Chapter 25: Moving Targets
Sploosh!
As Ellsberg fluttered along, he heard the sound of his ship's stone anchor hit the water. Turning his head, he saw his ship finally come to a bobbing rest, just in time to see Lyn leap into the water. The Samurott barked an order, signaling the Pokémon maintaining the cordon to move into position around the town ahead. The Mothim redirected his attention back ahead to see the docks of Seahive Square in the distance, nestled among the mangroves that held up most of the town.
"Remember, Ellsberg, I need you to stall for a few moments before I come along so the extraction team can slip in. Keep them occupied until we get there," he grumbled, mockingly mimicking Lyn's voice from an earlier debriefing as he continued along his erratic flight path. For a Pokemon that was his ticket to becoming a Commissioner, the Samurott's tendency to treat Ellsberg like another one of his deckhands never failed to grate the moth's nerves. "How new does he think I am? I'm not the one who got a ship damaged from careless oversights!"
Before long, Ellsberg came to the edge of one of the harbor's wharves, where a Durant and Simisage in the flowery, sea-green scarves of Seahive's guards. The pair chattered idly with each other, the metal-plated bug prattling along next to a wall-like pile of rough barrels and crates.
"And I told him, 'You take the leafcutting duty this week, I'm a ground Pokémon and you're built for it!'"
"Eh? With the Captain? So how'd that work out?" the Simisage asked back, cocking his head puzzledly and waiting on the Bug-Type's answer.
"Er… not so great, I've got to pick between leafcutting duty and helping him out with river patrol now," the Durant reluctantly admitted, flinching at the thought of having to struggle to keep his head above water all day. "Since when did Papa get this spiteful over a few suggestions?"
Those two looked like they'd be able to drag out a standoff, distraction enough for Lyn's infiltrators to slip in. After selecting his target, Ellsberg flitted up to the pair and loudly buzzed at them to gather their attention.
"You there!"
"Eh?"
The Durant and Simisage turned to see the waiting notary fluttering about impatiently. After the two realized that the creature was wearing a lavender scarf with violet squares, matching the sails on a ship coming in from sea, their expressions hardened into gruff scowls.
"Hrmph. Oh, it's you guys again," the ant chittered. "What do you want this time?"
"Yeah, you know the rules, we're neutral," the ape added. "If you want more provisions, you can follow the same loading procedures as everyone else."
"Hardly," Ellsberg huffed, his patience for the intransigent duo worn thin from his earlier debriefing. But nonetheless, Lyn had asked for a few moments, and he could get him that much. "I bring important news from Kenobi, and if your leader knows what's good for this town, she'll hear me out."
The two Pokémon looked up at the leering moth, then at each other with skeptical looks before turning their attention back to Ellsberg.
"Yeah?" the Durant scoffed. "Says you and what ar-"
The bug's words were cut off with a harsh bellow and the stiff slap of seawater, knocking him and his partner back. As the two stumbled back to their feet, they came face-to-face with the piercing glare of a Samurott. In the background they heard cries from their fellow guards and other Pokemon at the docks, as surly-looking sea Pokemon and fliers moved into position around them.
"Says mine," Lyn growled. "And it doesn't like to be kept waiting."
The two guards froze out of startled shock, before the pair, whether out of bravery or rash pride, attempted to put on brave faces and stand their ground.
"Th-That's not an army!" the Durant hastily retorted. "That's just a squad!"
"Y-Yeah!" the Simisage added. "You won't be able to shake down our town with that!"
"Oh, we don't have to shake down your town to get what we want," Lyn sneered, drawing a seamitar from his sheath and leveling it at the Simisage's throat. "We just need someone to deliver a summons. If you'd rather spend your time lying down on the job, I'd be more than happy to make you stay down for a very long while."
The monkey slowly inched away from the point of the seamitar and gasped for air as he and his now trembling, bug-eyed companion looked anxiously back along the docks for some open route to scuttle to safety. As the two tried to regain a semblance of composure after Lyn's threat, the sound of a Mothim clearing his throat cut through the air.
"As I said earlier, I bring news," Ellsberg insisted. "One that you and your town would be wise to not ignore."
The Simisage and Durant audibly gulped, and then asked stammering, one after the other...
"Er… wh-what's the news?"
"Y-Yeah, wh-what's going on?"
A few minutes later, Team Traveller made their way back to the looming, conical main hall of Seahive's guild complex, blissfully unaware of the present happenings at the town's dock. As Nida, Pleo, and Elty continued alongside the final stretch of the stream that separated the guild from the nearby shops, the three prattled along about concerns that were closer to their minds...
"Heh heh! Mission accomplished!" Elty cheered. "So what are you going to eat first?"
"Hmm?" Pleo murmured, as he hopped down from a railing on the walkway. "What do you mean?"
"Yeah, wouldn't the food here be the same as in the guild back home?" Nida said, tilting an ear quizzically.
"Chyba żartujesz! Seahive's known for its food!" the Growlithe barked. "You don't think they'd get all the sea Pokemon around these parts hooked on their stuff if they were bad at it, did you? Why they've got Gummis… Poffins… Donu-"
The Fire-Type's words trailed off and died as he and the others saw Maranda talking with a rattled-looking Simisage and Durant with sea-green scarves at the entrance to the Medic's Hut further down the walkway.
"Wait a minute," Elty began. "That's…"
"Maranda?" Pleo asked.
They couldn't pick out the conversation from their distance, but they could see her expression grew unnerved, and the Leavanny quickly darted off with the two guards down Seahive's web of raised walkways.
"Where's she off in such a hurry?" Nida wondered. "Didn't she need to tend to the medic's hut right about now?"
"Eh, I'm sure it's just normal-" Elty dismissively answered, only to be cut off by a sudden shout.
"Oi! You guys!"
The three Pokemon turned from the direction that Maranda had darted down and saw three other Pokemon rushing for them from further up the walkway- a Venipede, a Tepig, and a Purrloin, all of whom seemed every bit as shaken as the recently-departed Leavanny did.
"Just what did you guys do before coming here?" Venner demanded.
"Yeah, we heard that a Company ship pulled into the harbor!" Francouer exclaimed. "They say they're looking to extradite a group of pirates that match your description!"
Nida, Pleo, and Elty froze as the Tepig's words played over and over again in their heads. As their blood ran cold, and their stomachs knotted from stress at the realization that the Company had followed them here, they were able to only muster a collective, shocked cry of...
"Wh-What?!"
"Hmph," Actor harrumphed, shaking his head. "I knew something seemed fishy about them."
"Eh?!" Pleo cried. "But Nida and I- None of us are pirates!"
"Then why does the Company want you all so badly? I mean, if you were just run-of-the-mill pirates, they'd be happy to just let our town's guards handle you, but…" Venner said. "No offense, you look like you'd have trouble fighting your way out of a pile of Substitutes."
The three stammered and tried to make sense of how they could explain this to Team Chasseur. The truth was simple enough, the Company wanted Pleo because of who he was, and use him for gods know what… But Maranda had warned them not to tell anyone about the young Lugia's nature, and-
"Is- Is Pleo really a Protector?" Francouer asked, his body tense and expectant.
"Huh?!" Nida squeaked, hopping back. "How did you?!"
"I mean, it sounds crazy," he murmured. "But I remembered you all saying it earlier…"
"That's preposterous!" Actor hissed. "Why would a Protector have trouble fighting off some Company Pokemon?"
"Why, because he's still young and vulnerable of course," a voice called out. Elty and Nida's fur stood on end at the sound of the voice, and Pleo looked around anxiously, leaving Team Chasseur to scan their environment quizzically.
"'sa?" the Purrloin muttered. "Who said-? Ack!"
From the corner of their eyes, the two teams saw a Water Pulse bearing down on their position, and dove out of its way as it struck the middle of where the group had been. As Pleo stumbled back up, he saw a blue orb with electric sparks dancing inside it fly towards them. The Protector blew a gust of air with his wings at the Petrify Orb in a panic, deflecting it and sending it into the stream with a splash.
As the two teams looked off in the direction of the attacks, their assailants became clear: a Frogadier, an Ursaring, and a Xatu. Their scarves had been hastily bleached white with a blue sun added, with little flecks of the original lavender and purple showing up here and there, but the last two definitely were Pokemon they had seen on the fateful day they snuck aboard Lyn's ship.
"Don't let him get away!" the frog yelled.
Without thinking, Elty hopped up onto Pleo's back, and as the young Protector shifted to try and adjust to the pudgy dog's weight, he barked desperately to his teammates.
"Hurry up! We can shake them if we get into the air!"
Nida followed suit as Pleo quickly hopped up onto the railing with his two passengers and spread his wings to take flight, only to see the Ursaring bearing down on them. The white bird froze in place as Nida and Elty begged him to fly, flinching as the bear swooped in with a swipe of his claws.
"Argh!"
Only, the attack never came. Pleo opened his eyes and saw that the Ursaring had stumbled and tumbled along the walkway, a poisonous barb lodged in his calf. Further behind, Venner was still in a braced position, and spat out a second venomous dart at the Ursaring for good measure. The sound of the Xatu squawking in pain could be heard, as Team Traveller saw Francoeur spit out a cone of cinders on the bird, and the Frogadier tumbled forward after being tripped up mid-hop by a dark, shadowy ball Actor spat up.
"What are you waiting for?!" Venner chittered. "Get out of here!"
"Yeah, we'll hold them off!" Francoeur added.
"But-!" Nida cried, only for Actor to cut her off with a hiss.
"Just go already!"
Pleo leapt up into the air, Elty and Nida clinging on for dear life as Pleo tore up above the trees with desperate wingbeats. The three could hear the sounds of a scuffle below, and when the Nidoran and Growlithe looked back, their hearts sank.
They saw Team Chasseur getting knocked about. Francoeur was launched into a wall by a telekinetic fling from the Xatu, the Frogadier had punted Actor tumbling down the walkway, and Venner was clinging precariously to the edge of the walkway with his foreleg after the Ursaring attempted to swipe him down into the miry swamp below.
"We shouldn't have left them behind," Nida muttered.
"We need to look out for ourselves here!" Elty huffed back. "Let's just hope those Company jerks can't catch up."
The Nidoran shook her head and turned away, and let the trees fade into an indistinct sea of leaves and boughs. The team couldn't afford to stay around while Lyn was prowling at the town's port…
Not that any of those self-reassurances made her feel better.
Back on the ground, Francoeur was struggling to get back up from underneath a dent in a wall, Actor panted raggedly as he picked himself up from the walkway, and Venner struggled to pull himself back up. They had really bitten off more than they could chew this time, with no obvious means of turning the tables...
"Stop right there!" a Claydol's voice rang out.
Meyrink rushed in with an Emolga and an Igglybuff from the guild. The Claydol knocked the Ursaring down into the swamp with a slapping jet of mud, where as he staggered up, a waiting Gastrodon swept the creature unconscious into a mangrove trunk with a muddy wave. The Frogadier yelped as the Emolga swooped by and ran a weak jolt of electricity through him, leaving him wobbly and sluggish enough to be knocked over to the ground by the Igglybuff's tackle. Before the amphibian could hop back to his feet, a jagged, blue bolt from the flying squirrel on a return pass caught the Water-Type. The frog slumped over onto the walkway and lapsed out of consciousness as the Igglybuff gave him a stiff swat to his head.
Another beam of electricity swiftly followed and struck its Xatu partner, sending her tumbling against a wall as the other guild Pokémon rushed over to finish her off. Her health depleted, cornered, and robbed of her allies, the remaining Xatu panicked, and in the blink of an eye, vanished entirely, having fled by teleportation.
Of course, those morons had ambushed them right outside the guild hall!
Team Chasseur woozily stumbled back onto the walkway with the help of a few nearby Pokemon. As the two remaining infiltrators were tied down with rope by a growing crowd of Pokémon from the guild, some Pokémon went up to Maranda's hut further ahead to bring back someone to tend Team Chasseur's injuries.
"Hrmph. Was causing trouble in town part of that 'news' too?" a Snorunt spat, glaring at the prone forms of the two Company Pokémon. As the interrogation of the two semi-lucid strangers continued, the Diggersby from the Medic's Hut finally rushed in with a handful of Oran Berries and anxiously inspected Team Chasseur's members.
"Are you three alright?" Meyrink asked, bobbing uneasily over the planks of the walkway. "What just happened?"
The Tepig and Purrloin looked tiredly at the Venipede, who despite aching from the blows in his struggle earlier, paused, and looked into the sky for a moment.
"Just us helping out the young and vulnerable," he chittered, giving a weak smile. "You know, normal guild stuff."
Meyrink shook his head, and looked back, seeing the form of a white bird with an orange and blue passenger clinging tight. The psychic trailed off with a wondering "Hey, aren't those…?" as Venner murmured under his breath.
"We've helped you guys as much as we can… Good luck out there."
Back at Seahive's docks, the piers had cleared out and emptied of Pokemon beyond Lyn and Ellsberg's entourage, a cordon of nervous-looking guards who had blocked off the paths that lead deeper into town, and a Leavanny who had hastily darted up to the docks just a few moments ago. She came flanked by the Durant and Simisage from earlier, along with an elder Masquerain whose eyes flashed a venomous expression that almost seemed to match the spots on his wings. As Lyn and Ellsberg continued to badger her over these 'pirates', the leafy bug shook her head shot a defiant glare back.
"Well, it's certainly an interesting story, but I can't say that I'm particularly convinced," Maranda scoffed. "A team of three pirates, humbling a three-masted ship with escorts in the sea and air?"
"That's precisely why we need them extradited!" Ellsberg buzzed indignantly.
"Hmph. What makes you so sure that those three would even be here?" she asked. "Don't you think competent pirates like those would stick out like a sore thumb? That there wouldn't already be a bounty floating around for them somewhere?"
"Look here, I know those three are here and don't you play coy with me!" Lyn growled. "How they pulled off their shenanigans is unimportant, their capture is an immediate priority on behalf of the Company! If you insist on harboring dangerous criminals, we will come back to uphold the peace! By any means necessary-"
Lyn trailed off as he saw a silvery-white form rise above the treetops. The wings, the head, the neck, the accursed blue and orange fuzzballs on his back… There was only one thing that it could be.
"Kane! The target's moving!" he bayed. "Get in the sky and signal the other Pokémon in the cordon to shoot him down!"
The Crobat grunted and flew off. After getting a ways off the ground, the bat spewed out a volume of thick, black haze as he cut along, forming a long, ugly streak in the sky pointing towards Pleo's current flight path. Back on the docks, Ellsberg quickly turned to a Lanturn, and hastily barked at the creature to follow suit.
"Tell Gordon to get the ship out there and cut off their escape!"
"Right!" the Water-Type answered, before turning and swimming off for the ship. Maranda spat a long strand of silk after the Crobat in the air and cried out.
"Stop hi-!"
The Leavanny was abruptly shoved to the dock by a sudden wave, making the silk miss her target and aimlessly drift back to earth. As the water subsided, Maranda looked up, and saw that Lyn had pushed her entourage back down the docks with a Surf where they were coughing up water and trading wide-eyed looks. It was only a short gap between them and the Mairesse, yes, but the Samurott now perched over the Leavanny, seamitar in paw and trained at the base of her neck, Ellsberg shooting an unimpressed scowl from behind.
"My aren't you eager to start a diplomatic incident?" the Mothim chided, as the remaining Company lackeys dug in and glared at the Leavanny and the local guards. "How do you think the Board is going to take finding out that this island's leadership aids and abets wanted criminals?
The leafy bug paused, and ground her chitinous teeth. She couldn't come to Team Traveler's aid, not at the expense of her town… leaving Lyn to smirk smugly at the bedeviled Mairesse.
"Just sit tight and let us handle our own problems. Everything will work out fine."
Indeed, all that was left to do was hope that things would work out for the three young Pokemon above.
Out at the Gummi Fab where Margi worked, the six-winged form of a Hydreigon swooped in from the air and came to a flapping stop. The past few days had been stressful, what with coming and going on short notice to try and keep tabs on home and the 'demon' that lurked about. But now… perhaps it was ill judgment on her part, but after her encounter with Pleo earlier in the morning, she felt more at peace paying closer mind to her work at the fab.
"Hey!"
The Hydreigon's earholes caught the sound of a young dragon's voice, and she whirled about, seeing her son poking his head over a tall pile of stacked barrels.
"Eh? Daraen?" she asked, craning a head down to meet his snout. "What are you doing out here?"
"Er, well... I figured that after all the trouble you've been having the past few days, you could use some help with your work!" the Deino began, ruffling his feathers proudly. "Eating all the deformed gummis sounds like hard work!"
Ah, of course… He was thinking with his stomach, one sign that things had returned to their normal order.
"Daraen… I'm a custodian," Margi sighed. "That's only part of my-"
Just then, the normal sights and sounds of life were punctured by a pair of sudden cries.
"We've got company!"
"Pleo! Go left! Go left!"
The frantic voice was followed by the sound of a thick, wet glob flying through the air, then a sphere of spectral energy zipping through the air...
And finally, a frightened squawk.
"A-Aah! Nida!"
One that made the two Dragon-Type's plumes stand on end.
"Mom, that's Pleo's voice!" Daraen cried.
The Hydreigon craned her heads up, and saw the form of Team Traveller's members frantically diving to evade a Sludge Bomb and a Shadow Ball sailing overhead. Further behind, there were the forms of a Crobat and a Ninjask that were quickly closing the distance in on him.
"Mom, what's going on?" the Deino asked anxiously. "What's happening to Pleo? I can't see him!"
The Hydreigon turned as a Swanna swooped in behind the two pursuers. As the two groups flew by, she could make out that there were lavender scarves with violet squares on all of the pursuing Pokémon's necks, leaving her to murmur aloud in unsettled realization.
"They're trying to take him."
Dark images of what their world might become if Pleo were to be brought under the Company's banners filtered into the Hydreigon's mind. Even if he didn't buy into their horrid designs, it was something that surely would portend nothing but sorrow and anguish, including for the Pokémon in la bastille. But… could anyone afford for that to happen?
"... Stay here, mon petit."
In the skies above, Pleo lurched up with a squawk as a slicing gust of air sailed under his wings, close enough to cut the tips of a few of his flight feathers. Elty dug his paws into Pleo's plumage while they lost altitude. As the bird fought with the wind and finally evened out, he looked back and saw...
"Gah! That Swanna wasn't there before!" he yelped.
Their pursuers were still hot on their tails. The Growlithe threw a Stick from the bag with his mouth, only for it to fall into the sea below without so much as fazing the fliers behind them. It was the latest in a series of ineffectual attempts to strike back. Team Traveller had spat fire at them, flung poisonous barbs, and even turned to attempt to gust away one of their pursuers. All of the attacks had been intercepted, fallen into the sea, or been woven around by their targets exploiting the winds at such a height.
"Gwark!"
Their attackers on the other hand seemed to be much more used to fighting in the midst of windy skies. No matter how hard Pleo tried, there were still attacks that would inevitably find their mark, as he staggered and dove uncontrollably after a Swift clipped a wing tip with star-shaped bursts of burning light and smoke, sending Pleo plummeting towards the sea.
"Aaah! Sube! Sube!" Nida cried.
As the Nidoran held on for dear life, her muscles froze and she began to feel faint while a thousand regrets passed by her eyes, little things she would no longer be able to make right back home with Crom, her family, and the other villagers. Nida felt Pleo's body even out in the air, leaving her to pant anxiously as her senses slowly returned to her. The blue spike ball chanced to look up and see the three Company Pokémon carry on in their original vector thanks to the obscuring smoke, only to stall and notice their quarry had gone below them, prompting the Flying-Types to dive after them.
Wait a minute.
Their pursuers seemed to be wary of getting too close to Pleo, probably because of a lingering fear of being blown around again like a few nights ago. Whenever they lost track of him for a moment, they would have to look around to find the party again before the Crobat would spew out smoke of his own to form a trail to follow past it. If only they had some way of making smoke to muddle the bat's Haze! Or did they already have one? Why, between Pleo's Weather Balls and Elty's Embers… that just might do it!
Nida's ears pricked up, and she shouted over the wind.
"You guys!" she squeaked. "We need to charge them and take them head on!"
An eerie, shadowy ball sailed on overhead, Nida and Elty hunkering down with yelps as it zipped over their ears and just past Pleo's head crest. Did the spike ball seriously just suggest that?
"Jesteś szalona!" Elty growled. "They'll pick us off by the time we nail one of them!"
"And I don't know how to bring out my power!" Pleo squawked. "If it doesn't come out in time, I'll never be able to defeat them!"
"We don't have to defeat them!" Nida explained. "They've been staying back from us all this time! We just need to intercept one or two of their attacks and climb over them to kick up some cover to slip away!"
Pleo cast a glance back at the pursuing Pokémon, they had almost closed the distance between him, and it wouldn't be long before their attacks would come too soon to be weaved around or blocked. Nida's plan sounded impossible and scary, but…
"Are you sure this is going to work, Nida?!"
"No!" she cried back. "But whatever happens, we can't give up here!"
That was right, they had promised each other they wouldn't give up. It was the only plan that any of them could think of that had a chance of working. So perhaps all that was left to do, was to stare down the impossible and hope for the best.
Pleo circled around and the three Pokemon came face to face with their pursuers. Team Traveller watched as their tormenters widened their eyes out of surprise while preparing to unleash a volley on the team. They saw the ball of vile-looking purple glop in the Crobat's mouth, the ominous dark ball in between the Ninjask's mandibles, and the cutting winds in between the Swanna's wings...
And as they watched the attacks leave their foes' bodies, all converging on their position…
"Now!"
With the blind frenzy of a cornered animal, Team Traveller returned with their own salvo. A glowing ball of light from Pleo's mouth, a cone of fiery Ember's from Elty's muzzle, and a piercing barb flying through the air from Nida. As soon as the three had flung their attacks back at the Company Pokemon, Pleo climbed up into the sky as loud bursts and puffs of smoke filled the air beneath them.
"Hey! Where'd they go?!"
As the three pursuers shouted out in confusion as to where their targets had gone off to, Pleo tore on ahead, beating his wings forward with all of his might as Nida and Elty looked back at the puffs of smoke behind them.
"Well I'll be," Elty said. "They did actually teach you things at that guild of yours."
"That ought to buy us some-" Nida began, only to hear Pleo suddenly cry out.
"N-Nida?! Their friends are here, too!"
His passengers whipped their heads around, seeing that much to their horror, there was a ship with lavender sails just ahead of them. It was smaller than Lyn's, but that was of little relief as the team saw Pokemon scrambling into positions to try and lob attacks at them.
"A-Ack! Where'd that ship come from?!" Nida squeaked. As her barbs began to dribble poison, the team's blood ran cold as they heard a voice calling from behind.
"There they are! Shoot them down!"
The smoke cloud from earlier apparently hadn't bought nearly as much time as Nida hoped. Now, here was the team, boxed in between the Company ahead and behind them. The three saw glints coming from the ship, and as soon as Elty saw them, he suddenly barked out…
"Pleo, dive and go right! Now!"
Without thinking, Pleo followed along, and entered a steep, almost perpendicular dive to his right. As soon as they left, attacks sailed all around their former position, followed quickly by the sound of a commotion.
"Gah! You aren't supposed to be attacking us, you morons!"
Elty and Nida quickly looked back in the direction of the voices where they saw their three pursuers staggering and struggling, evidently having been nicked by some of the attacks coming from the ship.
"Er… Ellsberg will understand about that damage right?" the Swanna's voice called.
On the opposite end the ship was in a frantic commotion, its stern the unfortunate victim of the attacks meant for Pleo, and her escorts preoccupied more with saving their stricken craft than the white bird slipping away. There was a hole punched just along the waterline letting in seawater that a Snover was desperately trying to mend by making an icy plug, one of the sails had a long gash torn into its fabric, and the tiller was torn from its place, floating along behind the ship with some planks of the stern's deck. As he surveyed the damage from the friendly fire, Elty shook his head and wondered aloud...
"Wait, why didn't we think of doing that earlier-?" he began, only to be forced to drop down by the Crobat diving overhead, his companions coming into view.
"They're still coming after us!" Pleo cried, only to squawk out of pain as starry bursts came down on him and his passengers from above. As the little Protector felt himself stagger and struggle to stay aloft, he heard Elty yelp as the dog's hindquarters dangled precariously in the air, Nida trying her hardest to keep him from falling into the sea below. Above him, the Crobat was still there preparing a glob of vile-looking sludge in his mouth trained on his tired wings.
Pleo's mind shifted back to Lyn's threat back in the hold to cut his flight feathers, and shuddered realizing that now he was about to suffer whatever pain that would involve… high above the sea below him. He beat his wings wildly in the last-ditch hope that his power would come to him like it did on Lyn's ship, but nothing came but the aching of his sore and desperate muscles.
Maybe… maybe there wasn't a way to get out of this...
GRAWWWWWWR!
The Crobat spluttered and gagged after accidentally swallowing his sludge as the three Company Pokémon flinched and looked around uneasily for the source of the noise. The Ninjask scanned the bottom as he wondered aloud...
"What on earth wa-AAAH!"
A black and blue blur abruptly tore up, as a blue-scaled head delivered a crushing bite to the costa of the cicada's left wing. As the bug screeched in pain, the head, attached to a long, serpentine neck flung the Ninjask away, sending him pinwheeling through the air until he fell into the sea with a splash.
The blur then came for Pleo, leaving him to flinch in the air as he felt a soft, but noticeable nip at his back. Both Nida and Elty cried out in shock as the Growlithe got shoved back onto Pleo's back and they all were tugged along. He then noticed that in spite of his tired condition he was flying along faster… Wait a minute, that nip was towing him! As the three looked up at the now clear form overshadowing them, they saw it was none other than...
"Margi?!"
The six wings, the jet-black feathers, the magenta and blue scales, the comet-shaped blotch on her central head. That was Margi alright, but… why had she come?
"What are you doing?!" Pleo cried.
"Keeping our world safe by keeping the Company from getting their grubby maws on you!"
The ship rapidly began to shrink away further and further into the distance, but in spite of that the forms of Swanna and Crobat kept coming after the group. Pleo felt the nip let go and toss him and his team forward into the air.
"Ack!"
As he straightened out, he saw a frigid, cutting burst of air strike Margi's back and cake over the shoulder of one of her wings with a layer of ice. The Hydreigon whirled around with a loud roar and sent a bluish-white fireball at the Swanna. The burst struck him along his side and tore away some of his flight feathers in the process, sending him spiraling out of the sky and into the sea below. Before the dragon could take any particular satisfaction in her victory, she felt a stiff smack and a vile sensation along the side of her underbelly. She looked down and saw that poisonous, purple glop was dribbling down her scales, and threw her into a struggling panic to try and clean it off herself before it seeped into her body. As the Hydreigon fought to be rid of the sludge, the Crobat closed in on her, snarling.
"You're gonna pay for that you vile-"
"Margi, fly away!" a voice suddenly rang out.
"Huh-?! Augh!"
The bat suddenly had a spike catch him near the carpal joint of his upper right wing, followed by a cone of cinders which set the fur on his belly afire, and finally, a strong, overwhelming Whirlwind which swept the creature up and sent him into a steep dive into the sea below.
"Margi! Don't just wait there!" Pleo squawked. "We need to keep flying!"
And indeed they did need to, Team Traveller could already see Pokémon in the sea swimming after the downed fliers, and others were shifting their attention to them. The two fliers tore along, their wings feeling increasingly numb as they continued desperately pushing forth in the air as jets of water and beams occasionally came at them from the sea. The shots grew further and further away, and when the four Pokémon looked back… they saw there were no more pursuers. The other flying Pokémon in the air had gravitated to the Crobat's Haze trails that no longer pointed to them, and the now small ship behind them had still not changed course to pursue them.
"Wait a minute… they're not turning after us!" Pleo exclaimed.
"What's their deal?" Nida asked. "It's not that hard to turn a ship!"
Elty's mind drifted back to the damage the ship's stern had taken earlier, why at that sort of location, if there was a particularly unlucky shot...
"I don't think they can," he replied. "Those guys must have hit their tiller earlier."
"All the better for us," Margi grunted. "Here."
The dragon passed a Sitrus Berry over to Nida, the Nidoran grasping it in her paws and looking down at it.
"It's been touched by the local Distortion, give it to your friend to eat," she explained. "It won't work as well as if you applied it as you were supposed to, but it should heal those wounds enough to make it to the next island."
"The next island?" Pleo asked.
"You don't mean to try and stay do you? I know that you didn't mean it in this case, but our forebears were right," the dragon responded. "If you stay here, you will only bring trouble for the town... and for yourself."
"B-But where are we supposed to go?!" Nida cried. "We can't go back to Bluewhorl… not while Lyn is still hounding us like this…"
"Why not Kenobi?" Elty suggested, as he gestured down to a stream of lighter-colored water in the sea below. "That's the Spiral Stream right down there. If we follow it, it'll lead us straight to there."
"Kenobi?" Margi questioned. "Surely you can't possibly mean that... Kenobi's a big island with a Company shipyard and all manner of unseemly characters in it!"
"Exactly where they won't expect to find us!" Elty insisted, his words carrying a defensive adamance that surprised Nida and Pleo. "It's the only other island that's as close to here as Bluewhorl, and there's some crowds I know around there we can hide in."
"Is… that true?" Nida asked.
"It is, unfortunately," the Hydreigon answered, shaking her heads.
Nida's ears drooped from realization that their choices amounted to bringing calamity back on their home, and following Elty's suggestion to lie low in a place that even Margi was skeptical of. The Nidoran stopped and thought, before flicking her ears as she came to her own conclusion.
"We'll have to chance it," she sighed. "We only need to hold out until Pleo figures out how to draw out his power more regularly anyways."
With that, the Nidoran popped the Sitrus Berry into Pleo's mouth, leaving him to masticate it and gulp its crushed, surprisingly thick and syrupy pulp down as he started to trace the route of current below. A dark thought suddenly crept into his mind… Venner and his friends had suffered while helping them... would the Company come to punish Margi too for coming to their rescue?
"Will you be alright, Margi?" he asked, craning his neck back. Pleo saw the dragon hesitate for a long moment, clearly she must have had similar apprehensions of what might come in her future, and what it might mean for her son. She blinked and shook her heads, giving back a small, if somewhat forced-looking smile.
"I'm sure I can manage along with Daraen," she replied. "It's in our kind's nature to make many enemies… And I've survived this far, haven't I?"
The Pokemon on Team Traveler looked at each other uneasily. If there was a reassurance that Margi could give them, this didn't seem to be it. Still, she wasn't exactly a pushover, and surely Maranda and other Pokemon in Seahive like her would come to Margi's defense if trouble brewed…
Wouldn't they?
"If you say so…" Nida murmured. "Thanks again for everything."
The effects of the strange Sitrus Berry had begun to kick in, as Pleo began to feel the aches and pains of his body start to ebb and drain. He turned his attention back to the Spiral Stream, and set off, when Margi's voice suddenly rang out again.
"Before you go!"
The team looked back one last time to Margi, as she continued to speak.
"'Pleo', right? If you do run into any others of your sort… if you can," she mumbled. "Please… try to make them more like you."
For a brief moment, the two Pokémon stared into each other's eyes. Margi's eyes were still their unnerving, blood-red selves, but this time, there seemed to be something different about them. They were worried and uncertain, but even in spite of that…
There seemed to be a small flicker of hope in them.
"I will!" Pleo chirped, bobbing in affirmation. "I promise!"
And with that, the two fliers, jet-black and silvery-white, parted ways and carried on towards their respective islands and their unknown tomorrows.
Back at the docks, the remaining lavender-scarved Pokémon stared blankly at the scene offshore. There was the black and blue creature that was quickly ducking below the treelines. Their counterparts in the air were flying along to Kane's latest Haze trail only, much to their confusion, to find empty air. Ellsberg's ship was stricken offshore with activity buzzing all around it, and most importantly, the white bird and his passengers were slipping rapidly out of view.
"Erm… Captain?" a Sigilyph asked warily.
"Are you sure it was a good idea keeping us here on crowd control instead of helping to chase after the Lugia?" a Pidgeot added.
Uneasy murmurs went about the lavender-scarved Pokemon as they cast quick glances at their Captain and the Third-Rank alongside him...
"Grr…"
And saw that he was visibly seething. The Mothim with him was in a similarly poor mood, and went into a fit at the sight of the damage to his poor ship.
"I don't believe this!" Ellsberg buzzed. "Two damaged ships in three days? Just what sort of-?"
"Shut it, Ellsberg!" Lyn bellowed. The Mothim flinched and fluttered back, clamping his mouth shut as the Samurott whirled around to the Leavanny and growled viciously.
"You had something to do with this, didn't you?"
"Actually, I didn't," the Bug-Type chittered back calmy. "Do you honestly expect me to have full control over every Pokemon's actions in this town? Let alone those of every Marked?"
"Pah, don't think that will be the end of things!" the Samurott spat. "I will let my superiors know that your horrid swamp aided and abetted the escape of wanted Pokemon, and there will be consequences. For that Marked, for this town, and-"
"For you, too," Maranda added, her voice full of calm but focused defiance. "Did you really think you could just drag us down like this?"
At this, the Samurott lost his temper and threw his arm back, ready to strike at the pinned bug.
"Oh, that is-!"
"Not that seeing you get red in the face isn't amusing, but you should really calm down and face the facts," Maranda interrupted. "Your wanted Pokemon are escaping, and from what I've pieced together, neither the ship out there, nor this other that your friend referred to will keep pace with them well."
Lyn caught his blade in mid-swing and froze. That… was actually a good point.
"Look, Lyn, is it? If you were really in a position to use force to get your way here, wouldn't you have done so earlier?" the Mairesse continued. "In that case, don't you have better things to do than to trouble our island and start a diplomatic incident with the Imperials that won't end well for any of us? Like not letting yourself fall too far behind your prey?"
The Samurott glared at the Leavanny, and with a growl he sheathed his blade. He turned for the water, and stopped to glance at Ellsberg as the leafy bug pushed herself back to her feet with the help of some of the guards.
"We're leaving, Ellsberg," he grunted.
"What?!" the Mothim buzzed. "But-!"
"As much as I hate to admit it, she is right. I need to get my ship moving and so do you," Lyn grumbled. "We'll meet in Kenobi and figure out where to go from there."
The Samurott then leapt into the seawater with a splash, leaving the fluttering Bug-Type to shake his head and bury a face in his palm as he muttered to himself.
"Oh, Administrator Farn isn't going to like this at all…"
Ellsberg trailed off as he looked up and saw that Lyn was still waiting in the water, staring back at him with a piercing glare.
"... Right, we'll worry about that when we get there," he said, before turning to the other lavender-scarved Pokemon. "Everyone, move out!"
And with that, one by one, the amassed Pokemon at the docks melted away, and departed by sea and sky for the stricken Company ships offshore.
Back in Tromba, far, far away from Pleo's ordeal, Bluewhorl's expedition was preparing to set off. The provisions had been stocked, everyone had received their debriefings, and what seemed to be the whole town had gathered together to show their support as the Illumise captain of the Siglo Swellow and her crew set off. This included Gwenith and Cenn, who embraced Crom and Pladur at the foot of the gangplank.
"Take care of yourselves out there!" Crom's younger brother cheered. "It's my turn to head out to sea with dad when you come back, you hear!"
"We'll be praying for you," Gwenith added, giving a gentle nuzzle to her elder child. "And make sure that you listen to your father!"
"I will, mom!" Crom replied. "And don't let Cenn root through my treasure hoard!"
After Gwenith let her older son go, her Fraxure husband stepped forward to draw his mate and younger child into a tender (if careful) embrace, as he attempted to give some reassurances before he left.
"I'll bring him home as soon as we're done, dear," Pladur insisted.
"Good," Gwenith answered, before hardening her gaze. "After all, if he doesn't…"
The Fraxure gulped and began to flail nervously, Gwenith wasn't seriously insinuating that…
"A-Ah!" he squeaked. "I'll meant home alive, of course-!"
"Don't be so morbid, dear," Gwenith chuckled. "It's not seemly for a dragon to wear his worries on his hide."
"Ehehe," he stammered back. "I'll… I'll try, but…"
"Pladur!" Kiran's voice called from the railing. "You shouldn't dawdle in front of the gangplank like that! Why, you're making the line for the others on the dock 50% longer than normal!"
The Fraxure cast a glance at a small crowd of fellow crewmates, waiting impatiently for him and his child to move along. The hatchet-faced dragon gave a sheepish apology, and decided that it was perhaps best to speed along his farewells with his family.
"Maybe try to make it a little clearer when you're joking around?" he asked.
"It's something we'll both have to work on, it seems," the elder Druddigon answered, leaving Crom and Pladur to quickly scamper up the gangway and onto the ship.
One by one, the rest of the crew for the ship came aboard. The gangplank was taken down, the sails were lowered, and the anchor raised. As the crowd waved and cheered their farewells, the craft slipped along the waves and out the harbor to the open sea, leaving Crom to watch Bluewhorl's harbor fade away from the railing until it was an unclear mass of shapes on the horizon.
That was, until he felt a peck at his shoulder.
"Crom?"
"Eh?"
The Druddigon turned around, where he saw Kiran and Ander waiting for him.
"Captain Beatrix's about to give an announcement by the tiller," the Scyther explained.
"Can't go about on a ship without knowing what's going on, after all!" the Swellow added. "Why, it makes work aboard a ship 75% more wasteful!"
"Hmm, right."
Crom followed the two along to a rough wooden lever towards the back of the stern, where the Illumise flitted back and forth, clearing her throat to speak as all eyes and ears trained on her.
"Alright, I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you all," she began. "You took on an uncertain job, and didn't let the Butterfree in your stomach get to you."
"So… what happens next?" a Servine asked.
"We do what Hatteras set us out to do-" the Illumise answered, only to be interrupted by a young, rough voice.
"We get Pleo back!"
All eyes turned to Crom, which made him shrink back sheepishly as he realized that he had spoken out of turn. Kiran ruffled out his feathers and cleared his throat.
"Well, he isn't wrong, Beatrix," he chirped, rubbing a wing against the back of his head.
"Heh, I see he takes to the sea just like his father," the Illumise chuckled, gesturing towards a flustered-looking Fraxure in the crowd.
"Er… heh... well, what can I say there?"
"As I was saying, I'm not fully sure what we're going to see on this voyage," the firefly continued. "But I'm confident that if we all work together, we'll stand as good of a chance we can hope of for pulling through. So stay sharp, help out your fellow 'mon when the opportunity shows itself…"
The Illumise looked about her crew. It was a motley and unimposing lot sure, but her old schooner had seen improbable runs before. She gave a faint smile and nodded, what was pushing the envelope a little when the stakes were what they were?
"And let's make sure that Protector gets back home. By tomorrow if we can help it!"
"YEAH!"
As the meeting wound down, the crew members turned to tend to their various tasks aboard the ship in high spirits.
It would surely not be too long before the Protector was among them, joining their reverie on the humble little craft as they traced the winds and the currents back home…
Into the arms of a town that was waiting expectantly for them all.
Author's Notes:
- Papa - French: "Dad", "Father"
- Chyba żartujesz! - Polish: Expression meaning roughly "Are you kidding me!" or "You must be joking!"
- 'sa? - Venetian: Interjection meaning "What?" or "Why?"
- (¡)Sube! - Spanish: "Pull up!", "Go up!"
- Jesteś szalona! - Polish: "You're crazy!"
