Ah, no replies to the previous chapter? So be it, but here's the next chapter. It's the most intense chapter yet! Enjoy!


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Chapter 4
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It was 12:30AM. Vinzer, Richard, their Pokémon, and hundreds of other trainers onboard the S.S. Eauis was fast asleep. On the bridge of the liner, a solemn Captain Josone scrutinized the holographic radar image. Two minutes later, he returned to his chair and gently shut his eyes.

*

On the exterior deck of the ship, two crewmen on duty gazed out at the dark ocean. Not one single ship was in sight. The warm evening air gave them some energy to stay awake. Moments later, one of the crewmen saw a dark, peculiar vessel in the distance. He couldn’t make out its identity, but he immediately took out a communication device the size of his index finger. Pointing the top of the communication device at his mouth, he stated his vision of the unidentified ship.

*

On the bridge, a half-asleep Captain Josone was woken rudely by the patrolling crewman’s transmission. He immediately rose from his chair and approached the holographic radar. The image reveal one large red dot about 12 centimeters away from a green dot, the indicator for the S.S. Eauis. He knew instantly that the ship is in trouble.

*

The nervous crewman on the ship’s exterior deck saw tiny orange-yellow flashes from the unidentified ship.

What the heck is that?, he asked himself, his expression in disbelief. Abruptly, the entire ship gave a brief shake. The crewman immediately knew that the ship was under possible siege.

*

After Captain Josone experienced the unexpected shake, he immediately approached a transmission terminal on the bridge. Without hesitating, he entered his password and sent a transmission to the lower decks.

“Decks ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen, report!” stated the captain grimly.

Immediately afterwards, the receivers returned the transmission.

“This is Deck Ten, We have no reports of unexpected disturbances,” the first transmission came in.

“Deck Eleven here, sir. No negative reports,” the second transmission read. The Captain began to grow nervous.

“This is Deck Twelve, sir. We are experiencing weird sounds from below,” stated a nervous voice. The Captain instantly knew Deck Thirteen had company.

“Mayday, mayday! We have disturbance on Deck Thirteen. Three of our crew members have gone missing, and so have five of our Electrodes, powering the engines!” a most frightened voice reported. Abruptly, a transmission from a different frequency interrupted.

“Captain of the S.S. Eauis. We are the Stormers and have come to take some useful Pokémon. Surrender yourself and your Pokémon if you wish to see this ship sail safely to Clariford. We are armed with dangerous Pokémon and weapons. You are defenseless!” read the grim transmission. Captain Josone, after hearing the transmission, hurried to the shut-down terminal, still on the bridge. He entered a long password before stating regretfully: “Deactivate all automatic systems onboard. Unlock emergency exits. Initiate escape procedures.” After the shut-down sequence, Josone opened the alarm. He then headed back to the transmission terminal, but this time, he gave an emergency announcement: “Attention, passengers and crewmembers of the S.S. Eauis. I must regretfully inform you that we are under siege by the Stormers...”

*

Vinzer was still drowsy from his sleep. He slept at ten thirty the night before, and now, he had to wake up for an emergency reason? Vinzer certainly deserved more than this, especially on the S.S. Eauis. After Vinzer regained energy, he heard loud noises from the corridor outside. He knew that this was an emergency, but had absolutely no idea that this was a siege by the infamous Stormers. Without delaying one second, Vinzer emerged from his warm, luxurious bed and seized Torchic’s Pokéball, and his two pieces of luggage. Once he neared the door to the corridor, he realized that it had been shut down. He knew he had to get the door opened quickly, before whoever took over this ship reach this deck. With pure instincts, he directed his look to his left and saw a glass-protected lever. Apparently, the lever wasn’t there when he entered his cabin for the first time. His muscular arm smashed the glass flawlessly and pulled the lever down. Once it was down, he heard a click near the door. He drew his arm from the emergency lever and used it to manually slide the loose door open. Once out in the corridor, he saw a frightened Richard to his left.

“Come on Vinzer, we need to hurry. The Stormers are here!” exclaimed Richard, holding his luggage.

“All right, let’s go!” Vinzer concurred with a solemn expression. He didn’t bother to ask any questions. The two trainers, together with dozens more, headed towards an emergency stairway twenty meters across the hall. Once Vinzer neared the door to the stairway, he heard an explosion from behind. It sounded about fifteen meters away. The hall was now empty, with just one young boy catching up to the group. He abruptly turned to see what was going on. To his surprise, a man dressed in grey, who seemed as tall as he was, emerged from the fires after the explosion. He wielded a laser pistol. With inhuman actions, the man managed to grab hold of the young boy. Vinzer immediately changed his direction. He knew it was his duty to save the boy, even if it meant his life was at stake. A puzzled Richard turned to face Vinzer.

“Vinzer, come on!” he insisted.

“No, I need to save him,” Vinzer pointed to the direction of the man holding the boy hostage. The man, however, didn’t notice Vinzer.

“Vinzer, I’m not going without you.”

“I’m not going until I know that that boy is safe!”

“Vinzer look-”

“Richard! Go without me for now. I’ll be fine, trust me!”

“Fine, if you insist. I’m telling you, Vinzer, you’ll regret this!”

Richard turned back without hesitating. When Richard descended, Vinzer approached the man slowly.

“Give him up, he’s not what you want,” said a calm Vinzer.

“Look, pal. I not going to give anything up!” the man shot back. Vinzer noticed that he was one of the Stormers Richard spoke of earlier.

“Put down your weapon down and nothing bad will happen, okay?” Vinzer tried to end this very grim situation.

“Shut up! I need Pokémon, Pokémon!” the Stormer exclaimed, now pointing his pistol at Vinzer.

“All right, then. If it’s Pokémon you want, then here,” Vinzer handed the Stormer his five empty Pokéballs. Luckily, this Stormer was quite inexperienced, believing those balls were not empty. He slowly released the young boy, who look to be near-unconscious. Vinzer was relieved to see the Stormer lower his weapon. He then reached for his pocket, but pulled his hand out immediately; he didn’t want his young Torchic to get involved with this extremely dangerous situation. The Stormer, however, noticed Vinzer’s actions.

“What do you got there, pal. Show me!” the Stormer shouted. He raised his pistol again. Vinzer was now stunned, unable to perform another action. Surprisingly, a Mudkip jumped on the Stormer’s head, causing him to fire three consecutive shots of lasers at the ceiling.

“Mudkip, use a Water Gun to get that pistol off him!” a voice of the young boy behind the distracted Stormer ordered. Vinzer felt adrenaline passing through his body as he quickly took out his Pokéball, and threw it in the air, releasing his trustworthy Torchic. Simultaneously, a beam of water from Mudkip’s large mouth touched the Stormer’s pistol, forcing the Stormer to release it. Once out its Pokéball, Torchic instinctively shot out five flame rockets from its beak. The Stormer’s clothes caught fire immediately, and Mudkip jumped in front of him, in solidarity with Torchic. The boy was now in front of the suffering Stormer as well. The two trainers allowed the Stormer to burn for a little while before the boy ordered Mudkip to put the flames out. Once all the flames were out, the Stormer fainted.

“Thank you very much, sir. Mudkip and I owe you our lives!” the young boy praised.

“Think nothing of it. If it wasn’t for you, either my Torchic, or I would be hurt badly. I must thank you!” Vinzer returned, a smile dominating his face.

“My name is Josh, by the way,” he said, returning a similar smile.

“I am Vinzer. Let’s waste no time; we have to get out of here before more of these Stormer guys come!” Vinzer stated, his smile faded. He picked up his empty Pokéballs, and the Stormer’s pistol and planned to use it for protection if they encountered another enemy. After Torchic’s and Mudkip’s quick conversation, their respective trainers recalled them to their Pokéballs. Using the emergency staircase, the two trainers were able to make it to the fifth deck, where it lead to the exterior deck. Vinzer peered through the rectangular emergency door window, visioning three Stormers approaching. Without much hesitation, Vinzer instructed Josh to ascend to Deck Four, where he believed was safer. Once on Deck Four, Vinzer did the same thing he did on Deck Five. This time, though, there were no Stormers. He slowly opened the door and led the way out. This deck looked to be exactly like Deck Three. The two moved swiftly through the hall and the cabin corridor. At the end of the path, there was a hatch, large enough for both Vinzer and Josh to fit in. The hatch opened easily, and both trainers entered it, not knowing where this dark tunnel led to.

*

On the exterior deck of Deck Five, Richard and dozens of trainers gathered, waiting for life-boats to emerge from the deck below. About five dozen trainers left the invaded S.S. Eauis already by utilizing medium-sized lifeboats, which could only accommodate twelve people. These boats were powered by electrical engines so their speed rivaled that of the S.S. Eauis. Richard was patiently waiting his turn. He was still behind two dozen people. Although it seemed like a lot, Richard wanted to be even more behind, so he could see if Vinzer made it out safely. Abruptly, three Stormers emerged from the interior and approached the crowd. These three Stormers did not have any weapons with them, but they were armed with Pokéballs. The villains threw their red-and-white orbs to the ground. The first Pokéball opened and revealed the wicked-looking black hound, Mightyena. The second Pokémon revealed a Dusclops, his eye swept through the busy crowd. The third one was probably the Pokémon which scared Richard most, Banette. The floating ghost narrowed its eyes and slowly opened its mouth, revealing its nightmarish yellow teeth. All of a sudden, a steel silver bird appeared, and it seemed to dominated the dark tranquil sky in Richard’s vision.

Could this be our savior? he asked himself, gripping his Pokéball with Electrike in it tightly. He suddenly saw a figure below the high-flying steel bird.

“Skarmory, ensure all those trainers down there are safe!” ordered Captain Josone as he directed his attention at the crowd on the deck below him. He was apparently standing at the edge of the deck above Deck Five. Banette ascended to challenge the armored bird. It used its ghastly hands to form a ball of pure darkness. It took the ghost Pokémon a few seconds to form the ball, but fired it immediately when it was as big as its head. The ball of dark energy missed Skarmory as the bird descended about two meters. The steel bird retaliated by giving Banette a strong gust of wind, blowing the ghost back a little. Banette didn’t seem to recoil, however, and gave Skarmory yet another Shadow Ball. This time, the ball of dark energy hit the steel bird on its chest, causing it to falter. Skarmory ascended a little, despite the damage it received from Banette’s Shadow Ball attack. It began to glow an eerie white as it accelerated. One second later, the steel bird gave Banette a taste of its amazing speed. This time, the ghost Pokémon recoiled and almost failed to maintain its flight. However, Skarmory returned, this time, behind Banette. It flapped its heavy wings once as they glowed. Skarmory performed a heavy Steel Wing attack on the unwary Banette, causing the ghost Pokémon to lose its flight. It’s fall left a dent on the exterior deck. The victory was rewarding, but Skarmory still needed to maintain its strength as more battles awaited it.

*

Vinzer and Josh could see light at the end of the tunnel. Once at the end, Vinzer peered out the tiny holes to scan if there were any Stormers. Seeing the place cleared, he easily opened the hatch, revealing an empty restaurant. Vinzer and Josh did not hesitate to climb down. The feeling of standing was rewarded after their long endeavor through the tunnel. The two sat down, at last, resting for a while and planning their next move. The next five minutes was relaxing, but their relaxation was interrupted by running footsteps outside the restaurant. Vinzer immediately instructed Josh to hide under the table as he go find out what was going on. Three Stormers entered the restaurant. Simultaneously, Vinzer’s instincts forced him to duck and hid under the nearest table. The villains seemed to move towards the counter, where food was suppose to be served at. Fortunately for Vinzer and Josh, the counter was nowhere near where they were hiding, for if it was, Vinzer would have already utilized his newly acquired laser pistol. When the three Stormers were busy digging for food behind the counter, Vinzer emerged from his hiding, and approached the counter with a stealthy movement. His reached for the laser pistol in his deep pocket as he got closer to the danger. There were no surprises for him now as he set his pistol to level five, the level which could instantly kill a targeted victim.

“All right, freeze!” he commanded as he pointed his pistol towards the unwary Stormers. The Stormers abruptly turned around, revealing laser pistols of their own. Vinzer was caught by surprise; the Stormers pointed their own pistols at Vinzer. The rookie trainer, however, did not back an inch, but merely put his second hand on the pistol triggers. Before Vinzer could utter another sound, the three Stormers fired shots of laser beams at Vinzer, knocking him down.

“Noooooooo!” cried Josh in disbelief as he ignored the Stormers’s presence and rushed towards the possibly dead Vinzer. As inhuman as they are, the Stormers fired lasers at the young boy, just like they did to Vinzer.

*

Another victory for the captain’s noble Skarmory as it gave Dusclops another powerful Steel Wing. Skarmory now had to challenge possibly the easiest opponent, Mightyena. The steel bird dove down, using its Aerial Ace attack. To Josone and Skarmory’s surprise, the dark hound evaded the powerful attack. Mightyena, seeing Skarmory flying so low, jumped on the bird, causing it to slow down a little. The clever Skarmory reacted by flying upside-down, forcing the hound to fall. The match proved to be, after all, easy when Skarmory knocked it out with its powerful steel beak. The Stormers escaped back inside after their loss, giving the panicking trainers more time to escape. Richard was the next to board a life-boat when he hesitated, and stepped back. He heard a rude voice from behind him.

“Hurry up and get in there, boy!” ordered a fat lady behind Richard.

“You can go first,” Richard responded, his head down.

“It’s your turn, now hop,” the lady insisted.

Seeing leaving the ship was inevitable, Richard boarded the life-boat.

Vinzer and that kid have made it out safely; they must have!, Richard thought to himself. His hands clenched his Pokéball tighter than ever. The life-boat lowered to the waters. Simultaneously, Richard heard the electric engines of the boat activate. The boat was departing now, leaving the S.S. Eauis and his friend behind.

*

The bridge of the S.S. Eauis was now filled with officers. The captain had gone over plans on how to rid the Stormers, but they were all futile; they don’t have any weapons to start off with! They finally implemented one decisive plan.

*

Vinzer woke up in an unfamiliar room. His hands seemed to be tied up with primitive ropes. This place seemed to be filled with engines and weird Pokémon which looked like Pokéballs, but their colors were reversed and had a face. He suddenly saw a huge man with a pirate’s patch on his left eye. He had long grey hair and a large cloak. This strange man reminded Vinzer of this villain he saw in a movie once. Vinzer saw this guy ordered some Stormers to pick those Electrodes up and escort them outside. The man abruptly turned to Vinzer.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s awake at last!” his voice was deep and stern.

Vinzer did not reply. He simply gave the man a grim look.

“Once we’re done with our operation, we’ll see you swimming in the ocean. Ha ha ha ha ha!”

His laughing was interrupted by a loud and eerie computer voice. “Warning! Warning! Self-destruct sequence has been initiated. Twenty minutes until self destruction!”

“Aagghh! That was rather unexpected! All right boys, pack up, we’re leaving this damned liner. We have what need; our mission is a success! As for you, fool, you‘ll be going down with this ship! Ha ha ha ha ha!” the evil man laughed. “And look what you gave us!”

The villain drew two Pokéballs from his back pocket. Vinzer knew that those Pokéballs contained his and Josh’s starters. Once he returned the orbs into his pocket, he headed for what looked like a small pod in the room. The next situation occurred with mere luck. Apparently, the man’s pocket wasn’t deep enough to secure the two Pokéballs. When he entered the pod, the two orbs dropped from the villains pocket and landed on the metallic deck. Within the next second, Vinzer heard loud roars from the pods as they launched, escaping the liner.

Torchic, Mudkip, you have to come out! Vinzer thought as he tried to untie the ropes on his hands. Surprisingly, both Pokémon emerged from their Pokéballs. Torchic gave a chirp as it flew behind Vinzer and cut the primitive ropes. Vinzer wasted not one nanosecond to find Josh, who was apparently in the same room. Behind the huge engines, Vinzer spotted an unconscious Josh, tied up the way he was.

“Mudkip, use Water Gun to wake Josh up. Torchic, cut the ropes that are tying his hands!” Vinzer ordered.

Mudkip and Torchic complied and Josh returned to his feet.

“Josh, they have set the self-destruct sequence; we haven’t much time!” Vinzer explained.

“We must report to Deck Five!” Josh stated.

They rushed out the large engine room and headed towards the emergency staircase. It took them nearly ten minutes to reach Deck Five, but once there, they exploded out onto the exterior deck of Deck Five.

“We’re here at last! Head for the life boats!” Vinzer exclaimed, catching his breath.

*

“Sir, there are two trainers on the exterior deck!” exclaimed an officer.

“What! I thought we’ve evacuated everyone!” the captain replied.

“Sir, sensors detect no Stormers on board. It appears they left after we set the self-destruct sequence,” explained another officer.

“Good job, Gerard. Deactivate self-destruct sequence!” the captain ordered, smiling. The officer complied and after deactivating the self-destruct sequence, the captain ordered all automatic systems onboard to activate. He and a couple of his crew teleported to Deck Five.

*

Vinzer and Josh was relieved when they saw seven officers approaching them. Captain Josone gave both of them a warm smile, but Vinzer and Josh didn’t look too pleased.

“Captain of this ship, I assume?” Vinzer inquired.

“Yes, I am Captain Josone, of the S.S. Eauis,” replied the Captain. “We’ve deactivated the self-destruct sequence, so there is no need to worry; the sequence was to scare away the villains. However, we knew we had to evacuate everyone before the plan succeeds. Happily, the plan succeeded, without damaging the S.S. Eauis.”

“That was smart thinking of you, Captain,” Josh complimented, now giving the captain a smile.

“Yes, that was smart. I don’t think anyone could have expected that!” Vinzer concurred.

“Well, there’s nothing to be afraid of now. Tomorrow evening, we will dock at Clariford as was previously planned,” the captain stated enthusiastically. “I’ll see you around!”

The captain and crewmen returned to the bridge. Vinzer and Josh decided to stay on the exterior deck. It will indeed be a long trip.