Chapter 1: The storm before the calm
"Come on! We can't let the mainsail detach," shouted the voice of a young male standing in the doorway between the ships cabin and the deck. As the man made his way towards the mast, two small tan-colored mice ran past him and sprinted through the dense rainfall pounding the metal surface of the ship. The pair managed to grab hold of the rapidly uncoiling rope which kept the sail attached and, despite their small size, managed to keep the cable from escaping any further. The slightly younger of the two, a male Minun named Max, slipped as he tried stepping back with the wire, causing him to fall off the ship and down into the choppy, black ocean beneath. Max prepared himself to be lost to the freezing water below but instead found himself suspended above, his arm had been grabbed and he was now being pulled back up onto the ship. Now on solid ground, he faced the Pokemon which had once again saved him, a female Plusle named rose.
"Th- thanks," he managed to force out. Rose looked at him with a soft criticism in her eyes, looking as if she was about to say something before getting interrupted.
The captain of the ship, a human named Lucas who was somewhere in his early 20's, had ran up to them to grab hold of the rope which had almost freed itself completely. "What happened? Are you both alright," Lucas asked worriedly as he started pulling the cable back.
Max scrambled to his feet, giving off a shaky nod as he tried to get over his near-death experience.
"That's good to hear, I need you two to quickly wake the others then remove the battery from the engine," the captain spoke.
The pair once again nodded in unison before scampering along the length of the boat and into the cabin where all the Pokemon slept. Max quickly ran to the bed of a sleeping Minccino by the name of Landen. The Minun stuck his paw to the side of the unconscious Pokemon's body and channeled some of his electricity through his arm. As always this worked like a charm and the normal type Pokemon calmly stood up and stretched out his body before staring at him silently.
Max, knowing that the Minnocino was rather withdrawn, spoke first. " I- I- er… I mean Lucas needs you right away, were sailing straight through a storm."
Landen, without so much as a gesture of acknowledgment, calmly walked out of the room and into the stormy weather on deck.
"Well that was awkward…" the Minun thought to himself as Rose walked up next to him and reminded, "We gotta go get the battery before it gets short-circuited in the rain.
Max once again found himself following the orders of another and nodded his head, following her out to the front of the boat.
Once they reached the helm of the ship, the pair walked carefully along the slick surface of the vessel in order to reach the engine compartment on the front. The minun, despite having done this task several times before, felt very uneasy as a result of his brief run-in with death only minutes prior. As he walked he could see Rose constantly looking back to check on him. In response, Max tried to make himself look as steady and secure as possible, something that the waves crashing against the boat and splashing against him didn't make easy.
"Ok it's right over there," the Plusle spoke, point her hand towards a rectangular bump in the frame of the ship. "You get on one side all get the other and help me lift up the cover."
The blue pokemon nodded.
"...and Max, pllleeeaaassee don't send yourself into the sea this time."
The Minun had to force himself not to reply with a scowl and instead pushed his paw into a small slot next to the metal lid and, with Roses help, he was able to lift it and place it to the side. The pair then stared into the chasm, revealing the large cylindrical beast that gave off a vicious hum inside. Max reached his arm out to touch the battery, immediately feeling electricity ground itself through his body on contact. After removing all the cables connecting the battery to the ship's electronics, the pair hoisted the device out of the compartment and onto the floor. Rose then promptly sat atop the object to prevent it from sliding, and from her seat, she helped Max restore the cover to its proper position.
"We got it, now let's get off of here before the boat launches us off," the Plusle joked. Max, however, was aware of the real possibility of this, especially now that all the lights have been shut off except for a few dim navigation beacons.
Despite this, Max still helped with taking the battery inside, lifting it up on one side while Rose carried the other and down the length of the ship. Once they were safely inside, they let down the piece of equipment onto the floor of the passageway with Max sitting down on a couch in the hallway. The Minun had been shaking heavily since they had entered, a result from the cold air of the cabin brushing against his doused fur. Rose must have taken notice of this because the second she took a look at him the red mouse pokemon disappeared into their living cabin. He was just about to go follow her but before he could even finish that thought, she had already returned holding a blanket in her paw. Without hesitation she jumped up onto the couch with him and place the blanket on him, leaving Max to look at her with a starry-eyed expression.
Max, feeling slightly embarrassed, attempted to hide it by stuttering out a reply, "T- Thank y- you, you're n- not cold?"
"Only a little," she replies while shaking her fur dry, "but I think I'll be fine."
"Fine…" he began thinking, "you've always been fine all your life… it was your idea to go on this stupid voyage that's almost gotten me killed so many times before, but I guess it was either go with you or be left with nothing once again, and there was no way I would ever want to go back to that."
Rose sat down next to him, looking into his eyes with a slightly confused expression. "Are you alright you look a little… out of it.",
Max thought his words over for a second before providing a response, "it's nothing jus-"
The Pokemon's speech was cut off by a scorbunny by the name of Jae running into the hallway, his fur, as expected, was drenched. "What are you two doing in here, Lucas has been waiting for you to return to him, he thought you might have been lost to the storm."
"We- we were j-". Max started, once again being cut off before finishing his stuttering.
" We were juuuussst," Rose began, "taking a short break for some cover from the rain."
"You both know I hate the rain more than the two of you combined but this is what you signed up for so let's go! We have work to do!"
The Minun, still far from dry, couldn't help but notice how Jae bounced with fiery energy at every word, the sort of motivation he wishes he had in the face of danger.
The three quickly ran back outside and into the pouring rain where Lucas was waiting.
"There's a leak in the ship's hold and we gotta patch it up fast," he said, already moving to the stern of the vessel where a hatch separated the decks of the yacht.
The young man opened the vertical door and began climbing down the small ladder it leads to. Once he was clear Jae jumped down into the pitch-black space, being followed closely by Rose than Max. Once in the hold, all four already knew what to do, the two electric Pokemon started channeling energy into their palms, filling the room with a dim purple glow.
Max watched as Lucas pulled a rectangular sheet of metal off a shelf and used it to cover where the water was pouring in from. Jae then ran to his side, the Scorbunny using his flamethrower to slowly weld the edges of the plate to the wall. The brilliant light from the fire filled the room far greater than either of the two's electrical sparkle ever could, marking its usefulness over.
While the work was being done, the Minun walked around the room, looking up at the shelves full of various items such as food, drinks, fuel, and one even had a few board games they would occasionally play.
A soft Thunk against the outside of the ship caught Max's attention. Unsure if anyone else heard it, he moved closer, nearly placing his face against the wall. An instant after this he felt a shard of metal be fired at him, slicing his face, followed by a jet of water push hard against him and knocking him down onto the ground where saltwater started burning the new wound on his face. He kept himself from screaming at the pain but staggered to get back up, causing him to fall against the metal leg of a shelf. He was about to slip and return face-first into the flood when an arm blocked his fall; he turned to see that it was, of course, Rose's.
Max found himself looking her straight in the eyes when she started speaking, "What happened? Why are you bleeding?"
He tried to find some words to say but failed entirely, instead she just took a look at the cut on his head and then the hole in the bulkhead then spoke, "I think I get what happened, just stay here and I'll be right." She then let him lower himself against the wall and enter a sitting position.
Max looked around over to the others, they were still working on fixing the initial leak and haven't even noticed.
The Plusle then began climbing up the steel cabinets disappearing from his sight.
"Why does this always happen to me," Max thought, "no matter what I do I always seem to get hurt and it's always her to be the one to save me. I just wish I could look out for myself for once."
By this time Rose had returned, holding a first aid kit with both her paws. She splashed it onto the ground and began digging through it. After a few moments, the red pokemon pulled a pocket-sized spray-bottle from the medical kit filled with a shimmering purple liquid.
"O-k just let me…" she said, tearing a small plastic label off the bottle, "this will probably burn a bit." The plusle then sprayed the fluid onto his cut, causing an immense burning pain that Max had to force himself not to start tearing up as a result. After a few seconds, the burn faded and his face felt as good as new.
The light in the room vanished as the last inch of the plate was secured. Max got back up onto his feet and joined with Rose to clear the darkness with their light.
Lucus looked over to them and saw the pair standing next to the newly formed leak in the wall and said, "Woah, I didn't see that second hole, good job guys."
The human then walked up to them and ruffled the fur on the top of their heads. Although Max found this somewhat embarrassing, he didn't mind it all too much. Humans tended to be pretty touchy-feely towards small Pokemon like him and, besides, it did feel pretty good.
A few more minutes of welding passed before their work was finished in the hold. Lucus helped the three small Pokemon out of the underbelly of the boat before climbing up the ladder himself.
The human then looked down at them and spoke with a satisfied tone in his voice, "Alright I think we're safe to sail through the rest of this stor- oh shit." Lucas' focus was stolen by something in the distance that Max could barely make out of the inky darkness, a field of large rocky pillars sprouting out of the sea, and they were sailing straight towards it.
"Quick everyone get inside," the captain shouted and they all obeyed, clumping up into the passageway of the boat while Lucas took the helm, trying desperately to sail the ship away. Despite his best efforts, the storm won out in keeping them on this course.
Max could feel the floor beneath him get more and more turbulent as he struggled to keep his balance. All the sudden he heard a loud CRASH come from the side of the ship followed by the vessel rotating sideways in a quick, decisive moment. This all culminated with the minute Minun getting launched towards the side wall of the craft and slamming his head, knocking him out cold.
Author's note: So this is this is the first chapter to this story of many, pretty short but I just really wanted to try actually uploading a story to this site. Speaking of which, this is the first story I have ever publicly published so do keep that in mind while you read. Overall, I just hope whoever takes the time to read this ends up enjoying it and feel free to rate and review!