Chapter 13

Rough Seas

Silence filled the room where Nixie and Rose both slept. Both seemed to have trouble sleeping after Flint had left. Nixie was left with the responsibility of talking care of Rose. Honestly, she had no idea what she was doing. Nixie was awake now with a lot on her mind. She was replaying the events in her head of Flint leaving, she was repeating what Tesla had told her, and she was refreshing her memory on lessons Mystic taught her. It all stacked up and stressed her out.

Failing to get any more sleep, Nixie sat up and looked to the other side of her bed. Rose was dead asleep, looking almost lifeless. She was taking it the worst, having never been seperated in such a way from Flint. Nixie couldn't begin to imagine how it felt for her. Rose saw Flint as a father figure, Nixie never grew close to her parents. Nixie was aware of her crush she had on Flint, but still knew the separation between them wasn't as immense as it was to Rose. Flint gave Nixie a large responsibility, and she would see to it that she did whatever she could to the best of her abilities.

'I suppose I could make the two of us a meal before sunrise,' Nixie suggested to herself, heading to her kitchen.

Nixie wasn't the greatest at cooking, she learned second-hand type stuff and used what knowledge she did know to try and make her own recipes. She looked inside her cabinet and grabbed a bowl full of berries, some flour, a couple eggs, butter, and milktank milk. Her plan was to bake some type of pastry with berries substituting for sugar.

Nixie added the flour, milk, butter, and eggs into a stone bowl and mixed it together using a wooden spoon. She waited until the dough was at a perfect consistency. Afterwards, she chopped the berries up and added them into the mix. She proceeded to grab a rectangular, stone mold in which she poured the combined ingredients into. Nixie then realized she had forgotten to ready her stove. It took a few minutes to properly start the fire and wait for it to heat up, but when it did, she slid the mold into the stove and waited.

The sun was getting ready to rise now. Nixie began thinking what all she and Rose could do for the day. Whitestone was the capital city of Mardol and attracted a lot of attention from outsiders, it had plenty of activities to make up for its tourists. Another thing bothering Nixie was that she had to continue her training the next day. She wasn't too sure what to do with Rose while she continued her secret training lessons. She could leave Rose at the castle's daycare, but she recalled Rose not being too thrilled to attend it. She decided she would address the problem when it came up. She also couldn't help but hope Flint was doing fine wherever he was. Statshine was vague with the details, Nixie assumes it was probably considered secret as well.

Nixie's thoughts were interrupted by the pleasant aroma of her mixed berry bread. It was time to extract them from the oven, which she did while wearing oven mitts. She also suffocated the stoves flames a little, so the house wouldn't get too hot. Grabbing a kitchen knife, Nixie removed the bread from its mold and began cutting it into even slices. Admittedly, the result didn't look to appealing, and Nixie questioned herself on actually trying it.

The sweet scent of the pastry seemed to have woken Rose as she started shifting around in bed. Rose was confused for a second as she examined her surroundings, then she remembered she was staying with Nixie. Her ears lowered. She wished that yesterday was just a dream and that Flint hadn't left. Rose fell over on her side, not caring to support herself anymore.

"You're awake, I see," Nixie said, not too sure where her words were going. "How are you feeling?" Rose lazily looked over at Nixie as if the answer was too obvious. "I-I made some food... if you're... hungry or anything..." Rose didn't respond, she just stayed motionless on the bed in her melancholy state of mind. 'This is going to be more challenging than I thought...'

"You are waiting untill now of all times to address this information before me, when it would have been much more of a convenience had you not given me this information shortly after you had arrived?" Mystic asked in an irritated manner.

Mystic and Aurora were walking together through the castle. Mystic was trying to simply enjoy her tea and read a book while Aurora insisted on bothering her in need of assistance.

"Yes, yes, I know I should have told you sooner, but I just now remembered about it while I was digging through my pack. That's when I found the papers and realized I forgot to tell you about it."

"There are flawed in your idea that you assume I have to be capability of doing, in which you are wrong."

"Like what? I wrote down some of the letters on my parchment, and I have the memory from being there. Can't you just tap into my memories, do your magic mojo, and get the rest of the symbols?"

"That is the flaw I am going to bring up. Yes, pokemon of the psychic typing are more than capable of reading the minds of most pokemon, this entails us to be able to read thoughts, find information stored in mental archives, predict emotion, and read memories. But, the thing about reading memories is that we can only see as much as you remember."

"How does that work?"

Mystic took a deep breath and sighed, preparing herself to explain. "Memories are as clear as you wish to make them out to be. You come here with this specific memory lingering within your head, yet you lack a lot of the details from this memory. As time passed, the memory becomes diluted, losing bits and pieces to the ebb and flow in the ocean of time. Eventually leaving all you currently are capable of remembering being all that is left of said memory, so if I were to inspect the memory at this point in time, I would only be able to see the parts of the memory that clearly stick out in your head." Mystic took a quick moment to sip her tea. "There is still more to it than that, though. The brain does store some of the memory that you no longer remember, you just don't know how to access those chambers of your brain, I'm not calling you inept, you just lack the capability of doing so. I could try finding the hidden archive in your brain, but I risk the fact that the brain also has a tenancy to make things up, some times making you think something happened in the past that in actuality never truly occurred; not only that, but I could also dig up very personal information about yourself that you would not want me knowing."

After saying that last part, Mystic felt slightly guilty since she had done that exact thing to Nixie, now knowing everything about her. Although feeling guilty, she was also intrigued about something in particular about her findings. It was a tree that appeared numerous times in Nixie's memories. The specifics were still unknown, but it seemed highly important to her tribe.

Aurora had to take a moment to absorb the new information, trying to properly understand it. "Okay, I'd prefer to keep my mental sanctuary away from others. So we can scratch that idea. Now, I still do have the parchment which I wrote down a couple of the letters I found on one of the pillars in a room we were in. Maybe you could read them, seeings as I haven't a clue what they mean, and you could decode them for me?"

Mystic took another sip from her tea and closed her book. "Fine, let us make this quick."

Aurora quickly pulled the parchment from her pack and presented it to Mystic. Mystic cringed upon seeing Aurora's sloppy hand writing, but nonetheless was able to read it. After analyzing the first letter, she instantly recognized that the symbols belonged to the western variation of the Avarian language. The letter was a c-shape with a dot in its center, known as eka; this letter made the short e sound. Next to that was a letter that looked similar to the letter u, but had two parallel curved lines intersecting its right side. This was bruu, the letter which made either the b, p, or t sounds; the sound was random and the rules for this letter and a few others were nearly nonexistent. The third letter was an arch that curved upward, a vertical line coming from its center which had a perpendicular line intersecting through it. This was zaru, a letter making either the s or the z sound. The fourth letter was simply shaped like a triangle, known as oka and making the o sound. The final letter was a slight arch going downward which had a line intersecting through its center, a dot was found on both sides of the line inside the arch. This was raka, which made the r sound.

Mystic studied the letters a little more before deciding what it said. "Epsor."

"What does that mean."

"Nothing."

"Don't be like that, Mystic."

"No, it literally translates to the word nothing."

"Oh... What do we do with that then?"

"That, I cannot help you with, for this mystery is yours to solve. If you would like a suggestion from me, I would consider going back to the cave and have one of our linguists translate the letters for you."

"Why can't you come with me?"

"Think for a bit. The Princess left the vicinity of Whitestone yesterday. As per usual, I have been left with the temporary authority to govern the city to keep our citizens at bay."

"Fine, I'll go find someone else then, I'll see you around." Mystic lazily waved her off, enjoying her tea and book. Aurora then went her own seperate way.

'You truly are an asshole, you know that?' Tesla thought to himself while staring out at the sea. 'You completely shattered an already fragile heart and continued to drag her along with you. Yeah, it's not like this is my first time, but still, I've actually had time to know Kindle longer then the others.' Tesla decided to finish his alcoholic beverage to try and wash away his thoughts.

They had been sailing for over a day now, heading north to the forgotten islands. Their trip was expected to be roughly two weeks tops. To Tesla's dismay, there wasn't too much to do on the trip. Some pokemon had chess boards set up, there were a few pokemon gambling, but the one thing that did seem to catch most passengers' interest were the sparing sessions. This especially caught Tesla's attention, he had been itching to battle for quite some time.

Tesla headed over to a table to sign up. Apparently there was a tournament going on that was supposed to last a good portion of the ship's voyage. There were thirty-two slots in total, only half of the contenders would move on. The dates for all five of the battles had been determined as well, the first being the next day. Tesla had signed up just in time, only three slots remained on the roster.

'This should hopefully prevent me from dying from boredom. Haven't really fought anyone since we ran into that weavile. I wouldn't call it a fare fight though, he used some cheap tricks to give himself an upper hand in that battle. This though, this seems completely skill based. I better rest well tonight, don't want to be sloppy.'

Tesla continued the rest of the routine for his day; he enjoyed a quick meal, gazed out into the ocean, and then decided to go rest. The sleeping arrangements on the ship were a couple decks down in a spacious room that housed hammocks built around the frame of the ship. It was nothing fancy, but it provided a basic necessity for passengers.

The dawn of a new day then started. Tesla wasn't exactly too sure when the sparring tournament was going to begin, but he also didn't want to be late to his match. Tesla hopped out of his hammock before resizing he had forgotten to grab an item for his battle. It was a complete mystery who or what he was going to fight, but it never hurt you be prepared for a battle. Tesla dug around a bit and found the item he was looking for. It was a necklace, attached to the necklace was a stone radiating a soft, pink light. It was an eviolite: a strange stone that would helped boost Tesla's defensive capacities since he hadn't evolved yet. Tesla equipped his necklace, the stone hiding itself within his wool, and he then headed up top.

It seemed the pokemon were still setting up for the event. A lot of the crew was moving cargo around to clear up a suitable battling environment while others used thick ropes to determine the area they would be battling inside of. Tesla was slightly distracted by the commotion, totally spaced out.

"Pardon me," a female hoothoot said, slightly startling Tesla out of his trance. "Are you by chance Tesla, the mareep?"

"Yes I am, why do you ask?"

"I'm helping coordinate the tournament. I was coming to inform you who you'll be battling in the first round." She then looked around until she spotted his contestant. "Over there, the sawsbuck. You and him will be battling the third round today."

After Tesla acknowledge her, the hoothoot flew off to find other contenders. Tesla then began studying his opponent. It was a sawsbuck, currently in its spring form, but was more than halfway developed through its summer form. Sawsbuck were a quick way to tell which season it was. Currently, it was spring and very near to summer.

Tesla understood that his opponent had a slight upper hand this battle, since grass was resistant to electric. He also never liked fighting normal-type pokemon since they had mixed moves they could learn, easily catching him off guard when they unexpectedly start using fire, ice, or water moves. Tesla also had a couple of tricks up his sleeve, some that even Kindle was completely unaware of.

Tesla patiently waited while watching some of the other contenders. In the first round, he watched as a linoone was vigorously beat up by a blitzle's flame charge. In the second round he watched as a frostlass nearly gave a poliwhirl severe frostbite. Tesla would feel slight pity for the froslass in her next match, but this wasn't a normal bracket tournament. It was made clear that each match were random pairings.

It was now Tesla's turn to battle. He and the sawsbuck both stood at opposite ends of the field, both eager to fight. Tesla zoned out every noise he could think of. The crowd, the wind, the ocean, everything. All he could hear was his heartbeat slowly rising and the hum of electricity circuiting through his blood.

"Begin!" Yelled the tyrogue coach.

Tesla took the initiative in attacking first. He conjured lightning from his body and sent it straight towards his foe. With sharp hisses, his electricity whipped around through the air and made contact with his target. It wasn't too effective, but it definitely stung the sawsbuck. The deer gritted its teeth while producing its own energy. He then threw a ball with a green aura directly at Tesla's face. Tesla couldn't react fast enough and instead took the full power of the energy ball. He skidded back a bit, but kept his ground.

The sawsbuck decided to charge Tesla and not give him time to breathe. After getting Tesla cornered, the deer then jumped up high and prepared to use its hooves to land on Tesla. Tesla reacted by shielding his face and using a cotton guard. His wool began growing and thickening. Once the sawsbuck landed, he found himself stuck inside Tesla's thick mass of wool. Tesla grinned as his plan was coming along nicely. Tesla proceeded to discharge electricity out of his body and into the sawsbuck.

He noticed the deer physically stiffen his composure. Tesla used this to his advantage as he began building up a large amount of electricity in the orb of his tail. He uppercut the deer and sent it flying backwards. It landed on the ground. Tesla jumped towards him and swing his tail around smashing the electric orb right between the deer's eyes, causing his body to instantly go limp. The crowd began cheering making Tesla wear a prideful smile. He nonchalantly walked away from the sawsbuck and pretended to brush off dust from his shoulders as if the battle wasn't all that hard to him.

'I was expecting a little more out of the big fella. Oh well, it still feels great to battle again. Hopefully my next opponent can put up more of a match.'

Flint had now been traveling for a little over a day and he still hadn't accepted the fact that he was surrounded by a vast ocean home to fathomless depths. He was constantly fearing accidentally falling into the water and being swallowed by the merciless waves. The lingering thought constantly sent a chill down his spine.

Statshine laughed to herself, amused by the frightened growlithe. "What are you so worried about?"

"That water, is it not that obvious?"

"Yeah, water is one of your weaknesses, but regular water has no effect on you, only pokemon with open flames."

"I don't care. I have no idea what's lurking beneath its surface, and I have no intentions on finding out what's down there and becoming its dinner."

"You worry too much. You're perfectly fine while you're aboard this ship. Now, I have a few tasks I need you to attend to, I'll need you to follow me to my office."

As the two were walking, Flint continued observing the ship. It was a lot bigger than most ships he had seen. Apparently the hull of the ship was also made of a wood called oakstone. It was a lot more durable and fire retardant, both of which made Flint feel slightly safer on the ship. His attention was then directed to the fact that he was at Statshine's office. Once inside, he noticed how much more quieter it was inside her cabin than it was outside. In the room was an elegant desk with miscellaneous paperwork and maps, a pink cushion that was fairly bigger than Statshine sat in a corner, and there was also a strange contraption in the room that Flint was completely unaware what it's purpose was. The walls of the room were maroon with golden designs on them, in the back was a tainted window that overlooked the ocean.

"Take a seat," Statshine said. She pulled a chair out for Flint telekinetically. She then sat on the other side. "All of this paperwork is our current trade shares with one of our allies up in the north. They've reported suspicious behavior in these waters which has caused a delay in their trades. Currently, this is a test ship, we're out here for two reasons. One is to test the ship's capabilities while the other is to scout out the water for a couple of days."

Flint felt a chill encase his heart. "Y-you mean we might actuay run into a hostile ship?"

"We don't expect it to happen, but if it were to come up, this ship is more than able to fight off any pirate or war ship."

"I thought this was a test ship though. How do you know it can defend it self? Why aren't we traveling with supportive ships too?"

Statshine put a paw up to silence Flint. "Yes, this is a test ship, but this thing is armed to the teeth. All personnel on this ship are highly trained in combat. Needless to say, if anything were to happen we're more than safe." Statshine paused and looked at Flint with a different facial expression than before. "Are you feeling okay?"

Flint was confused by the question. "...Yes? You've asked me me this question before, in the same tone of voice too. Why do you sound so worried?"

"This will be a bit hard for you to understand since you aren't a psychic type, but I'll explain to the best of my ability. Your brain is responsible for everything you do. Every thought you have, every breath you take, every pain you feel; it all comes from your brain," she said, tapping her head with her paw. "Your brain controls things voluntarily and involuntarily. It does this by sending signals throughout the body. Sometimes the brain also sends passive signals which happen to radiate rather than be sent directly to specific locations. Most psychic-types' brains are receiving ends to these type of signals, I'm no exception. Just now, I received one of these signals. I felt a lot of negativity. This wasn't any type of negativity, it was harsh and had a dark undertone to it."

"What are you implying?"

Statshine just let out a sigh. "Just know, that if anything is ever bothering you, you can always come talk to me. It's not good to let these kind of emotions bottle up, they'll only hurt you more in the long run." There was a bit of a silence between the two after that. "Anyway, I forgot to mention what your job is while we're out here. I need you to keep records of the flow of our supplies on the ship. You'll need to find out how much of each supply we have, record how much of it is used daily. Create a statistic chart that can make up for outliers in the days to come. With these statistics, we'll be able to send this ship out while supplying it the most affordable way possible."

"That's the main goal? Cost efficiency."

"War has always been about cost efficiency. This is why Mardol is more of a superior fighting force. This is also why you play an important role as my assistant. You're creating statistics which I then use to cut spending in some areas and apply it to more demanding areas. For instance, with your help, we started realizing that we've been paying too much for stone. We used to buy seven-hundred units of stone monthly, each unit costing thirty-five pentra. Something we realized is that construction has dropped about twenty percent the last couple years. This meant that we could buy less units of stone, which we now buy five-hundred units monthly, saving us seven- thousand pentra monthly. We used seventy percent to improve on military spending, ten percent went into the community, and the last twenty went into the castle's treasure for further usage in the future. The reasons the Jagorii and the Dark Legion aren't as successful as us is because they use most of their spending on the benefits of only their troops while the normal citizens live terrible lives."

"Isn't that counterproductive though? Leading a country without providing for the population?"

"That's the point. Tenebris, the leader of the Dark Legion, flaunts his troops. He shows how well off they are under his reign while the lesser fortunate pokemon suffer in their horrible living conditions. That leaves most residents to one of three options: they either join among his ranks so they too can have nourishment, attempt fleeing Zerith, or, in worse cases, they kill themselves from the stress and fear. The rest somehow manage to survive by living off of what they have, making every little thing count."

"Why don't the pokemon of Zerith rebel? If there's so many pokemon upset with his rule, what's exactly stopping them from standing up for themselves."

"Tenebris's troops outnumber and overpower those who aren't part of the Dark Legion. He's slowly been expanding though, taking more land within Zerith and providing less and less shelter for the residents. He's become greedy and scares other small civilizations by invading others. You know, Nixie is one of those victims."

"Is she really?" Flint seemed shocked. "What happened."

"Psyche - Mystic's husband - saved her, from what I understand. Nixie was part of a buizel colony that was attacked by Tenebris. She's the only found survivor so far."

Flint didn't really know how to respond, he was confused from other information he was told. "But Nixie told me that she ran away from home, to flee from the dangers of Zerith."

Statshine thought of her next words carefully, realizing she probably provided Flint with information he wasn't intended to know. "She necessarily didn't lie to you, she provided the half truth. I should apologize, as it wasn't my place to tell you that information. It seems like she either doesn't want you to know the full truth or maybe she isn't ready to tell anyone, but regardless, don't bring it up with her."

Flint nodded his head understanding. His mind now circling with many questions and slight worry. 'I wonder why she didn't tell me this. Then again, I can't blame her, I'm trying to hide from my past too. But this also worries me. What if Tenebris is aware that Nixie escaped? What if he tries finishing the job?'

Before Flint could ponder on the idea anymore, a panicked series of knocks banged on the door. Statshine used her telekinesis to open said door. On the other side was a flechinder who was struggling to catch his breath. Flint wondered how the bird even knocked on the door, but assumed it used its beak.

"P-Princess, the other scouts and I spotted two ships to the west."

Statshine instantly jumped out of her chair and onto her table. "How far out are they?"

"A little over ten nautical miles, your highness."

"Tell the rest of the crew that we're entering battle stations. Flint, follow me."

Flint did as he was instructed, but he couldn't quite steady his breathing nor control the shaking in each of his steps. The flechinder had spread the word pretty fast, the ship was already in motion with pokemon operating cannons and filling them with ammunition. Flint had followed Statshine all the way to the nose end of the ship. Statshine closed her eyes and began concentrating, in a matter of seconds, pink particles begs swirling around her and formed an orb.

"What is that thing?" Flint asked, curiously observing the forming ball of mass.

"It's a divination spell. This is a magical eye that'll see at further lengths than the average eye."

Flint was still confused, but decided to just go with it. While Statshine's eyes were shut, she was now able to see through the magical eye she had created. Looking over to the west, she did in fact see two ships. Not only was it the size of the ships that made her a bit unnerved, but also the flags it boasted. The flags were blood red color and in its center was a white mamoswine skull. The eye then dissapeared since Statshine had opened her eyes. All confidence she previously had seemed to have been destroyed. Her unease wasn't unnoticed by Flint.

"Princess, is everything alright?"

"... no, we're in serious trouble... those are Jagorii ships." Statshine turned around to the rest of the crew, she couldn't show fear at a time like this. "Listen up! There's been a large turn of events. Right now, we are heading right towards not one, but two Jagorii ships." The crowd of pokemon began chattering amongst each other. "It's been a few years since we've had a run in with the Jagorii, but that shouldn't mean anything. We will show these barbaric bastards that the Fourth Light is not a force to be reckoned with! We won't let these measly ships stand in our way! We shall strike or enemies at the neck and win this battle! Show no mercy!"

The crowd of pokemon were now cheering, they all seemed eager to battle as they all went to their respective battle station. Flint stood by Statshine's side, not entirely sure what he was to do. He felt very queasy and a large thorn of fear had pierced his body. He watched as both of the ships began growing closer and closer. The world around Flint began to silence itself.

Out of nowhere, one of the ships shot its forward facing canon. Out of it were two cannon balls attached together by a chain. Statshine's eyes widened. Not having much time to think, she pointed her gem towards the cannon balls. A handful of red dots shot out of the gem and hovered in the air. Shortly after, pink matter formed in straight lines between the dots, making a flat geometric pattern in the sky. Lastly, a darker, pink matter filled in the spaces. The two cannon balls smashed directly into Statshine's projected force field. Their motion stopped immediately, and the cannon balls feel into the ocean.

The attack began soon after. Statshine ordered for their forward facing cannons to be shot. The ship's forward cannons were a four barrel revolving type, they could be fired while the other three were being loaded. These types had a smaller diameter, but provided a greater firing rate and range, making them more versatile than standard cannons. A small rain of cannon balls began shattering the wooden hull of one of the Jagorii ships, but it was going to take a lot more fire power.

The three ships were now in closer range with each other. On the Mardol ship, two magmortar ran to the front of the ship and loaded canon balls into their hands, which they then used as cannons. The balls they shot were glowing bright orange and had a trail of fire following behind them. They collided with the same ship they attacked earlier. The flaming cannon balls then started a few small fires on the enemy ship.

Statshine noticed that one of the two ships had been weakened. She used her psychic powers to force the ship into a hard left turn, the starboard side of the ship facing the damaged Jagorii ship. Statshine then gave the order to fire. A wall of metal accelerating at an incredibly high speed ripped its way through the enemy ship, taking some of the crew with it. What they hadn't noticed until just now was the second ship getting into a position to fire on the Mardol ship.

The nose of the ship was aimed right at the port side of the Jagorii ship. The crew all braced themselves. Within seconds, a storm of cannon balls struck the Mardol ship. Flint went into complete shock as he saw a cannon ball desecrate only the top half of a nearby magmortar. He had never feared more for his life than it this moment. Just when they thought the barrage was over, the previous ship that had been injured had rammed itself into the starboard side of the ship. The fire slowly started spreading, thankfully the fire retardant wood slowed down the processes. The mast of the Jagorii ship had a saw-like pattern underneath it, locking it in place.

"Keep these bastards distracted!" Statshine ordered. Her crew now prepared to defend the ship with their lives. "Flint, are you any good at fighting."

Flint had to think about it for a second, but was embarrassed to admit that he never recieved proper training. "No, I'm quite sloppy"

Statshine struggled to think for a second. "Um... uh... what's the strongest ranged fire attack you know?"

"I know flame burst."

"That'll have to do. I'll make an opening in the Jagorii ship, once I do so, you'll have to attack it with your flame burst."

Statshine knelt downward, aiming her ruby gem at the side of the Jagorii ship. A large, pink ball began forming at the tip. Once she was satisfied, she hurled the gleaming ball of energy into the ship. The wooden hull imploded into the ship, leaving a large opening. Flint instantly caught on to Statshine's plan as he saw gun powder barrels. He then shot a large ball of fire into the hole. Next thing they knew, the interior of the ship exploded in a big ball of fire. Smoke blanketing out of the sides and over the top. A handful of lifeless bodies were ejected from the ship while others slowly burned or suffocated from the carbon dioxide in the smoke. The Mardol ship only took a fraction of the damage from the explosion.

Flint felt a chasm build up in his stomach as he gazed at the dead and dying pokemon. It was a simple thought that failed to enter his mind just before shooting his flame burst. He had just killed a large majority of the crew. It didn't make him feel any better knowing it only took one shot to cause this much damage. It made him feel sick and he began trembling.

Flint and Adara were walking side by side, Adara slightly leaning against Flint. It was now nighttime, just barely after the sun had set. Adara couldn't feel any happier after being saved and satisfied by Flint.

"Thank you so much, Flint," Adara said.

"How many times are you going to say that?" Flint chuckled.

"Hmm. A lot." Adara chuckled too and nuzzled into Flint's neck. "I seriously don't think I could thank you enough for saving me from that zangoose... and also... you know... satisfying my needs earlier."

"Uh, about that..." Flint said while blushing, "for a first time... how was it?"

"It was perfect, Flint. What are you so worried about?"

"I mean, I don't know if I was doing it right or if I could of done better, not to mention I'm not as 'gifted' as some of the other growlithe back at the tribe."

"Flint, trust me, everything was amazing about you. And you shouldn't worry about not being able to compare with the other growlithe, all that matters is that I loved it and I love you."

Flint couldn't help but smile back at Adara, but then another thought invaded his mind. "There's... something else that's been bothering me..."

"Talk to me about it."

"It's just..." Flint stopped walking and he looked directly in Adara's eyes. "I-I killed him... I took his life..."

"Flint, you did what you had to do. If you didn't kill him, he probably would have forced his way onto me. Don't be upset for doing the right thing."

"It's not just that. I didn't have to kill him. I could have just scared him off. Given him a warning. I-I shouldn't have killed him... his blood has stained my tongue... his eyes begged for mercy, and I showed none. It didn't feel right, it doesn't rest well in my stomach... there had to be something I could've done other than killing him. I...I-I." Flint was at a loss of words now knowing what to say or how to feel. Adara tried reassuring him that what he had done was just and natural, but Flint's paranoia zoned her out.

Flint's train of thought was interrupted as the other Jagorii ship rammed into the opposite side of the Mardol ship. Statshine was going to attempt the same thing as before, but the other pokemon began boarding their ship. Flint watched the chaos unfold. The other magmortar bathed an enemy ferrothon with smouldering flames. An excadril caught him by surprise and jabbed its blade through the magmortar's chest.

An enemy carracosta prepared to attack a prinplup who had its back turned. Statshine generated a pink ball around the sea turtle's hand and violently twisted the ball in a complete circle. An audible snapping of bones was heard and the carracosta yelled in pain. This caught the prinplup's attention. It created a veil of water around its flipper and sliced the carracosta's throat open.

The barrage continued for a few more minutes while Flint just stared in shock, somehow not being targeted by anyone else. Emerging from the Jagorii ship was a weezing. As it boarded the Mardol ship, it sprayed a thick cloud from its orifices, blinding everyone on the ship. Flint began to panic as he was blinded, and the mysterious fumes started clogging his lungs.

He coughed violently and his vision was very fuzzy, he could barely make out his paws. He still heard the sound of other pokemon yelling in agony and others choking on their own blood. He then felt his nose bump into something solid. Conveniently, the smoke started clearing up at the same time. Once he finally was able to see what he had bumped into, a chill froze every part of his body.

Standing in front of him was a mienshao pointing an odd looking object directly at Flint's face. The mienshao gave a smug grin seeing the fear that washed over his body. Statshine was about to intervene, but the mienshao withdrew another one of the objects and pointed it at her. Statshine's uncertainty of the object caused her to hesitate.

"You look confused, Princess," the female mienshao stated. "Looks like you've never seen a hand cannon before."

"A hand cannon?" Statshine said, confirming the mienshao's acquisition.

"Just as I figured. The hand cannon is only the latest invention by the Jagorii. We took the ingenious design of a cannon and thought of a way to make it more mobile and easy to use. These little devils have given us the upper hand in a couple recent battles we had. So far their only problem is their abysmal range and the fact they only shoot one ball at a time. Now that that's out of the way, I'll propose a small offer: order your men to stand down and we'll take you all peacefully, or continue this nonsense and I'll paint the deck with both of your brains. What's it gonna be?"

Flint casted a worried look towards Statshine. Statshine was observing everything around her. She could use a quick psychic ability to kill the mienshao, but she wasn't sure if it would have the reflexes quick enough to shoot one of her hand cannons. Even if she did kill the mienshao, they were heavily outnumbered with more and more of her troops dying. She mentally scolded herself, she was left with only one option of which she didn't like.

"Everyone, stand down!" Starshine yelled to her troops.

They all hesitated, but obeyed. The mienshao had her troops cease their attacks as well. Remaining from Starshine's crew was Flint, a joltick, a sandslash, a pancham, the flechinder from earlier and herself.

"Smart moved, Princess. We'll be keeping you all in our ship's cell for now. It's about a three day trip back to Jagorii."

"Wait a minute," a voice broke from the crowd of pokemon, "I know you." A scizor came flying from the group and latched its claw around Flint's throat.

"I said stand down, Razor," the mienshao said.

"All do respect, captain, but I have a personal grudge against this growlithe."

"I don't even know who you are," Flint struggled to say, the scizor's claws hindering his ability to speak.

Razor scoffed. "Conveniently, right? Maybe you'll remember after a rip your fucking arm off, huh?" Razor then clamped his other claw around Flint's arm. "After all, you took mine away."

Flint's eyes went wide as soon as he remembered just who the scizor was now. "You're- you're that scyther we ran into on our way to Whitestone."

"You bet your ass I am."

"So this is the one responsible for taking your arm?" The mienshao asked, receiving a nod of confirmation from Razor. "Then I'll allow you to settle this personal grudge you have."

Razor gave a crooked grin and prepared to pinch down on Flint's throat. However, Starshine intervened just at the right time.

"You can't, Flint is a direct assistant of mine, therefore making him a royal figure of sorts."

"What are you getting at?" Asked the mienshao.

"Well, you've already made it clear that you're taking us to your homeland, yes? There would be only one reason you'd need me alive, and that's to have a face to face meeting with your emperor. The Jagorii law states that during such a royal affair offers a stand down between both the Jagorii royal representatives as well as the other homeland's royal representatives. In this case, Flint and I are both royal representatives, as are you. For the occasion, there is to be no harm between both sides until a resolution in the meeting has been finalized. Therefore, your scizor is not to harm Flint in any way, shape, or form."

The mienshao glared at Starshine. "How the hell do you know about our laws?"

"My father."

The mienshao had a moment of realization before withdrawing her hand cannons. "Figures. Razor, put the growlithe down."

"But captain-"

"That is a lawful order."

"That's bullshit, you're going to defend this runt over some documentation? These laws are what weaken us-"

The mienshao them pointed a hand cannon at the scizor. "It was us who helped you in your time of need. It was us who helped you evolve and gave you that new arm. Do you really want to questions those that provide you such things?" The scizor kept quiet and let go of Flint. Flint coughed a bit after he was released. "Alright, everyone, beck to the ship. Escort or guests to their new living area."

As the last five pokemon of the Mardol ship boarded the Jagorii ship, the flechinder made an attempt to escape. It quickly darted into the sky and soared high. The mienshao withdrew her gun and tried following its unpredictable path. Once she thought she had a good shot, she pulled the trigger. A loud bang sounded off, startling nearly everyone. Ultimately, the bullet missed. The mienshao cursed to herself and began reloading her hand cannon, Starshine observed how tedious the process was.

Starshine was glad she was the only psychic type around. Little did the mienshao know, she mentally gave instructions to the flechinder and guaranteed protecting him. Everyone was oblivious to the fact that she conjured a gust of wind in the air that made the bullet miss its target. Starshine may have outsmarted her enemy for now, but her next obstacle was something she wouldn't be prepared for.