You have awakened. Good.
What is your purpose here? You will help save the world.
It is a world consumed by hate and pride and greed. Those who live in it care not for others, only for what they may gain no matter the expense. This cannot be allowed to continue. You will help me bring a stop to this vile cycle once and for all.
Soon there will be another, summoned by one too foolish to see the true effect of their actions. You will exterminate this individual. It is the only way to end the cycle of hate.
But that is a while off. First, you will live amongst those that live in this world. You will understand their inadequacies. Their greed, their arrogance, and their contempt for each other. You will understand why none of them are fit to continue living. Those of the land shall spurn you for what you are. As is their nature. Yet succeed in this one simple task…
…And I shall take over from there.
"A second wrong doesn't right the first."
~~~~\({O})/~~~~
PART III: THE SOCIETY
~~~~\({O})/~~~~
29.
Ghost Ship
~\({O})/~
Noe Town Border
~Team Anthem~
For a harbor on the Mist Continent, Noe Town had grown exceedingly run down. It existed on Mist's most accessible coast, and had been founded by the pokemon who colonized the continent. Long ago, it had been the center of all trade and commerce, and where HAPPI made its headquarters.
Not anymore. Now the houses had fallen into a state of dismal disrepair, and many of the paved streets were splattered with dried mud. HAPPI had relocated to Paradise, and with it had gone the wealth and riches. The skies above were grey and cloudy, and the alleys were shrouded in mist. For no riches from the many ships that sailed into the harbor were offered to Noe Town. Those were all for Pokemon Paradise. Papers had been stuck to many of the houses, even covering windows and doors:
Noe Town: Soon to be an extension of Pokemon Paradise (funded and sponsored by the Helping Adventurous Pokemon Prosper Institute)
It was a desolate town, cold and hard even in the air around it. And certainly not a place that Team Anthem would have any business in normally.
Alexis tried to ignore the feeling of the mud on his paws as he walked. If there was one thing he missed from the Human World, it was shoes. He needed to look into getting some custom-made, even if foot coverings were a completely foreign concept to this world. He was a national hero—there had to be at least one tailor in Pokemon Paradise that made something other than scarves. The dewott fanned the paper slip he held out as he walked, reading what was written on it for the thousandth time (thankfully in Unown). There were only three disjointed sentences on the paper: Friendly fire at the docks. Ship not returning our signals or messengers. Send help.
From behind Alexis, Elliot yawned. The pikachu lazily flicked an ear, then fell on all fours to catch up with the dewott.
"The place is quiet," he commented, returning to his hind paws. "You don't think we're too late, are we?"
"Doubtful." Alexis folded the paper, sticking it back in his bag. He frowned, looking ahead. "This place has been a ghost town for ages – everymon worth worrying over's gathered at the docks, no doubt."
The docks were no more inviting than the town. The waters churned uneasily with the foreboding ripples of a coming storm, and the skies were grey and windy. Alexis looked down at the water and shivered. Even as a water-type, there were some things from his old self he just couldn't kick.
There were a multitude of pokemon gathered at the docks, many looking like they belonged to some kind of harbor patrol. Alexis and Elliot pushed their way through the crowd, heading towards the shore to get a better look at what was going on.
"Hey!" Alexis called out, catching the attention of most of the crowd. Many recognized him and Elliot on sight, immediately giving them both a wide berth. Alexis pulled the slip of paper out of his bag, waving it high in the air. "I'm looking for a 'mon who can brief me and my partner here." He quickly gestured to Elliot. "We got your mission request."
A furret with a faded HAPPI insignia pinned to his chest quickly scurried forward from the crowd. "That's me," he said, clearing his throat compulsively as he stood up. "I'm in charge." Alexis got the feel he wasn't used to running things.
The furret pointed out across the harbor, into the outer open waters. Alexis followed his gaze, settling his eyes upon the form of a distant ship, enshrouded by the fog. The shape of the bronze metal hull was distinct – anymon could recognize the Demetrius, even from far away.
"The Demetrius made its way into harbor sometime last night," the furret began. "When we tried to send it an automated transmission, we received nothing back."
Alexis sighed, cutting the furret's next sentence off. "Did you try using an electric-type?" he asked dismissively. Machine transmissions never consistently worked, no matter how the system was tweaked. There were some things he just didn't understand why pokemon didn't go old-school for.
"W-we didn't have time," the furret stammered, twitching his tail in stress. "The ship started shooting at us before we could do anything else." He redirected his paw towards the dock several meters away, which had been twisted into an almost unrecognizable mass of wrenched wood and stone.
Elliot's face twisted into silent shock at the destruction. Alexis didn't flinch. Disregarding Elliot's reaction, he turned back to the furret. "So, they got your transmission…
"How many times has the ship fired."
"T-three times. The first time was after the transmission. The second time was when we sent a search party out to investigate."
"And this slip says you never got that search party back?"
"We sent them in with a connection orb. When we didn't hear back, we tried to call them. Then it fired a third time. D-destroyed the second floor of that building to the right." Furret pointed out a building to Alexis' left that had been completely wrecked from the second floor up. "That's when we called you."
The furret lowered his paw once Alexis had gotten his point. Alexis took a deep breath, then began to mentally shuffle his thoughts into order. The rescue party's disappearance and the transmissions were easily rationalized away as products of bad communication, but the attacks on the harbor spirited all that wishful thinking away. The Demetrius was not in the hands of its rightful crew.
So what to do about it?
"Those pokemon you sent." The furret's attention was quickly caught once again by Alexis' smooth interjection. "On a scale of one to ten, self-defense wise, how skilled were they?"
"Ah…" the furret wiggled nervously a bit. "…Two? Maybe three? We don't get rescue team training like the location up in Paradise."
"Alright," Alexis began. "Here's your situation. Most likely case: pirate pokemon. Stupid ones, if they think they can use that ship to lay siege on the harbor." Glimmers of a slightly queasy look came onto his face as he looked at the waters. Then he turned back to the crowd, raising his voice: "I need a volunteer to sail me and my partner out there!"
No-mon in the crowd looked particularly interested at the prospect of getting closer to pirates.
"Expect to be compensated for your services," Alexis added quickly. When there was no answer, he decided to elaborate.
"Gold," he said. "Poke. Money. Lots of it."
There were no changes in the crowd's demeanor.
"Aren't you a water-type?" somemon from the crowd piped up. Alexis glanced at the water again out of the corner of his eye, making sure to hide his discomfort at the thought of swimming in it.
"Even if I am," he began, "my partner needs ferrying. And we may need to carry more than one pokemon back to land. A boat or a durable water-type is required."
Elliot waved a little from the sidelines at the mention of his title, grinning timidly. He looked out of his depth.
The low, bellowing call of a massive pokemon caught the attention of everymon at the docks. Alexis turned to see the hulking form of a Wailord Liner slowly approaching from the distance. The massive wooden construct attached to the wailord's back was filled with many smaller pokemon – more tourists heading into Pokemon Paradise, no doubt. Alexis shifted where he stood, scowling. He spun around, facing the furret once more.
"Get those tourists on the docks and into the town now. The less pokemon know about this before we resolve it, the better."
With a small squeak, the furret nodded and scurried off. A good portion of the crowd followed him as well. Once the docks were sparse enough that Alexis had the whole place almost to himself, Elliot walked over. He stared out at the Demetrius, floating silently in the distance.
"I have a bad feeling," he said.
In the distance, there was a loud scraping. It caught the attention of both Alexis and Elliot. Both of them focused intently on the Demetrius, where the sound was coming from.
The front of the metal hull was slowly sliding open. With a loud bang, the hull slid open completely, and from the opening slid a large cannon. Fire-type energy began to collect around the brim. It only took Alexis a second to figure out what was going on. He dashed towards the crowd with haste, but it was far too late—the cannon fired a straight burst of pure fire-type energy that blasted a hole clear into the approaching wailord liner.
Chaos erupted not even seconds later. The crowd at the harbor screamed and panicked louder than the crowd on the liner, the wailord bellowed out loudly in discomfort, and even Alexis' cry for order was drowned out in all the noise.
"EVERYMON QUIET!" A thunderbolt cracked up into the air and exploded like fireworks above the crowd. The clouds above rumbled in response. Elliot whipped a few stray sparks off his tail and stood up on his hind paws. "We're taking charge here! Listen to what my partner has to say!"
Stunned by the loud interruption, the crowd quickly fell back into an anxious silence. Alexis stepped forward, looking at the liner. He studied the damage from afar the best he could. The structural integrity of the framework was damaged… but it would get to land okay.
It should get to land okay.
Alexis turned to the furret once more: "How many water-types have you got?"
He didn't wait for the furret's answer. "Send them all out to help ferry the passengers off that ship. We can't rule out a collapse before it reaches dry land. Once the ship's docked, set up—"
"Passenger accommodations?" the furret interjected helpfully.
"You got it," Alexis said. "Get them as far away from the harbor as you can. There will be questions; don't answer any of them. Now get on it. Go!"
The furret quickly nodded, then scurried back to the crowd of harbormon to begin preparing. Alexis gestured for Elliot to follow him, and they both began to jog back towards the next dock over.
"So what do we do?" Elliot asked. Alexis fought off a shudder at the thought of entering the cold, dark, deep waters.
"We find somemon in this harbor willing to ferry us onto that ship. I don't care what I have to pay."
~\({O})/~
~Zoroark~
The raft was cold, but the water was colder. The chilly breeze of the storm rolling in nipped Zoroark's skin through his soggy fur. His mane was wet and heavy, and that just made him chillier. At this point he'd either freeze or starve to death—Zoroark wasn't particularly sure which one would come first.
But there was one shred of good news: Land was within sight. Unfamiliar, wood-and-clay houses dotted the near horizon, and the town looked more like a bleak outpost than a proper town. But Zoroark would take anything on land at this point. Suddenly alive with energy he didn't know he had, he stuck a paw in the water and began to eagerly paddle his way to shore.
The makeshift excuse for a raft bumped up against the stone steps of a dock meant for water-types to climb up on, and Zoroark quickly jumped off and threw himself down onto the glorious dry land he'd missed so much. The stone was cold beneath his already-soaked fur, but he didn't care. He wasn't getting back on a boat of any kind anytime soon.
By the time Zoroark could summon enough energy to get up off the ground, the ground was not so dry anymore. He wrung out his mane the best he could, and shook the rest of his fur off like an unruly growlithe. Then he remembered he was in a town—pokemon could see him here—and then, just like that, he was Braixen again.
Zoroark-as-Braixen marched through the town wearily, catching the attention of the few 'mon that were out and about. The pokemon they saw was completely dry—Zoroark didn't have the energy for wet fur—but walked with the weight of somemon who had been underwater for an hour. He spotted a xatu perched upon a nearby pier, with its head craned directly up towards the clouds, but it paid him no mind. He continued his trudge through the harbor. He could find a place to eat and sleep for the night, and then he'd book his way into Pokemon Paradise. He'd only been there once, when he was young—he had worked for the ambassador of the Water Continent, after all—but how hard could it be to find a helpline in a place that was commonly referred to as "the greatest city on the planet"?
Then he remembered that he didn't have any poke. Any belongings of his had been swallowed up when the Exeggutor went down. So that was eating and sleeping in a warm place tonight out of the question. Zoroark-as-Braixen took a deep breath, stopping in the middle of the street. He slumped back against a building in exhaustion. He didn't know where to go from here.
And only then, when his head was clear, did his ears catch the sounds of yelling in the distance. Only then did he see the struggling wailord liner limping its way to shore, the line of pokemon making their way off the docks… and the hulking form of the Demetrius in the distance.
The Demetrius… that was a government ship, sitting stagnant in the waters outside the harbor. What was going on? For the moment, Zoroark forgot he was tired and hungry, and quickly took off in the direction of the harbor.
There were many more 'mon at the docks. The Wailord Liner had docked, even though the framework holding the ship in place was dangerously leaning down towards the water. The scaffold had a huge hole in its side, one too large for the attack of all but the most powerful pokemon…
Busy staring at the giant hole in the ship, Zoroark-as-Braixen didn't notice where he was going until he accidentally walked straight into another pokemon. They both let out a grunt of surprise as they were knocked backwards. Surprised, Zoroark let his illusion falter for just a second. The vaporeon he bumped into scrabbled on the ground for something she had lost—there it was. A HAPPI badge had fallen to the ground in their kerfuffle. Vaporeon tried her best to pick it up, but her paws weren't conductive enough. Zoroark-as-Braixen quickly snatched it up before a passing rhydon could step on it. He handed it back to the vaporeon, who scooped it up with her tail and stuffed it back in her bag.
"Thanks," she said.
Zoroark-as-Braixen nodded and grunted in confirmation, then moved along. He didn't catch sight of her after that.
The docks quickly became more empty after that. Zoroark continued along until he could see the ship better. It was still enshrouded in mist from this angle, and it didn't look like the ship was operating at all. But what was it doing sitting in the harbor? His mind flashed back to the hole in the Wailord liner, and the dissociated dots began to connect in his head and form a very chilling picture. He sped up a bit.
Eventually, his ears caught the sound of two 'mon talking in hushed voices to themselves. Zoroark slowed down, honing his hearing in on their voices in the hopes he could catch a snippet of what was going on.
"Think we could commission any of the passengers to do it?"
"Leave them out of it. I'd rather not drag scared tourists into this."
"That's our best shot. Getting a strong water-type to do it. If you won't…"
The sound of shuffling paws. Then, somemon cleared their throat.
"We could use this boat."
"T-that's stealing! You can't be serious right now!"
"It's either that, or we wait for somemon willing and qualified to ferry us all the way out there. We can't waste any more time on this."
"We used to hunt down the pokemon who did this kind of thing every day!"
"We hunted evil pokemon who stole for self-gain. We're doing this out of necessity. We have no other options. And…" the clink of a purse of poke. "…It's not like we'll be leaving them with nothing for their inconvenience."
Zoroark's ears pricked up at the sound of the money. The contents of that bag might mean the difference between sleeping in a warm bed and freezing to death in the cold Mist fog.
There was a pause, then a sigh of defeat.
"We should at least find the boat owner first."
"No time."
"B-but—"
"Necessary evils, Elliot. Sometimes good pokemon have to do a bad thing for the greater good."
Zoroark had only a second to think on it. He couldn't let this opportunity slip out of his grasp, but he had no way to ferry them all the way to the Demetrius.
Unless…
If he were caught, he'd be in unimaginable trouble. But at the very worst, spending the night in a jail would be better than spending it on the street. So, Zoroark made his decision.
"Hey!" Zoroark-as-Braixen called out, catching the attention of the two 'mon he had been eavesdropping on. A pikachu and a dewott raised their heads to look at him. Zoroark recognized them immediately.
Alexis straightened up, putting on his best publicity face for the braixen. "Need something?" he asked.
"I heard you talking about wanting somemon to ferry you over to that ship over there," Zoroark-as-Braixen said, pointing to the Demetrius for emphasis. He strode over until he was standing only three feet away from Alexis and Elliot. "Well, it just so happens that I'm the owner of that boat." Zoroark-as-Braixen pointed down to the boat—a measly lifeboat, silently rocking back and forth in the uneasy waters. Zoroark tried his best to hide his surprise. He thought it had been larger. "I'll ferry you two there… for a price."
"A fire-type with a lifeboat…" Zoroark heard Alexis mutter to himself silently. His stomach did a backflip—had they caught on to him?
"I go fishing," he added for good measure.
At the least, the pikachu seemed fooled. Elliot immediately perked up, as if a huge burden had been removed from his shoulders.
"Well, problem solved, then," he said happily. "Let's get in the boat." After a second of thought, Alexis nodded his head.
"Understand this," he began, before Zoroark-as-Braixen could continue. "We're asking for a round trip, there and back. You may have to ferry more pokemon back with us on the return trip. This may entail more than one subsequent trip. I cannot guarantee that your boat will survive, but you will be compensated with poke in either scenario."
Not that he had much of a choice. Zoroark-as-Braixen nodded confidently, letting the illusion hide his jittery face. "I accept."
"Splendid. Lead the way." Alexis gestured to a wooden ladder at the end of the stone pier, which Zoroark-as-Braixen stepped towards. Zoroark-as-Braixen climbed down the ladder, and stepped into the boat. It rocked under his weight, and he almost lost his balance completely. Luckily, this wasn't the first time he had been on a ship. He sat down, grasping the oars carefully. He nodded up at the pikachu and dewott staring down at him from above.
Alexis frowned, undid the rope that tethered the boat to the dock, then carefully climbed down the ladder. Zoroark-as-Braixen hummed silently to keep himself calm, grabbing the twin oars. So much for not stepping in a boat again anytime soon.
~\({O})/~
The waters churned heavily, rocking the boat more than a little bit as Zoroark-as-Braixen rowed his two passengers out to sea. No words were exchanged between the three of them; there was only the distant blowing of the wind, the rumbling of the skies above and the ever-larger looming figure of the Demetrius to keep them company.
A larger than usual wave rocked the boat a little bit, before it set itself back to rights. Out of the corner of his eye, Zoroark spotted Alexis' paws grip the side of the boat tightly.
Eventually, Zoroark managed to pull the boat up next to the massive metal hull of the Demetrius. A large, portable metal stairway extended out of the ship and down into the waters below. Across from the rowboat Zoroark sat in was a larger sailboat, enough to hold four or five 'mon in it. Zoroark eyed it uneasily as he rowed.
"Pull us up over there." Alexis pointed to the stairway. Zoroark-as-Braixen rowed the boat until it had lined up with the metal set of stairs, at which point Alexis deftly hopped from the boat onto the stairway. He gripped the railing tightly and turned around, watching Elliot follow. Zoroark-as-Braixen searched the boat for a rope of any kind—he had just remembered boats needed to be tethered so they didn't float off—and began tying the boat to the railing once he had a line in his hand. Then he took the first step onto the stairway.
Alexis and Elliot, already halfway up the stairs, glanced back. Alexis' face sunk, like he was annoyed at a toddler.
"I can't allow you to follow us in here," he said, glancing down at Zoroark-as-Braixen. "We don't know what it'll be like. Might not be safe. Just… stay out here with the boat."
A rumble of thunder made all three 'mon look up at the sky. The clouds were darker than they had been just before. Wind ruffled Zoroark-as-Braixen's fur, dangerously rocking the boats. The storm had arrived.
Alexis looked up at the growing storm and sighed.
"Fine. Come on. But stay behind us."
He deftly walked up the rest of the stairs, and opened the door a crack. After looking in both ways, he ushered Elliot and Zoroark-as-Braixen along.
~\({O})/~
The Demetrius
The hallways of the Demetrius were too dark to see. Alexis briefly reached into his bag for something as the door closed behind them. Zoroark-as-Braixen blanched—if he was going to be asked to light a torch…
But instead, Alexis pulled a single orb from his bag. It shone in the dark with the same blue glow as luminous moss, illuminating their surroundings. Everywhere, the walls were covered in viscous black goo, some of it extending into long, goopy trails on the ground. There was no-mon around to be seen.
"What is this stuff…" Elliot muttered, reaching a paw out to touch the goo stuck to the walls.
"Try not to touch it," Alexis said. "It could be dangerous."
Elliot pulled his paw back before he could.
The goo continued all the way down the hallway, where the three of them found the door at the end of the corridor blasted clean off its hinges. The doorframe was mangled, and the door itself lay at their feet, bent out of shape. Alexis bent over to inspect it, noting that the center was covered in the same black goo that coated the walls.
"Look at this."
Elliot bent over a pile of something that glinted from the luminous orb's light. Zoroark immediately recognized what it was—he'd seen the exact same thing himself just a few days ago, after all.
"It's a shattered connection orb," he said.
"You think it belongs to…" Elliot trailed off, letting the silence speak for him.
"Looks like that search party went the same way as the crew," Alexis said, looking at the connection orb remains over his shoulder.
Zoroark-as-Braixen spun around, his ears picking up on the sound of the goo down the hallway behind them moving with a pop. Elliot, who had heard it too, followed suit.
"Did you hear that?" he asked Alexis, turning around.
"Hear what?" Alexis, who had turned back to inspecting the door, didn't even look back at Elliot.
"Something just moved back there," Zoroark-as-Braixen said.
Alexis stood back up. In the moment of silence, all three pokemon could hear something slithering down the hallway.
"You stay here," he said to Zoroark-as-Braixen, who nodded. "Elliot, with me."
Zoroark-as-Braixen watched Alexis and Elliot slowly move down the corridor in the direction of the sound. The luminous orb had been left sitting on the ground next to Zoroark, but Zoroark dared not move nor break his stance. He looked around at all the black goo hanging from the walls. What was this?
Suddenly, it began to move. With a loud squelching sound, the goo decorating the roof above Zoroark began to shift with life. That was it. Zoroark let out a quiet yelp of abject fear, then took off through the deformed doorway. He didn't even think to pick up the luminous orb.
The doorway led into what looked like a cafeteria of some kind—chairs and tables were overturned everywhere, and quite a few had been smashed up. Zoroark ran in and took shelter under a still-standing table.
Something heavy hit the ground. It was too dark to see. The impact rattled the ship's benches and made Zoroark jump.
Whatever was there slowly stomped through the room. There was a brief pause of silence, as Zoroark heard it sniff the air several times. Then it began to walk again.
Whatever it was stepped on a chair right in front of Zoroak's eyes and flattened it completely. Zoroark barely restrained himself from yelping out in fear. He concentrated, slowly putting up a much more complex illusion he had yet to perfect. If he was doing it right, no-mon would be able to see him in the first place.
Unfortunately for him, his trick didn't work on what didn't have eyes. The table was quickly flipped over just seconds later, and Zoroark was snatched up by the grotesque claws of a Void Shadow.
The Void Shadow, made of the same black goo that coated the walls and the roof, growled in his face, then sniffed the air again. Zoroark saw its many, many teeth. That was when he lost it – he yelled a battle cry and began to wildly scratch and claw away at the monster's face in terror. His claws sunk into its head harmlessly, and he let out a whimper of fear as he tried to tug them out.
The Shadow snarled, and Zoroark felt its claws tighten around his ribs, much tighter than felt comfortable. It was going to crush him! Unless…
"Hey! What's going on in he—" Alexis and Elliot both stopped short at the sight of the large black monster, its goo reflecting the light of the luminous orb in the hallway as it lifted Zoroark up into the air. Desperate, Zoroark felt out where its claws were on his body. Then he slashed them with his own. His claws sliced completely through the Shadow's, severing them from the monster. Zoroark hit the ground only a second later and scampered away.
"Ready?" both Alexis and Elliot got into battle positions. They readied their own elemental attacks, aiming at the monster.
"Ready!" The combined power of a water gun and a thunderbolt hit the Void Shadow all at once, sending electricity coursing through its body. It let out a shriek, then collapsed entirely into a black puddle on the floor. Zoroark heard it slither off, but it was too dark to see where it went. By the time Alexis had retrieved the luminous orb, Zoroark was Braixen once again.
"Hey—you okay?" Alexis asked, walking up to Zoroark-as-Braixen. Zoroark nodded.
"Y-yeah," he coughed out, getting to his feet. "What was that?"
"Beats me," Alexis said, half to Braixen and half to himself. "I've never seen anything like that before. At least it explains the goo." He gestured to the walls around them.
"So n-now what do we do?" Elliot asked, his voice shaking a bit.
"Our first priority to find out if there are any living 'mon still on this ship," Alexis said. If he was shaken like his partner was, he didn't let it show in his voice. "Somemon had to fire those cannons. We find them, we get them off of here. Then… we figure out where to go from there."
He turned around, facing Zoroark-as-Braixen. "As for you, I need you to leave. Bringing you in here was a mistake. We'll escort you back out—"
There were the sounds of slithering goo down in the hallway they had just come down. All three pokemon went silent at its sound.
"…On second thought," Alexis began. "We'll find another exit. Stay together."
~\({O})/~
Alexis made a detour not a moment later to quickly check the cafeteria kitchens for refugees. There weren't any.
A door on the other side of the cafeteria led to another corridor that wasn't as shrouded in goo as the last one had been. Goo coated the walls and some of the roof, but light shone through patches of window that had been left uncovered by the black substance. Zoroark thought he saw some of it slither over an uncovered patch of light out of the corner of his eye.
It was light enough now that Alexis put away the luminous orb. Zoroark put his illusion back up. He had tentatively dropped it in the darkness, once the light of the luminous orb had drifted far enough off his form, but now it was light enough that all it would take was a single glance back to destroy his cover. He marched forward, hoping the disappearance of a fake wand he was too tired to recreate in his tail wouldn't draw too much suspicion.
Alexis watched the walls closely as they went on. Halfway down the corridor, he stopped both Braixen and Elliot, feeling out the outline of a doorframe along the wall. It was completely covered in black goo.
"I know how ships like these work," he muttered. "So this…" his paws found a goo-covered door handle, and he yanked—
The door swung wide open, revealing a set of metal steps leaning down into darkness. "This is the way down to the engines." Alexis reached into his bag and pulled out the luminous orb once more. It illuminated some of the steps, but beyond was still left in darkness. Further beyond in the dark, Zoroark-as-Braixen thought he saw something bright orange glowing.
"But that way should lead us to the bridge," Elliot said, pointing down the corridor. "Something fired this ship's cannon, right? And you do that from the bridge. Any survivors are probably in there."
Alexis was silent for a minute, like he was deliberating on something.
"Yeah." He let the door swing shut with a bang. "I just wanted to know where we were."
He began to creep onwards, beckoning Elliot and Braixen after him. Zoroark-as-Braixen cast one last look at the door before following.
~\({O})/~
The hallway became more and more dark as they went on. The darker it got, the more invasive the goo became. It was everywhere, even the floor, and soon all three 'mon were slogging through it as they went onwards. Eventually, Alexis was forced to pull out the luminous orb a third time. There was still no sign of anymon around, nor anything like the monster that had attacked them in the cafeteria. Yet Zoroark still found himself checking behind the group often, just to reassure himself that the little squelching sounds he heard in the distance and the weird way the goo would catch the light every so often was just in his head.
It felt like they had walked for miles by the time they reached the corridor's end. It was completely engulfed in goo from floor to ceiling, like everything else in the hallway was. This was the worst it had been the entire time they'd been there. Alexis set the luminous orb down, searching with one paw through the black soup for a door handle. His arm was already almost half submerged in it by the time that he found it.
"Some help," he grunted, trying fruitlessly to tug it open. Elliot's paws grasped around Alexis, and he pulled too. The door still didn't budge. Elliot looked back at Zoroark, who was Braixen again in a split second. "Help…" he strained.
Zoroark looked down at his claws that looked, but certainly did not feel like braixen paws. If he touched somemon with those, he'd be caught for sure. But at the same time, he couldn't just refuse…
Manipulating touch wasn't an illusion Zoroark was skilled in. It was harder than sight, but easier than sound. He hadn't tried it before. All he had to do was draw upon what the subject thought the thing they were touching felt like… Zoroark took a deep breath, and wrapped his claws around Elliot. With luck, this would only be a second. He pulled.
The door budged. Then it held for a moment. Then it swung open completely, splattering all three pokemon with the black goo.
Alexis, Elliot, and Braixen all fell back, half-covered in the black substance. It felt sticky on Zoroark's fur. He sat up, and caught both Elliot and Alexis staring at him weird – he realized at the last second that he hadn't updated his illusion to account for being splattered with all that goo. But there was nothing to do about it now. It would only look weirder if he changed it. He stood up, staring back at Alexis and Elliot.
"What?" he asked.
Alexis shook his head. "Nothing. The door's open. Let's go."
He strode into the bridge, and both Elliot and Braixen followed his lead.
The inside of the bridge was a strange change of pace from the rest of the ship. The floors were completely clean, and the glass that made up the walls of the bridge was pristine and untouched. Much of the machinery in the bridge was battered and broken beyond repair, but the black goo that coated the interior of the rest of the ship was nowhere to be seen.
Zoroark wondered where it had all gone.
Alexis inspected the machinery on the sides of the ship, gazing at it intently.
"Their transmission machine's destroyed," he said, gazing at the only machine that had a hole torn clean through it. Zoroark could see all the way to the back of the wall through it.
"Do you think that's why they were firing the cannon?" Elliot asked. "Maybe they wanted to deter pokemon from boarding."
Crash. Something slithered over behind a control panel near the front of the bridge.
"Over there!" Alexis hissed, and all three pokemon immediately scrambled over to where the sound had come from. Whatever was making the sound had no time to flee—before it could get anywhere far, Alexis, Elliot and Braixen had it cornered behind the control panel it had been next to. A perfectly normal phanpy looked up at them.
"Have you come to take me out of this place?" it asked.
"What's happening here?" Alexis urged, before anymon else could speak. "Where are all your crewmates? Tell me what happened, from the beginning."
"Aren't you going to take me out of here?" the phanpy asked again.
"It's not that simple," Alexis said. "I need to understand what happened here first. Why is this ship deserted? Who fired the cannons? Then we can talk about leaving."
"But I want to leave," the phanpy said again. "Are you going to take me out of here?"
"Cooperate with me, and we'll do that," Alexis said. "Where are your crewmates?"
The phanpy was still and silent. Its body was motionless, almost like a sleeping metagross. Then, like a rusty machine clicking back into action, it spoke.
"Gone," the phanpy said, its voice raspy. "Dead."
"What happened to them?" Elliot asked.
It was a moment before the phanpy answered, breathing out raspy breaths.
"There was something out there, in the storm," it began. "It didn't look like a pokemon, but no-mon knew what it was. It boarded and picked us off, one by one. I locked myself in the bridge. I've been in here for a day."
"Why were you firing the cannons?"
"What cannons?" the phanpy asked.
Alexis' demeanor ever-so-slightly changed. He stood up. "Elliot, Braixen-no-name, watch him."
He walked over to the center of the room, studying a dashboard of controls that were laced with the same black goo from earlier—the only muddied thing in the room. Zoroark heard him mutter something to himself.
Alexis rejoined Elliot and Zoroark-as-Braixen, his eyes set on the phanpy. "You're sure you've been all alone in this room for the last day?"
"Yes." The phanpy readily nodded.
"Wrong answer." Lightning fast, Alexis pulled a scalchop from his hip and threw it straight at the phanpy. The scalchop made contact and returned, and Alexis caught it neatly. There was a visible gash in the phanpy's face that didn't bleed.
"Wh-why did you do that?" Elliot cried out in horror. He moved forward in the phanpy's direction, but Alexis quickly pulled him back by the scarf.
"Stay back!" he grunted.
The phanpy looked up, and its face distorted into something that didn't look quite like any pokemon. A pair of massive limbs with claws black as night exploded from the phanpy's body, far too fast for Alexis and Elliot to react. Zoroark didn't think—he dashed forward and slashed his claws wildly into the arms before they could reach their destination. The Void Shadow's head – rearing out of the phanpy's body – screeched loudly at Zoroark, but the shadow was quickly decapitated by another swing of Alexis' scalchop. It fell to the floor in front of them with a loud splat, losing its shape and devolving back down into black goo.
The shadow's arms finally overpowered Zoroark, throwing him clean across the bridge. He landed on one of the control panels, his weight pressing a bunch of buttons he couldn't begin to fathom the functions of. He fell off the control panel, and then sideways to the ground. Once his head stopped spinning, his eyes fixated on what Alexis must have seen: the severed limb of a phanpy that had fallen behind the panel.
But there wasn't time to think about that. He pulled himself back up against the panel with a huff. His claws inadvertently slammed down upon a large red button, activating the ship's horn.
Elliot and Alexis were locked in a close battle with the Void Shadow. Even without a head, the monster fought wildly, slashing at them with its gangly limbs.
"We need to hit it in the center, or it'll just regroup," Alexis yelled, slashing one of the arms back with his twin scalchops. They were backed up against the glass, and the shadow's arms were too large to escape to the sides. "Aim for the torso!"
"It's too close-quarters!" Elliot yelled back, both pokemon hitting the ground before the shadow's arms could snatch them both up in its claws. "You'll get fried too!"
"I can handle that!" Alexis yelled. "Do it!"
The ship's horn suddenly blasted through the cabin at a near-deafening pitch, forcing both Alexis and Elliot to cover their ears. The Void Shadow let out an agitated gurgle at the sound, its entire form shivering in place. The sound only lasted a few seconds, but Alexis didn't falter.
"Now, Elliot!" he yelled. Elliot charged his tail, and let a powerful shock wave of electric fury blaze everything around him. That was all the Void Shadow could take—with a pitiful screech, it collapsed entirely into a mass of black goo that began to slither away.
Zoroark watched it go from his spot at the control panel—it was too weak to fight back. This was his chance to finish it off for good! He leapt over the console, running forward, but the formless mass of black goo was too fast—it disappeared down a nearby drain before Zoroark could catch it. He scrabbled at the drainpipe, hearing the gurgling sounds of the retreating shadow echo through the drain.
Elliot shook off the remaining static electricity in his fur, letting his hackles relax. Beside him, Alexis coughed and raised himself from the floor, trying to shake off the electric attack he had just undergone.
"I'm fine," he panted before Elliot could open his mouth. "Where'd it go?"
"I didn't see," Elliot said, still panting. But Alexis was too busy staring at something else to reply to that.
"Down here!" Zoroark called out in response to Alexis' question. "It went down here."
He was scrabbling at the drain, trying to see if he could get it open. Zoroark eventually gave up trying to hear the retreating Void Shadow, standing up from the drain and checking his claws for injuries. It took weeks for those to grow back if broken. He then realized his fatal mistake: in all the chaos, he had forgotten to put up his illusion again. Both Alexis and Elliot were gazing at him in shock.
"I should have known," Alexis muttered.
~\({O})/~
"Move along." Alexis led Elliot and Zoroark along the corridor as the three pokemon moved on. Zoroark hadn't bothered putting up his illusion again—what was the use? "We're heading down to the engines."
The hallway from where they had come was almost overflowing with the same goo that Alexis was insistent they avoid at this point. They had instead taken the corridor entrance on the other side of the bridge, which was covered in goo all the same but wasn't as flooded as the other one was.
Eventually they stopped in the middle of the hallway. Alexis handed the luminous orb off to Elliot and felt out the gooey wall for a door handle. He found it and yanked, but the door stayed shut. He yanked it a couple more times for good measure.
"Locked," he said. Elliot shone the orb onto the wall; all three pokemon took notice of a smallish vent near the ground that was half-covered by goo.
"Does that lead to the other side of this door?" Elliot asked.
"It should," said Alexis. "Can you fit?"
"Of course I can fit," Elliot said. "Just depends on the lock. We may have to bust it in if I can't get it undone."
"I'd prefer not to," Alexis responded. "The less attention we can draw to ourselves, the better.
Zoroark briefly questioned how they weren't being watched in this corridor full of goo anyway, but figured flashy attacks would put a target on their back faster. Elliot carefully undid the vent cover with his paws, then climbed in.
"You shouldn't have come here."
Zoroark, who was studying the goo stuck to the ceiling, looked at Alexis.
"No sash." Alexis' words rang out loudly in the goo-covered corridor. "An illusion. You're an outsider or an outlaw." At Zoroark's silence, he continued. "You shouldn't have taken a boat that wasn't yours. You shouldn't be in this town at all. So why are you here?"
"What… makes you think I stole the boat?" Zoroark asked suspiciously.
"Just a hunch," Alexis said. "Are you going to tell me you didn't? Or should we go back and check with the harbor guard?"
There was a bout of silence Zoroark wasn't willing to challenge.
"What do you have to say for yourself?"
Cornered. Zoroark didn't see a way out. slumped back against the wall.
"I was desperate," Zoroark coughed. "Me and my caretaker; we were attacked at sea. Everything I had went down with that ship." It was finally beginning to sink in that he truly had nothing. Zoroark still felt a sense of abject numbing shock, the inability to process that fact. "I heard that you were offering poke to whoever would ferry you all the way out here. I thought it would keep me off the streets for a night."
Alexis sighed, then frowned. His scalchops hang limply from his sides. There was silence.
"So… now what?" Zoroark asked in the absence of a response. "You're gonna… turn me in?"
At least he'd be fed and somewhat warm in the jail.
"No," Alexis said. "You'd never get out."
He rose up, dusting off his scalchops. "We complete the mission. Then, once we're off this ship, you run. Hitch a boat out of the harbor fast as you can; never look back. You'll find no sanctuary here on Mist."
With a clank, the door swung open, and Elliot tumbled out, covered in even more goo than he was before. "That was a hard lock to undo," he panted.
"Are we close to the engines?" Alexis asked, turning around to see Elliot and the door better. "Did you get a good look?"
"Another floor down," Elliot said, still catching his breath. "There's a hatch to get there."
"Perfect." Alexis swung the door open all the way, and walked in.
"Come on," he said. "No time to waste."
~\({O})/~
The hatch slid open, and Alexis dropped down through it. He landed on his feet. Elliot dropped deftly behind him. Zoroark carefully climbed down by hanging from the side of the hatch with his claws, then dropped down three feet from the floor. The three of them then noticed there was a pull-out ramp right at the top of the hatch.
In front of them stood a massive machine that cast the room in a bright orange glow. A trio of rotating metal rings swung around a furnace, except instead of a fire, a single vibrant orange gem floated in the center. It shone bright enough that most everything in the room was visible to some extent.
"Just like I thought," Alexis said with confidence. He walked up to the large machine, his eyes on the crystal in the center. "Firium Z. The ship's power source."
Zoroark shifted, glancing away from the light source. "What does that mean for us?" he sked.
"For us?" Alexis asked. "It's good, very good." He hopped down from the platform, walking down and tracing a few of the many pipes that snaked out across the floor. "Very combustible too. Good stuff."
"Combustible?" Elliot repeated. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"This engine uses a very outdated method of transferring fuel from one place to another," Alexis continued. "I discontinued it a while ago. Too much chance for the engine to explode if it's overtaxed. That said… It looks like the Demetrius wasn't brought back in for upgrades."
"Yeah, but why's that relevant?"
"Because we're about to overtax the engine. Get ready."
~\({O})/~
The next half-hour was spent unhooking wires, switching dials, turning cranks, and moving hoses from one slot to another. Alexis instructed the process methodically,
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Elliot asked as the three of them moved a large hose from one side of the machine to the other. "There might still be pokemon alive on this ship. What about that search party that was sent here? Are we just going to give up and blow them up too?"
"We don't know if that search party is even alive," Alexis said smoothly as he helped Elliot and Zoroark move the hose. "But whatever happens, we can't let whatever is on this ship with us leave. We already know that it can mimic the forms of other pokemon. We cannot take that risk."
"But we haven't searched the whole ship yet," Elliot pointed out. "How can you just declare that there's no-mon else alive on-board?"
"Every minute that thing lives is a minute that all those pokemon on the docks of Noe Town are endangered," Alexis said. "Every minute we do nothing, or prance around this ship looking for stragglers, is a minute we risk hundreds more suffering the fate of whatever happened to the crew here. Going out on a limb on the chance that there might be some pokemon still on-board is risking too many others."
"A single life is still worth the effort," Elliot said in a low hush. "That's our job, that's what we do. We go back for the one life that no-mon else can save. When did it become about anything else?"
Alexis was silent for a moment, a furrowed expression on his face. He sighed.
"Necessary evils, Elliot."
Zoroark was silent as he listened to the two bicker. He continued to glance up at the walls and roof around him, studying the shiny black surfaces intently for any sign of movement. Any sign that they weren't alone in here.
Alexis grunted, lifting the hose as all three pokemon slotted it into its new place.
"That should do it," he said, patting the hose. "This engine is now a ticking time bomb."
"How do we light the fuse?" Zoroark asked.
"The machine will do that on its own," Alexis said. "We just need to get out of here before it does. I'd say we have about ten minutes."
The goo behind them popped loudly. All three pokemon spun around at the sound.
From out of the wall near the hatch emerged a single, pitch-black protrusion. It sprouted fingers, then claws, then an elbow joint and slammed its palm onto the deck with a loud splat. The shadowy, black arm was the only thing between them and the way out.
"Go!" Elliot yelled.
Zoroark sprang into action first, running for the hatch that was their only way out. He deftly hopped the arm as it made a grab for him, then jumped up and barely grabbed the hatch with his claws—why was it so high up? He pulled himself onto the next floor up and into safety, trying to release the ramp for Alexis and Elliot below. It wasn't budging.
Alexis and Elliot bolted for the hatch quickly after, but the rest of the Void Shadow tore out of the wall and began loping towards them.
"Dodge!" both pokemon made a break for opposite directions, scrambling out of the way as the Void Shadow charged through. It brought itself to a stumbling halt just before it could collide with the engine, looking around for either of its targets with a snarl. From the shadows, Alexis grabbed a scalchop from his side and hurled it at the Void Shadow. The scalchop sliced its head clean off its body. The mass of black slime landed on the floor beside it. It twitched, then began to slither back into the Void Shadow's body.
Even headless, the Void Shadow wasted no time galloping towards Alexis, but a thunderbolt quickly struck it from the back and caused it to convulse. Alexis barely dodged the Shadow once again as it barreled forward with a screech and hit the goo-covered wall with a squelching noise.
The wall absorbed it with a squick.
"We need to lure it away from the engine!" Alexis called out to Elliot in their brief moment of respite. "If it destroys anything, the whole ship will blow up here and now!"
From his position near one of the snaking cables they'd rewired, Elliot nodded quickly as he could.
The Void Shadow's arms suddenly burst out of the wall behind Alexis, forcing him to duck and roll before he could be enveloped in its pitch-black embrace. He made a run for the hatch, beckoning Elliot after him. The Void Shadow pulled itself entirely out of the wall and screeched.
Elliot quickly outpaced Alexis and slid to a stop right under the hatch. There was a crank handle poking out amongst the black goo that coated the walls, illuminated by the light of the engine—that must have been the device for the pullout ramp! Elliot quickly grabbed the handle and began to turn it as fast as he could, looking back at Alexis and the Void Shadow.
Zoroark jumped back as the ramp underneath the hatch door began to slowly slide out. It made a squeaking sound as it fell, but it wasn't going fast enough. The Void Shadow's screech as it charged forward forced Zoroark into action, and he kicked the ramp down with his legs. It fell to the ground with a loud metallic bang, and both Alexis and Elliot hurriedly scurried upwards.
The Void Shadow was right on their tails. It bounded up through the ramp, but the piece of metal snapped away under its weight. The Void Shadow fell but caught the edges of the ramp with its claws.
By the time that it had pulled itself up onto the next level, the three pokemon it was chasing were already long gone. It snarled, and began to charge for the open door that was right in front of it, but Alexis slammed the door shut before it could. Zoroark heard the heavy-duty lock clicking back into place.
For just a second, there was silence. Then a loud bang came from behind the door, accompanied by a blood-curdling screech. There was the sound of a couple loud footsteps, and then it slithered off, growling to itself. Not a single noise came from Zoroark, Alexis, or Elliot.
"How long before the engine goes off?" Elliot asked, brushing some of the goo from its fur.
Zoroark began to feel a mild burning sensation on his feet. The floor of the deck was—
"The deck's getting hotter," Alexis commented. "We'd better get a move on."
They looked at the hallway leading back to the bridge, the sole source of light that didn't come from the luminous orb. The distant entrance was slowly disappearing under a wall of black goo.
"It's… fencing us in," Elliot said.
There was a loud gurgling noise from the far side of the hallway, and the goo suddenly exploded forward.
"Run!"
Alexis, Elliot, and Zoroark took off down the opposite side of the hallway as a solid black flood of goo surged down after them. The door at the end of the hallway was wide open. Alexis threw himself through the door, rolling to the side and grabbing the door handle. Once Zoroark and Elliot were through, he slammed the door shut and latched it.
The goo hit the other side of the door with a squelch, causing a sizeable dent in the wall. Alexis, Elliot, and Zoroark were all thrown back by the impact. Some of the goo began to ooze between the cracks. The deck was uncomfortably warm underneath them.
"Keep moving," was all Alexis was able to pant out. "No matter what." He got to his feet. "Come on."
~\({O})/~
The deck only got hotter as they went on. It was soon evident that the whole ship was beginning to heat up, as the walls got hotter and hotter and some of the goo that clung to the surface was beginning to curl away as steam evaporated off its presence.
Zoroark's ears twitched as he heard the sound of glass cracking, and looked at the exposed window next to him, which had several cracks running down its surface. He quickly put it all together—
"Duck!"
Zoroark jumped forward, pinning both Alexis and Elliot to the ground just in time. The windows above them all exploded at once. Shards of glass buffeted the walls above them like a razor leaf. some of them flew through Zoroark's mane and nicked the very top of his ears. He let out a sharp gasp, shutting his eyes in pain.
Near the end of the hallway, there were screams.
Once it had all been silent for a few seconds, Zoroark got up off the two of them, and all three rose to their feet. Elliot was the first one to speak:
"Did you hear that?" he asked. "Over by the end of the hallway."
"Yeah," Alexis said, gingerly stepping around the glass shards around him. "I heard it." He pulled a scalchop from his side. "Let's make it quick."
There was a room near the end of the hallway with a door that had been broken clean off its hinges. The black goo was nowhere to be seen. Zoroark caught the last of it retreating into a nearby vent with a pained hiss.
Inside the room, a cranidos, a shinx, and a lopunny sat. They were all huddled up in the middle of the room, and every single one of them looked overheated in some way.
"Who are you?" Alexis asked harshly, brandishing a scalchop. "Why are you here?"
The lopunny and cranidos cowered down at Alexis' brash interrogation. But the shinx spoke up.
"We're a rescue party. We're supposed to be finding out if there's anymon aboard this ship to save," he said with level tone.
"Then this awful thing made of goo chased us all the way in here!" the lopunny continued for Shinx. "We managed to hide in here before it could get to us. There's none of that black stuff in here. Then it locked us in. We've been trapped ever since."
"Well, until the door blew off," Shinx said.
"Why's it so hot in here?" Cranidos asked.
"Who sent you?" Alexis asked harshly, ignoring Cranidos' question.
"Calm down," Shinx urged. "We're all friends here."
"Who. Sent. You."
"Furret, of Noe Town. We'd contact him to show you, but our connection orb got smashed."
Zoroark remembered the smashed connection orb in the hallway.
"Looks like our search party," Elliot said. "No fakes." Alexis lowered his scalchop in relief.
"Alright," he said. "You guys are clear. Follow us. It's time to get off th—"
The ship exploded.
The only warning the six pokemon had was an earsplitting bang before the cabin blew to shreds in a cacophony of steam pressure. The hallway outside was torn apart, and the roof of the ship was blown clean off. Lopunny acted fast. They raised a Magic Coat around the group of pokemon just in time, deflecting the falling debris from hitting or scraping them as it tumbled. The heat of the remaining deck under Zoroark's feet was almost unbearable by now.
"That wasn't the only one," Alexis grunted, getting to his feet. "We need to get to the boats. We're not far off."
"Wait—you knew about the explosion?" Cranidos asked.
"Long story," said Elliot.
"What do you mean we're not far off?" Lopunny said, anxiously switching feet so they wouldn't get burned. "Our boat is on the other side of the ship! Where did you all park?"
"Same place as yours," Zoroark said. He pointed in the direction of the door they had parked at, which was now almost completely level. "But we can just cut over that way. Now let's hurry!"
A clawed, pitch-black hand suddenly slammed itself onto the deck. The head of a Void Shadow slowly raised itself into view, growling lowly.
"That's it, time to go!" Alexis yelled, ushering the entire party into a run. With unnatural strength, the Shadow leapt into the air, and . For the first time, Zoroark saw that it had no eyes. And then he realized: it was blind.
And then an idea came to him.
"No, wait!" he yelled, running to the front of the group and shedding his illusion completely. "Stay still!"
The shadow spun its head in his direction, snarling and sniffing the air.
"Not your biggest problem right now," Zoroark growled. He turned back to the Void Shadow, which loomed over them. It sniffed the air loudly, then took another step towards the group.
Zoroark took a deep breath, steadying himself to produce an illusion. A phantom bang rang off to the left, that everymon heard. The Void Shadow's head turned towards the noise, and it sprang off in that direction.
"It hunts by smell and noise," he said. "I can keep it distracted long enough for us all to escape."
"Good call. The rest of you, come on!" Alexis waved the group onwards.
"You're working with a zoroark?" Cranidos asked in incredulity. Alexis pointedly ignored him.
The latter half of the ship exploded. The blast threw Zoroark, Alexis, and all the others sprawling to their paws. The deck took on a decidedly tilted slant.
They were almost at the boats now. The side of the Demetrius was tilted dangerously far over towards the ocean, threatening to crush the small pair of boats below. Alexis was the first to reach the edge, skidding to a stop and waiting for the other five to catch up before he went over.
"Okay, we're going to have to jump," he said, pointing at the larger boat. "Stairway's gone."
"How are we going to make it down there?" Cranidos asked. "I wasn't made for heights…"
An unseen but very heard screech from the Void Shadow shut Cranidos up.
"You and me first." Alexis grabbed hold of Cranidos, and jumped over the side. They both landed on the deck of the larger boat safely. "Now the rest of you! Come down in pairs!"
Lopunny grabbed hold of Shinx and jumped over the side. They both landed next to Alexis and Cranidos.
Only Elliot and Zoroark were left. Elliot grabbed Zoroark's fur, and they were about to jump—
The Void Shadow bounded onto the deck with a loud screech and took a deadly swipe at Zoroark. Zoroark was knocked back onto the deck. Elliot tumbled down and fell onto the deck of the smaller boat.
"Alright, let's go!" Cranidos yelled, heading for the steering wheel. "We're taking off!"
"What do you think you're doing?" Elliot bounded forward, pouncing for Cranidos, but Cranidos easily shook the much lighter pikachu off. Elliot was relentless anyway.
"Getting us out of here, that's what," Cranidos said.
"One of us is still left behind!" Elliot grunted, trying to pry him away from the steering wheel.
"If we stay here any longer, that's gonna be all of us!"
The starboard deck of the Demetrius above them groaned dangerously, then fell forward towards the boat just a little closer.
Alexis made his decision.
"Steer us away. But not too far from the ship."
"What?" Elliot asked. He wasn't answered.
Once the sails were drawn, the boat began to speed up.
Zoroark slowly got up off the ground of the Demetrius' deck, which was almost too hot to touch. The Void Shadow didn't waste any time, punting him further away from the edge with another swipe of its claws. Zoroark was barely able to gather his bearings before the Shadow grabbed him in its claws, raising him up off the ground. Zoroark struggled to escape and slashed at tis claws wildly with his own, but black goo reinforced the Shadow's hand and made it too bulky to slice through. The goo tightened around Zoroark's ribs, and for a moment he thought he was done for…
Then, given the time to fully recover his bearings, he remembered. His kind were tricksters! He knew what to do.
The Shadow's claws suddenly loosened their grasp on Zoroark at the feeling of something rapidly expanding between them, and Zoroark fell through the gap. There was of course, nothing in the Shadow's claws. He hit the deck running, making sure that the sounds of his footsteps were going in a completely different direction than the one he was. The Shadow's head snapped in the direction of the false footsteps, and it charged in the wrong direction.
Zoroark reached the end of the ship, and jumped over without hesitation. He didn't realize the ship had left without him until he saw it in the distance, and that he was falling down into a sea of blue. He hit the water, and its cold enveloped him. A burning piece of the wreckage followed soon after, destroying the small lifeboat Zoroark had rowed out to the Demetrius in completely. If Zoroark had been above-water to see, he would have winced.
Not a moment later, the Demetrius blew apart completely with an earsplitting 'boom'. Shrapnel and debris flew into the air, and water was sent flying at least a hundred feet high. The rumbling of the wreckage and the splashing of water mixed with the piercing shriek of the monster, which wasn't seen again.
Zoroark surfaced soon after the boom, but barely. He was trying to swim and keep is head above water, but it was cold and his fur was so heavy and he was tired and he couldn't do it much longer… All he was able to keep his eyes on as he desperately tried to keep himself above water was the shape of the ship in the distance, which had rolled to a stop.
"I see him back there!" Lopunny yelled out. Sure enough, Zoroark was flailing in the water, back towards the Demetrius. This boat wasn't going to reach him in time. Alexis looked down at the water, repressing another shudder. He didn't want to go in…
…But then Zoroark disappeared beneath the surface completely, and Alexis realized he had to.
"Oh, muk it."
Alexis steeled himself, then jumped off the side of the ship and dove into the water.
Zoroark sunk further and further down. The water felt like pins and needles on him. It was just too cold, and he was running out of air, and not a single illusion could save him now. Zoroark did his best to kick himself back up to the surface, but it wasn't enough. He felt weak. His eyes began to close…
Alexis dove deeper and deeper down, his body slipping back into aquatic senses he'd never had to fully use since he'd been forced to a couple of times as an oshawott. He blinked his eyes, and he could see clearly underwater again. He scanned the ocean, glancing around the pieces of debris to see the huddled for of Zoroark. Sinking. Alexis made a beeline straight for him.
Zoroark was almost twice as large as Alexis was, but water made things lighter. All it took as a little push, and some paddling from Alexis' webbed feet, and they both began to rise up towards the surface.
Alexis broke water, pulling the unconscious form of Zoroark up with him.
"Over here!" he called out to the ship in the distance. Ever so slowly, he saw the ship begin to make a roundabout turn and head for his position. Eventually it pulled up parallel to Alexis, and a lifeline was lowered by Lopunny and Shinx.
Zoroark was set on the deck, sopping wet and unconscious. Alexis fervently dried himself, trying get every single bit of the water off him. Just the thought of doing what he had just done made him shudder.
"I can take over." Lopunny switched positions with Cranidos, taking over steering the ship. Elliot walked over and sat next to Alexis.
"Thank you," he said.
"For what?"
"For going back for that one life."
"Don't mention it." Alexis said. He let out a breath of relief and exhaustion. "What do we tell the public."
"Nothing," Elliot said.
"What do we tell HAPPI?"
"Everything."
"Think they'll believe us?"
"Probably not, but it's worth a try. We know what happened, at least. And we have enough clout they won't decommission us for the Demetrius' loss."
"What about the search party?"
"We could pay them off. Tell them to contact us directly if they see anything like it."
"You always were better at this than I am." Alexis got up and cracked his joints. "Meet up at the docks?"
"Yep."
"Good."
Zoroark sputtered, coughing up some water.
"Oh, you're up." Alexis squatted next to Zoroark, checking to make sure he was fully awake.
"I don't know if you're up for it, but you probably want to have that illusion up by the time we land. I don't have a sash for you to wear right now."
~\({O})/~
Noe Town Docks
The outcry began as soon as the boat docked in the harbor.
"What happened?"
"Why'd the ship explode?"
"Oh my! Are you all okay?"
"They made it out! All of them!"
"Was it pirates?"
"Quiet!" Alexis yelled. Silence immediately came over the crowd.
"Thank you," he said. Behind him, the rest of the crew shuffled out. Lopunny and Shinx, carrying an unconscious Cranidos, Elliot with his lazily flicking ear, and Zoroark, who was now Braixen again.
"The Demetrius was boarded at sea by pirate pokemon," Alexis continued, "and launched an attack on the docks when it sailed in. They took your search party hostage upon boarding, and when we attempted to free the search party they rigged the ship's engine to explode. We barely made it off the ship with our own lives in time. This maneuver, of course, came at the cost of the pirate pokemons' lives." Alexis made a show of looking downwards to the ground in shame. "Now, as a rescue team ourselves, know that neither I nor Elliot relish the prospect of death. But sometimes, like now, we find our paws forced. We could not bring these outlaws to justice. And perhaps, in cases like these, we find death is the greatest justice. A necessary evil. Thank you for your time."
The crowd began to resume its chatter at the end of Alexis' speech, swarming in without restraint.
"So it was pirates…"
"Were they from the Grass Continent?"
"Where else do pirates come from?"
"Fair enough."
"Hey, who's the braixen?"
"No more questions," Alexis announced loudly. The questions continued anyway, blending into one other until they were all an unintelligible mass of voices overlapping with each other.
"SILENCE!" A thunderbolt shot up into the sky, and made the storm above rumble. Everyone cleared away from Elliot, who looked just as laid back as he had before. "We said no more questions. Thank you."
Reluctantly, the pokemon in the crowd backed off, allowing Elliot, Alexis, and Zoroark-as-Braixen to walk through. Despite all the faces that were fixated on the three of them, Zoroark strangely cared about only one: the unmoving face of a xatu, perched upon the same pier it had been earlier, now staring directly at him and only him.
~\({O})/~
Klink 'N Klank's Diner
Klink 'N Klank's Diner was a popular attraction of Noe Town. Located in the less shabby portion of town, the diner attracted a steady stream of tourists and made more than enough to break even. As such, it was perhaps one of the most colorful buildings in town.
Alexis had bought Zoroark a yellow sash to wear once they had properly gotten into the town – it was too risky for him to constantly keep up an illusion around pokemon that might be watching. It went around his arm, but he was one of the only pokemon around to wear one. He didn't understand why everymon else didn't have one too. Alexis didn't seem to have the heart to answer that question, so Zoroark hadn't pressed.
Alexis had reserved a table for three in the diner. Zoroark got a strange look every now and then from some of the diners, but it never went beyond that. He eagerly ate his portion of curry with a ferociousness that was unrivaled by all but a dungeon feral. Perhaps that was why all the diners were staring weird at him. He made an attempt to eat a little less sloppily.
"As we were saying," Alexis said, stirring Zoroark from his food. "Thank you for your help today. As promised, here's your side of the pay." Alexis sat a bag of money on the table.
Zoroark glanced at it in awe, then quickly licked his claws clean before he held it in his paws. "Wait," he said. "You're still giving me this? But wasn't this for—"
"Don't look a gift ponyta in the mouth."
That shut Zoroark up.
Alexis leaned forward, his voice lowering. He suddenly looked more serious than usual. "That's enough to buy you a bed tonight and get you off the continent tomorrow. Maybe even buy your own boat, who cares. But take the money and get out of here. There's nothing for you on this cold rock of a continent."
Zoroark gingerly took the sack of poke and held it tight. He finally had it. He wasn't going to die on the streets! A fuzzy warmth of security passed through him at the thought. Although, if he was going to have leave the continent tomorrow like Alexis said… Zoroark briefly shivered at the idea of stepping off dry land again.
Why did life always lead him back to boats?
~\({O})/~
Noe Town Harbor
The storm had passed, and the sun shone over Noe Town once again. The hulking wreck of what remained of the Demetrius had been swept away by the wind and waves, with only a few pieces of debris floating up to the shore as a reminder of its existence. The smaller sailboats tethered to the dock had suffered little damage at all, and harbormon were readying their boats for days of travelling, trading, and fishing.
Zoroark-as-Braixen stood near the edge of the pier, looking out at all the sailboats. Unseen by anymon around him, his zoroark's mane flapped and fluttered in the wind. He held the sack of poke that Alexis had given him in his claws. The weight of it felt heavy in his paws.
Alexis' words rang heavy in his head: "Take the money and get out of here. There's nothing for you on this cold rock of a continent." Zoroark shook the pouch, letting the poke inside jingle. By the sound of it, he'd been given enough to buy a smallish boat. That would pay his fare for a wailord liner trip and many things beyond that. He could leave the continent right now, if he wanted. As for where he'd go… maybe back to Water. Somemon could help him there, for sure.
"But is that really what you want for yourself?"
Zoroark looked up in surprise, glancing up at the xatu he hadn't even noticed until then. It was perched on the harbor's guardrails, staring up at the sun in the same position he had seen it yesterday.
"H- how did you do that?" Zoroark asked.
The xatu looked down at him with the same piercing, unchanging stare it greeted the sun with every day. "How did I do what?"
"Finish my thought like that. How?"
"We humble xatu are Seers," the xatu answered calmly. "In other words, I can see the past and the many possible futures. I knew you would think before you thunk it." It turned back to the sun, meeting its rays with an unmoving stare once more.
Zoroark huffed, looking at all the boats. It wouldn't be long before a wailord liner arrived. He wondered if the xatu was waiting for the ship too.
"Life is like a series of twisting paths," Xatu said after a moment, as if he was talking to thin air. "Sometimes, the path seems straight, but it never is. It's filled with crossroads, that can change your future forever depending on which path you take. You don't decide your crossroads, but your crossroads decide you. I sense you are standing at a crossroads right now. Yet you do not know which path to take."
"The path seems pretty straight from here," Zoroark-as-Braixen said. "I'm hitching a ride out of this town, as soon as the next wailord liner shows up."
"And yet, you are indecisive. Can you be sure you are not at a crossroads instead?"
Zoroark was a dark-type, but he could swear this bird was reading his mind.
"If I'm at a crossroads, then what's the other path?" he asked.
"I cannot tell you your own future. But if I may, allow me to impart upon you the future of another." The xatu gracefully gestured to the right with a wing, and Zoroark looked over to see a bonsly haggling away with a krabby fishermon several boats across. A yellow sash hung from his arm.
"He is the father of three who has lost the boat he uses for his trade and cannot afford another," Xatu said. "He believes the storm has done away with it. But you and I both know better."
Immediately, Zoroark felt jittery. Surely it wasn't the same boat. It couldn't have been. And how did this Xatu know, anyway—right, seer or whatever.
Deep down, he knew it was the same boat.
"Without another, he and his family will starve to death come the Big Storm this year. Unless…"
"Unless?" Zoroark asked.
"Unless you offer a helping paw," Xatu said, glancing down at the purse in Zoroark's hands. "I understand there is just enough poke in that purse to buy another boat."
Zoroark clutched it tightly. He had gone through hell and back for this money. It was his ticket out of here, his ticket to safety. His ticket to a new life. How could he give it all up just like that?
"You're asking me to give away all my money?" he asked.
"To save lives infinitely more valuable than a few bits of gold, I would," Xatu said.
"But what about my life?" Zoroark asked. "What am I going to do without these "bits of gold"? They seem pretty valuable to me."
"His need is greater."
Zoroark felt the beginnings of a growl begin to stir in his throat. That magby hadn't been the one who had suffered through the nightmares aboard that ship, or spent a night adrift on the sea with an empty belly and soaked fur; why should he give up his hard-earned cash for a pokemon he didn't even know?
But the boat he had taken had been the magby's. It was only fair he pay off something he had stolen in the first place. The question was boiling up in his mind like a water gun: could he live with himself? Could he walk onto that liner, knowing that a family of pokemon were going to die because of his actions?
"You say he'll die without a boat?" Zoroark asked. "You know that for sure?"
"He and his family, yes," the xatu answered. "I have looked into his future; you are his last hope."
"And I'm the only one who can help him?"
"Yes. This is your crossroads. Which path will you take?"
And all of the sudden, neither path seemed like such a great option. Zoroark thought to himself for a moment. The distant bellow of a wailord sent him back to reality. If he had to choose…
He'd right his wrong. With a deep breath to stop his legs from shivering enough to make him lose his balance, Zoroark-as-Braixen began to walk across the harbor.
The magby was already walking away from the boat empty-handed by the time Zoroark-as-Braixen caught up with him.
"Here," he said, stiffly holding out the pouch of money. "For your troubles."
The magby tilted his head in confusion. "Who are you? And what's in that bag?"
"Poke," Zoroark-as-Braixen breathed. "Enough to buy you a new boat. I-" He stuttered, realizing that he shouldn't have even known. "-I heard you lost your old one."
It was a moment before the magby hesitantly jumped up and snatched the bag from Zoroark-as-Braixen's claws. His eyes brightened when he heard the jingle in the bag and realized that it was true.
"Well, thanks," he said. "I don't really know what else to say, but… thanks."
He looked up. No-mon was there.
"…Huh." He tilted his head again in confusion, then began to walk away with the sack of poke. Behind the invisibility illusion that Zoroark had cast, he sighed. Thin air deftly moved behind a stack of battered crates and walked out as a purple-furred braixen. He only had one option now.
It never occurred to him until the Xatu was gone that it shouldn't have been able to see his thoughts at all.
~\({O})/~
Noe Town Outskirts
Alexis and Elliot were already on the outskirts of town by the time that Zoroark had caught up with them.
"Wait!" he called out, prompting both of them to look back. Alexis' face fell, like he was staring into the face of a battle already lost.
"Yes," he asked, turning around fully. "Something you need?"
"You're headed back into Pokemon Paradise, right?" Zoroark-as-Braixen asked. "I want to come with you there."
"You'd be better-off sticking to the main path for that," Alexis said. "Elliot and I, we travel rough."
"I can take rough," Zoroark said, walking closer. "Travelling rough in a group is safer than travelling easy alone."
Alexis sighed. He looked to Elliot, who shrugged in response.
"If you think you can handle it," he said. "You're hunting for yourself, though. We only brought rations for two."
His eyes read with resigned disappointment: I told you to get out of here.
Zoroark's read with an optimism that Alexis both envied and pitied. He turned around, gesturing Zoroark-as-Braixen onwards as he and Elliot began to continue onwards. The last of Zoroark's illusion dissolved around him as the trio entered the mist-covered woods ahead.
~\({O})/~
Music of the Week!
An Unpleasant Encounter Involving A Train - Thomas Newman
A Fateful Meeting - James Newton Howard