The Temple That Takes To The Sky

"Seriously? You all take this for granted?" Wes asked, as he flew alongside Marisa using the jetpack Nitori had put together.

"Well, yeah. We all kind of do. We were born/created with this power. Flight's as natural as breathing. Oh, and by the way, do a barrel roll." Marisa responded.

"What... *BANG* OWWWWWW..." Wes took a hit in the back from a couple of stray bullets.

"Next time, please listen. There's always battles going on between the idiot fairies, so there's always a stray bullet or two drifting around. Next time I give you flight directions... PULL UP NOW!" Marisa suddenly went straight up. Learning from last time, Wes shot up, barely dodging a laser that came streaking in their direction, JUST missing his feet.

"That... wasn't a fairy, ze. I think they're EXPECTING us." Marisa responded. "Now I know what you're thinking. Probably something along the lines of 'You don't say?'. Well, I was hoping the author wouldn't use the 'charge the gate and blow away the defenders' cliche, but I guess that was too much to hope for.

"What?" Wes asked, Marisa having mumbled the last sentence.

"Nothing. What matters is that they're expecting us. So we go in."

"That doesn't seem right... We're going to charge a base that just fired a laser at us, and is capable of tearing me to shreds." Wes replied.

"Just trust me! Nue doesn't want you dead. At least not yet. If she wanted you dead, she wouldn't have let you come this far, ze." Marisa replied. "Can't guarantee what'll happen when we get inside, though, so stay close to me!"

As they approached, the flames on the ground began to light themselves, leading to the door to Myouren Temple.

"Gotta say, she put a lot of thought into this, ze." Marisa was impressed with the setup.

"No time to gawk now. We have to find Michael. No one seems to be here yet, so let's get look-"

At that moment, there was a tremendous grinding. There seemed to be the noise of... "Propellers?" Wes asked. Marisa suddenly stopped. "BULLETS! I know what they're... Wes, there's no time left! You're going to have to do this without me!" Without any further explanation, she grabbed Wes and mounted her broom, speeding towards the door to the temple.

"What the?! ARE YOU NUTS?! What are you-" Wes couldn't get out a complete sentence as they closed the distance quickly.

"We don't have time for explanations! Just hold on and brace yourself!" Marisa was frantic, knowing what Nue was up to. As they got a third of the way there, the temple seemed to start rising.

(BGM: New Super Mario Bros Wii: Airship)

"What is THAT?!" Wes shouted.

"Like you said, there's no time to gawk! Hold on and brace yourself. I hope you weren't too fond of that jetpack, because this move will probably destroy it. LOVE SIGN..."

"Wait, what? You can't take a building out with that! Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I've got no choice! We can't outfly or outgun Murasa's airship! The only way to save your friend... is to get you on board! Brace yourself! MASTER SPARK!"

The Spark nailed Wes square in the back, striking the jetpack and sending him forwards. The jetpack quickly began to groan under the strain of the laser pushing against it.

She IS nuts! I'm so dead...

The spark wore out, but his forward momentum continued. That's when he noticed someone on the ship turn a weapon toward him.

A cannon... so this is how my adventure ends.

A beam of light blasted out toward him. Wes closed his eyes, waiting for the end.

But the end didn't come. When he opened his eyes, the ship seemed a lot closer. He also wasn't falling anymore, but drifting forward.

Huh? I don't get it!

He reached the ship's deck and suddenly realized he couldn't move a muscle. A girl in a dress with anchors sewed on the sleeves walked up to him. "We're all waiting for you down below. I DO hope you'll make it to me... It'd be so disappointing if the captain doesn't get her crack at you. Now meet the rest of our crew. My name's Murasa Minamitsu. But call me Captain Murasa."

A girl with mouse ears and a tail came out. "I'm Nazrin! Leader of many mice, expert at finding lost objects! You lost these a while back, Wes, I believe!" Nazrin pulled out some Poke Balls he'd never seen before. They were camouflage colored, and had "Property of the Safari Zone" written on them.

"Those... weren't mine." Wes stated. Still not able to move! But he could talk, which he found rather strange.

"Aw. Really? And after I went through my entire trove of found objects to get them, too." Nazrin pouted.

"Enough. Would the umbrella please introduce herself?" Murasa said.

A girl came forward, holding a umbrella. She wore a blue dress, and held a purple umbrella. Upon reaching Wes, the umbrella suddenly grew a tongue, which licked him in the face!

"Ew..."

Murasa frowned. "Behave yourself. You're on my ship, you listen to my orders."

"I'm Kogasa Tatara! BOOOOO... Did the tongue scare you? Hee hee... Heeheehee..."

Murasa cleared her throat. "Yes, very nice, Kogasa. Now then, next."

Now it was a tiger like woman. She glanced at Murasa. "...Ichirin didn't come."

"Mutiny? Not on my ship, I'll deal with her later." Murasa said.

"I'm Shou Toramaru. The witch you were with? Well, let's just say we went fishing. Fish..." Shou winked at Wes before assuming a dreamy expression.

Murasa smiled. "Nue dreamed all this up. Prepare your Pokemon, Wes... the stakes here are higher than those you've ever played for. Not money. Not someone else. If you want to save your friend... You must play with the highest stakes possible! YOUR LIFE! Alright, crew. Depart! See you below decks... Ha ha ha..." Murasa and her crew all filed down into the ship's interior.

They seem to have forgotten I'm not going to be able to move until someone turns this confounded contraption off. Wes thought wryly to himself.

"OY! Get me off this blasted anchor!" said a voice. "Ah, THERE we go. Now, then, to... Wes?"

Marisa flew up on deck. "What are you doing floating there?" she asked.

"Just hit the switch, they came prepared for this." Wes said, indicating the block with the big letters labeled ON that seemed to be floating above the device.

Marisa stared at for a second, then just grabbed Wes and threw him to the deck. "Sorry, Wes, but I'm not sure how much I trust obvious buttons. I wouldn't be surprised if that triggered a trap. Obvious switches are ALWAYS traps, specially if they turn something important off, ze. Now then, what's going on?"

Wes brought Marisa up to speed on what had happened since they'd parted ways.

"Well, at least you made an entrance. I, on the other hand, wound up stuck to the anchor. They lowered the temperature and BAM. I was stuck when they passed over me with it. Then they let me go at the top. Anchors are NOT fun to hang onto. How does that Italian do it?" Marisa started grouching.

Wes turned to face the doors leading inside. "This is it. This is where I will rescue my friend... or I will perish trying."

At this point, a screen, dusty with age, turned on. "This is your Captain speaking. Sorry for breaking the moment of dramatic posing, but you're SLIGHTLY incorrect. And not because we're going to win, I wasn't referring to your inevitable doom at all." Murasa grinned at them, and continued. "You mean your friends. There's a girl who we brought on board the ship not that long ago. Here's some footage."

The screen changed. Rui appeared on camera. Nue stood behind her, giving a wide grin, and beckoning with one finger. "Wes? I'm afraid I got abducted again... So please save me! I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused you... I really am, but please..." The movie cut out.

A.N. Something fishy about Rui being here. Anyone figure out what it was? Next chapter...

Introductions:
I will be introducing the crew and Murasa further as Wes battles each of them.