Chapter 41: High and Low

"Wow, this place looks amazing!"

Pleo bobbed his head excitedly about to and fro at his surroundings in Braveshoal Town. Team Traveller's trek from the ridge overlooking the atoll's lagoon had taken them down into a great reef flecked by a collection of dome and bell-shaped buildings at an intersection of several air tunnels.

The nexus of bubble-covered paths made for a lively settlement; not a foot of street was clear of the vendor stands hawking snacks and bubbleweed or entertainers vying for loose Poké. A group of Maractus, dancing with maracas, caught Nida's eye in particular.

The business even spilled outside the air bubble- a school of small, blue fish grouped up in the form of a much larger fish could be seen swimming around the wall, just as a massive Wailord blocked the sun by floating above the tunnel's ceiling much to the Poison-Type's amazement.

"I didn't think there would really be an entire town underwater like this," she said.

"Recall that not every Pokemon lives on land like us," Elty chided. "Just look at those Pokémon Dimitri hangs out with."

"So those sheep really were speaking the truth then..." Guardia murmured as she got distracted by the groups of sea Pokémon swimming overhead.

"Where did they say we'd find the Blue Fairy then?" Pleo asked.

Nida stared ahead blankly and folded her ears back. Now that she thought about it, Bodie and Currituck hadn't told them a specific place where the Blue Fairy would be...

"Er…"

"Need a better way to pack a punch? Step right up to Alcon's Traveling Move Tutor!"

"Huh?" Nida asked. The Nidoran turned and saw that up ahead at the edge of the air tunnel, a table had been set up. Behind it, there was a pink-and-blue bird with a roughly polygonal shape floating back and forth cheerily chirping aloud.

"Whether you're swimming down here in the sea or soaring in the skies above, my tutoring will help you throw your foes off-balance!"

"Oh! Melissa! Melissa!" Pleo cried. The little Protector chirped and dashed along towards the Move Tutor's stand, drawing a flustered outcry from Elty.

"Mewa, wait!" the Growlithe barked. But it was too late, the little Lugia had already made his way up to a now flustered-looking Porygon, prattling happily along.

"Why is your voice suddenly lower?" Pleo asked. "And why's your shop so different?"

"Erm… hello, little one," the polygonal bird hummed back. "I think you might have me mistaken for another instance... I'm Alcon."

Pleo blinked and tilted his head curiously. The little Protector at first thought it strange that there were other Pokémon like Melissa in the Cradle… only to realize that this had happened before with Bader back in Seahive. The Flying-Type was not the only member of Team Traveller to find the bird strange, as Guardia scanned and sniffed at the bird and his stand as if he suddenly sprouted a second head.

"Eh?! What kind of hut-dweller nonsense is this?!" Guardia exclaimed, her answer swiftly answered by an excited chirp from Pleo.

"This Pokémon will teach you new moves from magical plate thingies called 'tee-yems'!"

"Actually, it's just biodata pressed onto a organic composite storage disc," the Porygon insisted. "I'm here in Braveshoal to ply my trade to some soggier-than-normal customers."

Nida frowned in puzzlement. So this move tutor moved around... but why? Wasn't it risky to be moving around with a bunch of valuable plates like that?

"Eh?" Nida asked. "But aren't you worried about getting robbed?"

"That's what I'm here for," a rough, burbling voice answered.

Team Traveller looked up, and watched as a hulking Barbaracle came around the corner of the stand. Was this Alcon's guard? It would certainly explain why he wasn't worried about getting robbed...

"That's correct, this big guy here helps me get around," the Porygon chirped. "Once my collection gets a bit too big, I'll sell off a less popular TM to a more stationary instance or put it in storage. Can't pack too heavy, after all!"

"Wait, you can teach moves?" Guardia asked, her eyes lighting up and her tail wagging expectantly. "Would any of them be able to teach Jishin?"

"I wanna learn a glowy beam attack!" Pleo added.

"Knowing Ice Beam like mami couldn't hurt…" Nida murmured, putting a paw to her muzzle. The Poison-Type daydreamed a little of the things she'd do with her newfound skill… only for her thoughts to be interrupted by Elty frowning and drooping his ears out of annoyance.

"Oi, stop dawdling!" he snapped. "We don't have the money to get anyone tutored, and I thought we were looking for the Blue Fairy to get out of this soggy dump!"

Alcon swiveled back to answer the Growlithe that had aborted his business negotiation, giving an annoyed electronic hiss.

"... If you're looking for the Blue Fairy, I'm afraid she isn't here," the Porygon replied, his voice coming out with an unamused chirp. "I would recommend trying your luck closer to the Center."

"Yeah, and if you aren't buying anything, you can move along," the Barbanacle growled. "This is a business, not a playground!"

The barnacle guard shot a piercing glare at the quartet, which made Team Traveller lower their heads and tails and hurry away from the the Move Tutor's stand. As the Barbaracle turned his attention back to the stand, Nida, Pleo, and Guardia gave sour looks at the little Fire-Type, still a bit miffed from him getting them unceremoniously chased off.

"You could have gotten us to leave differently you know!" the Cubone growled, giving a bat of her club against her claw. "But… since we're talking about it, where in the 'Center' would this 'Blue Fairy' be? This place is huge!"

They sat down to think at some stones at the side of the air passage. Clearly there weren't any signs pointing the way to their target, and the shopkeepers would apparently not be enthused to help them.

"Maybe the best thing to do is to narrow down the places she could be at," Nida said, before confidently looking off at the small clusters of undersea buildings in the distance.

"After all, it doesn't look like this Braveshoal Town is that big…" the Nidoran insisted. "She can't be that hard to find."


"How can she be this hard to find?!"

After making their way to the center of Braveshoal Town, Nida and her teammates spent hours checking the district's nooks and crannies, but still hadn't seen any sign of the Blue Fairy. The team had come to a rest at the central square of town, which was filled with Pokémon going from shop to shop.

"Maybe we're doing something wrong?" Guardia asked.

"Yeah, those sheep did say that this Blue Fairy also had a history with the Company," Elty said. "Who's to say she'd want to be open about where she is?"

"But what should we do then?" Pleo chirped

Before the team could continue, a question from a rough, growling voice rang out from behind with an uncomfortably familiar cadence.

"Are you kids lost?"

The group froze and went wide-eyed as they realized that what they heard sounded like Lyn's voice. Team Traveller's members whirled around where much to their horror, they saw a hulking Samurott looking down with a scowl, which made the team jump back with a panicked start.

"A-Aah!" Pleo squawked "Nida!"

"L-Lyn?!" the Nidoran squeaked, fanning out her barbs and growing increasingly pallid. "H-How did-?! You're not supposed to be-!"

"B-Bogowie…"

As Elty's frightened whine hung in the air, the Fire-Type backpedaled slowly, quivering and pulling his ears and tail tight to his body. Even Guardia's kneejerk aggression was colored by her shock and quailing limbs at the giant foe before her, her grip on her club coming trembling and unsteady.

"Y-You're not going to bat us around!" she cried. "N-Not without a fight!"

The Samurott fished out one of his blades as concerned onlookers began to stare at the unfolding incident. A Popplio and Brionne poking their heads up from a nearby Kecleon shop, a Krabby hastily scuttling away sideways… Even the Sharpedo and Tentacruel towing a load of chests wrapped up in rope netting overhead paused and murmured to one another.

"Sevan? What's going on out there?"

A burbling voice called out, its owner quickly revealing himself to be a blue Jellicent that floated out from a nearby submerged structure. Nida, Pleo, Elty, and Guardia looked at the bobbing wraith, and then back at the Samurott, where they recognized that he was missing Lyn's scarf and its trademark purple fractal. In its place was a tan belt with black wave design on it worn as a choker, then…

Just what was going on here?

"A case of mistaken identity, it seems," the Samurott grunted. "As the nice Jellicent mentioned, I'm 'Sevan', not 'Lyn'."

Pleo and Nida hesitated, as Elty shot a wary look at the Water-Type. The gathered crowd, realizing nothing too interesting was going on, began to return to their business. Guardia for her part gave a puzzled tilt of her head. If this wasn't the 'Lyn' creature that her teammates so feared, who was he, and why did they think he was the same?

"Eh? What do you do down here anyways?" she prodded.

"I'm what you'd call 'private security,'" the Samurott answered, lowering his free seamitar. "Not every town has enough monpower to watch every part constantly, and some places like this bank here need more some extra protection."

"And so they pay 'mons like you to provide it," Elty said.

"Correct," the otter answered. The creature nonchalantly gave the blade a playful spin about his knuckles, and then slid it back into its sheath, making Nida, Pleo, and Elty's eyes go wide.

"... Where did you learn how to do that?" Nida asked uneasily.

"I picked it up from my father," Sevan replied. "You could say it's a habit that runs in the family."

"But… are you really not Lyn?" Pleo pressed. "I mean, he did that same thingy with his sword that you just-"

"Again, it's Sevan," the Samurott tersely insisted, before giving a shake of his head. "And you needed directions, didn't you? What exactly were you looking for earlier?"

Pleo shifted his wounded wing slightly against his bandages, unsure of whether or not this 'Sevan' was safe to trust. After a little hesitation and realizing that they hadn't had much luck with prior attempts at asking, the young Protector decided to take a leap of faith.

"We were looking for the Blue Fairy," the Lugia explained. "But we've gone through every tunnel in town and she wasn't by any one of them!"

"Last I was aware, the Blue Fairy didn't make a habit of hanging around easy-to-reach places, especially for airbreathers," Sevan muttered. "And be mindful that there is more to this town for those that can swim."

"What do you mean by that?" Guardia asked.

"I'm saying that you might have a better idea of where the Blue Fairy would be if you asked someone from one of the clans that swam in recently," the mustelid answered. "The rumor mill about her has been particularly strong in the western resting grounds from what I've heard."

"Wait, wait, wait," Elty replied. "But if this place doesn't have a Subway tunnel going to it, how are we supposed to get there?"

"I'd suggest you find someone from the Khranitel Rod to take you there, they're the ones claiming it right now," the otter grunted. "You'll know as soon as you see them. They wear blue belts with a red dot on them."

Blue belts with a red dot on them? Wait a minute, that was the same pattern that Dimitri wore! So all they had to do was to find Dimitri or one of his clanmates!

"Er... thanks for the help, Sevan," Nida said. "And sorry about the misunderstanding earlier…"

"Don't worry about it," the Samurott answered, giving a dismissive wave of his paw. "I've got a job to get back to, and it sounds like you do too."

"Right!" the Poison-Type cried, turning to her companions. "Come on, let's go!"

Team Traveller quickly set off down a Subway path leading to a cluster of domed buildings in the distance, slipping off into the teeming street. As the four vanished off into crowded air tunnel, the Jellicent swam over to Sevan, giving a curious tilt of his bell to his hired help.

"Sevan, isn't 'Lyn' the name of that brother of yours you sometimes go on about?" the Ghost-Type asked.

"Yes…?"

"How come you didn't tell anything about that to those kids?" the jellyfish replied. The Samurott shifted uncomfortably and cast his gaze off into the distance, before shaking his head and turning back to the Jellicent

"Because the path my brother took in life is his, and the one I chose is my own," the otter finally answered. "I'd like to keep it that way."


A short while later, in the water high above Braveshoal, a Tentacruel and Sharpedo swam along under gentle waves with provisions packed in waterlogged crates. The two stabilized their crate-laden net, and then set off ahead for the frigate in the distance, towing their provisions towards the form of the frigate's hull and the neighboring dock pylons.

"Remind me again why we're not back at Sophie's and just having someone else carry these crates for us again?" the Sharpedo grumbled.

"Katyusha, be reasonable," Cyanea scoffed. "Just how well do you think Jun is going to take some random locals swimming up to the ship with cargo that we're supposed to be towing?"

"Hey!" the shark retorted. "It would work if they got it in when he wasn't looking!"

Cyanea shook her bell and gave a dismissive roll of her eyes. Even if she was a handy partner for whiling away some free time, the Tentacruel never had fully made her peace with Katyusha's laxness with regard to missions.

"Who knows, if we helped out those kids back at that square, we could've gotten them to help us tow these crates!" the Sharpedo said.

The Tentacruel shot Katyusha a skeptical look. She wasn't really talking about those children who were screaming over that Samurott, was she?

"Are these the land-breathers with the weird bird?" the jellyfish asked. "How are they supposed to be of any help when they can't swim?"

Katyusha drifted with a blank stare for a moment, before giving a shake of her head as she realized that it probably wouldhave been a bit much to expect a bunch of airbreather pups to swim well.

"Err… point, I guess…" the shark replied. "Though I wonder why they were going on about that 'Lyn' guy…"

"Who now?"

"You know, 'Lyn'?" Katyusha prodded. "The name they were saying to the Samurott who said they were getting him confused?"

"Hold on..." the Tentacruel mulled. "Wasn't 'Lyn' the name of that Commissioner that Captain Nugget said she was spying on back in Mengir?"

Bah, why was Katyusha of all Pokémon bringing up Nagant's mission now? Commissioner Lyn was an entire island away, and would surely be after the same sea god the captain was.

… Hey, wait a minute!

"Ack! That weird Wingull thing!" Cyanea yelped. "That was the god we've been looking for!"

Katyusha jolted back with a stupefied look on her face. After a moment to regain her bearings, the shark shook her fins and piped up with an impatient cry.

"Well then what are we waiting for?!" Katyusha exclaimed. "Let's get these provisions over and tell Jun about it!"

"Right-!"

Cyanea started to swim off for the frigate, but stopped abruptly as a sudden thought crossed her mind. Would reporting their findings to Jun really be the best way to capture that god...?

"Actually, Katyusha… are we sure we want to tell him?" the Tentacruel asked.

"What are you going on about?" the Sharpedo demanded. "Jun's the first mate and he'd be right there! Why wouldn't we want to tell him?"

"Well, what if he doesn't do anything about it?" the jellyfish countered.

"Are we talking about the same Beedrill here?" Katyusha scoffed. "Why would he pass up on finishing our mission?"

"Well, for one, Otvaga isn't in our jurisdiction," the Poison-Type retorted. "Don't you think that picking a fight here would give him a bit of pause?"

"Why would it? It's just a dinky little atoll!"

"A dinky little atoll that all the sea rodov around here stop by," the Poison-Type explained. "If they rallied together, they'd be able to move and attack every sea route the Empire uses!"

Katyusha paused as she realized her friend made a good argument. To top it off, if the rodov in town were to attack the ship, there'd be no way the crew could hope to defend it!

"Er…"

"And what if he doesn't believe us to begin with?" the jellyfish pressed.

"Well, we can't just let him get away!" the shark cried.

"Exactly," Cyanea said. "Which is why we should catch him on our own!"

The Sharpedo gave her teammate a confused look. Did Cyanea really just suggest that they should go catch a sea god without any backup?

"Come again?" Katyusha asked, giving a skeptical tilt of her head. "I mean, you're suggesting that we go up against a god..."

"If he shrank back from some Samurott, he can't be that tough. And think about it," the jellyfish replied. "If it's just the two of us chasing that god, the worst that can happen is a day or two of detention or Community Service that Jun can bail us out of…"

Katyusha mused. It was better to ask forgiveness than permission, true. And the possible reward was tantalizing.

"I'll admit, that does sound pretty solid when you put it that way…"

"Of course it does!" Cyanea exclaimed. "And besides, I've been looking for a mission to lead for a while now…"

"Oh, you mean like the last few days," the Sharpedo began, drawing a glare and an irritated huff from her companion.

"Katyusha, take this seriously!" the Tentacruel barked. "So are we doing this, or what?"

The Sharpedo stopped and listed in the water, moving a fin contemplatively towards her maw. After a noticeable pause, the shark grunted and nodded back to her partner.

"... I'm in," Katyusha answered. "But there's just two problems…"

"And what are those?" Cyanea demanded.

"First off, we have to find that god back in Braveshoal," the shark replied.

The Tentacruel paused for a second after Katyusha's comment and looked down at the large reef on the seabed below her. Even if the sea god somehow couldn't swim, there were no shortage of places connected to the network of air tunnels that needed to be checked. To top it off, they had run into the Protector more or less by accident, something that was unlikely to be repeated a second time.

On the other hand... there was at least one reason to hope that their search wouldn't be totally hopeless...

"Er… Well, I don't think it can be that hard, that bird would stand out in any crowd!" Cyanea insisted. "But what was the second?"

"We don't know how strong this god is," Katyusha answered. Much to the Sharpedo's surprise, the Tentacruel gave a dismissive wave of her tendrils at the question.

"Simple, we'll observe him before we attack to get a feel for how tough he is."

"Well, when you put it that way..." Katyusha said. "Guess we should get going, huh?"

Cyanea turned to swim back to Braveshoal, when she felt the heavy cargo tug against her tentacles… Right. It wouldn't do any good to try and chase a Protector lugging the net around, and Jun would no doubt get suspicious if they stayed away from the ship for too long.

"Let's head back to the ship and deliver the cargo first," Cyanea said. "We'll head back to Braveshoal as soon as we're finished."

After a nod of agreement from Katyusha, the two began swimming back to their ship. All the while, thoughts of their impending mission swirled in their ahed, of one fateful thrust that could change the fate of all of Anyilla.


Just offshore Mengir Island, a battered schooner with gaping holes filled with wood-ice and tattered sails limped along the last leg of its journey. The sight of the green hills and fog-shrouded stone needles provided relief to an exhausted crew, including a young Druddigon watching intently from the deck's railing.

Despite the new island ahead of him, the vigor and curiosity the little dragon had at the last two islands was completely absent. The wonder of the green-beached island and its stone spires completely drowned out by anxieties about what might have become of them.

Were they on the island right now, hiding from Lyn? Or perhaps they had moved on again...? Maybe Lyn had captured them and it was all because they were too late…

"Hey there, Crom."

Pladur and Kiran limped up to the rail, the former visibly wincing from the climb up the stairs, still bandaged and hobbled from the lingering wounds from the Iron Fleet's ambush.

"Are you sure you should be out of bed so soon, dad?" Crom murmured, concern leaking into his voice.

"It should be fine, it's not good to leave your muscles at rest too long," Kiran reassured. "Why, muscular atrophy prolongs recovery by a good 30%!"

"It'll take more than this to get your old papi down," Pladur grunted as he pawed at a bandaged flank. "I just wanted to make sure that filling in for me wasn't grinding you down too much."

"Dad, it's alright," the Druddigon insisted. "You don't need to push yourself like- Huh?"

As the Siglo Swellow neared Mengir's harbor, Crom noticed that there was a massive ship with four sails and metal cladding at a single dock neighboring a fort complex along a stream. The ship was quickly detected by the rest of the crew along with two others docked in the harbor. The sight evoked a pallor among the gathered Pokémon, their shock deepening as one of the lookouts pointed out an even bigger ship with five sails pulling into the docks ahead of them.

"Eh?! Th-Those are ironclads!" Pladur squeaked. "And there's another one pulling into port!"

A fuss swept the ship as news of the sighting spread among the crewmates and below the decks. Kiran flew over and stared apprehensively at the ships, as Beatrix flew here and there in a hurried start.

"Pull up those sails!" Beatrix barked.

The tattered sails were raised and the Illumise fluttered over to the rail, looking through the scope she was carrying. The Bug-Type peered through the tube at the ship pulling into port, which she saw had an unusually intricate design. The firefly beat her wings out in shock and looked over at the needle-peaked island. There, back in the local village's harbor, she saw Lyn's Argent Aviso along with the two ironclads with Administrator's patterns on their sails. After looking at the Administrators' ships, and back at the strange five-master, Beatrix realized that there was only one reason why five-masted ship would have more intricate patterns. Namely that it belonged to the only Pokémon in the Company who outranked its Administrators...

"That's the Director of the Company!" she exclaimed. "And Lyn's in port, along with two extra Administrators!"

The gathered crew collectively froze. It would have been expected that they'd run into Lyn's ship, but this one?!

"Th-The Director of the Company?!"

"They must've caught the Protector then!"

The atmosphere of panic aboard the ship ebbed, and began to grow replaced by a silent, crushing despondence. There in the port of that unassuming little village were the most powerful and feared Pokémon in all the Company's realms… If they really had Pleo and the children, then how could they hope to rescue them…?

"What do we do now?" Pat murmured, the Unfezant drooping his head and feather streamers.

"It might be best to retreat and regroup, Captain," a Hitmontop said, shaking his head. "I don't see any realistic way of us getting the Protector back like this."

A chorus of dejected voices agreed with the Fighting-Type, as Pokémon began wondering aloud over how to break the news back home, when a young dragon's voice broke out.

"W-Wait!"

The crew turned to look with pained expressions at the Druddigon who made the outburst. Based off the Dragon-Type's frantic concern, had he really understood the full implications of those ships in the harbor?

"What about Pleo?!" Crom cried. "What about my friends?!"

"Crom, I don't think this isn't a battle we can win…" Pladur murmured, lowering his head.

"He has a point. We'd be one crew and a barely floating ship against the entire Board," Ander added. "I'd be surprised if we could get unmoored before getting sunk!"

"That doesn't mean that we should just give up!" a squawking voice protested. The audience looked for the new voice for a moment, before finding it had come from Kiran, who was perched on the rear mast.

"H-Huh?!"

"Kiran, what are you going on about?!"

"Look, I realize that things look bad here," the Swellow exclaimed. "But if we turn back the odds will only get 100% more impossible for us!"

"We have those bounties that Hatteras gave us, though," Pladur said. "Couldn't we use that to lie low and shake down the Company to give the Protector back?"

"We know where Pleo is right now, though!" the Flying-Type protested. "If we let the Company sail away with him, who knows where he might end up or what they might do to him!"

"Kiran, be reasonable! We're just a small crew!" Ander buzzed. "If the Company has Pleo right now, what hope do we have of getting him back? That's as sure a sign to retreat as any!"

"But what about everyone back home...?" Crom murmured. "Aren't they counting on us to bring everyone back?"

The Dragon-Type's point drew a long pause from Beatrix. After all, Pleo was important to everyone back home, and none of the Trombans wanted to be the ones to break the news of failure to their friends and families.

"... Lower the sails, we're going in," the Illumise said.

"Eh?! We are?!" Philips cried.

"Captain Beatrix," Natrix began, "you can't seriously be-"

"Oh, but I am," the Bug-Type insisted. "This ship isn't exactly the epitome of seaworthiness right now and it needs repairs anyways."

"But Captain, if the Company has the Protector, we'd need to smuggle him out from under the noses of their entire leadership!" the Hitmontop exclaimed. "Just how can you be confident enough to sail in like this?!"

"Because hope can sometimes work miracles," the Illumise explained, prompting a contemplative silence to fall over the crew.

"We've come this far thanks to the hope that we'd get our Protector back," Beatrix said. "If we're going to have to take a bit of a risk to bring our Protector home, now's as good an opportunity for that miracle to come as we'll ever get."

The initial silent was broken by a few scattered hollers, then a crescendo of cheers. Fortune favored the bold after all, and with a little boldness, and a lot of luck, perhaps they'd finally be able to bring their Protector home.

"Good, then let's sail on."

As the ship started to set sail towards Mengir's harbor, Crom leaned over the railing, looking at the island ahead. Things genuinely didn't look good right now, but in spite of it... perhaps the best that could be done was to force a smile and keep up hope.


After heeding Sevan's advice, Nida, Pleo, Elty, and Guardia made their way into a warren of stony monoliths. Some of the monoliths had been carved in the shape of Pokémon heads, standing side-by-side with coral-fashioned buildings interleaved with a maze of air tunnels. The four looked above at a Seaking carrying a slumped-over Mienfoo in a bubble along her back. A little further off, a trio consisting of a Luvdisc, a Tirtouga, and a Feebas spun a rotating board on a wall to read a collection of knot-messages, glinting badges attached to their belts... this was a Rescue Team?

As Team Traveller made their way deeper into the center, a closer look around their surroundings revealed that most Pokémon were wearing similar badges. Their earlier wonderings were resolved after chancing to pass by a Buneary, a Meditite, and a Ralts gathered around a map, the quartet overheard them mulling aloud over how different their last mission was compared to other islands. As Team Traveller moved along and the trio's conversation faded into the background, one question continued to linger in the team's minds...

"How come we didn't figure out this funny place was a guild the first time?" Pleo asked.

"Well, it certainly looks a bit different from the guilds we've seen so far," Nida murmured. "I mean, at first I thought this place was a market."

"Dosyć," Elty grunted, scanning the passing Pokémon. "Are any of you having any luck seeing Pokémon wearing blue belts with a red dot on them? I haven't seen a single one of those since we came in."

"Maybe we're looking in the wrong place?" Guardia wondered. "I mean, there's still plenty of places in this guild we didn't go to… like that hostel with all the red-belted Pokémon over there."

"Since when do guild complexes have hostels?" Elty snorted.

"Well, what do you call that up there, then?"

The Cubone pointed off ahead towards a stony dome-shaped structure with her club, where sure enough, Pokémon wearing red belts with bisected circular designs could be seen. The four set off down an air tunnel for the 'hostel,' popping into it where they saw a motley group of Pokémon reclining on beds of straw and of kelp under the surface of moon pools, a few being tended to with patches and bandages by other red-belted Pokémon…

"Wait a minute," Nida cried. "This is a medic's hut!"

"Eh? But what's it doing right in the middle of a guild?" Pleo asked.

"That's because of the needs of our guild, silly!" a bubbling voice called. The group turned around and saw an Alomomola floating in a nearby moon pool, shifting her head-body in order to get a better view of the four strangers.

"Huh?" Guardia pressed. "What do you mean by that?"

"Our rescue teams don't just deal with Mystery Dungeons," the Alomomola explained. "Plain old shipwrecks need attention too! After all, a lot of Pokémon can't swim..."

"Though a lot more would learn if they knew the alternative was getting mouth-to-mouth from a fish!" a familiar, squirrelly voice called out. Nida and her companions turned and looked behind a pillar, where there on a bed of dried matting was none other than...

"Scout?!"

"Eh?! What are you four doing here?!" the Sentret exclaimed. "And what was the big idea standing me up at the docks back at Mengir, huh?"

"Salvini tricked us and led us into a trap!" Pleo cried. "And then the Company caught us and locked us up in the medics' hut, but Salvini changed her mind and came back to help us with an Immortal named Trizano-!"

"Urgh… you know what, save it for later," the Sentret groaned, giving a wave of his paw. "That mouth to mouth is still getting to me and I don't need another headache right now."

"It probably would be best if you gave the patient some space," the pink sunfish instructed. "Near-drownings do take quite a bit out of airbreathers like you."

"Er… right," Pleo replied.

The team turned back, deciding to exit the medics' hut and leave Scout to recuperate amongst his fishy caretakers. As the quartet exited, they looked up and down the path leading out from the central hub, looking for another lead to follow. By chance, the four saw the form of a Lumineon swimming by just outside of the bubble wall of the air tunnel leading to the central area, catching a glimpse of a familiar blue belt with a red dot design slung around her head.

"Wait a minute!" Elty barked. "That Lumineon was there with Dimitri at Seaspear Station last night!"

"Hey! Over here!" Nida cried. "It's us, Team-"

"You again!"

Team Traveller whirled and watched a small school of sea Pokémon in blue and red belts swam up against the wall of the bubble tunnel. There, at the head of the group, was none other than the form of a familiar scowling Kingdra.

"What do you want?" Kuda snarled.

"Er… we were looking for the Blue Fairy," Nida explained. "A Pokémon in town told us that we might have more luck finding out where she was if we went to your resting grounds."

"You can take us there... right?" Pleo asked.

"Keep dreaming," the Kingdra scoffed. "Good luck swimming out there."

The Dragon-Type turned to leave, his companions likewise motioning to depart, prompting a swift outburst from Guardia as she waved after the sea creatures.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" the Cubone cried. "We need your help!"

"Yeah, and we're not biting," Kuda answered. "That's our place, and none of us here would take a bunch of airbreathers like you there! Isn't that right?"

The seahorse's question was met by scoffs and harrumphing agreements; clearly the Pokémon with him weren't too interested in taking them to the resting grounds either.

"You heard 'em," the Kingdra grunted. "So go and figure out your own way there because we're not-"

"Hey!"

The tense atmosphere lifted as everyone turned and saw Dimitri swim down from above. The Kabutops gave a cheery wave at Nina and her companions, blissfully unaware of Kuda and the others' hostility.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh! Dimitri! Dimitri!" Pleo exclaimed. "Would you be able to take us to your resting grounds? We've been looking for the Blue Fairy!"

"Oh? The Blue Fairy, huh?" Dimitri murmured. "I don't know if I should take you to her, but the Ataman could. Come on, I'll swim you to him at the grounds!"

"That's-! Dimitri!" Kuda spluttered. "You can't just bring them along like that!"

"Why not?" the crab asked. "They don't mean any harm, right? And what's the worst that could happen?"

Kuda and the gathered seamons traded skeptical looks and murmured among one another. Even if the request seemed foolhardy and like a waste of time, a group of four surface children wasn't anything that the Khranitel Rod couldn't handle. Nida, picking up on the audience's reception to the team, shot a wary glance over to the Kabutops.

"Dimitri, is this really going to work?" the Nidoran whispered.

"Ataman Viktor may seem rough on the outside, but he's alright once you get to know him," Dimitri replied. "If you've got a good reason, I'm sure he'll tell you more about the Blue Fairy!"


"No! Absolutely not!"

A few minutes later, Dimitri had ferried the team out of the Otvaga Guild and over to to his clan's chosen resting grounds. From their perch on the Kabutops' back, Team Traveller could see that the resting grounds consisted of a chunk of reef intermingled with beds of sea grasses, with clefts cut into the corals for the clan's members to rest in. Much to Pleo and his teammates' surprise, the meeting with the Khranitel Rod's Dragalge leader hadn't gone nearly as auspiciously as their guide hoped.

"Eh?! But why not?" Pleo cried.

"Because the Blue Fairy only meets with Pokémon she knows she can trust," Kuda huffed from the sidelines. "Not a bunch of random airbreathers up to gods-knows-what!"

"We're just a bunch of kids, though!" Nida exclaimed. "Surely this Blue Fairy can trust us, right?"

"No."

"But we need her to help us!" Pleo exclaimed. "Alexandria said she would! And you know where she is!"

"That's not my problem," Viktor growled. "And there's nothing you can say to change my mind about this."

The Dragalge gave a disgusted shake of his head, and shot a glare at the Kabutops and his passengers.

"Dimitri, get these deti back to the air tunnel where they came from," Viktor snapped. "I don't want to deal with this right now."

"But, Ataman-"

"Now, Dimitri!" the Dragalge snapped.

"Yeah!" Kuda chided. "Stop dragging your fins!"

Reluctantly, Dimitri began to swim away with his bubbled charges, only for a sudden squawking cry to interrupt.

"Wait!"

Viktor turned and saw Pleo desperately waving his uninjured wing for attention, leaving the Dragalge to scowl and glare at the strange bird obviously stalling for time.

"Are you sure there's nothing that would change your mind?" Pleo insisted.

"Yes," the Poison-Type spat. "But since you're so confident, go ahead and hit me with your best shot, chayka."

"Er… well..." Pleo began. "The reason why we wanted to see the Blue Fairy was because… because..."

The little Lugia fumbled with his words, before taking a deep breath to compose himself, hoping that his next words would somehow sway the cranky fish.

"It's because I'm a Protector, and she's supposed to know about Pokémon like me."

The young Lugia's words drew a chorus of groans and derisive scoffs from the clan Pokémon around them. Viktor for his part didn't seem to find the explanation any more convincing, as the Poison-Type's eyes hardened into a glowering scowl.

"Yeah, right," the Dragalge snorted. "Dimitri, hurry up and get these idiots out-"

"Actually, Ataman …" Dimitri suddenly interjected. The Kabutops stared wide-eyed at the white bird, carefully going over his appearance as memories of their travels swirled in his head. Memories that all seemed to point to one conclusion...

"I… I think he actually might be a god."

Kuda and the others stared at Dimitri. The Kabutops had always had a tendency to be off in his own world, but surely he didn't believe this nonsense! Why, even the four children seemed to be surprised at how readily the crab had vouched for them!

"Wow, this is a new low even for you, Dimitri," Kuda scoffed.

"Dimitri," Viktor growled. "I don't need your games right now-!"

"It's not a game!" Dimitri exclaimed. "Think about it, why would the Company want four kids so badly unless there was something special about them? And when was the last time any of us saw a Pokémon like Pleo?"

The Dragalge bobbed in place, scowling at the Kabutops. Still, something seemed to give the sea dragon pause, as a long silence filled the water, only to be broken with a begrudging huff.

"Alright, fine. I'll arrange a meeting," Viktor said, shaking his head. "But if the Blue Fairy tells me that you're lying, I'll keep you down here with a ransom high enough that you'll be too old to chew your own food by the time you work it off!"

The team blanched and gulped at the mention of a 'ransom', hopefully this Blue Fairy would be a bit less skeptical and able to vouch for Pleo's identity. After the initial shock wore off, Elty blinked out of realization that something seemed amiss about the Dragalge's initial words…

"Wait, 'arrange a meeting'?" he asked. "Aren't you just bringing us to her?"

"Too risky," Viktor answered. "The Blue Fairy doesn't bring Pokémon to her, but comes to them so that the places she rests remains a secret to her foes."

"… I guess that makes sense," Nida murmured. "But where exactly are we meeting her?"

"You'll see soon enough."


The docks at Fensedge Village were busier that day, the wharves humming with activity of Pokémon going to and fro, with a suspicious absence of creatures without Company scarves on. A glance at the ships in port would quickly reveal the reason to any observers, with two hulking four-masted vessels with metal hull cladding at the docks, and an even larger five-masted ironclad starting to sail in.

The members of the Company's Board were afoot, all the more reason for common denizens of Fensedge to find other places to be that day. Even so, the most avoided section of the docks was not in front of any of the metal cladded-ships...

"I don't believe this!"

But on a dock next to a three-masted galleon, with a Samurott with a Third-Rank scarf pacing back and forth fuming. Whether on the ship, on the docks, in the air, or in the water, Pokémon around made a keen effort to give the creature a berth, casting nervous glances every now and then. The sole exceptions were a disinterested-looking Weavile jotting some notes down on a slip of paper, and a pallid-looking Mothim that waited beside the ship.

"I leave for Mengir on a night's notice, only for my most likely reward to be more accusations of failure?!" Lyn fumed. "And all because some fat lizard couldn't keep his grubby claws off of my target!"

Ellsberg gave the Samurott a nervous look, and couldn't help but worry how his superiors would perceive the fuming Samurott.

"Eh… Lyn?" the Mothim asked. "Maybe you should try to calm down a little…? I don't think Director Inler and Admin-"

"Quiet, Ellsberg!" Lyn bellowed.

"He does have a point, Captain," Ketu nonchalantly added while continuing to doodle on his note. "Things could be worse..."

Thunk!

Ellsberg and Ketu turned to see one of Lyn's seamitars embedded in the wooden timbers underfoot, its owner seething and giving a fierce glare at the Weavile. The Dark-Type folded up his paper and looked up at his superior, his expression having grown a bit more serious.

"Easy, Captain. I wasn't finished explaining," he insisted. "That bird may have gotten away, but it was because of Darzin, someone everyone on the Board already hates. If you stay calm and make a good impression you can easily get away with this without it being seen as another failure."

Ketu shook his head as a small smirk crept over the Weavile's face. The Dark-Type folded his arms, before giving a dismissive shrug at the lingering tension in the air.

"Who knows? Maybe if you keep the conversation focused on that lizard, Director Inler won't spend too much time asking you how we lost that bird the first two times."

The Samurott paused at his first mate's words, continuing to glare. After a little mulling, the creature shook his head and pulled his embedded blade out of the wooden timbers with a sigh.

"I suppose that having a hope of damage control is better than nothing," he murmured, shaking his head. The mustelid chanced to look off at the harbor in the distance, where he noticed that the largest ironclad in the harbor had still not found a place at the docks.

"That's strange," Lyn muttered. "I wonder what's taking Director Inler so long to dock-?"

SPLASH!

"A-Ack! What is-?!"

Ellsberg buzzed out of startled shock as a cresting wave crashed down onto the dock. Ketu hastily leapt up and latched onto the side of the hull as Lyn grabbed for his blades only to be forced back by the sudden deluge. Ellsberg fared worse, the surprise wave knocking out of the sky with a coughing splutter, his wings too damp to hold him aloft. The three Pokémon looked around for a culprit of the sudden Surf, only to see a visibly battle-worn Nidoking thumped a foot impatiently at the end of the docks.

"You should be more attentive to your surroundings, Commissioner Lyn," the Poison-Type chided. "I certainly wasn't expecting to run into you here loafing at the docks."

"G-Greetings Director Inler…" Ellsberg stammered. Lyn and Ellsberg hastily gave deferential bows to the Poison-Type, Ketu joining in by digging his claws out of the hull and dropping down to give a small nod of his head, only for the gestures to do nothing to budge the scowl on the Nidoking's face.

"Hrmph. Spare me your sycophancy and let's cut to the chase," the Director growled, before giving his pelt a good shake to dry off.

"What are you doing here day-tripping in my hometown anyways, Commissioner?" Inler demanded. "I thought you had more urgent matters to tend to!"

Lyn froze under the Nidoking's piercing glare. The Samurott gulped, and after a quick shake of his head, hastily attempted to explain himself.

"Sir! I was summoned here because Administrator Zorn informed me my target was here on this island," he hastily began. "But, you see-"

"Your target escaped before you could close in on it, again."

The gathered Pokémon turned back to the other end of the docks, where a smirking Zoroark and a glowering Luxray in Administrators' scarves were making their way over to the soggy gathering.

"It seems to be a recurring pattern, doesn't it?" Elilan chided, as he came to a stop beside Ketu.

"Ugh… what went wrong this time, Lyn?" Farn demanded.

Lyn shot a glare at the Zoroark and growled under his breath before inhaling and attempting to start his explanation anew, this time accounting for his larger audience.

"As I was saying... Administrators..." the Samurott continued. "Administrator Zorn told me the target was here, but once I arrived he had already disappeared because of the interference of Administrator Dar-"

"Save it for when we're behind closed doors, Commissioner," Inler barked. "There's clearly been a lot going on lately..."

The Nidoking flicked his ears and paced down the dock's timbers. As the Poison-Type passed Lyn and his cohorts, he turned back, a stern scowl filling the creature's face.

"And there'd better be a good explanation for it."


Author's Notes:

- Jishin ( じしん ) - Japanese: "Earthquake", both literal and as name of move. (Official Romanization, more commonly rendered as "地震" outside of game context)
- rodov (родов) - Russian: "clans", plural of "rod". (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- deti (дeти) - Russian: "children". (BGN/PCGN Romanization)
- chayka (чайка) - Russian: "seagull". (BGN/PCGN Romanization)