After taking a peek at the Guardians' plans for the Shards and their Discoverers, we're going to go right back to our main characters and see how well they are faring!
-.-.-.-.-.
The Carvanha guards shoved their captives down another hallway. Terra winced at the touch of the fish's Rough Skin and went in the direction they forced her to. Cenric glared at the soldier that shoved him and swam smoothly onwards with his propeller tail. Wyvern took clumsy strokes with his wings and tail, all the while looking at their surroundings.
They had been taken a fair distance northeast of Deepdark Island when they had come across a huge underwater trench. Swarming around the place were Eelektrik, Basculin, and tons of other fearsome Water-types. As a member of Team Fossil, Wyvern didn't have to have the IQ of an Alakazam to figure out who these aquatic thugs were.
"The Abyssal Raiders," he murmured, just loud enough for Terra and Cenric to hear. "Who are…?" Terra began, but was cut short as her air bubble abruptly ran out. She spluttered for a second before the Krabby attached to her back blew another Bubble. In only an instant, she was able to breathe again.
"We'll tell you later," whispered Cenric, eyeing the Carvanha with a new understanding. He, too, had heard a lot about the gang said to dwell in the northern part of the western ocean. Unfortunately, none of what he had heard was very appealing.
The long, quiet journey through the halls of the fortress finally ended at a massive, circular cavern. The rock that made up the walls and floor seemed to be glowing, giving illumination to what would otherwise be a dim room.
But now, the Carvanha soldiers were nudging the trio upwards, toward the top of the cavern. Wyvern realized that there was actually a surface to the water in this place, meaning that there was breathable air here.
Indeed there was – all three of them broke the surface, air bubbles popping as soon as their heads rose from the water. Now they could see that they were in a huge lake, and the cavern beyond it was enormous. The ceiling was far above them, with numerous stalactites hanging down from it. The largest of them, at least ten feet long, still didn't come close to touching the water's surface.
The Carvanha nudged them toward the shore of the lake, and they clambered up onto the stone, relieved to have somewhere to put their feet again. But although the Carvanha stayed in the water, they still weren't free, as two great Crawdaunt advanced from the tunnel in front of them to take custody of them. Terra shivered and drew closer to Wyvern, while Cenric just stood and glared, unfazed.
The Ruffian Pokemon took positions at either side of the group and marched them into the tunnel. When they entered, all three of them could see that they were in a dungeon of sorts – cells, complete with barred doors, lined the walls of the tunnel. Most of them were empty, but some of them contained miserable-looking Pokemon, or at least signs of them.
Terra flinched backwards as an exhausted Treecko reached out from in his cell with a quavering arm and rasped something too quiet to hear. Cenric slapped his arm away, much to the amusement of the two Crawdaunt, who gave small snorts of laughter as the Treecko retreated back into his cage.
Far from the tunnel's entrance, the Crawdaunt finally stopped and selected a cell. With a start, Wyvern noticed it was already occupied – and then the guards shoved him through with their pincers, causing him to squawk in surprise and hit the floor hard. Terra and Cenric followed him in, with similar squeaks or grunts of pain. The Crawdaunt shut the door and left them alone with their cellmates.
There were four – a Gallade, Charmeleon, Growlithe, and Escavalier. The Charmeleon cracked open an eye from his position against the wall and lazily observed the newcomers. The Gallade was in a similar position, only with his knees drawn up against his chest. He looked up and blinked in surprise at the new prisoners.
"…Wyvern?" he finally said, a little doubtfully. The Archeops picked himself up and observed him with equal doubt. "…Lancelot, right? Leader of Team Knights?" he asked.
The Psychic-and-Fighting-type nodded and stood up. He extended a hand, which Wyvern shook. "Yes, that would be me," he replied. "And you're the leader of Team Fossil, if I'm not mistaken. But where are the other two?"
Wyvern hung his head and explained, "There was a storm at sea, and we were separated. I ended up on Deepdark Island, where I met these two Pokemon." He gestured to his companions, who looked up at Lancelot in awe. Even they had heard the stories of him and his rescue team.
"Pleasure to meet you," Lancelot said with a nod. "I don't know if you've met my teammates, Wyvern. These are Fireclaw and Arthur." Said Pokemon gave solemn nods to the Archeops, but said nothing.
"I hope you'll excuse our current condition," Lancelot said apologetically. "On an ordinary day, we'd be a lot more willing to talk… but we've been penned up here for several days, waiting for something to happen to us."
All of a sudden, the Growlithe came out of the shadows, eyes fixed on Terra. Eyes drawn to the movement, Terra's own eyes widened as she recognized the Puppy Pokemon. "Cliff!" she said joyfully, running to hug him. The Growlithe laughed and licked her several times across the cheek.
"You two know each other?" Cenric asked confusedly. Terra let go of Cliff and explained happily, "Yeah, we're cousins! But what are you doing here, Cliff?" she added, voice becoming worried.
There was silence for a few seconds, but at last Cliff answered her. "I was captured a few days before these guys," he said, indicating Team Knights with a sweep of his paw. "You ever heard of the Shards? Well, I found one of them and went to Vulcana City, hoping to find the Guardians and give it to them."
He paused for breath as Wyvern and Cenric looked at him curiously. He's a Discoverer? Wyvern wondered. And how did he get the idea to give the Shard to the Guardians? It's the right idea, no doubt about that, but just how did he think of it?
"I sent a letter to the Guardians in advance through the Pelipper Mail Service," Cliff went on, but Terra interrupted him. "Pelipper Mail Service?" she asked, frowning with incomprehension. "It's an organization of Pelipper that dedicate themselves to delivering messages and missions to rescue teams," the Growlithe explained, before continuing with his story.
"Anyway, I sent off the letter with the Pelipper, and shortly after I was cleared to take a boat to the Guardians' secret island. But then an hour later, after I had left the city behind me, a huge swarm of Water-types just surged out of the ocean and destroyed the ship. They took me prisoner and killed the crew. Then when they brought me to this trench – it took two days to get all the way here – they took the Shard I was carrying and put me in here." Cliff stopped speaking and adjusted his torn-up bandana, enduring the painful, chaotic memories silently.
Terra's eyes flashed with a rare anger. "Don't worry, cousin," she said determinedly, straightening her own bandana. "We're going to break out of this cell, find that Shard, and deliver it to the Guardians."
Everyone looked at her, surprised with her sudden display of courage. The Charmander turned back to Cliff and finished, "And I'm going to find a way to make these villains pay for capturing you. No one gets away with kidnapping my cousin."
-.-.-.-.-.
Across the ocean, the Windchaser forged on through the choppy waves. According to Burner, they were already a quarter of the way toward the secret island of the Guardians, having moved southeast past the ruins of Diamond Island. It would still be a few more days before they would reach their destination, though, so everyone busied themselves with helping keep the ship in shipshape, so to speak.
Shadepelt, Jowl, and Sinestra were busy cleaning the deck. Team Bloodsucker had allowed the Purrloin to help out and mingle with the other Pokemon, choosing to believe her story and that she really had grown fed up with the Life Stealers. However, the precautions still stood, and everyone was careful not to reveal anything to her that would potentially come back to bite them in the rear.
Due to their proximity to Diamond Island, Miranda and Tortuga had swum off to see if there was anything drifting around in the surrounding area that they could use. Okami and Gaby were cleaning out the cabins, Amanita was napping, and Tesla was fishing with her electrically charged silk. Pteryx and Luke were also making themselves useful, handing out cleaning rags or fishing bait, amongst other things.
Taking a moment's break to wipe the sweat from her brow, Shadepelt stood up to admire her work. The entire deck was almost clean, thanks to her and the Eevee siblings. The Devious Pokemon suddenly noticed Sinestra trying to clean inside of a dusty crevice between two heavy crates, but her front leg was too short to reach very far inside.
"Here, let me help you with that," Shadepelt said, slinking over with her rag. She gently pushed the Eevee aside and reached into the gap, swiping it clean in just a minute.
The little Evolution Pokemon was overwhelmed by the kind gesture. "Th-thanks," she said shyly, before scampering off to join her brother in cleaning the inside of the Murkrow's nest. Right now, the bowl-shaped platform was lowered to the deck, allowing them to safely access it. When needed, it would be raised to the top of the mast by a series of ropes and pulleys.
Shadepelt was very thankful that she was allowed to help out freely with the other Pokemon – not that they enjoyed her company anyway. But that didn't matter right now – the Purrloin wasn't ready to make friends just yet anyway. What did matter was earning their trust the hard way, through good deeds and elbow grease.
Suddenly, there was a splashing noise that came from over the edge of the Windchaser. Shadepelt looked down curiously and saw the Vaporeon and Tirtouga – Miranda and Tortuga, right? Shadepelt thought – floating there with their heads sticking out of the water. "Hey, there!" called Tortuga, waving a flipper. "Can you get Tesla to pull us up on deck?" The Purrloin nodded and waved to show that she understood, then scurried off to find Tesla.
She indeed found her, standing over the port side of the ship and tugging on a sparking thread of silk. The Bug-and-Electric-type finally hauled up her catch – a large, smoking Magikarp, tangled up in the electrical wire and thrashing futilely. Tesla rubbed her two front legs together with satisfaction before noticing Shadepelt standing there expectantly.
"Oh, hello Shadepelt," the Conductula said politely, as the Magikarp grew more sluggish as it flopped weakly in its bonds. "Nice job cleaning the deck, by the way. What can I do for you?"
Inwardly, Shadepelt smiled – Tesla was a lot more willing to accept her than some of the others. She pointed to the starboard side of the Windchaser and responded, "Miranda and Tortuga are back, and they want you to pull them up."
Tesla nodded in thanks and scuttled off to do so. Shadepelt watched her leave, and then the exhaustion from the couple hours' work she had done caught up with her. Sighing heavily, with her tail and ears drooping tiredly, she slunk off toward the hatch leading below deck, looking forward to a long nap.
When Tesla arrived at the starboard side, she looked over the edge to find the two Water-types waiting for her. "Ahoy there!" Miranda called, flicking her tail playfully as she swam alongside the ship. "Can you pull us up?"
The Conductula gave a Bug-type's version of a smile, turned around, and crawled partway down the ship's hull. She shivered her abdomen a bit, and then a single strand of webbing came slipping down to dangle just over the Water-types' heads. It didn't spark with any kind of voltage – unlike the Joltik and Galvantula species, her species could not only control the amount of electricity in their threads, but they could also produce threads that were completely lacking in charge.
After pausing a moment to determine how high to reach, Miranda grabbed the end of the thread in her paws, while Tortuga leapt out of the water and clamped down on it with his beak. "Gaw ih!" he mumbled, and Tesla (somehow) understood. She crawled back up onto the ship, slowly and cautiously due to the fact that she was supporting two Pokemon.
Finally, after much effort on her part, she finally hauled the two of them up. How Burner managed to carry me in his legs and away from the Darkfeathers that time, I'll never know, she thought, panting quietly.
"Did you find anything?" Tesla asked, getting her breath back. Miranda shook her head and slumped to the deck, tired after all of that swimming. "No," she confirmed. "But I caught a glimpse of something swimming in the distance. I thought it was something useful, but it was just a Sharpedo. I managed to swim off before it could see me."
But just then, the water around the Windchaser, while already choppy with waves, seemed to surge with a new intensity. The cause of this sudden activity was revealed when a horde of Water-types emerged from the depths to surround the ship. "Or maybe not…" muttered Miranda.
In seconds, Burner and Drain were there. "What is all this?" Burner demanded, taking charge. "Miranda claims to have seen a Sharpedo while off on her scouting mission," Tesla replied. "She thinks that she had swam off before it could see her, but now that this army is surrounding us…"
Drain looked at her as if she had just grown a second head. "You're not saying…" he hissed, leaving the sentence unfinished. The Conductula pointed at the army, more specifically a Sharpedo making his way to the head of it. "I am," she said firmly.
The Water-and-Dark-type stopped about six meters from the boat and yelled up, "Team Bloodsucker! I was beginning to wonder when I'd see you again!" The three Bugs stiffened at his familiar voice. Burner fluttered his wings and hovered above the deck of the ship, so he could be seen better.
"General Fang," he returned the greeting, voice calm with an undercurrent of hostility. "How nice to cross paths with you again." He briefly turned to Drain and said, "Get the others gathered here, and make sure they're ready for a possible fight." The Pendrula nodded and scuttled off to complete his task.
"Let's dispense with the pleasantries, if you please," growled the General. "I want to make this quick. Hand over this ship and your crew and we won't have to resort to force."
Burner pretended to think. "So in other words," he stated, "our choices are to get captured, or to get captured after a bloody and gruesome battle. Hmm, what a decision."
General Fang snarled under his breath. "Either way, you're all coming with us. These are our waters now, and the seas belong to the Abyssal Raiders." The army behind him roared their agreement in a variety of voices.
"Well in that case…" Burner said, noticing Drain coming out from below deck with the other Pokemon. "I think we'll do this the hard way!"
On that cue, Tesla screamed, "Electroweb!" and shot a series of electrically charged nets at the Raiders. Most of them missed, but several snagged a few victims each, and their screams rang out into the air as the electricity fried them. "Attack! Go for the capture!" shouted General Fang, and the Water-types that weren't dying rushed forward with the might of a tidal wave.
"Everyone, prepare to defend the Windchaser! We go down fighting!" Burner screamed, taking to the air with his wings thrumming loudly. Okami and Cobalt led the cheer that ensued, and everyone readied for battle.
"Here they come! Let's show 'em what's what!" Pteryx squawked just as the first Abyssal Raiders climbed up onto the deck. "Dragonbreath!" he screamed, blasting a Barboach back into the water with a pulse of pink energy.
"Sky Uppercut!" called Cobalt, swinging his fist upwards and flinging a Tentacool into the air. "Double-Edge!" Luke screamed, slamming into the airborne jellyfish and sending it into the ocean as well.
Burner, Tesla, and Drain were keeping the Raiders at bay with a barrage of Air Slashes, Electrowebs, and Pin Missiles. However, they were tiring quickly, and their attacks were slowing as a result. More and more Water-types advanced forward, and fewer were picked off.
"Carvanha Squad! After the boat!" General Fang ordered above the noise of battle, and five of the red-and-blue fish dove under the surface, razor-sharp teeth ready to tear at the hull.
As the Raiders swarmed up onto the deck in increasing numbers, everyone was forced to work together to possibly survive the onslaught. Gaby, Okami, and Miranda guarded the three Eevees in the center of their defensive triangle, lashing out with their attacks at any Water-type that came close.
"Aurora Beam!" screamed Miranda, at the same time Okami and Gaby readied their Moonblast and Magical Leaf attacks. All three projectiles hit a bulky Poliwrath, which fell over the edge of the boat in a daze. But a Huntail and a Wartortle moved in to replace it, lunging out with Crunch and Skull Bash.
Gaby began to charge a Focus Blast, but if someone didn't do something to defend, then she knew that she wouldn't be able to get the attack off in time. But luckily, Miranda did just that, zipping in between the attackers and the defender and calling for an Acid Armor.
A liquid barrier coalesced in front of Miranda, and the two attacks glanced off of it. That was when Gaby finished her Focus Blast, hurling it at the Huntail and Wartortle and sending them flying far out over the ocean with a colossal impact.
But with Miranda busy defending Gaby, a gap opened up in the defensive triangle they had formed. An eager Corphish lunged at Sinestra, fully exposed to its charging Crabhammer. The little Eevee could only stare at it coming at her, frozen in fear.
But then a black shape streaked out of nowhere, and the Corphish was struck. It was thrown far off to the other side of the deck, multiple legs twitching. Shadepelt lightly landed in front of Sinestra, claws still glowing with black energy.
"Y-you saved me," Sinestra murmured in shock and awe. The Purrloin smiled kindly at her and readied another Shadow Claw, waiting for the fast-approaching Totodile to get in range. "That's what friends do," she replied over her shoulder to the stricken Eevee.
To herself, Shadepelt grinned. The best way to earn someone's trust… is to save their lives, she thought, satisfied. She lashed out, sending the Totodile flying with a pained cry.
But just then, the Carvanha Squad's teeth succeeded in ripping a significant hole in the hull. The Windchaser began to sink, and their time began to run out.
-.-.-.-.-.
Terra's determination comes out with the need to protect her cousin Cliff, and the Abyssal Raiders are tightening their hold on the oceans. Will the Windchaser escape to the Guardians' island, will the Raiders claim the ship and its crew as their own, and is Shadepelt really on the rescue teams' side now?
Pteryx: "Review, why doncha – HEY! Tentacles off, pal!" *punches a Tentacool in the face*
Wheatley: "I think he might have a minor case of serious brain damage now. But you know what? People with brain damage – they always turn out to be heroes in the end."
Pteryx: "What're ya doin' here? Skedaddle back off to yer little lab!"
I do not own Portal. Big surprise.
Chapter Question #11: If you could choose a criminal gang –whether it's the Raiders, Life Stealers, or Darkfeathers – to join as a member, who would you pick and why?