After a night of exotic dining, morning comes and with it, time to leave Dewford. First thing however, I point my Dex app scanner at my lazing Golbat, Shak.
Ping, “Golbat’s evolution has completed, no negative anomalies detected.”
Finally, “Looks like vacation is over bud, back to the starting roster with ya.”
The blue monstrosity hangs from a fake perch, but even still his ears nearly brush the floor at just shy of six feet tall. Looking at him as he turns around to ignore me, the whole perch flexes from his weight. I walk to his side and poke his ribs just as he yawns with that massive, fanged gullet.
I kneel down to his peeking eye, “Come on, adventure awaits, new sights, new tastes. Surely you miss feeding on the occasional Miltank and such.”
A huff of a sigh escapes his maw as he opens booth eyes and gives me a nod.
“Atta Boy.”
With a click of his ball the big fella is ready to go. As are the rest of my pokemon and a final glance around the room ensures I haven’t forgotten anything. I’ll just pretend I didn’t notice the metal frame of the perch has a tilt to it now.
In the hotel lobby I find a bit of a commotion. Jane is off to the side with Naomi.
She catches me up, “Brawly tried to take his son for an unplanned training trip, of course he has school so that's a no. Old man was piss drunk tho and ranting about see’n Shauna lose all his matches yesterday. Finally Viv’s Inciniroar knocked him out.”
The man staggers to his feet, staring down the hotel mogul and her enormous white tiger, “This is all your fault. First you wanted to keep the kid, then insisted we had to be married for them. I used to be Brawly, gym leader of Dewford and one of the most popular in Hoenn. Then it was Brawly the cheater, the drunk, the shit father. I lost my certification, and now they kicked me out of the gym.”
Vivica stands beside her massive pokemon, her son hiding behind her, “As a member of the City Council, head of the Dewford Tourism Board, and a World Pokemon Championship gym leader representing Hoenn, I hereby banish Brawly Touki. You may request an appeal at the town hall...Or get off my island.”
Sure enough the drunk just gives her a dark look and skulks out of the hotel.
Naomi looks at me unsure of what to do.
I nod towards the boy, “Go hug your cousin, and take him out somewhere quiet for a few minutes to calm down while we get the van loaded with the bags. You too Jane.”
The girls take the kid and I just stand near Vivica as the guests begin to disperse, “Sounds like you worked your ass off.”
Her hands shake as she exhales, “I did, by Acreus, I’ve done everything so that… except a half decent father.”
Right, anything the kids could ask for but that, “I don’t think I met your daughter while we visited?”
Viv laughs, “Actually you met her in Littleroot. She sent me a pic of your Joltik. Her Nidoran is already growing in her Nidorina spikes. She's working very hard.”
Let's pretend I remember the girl and not just the spike rabbit, “That was a rowdy bunch of kids, but sounds like she takes after you.”
Not sure if I was helping or not and she just nods.
Not soon enough a bellhop comes over and takes the last bag of luggage.
She reaches to shake my hand, “Have an adventure Kurt, but get home in one piece, and make sure my lovely niece does too. I’ll see you at the end of year tournament to cheer on my girl.”
Barely an hour later and lines are being cast off the Jolteon. Unfortunately the weather decided to pour rain on us but it's not coming down too hard. The route to Slateport takes only four hours in clear skies so we should still arrive in the afternoon.
While helping Destinee do a maintenance check on all the dive gear I spot a weird yellow pokemon peeking in on us. Its fuzzy horn, ear things have holes in them.
Our mechanic catches sight as well, “It’s alright Zap, come meet Kurt. Kurt this is my new Elekid. The girls pooled their winnings at the casino for my birthday!”
The strange black and yellow pokemon ducks back out of sight.
I shrug, “I’m sure it’ll come around. I actually haven’t seen much of you girls’ pokemon.”
Reaching in her coveralls past her sports top she pulls out a dive ball, “I’ve also got an Octillery, Alice actually has her Golduck help with work. Mel has a Swanna, and Boss Johanna has a Noctowl, Seaking, and a Greninja.”
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Suppose it would be a bit much to care for a full team while operating a boat.
Another couple hours slips by, Destinee, Jane and I are playing cards when the shipboard comm sounds, “Kurt and Destinee to the Bridge please.”
There are no windows here in the tech bay but I can feel and hear that we’re still in chop and rain. Hopefully it’s nothing serious.
Jane tags along but settles for poking her head in with Mel, the bridge can’t fit everyone. Alice is at the helm while Johanna stands by the radio, Watts is seated at the systems console.
The Captain sets down the radio, “We heard a second of what sounded like a mayday and a loud bang. Then nothing after.” She points to a radar, “There are two other craft on the screen. One is the Swannas’ Nest, a small cargo ship registered to the Moss Pokemon Ranch. The other has no ID but radar has it matching us in size. I’m planning on getting visual range before making a decision.”
I check the screen and grab some binoculars off the console, “You suspect a hijacking?”
She taps her fingers along the dash, “While an appropriate response will be to power up the long radio,”
“We can’t ignore it,” Watts cuts in, “My family has worked closely with the Moss Ranch for three generations. They’re a pillar of Mauville’s economy. Ill fortune for them spreads.”
Mel pipes in from the hall, “Exactly!”
That had nothing to do with her owning a Swanna, I’m sure...
Johanna continues, “As the young lady said, we’re thoroughly obligated to do whatever we can while maintaining Miss Wattson’s safety.”
A distant flash of lightning let's me pick out a silhouette on the waves, “We’ll have our answer soon enough. Just in case, I heard you ladies have a Greninja and a Golduck? I’ll grab some fins and a rebreather while we close in. Even if it's the worst, this boat is not stopping, Agreed? You can circle after passing.”
Alice looks to her captain who nods, “Those two can join you aboard, my Seaking can get you over there quickly without the fins. I agree to not stopping as well.”
Five minutes later and I can see that it is a robbery, the hole blasted in the side of the cargo ship makes that clear enough. Two blue, bipedal pokemon join me beside the moon pool. Golduck was one of my favorites I feel, and he looks much better in the flesh. Greninja weirds me out.
Mel is holding the wheel up top while Johanna, Anna, lets out her Seaking, “We’ll swing back in 20 minutes Kurt, are you ready for this?”
Two powerful amphibians, my Joltik, net gun, at least firearms aren’t a thing here. I nod.
A ping from the bridge signals we’re about to pass.
Goggles on, “See ya in twenty, let's go boys.”
Diving in, Seaking immediately comes up beside me, she's got a loop of rope for me to hold. We dive below the Jolteon’s wake and head towards the other two boats. The duck and the frog are right behind.
Visibility is fine with it only being a light storm, we’ll have to dive a bit deeper to avoid detection if anyone is looking. Thunder above reverberates in my chest as I look up and try to peer through the rain impacting the surface.
My nerves calm as we jet forward, far beneath us I catch the shadow of what should be a Wailord. Something about the current task feels like what should be another day at the office.
We approach the clear port side of the unidentified vessel. Slowly clearing my head above the water I don’t see any look outs. I point just aft of the bridge at the railing and signal to Golduck to throw me before following with Greninja.
Psychic abilities aren’t the most pleasant thing to experience first hand as It feels like something yanks me right up towards the railing. I grab hold expecting to have to swing down but Golduck gently lowers me. I guess if they had a look out they didn’t want to stand in the rain.
A moment passes as the blue dudes hop the railing. I peek in the bridge window. One man at the wheel another pacing while stopping to glare at the other ship. Impatience must be setting in if they’ve heard Anna trying to hail the Swannas’ Nest. These guys are rocking some familiar outfits, team Aqua hold outs.
Fortunately the bridge has an open hallway, we can look for a better entry then come back.
Over the back deck we find another hatch, I can hear someone moving stuff about on the floor below.
We carefully slip in, “I’ll grab one, you get the other with your tongue. Aim for the mouth so we don’t alert their pals. We turn them and Golduck blasts them with hypnosis, my Joltik will string ‘em up.”
As I creep into the bridge I hear the anxious one yell into a hand radio, “Move your asses! Time is up, get back to the boat.” He throws the radio down, “Matt will have our heads for this.”
I crouch up behind Radio Guy while Greninja aims for the helmsman, 1..2..3!
Kicking out his knees from behind I force him to spin while keeping a hand over his mouth. I close my own eyes, not that I know if it helps against hypnosis.
“Gol!”
Chancing a peek, both men are on their knees completely zoned out. A bit of drool pulls away with my hand, gross.
Pulling out Tesla’s ball she appears and begins to wrap these two up, “Cover the door guys.”
I walk over to the ship's radio and switch to the jolteon’s after noting what channel it was on, “This is Kurt, I have the bridge. The grunts are exiting the Swanna now.”
Anna’s voice, “Understood we’ll approach from the other side of the Swanna and make sure no one's hurt. The rangers said an authority would be on site within the hour.”
Interesting, “Got it, once the last hijacker is across I’ll seal this up and drop anchors.”
Turning to the fella that was yelling at his team, “So, what brought you out on this rainy day?”
His answer comes as mumbling at best, “Our guy in Slateport said this ship has enough value to cover the next year in operations alone.”
The other dude actually passes out. Better get anything else, “Where were you taking your haul?”
His eyes begin to clear up, “The Kyogre..Hey, who are you?!”
A solid right hook puts him out on the floor just as his hand radio buzzes, “All Clear!”
Stepping to the console I whip the wheel causing the last remaining line to the Swanna to rip free. Next I flick any bay door switch lit up as open, then drop the anchors, finally pulling the throttle to full stop.
Looking at Golduck and Greninja, “Alright boys, I guarantee they’ve got at least a dingy onboard. We need to make sure they don’t override the doors. Golduck, keep eyes on these two.”
Let's wrap this up.