A/N: Good evening. Not much to say here. Hope you all enjoy this chapter. Have a great week!
Pokemon Journey: Indigo League
Chapter 27: Atrocious Pokemon
"GYARADOS!" The Atrious Pokemon roars, scaring everyone on deck. It's suddenly surrounded by 3 other Gyarados. Brandon grits his teeth, and about to issue a command to Tangela but Kyle is faster.
"Boltund, thunderbolt!" Kyle shouts, sending out a half yellow, half green canine Pokemon with a white stripe along its head and ending near its belly.
"BOLTUND!" Boltund screams, unleashing a powerful Thunderbolt. It scores a direct hit on one of the Gyarados but only enrages Gyarados more, before returning a hydro pump directly at Boltund.
"Mantyke, let's go!" Saul shouts, sending his partner out. "Absorb the attack!"
"What?" Brandon shouts, surprised.
"It's Mantyke's ability," Saul explains, as his partner absorbs the hydro pump. "Water Absorb. If Mantyke is attacked by any water move, it absorbs the water and allows it to heal herself. Great for surfing, and battles. Mantyke, use tailwind!"
"That's awesome," Brandon says, impressed. Mantyke sends out a strong wind, allowing their side to potentially move faster.
"Good thinking," Kyle tells Saul. He nods to Boltund. "Use another thunderbolt!"
"Tangela, use stun spore!" Brandon shouts.
Boltund unleashes another thunderbolt, aiming for one of the Gyarados. Tangela followed that up with stun spore, hoping to slow them down. The thunderbolt hits one of the Gyarados, dealing alot of damage. Stub spore hits the same one.
Gyarados, now really mad, slams it's head into the side of the ship, causing it to rock.
"Keep them away from the ship!" John shouts, holding onto a railing.
"Got it," Saul says. He looks at Mantyke and nods. "Let's go Mantyke."
"What are you doing?" Ava asks Saul who is sprinting towards the railing.
"We are going to keep them away from the ship!" Saul shouts back. "Mantyke, dive into the water!"
"That's a long way up," Fred gasps. "That can hurt Mantyke."
"Don't worry about that," Saul says, already thinking about that. "Mantyke, use tailwind to safely hit the water!"
Mantyke jumps over the rail, and catching one of the air currents from tailwind, glides down, dodging all the Gyarados before safely hitting the water.
"Well, I'll be. I would never have used tailwind like that," Fred says, clearly impressed.
"Thanks," Saul says. "We can keep the Gyarados busy and away from the ship until everyone is evacuated."
"Good," John says. "Captain Lawson told me he sent out a mayday and help should be coming soon."
"Meanwhile, we can help with the evacuation," Lisa says, offering her help. Beside her, Fred nods.
"Thanks," John says gratefully.
"Kyle, Brandon, Saul and I will help keep the Gyarados at bay," Ava says, releasing Umbreon, Omanyte and Growlithe. "Growlithe, go with Fred and Lisa and help them alright?"
"Growlithe," Growlithe nods, licking Ava's face before running off with Fred and Lisa. "Omanyte and Umbreon, we will keep the Gyarados' attention on us."
"Omantye," Omanyte nods. He slithers towards the railing.
"Umbreon," Umbreon nods, following Omanyte, to keep him safe.
"Nidorina, come on out," Brandon calls out his Pokemon. "Wartortle and Joltik won't be able to help due to being tired from fighting. I'm going to rely on you and Tangela alright?"
"Nidorina," Nidorina nods with a determined look.
"Tangela," Tangela also nods, standing beside Brandon.
Kyle doesn't bring anyone else out. "Boltund, we will have to wait for an opening. Keep a sharp eye out."
"Boltund," Boltund nods, glaring at the Gyarados.
"Pikipek, I will need your help," Saul says, bringing out his flying partner. "Keep an eye on the evacuation from the sky."
"Pikipek," Pikipek nods, flying circles around the deck.
"Mantyke, use water pulse!" Saul shouts from the railing. "Keep using it and try to lure Gyarados away from the ship!"
Mantyke glides along the water, and begins firing off water pulses, aiming for the Blue Atrious Pokemon, trying to make herself a target. It seems to be working as three of the four Gyarados begins to give chase.
All three Gyarados fires off hydro pumps at Mantyke. Two attacks just miss Mantyke, creating a huge water explosion in the ocean before one slams into Mantyke, who just absorbs the attack.
"Great job Mantyke. Use tailwind!" Saul shouts.
From behind Mantyke, a huge gust of wind picks up, allowing Mantyke to swim faster.
"We have three chasing us," Saul says, looking at the others. "Take care of the last one."
The last Gyarados takes aim at one of the lifeboats causing people to scream in fright. Gyarados opens its mouth, letting an ice beam go. It was met with an ember attack though ember didn't do much to stop it.
"Growlithe!" Ava shouts.
Umbreon uses quick attack and manages to get in front of the ice beam, taking the hit directly, falling to the deck in pain. The crowd quiets down at the sight, praying that Umbreon will be OK.
"Umbreon, please get up!" Ava shouts running to Umbreon's side.
Omantye, seeing his friend hurt, begins to wail. Gyarados shifts its attention to the crying Pokemon before lunging at it. Omantye quickly withdraws into his shell as Gyarados clamps down. Omantye cries out in pain as Gyarados releases it. Omantye begins to roll in his shell, smacking the retreating Gyarados, causing it a little damage. Omantye does it again, and again causing more damage each time the attack hits.
Ava stands there, impressed with Omantye. She stands up with Umbreon. "Great job Omantye. Keep using rollout. Growlithe, use ember and try to push it away from the boat."
Growlithe unleashes an ember attack, causing the Gyarados to pull back from the attack.
"Great job. Umbreon, use Snarl!" Ava commands.
Umbreon is able to stand up, sending out a snarl, dealing a little damage but pushes Gyarados away from the life boat.
"Great job everyone," Ava praises her team. She nods to Lisa and Fred. "You guys should be good right now."
"Thank you," they said, as the last guests board the life boat. The life boat then was lowered onto the water, joining the other life boats leaving the cruise ship.
Gyarados roars and attempted to follow the life boats but was hit with a peck attack. Pikipek is buzzing around Gyarados head, distracting it.
"Pikipek," the woodpecker Pokemon squeaks, pelting Gyarados with pecks.
"Gyarados," Gyarados roars in frustration. It uses its tail to try and flick away Pikipek but Pikipek is faster, managing to dodge the tail.
"Pikipek, use echoed voice," Saul commands, keeping an eye on Pikipek and Mantyke.
Pikipek opens her beak and uses her voice to attack Gyarados. Gyarados begins to thrash about, his tail smacking the small Woodpecker Pokemon out of the sky, and down towards the water. Saul cab only watch in horror; however, Mantyke leaps from the water, catching Pikipek on her back and landing back in the water. Saul releases his breath.
"Way to go Mantyke," Saul shouts. Pikipek chirps her thanks before flapping her wings, taking to the sky again. Onboard the ship, Brandon and Ava watch in amazement between the teamwork.
"Come on, we still need to deal with these Gyarados," Ava says. She's about to take a step when Brandon stops her, thinking. "What's up?"
"Something doesn't feel right here," Brandon says, looking at the retreating life boats. There is one last one, ready to depart. John is motioning for the four of them to hurry.
"Maybe, but we can't do anything right now," Ava says before a hyper beam slams into the ship. The blast rocks the boat, causing Brandon, Ava, Kyle and Saul to lose their balance, toppling to the deck.
Umbreon, Omantye and Growlithe helps Ava to stand up. Beside her, Pikipek retreats from harassing the Gyarados to help Saul up. Boltund manages to use his nose to help Kyle up. Tangela and Nidorina both give Brandon a hand before a tail comes crashing down, knocking Brandon away from the others, towards the railing. Brandon windmills his arms, trying to keep his balance. For a second, it look like he did before falling backwards, over the rail. John and the others gasp, with Brandon falling straight towards the ocean.
"BRANDON!" Ava and Saul shouts at the same time, running towards the rail.
One of the Gyarados sees Brandon falling and prepares to attack him, when rocks appeared above their heads. Startled, everyone looks back to see Tangela glowing a white light.
"TANGROWTH!" the now bigger vine pokemon shouts, unleashing his vines to catch his trainer.
Gyarados, mad that it got attacked, angles towards the deck and aims for the group. Nidorina and Tangrowth lock eyes and nods to each other. Nidorina zooms forward and jumps, just as Tangrowth reels Brandon onto the deck. Nidorina uses Tangrowth's vines as a jumping platform and smashes into Gyarados with fury swipes, causing Gyarados to fall back. Tangrowth sends out another vine for Nidorina to jump back to the deck. Brandon smiles at his Pokemon.
"I'm really proud of both of you," Brandon says. "But words can be exchanged later. We need to leave now!"
The others nod and quickly charged for the last life boat. Just as they got in and are lowered to the water, the S.S Anne begins to sink into the ocean. Seeing as the boat is crowded, they all returned their Pokemon.
Mantyke swims alongside the boat, trying to keep the Gyarados at bay. The Gyarados are persistent, alternating between hydro pumps and hyper beams towards the boat.
"We need to do something," Brandon grits his teeth. "We're literally sitting ducks right now."
"We should…. Ah there it is!" John shouts with glee, pointing to a Police Boat. "We're almost there."
"Yeah, so are they," Ava says, pointing to the Gyarados, who managed to catch up to the boat.
"Gyarados, rain dance!" A voice commands. Startled, they look around before seeing Misty riding a fifth Gyarados into the fight. "Now, use hurricane to trap the other Gyarados!"
Rain began to pour over the ocean, causing the life boat to rock before a water twister erupts underneath the four Gyarados, trapping them inside, giving the boat a chance.
Once the life boat comes alongside the Police Boat, they were quickly helped aboard. Saul returns Mantyke to her Pokeball as the crew stores the life boat before they make their way back to Vermillion City.
"Are you alright Brandon?" Lisa asks, coming to wrap her arms around her son.
"I'm alright, thanks to Nidorina and Tangrowth," Brandon replies, returning the hug. "What about you guys?"
"We're fine," Fred says, bringing over four cups of hot chocolate.
"Thank you," Brandon says gratefully, grabbing a cup and begins to drink it. Ava, Saul and Kyle also grabbed a cup, nodding gratefully.
"We might get some answers," Kyle says, nodding to where the Captain walked to the front of the room. All eyes fall on him as he addresses everyone.
"First, I'm glad there are no serious injuries," Captain Lawson tells them. "Everyone made it off that boat. For that, I would like to thank the crew for their hard work during the crisis. Also, we have six others to thank. Can Brandon, Lisa and Fred Adams, Ava McArthur, Saul Raymond and Kyle Anderson please stand up? Ava, Brandon, Saul and Kyle kept the Gyarados at bay, giving us the time needed to evacuate everyone. Fred and Lisa helped tremendously with keeping everyone calm. Once we are in port, you will be given something."
The group of six stands up awkwardly as the room broke into applause. They sat down and the Captain went on.
"An investigation will be launched into what happened. It could be a few weeks before answers are given but mark my words, I will personally find out what happened," Captain Lawson vows. "For now, we are about twelve hours before reaching Vermillion City. Try to make yourselves comfortable."
Officer Jenny begins to speak to everyone but Brandon tunes her out. His mind is going back to the attack. Why did the Gyarados attack? Will the cruise line actually look into it?
He looks up, when someone taps his shoulder. He notices everyone departing the room and heading towards a side room. Brandon gets up, following his parents, still thinking.
He barely remembers entering a basic room and plopping down on the bed. He lies on the bed, stretching out his legs as sleep overcomes him.
He wakes up eight hours later. He stretches and gets out of bed. He notices a change of clothes with a towel, shampoo and soap. He grabs them, asks directions for the nearest shower. Following the directions, Brandon enters the bathroom and quickly showers. Once done, he returns to his room (that he shares with his parents) before going to look for them.
He finds them in the mess, eating supper. Brandon helps himself to a plate before joining them.
"Well, hello Mr. Sleepy head," his mom says, sticking her tongue out.
"Hello mother," Brandon answers her, sticking out his tongue.
"We should be back in Vermillion pretty soon," Ava says, finishing her plate. "Oh, Misty and the Captain are looking for us."
"Uh oh," Brandon replies, taking another bite.
"We aren't in trouble," Saul says with a grin.
"Might as well get this over with," Brandon says, finishing his plate. He gets up and leads the group towards where the Captain was sleeping. John meets them outside with a hearty greeting.
"There you guys are," John says, ushering them into the room. The room itself was pretty barren. The walls are painted with a gray color, with a single bed, desk, chair, and a footlocker. Sitting on the bed are Captain and Misty. They look up with a smile at them.
"Good to see you guys again," Misty says with a warm smile. "I heard you guys were instrumental in keeping those Gyarados at bay. Not an easy feat, as you can tell. Well done."
"I know I already said thank you out there, but I wanted to personally thank everyone of you for what you did," Captain Lawson says, getting up from the bed and shaking everyone's hand. "Without your help, today would have ended differently."
"Speaking of, what happened?" Kyle asks.
"We're not sure but rest assured, we will look into it," Captain Lawson replied firmly. "The Gyarados just randomly attacked the ship."
"This is the first time it has happened since the new boat launched," Misty explains to them. "Not sure what happened before but one Gyarados took down the ship. The fact that four Gyarados and no one seriously injured is a miracle."
"I've heard stories about the original S.S. Anne but never the complete truth," Brandon muses. "What exactly happened?"
"Even I don't know the whole story and I was there," Misty says with a small chuckle. "Needless to say, there was never an issue in the last twenty or so years and suddenly, four Gyarados attack? Something doesn't make sense."
"We've been running that same route for the past twenty years, and there hasn't been a Gyarados nest sighting at that spot," Captain Lawson adds. "In fact, the nearest nest was a day away."
"Something spooked them," Misty replies with conviction. "I'm going to coordinate with Lt. Surge and the Vermillion PD and find out what exactly happened. Not sure how long the investigation will be, which is why I wanted to speak to you Brandon."
"Oh?" Brandon replies curiously.
"Vermillion gym will be closed for an extended period of time," Misty explains. "I would suggest taking route 12. You can go up towards Lavender Town or down towards Fuchsia City. I would recommend going up towards Lavender Town as that would be the easier route but the decision will be up to you guys."
"How will I know if Vermillion City Gym will be open?" Brandon asks, mentally filing away the recommendation.
"Lt. Surge will make an announcement," Misty says. "He will make an announcement later today regarding closing the gym. I just thought you would like to know, so you don't wait around for nothing."
"Thank you," Brandon says gratefully.
"Again, we can't tell you how grateful and in debt we are to you guys," Captain Lawson says. "We won't forget it. I know you guys lost all of your supplies, so on behalf of the Kanto Travel Agency, we will replace whatever you had. Just give me a list or at the store, tell them to charge it to us."
"Oh wow. Thank you," Ava says.
"It's the least we can do," Captain Lawson says.
"Well, we will get out of your hair," Fred says, standing up.
The group leaves the room. For the remainder of the trip, they sat quietly, pondering things. Soon, the boat docks, and the people depart to the delight of loved ones.
Misty and Captain Lawson meet up with Lt. Surge and members of the Vermillion Police Department.
The group decides to stay in a hotel for the night to decompress from the last 24 hours.
Team Listings:
Brandon Adams:
Wartortle - Male, Torrent ability. Knows Water Pulse, Ice Punch, Withdraw, Rapid Spin
Tangrowth - Male, Leaf Guard ability. Knows: Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Growth, Ancient Power
Nidorina – Poison Point ability. Knows Growl, Poison Sting, Double Kick, Fury Swipes
Joltik – Male, Compound Eyes ability. Knows: Shockwave, Electroweb, String Shot, Bug Bite
Ava Mcarthur:
Umbreon - Female. Run Away ability. Knows growl , Quick Attack, Double Kick, Snarl
Omanyte - Male. Weak Armor ability. Knows: Withdraw, Constrict, Rollout
Growlithe – Female. Flash Fire. Knows: Ember, Bite
Saul Raymond:
Yungoos – Male. Unknown Ability. Knows Tackle, Sand attack, Leer
Pikipek – Female (Shiny). Unknown Ability. Knows Peck, Growl
Mantyke – Female. Water Absorb. Knows: Tailwind, Water Pulse