A/N: Thank you to poopfartbutts, belhotte, Debbie Aaron Primal, Lightning-Alchemist-Rini, Sanablades, NewPhrophecy, ShiningCalvin, and ShadowclawFC for reviewing!!!!!!!! Yay, almost 500 reviews!!!!! Let's see if we can push it over the edge with these next 2 or 3 chapters…
Poll: Am I constant enough with updating? Should I update more? ((It's summer now, so Ican update a TON more))
Oh, and I'm trying something new this chapter, can you tell?
Chapter 54: The Cruise Liner
I scrunched down against a palm tree, my belly fur gently caressing the sand beneath me. Slowly, the cruise ship formed a hulking, dark shape against the purple evening sky. Four towers rose on its back, the structures reaching far into the skies. So much so, in fact, I could not see the tips no matter how much I tried. The towers were painted pitch black and faded to red as it rose up through the clouds.
This should've been my first red flag.
The ship crawled to a stop against the port and gave an echoing signal. I flattened my ears against my head in dismay. I couldn't see much of the ship from where I hid, but I knew it was gigantic. You know those air craft carriers from Earth? I have to say, these ships would rival those in size –and win- with ease.
The body of the ship was a metallic grey that sent whatever light hit it out in every direction. It glistened as it rolled its last few feet into port. At either end, a yellow strip faded into red and finally black in a dazzling pattern. The ship was very well-made. It hardly even rose from the water.
I got to my paws quickly and shook myself. If I was going to follow someone in, I had to look presentable- civilized in the least. My fur felt dirty and pretty heavily knotted, so I knew the truth was about ten times that of my speculations. I ran my tongue over a disgusting paw and washed my face with it much like I'd seen cats do back on earth. I dared not to look at my paw once I was done.
Instead, I turned my attention towards the…complete lack of people coming out of the ship. "This wasn't in the plan…" I whispered to myself, watching the ship closely. I gave myself one final ridiculous shake before slinking closer through the trees. I couldn't see what was going on on the deck, but I was determined to find out. The plants slid against my fur roughly, a few of them cracking off. I cringed. Even though they were so far away, noise was not a good thing. I took careful, measured steps, watching where I went until I came to the very edge of the forest. Thankfully, w/ all the rain and destruction and such, the plants were all wet and I didn't cause some random forest fire.
I crawled behind a palm tree at the very edge of the forest and pointed my ears towards the ship, focusing hard. Arcanine's, as should be a given, have incredible hearing, they can hear conversations up to 2000 feet away without fail. Well, I was about 2500 feet away from the ship, and having quite the hard time. I closed my eyes, putting all my focus on the ship.
"Where is she?" I heard a voice ask clearly. Yes! I did it!! I closed my eyes tighter as I concentrated.
"It shouldn't be long now," another voice said. It was definitely masculine, and had a burly touch to it. Who were they talking about? I wondered as I peeked my eyes open and looked around the side. Now, I had two choices at this point.
As you know, when I was younger, I was cocky, unpredictable, and did things without thinking. I've grown up since then, but that puppy-like personality was beginning to fall on me again. I guess it comes with having a plan. So, note to self, when you have a successful plan, you get immature. Got ya.
The second choice was to stay put, but what could I learn that way? The only real way to find out why this cruise ship was being all cryptic was to get closer, and possibly endanger myself. But what am I compared to the lives of thousands of humans and Pokemon? If I could find even a little of something out, it would be worthwhile, no matter the means.
I'm proud to say that I took off for the ship…after thinking it through. See? Super rash decisions…but I thought 'em through first!! That has to be a stepping stone. And a prided one!
I ran quickly through the sand, kicking up small particles in my wake. The sea's breeze stung my eyes and made them water a bit, but nothing worse than that. My long orange-and-black fur waved in the breeze, moving fluidly as I leaped from step to step, my back leg falling forward to where my front one was only a moment ago. I don't know where I learned this style of running, but it prevented my back paws from sinking in the sand- a pretty interesting instinct if you ask me.
I skidded across the sand to a halt once I'd arrived at the ship. I pulled my body close to the hull as I scrambled up- I didn't want them to see me, yet. I hurried to the very front of the hull, where I'd detected the humans who'd spoken earlier were. They were much louder now and their words clearer. I stared out into the open water as I listened.
"I hope the trap's ready by the time she gets here," said a young voice, quivery and feminine.
"It will be, we have the best engineers money can buy on this here ship," the burly voice from earlier replied.
"That's not what I mean…what if she…disapproves of it?" the girl asked nervously.
"Then we're all knocked down a few ranks, no big deal. You know how easy it is to climb the ranks."
The girl sighed. "You aren't of much use, Captain," she said briskly.
"Tell me something I don't know," he snapped.
I frowned. Could a conversation be any more unlikely? Or as non-professional? From what I know, empathy isn't in a job description, or worrying one's butt off. From the sounds of it, whoever their boss was wasn't very organized. Also from the sounds of it, this was no cruise line. They held a trap on board- a big, mechanical one, if it needed an engineer. And whoever was coming was some sort of big-head to them. How strange…
My thought were suddenly interrupted when I heard the sound of dozens if feet all moving as one on board. There was scrambling in the background and the sounds of things being picked up and dropped. There was a unanimous murmur of "She's here, she's here…"
Wow these people were like robots.
In the distance, I could see a vague shadow approaching. It wasn't that big, but the colors were vibrant. As it drew closer, a noise came with it- a loud one. The water began to churn up as it lowered from the setting sky. Now I could tell exactly what it was, and was surprised I hadn't realized earlier. The body was black, but at both the top and the bottom, it faded to yellow and then red. Its tail was yellow, but turned to red at the end. A single person piloted the plane, but I couldn't tell who. I could only see the flight goggles through the darkened windows. It was a helicopter. One of the finest ones I'd ever seen. But its presence should've shot up another thing.
Red flag number two, come on up.
The helicopter soared above the ship then began to drop straight down. All the people on board stopped moving immediately as the undercarriage met the ship's landing area and gave a slight bump up into the air before coming down again safely. I heard the motor power down swiftly and the sound of feet hitting the deck. The steps clinked as whoever it was paced back and forth. Sort of like if you were to hit a piece of metal with a hammer over and over again. The sound was intimidating even from down here. I could only imagine what the people on the boat were going through.
"Status report!" whoever it was barked as the footsteps abruptly stopped.
I have to get up there, I thought as I stared up the side of the hull. I stood up unsteadily on my hind legs and placed my forelegs on the hull, feeling for a grip on it. My claws caught on the small nuts and bolts well, but they weren't large enough for me to pull my weight up on. I began pacing down the side of the ship, looking for a way to get in. The ship bobbed lightly up and down in the water, causing the Sun's rays to go everywhere. When it at last hit me to check on my friends, I couldn't see them because I was being blinded. I growled- this was becoming annoying.
Finally, after pacing up and down the ship for nearly an hour, I saw a thick piece of rope dangling down against the ship. It was one of those kinds that you can see the splinters coming out from the sides of it. Great…I thought as I stared at it.
I stood on my hind legs again and sunk my claws deep into the rope. I heard the unpleasant crackles of the splinters as I did so and scowled, grinding my teeth together.
"Celli…" a quiet voice said behind me. I froze, only one thought pounding through my head. I'm caught, I'm caught! Oh, man! I'm caught!!! I dropped to four legs and turned slowly…and nearly melted with relief when I saw Gregor flying there. "What the world are you doing here!?" he scolded quietly.
"I have to get up there! This isn't any cruise liner, I know that for sure," I told him sharply. He smacked himself on the head with a wing.
"He-ello! Did you even look at the smokestacks? There's a symbol on the first one," he said, pointing towards it.
"Well, uh, there were clouds covering it when I looked!" I claimed, twitching my tail with irritation. "What was the symbol?"
"It was a weird pattern…but the point is it had the letters 'T' and 'B' on it," he said. I gaped.
"Team…Team Blasters!?!?!?!? Why would they take over a cruise ship?" I wondered aloud as my tail started wagging. "Maybe…maybe that trap they were talking about. They're trying to get something big!! And dangerous! I mean, just look how thick the hull is! And there's, like, reflective armor on it!! What kind of boat needs armor? Much less reflective armor. It must give off tons of radiation…or maybe power!!! Maybe it's reflective because they don't want the power leaking out, they want it to reflect in on itself. And…and…it's black-colored! So that the power that travels like light does, so it will be absorbed and not released!!!" I looked straight at Gregor. "I've got it!!!" I yelled. He stared at me blankly.
"Riiight…where on earth did you learn that stuff?" he asked, incredulous.
"At school, I guess, but this felt more like a natural thing. But that's beside the point…" I was vibrating with pure energy by now. "Look, I've got a plan that'll get me in. You'll be the intercessor to our friends. If I can end Team Blasters now, that will be that," I said as I smiled slyly.
"You can't do that alone!" Gregor yelped.
"But I can," I answered. "I've been with them before, and besides, we need a spy on the inside. I'll take an alias while I'm with them." I closed my eyes as I thought about it. "Nah…I'll just act like a regular Arcanine, a super obedient one."
"I'm still not sure with this…" Gregor replied. "What if you…" he trailed off as he looked away. "What if you really trade sides?"
"I won't…and that's a promise," I said with a wink. "Now, you want to hear my plan or not?" He looked down for a moment and closed his eyes.
"Tell me," he said, his voice quivering. He didn't meet my eyes. I leant forward and whispered the plan in his ear.
"Oh," Gregor said at last, cracking a smile, "Is that all?" I rolled my eyes and growled at him.
"You good-doing bird! What are you doing giving me back those shells I lost? Huh? Is it any of your business!?!?" I scolded, trying not to laugh. I took a deep breath and shot a huge jet of fire just above his head. Gregor rolled his eyes as he flew over me.
"Take that, fiend!" he called as he dug his talons into my matted fur.
"Oh no! I'm afraid of heights! Whatever shall I do!?!?" I roared as I began swinging back and forth under him.
"Go back to the filth that is your kind, evil creature!!" Gregor said as he controlled my swinging with ease masked to be incredibly hard. I heard a bit of commotion on the ship and some whispers of 'hey, that's an Arcanine!', 'What' it doing fighting that bird?', and 'Hey, I have a translator! She's trying to beat him up because he's good!' They started to cheer.
Wow, they really are idiots, I thought while rolling my eyes. Gregor threw me onto the ship's slick wooden deck and I skidded into the wall. I heard a few jumpy footsteps as I crashed in. I began acting like I'd broke something as Gregor flew over. I winked at him and took him gently in my mouth and walked the mass of feathers to the side of the boat and dropped it into the water. Gregor fell without moving- even when he hit the water. He dove and used his wings to swim out of sight of the boat before surfacing.
Just like we'd discussed.
I collapsed onto the floor backwards, landing gently on my head although I made it sound painful. "What's wrong with her!?" one of the crew asked as he ran over and petted my side. I began acting like I was fainting…until I looked at him.
He was a combiomorph. They were all combiomorphs.
I didn't fake this time- I really fainted.
Third red flag's the charm.
