Chapter 93: Hostile Reception
After Nida wrapped up the tale of the King's Lettuce, Pleo retired back to his sleeping quarters as Nida carried on with her readings of the Knights' Ledger. She continued on for a time when the hour began to wear on her and she herself made her way to her bedding the next room over and flopped down to sleep. The Nidorina drifted off to an uneasy slumber, as even as the world faded from her eyes, she kept having unpleasant dreams about their escape from Vollezee.
The din of battle, the ship lurching and almost capsizing after Zorn rammed it from below, the Gyarados brutally sinking his fangs into Kiran and then throwing him aside limply… moments which just kept replaying over and over in her mind.
Ba-Boom…
Nida heard a distant boom and felt her bedding lurch. The Nidorina rolled in her sleep and flicked her ears, wearily cracking her eyes open as the sound of howling winds and confused shouts began to reach her.
"Whuh?"
BA-BOOM!
Nida jolted upright after a loud noise that sounded like a cannon going off came from outside, and at once saw that the sleeping quarters were in a state of general disorder. All around her, she saw sailors hastily running about to and fro, some with stray straw still clinging to their bodies. A few like a Golduck darted for the door and hurried out into the hallway, as others stopped to frantically shake their teammates awake. Here and there, she could see more injured sailors shrink into their bedding as they stared up at the ceiling with low whines, as if they expected the deck above to cave in on them at any moment.
Nida glanced over at Pleo, who was still sound asleep, when she saw Pladur run up with widened eyes and panting frantically. The Nidorina sprang up and bounded out into the Fraxure's path, pinning her ears back in alarm as she tripped over her words and tried to make sense of the chaos.
"Pl-Pladur?! Wh-What's going on?!"
"T-The storm outside's getting really bad!" the Dragon-Type cried. "Captain Beatrix is asking everyone who's able to get up onto deck to help batten down the hatches! Rapido! The rest of the team's already out there!"
The Fraxure hurriedly brushed past her and beelined for the exit, with other sailors following suit in his wake. Another deafening burst of thunder rang out, and after feeling wet droplets hit her from above, Nida glanced up and noticed that much to her alarm, there was water dripping through the timbers overhead. Travellers Above, if this storm was doing that, then how was the hull holding up right now? At this rate, Beatrix really would need every helping paw she could get!
Without thinking, the Nidorina hurried over to Pleo, tugging frantically at his wing to try and rouse him.
"Pleo! Pleo! Despiértate!"
Pleo stirred and craned his head up with a tired groan, only to freeze after he realized that he could hear shouting. There were scattered voices in the darkened sleeping quarters and the hallway, muffled shouts from the decks above, and the howl of raging winds which mixed together with the general cacophony. The Lugia sprang up with a start and turned to his Poison-Type teammate with an alarmed squawk.
"H-Huh?! What's happening?!
"The ship's in trouble!" Nida insisted. "We need to go help the others!"
Nida turned and hurried out of the sleeping quarters for the hall outside, prompting Pleo to stumble after her. They made their way down the corridors as the ship's timbers audibly creaked and groaned. The lanterns swayed wildly all the while, casting shadows that danced erratically across the ceiling and walls. Along the way, the floor pitched and bucked, forcing Nida and Pleo occasionally to stop to keep their footing as shouts rang out. Every now and then, they'd come across sailors hurrying to and from the ship's compartments similarly struggling with the rocking vessel, a couple badly enough that they lost their footing—like a Bergmite they came across who fell down the last few steps leading up to the deck.
Pleo and Nida hurriedly went over to help the Bergmite up as the poor sailor winced in pain. The whole time, Pleo couldn't help but be filled with a gnawing sense of confusion.
"N-Nida, what's going on?!" Pleo exclaimed. "Why's the ship reacting like this to the storm?! I-Isn't it just like the ones I flew through near Mengir?!"
Nida opened her mouth to try and explain to Pleo that ships had to deal with waves in a storm that weren't there while flying in the air. Before she could get more than the first couple of words out, the Nidorina was cut off by sharp cries up ahead that were just audible over the storm outside.
"Gah! One of the ice plugs is loose!"
"Someone take care of that rigging!"
The pair looked up the steps to exit onto the deck, the whole stairwell slick with water that had poured in from outside. Pleo stared blankly at the drenched floor for a moment, before Nida hurriedly tugged at him. The Lugia looked up and saw Nida hurrying further up the stairs before stopping to glance back, her eyes wide and frantic as she motioned ahead with one of her paws.
"There's no time!" she insisted. "Come on!"
Pleo rushed up the stairs with Nida and was promptly greeted by a thick deluge of rain from the sky, followed by a flash of lightning breaking overhead that made him freeze in place. As his eyes adjusted to the night's darkness, he found the deck of the Siglo Swellow in chaos, with Pokémon darting to and fro in a hurried panic fighting with errant lines of rope and a deck that had been slicked with seawater from bow to stern.
The young Protector stared in blank shock for a moment when he heard a sharp yip, looking over to see Elty tromping up drenched to the bone as water dripped off the ends of his scarf.
"Najwyższa pora!" the Growlithe barked. "We were starting to wonder if you were just going to sleep through all of this!"
The Lugia gaped about the confusion all about him, before shaking his head with a startled stammer. This was a storm! He'd flown through them just fine on Mengir! How could something so soothing and peaceful be causing all of this?!
"B-But why's all of this happening?!" he cried. "It's just a storm!"
A sharp crack rang out, as Pleo looked up to see a chunk of the front mast's yards sailing at him from the direction of the bow. He screamed and hurriedly jumped aside, beating his wings out in a panic as the yard hit the deck with an audible crash. Pleo looked over to see his teammates had darted back to him wide-eyed, when he looked up and saw Valter's gray sails fluttering in the wind visibly torn and frayed.
"It's not 'just' one for this ship!" Elty exclaimed. "If this keeps up, we'll be swimming our way to Gestirn! Come on!"
Elty bounded off for a piece of rope sliding around the deck and sank his teeth into it, prompting Nida and Pleo to hurry over. The three tugged at the line and fought against it as they pulled it over to a cleat embedded on the deck for tying down ropes, struggling to keep it steady as Nida began to wrap the tip of the rope around it.
"Almost… there!"
Pleo tugged at the line's loose end after Nida slipped it through a knot around the cleat and pulled with all his might, his teammates joining in until they stopped feeling the rope budging. The three let go and looked down at the line, when they saw it stayed firmly attached to the fastener. At once, Pleo and his companions let out a sigh of relief as the pouring rain came down on them. At least there was one less thing to worry about for the ship.
"Everyone! Look out!" an Unfezant cried. "There's a wave coming at us from starboa-!"
Pleo turned towards the starboard side of the ship, just as a wall of water broke over the railing. The next thing the Lugia knew, he lost his footing and felt seawater wash over his body and sent him to a tumbling stop along the deck. The Lugia lay there with his wings sprawled out, coughing up water he'd accidentally swallowed as he watched seawater and rain roll off his plumes.
"Help! Heeeeelp!"
Then he heard them. Frantic cries coming from the port side of the ship. The Lugia darted up to the railing and looked over, where there in the water, he could see a Sliggoo thrashing and struggling to keep his head above water as the ship drifted past and the sea escorts attempted to make their way to him. There were other figures further out in the water who'd evidently met much the same fate, while others hung precariously over the side of the ship, such as a Timburr who was clinging to the railing.
Pleo stared in dazed shock for a moment, as he tried to make sense of the confusion on deck. Wh-Where were his teammates right now? Were they alright?
"H-Hang in there, Guardia!" Crom voice shouted. "We're coming to get you!"
Pleo looked on as Guardia flailed from a rope dangling over the ship as Crom and the nearby sailors hurried to lend her aid. The Lugia froze and stood there blankly when he looked up at the sky, just in time to see a flash of lightning light up the stormy night.
Pleo didn't understand why the storm was hurting his friends like this, but after looking back all across the deck, the scene was much the same. Sailors all around him hurried about in a chaotic mass as they frantically tried to pull others aboard or fought to keep the ship together with visible fear and dread on their faces. Fear and dread that was just like the sort they'd had while fighting their way out of Vollezee.
Moments from the battle flashed back in Pleo's mind: the ship listing and Pokémon falling overboard crying out in fright and for aid that didn't come in time, Kiran plummeting into the sea before their eyes, the sheer helplessness that everyone felt when he called forth his powers, only to not have them come to him again later when his friends needed them most.
Pleo looked up at the sky as the cries in the background and the howl of the surrounding storm blurred together in his ears. He grit his teeth and spread his wings, as one singular thought came over his mind:
He wouldn't let his friends get hurt a second time today.
"N-No! Stop it!"
Pleo's feathers suddenly came aglow in silvery light, the sailors around the deck turning and staring in awe as he sprang up and flew into the sky overhead. All the while, Ander's eyes shrank to pins and a frightened whine came from the back of his throat, the Marked Scyther watching as the Lugia climbed and then stalled in the air, bringing his wings in close to his body mid-beat. Ander's nerves soon failed him, and he raised a scythe as he called out in fright.
"P-Pleo! Please!" the Scyther begged. "D-Don't do that now! Not here!"
Pleo threw his wings wide as a faint, blue glow washed over the clouds above. Blue shockwaves radiated out as the clouds overhead shuddered and visibly began to peel back all around him. Ander looked up, blinking as the clouds drifted further and further away. The rain began to lighten while the sea's waves shrank and grew less choppy. The deck and its surroundings grew calmer and calmer, as before he or anyone else knew it, they were all looking up at the constellations again, with a Traveller drifting just to the right of the moon.
The light from around Pleo faded afterwards, the Lugia wobbily returning back to the deck and coming to a pacing stop before he slumped over panting from exhaustion. Pleo laid there for a moment, when he felt a paw tugging at him, and looked up to see Nida staring at him with her eyes widened in awe.
"Pleo…"
An audible splat reached Nida's ears, as she and Pleo turned their heads to see Guardia slumping onto the deck's timbers onto her belly, gasping for breath. Crom and a number of sailors crowded around her as the Druddigon helped her up.
Elty breathed out a sigh of relief and drifted off a short distance to shake himself dry as Pleo fought against his tired limbs to sit up. Nida and the others around Pleo paused for a moment to catch their breaths from the whole ordeal, brushing off rain and seawater from their bodies as they stared stunned at the young Protector's approach.
"A-Are you all okay?" Pleo stammered. "Nobody's hurt, right?"
Nida and the others looked off back at the port side's railing, just in time to see a Nosepass being pulled up over the railing. A quick glance revealed other sailors similarly being brought back aboard, all soaked, with a few like the Timburr visibly shivering from their ordeal. Nida quickly glanced back at the sea, noticing that it was empty of Pokémon aside from their escorts. Thankfully, a quick headcount afterwards indicated that everyone seemed to be accounted for. The Nidorina tensely breathed in and out for a moment, before letting out an exhausted, relieved sigh.
"I… I think that we're all fine, yeah."
From the rear of the group, Ander warily approached Pleo, holding out his wings as he attempted to dry them in the sea air. All the while, the Scyther stared at the Lugia with a dumbfounded expression, before holding out a scythe and pointing at him with an incredulous stammer.
"B-But… you were channeling those powers," Ander said. "And-"
"Lugia is said to be able to dispel storms too, Ander," Nida replied. "I'm guessing that's what Pleo did there."
Nida watched as Ander seemed to hesitate for a moment. Evidently, even if he was convinced that the gods were demons, his stories must've also said that Lugia had the power to dispel storms. She supposed she should have been relieved at the turn of events, only to blink in realization and look at Pleo with a puzzled tilt of her head.
"… How did you know how to do that, Pleo?" Nida asked. "Whenever your powers came to you in the past, it's always been to attack things."
Pleo stared back blankly for a moment and shuffled his wings. The Lugia opened his mouth, only to trail off and look away uneasily.
"I… don't know," he murmured. "I just know that I saw everyone doing so awful from something that I liked and how scared everyone was, and I just couldn't bear to see it."
Nida raised a brow puzzledly as Pleo looked back at her.
"I just wanted the storm to stop, and… it just went away."
Nida blinked and flicked her ears at Pleo's explanation. Had it been something about their feelings that had drawn out Pleo's powers? Now that she thought about it, Pleo's powers did have a way of coming out whenever Pokémon felt overwhelmed or wished he could be there to help them.
Their escape from Buyeom… the night where they were cornered on Lyn's ship… even the first time he'd used his powers on Tromba if Mami's story was anything to go by. All of them fit that mold. It couldn't just be a coincidence, could it?
Nida flinched after hearing something drag against the deck and turned to see Vicente holding up a length of mangled rigging, before dropping it with a sighing shake of his head.
"Travellers Above, what a mess."
Nida watched the Hitmontop prod at a set of broken rigging with a foot as a tense grimace settled on his face. The Nidorina hesitated briefly at Vicente's reaction, before looking up along the masts and feeling a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach.
There above them, where Valter's sails had been, were naught but a bunch of soaked, gray ribbons of cloth dangling from the cross-masts. The other sailors noticed them too, as Vicente brought a hand to his face and pinched his brow.
"We certainly aren't getting to Gestirn with these," the Hitmontop muttered. "I don't know if this sort of damage could even be patched up."
Gulps and uneasy whispers went about the sailors on the deck as Beatrix walked up towards the remains of the sails, her wings too wet to fly. The Illumise pawed at a few of the damp rags lying on the deck, before throwing them aside with a wet splutch and shaking her head.
"… Even if these were salvageable, we wouldn't have the materials to repair them," she sighed. "And we'd never get them stitched back together before our water ran out."
Beatrix hesitated for a moment and sucked in a sharp breath, before turning to address the sailors around her.
"We've got one other set of sails left to work with that aren't those Company lavenders," the Illumise reminded. "Looks like we'll have to use those to continue on."
Another set of sails to work with? … Beatrix wasn't suggesting using the same ones they'd flown while being chased out of port from Giotto and Buyeom, was she? Worried glances and murmurs went about the gathered deckhands, as Pladur audibly gulped and spoke up in reply.
"You mean… our normal sails?" the Fraxure asked. "But how will those not get us in trouble the moment we pull into port?"
Beatrix turned to Pladur and noticed he and many of her gathered sailors were visibly on-edge from the proposal. After a long pause, she shook her head and let out a quiet sigh.
"… We'll do what we can to disguise the patterns, and try to come up with a cover story to give if anyone asks," Beatrix said. "But I don't think that flying parts of Company lavenders will exactly make us less likely to get into trouble."
A moment of lingering silence hung in the air, with nothing but the sea's waves breaking it. The sailors turned and one by one began to drift off about the ship, some setting to work clearing the debris and wreckage off the deck, while others made their way below it for their replacement sails. All the while, Nida and Pleo noticed the sailors seemed visibly tense and on edge, and looked around blankly. Neither of them were sure just what they were supposed to do when Pladur approached them with a low sigh.
"Maybe it'd be best if you just focused on getting some rest for now," the Fraxure insisted. "You all helped us more than we could've asked for tonight."
Nida glanced towards the stairs and saw Crom, Elty, and Guardia were already taking their leave, and with her and Pleo in their present state… it was hard not to agree that the Fraxure had a point.
"Thanks, Pladur," she replied. "I think that we'll do that."
Nida led her Lugia teammate along, following after him as he tiredly waddled back below the deck. Along the way, she noticed Pleo hanging his head as he walked. Perhaps he was just tired, but after Pleo's downcast mood earlier in the evening… it didn't hurt to give him a bit of reassurance.
The Nidorina hurried up, nosing at his wing for attention. After getting the young Protector to turn his head, Nida nuzzled at him and looked up into his eyes.
"Thank you, Pleo," she said. "For everything."
Pleo staredback wordlessly for a moment, before giving a small smile and leaning in to nuzzle Nida back, before continuing on for the entrance below deck. His movements were still tired and sluggish, but now they had a faint hopefulness to them that he'd lacked just moments earlier. All the while, Nida tried to keep her head up and to brush aside her worries. Whatever tomorrow would bring, she'd face it along with Pleo and her other teammates. Together.
Early that following morning, under calmer skies where the moon and stars were just beginning to give way to dawn, Hess had gathered with the rest of Orleigh's Pirate Council just as a galleon in Company colors pulled into port at Rosequartz Town. He and his fellow captains had come with a throng of pirates drawn from their crews for the occasion, as tension thick enough to cut with a knife hung in the air.
Dirk, Tarquin, and Ingela all steeled themselves for battle, though even with their firm countenance, some of their lackeys were still visibly on-edge as the Company ship approached. Hess grimaced and sucked in a sharp breath, a quick glance over his shoulder revealing that his underlings were just as rattled as him. He turned back to the galleon and sized up its deck, when he noticed that strangely enough, it seemed lightly crewed. There didn't seem to be many escorts in the water or air either, with Lyn evidently opting to come with a smaller number of bulky Pokémon this time, such as a Lapras and a Wailmer.
Perhaps that was a good sign. If something went wrong, it surely wouldn't be harder to fight a smaller crew of square-necks, would it?
TAK!
Hess flinched as a wooden gangplank struck against the pier, prompting him to look over to see Lyn clambering down and storming straight for him. The Aggron reflexively let out a startled squeak, and a number of pirates in the throng behind him reflexively froze at the Samurott's approach, including much of his own crew.
The Aggron pirate raised his arms to shield his face and braced himself… except, much to his relief, the Commissioner came to a stop in front of him. Hess lowered his arms, when he noticed the others on the Council were unfazed by Lyn's approach and stared back at him with unamused scowls. After a moment to register that he wasn't in agonizing pain, Hess looked back as Lyn's whiskers twitched and the Samurott's muzzle curled down into an impatient, unimpressed frown.
"I'm on a tight schedule right now, so let's get down to business," Lyn growled. "How have those raids been going?"
Hess squirmed and tried to suppress a nervous titter, seeing the scowls on Dirk and the other Council captains' faces deepen. For his own sake, he needed to make it look like Lyn couldn't just walk all over him, and fast. The Aggron raised his head to try and show off his full height, which probably would've been more impressive had the Steel-Type's body not been visibly trembling and his voice come out with a startled stammer.
"W-We've hit up every island in Anyilla outside of Company waters by now, so we kept our end of the bargain," he insisted. "Magmapool was kinda dicey, but we at least got in a good strafing while flying those Trombans' sails before we got chased off."
Lyn gave a disinterested tilt of his head at the Aggron's attempts to puff himself up, before bringing a paw to his whiskers and turning his snout up with narrowed eyes.
"Including Tidemill?" Lyn pressed.
Hess' pupils shrank briefly and his jaw flopped open with an alarmed sputter.
"Look, we said every island, alright? Tidemill City wasn't part of the deal!" the Steel-Type protested. "They were already wanted by the guards there and we raided one of the fringe towns for good measure! That's good enough to make the average 'mon think they're pirates, isn't it?"
A sharp scoff rang out further up the pier, as Dirk stepped forward with a disapproving sneer at Hess that made him cringe. After a moment to cow his unwanted peer on the Council, the Bisharp turned his attention to Lyn and narrowed his eyes with a piercing glare.
"You should keep your expectations in check, Commissioner," Dirk harrumphed. "Mounting a raid on Tidemill City would be as difficult as mounting one on Canalhouse City. You've gotten your raids, and between the four of us, we now have scouts posted on every island in Anyilla outside of Company waters."
The Bisharp crossed his arms, making an effort to show his displeasure at the square-neck's presence before continuing on.
"So the question is, how long do you intend to keep us sitting around here waiting for something to happen?" he demanded.
Lyn gave no answer at first, before shaking his head and glancing off at the open water in the distance.
"Not long at all," he insisted. "Lugia and his friends were last spotted heading for Imperial waters after causing a disturbance on Vollezee. The entire reason why I'm here right now is to make sure that your so-called 'Council' is ready to make good on your end of our deal."
A pair of audible huffs rang out as Ingela and Tarquin leveled icy stares over at the Samurott, the Primarina of the pair not even bothering to hide her disdain of the Company pest before her.
"Hrmph, it would hardly take long to gather the support of the smaller crews in port," Ingela scoffed. "Especially with the promise of a town's worth of loot. We'll be ready to sail as soon as we hear of Lugia's presence from one of our scouts."
"Well, most of us will, anyways," Tarquin harrumphed, shaking his head. "I can't speak for how the fleet of one ship you're pinning your hopes on will fare."
"Actually, about that…"
Lyn drew a seamitar with a quiet scraping noise and turned to gesture in view of his ship with a barking order to 'Move out'. Much to Hess' astonishment, ship's escorts in the air immediately flew off for the open sea, as the swimmers queued up alongside the ship and the ship's diminished crew made their way onto them.
Hess and the other Council members blinked as they watched the escorts in the water begin to drift off, passengers in tow. The Aggron turned back to Lyn just in time to spot a Hitmonchan and a Heracross bringing over a large chest that they set down in front of the Samurott, before taking their leave for a waiting Wailmer. Lyn took a moment to fiddle around with the chest, before he pushed the hefty container forward with its opening latch facing towards Hess.
"Considering the stakes of this mission, I figured my associate needed more than a mere solitary caravel to work with," the Samurott said. "You'll be fielding my Argent Aviso for this raid, which I've taken the liberty of already provisioning for your use."
Lyn motioned with his blade off at the gangplank as a Krokorok and Grumpig were pushed along by a Heatmor and an orange Lycanroc, the former pair visibly dragging their heels before they were shoved over to the Samurott's side. The otter scowled down at the pair briefly, prompting the two to stiffen up and force sheepish, overeager smiles over their faces before glancing over at Hess and the gathered pirates. The Aggron cocked a brow at the two square-necks and their Samurott superior, as the otter slipped the flat of his blade behind the pair with a quiet harrumph.
"I've also arranged for two of my deckhands to stay behind to help walk you through how to operate my galleon," Lyn added. "Ken and Hooke here were… particularly interested in seeing that this mission was successful and volunteered for the role."
With a pair of swats from the flat of his blade, the Samurott shooed the duo ahead of him. At once, Ken and Hooke looked up at Hess, and after a moment of squirming, hastily nodded and chimed in at their captain's prodding.
"Th-That's right! Nothing like turning over a new leaf, Captain!" the Krokorok stammered.
"Yeah! W-We're great at following orders!" the Grumpig chimed in. "Wouldn't get any ideas like taking a swing at a superior or anything like that!"
Hess noted that for all of their outward eagerness, the pair seemed to be visibly on-edge. He supposed he couldn't fault a pair of Company First-Ranks for being nervous about being left behind to go embedded within a pirate crew, but something about the two's mannerisms made him question just how much they had 'volunteered' for their mission. Why, with the way the two were acting, it felt more like the Samurott was ready to keelhaul the pair if they voiced their objections!
The other Council members sized up the two square-necks warily, before letting out unimpressed scoffs and shakes of their heads, with Dirk letting a wary scowl linger on the Iron Fleet's captain and his benefactor.
"Hrmph. I don't believe that we need to be around to watch you and your… associate, conduct business," the Bisharp huffed. "Is there anything that we need to know?"
"No," Lyn said. "By all means, take your leave."
Dirk, Tarquin, and Ingela proceeded to do just that, and after barking out orders, their underlings in the crowd cleared out, leaving Hess' golden-scarved lackeys to fill the gap. Rodion and Kichiro kept their ranks ready to spring forward at a moment's notice, even as a few visibly cast nervous glances off at escape routes behind them or through the water as they neared. Lyn didn't think terribly much of the display, as undeterred, he leaned in on the Aggron captain, the Steel-type quivering slightly as he felt the Samurott's hot, irritated breaths against his scales and inched back as the Company Commissioner glared daggers back up at him.
"I've gone out on quite a limb for you, Aggron," Lyn barked. "There's a lot riding on your ability to capture Lugia long enough for us to take the matter over ourselves. Don't make me regret this."
Hess quietly gulped, as he cast a wary glance up at the galleon by the pier, and then back at his underlings behind him on the docks.
"B-But how do you expect me to crew two ships on this sort of notice?" the Aggron protested. "My own ship was already understaffed before all this!"
The Samurott curled his muzzle into a sharp frown and reared up, folding his forelimbs against each other with an unimpressed scoff.
"Just what do you think the supplies I brought with me are for?"
Lyn ran his paws over the front of the chest and popped the latches open. He pulled the chest's lid back, the morning twilight above revealing that it was filled up to its brim with gold-colored Poké coins. Freshly minted, from the way they gleamed.
Hess and his underlings' eyes lit up at the sight, as excited murmurs began to swirl about their ranks and a few of their bolder members started to drift ahead to get a better look. As quickly as they came, Lyn sharply clamped the chest shut and flashed his blade at the nearing pirates, making them shrink back with yelps and startled squeaks as they hurriedly retreated behind their superiors.
Lyn gave a disgusted growl at the display, before turning his attention back to Hess with a sharp scowl.
"You'd do well not to gamble and drink it all away, Aggron," the Samurott scoffed. "Or at least not until after you've secured a crew for yourself. After all, if this mission succeeds, I won't exactly need the galleon back."
Hess blinked a moment, turning his head to gape at the Argent Aviso, and then back at its captain. He hadn't misheard things, had he? Since for a second, he could've sworn that Lyn had just told him…
"Wait, so then this ship's mine?" Hess asked. "For keeps?"
Lyn hesitated for a moment, seemingly wavering with himself over whether or not he really wanted to commit to the offer. After a lingering pause, he shook his head and let out an unimpressed scoff.
"If you can hold on to it," he said. "If there's one thing I've learned from my duties, it's that pirates' dealings always end in some manner of dirty trick or betrayal."
The Samurott turned and began to pace off for the sea, hesitating briefly to look back over his shoulder and shoot a sharp scowl at Hess and his mob of golden-scarved pirates.
"Though that's a problem for you to figure out once it becomes relevant in the future," Lyn said. "For now, focus on delivering on your end of our bargain. For your own sake."
Lyn sprang up and dove into a free patch of water on the right side of the pier, kicking up a plume that splashed onto the Hess' face and chest. The Aggron screwed his eyes shut, and disgustedly brushed the seawater off himself. After cracking his eyes open, he saw that Lyn had already knifed off in the water for the open sea, forming a flotilla along with the last straggling swimmers from his crew.
Hess looked off after the Samurott as the Commissioner slipped off into the morning twilight, and gave an indignant grumble once he was sure that the otter was safely out of earshot. After a moment to sulk over his wounded pride, the Steel-Type heard approaching footsteps, a quick glance behind revealing Rodion and Kichiro were walking up. The two stared at the open sea and the vanishing flotilla of Company Pokémon, before Rodion turned his head up to Hess with an uncomfortable paw at the back of his neck.
"… It's not too late to consider other options, Hess," Rodion murmured. "I doubt that Samurott's given us all of this out of a sense of charity."
Kichiro kept his eyes trained after Lyn for a moment, before folding both sets of his arms and turning to Hess and Rodion with a buzzing scoff.
"Look, I don't know about you, but I'm not in the mood to pull a double-cross on just a leap of faith," Kichiro piped. "If Lyn's got a galleon to spare, I'm sure he's got plenty of other ships behind him ready to go after us if we cut and run."
The two weren't wrong. As Rodion said, there was exactly zero reason to trust that square-neck. And Kichiro's point about Lyn being a formidable foe they would ill-afford to cross was every bit as true.
Hess subconsciously pawed at his lucky charm under his scarf. It'd gotten him out of tight pinches in the past, but something about this one felt different. It was only logical that they ought to get out from under that blasted Samurott as soon as they could… except it wasn't immediately obvious how they were supposed to do that.
Hess plodded forward when he turned his attention back down to the chest, and hesitated after seeing the Poké inside. He didn't like the idea of knowing that Lyn was holding one over him, but with this treasure, he'd surely be able to put himself and his crew in a better place for when it inevitably came time to cut the Samurott loose.
More pirates at his beck and call, better equipment for their raids… Why, there'd even be enough to stock both ships with rum and spirits to smooth things over with his underlings if they hit a snag or two for a couple seasons.
It wasn't as if the job they were about to pull wouldn't put them on the map as a crew either. Why, they were about to capture a Protector! It'd be just the thing the Iron Fleet needed to finally be taken as a serious force by their peers!
Hess shook his head. In light of that, it was only obvious what the way forward for them entailed.
"Sounds like a reason to stay the course until something changes about what we know."
The Aggron turned back and noticed that Ken and Hooke were standing awkwardly by the galleon's gangplank, only to freeze and turn back with overeager smiles after seeing the pirate captain's attention fall on them. Hess narrowed his eyes a moment, before reaching down for the chest on the pier and latching it shut with a low huff.
"If you two have got nothing better to do, you might as well make yourselves useful."
The Aggron strained and picked up the chest, before lumbering it over and tossing it at the Krokorok and Grumpig. The pair's eyes widened as the two threw their arms out to try and catch the chest, only for its momentum to carry them backwards and knock them flat on their backs onto the pier's planks with a pair of yelps.
"A-Agh! My tail!" the Krokorok whined.
"W-What on earth was that for?!" the Grumpig spluttered.
Ken and Hooke hastily pulled themselves out from under the chest with annoyed glares, only to freeze after feeling a sharp thump reverberate through the pier's timbers. The pair looked up at the sound of a low growl, and blanched with a pair of low squeaks after seeing their new Aggron superior had lowered his head with his horns leveled threateningly at them.
"To give you two square-necks a chance to show that we can trust you," Hess spat. "You can start by getting out of those ugly scarves of yours and pulling your weight a bit by helping us move this chest."
Rodion gave an annoyed scowl, before unceremoniously fishing out a pair of gold-and-silver scarves from a satchel and throwing it at the pair's feet. Hess shoved his way past the duo and made his way for the gangplank, clambering his way up until he made it to the Argent Aviso's deck.
"After all, we've got a lot of work ahead of us."
Morning came faster than anyone on Team Traveller expected after their stormy night at sea, with much of the crew's night shift being spent filling in the bands of their sails' and scarves' waterspout pattern to form solid triangles—the best disguise they could manage with the little dye they were able to find in the ship's storeroom. Before they knew it, they were gathered at the railing of the Siglo Swellow, watching a tall peak with mist running down the length of its northern face come poking over the horizon.
Crom's eyes and keen vision helped him pick out details sooner than much of his friends did. Forests filled with spruce trees that grew along the coast, with a short, yellowish tower with a tented, shingled roof standing out in their midst. A little ways away from the curious structure, there was a town of painted timbered buildings built on lowlands by the sea, with a stone castle overlooking the sprawl from the foothills nearby.
But as the Siglo Swellow neared, Crom found his attention drifting back to the mountain that anchored the entire island. It stood out when it first came over the horizon, but it quickly became apparent that the peak stretched up much higher than he first thought. So high that part way up the slope, the green trees gave way to a white band… was that snow up there?
The Druddigon gaped up at the peak of the mountain, as the closer the ship approached the island, the further and further it seemed to shoot up into the sky. High enough that he began to wonder if a Pokémon could touch the clouds from its top.
"Wow. I didn't know that mountains could get that tall…" Crom murmured.
"That's Mount Starfall for you," Pladur chuckled. "It's the tallest one in all of Anyilla."
Off at the Dragon-Types' side, Pleo stared up at the towering mountain as the Siglo Swellow neared Gestirn Island, only to pause and hang his head and with a low sigh. It was a sight that should've filled him with wonder and excitement at the idea of flying and taking in the scenery or trying to climb up along the mountain's height… except, they would be lucky to set foot off the ship just to reprovision. After what happened on Haipheh, he doubted anyone felt bold enough to go exploring a second time. Not if it meant risking the local guards catching on to them again.
… Except, he wasn't sure that he would've been in the mood to do so even if it weren't for the risk of being discovered. Not while knowing that Kiran and a good chunk of their allies had been captured and were going through heavens-knows-what at the moment.
Pleo felt the ship bob along with the waves and turned towards the approaching shoreline. He craned his head up, where he began to make out rooftops and individual buildings in the town on land. The settlement grew closer and closer as the ship neared, until Pleo could just make out the forms of individual Pokémon milling about the town's piers and on the beaches nearby, like a Lechonk curiously digging a hole in the sand right on the outskirts. The young Lugia tilted his head and wondered to himself what the pig could be doing, when the sound of someone sharply inhaling turned his attention to his right. There, Ander glanced out at the approaching town, resting his scythes tensely against the railing for a moment, before looking uneasily over his shoulder and back at the rest of the crew.
"Here goes nothing," the Marked Scyther said. "Hopefully the initial inspection won't take long."
Beatrix flitted over to the tiller and leaned against it, steering the Siglo Swellow on a course for the village's docks. Along the way, Pleo noticed the figures onshore abruptly stop, and he could've sworn that he saw a few pointing off at them, with a Staravia among their number keenly observing them. The bird remained in place even after the nearby Pokémon took off running and ducked from building to building in the square. Other Pokémon in the throng hurried inland, while Pleo watched as a number made their way towards the water with others in tow.
Much to the crew's confusion, the Pokémon approaching the pier all seemed visibly agitated, while a number of them were wearing indigo scarves. Nida blinked and grimaced briefly at the sight, as she quickly realized that something was seriously amiss with the Pokémon onshore.
"Wh-What's going on?" the Nidorina asked. "Why are the guards running towards us with all of these other-?"
A giant torrent of water abruptly sailed in, striking against the mast. At once, yelps and cries went about the crew as other errant attacks sailed in after the Hydro Pump, and the color quickly drained from everyone's faces. After a moment of stunned, slack-jawed silence, Beatrix shook her head, before piping up to her crew with a sharp cry.
"Gah! So much for being a safe harbor!" she buzzed. "Take us hard to starboard! We're getting out of here!"
"Like hell you are!" a voice shouted from the sea.
The incoming attacks quickly turned into an overwhelming hail as more beams and missiles sailed in from the ship's port side, a bolt of electricity felling a Mantine in the water, and a glob of poison sending an Unfezant crashing to the deck. Much to everyone's alarm, the figures of various sea-dwellers abruptly surfaced in the water, as Pokémon massed on the dock and a group formed a screen of overlapping Protects while others lobbed attacks from behind them.
Pleo ducked a Shadow Ball that missed his head by scarcely a feather's length and scurried along to the other side of the Siglo Swellow as a few sailors attempted to return fire of their own. The sky above them quickly grew thick with fliers from ashore picking dogfights with the aerial escorts. After a hurried scrabble from port to starboard, Pleo discovered to his horror that there were Pokémon already there in the water harrying their escorts and casting waves and jets of water at the ship. A few bulkier swimmers were charging at the Siglo Swellow with Pokémon clinging to their backs, some of them lobbing seeds and the likes of Iron Thorns at the ship. Curiously, the scarves of their attackers on the starboard side were of all sorts of different colors, with Pleo not able to make out any indigo among them.
W-Wait a minute! Then that meant-!
"H-Huh?! These Pokémon aren't guards!" Pleo cried. "Why are they attacking-?!"
"Das ist es! Brace for contact!"
A sharp shout came out from the port side, as the voice continued to call from below and an Ivysaur clambered up and tried to mount the railing with his vines. A Vulpix from the crew ran in and spat up a cone of embers, sending the Ivysaur tumbling back overboard with a yelp and a loud splash. A Pachirisu attempted to board in much the same fashion a little ways off towards the bow, only for a Dwebble to push her back overboard with a startled cry.
THUMP!
Just then, a snarling Krookodile in a indigo scarf with a twinleaf pattern vaulted over the railing and came to a crouching stop. A Greedent noticed the new attacker and charged in with a body-slamming tackle, only for the Krookodile to bite down on her with a sickening crunch. The Greedent screamed out in pain, her cries wavering before ultimately going silent as the Krookodile shook the squirrel in his jaws and threw her limply to the deck.
A nearby Dwebble and Vulpix froze up as the Greedent tumbled to a stop before them, when the Dwebble lunged ahead with a sharp hiss and threw a flurry of slashing swipes forward with his claws. His blows landed one after the other against the Krookodile's hide, forcing the crocodile back briefly, only for the Ground-Type's tail to abruptly take on a metallic sheen. The Imperial swung it around, swatting the hapless sailor backwards and sending him flying over the railing.
A shrill yelp and loud splash followed, which made the Vulpix pin his tail and ears against his body as his will to fight drained out of him. The fox yipped and turned to flee, when a hail of sharp rocks from the marauding Krookodile knocked him to the deck. By then, others on the crew had taken notice of the crocodile just as a veritable crowd of snarling Pokémon in indigo garb forced their way onto the deck from the port side of the ship and collided straight into their defensive positions.
Shouts and blows rang out amidst a confusing melee as Pokémon and their attacks zipped about in the chaos. In the midst of it, Pladur hurriedly smacked a Thwackey out of the way with a swipe of a set of claws still trailing dragonfire, the Fraxure briefly spotting his teammates in the confusion as he raised his voice with a stammering cry.
"C-Come on!" the dragon shouted. "We need to get them off the deck-!"
CRACK!
The sailors on deck collectively flinched at the sound of rending wood coming from the starboard side, as a final few attacks zipped through the air before reaching a tense pause. The Siglo Swellow's defenders collectively blanched, as a few gestured off to the starboard side with startled cries. Pleo turned his attention alongside his companions towards where the sound had come from, where they noticed a gaping hole in the hull that had been patched up earlier, with the ice plug having fallen out in shattered chunks and the hole's edge just barely avoiding the waterline.
Pleo watched Crom and Pladur's faces visibly contort into frightened grimaces, with the rest of the sailors present doing much the same. He knew that ship hulls weren't supposed to have holes in them like that, but from the way that everyone was reacting, he was guessing they were in deep trouble.
Other Pokémon in indigo scarves climbed up to the deck, while the Siglo Swellow's escorts in the air and sea were being mobbed and surrounded by their attackers. Pleo heard a few frightened whines and murmurs go around the ship's defenders, as jeers and taunts rang out from Pokémon onshore who'd gathered to observe them. Others gaped from a distance, including a Staravia who lingered briefly while passing in the air before flying off for the northeast.
Pleo heard the ship's timbers thump and a low growl fill the air, as he turned back to see the Krookodile from earlier. The crocodile bared his teeth and flashed his claws, sizing up the Pokémon about him on deck before he spoke up with a throaty snarl.
"Do you really think we're too stupid to see that you just filled in the bands on your sails?! You've got some nerve coming back here after raiding us just last week, pirate scum!" the Krookodile barked. "You can either know when you're beat, or we sink you right here and now and sort out anyone who hasn't drowned afterwards!"
A few more frightened-looking sailors like a visibly trembling Nosepass threw their limbs up or rolled over in surrender, Beatrix and Vicente blanched for a moment, before they too did the same. The crew's fighting spirit seemed to visibly vanish after that, as Pleo and his teammates watched one Pokémon after another yield to the approaching guards.
Th-This couldn't be how things ended! They couldn't seriously have their journey end with being captured as pirates on an island they had never even docked at!
… Hold on a moment.
"W-Wait!" Pleo cried. "But we've never been here be-!"
Pleo heard the sound of shattering glass and looked down to see a cloud of peach-colored mist abruptly fill his vision. T-That was a Slumber Orb! The Lugia coughed and frantically tried to blow away the mist, as he heard yelps ring out and saw the silhouettes of figures being shoved to the ground through the haze. Pleo squawked in protest, but he couldn't get his words out of his throat, as a wave of drowsiness suddenly overtook him and he pitched forward.
The last thing Pleo remembered was feeling the side of his head hit the deck of the Siglo Swellow, and the world going black as muddled, indistinct cries rang out in the background.
Author's Notes:
- Despiértate! - Spanish: "Wake up!" (directed at singular informal subject, imperative)
- Najwyższa pora! - Polish: "It's about time!" (interjection)
- Das ist es! - German: "This is it!"
