Chapter 12: Dewford-Bound
"Alright folks, the semi-finals have now begun! The winners of the next two matches will move on to the final round in which they will compete for this, the Rustboro Ribbon!" Vivian announced, holding up a pink ribbon that was exactly like the one Lyla had seen in the coordinator class at the Trainer's School.
"That ribbon is gonna be mine," Lyla told herself in an attempt to boost her confidence.
"In case you were late or haven't been paying attention, on the stage we have Lyla from Lavaridge Town with her darling Skitty and Karen from Oldale Town and her powerful-looking Vigoroth. Without further ado, let the battle begin!" Vivian announced.
"Skitty, let's start things off with Assist!" Lyla exclaimed, trying to avoid using physical attacks. Her attempt was in vain, however, because the Assist resulted in Mudkip's Tackle and she bolted forward toward Vigoroth with great force.
"You can dodge that," Karen said as Vigoroth simply turned its body sideways to avoid the attack.
"Mya?" Skitty said, realizing that she had charged right past her target.
"Now use Fury Swipes!"
The Vigoroth lunged at Skitty and began slashing away with its sharp claws.
"Assist again!"
Skitty turned her head and a glowing orb formed in her mouth and Water Gun was shot from it, knocking the Vigoroth all the way to the other side of the stage. The high-pressured blast of water created a mist as it beat against Vigoroth's body and the wall at the other side. Although it was pretty and caused Karen to lose some points, this sparkling mist allowed Vigoroth to momentarily disappear and zip around, reappearing behind Skitty.
"Fury Swipes once more!"
"Not so fast, Skitty, block it with Iron Tail!"
The Vigoroth brought one arm down to slash at Skitty but she brought up her brightly glowing tail to force its claws away from her, and then she swung around and slammed her tail into the Vigoroth's stomach. It was knocked away and landed on its back, appearing to be out-cold.
"What, is it over?" Lyla asked.
"Not quite," Karen said with a smile. Suddenly, the Vigoroth vanished in a puff of smoke.
"What?" Lyla gasped.
"It's called Substitute, and this one's called Faint Attack!"
Vigoroth seemed to appear out of nowhere and smacked Skitty with great force, causing her to tumble back several feet.
"And Substitute makes a perfect distraction for a well-pulled off Faint Attack!" Vivian observed.
"Let's finish this up, Vigoroth. Let's see the most powerful Fury Swipes you've got!"
The Vigoroth grinned and began slashing at the air violently with amazing speed. Vigoroth's body became surrounded by a blur and its image appeared on the large screen behind the judges, but the video was slowed down so that the audience could see how incredibly flexible the Vigoroth's arms were, stretching back and forth and up and down so no matter where anything touched him, it would be shredded immediately.
"I bet it can't see too well through that blur. And if it can't see an attack, it can't dodge the attack," Lyla thought to herself as it charged at Skitty who was slowly standing up. "Skitty, use Assist!"
Skitty's right paw began to glow and she aimed it towards the incoming Vigoroth. Ice Beam emitted from it and froze the Vigoroth solid, from the waist down. Vigoroth stopped swinging its arms around and used them to try to pull itself free but it was no use.
"What will Karen do now that her Pokémon is completely immobilized?" Vivian exclaimed into her microphone.
"He's not completely immobilized. He can still move his mouth! Use Uproar!"
Vigoroth opened its mouth and began screaming, creating sound waves that drifted towards Skitty. She pressed her head against the ground and covered her ears with her paws but the sound was too powerful.
"Assist, Skitty!" Lyla screamed, trying to be heard through the awful racket. Skitty heard her trainer, however, and her entire body began to glow. Lyla smiled.
"Could that be…" Karen thought to herself. "NO! Vigoroth, stop!"
Vigoroth couldn't hear its trainer through all the noise it was making so Skitty absorbed every bit of energy from the sound waves and then fired back double the energy in bright flash. Vigoroth took a lot of damage but was still standing when the light faded.
"DoubleSlap!"
Skitty began slapping the Vigoroth violently with her tail and then Lyla told her to use Iron Tail, so Skitty charged her tail up for a moment before giving Vigoroth one final blow to the stomach with a powerful Iron Tail Attack. The force caused the ice to shatter as Vigoroth flew back and landed on the ground near its trainer.
"Well I guess that's a good thing…" Karen said. "Now use Fury Swipes!"
Vigoroth charged towards Skitty, greatly slowed by its injuries.
"Block it with DoubleSlap!"
Vigoroth and Skitty were at about the same speed now and as Vigoroth tried to slash at her, she slammed her tail against its wrists to keep its claws away from her.
"Keep it up, Vigoroth!"
"You too, Skitty. Use Assist if you can!"
An orb began to glow in Skitty's mouth as she continued to defend herself and Water Gun blasted from it, knocking Vigoroth back towards its trainer again. Both Pokémon stared each other down, panting until the timer went off a few moments later. Lyla gasped, realizing that she hadn't been paying attention to the clock during the entire battle. She slowly looked up at the scoreboard and grinned widely when she saw that she had won just by a hair.
Next up was Selena and another coordinator. As Lyla expected, the match didn't last very long at all and Selena was the victor. During the match, however, Lyla managed to persuade Skitty to eat a few Oran Berries. Skitty was exhausted and barely had enough energy to chew them. They made her feel a little better but Lyla worried about the final round because Selena's Butterfree appeared to be at one hundred percent. She sighed as she set Skitty down, and the two walked out onto the stage together.
"And now, the moment you've all been waiting for! We've reached the finals! Who will go home with the Rustboro Ribbon today? Will it be a crowd favorite, Selena? Or will it be this new face, Lyla? Keep watching, folks!" Vivian exclaimed as she signaled for the battle to begin.
"Your Skitty is looking pretty bent out of shape there. Maybe you should consider training it better," Selena said with a frown. "I honestly don't know how you managed to make it so far in this contest; it looks like you've never worked with her on her endurance before. Contests aren't about power but you can't exactly win with a weak Pokémon, you know? I admire how hard she's trying for you, however. You two may go first if you'd like."
Lyla wasn't really sure how to respond other than with an attack. She ordered Skitty to use Iron Tail so Skitty leaped up into the air but Butterfree, barrel-rolled out of the way with ease.
"Stun Spore."
As Skitty landed on the ground, Butterfree showered her with a sparkling orange powder. Skitty sneezed and shook her head. The powder made her feel kind of tingly but she seemed okay otherwise.
"This would be so much easier if Skitty knew any long-range attacks…I hate to keep doing this but…" Lyla thought to herself. "Skitty, Assist!"
"Silver Wind," Selena said as a Water Gun shot up towards her Butterfree.
Butterfree began to flap its wings rapidly and it created a flow of sparkling air that collided with and overpowered the Water Gun, continuing until it hit Skitty right in the chest and blasted her away.
"Try it again!" Lyla shouted as Skitty struggled to stand. This time it resulted in Bide and Selena recognized the move so she didn't call any attacks. Instead, she asked Butterfree to entertain the audience by twirling around in vortex of glittery orange powder. She referred to it as a 'Stun Spore Dance.' The crowd applauded and Lyla's points shot down as a result.
"Assist again?" Lyla said, unsure of what to do now.
It resulted in Ice Beam but Selena countered it by ordering a 'Silver Wind Shield.' Butterfree began spinning around quickly as she flapped her wings, enclosing herself in a giant sphere of bright, shining wind. The Ice Beam was unable to penetrate it and instead split and shot off both side of it, shimmering from the reflection of the Silver Wind.
"Now use Secret Power!"
Butterfree ceased the shield and its whole body was glowing bright pink as it raced towards Skitty.
"Myee…"
"It looks like Stun Spore has finally taken its effect," Selena observed. Skitty couldn't seem to move so Butterfree slammed into her and knocked her out. A buzzer went off and Selena was declared the winner.
Lyla didn't say much on the ride back to the station, nor on the way to the Pokémon Center to drop Skitty off, nor on the way to hotel. She went straight to the bedroom, shut the door, and said nothing. Aiden and Eziray understood so they left her alone for a while and went out to a café for some hot chocolate. When they came back, Lyla wasn't in the bedroom anymore but the light was on in the bathroom and they could hear soft whimpering coming from it so they assumed she was in there. But after a while, they began to worry about her and walked over to the bathroom door to talk to her.
"Come on, Lyla! You did really good and I'm sure that losing your first contest is completely normal!" Eziray exclaimed in an attempt to cheer Lyla up.
"How's that supposed to make her feel better?" Aiden muttered. "Lyla! How about I help you train for the next contest when we go to Dewford?"
"Yeah! Aren't you excited to go visit an island? I bet you've never seen the ocean before, right? I mean you've lived next to a volcano your whole life! Hey! How about we go right now? Wouldn't that be fun?" Eziray asked excitedly.
"It's midnight, Eziray…" Aiden trailed off.
"Never too late for a gym battle!" Eziray replied.
"Gym Leaders need sleep too, Ez!" Aiden said with a laugh as Eziray began to bang on the door.
"If you don't come out here and be happy, we're coming in!" she shouted.
"Yeah, that's gonna get her out," Aiden mumbled, bringing his hand up to his forehead. Suddenly the door opened slightly as a result of Eziray's pounding. She opened it all the way and gasped. Lyla wasn't even in there.
"I swear I heard noises coming from in here…" Eziray trailed off.
"MMMMMM!"
"Noises like that!" she exclaimed.
"Were my ears playing tricks on me or did that sound come from the toilet?" Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow.
There was a pause and suddenly the lid to the toilet rose as Lyla's Mudkip, who had apparently been in there for quite some time, began to climb out.
"Mud, Mudkip!" he exclaimed happily as he jumped out and charged for Aiden and Eizray.
"Close the door! CLOSE THE DOOR!" Aiden shouted as Eziray slammed it shut. There was a loud thud as Mudkip ran into the door. They waited for a minute in complete silence and then opened the door to find that the window was open and Mudkip was gone. Aiden peered out the window and saw Mudkip running down the street.
"Where do you think he's going?" Eziray asked.
"To be with Lyla, maybe?" Aiden replied.
"Kip. Kip. Kip," Mudkip said quietly as he ran along, pausing every so often to look around as the fin on his head twitched. Pretty soon, he could hear footsteps coming towards him up ahead so he got really excited and charged forward only to find that it was a complete stranger. He was an old man who, judging by his unusually tan skin, looked as if he had been living on a beach his entire life. There wasn't a single hair on top of his head. Instead, it was all growing around his mouth, along his jawline, and above his eyes in two thick bushy eyebrows, and it was all as white as snow. Mudkip greeted him excitedly.
"Ahoy there, little one! What ye be doin' out here all by ye-self at night? It's dangerous, y'know! And where did ya come from; do ya belong to someone?" the old man asked, bending down to pet Mudkip. There was a Wingull on his shoulder that squawked as a greeting.
"Muuud," Mudkip said, rubbing against the man's hand. Without saying anything else, he suddenly ran past the man and continued on his merry way to find Lyla.
"Well, it was nice meetin' ya!" the old man called. "What a strange Pokémon that was, don't ya think, Peecko?"
Mudkip scampered along down the street, passing by another man walking in the opposite direction, towards the old man and the Wingull. Mudkip paused and looked back at the man. This one wasn't as social. He was dressed in a black and white striped shirt, blue pants, black gloves, sunglasses and a blue bandana. His head was down, his hands were in his pockets and he continued on without much noticing Mudkip who was staring after him, head cocked.
The man kept walking until he caught up to the old man with the Wingull.
"Good evenin' to ya!" the old man said.
"Thank you. You are the one called 'Briney', aren't you?"
"Yes, that's me. Can I help ya with somethin'?"
"Yeah…I'll need to borrow your boat, Mr. Briney"
"Me boat? Is there someplace ye need to get to? There's a ferry here in Rustboro y'know! Ye should get a good night's rest and try fer the mornin' departure, lad. Ya can't be in that much of a hurr–"
The man grabbed Mr. Briney by the shirt and slammed him up against a wall aggressively.
"I don't think you're understanding me. I want your boat!"
"Unhand me at once!" Mr. Briney yelled. "Peecko!"
The Wingull flew off of his shoulder and began pecking away at the thug violently, forcing him to release Mr. Briney who then fled down the street.
"Crawdaunt, use BubbleBeam!" the thug yelled, throwing a Pokéball up into the air. A Crawdaunt materialized and stretched out its claws, pointing them at Mr. Briney as it released a blast of bubbles from each claw. Mr. Briney tripped and fell, and then he braced himself for the attack.
"Mudkip!" Mudkip exclaimed, running out in front of the bubbles and using Ice Beam to stop them in their tracks. They hit the ground immediately and shattered like glass.
"Myaaa!" Skitty hissed, running out from an ally to join Mudkip.
"What's going on here?" Lyla asked as she wandered out from the ally as well. She saw Mr. Briney and ran to him to see if he was okay.
"KIIIIIP!" Mudkip cheered, happy to be with his trainer again. Lyla looked up at the thug and gasped.
"Y-You're that Team Aqua guy who tried to rob Devon Corporation!"
"Not so fired up now, are you?" the grunt asked with a grin.
Without saying anything, Lyla picked up a rock and hurled it into the glass window of a nearby jewelry store. The window shattered and an alarm was triggered as a result.
"You're right. I doubt I can take you on, but Officer Jenny can and she'll be here any second!" Lyla exclaimed.
"You little…" the grunt growled.
Sure enough, a siren could be heard in the distance. The grunt decided not to stick around and called his Crawdaunt back before fleeing the scene. When Officer Jenny arrived, Lyla and Mr. Briney explained what had happened. But when she asked about the window, Mr. Briney lied and said it was a misfired attack from the grunt's Crawdaunt. After much questioning, Officer Jenny rode off to find the Team Aqua Member and Lyla sighed with relief.
"That was a good idea back there. Ye saved us so the least I could do was keep ya from gettin' into trouble as well!" Mr. Briney exclaimed.
"Us?" Lyla echoed as the Wingull flapped over and perched on Mr. Briney's her should, squawking with gratitude. "Oh, I see!"
"This is Peecko, my darling Wingull! We're very grateful for what ya did for us!"
"Gaaah," Peecko squawked.
"Oh yes! Many thanks to ye too, Mudkip!" Mr. Briney exclaimed, bending down to get a better look at Mudkip. "If ye didn't come when ya did, this nice young lass woulda had to drag my sorry behind to the hospital!"
"Mudkip? Just what are you doing out here all by yourself? I thought you were in your Pokéball!"
"This be yer Mudkip?"
"Yeah. He's a bit of a handful sometimes…."
"Oh not at all! He's quite a delightful little Pokémon if you ask me! Anyway, if there's anythin' ya need, I'll be glad to help ya out if I can!"
"Don't worry about it. What was that guy after anyway?"
"My boat…who knows why?"
"Well I guess the police are on the lookout for him. He probably needs it to escape…Listen, I oughta get back to my hotel room before my friends realize that I'm gone. Are you alright getting back to wherever you need to be?"
"Oh, don't ya worry 'bout us now! Peecko and I will be just fine. But please, if ya ever need anythin', do feel free to drop by and see me. I live at the old port here in Rustboro city! It's all run-down there and me house be the only one that aint all abandoned-lookin'!"
The next morning, Eziray jumped onto Lyla's bed and demanded to know where she had gone the night before. Lyla groaned, exhausted from the previous night's events. She pulled the covers over her head and said nothing. Both Skitty and Mudkip with lying at the foot of the bed and they looked up at Eziray curiously.
"Well I wouldn't let Mudkip on your bed if I were you. We found him in the toilet last night…" Eziray trailed off.
"In the toilet?" Lyla echoed, shoving Mudkip of the bed with her foot.
"Ha! Got you awake! Come on, get ready! I don't want to miss the morning boat!"
"Morning boat?"
"We're not staying here forever! It's time to get on a ferry and head to Dewford Island for my next gym battle!"
"Five more minutes…"
"Come on, sleepy head! What were you out doing all night?"
"Partying," Lyla said sarcastically, sitting up to rub her eyes.
"She was out for a walk with Skitty and ran into that Team Aqua goon," Aiden said, walking into the room with a tray of breakfast for Lyla.
"How come she told you?" Eziray whined, stealing one of the halves of toast from the tray.
"Because you were sleeping when she came back last night," Aiden replied, taking the toast and putting it back on the tray.
"Thanks Aiden," Lyla said cheerfully as she dug into the bowl of peach oatmeal on the tray.
After breakfast, the trainers got their things together and checked out of the hotel. Eziray had found a map in the room that would lead them to the harbor so the others followed her. Pretty soon, they reached a part of the city that seemed pretty abandoned. The paint on the buildings was faded and peeling off, the windows were shattered and boarded, and there wasn't a single person to be found. There was a port but it was completely deserted as well. The only boat in the water was completely destroyed and would have sunk if it weren't tied to the dock.
"And the ferry is where now?" Aiden asked.
"It's supposed to be right here!" Eziray exclaimed, pointing to the map.
"Hey, uh, Ez?" Lyla said, looking over the map and noticing the date on which it was printed.
"Yea?"
"This map is older than we are…"
There was a moment of silence as Eziray stared at the date in the bottom left corner of the map and then she cried out in frustration.
"Shhh, Eziray," Aiden said.
"Well it's really frigging inconvenient! Now we have to find the new port and wait for the afternoon ferry and –"
"I said SHHHHH!"
Eziray stopped talking and they could hear the low hum of a motor nearby. They followed its sound and it led them to a house that was in much better shape than the other buildings. As they reached it, a boat tore out from a building that was built over the water and attached to the house; it was like a garage for boats. As the boat zipped by, they noticed that it was being driven by the team aqua member. Lyla also noticed a Wingull trapped in a cage by his feet.
"PEECKO!" she shouted. She ran towards the building from where the boat came and the others followed. There, they found Mr. Briney tied up on the walkway off to the side of the garage, feet dangling in the water.
"Charo, use Metal Claw!" Eziray exclaimed, sending out Charo who slashed at the ropes and freed the old sailor.
"Thank ye!" he exclaimed. "But that crook took me darlin' Peecko!"
"I know, maybe Mudkip can catch up," Lyla said, taking a Pokéball out.
"Alas, that boat be old but she's fast enough to keep far away from yer Mudkip…"
"Then what can we do?"
"We have but one option. I think the time has come for me to set sail once again…"
"I admire your drive and everything but…didn't he just steal your boat?" Eziray asked, cocking her head.
"Aye, but just you wait, kids. I've got a surprise for ye all."
Mr. Briney stood up and walked over to a door that led into his house. There was a set of light switches to the right of it but one of the switches was red. Mr. Briney flipped it and the water in the garage began to part as the floor split and opened up, revealing a brand-new boat that was designed exactly like a Wingull.
"Hot damn…" Lyla trailed off.
"She be a super high speed boat that I've been workin' on ever since I met Peecko. That Wingull inspired me to sail the seven seas once again but I knew I would need a sea-worthy boat to travel with my darling Peecko. I call her the S.S. Wingull!"
Mr. Briney and the three trainers loaded onto the boat and began racing after the Team Aqua member.
"Mya…" Skitty said, staring uncomfortably at the water as they zoomed through it.
"Don't ye worry, little Skitty. She's not gonna sink, not while I be cap'n of her!" Mr. Briney exclaimed, accelerating.
"Ye wouldn't happen to come with subtitles would ye?" Lyla muttered, leaning over the side of the boat.
"He's not that hard to understand," Aiden said with a laugh. "Hey, are you okay?"
"I don't feel good…" Lyla trailed off.
"Ha! Ye just haven't developed yer sea legs yet, lass! Ye will soon! Don't ye worry!" Mr. Briney shouted as the boat they were chasing came into view.
"What the…" the grunt said to himself as he noticed the Wingull boat gaining on him. Then he felt something nudge his leg and he looked down.
"Mudkip," Lyla's Mudkip said with a large grin.
"Not you again. What do you want?" the grunt demanded.
"Kip," Mudkip said, turning his head. The grunt turned to see what Mudkip was looking at and saw his Crawdaunt frozen solid, holding up an empty cage. Before he could even process this sight, Peecko seemed to come out of nowhere and began pecking violently at the grunt's head.
"Mr. Briney!" Eziray exclaimed, saluting.
"Yes, lass!"
"There be a rock yonder! It appears that our target be bound for it!"
"Aye! That devil be lookin' to reunite with his crew, no doubt! And he's about to crash me boat!"
"Permission to destroy rock, captain!"
"Eziray, cut it out," Lyla muttered, watching the boat as it neared a giant rock up ahead. She noticed a human-like figure being fleeing from it by jumping into the water.
"PEECKO!" Mr. Briney shouted, realizing that there wasn't enough time to prevent the boat from crashing. He sped up anyway, in a desperate attempt to rescue Peecko.
"Here it comes," Lyla said to herself as her breakfast slowly began to creep up.
"MUUUUUUUUDKIIIIIIP!" Mudkip exclaimed.
"Mudkip?" she echoed, looking up. Mudkip was riding on Peecko's back, and they were heading straight towards her.
"Peecko!" Mr. Briney exclaimed.
Mudkip jumped from Peecko's back, landing on and knocking his trainer over. Peecko continued forward, flying straight into Mr. Briney's arms.
"I'm going to kill you…" Lyla trailed off as Mudkip happily nuzzled her chin.
"YAAAAAY!" Eziray cheered, throwing her arms up in the air as Mr. Briney's old boat crashed into the big rock. "Mission accomplished! We are all officially marines!"
"Look!" Aiden exclaimed.
Eziray's excitement quickly turned to complete wonder as a huge black submarine with Team Aqua's symbol surfaced and the grunt climbed into it through a door at the top, towards the front. Then it slowly sunk back down into the water and disappeared. Lyla shivered a little bit as she witnessed this, completely cured of her seasickness as she held Mudkip tightly against her body.
"Kip?" Mudkip said, cocking his head at her. But he understood. He understood that, for some reason, Lyla was scared.
"Mr. Briney?" Eziray asked, cocking her head.
"Yes, lass?"
"So…do you think you could take us to Dewford Island?"
"Aye, lass! Aye, I can!"
Author Notes
First off, I just want to clarify that in the anime, Mr. Briney lives in Rustboro, but in the game, he lives outside of Petalburg. I of course went with the anime, so I hope that explains it to any of you who haven't seen him in the anime. Also, I realize that Lyla's contest battles weren't exactly contesty, but keep in mind that she's new to it and doesn't exactly know how to put combinations together yet. That's why Selena seemed to upstage her so much. Anyways, I hope you liked it and please continue to read and review!