AS ORLA STARTED to have the Fire Pokémon help her with heating the engine, I used the flashlight from my phone to navigate my way out of the room and into the hallway. Before making my way to the deck, I went to Dot's room.
"Hey, look after my Pokémon, would you?" I told the closed door, knowing that she was listening. Without a response, I opened the pet door at the bottom and Castform and Unown went inside.
Since the elevator wasn't working, I had to use the stairs.
I hopped down two steps at a time, my hand on the rail just in case I tripped over my feet like I had before.
However, the ship abruptly jerked forward and I yelped as I jerked back. My grip on the railing was deathly, and thankfully, I didn't tumble down the stairs.
Regaining myself, I quickly headed up to the top deck as the Olivine started quickly heading towards the storm.
Hard rain started pelting against the exterior of the ship, and the Olivine started to get rocky from the raging wind.
"The Explorers are here, guys!" Mollie urgently said, "And they're trying to board the airship!"
"Seriously?" Friede replied.
"I'm almost there," I told her, quickening my pace.
"Can you try to fold the wing deck?"
Mollie sighed, "The powers out,"
When I got to the deck, I was hit with a blast of harsh wind. I almost flew off the ship if I weren't still holding onto the railing of the stairs.
Shielding my eyes, I started to make my way to the tower, where I encountered Mollie going down the stairs.
"Can you watch over Liko?" She said through the raging wind, "I'm gonna manually put away the deck,"
I saluted at her, my hair whipping around my face, "On it!"
She patted me and gave me a smile with a nod before rushing off down to the side of the ship.
I quickly made my way up the tower, noticing the Explorers still trying to break into the barrier.
Liko was sitting in the tower with the other Pokémon who were shaking from fear.
"Hey, are you guys okay?" I softly asked everyone while approaching them.
Liko frowned, "To be honest, I have no idea—UMM! MA'AM! THEY BROKE THROUGH!"
I turned around just as the three Explorers broke through the barriers and landed on the deck. "Come on," I muttered. I gathered everyone at the very back of the room, which was not much, but it was the furthest away from the door.
I didn't even notice them coming up the stairs. I stood in front of everyone protectively, one hand in my pocket holding onto a Pokéball.
"Why did you run away?" The one with the split hair had asked.
"I..." Liko replied, "I don't know, but..."
"But you do think that you can trust the people on this airship?" He continued.
"I don't know,"
"Your pendent... What was that light?"
"I don't know that either,"
"You're full of things you don't know, aren't you?"
I piped up with a stern tone, "Leave her alone."
He glanced at me with a challenging look.
"I guess I am," Liko answered his question, "But I do know one thing, I sure can't trust you. Not in the slightest."
Then unexpectedly, Sprigatito jumped up with a yowl and started to attack the man, only to be caught by the scruff by the lady standing next to him.
"Wow. What a naughty little Pokémon you are." She said, dangling the Pokémon as it flailed around to get away from her.
Liko jumped up, "Sprigatito!" She yelled, "Stop it! If it's the pendant you want, you can have it—just put Sprigatito down!"
"Let it go," the split-haired guy said.
"Yes sir."
And she dropped the Pokémon.
Sprigatito ran back to Liko, as the boy continued to speak, "At first, our target was just the pendant. But it seems that the pendant has got a little secret, and it seems that secret has some connection to you. So you're going to have to come with us,"
"No way! You're not taking her or the pendant!" I exclaimed at him, furrowing my brows.
The split-haired man sneered as he turned his attention to me. He squinted his lilac-colored eyes, "You're the woman from earlier, aren't you? The same one who kicked him in the face." He motioned towards the man next to him.
I finally noticed him and saw a forming bruise on his face the shape of the bottom of my shoe. I held in a snicker. "Yeah, and? Why does that matter? I'm not going to let you get to her."
He rolled his eyes.
"I will come with you," Liko spoke out.
I looked back at her with wide eyes. "Liko?!"
"You heard her," He sassed.
I watched with my mouth wide as she willingly left with the Explorers, not knowing what to do.
I had one job. And it was to protect Liko.
Making sure the Pokémon were secure, I quickly followed them down the stairs and into the pouring rain. They were already midway through the battlefield.
"Hey!" I called out, "I don't think so!" My heart pounded with a mix of fear and determination. I couldn't let them take Liko, not without a fight.
The split-haired man paused, turning to face me with a look of annoyance. "What do you want now?" he snapped, his tone dripping with disdain.
"I'm not letting you take Liko without a fight," I declared. This confrontation stuff is not what I do. Usually, it's Fried doing it, so I felt awkward saying things like this.
"[name]—" Liko started but was interrupted by the boy.
"If that's what you want," He smirked as he put his hand in his pocket, and so did I.
Before either of us could call out any of our Pokémon, there was a yell from above.
"Hey!" Friede yelled from on his Charizard, "What do you think you're doing!"
Charizard flew down right next to me and Friede got off it with the Captain of the Brave Olivine on his shoulder.
"Don't do this." Liko exclaimed at the two of us, "It's okay!"
Friede went ahead to stand beside me, "You can relax. We're not gonna let anything happen to you and Sprigatito." He moved the goggles around his eyes to his head, "So you guys are part of this Explorers group I keep hearing such great things about, eh?"
"I am Amethio," The split-haired guy introduced.
"And my name is Friede, a.k.a. leader of the Rising Volt Tacklers. And this is [name], our researcher."
Amethio eyed him up and down, "Can't be much of a leader if you'd fly right into a storm,"
"You boarded my ship without permission, pal." Friede immediately snapped back, pressing on the last word.
He narrowed his eyes, "Now that we've got what we wanted, we're leaving."
"Uh, I'm afraid that's not gonna happen." He said, walking right up to Amethio.
"Then shall we continue what we started earlier?" The boy suggested.
"That's the spirit!" Friede smirked and turned around, "Charizard, return!"
I looked at the white-haired man, "Good luck," I told him with a smile. His cheeks turned into a slight red hue as he smirked at me. I looked at the Pikachu, "You too, Cap,"
"Pika," He replied, his arms still crossed confidently.
"What is the meaning of this?" Amethio questioned as Friede began his way to the other side of the battlefield with Captain still on his shoulder. I headed off to the sidelines with Liko and those two guards or whatever they were. I needed to watch over her if they snuck away or something else.
"What do you think? All right, Cap, let's go!"
Pikachu started with a Thunder Punch, which Amethio's Ceruledge blocked and made Pikachu fall back. He followed it up with double team, but Ceruledge quickly acted with Psycho cut. The move caused all of the doubles in front to disappear. But one Pikachu popped up from it. However, Ceruledge was quick to act with Bitter Blade.
To Armethio and his Pokémon's surprise, that was not the real Pikachu.
In fact, the real one was at the very top of the tower and was collecting the electricy in the thunderous sky.
I watched in anticipation as he came down with a Volt Tackle, ramming Ceruledge against the protective barrier of the Wing Deck.
Amethio seemed shocked at this, but he did not back down. He commanded another Psycho Cut.
Pikachu dodged, and my eyes went wide as the move headed straight towards the tower of Pokémon.