Pokemon: Fate's Path

Chapter 23

Freya Stark

There weren't many people on the boat to Saltview, not that many people were in the city of Iron Well to begin with who would want to leave their filthy style of life. But I did find it odd more people didn't want to take the shortcut around Drucan to get to at least a close by airport. I glanced over the edge and down at the water below, I could faintly make out the shadowy forms of water types swimming below but there were too many waves to make out what specific pokémon they were. Turning my gaze to the direction we were heading in I could faintly see Ethereal Isle up ahead along with disruptions in the water. The fisherman steering the boat said he knew how to navigate those like the back of his hand and considering what I'd researched from past customers like us; he wasn't just saying that.

"Pika?" Pikachu jumped up onto the railing to stare out at the water with me.

I smiled. "Ready to see Ivan again? Think he got his gym badge?"

"Chu!" He nodded and gave out some sparks from his cheeks.

I rubbed his head before moving away from the edge of the boat and back over to where Soren and Jay had been. At the moment Soren was the only one sitting in the makeshift chair of burlap bags as he looked down at his game, completely engrossed in whatever it was he was playing. Jay was probably off somewhere below deck training with one of the few other passengers in order not to get bored. I would miss them when I had to leave. Xelen was the last stop I had with them before leaving to go train to be a pokémon Rescue Member in Nolk, a small town in the mountains where the only thing they had was honestly the PRM's training facility. After that... I didn't know where I'd be. Other regions of course, learning from organizations like the pokémon Rangers and Aether Foundation to see how the Rescue Members compared to them. The last email I had been reading last night had told me I wouldn't be trained in their methods but I would be required to see what they did.

"There's another ship approaching." Soren's voice broke me out of my thoughts and I looked back over to see Hoodini had flown over from somewhere to get his attention.

I walked over to join him, though the ship had gotten so close and was big enough I could've easily seen it from where I had been. "That's weird. It doesn't look like a fishing boat."

"Could be pirates." Soren commented. "I mean, look at the style of ship, looks like a cliché pirate ship to me."

"We should find Jay then. If the ship is being attacked we need to stick together, I'll warn the captain while you go look for her." I turned and went in the direction the captain should be in, quickly going up the stairs and opening the cabin door.

The man wasn't there. The wheel had smears of blood on it with some splattered on the floor but the captain himself wasn't in sight... we already had a thief or pirate on the ship. I ran back out and quickly motioned to Pikachu to join me as I went below deck to find Soren and Jay. Water filled my shoes and I looked down to see the salt water rising from a leak in the hull somewhere. Pikachu looked down at it from my shoulder worriedly but stayed silent as I continued going, eventually finding Jay and Soren cornered by two of the other three people on board with us- the third was already dead and beside the captain's body, staining the water red with their blood.

"Don't move!" The shorter one turned away from my friends to glare at me, her watchog and Furret moving to threaten me as well while her partner kept the other two at gunpoint. "These supplies are under the confiscation of Valhalla to be put to use for our purpose. Get in our way and we will kill you."

Her partner laughed before speaking, his voice dripping with malice. "We can kill them anyways... Dead men tell no tales, right?"

Soren shifted further in front of Jay. "We won't tell anyone."