Ch 30: Open Waters
Two days. The Ilragorn League was starting in two days? Was Eliza positive, how could she be so sure, she's not even into competitive battling anymore per her own words? Then again, joggy memory and forgetting important dates/details had been a trait of mine for as long as I could remember, and it was true that I had never actually sat down and memorized the exact starting date of the competition, just a rough estimate.
"Are you absolutely one-hundred percent sure that the League starts in two days?" I asked the girl in the pink hat standing on the edge of Shorebridge Docks with me, equally frustrated by the bind we were in. The sun was still at its highest point as the time became 4 PM, and the realization of how little time I had struck me.
"110%," Eliza replied instantly. "The news ran a segment advertising it that I saw a few weeks back while I was confined to the hospital bed. I forgot about it until you made me think of it just now. And the start date they said on the segment was the same date as my mother's birthday, so that's why I remember the date. And it's in two days. I thought you knew, Adam!"
"I…" Nothing to gain by being mad at her for not telling me sooner, as she would just throw it back in my face that it's my job to know, and she would be right, and we would just fight, and waste even more of the precious time we have left to get over to Naporia. "I owe you big time for telling me this, Eliza. Thank you. But I hope you realize that this is just all the more reason for us to forego the hassle of finding another ship and waiting around for a scheduled ride to Naporia. You got to understand, with so little time - the fastest way there is directly from these docks right now, and the only way we can do that is with Lapras."
Eliza was biting the bottom of her lip and looking out into the vast ocean with a torn expression on her face, no doubt imagining what the monster was that had sunk the Fairies Ferry.
"Please. I promise I'll keep you safe." I offered my hand out to her in a handshake, but it was something more than that. It was also physical contact, and it was the little reassurance she needed that I wasn't going to abandon her when the going got tough. She nodded, smiled away the nervous look on her face, and firmly shook my hand.
There was no one around the desolate docks, which probably didn't help comfort Eliza as with a flick of the wrist, I had summoned Lapras from her pokeball and watched as she settled her great blue body onto the surface of the ocean with a splash, some of the water splashing up onto the dock and wetting Eliza's boots. Eliza hung tough, though, and didn't utter a single complaint. Not even as we hopped onto Lapras' back straight from the dock and the shock of the cold ocean water against her skin hit us, and the ocean's surface rose past our shoes and up to our knees and we both settled into a straddling position on top of Lapras. I was at the front, my arms around Lapras' solid neck, with Eliza close behind me, her arms wrapped tight around my waist. It was a process for the both of us adjusting to the sudden shift from the sun-lit warmth of Shorebridge Docks to the wet, slimy ocean with near 0 degree temperatures as Lapras pulled further and further away from the shores of South Beach, and I realized with a chill that this was the first time in my 18 years that I had ever left the mainland.
"Okay, so Isle of Naporia is south of here, and the sun is just starting to set that way, so that means we must go this way," I pointed south for Lapras, deducing the right direction as land started to become blurrier and open water remained the only sight for a full 360 degree scope. "Right?" I asked Eliza for reassurance, who smiled and chuckled at my momentary uncertainty. She nodded, though, which put me at ease.
"Hey, Lapras, does it feel good being back in your old home? I personally would probably hate being in Lunaris again, but how about you, girl? No annoying brothers here for you to deal with, right?" I massaged Lapras on the back of her thick neck to offer her some pleasure for riding through the waters so quickly and vehemently. Lapras gave a high-pitched shriek in response that almost sounded like her version of singing, so I figured Lapras was enjoying the freedom of open range waters to speed through after changing to a life of battling.
"Adam?" Eliza asked from over my shoulder. "To your left! See anything you like?"
Wondering what she was going on about, I glanced to the east and witnessed a handful of Qwilfish, all blown up and eyes bulging out of their sockets as they tended to do when frightened or under attack. Would be an easy catch, wouldn't even need to weaken them as they were all just unusually floating at the surface due to their buoyancy. But I already had a water type and two poison types. And Qwilfish didn't really offer much more than Lapras, Drapion, or Gengar anyway, so while it was an interesting sight to see, I passed on Qwilfish as my sixth member, and Lapras pressed forward through the increasingly freezing waters.
We had to have been traveling in the ocean for at least two hours as there was no sight of Ilragorn or any other ships as far as the eyes could see. Even though there was no sign of a monster that probably didn't exist and was just some freak wild pokemon accident like a Wailord toppling it over - the decreasing temperature, the numbing feet from the ice cold water, and the chunks of ice that were becoming more and more common in the water that would threaten to smash your feet against Lapras' sides were just as unpleasant.
"You don't have any fire pokemon, do you?" Eliza mumbled into the back of my neck as she hugged onto me as tightly as she could for body warmth. Two hours out in the open ocean against Lapras' rubbery skin was just not comfortable, I'm sorry.
"I don't. I almost never see fire pokemon, actually…" I paused, going over every battle in my mind, replaying so many close matches and so many easy sweeps with Drapion or Kabutops or Gengar against so many different trainers. I had battled against so many pokemon hailing from nearly every island there was, and yet for the life of me, I had never come across a single fire type my entire time as a trainer. And I've battled hundreds of times.
"Yeah. They're rare on Ilragorn. The rarest type. Can only find them in Mt Roland."
"That doesn't help us now. We've just got to stay focused, be ready for anything-"
"I know, I know. Jeez, you love your speeches. You should be a teacher." Eliza giggled, then shivered as a harsh wind blew through the air, sending her brown hair flying everywhere as if being electrified, and feeling like the force of a legendary pokemon like Tornadus' Hurricane. In the chaos of the stab of wind, her pink hat had been blown clean off her head, even with the brown strings tied under her chin - the wind did not care about a little thing like that.
Eliza whined into my neck for a solid ten minutes, crying about how that was her mom's old hat, and that that was the only thing she still had of her mothers. I wanted to scream at her in frustration for leaving the most precious possession her mother had given to her on her head so casually and so frequently, but then I realized I would be a total asshole for screaming at her for wearing a hat, even if she was out in the ocean. I just kept apologizing and telling her I'd buy her 50 hats, but I knew that was fruitless. I had tried turning around and searching for it, but the ocean had swallowed it up too quickly and there was no sign of pink anywhere in that dark blue. We had no choice but to continue on toward Naporia, though I could tell Eliza was becoming demoralized by all these unexpected bumps in the road of our journey. She just didn't cope as well with the stress of being a competitive trainer, and it was becoming clear to me that she was making the right decision for herself to get out of battling since she didn't have the heart for the unexpected stressors and twists and turns that always come with battling with pokemon.
Lapras kept gliding through the waters with finesse, unshook by the voyage in a way that was the complete opposite of Eliza. At one point, while we were encompassed by a thick fog that had accumulated over this portion of the water, we were approached by a massive Seaking that was coming toward us far too fast and too uneven to be anything other than hostile. Without even being ordered, Lapras blew a powerful Freeze Dry from her mouth, the beam of slushie-like ice getting a direct hit right in the open mouth of Seaking as he approached within the limits of what I would deem way too close. The force of the beam slamming into the back of Seaking's throat sent the gigantic fish reeling backward and catapulting back in the direction he came, skipping along the water's surface like a rock would, until he slammed back into the ocean, undoubtedly knocked out and with a new phobia toward Lapras'.
There came a point where a big silhouette in the distance we were headed gave me the bad idea to promise Eliza that Naporia was just up ahead and she would be back on solid land within an hour, and that we were definitely taking a boat back to Ilragorn when we were done here. But it just turned out to be several massive icebergs that, with closer inspection, had been fused together likely with the aid of several wild ice pokemon in order to create a massive ice castle right there in the middle of the ocean. While it was completely beautiful and I was sure there were tons of rare ice pokemon living in the confines of the icebergs fused together, there wasn't enough time to dawdle. Plus, I had Lapras as an ice type anyway. Eliza was certainly mad at me for getting her hopes up as I told Lapras to pull away from the massive ice creation and back southbound, but I assured her that at the speed Lapras has been traveling, our goal couldn't be too much further, but she was catching on to my platitudes and the look of worry and frustration on her face just wouldn't go away.
Just as Lapras began picking up speed as we ventured south, she just as suddenly came to an abrupt halt that nearly jolted me and Eliza right off of her body and into the ocean, which would have sent Eliza literally over the edge in terms of her breaking point with how much this trek was taxing her.
"What the hell, Lapras!?" complained Eliza.
I went with it, trusting Lapras' instincts and keeping still, pressing a finger to Eliza's lips to shush her. Eliza didn't scream at Lapras anymore, and she quieted down. We listened to the sounds of the ocean. There was the water slapping against the icebergs or the wild Pelippers diving at the surface hunting for dinner. I was trying to figure out what it was that had spooked Lapras when Eliza screamed as the muffled blub of bubbling water came from behind Lapras and what I thought was just Lapras farting and Eliza overreacting, I turned around and saw the blue head of a vicious Huntail poking out from the water, exposing its sharp fangs and looking like it was about to reach out and bite on Lapras' tail.
"Lapras, behind you! Freeze Dry!" I instructed rapidly, Lapras already spinning her body around by the time I finished my command. Though fast as her reaction time was, the Huntail was speedier - rather than chomping its powerful jaws into Lapras' thick-skinned tail, the Huntail spat out three small yellow hoops that I recognized as the move Confuse Ray, and the hoops ended up going right into Lapras' head, directly in her brain and sending Lapras into a convulsing, confused mess as Lapras harshly turned one way, then the other, sending me and Eliza nearly flying off once again, all the while with Eliza screaming bloody murder in my ear. Lapras tried firing off her Freeze Dry in the midst of her spasm in the water, but she just ended up looking straight down at her neck and chest as she fired it, and she heavily damaged herself while the Huntail lunged itself out of the water towards my leg to take a massive bite out of it, mouth agape, yellow-stained teeth bared. I managed to reel my left leg free a moment before the Huntail's Crunch connected, leaving those sharp teeth to instead sink into Lapras' side. And while I did free my left leg from being potentially eaten off, the whiplash of leaning so far to the right to avoid my left leg being removed caused me to lose my balance and fall head first right into the ocean. The moment my face slammed into the water it was like falling into a thousand knives made from ice as the freezing cold waters rushed to envelop me and chill me to the bone.
"Adam! Oh my Arceus, there's another!" I could hear Eliza scream as I emerged from the ocean wiping the ice cold water off my eyelids and face, adrenaline pumping from both the burning cold water and knowing a dangerous pokemon was in it with me, so very fucking close. I thought I could hear popping sounds, and was half expecting a popcorn machine to be operating somewhere in the vicinity, but that was impossible. Instead, like the teacher you were just talking shit to your friend about leaning over your shoulder, an additional pokemon appeared out of nowhere, except this one wasn't in the waters - it was levitating several feet over the water, and it was sparkling with bright yellow light, illuminating the immediate area around it and sizzling with electric sparks as if the pokemon was overloading with energy. This one was a much darker shade of blue on top, with white on the bottom and specks of red and yellow scattered over its long, pliable body, and it could only be an Eelektross.
"Fuck, need help," I reached one hand back into the freezing cold ocean I was doggie paddling in, since Lapras was still fumbling around in confusion way too erratically for me to safely approach her. Grabbing the pokeball off my belt I knew belonged to my only choice, I lunged that hand free from the ocean, and summoned Tropius, who emerged from the ball immediately flapping his huge grassy wings and ascending into the air, but stopped when I shouted for him to get back and carry me through a quivering, weak voice.
Tropius descended back to the water and lowered one of his wings into the icy cold water while wincing over the temperature, but the easier access allowed me to climb up onto his back and Tropius lifted back up away from the waters and into the air, away from the threatening Huntail in the waters or the new arrival of an Eelektross floating above it. While it was a relief to get out of the water at last, the cold winds blowing upon my wet skin gave me a burning sensation in my lungs that I knew meant I would be pretty sick and in need of a lot of Torchic soup when this was all done with.
Hissing and ascending upwards toward us, me and Tropius could hazard a guess on which side of the fight this electric eel would be on. I clutched onto the back of Tropius' long brown neck and had the bananas dangling from his chin hanging in front of my face (which sounds so wrong) with winds blowing dangerously harsh out here in the middle of the ocean and two attacking pokemon that appeared from thin air and Eliza screaming her lungs out while holding on for dear life herself to the neck of the confused Lapras. Things were looking bleak, and I had been in some hopeless situations.
"Tropius, Headbutt this ugly thing," I said, giving Tropius something to focus on. He needed a leader. As the Eelektross ascended, Tropius began descending and lowered his head until it stabbed straight out so that his cranium would be the first thing to connect into Eelektross' face. But Eelektross paused before getting too close, and spat out some purplish acid that splattered over the top of Tropius' head, his wings, and his shoulders, making them sizzle and burn as the Acid Spray burned through his skin while also weakening it for further special attacks. Tropius had a momentary spasm similar to Lapras' except up in the air and this one was over the super effective poison burning his body, but he calmed down after a minute. I had avoided the entirety of the attack, as most of it had just ended up on Tropius' poor head that was starting to smelling like charred hot dogs. I had foolishly charged headfirst at an unknown threat and now Tropius was paying the price for it. I had to clear my head and focus, freezing to death was no excuse, not when another person's life was at stake. I looked at Eliza with guilt in my heart, but was relieved to see Lapras had finally shaken free of her confusion and had regained her composure enough to remain stationary in the water while firing off Freeze Dry after Freeze Dry at the Huntail, but the damned thing would Dive into the ocean seconds before the move would connect where Huntail had just been, only resurfacing after waiting a few long moments to keep Lapras on her toes.
"Tropius," I whispered into his ear, realizing that I had to wrap this up quickly or we would all wind up dead. "Leaf Storm Eelektross, give it everything you've got."
Tropius began harnessing a hurricane of his own creation: one made out of sharp leaves that exploded like a smoke bomb upon reaching its target. Eelektross likely could have charged Tropius while he concentrated on harnessing enough energy to use this much power for a few long moments, but Eelektross simply remained a safe distance away and waited patiently while scowling with its huge, vacuum-like mouth.
When Tropius finally unleashed the tornado comprised of green leaves at Eelektross, Eelektross met the Leaf Storm head on with a roaring blast of Flamethrower from its huge hoover mouth that charred all the leaves upon contact and sent a shower of charred, crispened leaves falling into the ocean and floating on the surface like tiny black boats all around, with the smell of burning rubber hanging in the air afterward, and Eelektross completely untouched and unharmed. Meanwhile, Tropius was panting out of breath and heaving in exhaustion from using up so much energy and was also not taking the stress of the situation well. Eliza's attitude just might be contagious.
"Energy Ball," I said, but Tropius couldn't do much more than flap his wings and stay elevated enough to not fall right into the ocean and drown. Shit. "Take me to Lapras." Tropius at least managed that, and unsteadily shifted me from the air, back onto Lapras's back with Eliza, who immediately relaxed upon my rejoining her. "Tropius, just keep the Eelektross distracted a little longer, alright? Just keep using Fly to always go higher and keep your distance from it, okay?"
Tropius attempted to Fly back into the safety of 50 feet in the air, but the Eelektross had different plans. It charged forward once, its body slithering through thin air despite having the ability of flight, until it became just a few meters short of being able to touch the weakened, sluggish Tropius, who hadn't even noticed Eelektross had approached him.
With its entire body radiating a golden glow that seemed to come from inside its body, the Eelektross proceeded to explode hundreds of electrical surges and sparks from its body, but the vast majority of its Discharge attack zeroed in on the unaware Tropius, who contorted in agony from the electrical attack that was doing even more damage than usual thanks to the Acid Spray. Eelektross was so attentive and focused on taking down Tropius, he wouldn't have even noticed if there was someone right behind him.
"Lapras, Ice Beam Eelektross," I said, redirecting Lapras from the impossible target to the easy one. The horn on her majestic forehead shot out a thin, cool blue beam of ice at Eelektross' back that would have been embarrassing if missed. But it didn't, and Eelektross hissed in pain over the unexpected hit in the back, but it was nowhere near enough to take this threat down. But then my prayers were answered as Eelektross had suddenly become frozen from the ice move used on it, which had a low chance of happening, but still happened nonetheless. The frozen chunk of ice that contained Eelektross' body no longer levitated, but started sinking down past the surface of the ocean and starting to sink down into its depths, where it would no longer be a threat - at least for enough time to get the fuck out of here.
Tropius had also not managed to remain conscious the duration of the battle since he had cannonballed straight into the ocean after the Discharge finally eased off, and like Eelektross, he was also out for the count until I took him to the pokemon center or used another expensive revive on him. I recalled his body back to his pokeball just as he started to be swept away by the oceans tides, but there still remained one more threat.
"It's still in the water, it's still in the water, " Eliza repeated nervously, scanning her head back and forth from one side of Lapras to the other, waiting for the Huntail to inevitably reveal itself again.
"Lapras, as soon as the Huntail comes out of the water, you need to-" I tried, but the Huntail's superior speed and aim just outclassed Lapras in this scenario - with another plop sound as Huntail poked its head out of the water, its orange fins on top of its head pointed high in the air threateningly, it spat out another Confuse Ray that landed instantly, making Lapras shove her head down into the water in a childish attempt to escape the overwhelming circumstances, which made her lean her whole neck heavily forward, almost knocking me and Eliza right off of her. We hung tight though, and we both screamed at the threat of the cold blue water, but we managed to use each other as leverage and stay afloat.
Huntail revealed his final move as the entire surrounding area of water Lapras was floating in started spinning and spiraling like a washing machine churning the laundry, and Lapras was sucked into a Whirlpool that the Huntail was actually nudging along with its head in order to guide the direction of the Whirlpool Lapras was trapped in, and me and Eliza could do nothing but scream and hang on for dear life as the Huntail pushed and jabbed the Whirlpool along, all the while Lapras spinning in circles helplessly as even as the confusion from Confuse Ray ran off, natural dizziness and disorientation took over and me and Eliza just shut our eyes as our last ditch effort to keep from vomiting from being twirled over and over by the vicious Whirlpool.
When the Whirlpool finally dissipated and eased back into calming waters, Eliza and I opened our eyes to find that Lapras had been carted by the Huntail the impressive distance of some large cavern that I imagined was somewhere within the confines of the ice castle we had passed by earlier, a few minutes ago yet in so many ways a lifetime ago. Why would the Huntail bring us all the way over here? Why was an Eelektross helping it?
The walls of the cavern were made of solid white ice, harder than diamond in its texture and as sharp as it too. Definitely a dangerous living environment for any pokemon in the area, that was for sure. There seemed to be a stream from the ocean that came in through a hole in the glacier somewhere, and that's where the Huntail had dragged us through in order to take us to this gigantic cavern made of ice with a whole pool of seawater filling up half of the cavern while the other half remained above sea level and was immune to the ocean water coming in and filling up the whole room.
"Well done, Huntail, good job, boy," a dirty voice cooed from a corner of the cavern I hadn't looked at yet, and when I turned, I wished I hadn't. Standing there in all black, with a bandana tied around his head oddly to hide his missing left ear, a man stood tall and extended his leg so that the slimy Huntail slithered up and coiled around the man's body until it came to rest around his shoulders protectively, hissing its tongue at me in warning while Eliza screamed in reaction to seeing the man who had kidnapped and beat her.
"Snake," I said with disgust.
"Yes, Adam. Snake. And I'm finally going to finish what I started a long, long time ago."