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Chapter 11
Did I Just Go On A Date With A Girl?
The voyage to Starwander Island proved uneventful. While Morgan had to admit that he was a little worried about Slashie murdering him in his sleep, no such thing happened. She was perfectly fine the entire trip, never showing any interest in murdering the pirates or stealing their loot. She was a perfectly pleasant guest the whole time aboard the ship. She was even courteous enough to avoid Magikarp at Morgan's request, at least until it was time to add the Scyther as a crewmate. She really didn't have to do that, as it was a pretty ridiculous request to hide from the giant dragon fish, but she did it without a complaint.
Even at night, Slashie never snuck out of her hammock and did shady things while everyone slept. She even kept her promise of feeding the crew every night. Somehow, someway, that Scyther always found good meat whenever they docked for the day and made a fine meal out of it. She also went out of her way to always have fish available to Stormy, as that Prinplup only seemed interested in underwater Pokémon.
So in the end, Morgan doubted Slashie was a suspicious Pokémon. If she had any ill intentions, she would have acted upon them already. It would have been so easy to overpower the crew while they slept or poison their meals. That was good, because Morgan really wanted to keep Slashie around. He'd never seen her hunt any of the game she brought back to the ship, but she had to be formidable. There was no such thing as a weak Scyther. If she really could become part of the crew, doors would open for Morgan.
But first, Slashie needed to prove herself at Starwander Island. It was time to see if this supposed friend of hers really could help out the pirates with their financial situation.
When Magikarp brought the ship to Starwander Island after two sunrises, it was a cloudy afternoon. Morgan noted that this island seemed much bigger than the others they had visited previously. It would probably take him a week to explore the whole island on foot from what he could tell. Not only that, but this island actually had more of a stereotypical island vibe to it with the numerous palm trees greeting him from the shore and Krabby scuttling along the sand. He even thought he saw a volcano in the distance, which thankfully didn't look like it would erupt anytime soon.
Magikarp brought the ship to a dock with a relieved smile. Morgan approached the front of the ship and undid the ropes keeping Magikarp tethered. She cast him a confused stare as he untied the last knot, freeing her from the makeshift harness.
"Oh, you don't need to let me go…" she said shyly. "I don't mind staying by the ship while you guys take care of your little errand…"
"Nah, doesn't feel right leaving you stuck to the ship," Morgan said. "I mean, I can trust you not to leave us while we're gone, can't I?"
"You can. Trust me, I don't even know where I'd go if I left you…" Magikarp said as she folded her facial fins back.
"Then I don't see why I can't untether you," Morgan said simply. "Go ahead and explore the ocean until morning. We're probably going to be spending the night on this island."
"Well something might happen to me…" she said with a nervous grimace. "If you leave me untethered, I might get caught in a rip current and dragged really far out. Or I might get eaten…"
Wow. This girl just did not want to leave the ship. It was like her whole life revolved around being the ferry fish. While that kind of loyalty sounded nice and any other pirate would sell their soul for such devotion, Morgan didn't appreciate it. Sure, Magikarp had a few screws loose, but she was still a free Pokémon. She could do whatever she wanted. She didn't need to be a slave to his ship.
"You'll be fine," Morgan insisted. "Trust me, you're a stupid fish, but no one is going to mess with you."
"You have too much faith in me…" she said pathetically. "I'm just a weak little Magikarp that's doomed to be eaten…"
"No, you're not!" Morgan cried, finally losing his patience. "You're a giant sea monster that can literally blow up entire islands if you really wanted to! In fact, you kind of already have!"
That stunned the Gyarados silent. It was almost comical seeing the fearsome serpent so stupefied. Morgan could already see her brain going into overdrive, doing its absurd mental gymnastics to make her keep thinking she was a Magikarp. The Croconaw groaned and shook his head. This entire conversation was giving him a headache.
"Do whatever you want," Morgan finally said. "Stay by the ship or go wander around until we get back. I don't care as long as you're back at the ship at sunrise."
Without waiting for her response, Morgan retreated into the captain's cabin and retrieved Bird. After tying her leash to his wrist and placing her on his shoulder, he took her off the ship and joined the rest of his crewmates on the shore.
"We all set?" Morgan asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready," Stormy said with a nod. "Do you really need to bring Bird with us though? She probably wouldn't mind staying in the cabin."
"Oh no, wherever I go, Bird goes," Morgan stated. "We're a package deal."
"She better not have a screaming fit like she did yesterday…" Stormy grumbled. "My ears are still ringing from her awful squawking."
"Hey, that was just because an Emolga popped out of a tree and scared her!" Morgan retorted. "She thought she'd get electrocuted or something! You can't blame her for freaking out! Besides, we need to take her along in case she molts more feathers. Think of all the extra gems we could get!"
"Whatever," Stormy said with a dismissive wave of her flipper. "Skipper, you got the goods, right?"
"Sure do!" Skipper said cheerily as he held up a sack. "Got the teeth and all the feathers Bird shed over the past two sunrises."
"Good," Stormy said before looking to Slashie, who was watching over the group with a giddy, girlish grin. "We're ready to see your friend then, Slashie. Lead the way."
"Sure thing, dearies!" the Scyther said in a sing-song voice. "Time for my wittle pirates to get richer! Oooooh I'm looking forward to how big your smiles are going to be! I bet it'll be so cuuuuuuuuuute!"
The three stood there awkwardly. No matter how much they hung around the Scyther, they just could not get used to her weird mannerisms. How exactly was one supposed to react when a giant killer bug kept fawning over you like you were a puppy?
"Let's gooooo!" Slashie cooed.
She headed mainland and after waiting a heartbeat, the three pirates followed. Morgan scratched Bird's head as he looked back at the ship, wondering if Magikarp had actually left. He didn't see her head or fins poking out of the water, but she tended to hide herself completely in fear of birds passing overhead. So, there was an equal chance she was wandering about or just hiding under the ship as she always did. At least, hiding as much of her body as she could. It was a bit difficult to hide when you were a giant, twenty something foot sea monster.
Morgan shook his head and looked back to Slashie. Whatever, he'd worry about Magikarp later. She'd be fine until they got back. Right now he needed to worry about Slashie's elusive friend who supposedly liked collecting body parts. He couldn't imagine why anyone would have such a strange hobby, but then again, some humans liked collecting bugs and pinning them to boards. Some humans even liked hunting animals and mounting their heads to walls. So maybe a Pokémon wanting to decorate their home in feathers and teeth wasn't too different than what those humans did.
"So how much do Chatot feathers and Croconaw teeth sell for?" Skipper asked as they walked.
"Oh, that really depends!" Slashie said. "I don't really keep up with that kind of stuff, but I heard fangs are going for four hundred gems each and feathers maybe for fifty gems each. Of course, the bigger the feather, the more gems you can get!"
"Oh sounds like we'll get a decent amount of gems then," Skipper said pleasantly.
"We can get four hundred gems for one of Jawbone's teeth huh?" Stormy asked before looking Morgan's way. "Hmmmm."
"Hey hey, why are you staring at me like that?" Morgan said, laughing nervously in a desperate attempt to hide his panic.
"Are your front teeth growing back in?" Stormy asked, ignoring Morgan's question and still staring at him creepily.
Morgan opened his maw and felt his upper jaw with his claws. He could feel two teeth growing back already. Huh. He actually hadn't expected the fangs to come back that soon. Then again, crocodile were known to lose teeth all the time and replace them just as quickly…
"Ummmm… yeah, they are…" Morgan said quietly. "They're like… halfway grown in. Why?"
Stormy abruptly slapped Morgan's mouth, but the Croconaw saw it coming. Just as she was about to hit him, Morgan opened his maw and snapped his jaws down on her flipper. The Prinplup squawked and tugged her flipper away, but she couldn't free herself from Morgan's grasp. His grip was too strong. Morgan grinned at that. He could feel her pulling with all her might, but it took hardly any effort to keep her flipper stuck between his fangs.
"Jawbone, quit it!" she shrieked. "Let go!"
She whapped him on the snout with her free flipper, but it hardly fazed the Croconaw. He reflexively bit down harder, causing even more screaming.
Morgan guffawed, but still let Stormy go. It was best not to make her too mad. He opened his jaws, setting the Prinplup free as she gingerly rubbed her flipper. Morgan could see deep puncture wounds on her wing and huge droplets of blood dripping onto the ground.
"You had it coming," Morgan scoffed as he spat out the salty bird blood filling up his mouth. "If you want more of my teeth, you're gonna have to wait until they fall out on their own."
Stormy hissed, but didn't make a retort. Maybe she'd learned her lesson from this. Morgan certainly hoped so; Stormy was a good mentor, but she needed to quit being so brash. It was a miracle he hadn't already snapped his jaws around her.
Skipper grimaced at the sight of the blood and ran off the path toward a bush of oran berries growing nearby. He plucked a few of them off the plant before hurrying back over to the group. He handed one of the orans over to Stormy, and as she swallowed it down, Skipper smashed the remaining berries in between his flippers. He then applied the mush to her wounds. Stormy flinched at the sudden touch, but didn't fling the berries away. Instead she helped Skipper with pressing them harder against her flipper.
"What are you doing?" Morgan asked.
"Putting the orans directly on the bite marks," Skipper answered.
"But why?" Morgan asked. "She just ate an oran, shouldn't that be good enough to heal her?"
"Eating orans does help, yeah, but putting the oran right on the wound will stop the bleeding," Skipper explained.
Well that made sense actually. He was covering the wound and helping with clotting like anyone would do if they got a cut. However, since they didn't have any towels or Band-Aids, berries were the next best thing. Plus, it did look like the oran was actually helping with it being a healing fruit and all. There wasn't any more blood leaking onto Stormy's feet.
"Thanks, Skipper," Stormy said softly. "I think we can take these orans off now."
The Marshtomp nodded and carefully removed the berries, allowing everyone to see that Stormy's wound was already closing up. A nice clot had formed, much to Stormy's delight. Skipper tossed the bloody and mushy berries to the side and spat some water onto his flippers, ridding himself of the oran juice and blood stained onto his scales.
"Awwww look at marshy being an Audino!" Slashie cooed. "You made plupy all better, just like that!"
"It's no big deal…" Skipper said bashfully. "That bite looked really painful and I just felt bad…"
"Well you're a good marshy, looking after his crewmates like that!" Slashie said playfully. "I know who I'm going to if I ever get a cut!"
Skipper laughed awkwardly, clearly not used to this much praise. Even still, he smiled at the compliment and seemed to walk with a little more pep in his step even after silence came over the group again.
Eventually, the five arrived at the nearest town within Starwander Island, a place called Whirlpool Village. It was a quaint little place with all the buildings being tiki huts of varying shapes and sizes. Didn't matter if the hut was a grocery market that just about everyone visited at least once a week or just a drink stand Pokémon visited at leisure: every single place had that palm thatched roof and no semblance of walls.
Everyone on this island seemed quite chipper and carefree, not even looking the least bit alarmed by the crew. Hardly anyone even paid them any mind, only giving a momentary glance before continuing on with their day. Of course, Morgan and his crewmates didn't exactly look like pirates, so maybe they had no reason to be concerned in the first place. That was good, because Morgan didn't want to cause a commotion on this island. It seemed like a nice place to visit for relaxation with its beautiful beach, endless palm trees, and laid back atmosphere.
Morgan watched a few Pikachu and Phanpy run past him, chasing after a ball of sorts. They ran through the dirt roads, laughing as they kicked it and tossed it between each other. They looked like kids, and ones that were even younger than him. He wondered if their homes were close by.
"Hey Slashie, how far away is your friend?" Morgan asked.
"Oh not too far!" Slashie said. "Shouldn't be much longer. Is my wittle Croconaw getting tired and need someone to carry him?"
"Oh no, no I'm good," Morgan said with a shake of his head. "Was just curious."
Slashie cast him a beaming smile before looking ahead once again. As promised, she brought the crew to their destination fairly quickly. After only two hundred or so heartbeats, they arrived at strange place in the outskirts of town. The five stood before a massive tree, one with thick branches that could easily support several dozen roosting birds. While the sight of this not palm tree was strange indeed, especially because it was the only one of its kind on the island, that wasn't the strange part about all this. The strangeness of the tree was what decorated the tree.
At least a hundred skulls of every Pokémon were strung from the branches and dangling down like Christmas ornaments. Cubone skulls, Lucario skulls, Nidoqueen skulls, Dragonite skulls, Salamance skulls, Gabite skulls… there were an awful lot of skulls. Especially dragon-type skulls. Morgan could spot the skull of just about every dragon he knew in the Pokémon world hanging from this tree. That alone was pretty strange, but Morgan quickly realized that each of these skulls was decorated. Some of the skulls were adorned with feathers, others with furs of various Pokémon. Some of the skulls even had teeth embedded deep into them.
Some feathers and teeth also decorated the tree itself, making strange wreaths or chains of fangs. Either way, the tree was quite the sight to behold. It gave off the vibe that this place was a witch's house and that if you dared go inside, you'd be eaten alive or turned into a frog.
Based on the dumbfounded looks of his crewmates, Morgan saw he wasn't the only one baffled by the occult-like tree.
"Hiiiiiiii!" Slashie called out, buzzing her wings loudly. "It's me, Slashie! I've got some cuties that wanna sell you some Chatot feathers and Croconaw teeth!"
Just then, an Altaria's head poked out from the canopy of the tree, right next to a giant Haxorus skull. The bird chirped and swooped down to the ground. He landed gracefully before the group and ruffled his cloud-like feathers, spraying up fine particles into the air.
"Oh hello hello!" the Altaria sang in a sweet voice. "Long time no see, Slashie! Who are your little friends?"
"This is Jawbone, Skipper, Stormy, and Bird!" Slashie said, pointing to each one of them with her scythe. "They're pirates I found while I was at Starease Island! Pretty cute, aren't they?"
"Oh pirates, are they?" the Altaria asked eagerly as he approached the four. "Oh well that's perfect! Pirates are always the best to buy from!"
Though he was a pretty big bird, almost as tall as Morgan for that matter, Morgan wasn't too wary of the bird. After all, he was an Altaria with big, puffy cloud wings and a happy little face. How could Morgan possibly be intimidated by that? Sure, the Altaria's tree was decorated a little strangely, but that could be overlooked.
Of course, that didn't stop Bird from screaming at the Altaria. She opened her beak wide as she screeched and raised her feathers.
"Hey, calm down," Morgan said soothingly to the Chatot. "Relax, no one is ever going to hurt you as long as you're with me. You don't need to scream at everyone who's bigger than you."
"RAAAAAAAAAYYAAAAAAH!" Bird screeched, having none of Morgan's sweet talk.
"Bird," Morgan said, more sternly now.
The Chatot stopped screaming, but wouldn't close her beak. She kept glaring at the Altaria, eyes pinned and stance rigid. Maybe she just felt intimidated by another bird. Morgan remembered the macaw being that way sometimes. She especially hated those red macaws, for some reason.
"This is my friend I was talking about!" Slashie said to the pirates while gesturing to the Altaria. "This is Fluffeh, the world's greatest collector ever!"
Fluffeh the Altaria. Well Morgan supposed it was a fitting name for a cute, puffy bird that probably gave excellent hugs. It still didn't stop him from internally sighing at the name though.
"Nice to meet you, Fluffeh," the Croconaw said, resisting the urge to make a dry remark about the name. "Slashie here told us you were interested in buying some Croconaw teeth and Chatot feathers from us."
"Oh yes! I love teeth and feathers, especially Chatot feathers!" the Altaria said with a pleasant hum. "Their colors are so striking, much unlike any other feather I've ever seen, except Ho-Oh feathers from what I've heard. Ooh if I could get my wings on a few of those… why, I'd be the happiest bird in the world!"
"Great, well we got a whole bunch and two Croconaw teeth, if you'd like to make a deal," Morgan said with a grin.
"Of course, of course!" Fluffeh sang. "How about a hundred gems for your Croconaw teeth?"
"Deal," Morgan said. "And the feathers?"
"Hmmmm, let me have a look at them real quick," the Altaria said.
Morgan motioned for Skipper to come forward. The Marshtomp approached the Altaria and opened up the sack before pulling out a large wad of feathers. The blue bird's eyes glimmered like diamonds as he cooed softly, sounding exactly like a dove.
"Ah! You have so many!" he cheered. "For that many feathers, I'll give you five hundred gems! Oh yes, those colors are marvelously vibrant! They'll go perfectly with a Hydreigon skull I got recently…"
Morgan pointedly ignored the comment about the dead dragon skull in this bird's tree before he started asking questions. Instead, he looked to Stormy, who was watching over the exchange.
"How does that sound, Stormy?" Morgan asked. "You think six hundred gems is good for everything?"
"Honestly I was expecting a lot more for your teeth, not Bird's feathers," Stormy stated. "Teeth are much more practical than pretty feathers, but hey, I'm not the customer. So yeah, the deal sounds fine to me."
"Alright, well sounds like you've got yourself a deal," Morgan said to the Altaria.
Fluffeh let out another coo before digging into his fluffy cloud wings and plucking out a few red and purple gems before dropping them at Morgan's feet. Well, Morgan couldn't say he was too surprised that the Altaria could legit store money inside his wings; those feathers looked awfully dense. He imagined they were a lot like cotton, even though that should have made it impossible for the bird to fly in the first place.
"There you are! Six hundred gems!" Fluffeh said. "Now if you would…"
Skipper put the feathers back inside the bag and handed them over to the Altaria. The large bird lifted a foot and grasped the sack tightly between his talons. As the bird set his foot back down, pressing the bag into the ground beneath his claws, Morgan noticed a strange, pink stone tied around the Altaria's ankle. He just hadn't noticed it before because most of the bird's legs were hidden underneath the puffy feathers. As he stared at it, he noticed a rather familiar sigil etched into the sphere.
"Hey… is that a Mega Stone?" Morgan asked as he pointed to the rock.
"Why yes it is!" Fluffeh said with a proud puff of his chest. "It's a genuine Altarianite! Quite difficult to find these things, I'll have you know. I ended up having to pay almost a million gems for it! Well, more like I would have had to pay a million gems if I had actually bought it from that devious little Garchomp…"
"Huh, so you guys do have Mega Stones in this world," Morgan muttered mostly to himself. "And how long do you stay a Mega Altaria when you use that stone?"
"Oh, until I get knocked out or after a sunrise," Fluffeh answered simply. "Usually the latter more than the former. I don't get knocked out so easily. Never underestimate a fairy dragon!"
Morgan nodded. Alright so Mega Evolution existed here. This could be very useful to him. While Morgan personally couldn't Mega Evolve because Game Freak decided that Johto starters weren't good enough to have Mega Evolutions (but Hoenn and Kanto starters could because stupid favoritism), he already had three crewmates that could use the Mega Stones. Sort of. Magikarp was the only one who could immediately use the stone if she got ahold of one (assuming he even wanted her to have one considering the transformation might turn her vicious again). Slashie and Skipper would need to evolve first before they could do ripoff digivolving. However, that probably wouldn't be too difficult to do. Morgan was sure he could find lots of Joy Seeds and a Metal Coat at a black market if he tried hard enough.
Maybe Morgan's future crewmates would also have the potential to Mega Evolve. He had to admit he kind of wanted a Manetric or Houndoom on his ship. They were both respectable dog-like Pokémon that had their perks. And maybe it was also just a human instinct to have a dog around.
"Well if you ever find any more Mega Stones, can you let me know?" Morgan asked.
"Only if you keep selling more feathers and teeth and whatever else you can find," the Altaria said in a singsong voice. "Otherwise how else am I going to find you?"
"Sounds like a deal then," Morgan said with a smile. "Thanks, Fluffeh."
"Oh no problem, it's my pleasure!" the Altaria said before spreading his fluffy wings. "Take care now! I'm already looking forward to seeing you again!"
With that, the dragon bird took off and flew back up into his tree. Morgan watched the bird go before reaching down and scooping up the gems in his claws. He then led his crewmates away from the macabre tree and back to the beach. When they reached the sandy shores, the sun was still relatively high in the sky. They probably had a few hours before night hit. Morgan told his crew to stay on the beach as he went inside the ship and deposited the gems in the funds chest. After shutting the chest, he went back out and rejoined his crewmates.
"So, I say we enjoy ourselves until the sun sets," Morgan stated. "I mean, this is kind of a nice island, isn't it? Why not use the time to relax?"
"We've been on the ship for the past two sunrises…" Skipper said meekly. "We've been doing nothing but relaxing…"
"Okay yeah, well that's true," Morgan replied. "But now we can relax on the island! I'm sure there's something cool going on here. Like I don't know… what do Pokémon like doing for fun where you lived, Skipper?"
"Some Pokémon liked to go to these things called plays," Skipper answered. "There'd be a bunch of actors and they'd act out a story li-"
"I know what a play is," Morgan cut in. "But okay, that sounds fun. Anything else?"
"Well I say before we discuss doing anything fun, we should talk about the big old Scyther standing with us," Stormy piped up as she cast the smiling Scyther a look. "Like if she's actually going to be our crewmate or not."
"Oh yes, let's talk about that!" Slashie cheered, wiggling her abdomen playfully. "I brought you to Fluffeh safe and unharmed, didn't I? Wasn't that all I needed to do to be part of your crew?"
"You're pretty trustworthy in my opinion," Morgan said with a shrug. "You haven't killed us the whole way here and your friend turned out to be legit... even if he had a pretty weird arts and crafts hobby. So I don't see why you can't join our crew."
"Yeah Slashie is pretty cool," Skipper added. "Plus she gives us really good food! For free!"
"Awww shucks, thank you Skippy," Slashie giggled girlishly. "I always try to give my adorable little pirates the best food I can!"
"Well yes, she hasn't murdered us in our sleep, that's true," Stormy then said. "But I still don't know if she should join us. I don't trust her enough yet."
"Awww but Stormy Wormy, I've been so nice to you!" Slashie whined while casting her pitiful puppy eyes. "Why you gotta be like that? Isn't there anything I can do to make you realize I'm a perfectly harmless bug?"
"Good question," Stormy said. "Hmm. Whenever someone wanted to join Dad's crew, he and the crewmates would always be keeping an eye on the newcomer for a few sunrises and test their skills and loyalty during lootings."
"Oh yeah, that's exactly what your dad did with us," Morgan replied. "Although, he didn't really seem that concerned with us…"
"Because you guys weren't evolved, so he knew it wouldn't be hard to overpower you if you betrayed him," Stormy said simply.
"Fair," Morgan said with a shrug.
"With Slashie though… we don't have that reassurance," Stormy went on. "She could slice off our heads before any of us blinked. So, Slashie, you're going to need to prove you're trustworthy. We can start by having you come loot a guild with us, and if you help us out then maybe I'll be more comfortable having you as a crewmate."
"Sure, no problem!" Slashie said with a beaming smile. "My cuties want me to prove my loyalty? No problem! I'll be the predator that protects, don't you worry!"
Stormy looked a little happier to hear that, but not by much. Morgan realized then why exactly Stormy had been so hostile to him and Skipper the moment they met; it was because she didn't trust them as crewmates. Sure, Captain didn't see the two of them as threats, but Stormy had been long raised to not open up to strangers until they proved themselves. Even now she probably still didn't trust them completely.
Morgan wondered if when he finally gained her full trust, she'd start being a nice. He could easily see her being an agreeable penguin if he'd figure out all this pirate stuff and not constantly look to Stormy for guidance.
"I'm gonna go find tonight's dinner, if you don't mind me!" Slashie then said. "This island has lots of prey perfect for my little pirate gang! When I come back at sunset, your bellies are going to be so happy!"
"Alright, have fun," Morgan said.
The Scyther opened her wings and zipped deeper into the island, disappearing behind the foliage. With the bug gone, the four pirates found themselves alone with time to spare before the sun set.
"So what do you guys wanna do now?" Morgan asked. "You wanna find a play or something?"
"I um… I actually wanted to play in the sand for a bit," Skipper said, tapping his flippers together nervously. "I haven't played in mud for a while and I'm really itching for it…"
"Really?" Morgan asked quizzically.
"Yeah, it's stupid but… hey, it's a Mudkip thing," Skipper said bashfully. "Or well, a Marshtomp thing… yeah. You guys can do something else without me if you want."
"Alright, go ahead," Morgan said. "Have fun playing in the sand."
Skipper dashed for the shoreline with the giddiness of a child running toward a candy store. Morgan and Stormy watched as the Marshtomp dug into the wet sand and lay down in the newly made burrow. They could both hear him sighing loudly and contently as he rolled around in the mud like a dog, covering his slimy body in the rough grains.
"You wanna go find a play to watch?" Morgan then asked Stormy.
"Sure, why not?" Stormy said. "I haven't seen one in a long time. If it's the play about that Jolteon falling in love with a Suicune though, I'll pass."
"It's because you don't like romances, isn't it?" Morgan snickered as the two headed mainland. "You're too good for that compared to other girls or whatever, right?"
"I actually like romances, if they're done well enough and not full of stupid characters," Stormy said with a clack of her beak. "It's just that I've seen that play five times already. And I don't want you seeing me cry at the end…"
"What, you're actually capable of crying?" Morgan teased. "Here I thought you had a heart of stone."
Stormy didn't say anything, actually starting to look embarrassed that she had confessed that. Morgan chuckled at her sudden embarrassment, but didn't push her any further. Her flustered face was good enough for him.
The two plus Bird left Skipper behind on the beach, who really didn't even seem to notice their departure because he was so blissed out, and sought out a play in the nearest town.
As luck would have it, there actually was a play happening very soon. Thankfully for Stormy, it wasn't that Jolteon one, but instead was one called "The Fire Contained". It was about a Flareon who had accidentally burned down an entire village and was sent to a prison as punishment. It was a surprisingly touching story despite the character's rather brash attitude, and the fact that the Flareon was a bit of an idiot. Morgan hated to admit it, but he actually started tearing up a little when the Flareon was told he could never leave the prison due to how dangerous Flareon were.
What really made the play though were the ones in charge. The play was run by an apparently famous pair of Zoroark unoriginally called The Zoroark Brothers and the both of them were talented illusionists. Using their powers, they were able to create the very scenes before the audience's eyes and make it seem all too real. The illusions were so convincing, in fact, that he could smell the smoke from the burning village. There were some real actors of course, like the Flareon main character and Ninetales that served as the unwilling mentor turned friend of the second act (before he betrayed the Flareon in a devastating plot twist), but otherwise all of the Pokémon in the play were illusions conjured up by the Zoroark. According to Stormy, the rule was that all important characters were always played by real Pokémon, unless it was literally impossible to get ahold of such Pokémon, like a Suicune. It was a personal choice by the Zoroark, though Stormy didn't understand the reason.
Either way, the play proved to be spectacular and by the end of it, Morgan already wanted to attend another one of these Zoroark Brother plays. As it turned out, Stormy was quite eager as well and after gathering some information, they found out the next play would be on Starfruit Island the following month. They both made a mental note to attend.
With that all said and done, the two returned to the ship with Skipper joining them soon after. Once Slashie came back from her hunt, she served them a delightful dinner of sliced Finneon and Gogoat, complete with a dainty flesh ribbon on each steak. And once again, even though Morgan asked how she could possibly make the ribbons when she had no hands, Slashie refused to explain herself. It honestly got Morgan wondering if she was using some weird magic to tie the bows. Sure, it made no sense… but so did a Scyther with scythes for hands being able to make bows.
When everyone finished their meal, they immediately retired for bed. The sun had long set and Slashie's meals always had a way of making everyone sleepy immediately after. They were always just that good.
Morgan sighed contently as he set Bird on a storage chest before collapsing in his wooly bed. He had a good day today. He had gotten a good amount of gems, potentially had Slashie as a crewmate since she was proving trustworthy, and he went to an amazing play. He could even say he finally went on a date with a girl, even if he had no interest in pursuing Stormy. Every single one of his friends back in the human world would be so jealous if they knew.
The Croconaw smiled as he nodded off to sleep, looking forward to tomorrow. He didn't know what he'd do, but it would be an adventure all the same. He was having so much fun.
"SQUUUUUUUUAWWWK! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
Morgan's eyes snapped open. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he knew it was still night. The entire cabin was filled with darkness, but thankfully he could still see because he was blessed with night vision as a Croconaw.
And he could see Bird freaking out on the chest, eyes pinned and screeching at the top of her lungs like a banshee.
Morgan was about to tell her to shut up when he noticed something else in the room with them: a light. A light that most certainly wasn't moonlight. It was a red, insidious light that swung back and forth like a pendulum. He turned to the light and immediately froze on the spot.
It was a Duskull hovering there, staring directly at him.
"Oh, you woke up~" the Duskull giggled, his haunting voice reverberating around the cabin. "You shouldn't have done that. That would have made all of this painless and easy~"
A dozen more eerie lights suddenly filled the cabin. More ghosts filled the room now. Gastly, Lampent, Mismagius, Shuppet… all manner of ghostly Pokémon were watching Morgan now. And every single one of them had a twisted grin upon their ghoulish faces, as though all too eager to rip his soul straight from his body.
Morgan couldn't do anything but stare stupidly at all of the ghosts. What was even happening? What kind of turn of events was this?! What was happening to his fun adventure?!
"You should have stayed asleep~" the Duskull taunted.
A chorus of laughter erupted from the phantoms before each and every one of them descended upon the Croconaw in a maddening flurry of impenetrable darkness.