Chapter 15: A Cool group

"So anyway, that's when the rangers came."

-"Karp?"

"Yeah, something about having so many people fishing in one spot was disturbing the environment."

-"Karp." *solemn nod*

"That and all the property damage."

-"Magikarp!?"

"New docks don't build themselves, my friend!"

'Man, that day was wild. I had to take a few days to recover after that nonsense. We wound up getting a lot of building materials, complimentary of a bunch of sailors having to pay huge fines! Loafy gained a few pounds and got taken in by the ranger's association for a medical examination. The others got a little shaken up by everything, but since the fishermen were angling for a Tentacool, nobody got captured. Small victories I guess.'

'The kid also showed up everyday I was resting. But I'm still mad at him for causing this whole mess so I decided to let him sweat it out a little... after showing him that I was still alive and uncaptured so he wouldn't worry. I'm not a monster!'

'In the meantime, everyone was training hard. They asked me to come by to observe a training match and gave a few pointers, not that I had much to teach, but they seemed to think I had some great battling secret after surviving that gauntlet of trainers... I'm still not sure how I did survive without being caught.'

'Looking back, I think it was just the fact that they were fighting in confined quarters against what they thought was a regular wild pokemon and didn't expect their catch to have human-like intelligence. What other explanation is there?'

Shaking themselves out of their makeshift nest made from a half sunken dinghy, Jessie and his friend made for the group.

Surprisingly, most had lost almost all of their fear after battling closely with their fighting instructor and came right up to welcome him.

"Morning! Diver, how's the team attack with Fallen going?"

-"Goldeen! Gol~"

"Nice! I'll have to see that for myself later. Ooh, is that a new face I see?"

-"Corsola!"

"Here to help out, are you? Well alrighty then, glad to have you! If you've familiarized yourself with everyone, go and see Emperor about finding a battle partner. I'll be over to check on you after I've finished my morning set."

-"Cor!" They bound along the sea bottom to the group's training camp, a ramshackle place constructed mostly from the nets and damaged pier parts the group salvaged.

Looking over the small band of fish working out with the makeshift training equipment, Tentacool beamed with pride.

'It really has been a storm of activity lately. Even on my rest days, I've hardly been sleeping. But now I'm ready to get back into it!'

'Let's see... not many trainers today. Maybe I should check if there are any wild pokemon outside our group who might wanna fight?'

Making their way to The Reef, a cluster of coral working as the central hub of the local area, Jessie takes note of any newcomers.

There they spy something quite peculiar, another Tentacool!

'Huh, been a while since I've seen one of my own kind around here. They don't usually stick around here for some reason.' "Hey guy! Can I get a word?"

-"Tentacool?"

"Yeah you! Hey, mind chatting a bit? I'm... new to the area, but I haven't seen any other of us around. I mean, I figured you were being courteous to the locals not really liking predators swimming around here, but tell me straight. What's up?"

The newcomer launches into a longwinded story about the events of two months ago.

"Okaaay... So basically the tides have been weird?"

-"Cool."

"Well jeez, you could've just said; Aw we were just floating on the sea currents and they haven't been going this way lately. Ya know?"

-"Ten-tentacool! Cool, Tenta-tentacool Tentacool!"

"Okay okay! Sorry to interrupt your awesome story, guy! Just getting a little wordy for me, is all."

-"Cool." *huffs*

"Aw, don't be like that. Hey, where is everyone in your school anyway?"

-"Ten. Ta. Cool."

"...I'm sorry, did you just say a Smack of Tentacool?"

-"Cool Tentacool."

"Well is it a Shoal or a Stuck? It can't be both."

-"Tenta tenta tenta-"

"A BLOOM?! Now you've got to be making things up."

-"Ten-"

"No no no, stop! I don't even want to know what a Fluther refers to! Just take me to them!"

Traveling with the chatty jellyfish, our protagonist happens upon a massive swarm of blue and red pokemon. They bob and float along on the current in a slow moving bunch, paying little heed to one another beyond the odd conversation about hunting.

"Oh wow... the others aren't gonna like this."