Welcome to Chapter 9! Hope y'all ready for this!
Route 106
June 5, 2016. 22:52
"Dude, I'm glad we came out here man… these waves are mondo bro." A young man on a surfboard said to his buddy also on a surfboard. A group of five surfers floated in a circle in the dark sea, two using small waterproof lanterns attached to their boards while the other three used Pokémon that could glow brightly: a small blue and yellow aquatic Pokémon with lights coming from its blue and yellow tipped antennae, another was a firefly like Pokémon, flying above their trainer, and the last was starfish Pokémon with a round red jewel glowing brightly.
"I know Brawly is all about training in the dark and all, but doing it out here is like totally dangerous bro." A surfer with long dreadlocks said, slouching on his board.
Suddenly a massive wave wave could be heard roaring in the distance, approaching fast.
"Look out boys, looks like a big one!" The only female surfer said, pointing at the approaching wave.
"Mondo Wave!" The first surfer cheered, paddling towards the massive wave.
"Hey! Wait for me Cristian!" Said the second surfer from before, paddling to keep up.
The group of surfers were soon swept up by the big wave, before turning and standing up on their boards almost synchronized as the group surfed in formation on the big wave, each of them doing different tricks on their boards as the wave began to tunnel behind them, creeping up over and around them.
Suddenly a green leafy object surfaced above Cristian, frightening him as he could hear an audible scream coming from it. He soon leaned in for more speed, exiting the tunnel before riding up the rest of the wave, going over. He then spotted the green mass, spotting a small White and green Pokémon clinging on, screaming "Raaallltttttssss!!!!"
"Don't worry little dude! I'm coming for ya!" He yelled to the Pokémon, before paddling over to the Pokémon in distress.
"Come on little dude! Hop onto my board!" The surfer said, gesturing to his board.
"Ralts! Rrrralts!" Nova said, still clinging desperately to the mass of seaweed.
"C'mon little one! I'll save you! Just come to me!" He begged, holding out his hand to the panicked Pokémon.
"Save…dude."
"Did you just talk in my head little dude?! That's so rad! Maybe I'll catch ya!" He said, pulling a Pokeball from his swim trunks.
"Ralts! Ralts!!!" The Pokémon roared, before using Confusion to knock the surfer off his board. It then used it's telekinetic prowess to slide the green mass onto the board, before releasing it's telekinetic hold over the ball of seaweed, causing the leaves to slide off and into the water, revealing Conner.
The tired Ralts then laid on top of the fainted young man, fainting itself from exhaustion. Soon Cristian surfaced, angry at first for the sudden attack but soon in shock as he spots his board holding an unconscious young man partially covered in seaweed as the small Pokémon lay fainted on top, still unconsciously clinging to the young man.
"Guys! Over here! We have an emergency! Hurry!!" Cristian yelled, waving his lantern to the other surfers, who quickly began paddling towards their fellow wave rider.
Dewford Town
June 10, 2016. 13:11
The smell of fresh exotic berries washed over Conner's nose as he could feel sunshine beaming brightly down on his skin from an open window beside him. Conner gently opened his eyes, finding himself in a hospital bed dressed in a light blue hospital gown, in a more cabin-style hospital room, decorated with many pictures of aquatic Pokémon and island photos. Conner then went to sit up, noticing Nova was curled up and asleep on his chest. She yawned, before stretching quietly until she noticed her trainer awake, staring back at her.
"Ralts! Ralts!" Nova cheered, hugging Conner's face.
"Happy!…Happy!"
"I'm happy to see you too, Nova." Conner said, gently patting the excited Ralts.
Soon Nurse Joy walked in, shocked to see Conner awake. "Well if I'll be a crack on a Graveler's back! Glad you're finally awake, we worried ya wouldn't! And all it took was putting ya by the window." She said, pointing at the sunlit window next to him.
"Hmmm. Makes sense.. How long was I out?" Conner asked, placing Nova aside and sitting up, putting his feet on the floor.
"Well, young man, a group of surfers brought you in about 5 days ago. You were covered in seaweed." Nurse Joy explained, grabbing a nearby basket of fresh berries. "The doctors tried everything to restore you, but they couldn't get a needle through your skin, or really anything. They weren't sure what to do, so they brought you here to be with your Pokémon as a last attempt to help."
Conner then scanned the room, spotting Pyro and Nova's Pokeballs on a small wooden nightstand beside his bed. He also now noticed flowers placed behind the capsules, his travel bag, and his clothes neatly folded on a periwinkle guest chair nearby.
"Wait, so where's the old sailor Mr. Briney and his Peeko?" Conner asked.
"Oh he's here, somewhere on the island. For a shipwreck survivor, he seemed very well." She replied, placing the fruit basket beside Conner.
"Island? Where am I?" Conner asked.
"This is good ol Dewford Town, Dewford Island! Well known for trendy sayings!" Nurse Joy perked.
"Glad I'm here, but I'm running late. I have to deliver a letter to someone named Steven on this island." Conner said, gently placing Nova on the bed. He then rose to his feet, and reached for his clothes before looking at Nurse Joy. "I'll be getting changed now."
"Oh right! Of course, I'll be at the front desk!" Nurse Joy stammered, quickly scurrying out of the small room and closing the door.
Conner quickly put on his clothes as Nova turned away to give her trainer privacy.
Soon after getting dressed and ready to go, Conner scooped up Nova and headed out the door of the hospital room.
They soon stepped into a small lobby, seeing three other room doors arranged behind Nurse Joy's desk in the tiny Pokecenter. Conner then walked past Nurse Joy, before turning back to her. "Do you know where the guy named Steven might be?" Conner asked.
"You mean the Champion Steven?! I didn't think he'd be visiting our town so quietly! Hmmmm…. I'd think he'd be seeing our city's Gym Leader Brawly."
"Gym Leader Brawly… interesting. I guess we'll go for another badge while we're here, Nova?" Conner said, placing the Ralts on his shoulder before heading out the door.
Conner quickly felt the warm air and the soft sea breeze that wafted through the pearl colored buildings nearby. Conner could easily spot the beach, littered with fishermen and surfers while people doing their daily commute walked by on the sand covered sidewalks.
"Where do we start?" Conner said, reaching into his pocket to find his PokeNav. Conner turned it on, surprised it wasn't affected by the seawater at all. "Better than phones back on earth." Conner commented, scrolling through to an app called AreaNav. Through there, Conner finds an entire digital map of his current location within Dewford City.
"Ah, so the Gym is only three blocks from here." Conner said, before closing the device and putting it back into his pocket.
As Conner began to stroll through the small beach town, Conner soon spotted a familiar old sailor man with a Wingull casually sitting at a table outside a fancy beachside restaurant called "The Mashing Makuhita", sipping on a fancy glassed smoothie. Flabbergasted, Conner rushes over.
"Mr. Briney?!" Conner exclaimed.
The old sailor shook in surprise, before turning to Conner. "Oh hey young lad! Ol Peeko and I were worried sick about you!" The old sailor said, motioning Peeko to move aside for Conner to sit. "Sit young man! Dinner's on me tonight, I figure we both got stories to tell bout how we got here."
Conner pulled out the chair and sat with the old sailor. Almost immediately a server of the restaurant appeared.
"Hi, welcome to the Mashing Makuhita! I'm Laura, and I-" the blue haired server girl paused seeing Conner.
"It's you?! You're that guy my friends and I pulled out of the water earlier this week!" She gasped.
"Oh my! Looks like you've had an fateful meeting? Now I gotta know what happened!" Mr. Briney said, sitting up excitedly.
"To be honest, I don't really remember much. When the boat got smashed, I fell into the water. The last thing I remember was holding onto Nova before a huge wave crashed on us."
"Ralts Ralts!" Nova sounded.
Laura then quickly looked around, before pulling up a chair from an empty nearby table. "I'm glad you're alive and well, when my friend Cristian found you, he said you were covered in seaweed and your Ralts was on top riding along, screaming for help." She said, taking a second to spot her tables through the window inside. "You both were unconscious when we brought you on shore, and none of the doctors could treat you. When they showed up to take you to the hospital. The only way they knew you were alive was by your heartbeat! Oh and also, what can I get you gentlemen today? I'll be back to talk more… but my people at table eight are literally the neediest people on earth." Laura groaned, pointing at a gray-haired lady cupping her hands around her eyes on the window, looking directly at Laura.
Conner quickly skimmed the menu, before realizing he'd never seen any of these menu items before anywhere. "I'll start with a Soda Pop." Conner said, still scanning the menu.
"And you sir?" Laura asked Mr. Briney.
"Oh I'm fine. Thanks lass!" Mr. Briney replied, picking up his green and blue smoothie.
Laura then quickly got to her feet, put the chair back and rushed inside, being reprimanded by the older lady.
Conner then placed the menu back onto the table. "Okay, so how'd you get out?"
"Ah yes. I escaped my doomed vessel by the skin of me teeth! If it wasn't for my dear Peeko, I wouldn't have gotten out!"
Route 105
June 5, 2016. 16:32
As the boat collided into the large rock, Mr. Briney held onto the wheel for dear life as the hull shattered to bits, the deck tore into two halves as all the remains began to slide under the sharp-toothed fish infested waves. Mr. Briney quickly jumped through the already cracked cabin window, rolling out onto the sinking deck as Carvanha and Sharpedo darted about through the dense fog. Mr. Briney then noticed the above water portion of the large rock still very close to the rapidly sinking remains of his boat.
"I can do this… for my dear Peeko!" He mustered up with himself, before running as fast as he could, leaping off the deck to the rock just before the vessel completely sank below the waves.
The old sailor then desperately clung to the rock as the wind and pelting rain drenched the stranded sailor as he could see Sharpedo's fins circling his rock.
"Peeko!!!! Where are you my dear Peeko?!!" Mr. Briney cried out into the intense fog for what felt like hours…
Suddenly in a small ray of sunshine, Peeko appeared from above, as if like an angel, gracefully flying down to Mr. Briney.
"Wiiinng!!" Peeko cheered, happy to see her companion.
"I'm so happy to see you too dear!" Mr. Briney said, hugging his loyal Wingull. "Alright Peeko! Use Fly so we can get on outta here and find our passenger!"
"Wiiinng!!" Peeko chirped, before suddenly coating her wings in a harsh white light, flying up and around so that Mr. Briney can step onto her wings, keeping his balance as he stood on top as she soared up, careful to keep her trainer standing upright.
"Do you see any sign of Conner, Peeko?" Mr. Briney asked, cupping his hands around his eyes in a fruitless attempt to see clearer.
"Gulll" Peeko sadly chirped.
"It'll be impossible to find em if this storm. May the lord of the sea have mercy on that boy." Mr. Briney said, taking off his sailing cap. "Peeko, let's head to Dewford! We'll get some help there!"
"Winnng!" Peeko chirped, as she rose higher into the air, flying above the churning storm and heading south to Dewford.
By the time the duo had gotten to the island town, the sun had just sunk below the waves.
They quickly rushed over to the Dewford Town Police Department, seeking for Officer Jenny, who is quietly munching on berry covered doughnuts.
"Officer Jenny! There's a young man lost out there in the storm! My boat hit a rock and sank, and the lad and I got separated! My Peeko and I have been searching but we can't find any trace of him!"
Officer Jenny quickly tossed the box of donuts before springing up from her seat and grabbing her nearby walkie-talkie "Officers, we have a SOS Mr. Mob out on-" Officer Jenny paused looking to Mr. Briney. "Where did this happen?" She whispered.
"On Route 105 southwest." Mr. Briney whispered back.
"Out on Route 105! I need every patrol boat out searching! I want surface radar reports every 30 minutes!" Officer Jenny yelled into the device, causing quite a ruckus in the room over, as many police cadets and officers poured out and around, heading for the docks.
She then soon followed, Mr. Briney rushed behind.
"Sir, there's no need for your involvement any more. Just relax and enjoy the island." Officer Jenny said, getting onto her small speedboat, revving the engine.
"Oh but I insist! I've been on these seas for more than 60 years and I ain't never lost a passenger in all my career!" He said, stepping onto her boat.
Officer Jenny sighed. "Alright, fine. But the Dewford Town Police Department is not liable for any damages, injuries, exposure, or pre-existing medical conditions that could happen during this investigation!" She yelled, as the motor to her boat roared to life, propelling the rescue vessel out into the churning sea.
"Officer Jenny we have something on Radar about 900 units away!" A male cadet's voice sounded over the radio device.
"Do you have visual?!" Officer Jenny demanded.
"Not fully. It does appear to look like a floating ball of tangled seaweed on scan."
"Copy. Keep looking, time is not on our side!" Officer Jenny yelled back, turning on all of the various searchlights her police speedboat could carry.
Mr. Briney, Officer Jenny and the entire Dewford Town Police Department spent the first three days searching the waters of Route 105, with no luck. It was the third day Officer Jenny declared the search over and that the passenger overboard was dead. The Police force did a ceremonial sinking of flowers to pay tribute, but unbeknownst to everyone, you were back in Dewford, being taken care of by townsfolk.
When Officer Jenny returned back to Dewford, Mr. Briney checked in at the local Dewford Inn, unable to sleep over the recent events. He hopped online to do some paperwork regarding boat insurance, before coming across a three day old report of a man rescued by a group of surfers.
He promptly clicked the report, playing a short video.
"This Just in, five surfing trainers have admitted a young man and his Ralts to the local hospital. His injuries remain unclear as doctors are still trying to determine the cause of the young man's comatose state."
"We took em back to our gym to see if any of our traditional methods could work, but nothing and now the doctors are having just as rough of a time trying to help the young man." One of the long-haired surfers said, looking into the camera.
"Town officials say-" Briney then closed the screen, before heading over to the hospital to see Conner, grabbing some of the few flowers left from Conner's at-sea funeral before bolting down over to see the young lad.
The old sailor soon arrived, taking no time anywhere else on the way. Right as he arrived, the doctors and nurses were frantically carting Conner around, unable to puncture his skin for an IV, unable to get an X-Ray as his body seemed to absorb and metabolize the radiation, and any electrical shocks would bounce back, frying a few pieces of equipment. While the hospital staff were not looking, a Lilac-haired female nurse attempted to extract a sample from Conner. After a few damaged nail clippers and hair scissors, she settled on using swabs to gather his DNA in his saliva, first swabbing around inside his mouth, then storing them in three small vials. She then tucked the vials away, before disappearing into the crowd of busy hospital staff. After noticing he still had a pulse, and taking small, barely noticeable breaths, all the medics eventually decided it was best to let Conner rest, first putting him in a dark room until Nurse Joy offered to let the lad stay in a room at the Pokecenter so that his now restored Pokémon could be with their unconscious trainer.
Mr. Briney would come by the small Pokecenter occasionally and bring fresh berries for Nova, as Pyro quietly sat inside its Pokeball, secretly worried for Conner, (Nova still sensed it) causing Nova to tease Pyro from the front of his ball to come out, but to no avail. Nova would in the meantime sit on Conner's chest, trying to telepathically connect to Conner.
At some point, Nova used her telekinetic power to move the furniture around, placing Conner's bed by the window, noticing that he began to heal from the sun.
Nurse Joy would then come in and move everything back occasionally, only prompting Nova to do it again once she left. Eventually Nurse Joy became fed up with this and let Conner stay by the window, where he soon fully recovered.
Mr. Briney had literally just left the Pokémon Center just before Conner woke, grabbing a signature lunch special before the 14:00 deadline.
Dewford Town
June 10, 2016. 14:01
"Here's that Soda Pop you asked for! Can I get you gentlemen anything else?" Laura greeted, sitting the glass of ice-cold Soda Pop on the table in front of Conner.
Conner, snapped back to now, forgot that he was going order after being caught up in Mr. Briney's story.
"Can we start off with the Tamato Poppers?" Mr. Briney asked.
Laura then looked back at the window before crouching down to meet the two fellas at eye level. "So back to what I was saying, you were just covered in seaweed, like it took a while to get it all off and some of it was glowing…"
"Glowing?" Conner said, looking at Nova.
"Ralts?" Nova sounded.
"Nova, you saved my life! Nova did it with her Magical Leaf move!" Conner said, picking up the Ralts.
"Thank you Nova! How about after we drop off this letter, we go and find some books, anything you want."
"Ralts Ralts!" Nova cheered.
"Thank…. You… Happy!"
"So, what would you recommend?" Conner asked, putting down Nova and picking up the menu.
"Since we're serving dinner now, I'd recommend the Nanab Tostones with our signature Chople-Berry sauce! It also comes with a side of rice and Smashed Aguav!" Laura said, preparing her notepad and pencil.
"I know what rice is, so sure. Why not?" Conner shrugged.
"Ah, good choice! I hear the Makuhita that work here mash up all the food they serve here!" Mr. Briney chimed. "I'll take the Babiri Salad with the famous Enigma sauce!"
"Ohhh the Enigma sauce, excellent choice!" Laura said, jotting down their order.
"What's Enigma sauce?" Conner asked, not seeing it on the menu.
"Our special sauce that tastes different among everyone that tastes it! It also never tastes the same whenever you try to taste it again! We don't put it on the menu because of how expensive and rare Enigma Berries are!" Laura said, before looking back towards the restaurant window.
"Hm." Conner shrugged, handing his menu back to Laura.
"Alright gentlemen! I'll have your dishes right out!" Laura said, before walking back inside with the menus.
"So, how soon do you think we'll be able to get back on track to Mossdeep?" Conner asked.
"Well lad, from what it looks like, we'll be waiting on me new boat to arrive! Insurance covered the cost of me new boat I had custom made to look like me dear Peeko! I'd say from Stateport City Shipyard to here, not to mention building it…. It be about six to eight months." Mr. Briney said, petting his beloved Wingull.
"Six to eight months?!!" Conner exclaimed. "I don't have that kind of time! I'm sure everyone back home is already missing me. There has to be another way."
"I'm afraid not… unless you have a strong water Pokémon that could carry you there." Mr. Briney jokingly replied.
"Maybe it won't hurt to try…" Conner said, thinking back on how fast the Sharpedo were. "Looks like we have a lot to do while we're here, Nova." Conner said unceremoniously.
"Ralts?" Nova chimed, seemingly enthusiastic.
Dewford City Gym
June 10, 2016. 17:21
"Alright, who's ready to surf some waves!?" A blue haired young man said, turning on a flashlight in pitch black darkness.
"Definitely me, just hasn't been hardly any trainers lately." Another voice yelled out.
"Hey Brawly! You still got me on a lemonade later?" A girl's voice yelled nearby.
"Yeah, yeah-" Brawly started, before accidentally flashing his flashlight on a young man wearing a big red S inside a red and black shield on his black shirt.
A Ralts jumped from the young man's shoulder as they stood directly in front of Brawly.
"Wait a sec, you're that Super-dude Roxanne talked about. How'd you get past all my pupils?!" Brawly yelled, alerting all the other trainers to come forth and surround the two.
"I saw your heat signatures a mile away." Conner answered, getting gasps of shock and amazement from the other trainers nearby.
"You seem like a fun challenge! I bet I'll beat you in an arm wrestling match after I beat you in battle!" Brawly bravely chanted.
"Heh, challenge accepted, Gym Leader. Also first Gym I've seen here so far that's an actual gym." Conner said, pointing at the workout equipment nearby.
Brawly scoffed, before flames of determination ignited in his eyes."I'm Brawly! Dewford's Gym Leader! I've been churned in the rough waves of these parts, and I've grown tough in the pitch-black cave! So you wanted to challenge me? Let me see what you're made of!" Brawly roared, before throwing a Pokeball.
And that's it for this Chapter! I hope y'all are still enjoying this story so far! So without further ado, let's go over some things about this Chapter:
-So for starters, this Chapter was my attempt at time skips, mainly because despite all my research, I couldn't find a solid number/estimate of how long Conner would be unconscious, and even with using data gathered from his fight with Match, (most significant time Superboy had been KOed) he recovered relatively quickly thanks to Solar Suits and Solar tubes where he recovered. Since he's far from home, and in a world that has no idea how he operates, he'd be treated like any other person, thrown into a hospital gown and bedrested in a hospital room with probably only a window and whatever bulbs they light their rooms with. By this logic, I figured it'd be safe to assume he'd be comatose like any other human if his solar "battery" had little to no charge, and would begin to rapidly recover once given ample sunlight/solar radiation.
-Mr.Briney's Peeko can actually learn fly. How it works and more importantly how it looks definitely took some imagination, but considering Peeko has only been seen using 2 moves, and Mr.Briney would likely have a backup option with his experience on the seas, Peeko could (and should) have Fly as an escape option if an issue would happen on the water.
-I definitely had to incorporate a lot of Anime material into these two chapters, as only in the anime, are Carvanha and Sharpedo are on Route 105, while they don't exist there in games. Also I used some of the characters from the original RSE games from Dewford Gym, giving them new roles around the town.
- I personally love cooking, food, and all the things in-between so I took some time coming up with unique foods with ingredients from the Pokémon world, with recipes from our world, much like how the anime has done, but mostly centered around Japanese foods/dishes/recipes. I'll still continue to use foods from all over the world, so don't hesitate to post a review on your favorite food, and maybe you'll find a Pokémon-inspired twist!
So I think that's it for this Chapter, Conner might be here a while on Dewford…
PS: yeah, I know I'm still holding out on mentioning some things. Y'all see what's going on later hehe.