Ignore this: Title subject to change
Arguing with Archie
It was close to sundown by the time Captian Briney brought his vessel to the beach right outside of Slateport City. The captain told Chris that it was likely that the shipyard would be closed for the night, at least as far as finding an employee of Captain Stern's stature still on the clock. Considering that this was the same day Chris had shared a room with a very pissed off wild Aggron, he certainly wouldn't mind just resting for the night.
Coming out from a cabin close to the shoreline, some sailors that seemed to know Briney approached his vessel as he was lowering the ramp. After a short conversation, one of the sailors spoke to Chris next. "Captain Briney is a good man." He starts. "Almost all of us have sailed with him at least once in the past. If you're a friend of his, you're a friend of ours."
"Thank you." Chris starts, before extending his hand. "My name is Chris Harper."
"Darren. I'll introduce you to the boys later on. We can get your Harley to the road without getting sand in your tires, if you'd like us to."
"I'd appreciate that. It'll also give me a chance to find a hotel room for the night."
Five sailors just as massive as Darren joined him in lifting Chris motorcycle off of Captain Briney's vessel, making the short trek to the road ahead. Chris was looking through hotel prices on his phone, settling on a room in a motel that was on the really cheaper side. A higher rated room would be nice, but Chris doubted it would take him long at all to fall asleep after he did finally lay down. Before he left Briney behind however, he agreed to return to the cabin the following night for a meal with him, the sailors, and of course Briney's dear Peeko.
The motel wasn't far from Chris at all, but the crowd of people that were surrounding a small Pokémon battle in the parking lot. Once Chris dismounted from his motorcycle and began to walk towards his room, he started to get some idea of exactly which species of Pokémon were being used for the battle. Then once he got a good look through a clearing of trainers, he watched a Mightyena shrug off a Ninjask. Battles on the streets were never something that caused a whole lot of intrigue for Chris, but then he heard a laugh that just somehow came across as cocky. Before he knew, he was maneuvering his way through the crowd to get a closer look.
"I've got you right where I want you." The Mightyena's trainer says, before he issues the final blow. "Mightyena, Fire Fang!" Chris got another clear look in time to see the Dark-type Mightyena's fangs drip with fire as it leapt up, and chomped down on the vulnerable Ninjask. The partial Bug-type can't handle the pain, hitting the ground in defeat as its trainer cries out in concern. The Mightyena's trainer then comes up next to his Pokémon. "Another victim falls to the future greatest of all time!" The trainer boldly proclaims as he taunts the crowd. His proclamation draws the full attention of Chris, and maybe even some of his ire. "Who's next!?"
Chris pushes his way through the rest of the crowd, and stares the arrogant trainer down. "I am." He says, a Poké Ball already active in his hand. It was a combination of the undeserved boisterousness, and how loud this whole scene was that had Chris wanting this battle at nightfall. He wanted this man silenced.
"Well alright then." The trainer says to give space on the battlefield. "Let's see what you've got."
Chris stands directly across from his opponent, then throws his Poké Ball in the air. Out pops Chris's Tailow, which manages to prove comedic to both his opponent, and the crowd surrounding them. After his laughter ceases, the trainer taunts Chris. "You want to face me down with a first stage Pokémon? Is that really the best you've got?"
"It'll do for you." Chris says, his voice steadfast as he gives no reaction to the laughter, and his voice has not even a hint of fear.
The smile then fades from his opponent's face, as he sees his own arrogance matched by Chris's confidence. "Alright then. Since you're so confident. Mightyena, use Bite!" The Bite Pokémon lives up to its classification, as it bares its fangs while staring Tailow down. It takes off towards Tailow, leaping at it as some of the crowd goes to move back to avoid getting hit.
"Quick Attack!" Chris says calmly, his Tailow picking up enough speed to leave Mightyena helpless. Tailow swiftly swoops in, and strikes the Dark-type before it can get its fangs sunk in, avoiding any damage. "Now, Wing Attack!" Tightening up her wings, Chris's Tailow does a loop through the air, and goes careening down towards the opposing Mightyena.
"Oh no you don't! Mightyena, Double-Edge!" Recklessly charging towards the oncoming Tailow, Mightyena goes full force with its attack. The two attacks collide, and Wing Attack ends up being more of a defensive maneuver against the powerful Double-Edge. Tailow ends up going back, and Chris's opponent thinks that he has the advantage. "Things will go back to normal from here."
Right after he finishes his sentence, Tailow begins to glow with a brilliant white light. The uncertainty returns to his face, as Chris silently half smiles. Tailow begins to evolve, more than doubling her size as her wings and two tail feather both elongate. Her talons are next, additional claws now protruding out of the back of each one. A mane now flows from the back of her head, and the light fades to reveal that Tailow has evolved into Swellow. And with that evolution, came a suspicion from Chris. "Swellow, Aerial Ace!" Swellow picks up an incredible speed, and comes down to slash at Mightyena. The boastful trainer can do nothing but watch as the Tailow he had once mocked was defeating his proud partner Pokémon with a swift blow. As he watches his Swellow effortlessly loop around for a graceful landing on his outstretched arm, Chris has a thought. "Very good... Ace." He nicknames his Swallow Pokémon, The black and red colors and the way they adorn Swellow's body makes it seem to Chris that there's no other bird Pokémon that should be named Ace.
The crowd had turned on the once boastful trainer Chris had defeated, who seemed like he was only interested in specializing in his partner Mightyena. Whether or not he would learn something from this defeat and diversify, Chris doubted he would ever see him again. Once the crowd had turned a blind eye to his defeated opponent, Chris went into crowd control to dissipate them entirely. It took some time, but Chris did eventually get into his hotel room for the night, placing an order for pizza delivery while he passed the time with a shower.
When the morning comes, Chris checks himself out of his motel room very soon after waking up, and gets on the Harley. It was off to the shipyard to drop off the package, and then it was time to investigate Meteor Falls. Chris also believed that if this Captain Stern was connected to Devon Corps enough to receive some of their products, then perhaps he may have some information that could be useful to his hunt.
At a red light, Chris took a glance to his left to see a long line of Team Aqua Grunts at Slateport's Museum. Up to this point, this organization had only seemed interested in theft, so there had to be something there drawing their eye. Still, what little he knew about crime from the kids he grew up around was enough to make him believe museum thefts never end well for the perpetrators. The vehicle behind Chris honking its horn to get him to go interrupted his train of thought, as he raised his hand to the vehicle behind him while returning his gaze to the road ahead.
There was a guardhouse right at the turn leading into the shipyard, and a security guard waiting inside. There certainly wouldn't be a line of Team Aqua Grunts waiting here. Chris pulled up to the guardhouse, as the large security guard opened the door. "Here for a job interview?" The guard asked after Chris gave him a nod. Between how much bigger Chris had gotten over the past year, along with his attire and aviators, he certainly seemed like he'd be a blue collar worker.
"No sir. I've got a package for a Captain Stern, from the Devon Corps."
"You work for Devon?"
"No. Just a favor for the president."
The guard does give Chris a second glance, understandably so due to him not exactly looking like a courier either. "What was your name?"
"Chris Harper."
"Do you have an I.D on you, Mr. Harper?" Chris nods his head, and then pulls his wallet out of the pocket of his black leather jacket. He hands him his driver's license. "Okay. Just give me a moment." The guard steps back inside his post, and makes a phone call. A minute later, he returns the license to Chris. "Okay, you're expected. I believe the Captain's still here, but the exit is on the other side, and there isn't another guardhouse."
"Okay, thank you." Chris says. He looks ahead of himself once again, and as the gate opens up, Chris rides through. He pulls the package out of the saddle bag on his bike, and walks towards the shipyard. "Hopefully they'll let me wait if he isn't here at the moment." He says to himself.
A researcher working at the shipyard greets Chris at the entrance. "Good morning, Mr. Harper." He says, as he guides him inside.
"Yeah it is." Chris responds. "You don't look like much of a captain, with all due respect."
"Oh, I'm not Captain Stern. I'm his head researcher. Because of how busy the captain finds himself, I'm often on top of his areas of interest in the Hoenn Region. I'm also currently aiding him in the design of a submarine with some experimental equipment attached to it."
"Would that experimental equipment be to try to track Kyogre by any chance?"
"Despite the captain's interest in that particular legendary Pokémon, this is likely just to better predict the currents. Such things would be vital to the survival of areas like Pacifidlog Town, for example. However, the captain has yet to inform me of the true purpose of the technology."
"He doesn't trust you?"
"Not that. He would just prefer the submarine itself be built first."
"Fair enough." Chris takes a look around the interior of the shipyard, as he and the researcher stop at a desk. He places the package on top of the desk before he continues. "I assume the captain isn't in at the moment."
"He is not. He had a matter to attend to at the museum."
"The museum?" Concern beginning to rise in Chris after what he had seen outside of a museum on the way here, he speaks with a more authoritative tone. "Is there more than one museum in Slateport?"
"No, there isn't. Why do you ask?" The researcher responds with a raised eyebrow.
"There was a mass of Team Aqua Grunts outside the museum."
Now the concern was apparent on the researcher's expression. "Stern could be in danger." The researcher pulls the Devon Corps package closer to him. "I will keep this safe on Captain Stern's desk. Please Mr. Harper, ensure his safety at the museum."
"On it." Chris says, as he rushes right back outside the shipyard. Swiftly kick-starting his engine, Chris breaks the speed limit in the parking lot getting to the exit, and doesn't stop doing so all the way to the museum. The Team Aqua Grunts had all filed into the building by this point, and Chris knew there was no sneaking past them. If he wanted to move unimpeded, he'd have to act natural. He was outnumbered by at least ten to one, that much was evident the moment he stepped inside.
After paying the entry fee, Chris looked around to see Team Aqua costumes all around him. If Captain Stern was still here, he wasn't on the first floor. From what he was able to gather from the idle chatter of the grunts, this was the plan B to get to their much larger scheme, after Chris had thwarted them in Rustboro City. Chris saw a flight of stairs, and walked right up to the second floor. There was only one man in the room, his back turned to the second year Pokémon trainer. "Captain Stern?" He called out to the man.
The man turns around, and gazes at Chris as he approaches him. "Yes? That would be me." Stern introduces himself.
"I don't mean to interrupt, but my name is Chris Harper. I was asked by the president of Devon Corps to deliver a package for you. I left it with an employee of yours at the shipyard."
"Ah! the parts I ordered for my submarine. I thank you, Mr. Harper. That's great news! We can prepare for our expedition now."
"I'd love to hear about it, and some more. But right now, we need to get out of here."
"Oh? Why the sense of urgency?"
"There's Team Aqua Grunts swarming downstairs, and I think they might be here for you."
"Indeed we are." A grunt suddenly pipes up before Chris can get a reaction from Captain Stern. A second grunt is following up right behind him. "Time to hand over those parts you got, 'captain'."
"Wh-who are you people?" The captain asks.
"We're Team Aqua, and our boss wants those parts! Shut your yap, and fork them over!" The same grunt speaking tries to shove his way past Chris. But he finds out the hard way that Chris is as proficient fighting humans as he is battling Pokémon. Before the grunt can actually push him, Chris grabs a hold of his arm, and pulls him in for a knee to the gut. His friend tries to rush Chris, only for him to push the grunt he just kneed to the ground, and sweep the others legs out from underneath him. Chris follows that one to the ground with a fist to the face, then rises back to his feet to pull the original grunt into a guillotine choke.
"What do we have here?" Chris looks back to the staircase, spotting the apparent pirate captain of Team Aqua. The man was decked out in a sleek blue and white body suit, a bandanna with the Aqua logo adorned at the forefront. A golden utility belt rounded out his attire, and just from the wild goatee this man clearly fancied himself a pirate. He approaches his two beaten up grunts, as Chris tosses the one he was choking out down to the floor. They struggle, but do manage to rise back to their feet. "I came up to see what was taking so long to snatch some parts, and you two simps are held up by one measly boy?"
The man then walks past both of his underlings, and speaks to Chris directly. "We are Team Aqua, and we love the sea! And I am Team Aqua's leader, Archie! What causes lowly old you to interfere with us, boy? Are you with that accursed Team Magma?" He then looks Chris up and down. "No, that can't be the case. You're not dressed the part."
"I did what I did today, because I believe this man behind me can aid me with my goal. And your boys back there were accosting him. It's why you'll have a medical expense on your part."
"Fair. But we have goals of our own." There was a painting of Hoenn's shoreline to Archie's left, and he turned his attention to it as he continued. "Pokémon, people... All life depends on the sea. So, Team Aqua is dedicated to the expansion of the sea. Don't you agree? What we are doing is a magnificent undertaking."
"If your means of accomplishing this are what I think they are, you're going to kill a lot of people in the process. Whether you mean to, or not."
To anyone else, Chris's statement would make quite a bit of sense. But it seemed that someone who fancied himself a pirate captain, like Archie, was not anyone else. "Ah, fine... You're still too young to understand our noble objective. And I do not want to see anyone else beaten down today, be it you or any of my people. But, I warn you: don't even consider interfering with our plans again. The consequences will cost you dearly! And don't you forget it!"
Chris closes more of the distance between himself and Archie, so he can look him directly in the eyes. "You don't scare me... captain." He says the last word with more than just a hint of sarcasm.
"Not yet." Archie calmly responds, as he then turns his back to Chris. "Boys, we're leaving." As he leads his defeated men back downstairs, Chris can hear Archie calling out to the rest of his crew that they were leaving the museum to regroup.
Now alone with Captain Stern again, Chris returns his attention to the man. "You can certainly take care of yourself, Mr. Harper."
"When you grow up like I did, you learn how to out of pure necessity."
"I imagine. That was a tense situation! Thank you for saving me. For saving my project. I should return to the shipyard immediately, but I recall you mentioning something about how I could possibly be assistance to you."
"Maybe. I thought maybe you might know a thing or two about Hoenn Region legends."
"I have studied a bit about the legendary Pokémon known as Kyogre. I even wrote my thesis on it back in university." The two men begin to walk downstairs towards the museum's exit. "That wouldn't happen to be what you are most interested in, would it?"
"Kyogre is very interesting to me, but my main concern is Rayquaza."
"Ah, a globe-trotting dragon. Not many people are even aware that it exists."
"I've seen it first hand. Many years ago. The destruction it caused... well... I just want to find it."
"Well, if you've spoken to president Stone, then there likely isn't much I can tell you don't already know. Even less so if you've also spoken to his son."
"I have." Chris says, as he reaches his Harley outside.
"Then I'm sorry, Mr. Harper."
"No, it's okay. I didn't come to you without another lead to follow up on." He then looks out towards the direction of Route 110. "Off to Meteor Falls for me."
"So it would seem." The captain then taps Chris's shoulder. "Best of luck to you." Chris nods at him, then sits in silence to think to himself as the captain returns to his car. It was still rather early in the day, and Meteor Falls wasn't going anywhere. Chris elected to return to the beach, and ventured within the cabin he had seen the sailors exit when Captain Briney pulled up to the shore. He spent the day with those sailors and the good captain, listening to the many stories all had to tell about the seafaring life.
I'll leave the title. It wasn't really that much of an argument, but I can't think of a better title.
