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Chapter 7

The Gyarados Is a Deadly Lazer!

Well, it was a bit of an overstatement to say that the whole island blew up.

Yes, the Gyarados did fire a deadly laser and it did cause a huge explosion, but it was more like she blew up a quarter ofthe island. Sure, a whole lot of the island caught fire because of the giant laser, but it would be just fine if someone would put out those fires.

Regardless, the blast was so strong that it knocked Skipper and Morgan right off the ship and into the water. Morgan's ears rang as he sank deeper and deeper into the sea. He could barely hear his own thoughts thanks to the explosion blowing out his eardrums. So this was what being caught up in an explosion really did. You didn't just walk away all cool like in an action movie. No, you got your ears screwed up and couldn't even move because you were way too stunned.

Thankfully, Morgan wasn't out of it for long. Within heartbeats, his hearing went back to normal and he got control of his body. He swam back up to the ship and climbed aboard, Skipper rejoining him not long after. It was a miracle that their ship didn't get blown to pieces. Captain really had a nice, durable ship that could probably withstand a Sharpedo ramming into it.

The two looked out toward the island and watched everything burn to the ground. Island civilians fled from the mainland and leapt into the water, swimming far away from the disaster upon them. Well, that was until they saw the giant dragon fish in the water. Then they rushed back to shore and started running around in circles, screaming and shrieking like panicked ants.

The Gyarados roared again before shooting yet another laser at the island, this time blowing up another quarter of the island. And again, Morgan and Skipper were thrown back into the water, stunned and dazed out of their minds.

They recovered faster this time though and hurried back to the surface. But rather than get back on the ship so they could get their ears blown out again and actually go deaf from the repeated trauma, they resurfaced beside the Gyarados. She didn't seem to notice them, but considering how puny they were, that wasn't very surprising. After all, you don't notice the little bugs you just stepped on while taking a walk, now do you?

"Hey!" Morgan cried out to the giant fish. "What's the big idea?"

She didn't seem to hear Morgan. Again, he was so tiny and so far away. Of course she wouldn't hear him. The Croconaw looked over to Skipper, who clearly wanted to be nowhere near this fish dragon that probably just exterminated half the island population within ten heartbeats with the same effortlessness it takes a human to destroy an entire ant colony.

"What's wrong with her?" Morgan demanded. "Why is she attacking the island?"

"I don't know!" Skipper cried. "Maybe evolving did something to her. Ohhhh, we shouldn't have evolved her! Maybe it turned her into a monster!"

Morgan didn't know how a dim-witted, pathetic excuse of a fish suddenly turned into a rampaging monster with just a few seeds, but it wasn't like there was a better explanation. He swam closer to the Gyarados, who was firing yet another laser and blowing up yet even more of the island. Geez, wasn't Hyper Beam supposed to be a really exhausting move that you had to recover from after using? Yet here was that stupid fish firing one laser right after another like she was just spitting wads of saliva.

"Hey! You need to stop!" Morgan shouted as he banged his fist against the fish's scales. "You're blowing everything up!"

She paid him no mind. Really, he doubted she noticed him at all. He was just a tiny Croconaw that couldn't even pierce her scales when he raked his claws over her flesh. He opened his jaws and chomped down on her, but again, that also did nothing. His teeth sank into her flesh because he had such impressive jaw strength, sure, and he tasted that deliciously tough fish meat and a bit of blood on his tongue. And maybe he did rip off his mouthful of flesh and eat it and actually kind of want seconds because wow, that was some good fish meat and he'd probably never get a chance to eat Gyarados again. But again, it didn't catch the fish's attention. He hadn't torn off enough meat for it to actually matter to her. She was too busy being a mad fish that for some reason wanted to take out her rage on an island.

"Foul beast! So you are the cause of Stargaze Island's destruction!"

Morgan looked toward the island to find a small group of Pokémon standing at the shoreline. Namely, a Golisopod, Dragonite, and Samurott. Unlike everyone else on the beach, they were the only ones not panicking. In fact, they stood pretty proudly and strongly, like they were the buff protagonists of a JoJo season. The Dragonite, the one who stood at the front, pointed a claw at the Gyarados and stamped his foot into the sand.

"On behalf of Team Dragonheart of the Grandmaster Guild, you shall be slaaaaaaaaaiiiiin with swift justice!" he cried melodramatically.

He shot toward the Gyarados and with a fist crackling with electricity, punched her straight in the face. She screeched and fell back into the water, making a huge splash that created a giant wave. That wave engulfed Morgan and Skipper and spat them out onto the island. The other two members of this Team Dragonheart charged after the Gyarados, diving without hesitation into the water. Everyone on the island finally stopped panicking and cheered for their supposed saviors while Morgan and Skipper just lay on the sand, moaning and groaning from the sudden beaching.

"This is for everyone you've killed, demon of the sea!" the Dragonite proclaimed as he shot a bolt of lightning into the ocean where the Gyarados fell. "Prepare to diiiiiiiie!"

However, she proved quick and shot a laser in retaliation, which easily cancelled out the lightning and kept going, hitting the Dragonite head-on. He let out a dying, screechy scream as he took the full brunt of the attack and fell into the ocean, and the Gyarados promptly went after him. Probably to eat him because it was just the best way to get him out of the way. And also because free carbs.

"No, fearless leader!" the Samurott cried. "I'll save you!"

He shot out of the water and landed on the Gyarados's back. Then with a swift movement, he withdrew his shell blade from his armor and stabbed it deep into her scales. She shrieked and thrashed, trying to buck the Samurott off, but he held tight to his sword, which still remained embedded in the fish's body. The Golisopod joined the Samurott in also stabbing his claws into the Gyarados, spilling blood into the ocean and making the giant fish writhe even more.

Morgan and Skipper watched the ensuing fight in silence while everyone else kept cheering and screaming Team Dragonheart's names like a bunch of obnoxious cheerleaders instead of going into the water and helping the three take down the rampaging Gyarados. That would have been too productive unfortunately.

"What is going on here?!"

Morgan and Skipper looked back to find Stormy aggressively waddling toward them, a bag slung over her shoulder. They could feel the rage oozing from her like thick smoke. They awkwardly waved to the penguin as she stopped before them, hissing and clacking her beak.

"I leave you two idiots alone for one day, and now there's a stupid Gyarados destroying everything!" she squawked. "You're lucky the black market didn't get touched by any of this! What did you two do while I was gone?!"

"Hey, who said this was our fault?" Morgan shot back.

"Because of course it is!" she screeched. "I know you two had something to do with this! You really expect me to believe a Gyarados is just attacking this island and you two had nothing to do with it?"

"Well I mean, we didn't know evolving that Magikarp would make her all angry and start setting everything on fire…" Skipper said weakly. "She was such a wimp before…"

"Of course she's blowing up the island! That's what Magikarp do when they evolve!" Stormy spat. "The evolution turns even the dumbest, weakest Magikarp all violent and they go rampaging for three sunrises straight!"

"Oh…" Skipper said.

Morgan groaned and buried his face in his claws. Now he knew why no one had Gyarados pulling their ships: they were vicious beasts of nature that would stop at nothing until their bloodlust was satisfied. Really, he should have known better considering how Gyarados were known for being violent Pokmon that could wipe out entire cities in an entire day, but Morgan had thought a self-aware Magikarp wouldn't rampage immediately after evolving. He didn't even know why he thought that.

He could hear Team Dragonheart beating up the Gyarados in the distance, though it didn't look like anyone was really winning. Not a single hit seemed to hurt the fish for long and she went right back to snapping her jaws over the team or blowing them up with her lasers. In fact, she seemed to move a little faster after every hit.

"Man, you'd think that they'd at least tire her out a little," Morgan sighed. "It just seems like every time they hurt her, she just gets stronger."

"That's how Gyarados are," Stormy said. "You hurt them and they get angry, which makes them stronger, which makes them cause more destruction."

"Well so much for finding a good ferry Pokémon," Morgan grumbled. "Well what do we do now? Just wait until she's finally calmed down?"

"You could go help those dumb Pokémon in taking her down since this is all your fault this is happening," Stormy said pointedly. "You'd probably die though, so I'd advise against it."

"Hey wait… that Dragonite said he was from the Grandmaster Guild," Skipper then realized. "I bet with all of the destruction that's going on, all of the guild members there are helping put out fires and evacuating everyone to safety. The guild's probably empty because of that…"

That twisted, evil smile came over the Marshtomp's face. Even though his face was even derpier than it had been as a Mudkip, it didn't stop that smile from being outright disturbing. Maybe it was so disturbing because his stupid face didn't look right when he smiled like that.

"We should go pillage the guild while that Gyarados is wrecking the island," Skipper grinned. "I mean, we're pirates, aren't we? Aren't we supposed to be stealing things at times like this? Whaddya say, Captain?"

"Eh, not like we got anything better to do," Morgan shrugged, not even feeling the least bit bothered that they were literally going to loot a guild during a Gyarados attack instead of helping innocents like good Pokémon. "You know where the guild is, Stormy?"

"Yeah, though it's on part of the island that's on fire," Stormy said also just as nonchalantly, as though this were any other day for her. "So hope you guys aren't scared of some flames."

"Please, we're water-types," Morgan said with a laugh.

The boys got to their feet and followed Stormy mainland, leaving behind the epic battle between the island's protectors and the fearsome beast that threatened to destroy it. Really, the whole thing wasn't that impressive to Morgan. He had seen this scenario a billion times in anime. Now if there were twenty Gyarados and a single Dragonite fighting them all off, that might be a bit more entertaining. So he didn't feel like he was missing much when he headed to the guild with his crewmates.

Besides, the chaos aboard the island proved far more entertaining. True to her word, an awful lot of the island had been caught ablaze. There was not a single tree untouched by the flames, turning the whole place into a burning, blazing hell. Pokémon dashed about, fleeing for the coast and not caring if they trampled over others and knocked them out cold in their stampeding fury. Morgan wanted to say he felt bad about all of this, but that would have been a lie. There was a sort of sick, morbid fascination to watching the whole island burn all around him as he calmly walked past the flames, knowing this was all his fault. Besides, he couldn't feel too bad when so many of these Pokémon actually were escaping.

After some time, Stormy brought the boys to the Grandmaster Guild. Somehow, the building remained unscathed by the flames, probably because it was made of stone and there weren't any trees close enough to the guild to help it catch fire. It wasn't a very impressive guild, it was just a stone tower that stood a little taller than some of the other buildings on the island, but it got its job done. Stormy led the boys into the guild and pushed the doors open. Just as Skipper had expected, no one seemed to be inside. Morgan gave the vicinity a quick glance, seeing if maybe there really were guild members still lurking around nearby, but he saw no one. Everything was quiet, save for the crackling flames and the screaming and the occasional tree falling over and the Gyarados roars much further in the distance.

"They've probably got gems, because everyone does," Morgan said as the three strode through the guild. "So we can take some of those. Think they got anything else worth taking?"

"I heard some Guildmasters like keeping rare items they collected back when they were our age," Stormy said. "Things like Poison Globes, Frisms, Dragon Dust, those kinds of things. I think Dad actually looted a guild once and got a whole horde of Ninetales tails. That Guildmaster must have thought those tails had some magic power or something."

"Then sounds like we'll be checking the Guildmaster's room first," Morgan said. "Maybe we'll be lucky and the gems will be there too."

"If this Guildmaster's got rare items, I hope he's got a Swamp Bangle," Skipper said with a dreamy look in his eyes. "I heard they make it so grass moves don't hurt me. That'd be pretty great if you ask me!"

"I doubt it, unless the Guildmaster was a Swampert himself," Stormy scoffed. "Most Pokémon end up just selling things like that since they're worth so many gems. I think Dad told me he sold a Fairy Bow he found for like five hundred thousand gems."

Skipper looked a little dismayed by this, but didn't say anything. The three made their way through he guild until they came across the Guildmaster's office. Stormy kicked the door open to reveal that just like the rest of the guild, this place was totally vacant. The three spilled into the room and immediately began tearing through everything, searching for anything even remotely valuable.

Morgan flung open a chest to find an entire horde of berries. Rawst, Aspear, Cherri, Persim, you name it, it was all there. He didn't know why a Guildmaster would keep so many berries in one place. Maybe he just liked snacking on them throughout the day. Morgan had always heard how sweet and delicious Pecha berries were. Knowing that they did need berries because anything could happen though, Morgan grabbed a bulging sack nearby and dumped the contents onto the floor. A whole bunch of ordinary apples rolled away from the Croconaw. Yeah, this Guildmaster really was a snacker.

Morgan scooped up as many berries as he could into the sack before tying the end into a knot. When he finished, he looked over to his crewmates to find that they too had found some goodies. Skipper had found the gems they were originally looking for and now threw them into Stormy's bag. There didn't seem to be too many gems, at least compared to that huge loot Pommy got from the Sunset Guild, but it was still a good amount.

"Well I got some berries, you guys find anything else?" Morgan asked.

"No, this Guildmaster doesn't got anything cool," Skipper said with a dejected sigh. "He's got gems at least, so that's something."

"Looks like about ten thousand gems too," Stormy nodded. "We could buy some good stuff with this. Well, more stuff than I already bought."

"What did you even buy anyway?" Morgan then asked.

"A map, for one thing. And a good one at that," Stormy answered. "Also some TM's and HM's because we could also use a good power boost. And because they were on sale."

"Wait, you mean those disc things that teach you moves?" Skipper asked. "I didn't even know those still existed!"

"Oh yeah, they exist," Stormy said. "They're mostly at black markets though, so don't think you can find one just anywhere. Anyway, got one for each of us. I got… Ice Beam for me, Scald for you, and Strength for Morgan."

"Awww, you couldn't have gotten me something better?" Skipper whined. "Like maybe Earthquake or Sludge Wave or even Ice Beam like you? Scald isn't that cool…"

"Burning Pokémon with boiling hot water should never be underestimated," the Prinplup said haughtily. "Besides, they didn't have anything else you could use. Besides Rest and Hail anyway…"

Skipper still didn't look that impressed, but didn't press any further. Morgan himself couldn't really complain about what Stormy got him either. Sure, Strength sounded pretty boring in itself and was just what people taught their Pokémon to move boulders and progress in the main Pokémon games, but it actually was a really strong move. Honestly it was one of the better HM moves. Well, besides Fly, Surf, Waterfall, Dive, Rock Climb… okay well maybe a lot of the HM moves were pretty decent. But Strength was still a good move to learn!

By learning Strength, Morgan could easily send even a Nidoqueen flying with one punch. He could easily be the One Punch Man this way, all without having to do those stupid exercises every day for years! Sure, Croconaw weren't known for punching things into oblivion and were probably instead known for drowning things or biting them in half, but that's what made this better! No one would expect a good slug to the face from a crocodile!

As Morgan fantasized about punching entire holes into mountainsides, a horrid stench suddenly wafted into the room. It was an awful smell, the smell of garbage, decaying carcasses, and dirty diapers all at once. The three covered their noses as the smell grew stronger and its owner creeped into the room. It was a Garbodor, because of course it was. What else could have made such a rancid smell that literally peeled the paint off the walls as the disgusting heap of garbage entered the room?

"Hey, why are you stealing all of my food?" the Garbodor bellowed, his breath even more awful than his bodily stench. "How dare you take Guildmaster Garbodor's food during a crisis, thieves!"

Morgan outright puked onto the floor because the smell was so bad. And at the sight of Morgan's yellow bile with bone particles sticking out here and there, Skipper vomited as well. The sight caused Stormy to vomit too, which caused Morgan to start vomiting even more.

Before long, the three were puking out everything they had eaten last night, emptying their stomachs onto the office floor. Even the Garbodor, for as disgusting and repulsive as it was, cringed at the sight.

"Stop it! Stop staining my office with your bile!" the Garbodor demanded. "It's touching my apples!"

Morgan, in a desperate attempt to stop the uncontrollable vomiting, shoved his face into the sack of berries. Sadly, though their smell was sweet, the horrid stench of the living trash monster still reached his nostrils. So sad to say, he ended up vomiting into the sack and all over the berries.

"My beeeerrrriiiiies! Noooooooooo!" the Garbodor shrieked.

The glorified trash can rushed at the three, screaming profanities and wailing like a banshee. Stormy spat out a pillar of water at him, though because she was still puking her brains out, ended up also shooting her vomit at him. The Garbodor screeched as the dirty water slammed into him and pushed him out of the room.

"We need… urrrrrggghh! We need to go!" Skipper cried after puking some more. "Come on!"

The three hurried out of the room, plugging their noses as they ran past the Garbodor, who was just getting back up and now chased them out of the guild. Morgan took his bag of now ruined berries and threw them at the Guildmaster, pelting the hideous beast with dozens of vomit-covered fruits. The Garbodor hissed and screeched at every berry that hit him, but wouldn't stop pursuing the pirates. Honestly, Morgan was even surprised the Guildmaster was so disgusted by their puke. Considering how filthy Garbodor were and how they really were just living, breathing toxic waste dumps that ate literally anything, he thought the Garbodor could handle a little bit of partially digested stomach contents. Maybe this Garbodor had standards.

"Come back here, fiends!" the Guildmaster demanded. "I'll have you pay for ruining all of my precious fruit! I won't rest until you suffer the wrath of my-"

Just then, a laser hit the Garbodor straight in the stomach, undoubtedly from the Gyarados that was still rampaging by the beach, and blew him up into a million pieces. Each of these pieces rained down from the sky along with his nasty, foul blood and purple ooze. The stench that he had permeated finally began to dissipate as his body scattered across the island, allowing the three to finally catch their breath and stop emptying their stomachs just about everywhere. It was a mercy not only to them, but to the readers who decided to read this chapter while eating dinner.

Morgan wiped his jaw, clearing away the bile still dribbling from his mouth and spat out the few remnants of vomit on his tongue. He was really going to need a good meal after this was all said and done. They all did honestly.

"Ugh, that was awful," Skipper moaned as he wiped drool off his chin. "I never knew a Garbodor could smell so bad. And I thought Muk were bad!"

"Yeah, me neither," Stormy admitted. "I'm glad he got blown up. I'm surprised the laser was so small though. They were a lot bigger earlier."

"Maybe that Gyarados is getting weak," Morgan suggested. "Let's go find out since we need to get back to the ship anyway."

The three headed back to the ship, still ignoring the flames burning all around them and the still panicking Pokémon that had no idea what to do. While the smoke did have its own smell to it that brought tears to their eyes, they took it over the retched stench of the Guildmaster. At least this only burned their eyes and not their noses and made them sick to their stomachs. It also helped that covering their noses actually helped them breathe better.

When they came back to the beach, they arrived just in time to see the Dragonite from earlier punch out the Gyarados one last time, hitting her head hard and knocking her back into the ocean and under the waves. She didn't resurface, even after waiting several heartbeats. With a loud cheer, the crowd went wild as the Dragonite returned to the shoreline, his teammates rising from the sea and joining him on the sand. They posed dramatically and drank in all of the praises everyone so willingly handed to them, not even pretending to be modest about it.

"Yes yes, thank you," the Dragonite said with a boastful smirk. "Now then, the sea beast has been slain, thanks to yours truly! Let us return to the island and celebrate the victory! I call for a feast!"

"A feast! A feast for Team Dragonheart!" cheered the crowd.

And with that, the crowd and Team Dragonheart left the beach and returned to the mainland, their loud clamor and praises still ringing through the air even after they had long disappeared. Stormy, Skipper, and Morgan waited until they couldn't hear the obnoxious crowd any longer before stepping onto the beach and returning to their ship. Miraculously, the ship remained unharmed, somehow untouched by the ferocious battle that had taken place while they had been out looting. Stormy's dad really had invested in quite the durable ship.

The three climbed onboard before collapsing on the deck. Skipper released his hold on the gem sack as he closed his eyes and sighed deeply.

"Well at least we got something out of this," Skipper laughed hoarsely. "Too bad the Gyarados didn't work out…"

"I can't believe you two idiots thought getting a Gyarados would actually work," Stormy muttered distastefully. "They're known as beasts of the sea for a reason."

"I thought maybe it would be okay since she wasn't a Wild," Morgan admitted. "I thought she'd be smart enough to not suddenly turn into a rampaging monster."

"Hah. Yeah, if only," Stormy laughed dryly. "If that were true, everyone would have a Gyarados as a ferry Pokémon."

"So what next then? Should we all go down and try getting someone else?" Skipper asked.

"We need someone to pull the ship, that's for sure," Stormy stated. "We should find a Sharpedo. They're reliable and strong."

"We tried asking some Sharpedo down in Reef City," Morgan replied. "None of them wanted to work with us."

"I bet I could change their minds," Stormy said. "Or we could just rope a Wild one into being our ferry Pokémon like I said we should do. It's easier that way than trying to talk some civil into pulling the ship for the rest of their life or until we stop pirating."

Just then, the three saw something surfacing near the ship. They sat up and looked out toward the ocean… only to find themselves face-to-face with the Gyarados that the Dragonite had seemingly defeated. Looked like she really wasn't defeated after all.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

They jolted to their feet. They were about to flee the scene, but then the unexpected happened. The fearsome Gyarados, the terror of the sea that had destroyed so much of the island, started screaming too. It wasn't even a ferocious roar as expected from such a daunting creature. No, it actually sounded more like a gasp more than anything else. A shrill gasp, but one all the same.

"I am sooooo sorry!" the Gyarados said, her voice still quite loud, but now vulnerable and somewhat kind of pathetic, like she was still a useless, weak fish. "I was just so mad and I just reaallllllly needed to take it out on something! Really, I didn't mean it! But I'm better now! I swear, I feel a lot better!"

Morgan, Skipper, and Stormy could only stare up at the Gyarados, dumbfounded. Here was the violent, destructive Gyarados that had just blown up so much of the island, now apologizing profusely like a flustered anime girl.

"You um… you sure about that?" Morgan asked awkwardly.

"Yes! I'm fine!" the Gyarados said with frantic nods. "I'm fine! I don't even feel like destroying anything anymore! I just feel like… like hiding from all the Wingull around here! Oh gods, they're going to eat me! They all look so hungry! Oh gods!"

The Gyarados ducked into the water so that only a small portion of her head stuck out. She kept as still as possible, as if thinking that she could become invisible by doing this.

"Well umm… glad you're feeling better," Morgan said before inching closer to Stormy and muttering in her ear. "Hey, how come she's like this? I thought you said Gyarados rampage for three sunrises straight."

"Maybe that Dragonite really did knock her out and it calmed her down," Stormy suggested. "Either that or he hit her on the head so hard that he gave her brain damage. Maybe she still feels like a Magikarp because of it."

"Hey! Why are you acting like a Magikarp again?" Morgan called out to the giant fish.

"What… why are you asking something so strange?" the Gyarados asked, but very quietly so that none of the birds heard her. "It's because I am a Magikarp…"

"You don't remember all of those seeds I gave you?" Morgan asked. "They were Joy Seeds! They helped you evolve!"

"Oh no… they didn't work at all…" the fish said adamantly. "They just made me really mad and I destroyed a lot of things. I'm still just a weak little Magikarp that could be eaten at any moment if I'm not careful…"

Morgan couldn't believe this. So that Dragonite had hit this Gyarados so hard that she actually believed she was a Magikarp again. Somehow, despite having a completely different body, she was completely convinced she was still a pathetic fish.

Morgan didn't even know what to say anymore. Though that would explain why she seemed reasonable and wasn't destroying everything again.

"I… I can still pull the ship for you if you want, though," the Gyarados then said. "Even though I didn't evolve, I do feel a lot stronger…"

"Yeah, please do!" Skipper interjected with a huge smile. "We'd love to have you as our ferry Pokémon! We'll take good care of you and make sure you never get eaten as long as you're with us!"

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" the Gyarados said, wiggling her tail giddily, so much that it made a bunch of waves and rocked the ship pretty good. "I promise, I won't let you down! I'll be the best ferry Pokémon you could ever have!"

And that was how Morgan got his ferry Pokémon and accomplished his first big milestone as a pirate captain.