CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE:
CROSSING THE OCEAN
-Aura-
Loom, Amp, and I stood in front of the large ferry we were taking to Cinnabar.
It had taken us a little over a day to reach the ship. Probably because we took a different route than normal. Hopefully we would find Udon when we got to the island. A part of me knew it was almost impossible that he would be there, but we had to try anything at this point.
"Are you doing okay?" Loom asked me.
I looked over at her. She knew I was feeling anxious about the whole thing.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I answered. "Just never been on a boat before, that's all."
"You think you're gonna puke?" Amp asked.
"I… I don't think so…" I answered him.
Truthfully, I never even thought of that. What if I did get seasick?
"Loom, do you think I'll puke?" I asked.
"It's always a possibility," Loom answered, shrugging. "Besides, you've always been the weakest of the two of us."
That hurt. Bad.
"What do you mean?" I asked, my voice raising slightly. "I've beat you tons of times in combat."
"Only cause I let you," she responded.
I was starting to get pissed off. Did Loom seriously think she was stronger than me?
Our argument was interrupted by the captain of the ferry announcing we had to begin boarding.
"We'll settle this later," I said. "Come on, let's go."
We made our way onto the ship. The travel from the terminal to Cinnabar wouldn't even take a full day, so it wouldn't be long before we arrived.
As the ferry began to move, I began to not feel too great. Of course Loom and Amp would be right.
"I'm gonna go find a place to sit down," I said to my friends.
I walked around the ship for a few minutes until I found a small bench to sit on. I started breathing, trying to calm my nerves.
I was blaming being sick on being on the ship, but the truth was, I was worried about Udon.
Wherever he was, I wanted to find him. Tell him everything was gonna be okay. The fact still remained that we would most likely never see him again.
And that scared me more than anything.
-Udon-
"Sorry, there's nothing we can do," the Pokémon at the ticket station said in a sympathetic manner. "The ferry's already left."
Hassel and I had traveled all this way and almost caught our boat. Unfortunately, we were too late.
"That's okay," I said, turning to leave. "Have a good day."
The next ferry out to Cinnabar wasn't for another 2 days. We didn't have the time to wait, or the money to spend on a hotel. We were pretty much screwed.
"Well, there goes that idea," I said to Hassel as we walked away.
"So, we're just giving up?" Hassel asked. "That doesn't sound like you at all."
"Yeah, well, my determination pretty much died with Ruffles," I replied. "If you have another idea, just say it."
Suddenly, Hassel stopped.
"Why don't you just fly us there?" he asked.
I looked at him. I knew I could fly now, but the only times I really had were impulsively. Could I actually do it?
"I… don't know…" I answered.
"What's the problem?" he asked. "You've done it before, haven't you?"
"I guess so…" I replied. "It's just… I've never really done it intentionally."
"Trust me, you can do it," Hassel said. "Besides, we really don't have another option."
He was right. I had to fly, and I had to do it now.
"Alright," I said. "Let's do it."
We made our way from the station to the docks. In the distance, I could see the island, with a big volcano jutting out of it.
Looking down at the ocean, I began to hesitate. The water looked deep and cold. I wasn't that great of a swimmer. If I fell in, I would probably die.
"Come on, Udon, we have to do this," Hassel stated.
"I know, I know," I said. "Now hop on my back before I change my mind."
Hassel then got on my back and held on. He was quite big and heavy, but I could manage.
"For Ruffles," I whispered to myself.
My wings began to flap behind me, lifting me off the ground. I was doing it. I was really doing it. Even with the extra weight of Hassel, I was now flying high off the ground.
Then, I took off.