Trouble on the Sea (Part 2)

And there was Brown, upside down, lapping up the whiskey on the floor!

“Let’s booze, booze!” The firemen cried as they came knockin’ on the door!

Shanti’s crew can be heard singing as the group of four make their way out of the storage quarters, the wooden slats of the ship creaking with every step they walk upon. The crew’s voices all get louder and louder the higher they ascend, the singing all drowning out whatever noises they made, seeing light beginning to pour into an open door up above.

O, don’t let ’em in ’till it’s all drunk up.

Somebody shouted “MacIntyre!” MACINTYRE!

They truly were out in the middle of nowhere, the endless ocean and the sea of blue surrounding them for miles upon miles, Not a single landmass in sight, only the rippling waves as far as the eye can see. All lined up around the ship is a whole crew of Popplio and Brionne, all wearing what one would expect of typical pirate garb. Not a lot of eyepatches, though, oddly enough. Wasn’t that supposed to be like a trademark pirate thing, Lavender thinks?

And we all got blue-blind paralytic drunk when the Old Dun Cow caught fire!

Well, she doesn’t have time to ponder that for long, as not long after the crew stop singing, their gazes all shift towards the group, dozens of eyes all staring down at them as they all huddle against each other. Some gazes of shock, some of surprise, of anger, of confusion.

“Oi! Whatcha scallywags stop yer singin’ fer?!” A familiar voice can be heard coming behind them at the helm of the ship. Turning around and taking a few steps back to get a good, proper look, they see the good old captain staring down at them in surprise, the top of her eyes just hidden by her hat, but they didn’t need to see everything to know that she was scowling at them. “Hrmm… That ain’t right.” She huffs, eyes glancing off to the side. “Wally, man th’ helm. Got some bones t’ pick.”

“Yes, cap’n!” A Popplio waddles over to the ship’s wheel as Shanti scoots aside, staring back down at the group, placing her flippers on the railings and vaulting over them, jumping over the crew and hitting the ship with a thud, sliding across the planks a bit as the group turn all back around to face her.

She lifts her hat up with a flipper, just enough to get a good look at them as she raises her head up, the wind blowing her hair back behind her. “Well, blow me down. t’would seem we’ve got ourselves a couple o’ stowaways.” Her gaze narrows towards Lavender, Mick and Ralph, sneering at them before her gaze gradually travels upwards towards Sahara, who is staring back at Shanti with an equal amount of malice. “And not only that, but they’ve gone n’ freed our lil’ friend here.”

“It’s not too late to turn the ship around and head back, Shanti” Sahara speaks up as he takes a step forward, the group staying by his side. “I don’t know what you’re planning on doing with Kyogre, but we won’t allow it. If you turn back to Capim Town, we turn you in, everybody walks away unharmed.”

Shanti stares at Sahara for a few moments, a smirk creeping up on her lips as she scoffs. “Bah! Yer a horrible at bargainin’ ya know? Such a lousy deal th’t only gaint t’ benefit you! If y’ain’t seein’ to reason, perhaps we could exchange better offers.” Her smirk grows wider as her flippers reach for her sword, gripping the helm of it tightly. “Offers t’ benefit us, getcha outta the way. Perhaps maybe hang ya from th’ crow’s nest by a nice, tight hempen halter, let ya dangle like a couple o’ trophies.”

Mick, not taking the situation seriously at all, chuckles a bit, tilting his head to the side as he smirks right back at the Primarina. “What, you’re not gonna make us walk the plank or anything like that? Come on, if you’re gonna kill us can’t you at least make it a little more dramatic?”

“Ya best shut yer trap b’fore I decide on an even more gruesome fate for th’ lot o’ ye.” She draws her sword from its hilt and quickly points it over in Mick’s direction, a single laugh escaping from her lips. “B’sides, walkin’ th’ planks too unconventional, it ain’t mean nothin’ if yer prey can swim.” She grins devilishly, eyes glinting in the light of the sun. “I only make ’em walk the plank if I know I can watch ’em drown.”

Lavender frowns slightly, gaze shifting to Mick and the gang, whispering quietly to them. _{“Distract her. Keep her talking.”} She goes into deep focus, trying to look as if she’s still paying attention to what Shanti is saying. In reality, she’s extending vines from her paws, slipping them down below the divots between the wooden slats of the ship.”

The three, nodding in response, direct their attention back to the Primarina, Ralph being the one to speak up next. “Uh-huh. Sure. So you’ll hang us. Do we get any last requests? Anything we can ask you before it’s lights out for us?”

Shanti blinks a few times, dumbfounded, a bemused smile curling up on her lips. “Pfaah, yer resigned to yer fate now, are ya? Just this once, I’ll humor ya, since ye’ll be lost t’ sea by the time we’re done with ya.” Her eyes glance over to Sahara, smiling at him. “‘Tis something me good ol’ friend here told me after I… Persuaded him a touch.~”

Sahara sneers angrily at Shanti while Lavender continues to try and maneuver her vines around down below. It’s hard, very hard. The fact that there’s a lot more to the bulk of a ship than she thought certainly isn’t helping, a lot of crates and other such things blocking the way. It’s like navigating a maze, only she’s blind, having to find her way around by touch.

“Y’know th’ tales of Groudon’s Drought Stone lingerin’ over by Fogbound Lake? A similar stone exists for Kyogre, deep, deeeeeep down below th’ depths o’ th’ sea.” She chuckles softly to herself. “I’m plannin’ on grabbin’ that for meself. Th’ Flood Stone. It and the Drought Stone have untapped potential, if one were t’, say, channel th’ energy o’ th’ stones, one could control Groudon or Kyogre, makin’ ’em do whatever th’ holder wishes.”

Mick arches an eyebrow, squinting at the pirate. “Wait… What? You tryna tell me you’re planning on hypnotizing Kyogre, a water goddess, to do your bidding? Do you have any idea how batshit insane that sounds?” This encourages Lavender to try picking up her pace. Some of the divots aren’t big enough, she needs to find spots in the wood that are more open.

“Not hypnotizin’, mind ya, more direct control.” Shanti wistfully laughs. “T’would be quite amusin’ to watch a bein’ as high and mighty as Kyogre slowly succumb to me melodic voice, but alas, such a task is nigh impossible on its own. But by absorbin’ the power o’ th’ stone, though, I’ll be able t’ make ‘er do whatever me heart desires.” Her lips slowly curl up into a smirk. “…Like floodin’ th’ sea, just like she had intended to all those years ago ‘gainst Groudon, ’till that lousy, long necked sky dragon showed up n’ ruined it all.”

Sahara’s hands ball up into fists as his gaze narrows. “I don’t know if you’re dangerous or just plain stupid. Do you seriously think you even have the-“

“I know I can!” Shanti interrupts, sword quickly pointed towards Sahara as she leans forward, frowning fiercely at him. “With that stone, I will truly live up to me title. Shanti o’ th’ Sea, th’ goddess of th’ ocean at me beck ‘n call! Ain’t no more fools on th’ sea would ever dare go up ‘gainst me!” There! She should have it! Lavender’s vines rise up from the divots in the wood, rising up right behind Shanti and-

Shanti quickly swipes her sword as she swiftly turns around, cutting the edges of Lavender’s vines clean off. The sudden, unexpected pain crashes over Lavender’s body as she lets out a yelp, the vines quickly retracting back into her body to recover, eyes scrunching shut and breathing sharply through her clenched teeth. She can hear, Mick, Ralph and Sahara quickly rushing over to her side to check up on her, though she can’t make out what they’re saying, trying to push through the pain.

They don’t have too much time to help her, though, as Shanti turns back around to face them. “How cute. Ya really thought ye had me, didn’t ya? Thought ya could pull a fast one on me, ya hornswagglers?” She takes on a more offensive position, pulling her hat down so that the rim is covering her eyes. “Ain’t no one try ‘n get th’ jump on Shanti and live t’ tell th’ tale.” The Primarina points her sword straight at the group, raising a flipper up into the air. “All hands on deck! Give no quarter! Skewer them!“

Lavender can hear Mick laugh quietly to himself, able to practically hear him smirking in his voice. “Well, this should be fun.”

“Everybody scatter, now!” Sahara calls out, prompting everyone to break apart and fight their own battles. Lavender is able to heal quickly thanks to the light of the sun beating down all around them, but that didn’t help that there were still little pangs of pain coursing through her. The Popplio and Brionne are all screaming their battle cries, some drawing swords out, others sticking to their gut instincts and using the different kinds of attacks they all know.

She sees a Popplio swinging on a rope and coming straight for her, one with a sword. She reacts quickly, albeit in a panic, spitting out a smaller-than-average Gyro Ball at the Popplio. It isn’t as strong of an attack as she’d like it to be, but it seems to have done the job as it careens straight into its chest, knocking them off the rope and onto the rim of the boat.

KRRZZZZTTTTT!

Mick, that’s Mick, turns to see him using plenty of discharges, seeming to purposefully be letting himself get surrounded by large numbers of Popplio and Brionne, almost as if he’s herding them together before shocking them all with an electric pulse.

KRRRZZZZZZTTTTTT!

Alright, okay, shouldn’t stay too for too long. They are getting swarmed, after all. But what to do now? The surprise attack didn’t work. Do they really just have to take down a whole ship’s worth of a crew? That could work, but how long could they keep fighting for until they get exhausted?

Lavender loses herself in thought enough to only barely notice a Brionne trying to sneak up and attack from behind her. She instinctively shoots out her vines at the Brionne to wrap around their body, and as if on reflex, she tosses them over the edge of the ship, the water making an audible splash even with all the commotion going on. Too much going on.

Sahara is putting up a very good fight, though. Going toe to toe with Shanti, performing some impressive moves for an Audino, moves she didn’t think an Audino was capable of, swiftly dodging around her, looking for openings in her swinging strikes, while Shanti herself keeps trying to throw Sahara off, but it seems like he keeps reading all of her moves near perfectly.

Mick tries to go for a surprise attack on Shanti, running up behind her and getting ready to strike her with a thunder punch, but it seems like just like last time, Shanti is incredibly alert of her surroundings, turning back briefly, but not attacking Mick with her sword, but blowing a bubble and enveloping him in it, sending him flying back against a wall, as it bounces off and goes all stretchy and wobbly.

Lavender briefly thinks it’s strange, why isn’t Mick using his thundershock to break out? But then she realizes she sees little bubbles rising from Mick’s lips. It’s flooded! She flies over, nothing a litttle razor leaves can’t solve. She strikes the bubble, popping it, saving Mick and leaving him a very wet Shinx.”Ghwughbughh! Haahh! Thanks, Lavender.”

Lavender lands right beside Mick, helping him back up onto all fours. “There’s so many of them, I don’t know how we’re gonna be able to handle them all at this rate…” She sees Ralph fighting as well. Crowd control, it seems. Keeping his distance from the Popplio and Brionne, small geysers of water rising up from under the slats of wood, encasing them in bubbles before throwing them off to the side, much like Shanti was.

Wait.

From under the ship…

That’s it!

“Mick, I have a new plan.” She turns to face him, as he’s still soaking wet. “I don’t have any time to explain, just keep fighting and holding them off, okay?!”

“Uhh- Yeah, sure, Lavender! Kinda wish you’d let us in on these plans of yours, but, whatever!”

Alright. Let’s do this.

Lavender takes off and heads up towards the Crow’s Nest, a Popplio residing within it. Gotta fix that. She wraps her vines around the Popplio, who gazes at her with a surprised look before she throws it down into the fight below, narrowly avoiding landing on top of Shanti, breaking the flow of her battle with Sahara and allowing him to land a few extra blows.

She takes her spot in the Crow’s Nest, channeling the light of the sun into her body for what she’s about to do. She extends a number of vines from her body, dozens of them. They all seep down the mast of the ship, trailing downwards all throughout the slats of wood. She has to feel her way around the boat again, can do it better this time, but now it’s like she has dozens of new arms that she has to figure out how to coordinate properly. But she can do this, she’s got this.

Just gotta grab a hold of some planks of wood and give a good, hard, PULL!!

She grits her teeth as her vines give a firm tug at the wooden planks, and one of them, she feels break off! Her whole body is straining beyond belief, but she manages a weak smirk. Just gotta keep going!

Maybe down in one of the lower parts of the ship, submerged underwater. Yeah, that might REALLY cause some damage.

She traces some of her vines lower, lower. She feels herself hit the bottom, moving towards the front of the ship. It’s sealed, but not perfectly. She can feel little divots in some of the planks. Maybe if she can just… Grab on tight enough!

CRRRKK!

Oh boy.

The ship jerks forward as she feels an onslaught of water start pouring onto her vines. She can hear commotion below, the confused voices of the crew a mess of words. She can’t focus on that, she needs to ensure this ship goes down. Tear it apart, piece by piece.

Oh, that’s the front of the ship she feels.

Wear it down, widdle it away, and then PULL!

CRRRAAAAKK!

The beam of the Crow’s Nest itself. The mast. Wrap around the base, tug tighter, tighter, TIGHTER-

Oh it’s crushing beneath its own weight now.

She sees big, defining cracks making their way all throughout the wood of the ship. Time to bail! She hops out of the Crow’s Nest and flies her way back down to regroup with everyone. It seems the battle is pattering out, the Popplio and Brionne seeming to abandon ship and jumping into the water to swim away.

“Rrrrghhh…” Shanti grumbles, clutching her sword tightly, taking her distance from Sahara as she watches her crew all running. “Bah, fine! Flee all ye want! All ye will be me first targets when I conquer Kyogre’s mind! A simple sunken ship ain’t ’bout t’ stop me!”

Lavender and the group all bunch back up together, keeping their distance from Shanti as the ship begins to crumble apart around them, water flooding the lower levels of the ship and starting to work its way up. “All ye will pay! I already know where t’ go, all I need is a new ship, a new crew! Then I’ll-“

CRRRRRRRRKK!

A shadow is suddenly cast over Shanti.

“What th’-” She looks up, eyes widening just in time to see the mast of the ship coming straight down towards her. She has no time to move out of the way, it falls down upon her, tearing the front half of the ship in half as it plummets down into the water, the weight and force nearly causing the ship to capsize, the whole group needing to cling on for dear life.

There’s no sign of Shanti resurfacing or swimming away. She’s disappeared below the deep blue.

“So, uh, hey! Great plan, Lavender!” Mick shouts as the waves start crashing all around them. “What do we do now?! I didn’t exactly see any life boats while we were fighting!”

“Make our own!” She shouts back in response, catching sight of a confused glance from Ralph and Sahara as she extends her vines once more, breaking off even more pieces of the ship, all clumping them together into a big, giant raft. “Now we-“

CRRRREEEEAAAAAKKKKKK!

The ship is barely holding together. They see the other half of the ship starting to collapse down into the water as the sounds of tearing wood and dozens of splashes into the water can be heard all around. “JUMP!” Lavender does her best to keep the raft together with her vines as all four of them abandon ship.The weight of the raft is too much to keep her from flying, and she’s already exhausted enough from tearing apart the ship as is. She uses the buoyancy of the raft to pull herself back up, Ralph and Sahara joining her on the raft soon after, all panting and exhausted.

But Mick still hasn’t resurfaced yet.

Oh no.

Is he-

“GHUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”

Okay phew, there he is. She leans over towards him as he coughs and sputters out water, barely managing to keep himself afloat. “Mick, are you okay?!”

Mick coughs out again, managing to calm down a bit and steady himself, but it’s only mildly successful, casting an annoyed glance at Lavender. “Do I look okay?! I did a sunk! Hurry up and get me out of the water!”

“Oh- Right, sorry!” Carefully extending an additional vine, she wraps it around Mick’s body and hoists him out of the water, plopping him down onto the raft, which he lays down, panting heavily and occasionally coughing. The four all watch as the ship slowly crumbles apart into the sea, creating rippling waves as chunk after chunk falls off, until eventually, nothing remains of the ship or its crew. Or captain, for that matter. “…Any of you think Shanti made it out of that.”

“If she did, she’d likely get swept away in the waves.” Ralph says, sitting himself down with a sigh. “Hopefully she’s not planning on actually going after Kyogre again if she’s alive, but you never know with these kinds of people.”

“Guess we’ll know whether or not the world floods in a few days time.” Mick coughs, splaying out on his back, soaking wet. “Fucking hell, that was crazy. Ya did good today, Lavender. Couldn’t have done it without ya, heh…”

Lavender smiles, chuckling softly to herself. Gosh, it’s such a… Strange feeling, actually doing something with herself for once. Feeling accomplished for something that isn’t just a trek up a mountain. “Aww, thanks… I can get used to this, I think.” Her gaze turns back towards Sahara, who is also soaking wet. “What about you? How do you feel?”

He leans back a bit, smiling at her. “I’m fine. I can’t thank you all enough for rescuing me. I dread to think of what would’ve happened if you hadn’t come in. I wish I could properly…” He pauses, his expression becoming thoughtful, inquisitive as he looks over Team Synthesis. “Actually, perhaps there is something.”

“Huh?” Lavender blinks. “What is it?”

“I’ll explain in proper when we get back to shore.” The Audino sighs, gazing out at the wide open sea. “We should get some rest for now. I’m sure we’re all utterly exhausted from that whole ordeal.”

Good idea.

Now she’s just gotta hold the raft together for, uhh…

However long until they get to shore.

Welp, may as well get cozy. Got a long trip ahead of them.