Chapter 9

The Undersea Castle

We were almost there. My friends and I, accompanied by Delia Ketchum and Grace Paschall, were on the verge of arrival in Coumarine City. Just a couple of hours as the Murkrow flies. All that stood in our way was Azure Bay, the northernmost coast in Kalos. There were more adventures to come, and more battles to partake in, but first, time for a delicious lunch.

As our newest accomplices were preparing our meal, Serena was in the midst of practice for her debut in the Pokemon Showcase. As Fennekin practiced a few back flips, Serena turned to the other member of her party. "Pancham, forward roll, and jump!" The Playful Pokemon did as told, but something went awry, causing Pancham to crash onto Fennekin. "Are you too okay?" she asked, and they replied in the affirmative.

Clemont stepped up with a calculator. "I have some suggestions... Modify your torque and reverse the angle of trajectory. Like this..." He whispered into Fennekin's and Pancham's ears, who nodded. The latter rolled backwards and made a jump, landing on his feet, with Fennekin landing on his overhead paws.

Serena smiled. "Thanks, Clemont. That's just what I need."

Misty reached into her satchel and pulled out her Fishing Rod. "Before we head out, I was hoping to catch a couple new Pokémon for my Gym back home."

"That's right," Bonnie commented. You're a Gym Leader from Kanto, right?"

Misty nodded. "My specialty is Water-types, so I thought it would be cool to have some Kalosian Pokémon to surprise my challengers. You guys want in?"

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Serena commented.

Ash was a little concerned. "Umm, Serena? Remember what happened last time?"

"It'll be fine," she replied. "What're the odds of that happening twice?"

Dexter spoke up. "The precise odds are… Calculating… Calculating… Calculating… Calculating…"

I laughed a little. "Dexter! That was a rhetorical question!"

That caused him to stop calculating. "But-! But-! But-!"

"She's right!" Bonnie commented. "And we might catch a really cute Pokemon, maybe a Finneon or a Corsola."

After we ate, the fishing session began. Most of us cast out our lines into the bay, eager to see what we might catch. A few short moments in, Ash's line started to pull sharply. "AHA! Come to Ketchum!"

"Oh, boy!" Bonnie jumped. "Could it be a Corsola? A Clamperl? Maybe a Wailord?"

Ash yanked hard to reveal his catch… tangled in undersea vines. "Aw man… it's just kelp."

"Actually, that's Skrelp!" Dexter showed the brown mass in the center on the screen.

Skrelp
The Mock Kelp Pokémon
A Poison and Water-type
Skrelp camouflages itself as rotten kelp while it stores up energy for its impending evolution.

Brock pointed to its scalp. "Hm, looks like it's been through the wringer lately..." he pulled a potion out of his backpack and sprayed the afflicted area. Then it patched up the afflicted area with some bandages. "That should do it."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot," said Clemont. "You're a Pokemon Doctor, aren't you?"

"Well, I'm still in training," he replied.

Then the Skrelp began to flail about wildly, forcing Ash to release it back into the ocean. As it resurfaced, it suddenly began to fire a move at us repeatedly. I think it was Sludge Bomb, but regardless, we all ducked behind the rock we were standing on.

"Why is it attacking us?!" asked Bonnie. "We were trying to make it feel better!"

"Maybe it thinks we did that to it in the first place," Serena hypothesized.

The shots continued to bombard the rock, and suddenly, Pikachu clambered up on top, mayhaps to reason with Skrelp. "Pika Pika Pi!"

"Pikachu, get down from there!" Ash demanded.

But it was already too late. At that instant, a projectile struck Pikachu directly, knocking him back down in front of us. It was at that moment that Skrelp disappeared underwater.

Unfortunately, we had a new problem. That one strike was just enough to poison Pikachu. Ash picked him up and shook him a little. "Pikachu! Are you okay?!" But his partner remained unresponsive.

Brock reached back into his bag, but unfortunately, he had no Antidotes. None of us did. "We've got no time to waste!" Grace commented. "We've got to get to the city now!" The rest of us agreed and hurried to the road. We did not bother to grab any of our stuff.

As we hurried up the nearby ramp to the road, a car pulled up. The man in the driver seat rolled down his window. "Is something wrong?"

"Sorry to bother you!" Ash began. "Can you give us a ride to Coumarine City? It's an emergency!"

The woman sitting on the passenger side saw Pikachu and immediately knew what was going on. "There's no time! Your Pikachu needs to be treated right now! We should have an antidote in the first aid kit in here!"

The couple got to work right away. In a couple of minutes, their work was complete, and Pikachu was restored, feeling chipper as ever. Ash hugged him as he thanked our passing heroes. "Thank you so much, er, Mr..."

"Call me Eddy," he replied and then gestured to the woman beside him, "and this is my wife, Lindsey."

"It's a good thing our jobs brought us here," she stated. "I'd call that a happy coincidence."

"What do you mean?" Delia asked. "What sort of job do you have?"

"The two of us are underwater archeologists," Eddy began and pointed to the horizon. "Believe it or not, we were actually going to be diving out in this area. You see those vortexes over there? According to our research, we have reason to believe that a long-lost vessel called the Cussler somewhere in the vicinity."

"The Cussler?" Grace asked. She researched that historical occurrence long ago. "But I thought it crashed into an iceberg thousands of miles away from here. How could it have gotten to Azure Bay?"

"Probably because of the currents. Several ocean currents are known to intersect out here, resulting in those whirlpools. We believe the Cussler was carried here by one of those currents."

"Our present research has one goal: to locate the Cussler and determine the current that brought it here. We were just about to begin our expedition."

"That sounds pretty cool," Ash commented. "Is there any chance we could come along? We'll help out in any way we can."

Clemont's glasses shined. "With my technological expertise, I am certain I would be of significant assistance."

Eddy and Lindsey looked at one another and smiled. "Certainly! We are a little shorthanded this afternoon anyway."

"But you need to remember it might be dangerous over there, so you have to listen to us. Agreed?"

"Agreed," we all stated.

In no time at all, we were all set. We all clambered onto a rather large boat with a submarine attached to the lower deck. Soon, we were out by the vortex, at a safe distance.

As Eddy set the anchor, he checked his pocket watch. "It's just about time. Everyone, watch closely..."

The lot of us observed from the bay windows. Before our very eyes,the three whirlpools suddenly vanished. 'What just happened?' Diancie gasped.

"The intersecting currents that create those whirlpools change on a certain basis," Eddy explained. "As we predicted, it changed to the point where we shouldn't see them for quite a while now. That's why we chose today to explore the Azure Bay."

"Now, it's time to prep the sub for exploration," Lindsey added.

"Hmmm… I don't suppose you have any passenger seats down there, do you?" Ash asked.

"Only two, I'm afraid. You'll have to decide amongst yourselves who gets to come with me..."

Clemont's glasses lit up. "No, problem! The future is now, thanks to science! Clemontic Gear, ON!" From his backpack came a large machine which did not look far off from a retro arcade game. "Presenting the No-Hard-Feelings-Fair-and-Square Lottery Device! Just choose a spot on one of the arrows on the bottom of the screen, and my Lottery Device will take the guesswork out of who goes and decide for you!"

"Why don't we just draw straws?" asked the Cerulean Gym Leader.

Clemont laughed. "Oh, Misty, Misty, Misty… always wanting to do things the hard way…"

So we each picked an arrow as Clemont said, by placing a picture of ourselves on that arrow, and the machine went to work. The arrows moved up a path, swapping places and dodging obstacles, until finally, they reached the end of the map.

In the end, Ash and Serena won the passenger seats. They were both so excited, they hugged one another absentmindedly. After a couple of seconds, they pulled away, looking a little embarrassed. "Sorry…" Ash mumbled.

"Don't be," Serena replied, "I got excited."

Clemont groaned. "Well, science determined our fate fair and square, so no hard feelings …"

"You could have won if we drew straws. Just saying…"

Ash and Serena carefully clambered inside, and shortly after came Lindsey. "Have fun, you too!" Delia called out. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"

"I thought you said to have fun?" said her son cheekily. But Ash was only teasing.

With prior permission, Dexter flew into the sub as well. "This will be a perfect opportunity to document some undersea Pokémon!"

I leaned back against the guard rail, a little disappointed. "Too bad about us though, but what're you going to do?"

After the top hatch was sealed, the sub was lowered into the water and released. Then something strange happened. I do not know if it was the sub bumping into the boat, or a large undersea Pokémon, or a decent sized wave, but the ship began to rock a little, I lost my balance and plunged over the side into the ocean.

"Woman overboard!" I heard someone cry out after I resurfaced.

"I'm okay!" I called out to the boat-dwellers, but I spoke too soon.

As I swam for the ladder around back, something seemed to snag my leg. I thought it was just some seaweed, until it started to pull me down. I looked through the seawater to find I was caught in the tentacles of an undersea Pokémon. It looked like Skrelp, though at least three times as large. I tried to wrench myself free, but its grip was too much.

Fortunately, though, something unexpected happened. A bright light seemed to engulf the area. I was not sure what it was, but it scared the offending Pokemon into releasing me. So I began swimming to the surface, before I could lose my breath. About halfway there, I gripped my neck… and felt something unusual in between my fingers. 'What the...' They looked green and ghostly under the water, and they had become webbed, like Frogadier's hands. I also had a form of fins on my elbows. I looked down to see my legs had fused together, becoming a fishtail.

"You've got to be joking!" I said to myself with a smile.

*Misty's POV*

Meanwhile, the rest of us were scanning the water surface. She had stated she was okay previously, but then she just up and vanished.

"What happened to her?" Eddy asked.

"Do you think a Pokemon dragged her under?" Brock added.

"Well, we've got to do something! I'm going in!" I removed my top to reveal my bathing suit underneath. Being a Water-type Gym-leader, I was always ready for water-based emergencies.

But before I could jump in, something jumped above the surface, and we heard a voice coming from it. "Woo-hoo!" it cried joyfully as it performed a back-flip.

The rest of us just stared. "Was that Brianna?" Delia asked in surprise.

What we saw then swam towards the boat. It looked like her. Though she was quite a bit different. She had light sea-green skin, gills under her arms, and there were otoliths where her ears should be.

"Brianna?!" Bonnie started giddily. "You're a mermaid?!"

"Surprised?" she replied, "So am I."

Then Clemont had an idea. "Wait, wait, wait, you fell into the ocean, and turned into a mermaid. Do you realize what this means?"

"I no longer need a bathing suit?"

"What? No! You gained a water-based power, which might mean..-"

Her eyes widened as she spoke in unison with him. "-the Water-type Pure Heart is somewhere in this bay!" She looked down. "I wonder if it's with the Cussler…? I have to check it out."

"Okay, but be very careful." Eddy stated and checked his watch. "According to our calculations, the currents that create the vortex should return in about thirty minutes. Not even Water-type Pokémon can survive that."

"Gotcha! I'll come back with the sub!" And with that, she dove back down under.

*Ash's POV*

Meanwhile, a few fathoms under the sea, Lindsey, Serena, and I were informed of the situation through the radio. It was a little hard to believe Brianna had turned into a mermaid, and I was sure Misty was jealous. "Copy that," Lindsey told Eddy through the intercom. "Continue to our destination."

While we waited for her to catch up to us, we wanted the passing Water-types in fascination. Octillery, qwilfish, Goldeen, Alomomola, Luvdisc, Chinchou, and more… The aquarium in Ambrette Town had nothing compared to this.

"Hey, look!" Serena pointed out her window. There, in the water, we could see the Skrelp we encountered before. I recognized the bandages from before. He was swimming with two larger Pokémon beside him. "Who are those Pokémon?"

"Allow me," Dexter showed us the entry.

Dragalge
Skrelp's evolved form
A Poison and Dragon-type
Dragalge generates dragon energy by sticking the plume on its head out above the ocean's surface and absorbing sunlight.

"I guess that's Skrelp's family," Serena smiled.

"Sure glad I let it go," I agreed.

Suddenly, the submarine got caught up in a freak current. It seemed to interfere with the communication. But Lindsy did not seem to mind. As we tried to regain our balance, I noticed something being pulled in the current with us. It looked like the remains of a ship. "Our theory's proving to be correct."

"Be careful!" I called out. "That thing's getting close!"

"No problem!" Lindsey pulled us away from the current and the wreckage therein.

Serena sighed. "I think my heart just stopped…" Then she noticed something. "Hey, the Skrelp and Dragalge are following the debris."

"Then so are we," Lindsey steered in the direction of the wreckage. In no time at all, we found what looked like a ship graveyard. We pulled in next to the largest vessel in the area and turned on the searchlight. We noticed a rusted emblem with a Milotic on the stern. "It's the Cussler!"

Everyone here and above was flabbergasted in a good way. We were witnessing history in the making.

Then, the wreckage we nearly ran into came in and slowly sank next to the Cussler. The Dragalge swam up next to it and began to spray a fluid where the two ships were joined.

"Is that Acid?" Serena asked.

Once the job was complete, several Water-type Pokémon emerged from the remains of the Cussler to see what the Dragalge had done. They and the Skrelp began to dance around in the waves.

"Incredible, isn't it?" a familiar voice from the speakers said. We looked outside to see Brianna had finally arrived. We could hear her through a hydrophone Eddy had installed to the exterior for research purposes. "The currents carry faraway ships to the Azure Bay. Then the Water-type Pokémon fuse them together into one gigantic structure. It's like an undersea castle."

"They all look so happy!" Serena commented.

Then Lindsey noticed something. A sort of glow came from the other side of the Cussler. We moved in that direction to see what looked like a giant mechanical Magikarp. It was cutting through the Cussler, tearing the ship apart.

I quickly recognized the metal makeshift. "It's Team Rocket's submarine!"

"Who's Team Rocket?" Lindsey asked.

"They're a group of annoying thieves from Kanto," I told them. "They've been chasing me and Pikachu for years."

"But what're they doing down here?" Brianna asked.

"Nothing good, I'll tell you that!"

Team Rocket dipped into the Cussler, and the Skrelp and Dragalge followed. We did the same after the water-dwelling Pokémon and quickly found their sub. Good news: there was a large air bubble held in by the remains. Bad news, Jessie, James, and Meowth had already left their vessel.

To make matters worse, the Skrelp and Dragalge found us first. I guess they thought we were with Team Rocket, and they started firing at us.

"Stop that!" I told them. "We're on your side! I swear!"

Then Pikachu stepped up and tried to say the same. Thankfully, the bandaged Skrelp quickly recognized Pikachu. It leaped out in front of the others and caused them to cease-fire. The herd then decided to lead us to Team Rocket.

When we found them, they were attaching what looked like thrusters to a large old safe door. Surrounding that were explosives I recognized from an old war documentary. "Team Rocket! Stop! What're you doing?!"

"Prepare for trouble; what we're doing is clear!"
"But it won't be something you'll want to hear!" James added.
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now, or prepare for a Wailord-sized fight!"
"Meowth! That's right!"
"Wobbuffet!"

"Do you guys have to do that every time?" I groaned.

"Yes," they all replied in unison.

"Okay, fair enough..."

"Now as for your previous question," James began, "behind this door lie all the priceless treasures the Cussler was safeguarding from pirates before it sank. Once we get it back to the surface, the three of us will never have to worry about money again!"

"We're gonna balance our checkbooks on the back of the beautiful bounty on this boat!" Meowth added.

"Are you crazy?" Lindsey asked. "You'll only drown yourselves after you tear this structure apart!"

"Not if we set it to auto-launch in 60 seconds," Jessie stated as she threw a switch. The thrusters began to warm up. "More than enough time to get the heck outta here."

"If you had half a brain, you'd do the same," Meowth stated as they began to run.

As little as I wanted to let them get away with this, we could not risk our lives to stop the thrusters, so we took off back to our sub.

*Brianna's POV*

We exited the Cussler just in time to see the safe shoot out of the hull, and Team Rocket followed after it. Unfortunately, we did not have time to worry about them. The large blast from the explosives was enough to destabilize the structure; the ship was beginning to shake violently.

"The entire structure is filling with water," Lindsey stated from inside the submarine. "Its internal balance has been disrupted."

"You mean… it's going to collapse?" Ash asked.

"We've got to do something!" I swam to the Dragalge. "We have an idea, but we need as much help as we can get!" Dragalge nodded. They spoke to the retreating Water-dwelling Pokémon, who agreed. Everyone who was swimming, myself included, pressed up against the falling structure. "Everyone, PUSH!" I called out. With all of our combined strength, we slowly realigned the Cussler to its original angle. It became especially easy after a couple of Wailord came to help.

Then, under Ash's guidance, Lindsey grabbed a large metal place with the mechanical arms on the sub and covered the hole where the safe was.

"Great idea, guys," I told them. "Dragalge, use Acid to seal it into place!" The indigenous species did as instructed, and with that, the structure stopped taking on water.

"That should do it," Ash sighed in relief.

Eddy radioed in. "Glad to hear that the Cussler is safe," he began, "but I'm happy you're all safe and sound. Anyway, the time has come for the currents to change. You guys should get back up here."

"Roger that," Lindsey steered the sub back to the boat, and I followed close behind.

Soon, the submarine was reattached to the boat, and Ash, Serena and Lindsey had clambered out. As I climbed up the back ladder, I quickly transformed back to my original self, legs and everything.

At the same time, Team Rocket had emerged not too far away. It held the safe from the Cussler in the submarine's mechanical arms. Jessie James and Meowth emerged from the overhead hatch. "Success! Have treasure, will travel!"

"First thing I'm gonna go with my share is stuff my mallet with meatballs galore!" Meowth commented.

"I'm going to find the nearest mall right away!" Jessie added.

We saw everything. "They got the treasure! What do we do?!" Serena asked in concern.

But Lindsey and Eddy looked at one another and smiled. The latter looked at his watch. "3… 2… 1..."

Just then, the water surrounding them began to spin. The currents had changed, and in turn, the vortexes had returned. They tried to escape, but one of the whirlpools caught them and began to spin them. Around and around… faster and faster…

"I know I'm gonna throw up!" Meowth cried in agony.

Soon the whirlpool launched Team Rocket out to sea, and the safe was launched to shore. "WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN…!"

"Yep," Eddy chuckled. "She's right on time."

After we dragged the safe the rest of the way to shore, we pried it open with a soldering iron. We dug through the gold and jewelry, hoping to find the Pure Heart within, but found nothing. "I guess the Pure Heart is still down there?"

Serena turned to Eddy. "How long before the currents change again?"

Eddy looked upset. "I'm sorry… the current won't change for quite a while… Three months, at least. We specifically chose today for our exploration because it would be the safest."

We all looked out to sea. "The Water-type Pure Heart is out there somewhere…" Cocoa muttered. "...but is it worth the wait for one Pure Heart?"

'Or the risk?' Diancie asked.

I sighed. "Let's keep moving..." We all packed up what was ours and got back on the road. Meanwhile, Lindsey and Eddy called Officer Jenny to report the recovered treasure from the Cussler. It would later be donated to a museum.

The good news of the day: Eddy and Lindsey were able to determine which current brought the long-lost Cussler, and successfully pinpointed its location in the bowels of Azure Bay. At the same time, I discovered a brand new power - the ability to transform into a mermaid. The bad news: we failed to find the Pure Heart we believed to be affiliated with it. Though it did lead me to wonder if there were other forms affiliated with the Pure Hearts, and what I had to do to trigger them? Maybe someday, I would figure them all out, but for now, it was off to Coumarine City once again, as the journey continues…

"There is one thing that's bugging me though…" I commented.

"What's that?" asked Mrs. Ketchum.

"So far, I found every Pure Heart I had from other Pokemon. So, which Pokemon's holding the one for Water...?"

MEANWHILE…

Unbeknownst to any of our heroes, a large shape emerged from the Bay. It watched everyone leave the beach and go on their merry way, and then it sank back into the depths of the sea…

"Gyararoooah!"

STAY TUNED...