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Chapter 13
For Once, A Captain Did Not Go Down With His Ship
"No, no way!" Stormy squawked. "We are not letting that Sableye on our crew! Jawbone, I swear if you let that little gremlin join us…"
"Look, I'm not onboard any more than you are," Morgan shot back. "What, you really think I'm that stupid?"
"Yes,"Stormy hissed.
Morgan shot her a glare, but knew there were more important things to do than start a huge argument with the penguin. He looked back to the Sableye, who was still standing at the front of the ship and still wearing that stupidly smug grin.
"You're not joining my crew," Morgan told him flatly. "In what world would I let you join us when you almost capsized my whole ship and fed everyone to your Jellicent? In fact, I should just kick you off my ship right now. Maybe as a dead body too."
"Good luck with that," the Sableye chuckled. "I'm not going anywhere until you let me be part of your crew."
"And why exactly do you want to do that?" Morgan asked suspiciously. "This just sounds like the perfect setup for betrayal for me. I killed your whole crew, so you join my crew and then when we're all asleep, you slit our throats and steal our ship and turn it into Ghost Ship 2.0."
"First of all, I wouldn't slit your throats, that's something a flimsy corporal Pokémon would do," the Sableye said, his smile never faltering despite his precarious situation. "If I wanted to kill all of you, I'd reach into your chests and rip out your hearts and make sure they're still attached to your veins and arteries. Then in your stunned silence, I'll show you just how much your still-beating hearts tremble before crushing them in my claws, blinding you with your own blood before you finally die. That's a far more ghastly, far more entertaining way to kill someone."
Morgan couldn't stop himself from cringing at that horrifying, if hypothetical death. He reflexively covered his heart.
"Next, while the idea of joining your crew to ultimately betray you sounds nice, albeit a cliché idea for someone in my position, I find that rather boring," the Sableye went on. "You could say that I'm a bit of an author and find myself preferring more original, more interesting storylines when I can help it. Joining your crew is one of those more amusing routes."
"Yeah, okay, sure," Morgan said dryly. "I'm gonna pretend what you just said makes sense. I still think you're going to kill us in our sleep."
"Please, if I wanted to hurt any of you, I would have done so already," the Sableye said with an ominous glint of his gemstones. "Trust me, if I actually felt like hurting any of you, you would all be nothing more than bloodstains smeared across the deck."
Morgan highly doubted that when he was just a Sableye. Sure, they were kind of creepy and supposedly could steal souls just by looking at you according to the Pokédex, but that was it. They're weren't exactly very strong, even after Mega Evolving, and could easily be wiped out with a good fairy-type move. People were just fond of Sableye because they were in the explorer games and looked like that one alien that attacked a Kentucky home or whatever it was. It was probably why most of the fanfictions he read had Sableye in them in some form. One or two even had a Sableye as a main character.
"Go ahead, underestimate me," the Sableye snickered. "Go ahead and think I'm just a Sableye."
"No, not that again!" Morgan cried with a loud thump of his tail. "You shut up with your prose reading! Who do you think you are, Deadpool?"
"He wishes he was me," the Sableye said with teasing insidiousness.
That actually caught Morgan off-guard. He thought the Sableye would have been more puzzled by his random human world name dropping. No Pokémon should have ever known who Deadpool was. Yet somehow this Sableye knew and seemingly quite well too…
"Moving on before you ask me stupid questions like how I know who Deadpool is," the Sableye went on. "It would do you well to let me join your crew. You could use an experienced captain. I'm sure Stormy knows what she's doing and makes for a decent mentor, but she doesn't know the first thing about being captain. To become a respectable captain, you need to learn from another captain. That alone is a good enough reason to keep me aboard."
"So you want to be my mentor, that's it," Morgan said flatly.
"Not really, you're undeniably stupid and probably won't listen to me anyway," the Sableye answered. "It's just something I can offer you since you need it. You might be more inclined to take me in as your boatswain, however. I know a fair good amount about taking care of ships. And if I recall correctly, your ship was heavily damaged by some Jellicent and probably won't last long unless repairs are made as soon as possible…"
Well that wasn't wrong. The ship had taken massive damage from the Jellicent. Morgan could still see planks of wood drifting in the water around the ship. It was a miracle that ship wasn't sinking at that very moment.
It would be nice to have someone who could actually fix the ship since he didn't think anyone else knew the first thing about ship repairs…
"Well I mean we do need someone to take care of the ship…" Morgan said. "And do need more crewmates…"
"Jawbone, don't you dare!" Stormy screeched.
"We can't trust that Sableye…" Skipper added with a grimace. "He's a creepy weirdo at best and a murderous psychopath at worst…"
"I don't know why you guys are so worried, I think we should let that wittle gem gremblin join us!" Slashie said with a giggle. "He's so cuuuuute! Let him join us, Jawbone!"
"Slashie, don't encourage him!" Stormy shrieked. "Besides, you're not even a part of this crew! Don't go acting like you've got any say in this!"
"Awww but Stormy Wormy, I saved you from all those big bad ghosties, didn't I?" Slashie said with a quiver of her mandible. "And I took you to Fluffeh and got you more gems like I promised! Pleaaaaaaaaase let me join your crew, I've been such a good Scythey Whythy to you!"
"Oh no… oh no, not a Scyther," Magikarp whimpered from above before sinking deeper into the water. "You didn't tell me you guys were considering having me a Scyther! They love eating Magikarp! NOOOOOOOO!"
"Magikarp, calm down, we don't know what we're doing with her!" Stormy ordered harshly. "We're still figuring it out!"
"DON'T LET HER EAT MEEEEEEE!"
Morgan's crew immediately got into a giant squabble regarding Slashie's pending crewmate status and trying to soothe the panicking Gyarados that started kicking up giant waves. Each wave rocked the ship back and forth, causing even more damage to the ship. Morgan could hear planks of wood being blown off the hull. He sighed loudly as he buried his head in his claws.
"It's your choice as captain about what you want to do with me," the Sableye then said, who still hadn't moved from his spot. "Crewmates can offer advice to their captain, but it's the captain's word at the end of the day no matter what anyone says. Of course, that's only true in this world. If we were actually a pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy in your human world, you wouldn't have much more power than your crewmates, except in battle of course."
Oh, so that was it. That was why this Sableye knew who Deadpool was and how pirates really worked. This Sableye knew about the human world, and not just any human world; he knew about the human world Morgan came from. Morgan would have been surprised by this, but honestly, he couldn't be when this Sableye kept dropping bombshells left and right. At this point, Morgan would have been willing to believe the Sableye was an eldritch abomination only pretending to be a Sableye.
"That would be something, wouldn't it?" the Sableye asked, an unsettling eagerness creeping into his voice. "Me, being a creature far beyond your mortal comprehension…"
"Well it would explain your hack prose reading nonsense," Morgan spat.
"You can find out if I really am a Sableye if you let me join your crew," the Sableye taunted with a grin. "You'll have an entire story-length's worth of time to figure out what I am."
Morgan grumbled as he approached the Sableye. It actually surprised him how short the ghost was; the Sableye's head only barely reached Morgan's stomach. Too bad the size different didn't make the Sableye look any less creepy with his sinister smile and gemstone eyes.
"I don't like you, like at all," Morgan said with a frown. "But you're clearly not going to leave me alone unless I let you join me, are you?"
"You can certainly try to rid yourself of me," the Sableye taunted. "See what happens."
"Yeah no, I'm not taking your bait again," Morgan huffed. "Ugh. I can't believe this is happening to me."
The Croconaw rubbed his temples before shooting the Sableye a dark glare. Morgan wanted to think he looked at least a little intimidating, but that Sableye just kept smiling like he was the one in control and not the Croconaw.
"Alright, answer me this and I'll consider letting you join my crew," Morgan then said. "You're obviously aware that I'm human and have some knowledge about my world. Tell me, why did I get sent to this world? You know something about all this, I know you do."
"You're right, I'm fairly knowledgeable about the world you come from as well as a good amount of your backstory," the Sableye said. "However, it's not because I come from your world. It's for more complicated reasons. Because of that, I don't have the slightest idea as to why you're here in this world."
"And why exactly do you know so much anyway, even if you know nothing about why I'm here?" Morgan then asked.
"So the story can happen!" the Sableye said with an impish chuckle.
Morgan grumbled. He had a feeling the reason actually wasn't that difficult to understand, but this ghost wanted to toy with him. This Sableye reminded Morgan of a certain character from a horror series Jeff was going on and on about sometimes. Some god-like monster that was always toying with mortals. What was that stupid monster's name called?
"Nyarlathotep," the Sableye answered. "That's the name you're thinking of. Was always very fond of that name myself… ketetetet."
"Shut up! Stop getting in my head!" Morgan hissed.
"I'm not getting in your head, Morgan. I'm reading the prose," the Sableye corrected snidely. "To put it in a way even your thick-skulled head could understand, if you're trapped in a story like you're always thinking, then I'm reading the words that happen in between dialogue, the author's descriptions of everything."
"So what, you're saying I really am trapped in a story?" Morgan asked. "This is like those fanfics I used to read?"
The Sableye just smiled, having no intention of answering the question. Morgan groaned and turned away, looking out toward the sea.
Despite how unbearable the Sableye was being, Morgan could tell the Sableye wasn't lying about being clueless to Morgan's current predicament. He didn't know why since Sableye had probably the best poker faces thanks to having no eyes and it would be so easy to lie, but it was a gut feeling and he was going to trust it. Besides, this Sableye had never actually lied the entire time they had known each other. Of course Morgan ignored the fact that the two of them had only known each other for less than a night.
"If this really is a story made up by some bored kid on their laptop, you do know that letting you join me is a terrible idea, right?" Morgan asked. "Every single Sableye I've ever read about was always a sketchy character at best or an outright villain at worst. Even in the games Sableye weren't all that great. So what makes you so different?"
"A fair point," the Sableye conceded. "I can't argue against that."
"Even still, I'll admit it's tempting to let you join," Morgan went on. "I need more crewmates anyway… we're running on a skeleton crew and we were lucky with fending off your crew. Plus you're not stupid, clearly, and you're not a weirdo. Kind of."
The Sableye was also a guy, which Morgan had to admit was a perk. He needed more male energy on this ship. Being surrounded by so many girls in what was clearly a fanfiction was always begging for shipping shenanigans. And yes, his fear of having the female cast fall for him was outright ridiculous, but no one said phobias had to make sense.
"What a hilariously pathetic reason to let me aboard," the Sableye snickered. "You do realize there is nothing stopping me or Skipper from falling for you too, don't you? Shipping goes beyond all genders, all species… everything and anyone can be shipped with anything else in existence. I've even heard of some characters being paired with another version of themselves. I thought you'd know all this, considering you have a little something called the Internet."
"Well you being a guy just might be the reason I actually let you join my crew, so I'd shut up if I were you," Morgan seethed.
The ghostly captain kept snickering, but he said nothing more.
"Alright, I still don't know if I think you're totally trustworthy, but I do need new crewmates," Morgan said after a while. "So I'll let you join, but don't you dare think I'm not going to keep an eye on you. I did just sink your ship and kill all your crewmates, so I'd be stupid to think you didn't want revenge, even just a little bit. But either way… welcome aboard."
Morgan extended his claw to the Sableye. He never would have done this to a Pokémon since they probably had no idea what handshakes were, but this ghost clearly knew human culture, if a little too much. The Sableye reached for Morgan's claw and shook it as a normal human would. Morgan thought he felt something cold slithering against his palm, like a smooth tentacle. He quickly retracted his claw and looked at the Sableye's hand to find nothing out of the ordinary.
"Don't worry about that, I can feel a little strange sometimes," the Sableye said ominously. "I might look a little strange sometimes too, especially at night…"
"Right… okay," Morgan said. "Anyway uhhh… what's your name anyway?"
"Oh yes, I never did tell you my name," the Sableye said before an insidious glimmer sparkled in his gemstone eyes and a strange smile crept onto his face. "My name is Gallows."
Well at least the name wasn't stupid like most names of this world. A bit edgy, yes, but not stupid. Morgan also thought that name sounded vaguely familiar to him, but he didn't know how. He was pretty sure he didn't know a single person that would call themselves by that name, even as a screen name.
Oh well. It wasn't like it mattered that much.
After that happened, Morgan tied Magikarp back up to the ship and had her drag them to the nearest island with help from the star chart, a place called Starrain Island. It was a good thing the clouds had cleared up by the time Morgan finally calmed his crew down, because they never would have known where to go if the sky wasn't clear. Morgan knew he could always ask Gallows where land was since he had roamed these seas for a hundred years (supposedly) and probably knew the layout of the world, but he didn't do that. After his talk with the Sableye, Morgan had made the ghost hide down in the lowest part of the ship so that the rest of the crew wouldn't find him. After all, he didn't need to start another argument with them about why he had welcomed this murderous pirate captain aboard his crew when the ship really needed to dock and be repaired. It was a miracle the ship hadn't already sunk.
So, Morgan just told his crew that he had "taken care of the Sableye" and didn't elaborate further than that. Everyone had been too wiped out to ask questions.
After a while, a small island appeared within Morgan's sight and before long, they were docking the ship and tying the ropes to the port. By the time the ship was safely tied up, everyone wanted to go back to bed.
"I say we sleep in tomorrow," Morgan told his crew as they all wearily stood atop the dock, barely able to keep their eyes open. "We've had a long night and it's not like we've got anything important to do in the morning."
"Besides finding someone to fix the ship," Stormy said with a yawn. "We really need to get on that immediately."
"Yeah I know," Morgan said. "Trust me, I'll get working on that the heartbeat I wake up. Hopefully the repairs won't take too long."
Stormy nodded vapidly, her eyes already closing. Morgan sighed as he looked at his shoulder to find Bird perched there and already asleep, her head tucked into her back feathers. Slashie and Skipper didn't look much different than Stormy, the both of them looking like they'd collapse at any heartbeat. Magikarp was already submerged underneath the water, undoubtedly asleep.
"Alright guys, go to bed," Morgan ordered. "You did a good job today fending off the Ghost Ship and you all deserve a good night's rest. Even if it's more like a good morning at this rate…"
The crew stumbled into the sleeping quarters and disappeared into the darkness. After making sure all three of them were gone, Morgan took Bird inside his captain's quarters and dropped her off by his bed. After making sure she stayed asleep, he went back onto the deck and closed the door quietly behind him.
"Alright Gallows, you can come out again," Morgan called.
The Sableye emerged from beneath the planks and settled onto the deck before Morgan. The Croconaw sighed as he rubbed his eyes, wishing he could go to bed like his crewmates. However, he had one last bit of business to take care of before he was allowed that luxury.
"So you say you can take care of the ship huh?" Morgan asked. "How fast can you get this thing repaired?"
"Probably within a couple of sunrises, presuming there's not more to take care of," Gallows answered as he peered over the ship's edge and eyed the damage. "Your hull took quite the beating."
"Yeah, and I wonder whose fault that is," Morgan huffed.
The Sableye chuckled as he made his way off the ship and onto the sandy shore. Morgan followed him and watched the Sableye inspect the ship more closely. Now that they were closer, Morgan could see a bunch of holes had been punched into the ship and even a few burn marks were streaked across the hull. He imagined those black marks were from Magikarp's numerous Hyper Beams. The Sableye and Croconaw dived into the water and inspected the very bottom of the ship to find it was mostly intact, though it did have an alarming number of tiny holes embedded in the wood. Where they had come from, Morgan had no idea.
The two resurfaced and headed back to shore.
"Hmm your ship is in more need of maintenance than I anticipated," Gallows said. "We might be here for perhaps four sunrises then."
"If you can get the job done, then I don't really care how long it takes," Morgan said simply. "How much is this going to cost though?"
"Oh you don't need to worry about that," Gallows said with a grin. "I have funds of my own to pay for the materials."
"You don't have any gems," Morgan said blankly. "I sank your whole ship with all your stuff on it, remember?"
The Sableye chuckled as he reached into his chest and actually phased his claw straight through his ghostly flesh. He rummaged around in her innards for a while before pulling out a giant blue gem the size of Morgan's fist. Morgan didn't even need to understand currency that well to know that gem was worth a fortune.
"Besides, I'm a Sableye," Gallows said. "I have gems growing all over my body. I'll have more than enough funds for the materials."
"Well I mean… okay, that works out for me," Morgan said, almost too speechless to speak. "Ummm, why are you paying for this, though? It's my ship, I should be giving you the money to fix the thing up."
"Consider this part of my repayment for allowing me as a crewmate," Gallows answered. "I need to gain your trust somehow, I might as well start this way."
"Oh, so that's what this is about," Morgan said with a frown.
This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, however. Morgan wanted to hold onto all the gems he could, especially when the crew would be trapped on the island for a good four sunrises, if Gallows's estimate was true. There might be some guilds to rob on Starrain Island, but without a getaway ship available, it would be risky to pull off. They'd have nowhere to flee if the guild chased them down. Morgan would need to discuss this with his crewmates when they woke up.
"Alright well I'll leave the repairs up to you," Morgan said. "I'll still keep an eye on you though to make sure you're not doing anything sneaky."
"Fair enough," Gallows said with a shrug. "Be warned, however, that I won't be making repairs during the day. I'm nocturnal, you see. It comes with being a ghost. Some ghosts are able to transition to being diurnal, but I was never able to do it."
"Right, should have figured," Morgan said with a long sigh. "Then that means I'm going to have to be nocturnal too if I wanna watch you… great. Just great."
"Hilarious, you're still diurnal despite being a Croconaw now," Gallows said. "It must be your human nature changing your sleep schedule. Either that or the author of this story never bothered to check if crocodile and alligator are nocturnal or not..."
"I don't know, I try not to think about it too much," Morgan said dismissively. "Either way, I'm keeping an eye on you even if I really should be asleep right now."
"Or you could simply sleep and trust I'm not going to do anything to your ship or yourself in the meantime," Gallows suggested evilly.
"Yeah no, no, I'm not being an idiot," Morgan said sternly. "You need to be watched for at least a couple of sunrises. And also prove yourself at a guild looting."
"Suit yourself," Gallows said dismissively. "I'm going mainland to gather some supplies. If you intend to shadow me, I suggest you follow."
Though it was very tempting to just let the Sableye do as he wanted, Morgan knew he couldn't let that happen. So with a yawn, he followed the Sableye into the island and arrived at a decently sized town. There were a decent number of Pokémon out and about, and of course the majority of them were nocturnal Pokémon. Morgan spotted an Umbreon managing a fruit stand, a few ghosts socializing in a tight circle, a Noctowl standing outside of a shrine and accepting offerings, and an Ariados crafting silk bags perfect for Pokémon of all body types. Yet despite the number of Pokémon, they were all quiet as could be with only the sound of the rolling waves to fill the otherwise silent air.
"Lot more Pokémon out here than I was expecting," Morgan remarked. "I figured everyone would just be asleep."
"Yes, a lot of humans who write fanfictions tend to forget that Pokémon can be nocturnal, and a good amount of them as well," Gallows stated. "It's why I was able to find a rather decently sized crew so easily for my ship."
"Yeah I get that," Morgan said. "Also, that reminds me of something I was meaning to ask you. That Ghost Ship you were the captain of… it wasn't really some cursed, ghostly ship that would drag souls down to the bottom of the ocean, was it?"
"Oh no, that was just a rumor I started a hundred years ago," Gallows said with a morbidly nostalgic grin. "I visited a few islands before any of this happened and spread a myth about this supposed haunted ship that roamed the seas that would spell misfortune to anyone who came across it. The rumor spread fairly quickly and Pokémon even added their own little details to it, like how it only appears at night or during storms and how it doesn't even need a ferry Pokémon to pull it across the sea. Once the rumor had circled around the entire planet, I bought a vessel, gathered a crew, and I journeyed across the ocean as the captain of the Ghost Ship. Everyone who ever saw my ship was so quick to throw their loot at me in an attempt for me to spare their lives."
"So you were just taking advantage of a stupid myth you made up," Morgan deadpanned. "And you did all this so that you could get everyone's loot the easiest way possible."
"I didn't even intend to do any of this for profit," Gallows sneered. "I started that rumor because it amused me. Everyone actually believing the myth and honestly believing the ship to be a bad omen was just a stroke of luck. It was fun, however. It never ceased to amaze me how quickly Pokémon would prostrate themselves and beg for their lives, all because they happened upon my ship while traveling."
"Then why was I towed if everyone else just runs into your ship by coincidence?" Morgan asked.
"I just felt like it," Gallows said with a shrug. "Your ship was right there and I was bored. Never would have expected you to actually put up a fight and sink my ship in the end, though."
Morgan couldn't believe what he was hearing. It all made sense that the Ghost Ship had just been some stupid myth spread around by misconceptions, but to think it was all started because of Gallows and that he had only done it out of boredom…
For once, Gallows didn't respond to the prose, probably because he had nothing to say. After a while, the two arrived at a ship shop, because of course those existed in a world almost entirely underwater. The two picked out all the equipment they could carry for the night, mainly some timber, rope, and unforged iron. It was all heavy stuff, but since Morgan was a Croconaw, he was able to haul it back to the ship without exhausting himself too badly.
When they arrived back at the ship, Morgan set all the supplies down on the sand and took a few deep breaths. He could feel his eyes drooping and a lull was coming over his mind.
"Go to bed, Morgan," Gallows chided him.
"I need to make sure you're not doing anything sketchy," Morgan moaned as he rubbed his eyes.
"Tell me, what could I possibly do with some timber and rope while you're asleep?" Gallows asked. "Don't be so paranoid, Morgan, and get some rest already."
"Fine, whatever," the Croconaw groaned. "Also quit calling me Morgan. That's not my name in this world anymore. It's Jawbone now, okay?"
"As you wish, Jawbone," the Sableye said with an impish smile.
Morgan dismissively waved his claw as he climbed back onto the ship and left the Sableye alone. He knew he needed to keep an eye on Gallows. He knew the Sableye wasn't entirely trustworthy. Yet his body was so tired that if he didn't hurry, he'd probably collapse. So, he just had to hope nothing would happen as he slept and see how things went the next sunrise.
He opened up his captain's quarters to find Bird still sleeping beside his wool bed. He tiredly smiled at her before collapsing on top of the bed beside her. The heartbeat he touched the wool, he fell into a deep sleep.
