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Chapter 45: The Battle of the Silent Whismur

Thomas placed his hand on the hatch, but thought better of it. If anyone was in the room above, the hatch opening would have been very noticeable, and he didn't feel like being turned to swiss cheese by whatever machine gun wielding maniac might be waiting for them. He instead hefted himself up by the pipes crisscrossing the ceiling and gently shifted the crate covering the hole the smugglers had cut open an hour or so earlier. Then very carefully he surveyed the room beyond. Breathing a sigh of relief he dropped back down to the floor below. “It's clear."

Erica gestured for him to go first through the hatch, and Thomas did so before helping her up with an outstretched hand. His grip was a little pruney - and slimy - from recent events, which she made a face at before blushing. Thomas allowed himself a cheeky grin before focusing on the task at hand. “Okay..." He whispered, still unsure if anyone was close. He spotted his foldable shovel on the floor nearby and retrieved it, clutching it close like a long lost childhood heirloom. “They're probably not looking for us, which is good. And once the rangers show up, they'll be running around like Durants in a thunderstorm. But until then, we need to find a place to lay low."

Erica pointed to one of the containers in the cargo bay. “Not all of 'em are apricorns." She waved Thomas onward as they left the safety of the maintenance room. It had gotten to mid afternoon - judging by the direction of shadows - and they were able to stick to the more shady side of the ship as Erica led them to a possible hiding place. “Here… I think." She checked to make sure nobody was around and slowly opened the large metal container door. Fortunately the squeaking was minimal as she revealed its contents.

Sitting upon wooden chocks was a series of six ArroScuba SSVs; Sports Submersible Vehicles. Thomas remembered seeing something like them back at 'Sheps' Caravan' in Cannab mounted along the walls, but while those ones had seemed more for fishing or general water travel, the ones on that container were sleek and definitely built for speed. There was a section on the rear where a pokemon could either be muzzled or bite down to hold onto the vehicle thus providing the thrust. Thomas climbed into the container and gave the handlebar a turn, observing with an impressed nod as to how the mounting bit at the back turned appropriately. “Cool. Looks expensive."

“Yep. No idea how much they go for, might not even be anything illegal about 'em." She climbed into the container and shut the door behind her. Thomas was in pitch darkness as the sounds of Erica shuffling about reverberated through the small space until - with a click and hum - light poured into the container. Thomas shielded his eyes from the headlamp of one of the SSVs at the back before quickly making his way to the side to get out of it's beam.

“Gah! Bit of warning next time, eh?" Thomas chuckled, his eyes seeing a mix of blue, pink and golden blobs in the center of his vision. Once he blinked enough to see a little of his surroundings, Thomas made his way to one of the other SSVs and sat down. Then stood up. His rear was still a bit tender, but after sliding around on the motorbike-like seat he finally found a position that enabled him to relax. Thomas sighed, looking around the small space. “I really hope those two are doing okay." He thought about Jeremy and Zana, looking at the balls on his wrists. If they had been badly injured in combat the failsafe systems in the pokeballs would have gone off, indicating them having fainted or worse. But by all accounts they were fine, or at least, not too badly injured. Given the thugs hadn't spoken about any other stowaways, Thomas assumed they'd be in the clear.

“I'm sure they're fine." Erica reassured her fellow fugitive. “There are plenty of places to hide on this ship. And with us supposedly dead, I doubt they'll be looking."

Thomas knew whatever happened Jeremy could pull through it. He was less sure of Zana, but she'd probably find a way to talk herself out of any problems if all else failed. He was more worried about Zye. If the other two were caught, the smugglers would be going through his stuff and certainly be interested by the strange metal artefact. But he still didn't quite trust the woman on the SSV to his right, and revealing his worry for the dormant and defenseless Zygarde could be a very bad idea. “Yeah, yeah…" He finally responded, absentmindedly.

The rest of the day passed with tedious conversation. They spoke about their past, and while Erica tried her best to be interested in Thomas' life on the streets the topic fell flat when all there was to talk about was the insulating properties of newspaper and how to perform the usual day-to-day tasks when you don't have access to showers, ovens, etc. He tried his best not to mention anything beyond his meeting Jeremy, the whole saga being just a bit more than he felt like sharing at the time.

Erica's past was a little more exciting. She'd been raised in a nice lower-middle-class home, not living extravagantly but also not going without the necessities. Her reason for joining up with the crew was better explained though, which Thomas took a great deal of interest in. Erica's stolen pokemon had initially been won at a school raffle nearly a decade prior, and they had spent almost her entire childhood together. The pink Dratini had evolved into a Dragonair only a month before it had been stolen, and was transferred onto the Silent Whismur within a week. As it turns out, she'd managed to fall in with the 'wrong' people over the last few years, and news of her rare pokemon made it to the smuggling circuit.

But as luck would have it, that same group of smugglers were hiring crew due to the Ranger raids on Rocket Rising managing to bust several crewmates just days before shipping out. Being desperate and not properly checking the applicants led to the group hiring Erica, who upon getting onboard managed to find a manifest listing the pokemon and which crates they were in, but not which container had which crate. So ever since setting off from Sidna she'd been sneaking into containers when she thought the coast was clear, explaining it away as 'checking for stowaways' to any crew catching her in the act.

When it came time for Thomas to explain why he was on the ship, he lied. He spun a tale about having no money but wanting to travel, and how he'd tried to earn his ticket, but had it destroyed by Rocket thugs. So he stowed away in a cargo container at port and when he found out they were smugglers, he decided he had to cut the journey short and radio for the Rangers to stop them and that was when Erica showed up, and everything from there was reasonably well known.

They'd managed to keep their voices low for most of the afternoon, stopping altogether when hearing anyone walk near the container. But as the day moved on and the battery for Erica's SSV began to die, their conversation was cut short by a flurry of activity. Shouts and hurried footsteps echoed through the ship as everything was thrown into high-alert.

The Rangers had arrived.

The first evidence of Thomas' requested reinforcements was a blared warning from a loudspeaker twenty minutes or so after the activity had initially picked up. “Crew of the Silent Whismur, place your weapons on the deck and raise both hands. You are being boarded." Thomas hoped they wouldn't do anything stupid, but he was dissapointed as several gunshots rang out. Thomas was honestly expecting to hear return fire, but he'd forgotten that these were the Rangers, not the Navy. He could make out an assortment of pokemon giving battle cries; at least one Blastoise, a Kingler, Magnezone, and something that sounded like a rock pokemon - possibly a Graveller - rolling around on deck.

The gunfire became less and less frequent over the course of the proceeding minutes, until eventually the loudspeaker flared to life again. “Captain, under Authority from the Kanto Region Pokemon Rangers, we request your immediate surrender. We have taken this ship, there is no need for further violence." There was a shouted response, but Thomas was too far away to hear it properly. A few seconds passed before an ear splitting squeal of solid steel being wrenched apart reverberated through the ship. Erica looked to Thomas with wide eyes, neither of them sure what had just happened. They were about to ask each other what they thought when a voice loudly proclaimed “To whomever radioed for our help, the crew have been detained, it is safe to come out now."

Thomas took a deep breath and waved Erica over to the container door. They clambered over the sleek water vehicles and pushed the door outwards into the deep orange light of sunset. Thomas leapt out first, scanning down the catwalk for anyone else. A woman in red and yellow up the front of the ship spotted him and whistled. Thomas waved back before helping Erica out of the container and closing it. He heard another whistle from the other side of the ship as they made their way over to the Ranger. “You've no idea how happy I am to see you."

The ranger put their Styler away and extended a hand to shake. “I can imagine. Celia Sargasso, Kanto Ranger."

“Thomas Drake." He said, immediately regretting it.

“Wait. THE Thomas Drake?" Erica blurted out. “I knew you looked familiar!" The Ranger looked from Erica to Thomas, not sure what was going on, but still holding her hand to greet the excited woman. “Sorry, Erica Hardy." She shook the Ranger's hand quickly before assaulting Thomas with questions. “The Thomas Drake that brought down Bruno Drekavak? The Thomas Drake that's running around with a freakin' Legendary pokemon? The Thomas drake that-"

“Yeah, yeah, keep your voice down…" Thomas grimaced. “Kinda have a lot of folks looking for me right now. Just… keep it low key." Erica - still somewhat in shock from meeting a guy who was essentially the underworld's #1 most wanted - maze a zipper-across-the-lips gesture before signalling to the Ranger for them to continue to the main deck.

Ranger Sargasso led the pair up to the remains of the bridge, where the door had been torn out of the structure with four very big claw marks at each corner. A smug looking Metagross was sitting inside, munching on an enormous poketreat while the Captain was being given a dressing down by a rather flamboyantly dressed Ranger. The fact that the yellow trim had been replaced with some sort of gold fabric indicated to Thomas that this one thought themselves to be quite important.

“B-but how…" The gruff voiced thug stammered, seeing Thomas and Erica stride into the office.

“You said they'd been eaten." The Captain growled, realising now who had called in the Seadra Promise.

“Yeah, nah." Thomas quipped as he was brought before the well dressed Ranger.

“Looks like we owe you a great debt, Mister…"

“Uh, Pine. Albert Pine." Thomas remembered the fake ID he'd gotten back in Owlra. Erica and Celia looked at him with a raised eyebrow as he shook the man's hand, though Ranger Sargasso realised his reasoning with a nervous grin. Thomas shook the man's hand. “Pleasure. And this is-"

“Erica Hardy." She took the man's recently released hand and shook it vigorously.

“Captain Bering." He struggled to hold back a smile at Erica's enthusiasm before turning back to Thomas.

“Though not sure if you are the ones owing me a debt, I wouldn't have survived the trip to Alola if you'd not shown up." Thomas sighed, running fingers through his stiff hair.

“Well, by all accounts we have over twelve thousand pokemon onboard, and I doubt most of them were obtained legally."

“I have paperwork for each one! We're gonna sue you so hard-"

“Fuck you!" Erica interrupted “My Noodle is in one-ah these crates!" Everyone looked at Erica with a raised eyebrow.

“Pink Dragonair." Thomas offered as an explanation. “What was the crate? Four five... two-"

“452098-B." Erica said without hesitation.

“Well, Sargasso; organise a team and sweep the containers front to back. Once your 'Noodle' has been found, we'll verify ownership and that'll be that." The Ranger leader directed Erica to follow Sargasso and try to find the suspect crate.

“Actually," Thomas added “There's a couple pokemon I'm missing too." Captain Bering barely had time to wave another Ranger over before Jeremy and Zana were escorted onto the Bridge. The Hakamo-o ran over to give Thomas a hug, his eyes bleary and bloodshot.

Zana was frozen in the doorway. <T-they said you were dead…> She gasped, still not believing her eyes.

“Thought you'd've learned by now: It'll take more than a bunch of armed thugs to bring me down." Thomas guessed as to the Zoroarks words.

<I thought I'd lost you…> Jeremy wept into Thomas' neck.

“Not today, not today…" He cooed into his lovers ear, holding the Hakamo-o tight. However, their embrace was drawing a bit too much attention so after a few more seconds of elated hugging Thomas gave Jeremy a subtle pat on the back. It pained him to do so, but there was already enough to deal with, having the Rangers question Jeremy's safety - let alone Thomas' other pokemon - was not something the trainer wanted to risk. When Jeremy climbed off him, Zana moved in to hug his waist. “You've no idea how good it is to see you safe."

“We heard someone say you were eaten."

Thomas took a deep breath trying not to blush. “I hid in the Eelektross tank and to - uh - make them stop looking... I took my shorts off." Jeremy gave him a 'you can't be serious' look, while Zana just continued to hug his leg. Thomas gave his master a 'talk later' eyebrow waggle and continued. “Seems like they bought it, so I just stayed down there."

“You said Eelektross tank?" the Ranger Captain asked, turning to the handcuffed smugglers with a contemptuous glare. “Is that so?"

“Nope. He's obviously delusional." The smuggler captain said quickly.

“Same catwalk Ranger Saragasso found us on, just go all the way to the back and it's down the hatch in the maintenance room. Don't worry, I made sure to feed them while I was there."

“Good to hear. Ranger Sulu, you heard the man; Aft maintenance bay, down the hatch. See if any are able to talk, we need statements."

“The big one understands pretty well." Thomas offered “It's because of… him (?) that I'm still alive." Ranger Sulu nodded and made his way off the bridge as Thomas turned to face Captain Bering. “Could I speak with you privately for a moment?"

The Ranger nodded, but indicated the bound smugglers in the room. “Of course. I just need a moment to deal with these folks first. Head up to the captains quarters and wait for me. Just wait outside until it's cleared." He looked the smuggler captain over, the woman refusing to meet his gaze. “Could be all manner of surprises in there, right Cleo?" The smuggler grumbled something under her breath. “I'll be up in a short while."

Thomas nodded and with Jeremy and Zana in tow, made it out of the Bridge and down the hallway before asking the obvious question “So where's the bag?"

<Safe.> Jeremy sighed, squeezing the man's hand tight.

“So you hid pantsless in an Eelektross tank to… escape detection?" Zana quipped sarcastically.

“Oh come on, I didn't go in there with that in mind. The… leader?... indicated they'd hide me, and in the process one of the smugglers-" Thomas felt the hallway might not be the right place to talk about what happened. “Let's just say they made matters worse. My pants coming off was not… intentional." He realised there was no way to describe the afternoon's events in public. “I'll go over the details later."

They'd reached the captains quarters, and sure enough there was a small team of Rangers going through the room looking for… Thomas had no idea what. Contraband seemed most likely, though pokemon, weapons and so on were no doubt on the list as well. It was a good fifteen minutes before the three Rangers seemed satisfied with their work and allowed Thomas to enter with a friendly salute.

“Not bad," Zana muttered, somewhat impressed by the captain's tastes as she went over to feel the bedsheets “Good thread count. Lady knew what she was doing." Jeremy rolled his eyes.

“That she does." The captain strode in, closing the door behind him. “Been after Cleo for quite some time. But she is very good at distractions." He stared off through the porthole above the bed, lost in thought for a few seconds before his mind snapped back to the present. “Yes, Mister Pine, you wished to bring something to my attention?"

Thomas nodded, gulping. Jeremy and Zana both gave him a cautious - but comforting - look. After taking a deep breath, Thomas took an even deeper risk “Sir, my name is not Albert Pine. My name is Thomas Drake. I apologise for any-"

“Mister Drake!" The Captain said surprised. He recovered quickly, extending his hand for Thomas to shake, which he did trepidatiously. “It truly is a pleasure to meet you."

“Uh… you… you've heard of me?" Thomas cleared his throat, unsure how to proceed. He was used to being the ignored guy on the sidewalk, not internationally famous.

“News travels fast in my circles. Not often a civilian takes down an entire crime syndicate in a single week. Good work." The Captain seemed genuine in his praise, which made Thoms blush all the more.

“I mean, uh, thank you?" Jeremy gave him a reassuring hug around his waist.

“I did not have much interaction with that particular group - Rocket Risen was it? - but any disbanded mafia is the best kind of mafia." Captain Bering's beaming smile was only outdone by the golden trim practically glowing from the orange and pink sky outside. “Was that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

“Not entirely." Thomas continued, running fingers through his stiff hair. He realised after swimming in both the ocean and an Eelektross tank he was in dire need of a shower. “I, we need to get to Unova. But we have some group called the Cogmen after us, among others. We were on the Dianne but they boarded and we had to get off-"

“We received no distress call from the Dianne. Are you sure?" The Captain looked concerned.

“A hundred percent. Their sub surfaced in one of the moon pools and the crew did a sweep of the ship. They tracked us to an island after we got away, but we managed to hide well enough that they left empty handed."

“Where did this happen?" The captain pulled an advanced looking Pokedex with gold trim out of his pocket and began tapping away.

“Great Reef Wall. About a day's sail for the Dianne out of Sidna, they shut the engines down around sunset."

“And you say it was the 'Cogmen'?" Thomas nodded “Bold of them." He tapped away at the screen before putting the device away. “Well, the nearest Ranger Port is in Johto, so we're going to be towing the Silent Whismur there. You should be able to get passage on another ship from Olivine City."

“Wait, it's being towed?" Thomas looked a little confused.

“Well, if the engines are solely Eelektross based, our ethical guidelines prevent us from utilizing them as an energy source." Thomas' heart sank at that information. “So we have a couple Tugs coming out from Kanto to help out. They should be here in a few days, and the trip to Johto should take no more than a week."

Thomas groaned, sitting down on the bed. “Right. A week." He shook his head. There was so much that could happen in a week with him stranded on the cargo ship, but at least they had a decently sized patrol boat parked alongside for the time being. And at least only the Captain, Ranger Sargasso and Erica knew who he actually was. It could be worse, but it could be a whole lot better. The thought of being unable to meet Dr Colman's assistant on time flitted into Thomas' already chaotic mind. “I'm gonna need to contact someone over a secure line, would that be possible?"

The Captain raised an eyebrow. “Might I inquire who?"

Thomas sighed “My benefactor thinks I'm still on the Dianne, I want to make sure they don't panic when I'm not at the port in a few days time. Or have some gang member show up in my place."

“That is fair. We can't allow you on the Seadra Promise at this time, but we have an encryption kit we can bring over and plug into this comms room if your comfortable with that."

“That'll do fine, thank you." Thomas shook his head at the situation he found himself in.

The Captain, sensing Thomas' discomfort took a step towards the door. “The team before has hopefully removed all problematic items from this room, so feel free to make yourself comfortable for the time being. I'll inform you when the encryption kit is set up." He opened the hatch and stepped through. “Oh, and we'll make sure to organise some food for you. I'm sure all this running and hiding has built up an appetite."

“Thank you." Thomas repeated, giving a salute to the Captain before the hatch shut behind him. “Oh Arceus! A WEEK!" He cried, falling back onto the bed. He grabbed one of the silk-cased pillows and held it to his face. The scream was muffled, but the emotion behind it came through loud and clear. Zana and Jeremy both clambered onto the bed and lay beside their trainer.

<We'll get through this.> Jeremy cooed, stroking Thomas' chest. <With the Rangers here, the Cogmen wouldn't dare try anything.>

“And even if they did, we'd get through it. We always do. YOU… always do." Zana pulled the pillow off to reveal two tear-stained pools on the fabric. Thomas wasn't sobbing, but he was certainly crying. Both her and Jeremy planted a kiss on either cheek. “We're here for you."

<And so are the others.> Jeremy said softly. <You put so much of yourself into protecting us, but we don't get to show how much we feel the same way. All of us.> Thomas smiled, tears still flowing down his cheeks as he wrapped an arm around his Master and Mistress. <All you need to do is trust us to be there for you when you need us.>

“That and maybe have a shower." Zana joked, managing to eke a chuckle from the man. “C'mon. It's been a couple days and you've gotten pretty ripe." She slid off the bed, dragging Thomas with her. As soon as he was on his feet she was pushing him towards the small ensuite. “Go, be quick about it too. A bed like that should NOT be kept waiting."

<I can certainly agree to that.> Jeremy quipped, laying seductively on the sheets. <Well, go on, don't keep us waiting.>

Thomas took a deep breath and wiped his cheeks. In that moment, he'd never felt more loved, more wanted in his entire adult life. He smiled at his two domineering pokemon and nodded, disappearing into the bathroom to clean himself up as quick as possible.

The water flowed hot and in just a few seconds Thomas felt the stresses of the last few days sloughing off him. He might be stuck on a boat for the next week or so, but it was arguably the safest place he could be; surrounded by an entire patrol-boat's worth of rangers, with what he assumed to be an appropriately sized naval force one call away if one of those criminal organisations did decide to pull something. Not only that, but if things went quite badly, he could at least utilise not one but two separate pokemon to escape, and failing that… well, he didn't want to think about it.

As Thomas lathered some pinap-scented shampoo in his saltwater-abused hair, he reminded himself of the task at hand; getting Zye to the institute. So what if they had to wait another week before getting the legendary pokemon. He'd get it there regardless, and surely by now they knew he was good for that given the risks he'd taken to get it that far. He rinsed the shampoo out thinking of what he would do after all the trekking. The interesting places in Unova that he could visit, or maybe even settle down in. Except Unova was one of the less progressive places regarding human-pokemon relationships. Kalos on the other hand-

Thomas' train of thought was interrupted by the sounds of Zana talking to someone other than Jeremy. He quickly washed the last of the shampoo from his hair and turned the shower off. Wrapping himself in a towel, Thomas left the small shower just as the cabin door closed. “What was that about?"

“They've set the encryption thing up. Just waiting on you." Zana said with a sigh.

“Well," Thomas gave his pokemon an apologetic look “I'll try to make it quick."

<You better.> Jeremy quipped, throwing the somewhat funky smelling shorts at him.

“Heh, think one of you could go grab that bag. Would be nice to get a change of clothes." Zana and Jeremy looked at him with a smile. “Please, Master… Mistress?" He sighed, realising they'd recovered enough from the recent ordeal to be playing those games already.

“Maybe we'll see what the Captain has to wear, eh?" Zana said, stepping over to a wardrobe and flinging the door open. She pulled out some extravagant clothes with a wide grin. “You make your call, we'll be waiting." Jeremy picked some interesting stockings out of one of the drawers and nodded in appreciation.

“Yes Mistress." Thomas said with a smile, slipping the shorts and shirt on as he made his way back out into the hall.

A few seconds later he found himself at the communication console again, except facing a significantly more modern interface than what he could still see was plugged in behind. There was no video function, but it seemed to have the same inputs as a regular vid-phone so he punched in Dr. Colman's details and waited for the connection.

“Hello, Dr. Darius Colman speaking." The struggling connection crackled with background static.

“Dr Colman!" Thomas said, relieved. “It's Thomas. Thomas Drake"

“Thomas? What's going on? Why only audio?"

“Look, it'll take a long time to explain, but the Cogmen boarded the Dianne and I had to jump ship. I'm currently with the Kanto rangers but-" The door swinging open behind him startled Thomas.

“A Situation is developing, we need to shut down comms." The Ranger that had barged his way into the room explained as he moved to the encryption device.

“Thomas?" Dr. Colman's concern as to the trainer's interruption was evident in his crackling tone. “What's going on?"

Thomas was about o answer but he was stopped by the Ranger grabbing the microphone in one hand, covering it. “I am sorry, but I'm acting on Ranger Bering's orders. You'll be able to continue this conversation afterwards." He said, flipping a breaker on the side of the device before unplugging it.

“Hey!" Thomas growled defensively. “What the-"

“Bering's orders. And you need to return to quarters, someone will be there soon to brief you." The Ranger pointed Thomas out of the room, practically shoving him through the hatch before closing it behind him. Several other Rangers ran past with equipment as Thomas decided the captains quarters probably were the safest place to be at that moment.

He quickly opened the hatch and slid through, closing it behind him before realising Jeremy and Zana were both holding up articles of clothing for him to wear. “That really was quite quick." The Zoroark joked before realising the look on Thomas' face. “What's wrong?"

“I barely got to say 'Hi' before being kicked out. Something's happening, and it's not good." Thomas looked to the porthole, but it was dark outside, night having fallen across the ocean.

<I should go get the bag.> Jeremy said, dropping the clothes on the bed.

“Yeah, might be a good idea." Zana agreed. Thomas gave Jeremy a quick hug before the Hakamo-o dashed out the hatch. “What do you think it is?" Zana asked nervously.

“Something's spooked 'em, that for sure." Thomas knelt on the bed, placing a hand either side of the porthole to see if he could see anything in the moonlight. “Dunno what though."

As if by providence, Captain Bering allowed himself into the room and cleared his throat. “Mister Drake." He shut the hatch behind him and stood as official and upright as he could. “It appears as though word of your existence has reached the ears of some rather unsavoury individuals, and they are on their way here."

“Cogmen?" Thomas gulped.

The Captain sighed. “If only you were so lucky. We have had both the Cogmen and Team Airstream demand you hand over the 'Zygarde'. Care to explain?"

Thomas took a deep breath, looking to Zana for help. She shook her head subtly at him. “Parker Simons discovered a Zygarde in a dig over a month ago. He was killed by Bruno Drekavak, but his pokemon - Jeremy - managed to escape with the Zygarde and two other pokemon. I was tasked with taking them all back to Unova. But the Zygarde learned about humans along the way, and after the whole thing with Bruno torturing it's Quilladin friend, it kinda…" He tried to focus on looking like the truth he had been telling was continuing with his next words “we stopped seeing eye to eye on how to redeem humanity."

“Am I to believe the Zygarde is no longer with you?" Captain Bering asked with a raised eyebrow.

“I have no idea where it is right now." Thomas told the man truthfully, though he hoped Jeremy was still a few minutes from returning. “And I somehow doubt they'd believe me if I told them. But I do know the Cogmen hate pokemon, and I do not want my friends in their hands. Which is why I ran rather than face them on the Dianne."

“Unfortunately, they tend not to listen to reason. And I doubt Team Airstream will let you go either."

“Team Airstream?" Thomas asked, concerned, but also tired of hearing about yet another group that wanted his head - or Zye's - on a platter.

The Captain cleared his throat. “Fractured remnants from Teams Magma and Aqua after the Hoenn 'Rayquaza' incident a while back. They retained the desire for power, but realised controlling those pokemon was not… feasible. So they turned to smuggling. Cleo was a competitor of theirs, shall we say."

“So, they're coming even though you guys are here?" Thomas sounded amazed at the gall of it.

“Well, this ship's not just flagged as having the Zygarde, but they know it's full of contraband and smuggled pokemon too, so it's ripe for the picking. They've made a separate demand for the Zygarde, but their timing with the Cogmen's arrival feels… off." He adjusted his lapels as a his name was called from down the hallway. “We have enough manpower to hold back a Cogmen assault judging by the number of their ships we've spotted on sonar. But with Team Airstream as well…"

“If we need to jump ship again, we can and will." Thomas said without prompting.

“You'd be no safer out there than here." The captain sighed. “Though at this stage, you'll be captured all the same."

“Then we go down fighting." Zana growled from behind. Thomas turned to her in shock. The Zoroark with no offensive moves who'd specifically requested never to be put in the ring having stated something so bold forced a hard reboot of the trainers mind. “What? You know we'd fight for you."

“Yeah, but-" Thomas said, trying to get his mind to catch up with something more worthwhile.

“But nothing." Zana interrupted. “If we run, we get caught, if we stay and fight, at least we have a chance."

Thomas swallowed, though his dry throat made it difficult. The Captain placed a hand on the man's shoulder. “I appreciate your Zoroark's enthusiasm, however our chances of keeping yourself or the cargo safe are-"

“The pokemon!" Thomas yelped. He was being stared at by both the Captain and Zana. “The smuggled pokemon! They could help."

The captain immediately realised what Thomas was on about and got defensive. “Absolutely not. It would be against so many-"

“Dammit, we're not forcing them to fight. We summon them - as many as we can - onto the deck and explain what is about to happen. Those who want to help defend the ship can help defend it. Those that don't can go back in their apricorns no harm, no foul." Thomas looked pleadingly to the Captain. “What was going to happen to them anyway?"

“The smuggled pokemon?" Thomas nodded at the Captain's query. “Those who were stolen would have their trainers traced and returned to them. Those without trainers would be taken to a sanctuary for rehabilitation before being released."

“And you don't think those pokemon taken from their family - trainer or otherwise - would fight tooth-and-nail to get back to them? To be free?" Thomas' words seemed to have stirred something in the Captain's mind, but he could tell he'd struck a chord with Zana.

The captain's name was called from the corridor again, with more urgency in its tone than before. “We have a little under…" The Captain checked his pocketwatch “a half hour before the air ships arrive, and maybe another few minutes after that so will the boats. “If you think you can raise an army, you do so." And with that he extracted himself from the room, allowing Jeremy entry with the bulky duffel bag.

<Uh… what did I miss?>

Zana ran up and hugged Thomas from the side. “Just our little pokeslut proving himself worthy of our attention."

“We're about to summon an army…" Thomas sighed, still not sure he believed his own words.

“Well, every army needs a leader. And we can't have that leader giving their speech in stinky swimwear." Zana poked the boardshorts.

Jeremy dumped the bag on the bed, and unzipped it. Thomas grabbed some long pants and a button-up shirt from there, but one of the articles of clothing the pair had pulled out of the closet earlier caught the man's eye. Slipping on his hoes, Thomas then picked up the velvet coat and slipped it on. It was a little loose, but tightening the straps along the back brought it to an agreeable fit. The polished brass buckles and buttons gave it a regal look, along with the black lace inset along the cuff just before the black leather trim. It was a thing of beauty, and judging by the loose grey and red hairs along the collar, Thomas had to assume Zana had tried it on.

“It suits you." Zana said, though a little begrudgingly.

“It'd suit you much better." Thomas shot back, seeing the smile across her muzzle. “When we get to Olivine City, how about we see to getting it tailor fit?" Zana bit her lower lip while her eyes assured Thomas of what awaited him upon delivery of that promise. “But for now, I think it'll serve it's purpose. He leaned down and gave the Zoroark a peck on the nose, before turning to Jeremy and trying the same. But not to be outdone by the Mistress, Thomas' Master pulled him into a passionate kiss, their tongues frantic with adrenaline as the thoughts of what was to happen next drove their hearts into a frenzy.

Breaking from the kiss was difficult, but they both knew it couldn't last. He grabbed a handful of potions from his bag and shoved them in one of the jacket pockets. Thomas Took a deep breath before waving them through and locking the captain's quarters behind him. They strode down the hallway, the looks Thomas was receiving from the rangers helping to drive his determination as he slid down the stairs railings of two floors before stepping out onto the deck. A dozen or so Rangers had been setting up barricades along the hull using an assortment of crates. Thomas got their attention with an ear piercing whistle.

“Alright folks, listen up! Captain Bering has given me permission to raise an army! And that's what we're gonna do! Grab yourselves a crowbar and get these crates open. Any pokemon that wants to fight can join the ranks, anyone that doesn't goes back in their ball." The Rangers stared at him; some contemptuous, some confused, but most just plain curious.

“You heard the man." The Captain's voice rang out from the Bridge a couple stories above. “Get those pokemon out!"

There were a series of salutes, but some of the Rangers seemed to still have their reservations. “Just get them out and lined up over… there." Thomas pointed to a loading platform down the back of the ship. “I'll address them there." The Rangers that seemed unsure mostly shrugged and went about following the strange command, with Thomas helping out as well. They had little time to prepare, he just hoped they'd have enough.

Within ten minutes the majority of accessible crates had been torn open and pokemon summoned. Several were far too violent to be allowed to remain out - most likely thinking the Rangers were the ones who'd abducted them - but eventually several hundred pokemon of all shapes and sizes had been gathered onto the large flat area. Thomas looked at the array of pokemon; they had a good selection. There were a fair few of most of the typings, with Normal and Fairy types seemingly the most rare. But he could already spot several powerful pokemon dotted throughout, with an impatient-looking Charizard and Garchomp murmuring to each other in the back.

There wasn't much time left, so with more pokemon still being led into the space Thomas pulled himself up on a shipping container with Zana and Jeremy leaping up either side of him. He took a deep breath and looked around as the pokemon grew quiet, waiting for him to speak. “I doubt any of you are here by choice. Taken from your family, from your trainers, or even - as I've recently found out - raised in horrible places to be sold to horrible people." Several pokemon nodded, glints of fear in their eyes. “Well, no more. The Rangers have arrived, they're the ones in red and yellow and they're here to help. They stopped the smugglers, and they are here to get you back to your families. Back to safety."

There was a cheer of sorts among the pokemon, their hopes raised by Thomas' statement of salvation. “And for those without a place to go, they offer sanctuary. A place free of abuse and threats. But…" Thomas gulped, this would be the hard part. “But there's an obstacle in our path. And that is why you've been brought out of your balls and apricorns. We may have stopped these smugglers, but there are more coming, and they're coming in force." The hopeful chatter turned to nervous murmurs. “We need your help. There is a fight about to be had, if we win, you get to go home to your families, you get to be free of these thieves and abusers. But only if we win."

Zana stepped forward. “We're not demanding you fight, but we need those who can."

Thomas nodded in agreement. “If you don't want to, or don't feel you can, we will not force you. Unlike the monsters who brought you here, we won't make you do anything you don't want to. But if you can help - even if it's just using healing moves on anyone hurt - we need you." Thomas looked to the crowd of pokemon, some seemed quite eager for a bit of payback for their mistreatment, while a handful definitely looked in no shape to fight. “Those who wish to stay and fight, move to the front. Those who don't, please move to the back and hand your ball or apricorn to a Ranger, they'll make sure you're somewhere safe before the fighting starts."

There was a bit of movement, with a couple dozen smaller pokemon and a blue Snorlax heading to the back to talk to rangers, while the Charizard and Garchomp seemed quite eager and were now standing right up the front. <How do we know we can trust this trainer?> blurted a Luxray from the middle.

Jeremy was the one to step forward. <He isn't like other Humans.> Thomas looked to Jeremy a little shocked. <I came to him needing help, and he gave it without question. He saved my life twice, and saved many other pokemon as well.> Jeremy pulled the velvet coat aside, revealing one of the ball holsters. He smacked Titan's ball, the Quilladin appearing in a sparkly flash atop the shipping container. <Heya buddy, things have gotten a bit… dire.> Several pokemon noticed the massive bolts protruding from the grass-type's back and pointed them out with shocked gasps. Titan cowered a little from the attention. <Mind telling them what sort of person Thomas is?>

Titan looked to Jeremy, then to THomas and finally the crowd of expectant pokemon looking up at him. <Why do you want to know about Thomas?> He asked the crowd softly.

<Did HE do that to you?!> Several pokemon growled in anger

<What, the- NO! No, Thomas didn't do that. T-Team Rocket did. Thomas saved me.> Titan reached back to stroke one of the cold metal bolts. <He- he showed up on a boat, then he dove down through the sea and found me locked in a room and saved me.>

Jeremy pat Titan on the back. <Then he made his way through the flooding base to find me. All because a pokemon asked him to.>

Thomas was able to catch up to what was going on by Jeremy's statement and smiled. Then Zana tapped one of his other balls, summoning Griff. The Noivern looked surprised, and very confused. <Who's Thomas to you?> Jeremy asked, indicating for Griff to address his answer to the crowd.

<Uh, Jeremy, what is-> Jeremy gestured back to the eagerly listening pokemon. Griff sighed, undoing his leather jacket enough to reveal the huge fist-shaped scar. <Thomas took me in when my owner abandoned me. He's paying for my medication. I'd go to the end of the world for him.> Griff looked to Thomas with admiration and smiled. Thomas didn't know what the pokemon had said, but he could hear the tones in his whistles and knew he'd spoken from the heart.

Thomas watched as the last few unwilling pokemon were zapped back into their balls. “Whatever you think of me, just know that there are two groups coming here. The ones coming in Airships are just as bad as the ones who kidnapped you. They're smugglers and they see you as profit. But the ones coming by sea are worse. They're an anti-pokemon organisation, and they will try to kill you. No battles, no making you faint. No mercy." The assortment of Rangers gathered around seemed shocked by this, but looking up to the Captain, Thomas saw the man nod in resigned agreement. “They will be armed with conventional human weaponry, so your 'Light Screens' and 'Substitutes' aren't gonna do much there."

He gestured to the mass of pokemon before him. “You've all got your talents, so focus on what you do best. However, I'm gonna need some water-types to keep an eye out for anyone falling overboard - especially those that can't swim." Several pokemon raised their hands, paws or - in the case of a pink Dragonair being practically hugged to death by a happy Erica - an emphatic head nod. “Excellent! Next: anyone with ranged fire and electric attacks, we need you on air defense." The questioning luxray gave Thomas a subtle nod in agreement, along with a pair of Zebstrika and a totem-pole of near to a dozen Electrode and Voltorbs.

“As for the rest of you, use whatever you can to show these assholes we mean business. Anyone stick around for non-combat roles?" Several Chansey and a Kirlia made themselves known. “Oh you have no idea how glad I am you're here. There are gonna be lots of wounded, on both sides. I'm not gonna tell you who to help and who not to. When it's all over, any pokemon from Team Airstream will be dealt with fairly. But we're looking at a minimal pokemon body count today."

The Charizard grumped at that, which got Jeremy's attention. <He said 'minimal' body count. Do what you gotta do to keep this ship safe.> The Garchomp and Charizard looked at each other and grinned, giving one another a friendly headbutt while Thomas rolled his eyes.

“Look, it's a shit situation, and I wouldn't ask anyone to do this if I didn't have to. I know your credo, and I agree with it; Pokemon first. I'm not asking you to fight for me, I'm asking you to fight for the Gardevoir beside you. The Sandslash. The Charizard and the Charmander."

“INCOMING!" One of the Rangers shouted, pointing to the sky. Several dozen flying pokemon surrounding a handful of mounted smugglers soared down from on high lit by the moon and some hastily scrambled searchlights, with their hulking airships not far behind them.

“Air Defense! You're up!" Thomas shouted as pokemon scattered across the deck. He slapped the remaining balls on his hips, bringing the rest of the crew out. “Alright guys, I am so sorry to do this to you." Dusty looked outright exhausted, but nodded in understanding at the chaos surrounding them. “There's a couple groups - the Cogmen and Team Airstream - and they're here for Zye."

<Where are they?> Mac asked, looking around as fireballs and arcs of electricity began to bombard the air off the port side.

“Where's Zye?" Thomas asked, double checking his assumption. Several of his pokemon nodded. “He's broken. Retreated to his ball-thing, and probably won't be out for a while. It's just us. Well…" Thomas gestured to the hundreds of pokemon swarming the deck to take up defensive positions. “Metaphorically speaking."

<We need to fight, no running this time.> Jeremy reached in and grabbed one of the potions before dousing Dusty with it. <Everyone okay?>

Carmen looked a little nervous, but after a few breaths she looked Thomas in the eye. “Anything. For You." Thomas teared up and launched himself at the massive Goodra, giving her a big hug before turning to the rest of his crew, who were all trying to hug him. When a block of ice the size of Thomas' head crashed onto the deck beside them, the mood was broken and reality came crashing back in. They broke from the huddle and turned to face the oncoming foes.

Jeremy and Titan returned to the shipping container to keep an eye on things from up there, with Griff taking to the air to call out enemy positions and Dusty running defensively along the ship. Carmen and Squishy leapt off the side to patrol the waterline while Zana, Mac and Thomas ran to one of the containers he'd noticed had box-upon-box of potions, antidotes and more. Erica ran up behind him “I can't believe you want- woah. Didn't notice this one."

“Yeah, gonna need you to help run these out." Thomas said, handing her a box. Erica nodded, well over a months worth of pay in potions lay in her arms. “Good, if a pokemon gets so much as a scratch, you hit 'em with a spray. We got more than enough to last this fight, so don't worry about being liberal with each dose." Erica turned to leave but Thomas grabbed her shoulder “And make sure the medics know where this container is, okay? Just in case."

“Got it!" Erica growled, running out of the container to find some Chanseys.

“You think we can win this?" Zana asked, her illusory voice warbling with nervousness.

“It's not about winning, it's about trying." He sighed, turning to the Zoroark. “If you think about it as Win-or-Lose, you're building yourself up for disappointment. But if you go all out, no matter what happens you know you did your best." He went to kiss his Mistress on the nose but was foiled by a massive bug tongue licking up the side of his face. Thomas pat Mac on his cheek and ruffled Zana's hair instead as several razor-sharp leaves pinged off the Scolipede's exoskeleton. Mac glared at the source - an inexperienced Ivysaur attempting to defend the ship's prow - but Thomas and Zana dove for cover.

She looked at him with a wry expression that was hiding a rather large buildup of fear “That was your best?" She joked.

Thomas could tell Zana was scared, but addressing that would only make it worse, so he grinned sheepishly “Hey, you're the one that thinks I'm worthy of your attention." He kissed her on the nose quickly before standing, pulling her up behind him. He looked scared too, as he spotted Griff circling overhead, Dusty charging up and down the catwalk, and Jeremy striking a fighting pose on the container nearby. So many pokemon were here because of him. And there was so much potential for this valiant stand to fail utterly. He'd only seen the Cogmen's weapons, he'd not seen them be used. He had no idea what sort of power they had, or what they would unleash upon the group.

Zana could tell from his look that Thomas wasn't sure they could pull it off, but decided not to pull him up on it. He needed to believe it, and if that's what saw them through this, she wouldn't be the one to destroy that. “What can I do?" She asked, nervously.

Thomas grinned, “Distractions. Lots of em." He waved for her to follow him, and under cover of Mac they made their way to the port side near one of the hull's drainage holes at deck level. He crouched down, pointing through there to the Cogmen ships beginning to surface from the murky depths. The Barraskewda-like shapes broke through the gently lapping waters, their brass trims glinting in the searchlights. “They're not gonna be playing fair, so neither will we. Don't target too many at once if you don't feel like it, but give them something fake to shoot at. You should be safe here, I doubt what they're packing could get through this." He rapped his knuckles against the metal hull.

“And where will you be?" Zana inquired, not taking her eyes off the submarines.

“Where we're needed." Thomas exhaled as he hefted the fold-up shovel in one hand and pat Mac with the other. A screech from above signalled a Talonflame's diving attack, speeding towards a Mister Mime who was trying to keep a Wide Guard up on a small section of the ship. Thomas spotted the flyer wheeling about for it's attack run, and while he couldn't prevent the balls of fire slamming into the deck, he managed to leap from cover and clock the bird in one wing with the shovel. The Talonflame span out of control, barreling into a cluster of Geodudes who descended upon it with fists flying. Mac looked surprised, but gave his trainer a impressed nod as he spotted a low-flying Tropius with it's trainer mounted on it's back.

Pushing Thomas to the side, Mac flung himself forward, rolling into a massive ball before ricocheting off a shipping container into the night sky. He unfurled at the last second to deliver a dose of poison into the grass-type's belly via his tail spikes before kicking off and bouncing across the deck in his whirlipede-like form. The Scolipede skidded to a halt in time to poke his head out and watch the Tropius' movements become more sluggish as it banked around for a second pass.

Mac sidled up to Thomas, who gave him a pat of appreciation on his haunches before getting ready with his shovel. Thomas spotted the metagross from before looking antsy and ready for action, but restricted - he assumed - by its more close quarters oriented moveset. Thomas whistled, getting it's attention. He then pointed to Mac and made a few gestures with his hands. The Metagross nodded, and Thomas relayed his plan to Mac. As the Tropius came back for a second attack Mac once again whirred to life as a living wheel and barreled towards them.

But at the last second, instead of using the Metagross as a bounce pad Mac transferred his energy into the pokemon, flinging it into the night sky. With it's four rapidly approaching claws outstretched there was nowhere for the poisoned Tropius to escape, and it was grappled mid-air by the heavy pokemon, dragging it into the rear cargo area with an almighty crunch. Thomas cringed at the sound of the impact, but couldn't spend long focusing on it as the cracks of electrical energy up the front of the ship caught his attention.

While Mac dove into the fray alongside the Metagross, Thomas turned back to the action to see Jeremy and Titan locked in combat with a Magnezone. Thomas ran full pelt up the ship towards his lover, but before he could get there, Titan curled up into a Rollout while Jeremy used one of the bolts as a convenient handhold to Sky Uppercut the grass type into the levitating pokemon. Every time Jeremy connected with another hit, the sound of metal-on-metal became louder, until with a horrifying crunch the electric-type was sent careening into the water.

Jeremy looked over to Thomas as he placed the slightly dizzy Titan down on deck and gave his trainer a thumbs up. But a forceful gust of wind brought him back to the present as a Pidgeot dove down to attack the Quilladin. Titan spotted the flyer headed straight for him and squared off, but Jeremy stepped in, taking the brunt of the attack. Thomas was initially worried, but he'd seen his love take on far more fearsome foes, so when the grinding of metal sounded from over the side of the ship, he raced down the catwalks to see what was up.

“They're HERE!" Thomas yelled as he ducked behind a pylon just in time to avoid a hail of gunfire. “Left rear!" Another burst of bullets flew past as he weighed his options.

“AFT PORT BREACH!" A voice shouted from above, relaying Thomas' observation in a more appropriate jargon. Seeing Zana peer down through a hole in the deck and nod at him, Thomas took a risk and peeked around. A cluster of four men in brass armour - far more heavy than he'd seen on the island - were moving speedily down the catwalk towards him. He gripped the shovel in his hands with all his might, and nodding at Zana, flung himself into the catwalk.

With all the speed he could muster, Thomas sprinted towards the nearest soldier under cover of Zana's illusion. But as soon as his improvised weapon made contact with their helmet, the illusion was dropped. He'd always wanted to make a dramatic entrance, and could only imagine what the Cogmen must have thought seeing their comrade's helmet caved in abruptly by a suddenly apperating man in a fancy velvet coat. “Fuck off… my ship!" He growled smashing the shovel into another soldiers throat before pulling the third one's chestplate down so Thomas' knee could introduce itself to their jaw.

The fourth soldier saw the absolute carnage this strange man had caused and turned to run back to his boarding craft, instead running straight into a very happy looking Charizard. It grabbed the barrel of the man's gun and bent it backwards, causing a backfire when he tried pulling the trigger out of desperation. A heavy thud behind Thomas saw the introduction of the Garchomp to the catwalk, who stepped over - and on - the other three members of the boarding party before sidling around Thomas. <Minimal 'pokemon' casualties.> The dragon-type reiterated.

<No mercy.> The Charizard added.

Thomas looked to the evil glare in their eyes, and knew he'd be unable to stop them even if he wanted to. Which is when he realised he didn't want them to. Rocket Rising were thugs, and Team Airstream are smugglers. But the Cogmen? To Thomas they were essentially genocidal maniacs. The world would not mourn their passing. As if he knew what the Charizard had said, Thomas repeated his description of the organisation from the speech. “No. Mercy." As Thomas walked away, he knew the sounds behind him would haunt him for years to come.

It took the man a minute to get back up on deck, and upon arrival immediately helped dispense several bottles of burn heals on a group hit by a well placed Blast Burn. He managed to get to the side in time to see Squishy breach the water's surface, with Carmen riding on his back reaching out to grab a drowning Raichu who'd been knocked overboard. They disappeared underwater briefly before he heard a splash on the other side of the ship. He whipped around in time to see Carmen and squishy - at the apex of a rather impressive leap - lob the waterlogged electric-type onto the deck before waving at him and disappearing over the side. He shook his head in amazement as the Kirlia rushed over to douse the pokemon in a potion and check it's airways.

Another wrenching tear of metal clued Thomas into another boarding attempt, and he was about to head below deck again when the sounds of men screaming and the whoosh of billowing fire reverberated along the hull. “Yeah, they've got it covered." He sighed to himself, looking instead up to the skies. Several airborne-mounted members of Team Airstream seemed to have taken to a new plan, deploying a large net between them. They dove down below the level of the deck before swooping up at the last second, catching several of the air defenders off guard. Thomas had to think quick, so grabbing one of the ropes on deck, he slipped one end around the docking cleat and timed the other to be thrown to the air just in front of the net.

In a stunning burst of panicked motion, the whole assembly came crashing down onto the deck, the mounted Charizard and Aerodactyl hitting the hardest as they piled face-first into a shipping container, while their riders were launched unceremoniously further aft amongst the Rangers waiting in reserve. The netted pokemon were quickly seen to by a blue Gardevior's Heal Pulse and pushed back into the fray. While Mac - in a display of either extreme bravery or sheer stupidity - smashed into the rock and fire flyers with a Defense Curl-charged Rollout. Thomas knew he'd need to keep an eye on that fight; Mac had the element of surprise, but he was way out of his depth on type matchups.

Thomas took another look at the sky, the Airships had now reached them, circling the ship menacingly as they threw down ropes. “INCOMING!" Thomas shouted, pointing upwards. Several pokemon who had been swapping out with those on the hulls edge turned to face the descending intruders, launching volleys of elemental energy at them. But they weren't the only ones launching an attack. Arcs of electricity fried the air from the Cogmen ships below, the beams like that of an electric-type's, but mechanically generated. Thomas dashed to the side, peering over to see a craft similar in shape to a Tirtouga resting on the water's surface, except instead of the six indents along it's shell being empty, each one seemed to be a hatch with a strange barrel pointing out of it. One of the ones midway down began to glow with power before launching it's electric payload into an illusive Kingler several feet away.

Zana looked panicked as the air bristled with energy, her illusion fading out when Thomas ran to her. <DID YOU SEE THAT!?>

“It's okay, calm down, you're okay." Thomas hugged her as another blast fired overhead.

“ZORO! I- I- We… We can't-"

“We can!" Thomas squeezed her comfortingly. “Head over to the other side of the ship, help keep the Chansey's hidden from Team Airstream." He knew facing the Cogmen was now something beyond his Mistress, so Thomas opted to give her something else to focus on other than panic. “They need your help, you're doing great." Another arc of electricity zapped past. Thomas pulled her out of her hidey hole and bodily carried her over the deck to a place between two shipping containers. “Just breathe, Zana. You can do this." He hugged her once more before pushing her down into cover, facing her towards the small medical effort Carmen was helping with.

He extracted himself from the containers just in time to see the first handful of smugglers touch down on the deck. Pulling out stun batons they began laying into any pokemon or ranger that approached. Some managed a lucky hit, while others were blasted from the deck by everything from Hydro Pumps to Hyper Beams. The humming of insectoid wings caught his attention, as he looked up to see a Vikavolt dive bomb Jeremy from above.

The Hakamo-o was barely ready for the attack, managing to dodge out of the way, but unable to land a hit on it as it passed. The second flyby was different though, with the pokemon lining Jeremy up only to be smacked in the face by a leaping Titan's Needle Arm. But for his efforts, the Quilladin was given a point blank Discharge, knocking him across the container and into Jeremy's arms. Thomas stared in open mouthed horror as the bug lined up a second shot, with Jeremy squaring up to bide his time.

The crack of energy was like none that had come before, catching the attention of every soul in the vicinity. Thomas could see Jeremy's scales glow that violent orange from the heat, but he knew the Hakamo-o wasn't using his hidden power. The realisation chilled him to the bone. A third loud crack of Thunder blasted the eardrums of all nearby, most dropping what they were doing to cover their ears. Thomas had made the mistake of looking at his pokemon when the bolt of electricity struck, his vision scarred by a pinkish-blue streak.

After the fourth strike, there was silence. Everyone blinked trying to get some semblance of sight back to see what became of the poor Hakamo-o. But Thomas could see. He could see all too well. The glowing disks straightened up, Jeremy taking up a fighting stance after placing the simultaneously shocked - but still conscious - Titan on the container behind him. The Vikavult seemed frozen in fear, Jeremy's eyes burning with red flame as he took a deep breath.

The attack was faster than most eyes were capable of capturing on a good day, let alone after being assaulted by streaks of lightning and blasts of energy in the middle of the night. But as Jeremy released his breath he swept forward with astonishing speed, planting his palm against the Vikavult's head and releasing every ounce of stored energy and more. The pokemon was blasted backwards, striking the edge of the hull before whizzing helplessly into the unforgiving waters. Steam rose from Jeremy's body as the plates lost their intense colour, but before Thomas could breathe a sigh of relief, it happened.

Jeremy began to glow.

Thomas stared in awe as the Hakamo-o he knew and loved became wreathed in a spectral aura, the sparkling rainbow of light filling him from head to toe. He could barely make out the change in silhouette until he noticed how much larger Jeremy had gotten. Before he had barely come up to Thomas' chin, but now, the pokemon would have been a couple heads taller than his trainer at least. Though a burst of light behind Jeremy brought thomas' attention to the other miracle of the night; Titan was following his friend's lead.

The crowd stared on - some in awe, some in fear - at the pair of evolving pokemon that had just managed to take down the terrifying Vikavult in a single blow. When the light show died down, what stood atop the containers astonished all present. A massive, shiny Kommo-o with glowing armour plates and something that resembled a Chesnaught mixed with a Magneton. Titan's body seemed mostly normal - despite the significantly more yellow colouring rather than off-white - but where he should have had two large spikes, instead two massive bolts protruded, arcing electricity between them.

Jeremy turned around to see why everyone was staring past him, and saw Titan's new form. He gulped, the Chesnaught looking up to his friend as though wanting an explanation for why everyone was staring. But before the Kommo-o could answer, a bolt of electricity arced up over the hull to strike Titan in the back. He stumbled forward into Jeremy's arms, who held him with wide eyes. Thomas reached out half a deck away as though he could have stopped it, but was prevented from shouting when he saw the grass type whip around to face the attacking Cogmen ship. The bolts on his back crackled with furious power before a spark ignited the two into a stream of energy that pierced through the night, and the Tirtouga-shaped hull.

He released a second and third blast, tearing into the craft like a blowtorch through aluminium foil. Seeing his friend get lost in the frenzy of righteous fury, Jeremy grabbed the screaming Titan and pulled him back, turning him to face the Kommo-o. Titan, his eyes blinking away the furious energy within, hugged his friend as shouts of “Now!" and “Get 'em!" rang out from above.

Thomas observed the Cogmen beating a hasty retreat; their flagship of sorts leaking like a sieve, their battle lost. He looked back to the fight with Team Airstream on deck just in time to see a net fired down over Jeremy and Titan. His body spurned to action, Thomas sprinted for his Master. But just as the pair were being hauled into the air by a tow line attached to the net, their prison was shredded by a flurry of movement from Jeremy.

<LET'S END THIS!> The Kommo-o shouted, his armour plates growing in intensity from a dull orange through to the hot yellow and bright white Thomas had come to recognise as Jeremy's signature move. But Jeremy held back his Hidden Power just a little longer than the trainer expected. Just long enough for the Kommo-oto turn to Titan and nod. The Chesnaught grinned, his bolts crackling to life as Jeremy flung his arms wide in an upwards arc.

The Battle on the Silent Whismur was lit as though a Kanto firework had burst just feet off the deck. Electric energy flowed through Titan's body, down his arms and into his hands where it was then pumped directly into Jeremy just as his plates detached. The resulting force launched the plates skyward like reverse meteors, angry scars of light retreating into the night sky. But not all of them left quietly. Several of Jeremy's plates found their freedom despite being slightly inconvenienced by the hull of an airship. It felt like an eternity as the streaks of light remained in the vision of bystanders, but barely a second after the awesome display of power, explosions rippled through each airship's form, the massive dirigibles collapsing under their own weight as the gasses inside rapidly escaped through the holes left by Jeremy's powered up scales.

As Team Airstream's ships crashed into the sea around them and the sparking mess of the tirtouga-shaped craft finally succumbed to a not insignificant number of holes, Jeremy and Titan stood atop the shipping container victorious. The Kommo-o pointed to a cluster of the airborne smugglers standing agog on deck and then to the deck below them. <Kneel.>

Thomas may have been the only human onboard who understood the pokemon - though he wasn't sure how, given the language itself had entirely changed with Jeremy's new form - but everyone who heard it could sense the meaning. Smuggler after smuggler dropped to their knees, hands behind their head. Even Thomas was swept up into the moment, taking a knee in respect for his Master. Jeremy saw the act and smiled at his trainer, his pet, his love.

Ranger Captain Bering's voice sounded out from the ship's PA system. “We may have won the fight, but there are still souls in the water. Rangers, restrain our recently airborne guests, everyone else, man the lifeboats. The battle is over, let us not lose any more lives."

Thomas ran up to Jeremy and Titan as a flood of red and yellow jacketed individuals rounded up the rag-tag cluster of smugglers. “You two were… I mean…"

<We know.> Jeremy said, beaming. He leapt from the container to give Thomas a warm embrace, made all the warmer by the still cooling armour plates dotting the pokemon's body. But Thomas didn't care. He hugged back, holding the pokemon close as pride and lust battled within him. <I love you.>

“I love you too." Thomas cried into Jeremy's arms. Tears of joy cascaded down the trainers face as he allowed himself to be taken by the moment. As Thomas blinked away the emotion he could see Titan looking at his statically-charged fur in concerned amazement. The trainer gave his love another quick squeeze before pulling away to hug Titan. “I am so proud of you!"

<B-but… what am I?> He asked, hands shaking as he reached back to touch the now permanent metal addition to his form.

<You're Titan.> Jeremy said, patting his friend on the back. <That's all that matters.>

“Saviour of the Silent Whismur and it's hundreds of kidnapped pokemon." Thomas added, ruffling the pokemon's shaggy tuft of hair. “And I guarantee Zye would be proud of you for that."

<He would?> Titan asked, a smile forming as he finally started accepting the compliments.

<Are you kidding?> Jeremy laughed, pointing out to sea <You stared down a very experienced Vikavult without flinching, and even landed a hit!>

Titan sighed, his self-criticism once again taking over <Yeah, but you did all the work.>

Thomas couldn't tell what was said, but he understood the tone well enough. “Hey, from what I saw, that bug was only hit twice; once by Jeremy and once by you." Thomas knew full well Jeremy did the brunt of damage in that fight, and Jeremy knew it too, but they both saw a chance to get the modified Chesnaught's spirits up and took it.

Mac chose that moment to roll up, his chitinous hide scorched and scraped from his run in with the Charizard and Aerodactyl, but otherwise looking very chipper. <WOAH! What happened to you?> He blurted out in a series of chirps and clicks <You look AWESOME!> Mac bounced up and down excitedly as he stepped circles around Titan. The Chesnaught blushed at the attention, but hunched over a little to show off the two foot long bolts jutting out from his back.

“And so do you." Zana purred, placing a clawed hand on Jeremy's chest. The Kommo-o grinned, puffing out his pink and yellow chest proudly. Jeremy attained a look of mischievous dominance as he and Zana turned to stare at their pet.

Thomas gulped, trying to think of an appropriate response when he remembered they were still four shy of their usual number. “Uh, has anyone seen the others?" He mentioned before dashing over to the side of the ship. He was partly relieved when Squishy and Carmen were spotted pulling up semi-drowned pokemon and cogmen from the dark depths and depositing them in the assortment of lifeboats that had been lowered down the side of both the patrol boat and cargo ship.

It took a while for him to spot the other pair, and once he had Thomas had to prod Jeremy and point, to make sure the pokemon was seeing the same thing he was seeing. Dusty had trotted up to the ship covered in an assortment of wounds being ridden by Griff; who's leather vest had been torn open on one side and was wearing a large feathered tricorn atop his cheekily grinning head. Jeremy shared his trainer's look of confusion, which told Thomas he probably wasn't imagining them.

While Thomas and the rest of the Drake Party were peering over the side at Griff's new wardrobe addition and wondering what had led to him acquiring it, the skeptical Luxray from before padded over to Titan. <I take it you're not used to electric-type moves?> The Chesnaught nodded. <Perhaps I could teach you a few things. If your trainer would let me.>

<I- He's not my trainer.> Titan admitted, not realising the can of worms he'd opened. Thomas was observing the interaction out of the corner of his eye, but unable to understand what was being talked about. He subtly nudged Zana who began to take notice.

<He's not?> The Luxray looked confused. <Then who is?>

Titan's eyes went wide as he realised he couldn't say 'a Zygarde' without cluing the pokemon in to everything going on. <Uh, well, you see, there's this whole thing, and… uh…>

<It's besides the point.> The Luxray said bluntly, shutting Titan up. <Look, you've got a lot of power there, and if you don't know how to use it, folks'll get hurt.>

<I- Uh, we, we move around a lot so->

<That's fine. I don't have a trainer. I'm sure if your, uh… 'not trainer friend' there asked these people to let me go with you, they would. And I could teach you all about controlling that electricity properly.> His whiskers sparked with static as a demonstration.

<I, uh… I'll ask.> Titan was about to tug on Thomas' coat, but he was intercepted by Zana. <Uh, Zana, could you ask->

<I heard.> She replied, casting a suspicious eye over the Luxray. <But before I allow it, we should have a little talk.> She tapped Thomas on his elbow, the trainer tearing his eyes from the rescue efforts going on below to look at her. “I will find you later." She gestured to Titan and the Luxray. Thomas raised an eyebrow but nodded, allowing his Mistress to do as she pleased. They weren't going anywhere any time soon, and there weren't many places one could go on this ship so he wasn't too worried about her getting in trouble. She then whisked the other two pokemon off to somewhere private.

It took close to an hour of combined effort to get all the humans and pokemon out of the water, with the non-water-types helping to restrain the assortment of criminals or convert shipping containers into makeshift prison cells. The Team Airstream pokemon were returned to their balls, and those whose balls were destroyed were re-balled by the Rangers and filed away until they reached Johto. The number of prisoners easily doubled the number of Rangers by the time everyone had been detained, and consisted of mostly the ships original crew, a decent sized chunk of Team Airstream and the few Cogmen who were either able to hide from the rampaging Garchomp and Charizard on the lower levels or were pulled from the sea by the assortment of pokemon.

Once things began to wind down, everyone's adrenaline rush began to subside and the fact it was well past midnight became very plain to see for everyone still conscious. Thomas had been ordered by the captain to return to quarters, and with a reluctant sigh he returned his crew to their balls. He gave each one a hug - and a few a kiss - as they were zapped away, until only Jeremy, Zana and Titan were left. The latter two still hadn't returned from whatever they were doing, but Thomas wasn't about to earn his Mistresses ire by bringing whatever it was to a halt prematurely.

After finishing up on deck and climbing the stairs back to their temporary lodgings - which for Jeremy was it's own challenge given his size and the narrow hatches involved - Jeremy swept Thomas up into his arms and carried him over the threshold into the Captains Quarters. He shut the door behind them with his tail and placed his lover on the bed. With a sweep of his arm the bag was shoved off along with the assortment of clothes that had been picked out earlier that evening.

At that moment, all Jeremy cared about was Thomas. And all Thomas wanted was Jeremy. Everything else could wait, and the night had only just begun.

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