Chapter Seventeen:
Wading In
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
Notes: Thank you to everyone who has watched, favourited, and reviewed the story since the last chapter! An especially big thanks to Friendly Guest and to Mal; your words were so kind and encouraging and I'm incredibly grateful for them all. I'm thankful that you found and enjoyed my humble piece of fan-made literature, and I hope to continue rising to the occasion in being entertaining. It is a bit of a slower pace, but I hope that y'all stick it out with me!
Also, do you like mermaids? Do you like horror? Do you like science, badass ladies, and badass science ladies paired with Jurassic Park vibes? I suggest looking into Mira Grant's "Into the Drowning Deep"—which is courtesy of this chapter's quote no less—because it has it all! Definitely an edge-of-your-seat kind of a thrill ride and you won't regret it. Come meet the lovely ladies of the deep sea~
Current Team: Keno the Marshtomp, Sela the Poochyena, Ambrose the Ralts, Faye the Taillow, Breela the Shroomish, Luna the Skitty
Badges Won: Stone Badge
"The seas did not forgive, and they did not welcome their wayward children home."
—"Into the Drowning Deep" by Mira Grant
Keno and Ambrose were the first to notice they were slowing down, barely an hour into their journey. The two conferred with one another in hushed tones. Before long, the rest of the team was pulled into the conversation. Luna's fur stood on end as she hunkered down against the deck of the Seafarer, yellow eyes glowering all around her. Faye, without word to the others, took the skies and in the last scraps of light from the distant horizon, managed to piece together why the ship was slowing down the way it was.
"There's something up ahead, floating in the waters," she reported, looking at each of the team members as she did.
Ambrose frowned, even as Sela pressed for more information, although Faye couldn't offer more than what she told them. Breela shivered violently and Keno took it upon himself to wrap his broad hand around the small Shroomish, uttering soft comforts to her.
"We're going to have go around it, whatever it is," Faye continued, her feathers ruffling up, denoting how disturbed she really was.
"What are you guys whispering about?"
Heads turned on a swivel to find Shay watching them from the doorway leading into the bridge, where Mister Briney was at the helm, with Peeko perched upon his shoulder. The young woman arched a questioning brow at them, curiousity painted in her eyes.
"We're heading towards a massacre," Ambrose intoned, lifting his head upwards toward his trainer. "Death lies ahead."
"Hey, just a crazy question, but…is there a reason we're slowing down?"
Mister Briney shot a glance over his shoulder before turning back around. Previously, before Shay had come to the bridge with a soft knock on the side to announce her arrival, he had been cooing softly to Peeko. The little Wingull was, without a doubt, pampered and loved and in return, adored her trainer. Mister Briney was absolutely smitten with his Wingull and would do anything for her. It was a kind of affection that was pure and innocent, as far as it could be.
Shay felt a little guilty for intruding upon the moment of relief and togetherness the two were having, but it was over something that couldn't be avoided. Once Ambrose had mentioned that a massacre was ahead of them, her team had been thrown for a loop.
"Fishing grounds have left a bit of a mess. We're going t' have t' find a way around. Shouldn't take too long, lass."
Shay hesitated before pressing on, her stomach churning, clenching, tightening into painful and hard little knots. "What…kind of a mess?"
Mister Briney sighed, and even Peeko seemed to droop as she tilted her head in Shay's direction.
"I'll show ye, lass. It's not pretty, but…it's what happens."
Fifteen minutes slipped past them, but to Shay, it felt as though an eternity and a half was sliding past, slow as molasses. Shay lingered for a while on the bridge before Mister Briney motioned for her to step outside and look off on either port or starboard. Uneasy but still curious beyond her best efforts, she did so. Faye fluttered back perch on Shay's shoulder, talons gripping at her clothing as she pressed close to the young woman's neck and cheek. Keno circled around to one side, Breela clutched in his arms. Luna prowled around the group before lifting herself up to peer over the lip of the railing. She bristled and yowled, her night vision better at picking out the shapes in the water than Shay's were, at first. Sela could barely see over the lip, being much shorter, but she mimicked the lanky Skitty all the same and saw the same carnage floating in the waters. The sea was stained red and bloody foam bubbled across the surface.
Shay recoiled when she realized what she was seeing, her stomach tossing as a hand flew to her mouth.
"Jesus fucking Christ," she muttered, her words muffled as Mister Briney cut the Seafarer's engine. A spotlight snapped on, bright and glaring, and the older gent swiveled it out to inspect the damage beyond. He came out to scrutinize the mess as well. He gusted out a heavy sigh from his barrel-thick chest, bushy brows lowering into a scowl as he uttered a few choice curses.
"What…what the fuck happened, that's…"
"Aye, lass. A whole mess of Magikarp, slaughtered for naught."
"But—but why? Magikarp…they aren't edible."
"Aye. Exactly," Mister Briney growled. "They got caught up in an illegal fishing mess. Humans don't find them edible an' most pokémon don't either for that matter, an' this is what happens. I guarantee that a slew of fishermen came out here, intent on grabbing up anything else an' the Magikarp got caught up in their mess. They got slaughtered as a result, because of how useless society tends to view them as. People see them as wastes of space. What people can't use…they dispose of."
"But…Magikarp, they evolve into Gyarados. I wouldn't exactly call that useless. They're scary powerful when that happens."
Mister Briney glanced at her with a slightly appraising look but the twinkle in his eye faded and was quickly replaced by white-hot, phosphorous rage as he stared at the bloodied bits of bone and scale floating around on the sea around them. Pieces of what had once been whole and living pokémon, reduced to bony chum. It couldn't have happened more than a few hours prior.
"At least someone remembers. Magikarp are so wide-spread, humans tend to view them as vermin, seeing as how they can survive in even the most polluted of waters. They often forget just how merciless they can become once they evolve into the mighty Gyarados." With a pointed stare, he added with a heavy weight in his voice, "An' yet…humans tend to forget this fact, an' instead of seeing what can be, they only see what is, in the moment they are looking at something. Not what will be in the future."
Shay felt her throat go sandpaper dry, and it hurt to try and swallow. She stared at the butchery laid out in the waters and winced as some pieces slapped against the hull of the Seafarer, preternaturally loud and disturbingly so. It made her feel all the more sick, and she had to fight the rising urge to puke as the smell of flesh going rotten began to perfume the air, ever so slight now but with every passing minute, it grew stronger.
"Isn't…isn't there anything we can do?"
"I've got t' report this t' the Coast Guard. They should be patrolling the waters to dissuade illegal fishing, but this still happens more often than I'd like." He spat and Peeko gave an angry little squeal, her feathers bristling out as she mimicked her trainer.
"Idiots," Peeko touted with a bob of her head. "This is happening more and more, and Mister Briney and I are the ones left picking up after their messes while the authorities do nothing!"
"What are they trying to find, exactly?"
"What, the bastards who do stuff like this?" Mister Briney snorted over his shoulder as he ducked back into the bridge. "Endangered species that are also considered delicacies an' plenty o' people will pay a fine price t' have something that nobody else can afford. Fisherman lookin' fer those specifics tend t' trough the waters up an' end up dealing a massive blow t' the ecosystem in the process. When you take out prey or predators, you disrupt a balance. Competition gets fiercer, others die out as a result, an' then everything gets thrown helter-skelter. Doesn't matter if it's underwater or on land. Everything an' everyone suffer in the end."
He disappeared into the bridge after that, and Shay could hear the crackle of a radio going off, with Mister Briney's voice cutting in every so often to answer questions or bark out carefully crafted and stinging words with the intent of inciting action instead of patience. Shay turned her gaze back to the sight and felt her stomach roiling once again. She wanted to look away, but it was as though she was staring at a car crash. It was a horrid sight, but she couldn't tear her gaze away, even when she wanted to. Instead of twisted metal and broken glass, she was staring at the bloodied and broken remains of fish.
Nothing seemed to move. Even the waters had turned glassy and somber, as though to commemorate the moment, and the winds had died down. Faye shuddered on Shay's shoulder.
"Not even pokémon can get this cruel," she muttered softly. Luna's ears twitched in the Taillow's direction and she yowled quietly, her tail sweeping in an agitated arc behind her.
"Not wild ones," the Skitty reminded Faye. "Trained pokémon, on the other hand…I'm sure you've seen how cruel they can become. Especially under a cruel trainer."
"Humans are garbage," Shay sighed in unfettered agreement, garnering a collective of boggled stares. She noticed the eyes on her and glanced at her team. Tired as she was, she felt her words growing sharp and defensive. "What? You think I'm going to pretend that we aren't? There's a severe power imbalance here. We make the rules, we make the machines and weapons that can do this, and even then, only the people who have power and money and influence get to weasel their way out of doing the time when they do the crime and continue doing shit like this. For your guys…you don't get much say, from what I've seen. And the same can be said for my world."
Shay shook her head, ducking her gaze. She remembered the news clips she'd listen to on the way to and from work, every day. It was hard to get angry when she wasn't allowed to. It was hard to be surprised when the same kind of news turns over with every cycle, every day. It was hard to remember what normal felt like when bad things kept happening and kept becoming the new "normal", even when you kept telling yourself, "This isn't normal. Don't make it normal."
It was hard staying angry when all it ever did was make you tired at the same time. Shay was feeling both twining around her, latching on tight and refusing to let go. She wanted to get angry at someone tangible and real, not faceless nobodies that seemed incorporeal and ethereal. She wanted to hit someone and make them pay for this, and yet, she also just wanted to sit down and let her insides settle down without the threat of purging.
"Believe me, where I come from, there's an even worse power balance. A handful of people in my country alone have more wealth than the bottom ninety-percent of the country, and even when they're accused of the most heinous of crimes, they weasel their way out of it, because they're the ones in power. And others who have power like them are too afraid to make a move against them because they're afraid of fucking up the status quo and getting kicked off their high horse themselves in the process. I guess it doesn't matter what world people occupy…we find a way to fuck things up. Especially for the natural world."
"But…you're not like that," Breela protested quietly. Shay was surprised at the little Shroomish's objection, out of everyone from her team. The Shroomish shivered, just as she was wont to do when plunged in social moments such as this. "You're nice and you actually care about us. You make sure we're all right and that we're fed and watered and we get enough sunlight."
Keno offered a thin, encouraging smile and it was infectious enough to make Shay feel one of her own tugging at the corners of her lips. It was something Shay felt wrenching at her heartstrings, and she wished she was worthy of such praise. She wished all people were worth that kind of praise and adoration, but she knew better. Even after only less than a year's worth of time in this world, she knew better. Human beings seemed to be the same, no matter what world they inhabited. It disheartened her at the same time and slowly, a little bit of her fell into the pit deep inside her.
"I mean…not all of us act like garbage fires. Some of us try to be better, but…" She waved a hand in circles, as though to try and conjure the right words, the perfect ones, to exemplify how she wanted to frame things. "Some people don't care about the world. Some only care about how much money and power they can accumulate, and…that means stepping on everyone else in their way who can't benefit them to get that. They don't care and even if you explain things to them, in detail, to try and appeal to them, it doesn't work. They're so disconnected from the world, it's pathetic when they try to pretend. It all ends up being about the bottom line and what's in it for them, specifically. If it doesn't benefit them in an immediate sense, then…fuck everyone and fuck the world. Let it burn, for all they care, so long as it doesn't touch them. But I guess it's a good thing other people care enough to stand up to them. As long as that happens…there's still hope."
She spat the words out like poison that needed to leave her system. They tasted bitter on her tongue as she spoke, and for a brief moment, she felt that spark of anger growing inside her. Casting a sidelong glance over the railing, she shuddered, anger and revulsion coiling around one another the longer she took in the details spread out before her. Fire slowly spread through her, sluggish and steady, but scorching regardless of its pace. Facing the slaughter before her, she didn't feel much hope, but she had to try, at the very least. As long there was hope, there was something.
"I just hope the fuckers who did this pay and whoever hired them gets caught too."
"Shay…something's out there."
Shay blinked and turned to Keno, the comment throwing her completely from her virulent train of thought. He was focused on something in the horizon beyond. It broke the glassy surface, sending ripples in all directions. Even in the dark, it was clear in the half-moon's light beyond the Seafarer's spotlight. Faye froze, turning stiff and alert on her shoulder. The others turned their attentions to the waters. Luna broke away from the group and prowl over, where the spotlight wasn't pointed.
"He's right. Something's over here," she reported sharp and concise, growling softly.
Something rocked the Seafarer, thumping against the hull hard enough that it sent everyone rocking. Sela barked, gruff and startled as her paws scrabbled on the deck, maraschino eyes growing hot as coals with alertness as her canines sliced against one another. A spark of fire broke along the lines of her black lips. Her hackles stood at attention, tail flagged and crooked. Luna arched her back and slid away from the railing, yellow eyes flashing with annoyance while her ears flared back to plaster against her skull.
Shay stared out across the waters and began noticing how some of the bits and pieces of Magikarp were disappearing beneath the waters.
"Mister Briney, I think something's eating our evidence!"
A curse shot out in response from the bridge. Moments later, the burly man came barreling out, Peeko squawking up a storm, her long beak gaping with a hiss. Mister Briney threw himself against the railing, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the metal hard and tight.
"Damned Sharpedo! Only things that'll rightly eat a Magikarp around here!"
With another curse, he flew back into the bridge, barking a report of what was happening to the authorities before slipping back out. Before Shay could ask what it was they were going to do, he was diving down below deck. A cacophony of profanities, Peeko's shrill voice squealing about, and objects being thrown asunder reached her ears. She was startled when a long pole with a net was thrust upwards toward her, nearly colliding with her face. Shay fumbled with the pole and gawked as Mister Briney came back up top with a series of buckets gripped tightly in hand, along with another pole outfitted with a net at the end in the other.
"Help me gather up the poor beasts; least we can do is get some manner o' evidence as t' what did them in. Might help narrow down the machinery an' who carries it an' where."
Without another word, Mister Briney dumped the buckets along starboard wall and directed Shay to portside with her own series of buckets.
"An' be mindful! Those bloody Sharpedo will launch themselves up out o' the water like damned rockets an' take your head clean off if you stick it out too far!" Mister Briney barked out a warning, his words stressing every syllable in an effort to imprint just how dangerous things could get.
Shay set to work, fighting to keep whatever was in her stomach from hurtling upwards to join the mess that soon spilled across the deck. Bone shards, hardened scales, gore and gristle—anything that was still floating about on the surface that could be scooped up was done so. Breela wriggled in Keno's arms until he put her down. She promptly scampered away before the first bucket was even filled, hiding out in the bridge, where it was dark and cool and safe. Luna scuttled after the Shroomish, watching with her eyes aglow as the events played out.
Keno helped with the buckets, while Faye kept a sharp eye out for any movement and alerted Shay when something got too close. Sela padded along between Mister Briney and Shay, checking out the activity on both sides. Peeko, much like Faye, was remaining alert to the goings-on with her trainer's side of things and would bristle, fluff up, or squeal out when something wasn't right. He did not scold her or tell to her to hush; Mister Briney would pay rapt attention to his Wingull, taking pause when she grew agitated, or going back to work when she calmed.
On occasion, Shay would see a telltale triangular fin break the surface of the sea, sometimes a little too close for comfort, and would pause in her ministrations, mesmerized as she was afraid. before continuing her work. Blood rushed through her ears with a thundering roar, while the beat of her drumming away soon became the only thing she seemed feel and hear at the same time. The monotony of work was broken when Mister Briney would curse up a storm every so often, some of which Shay quietly tucked away for her own future use. She was, if anything, a productive enough learner when it came to creative expletives, and wasn't one to pass up the opportunity, no matter the grim circumstances that brought them forth.
Ambrose was the first to notice something amiss. He and Sela alike, in the interim of the gristly work set before them, had hovered just outside the safety of the bridge, just enough to be out of range from the mess on deck. Keno, in retrospect, remained adamantly beside Shay, helping move the empty buckets into range, and keeping an eye out for disturbances coiling along the sea's surface as she and Mister Briney worked.
Keno stared down at the little Ralts as he froze, stiff and unnatural in his countenance, a question on his lips. Ambrose shushed him with an impatient wag of a hand.
The initial shushing was what caught Shay's attention. She stopped dragging the net through the water and turned to stare at Ambrose. Keno caught her eye, just as curious as to what the Ralts was doing. Ambrose jolted suddenly, as though struck by an electrical current and he pointed a finger out.
"There's someone alive out there. He's hurt badly, but he's got a chance." A pause slipped between them, thin and straining and he tilted his head toward Shay, his voice growing tinny as he pressed urgently, "He's in so much pain, I…I feel like I'm the one hurting. Please. Please, get him out of there, before…"
Shay felt that jolt rushing through her just as quickly as though the current had passed into her, alert and stiff, the same as Ambrose. She scanned the waters in the direction the Ralts had motioned to until she saw it. A splash. It was small, but it was noticeable. And if she noticed it, than a predatory animal like a shark would soon hone in on it as well. She pivoted on her heel sharply.
When fish struggle, sharks notice. They were acutely attuned to such things and it was all thanks to the ampullae of Lorenzini. It hit her suddenly like a brick wall. If she remembered correctly, it was how sharks detected the electrical currents of other living beings in the ocean. It was how they tracked prey, stalked them, hunted them. Gel-like sensory organs that formed a network filled the pores of cartilaginous fish—including sharks, as well as rays and chimaeras—that gave these predatory creatures a hunting advantage. It was rather hard to shake the information from her mind, once it had latched on. It was one of the first things she ever learned of sharks as a child.
"Mister Briney, what are the chances of survivors in this mess?"
The older gent didn't answer at first, but he paused, wiping his brow with his sleeve, a frown tugging at his lips.
"It happens, but I rarely come across any. Why?"
She hesitated, reluctant to relay what Ambrose had said, before blurting, "I think I saw one of them moving. Splashing around out there."
Mister Briney opened his mouth, perhaps to argue her point, but when he noticed the pointed stares of her team. He was quick to close his mouth and nodded. "Show me."
She did, and Mister Briney clambered back to the spotlight, weaving it around until they found it. A Magikarp, alive but injured, weakly waggling in desperation to get away from the blood and gore of its brutalized school. The Seafarer's engine rumbled to life as he threw himself into the bridge and Mister Briney slowly inched the ship around closer toward the lone, struggling Magikarp.
"How good is yer aim, lass?" Mister Briney called over his shoulder.
"Yeah, how good's your throw?" Peeko echoed, dark eyes watching her pointedly. She stared at the Wingull and sailor alike, dumbfounded for an instant.
"Uhhhh…"
It took her a long several seconds to catch on to what he was implicating before it hit her. Shay dove for her pack, stored away in the bridge at Mister Briney's behest earlier in the evening, and brought forth an empty pokéball. He nodded to her over his shoulder, and she scrabbled out, nearly slipping on the slick surface of the deck. Something dark and glossy slid out of the spotlight's beam, but Shay recognized the shape of a pointed snout, a star painted across its crown, bright yellow and gleaming.
It hit her, quite suddenly, just how familiar it was to her.
It seemed like an eternity ago she had been viewing a news clip featuring a triangular snout with a starburst of gold against navy blue denticle-covered skin plastered to the skull, paired with set of gleaming crimson eyes…
At the time, she had dismissed it as a trick of the light, a fantasy brought on by an overly creative imagination borne of an artist, a writer, a dreamer. Now, she saw it as a stark truth bearing down on her with unrelenting harshness. Somehow, the red glow was even more disturbing than coal black eyes could ever be. There was intelligence here, sharp and unrelenting. These were predators coordinating their strikes more fully than simple predators relinquishing themselves to pure instinct.
Shay remained vigilant, the pokéball clutched tightly in her grip, as Mister Briney edged closer.
And yet…
And yet, she was waiting for the punchline. The moment where her hope was jerked out from beneath her. Just as she threw her pokéball, the Sharpedo lurking below would lurch forward, swallowing Magikarp and pokéball and all into its gullet, without mercy, without hope, and then all would be lost.
Aaaaand that's my imagination, running wild with itself, drunk on Hollywood's bittersweet expectations and twists, Shay thought to herself, trying to hold on to all hope, all expectations, all pieces of good luck and fortune as she threw the pokéball in her hand toward the besieged Magikarp, flailing helplessly and injured, slick with the blood of its schoolmates. The pokéball flew in a wobbly and imperfect arc, a simple sphere of red and white, out towards the struggling life that was now closer than she would have believed. Energy surged, encircling the Magikarp, captured it and brought it into its fold, and the pokéball was left in its wake, bobbing up and down in the seafoam. It wiggled, struggling as the Magikarp had done, until it grew still and final. Shay stared at it, briefly staggered by the finality of it all, before instinct lurched through her and she swept the pole to bridge the gap between her and pokéball. The net scooped it up and she pulled it in.
Her heart raced as the last few inches were drawing in, her stomach clenched tight with tension and urgency. Relief was a cool balm inching its way along, flooding through her system when the pokéball was almost within reach.
It all snapped away when the Seafarer rocked violently, throwing Shay off her feet and flat on her back. The pole was ripped from her hand with as much ferocity and suddenness that it made her fingers and hand sing with aching pain once the shock faded. A sleek, dark body hung suspended in the air, the pole clenched in its jaws and the sound of bone scaping against metal was unnaturally loud. Stark triangular fins cut through the silhouette of the Sharpedo, giving it harsh and sharp angles that made it seem even crueler up close.
Red eyes glowered as the body hung there, as if it were floating before gravity finally, belatedly, began to take hold and drag the behemoth shark back into the dark depths from which it came.
Faye hissed in Shay's ear, rending through the unnatural silence and breaking the timpani drum-like mantra of Shay's heartbeat as it beat a tattoo against the back of her sternum, as though it were fighting its way up into her throat. The little Taillow sliced through the air, wings pumping with expertise afforded to feathered beings such as herself. The Sharpedo thrashed its massive head as it sank back down, great triangular teeth gnashing the pole in its jaws, slicing jagged cuts into the flimsy material. Faye zipped around the head before diving at a sharp angle and swung around just as the Sharpedo relinquished its hold on the pole to snap at the flighty little bird buzzing around its head.
The oceanic creature's grace in the water wasn't available to it as it bashed against the Seafarer's side and struggled to stay aloft in the air. Inch by inch, it was sinking back down, but it continued to gnash its jaws, and very nearly caught the little Taillow once or twice. Keno spattered it in the face with a well-aimed Water Gun when it got too close.
Sela growled, her hackles bristling upwards, but remained frozen where she stood, unable to break her gaze from the shark. Faye sluiced through the air, graceful and effortless, even when she made a final dive, nicking the Sharpedo on the nose with a wing as she did and rose upwards with a newly added load clutched in her talons. The Sharpedo eventually sank into the watery depths with a spray and a splash. It didn't reappear. It didn't try to leap onto the deck of the Seafarer, much as Shay was expecting it. She finally released the breath she had been holding, slow and shaky and spent.
Once more, she had to train herself to not expect movie monster mania actions and had to keep that in mind. Sharpedo were still sharks. They were more intelligent than any in her world, but they weren't movie monsters. They were animals with higher learning. Surely, they would know better to back off.
But could they even speak, like the rest of the pokémon she'd come across? Could they be reasoned with? The silence had been so…unnerving. No talking, no grunts, no growls. Nothing.
Just pure, unadulterated instinct and menace perfected over millions of years of careful evolution that moulded them into the predatory machines they were today.
Faye fluttered to a halt, hovering before Shay and thrust the object at her trainer. Shay caught it on reflex, her breath coming out in shuddering but quiet gasps as she clutched the pokéball with the injured Magikarp in her hand. Faye settled back on her trainer's shoulder, as Mister Briney came to her side and helped the young woman up to her feet, scowling at the railing where the Sharpedo had disappeared behind. Keno grabbed hold of her arm, tiger-orange eyes glaring at the spot where the Sharpedo had disappeared, as if daring it to come back.
"Told ye, lass. Sharpedo aren't t' be trifled with an' shouldn't be taken lightly," he rumbled. He turned to her, checking her over, concern melting his harsh expression. "It didn't get ye, did it?"
Peeko shuffled nervously atop Mister Briney's shoulder, casting numerous looks over the Seafarer's railing, monitoring the waters. Fins occasionally sliced through the waters, reminding those aboard that the wolves of the sea were very much still around.
"No," she said, her voice small and quaky. Swallowing, she tried to garter herself and cleared her throat. Keno caught her eye and squeezed her hand. She squeezed back. "No. Just…scared the shit out of me. Um…I'm sorry about your pole. The Sharpedo took it."
"An' nearly ripped yer bloody hand off in the process! I'm just glad t' see that yer all right, that's more important. I can get more equipment. Ye only get one set o' hands an' feet in yer life that wasn't made in a factory." With a pat on her shoulder, Mister Briney seemed more relaxed and relieved knowing that Shay wasn't hurt. He cast a pointed look down at the pokéball still clutched in her hand, worry once more bleeding into his countenance.
"We'd best get out of here. I have t' file a report with the proper authorities down in Dewford, an' they'll need what we've gathered fer further analysis." With another pointed look, he motioned to the pokéball in Shay's hands. "An' we'll need t' get that poor wee beastie t' the Center as soon as possible."
The older man shuffled off to gather the buckets and stored them below deck before hurrying to the bridge.
Keno glued himself to Shay's side, doubling down on Mister Briney's earlier inquiries about how she was, and asked if there was anything he could do to help. Sela pressed tightly against her, quiet and stiff. Breela came shuffling out from the bridge and without prompting, Shay picked up the Shroomish, and felt strangely comforted with holding her.
Shay reassured her team that she was fine, even when her hands were still shaking, and what felt like a block of ice had settled in the pit of her stomach and spread its coldness out into her limbs. She made it a point to remain well away from the edges of the railing, and eventually found herself in the bridge, watching as the dark of the sky and sea blurring together until an even darker shadow began to spread on the horizon.
Within the hour, they were curling around Dewford's northern shores and slung around to the east. Lights twinkled in the dark shape that was Dewford, small and clustered tightly together. The warm yellow glow of the streetlights was welcoming and a sight for sore eyes.
The authorities were waiting for them on the docks. Mister Briney patted Shay on the shoulder, assuring her that he'd handle the entire mess. When she hitched up her pack back onto her shoulders and slipped down onto the dock, one of the men donning a uniform tried to pull her aside, citing that she'd need to answer some questions. Mister Briney came to her rescue, not-so-subtly inserting himself between her and the officer.
"She's got nothin' t' do with this. I was giving her passage t' Dewford, an' she helped collect some of the poor beasties up. That's the extent o' it all."
"Regardless, sir, she still needs to answer some questions—"
"She has t' get her team to the center. We were waylaid by a pack o' Sharpedos while we were working, an' one o' her members were injured, an' needs to get to the Pokémon Center. You wouldn't want to have the death of a pokémon on your hands, would you?"
His tone was sly and conniving, as though daring the young man to continue arguing with the salty sailor. The officer hesitated, and just for a moment, Shay almost felt bad for him. Finally, he relented and waved her off. Mister Briney waited until the officer stalked off to confide with the others, before turning with a wink to Shay and shooed her away.
"Just head up the main road, an' it'll be about two blocks down. Ye can't miss it, lass. One o' the larger buildings here on Dewford."
With a wave of the hand, Shay knew a dismissal when she heard it and quickly left the docks. The streets were scarce of people, but there wasn't a shortage of pokémon prowling about. They left her alone, only curiously watching as she passed by before returning to their nocturnal activities.
"I seem to be a magnet for trouble," Shay mumbled as they edged out the last of their journey, the Pokémon Center dead ahead. Cheerful and warm yellow light spilled out from its glassy skin, enveloping the immediate surrounding area. Shay was already feeling better just by looking at the exterior of the Center as they approached the front doors. They slid open with a soft pneumatic hum, as if to say that she was welcome and safe now.
That was a funny thing she hadn't really expected and yet welcomed all the same. All the Pokémon Centers she'd been at all retained that soft and comfortable warmth. They seemed to say, "you're all right now," as soon as a gaze was swept over them. It was a wonderful trick and one that Shay was comfortable with experiencing at any moment. It was almost—almost—like finishing that last leg of a long run, a sight that said she was almost done, she just had to work off that last pesky part and she'd be all right afterwards.
The nurse at the front desk took one look at Shay and jumped, eyes going wide and mouth gaping open.
"What in the hell happened to you?"
Her words were loud enough to garner the looks from a few Chansey donning nursing caps, and they came to a sudden halt, whispering to one another. Sela growled at Shay's side, while Faye puffed out her feathers in annoyance. Breela shook in Shay's arm.
"Mister Briney—"
"Mister Briney did this to you?" The nurse exclaimed, aghast as surprise and alarm rang in her tone of voice. Shay nearly choked on her laugh and it came out strangled and shrill. Christ, she was tired.
"No! No, no, no. He was giving me a ride here, and we…well, there was a whole school of Magikarp…"
"A school of Magikarp did this to you?" This time, it was uncertainty that lined her tone.
"I wish she'd shut up long enough to listen," Sela snorted beside Shay, her growling evening out to a low rumble.
Shay couldn't help but agree, and sighed, shaking her head at the woman. "The school was massacred. Mister Briney's talking with the authorities right now, said that it looked like an illegal fishing operation that chummed them up. I was helping collect evidence."
Understanding lit up in the woman's watery blue eyes and she leaned back in her seat, a hand sliding up to cover her mouth.
"Oh, yes. We've been having issues with fishermen casting their nets out around here, trying to slough through for rarer pokémon. Some are endangered and are under protection from fishing operations, and yet…"
"And yet people with money think themselves exempt from the rules."
The woman sighed. "Well, yes there's that and a few other factors piled up on top of that." With an appraising yet curious look over Shay, her lips ticked downwards. "What in the hell happened?"
"Sharpedo," Shay simply said, and once more, the light of understanding flickered in the woman's eyes.
"Oh, Arceus. They usually don't live around here, but I'm sure the smell of blood drew them over. We usually only get Tentacool and Tentacruel skimming the surface of the waters. Sharpedo can get real nasty real quick if you aren't careful."
With a few more niceties passed around, Shay presented the pokéball with the injured Magikarp to the nurse. She took it quickly and turned to one of the Chanseys lingering by the desk.
"Please take this pokémon to urgent care, quickly now!"
"Wait—what can I do?" Shay jumped, alarmed, as she nearly threw herself up and over the desk, watching as the Chansey trotted off on quick-tempered paws, moving with surprising grace for a creature of its size. The nurse turned to Shay with a soft and reassuring smile, patting the young woman's hand.
"I'm sorry, but all you can do is wait. It might be a few hours, but we'll do our best to save your pokémon and keep it stabilized."
The words 'your pokémon' struck a chord with Shay and it actually hit her in the full that she had caught a Magikarp. She stared after the woman as she trotted off to follow after the Chansey that had taken her pokémon out to urgent care.
And all she could do was wait and see what would happen.
Shortly, another nurse came to the desk, and helped Shay get checked in, and promised they'd phone in the status of her pokémon once they were finished. With a pause, she added helpfully after looking Shay over, "And we can get your clothes cleaned up, if you bag it and set it outside your room. We'll have them back to you by morning."
After that, she was handed a card key and off they went to the second floor, where her room was.
"I hate waiting," Shay said quietly as she came up on her room door, tension lining the curve of her jaw and all she could was clench it until it ached, tight and painful. Waiting around, doing nothing…it made her feel completely useless. Hopeless and helpless. Keno patted her back in quiet agreement.
"He'll make it," he said quietly, assuring. Luna slipped past the Marshtomp and immediately made a beeline for the bed.
"He was strong enough to survive that slaughter," the Skitty said in agreement, her tail flicking across the flat terrain of the made bedspread. Her eyes were half-lidded but glittered with quiet praise. "I'm sure he'll make it. I know it must be hard, but you need to have some patience. Rushing things will only make it worse."
"He needs rest," Breela added quietly. "And so do we."
There was a murmur of agreement that rippled unanimously from the rest of the team. Keno patted her arm and nodded toward the bed. "They're right, you know. I know it's not fun waiting, but things will be okay."
Shay hesitated, but her pause was short-lived as enervation slowly began to settle in her bones, weighing her down. Reluctantly, she dropped her pack and her shoulders throbbed at the merciful lack of heft digging into them. Slowly, Shay changed her clothes and, just as the nurse had instructed, put her clothes in a laundry bag provided with the room and set it outside the door in the hallway. Returning back into the comfort of the room, Shay ambled over to the bed and slid under the covers, her team curling in close. It took time for sleep to come to her, and even then, only in small fits. She kept waking randomly throughout the night, unable to stay asleep for more than an hour or two at a time.
By the time she finally managed to fall into deeper sleep, the phone rang its siren call, jerking her out of her restless slumber. Tiredly, she fumbled with the receiver and brought it to her ear, slurring out a graceless, "hullo?"
"Miss Kenway?"
Shay drew the phone away from her ear, startled at how loud the voice on the other end was. She kept it at least three inches from her head, but tilted the mouthpiece closer and said, "Uh, yeah. This is she."
"Hi, this is the front desk from downstairs, my name is Becca Leeds, I'm one of the nurses on duty. I'm calling to let you know the status of your Magikarp."
Shay immediately sat up straighter and was wide awake, all exhaustion chased away by that single sentence. "Is he okay?"
"Your Magikarp is fine for now, it's stabilized. It was a really close call, but we managed to repair the damage done to it. It looks like a machine made for chumming was the culprit, but by some miracle, your Magikarp didn't suffer too badly, and the blades missed vital organs. It's mostly superficial damage, but it did lose quite a bit of blood, that's why it was so weak. Well, weaker than usual." A cheery, bell-like laugh sounded off on the other side, as though the joke was well-timed. Annoyance filtered through Shay's core, her humour withering completely at the woman's joke. "Anyway, you can pick your Magikarp up in a few hours, after it's finished its course of meds."
Shay checked the time on the clock beside the bed and saw that it was a few hours shy of breakfast time. She slumped back against the headboard and thanked the nurse, putting the receiver back into its cradle.
"See?" A voice said softly in the dark, thin as a crescent moon in a clear sky. Shay jumped and saw a flicker of night shine flashing at her. Luna purred, getting up to her paws and stretching. Quietly, she drew herself up to Shay and clambered into the woman's lap. She was heavy but warm and the purrs sent a pleasant vibration coursing through Shay. She ran a hand over the Skitty's back and slid back down the bed to lay down. "I told you he'd be fine."
Shay hummed quietly back, eyes sliding closed. When she woke up next, morning light was peeking into the room, pale and soft, and she felt more rested from those last few hours than she had from the entire evening before.
Additional Notes: If you enjoy mermaid horror, then you'll enjoy shark horror as well, and I can't help but plug in Steve Alten's Meg series. The film doesn't compete with the novel series, honestly. I'll admit, Jason Statham is good advertisement, and he does wonderful for the film—but the novel is a completely different beast. All in all, Mira Grant and Steve Alten have it made in the deep dive of deep-sea horror.
If you don't believe me, give them a try~!
As always, please give a shout out in the review box, I'd love to hear from y'all! And thank you again to my lovely reviewers who have said hello! You guys are simply the best!
Lastly, next weekend, I might lapse in an update because its my baby girl's birthday and the entire weekend is blocked out. I'll attempt to get the next chapter posted the following Monday if I don't hit it on Sunday. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
