Chapter 23: An Unexpected Group Terrorize the Seaport Bay!

Darkness overshadows the Seaport Bay, covering the majority of the area within its barricade. Only the moon and the stars give light to the Pokemon roaming around at night.

Inside of Draven's home, Draven and Udep are in their bedroom, Draven tucking the Clauncher in his bed as he puts the cover over his body. The bedroom itself contains only a minimal amount of furniture: two beds, a lamp on the dresser between the beds, and a blue carpet in the middle of the room. The megaphone and sign are leaning against the wall, being in the far right corner.

Draven sighs in relief, floating off to his bed. "Ah, what a wonderful day we had. Can't wait for tomorrow to be even better!" Draven says happily, lying down on the bed.

"U-Um, cousin." Udep pauses for a moment, staring at the grey ceiling.

"Yes?"

"I'm...curious about ships. Like how long do you think the ship business will last...?"

Draven blinks for a moment before coming into a realization. "Ah. Your mind is still thinking about those Callers, huh?"

Udep turns to face the Clawitzer across from him, nodding feebly. "Yes...Ever since I've heard they can teleport you anywhere you want, I feel like ships would become useless."

Draven shifts over to look back. "Hmm. I can see where you're coming from, my dear cousin. But I can assure you that the business will continue onwards."

Udep widens his eyes in suspense. "Really?"

Draven nods. "Indeed. Ships have always been a staple to those wanting to reach another location, especially if they hadn't visited it before." Draven looks at the lamp, seeing a Caller next to it with a wire at the end. He notices the wire coming from one end to a socket behind the dresser, indicating that it's being plugged into the wall. "Besides, those things rely on charging. They can go down pretty quick, depending on the battery." The Clawitzer chuckles. "And we all know how much of a disaster it'll be if everyone relies solely on Callers for transportation. Might as well travel on foot, while you're at it!"

"Oh. I see then." Udep twiddles with his claws while looking down. "S-So it's unlikely for the business to go down, then?"

"Positively. I reckon that the teleportation process can have up to five Pokemon. No more than that. So imagine wanting to go to a location you've visited before, but you're also thinking about bringing seven other folks with you, too."

"Oh...I guess that would be difficult without a ship, then."

"Indeed. Callers may be a neat and easy way for transportation, but its flaws are the reason why folks still travel with ships till this day." Draven smiles at the Clauncher. "Our announcing days are still alive and kicking, cousin. So don't fear the future. Instead, acknowledge it and focus on the present."

Udep looks at the Clawitzer, slowly forming a confident look on his face as he smiles back. "Y-Yeah. I'll try to do that for now on, big cousin!" He says happily.

Draven reaches his big claw out to pet Udep on the head, being mindful of the lamp beside it. "Let's get some rest now. We'll need to check on the progress for the new ship just in case we need the energy to announce it being ready."

Udep nods. "Okay!" Soon, the two proceed onwards to sleep, Udep nuzzling his pillow excitedly while Draven straightens his.

Over at the crew's home, everyone there is asleep as well: Some of them are sleeping in the upstairs bedroom, while the others are in the bottom bedroom. The house itself has a living room beside the stairs and the kitchen, the hallway by the left leading to the bottom floor bedroom and a window next to it. The living room also has some decor, such as three couches and a table that's surrounded by the couches.

At the end of the hallway, Cerise looks out of the window, gazing at the sea swishing and swooshing in serenity. He stares at the sea quietly, letting his mind go into thought and curiosity. A look of worry begins to surround his face, leading the blob to look off to the side.

"What you doing up?" A familiar female voice says, catching Cerise's attention. Cerise blinks curiously before turning around and sees Natalie, tilting his head to the side.

"I would ask the same to you, too." Cerise replies, rubbing his tail against his head.

The Zorua walks towards him and leans against the wall, sighing heavily. "Couldn't sleep, honestly." She says, looking up at the ceiling.

"Another bad dream, I assume?"

"Nope. Just screwed up my sleep cycle, that's all." Natalie sweatdrops as she squints her eyes. "I have the Cloyster Kingdom to thank for that..."

"I see. Apologies to hear that, Natalie."

Natalie looks at the blob and snickers. "No need to apologize, silly. I'll surely find a way to sleep normally, again."

Cerise nods. "Alright then. As for me, well..." Cerise looks back at the sea. "I noticed this mysterious statue in the forest earlier."

"A statue?" Natalie tilts her head peculiarly.

"Yes. Something about that statue seems...familiar. As if I'm feeling something powerful from it. Something meaningful." Cerise shakes his head. "Yet, I don't know why..."

"Huh...Come to think of it, there're a lot of things about ourselves that we don't understand: Why can I heal myself and others? Why can you transform into something else? Why does Claire insist on telling me to be careful when healing someone? How can I remember my own name and not remember my past, but you can't remember anything about yourself entirely?" Cerise looks at the Zorua, forming a concerned look on his face. "These questions continue to linger in our heads until eventually, we find our answers. Claire would answer them for me but she insisted that I recover my memories, first." Natalie shrugs.

"I...see." Cerise looks back at the window and stares at the stars. "Seems like there's a lot of things left unanswered for us. They leave us curious about them every day...and every night."

Natalie gets up and stares at the stars with Cerise. "Yeah..." Things become quiet for the two, as they both gaze at the sea and the sky calmly, hearing nothing but the ocean's water swaying repeatedly. Soon, Natalie yawns tiredly before turning around. "Welp, I'll head off to bed now. Just hoping that I'll sleep for real this time."

Cerise hops off from the window platform, landing on the ground next to Natalie. "I'm thinking about sleeping, as well. Which bedroom are you heading to?"

"The one upstairs. Why'd you ask?"

"Because I'm planning to sleep in the bottom floor bedroom and due to my size, I'll need someone's assistance to open the door for me." Cerise says, chuckling softly as he sweatdrops.

"Couldn't you transform into your canine-like form to do that?" Natalie asks, tilting her head confusedly.

"...Actually, you're right about that. Let's see if I can try." Cerise closes his eyes, taking a deep breath before exhaling. He then opens his eyes and...nothing happens. Not even a single thing glowing from him. "...Huh. Guess I only activate it during crisis or something..."

Natalie giggles at the blob. "I guess so. I'll open the door for you, then."

"Thanks, Natalie."

The Zorua nods and goes to open the bedroom door for Cerise, standing on her hind legs to twist the doorknob. After opening it, Cerise proceeds inside of the room before Natalie closes it, the two telling each other goodnight afterwards. Natalie then goes to walk upstairs to the other bedroom.

. . .

Morning rises. The sun shines. The rays bypass the front windows of the crew's home to provide light for everyone inside. Inside of the upstair bedroom is Iris slouching all over the bed like a lazy person. Ashen, Lucas, Mark, Natalie, and Claire happen to be sleeping on the Dragonite, all managing to stack on top of each other like a sandwich. Iris snores, having her mouth wide open.

Soon, a loud choppy noise can be heard coming from the outside. This leads Lucas to wake up immediately. "Eh!?" He says, having his furry tail dive into Iris' mouth.

Iris widens her eyes immediately. "Mmph!?" The Dragonite instantly pushes everyone off of her, rubbing her tongue constantly while spitting. "Eurgh! What the hell, Lucas!?"

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The five Pokemon land on their backs, groaning from the impact they received. "J-Jeez Iris, you didn't have to do that!" Mark exclaims.

"Agree..." Natalie says tiredly, rubbing her eyes afterwards. "Also, what is that noise?"

Iris blinks before hearing the choppy sound as well, getting out of bed herself. "Yeah...Let's go see what that noise is." She suggests. Iris then exits out of the bedroom, with the three younglings following along.

"Ugh...What's her problem?" Lucas says, rubbing his back. Ashen shrugs.

"Not sure. Let's just go find out what that noise is." The Linoone says.

"Oh right! The noise!" Lucas rushes out of the room as Ashen follows behind.

"Wait up, bro!"

Iris makes it downstair to see the others exiting out of the other room, Jimmy rubbing his eyes tiredly. "What's all the ruckus going on out there?" The Heracross asks. He looks behind him to see the Mudkip sleeping quietly on the bed. "That sound is waking us up but not...that little fella over there..." Jimmy sweatdrops. "That's quite the heavy sleeper, I assume. But anywho, that sound is very loud and we need to investigate it."

"That's why I'm here, Jimmy." Iris states before exiting out of the house. Soon the others join her as well, with the exception of Cerise. He goes to look out of the front window, wanting to be safe from anything dangerous as he watches the others. Everyone arrives at the middle of the bay, gasping at what they're witnessing.

"Whoa..." The crew says in amazement. They all see two black helicopters in the air, the vehicles slowly descending. The words 'OP' are written on the entrance doors. The folks in the bay also stare at the choppers, socializing with one another as the helicopters finally land on the ground.

Next to the helicopters are the Savior Units, all looking at the helicopters calmly as the doors begin to open. A group of Bisharps and Weaviles wielding red spears exit out of the doors and go next to the Units. The gang all walk towards the Units in curiosity. The Bisharps and Weaviles look at them aggressively and point their spears towards them before Mystery gets in front of them. "No need. They're harmless." The Sceptile explains, having Cocoon in his possession as the guards bring their spears back.

"Oh. You're about to leave now?" Iris asks.

Mystery nods. "Yes. Brad did call the soldiers over, after all. Just that I didn't expect them to take too long to reach this location."

"I see."

"It was a pleasure getting to meet you all. With you willing to listen to our experience working with the government, and us getting to know you and your friends, even for a tiny bit." Mystery smiles at the crew.

Ebony walks towards the gang, having her arms fold. "I just wanted to apologize for the way I behaved yesterday." She says, glaring at Fiona behind her. "A certain someone really tried to act tough."

"Ha. Pretty ironic coming from someone that evolved." Fiona replies, smirking at the Grovyle.

The black cape Grovyle sighs heavily before taking her eyes back onto the crew. "Anyways, this'll be our farewell." She walks next to Mystery. Mystery looks at her and the Units, nodding at them before the guards escort them to the helicopters. The first chopper opens its entrance door for the Units, Gonel being the one turning around and waving at the ground.

"Toodles, everyone. We wish you all good luck and take care!" Gonel says, revealing a cheerful expression on her face as some of the guards enter the helicopter. The rest enter in the second helicopter, the two vehicles beginning to spin their wings around. The helicopters begin to take off as Iris and the gang wave back.

"Bye! We hope to see you guys again!" Mark shouts, having his hand circling his mouth. Soon, the entrances to the helicopters close as they take off into the air.

"We're probably not going to see them again." Claire says bluntly, blinking at the helicopters.

"I mean, it would be cool if we did!"

Claire looks at the Riolu and shrugs. "I suppose?"

"Either way, all we can do is move on with our lives. Whether we see them again or not." Iris joins in the conversation.

Anna sighs. "Although, I do hope for Cocoon's sentence to be soft." The Ninetales says.

The crew all look at her in surprise. "And why do you wish for someone that gave us misery to have a softer sentence?" Claire asks with concern.

"Yeah...Jimmy almost died because of him." Natalie agrees. "Well, not really because of him but Sheer was serving him during the crisis so..."

Anna looks back at the crew and shrugs. "Well yes, I can agree that we all have been through some hell here and there. But after realizing why he made the kingdom that way, I can have some sympathy for him." The Ninetales explains. "Of course that doesn't mean that his actions are justifiable because they're not. I mean that...He was suffering a lot from the loss of his best friend. And it seems like he even learned his lesson from the big mistake he made. Which led to him wanting to turn himself in."

"Hmm..." Claire thinks to herself for a moment as the helicopters fly away, sitting down to lick her paw. "Eh, I still feel like he deserves a harsh punishment for what he's done."

Anna looks at the Shinx and sweatdrops. "Of course you would say that..."

As the helicopters fly past the forest, two silhouettes appear from the bushes. The two nod at each other as a ton of figures exit the bushes, the silhouettes following along. Back at the bay, the crew all walk towards their home calmly. All except for Claire as she stops walking, snarling deeply.

Natalie looks at Claire, noticing that she's not walking with the others. "Is something wrong?" She asks.

"I'm sensing something bad is about to happen." Claire answers, looking around tensely. She soon notices a figure jumping on top of the crew's house, squinting her eyes at it. She sees the figure preparing a move. "What in the Distortion is that?"

The figure then releases a stream of multiple leaves beaming towards the middle of the bay: Leaf Storm. The attack hits the ground, causing the crowd of Pokemon to panic. "Huh!?" Iris says, she and the others looking to see what's going on. Smoke begins to form from the impact, the cops becoming alarmed by the disaster.

Draven and Udep exit out of their home and rush towards the center, being next to a Bisharp cop. "What the heck is going on here!?" Draven says, forming a concern look on his face.

"Not sure, sir. We're figuring that out right now." The cop replies, wielding his black handgun. Soon, everyone hears a mischievous laugh, one that Draven and Udep both recognize.

Udep shakes in fear, nudging against the Clawitzer. "O-Oh no. Th-That laugh." Udep says feebly.

"It's him..." Draven says before he and the others look to the voice's direction, seeing the figure leaping off the crew's home. The figure lands on the ground, in front of the smoke. The figure reveal himself to be a bipedal creature with three board leaves as his hands, yellow eyes, a long pointed nose, and a white mane covering most of his face and trailing down his back: Shiftry. The Shiftry also has a red bandana wrapped around his head.

"Argh, Draven!" The Shiftry shouts, grinning deviously at the Clawitzer. The smoke disappears to reveal an army of Shiftrys and bipedal creatures with a single leaf on their heads, brown skin color, and mitten-like hands: Nuzleafs. The group of Pokemon all terrorize the crowd, chasing them away as the bandana Shiftry laughs in joy and folds his arms.

The Bisharp cop tries to shoot at the Nuzleafs but they dodge the bullets, firing several sharp leaves towards the cop: Razor Leaf. "Gah!" The cop gets hit by the moves, getting blown back and rolling all over the ground. A ton of Victreebel cops come rushing towards the scene, taking out their black handguns as well. The bandana Shiftry looks at the cops and shakes his head.

"Tsk, tsk." He says before forming several rocks from the ground, using Rock Slide on the Victreebels. The cops are hit by the attack and fly in the air, colliding into the Bisharp. The law enforcers are knocked out beside Draven and Udep. Udep yelps from the collision, hiding behind Draven and looking at the laughing Shiftry.

This don't look good... Cerise thinks, watching the crew rush towards Draven and his cousin.

"Uh Draven...What's going on here? And who are those guys?" Iris asks, raising her brow at the bandana Shiftry.

"Yeah, mate! That Shiftry fella is giving me some unnerving vibe!" Lucas joins in the conversation, nibbling on his paws in terror.

"We're being attacked by the Ravage Shiftleafs." Draven says, staring sternly at the bandana Shiftry.

"The Ravage whom again?" Anna replies, confused by what Draven said.

"The Ravage Shiftleafs: A band of land pirates formed by Shiftrys and Nuzleafs. They like to terrorize any nearby locations to get what they want."

"Land pirates!?" Mark and Natalie both yell in surprise.

"Yes. These boys only travel on land, never the sea." Draven explains, seeing the bandana Shiftry walk towards him and the others.

"And how did you know about these guys?" Iris asks, bringing her fists up as she stares at the Shiftry.

"Because I've dealt with them before. Mostly their leader: Captain Duke."

Captain Duke, the bandana Shiftry, stops in front of the group, his lackeys following along with him. "So this here is the fourth time we met, yargh?" Duke says in a raspy yet energetic tone.

Draven stares up at the Shiftry. "You say this everytime we encounter each other, Duke."

"That's Captain Duke to you, matey. Now then, have you finally created those ships me and the lackeys always wanted?" Duke asks, rubbing his chin.

"I said this answer the first time. I said it the second. The third. And the answer won't change this time either: N.O."

"So...Necessarily, Of course?"

"NO! As in: Never! Okay!?"

Duke squints his eyes at the Clawitzer, becoming agitated by him. "Grr. Ya making me angry, lad! Can you at least let a feller borrow a tiny ship?"

Draven slams his big claw to the ground. "You heard me, Duke! I refuse to let pirates get their hands on any of the ships here, especially those that have caused trouble in the bay more than three times now!"

At least we're going undercover with our pirate status... Iris thinks, sweatdropping. Also, THREE TIMES!?

"Fine then! Ya'll regret ever saying no to me again!" Duke shouts, turning towards his crewmates. Anna blinks at the pirates, forming an goofy look on her face. Ashen and Jimmy notice the look on her face, tilting their heads confusedly.

"Uh, Anna? Are you okay?" Ashen asks, seeing the Ninetales beginning to chuckle.

"Alright mateys! We'll thrash this bay like last time!" Duke shouts as Anna continues to chuckle. "We'll crush em!" Anna chuckles... "And terrorize em!" The chuckling continues... "And most importantly: Steal the ship this time around!" The Ravage Shiftleafs cheer at the Shiftry before hearing a female voice bursting into laughter. "Eh?"

Everyone goes to look at Anna, who's on the ground slamming her paw constantly as she laughs. "Um...Anna? Are you okay?" Ashen asks once again in a concerned tone, raising his brow at the Ninetales.

"Regret? Terrorize? Crush?" Anna says, snickering at the Shiftleafs. "You honestly think you guys can do all of that...while a Fire type is around?" She gets up on her feet.

"Argh. And why ya think that matters?" Duke questions her.

"Because a single Flamethrower can obliterate you Grass jokes. In other words, type advantages."

"Ah. Yer one of them folks that believes in that nonsense." Duke grins.

"Nonsense? It's called common sense. Ever heard of Super Effective, Not Very Effective, and No Effect?"

"Indeed, lass. But those things don't really mean that a Grass type can't defeat a Fire type." Duke gets in the middle, rubbing his hands eagerly. "I can prove it to ya by offering a battle."

"A battle you say? Alright then." Anna gets in the middle as well, snickering along the way. "Stand back everyone, I'll blow this moron away with a single Fire move." Anna grins deviously, getting in a battle position.

"Um, Anna. Are you su-"

"I'm certain of it, Iris. I got this right in the bag." Anna interrupts the Dragonite, smirking at the Shiftry. The crew all look at each other for a moment before they eventually move to a spot that'll be safer from the potential fight, Draven and Udep following along. The Shiftleafs cheer for their leader as Duke stares at the Ninetales, smirking back. This'll be fun. She thinks, eyeing at the Shiftry.

End of Chapter 23.