x
Chapter 6
What Kind of Plot Twist Is This?!
Morgan started hyperventilating.
This was bad. This was very bad. Entire casts of characters didn't just disappear out of nowhere from a story. That wasn't how things worked! If that ever did happen, it was always after the first arc of a story, not five chapters into a story.
Morgan grabbed his temples and paced the ship. He needed to calm down. There was a rational explanation for this. Maybe everyone went on the island to sell off some goods. Maybe they had so much loot to sell that they needed all the help they could to get everything to the markets. Or maybe someone was still aboard, they were just in the captain's quarters.
The Croconaw hurried into the cabin, only to find that it too was completely vacant. In fact, all of the chests save for one had been opened up and pillaged of their contents. Now that freaked Morgan out even more. Had someone robbed them last night and killed the entire crew? Had an extremely powerful pirate ship come in the night while he was asleep, murder everyone still awake, and then loot the ship?
Thankfully, before he could have a full-blown panic attack, Morgan noticed a piece of paper on the table with something scribbled onto it. He couldn't read a word it said of course, so he grabbed it and hurried on back down to the sleeping quarters. There he found Stormy and Skipper still asleep, completely oblivious to the situation they were now in. Morgan hurried to the Marshtomp's hammock and jostled him awake.
"Skipper, Skipper wake up!" Morgan urged.
The Marshtomp groggily opened his eyes and cast the Croconaw a tired gaze. Morgan shoved the paper into Skipper's hands, much to the fish's confusion.
"What does this say?" Morgan asked tersely.
"Ummm, I can't read this," Skipper said after scanning the paper for a few heartbeats. "This scrawl is so awful… this looks more like doodles than writing."
Morgan grumbled as he ripped the paper out of Skipper's hands and hurried over to Stormy. He knew it was a terrible idea to wake up the sleeping Prinplup, but he didn't know what else to do. He needed to know if this was a threat letter or a ransom note left behind by some cruel pirates after they had been done massacring the whole ship. He climbed up to the Prinplup's hammock and shook her roughly, instantly snapping her awake. She shot him a dark glare and made that loud squawking sound that sounded like a car refusing to start.
"What does this say?" Morgan demanded, cutting off any sassy remarks she could have given him.
The Prinplup glared down at the paper and the dark glint in her eyes vanished. She awkwardly took the paper in her flippers and read through it carefully. Now instead of looking enraged, she seemed more… annoyed.
"Of course you had to do this now, Dad," she mumbled distastefully. "Of course you did."
"What does it say?" Morgan asked urgently.
"I'll read it to both of you since it's kind of addressed to you guys anyway," she said as she sat up in her hammock. "It says, 'Dear Morgan and Skipper, I'm sure that you're very confused right now. Well, I believe it's high time I explain something to you lads. I have been a pirate for many years now and have plundered much from these seas. I have stolen from guilds, reaped the rewards from sunken ships, and looted pirate ships that dared attack mine. However, I have never found enough to consider retiring. If I were to retire from this lifestyle, I would want to have enough riches to live like a king so that I may never need to worry about anything again. That was my one condition before I would finally abandon the title of Captain. I didn't expect to have that much gems for many more seasons, if I am to be honest. I intended to shape both of you lads into fine crewmates and make use of your waterloving abilities. However, what Pommy recovered from the Sunset Guild gave me the amount I needed to retire.
"As per tradition with captains that retire, I had intended to pass my title to Gangly, my Quartermaster. However, he and the rest of the crew decided they would retire with me. They feel they've had their fun in the pirating life and would like to live out a lavish life with me until the end of their days. So, that leaves you two to inherit my ship. I know that this might seem overwhelming to you, so that's why I left Stormy with you. She's still a young lass who will serve you two well with her knowledge. I've also left you with some of the seeds you helped Pommy pillage to help you out. You can eat them and evolve or sell them to get more gems, the choice is yours.
"You will be fantastic pirates, I'm quite sure. Perhaps you will build a fine legacy that will be known for generations. Maybe you can write a book about it after you retire! I would love to read that, as would the rest of the crew. Happy pirating.'"
The three stared at the letter in silence. So Captain and his crew hadn't been ruthlessly killed after all. They had just abandoned the ship and retired to who knew where, taking even Lapras with them. Maybe they had finally set him free to roam the ocean on his own terms as he was always supposed to.
"Captain…" Morgan said after a few heartbeats of silence. "He… He pulled a Dread Pirate Roberts on us!"
"A Dread Pirate what…? Skipper said awkwardly.
"It's a long story," Morgan said with a shake of his head. "But oh… wow, I wasn't expecting this. So I guess… we're all in charge of the ship now, huh? We're the whole crew."
"Fantastic, just great," Stormy squawked as she threw down the paper. "I knew I was going to get stuck on this ship when Dad wanted to quit, but I didn't think it'd be with you two losers!"
"Hey!" Morgan snapped. "We're going to be great pirates, you hear me? Your dad let us have his ship for a good reason!"
"Yeah, because everyone else wanted to leave too!" Stormy shot back. "He just gave it to you guys because you were the only ones left! Gods!"
The Prinplup leapt out of her hammock and stormed off and up onto the deck. Morgan growled under his breath as Skipper awkwardly crawled out of his hammock and joined the Croconaw.
"So umm… I guess we really are pirates now," Skipper said bashfully. "I um… I wasn't expecting that. I thought he'd hang around a little bit longer before suddenly leaving us."
"Well you heard it from the letter, he got all the gems he wanted to retire and everyone else wanted to go with him," Morgan said bitterly, still fuming over Stormy's outburst. "So that just leaves you, me, and Miss prickly feathers."
"I'm surprised Captain even had her stay behind," Skipper then said. "You figured he'd take his daughter with him…"
"Maybe Captain didn't like her that much," Morgan said with a dismissive shrug.
Skipper didn't say anything, instead choosing to awkwardly stand next to Morgan. The Croconaw sighed as he rubbed his temples. Alright, this was definitely something he wasn't expecting. He wasn't expecting to be left with borderline nothing, and he definitely wasn't expecting to still be a pirate when all the others were gone. This wasn't how stories were supposed to go!
"Sooooooo, do you wanna be the captain then?" Skipper asked. "You know, since we need to figure out who's going to be doing what from now on and you look like a good captain with your scary face…"
"Yeah, yeah I'll be captain," Morgan said, still massaging his temples. "Don't see why not. You wanna be my Quartermaster? You basically just run the ship alongside me. You're like my partner."
"Sure, sounds good to me," Skipper said with a nod.
Well at least they had that settled. Now he needed to figure out what to do next. The story clearly wanted him to keep being a pirate, so it was best he get his new career started until the plot demanded otherwise. Who cared that everything was taking an unexpected turn? It was still better than what happened in most stories when they hit their shocking swerves with teammates dying, being kidnapped, or something just as gruesome. He was getting off easy compared to other protagonists.
Though he really didn't want to, Morgan knew it was best he find Stormy and ask what should do next as a pirate captain. After all, she had been a pirate longer than he had. Playing Assassin's Creed IV only helped so much in figuring out how to be a pirate captain. Sure he knew how to loot ships and harpoon whales and steer a ship and whatever else you did in the game, but that wasn't going to be enough at the end of the day. Besides, that was a game about human pirates in a human world. This was a world of Pokémon pirates with ships that didn't even have sails, so clearly things would be a little different.
Morgan just hoped that Stormy wasn't too upset to help him.
The Croconaw climbed up to the deck to find Stormy at the front of the ship, staring vacantly out to the sea. She didn't look angry anymore, just disappointed. After all, her dad had just ditched her after all. Not only did she have a deadbeat mom, now she had a deadbeat dad. Talk about harsh.
Morgan approached the Prinplup, his rage finally dying down.
"Stormy, I know you're mad at me, but I kind of need your help now that your dad left the ship to me and Skipper," he said. "It'd be nice to think I can just do this all alone with Skipper, but you're the one who knows the most about pirating."
Stormy sighed deeply and kept looking toward the ocean.
"I'm not mad at you," she said tiredly. "I'm just mad at how things turned out. Dad always told me he'd one day leave and I'd help whoever was left in charge… I just didn't think it'd be so soon."
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting it to be so soon either," Morgan said, for once sounding sincere and not like a shut-in prick. "Do you miss your dad?"
"A little," Stormy confessed. "Like I said, I knew it was going to happen for a long time, but I didn't think it would happen for a while. I thought he'd stick around for a few more years, not just suddenly leave when I'm barely ten…"
"Same here," Morgan replied. "I thought I'd have a lot more time to get to know your dad and his crewmates. Now he's gone and I'm supposed to be a captain even though I've barely been a pirate for a few sunrises…"
"Well at least you two aren't totally helpless," Stormy said with a dry laugh. "You're naïve and clueless and you'd both probably get arrested within six sunrises if you were on your own, but you guys aren't lost causes. The looting we all did together proved that."
The Prinplup finally turned around to face Morgan. She still had that tired look on her face, like she really didn't want to be there with him, but it looked less severe. Maybe she really was warming up to him.
"First things first, we need to get a ferry Pokémon to pull the ship around," Stormy stated. "It needs to be a strong Pokémon too, and probably a water Pokémon. Most pirates use Lapras or Sharpedo or have a bunch of Pokémon all tied up together. I know we're not going to find any Lapras around here, so we should start looking for some Sharpedo instead. They're easy enough to find."
"So what, you just want me to dive into the ocean, snatch up the first Sharpedo I find, and then tie it up to the ship?" Morgan asked.
"Something like that," Stormy nodded. "You can catch a Wild, or you can try to bribe a smart one to work for us. The good news is that we're right above Reef City, so if you go down there and talk to some of the locals, I bet you could find a Sharpedo to work as our ferry."
"And I'm guessing Reef City is an underwater city?" Morgan asked.
"I would imagine it is with a name like that," Stormy sneered sarcastically.
"Okay yeah fine, dumb question," Morgan said bitterly. "Just didn't realize you guys had underwater cities. Kind of wasn't expecting them since I never hear about them in stories. Everything's always on the islands."
Stormy probably thought his remark sounded inane because she couldn't comprehend that she was a fictional character trapped in a story with a set narrative and Morgan was the only one with any self-awareness, so he quickly said something else.
"How can you tell that we're by Reef City though?" he asked.
"Because I recognize this island," Stormy said simply. "It's Stargaze Island. I've gone mainland with Dad a few times to buy some things at the black market here. It's got some of the most exotic items you'll ever see. You'll see it for yourself soon enough, though."
The Prinplup waddled past the Croconaw and headed for the captain's cabin.
"I'm going to sell a few of the seeds Dad left behind and see if I can get any supplies we might need," she told Morgan. "I'll see you back at the ship by sunset."
Then with that, she disappeared into the cabin and rummaged through the one chest that had been untouched by Captain. As she did that, Skipper finally crawled out from the sleeping quarters. It had taken him so long to climb out because even though he had a body shape capable of climbing ladders now, he was still not used to that body. And one couldn't really blame him; he had just evolved last night. Pokémon don't just get used to suddenly being bipedal after one night or chapter despite what some stories might make you think.
"Well looks like you and I got a job to do so we can officially be pirates," Morgan said as he went over to Skipper. "We're going ferry hunting!"
"Fairy hunting?" Skipper repeated strangely. "How do catching Togepi and Spritzee make us pirates exactly?"
"Ferry, like something to pull the ship, not fairy like that pixie nonsense," Morgan corrected. "We're going to find ourselves a big old fish since according to Stormy, Reef City is just below us."
"Oh, it is?" Skipper asked as he glanced over the side of the ship. "I've never been there before, but I hear it's a beautiful city of coral! I've always wanted to visit that place."
"Then today's your lucky day," Morgan grinned. "I'm ready when you are."
Without hesitation, Skipper leapt into the water and sank beneath the surface. Morgan peered over the ship and gazed into the water. This would be his first time diving into the ocean. He knew how to swim because he never wanted to be a loser that died by drowning in a swimming pool, but he couldn't help but wonder what he was supposed to do about breathing.
In all of the Pokémon anime he'd seen and all the stories he read, it seemed that all water-types could breathe underwater even though it made absolutely no sense. For instance, penguins don't have gills and just hold their breath for a long time when they go diving. Yet for whatever reason, in stories, Piplup can breathe underwater like they're fish. The same was true about Squirtle, which were based off turtles and turtles just hold their breath for a long time. And of course there was the whole thing about Vaporeon…
If Pokémon fanfics were anything close to resembling reality, most water-types wouldn't stay underwater for long, or else they'd all die and there'd be hundreds of corpses filling the lakes, rivers, and oceans of the world. But then again, Pokémon worlds didn't seem to care about the laws of reality. The best example would be how Wailord are so light in comparison to their size that they'd probably float into the stratosphere like comically large balloons if they actually followed the laws of nature…
Yeah, I've probably got gills or something even though it makes no sense. No need to worry.
Without a second thought, Morgan jumped ship and plummeted into the ocean.
The water felt warm and pleasant, which was to be expected when the island itself seemed pretty tropical at a glance. And as Morgan pretty quickly found out, he actually could breathe in the water. He didn't know how to explain it, but he could inhale just like he would on land and his body would somehow rip the oxygen out of the water and make it so he could breathe. He didn't feel any weird gills anywhere on him filtering out the water, but he knew not to question it. Not a lot of things made sense in Pokémon.
He spotted Skipper hovering further down below, waiting for Morgan to join him. The Croconaw swam after him, but he didn't do his human swimming style. Well, he wanted to because that's what he was used to, but his body told him that was stupid and that it knew how to swim much better. After all, kicking his legs increased his water resistance, which made him really slow. No, his body would show him how to properly swim through the water like an apex predator.
Instead of kicking his legs and paddling with his arms, Morgan's body forced him to pin his arms and legs against his body and wag his tail from side to side. This simple motion propelled him through the water with ease. He had to admit it felt pretty weird not moving his arms or legs as he slithered through the water, but he didn't fight it.
He should have been horrified that his body was working against his wishes and forcing him to swim like an actual crocodile, but because he was already a weirdo, he didn't mind it one bit. After all, he did move a lot faster this way and it took way less energy. His body knew what it was doing, so why argue with it?
When the Croconaw reached Skipper, he came to a stop. Now to see if he could actually talk underwater. Hypothetically you weren't supposed to be able to do that either, but this was Pokémon…
"I'm not seeing the city, are you?" Morgan asked.
Yep, that confirmed it. His voice did sound a little muffled, but he could most definitely talk underwater.
"We have to go further down," Skipper said, his voice also a bit muffled, but still easy enough to hear. "You'll see it real soon, trust me. Follow me."
And so deeper down they went, further into the water. Within heartbeats, Morgan soon saw the supposed Reef City. At first all he saw was a wide variety of colors, but upon swimming deeper down, more details came in. Now he saw miles and miles of coral scattered along the ocean floor, and huge coral at that. Most of the coral was the size of one-story buildings, making Morgan feel like an actual fish in a coral forest.
Hundreds of fish, more than Morgan cared to count really, swam around the reef, sometimes weaving in between the spaces or disappearing inside little holes of the coral. There were beautiful, sexy Milotic with shimmering scales that could turn anyone into a scalie, schools of Remoraid that would probably make great sushi, and those dumb-looking and equally stupidly named Luvdisc. And that wasn't even a fraction of the kinds of fish down in the reef. Really, just about every kind of water-type that existed lived in Reef City, swimming without a care before the Croconaw. He even thought he saw a Wailord passing by somewhere in the distance.
Morgan could practically hear the underwater music playing in his head as he took in Reef City. What song played in his head exactly? Was it Stormy Sea? No, that song was for a dungeon and it sounded too ominous for such a beautiful, peaceful city. Was it Surround Sea's song? No, that sounded a little too calm. That was the song that played in a tide pool and when everyone is asleep. Oh, it was Miracle Sea's song. Yeah that was the right song for this kind of place. It was a good lively song that fit the atmosphere of this city well.
"Woooooooooow," Skipper said, eyes sparkling with awe as he took everything in. "This place is amazing!"
"And huge," Morgan stated. "I didn't realize this place was like an actual city. I thought it would be a lot smaller."
"Oh no, underwater cities are massive!" Skipper said with a laugh. "Lots and lots of fish all live down in the ocean, so there needs to be big enough places for them to all live together. Reef City is actually one of the smaller cities down in the ocean."
"This is small…" Morgan said in disbelief.
Wow. Then again, most of the world was ocean, so it wasn't like they didn't have enough room to make giant sprawling cities. And it wasn't like there were some pesky humans polluting the ocean waters and killing all the coral reefs, therefore destroying any potential places to make cities…
"So what kind of ferry Pokémon do you think we should get?" Skipper asked. "Maybe we can ask one of those Milotic? Oh or maybe a Sharpedo? I think I saw a few of them swim by right now…"
"Stormy suggested a Sharpedo, so let's try those guys," Morgan answered. "Hopefully we can talk them into helping us out."
Skipper lead Morgan to where he supposed saw the Sharpedo, the two of them swimming through the dense coral forest. Morgan noticed that several Pokémon were giving them odd stares, but they didn't look like unwelcoming stares at least. They were probably just staring because they had never seen Morgan and Skipper before. In the underwater world, it probably helped to pay attention to strange Pokémon that showed up out of nowhere. Especially if one of those Pokémon was a Croconaw, who might just eat you. And Morgan did admit that some of the fish did look rather tasty…
But Morgan didn't resort to cannibalism because he wasn't a monster and ignored the strange thoughts in his head. He only kept close to Skipper and they swam toward a group of three Sharpedo swimming over a startling large anemone.
"Hey, Sharpedo! Wait a heartbeat!" Skipper called out to them.
The sharks stopped and turned to face the two. As they drew closer, Morgan couldn't help but realize just how big Sharpedo actually were. Sure, real-life sharks were much bigger, but these guys were still pretty intimidating. Morgan especially didn't like their eyes. He didn't like the way their red eyes seemed to glow in the water. They looked like bloodthirst monsters.
But then Morgan remembered he was also an apex predator and didn't feel so anxious anymore. Besides, he knew sharks weren't really that dangerous. He'd seen plenty of videos online about sharks acting like underwater dogs and knew monster sharks were just a stupid myth created from movies like Jaws.
"Hi," Skipper said with a friendly wave. "Me and my friend were looking for someone to pull our ship. Were any of you interested?"
"Nah, I don't like the idea of pulling around that much weight," one of them scoffed.
"Same," said the second. "It don't feel right draggin' a big old pile of wood."
"You'd have better luck asking a Kingdra. Good luck convin' one of them though," said the third.
"We'll pay you good if you help out," Morgan chipped in. "We're pretty rich."
"Nah, no price is worth being tied to a boat all day every day," one of them scoffed. "Come on boys, let's go."
Then with that, the three swam away, leaving the Croconaw and Marshtomp behind. Skipper sighed and shook his head.
"Well that didn't work out," Skipper said. "Can't say I blame them though. When you're tied up to a ship, you can't go anywhere you want to go. You just have to do what the ship captain wants you to do. If you're used to having the whole ocean to yourself, it's not fun."
"No wonder why Stormy was saying we could just get a Wild then," Morgan realized. "If you get a real dumb Wild, they wouldn't complain and do whatever you want."
"Should we maybe try getting a Wild instead then?" Skipper asked. "It might be better than to keep asking around for a ferry Pokémon…"
"Let's ask a few more Pokémon," Morgan suggested. "If we can't find someone after talking to like ten more Pokémon, then sure, we'll go find ourselves a Wild Sharpedo or something."
Honestly Morgan didn't want to go get a Wild. If he went down that route, he'd have to beat them up and drag them back to the surface. While he was a lot stronger as a Croconaw than a Totodile, he still had exactly no battle experience, especially underwater battle experience. All he knew how to do was bite down really hard. Then again, considering his jaw strength and how sharp his teeth were, maybe biting a Wild was all it took to take them down. Maybe he'd bite so hard that he'd chomp the Pokémon in half and cloud up the ocean with blood and organs. Besides, his body always knew what to do when the situation called for it, so maybe if he got into a fight, he'd instantly know a bunch of super awesome moves and how to use them perfectly.
But he wouldn't do that just yet. He needed to try finding a civil Pokémon to pull the ship first. He could worry about an epic underwater battle later. So with that, Morgan and Skipper explored Reef City, searching for a suitable Pokémon.
First they talked to a Mantine, who looked big and strong enough for them. However, he quickly shot them both down, saying that he already had a job as an escort for the school children of Reef City. He couldn't be convinced to leave, saying that being what was essentially the manta ray from Finding Nemo was his true calling in life.
Next they found a Carracosta and asked her if she was interested, only to find that she wasn't strong enough to pull the ship. In fact, she wasn't really all that strong in general. She could barely lift a small boulder with her flippers… even though being underwater would make everything lighter. She was also pretty slow both in body and in brain, so she proved useless.
Next they approached a group of Lanturn, thinking that maybe they could rope the whole group into pulling the ship. Suffice to say, the electric fish called the both of them stupid for even thinking that all of them could pull a ship and that they had much better things to do than pull a dumb ship across the ocean.
The two even found a Tentacruel of all Pokémon dwelling outside the border of the reef. He looked like a big enough Pokémon to pull the ship and was certainly strong enough. He would have probably made a decent ferry Pokémon, but Skipper refused to talk to him. He said the jellyfish was too freaky and scary to talk to and wanted nothing to do with him, saying that they'd both probably get ensnared in his hundreds of tentacles and die a slow, painful death if they went anywhere near him. So though Morgan found this terribly exasperating, he conceded and didn't bother approaching the large creature.
At the end of it all, the two hadn't found a single Pokmon that could do the job. With a grumpy face, Morgan now realized they would have to find themselves a Wild. He couldn't say he was looking forward to it and also just found it kind of cruel. They were basically going to enslave a random wild animal, like what people did to elephants for circuses back in the day. But they needed someone to pull the ship, so what else could be done?
He and Skipper left behind Reef City, now on the hunt for suitable Wilds. They had just swam back into open ocean when Morgan accidentally bumped into a Magikarp heading into the city. He was about to apologize, but then the unexpected happened.
The fish started screaming. Like, really screaming, somehow. She screamed so loud (yes it was a girl fish) that Skipper started screaming too and made everyone in the general vicinity stop swimming and watch in fascinated confusion.
"AIIIIIIIIE! NO, NO PLEASE DON'T EAT ME, I'M TOO BONY!"
She darted into a little hole beneath a large, tree-like coral before immediately getting pushed out by a couple of angry Corsola.
"NOOOOOOO LET ME BACK IN!" she shrieked. "I'M GOING TO DIIIIIIIIIIIE!"
The Corsola immediately barricaded the entrance with a bunch of rocks. The Magikarp kept screaming and screaming, darting to every single hole in Reef City. And every single time she rushed into them, she'd get pushed right back out by the residents. It was almost comical to watch, especially because her face didn't even change despite the clear panic she felt. Her eyes looked dead and lifeless and her mouth remained stupidly open, always gasping in water. Of course, that shouldn't have been a surprise considering how pathetic Magikarp were. Even the Pokédex said how stupid and worthless they were.
Morgan and Skipper both watched this far afar, too dumbfounded by the sight.
"WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME?" she screeched.
But alas, no one helped her because it was very obvious she was just a crazed, dumb Magikarp. Eventually a Milotic got fed up with her and punted her with its tail, flinging her right back to Morgan and Skipper. She looked like she wanted to swim away, but couldn't, either because she was too stupid to do anything else or had totally lost her mind. She could only stare at the two of them with her blank, dead eyes.
"Well I guess it can't be helped…" the fish said. "Magikarp are supposed to be eaten anyway… so go ahead… I won't fight it anymore… I shouldn't have expected to live past five years…"
"Girl, stop it," Morgan said with the snappy swagger of a teenage girl. "I'm not going to eat you. I just bumped into you on accident."
"You're… you're not?" the Magikarp asked. "You mean… I can live another day?"
"Yeah…" Morgan said slowly.
"Oh thank Kyogre," she gasped. "Oh thank Kyogre. I wasn't ready to die just yet. I still wanted to visit Corsola City! I haven't even found myself a mate to have a million eggs with yet! I know I should always expect to die at any time because I'm a Magikarp and I'm just food for everyone, but-"
"Wait, what?" Morgan cut in. "That's what it's like being a Magikarp in this world? You guys all just live knowing that you're gonna get eaten at any time in any place?"
"Oh yeah, Magikarp are like the real bottom of the food chain," Skipper said with a nod. "Their lives are really short most of the time, and they're so weak that they can't even fight back when they're eaten. In fact, no one really respects Magikarp just because they're so weak and can't do anything."
"I thought you fish could turn into Gyarados though," Morgan said pointedly.
"We can but… it's so hard," the Magikarp said. "Out of maybe a thousand Magikarp, only one ever gets to evolve. We can't ever win fights, so we never get the strength to evolve. Those of us that do evolve only get to because of luck."
Though he'd barely known the girl for five heartbeats, Morgan had to admit he felt a little bad for the Magikarp. It must have sucked knowing that you were probably gonna die at any second, eaten by some bigger fish or a bird or a fox or literally anything. What a horrible way to live.
But more importantly, he had an idea form in his head. An awful, genius idea that was so stupid that it actually worked. He grinned at the Magikarp, showing off all of his disturbingly sharp teeth and not looking too different from a serial killer.
"Hey… how would you like to become a Gyarados?" Morgan asked.
Her face didn't change at all, but Morgan was starting to think it was actually impossible for a Magikarp to have more than one facial expression.
"H-How?" she asked.
"By making a deal with me," he said eagerly. "See, I've got a bunch of Joy Seeds back up on my ship. I also need someone to pull my ship around since the last ferry Pokémon we had retired. You be my new ferry Pokémon, and I'll give you enough seeds to evolve."
"You have Joy Seeds…" she asked. "But… where did you get them from? I heard they're very rare…"
"Well see, me and my Quartermaster right here are pirates," Morgan grinned. "I'll let that speak for itself."
Skipper shot Morgan a horrified glance, silently asking why he'd revealed that they were criminals to this random fish, but Morgan wasn't worried. Based on the way everyone was reacting to the Magikarp, no one actually cared about her. So if she ratted them out, no one would listen to her or even believe her. She was just a lowly fish meant to be food and nothing more.
"Your life isn't great, I bet," Morgan then said. "I bet your life sucks. I bet you don't even have a home because no one wants you around, so you just sleep under some rocks. I bet you don't even have any friends. Your whole life is just living in fear of always being eaten. I'm right, aren't I?"
"… Yes…" she said quietly.
"You come with me, you'll have everything you'll ever want," Morgan stated. "All you have to do is pull my ship whenever I need to go somewhere. Sounds pretty easy to do as a giant, fearless Gyarados."
The Magikarp stared at Morgan with her dead fish eyes for a few heartbeats. He stared back, saying nothing.
"… take me to your ship," she said after a while. "I don't want to be a weak Magikarp anymore. I wanna be a Gyarados."
"Good choice," Morgan said pleasantly.
With that, Skipper and Morgan took the fish to the surface. Morgan couldn't wait to evolve her. This was way better than just getting a Sharpedo and catching some random Wild that they couldn't even control. They were going to have a Gyarados, the most feared fish in the seas! That was going to make a great impression on everyone that ever saw them. Who wouldn't submit to a pirate crew that had a ruthless Gyarados beside their ship?
When the three reached the ship, Morgan and Skipper leapt out of the water and got back onto the vessel. The Magikarp stayed behind, keeping her head out of the water and waiting for them to come back. The two went into the captain's quarters to find that while Stormy had taken a good number of Joy and Golden seeds, she had left some behind, perhaps for them to evolve. Morgan grabbed the small handful of seeds and headed back to the Magikarp, an evil grin spread wide across his face.
"Wow, we're getting a Gyarados as our ferry Pokémon," Skipper said in disbelief. "I've never seen anyone have a Gyarados for their ship before."
"Well we're special because we found a Magikarp and happened to have some good old Joy Seeds on us," Morgan said eagerly. "I bet that's why no one else ever has them pulling their ships."
The two returned to the Magikarp, her bulging eyes watching them as Morgan set the seeds down next to him and waved a single one at the fish.
"You ready?" Morgan asked. "I'm going to keep feeding you seeds until you evolve."
"Yeah, I'm ready," she said warily. "Also, can we hurry? I thought I saw a few birds above eying me… I even think I heard them saying how they were going to pick the meat off my bones…"
The Croconaw threw down a seed, which the fish caught immediately and swallowed down. As expected, she didn't evolve because she was probably level one or something. Morgan then tossed down another seed, which she gobbled up just as quickly. She still didn't evolve.
"Come on Skipper, help me out," Morgan instructed.
The Marshtomp picked up a seed from the pile and threw it down to the fish. Once again, she didn't evolve after eating it. And so the two boys kept tossing the fish seeds, waiting for the glowing light to come over her, but getting nothing.
"Oh come on, evolve already!" Morgan cried as they got down to five seeds. "What are you, level negative ten?!"
With a growl, he kicked the remaining seeds into the water and the fish gobbled them up. Just as she ate the last seed, the evolution light finally came over her. Morgan and Skipper stepped back as the puny, pathetic fish grew and grew, changing into a serpent that towered over the ship. They watched in awe as the light faded and before them now stood a magnificent, gigantic dragon fish.
She stared out at the island behind the ship, eyes blank as her mind slowly adapted to the new huge form she had.
"Aw yeah, we got ourselves a giant fish!" Morgan cheered. "This is awesome! Oh I can't wait for Stormy to see this!"
Morgan looked up to the Gyarados, his heart swelling with pride at his accomplishment. Oh yes, he was going to make a fine pirate. This was just proof of that.
"Alright, let's-"
The Gyarados suddenly released a loud roar, exposing her huge fangs that could easily crush a car with one bite. She raised her head taller, stirring the waves and rocking the ship as she looked out to the island before her.
And then she fired a deadly laser of death and blew up the whole island.