Here's the update I promised! And pretty long, compared to my usual ones. I like this one, I've been waiting to write this scene ever since I thought up this story. I wanted to break it up into smaller chapters to keep you guys guessing… but maybe its obvious XD Anywho, I used to have typed up chapters waiting to be posted, but now my posting is up to date with my writing, meaning there is nothing for me to post as I haven't written more. I have 8 days before I go on a two week backpacking trip, then it's the start of college for me, so forgive me if I'm gone for a while, I'll be adjusting to drastic changes, to say the least. For now though, enjoy this chapter. And much thanks to Foxyjosh and Jarkes, I'm glad you guys are liking my story : )
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There was a low hum, something like the buzz of a swarm of bees. Shapes and colors swam in the blurred pallet of his mind…
"He's awake, pull him up."
He felt something grab him under his arms and place him roughly on his feet, causing him to stumble.
"Haha, you did a good job, Carakl. Somebeast wake him properly…"
Slosh! Skipper gasped as the cold, salty water washed over him. A cruel laughter echoed about as he looked around. Where am I? Aboard a ship, that was certain. An army of rugged looking creatures gathered on deck and mast. It was a monstrous ship, and a fearsome crew. But something about its shape, its sails, drew a haunting memory from the Buizel… Of course! That island, all those months back, the ship that nearly blasted him and Flint to the next world!
The shock wore off, however, as a sly chuckle reached his ears, and his eyes met those of a large, horribly scarred Floatzel standing imposingly on the quarterdeck. He was unquestionably the captain of this craft. Skip glared and spat out, "You!"
The bigger weasel grinned coyly. "Aye, welcome aboard, lad. It's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Where are the others?" Skipper growled.
"Manners, manners. Your friends are safe, for now." He motioned to his left, where all of them, save Gully, were chained to an anchor, blissfully asleep and unaware. The Floatzel added, "And your little paddleboat… or rather, my little paddleboat, is tied over there." He motioned to the rail on his right, where the Seatunder bobbed peacefully in the big ship's wake, its mast barely reaching the hull of its captor's.
But the Buizel's attention was on his crew. "Let them go!" he ground out.
"Oh I will. But patience, my friend. We have a lot of catching up to do, and I want them awake for it too." He flicked his paw, and a crewbeast tossed a bucket of water over the sleeping creatures. They gasped and looked around just as Skip had done, and found that they were bound.
Skipper made to head towards them.
"Stay where you are, boy!"
Flint sized up the situation and yelled, "That's Captain Skipper to you, scarface!" He exposed his teeth impudently.
A wave of murmuring swept through the crowd before the Floatzel silenced them with a keen grin. "Ah, young spirit. I admire that vitality. But come now, I have not yet done you any harm, surely you wouldn't mind a heart to heart talk." With that, he spread his arms in false hospitality and smiled disarmingly.
Torq chanced to speak, "Alright, we'll talk… How did we get here?"
That chuckle of his again. "A bold maid, you are. As for your question, perhaps this creature will be better suited to answer it…" He made a sweeping gesture, and a Lucario stepped out from behind him.
"Carakl?!" Torq gasped, "No!!"
"She did something to the soup," Dorian muttered, "I knew it…"
"Traitor! Filthy, black blooded traitor!"
Even Buso looked enraged. No one touched his cooking. Ever.
Carakl looked on stoically, yet all of this was nothing compared to the small voice that cut into her soul: "Why…? I thought we were friends…" She looked away.
Anger seethed within the Buizel, how easily he had trusted her! But keeping a calm face, he spoke, "We were fools, but what's done is done. What do you want with us?"
The Floatzel nodded in admiration. "A wise choice to keep your temper, Captain. I always knew there was talent in you. Hear me, Skipper. I, Captain of the Aurora Borealis, will spare your lives, if you swear loyalty to me."
"Never," Skip snapped, no consideration needed.
"So you'd rather see your friends die?"
Now the Buizel paused, helpless. A spark went out within the bold Captain, who cursed the wretched weasel that used his compassion against him. What should I do?
"I'm with you, Captain," said Dorian, his expression resolute.
To his surprise, a deep growl answered in response, "So like you, Dorian."
The Floatzel glanced carelessly over his shoulder at the wheel. "Ah, you know this creature?"
"Aye." A tall, cloaked figure stepped forth, instantly darkening the area around him. He was a Houndoom, one that looked as though he had seen much and been through more. A raggedy trench coat with a high, folded collar, and an eye patch covering his right eye, added to his sinister appearance. The crowd parted reverently, or fearfully, as the beast passed through them, moving slowly but purposefully. He stopped in front of Dorian, a head taller than the Golduck, and smirked condescendingly. His voice was rolling thunder, "It's good to see you again, Dorian. Or should I say… Captain."
The Seatunder's crew looked to their helmsbeast in bewilderment, but he looked on indifferently. "Drake, what a surprise seeing you here."
The Houndoom placed a clawed finger over his eye patch. "We have a bit of catching up to do, messmate."
The Golduck returned a cool smile. "Aye, I have yet to take out that other eye of yours."
GrAAaar! The devil dog let loose a furious roar and shot forward with a strong paw. Milliseconds later, a low grunt was heard as he was sent sliding across the deck. The Floatzel twitched his tail in annoyance and cast a reprimanding gaze at the Houndoom. "Control yourself, these creatures are my special guests."
A growl rumbled in Drake's chest as he cast a final glance at Dorian and prowled away on all fours, tail held low in submission but eyes alight with hatred's fire.
Skipper narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the bigger weasel. "Why us? What do you need us for?"
A chilled wind passed across the waters, as chilling as the silence that haunted the ship. For the first time the scarred weasel had a look of utmost seriousness on his face, made fearsome by his rough features. He paced around the deck, looking into the eyes of all creatures around him. He spoke with conviction and power, "Look at my crew, Skipper. Have you ever seen a more diverse bunch? All creatures of all types and species… We are joined by but one entity." His eyes shone fiercely as he stood proudly in front of the Buizel. "You know what it is, do you not? You and your crew."
For once Skipper agreed, as he diverted his eyes past the Captain and the crowd, past his own crew and the Seatunder, out to… "The Sea."
The Floatzel blinked once in acknowledgement. "Aye, the sea. Everybeast here, it calls to us. All life originated from the oceans, all creatures and all land. Skipper, you're a beast who can understand this…"
Skip nodded, as if in a trance.
Suddenly, he felt a tug at his belt. The Floatzel yanked out the map and tossed it contemptuously on the floor, wide open for every beast to see. "Look at this! Look at this map, bursting on the edges with islands and continents and secrets I've long discovered! I've sailed to all corners of the Earth, braved every storm and squall! What's left? Nothing! The sea… it ain't big enough for us creatures thirstin' for adventure."
Skipper looked down on the drawings of islands, land masses labeled and mapped out like a jigsaw puzzle. There were places he'd never heard of before, rivers and canyons still left for him to explore… "Impossible. You can't have seen all of this. Not in your lifetime."
The Floatzel chuckled cruelly. "Oh, but I can. Skipper, I have the might of the ocean behind me!" He raised his arms to the skies and laughed a loud, booming laugh, malicious and powerful.
As if in answer, there came a sudden surge beneath them. The waters around the craft bubbled and tossed with rage as fins, tails, flippers and shining, writhing bodies flashed on the surface. Thousands and thousands of glowing lights, lidless eyes, shined from the depths. No… He, one creature, can't control all of this… impossible…
"Join me, Skipper!"
The noise was overpowering, and frightful. Jeering and howling came from all direction, the planks creaked and the waves tumbled with wrath. What choice did he have? He was a prisoner to all of this, he was nearly broken…
"Captain, don't!"
It was a voice nearly lost in the cacophony, but he found it in the eyes of his crew. They were as scared as he, perhaps even more so, but within them he found hope, a sign that he must fight on… somehow, someway, they would find a way out of this. It was all of their voices speaking through him as he shouted above the din,
"I WON'T!!"
Then, everything stopped.
They water was smooth as a polished stone, all trace of its inhabitants driven beneath the depths. Silence once again fell upon the Aurora Borealis. A deadly silence.
Slowly, the Floatzel advanced on his younger counterpart. "It that your answer?"
"It is."
Another paw forward. "You sure?"
Skipper realized he was weaponless, his rapier must be somewhere back on the Seatunder… "As sure as night follows day."
"Do you know who I am, what I can do to you and your friends?"
The same defiant eyes bore into his. "You're a blackheart, nothing more."
The Floatzel faltered and stared dumbly at the creature before him. His gaze was hollow for a moment… And then, the corners of his lips drew into an amused grin. It almost looked comical. His voice was a hoarse whisper as he spoke, "That's exactly what you're mother said."
Words failed him. Everything was numb. Even the army under water seemed possible now, but this… the dead cannot come back to life. Can they? "You… knew my mother?"
The Floatzel wore a smug expression on his face as he drew to his full height, cast against the gray of the noon day. "Aye, I knew your mother. Very well, in fact… Skipper, you haven't guessed it yet?"
Skip slowly shook his head, his legs trembling and his mouth dry. "No, you can't be him… he's dead."
"He?" the big weasel looked down, almost pitifully. "Let me tell you a story, Skipper." The Floatzel strode the deck as he spat out the word, "He… He was once a seabeast, much like yourself. No creature loved it as much as He did. But one day, He came across a fair maiden…"
The Floatzel paused at the railing and gazed far out to sea, beckoning some faraway memory to return to him. For a moment, he softened. "Her name was Aurora. She was as beautiful as the most fiery sunset, as calming as the stillest shore. He succumbed to that foolish thing called Love."
Nothing existed but a blurred image of a fragile, serene creature, her familiar touch soft and warm, her voice melodic and humming… the scent of sweet hay. But at the same time, a burning heat grew within the Buizel, and his fists clenched until his claws dug into his pads…
"They had a son, and He was prouder than any father in the land. From the start it was clear, that the son was very much like Him. You could see it in his eyes… the pup learned to swim before he could walk! He taught him everything He knew, and promised to take him to that place where the sky touched the sea…"
He turned to Skipper and his expression hardened once more. The Floatzel stormed forward, roaring with a passion, "I promised you that, boy! I promised to take you there! But Aurora…! She never understood how much this means to us!" He swept a paw towards the ocean. "I told her I would build us a ship to sail forever in, but she would not let her son go. So I went alone."
He could not help it. Tears blurred Skippers eyes, and as he looked at the Floatzel the scars were blotted away … there was the creature he once called Father… It felt as if time was sucked backwards, and he was nothing more than a sniffling pup, paw groping at the black speck of a ship disappearing into the setting sun…
"I came back, I did. You remember it well, don't you Skipper? I brought with me enough treasure to buy an island. All for Aurora…"
He remembered. There was a knock on the door, and in stepped a creature out of a dream. The pup ran to the Buizel and wrapped his arms around his waist, as the bigger creature ran a calloused paw along his son's forehead. But something was different about Him. His eyes held a glint that was not there before he left; he felt tougher, meaner. His scent held something metallic, and His saber was tarnished from much use…
"She wanted none of it, only for me to stay there forever. We grew apart, but I still loved her. One day, I grew sick of it all. You were out adventuring and I faced Aurora and told her it was time I took you out to sea. It was where you belonged, I said. But she refused."
The wood creaked beneath the Floatzel's crushing paw and his eyes turned steely. "I told her that I was the father, that I knew what was best for my son! But she faced me and said to my face, 'You're no longer his father. You're a blackheart, nothing more!' And I was then that I realized… my only love was the sea. Every other beast was an anchor that held me to land. Aurora… I loved her. Don't you see, Skipper? I had to kill her."
Skip felt many paws restrain him as he lunged forward, all reason lost. "Blackheart!" he yelled, "Filthy murderer!"
The big weasel laughed now, a chilling, remorseless laugh that echoed through the skies above. He leaned forward until their noses nearly touched, so close that he could hear the raggedness behind Skipper's breath. "When those pathetic villagers cut me up and left me for dead, threw my body into the sea… I survived, and I grew stronger. Aye, you know who I am, boy!"
Foam flecked the edges of the Buizel's mouth as he snarled and twisted blindly, but his captors held him tightly. He heard the Floatzel's cruel laugh, and his cold voice ring across the deck, "I'm Captain Borius, blackest heart on the sea!"
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If I had to say, I'd think this is about the middle of the story, though I can't say for sure because I don't know how its going to play out XD I have big plans for Borius. He ain't just some big baddie slaying and stealing here and there… he's got bigger plans. Read and review, hopefully… and I'll see you next time!
-Canyx