Reign of Rain [Pokemon Watty Awards 2015]

Chapter 19

HECTOR

The days turned to weeks, and the weeks into months. On the Isle of Mossdeep, time passed them by until Hector lost all track of days and hours.

It had been difficult escaping Sootopolis. Jasper, the man who drove the Huntail under the sea, had been killed by Ahab and his Gyarados. Ares, one of Apollo's men, had finally mastered how to steer the twenty or so eel Pokemon... after they had fled in terror from the Gyarados, of course.

Hector sat in the shallows now, a group of Wingull flying over his head. I wonder if my friend is doing alright, he wondered. Hector had had a Wingull for a companion at one time, though he never managed to forge a Spirit Bond with it. He thought about the bird. It had abandoned him and Brandon shortly before they met up with Chris in the Jagged Pass.

In a sense, Hector was glad he didn't have a Spirit Pokemon. He had seen the problems it could cause. He had watched his friend Ryan die after his Marill had succumbed to a mortal wound. He turned his head to look back up on the beach towards the small hut that was put together from driftwood.

Brandon killed Ryan, he remembered as he saw the red-haired exile Prince tying seaweed together to thatch the roof with his Combusken. It's amazing how fast times change... Hector felt guilty that he had forgiven Brandon for what he did. It does me no good to bear a grudge. It was war, and he was fighting for the other side.

He remembered how Chris's quest for Swampert had ended- a mortal failure. Perhaps if Chris hadn't had a Spirit Bond with the Pokemon, then he wouldn't have embarked on such an ill-fated mission. After all, as long as Swampert was in captivity, Chris's life was in danger as well.

And then there was Apollo. Hector could still see him, clear as day. He had teleported back onto their vessel in a flash, along with Gardevoir. Hector trembled as he recalled how Gardevoir was gushing blood, her shoulder nearly cleaved off.

At that moment, Hector had thought that Apollo's quest had ended the same as Chris's. Gardevoir was dying, and Luna, the one they had risked so much to capture, would soon die alongside her Spirit Pokemon.

It was not to be. As Hector watched Gardevoir draw its last breath, Luna had lingered, clutching at the blood-stained Mudkip egg and babbling mad nonsense at it. It was Apollo who had collapsed to the floor, never to awake again. As soon as they had reached safety, they buried Apollo and Gardevoir in the sands on the beaches of Mossdeep, with not even a stone to mark the gravesite.

Hector picked himself up out of the water and approached their makeshift shelter. Ares and Hermes had gone into town, looking for supplies. The aluminum ship was somewhere underwater in a nearby cove, all its doors shut and anchored to the bottom so not to arouse suspicion.

For most of the couple months he had spent on Mossdeep he had avoided Luna Love, but now he felt like he needed to talk to her. He had seen too many ships sunk, too many Sootopolis sailors killed to fulfill Apollo's blood lust to leave her spiraling into madness.

Before he crossed the doorway into the hut, Brandon grabbed his arm.

"There's no talking sense into her," he said.

"I have to help her," Hector pleaded. "She's traumatized. She was inches away from death when you blew up that tower, that's enough to scare anybody."

Brandon Brightflame looked down at his Combusken, then back to Hector. "It's been nearly three months since we've landed on this gods-forsaken island. If she's not right in the head by now, she never will be. Don't waste your time. Besides, you should be helping gathering wood."