormous jaws. The jaws snatched up a passing Frynai, sending steel shards flying as they crunched down on the hapless fish. I gulped again.

"Tubareel, use Crunch!" Hokage commanded.

"Go, kitty!" I shouted. "Kitty, use leaf blade!" I looked about as authoritative as a decorative monarch, treading water beside my fainted Daikatuna, but kitty zipped ahead anyway, colliding yowling with the snake in the centre of the arena.

We were considerably weakened from the fight with the ninja.

The huge jaws clamped down on kitty, whose steel plates absorbed much of the impact, but kitty still reeled from the attack and its leaf blade was nowhere near the critical hit I'd hoped for.

"Go again!" I shouted. "Leaf blade!"

"Crunch!" Hokage countered. The Tubareel's speed and attack were lethal. Kitty was barely hanging on with single-digit HP, and again missed the crit on leaf blade.

"Kitty, fall back, Tracton go!" I shouted. Tracton took the next Crunch face-on and staggered backwards, but I was certain it could out-speed Tubareel on the next turn. What else did I have anyway? Shalegas would be a one-hit again, pyrite was 16 levels lower than this monstrosity...

"Tracton, Dragon Claw!" I shouted, sweating hard. "Go hard!"

Tracton zoomed forward and sank its fangs into Tubareel's side, causing it to hiss and writhe. We were getting there.

But Tracton fainted after crunch hit next. Hokage grinned with his yellow teeth, laughing towards his brothers. "We will have hamburgers tonight!" he shouted in glee.

There was only one thing for it. I would have to rely on strategy and the hit-and-miss mechanics of probability.

"Go, pyrite!" I yelled, letting the horse out of its ball. "Use Mud Slap!"

Tubareel's Crunch hit first, but on full health pyrite survived the hit.

It then kicked up mud from the sea floor and pounded it into Tubareel's face. The attack did laughably trivial damage, but I wasn't after damage. When Mud Slap hit it lowered accuracy, and Tubareel snarled as the stinging particles bit into its eyes. YES!

"Okay now pyrite, use Metal Whip!" I shouted. I prayed.

Crunch hit. Pyrite fainted. FFFFUUUUU-

Never mind! I had one more chance! The Tubareel was on low yellow; if kitty could get its shit together I'd be testing out the deposit multiplier this afternoon.

"Go kitty!" I pointed forwards, and the floating kitty paddled out in front of me, yowling and hissing as the salt water bit into its flesh wounds. "Kitty, use leaf blade!" I pushed down any guilt I felt about making the badly injured kitty fight. Skin as thick as its skull, remember?

"Tubareel, Crunch! Straight ahead!" Hokage bellowed.

But... The stars had aligned for me, if you believe in that astrology bullshit. And if you don't, then the probability had worked in my favour. Tubareel, grit in its eyes and distracted by the dispersing blood from kitty's wounds, clamped its jaws down just to the left of the feline.

"NOOO!" Hokage let out a doomed yell as kitty ripped into the side of the snake with its tail. "Tubareel! I am sorry!" he shouted.

"Boss!" Juunin whined, rubbing sadly at his belly. "Why did you have to mention hamburgers?"

"I am no longer the boss!" Hokage wailed melodramatically. "I have been defeated! How can I go on calling myself the boss of the seas? I cannot even win against a troupe of zoo animals from the land."

He thrust his hands towards his face, still straddling the fainted Tubareel. "Ari, you are our new boss. You are the new ninja boss of the high seas."

I stared at Hokage. The ninja brothers stared at me.

"Now you've done it," they hissed at Ronin. "You have made dick jokes to the boss."

There was silence. Hokage's shoulders were shaking. Was he crying? Then his hands dropped away from his face and clutched at his belly. He was doubled right over he was laughing so hard.

"...GOT YOU! Just kidding!" Hokage cried, tears streaming down his face. "Your face! That was hilarious!"

He continued to hoot with laughter. Everyone stared at him in consternation.

"Of course I'm still going to pirate the high seas with my team," Hokage said eventually, the convulsions calming down. "What else am I going to do, go on the dole? No... Ari, you are now merely our honorary boss. Take my pokepod number. Anything you need, any time, just call me."

"Cool," I said. I angled my badges again. "Thanks."

"No worries!" Hokage said with a toothy grin. "Here, I will heal your pokemon for you as my first gift." He fished potions and revives from the gunny sack attached to his pokemon. "Now, come on brothers, we have tourists to rob!"

And with that, the ninja were gone in a flash, as quickly and suddenly as they had appeared. Solana and I climbed back onto the newly erect blades, as if in a daze.

"Woah, what just happened," Solana said, shaking her head. "That's gotta come in handy though, having allies out here."

"Can't hurt," I agreed.

And so we continued east along the Maskara Channel, and very soon we made landfall, the bustle and buskers' tunes of Venesi City reaching us through the evening air and a shady grove of trees and long grass.