Yes! I now have enough ideas to continue this on! Yay me! I hope you enjoy it! And may I present to you, the second chapter in Stranded!
"Who's this?" Dawn asked with a bright smile for Misty. Ash grinned hugely.
"This is Mist-er, Misty. She's the Cerlulean City Gym Leader in Kanto, my best friend, and my first traveling partner," he explained, and Misty glowed with pride inside. She hugged May and smiled at the rest of them.
"Hi everybody! Good to see you again, May."
"You too! This is Drew. And that's Dawn," she explained, and the five of them continued their mindless catching up.
They had been on the cruise ship for roughly three hours at that point, and were relxing in the girls' cabin. By some stroke of luck, Dawn, May, and Misty shared a cabin. Ash, Paul, and Drew were in the one next to theirs in the hall. That is, until Dawn spotted somebody lingering by the railings who looked rather out-of-place among the other, happy, relaxed cruise members.
"...Is that...PAUL!" she called, and waved to him. Paul turned his head slightly to see her, and she beamed. Then he turned around again as if nothing had happened, expect perhaps he had seen an exotic flying-type-Pokémon or something. Dawn fumed and marched over to him.
"You know, it's extremely rude not to answer someone who calls to you...!" she yelled, furious. He stood there, trying to block her out. Drew and May were looking at them in absolute shock.
"...Now I know what she meant by, "What happened to our princess?!" while I was in Sinnoh," May sweatdropped.
"Hmm, I like 'er!" Misty declared. "For a second there, I thought she was just going to blush and shrink away."
"She's only like that around Paul," Ash grinned humorously, not understanding how weighty that declaration really was.
"Anyway, I-" Drew was interrupted by the large horn blaring from the speakers, and the captain's voice was projected across the ship.
"All passengers! This is your captain speaking! Would all passengers please make their way to the lifeboats on the starboard of the ship? Er, the right side, the right side of the ship. Please do not panic or run, but make your way in an orderly fashion to the lifebosts. There appears to be a large malfunction with the engine, and I think we will lose all control of the boat in approximately half of an hour. Please make your way to the lifeboats in a calm and orderly fashion. Thank you."
The four trainers/coordinators looked at each other before Dawn, dragging Paul, came running up. "What should we do? I mean, to May and Misty and Ash. Because, you know, we do a lot of dangerous heroics on our journeys with Ash," she added, successfully earning a laugh from those mentioned.
"We go help the captain, of course!" Ash said it like there was no other option. And apparently, there was none for these brave (reckless) souls. With Drew being the only one who knew the way, the other five followed.
Upon finding the captain's room, Drew knocked soundly on the door. There was a crashing sound from inside, and the door swung open. A panicked-looking sailor quickly gasped in relief. "Thank goodness, people! Listen, the captain fainted after he gave teh announcement! I didn't know what to do with him! I couldn't leave him! I'm First Mate; I can't leave my captain or the ship," he blabbered out.
"Listen, sir! Get a hold of yourself! We'll take care of the ship. I know how to steer and sail a ship like this," Drew said quickly, prompting a surprised, "You do?" from May that went ignored.
The sailor seemed to be weighing his loyalties from his captain or his ship - captain won out, and he nodded and slung his captain over his shoulder. "Alright. Thank you very much, folks. I'll bring him out to the lifeboats. You - I hope you know what you're doing. You have half an hour before we lose the ship; get out long before then, ya hear?"
"Yes sir," Drew answered, and the sailor fled. Drew grasped for the gears and wheel, checking knobs and dials and muttering to himself. About five minutes later, he seemed to have run into a problem, and was frantically reading dials, but not touching the wheel at all. To everyone's surprise, Paul pointed out a meter Drew had missed.
"The gears on the lowest level of the base. They're too tight," he grunted, and spun the wheel a little to the left.
"...You can drive, er, steer a ship?" Dawn asked in shock, looking up at him. He shrugged and said, "None of your business."
They were quiet after that.
The two boys seemed to know what they were doing. None of the others had any clue, but May had to admire the angles from Drew's set jaw as he concentrated. The intense look in his emerald eyes...
"...you doing?" a quiet voice asked, sounding sly.
May shook herself and turned to Dawn. "Yes, sorry. Wasn't listening."
"What were you doing? There was a pretty dreamy look in your eyes...was it perhaps angled towards Drew?" she pried.
May blushed and waved her hands wildly. "No, nope. Uh-uh, no way!"
"Mm-hmm," she hummed thoughtfully, but was interrupted by a loud grinding sound, and Drew's shout.
"GET OUT! Get out, now!" he ordered. "No time to explain, but head back up towards the lifeboats, right this instant!"
The panic in his voice, usually so carefully controlled, scared May (and the others, to a lesser degree) and she pulled on his arm. "C'mon then! Let's go!" The group of six ran back the way they came, when Paul yanked May, who was in front at that point, out of the way from crossing into the hallway.
Not ten seconds later, a huge rush of water poured out in through the hallway.
The bottom of the hull had been pierced, letting gallons flow in by the second.
"Phew! Thanks, Paul!" May panted. She would've been swept away otherwise. He muttered a "Be more careful next time."
"Go left!" Misty called out. "There's another way up through there!" The actual danger had just set in for her. They were likely the only ones left on a sinking boat, on one of the lowest levels while water rushed in at them, trying its hardest to drown them.
"Got it! Let's go, guys!" Ash gestured for them to hurry, and hurry they did. Running became sprinting, and the six young teenagers were racing against the waters. Several times they had to backtrack down halls, until finally they made it on deck...
...only to see a huge crack in the center of the ship.
"Where do we go?" Dawn asked, looking at both sides as the crack widened. Half of the ship was sinking straight down, and the other thus being lifted up to the point of collapsing. Neither were good options.
"Always go up!" Drew grabbed May (being the closest, OF COURSE) and pulled her towards the railing on top. The others, using the railings as a climbing point, tried their best to walk up a fast-becoming-vertical-wall. May was on top, then Misty, then Ash, then Drew, then Dawn, and then Paul.
There was a sudden heave as the tired ship reached its (first) limit. The ship began to sink vertically, and the lurch forced May to lose her grip. With a scream, she fell past Misty, and Ash, both of whom lunged for her. Then she slid past Drew, and then Dawn, and Paul-
-but Paul stretched out and snatched her elbow at the last second, preventing both May and Drew from falling - the latter of which was about to jump after the former - into the large rubble of the ship.
Paul pulled May onto the railing, where she clung, pale and fearful. The ship creaked again, and the crack grew past four feet wide, past six feet, past eight feet, where they all sincerely hoped it would stay.
"Go," Paul gently but very firmly pushed Dawn to climb higher onto the railing, and grabbed May's hand, as she was clearly too frail at the moment to save herself. Dragging her with him, Paul doubled his efforts.
And it seemed to be working - until Misty and Ash reached the top, where all six soon huddled. As of it couldn't get any worse...
..."GYARADOS!" Misty yelled, pointing. Indeed, there were at least a dozen, very angry-looking Gyarados. Before they could say anything more, the Pokémon all began to charge up a very familiar looking attack move, golden in color and possibly deadly to humans.
Hyper Beam.
"HOLD HANDS!" Dawn shrieked, and they did so. "AND DON'T LET GO!"
The attack came swiftly and forcefully, blowing into the hull of the ship. With a bang, the power radiating off of the Hyper Beam sent the six people into the air, away from the shipwreck.
And as they flew, their hands slipped apart.
The last thing any of them saw was the blast of a ship blowing up.
!BOOM! ...I just felt like it was relative. :) Okay, so I haven't done this before, but I'm going to have to ask for at least five reviews from different people before I can add another chapter. More would be fantastic, but at least five reviews! Thanks~!
5 REVIEWS OR NO CHAPTER! Just to reiterate. :) Thanks everybody for reading!
Reviews and PMs are appreciated! :)