Chapter 6: A Coming Battle


"Lucas, you fool... You almost got yourself killed."

Lucas sighs and gets stands up, looking at Salamence, then at the other creature. "I didn't expect him to display such power... That was beyond what I could've been prepared for."

"Well next time, be a bit more careful. You shouldn't risk your life like that."

He goes over to the Salamence and strokes his neck, and the dragon pokemon closes his eyes, still recovering from the damage he sustained from the attack.

"I'm sorry, my friend. That was a selfish act of me..."

The Salamence looks at him and shakes his head, nuzzling his hand in reassurance. And Lucas smiles a little, sighing in relief.

The creature then speaks up again. "Vincent has left his home. I examined the town last night. The residents have been working on taking down the house. But no one who lived there appears to be in the area."

Lucas looks back and slowly nods. "I expect he left to search for the one who did all this. But if so, he could be walking right into danger. I will keep an eyes on him. I'm still not entirely certain he can do this. Especially after what's happened to the previous Messangers who have taken this task."

"Give him your beliefs. If you lose hope, you will never know if he could have or not."

He nods, then looks back at the Salamence. "I suppose I shall take my leave. It will be very difficult for him. I hope he can pull through."

He gets onto the dragon pokemon's back and pats him, and he takes off into the sky, the creature watching before it leaves as well.

- - - - -

~November 29, 2006~

Larisa looks around, the two having arrived at the port of Olivine, which is located in the western part of Johto. She is growing curious as to Vincent's reasoning for being in such a place.

"Is this the place you were led to?"

He slowly nods. "There is supposedly a ship that leaves this place and goes directly to Cianwood, where James would be meeting us."

The Latias blinks and looks at him. "Wait, that's the person you've been talking to, right?"

"Indeed. Apparently he has done research, and believes he has come to a possible answer for the conclusion of his task. So we will be meeting with him, and then taking the ship out to the deserts of Orre."

Larisa nods, somewhat confused, but she accepts it.

"His brother, Jack, has agreed to purchase two passes onto the S.S. Aqua. One for James and one for me. He said to pick it up at the docks before I go on."

Larisa smiles a bit. "That was nice of him."

He nods, then follows the GPS on his phone to the area of the docks, where a large building is seen in front of them. "This must be the place..."

His phone beeps and the battery icon flashes red. "...Well that's unfortunate. It's nearly dead."

He puts it in his pocket and they go into the building. After finally reaching the front desk, Vincent talks to the receptionist.

"I'm here to pick up a pass that was purchased for me."

"Do you have identification, sir?"

He nods and pulls out a card from his pocket, placing it on the desk, and the receptionist looks it over, then enters it into the computer. She then opens the registry and hands him a pass, along with his ID.

"Here you are, Vincent Verona. Have a great day."

Vincent smiles and takes them, then walks out of the building. He then looks at the pass and blinks. "Wait... This isn't a pass for the S.S. Aqua. It's... an international ferry pass?"

Larisa looks at it curiously. "What does that mean?"

"Well, it's valid for any participating ship. So I suppose that means I could take it anywhere and board... Why would he send me this?"

He shrugs and goes to the dock of the S.S. Aqua, looking up at the ship. "That would be it."

Larisa looks at it and backs up. "Wow... Doesn't it look a bit grand?"

Vincent chuckles a little. "I guess it does. But I've seen the S.S. Anne before it was reported to have sunk. It was much more impressive. A luxuary liner that sailed around Kanto."

"I see..." She nods a bit and looks at him. "So when does this leave?"

Vincent walks to a sign by the dock and looks it over. "It should be leaving withinin the next hour. But they stop accepting guests half an hour before it departs. So we should probably go on now."

Larisa looks back at the ship. "Okay..."

They then go to the attendant of the ship and Vincent shows him the card. He then scans it and soon presses a button, the rail lifting to allow them passage. "Enjoy your trip sir."

He nods and the two go onto the bridge. Shortly, they are escorted onto the ship and given a key card with a room number on it.

"Let's see... Floor 2, room 28." They wander down the halls until they find their room, and Vincent slides the card in the door before going in. The room is fairly small with a fancy dark carpet, and has a single bed sitting across from a desk with a chair. There is a small refrigerator placed at the edge of the desk, and a lamp is at the other side.

Vincent goes in and sits in the chair, resting after having been walking for hours. And Larisa flies to the bed to lay down, letting out a purr.

"It's so soft and comfy!"

He smiles and shakes his head. "Silly Larisa..." He pulls out his phone and sets it on the desk, then puts his bag down and takes out the charging cord, plugging the phone in. He sends James a message to tell him he's on the ship, then sits back in the chair.

After several moments of relaxing and talking to James, Vincent gets up again and looks at Larisa. "I'm going to explore the ship. Do you want to come?"

The Latias pouts and looks back at him. "Does that mean I have to get off?"

He chuckles a bit and folds his arms. "Well unless you intend on carrying the bed with you, then yes. But if you want to stay in here alone, I suppose you could."

She sticks her tongue out and hovers up. "You're such a joykill."

Vincent shakes his head and walks out. "We'll be back here later, then you can lay there as long as you like."

"Wait, does that mean you're not?"

"I've grown to become acustomed to sleeping outside a lot of the time. I find it to be somewhat comforting to sleep under the stars."

Larisa nods slowly. "Makes sense..."

Vincent smiles and goes down the hall to the upper deck of the ship, looking over the railing at the sea.

"...The ocean connects the world and all its landmasses. Continents, regions, even places yet to be discovered... They're all bound by the sea, and what the currents bring in are never the same. You never know what you might find, carried in by the world's water..."

Larisa blinks and looks at him. "I've never heard you speak like that... Where'd you get that?"

He chuckles a bit. "Just something that came to me."

The Latias smiles a bit and looks out at the ocean. Vincent then turns back to Olivine, which they had left a few minutes ago. As they come to leave the bay, he looks at Larisa.

"I'm glad you came with me. I'm glad all of you are helping me."

She looks back at him and smiles, hugging him. "We're family, Vincent. We'd never leave you to do something like this alone. Besides..."

She holds up her stone necklace. "As long as we have these, we're never truly apart."

He smiles and nods. "Of course..." He looks at his stone, remembering the ones who gave it to him... the memory of his parents lingering in his mind. He then looks back at the ocean, in thought.

- - - - -

"Hey, bonehead. Wake up. I don't wanna hear you whine when you miss the ship tomorrow, so you gotta be up earlier."

James mumbles lightly as he's shaken from his sleep by Jack. "Just a little longer, mum..."

Jack smacks him and he yelps, rolling off his bed and onto the floor. "Mum ain't here, remember?"

He groans and stares up at him. "She makes a better alarm clock than you..." He tries to kick at his legs and Jack jumps over his foot.

"Come on, James. Your breakfast is gonna get cold." Jack walks out of the room and James rubs his eyes, still groggly.

"Breakfast does sound good..." He gets up and stretches, going to the dresser and pulling out a set of clothes.

After a few minutes, James walks out into the livingroom and looks at Jack, who is on the couch, eating. He sits down and takes a plate off the coffee table, having three sausage links, two strips of bacon and two fried eggs. A cup of pineapple juice sits on the table by where the plate was.

"You don't normally make a breakfast like this. What's new?"

Jack swallows his food and takes a drink from his cup. "News flash, you're going out to do your task and I might not see you again. I want to at least do something nice for you."

James looks at him. "Well you're as cheerful as ever."

He puts his plate on the table and sighs, sitting back. "It's been a long night, James... Thinking about everything and knowing the inevitable. I may not have been the nicest person to you since dad died and mom left... but you're still my brother. And you always will be."

James smiles a bit and gives a light punch to his arm. "Hey. Just like Vincent, even when I finish my task, I'm gonna find a way back."

"You'd better. Otherwise I'll have to hunt down this Spiritual Council of yours and drag you back here by your hair, dead or not."

James smirks. "At any rate, I'll be able to screw up more of your projects. So that's always a plus."

Jack eyes him and shakes his head, pushing his head. "Don't get cocky. Remember what you're supposed to do now. I sent you an email with information on the two sides that might help you. Check your phone when you get the chance."

James nods, then starts eating.

- - - - -

"Are those the Whirl Islands?"

Vincent looks out at the four islands off in the distance as the ship passes, then looks at his phone, pinpointing their location and nodding. "They seem to be... They're quite a bit smaller than I had imagined though."

Larisa stares at them for a while, taking in the sight of the mountainous islands surrounded by several whirlpools. The tides and stormclouds that cover the islands would appear to make it dangerous for anyone to approach them. Still, she wonders what kind of secrets they could possibly hold.

As the ship continues to sail, the islands eventually disappear behind them and the sea around them appears empty once again.

Vincent puts his phone away and looks at Larisa. "We should be at Cianwood by tomorrow. James has been telling me of things he learned about his task. It seems there are two countries who have been conflicting for a few years. Apparently Orre was caught right in the middle of it, and is now the battleground for an upcoming battle."

Larisa blinks. "But... The battle is between two countries. I thought you said it was world calamities you're meant to act upon. Countries and regions fight all the time, there's really no stopping all of them..."

After hearing this, Vincent realizes her point and looks down in thought. "That is true... How could this conflict be different from any other? Now that I think of it, it doesn't really make any sense..."

He thinks about it for a while, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his phone to call James.

After several rings, he finally answers in a rushed voice. "Hey, Vincent. Sorry for the wait, I was getting dinner and didn't hear my phone right away."

"It's fine, James. Hey, can you check something?"

"Well, sure I guess. What is it? You normally don't make calls."

Vincent looks at Larisa, who is listening to him. "Larisa brought up a very good point that made me begin to think about your task."

James walks into the kitchen to continue preparing his hamburger and places his phone on the counter with the speaker on. "Oh? What was it?"

"What, exactly, is the intent of the two armies in this war? If you were sent on this task to stop them, the outcome of their fighting must have an impact on the world."

"That's... true. I never really thought about that."

"James, you're a Messanger. You really should consider things like that."

James opens the refrigerator, putting away the various condiments he was using, and yelling across the kitchen to his phone. "Hey, don't give me that, smart one! You had to have your Latias friend bring it to your mind before you even thought of it, so I don't even wanna hear it!"

Vincent shakes his head leans back against the railing of the ship. "Well, we're both gonna hear it if we don't look into it. We're short on time, so you might want to get on that." He suddenly stops talking and listens. "...Is that popping I hear?"

"Crap!" James quickly closes the refrigerator and runs over to the stove, turning it off and pulling his nearly burnt fries out of the oil. He puts them on the plate by his hamburger and blows out some smoke from the oil. "Ahh, look what you made me do!"

"Did you burn something again?"

James grunts and cracks the window open to let the kitchen air out, then gets a bottle of ketchup. "Shuddap. This requires great finesse..."

"James? I've fried potatoes, it really isn't that hard."

"Shut it or I'll pour hot oil on you when you get here!" James puts ketchup on his plate and then takes it into the livingroom, having grown annoyed and somewhat embarrassed at his cooking mess up.

And Vincent chuckles a bit. "Well anyways... You should look into it today. We'll be arriving at the port tomorrow morning."

"I shall spend the rest of the day tearing apart the internet to find their deepest secrets... while downloading music."

Vincent rolls his eyes. "You do that. Tell me if you find anything."

"You'll be the first to know. And... probably the last." James snickers and takes a bite out of his hamburger. "I'll talk to you later, Vincent."

"Good luck, James." He then hangs up and looks at the time on his phone. 7:28 PM. "...We should probably go for dinner too."

Larisa nods and looks around, seeing that the deck is now practically empty. "Looks like everyone else has."

Vincent puts his phone away and looks towards the door to the entry hall. "Right... Let's go."

They go back inside and towards the dining area, where they have dinner and then return to their room for the night. The ship would be arriving shortly after dawn, so they decide to sleep early. They need to be ready for the day to come, when they would meet James and prepare for the approaching task...

- - - - -

"Soon... Soon, my lord. You shall have what you seek. Then we shall take our true prize..."

The shadowy individual smirks and stands up, overlooking the barren desert from a high cliff, as the winds blow and dust picks up into the air, the area of a battle soon to come...