No Silver Lining - Part 1: The Foundling
"Cobalt City Limits. Cobalt Harbour -- this way." Ash read, once they had reached the outskirts of town. "That's where we want to go. Hopefully we can catch a boat north."
"Pika." Pikachu agreed, looking at the sign and understanding it gave directions but not understanding the words themselves.
"Boat ?" Meowth repeated, startled, coming to a stop beside him. "What do you mean, boat ?"
"B-O-A-T. We're going to the Zephyr Islands, which are north of here." Ash spelled out firmly. "You're welcome to come IF you haven't changed your mind and IF you promise not to steal anything else. Otherwise you can stay here."
"I'll come." Meowth muttered, in a voice that implied he was being coerced into this decision. By what, Ash wasn't sure… maybe he was imagining it.
The forest spread like a green wave in front of them. He stopped and turned, looking out over Cobalt City for the last time. The city was cheery in the sunlight, and above it all, the PokéBall topped spire of Sicora's Gym rose majestically. He stood there for a few minutes, taking it in, and then purposefully turned back to the forest, and the narrow road -- trail ? -- through it. "Well… come on." He said, and grinned.
Pikachu ran ahead of Ash, who picked up his own pace. Meowth lagged behind but, as Ash noticed, was still following.
The forest, which to Ash's knowledge didn't have a name, was quiet except for the occasional chirping of birds. Ash saw a pair of Mankey peering down from a high branch and pointed them out. A Rattata ran across the path ahead of them, following closely by half a dozen much smaller ones. Everything was alive, it seemed, with Pokémon.
A rapid clash-clash-clash sound caught Ash's ear. He turned his head to hear it clearer, but he couldn't pinpoint it.
"You hear that ?" He asked.
"Pi." Pikachu affirmed. Meowth came alongside him and canted his head to the side.
"Over there." The cat nodded to the brush to Ash's left. Ash put a hand on the bushes and pushed them aside. There was nothing there, but the sound did become a bit clearer. He saw a bit of a clearing ahead. As they came upon it, Ash's eyes widened.
Scyther. Scyther everywhere ! There had to be at least thirty or forty of them in the clearing. They had formed a loose circle around a trio of Scyther, two of which were viciously fighting and the third who was standing somewhat off to the side.
"Hey… what are they doing ?" Ash said quietly, watching through the bushes. The two fighting Scyther swung razor-sharp blades at each other, missing each other by mere inches. If one of those swings contacted…
The smaller of the two knocked the other to the ground, gave a cry Ash could only describe as one of victory, and raised both blades for a final strike.
"Hey !" Ash stood, making a move to intervene. Immediately, he was pulled back down by both Pokémon. "Hey !" he exclaimed, with an altogether different inflection. The Scyther had apparently not noticed his intrusion, and the smaller one brought both blades whistling down while the other Scyther lay pinned and helpless…
Both blades struck the grass on either side of the opponent's head, harmlessly.
"Scyther." Said the smaller fighter.
"Scyther." Answered the larger one on the ground, chagrined.
"Scyther ! Scyther !" rallied the rest of the group, and the smaller fighter helped the fallen one up. The third of the trio, who had been silent up until now, aimed a playful cuff at the larger Scyther and nuzzled the smaller one. The whole group began to dissipate.
Ash turned to Pikachu and Meowth, both of whom, amazingly enough, were snickering. "What happened ? What's so funny ?" He demanded, which made both Pokémon laugh harder. Ash blushed, wondering if he was on the butt end of some weird Pokémon inside joke.
"Pi-pi. Pikachu-pika-pi-pi-chu. Pikachu." Pikachu chortled. You almost interrupted their joining. You said you wanted to fight him.
"I did ?" Ash answered, bewildered. "No, I didn't."
Meowth, who had been unable to voice a coherent reply because of his mirth, clarified for him, "'Dose two are gettin' what you'se humans call married."
"The two fighting ?" Ash asked incredulously.
"No," Meowth said, exasperated, "'Dose two 'dere." He pointed to the pair who were nuzzling each other affectionately.
"Oh." Ash said, feeling foolish. "But I didn't say anything about fighting them ! Why were they fighting, anyway ?"
"'Dat one," Meowth pointed again, this time to the larger fighter, "Is 'dat one's brother." Pointing to the one of the trio had had not been fighting. "And she wants to 'marry' 'dat one 'dere." He indicated the smaller fighter.
"So why were they fighting ?" Ash repeated, still confused.
"Pika. Pikachu-pika. Pikachu !" Her bother wanted to make sure the other was good enough.
"For what ?"
"To be with her." Meowth finished. This kid still had a lot to learn about Pokémon.
"Oh." Ash said again, looking at the clearing. All the Scyther were gone, now. The clearing was empty and quiet again. "Come on." He said, still feeling a bit left out of the loop, "We'd better get going."
Pikachu and Meowth looked at each other, and it was almost as though some of the tension between them had dissipated. They hurried after Ash and both walked beside him -- one on either side.
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Cobalt Harbour was apparently not as popular as Cobalt City, even though the little cove was situated at the base of the cliffs, the same cliffs that, farther west, Mauvetown sat upon. The harbour was rather quaint. They took a short bus ride that meandered its way down the face of the cliff. Besides Ash, there were no other trainers on the bus. The driver was a short woman who smiled a lot.
"Don't make this trip very often." She chattered. "Sometimes only once a day."
"Are there any boats going north ?" Ash asked.
"A few." the driver answered, "Don't know why you'd want to go there, though. Nothing but a few islands, anyway."
And a Gym League, Ash thought to himself, but he didn't say anything aloud. Instead, he asked, "Do you think any of them will take passengers ?"
"Well, I don't know." The driver said thoughtfully, "But I suppose you could ask."
Ash intended to do just that, and when the bus reached the bottom of the cliff, he thanked the driver and Pikachu and Meowth in tow, headed for the docks.
Most of the boats were small watercraft, probably fishing or maybe pleasure craft. None of them looked big enough to take passengers on any length of trip.
"Excuse me," he hailed an older man working on one of the boats, an old wooden yacht, "You got a minute ?"
The man stopped what he was doing and made his way across the yacht's deck, which was littered with piles of boxes. "Hello, young man." He greeted Ash, "You can have yer minute if'n you talk fast, I gotta get goin' a'fore this storm blows in."
Ash spared a glance at the cloudless horizon and decided not to question this time. "Are there any ships here that are headed for the Zephyr Islands ?" he asked hopefully.
"Sure, son." The man grinned, showing off a few missing teeth. "Big cruise ship makes a trip up 'round there once every month, drops people off."
"Great !" Ash exclaimed.
"Pi-chu. Pikachu." Pikachu muttered sideways to Meowth, who had sat down beside him. That was too easy.
"Yeah." Meowth answered quietly.
Almost picking up on the Pokémon's skepticism, Ash asked, "When does it arrive ?"
"Well, now, let me see." The man thought about it for a second, then replied, "Why, it left last week, it did."
Ash sighed. There was a smug 'told-you-so' look passed between the two Pokémon.
"Are there any other boats going there ?" The teen inquired.
"Well, sure, son. I'm leavin' shortly, goin' up that way. Gotta git goin' a'fore the storm gets here." The old man said, lifting another of the boxes onto the deck. "If'n you want to come, you can help load up."
They got underway about 20 minutes later, with the deck loaded with boxes and barrels. There was no where to sit on the deck itself, so the three of them perched on top of a canvas cover and watched as Cobalt Harbour faded from sight behind them. There was still no sign of a storm on the horizon.
"North Isles League, here I come !" Ash enthused, looking ahead over the water.
"Pikachu !" Pikachu added, pleased. Ash's enthusiasm was contagious, always had been.
Meowth just laid down on the canvas and shook his head, lost in thought.
So ends Part 1: The Foundling.