117Jorn: As we go onward, we move into the next chapter of the Rising Tides side-story!
Ron the True Fan: After months of losing the muse, regaining the muse and zaps from everyone's favorite land shark. (CHOMP! ZAP!) (R2-D2 scream) We had to finish the planning first.
Takeshi Yamato: And I'm still here for beta purposes, at least. …Well, I have another character in here, too, but I'm not a prime member of the story team anymore. Other things to do.
Pallet Town, Kanto - Day 111 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey, 1320 hours local time
"So, you're going back to the homeland?"
"Sadly, yes." Kyoji sighed, "Something's changed back home, and whatever it is it can't be good - especially if they're calling back the recon teams. I wouldn't be leaving if I had a choice, but… when the Emperor says jump, you don't ask questions - you just do it."
Janine nodded, even as she looked over the others. Serena still had signs of Arbok bite poisoning, Iris was concussed… Ash asked Kyoji to watch over them. And now that duty would pass to her.
"I will watch over them. Go back to Ransei." the kunoichi said. "Ash will be… annoyed, but he will understand."
Kyoji scoffed. "Yeah, about as much as I get his aversion to romance." he said. "I mean, I kinda get it, but… he needs to get over it."
"You and I both know childhood trauma is not something easily overcome." the poison mistress said. "Let us hope it's nothing horribly serious and just a status report that has to be done in person."
"I'd rather not tempt Murphy," Kyoji chuckled, as he prepared to move - pausing for a moment. "Oh, while I am there… you want me to get you a souvenir from the homeland? Since I know it's been ages since your clans had any contact from Ransei, I could pick something up for you if there's anything in particular you'd like..."
"A history would be nice." the ninja girl answered. "We don't have anything thanks to the stupidity Cipher began. We know next to nothing. And we're sick of it. We've been sick of it for nearly seven decades."
Well, that was acceptable. Ransei's ninja clans had been wanting to get back in touch with their cousins since the Cipher War's end. A nice historical exchange would be a good start.
"Well, I just have to get past Sabrina." he said before wincing. "She's going to be PISSED."
"I'm sure she'll understand." Janine said before a buzzing land shark latched onto her head with a CHOMP!
"Gible!" 'See you later!' said the Ranseian Land Shark Pokemon before dislodging from her noggin. "Gib!" 'I can't wait to see home again!'
Kyoji picked up his little buddy. "Me too, Gible." he said. "Me too."
The Next Day
Well, Sabrina didn't give him a choice: she went with him. Granted that solved one problem… and opened up another: that being how was he going to explain this to his superior officers?
He knew better than to question Sabrina. She was coming.
Though they couldn't just teleport over to Ransei - it was a long distance away, and Sabrina had never been there herself so that option was out. So that meant only one thing… they needed to get a boat.
"Well, we can't go to Cinnabar." Sabrina said, musing on their options. "That's the rally point for the Navy and invasion force."
That made Kyoji give him a look. "Invasion force? I thought the URN Remnants could barely coordinate a houseparty nowadays, let alone an invasion." he quipped. "Did Cipher actually scare them into working together?"
"Actually, Duchess Illene blackmailed them." the psychic retorted. "Threatened to have the Lucario Kingdom pull out all of their people from the regions they're in. And I think you know the only thing keeping this goddamn plague in check are the Lucario and Riolu colonies in Unova, Kalos and Galar."
"…wait, they can do that?"
"I think they want to go home, too."
"…fair point," Kyoji shrugged, "But as long as they're doing something, its progress… but that still leaves us with the transportation issue… the RSDF extraction plan requires we meet them half-way to Ransei, so we're gonna need to get our own boat to get us to the rendezvous point."
"Well, I think they've calmed down since New Island." Sabrina said cryptically.
"Gible?" 'Does this mean we're going somewhere that mean Mew clone trashed?' Gible asked.
Sabrina kneeled to pet the land shark, who made happy warbles at her touch. "I hope you're comfortable with teleporting." she said. "The only port that would have anything remotely close to ocean faring vessels is Vermillion. At least, a port that isn't sending people to Cinnabar."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Kyoji shrugged, looking to Gible - who happily eye-smiled. "Well, we're ready when you are, love."
Gible looked up, launching himself into the air, latching onto Sabrina with a mighty CHOMP! "Gible!" 'We're going home!' cried the land shark.
"Good thing I'm not that crazy bitch anymore." she said before gracefully grabbing Kyoji's hand, both of them disappearing in a flash before reappearing in Vermillion, just outside the port, where a large ore ship was departing.
"Ash is on board that ship." Sabrina said, getting a look from Kyoji.
"How would you know? Psychic or not, that is." he queried.
Sabrina tucked her hair back, chuckling nervously. "You know how my...current personality was made?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah you… oohhhh…" Kyoji nodded, "So you can still sorta… sense him then?"
"Yeah…" Sabrina sighed, shivering a bit. "I… I am fully aware that he'd never do it intentionally, but… subconsciously, I… I'm still afraid…"
Kyoji wanted to ask what exactly she meant - he knew something happened when the old Sabrina tried to probe into Ash's mind too deep, but he never asked for details. But looking at how she acted… he just shook his head - if she wanted to tell him, she'd tell him when she felt like it. "Well, thankfully we're gonna be dealing with our own problems before we go off to help Ash with his… again."
"That ship's heading to Orre." Sabrina said. "I doubt we'll see him for a good long while."
"Want to bet?" Kyoji said before looking for a boat with a captain looking for passengers. And he found one, with a woman in what looked like a waterproof jumpsuit with green hair, a cap holding her hair back as she performed maintenance on her ferry's electric engine.
"And there's our ride." he declared, as he nodded towards it. "Alright… let's hope they're willing to go on a long-distance travel… excuse me?"
"Hm?" The woman looked up, "Can I help ya?"
"Yeah, we were looking for a boat," Jaden explained, "Could we charter your boat for a trip over to the Rigen Isles?"
"Hmm, well yeah It's within range," She nodded, "But they're uninhabited… what's out there?"
"Just following up on a rumor," Kyoji said, as he flashed some cash. "We're willing to pay extra to make this quick…"
The ferry captain shrugged. "Well, I don't mind the pay. But it'll have to wait: the batteries are dead." she said, gesturing to a pair of power cells that were normally covered by a steel sheet and wooden planks. "Can't go anywhere without power and with all the invasion nonsense going around, the military's got all the charging Pokemon on tap."
Gible perked up. "Gible?" 'Batteries?' he asked, before eyesmiling. "Gible!" 'Zapping time!' With that, he lunged.
"Oh, fuck no, you yellow-painted land shark, you are not eating my batteries! I paid good money for those!" the captain declared before Gible's teeth made contact with the cells. And Gible happily used Thunder Fang to recharge them.
"Gib!" 'Zap!' cried the land shark as the green-haired captain stared in confusion.
"Gibles… don't know Thunder Fang." she said, staring at the yellow land shark. "Is this a new thing? I mean, my Pokemon handbook's about 15 years out of date, but…"
"He's… a special kind of Gible," Jaden assured, "Like… you know how in Alola there are alternate types of Meowth and Rattata? Gible here is like that."
"Oooohhhh," She nodded in understanding, "Huh… never heard of a Alolan Gible… the yellow looks good on him, actually..."
"Gib, Gib!" 'Not Alolan, but thanks!' replied the land shark as he recharged the cell, then let go, eyesmiling as always.
"Why." said the boat captain. "Why must something that resembles something so terrifying look so cute?!"
Gible just took the compliment. And showed his appreciation the only way he knew how.
CHOMP!
"No matter where they come from, they always love to chomp." came a surprising voice - one which caused a cold chill to go down his spine, as he turned around… to see a very familiar brunette woman walking towards them.
"Oh! Neesha!" Sabrina smiled, though internally she was grinning like a loon as she could already pick up Kyoji's thought process. "What are you doing here?"
"Trying to get back home," She chuckled a bit dryly, "With all the movement in the big ports, it's hard finding a boat that'll take me back to the Ranger Nations."
"Yes, the invasion's going to raise hell with the trade lanes for a while." Sabrina opined before sending a nice, pretty image of Neesha in a very incy wincy teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot-
And there was the scream. She wondered if he'd ever figure it out that she was responsible… and as Ash's adopted daughter, she was just as bound by Rotan royal degree as Ash was.
She wondered if she got the whole open-love concept from Ash or Misty. But first thing's first.
"Well, we're charting the boat and we are heading in the same general direction." Sabrina said. "You can always come with us."
"Oh, really?" She blinked, looking over at Kyoji, who looked like he was trying to look everywhere else but her. "Is… that alright, Kyoji?"
"I… I mean, the… boat looks big enough..." He glanced over to the Captain. "T-That alright with you, ma'am?"
Maren shrugged. "The Union's in the same direction." she admitted. "But that's Shadow Pokemon territory. I expect you to protect my ship until we get there. And hazard pay!"
Neesha waved it off. "I got enough money from my League run." she said. "Kinda curious to how I would've fared against your dad, Sabrina." she paused as she considered that. "That's still fucking weird to think. He's half your age, yet you think of him as dad."
"Psionics are weird." Kyoji muttered as he tried very hard not to think.
Gible jumped onto his head with a chomp. "Gible!" 'More friends!' cried the land shark.
"And if I look at her the wrong way, Sabrina's going to turn me into a pretzel." his trainer retorted, even as he scratched Gible's fin.
"Gible..." 'You don't know that...'
"Yes Gible, yes I do..." Kyoji sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to clear his mind… when suddenly an image of Neesha in a bikini popped up, wrapped up by a Tentacrule- 'GAH!' He slaps himself.
"Is… he okay?" Neesha asked, as Kyoji slapped his face.
"He's fine, just tired is all," Sabrina giggled, "Trying to stay awake, you know?"
This… was going to be a long voyage…
3 hours later - 20 kilometers out to sea from Vermillion City
"You know, my usual route's in the Orange Islands." Maren said as she took the ferry to deeper waters. "You ever been there?"
Neesha shook her head as her Dewgong swam alongside the ship. "Spent more time in Johto than I have in Kanto." she said.
Kyoji just shook his head, Garvantula dancing to cheer him up while Pac-Gible looked at the water, seeing a fin in the distance.
"I've rarely left Kanto. My father, though, has gone to the Orange Islands." Sabrina said. "A bit of a waste of time. The League there isn't exactly officially regulated."
Maren snorted. "The Orange Crew don't exactly give a shit about that." she quipped. "The only thing they care about is keeping the balance without getting Lugia involved."
That got Neesha's attention. "Lugia? There aren't any Lugia in Kanto." she said as she looked at the boat captain. "The closest Lugia's in the Whirl Islands, isn't it?"
"I believe there is one than hangs around Shamouti," Sabrina informed.
Kyoji glanced over at her "Did Ash run into it?"
Sabrina nodded. "It's where he learned he was Arceus' personal gofer." she replied softly. "Hell of a way to learn your fate in life is to be bound to the will of the Creator."
"Aren't we all?" Kyoji asked back, Gible giving him a look for his close-to-blasphemous comment.
Sabrina just shook her head. "Not as personally as Ash." she replied. "He had no choice but to accept it in Altomere. Along with a lot of things…"
He raised an eyebrow. "That stupid vow?" Kyoji asked knowingly.
"The stupid vow." Sabrina answered. "He was punishing himself for Latios' death. As far as he was concerned, he let a demigod die."
"Well maybe this time around we can prevent that from happening..." He muttered, glancing over at Neesha as she had some of her Pokemon out on the deck of the boat. "Hopefully we can fully get him out of that stupid funk of his once we're done here..."
"If he survives Orre." Sabrina said, Kyoji giving her a look. "What? I know he's survived worse and the Grim Reaper seems to have an inability to keep him down, but it has to be said."
Gible gave her a weak zap for that. "Gible!" 'Have some faith in your daddy!' said the land shark, before he lunged at her head, nomming on it.
"That's the spirit, Gible!" Kyoji said, rubbing the land shark's fin - as he happily warbled.
"Ow… yeah, you're probably right, Gible..." Sabrina nodded, as she too gave the Ranseian Gible a good petting much to his joy.
"...its weird that those little guys aren't more popular..." Maren muttered from the top deck, watching all the love the little land shark was getting.
Neesha shook her head. "Oh, they're popular...but not for that reason." the Ranger Union native said. "Professional 'in-to-win' trainers train Gibles straight to Garchomp. Cynthia's a big example of that. But those rarely end well because Gibles...well, look at the little yellow guy."
Maren did, seeing the Gible swap heads with a chomp, making it like a game. "They like to bite?" the captain asked. "I don't see a problem. Then again, I'm not an expert in Pokemon."
"Jaw strength. Gibles have weak bites." Neesha said before she had a sudden case of land shark to the head, the yellow Gible eyesmiling. "But the second they become Gabites? You'll be lucky to have a broken arm if they chomp. And that's how they communicate affection: biting."
Maren pet the Gible, getting a loud, happy warble before he jumped back to Sabrina's head. "Must suck to be Garchomp." she surmised.
"Oh they hate it," Kyoji nodded, petting Gible, "It's why they often become so aggressive as they evolve… however thankfully with the miracle of Evolite, Gibles can opt to go to and from their Gible and Garchomp forms if the need arises… of course they have to become a Garchomp in the first place, but its far less angering when they now know there is a way to go back."
Maren stared at him before just shaking her head. "Not a Pokemon expert, so what do I know?" she admitted. "Give me a chart and a ship and I'll take you where you need to go."
"Surprising, given the abundance of Pokemon in the world." Sabrina said, her Natu coming out of his ball to nest on her head. "Didn't make the trainer qualifications?"
"Stay out of my head." Maren demanded. "But no, I didn't. Couldn't get a Magikarp to listen to me, so I stuck to what felt right. Can't train them worth a damn, but I know how to avoid them."
"What about you?" Kyoji glances over to Neesha, "You said you were from the Ranger Union, right? What convinced you to come over to the former URN to be a trainer?"
"Eh, it wasn't anything too complex," Neesha shrugged, "I mean, I did the usual Ranger training and passed, but I think we all know that Rangers are at a bit of a… disadvantage when dealing with Shadow Pokemon… I didn't want to be one of those, so I decided to train and learn to be a trainer as well. Not a very popular decision back home but… hey, you can't argue with the results."
Sabrina had to resist scoffing. "Popular." she said. "Your Friendship Stylers just put them into a murderous frenzy. It's a wonder you have any settlements in those regions at all. At least in a Pokeball, they're contained."
"It's needlessly cruel." Neesha argued, but deflated as she admitted "Even if it's true."
Kyoji defused the argument by saying "At least there's hope. Ash managed to purify a Shadow Jigglypuff. Maybe he'll find something in Orre that'll help."
Before anyone could comment on Ash's state of mental stability, the boat rocked. "Oh, fuck." Maren said as she steadied the ship. "We're getting into deeper waters. If you've got electric-types, get them out now! Shadow Gyarados hang around these parts!"
"Gible!" Yay! I get to zap things!" said Gible, who was looking forward to not only being adorable, but useful.
"Thankfully we've got plenty," Kyoji smirked as he tossed up a ball "Galvantula! Get ready to dance!"
"Dance?" Maren questioned, before an... oddly colorful Galvantula emerged from the ball, landing on the roof of the ship… and raised its abdomen and legs into the air and began to dance.
"How-WHY?!" Maren cried as the spider danced, the movement of the legs creating an electric charge. While the Ranseian subspecies wasn't an electric-type, it still was biased to electrical attacks.
So when the head of an angry, clearly insane Gyarados breached the surface of the water, it was hit in the face with an Electroweb, followed by Sabrina's Natu using Thunderbolt on the sea serpent. Gible...just brought the rain with his own little dance.
"Rain Dance?! That's just going to make the Gyarados more powerful if they use water attacks!" Maren said as she turned the boat around, planning to get help from the military. "Even I know that!"
Gible then looked skyward, firing a thunderbolt into the sky, only for it to come back, more powerful then ever as it struck the Gyarados, frying its' brain.
"...I take that back, the Yellow Gible knows what he's doing…" Maren muttered, readjusting course as Gible just eye-smiled giving her a thumbs up. Matters got worse as another one surfaced behind the ship, keeping them from just going back to shore.
"Son of a bitch." Maren muttered as she turned the wheel hard over, deciding to just go out to sea, hoping they could hold out until they reached the Rigans. Gyarados preferred to swim in in a corkscrew motion and they couldn't do that in shallow waters. "Hold on!"
"Natu!" cried Natu as he sent a bolt of lightning into that Gyarados, knocking it back enough to prevent it from using its' preferred attack. No one knew how every Gyarados knew Hyper Beam, but they did and those things blew up tanks.
"Can't this thing go faster?!" Kyoji shouted.
"ITS A BOAT, NOT A WARSHIP!" Maren shouted back.
"Fucking... " Kyoji muttered, "Hang on, I need a Radio! I need to make a call!"
"To WHO?!" Maren demanded before shaking her head. "Oh, fuck it, we're dead anyway! Below deck, door marked Radio!"
Kyoji left his Pokemon to continue saving their asses, Gible enjoying zapping everything in sight. "If you're doing what I think you're doing, make it quick!" Sabrina shouted, Natu zapping another serpent.
"Just buy me time!" Kyoji shouted as he rushed downstairs - kicking the door open as he turned the radio on. "Come on, come on…you better be out there..." he began twisting the knob, trying to get a good signal. "This is Lieutenant Kyoji Akamura of the Expeditionary Scouting Force of Ransei, I.D Code 01149587 dash Echo-Omega. My vessel is under attack by Shadow Gyaradosi, require emergency support ASAP! Send whatever you've got our way-" The boat shuddered, followed by a notable cracking noise. "SHIT! GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE NOW!"
The radio crackled before he got an acknowledgement. "-is battlecruiser Mus-inbound in-utes. Hold-"
Water then rushed into the room, along with the head of an angry serpent. Kyoji would've found himself in the sea snake's stomach if not for the feeling of talons on his head.
"Natu!" 'Fuck you!' cried the bird before teleporting him out onto the deck of the now sinking ferry.
"Thanks, Natu!" Kyoji said to the parrot, who flapped his wings before using a Confusion to make one snake attack another. Kyoji pulling out his own rifle as he began firing it at the giant water snakes. "Is this as fast as this hunk can move!?"
"Its a ferry boat! Not a Patrol Boat!" Maren shouted from the helm, "Its not exactly fast!"
"And now we're taking on water, so it's even slower!" Nessha said as she used a pistol to try and drive one of the snakes away. But due to her origins and beliefs, the pistol was barely powerful enough to hurt a Pidgey, let alone punch through the scales of a Gyarados. "We need a miracle to get out of this one!"
"Arceus, praise thy name, kindly SAVE OUR ASSES FROM THE SNAKES!" Maren yelled, right before bullets rained on the waters from above, one Gyarados retreating into the deep after getting shelled, the others taking bullet wound after wound, too insane to think of escape.
Maren just stared. "Huh. Praise the Creator." she said numbly.
"...show-offs..." Kyoji chuckled, as he looked to the sky as the clouds began to part. The others following his gaze… and their eyes widened at the object that descended from the heavens. A colossal form of steel lowered down - bristling with vast weapons arrays, looking quite simply… like a flying Battleship.
"By Arceus... " Maren muttered, "What… is that..."
Gible waved at the massive airship, the pride of the Ranseian First Naval Squadron. "Ladies, meet the Royal Ranseian Navy Battlecruiser Musashi." Kyoji introduced before seeing the waterline slowly inch closer to the deck. "But it looks like we'll be getting to know it sooner then you think!"
"Ransei? ...Know what, fuck it: you owe me a new ship!" Maren snapped.
The ship slowly inched down, ropes falling from one side. "Don't worry," Kyoji smirked as he grabbed a rope, "You'll get one hell of a new ship back home!" And with that, he began to climb.
Sabrina latched on next, Neesha returning her Pokemon to their balls before running towards the ladder. Maren groaned as she ran, the water finally overwhelming the ferry
The good news was that with all the rain, no one would notice the massive ship. The bad news… well, Ransei couldn't stay isolated forever.
As he finished his climb, reaching the main deck, he reached for Sabrina's hand, helping her the rest of the way. "Guess we're getting there faster then we thought." Sabrina quipped.
All Gible did was cheer, before doing as the Gibles always do.
CHOMP!
Ron the True Fan: Put away the torches and pitchforks, we got a new chapter. This is my own damn fault. Due to Jorn and Take joining me for Star Trek Online vids, his muses went… spacy, shall we say. (Gible in a TOS red shirt appears) …WHY MUST YOU BE CUTE?!
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah, there's some interesting stuff in the works regarding Trek. Of course, my own muse can be fickle, too, considering I have Ron's fics, GBO2, STO, several other PC and console games (I FINALLY HAVE A NEW COMPUTER! I CAN PLAY PC GAMES AGAIN!) and my Tabletop RPG collection to deal with. So… it can be tricky just figuring out what I want to work on at any given time.
117Jorn: Plus, I myself am trying to start my own Lets Play series on Youtube (117Jorn on YT by the way), as well as planning to branch out on other sites like Bitchute because, well… Youtube is going a bit overboard with censorship nowadays, so better safe than sorry ya know? Expect a new Lets Play series there sometime in the future - will update ya'll when it gets rolling!
Ron the True Fan: More like copyright claims, but that's pretty much the same damn thing. Not pleased, but hey, the algorithm wants to be an asshole, that's not my problem. See you soon. I hope.
Ja Ne!