Categories > Games > Pokemon > The Spirit of Alola - Book 2 - A Hurting Heart
“Hey Māhoe, get a move on.” A man called. “The missus will get the letter fine, just like she always does. The boys are rounding up to sing a few shanties before supper. Mac says he learned a new one from the gal we handed the shipment off to. You know you’ll want to be there for it!”
Kai took one moment more to watch as Breeze flew off, his wings beating strongly as the Pidgeot swiftly disappeared from view. The young man was sending another letter to his wife, Anya. Her last note told him both his girls were doing well on the mainland, in Akala. He even received a cute page of paper with colorful scribbles on it made by his two-year-old daughter, Himiko.
“She wanted to ensure you received this picture. I’m not certain what the image is meant to portray, but she was insistent that you would know.” His wife had stated in her writing.
Kai did in fact, know that the picture was meant to be of him, with his crew mates, on the ship. He responded, informing her so and teased her for her lack of imagination.
They had left the main port of Kaneko with cargo from the newly opened borders, and the ship was now a weeks’ travel out to sea on the journey home to Alola. The trip would be another week and a half, but the young father was still happy to be homeward-bound once more.
As the evening went on, Kai and his friends decided that the new shanty would be one the crew would enjoy singing for many voyages to come. Or at least, that had been the idea. It turned out, the crew would never have a chance to sing the shanty together again.
When Kai awoke in the early morning, it wasn’t by a friend to request he takes a watching shift for them. As one of the Barge Lads, he was used to being woken up at all hours of the night to take a shift. He’d climb up the tallest mast into the Murkrow’s nest to watch for oncoming weather, land, or other possible obstacles.
Instead of another Lad shaking him awake, it was the alarms of the ship. They were blaring, rumbling across the quiet of the ocean, and stinging the eardrums of all on board.
A call rang out over the intercom system, the normally jovial voice of the Captain was panic-stricken and filled with a gut-wrenching fear. “All hands! We are under attack! Battlers, on the ready. Defense, take position. Healers, prepare for wounded.”
The commands continued, calling hands to the sails and Lads to nests, but before anyone could truly fathom the severity of the situation, an earth-shattering crash rumbled across the deck as a massive boulder came crashing in. It plunged through the ship with terrifying ease, splitting a hole into the bottom and allowing water to pour in like a tidal wave.
The bell to abandon ship rang out, but the voice of the captain never again returned to give the order as the ship began to fill with the sloshing sea.
Kai swung his head around, but his surviving crew mates were already scrambling out of their cots, pulling the injured to the stairs and ladders. Flashes of lights shone all around as Trainers called their Pokémon out to face whatever force was the cause. A cacophony of voices rose as people screamed prayers for salvation, curses at the attacker, and wails of agony and fear.
With one injured crew mate clinging to his arm, Kai emerged onto the deck, expecting to find the enemy, but instead saw only a calm ocean. The gaping hole in the middle of the boat was still gushing in water, but the sea was eerily quiet. Only the sky showed any possibility of threat with a heavy blanket of clouds rolling in, covering the still star-covered sky.
That’s when the blonde man noticed there were no wild Pokémon about. No birds flying through the air or water dwellers skimming along the sea. Just stillness. This also seemed to take many others off guard as well as people emerged into the early morning air expecting a fight, only to end up staring open-mouthed at the lack of a visible threat.
A splash of water drew Kai’s attention. He pulled his eyes away from the shattered remains of the Captain’s quarters to see a new boulder emerging from the ocean, flung high into the air. Then more splashes, as if that one was the signal. A volley of rocky ammunition flew into the air and came crashing down all around them, slamming into the ship and ripping more holes into the already waterboarded craft from all sides.
Both desperate to see what enemy was attacking them, and to save as many as he could, Kai bolted around the deck, dodging splintered holes and falling debris. He reached down and yanked a woman to her feet, then moved off, shoving another crew mate to pull them out of their frozen state of fear.
A flash of light zipped across the sky as lighting emerged through the clouds. Though the charge was dim, it provided enough light to illuminate a massive serpentine shape in the clouds.
The young man stopped in horror. He’d heard a tale of such a creature. One with immense psychic powers. Able to control the will of others and persuade similar evil-minded individuals to assist in its malicious bidding.
“This is bad,” Kai whispered to himself as pandemonium continued raining down around him. The ship was shredded to pieces. His crew mates and their Pokémon fell before his eyes. Water rushed into the many holes. Yet, the man remained rooted to the spot, trying hard to remember the name of the beast that he saw floating above the chaos.
A wobble in his pocket finally drew the man’s attention away from the one-sided battlefield as a flash of light flew out of his pocket and a purple Pokémon appeared beside him.
“Nine.” The purple creature growled, glaring at the sky.
“No, Ninetales. It’s too dangerous! Get back in your PokeBall.” Kai commanded, pulling a black and red capture device from his pocket.
Just then, a chunk of the ship rocketed into the floor by Kai, sending shrapnel of wood and steel into the air and piercing his right leg and foot. He dropped the ball from his hand and his body slammed to the floor as his limb gave out in sudden pain. More debris showered around him, gashing open more wounds, as the onslaught continued. The screams of his friends rang in his ears as water began to swell up around him and his crew.
The injured man reached to where the PokeBall had fallen, but saw that it had rolled away. The Ninetales had vanished from his view as well.
As if to prove the finality of the ships’ demise, a tangle of massive, yellow-tentacled limbs rose out of the water and grabbed onto anything they could. People, Pokèmon, and pieces of the ship, nothing was spared, as they dragged them all into the watery grave.
Kai’s many wounds stung like a Houndoom’s fire as the saltwater washed over him while he was plunged into the frigid temperatures. Blood loss began to affect him, causing his limbs to shake and fingers to go numb, but still, the man held on to a single strip of wood that remained floating in the turmoil of the quickly emptying sea.
His head spinning and his vision darkening, the young sailor took one last look into the sky, glaring into the clouds at the mass still floating above them. Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky and an angry rumble of thunder rocked the air. Though the sun was just beginning to show its first rays over the horizon, the man never saw it as his mind slid into darkness.
Out of a crew of fifty-four, 53 and their beloved Pokémon lost their lives that day, swallowed up in a sudden, desperate battle that lasted only a few minutes.
~~~
“When awoke, I wasn’t washed up on a shore. I was in this strange cave here.” the sailor said, looking old and worn, having finally told his story. Tears glittered in his eyes as he recalled the terrible end his many friends had faced.
I couldn’t think of what to say. The man beside me rubbed unconsciously at the puffy scars along his right leg. I recalled I had seen the smallest of limps from him when he would walk around, or a wince of pain when he’d step funny, but with my own ailments, I had, selfishly, I thought, not paid close attention to any afflictions he may have been experiencing.
Wanting to move the subject along and away from his pain, I said, “So that’s your Ninetales then?”
“No, it’s not. Professor Acacia, she’s Kaneko’s leading Pokémon Professor, had given me the Pokémon to bring to Sashi.”
“Wait, why would a professor of another region want to give a Pokémon to Sashi? She’s not into that region’s studies.” I said, confused by the odd interaction.
“I thought you knew her.”
I blinked, embarrassed. “I do, but not very well. I’ve only just worked up the courage to not call her and Kabir, Professors Ashoka. They’ve only been in Alola for a couple of weeks.” I admitted, ashamed to be so unknowing.
“That’s not your fault.” He soothed kindly. Kai paused for a moment now, as if deciding his next words. “So you know Kabir and Sashi are married, right?”
“Well of course I know that,” I chuckled quietly. This finally pulled a smile to Kai’s face.
“Good. So, Kabir has a sister, Athini Acacia. She’s the Professor I mentioned, from Kaneko. Sashi-“
“Wait, what? I didn’t even know Kabir has a sister! And she’s a professor too?”
He laughed more openly at my theatric surprise. “Yes. Anyways,” he rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at my interruption. “Sashi studies regional variants. As you seem to know already, she has two Ninetales.” He paused to let me respond.
“The Kantonian and Alolan ones, Garbee and Sardee.”
“Correct. As I mentioned earlier, our “friend” is the Kanekan variant. Athini had asked that I deliver this Pokémon to Sashi, so she could use it for her studies.”
“Hold on though, Sashi and Kabir have only just moved to Alola. Why didn’t she just transfer it over to her from where she was living in Johto?”
Kai paused, scratching a hand behind his head and smiling mischievously, “The Ashoka’s were meant to fly down to visit in a few weeks to celebrate Himiko’s third birthday. Athini knows Anya hates Pokémon, so she wanted me to take care of the Ninetales until those two arrived.
“Athini and my wife have always had a tense relationship,” he continued after a confused look from me. “She wanted to send me home with a Pokémon to get back at Anya for some…” he paused, clearly trying to pick words carefully, for talking to a teenager. “rather unsavory things that were said to the Professor.” He gave another chuckle at memory of the fight.
“That’s pretty brave of you,” I said. “I’d never want to purposely get on Doctor Māhoe’s bad side. But why haven’t you returned home then?”
Kai’s eyes lost their happy sparkle instantly. “Like I said. It’s that Ninetales. Even though I had just recently met it, it seems like it wants to protect me. Or at least, that’s what I’d like to believe. It has me in this…I don’t know. It’s sort of like a bubble. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t get out of it. And the weather doesn’t affect the area we stay in.” He commented.
“That must be its Psychic powers,” I muttered, glancing over at the lump of purple fur. A black-tipped ear twitched, indicating that the Pokémon was listening, but it didn’t move else-wise.
We sat for a moment in silence as I watched the rise and fall of fur on the fox. “I’m sorry to bring this back up,” I said, looking up Mareepishly at the lost man who saved me. “But, have you remembered what the thing in the sky was? You mentioned thinking it was the cause of the attack.”
“No. As hard as I’ve tried, I just can’t recall the name. I know it used to be an Obori for the Kaneko region, but it was banished many years ago for its evil doing. I’m not sure I’ve ever learned the name of it.” He sighed, looking irritated at himself.
Malaconda
The voice took us both by surprise. Kai and I looked around frantically to find what person spoke those words, only for both our eyes to fall on to the now sitting form of the Psychic and Ghost-type Pokémon, Ninetales. Its pink eyes glowed softly in the dim cavern light.
Kai took one moment more to watch as Breeze flew off, his wings beating strongly as the Pidgeot swiftly disappeared from view. The young man was sending another letter to his wife, Anya. Her last note told him both his girls were doing well on the mainland, in Akala. He even received a cute page of paper with colorful scribbles on it made by his two-year-old daughter, Himiko.
“She wanted to ensure you received this picture. I’m not certain what the image is meant to portray, but she was insistent that you would know.” His wife had stated in her writing.
Kai did in fact, know that the picture was meant to be of him, with his crew mates, on the ship. He responded, informing her so and teased her for her lack of imagination.
They had left the main port of Kaneko with cargo from the newly opened borders, and the ship was now a weeks’ travel out to sea on the journey home to Alola. The trip would be another week and a half, but the young father was still happy to be homeward-bound once more.
As the evening went on, Kai and his friends decided that the new shanty would be one the crew would enjoy singing for many voyages to come. Or at least, that had been the idea. It turned out, the crew would never have a chance to sing the shanty together again.
When Kai awoke in the early morning, it wasn’t by a friend to request he takes a watching shift for them. As one of the Barge Lads, he was used to being woken up at all hours of the night to take a shift. He’d climb up the tallest mast into the Murkrow’s nest to watch for oncoming weather, land, or other possible obstacles.
Instead of another Lad shaking him awake, it was the alarms of the ship. They were blaring, rumbling across the quiet of the ocean, and stinging the eardrums of all on board.
A call rang out over the intercom system, the normally jovial voice of the Captain was panic-stricken and filled with a gut-wrenching fear. “All hands! We are under attack! Battlers, on the ready. Defense, take position. Healers, prepare for wounded.”
The commands continued, calling hands to the sails and Lads to nests, but before anyone could truly fathom the severity of the situation, an earth-shattering crash rumbled across the deck as a massive boulder came crashing in. It plunged through the ship with terrifying ease, splitting a hole into the bottom and allowing water to pour in like a tidal wave.
The bell to abandon ship rang out, but the voice of the captain never again returned to give the order as the ship began to fill with the sloshing sea.
Kai swung his head around, but his surviving crew mates were already scrambling out of their cots, pulling the injured to the stairs and ladders. Flashes of lights shone all around as Trainers called their Pokémon out to face whatever force was the cause. A cacophony of voices rose as people screamed prayers for salvation, curses at the attacker, and wails of agony and fear.
With one injured crew mate clinging to his arm, Kai emerged onto the deck, expecting to find the enemy, but instead saw only a calm ocean. The gaping hole in the middle of the boat was still gushing in water, but the sea was eerily quiet. Only the sky showed any possibility of threat with a heavy blanket of clouds rolling in, covering the still star-covered sky.
That’s when the blonde man noticed there were no wild Pokémon about. No birds flying through the air or water dwellers skimming along the sea. Just stillness. This also seemed to take many others off guard as well as people emerged into the early morning air expecting a fight, only to end up staring open-mouthed at the lack of a visible threat.
A splash of water drew Kai’s attention. He pulled his eyes away from the shattered remains of the Captain’s quarters to see a new boulder emerging from the ocean, flung high into the air. Then more splashes, as if that one was the signal. A volley of rocky ammunition flew into the air and came crashing down all around them, slamming into the ship and ripping more holes into the already waterboarded craft from all sides.
Both desperate to see what enemy was attacking them, and to save as many as he could, Kai bolted around the deck, dodging splintered holes and falling debris. He reached down and yanked a woman to her feet, then moved off, shoving another crew mate to pull them out of their frozen state of fear.
A flash of light zipped across the sky as lighting emerged through the clouds. Though the charge was dim, it provided enough light to illuminate a massive serpentine shape in the clouds.
The young man stopped in horror. He’d heard a tale of such a creature. One with immense psychic powers. Able to control the will of others and persuade similar evil-minded individuals to assist in its malicious bidding.
“This is bad,” Kai whispered to himself as pandemonium continued raining down around him. The ship was shredded to pieces. His crew mates and their Pokémon fell before his eyes. Water rushed into the many holes. Yet, the man remained rooted to the spot, trying hard to remember the name of the beast that he saw floating above the chaos.
A wobble in his pocket finally drew the man’s attention away from the one-sided battlefield as a flash of light flew out of his pocket and a purple Pokémon appeared beside him.
“Nine.” The purple creature growled, glaring at the sky.
“No, Ninetales. It’s too dangerous! Get back in your PokeBall.” Kai commanded, pulling a black and red capture device from his pocket.
Just then, a chunk of the ship rocketed into the floor by Kai, sending shrapnel of wood and steel into the air and piercing his right leg and foot. He dropped the ball from his hand and his body slammed to the floor as his limb gave out in sudden pain. More debris showered around him, gashing open more wounds, as the onslaught continued. The screams of his friends rang in his ears as water began to swell up around him and his crew.
The injured man reached to where the PokeBall had fallen, but saw that it had rolled away. The Ninetales had vanished from his view as well.
As if to prove the finality of the ships’ demise, a tangle of massive, yellow-tentacled limbs rose out of the water and grabbed onto anything they could. People, Pokèmon, and pieces of the ship, nothing was spared, as they dragged them all into the watery grave.
Kai’s many wounds stung like a Houndoom’s fire as the saltwater washed over him while he was plunged into the frigid temperatures. Blood loss began to affect him, causing his limbs to shake and fingers to go numb, but still, the man held on to a single strip of wood that remained floating in the turmoil of the quickly emptying sea.
His head spinning and his vision darkening, the young sailor took one last look into the sky, glaring into the clouds at the mass still floating above them. Another flash of lightning streaked across the sky and an angry rumble of thunder rocked the air. Though the sun was just beginning to show its first rays over the horizon, the man never saw it as his mind slid into darkness.
Out of a crew of fifty-four, 53 and their beloved Pokémon lost their lives that day, swallowed up in a sudden, desperate battle that lasted only a few minutes.
~~~
“When awoke, I wasn’t washed up on a shore. I was in this strange cave here.” the sailor said, looking old and worn, having finally told his story. Tears glittered in his eyes as he recalled the terrible end his many friends had faced.
I couldn’t think of what to say. The man beside me rubbed unconsciously at the puffy scars along his right leg. I recalled I had seen the smallest of limps from him when he would walk around, or a wince of pain when he’d step funny, but with my own ailments, I had, selfishly, I thought, not paid close attention to any afflictions he may have been experiencing.
Wanting to move the subject along and away from his pain, I said, “So that’s your Ninetales then?”
“No, it’s not. Professor Acacia, she’s Kaneko’s leading Pokémon Professor, had given me the Pokémon to bring to Sashi.”
“Wait, why would a professor of another region want to give a Pokémon to Sashi? She’s not into that region’s studies.” I said, confused by the odd interaction.
“I thought you knew her.”
I blinked, embarrassed. “I do, but not very well. I’ve only just worked up the courage to not call her and Kabir, Professors Ashoka. They’ve only been in Alola for a couple of weeks.” I admitted, ashamed to be so unknowing.
“That’s not your fault.” He soothed kindly. Kai paused for a moment now, as if deciding his next words. “So you know Kabir and Sashi are married, right?”
“Well of course I know that,” I chuckled quietly. This finally pulled a smile to Kai’s face.
“Good. So, Kabir has a sister, Athini Acacia. She’s the Professor I mentioned, from Kaneko. Sashi-“
“Wait, what? I didn’t even know Kabir has a sister! And she’s a professor too?”
He laughed more openly at my theatric surprise. “Yes. Anyways,” he rolled his eyes in mock annoyance at my interruption. “Sashi studies regional variants. As you seem to know already, she has two Ninetales.” He paused to let me respond.
“The Kantonian and Alolan ones, Garbee and Sardee.”
“Correct. As I mentioned earlier, our “friend” is the Kanekan variant. Athini had asked that I deliver this Pokémon to Sashi, so she could use it for her studies.”
“Hold on though, Sashi and Kabir have only just moved to Alola. Why didn’t she just transfer it over to her from where she was living in Johto?”
Kai paused, scratching a hand behind his head and smiling mischievously, “The Ashoka’s were meant to fly down to visit in a few weeks to celebrate Himiko’s third birthday. Athini knows Anya hates Pokémon, so she wanted me to take care of the Ninetales until those two arrived.
“Athini and my wife have always had a tense relationship,” he continued after a confused look from me. “She wanted to send me home with a Pokémon to get back at Anya for some…” he paused, clearly trying to pick words carefully, for talking to a teenager. “rather unsavory things that were said to the Professor.” He gave another chuckle at memory of the fight.
“That’s pretty brave of you,” I said. “I’d never want to purposely get on Doctor Māhoe’s bad side. But why haven’t you returned home then?”
Kai’s eyes lost their happy sparkle instantly. “Like I said. It’s that Ninetales. Even though I had just recently met it, it seems like it wants to protect me. Or at least, that’s what I’d like to believe. It has me in this…I don’t know. It’s sort of like a bubble. No matter how hard I’ve tried, I can’t get out of it. And the weather doesn’t affect the area we stay in.” He commented.
“That must be its Psychic powers,” I muttered, glancing over at the lump of purple fur. A black-tipped ear twitched, indicating that the Pokémon was listening, but it didn’t move else-wise.
We sat for a moment in silence as I watched the rise and fall of fur on the fox. “I’m sorry to bring this back up,” I said, looking up Mareepishly at the lost man who saved me. “But, have you remembered what the thing in the sky was? You mentioned thinking it was the cause of the attack.”
“No. As hard as I’ve tried, I just can’t recall the name. I know it used to be an Obori for the Kaneko region, but it was banished many years ago for its evil doing. I’m not sure I’ve ever learned the name of it.” He sighed, looking irritated at himself.
Malaconda
The voice took us both by surprise. Kai and I looked around frantically to find what person spoke those words, only for both our eyes to fall on to the now sitting form of the Psychic and Ghost-type Pokémon, Ninetales. Its pink eyes glowed softly in the dim cavern light.
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