Chapter Twenty-Three: Dragon Strike

Gloria made her way to the bridge. Joshua and a girl with shoulder-length black hair and a tan were talking.

"C'mon, Raven! You said you knew where she was, now tell me!" Joshua said.

"You speak fiercely for your age." Raven replied blandly.

"And just what do you mean by that!?" He replied.

"I mean just what I said. No more, no less. The girl we were asked to capture is no longer in the spot which we left her." Raven seemed fixed more on navigating the Sea Spray than the conversation.

"If it's me you're looking for, here I am." Gloria said, trying to stop Joshua from turning this into a fight, as he was known to do on occasion.

"Oh, there you are! I was told Raven knew where you'd be…"

"I told you she wasn't there…" Said Raven, "I think we've got one bugger of a storm commin' our way. You might want to go below deck if you get seasick. This one's gonna' be nasty."

Gloria looked out the window. "I don't see any storm…" There were some clouds in the distance, but they were too far away to mean a storm.

Raven peeked out the window and said, "Can't you smell it? It's close."

Gloria sniffed the air. Besides the characteristic sea smell, she smelled nothing significant. She gave Raven a quizzical look. Then the ship rocked hard to the left as if something was pushing under it.

"What the &%$# is going on?!" She said as she steered right to try and regain balance. She turned over her shoulder and shouted loudly, "Ray! Status report! On the double!!"

Joshua ran out of the room and toward the deck. A short while later, he called, "Gloria! You gotta' check this out!!!"

Gloria ran out of the room. Joshua only yelled like that when he was seriously surprised. Gloria peered over the side-rail and saw something long and dark swimming under the ship. She shook her head. It just couldn't be…

"What in the world was that??" Joshua asked. He had clearly seen it too.

"I think…I think it's a Dragon."

"You're just pulling my leg, right?! Those things are a legend! You must've seen a Gyrados."

"What's going on?" Julie asked. She, Michael and Amanda had come when Joshua yelled.

"I think I saw a-" Gloria didn't finish the sentence. A Dragonair burst from the water and rammed the side of the ship! It just about knocked the ship over.

"Great balls of fire!! It's a Dragon!!" Michael exclaimed in awe.

"A Dragonair to be precise!" Gloria said, "Those things can change the weather…" As if she jinxed things a huge wave washed over the deck and nearly knocked off Amanda.

"Good thing I recalled my Pokémon!" She said absently.

"Oh my-"Gloria said as she looked behind her, "L-l-l-…"

"What's wrong?" Julie asked.

"L-l-l-look!" Gloria was so terrified she could only point in horror. A Gyrados was coming straight at the ship, and it looked mad!

"Gulp! A Gyrados! This is definitely not one of our better days!" Michael said in panic.

"Find something to hang on to! Here it comes!!" Gloria warned.

The Gyrados flew over the ship, its huge snake-like body seeming to hang in midair like a long, low cloud as it soared over the ship and landed on the other side of it with a thundering splash. Something oddly shiny sparkled on its scales as it sunk beneath the waves. After a few tense minutes of waiting, it was clear it wouldn't come back up.

"Did we lose it?" Michael asked.

"How should I, or any of us for that matter, know?!" Gloria responded. "We can't be sure about-" Just then the Gyrados sprang from the other side, landing on the deck and roaring like a mad demon! Kids nearby screamed and backed off except one…

"I think we gotta' fight this thing off!" said Lucy. She looked angry, but not afraid. "Who's got Pokémon?! Fight it!! C'mon!!" She pulled a whistle out of her pocket and blew on it. "Fearow! Come beat this sea-snake up!" she called. Out of the horizon, a familiar shape emerged.

"Did you hear what I heard?" Amanda asked.

"Who didn't?! C'mon, let's help!" Michael said, grabbing Eevee. Joshua, Julie, Amanda, and Gloria followed to the other side of the deck where the Gyrados was. Lucy's Fearow wasn't faring off too well. It was fluttering around, Lucy on its back like a horseback rider. Despite Fearow's best efforts, the Gyrados scarcely flinched.

"Need some help, Lucy?" Gloria called.

Lucy turned around for a second. "Any kind of assistance would be dandy!!" Then she turned back to controlling her Fearow.

I guess we'd better help out, huh?" Gloria said. "Let's give 'im all we've got! Bulbasaur, Noctowl, Bellossom, Lapras, Elekid, Pichu, get 'im!" Gloria let out all six of her Pokémon.

"Charmander, Cyndaquil, Magmar, Ponyta, Growlithe, Houndour, beat 'im up!" Julie let out her crew of Pokémon.

"You never told us you had a Houndour!!" Gloria said in awe as she stared at the cute, yet powerfully fierce Dark Pokémon at Julie's side.

"I don't use her often, but she's a lot stronger than she seems."

"Eevee, Umbreon, Espeon, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon! Sic 'em my precious Eeveelutions!" Michael released his Eevee Pokémon.

Amanda let out her crossbreeds. "Bulbamander, Windeon, Steelchu, Chikosaur, Flareyu, Deliot! Don't fail me now!" Bulbamander looked like a green Charmander with a fiery tail and a bulb on its back. Windeon looked like a tiny Eevee, (it was only about 2'2" long) but instead of fur it had off-white feathers from nose to tail and a set of beautiful wings on its shoulders. It even cooed like a bird! Steelchu, now this was an odd creature indeed! It looked like a Steelix, but it had a yellow, lightning bolt shaped tail on the tip of its own and a Pikachu's head. Chikosaur was truly bizarre-looking. It looked mostly like a yellow Bulbasaur, but it had a leaf on its head and a stubby, green tail. Flareyu was odd too, but like the others, cute in its own bizarre way. It looked like a blue Flareon, complete with red flames, but it had a ring of spikes around its neck and a rainbow-colored jewel on the center of its forehead. Deliot, as its name suggested, was a cross between a Delibird and a Pidgeot. It looked like a white Delibird with Pidgeot wings, a long feathered crest, and long talons.

Joshua let set free his five Pokémon, "Squirtle, Jolteon, Farfetch'd, Poochyena, Scizor! Go strut your stuff!"

"Whoa!" Amanda said as she looked at the fierce-looking Poochyena. "What the heck is that?"

"A Poochyena. They come from some place my big brother came from called Hoenn."

"Less talk, more fight!" Julie shouted over her shoulder as she barely dodged a Dragonbreath from Gryados.

"Alright guys! You can fight without commands, right?" Gloria asked her Pokémon. They all nodded except Elekid, who looked angry. "Look, I know you don't like fighting with Pichu, but you're just gonna' have to put up with it! This is an emergency!!" Elekid stuck its tongue at Gloria defiantly, turned its back on her, and folded its arms stubbornly. "Fine, fine! You can fight alone this once, but I'm only doing this 'cause I haven't much of a choice!!" Elekid looked happier at that. "Now everyone, ATTACK!! Go for its face!"

"Hey good idea!" Amanda said. "Fight! Do anything, my pretties!"