41 17. Rage

Robert was on the open deck leaning on the railing, absentmindedly staring out at the ocean. The ship had an onboard Pokénurse that was currently checking on Eevee and Vulpix. Robert came out here to help clear his head while he waited.

Joel and Kris were standing together looking at Robert. Kris herself was a little worried about Robert, she stood there fidgeting a little not knowing what to do.

Joel looked at Kris and smiled, "I wonder what other people would say if they saw you so worried about someone else." Kris glared at Joel before she looked back at Robert, "I couldn't care less what those people think. though it is true that I don't have many friends." Kris said the second part rather quietly and even blushed a little.

"You don't have to worry about him. He's just annoyed at himself. He'll get over it on his own once he stops being annoyed with himself."

"Are you sure, we could-" BANG!! splash.

The boat suddenly and violently rocked as if it had just crashed into something. both Kris and Joel staggered and fell over. Before Joel even stood up he looked over to the railing where Robert was standing. Kris spent more time studying Pokémon rather than being a trainer. She was freakishly gifted at connecting with the Pokémon she decided to train and that kept her ahead of most people.

Joel was different. He had been through consistent strict training and made a point of relying on his family background as little as possible. As a result, the subtle splash amongst the commotion was not hard for him to filter out from all the shouting and other noises going on around them. It was this easily missed splashing noise that resounded like thunder in Joel's ears.

The moment Joel looked over to the railing his face immediately paled, Robert was gone. Joel scrambled to his feet and raced over to the railing as the boat still swayed from whatever rammed it. as Joel looked over his face paled further.

There were three things' sailors dreaded most meeting out on the open waters. First by far would be a pack of Gyrados, the second was a school of Basculin, third is a school of Carvanha.

The reason is that these Pokémon were known to be irritable and violent. Most Pokémon wouldn't bother with ships especially with a strong Pokémon guarding it. These Pokémon however often felt provoked at the mere sight of anything other than their own.

Joel could see a swarm of Carvanha quickly surrounding the yacht. Worse still he could see a Sharpedo tangled up with a Milotic in the middle of the school of Carvanha. Joel quickly pieced together what happened. Few Pokémon were faster than a Sharpedo in the water, it must have been what first crashed into the ship before Milotic could stop it. Now the school of Carvanha that it led had caught up. Being too weak to interfere in the battle of their leader they instead turned to the Yacht.

The yacht was plated with special alloys and the Carvanha wouldn't be able to get through in a short time. None of this mattered to Joel because his only concern was Robert who had been thrown overboard!! Joel frantically searched the water but couldn't find him anywhere.

Robert himself was watching the bottom of the boat get further away as he sank deeper. Robert was a decent swimmer but as he was thrown over he slammed his chest into the railing, badly winding him. He couldn't even take a breath before being plunged into the water. He somehow managed to avoid being hit by the rocking yacht but was quickly pulled under in the process. Robert could only now move properly but he was quickly running out of breath and worse still Robert could see the Carvanha swarming the yacht.

Robert was confident he could make it back to the surface but not before the Carvanha ripped him to pieces. He quickly looked for the inspectors Pokémon, hoping to swim towards it and then it could take him to the yacht safely. Then he saw the inspectors Milotic entangled with a Sharpedo.

Like Joel, Robert quickly pieced together what happened but just the same this didn't help him at all. He could feel his chest tightening with pain and his vision was starting to go dark. He was running out of oxygen. Robert quickly realised he didn't have enough time for the other instructors to make it over and send out their water types to his rescue.

As Roberts vision darkened further it suddenly hit him, "ah, I'm dying again." It was getting harder to think and his chest was in incredible pain like a giant was standing on him crushing his chest. With his still darkening vision, he could blurrily see half a dozen Carvanha split from the pack and head his way. He knew there was no way out for him now.

Robert wasn't scared of dying, he'd been there and knew what he was in for. He more regretted how little he got to do here. All the adventures he was gonna have and he only just made some new friends. At least Eevee and Vulpix were still on the yacht.

As he thought of that he realised he still had one more Pokémon with him. Robert could tell he was fading quickly, he no longer felt the pain and instead felt numb all over. He couldn't even tell if he was still trying to hold his breath. The Carvanha heading his way were now just red and blue blobs. Luckily, he didn't need to see the Pokéball to find it.

Even when his Pokémon weren't in them he always kept them by his sides. He always felt that with the Pokéball's with him he was also saying they were his Pokémon, and they would always be by his side. With what little strength he had left he reached for Magikarp's Pokéball and let it slip out of his hand.

As soon as the ball left his hand it popped open with a flash of light Magikarp appeared, "Karp". Magikarp was first excited to be let out. The last time Robert let it out was to put a band with a strange shiny red rock on the crown on its head. As it looked around it soon realised this was not the usual food and playtime it was used to.

There seemed to be terrifying things everywhere and poor Magikarp had no idea what was going on. It quickly looked back at Robert hoping he would know what was happening. As it looked back to Robert Magikarp froze. he was weakly drifting in the water, with barely any light left in his eyes. Its Pokéball gently floated a couple of inches from Roberts's hand.

Above all that Magikarp saw Robert looking at it with a relieved look. With what seemed like the last scraps of energy he had, Robert mouthed one word, go. After that, he slowly closed his eyes. Magikarp might have been slow, but it could still think and feel. It had by now worked out the general situation.

Before it made it to Robert's side Magikarp had not led a good life. Hated for being one of the weakest Pokémon ever but also feared for evolving into a monster that could cause destruction and death like few others could. To say it led a horrible life was an understatement. After making it to its little pond at that farm everything changed.

It was always treated with love and care, and it was vehemently defended from the few Pokémon that tried to attack it. Magikarp knew this was all thanks to the boy in front of it, its trainer. Who was now dying. It was all because of these other Pokémon that were swarming around everywhere. Throughout his life, Magikarp had felt pain and sadness, joy and excitement. There was one emotion that it had not felt, until now. RAGE!

An all-consuming, overpowering rage. It was their fault, and they needed to pay for it.

Robert didn't know what his silly little Magikarp was doing. It was just floating there looking at him. He tried telling it to go away and run. He barely managed to mouth one word. Hopefully, it would be fine. Most Pokémon unless starved wouldn't bother with Magikarp, so hopefully, the Carvanha would ignore it.

Just before Robert closed his eyes, around the blurry figure of his Magikarp a bright light erupted, then it all went dark.