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Chapter 8
Upgrades For The Pirate King, Yes Please!
After declaring the Gyarados to be their new ferry Pokémon, the crew let the Gyarados hide under the ship. She kept saying that the birds really would eat her if she didn't hide right then and now, and Morgan didn't feel like arguing with her about how she was actually a Gyarados that could literally wipe islands off the map and definitely didn't have any predators to fear anymore. Maybe later he'd try to make her realize the truth, but not now. Now he and his crew had certain TMs to use.
Stormy reached into her bag and pulled out three discs (somehow doing this pretty well despite having flippers that weren't exactly dexterous) which looked an awful lot like Blu-Ray discs, except without the fancy artwork on the one side. They were all just a plain grey color that had an iridescent shine to them when the light hit them right. On each of them they had a small inscription, probably labeling exactly which TM they were. However, because Morgan couldn't read footprint runes, he had no idea what they really were saying.
"Alright, here's yours," Stormy said as she handed one of the discs to the Croconaw before giving one of the other ones to Skipper. "And here's yours."
Morgan held the disc and flipped it over a few times. It wasn't very big, about the size of an actual Blu-Ray disc back in the human world, and even felt like one.
"So how exactly do we use these things?" the Croconaw asked.
"You just hold the thing to your head," Stormy said simply. "When it says it's done teaching you the move, throw the TM into my bag and I'll trash it."
"That's it?" Morgan asked. "What, you don't have a machine or something to put all this information into my head? I just push this stupid disc into my skull and I just magically learn how to punch holes into boulders?"
"Yeah, it's that easy," Stormy said, just as impassively.
That made absolutely no sense. He could have sworn there were machines that you were supposed to load the TM into so that it could teach the move to the Pokémon. Then again, in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, he didn't think there actually was a machine they used. That was only in the main series he remembered something about a machine. And well, maybe one or two fanfictions, one of which used a Porygon or something to help with the process. But hey, if Stormy said that using TMs was as simple as shoving them into your cranium, then by all means, what did he have to complain about?
The Croconaw pressed the TM to his forehead and waited. He saw Skipper and Stormy doing the same with their own discs, holding them up to their heads and waiting patiently. Really the whole thing felt pretty silly, but at least they were doing this in private.
"Teach HM Strength?" came a monotone, robotic voice from within Morgan's head.
The Croconaw flinched at the sudden voice, but quickly calmed down by telling himself it was just the disc talking. He gave a silent affirmation in his mind, which prompted the disc to work its magic. He heard a strange clicking sound, like someone had flipped a switch in his brain, followed by a flash of light from the disc.
"Success! Strength has been learned."
Morgan removed the disc from his forehead to find it no longer had that nice sheen to it in the sunlight. Now it looked old and tarnished, as though it had suddenly aged many years in just a few heartbeats. He almost wanted to hang onto the HM, knowing that if they just had a Pokémon that knew Recycle, they could use the disc again. However, Morgan knew they probably weren't going to find someone who knew that move and that it would probably just be easier to buy the HM at the market.
The Croconaw stuck the used disc back into Stormy's bag just as she and Skipper finished using their own TMs. Stormy didn't waste any time shooting a white beam at her feet, which promptly froze the wooden planks and formed a few jutting, jagged ice crystals. She chirped cheerily at the success of using her new move, puffing out her chest and posing proudly.
"Alright, my turn!" Skipper said giddily.
He spat a stream of water at Stormy's icicles. The moment the water made contact with the ice, a loud hissing sound filled the air and the ice immediately melted under the water's heat. Thin, white smoke rose out of the spot where the ice had stood. Now only a shallow puddle of steaming, bubbling water took its place.
"Awesome!" Skipper cheered. "I mean I admit that hacking up some sludge might be a little cooler... but this is still nice. How's yours, Morgan?"
"Well, let's find out, shall we?" Morgan said with an evil smile.
The Croconaw made a fist and concentrated. He wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do, but he knew that if he didn't focus, his punch would probably just be a regular punch. That was how things worked anyway in anime; it always looked like the protagonist had to put a bunch of their energy into their attacks for them to be special. So even though he didn't know if doing any of this helped, he did it anyway.
Morgan took in a deep breath, and then smashed his fist straight into the planks beneath him. Chips of wood flew everywhere as his fist went straight through the plank and into the sleeping quarters below. Morgan couldn't help but gasp. He wasn't expecting his punch to be that strong. Then again, the move had been called "Strength"…
He withdrew his claw and shook it, freeing it of the debris clinging to his scales. He didn't feel the least bit sore from the punch. His crewmates both stared into the hole, just as baffled by his sheer strength as he was. Well, Skipper was baffled at least. Stormy just grumbled to herself, probably because he had wrecked the ship and they'd have to put a tarp over it so water didn't get into the lower deck.
"Looks like all the TMs are working great for all of us!" Skipper said merrily. "Thanks Stormy! I hope they didn't cost you too much gems."
"It was a bit pricey, but we need them, especially when none of us are fully evolved," Stormy said. "We need to be strong if we want to be good pirates. The world will do us in just because we look weak."
Morgan wondered just who would come after him and his crew. He did know that of course authorities would want Morgan's crew dead just because they were pirates that engaged in plenty of illegal activity, but who else would want their hides? Would other pirates in this world take out Morgan to erase him as competition or to loot his ship? In Black Flag the pirates all got along pretty well and never attacked each other, but that might not have been the case in this world. Maybe it was every pirate for himself in this world. Maybe he had to expect that every pirate ship would flay him alive given the chance and that he could only trust his crewmates. He didn't exactly find that pleasant, but what else could he do? It wasn't like he could just go to another world. He was stuck here until he fulfilled his purpose as a human-turned-Croconaw... whatever that was.
"So what should we do now?" Morgan asked.
"Since we got more money from that guild, I say we should go back to the black market mainland and buy some more goods," Stormy suggested. "Besides, you two need to see the place anyway. You're going to be visiting a lot of black markets from now on and there's certain etiquette you need to know."
"Sounds fine to me," Morgan shrugged.
"It sounds scary, but we should be okay as long as we follow what you say, right Stormy?" Skipper asked as he anxiously tapped his hands together.
"Maybe," Stormy said ominous.
Skipper laughed nervously, hoping for Stormy to say something more, only for her to keep quiet. Morgan left the unnerved Marshtomp be as he approached the side of the ship and looked down to find the Gyarados staring up at him, the vast majority of her body hidden beneath the water. When they locked eyes, she emerged just a little bit more so that most of her head stuck out of the ocean.
"We're going mainland for a little while," Morgan told her. "If you want, you can swim around a bit until we get back."
"Thanks but... I think I'll just stay by the ship," the Gyarados said with a grimace. "I feel safest when I'm hiding underneath it. I'd probably end up getting eaten if I wandered off too far..."
Morgan grumbled. He wanted to make a retort about how no one could possibly eat her when she was a giant dragon fish now and she needed to realize that already. However, the effort wasn't worth it. Instead, he focused on something else, something he just now realized about the Gyarados.
"Say, I don't know your name," Morgan stated.
"Oh, well I don't really have a name," the Gyarados said meekly. "Magikarp don't exactly get names since we die so quickly."
"Well why don't you give yourself a name since you're not going to die with us?" Morgan suggested. "I don't want to just keep saying 'hey you' when I wanna talk to you."
"Hmmm, a good name… a good name…" she mused as she swayed her giant head back and forth in the water, creating small waves. "I think… a good name for me would be 'Magikarp'."
"Magikarp," Morgan repeatedly flatly.
"Yeah, it's the perfect name for someone as worthless and weak as me who could be eaten at any time," the Gyarados said earnestly.
Morgan facepalmed. God, this girl was quite the character. He almost wanted her to be that rampaging beast again, just because she was just a bit more respectable that way. Sure, she would destroy everything in sight and he'd probably have no control over her… but was that really any worse than how she was now?
Whatever. At least she wasn't naming herself Finny or Gill. Those were far worse names. Maybe. Probably not honestly, but Morgan had to delude himself somehow.
"Alright, fine," Morgan said after heaving a long sigh. "Nice to meet you… Magikarp."
He felt something die inside him from uttering the name. He held back a cringe as he watched the Gyarados hold herself up a little higher, clearly taking some pride in the stupid name, probably because she actually had a name now.
"What's your name?" she asked. "You never told me when we met."
"Oh, I didn't," Morgan realized. "It's-"
The Croconaw stopped. He suddenly remembered all of the reactions Captain's crew had when he had proclaimed his name. He remembered the sneers and the confusion and the utter bafflement of just how weird his name was. Even Skipper, that good, cheery Marshtomp, couldn't resist commenting on the strangeness of the name when he first heard it. If he dared say his name to Magikarp, she'd probably have the same reaction. Morgan didn't want to put up with anymore snide remarks about his totally awesome human name. Besides, the joke had gone on long enough in the story. If it went on for any longer, it would become very tiring and grate on the audience's nerves.
He needed to change his name. He needed a better name that sounded much more like a Pokémon name and now would be a perfect time to make that name. After all, it was perfectly okay for Pokémon to change their names after they evolved. Gangly himself had even suggested it to Morgan all those sunrises ago. The question was what exactly did he call himself now?
Morgan stared out into the sea behind Magikarp and saw a cave in the distance. It was a very unordinary cave, just a grey rock that stuck out of the water and had a single opening to it. Upon seeing it, Morgan was suddenly reminded of a cave he saw in a horror show once.
Back when he was a human, Morgan had a friend named Jeff. Jeff was an interesting sort of guy and had an obsession with all things horror. His bedroom walls were covered with posters of horror movies, ranging from Alien to The Conjuring to The Thing (John Carpenter one of course). Adding to his obsession was an entire collection of figures and props from on his shelves, like the Jason and Ghostface mask. Every time Morgan walked into the guy's room, he felt like he was entering a sort of horror museum of sorts.
Sometimes he and Morgan would watch horror shows or movies that Jeff felt Morgan would like best. Most of the time they were horror anime that Jeff came across, like Parasyte The Maxim or Perfect Blue, but sometimes Jeff had something more live-action for Morgan. One of those shows was a little anthology called Channel Zero, which adapted creepypastas. Jeff had shown Morgan the first season, the season based off that famous creepypasta "Candle Cove". Morgan had to admit he was pretty creeped out by what he saw, especially with the uncanny puppets, and embarrassingly enough, had nightmares about the puppets appearing at his bedside. Not that he admitted that to Jeff of course.
Anyway, one must be wondering why this story went on such a long tangent about a show that got cancelled after four seasons since the ratings weren't good enough or whatever. Well, as it turned out, the cave Morgan looked at in the present time reminded him an awful lot of the cave in the show. They had called it Bravery Cave in Channel Zero, a place in the middle of the ocean that was the source of much creepiness in the show.
Thinking about Bravery Cave got Morgan then thinking about the characters of the show, a pirate crew ironically enough with their talking ship. Morgan's mind went to one particular character, one that was a skeleton pirate with an uneven jaw and eyes that were just way too big for his skull. That pirate had a name, a good pirate name that actually suited Morgan pretty well considering he was a Croconaw now.
And yes, this line of thinking does look rather contrived, but how else was Morgan going to get his new name?
"My name's Jawbone," Morgan told her with a grin.
"Nice to know your name, Jawbone," Magikarp said. "I think I'll let you go though. I know you have things to buy… plus I hear the birds again."
"Yeah, I gotcha," Morgan said. "See you soon."
With that, the Gyarados sank beneath the water, disappearing from view. Morgan turned around to get heading out, only to find Stormy and Skipper staring at him. Based on the baffled looks of their faces, they had probably heard the whole conversation he had with Magikarp. He didn't know if they were making that face because of the name the Gyarados had given herself, or because of his own new name.
"So you're Jawbone now?" Stormy asked as she crossed her flippers over her chest.
Oh, well that answered that.
"Yeah, I'm sick of everyone thinking my name is lame," Morgan frowned. "I'm a pirate captain now, so I need a name everyone's actually going to respect."
"Do whatever you want, if it makes you feel better about yourself," Stormy said dismissively. "Just don't change your name when you evolve again. It's already going to be an adjustment getting used to your new name, Jawbone."
"You guys can change your names too if you want," Morgan offered. "You evolved, so you've got just as much of a right to change your names as I do."
"Nah, I like my name," Stormy assured with a puff of her chest. "I'm keeping this name even after I become an Empoleon."
"Me too," Skipper added. "I like my name. I mean, you can change your name if you want Mor… I mean, Jawbone, but I'm happy with being Skipper."
"If you say so," Morgan said with a shrug.
The Croconaw felt good about his name. Though his crewmates didn't share his enthusiasm, he felt it fit him perfectly. It was a great name for a Croconaw, a creature with a horrifying bite force. His actual jawbone was perhaps one of the strongest in the whole world.
Despite the fact that Morgan insisted everyone call him Jawbone though, the narration refused to call him by that name. It refused, because it had already committed to calling him by his human name and couldn't be convinced otherwise. So hopefully, the reader wouldn't be confused when he was called Morgan in the prose and Jawbone by characters.
"You wanna take us to the black market now?" Morgan then asked Stormy. "I'm done talking to Magikarp."
"Yeah, let's get going," the Prinplup said. "Skipper, carry the bag for me."
The Marshtomp picked up the sack of gems and used TMs resting beside the group and slung it over his shoulder. After securing a good grip on it, the Prinplup led the boys off the ship and back to the island.
The fires raging throughout the land had already died down, mostly because they had been put out by the guild members. Now much of the island was charred a deep black with the smell of smoke still lingering strongly in the air. Any semblance of vegetation had been long burned away, though a few trees still stood strongly, only the bottom half of their trunks blackened by the flames.
And yet, Morgan still couldn't feel guilty about any of this. Yes, all of this was his fault in some way, but he also knew this world wasn't his. He was nothing more than a visitor and knew he'd be leaving after he fulfilled his divine mission. After all, that was always how things ended in these stories, wasn't it? The human saved the world and then left after all was said and done. Sometimes the human were allowed to stay if the gods allowed them, but most of the time no, he needed to go back to his human world afterwards. Either that or he'd die in his quest to save the planet. He'd read one story where that happened, where the human had died towards the end of the story and couldn't even make it to the final boss. It was the human's partner and her teammates that took care of the final boss in his place.
The Croconaw really couldn't concern himself with the state of the island when he knew all of that. Besides, it wasn't like he had totally destroyed the island. The island still stood, albeit with the land heavily burned, and many of its inhabitants seemed fine enough. No one seemed to be panicking anymore, instead just gathering supplies from across the island to prepare the grand feast for Team Dragonheart. Morgan briefly wondered how long it would take everyone to realize that there wasn't a Guildmaster anymore and if the party would turn into a funeral in the Garbador's name.
Stormy brought Morgan and Skipper to the one part of the island untouched by the lasers and fires. It took some time to get there, a good ten thousand footsteps if Morgan had to estimate. Several shabby, uninhabited buildings watched the three as they walked down a dirt road. As they headed further down the path, Morgan began to hear voices, several of them in fact. He peered over Stormy's head to see a cluster of booths and tents resting along the grass. He noted for the first time that none of the island's residents seemed to be around this part of the land. It was as though they had all mysteriously vanished.
"We're almost there," Stormy announced. "Alright, first thing's first; don't do anything stupid while you're there. Don't draw attention to yourself, don't act like an idiot, and don't buy anything you don't know anything about."
"Well that much is obvious," Morgan stated flatly.
"Next, you can try bargaining with the Pokémon there, but don't be too aggressive about it," Stormy went on. "If the seller gets his TM down to ten thousand gems because of you, but won't go any lower, you don't argue with him. You buy the TM for ten thousand gems."
"Can we back out of the deal if we don't like what they're bargaining for?" Skipper then asked. "Or do we have to buy it after we've haggled for so long?"
"Nah, you don't have to buy anything if you don't want to," Stormy assured. "No one's going to blame you for that. So if a TM is too much gems for you, you can just say it is. Well, unless the seller looks dangerous. Then yeah, you should probably buy whatever it is you were bargaining over… which brings me to my next point; don't make anyone there mad. At black markets, you can and will get killed if you upset the wrong Pokémon. Dad never worried about it because he was a formidable Pokémon himself, but all of us need to be more careful. We're all pretty young and inexperienced, and everyone there knows it."
"Yeesh," Skipper grimaced. "Oh… I can see why Mom and Dad told me to stay away from black markets. I hope we'll be okay…"
"As long as you remember what I just said, you'll be fine," Stormy stated. "Besides, it's not like this is too different from visiting the regular, perfectly legal market. Just act a little more cautiously and not freak out when you see things that definitely aren't legal."
Skipper nodded, though he still looked quite wary. Morgan patted the Marshtomp on the back, only to quickly regret his decision when he was reminded just how slimy and cold Skipper's skin was. The Croconaw quickly wiped the slime off his claws and onto the grass beside him. Even still, the gesture at least did perk the Marshtomp up a bit.
Eventually, the three arrived at the black market. It wasn't all that different from the flea markets Morgan had seen in his human days. A bunch of merchants sat behind blankets sprawled out in front of them, the blankets lined with their precious goods. There had a to be at least a hundred merchants here, each one selling quite the impressive wares. A Vileplume, for instance, had a number of berries on display. Some were the ordinary berries Morgan could find anywhere, like orans and rawst, but some were berries he didn't even think were in Mystery Dungeon games, like rowap and kee berries. Another merchant, a Flygon, had every evolution stone imaginable, ranging from a fire stone to a dawn stone. There was even a Raichu selling Sharpedo fins and Buneary paws, along with other body parts from various Pokémon.
Morgan felt like had just walked into Disneyland for the first time, albeit, an extremely illegal and dangerous version of Disneyland full of crooks.
"Woooooow, there's so much cool stuff here!" Skipper said, eyes sparkling. "Oh! I think I even see a Swampert Bangle with that Tyranitar! Ooh, I wonder how much it is!"
"Too much for us, that's for sure," Stormy said firmly. "Maybe after we get more loot we can get you that bangle you want so much."
"Yes please! You don't know how badly I want one!" Skipper said, gushing profusely. "I've wanted one ever since I was a little hatchling!"
"So what exactly can we afford with what we've got?" Morgan then asked.
"We're going to find that out, aren't we?" Stormy asked rhetorically. "There's lots of things around here and I didn't get to see everything because someone had to evolve a Magikarp that proceeded to wreck the whole island."
Morgan hissed involuntarily, but Stormy wasn't the least bit fazed. She only kept walking, Skipper following close behind her. Morgan kept close to the two as he took in the sights, baffled by just how much stuff there was on the market. To think that he would be shopping here so often now that he was a pirate. He briefly wondered if he'd ever go a regular market again after this, or if all of his shopping would be at black markets from now on. After all, weren't goods sold here sometimes cheaper than they were at legal markets?
Just then, Morgan came across a peculiar booth. It was different from the others in that this one didn't sell objects or the severed remains of once living beings. This one, strangely enough, had living Pokémon being sold. Morgan saw a couple of Horsea in buckets of water, a Dratini tied into a knot so it couldn't slither away, and even a Rockruff stuck in a cage almost too small for the poor thing.
Just why were all of these Pokémon here and being imprisoned? Morgan had a bad feeling about what this was…
"Hey guys, wait." Morgan called out to his crewmates. "I want to look at this."
The two stopped and followed Morgan as he approached the booth, its owner a hulking Nidoking selling off the Dratini to an eager Scizor. After the Scizor left with his dragon in tow, the Nidoking looked over to Morgan with a wide, jolly smile.
"Welcome welcome!" he greeted. "I see you eying up my goods here!"
"Yeah, what exactly is all this?" Morgan asked. "Are these guys all civilians or…?"
"Oh no on, I'm not into the slave business! Oh no, that's too much for me!" the Nidoking guffawed. "These are all Wilds you see here! Unintelligent, mindless beasts!"
Well that was a little assuring at least. This was basically just an illegal pet store. That got rid of the icky feelings Morgan felt before. He looked upon the Pokémon again, this time seeing a peculiar one he hadn't noticed before. There was a Chatot sitting on a wooden stand beside the Nidoking, leg fastened to the branch by a string. It stood there silently, preening its back feathers meticulously. It didn't even seem to notice Morgan staring at it.
"Aye, I see you eying my Chatot!" the Nidoking smiled. "She's the most amazing Chatot you'll ever find! She has the most amazing voice!"
"And what do you mean by that?" Morgan asked.
The Nidoking poked the Chatot. She abruptly stopped preening and flapped her wings wildly, revealing to Morgan that they weren't clipped, which explained why she was stuck to the stand.
"Fishlicker!" the Chatot screeched in a disturbingly clear voice before nipping at the Nidoking. "Fishlicker!"
The Nidoking pulled his claw away before she could bite down. He laughed and laughed as the bird hissed before going back to preening herself. Morgan stared dumbfounded at the Chatot. He knew heard they could mimic speech quite well, but he didn't expect her to sound so much like an ordinary Pokémon. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought she was an intelligent Pokémon like his crewmates.
"See, most amazing bird ever!" the Nidoking proclaimed. "You can't get any more amazing than this!"
"Can I hold her?" Morgan asked.
The Nidoking abruptly grabbed the bird from behind and wrapped his claws around her, holding her like a burrito. She screamed shrilly and repeatedly bit the Nidoking's claws, but to no avail. Morgan resisted cringing at the sight of the obviously distressed bird.
"Here you go! Be careful, she's a biter!" the Nidoking warned playfully. "You gotta hold her real firm!"
He roughly placed the Chatot in Morgan's outstretched claws. However, instead of cupping his hands around her, Morgan instead let the bird perch on his arm. He expected her to start flapping her wings in an attempt to get away, but to everyone's surprise, the Chatot stayed perfectly still on his arm. Of course, it wasn't like she could get away anyway. That string was still tied to her leg.
"Well I'll be! She ain't flying away!" the Nidoking gasped.
Morgan slowly reached up and pressed his clawtips into the Chatot's head feathers. She squawked and prepared to nip, but stopped when Morgan began scratching her feathers. She cooed softly as she closed her eyes and bowed her head, letting Morgan stroke more of her neck.
"That's right, you like scritches, don't you?" Morgan said softly. "Oh yes, scritch. That's a good scritch, isn't it?"
"Scritch!" the Chatot chirped.
"Oh wow, that Chatot really likes you," Skipper said.
Morgan continued scratching the Chatot, enjoying the soft touch of her feathers beneath his claws. As he pet her, he was suddenly reminded of the stereotypical pirate image he saw in movies and books. Besides wearing those silly hats and having cutlass at their sides, pirates often had something else attached to their image… a parrot.
The Croconaw stared at this Chatot, realizing now that he needed a parrot too if he wanted to be a dignified pirate. And there was now one here right in front of him, perfectly happy with his company. Plus, he really did like this bird. She reminded him so much of the macaw his parents had. That macaw was such a sweet, goofy bird, a seventy year old that had been Morgan's grandmother's until she had died. Morgan's parents had inherited that macaw and though it took time, she had become a real part of the family and an endless source of entertainment thanks to her antics. Morgan always liked teaching her foul words and hearing her repeat them back at the most inappropriate times.
Morgan felt his heart soar as he looked at this Chatot, who reminded him so much of that macaw he saw every day at home. He felt elation he could only call love at first sight. He could practically see hearts dancing around him and the Chatot as a warm, fuzzy feeling enveloped him.
Yes, he loved this bird with all his heart. He would make her his. And not in a romantic way, mind you. This was not that kind of story.
"How much for the Chatot?" Morgan asked.
"Oh, for you, I'll give you an amazing price!" the Nidoking proclaimed. "For you, I'll sell her for… five hundred thousand gems!"
"Five hundred thousand gems?" Stormy screeched, finally becoming a part of the conversation. "No way! Jawbone, put that Chatot back!"
"But I want her…" Morgan said pitifully, talking like a love-struck fool who didn't know how to back down. "Ahhh… Nidoking, can we get her for ten thousand gems?"
"Sorry, five hundred thousand gems only!" the Nidoking said. "I'll go for nothing more with this amazing Chatot! She's just too amazing to let go for any lower than that!"
"You keep saying the word 'amazing'… why do you keep saying that even though she looks like an ordinary Chatot?" Skipper asked meekly. "Does she do anything special?"
"Because she is very amazing!" the Nidoking insisted. "She is so insane that you cannot comprehend how amazing she is! She can speak such unbelievable things! That is why I refuse to let her go for any less than five hundred thousand gems! Because she is just so amazing!"
"How can you convey so little with so many words…" Skipper muttered to himself.
"Come on Jawbone, give him back the Chatot and let's go," Stormy interjected. "We don't even need a Chatot anyway. They just poop everywhere and scream all day."
Morgan stared pitifully at the Chatot. So this was it. He wouldn't be allowed to have her. She was too much money and the merchant wouldn't budge about her price. She'd have to stay with this Nidoking and be sold to someone else with much deeper pockets, someone that would probably treat her awfully. They'd probably keep her in a cage all day and never let her stretch her wings even once. They'd only want her as a decoration. That was what most humans did with exotic pets like these, so he imagined Pokémon would be no different to these Wilds.
"Jawbone, come on," Stormy urged him.
Morgan stopped scratching the bird. She opened her eyes and pushed her head against his claws, demanding more scratches. His heart melted at the sight.
He needed this bird. He needed her not only because she would help him feel even more like a pirate captain, but because she was so precious.
"Alright alright, if you're not going to take this most amazing Chatot, then I'll have to-"
Morgan punched the Nidoking in the chest. The hulking poison-type went flying back, crashing into a Gallade merchant nearby. Everyone in the entire market shot Morgan a horrified glare, baffled by the sudden violence.
Morgan cut the string attached to the Chatot's leg with a single chomp and bolted, cupping his claws around the Chatot to make sure she stayed with him. She squawked in protest and bit his fingers, but he refused to let go. He needed to get out of the market, right now. He had done something so undeniable stupid and he knew it. Honestly, he didn't even know why he had done it. And he sure wasn't expecting a Strength-enhanced punch to send a Nidoking flying like that! He just thought it would knock the guy down!
Stupid, stupid, stupid! I'm an idiot! Why am I such an idiot?
The Croconaw looked back to find that his crewmates were chasing after him, and further behind them, an entire mob was after him. He spotted the Nidoking amongst the group, clearly fuming that he had been robbed so blatantly. Morgan shuddered.
Oh god, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. All for this stupid bird!
And he wasn't even wrong; he could feel the Nidoking's poison spreading throughout his body. That was their ability after all; if you came in physical contact with a Nidoking, their barbs could poison you. Darkness creeped into Morgan's vision and threatened to pull him under, but he kept running. He couldn't die just yet. If he could just make it to his ship, he'd be fine. They probably had Heal Seeds or pecha berries aboard. If he could just get on the ship and sail away from the island, he'd be fine.
Morgan hurried across the island, which thankfully was vacant because everyone was at the feast at some undisclosed location. That let Morgan run through the island without attracting attention until he finally arrived at the port where his ship awaited. He could see Magikarp waiting beside the ship, timidly poking her head out as she watched birds fly overhead.
"Magikarp!" Morgan cried. "We need to go!"
The Gyarados turned toward him with an odd look.
"Ummmm… you've got a lot of friends with you," she said awkwardly.
"They're not my friends, they're going to kill me!" Morgan screamed. "I'm going to die unless we get going RIGHT NOW!"
Morgan leaped onto the ship and quickly threw the Chatot into the captain's quarters, shutting the door behind him as he hurried to the front of the ship. Oh god, it hurt everywhere now. The poison had gone full lethal. He could barely see anything anymore as the poison overwhelmed him.
He collapsed on the deck, panting and gasping as foam escaped his maw and seeped onto the planks. Oh god, he couldn't even move anymore. He really was going to die. Either the poison would kill him or the angry mob would kill him. Maybe protagonist immunity was a myth. So what if he was still early in the story? Maybe he really could die in this world! He sure felt like he was dying right now!
Oh Arceus in Heaven, if you just let me live now, I promise I won't do anymore stupid things from now on! I promise, I'll be smart about everything, just please don't let me die!
Someone abruptly shoved something into his mouth, something sweet and soft. He bit down on it to find that it was a pecha berry, one that instantly cleared up his vision and nullified the poison. He saw Stormy standing over him, clacking her beak irritably as she removed her flipper from his mouth.
"I'm going to murder you when this is over," she seethed. "Now come on, help Skipper tie up Magikarp so we can get out of here!"
Morgan got to his feet and looked over to the Gyarados to see Skipper dive into the water with a line of rope. He went after the Marshtomp and grabbed his own line of rope before jumping into the ocean. The two of them tied the ropes securely around the Gyarados's thickest dorsal fins before climbing back onboard, just in time for them to see the mob clambering onto the beach.
"Get us out of here, Magikarp!" Morgan commanded. "Now!"
Without a moment's delay, the Gyarados lurched forward, pulling the ship with her. Skipper, Morgan, and Stormy fell back from the sudden yank as the giant fish dragged the ship away from the island, pulling them at a speed comparable to that of a motorboat. The three spilled into the captain's quarters before they could get blown off the ship and hurled into the sea.
Within heartbeats, they left Stargaze Island behind in the sunset horizon, never to see it again for as long as they lived.