Clash with the Pirates
** WARNING: This story is somewhat more violent then the others and may disturb younger readers. Because of this, I have rated it PG-13**
"What happens if he's dead?" I asked rhetorically, sitting on the back of the Lapras as she surfed over the waves.
"Makiki!" Maki stated, sounding almost alarmed.
"But he could be," I replied. I was not concerned about Razor, whom I had not seen since I had released him when facing the Orka, at least he was in his element. But Kameron, on the other hand…
"Maki muRR!" He shook his head vehemontly.
"Oh, what do you know?" I glared at him, "you're not his Pokemon."
Maki muttered to himself and rolled his eyes.
"What are we doing here anyway?" It had been half a day since we had left the island of the Free Pokemon, waved goodbye to MewTwo, the talking Clefable and all the others, and I was starting to get decidedly disgruntled. The ocean was a huge place, how was I supposed to find Kameron in it? How was I supposed to find anything? All I could think about was that I might never find him, that he might be lost to me forever and that thought saddened me to the bottom of my heart. I loved him, yes, but it went beyond that, we were bonded to each other, much as Maki was bonded to me, but in a much different way. More like how Ozmos and Florion were bonded to each other. Ozmos yawned, her sharp canine teeth, specially developed for killing fish, glinted in the sunlight. Florion, stretched out beside her across the shell of the lapras, nudged her and stared at me.
"Flori, florion," he insisted.
I knew they were all trying to reassure me that Kameron was fine, but somehow it just didn't quite work that way. I was sick to the pit of my stomach.
If Kameron was dead, was there any point in my continued existence?
"Maki maki MUR!!" Maki scolded me, as though he had read my thoughts (as he possibly had). "Maki KI!"
"I'm sorry," I whispered to him, "I just don't know what to do, where to look."
"Siiiii!" Something shrieked from overhead and I saw Dragosi soar over. I had released him from his Pokeball some time ago, because with his wings he could travel large distances and look for land or ships. Apparently, he had seen one of the latter.
"A ship?" I asked him.
"Draaaa go siii!"
A big ship, just what we needed, maybe they'd rescued Kameron. "Okay, lead us to it! Lapras, follow him."
"La praaaaaa!"
Dragosi banked sharply, turning abruptly in the air, his wings buzzing and began to flap off. Lapras trilled again and swam strongly in the same direction. Kiki, perched beside the Pokemon's horn, hugged it tightly and shrieked happily. Her tail flared out behind her, bristling in the wind. Azriel, who had fallen asleep across my lap, woke up and braced himself standing on the shell so that the wind rippled across his fur and along to his tail.
"Draa draaa go siiii!" Suddenly Dragosi flew back towards us, looking alarmed. "Siiii, draaaa siiii!" He shrieked.
"Stop lapras!" I shouted. For what Dragosi had just told me was very bad news indeed.
There was something very wrong with the ship.
As a psychic dragon-type, he could sense auras and atmosphere and what he was sensing from the ship was very bad indeed.
It was a ship of death.
Why he had led us there in the first place, I knew not, perhaps he had been too far away to sense it fully, or perhaps he had just not realised how bad it was.
"Have they seen you?" I asked him.
"Goooo!" He replied.
"Good, then let's head for the nearest piece of land, can you find that for us?" My fears for Kameron had taken a backseat for the moment, because it was likely that this ship was the one we sought, the one with the pirates, or poachers or whatever they were.
"Si!" He circled once and flapped off in a different direction. Without a command from me, Lapras followed him. I grabbed Chiko, for she was not well built for riding on the back of a sea monster.
"Chiko," she thanked me. I was glad that now she seemed to like me, and figured it had something to do with the fact I had thrown myself over her when a Charizard had flamed at us. Luckily the blast had been blocked or it could have been most unpleasant, regardless!
Dragosi led us into a pleasant little cove, of an island that seemed unihabited. I didn't know how many islands there were in the Orange Islands, only that there were probably somewhere in the hundreds. Fewer than half of which were inhabited, with at least a handful that had not even been visited at all, due to being surrounded by sheer cliffs, or in the case of the Free Island, constant mists. Chiko jumped enthusiastically onto the land and Azriel followed close after, as always, chasing the leaf on her head.
"Come on guys, let's go get something to eat."
"Kiki maki!" My two lemur Pokemon bounced ashore as if their legs were made of springs. Kiki immediately sprang up a tree and Maki followed, giving one final, long glance back at me, as though asking for permission to play.
"Go ahead," I shouted, "have fun all of you! Lapras," I added more quietly, "you have two choices, either you stay here, or I'll call you into a Pokeball and you can rest where it's safe, just in case the poachers make it here."
"Praaaasss."
"Okay, if you're sure, you can always alert us if disaster strikes." I clambered off the Pokemon's broad back and into the woodland.
Immediately, Maki and Kiki darted down from the trees carrying armloads of fruit. We settled down for a nice picnic and then surveyed our surroundings until daylight faded into dusk.
* * *
"Vap vap!" Ozmos yelped, running up the bank and barrelling into me. We had a fairly perfunctory camp, since I had no tent or sleeping bags. "Vap por reon."
Somebody had entered the Cove. A ship. I peered through the bushes and saw that it was a large vessel, with a Dolfin front piece and white sails, which had been brought down. It looked like the vessel we had seen earlier, in the distance. The one Dragosi had been scared of. Words on the side proclaimed its name was "Wave Leaper."
I hugged Ozmos reassuringly and Florion came forward and nuzzled my hand. What I was most worried about was the Lapras, whom I had taken to calling "Nessie". I hoped she had not been sighted, but I was sure she knew how to hide.
"Okay guys," I said, calling my Pokemon to me, "these people are probably dangerous so I give you a choice, either hide in your balls with me – which means if I get caught, you do too, or hide in the forest as best you can. Remember, these people have a special gun that damages psychic Pokemon."
"Makiki," Maki clutched my leg, letting me know he would not abandon me to hide.
Kiki, looking nervous, crept forward and clutched to the other one – she was frightened but would stay with him.
Dragosi retreated into his Pokeball and Azriel bulleted into my arms.
Florion seemed indescisive, oddly enough. When Ozmos came forward to say that she was with me on this one, Florion nudged her.
"Flori flori florion," he hissed to her, and I knew not what he was saying, just that he really didn't think she should go.
"Va porrr," Ozmos said in resignation, retreating back to sit beside her.
I wondered what it was for a minute but unfortunately, I had further things to arrange and worry about. I looked at Chiko, the only one of my Pokemon friends that had not yet given a decision.
"Chiko, ko," she muttered. "Chiko riTA!"
"Okay then, Chiko, return," I said, flicking out an empty Pokeball. Her newfound trust in me was amazing, to allow herself to be locked away in one of those balls when before she had despised Trainers for all she was worth!
"Here goes…" I muttered.
* * *
Through the shielding undergrowth, I could see the ship. Several occupants poured out of it, the leader being a tall, muscular woman wearing what appeared to be old fashioned attire – a fringed jacket and trousers with gold leafing down the sides. She looked both ridiculous and imposing. At her heels trotted a big black dog. What appeared to be horns protuded from its narrow head and its tail terminated in a point, not unlike a spade. Behind her came several more people, clad in much simpler attire – baggy shirts with huge sleeves (the sort you could lose a Makimur in) and dark trousers. I was not, alas, close enough to actually here what they were saying.
The dog Pokemon started sniffing around in the bushes and I grew worried for a moment there as it started heading towards me.
"Devilin!" The woman called sharply, "come back here you rogue!"
The dog whimpered and returned to her side but it glanced over at us and for a moment I could feel its cold, hard eyes boring into me.
"Maki, Kiki," I hissed to my two lemur Pokemon. "Follow them!"
"Maki murrr…" Maki did not want to leave my side, but he knew it was important. Nuzzling my ear, he leapt into the nearby tree. Kiki followed. The two of them darted off into the trees, following the absuredly clad woman and her followers.
Meanwhile, I moved closer to the ship. The gangplank had been lifted as the crew vacated so I drew out Dragosi. "Can you fly us on board, then find Lapras?" I asked him.
"Si."
I clambered onto his broad back and he buzzed across the gap. Then I clambered off and he flew away. Of course, somebody was still on board.
"Hey, what are you doing here!" He demanded, snapping to attention quickly, given the fact he had been all but asleep.
"Just visiting," I said. "Azriel, stay here."
Azriel was growling at my feet.
The man, who was wearing an azure shirt with voluptuous sleeves, drew a gun from his belt. Quickly he brought it up so that I stared down the barrel. It was no normal gun, the barrel was too wide.
"You shouldn't be here," he said, his voice flat and emotionless. His finger twitched on the trigger. Something large and purple descended on him, striking him in the back of the head. The barrel flashed with violet light and I threw myself to the deck as he took out a section of the sail.
"Eeveee!" Azriel shrieked, darting forward and biting the man on the ankle. Dragosi flapped into the air.
"Thank you so much!" I said to my Dragonfly Pokemon, gratitude rampant in my voice.
"Go siiii!" He seemed pleased. The man was trying to stagger to his feet and I threw myself at him before he had a chance to regain hold on the trigger. I wrestled the gun from his hand using my undamaged hand.
"Now," I said calmly, sitting astride him and holding the gun angled towards his head. "What is it that you and your friends are doing here?"
Not that I couldn't smell it, the death, the blood, the viscera, I could smell something of what went on here.
"What's it to you?" He mumbled.
"Well, I seem to have a gun pointed at you, and yes, I do know how to use it." I was bluffing of course, I could never shoot anyway, even though I knew the evils he had committed. His clothing stank of death. "So, will you tell me?"
"We're hunting Lapras," he replied, "Pokemon meat is a delicacy in some cultures and we can fetch quite a price for Lapras meat."
"So why did you shoot Mewtwo?"
"What?"
I sighed. "Azriel, Chiko, find some rope or something and bring it here." My Pokemon hurried off and eventually returned carrying some rope and dragging a net behind it.
"Now, I'm going to tie you up," I said, "and I would just like to remind you that I have a gun and I will use it."
He stayed motionless whilst I tied the ropes about him and bound him to the nearest post. I also stuck a wad of cloth across his mouth, tying it firmly in place. Dragosi buzzed off again to find Lapras. Once he was secured to my liking, I crouched in front of him.
"Do you know it's illegal to kill endangered species?" I asked.
He just glared at me, his grey eyes filled with hate.
"Fair enough," I replied. With one hand I flicked a bundle of keys at him. I had removed them whilst I was tying him up. "Come on guys, let's go see what we can do."
You will notice, that by now I seemed to have got over the "I'm breaking the law thing". As far as I was concerned, these people were the epitome of evil, killing Lapras for their meat… And they had hurt Mewtwo and Nessie. I thought a bit of breaking and entering was forgivable.
It took me a while to find a large and rather savage looking knife, with which I slashed open the nets on the deck as best I could. Chiko helped me out here, using her razor-edged leaves to shred the mesh and Azriel darted in, trying to tear open the net with his teeth and claws and ended up getting hopelessly tangled in it. I slashed him free with great care. He leapt into my arms and licked my face in gratitude. And then something caught my eyes. A birdcage was tied to the main shaft. In it sat a small bird with irridescent blue feathers and a tufted feather crown.
"What's that?" I asked my Pokemon, both of whom shrugged and shook their heads.
I moved closer to investigate. It had a long beak, such as was useful for fish eating birds and seemed about as harmless as they come. "What are you?" I asked.
"Haaalll cyON," it squawked at me.
"A Halcyon?" I thought I remembered Mewtwo mentioning them. I opened the cage and the bird flashed out, azure feathers flashing in the moonlight.
And then I proceeded below deck.
The door was unlocked, oddly enough and I walked down a narrow staircase, pausing as I heard laughter and noise below me. Obviously the guard on the deck was not alone. With as much caution as I could muster (and picking up Azriel to make sure he behaved), I walked further into the ship.
It was a fairly simple arrangement here, the cabin was up a flight of stairs at the far end of this room from which another door lead into the room where laughter and noise was issuing. This room appeared to be mainly used for storage as it was filled with hooks and nets and large, savage looking knives. There were none of the guns here, however. I knelt before the door and listened to the conversation beyond it. From what I could hear, they appeared to be playing poker. Then, suddenly, I heard footsteps coming towards the door. Immediately I ducked behind a pile of nets, just in time because at that instant the door swung open and a smallish woman walked out, closing the door behind her.
"They had to leave us behind," she muttered to herself, "just because we're crew." Her clothing was different from the others, she wore a tattered shirt and jeans with torn knees.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on me. I watched her walk up and onto deck and followed after her. If she found the trussed sailor, she would immediately know something was wrong. As she got to deck, I dived on her from behind (I had put Azriel down, of course) and pushed her to the deck.
"Now," I hissed in her ear, she was too startled to scream, "I want to acquire your attire, if you would be so kind."
She whimpered a little. "Who are you?"
"I am a protector of Pokemon," I replied, "and that is all you need to know, right?"
She nodded.
"Now, I want you to take off your clothing and pass it to me. Don't scream, because I wouldn't like that and I got a gun off your companion earlier." Chiko held her still with her vine whips and I dressed myself in the ragged attire and dirtied my face a little (although it was already pretty dirty). My hair was the wrong colour, it was too red and the clothing was too baggy on me (this woman had more curves), but I hoped that I would at least go slightly unnoticed. I then gagged and bound her as I had the man. They both stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. As if one teenager could take over a whole ship by herself!
Shaking a little, I headed back downstairs, having recalled Chiko and Azriel (they were a little too obvious). As I approached the door somebody from beyond it shouted out; "Alliana, back already?"
Nervously, I pushed open the door and was immediately hit by a wall of smoke and the stench of alcohol. It was rather unpleasant.
I entered the room, hoping the loose shirt covered the Pokeballs about my waist. Everybody turned to stare at me, but in the grainy light coming from the lantern on the table, I doubt they noticed the hair colouration difference. If they did, their reaction did not show it. I walked in and sat down. One of the people, and there were four in the room, chuckled.
"Aren't you going to grab your cards, Alliana?"
I smiled shyly. "Sorry," I muttered, "I just don't feel to well."
"Oh, the poor girl's getting landsick," one of the men in a purple shirt with gold edging chuckled. He patted me on the shoulder, I almost snarled at him, but restrained myself. I took up my cards and studied them. I wished I could remember how to play Poker, but I had not been paying attention when Kameron had tried to teach me. I sighed. "I think I'll go to bed," I whispered and stood up, heading for the door on the far side of the room.
"Must be real sick," one of the men chuckled, "you're bed's in here girl."
Suddenly they all stood up, three men and one woman and they glared at me.
"You must think we're stupid or something," one said smoothly, "you're not Alliana. What have you done with her?"
In two paces I could be at the door. I ran. Immediately footsteps pounded after me. I threw the door open in their face and ran down the corridor beyond. Like all boats, it was built to make best advantage of the space and thus was a narrow corridor with doors off every side. The footsteps got closer. I whirled. "Go Azriel, go Chiko!"
"Eee veeee!"
"Chiko RITA!" My brave Pokemon sprang out. I scrabbled for the gun, praying I wouldn't need it.
The first person, the man in the purple shirt, met Azriel head on, in a flying tackle. He fell backwards as the Eevee barrelled into his chest, rocketing over him and bouncing into the person behind him. Just to make sure he was properly over, Chiko wacked him about the ankles with a vine-whip, causing him to fall backwards. Suddenly a shot rang out. Chiko tumbled over backwards as a hole was ripped open in her leaf-plume. I screamed in rage and shot at one of the people.
They could not get away with shooting my friends!
The blast of violet light scraped by them, and the smell of singed hair filled the hallway.
"Argh!" He screamed, leaping aside. "She's got one of the energy guns!"
The woman sighed. "Don't shoot," she said, almost tiredly, "what do you want?"
"I want you to stop killing Lapras," I replied, "and I'm going to see to it that you do." I was beginning to wonder why I had come in here myself, since I had already damaged the nets.
I suppose it's true what they say, curiosity killed the cat.
And I was, after all, Kat.
"I wonder if she's with the others," the man at the back muttered.
"Shut up, fool!" The woman snapped at him. "Oh, aren't you the brave one," this was directed at me, "wanting to help save the Lapras. Good on you." The sarcasm dripped from her voice like treacle. "Unfortunately, we have guns too."
Another shot rang out, hitting me in the arm. Luckily, it was my already wounded arm. I shouted in pain and fell back against the wall. The hot blood trickled down my forearm and my head throbbed with a strange unnatural pain. Colours flashed behind my eyes, silver, white, black. Black… I fought to keep consciousness.
"Chiko!" A blast of bright white light lit up the hallway, followed by a volley of razor-edged leaves. One man was already down, now another fell, clutching the scratches that covered his body.
I staggered to my feet and pulled off another shot, this time catching the woman in the shoulder. Then my hand gave up and the gun clattered to the floor. The woman, who had barely been glanced marched over to me and grasped me to her before my Pokemon could object.
"I've had just about enough of this," she said. "And if you Pokemon lay a paw on any of my men, I will shoot her and you better believe it."
Chiko looked downcast and Azriel growled.
"No," I whispered, "listen to her, run and find help! Get yourselves away from here!"
The woman laughed. "Oh, nice, nice, get away from here, yes, how very noble of you. Perhaps you should, oh, I don't know, sacrifice yourself bravely?"
"What other ones?" I asked. As I said before, curiosity killed the cat.
"Nothing for you to bother your pretty little head about," she said softly. "Nothing at all. Now, let's see you going somewhere out of the way."
I was about to bravely protest, after all, two of them were injured, when one of them lunged and grabbed Azriel.
"I've got your little brown puppy," he said, grinning malevolently. "I think, perhaps you might go with us now?"
"Eee veee!" Azriel whimpered. "Veeee!"
I had no choice but to allow myself to be taken down to the very bowels of the ship. The place stank of death, of meat and fat and blood. It made my head reel. And I was already feeling giddy. It seemed the gun had affected my minor psychic talent in some way. I could hardly resist as my Pokemon and I were bound to support beams in the innards of the ship, the place of death.
"We'll be back for you later," she muttered, and they left us alone in the darkness.
I heard a voice whisper, "Kat, is that you? It can't be?"
It was too dark to see, but I recognised the voice immediately. Despite my captive state and the unlikeliness of freedom, my heart soared.
"Kameron!" I shouted. "You're alive!"
"I was last time I checked," he replied, with a characteristic twinge of wry humour. "But I'm a little tied up at present. I really wish I wasn't," he concluded sadly.
So did I, after days of missing him, agonising about him even being alive, I wanted nothing more than to hold him in my arms, reassuring myself that he was here and he was alive.
But it was not to be.
"Chiko?" Chikorita queried.
"What is that?" Kameron asked, "have you caught yourself new Pokemon?"
"Chiko Chiko RITAA!"
"Not exactly, she kind of volunteered. How are your Pokemon?"
"They took them away from me, but I guess they're okay. Except poor Azriel. He got washed away." The sorrow filled his voice. I wished I'd remembered to tell him.
"EE VEEEE!" Azriel declared that statement as being untrue.
Kameron burst out laughing, "Azriel, you're alive too! Oh man. I wish we weren't captured, I'd give you all a big hug!" He paused, "where's Maki?"
"Maki and Kiki followed the group when they left the ship. There's only six of them on board at the moment and some are injured. If we're going to fight, now's the time to!"
"Chiko, can you give us some light please?"
"Ko!" A glowing aura surrounded the Chikorita. Light screen. Now at least we could see.
The bowels of the ship were far from pleasant – large pots stood around the room, the scent of ageing fat enveloping from them. Skins hung from the walls, skins of a bluish-green nature, such as might be found on, say, a Lapras. I shuddered. And if I turned my head slightly, I could just see Kameron in my peripheral vision and beyond him…
"Captain Robynson?"
"Yep," replied the old man, "I'm here too. When you fell overboard it was all I could do to stop Kameron jumping after you. Luckily I managed to radio for help and another ship came to help us out."
"I wanted to help you," Kameron muttered, "I really did."
"Oh, come on kid, in waters like that you couldn't see her to rescue her. It was horrible," he added. "I thought I was going to lose both my passengers, the nice young folk that were keepin' me company on a long trip. I almost had to tie him to the rigging. Unfortunately, the folks that rescued us were these fellows, the pirates, they bound us up down here and I have no idea what they're going to do with us. However, the little Eevee made a run for it and fell off the boat. Kameron would've jumped after him too. Foolish kid, but he's got a good heart. You're one lucky girl."
"Nah, I'm the lucky one," Kameron muttered.
"Anyways, now we're caught here and who knows what the hades they're going to do to us. Funny thing was though, the waves around their boat was calm, weirdest thing I ever saw. Makes me think of a legend."
After gaining no response from us, he continued regardless, "a bird called the Halcyon, able to calm the waves with the beating of its wings. Never seen one meself and I've been sailing for years but it's said they only breed during the summer solstice and they have to calm the waters so as they can breed." He paused, "or something like that."
"They had one," I replied, "I let it go."
"Good on ya kid. But now I think we'd better see about getting out of here. Anyone got any bright ideas?"
Kameron sighed. "I didn't earlier and I don't now," he muttered.
I pondered, there must be some way out, I had Chikorita and Azriel with me after all. Suddenly it occurred to me.
"Chiko, can you untie the ropes with your vinewhip?"
"Iko," she shook her head. I guess she lacked the manual dexterity.
By the way, my arm was throbbing now, almost beyond throbbing and the blood had dried into a matted patch. Every time I moved my hand, pain erupted through my shoulder with avengence. I had not mentioned my injury to Kameron, no point in worrying him further. I had also not mentioned that my vision was taking little dips and dives before my eyes.
I clenched my teeth against the pain.
Kameron must have sensed something was wrong, "try razor leaf then, please!" He said, despair becoming evident in his voice.
"KO!" Chiko shot leaves from wherever they came from and aimed them at my ropes. Some hit the rope, but others hit me and the sharp edges bit into my flesh, drawing droplets of blood. I drew my hands apart and the rope came with them. I was free!
Suddenly something hit the side of the boat. It sounded like that oh too familiar sound of boards cracking under the impact of… let's say an icebeam. Water began to trickle in.
"I don't want to drown again!" I shouted, pulling my hands apart and almost falling over with the motion. I was dizzying then I had thought. I caught myself on one hand and staggered to me feet, just as the boat lurched sharply, throwing me against the post.
"Oof," I muttered as I tried to stagger across the rocking floor to Kameron. Now he saw my injuries.
"Oh, Kat," he whispered.
Water began to pool about our feet. The boat lurched again, throwing me into Kameron but this was not the time to think about such things. I fumbled with the rope but was having great difficulty. My left hand refused to work without agony and my right hand was growing numb in sympathy.
"Get the knife!" Captain Robynson shouted, as shrieks and yells came from above us.
"What knife?" Then I saw it, glinting some distance away on a narrow bench. I kissed Kameron on the lips, "I'll be right back, my love," I whispered and made my way across the unsteady floor.
Twice the boat lurched again, sending me to meet the hard wooden floor with force. The first time I reflexively brought up my hands to catch myself and the pain that exploded through my wounded limb caused me to black out for several seconds. And suddenly, finally, I made it. My right hand clasped around the knife and I crawled back to Kameron, slashing the rope with as much care as I could muster.
He pulled his arms free and wrapped them around me, squeezing me so tightly I thought my ribs would break.
"Oh Kataryna," he whispered, "I thought you were dead. And I couldn't bear it."
A cough sounded. "Excuse me, this is all very sweet but I'm kinda in trouble here, kids."
I chuckled, although the situation was not humorous. Kameron took the knife from my hand and, supporting me against him, sliced free the Captain. We then turned our attentions to my Pokemon.
"Eeee VEEEE!" Azriel threw himself enthusiastically into Kameron's arms, licking his face and hands and neatly pushing me aside. Chiko was much more reserved. We were now ankle deep in water, and sinking. Light showed through cracks in the walls, thick, grey light, such as is found in the evenings.
"The boat's sinking!" The Captain shouted, having already experienced such already this week. "Little leaf-headed Pokemon, please lead us out of here!"
"Chiko rita!" Chiko did not seem too upset at being referred to as a "leaf-headed Pokemon". I think she was too stressed out. We ran for the staircase, sloshing through the water and stumbling every time the boat lurched. By the time we reached the stairs, the water was up to mid-calf. It was cold and I remembered why I hated water. The pain in my arm was getting worse, a burning pain that had spread beyond the injury and into my entire body. Every few seconds my vision flashed blurred, although whether that was from the gun or the injury I knew not. Kameron supported me, and whispered encouragement in my ear.
He half pushed me up the stairs and suddenly we found ourselves in that hallway again. At least the people on board should be evacuating! Kameron glanced at the doors surrounding us and I knew he was wanting to find his Pokemon. But I also knew that time was not on our side. If we lingered, we would surely drown. Also, if we lingered I was going to pass out from pain. Somebody came running down the hallway towards us, the damned woman again.
"You're not going to escape that easily!" She shouted, supporting herself against the walls as she drew a gun. "I know you're responsible for this, somehow!"
"Responsible for what?" Kameron asked innocently. A hole suddenly appeared in the roof and water starting dripping down. We were above the water line now so it was somewhat safer, it was not bucket loads.
"Don't give me that rubbish," she said, and pulled the trigger.
The boat lurched and another hole appeared in the wall. Captain Robynson barrelled past us and into her. His weight threw her against the wall.
"Run!" He shouted. We pushed past him and ran.
Behind us another gunshot rang out, making both Kameron and I shudder. Tears were already streaming down my face, from pain and the mental agony I was fighting and I saw now that Kameron's cheeks were wet too. It was worse for him, he could feel what was happening. At least I didn't have the "curse" of empathy. Azriel nuzzled me, he was currently stretched across Kameron's shoulders, like a fur stole. We stumbled onto deck. Immediately something large and purple swooped down and hovered before us, wings buzzing. Gallantly, Kameron lifted me onto Dragosi's back.
"Recall Chikorita," he said to me, jumping behind me.
"Oh, yeah," I was in something of a daze, thanks to the pain and the emotional distress. "Chiko, return." Chiko returned to the sanctuary of her Pokeball and Dragosi buzzed away, just as the woman appeared at the door to the cabin and tried to fire off another shot. Thankfully it went wild.
"What about the Captain?" I whispered.
Kameron just clutched me tightly and shook his head.
And then blackness consumed me again.
* * *
"Look!" Dragosi circled about it and my vision returned. I think I must have been unconscious for only a couple of minutes. The inlet was teaming with water Pokemon. Lapras were shooting ice beams, and I fancied I could see some other, more unusual Pokemon there, long and serpentine.
"Dragonaire," Kameron confirmed my suspicions. "They're sinking the ship!" He sounded incredulous. I hated to think what they were doing to the sailors that fallen into the water, but I doubted it could possibly be any worse then what they had done to the poor Captain. Dragosi set us down in the forest.
"I lost my Pokemon," Kameron said softly, "but I'm glad I didn't lose you."
"Me too," I replied, as he drew me close to him and into a kiss (a real kiss this time, you know what I mean, I ain't going to get any soppier then this, and that's a promise!).
And the worries of the world were forgotten. At least for now.
* * *
"Flori, florion!"
"Va POR!" My two Eeveelutions threw themselves at me enthusisatically. Florion was especially affectionate over Kameron, nuzzling him and whimpering.
"I think they're glad to see us," I chuckled. It had been several hours since we had abandoned the ship and the waters were calming down now. Several of the Pokemon had already departed. I had bound my arm with some of Alliana's rags, which were better than nothing. At least the bleeding had stopped and the pain was not as severe.
"We did it," I said, "we saved the Lapras."
"Yeah," Kameron agreed, "but at what cost?"
AFTERWORD:
Maki and Kiki returned some hours later. The commotion at the boat had drawn the Captain and her minions back to the boat, where they had been attacked by water Pokemon and, well, let's say they would no longer be a hassle. Some had fled into the forest, I would just like to add. Kameron and I returned to the shore side, disgusted at the sights we saw there. Bits of the boat were swept up on the shore, tangled and maimed.
"Ee VEEE!" Azriel called, pushing something towards us in the sand. A Pokeball.
"You found one!" Kameron shouted in excitement, "which one I wonder." He released it.
"Marrill rill!" The Marill barrelled into Kameron, almost bowling him over.
"Marrill, Ozmos, would you two be able to search the water and see if you can find the rest of Kameron's Pokemon?" I asked.
"Ma rriilll!"
"Va por?"
"King u dora!" Something dragged itself onto the sand beside us and deposited something on the ground. It was a very large, dragon-like water Pokemon. Its snout had elongated, its ear fins become longer and thinner and the fins had merged to become one, but I recognised it immediately.
"RaZOR!" Despite my injuries and the fact my mind was still a little fuzzy, I ran up to the sea dragon Pokemon and threw my arms around it. He drew back a little and gave me a "I'm too refined for that" look, but I knew he was secretly pleased. "You evolved!"
"Do RA!"
"My Pokeballs," Kameron exclaimed, "he returned my Pokeballs, come on out, all of you!"
"Freeee!!"
"Shaaaa."
"Slash!"
"You're all okay!" My Pokemon enthusiastically welcomed Kameron's back.
I stared at Razor the Kingudora. "How are you?" I asked him. "Because if you want to come back to me, I would welcome you, but if you want to be free, that's fine too."
Razor glanced at the water and then at me.
"Doraaa," he said, nuzzling me and blowing a small bubble to burst in my face. "Kinguu." He turned to stare back at the waters.
"It's okay," I said to him, "you can go free, living in a ball is not much of a life for you anyway."
"Doraa."
"I'll miss you too." I hugged him and watched as he returned to the water, I then turned back to Kameron.
"You fool," he said, softly.
"What? He wanted to be free!"
"You could have at least got us a ride out of here!"
I threw some sand at him, "we've got Dragosi, he'll take us to the next island."
"Praaaasss?" Something else curved through the water and came up beside us. ("What about me?")
I laughed, "Nessie, you came back! Thank you!"
"Praaaassss!"
"Nessie will carry us to Mandarin Island, won't you Nessie? And then we'll send someone over here to pick up the survivors."
"Prass!" Nessie nodded.
"Well then, let's go, all aboard who's coming aboard, and all who wants to rest in their balls, come back in!"
And once again, Kameron and I were together again, crossing the seas. But this time it was with victory in our hearts, but a deeper sorrow in our souls.