They flew continuously for an entire half day and night.
When the sun rose on the morning of the second day, Tetsuya's heart finally relaxed, and he let out a long breath.
"We're temporarily safe."
"Tetsuya? Why were you so nervous yesterday?" Catherine asked.
"…The cloud layer was too low, and there was heavy rain. It could very easily have triggered a thunderstorm. At that point, we would've been electrocuted to a crisp." Tetsuya did not mention Kyogre. This explanation was already sufficiently convincing.
"Mm, I thought so too."
"Let's rest on the sea surface for a while." After Tetsuya finished speaking, he had Ditto Transform into a Lapras.
Tetsuya and Catherine landed on the back of the LaDittras.
"Your Ditto really is useful~ If I get the chance, I'll raise one too!" Catherine praised.
"It's just the Pokémon's own effort. Eat something and restore your energy."
One by one, the Pokémon came out to eat food and replenish water, while Golurk and Skarmory were also recalled into their Poké Balls to rest.
Riding a Lapras across the calm and tranquil sea surface was actually quite comfortable. Tetsuya and Catherine rested in turns for a while. To prevent themselves from slipping off, they could only sleep in each other's arms…
Her hair, which had just been drenched by rainwater, was somewhat messy, but it still could not hide her cute face.
"Arceus… may the years remain peaceful, and may both of us achieve our goals…"
---◓---
That afternoon, they once again rode Golurk and Skarmory to continue flying. Only after the sun set and darkness completely fell did they land upon the sea surface. Ditto did not swim very quickly, so their true speed still depended on Golurk and Skarmory's flying speed during the daytime.
The early hours of the morning were when people felt the most drowsy. Tetsuya was completely unafraid with Gengar inside his shadow, while Catherine also had Honchkrow, which preferred acting at night, protecting them.
The two of them only slept in each other's arms for an hour. They suddenly heard Ditto and Honchkrow continuously crying out.
Tetsuya and Catherine opened their eyes, only to see a group of more than ten Tentacruel directly approaching them!
Not far away, a ship was sailing toward them. It looked as though it already had quite a few years of age on it.
"…Do we need to bother with them?" Catherine asked.
Actually, Tetsuya and Catherine only needed to bring out Golurk and Skarmory to leave directly.
"Hmm, blowing up a ship won't take much effort…"
These pirates robbed people out at sea, and their targets were wealthy merchants handling business overseas.
There were certainly many rare treasures aboard the ship. Now that they had finally escaped alive, the only things they had obtained from Shadow Island were a Dragonair and an Aerodactyl. In order to survive, they could only prepare enough food and fresh water.
But now things were different. They had already escaped danger. Even if they could not defeat these pirates, escaping would still be effortless.
Tetsuya threw out Golurk' Poké Ball, while Catherine closely followed atop Skarmory.
Ditto, which had just been a Lapras moments ago, had already returned to Tetsuya's wrist.
Now that Tetsuya and Catherine had flown into the air, these Tentacruel had no way to deal with them.
The Tentacruel continuously fired Acid, but none of it could hit them at all.
'Fools. Let me show you what real toxin looks like…'
After speaking, Tetsuya threw out Koffing's Poké Ball. "Toxic."
Tetsuya understood Pokémon like Tentacruel better than anyone. Ninety percent of their bodies were composed of water. As long as Koffing's poison entered the sea, it would seep into their bodies.
Naturally, Tentacruel were Poison-type Pokémon with strong resistance to poison, but this was Koffing's poison.
The ship came closer. Standing at the bow was a rough-looking man with dark skin and a thick handlebar mustache. He wore a cowboy hat and a black skull-patterned coat, while holding a special rod resembling a scepter in his hand. Behind him followed six lackeys.
Koffing's two heads continuously poured massive amounts of Toxic into the seawater. The seawater instantly became several degrees colder, and the dozen Tentacruel could not help but shudder.
Toxic continuously spread across the sea surface and onto the Tentacruel.
The Tentacruel gradually gathered and collectively sprayed Acid, but in the end, due to insufficient force, it all fell back onto their own bodies…
"Tehahah! That only accelerated their deaths. Koffing, Sludge Bomb!"
Tetsuya gave the command, and continuous Sludge Bomb mixed with Toxic exploded downward.
Explosions erupted everywhere. Toxic directly seeped into the Tentacruel's bodies. Tentacruel simply could not endure such a violent toxins. Afterward, their own poison together with Koffing's Toxic further intensified the poison within the seawater.
By the time the ship arrived, the dozen Tentacruel had already all died upon the sea surface.
"What is going on here!?"
The pirate captain simply could not believe that the Tentacruel squad he had painstakingly raised had just been completely wiped out. Moreover, these two kids were actually flying, completely challenging his authority!
From the level showed by these Tentacruel, Tetsuya could already judge the pirates' overall combat power.
Ordinary!
They merely relied on certain "special" tactics, such as Tentacruel's toxin paralysis. Groups like this did not even dare attack large passenger ships, so the amount of wealth they possessed was certainly limited.
Tetsuya had originally already planned to leave, but then he noticed the scepter in the pirate captain's hand…
Tetsuya recognized it at a glance!
The "Sea Spirit¹[1]." This had originally been a magical scepter of the Sea Priestesses of the Whirl Islands, gathering together the power of the ocean. With a single wave of it, the power of Water-type Pokémon was amplified. Compared to Mystic Water, it was stronger by an unknown amount.
This was practically a Legendary Item, with a level of preciousness comparable to Eternal Ice.
In his previous life, Tetsuya had heard about it before. This Sea Spirit Sapphire had once been stolen by the older sister of the Sea Priestess due to jealousy and used for other schemes. Later, she fled into the outer seas and disappeared without a trace.
The entire Sea Priestesses spent enormous amounts of manpower, resources, and money searching for five or six years before finally recovering the lost Sea Spirit Sapphire, allowing the Whirl Cup to be held once again.
Now that the Sea Spirit Sapphire had appeared here, there was no doubt that the older sister of the Sea Priestess had encountered these pirates after going out to sea alone.
Being alone, she naturally became a target for these pirates, and the Sea Spirit Sapphire naturally became their spoils.
Unexpectedly, they had actually run into Tetsuya here…
"Hand over the item in your hand. Perhaps today you won't have to die." Tetsuya pointed at the Sea Spirit Sapphire in the pirate captain's hand and said.
The captain burst into laughter. "Kukuku! Teme, you really talk big, huh! Today I'll let you witness just how terrifying pirates can be~"
After speaking, the captain threw out two Poké Balls, revealing a Mantine and a Gyarados. Behind him, the four lackeys each released a Mantine as well.
A total of six Pokémon stared at them menacingly.
•.
•.
¹. Canon
[1] Canon