Dungeon 33 – Kickin’ It To High-Seas

A single caravel ship sailed across the mysterious and wonderful sea. Its hull was colored burnt orange and it broke the waves with a bobbing motion, white water cresting at the bow. The salty wind blew over its occupants, and one of them stuck her tongue out, rubbing it with her fingers, trying to get the taste off her mouth.

“Why is salt so… salty?!”

“Don’t worry, darling!” said Lilith, approaching her friend, Meggie. The Froslass pouted, turning around.

Meggie shrugged. “Honestly I’m glad I don’t get seasick… for some reason I thought I would. Still, I hope this doesn’t take that long.”

“Ya could rest in the cabins, don’t cha think?” She put her hand over Meggie’s shoulder, and walked inside.

Meanwhile, Max was steering the ship’s rail. It was a job perfect for someone like him, who had bulky arms. And it was exciting! Max raised his head, letting the breeze ruffle his fur.

Behind him came Brian, the fox snickering, not as excited as his friend, but he had other things in mind.

“U-Uh, Max? Can I ask you if you’re doing this right?” he licked his fingers, ruffling his long mane.

“Of course, lil’ buddy! I’ve done this before, it’ll be fine!”

Unconvinced, Brian forced a laugh. “I-It’s just that I don’t really like the ocean… death by drowning isn’t on my bucket list!”

The Electivire gave Brian a big, toothy smile. “Hm… think of it this way! When I’m nervous, I try to crack jokes! It’s good to take your mind off this kinda stuff!”

To that, Brian blinked. Oh, so he was like him! That was great! And honestly, Max was right. Brian pondered for a bit and snapped his fingers, a bright, red light covering his body.

Max didn’t move, of course, as he was busy with the rail. He didn’t notice the Zoroark shapeshifting into a Chatot.

“Shiver me timbers, I mean, Timburrs! How about we look fer some loot, eh?”

Max answered with an accent of his own.”…’tis by far the lousiest pirate accent I’ve ever heard o’!”

Now back to normal, the fox continued to smirk, wrapping his arm around Max’s shoulder. “Well, but ye ‘ave heard o’ me!”

“Tell me, Brian, wha’ do ye reckon about a wee chanty t’ help?”

“Aye! Let’s do it!”

The duo breathed deeply, glancing at each other. With both of them smirking, the singing started.

Max began. “Do wha’ ye wants cause a pirate be free, ye be a pirate!”

Brian, on the other hand, put a hand on his chest and continued the lyrics. “Yarr har fiddle dee dee! Bein’ a pirate be alright t’ be!”

“Do wha’ ye wants cause a pirate be free! Ye be a pirate!”

“Ye be a pirate! Aye!”

Away from them, under the sea, two figures swam side by side. The tripulants didn’t notice as one of them, a Garchomp, rose to the surface to breathe.

“I’m not failing, boss…”

---

On the deck, Scar and Lance were sitting down on the floor with their eyes closed. The latter was specifically doing breathing exercises, as he was not a big fan of travelling by ship.

Well, if this is what I have to do, alright.

The two remained standing perfectly still, not even the wind made them stumble, instead it just ruffled Lance’s fur and aura sensors. He continued to breathe deeply, until he felt his heart rate normalize. At that moment, he smiled.

Scar opened his right eye. “Now I want you to try something, mister Williams. I will instruct you into meditation, alright?”

Lance nodded, still with his eyes shut. “Ok. I’ve done this before with my dad, so I have… some idea. I should probably thank you anyway, though.”

“Hm? What for?” he tilted his head, now with both eyes open.

“Helping me. Mentally, I mean,” Lance mumbled, his face blushing red. “L-Look, it’s not every day I do this, so just take it.”

“Ha! You’re funny, mister Williams. You’re welcome. Now, shall we begin?”

The canine nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay, so I just focus on—”

Scar suddenly stood up, looking back to the edge of the ship. Without saying anything, he walked towards it. Lance, confused, followed him.

After they got there, Scar raised his head, feeling the breeze. He quietly hummed a beat, ignoring everything around him. Of course, Lance was more confused than before, and poked the Marowak’s shoulder.

In response, Scar leaned back. “Alright, mister Williams. I would like you to do something.”

Lance raised a brow. “What?”

“I would like to see how your aura is doing. I’m not an expert, I’m afraid, but I assure you, I know what I’m doing.”

“Fine. And… how exactly are we doing this?”

With his bone club, Scar pointed to the sea. “We’re surrounded by underwater life! And you, as an empath, can sense their aura. If everything is okay, your senses should still work.”

Sighing, the teenager got near the edge of the ship and focused, closing his eyes. His entire body flared purple, glowing wildly, and Lance extended his right arm. The purple hue moved to his right paw. Lance’s aura sensors picked up, and began to twitch, and he opened his eyes, both glowing the same color as his paw.

Meanwhile, Scar was simply observing. “I’ve made some research while we prepared for this trip. Would you like to know what I found out?”

Lance didn’t answer, too focused on using his powers to care for what the Marowak had to say. He saw a lot of auras inside the sea, too many to keep count of.

“I think I figured out why it’s purple. According to my research…” He heard a growl coming from Lance, but soon continued. “Some say it symbolises healing from traumatic events in one’s life.”

“…”

“Others say it’s a way of relieving anxiety. Which seems to fit you quite well, I must say.”

Lance stumbled back, panting. He turned his gaze back to Scar, growling at him. “Okay, okay, I get it! I have PTSD! I have panic attacks, anxiety and depression! No need to drop that on me!”

“Breathe, mis—no, Lance,” he tried giving a reassuring smile. “I know you’re hurting, but you need to give yourself time to heal. You won’t help anyone staying this way, don’t you think?”

His ears drooped. “…You’re right. Fine, fine. I understand.”

“What do you think about training with the emera?” Scar pointed at the looplet Lance was wearing. “While you were berserk last time, I think you can handle the power.”

Lance looked away, sighing. “I understand you’re helping me, I really do. And I’m thankful for it, but… sometimes it overwhelms me.”

He clenched his fist. Noticing that Scar didn’t say anything else, Lance went on with his speech.

“Also, I know I accepted your proposal… and I’ll do it. After everything is over, I promise. I… have to. For everyone that lives on this planet. They deserve to live a happy life.”

Even if my friends hate me for it…

“Lucario are strong and willed, mister Williams. I believe in you. You’re a good Pokémon.”

He didn’t answer, the Lucario simply looked up at the sky, thinking. Maybe he should try the emera.

In the sea, the two figures from before swam faster, following the trail of the ship.

---

Inside one of the boat’s rooms, Meggie got one of the things she so desperately needed: a massage. To her shock, Lilith was really good at it.

The frosty ghost lay on a bed, receiving soft punches from her friend. Meggie didn’t complain at all, and was just enjoying the moment. In stressful times like these, she needed some way of relaxing.

She let out a sigh of pleasure. “O-Oh, my… did you do this professionally or something? Lilith, you’re wonderful!”

Lilith just chuckled. “Nah! I am an archeologist, though! Working with rough areas is kinda my job.”

“Really? That’s cool! Pun… not intended!”

“Don’t worry about it, darling! Honestly, not everyone would say that… so thanks!”

Meggie stretched her arms and yawned, almost drooling because that massage was just so good.

“So… what does an archeologist do?”

“We research ancient history!” the bunny smiled. “In my case, I graduated in the studies of the ancient Unown language.”

“Oh? How can you graduate on something unknown.”

Lilith couldn’t help but chuckle. “Unown is an ancient Pokémon, darling. It’s shaped like letters, but also… not really? It’s a bit complicated to explain.”

“Well, I’d love to hear some day!”

A few minutes passed, ending the massage. Meggie then sat on the bed and spread out her arms, yawning. That really worked, and she felt way more relaxed than before.

“Thank you! Guess I needed this.”

“Y’all seemed so stressed! I’d offer Lance a massage, but something tells me he would… punt me, or worse.”

Meggie shrugged. “Considering his deal, he probably would, yeah.”

“Anything ya want to tell me about?”

“Just… thinking,” Meggie looked down, frowning. “Thinking if I should ask Xerneas to try and get my memories back. I’m not sure if it’s worth it.”

“Hm. I understand that you’re confused.”

Meggie blinked, the sudden shift in Lilith’s voice was huge, from a friendly one to something more… serious. She decided to shrug it off. Right now, Lilith was offering help.

“Of course! I’m not sure if I want to… but I’m scared. I’m scared that I’m just… like him.”

Without warning, the bunny pulled Meggie into a deep hug. That was too much, and the Froslass began to weep, frosty tears streaming down. She embraced the hug and nodded.

Oh, it was so much for her. It was almost like her body would crack at any moment due to sheer pressure.

“I-I told myself I would be strong, for me and for my friends… I meant it! But now? Now I’m just… wanting to give up.”

“There, there, everything will be alright? Okay~?” Lilith rubbed Meggie’s head gently.

“What… what do I do, then? I don’t want to be a burden…!”

“You don’t need to be strong all the time. There’s strength in weakness too, alright?”

“I… don’t know.”

Lilith continued to hug her friend and ally, for as long as Meggie wanted or needed.

“You… might need time to think about it, okay? Can you promise that?”

“…Yes.”

Lilith nodded, pulling away from the embrace and standing up. Despite that, she managed to keep a smile on her face.

“Okay, then. Call me if ya need to!”

Meggie didn’t answer, and the silence remained, even as Lilith left the room.

---

Brian kept hanging out with Max, both singing all the pirate songs each one could remember, ignoring the fact that neither had a good voice for songs. Suddenly, Brian plopped to the ground.

“…Okay, I’m tired of singing. And thirsty.”

“I kinda need to stay here. Steering, y’know?” Max nodded with a drop of sweat running down his cheek.

“Yeah, yeah. By the way, how long until we get to the island? I was thinkin’ of sleeping to sorta… skip time?” Brian shrugged. “I dunno.”

Max sighed. “I guess… a few more days? Honestly, I hope that Morgan guy doesn’t get there sooner than us. If he does the thing he wants to, who knows what’ll happen?”

“Terrible things,” said Meganium, having arrived next to them.

“Oh, miss Meganium! How are you?” Brian waved at her.

“Hmph. I was better before,” she rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I’m preparing our lunch. I’m not sure if you know, but travelling on a ship requires a specific type of diet.”

They both nodded, Brian having a bit of drool on his mouth. “Cool!”

“It should be ready in about thirty minutes, so I’ll see you then.”

With that, she left the area.

---

Lance released an Aura Sphere into the water, and as he thought, it was lavender. Just like everything aura-related these last few weeks. He found it to be a bit annoying, as if he had no control over his emotions.

“This is ridiculous! I’m okay, why is it… like this? I even tried to accept these feelings so it would go back to normal, but no! It doesn’t work! Of course it doesn’t!”

Scar crossed his arms. “I told you before, maybe it’s what the ‘normal’ state is for you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Research. Never underestimate knowledge,” Scar tapped his skull as he talked. “It can be your greatest weapon, do you understand?”

“Whatever,” out of nowhere, Lance’s sensors twitched again, and he looked at the sea, focusing the best he could to try and find the source.

“What is it?”

“I recognize this aura… from somewhere. Damn it! There’s too many ferals in here to locate it properly!”

Like he said, Lance didn’t sense anything. Or rather, there were too many things for him to sense, like finding a needle in a haystack. He focused harder, eyes beginning to glow.

Come on, come on!

Scar decided to take a look, but saw nothing more than the water hitting the wooden ship. However, he trusted Lance’s instincts.

“Should we warn the others? We might be under attack.”

“…I can’t focus!” Lance shouted, stumbling back and covering his eyes. Scar heard a hissing sound coming from him.

The Marowak put his hand around Lance’s shoulder. “You shouldn’t be overworking yourself like this! Are you okay?!”

“I’m fine! It’s… the trace is gone. I can’t feel it anymore.”

“Let’s go inside. You need to rest, and I bet you’re hungry.”

Unable to protest, the duo went to the kitchen.

---

They stormed in, finding the table set, filled with various berries and Meganium in the back, wearing an apron fit for her body. For some reason, she was smiling.

“Ah, you arrived early! I just finished setting up everything. Come! You all must be hungry!”

“R-Right,” Lance blinked.

She raised a brow. “Is there a problem, Lucario?”

“…I was expecting something else. But it’s fine.”

Lance sat down, shoving his anxiety away. It somehow worked, but he thought food would get his mind off all the stress and chomped down an oran berry.

At the same time, Meganium was talking with Scar, and the Marowak nodded, leaving the kitchen to call the others, leaving Lance alone with the grass-type.

As expected, they didn’t talk much, just exchanging glances here and there. Lance, though, was expressing rage, biting down an apple with all his might. Meganium took notice of this and just chuckled. To her, this was more of a childish act than anything else.

“What’s so funny?”

Meganium shrugged. “I don’t know, why are you so angry? We’re going to take down your abuser, shouldn’t you be excited about this?”

“I’m… not a believer in legends,” Lance stared at her with cold eyes. “Or at least, I don’t want to believe in someone that stands around doing nothing while others suffer.”

She created a vine, slapping Lance’s face and leaving a mark. “How dare you?! My mistress works very hard!”

Lance simply rubbed off the mark on his cheek and laughed. “Oh, of course! And where was she when I needed, huh? When a child, and I repeat, a child was tortured and abused?! Where was she?!”

Meganium laughed again. “Please, you can’t put the blame of your problems on someone else. That’s… petty.”

That was the last straw. Lance’s heart started to beat faster, and he unwillingly let out a growl, shattering an apple he held into tiny pieces.

He didn’t believe that. How stupid was that Meganium? Why did she defend them? Maybe she was just as part of the problem as the Legends.

“Petty?! Listen here!” Lance stood up, aura flaring up again as he raised his voice. “I suffered because the Legends you so desperately want to create excuses for don’t do their jobs! Aren’t they supposed to protect us, common folk?!”

Lance fell to his knees, trembling and wrapping his arms around himself. Meganium stood there, watching the breakdown that was happening. He clutched his face with both hands, grasping tight; his blood was boiling with anger, and Lance felt dizzy, nauseous, even, unable to focus or breathe properly.

“I-It’s all because… because—”

A loud thud drew their attention as someone dashed towards Lance, hugging him, taking care not to touch the spike, even if it was deformed. It was Brian, having heard the commotion from the ship’s deck. He brushed off all the uneasy feelings about his brother for the moment, considering Lance’s wellbeing more important.

“It’s… it’s gonna be alright, Lance… okay? You’ll be fine, we’ll be fine…”

The Lucario burst into tears, grabbing Brian’s back with his paws. Right now, he felt like a kid again, like that small Riolu he once was, scared and hurt. But the warmth of the hug worked, slowly but surely, as Lance put his head on Brian’s chest fluff, breathing quietly.

“Thank… thank you…”

Helping his brother stand up, Brian looked at Meganium, furious with her. The grass-type scoffed, walking to the table and sitting down on the ground. The other Pokémon soon joined them, to eat and relax. It seemed like they all needed it.

---

The meal went on for countless minutes, and even if it had no meat in it, everyone enjoyed the food. Brian, specifically, savoured the sweet and watery flavor of a watmel berry, spitting out the seeds on his plate.

“Yummy! Who knew berries could taste so good?!” Brian nodded, picking up another one and chomping down on it.

“Well, I am in touch with nature,” Meganium raised her head. “It’s only natural that I know how to properly serve berries.”

Max swallowed an entire pinap berry, but regretted soon after, sticking out his tongue, a mix of spiciness and soreness on it.

“Okay, this is not for me! And uh, where did you even get it?”

Meganium pointed two vines at Lance and Scar. “Well, considering they rented this ship, I proposed to shop for groceries. Seems like it was the right call here.”

Meggie blinked, nearly choking on a aguav berry, swallowing it just in time. “W-W-What?! You two rented an entire ship?! How rich are you guys?!”

They both exchanged looks and shrugged.

“Dad owns a guild, our allowance is huge. And this job pays well.”

“What mister Williams said. As for me, I have financial support from a king, as I said before.”

Meggie lowered her head and sighed. “I just wanted to confirm I’m not crazy…”

Lance stood up, picking an oran berry and biting it. “I’ll be off, need to check on something. Don’t wait for me.”

He stormed off before any of them had the chance to reply.

---

Despite coming out to, as his brother would say, “brood”, Lance was actually calm. Something about the wind reminded him of his town’s beach, where he used to play with his father.

“Ah, the memories… of a time where I was actually happy.”

Chomping down the last bit of the berry, Lance twitched his ears, hearing a loud thunder in the distance. He decided to check it out, and saw a few storm clouds headed north.

This time, however, it were his feelers that perked up, as Lance narrowly dodged an incoming scythe attack from the air. He stumbled back and looked up again, and there he saw it: the Garchomp from before!

“Heh! Looks like it’s the failed experiment!” Derek chuckled, flying. He opened his mouth, fire coming out from inside his throat.

“Tsc,” Lance focused, eyes glowing purple as he created an energy bone. His eyes darted around the ship as he calculated the trajectory.

He threw the bone into the air and it hit the mast, being ricocheted into Derek’s snout. The result was the Garchomp swallowing his own move, making him lose his focus and crash into the sea again.

“He’ll be back soon…” Lance took a deep breath and, with his red bracelet, created an aura gauntlet.

Lance heard the door to the kitchen opening, followed by all the others, now by his side in the deck. He didn’t even need to explain the situation, as everyone was now in a combat position, forming a circle around each other.

“It’s that Garchomp… everyone, be care—”

They were interrupted by a loud, deafening roar that made the waves rumble around the ship. Lance’s sensors picked up again, and he shivered at what caused it; a powerful aura that only seemed to grow more by the second.

“What’s going on?!” Meggie gulped, shards of ice in her hand.

From the sea, came a long, serpentine body, enveloped in rainbow energy; a Gyarados.

They could only watch as the enemy Pokémon became bulkier, the fins on its cheeks became longer and gained a yellow tint. Its crest grew larger and black, and its barbels also gained considerable length. A large spike extended downward underneath its chin, and it now had a black underside with a red stripe around the edges. The yellow spots along its body were replaced by raised red scales.

Gyarados’ energy aura faded away and it roared, shaking the ship. Derek emerged from the water, flying right by Gyarados’ side. He had a wide smirk on his face, even if it was scorched due to the previous attack.

“I-It mega evolved!” Scar pointed out, preparing his club to attack.

Lance looked back. “We need a plan… Gyarados is a water-type and flying-type, who here has electric moves?!”

Brian and Max raised their hands. Nodding, they both stepped forward, but stumbled back, seeing that Gyarados had wrapped part of the ship between its grasp.

“I’ll distract it! You two strike with all you got!” Lance dashed, aura gauntlet in hand. He aimed at the beast’s eye and fired the gauntlet. It homed in on its target, hitting the mega Pokémon, who proceeded to roar in pain.

This was the opportunity the other two needed, Max snapped his fingers, hands wrapped in electricity. Brian did the same, but using his gauntlet. They both punched the scaly hide in the middle of the ship, making the electrical current spread across that section of Gyarados and weaken its grasp on the ship.

---

Meanwhile, Meggie floated in the air, dodging most of Derek’s strikes against her. However, this was exhausting to her, and she found herself falling down.

Meganium caught her using her vines, gently laying her down. Derek, though, continued to smirk.

“Whoa, when boss told me about you, I thought you would be… stronger? Heh. Guess I was wrong.”

Meggie pouted, getting up. “If you’re so strong, why do you need to take us down, anyway? It’s not like we even have chances of winning!”

Meganium frowned. “Froslass, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Mocking him, I mean.”

Derek widened his eyes and snarled, preparing to use his fire attack once more. However, a sharp pain on his head took his attention out of it, and launched him into the sea.

Lilith fell to the ship’s deck, sighing in relief. She tapped the ground, taking some of the scales from her feet.

“Thank you,” Meggie smiled. “It worked!”

However, the Garchomp arose once more, this time, his speech was reduced to growls and snarls. He was done with all the fighting and submerging, so he took a deep breath in, flames surrounding his mouth.

“S-Shoot! How are we supposed to defeat that guy?!”

To make matters worse, Gyarados wrapped its tail around the deck again, despite the efforts of the others, including Scar, who launched his bone club into the Gyarados’ forehead.

“Mister Williams!” Scar jumped, picking up his club. “We’re facing off against two megas, don’t you think you should use the emera?!”

Lance didn’t answer, and stumbled back, falling to his knees. The situation was terrible, both sides trying to contain the enemy forces, but failing to do so.

Perhaps Scar was right. Maybe… maybe he had to use the emera. He looked at the looplet, and the stone. It called to him, just like it did before. But this time, he hesitated. What if he hurt his friends? He wasn’t a hero, of course not. And even if everything worked out, who was to say his friends wouldn’t still be mad at him?

“…Without reward.”

Words his father said to him and Brian, in a time when they were kids. Lance stood up, raising his arm in the air, and closed his eyes.

---

The emera glowed, transferring all its energy to Lance. Like the last time he did it, the auric Pokémon screamed in pain, feeling his body shift and grow. Soon enough, the aura shifted into lavender again, and Lance panted.

“…”

He opened his eyes, glowing much like his body. With one step forward, he left a crack on the ship’s wood. Everyone was still fighting, although every now and then someone looked at him, whether it was fear or shock.

His gaze turned from Gyarados to the mast, and then to Derek, high up in the air. With a smirk that showed his fangs, Lance ran towards the mast, gathering distance until he jumped at it, kicking the wood with his legs.

Swiftly, Lance looked at the mega Pokémon his brother was up against, and in a quick movement, he jumped off of the mast, creating violet aura claws with his gauntlet. He landed on Gyarados’ face and slashed it with the claw, forcing it to retreat and drop blood on the deck.

Still not done, Lance jumped from the water-type into the air, aiming towards Derek. The Garchomp, busy with the females attacking him, didn’t notice, and received a punch to his face that shot him backwards.

Finally, Lance landed in the wooden deck, panting in exhaustion; using so many movements and so quickly drained him. But somehow, he felt he wasn’t done yet. His aura sensors picked up, seeing everyone else staring at him.

To him, they were trying to attack him, and to that, he let out a snarl. No! He wouldn’t be killed, not by them! Not by anyone! Yet, despite that, his body was failing him, and he fell on his knees.

“L-Lance?! A-Are you okay, buddy? Please, talk to me!” Brain tried to hug his brother again, but was received by a fearsome slash. He gasped, ears drooping.

Another roar came out, and Gyarados emerged with Derek on top of its head. The water Pokémon opened its mouth, charging a white energy beam.

Brian gasped, his fur standing on its end as he recognized that move: Hyper Beam. To his shock, the others had mostly the same reaction… except Lance.

Lance gave one step forward and raised his arm, creating an aura shield that wrapped itself around the others.

“Too bad. I kinda liked fighting you guys. Well… doubt that you’ll survive, so… see you all in the Distortion World!”

Gyarados fired the move, and everything seemed to freeze in time, Lance staring at the attack as it drew near them. Once it hit, he nearly fell back, but instead, felt something holding onto him; his friends. They were helping him contain the blast.

Despite their best efforts, the ship was collapsing, wood breaking apart. Still, Lance kept holding on as best as he could, even if his body felt numb, even if everyone hated him… he had to.

“K-Keep… keep it up, Lance!” Brian shouted, struggling not to pass out. Or worse.

Even with the combined strength of everyone, the pressure was simply too much. The mast fell down behind them, breaking more of the wood, enough to give the ship a hole and making it start sinking.

“C-Come… on!” Lance’s vision blurred and finally, they fell down on the sea.