Reign of Rain [Pokemon Watty Awards 2015]

Chapter 16

HECTOR

            “Shhhh! They’ll hear you!” Hector whispered to Luna as she laid in his arms giggling and laughing. His dead friend’s mother must have gone mad. Her left eye was a purple mass, she had bruises and congealed blood under her skin all over. And how she was shaking! Hector could hardly recognize the strong woman that he had once knew. “What have they done to you?” he asked quietly.

            Brandon was still wiping water off of himself. “She’s gone mad. Just look at her. Whatever you can imagine they did to her, it’s most likely ten times worse,” his voice was a raspy whisper.

The six of them sat in the wooden boat under a bridge: the Huntail driver, Hector, Brandon, Luna, Combusken, and Gardevoir. They were hidden in shadow. This was the rendezvous point that Apollo had said to meet at if one of them had found Luna. They had been there for a good half hour after they had rescued Luna from her tower prison.

Luna began to cackle louder again. “Shhh,” Hector said as he rocked her in her arms. Hector dreaded each noise she made. “They’re going to find us.”

“I feel sorry for whoever they are,” Brandon Brightflame said as he dipped his sword in the water again to clean off the blood.

Soon, they heard footsteps. Soldiers were running all over the place, over the bridge to and fro. They shouted things like, “the dungeons are empty! The prisoners have escaped!”

            “Hehehehe,” Luna’s voice began to get louder again.

            “Just a little longer, my lady,” Hector consoled her. Was he really consoling her? Did she even know he was speaking to her?

            “I can’t wait any longer,” Brandon said. “Apollo and the others know where we left the sub, let’s get back there. It’s too dangerous under this damned bridge.”

            “Our orders were to wait here,” said Jasper the Huntail tamer.

            “Plans have changed,” Brandon said as he stood up in the boat and pointed his sword at Jasper’s throat. “I don’t want to wait here like a sitting Pelliper waiting to get attacked. We’re not leaving anybody behind, just getting to safety.” Jasper looked at him angrily, but Brandon pushed farther up against the Huntail driver’s neck.

            They were being pulled through the lagoon again. The white cliffs of Sootpolis loomed all around them. The marble palace began to disappear behind them as they neared the little cove where they had left the metal sub. Hector turned to look at the palace. The tower where they had found Luna was smoking rubble at the top. Pelliper were flying all around the castle in confusion and panic.

            Finally, they reached the rock where they tied up the boat. Brandon and Combusken were the first ones out of the wooden boat. Hector stood up and helped his friend carry Luna out. With Gardevoir helping with her Psychic powers, it was easy to carry her.

            Jasper leaned forward to untie the Huntail from the boat. “What the-”

            CRACK!

            Hector flinched as the wooden boat shattered and splinters flew everywhere. When the mist cleared he trembled at the sight of the huge blue sea serpent Pokémon that reared in front of them out of the water.

            There were muffled cries coming from Gyarados’s mouth as Jasper waived his arms around inside of it. There was a crunch and a spray of reddish-pink drops as the screams were silenced. The rope that held Huntail looked like a noodle in Gyarados’s mouth. It slurped it up as the eel Pokémon tried to wiggle its way to safety. The poor Huntail was devoured, too.