The skies are as blue as ever. There isn't much clouds hanging overhead today, allowing even more sunlight than usual to beam down over the sea where she is at.
Jasmine leaned against the railings of the ship she is boarded on and closed her eyes, allowing the cool sea breeze to caress her face. She is in a very good mood since she will be able to see him in less than an hour.
Amphy stood beside her, keeping her company alongside Lucy, her lucario. The lucario species are native to the Sinnoh region. Jasmine have no idea how Volkner managed to even find Lucy since Lucy's species is very rare to come across, but she suspects that he had bought Lucy from somewhere and then gave Lucy to her. The same goes for many of her other pokemon that is not native to the Johto region.
If this isn't proof that he cares a lot about her, then she doesn't know what is. Given Volkner's lazy personality, he won't do something troublesome like this for just anyone else. At the very least, she knows for sure that she is important to him.
The thought of that alone makes her extremely happy.
She sat down on a nearby chair, only to find herself standing up and walking about the deck restlessly before sitting again. She knows she is too excited to keep still, but she couldn't help it. It's been a while since they had met.
Lucy suddenly turned around and faced in a certain direction with a concerned expression on her face. It got Jasmine's immediate attention.
"Lucy? What's wrong?"
The faint sound of a roar resounded from the sea somewhere. Jasmine frowned. She recognised that roar immediately since she had heard it many times since she was a kid. That roar belongs to a gyarados, a species of pokemon that can be found almost anywhere in any region as long as there are huge bodies of water. Olivine is situated next to the sea, so hearing the roars of gyarados is a common occurrence.
What got her concerned was that the first roar was echoed by many others. There is a large pack of gyarados here somewhere. These pokemon may be ferocious, but they usually will not attack anyone or anything if left unprovoked. The ship should be fine.
Amphy pointed in a direction further out on the sea and Jasmine can see the flashing red lights blinking from the ocean surface.
Tentacools and tentacruels, and such a huge number of them too. This is certainly unusual.
She has a really bad feeling about this.
Lucy bristled and growled, and Jasmine decided that she should heed the warning given by her companion. Lucy has the ability to detect and read the thoughts, movements, and emotions of living things. If she deems the huge number of wild pokemon as a threat, then it is most likely a threat.
Jasmine quickly walked to the cabin where the captain of the ship is and gave a polite knock on the door. The captain swung the door open seconds later.
"Um… I think you may want to speed the ship up." Jasmine spoke in her usual soft voice as she pointed to where the group of tentacools and tentacruels are gathered a far distance behind the ship but is slowly moving in their direction. They are now definitely being targeted even if she doesn't know why.
The captain's eyes nearly bogged out of its sockets when he spotted just how many of these water types are heading their way. The fact that the roars of the gyarados are getting louder isn't helping things too.
"Arceus! Why now of all times?! This route has been very safe to travel on ever since Volkner became the Gym Leader of Sunyshore! Boys, full speed ahead! Get the passengers into their rooms! Deploy your pokemon! Someone send a message to Sunyshore's Coastal Guards for backup!" The captain bellowed out to his crew as they quickly got to work. The passengers had also all spotted the growing number of wild pokemon congregating not far from where they are. To their credit, they didn't panic as much as Jasmine had expected them to be.
"You will need to go back to your own room, miss. Let me and my boys handle it from here. There are some of us here who are advanced or even Elite trainers. We will defend the ship and its passengers with our lives."
"Ah, about that…" Jasmine gave an awkward scratch on her cheek with an equally awkward smile. Although she has been a Gym Leader for five years, people seem to forget how she look like or the fact that she even existed. "I am a Gym Leader. I am sure I can help out somehow."
Jasmine can see the captain's jaw dropping for a second before he closed them up again. Jasmine resisted the urge to sigh. Why can't people remember how she looks like?! She is the only member of the Johto's Thirteen Pillars that is always forgotten by the masses! Why?!
"No wonder you look so familiar. By chance, is there any way you can scare these wild pokemon off?"
"I'm afraid doing that will just cause the very opposite to happen instead." Jasmine admitted. "Not all wild pokemon react kindly to threats, especially so for the tentacruel and gyarados species who are known for their violent temperament. I will help defend the ship if they really do launch an attack on us, but we should still try to reach Sunyshore as fast as possible."
"Right. Thank you for your help, Miss… uh…"
Jasmine gave another mental sigh, but still responded to the captain in a polite tone.
"Jasmine. My name is Jasmine. And you should really start to get the ship to speed up."
The captain wasted no time in going back to do his job as Jasmine returned to the deck of the ship where she gave a sweeping look at her surroundings. There is still no land in sight.
"Lucy. How probable do you think that these pokemon will attack us?"
From the look that her lucario is giving her, Jasmine can only deduce that it is extremely likely that they will be finding themselves in a fierce battle soon. She and her team don't have much experience in fighting on the sea, but she has faith that they can handle themselves in such a fight.
No matter how harmless she looks, she is a member of her region's Thirteen Pillars. She is one of the strongest trainers in her region.
The ringing of her pokegear caught her attention and Jasmine quickly answered the call.
"Hello?"
"Jas! Where are you right now? I just received information that a large group of wild pokemon may be on their way to attack Sunyshore from the sea! You need to get out of there!"
"Hi, Volk. And it is a little too late for that, actually." Jasmine replied Volkner as she gave another look at the growing number of wild pokemon. Great, now even other species of pokemon like seadras and jellicents are joining in. She even spotted a few small groups of crawdaunts in the mix. And are those packs of sharpedos? "Our ship is definitely getting targeted by a very large group of wild water types and we are still a little too far from Sunyshore. I will send you my exact location, it will be easier for you to locate me that way. The ship needs backup."
"I'm coming over right now! Hang in there! Stay safe!"
Jasmine can't help but smile a little at Volkner's worried tone despite the situation she found herself in. He tends to worry a little too much when it comes to her, but she enjoys the attention that he gives her.
"I will."
Their call ended just when the group of wild pokemon suddenly started to chase after their ship at full speed. The tentacool line and jellicent line are not known for their speed even in the water, but species like the seadra and sharpedo will reach them within a minute at the most.
Jasmine walked up to the edge of the deck as she quickly sent her current location to Volkner with her pokegear. Many of the passengers had retreated back to their cabins upon the crew's instructions. A few passengers who are obviously trainers had stayed behind voluntarily to repel the attack on their ship. From the looks on their faces, they are not confident in taking on the huge horde of wild pokemon heading their way.
"Miss! You need to go back to your cabin! It is too dangerous out here!"
Jasmine ignored their worried words and continue to walk forward calmly and stood in front of the group. She can feel herself getting more confident as the invisible countdown timer to the upcoming battle ticks down. Volkner had always said that she displays a totally different personality the moment she enters a battle, one that is the total opposite from her usual shy and quiet self. According to him, it is almost like she has split personalities.
Jasmine threw the pokeballs that contain her entire team into the air towards the sea, releasing them for battle as she gave them their first command.
"Magnet Rise."
Her steel types floated in the air as they immediately realised the reason why they were called out by their trainer. Jasmine hopped onto Steely's large head. It will be easier for her to command her team from there. She can also feel the shocked stares that the trainers and ship's crew are giving her, surprised by the amount of power exuded by her pokemon. However, she doesn't have time for them right now.
"Leave the bulk of the fighting to me. All of you should focus on defending the ship."
"But, miss! It's too-"
"Hey, doesn't she look kind of familiar?"
"That steelix… Is she the Gym Leader of Olivine? What is she doing all the way out here?"
"Who cares?! Our chances of survival just bumped up!"
Finally, someone who remembers who she is.
"Bronzy, stay with the ship." Jasmine said to her bronzong, who is unable to fly in the air with Magnet Rise since it is incapable of learning that move. There are other ways for it to achieve a similar effect of flight, but she wants one of her pokemon to stay with the ship just in case. "Protect the ship and its occupants."
Huge blasts of water shot at them from the water types who had just reached their firing range. Magny quickly destroyed the blasts of water with his electric type attacks before returning fire with a Magnet Bomb, producing a loud boom and sending the water types flying back from the impact of the attack.
"Flash Cannon!"
Her army of steel types immediately unleashed beams of Flash Cannon that took out the first wave of wild pokemon in a single salvo. Jasmine stood confidently on Steely's big head, racking her brain on the best way to get out of this sticky situation.
Unfortunately, she drew a blank.
A large flock of wingulls and pelippers flew towards them angrily as her team charged at them to meet them in battle. Emy, Molly and Steely remained behind with her as they witness the team taking out the flying types in quick succession and sent them dropping down onto the ocean surface. The tentacruels and jellicents will be approaching soon.
"Emy, push the tentacruels and tentacools back with Surf. Delay them for as long as possible."
Her empoleon summoned a massive tidal wave of water that swept a large group of the approaching water types away from the ship. Steely wasn't idle either, and used Autotomize to increase its speed by reducing its weight, preparing herself for the larger battle ahead. Her mawile, Molly, stood by her side on Steely's head as she fired her own attacks from her position. Molly's main role is to defend her trainer from any stray attacks that might harm her.
A Metal Burst from her bastiodon, Bobby, caught her attention as he successfully repelled a large flock of pelippers before he purposely dropped himself down onto the ocean surface with a Heavy Slam. The combination of his dense weight and the attack created another wall of water that crashed onto their foes. Magny rained a combination of electric beams and Mirror Shots onto a group of crawdaunts as Clang, her Klinklang, dove into the thick of battle while activating Shift Gear to raise its offense and speed before smashing into its foes with Gear Grind in reckless abandon. None of the attacks from the wild pokemon here is strong enough to harm it due to its solid defences.
Jasmine is glad that Volkner had taught her how to teach her team how to use Magnet Rise to its full potential. She is also equally glad that he had shared with her his experiences in handling mob battles like this. They would not have been able to fight a battle on the sea with such effectiveness otherwise.
Skia, her skarmory, took on another large flock of angry pelippers by her lonesome. Her metal plating is too hard for the sea birds to do any real damage to her. Amphy provided support by shooting Shock Waves and Thunder Waves, aiming to help by restricting their enemies' movements instead of doing damage since the rest of the team had that covered. Forest and Thorny, her forretress and ferrothorn, joined Clang in charging through the masses of water types with Gyro Ball. Mety, her metagross, took on the stronger group of tentacruels on its own as it smashed them with its powerful legs with Bullet Punch and Meteor Mash, stomping its opposition with a violent streak. Drilly, her excadrill, adopted a hit-and-run tactic by diving in and out of the jellicents and slashed at them with repeated use of Smart Strikes and Metal Claws. Lucy hovered near Drilly as she sent overpowered beams of Flash Cannons that wiped out any of their foes that Drilly had missed.
A collective roar was heard and an enormous number of gyarados burst out from the waters before charging straight at her and the ship. It seems that her worst fears had finally came true.
Jasmine idly fiddled at the Key Stone that she fashioned into a simple hair tie to tie her hair into her signature pigtail style. It seems that she might really need to utilise Mega Evolution to defend the ship from harm, depending on how intense the battle might be later. She crouched down from where she is on Steely's head and gave her biggest pokemon a pat with her hand. She will need to make sure that she doesn't fall off Steely's head when their battle with the pack of gyarados finally started. It will be embarrassing if that happens.
Mety floated back by her side as Emy swam to their front. Molly stood by her as usual. The four of them should be enough to handle the pack of gyarados. The rest of the team can handle the main bulk of the other water types before joining them later. A quick glance at her pokemon showed her that her team had barely gotten a single scratch since their battle first started. They will be alright.
"Let's go, Steely, Mety, Emy, Molly."
Without further ado, they charged in.
Keith Hopper has been a seafarer for more than three decades. He is not bold enough to claim that he had seen it all during his frequent sea journeys that took him to all sorts of places across the world, but he knows that he had seen his fair share of ridiculous and unbelievable stuffs. This is part of being a sailor, it is the unsaid part of the job description.
But in all his life as a sailor, he had never seen a flying steelix before. Not only that, that girl's entire team of steel types are all able to somehow not just levitate in the air despite their heavy weight, but actually capable of actual flight.
Flying steelix? Flying lucario? Or maybe flying mawile, forretress, ferrothorn, and even a klinklang along with some of the other rare steel types that are hardly seen? What is this world coming to? Did all of these steel types somehow gain a flying typing without him knowing about it?
If you are the type of person like him who has to see it to believe it, then you can see it all right here on his ship, S.S. Dominion.
Just who is this young lady?!
His heart nearly dropped into his stomach when he saw that the young lady simply charged into the pack of wild gyarados that just appeared with only four pokemon by her side. He and the other trainers on the ship tried to help, but none of their pokemon are able to match the lady's pokemon team with how intense their battles are. As of now, them trying to help will only be a hindrance for her. They can only stand and watch.
"No, I'm sure of it. She is Jasmine! The Iron Wall of Olivine! Just look at her team of steel types and her steelix!"
The outburst of a trainer nearby who is talking to his friend got Keith to squint his eyes and look at the young lady once more, who is now in the middle of the pack of wild gyarados while riding atop of her steelix. Her steelix simply braved through the Hyper Beams unleashed by a few gyarados without so much as a single scratch on its diamond-like body. The steelix returned the warm welcome it received with a massive Flash Cannon that got everyone on their ship to cover their eyes from the bright light. When the light died down, those gyarados had disappeared with only a massive ripple of water as the only indication that they had once been there.
What a scarily strong steelix.
There's no doubt in his mind now. The young lady is indeed the Gym Leader of Olivine. She has to be, given how good she is in taking on a large pack of gyarados with nothing but four pokemon on her side. Who would have expected that such a sweet and polite little lass to be an unstoppable warrior in a pokemon battle? Each of the member on her team is like a moving fortress on their own.
He can now see why people called her The Iron Wall of Olivine. The group of wild pokemon didn't even managed to advance ever since the battle first started. Even the appearance of the pack of gyarados didn't manage to send her team retreating backwards.
Keith gave a subtle glance at the bronzong hovering on the deck. If the power of the other members of the lass's team is any indication, this bronzong is probably highly trained as well. The ship should be safe.
The trainers and the crew who gathered on the deck all let out a worried shout when more and more of these ferocious sea serpents emerged from the sea and gathered around the Gym Leader and her steelix which she is riding on. The steelix didn't look the least bit concerned at the fact that it has been surrounded.
They found out why a second later.
The steelix curled itself up before suddenly lashing out with its tail. Keith recognised that attack as Iron Tail, and that attack actually got a number of gyarados that were unfortunate enough to be within striking distance to fly away from the blow. The force of the blow produced a violent wind that can actually be felt from the ship, startling everyone on board.
By Kyogre's name! Just how strong is this young lady and her steelix?! How can a simple Iron Tail send gyarados flying away like they are helpless magikarps?!
The ship is gaining speed and getting further and further away from the young lady and her team of pokemon. They are too far away to help her now, not like they can help her in the first place given the difference in their abilities as a trainer. He can only pray to the legendaries above that she will return safe and sound.
If only there is someone who is capable enough to help her without dragging her down.
"Ahead! Another gyarados!"
To everyone's horror, another gyarados appeared right in front of their ship. This particular gyarados is way larger than the others of its kind which they had just spotted.
"Everyone! Get ready!"
The entire group of trainers and the ship's crew released their pokemon out and braced themselves for a bloody fight with this monstrous gyarados, who is heading straight for their ship at full speed.
"ON THE COUNT OF THREE! THREE! TWO!"
The countdown didn't finish as the gyarados suddenly splashed at the water with a powerful smack of its tail before suddenly taking off into the air.
"What the…"
"How?!"
Ignoring the surprised cries of the people around him, Keith's mind temporarily stopped working as for the first time in his life, he witnesses a gyarados flying in the air at breakneck speed. The gyarados ignored them as it zoomed past the ship with a large volume of water splashing down at them from how it had smacked the water surface earlier.
Why is every single pokemon flying in the air today?! Most importantly, how?!
He had heard from the older sailors that the gyarados species is actually capable of flight, although not many are able to achieve that feat since the gyarados in question must be really strong to be able unlock this ability in the first place. Keith doesn't want to even imagine how powerful this gyarados is to be able to fly as well as the pelippers squawking about in the skies.
Keith wiped the seawater off his face and watched as the gyarados unleashed a massive Hyper Beam that tore through the group of tentacruels that the other steel types from the lady's team were fighting against. Yellow streaks of light suddenly appeared in the sky as they rushed in and zipped past the wild water types with huge bursts of electricity.
That gyarados must be an ally. Upon taking a closer look, there is actually someone standing on its head and commanding it. But what are those yellow lights?
The yellow streaks of light separated into two groups. One group went to help the steel types to push back the still growing numbers of tentacruels. Another group went to attack the pack of gyarados from another direction together with the gyarados and its trainer.
"It's Volkner! Volkner has come to help!"
That is Volkner? The Gym Leader of Sunyshore?
"With two Gym Leaders around, we are saved!"
"You guys can do it! Win this!"
The entire ship began to cheer for their saviours from where they are, although Keith is sure that they are too far away by now for the two Gym Leaders to hear what they are screaming about. He isn't sure how strong the young lady is, but he had seen Volkner in action before a few years back when the S.S. Dominion had docked in Sunyshore for a short while. He happened to chance upon the young man uprooting a criminal syndicate in the city while he was exploring the place.
Keith clasped his hands together in front of his chest, closed his eyes, and sincerely gave a silent prayer to whatever legendaries out there that might hear his plea.
Please, keep them safe.
This is the least he can do for their saviours.
"Volk?"
Jasmine let out a pleasantly surprised tone when she spotted Volkner and his team attacking the pack of gyarados from another direction as he rode on Puddle's head. That massive gyarados of his charged through the opposition with a Waterfall and reached her and Steely.
"Jas! You alright?!"
"I'm fine!" Jasmine shouted her reply back to Volkner over the strong winds of the sea. "We need to end this as soon as possible! They just keep coming!"
Puddle started a Rain Dance and some of Volkner's electric types used this chance to drop bolts of lightning down from the sky. Jasmine and Volkner pressed on their advantage as they kept up the pressure of their attacks on the packs of wild gyarados. The rest of their team who were keeping the wild tentacruel population busy should be done soon, assuming that more of them won't pop out from somewhere.
"Jas, let's end this."
Jasmine saw Volkner pulling up the long sleeve of his blue jacket upwards a little, just enough to reveal the bracelet he wore around his wrist with a Key Stone embedded on it. She rose a hand and touch her own Key Stone that she tied around her hair. What Volkner is planning to do is obvious.
The two of them braced themselves for the power surge that they will be giving to their pokemon. Her iron snake and his sea serpent floated side by side as they too prepared themselves to undergo a temporary transformation.
On an unspoken signal, the two of them invoked the process together.
"MEGA EVOLUTION!"
AN: I'm starting to like to use cliffhangers. Muahaha
Pokemon and trainer list:
Volkner Tide: Gym Leader of Sunyshore, Electric Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievements: Tie for First Place with Flint in the 521st Lily of the Valley Conference, Sinnoh's strongest Electric Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh, The Sun of Sunyshore, The Yellow Flash
Main team:
1) Electivire (Franky), male
2) Luxray (Simba), male
3) Jolteon (Jo), female
4) Magnezone (ISpy), genderless
5) Gallade (Myst), male
6) Rhyperior (Tec), male
7) Probopass (North), female
8) Gyarados (Puddle), male
Pokemon used for Gym challenges
9) Raichu (Squeaky), female
10) Pachirisu (Scrat), male
11) Heliolisk (Bask), male
12) Ampharos (Fluffy), female
13) Vikavolt (Vik), female
14) Eelektross (Whirr), male
15) Lanturn (Glowy), female
Pokemon used for Sunyshore's security
16) Rotom (Prime), genderless
17) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
Jasmine Terbium: The Gym Leader of Olivine, Steel Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Johto's Strongest Steel Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Johto, The Iron Wall of Olivine
Pokemon Team:
1) Ampharos (Amphy), male
2) Steelix (Steely), female
3) Magnezone (Magny), genderless
4) Skarmory (Skia), female
5) Forretress (Forest), male
6) Metagross (Mety), genderless
7) Empoleon (Emy), male
8) Bronzong (Bronzy), genderless
9) Mawile (Molly), female
10) Lucario (Lucy), female
11) Excadrill (Drilly), male
12) Ferrothorn (Thorny), male
13) Klinklang (Clang), genderless
14) Bastiodon (Bobby), male
Flint Cinders: Sinnoh Elite Four, Fire Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Tie for First Place with Volkner in the 521st Lily of the Valley Conference, Sinnoh's strongest Fire Specialist, Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh, Sinnoh's Raging Inferno
Pokemon team:
1) Magmortar (Burner), male
2) Infernape (Might), male
3) Houndoom (Bel), female
4) Flareon (Flare), male
5) Rapidash (Flamel), male
6) Talonflame (Soar), female
7) Volcarona (Buzz), male
8) Chandelure (Wick), female
9) Turtonator (Fuse), female
Cynthia Shirona: Sinnoh Champion, Generalist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Champion of Sinnoh, Pokemon Master, Sinnoh's strongest Generalist, Thirteen Pillar of Sinnoh, Sinnoh's Undefeatable Queen
Pokemon team:
1) Garchomp
2) Roserade
3) Spiritomb
4) Lucario
5) Milotic
6) Gastrodon
7) Togekiss
8) Glaceon
9) Braviary
10) Eelektross
Kayla: Sunyshore Head Gym Trainer, Electric Specialist
Titles, Accolades and Achievement: Elite Trainer
Pokemon Team:
1) Manectric (Woofy)
2) Zebstrika (Zap)
3) Galvantula (Spinner)
4) Luxray (Star)
5) Stunfisk (Fin)
6) Alolan Golem (Gronk)