FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

File Name: Sunken Treasure

Owner: Pokégirl

File Location: www.patreon.com/SomeonesPC

File Type: Story:Adult:F/M: Dragalge x ???

Caption Text: Support us on Patreon for special art, stories, and more!

Details: Brought to you by "Wugfish" with the Luxury Tier request of "Something I would love to see is a story with an openly asexual and/or aromantic character. As an asexual with an ironically damn near insatiable libido, I've found great pleasure in focusing on giving my partner pleasure, and I think that could be a great base for a story about a very loving couple" and by "[Redacted]" for the chat comments: "Oh no/ An unusual pokemon/ Xianyus becoming the new pokegirl/ @Pokegirl85 looks like you have competition" that inspired this pairing. (There can be only one! ( •??•? )? )

The water pelting down struck like pins against Calder's exposed skin. To shield his cheeks, he hastily tugged the flap of his jacket up before getting his hand back on the worn wood of the ship's wheel. Blinking the water from his eyes in a vain attempt to clear them, he turned the wheel starboard, trying to avoid an outright battle with the waves by having them push against the stern and propel the Pura Vida forward. The voices of his crew rang loudly over the sea and sky's quarrel as the men sought to secure the lines and manage the sails.

A sharp pressure squeezed at his right shoulder and Calder tilted his head slightly to the left, the rain running off his hat as the company's Chatot moved one talon than another, shimming closer so as to speak directly into his ear.

"Storm is blowing from the East, Captain," the Chatot said, in a perfect mimicry of Easton's voice. "The trysail and jib are up and ready. Mainsail fully reefed."

Chatot ended with a click of his beak, signalling that his message was done. Lifting a claw up, the bird balanced on one foot while scratching at the feathers just under his eye.

"Return message, Captain?" Chatot asked, words spoken more slowly and with an uneven lilt.

"Yes," Calder said, waiting until Chatot gave a click of his beak, indicating he was ready. "Acknowledged, first mate. We'll keep sailing in the open waters."

Chatot waited a moment, making sure Calder had nothing else to add before shuffling to the edge of his shoulder. The bird gave himself a shake, sending droplets of water splashing against Calder's already drenched coat. Calder braced himself as Chatot grew momentarily heavy, pushing himself off Calder and into the wind and rain. Circling once, he flew off to relay the message while Calder adjusted course.

With the mainsail lowered and the smaller sails up, Calder could use the wind to guide the ship with less worry of capsizing. He turned the wheel to port, the sails snapping up as the wind caught and pushed them even faster forward. Adjusting the opposite direction, the Pura Vida lost speed but didn't fight Calder so hard at the wheel.

Shaking his head, not trusting the storm to allow him a moment to wipe the water from his face, a sudden shout rang out.

Jerking his gaze towards the sound, Calder kept the wheel steady as something unseen rocked the Pura Vida, the starboard side dipping as the port side lifted into the air. Crew members grabbed what they could to avoid being swept overboard by the waves crashing across the deck. When the Pura Vida tried to right herself, she swung almost as forcefully the opposite way. The wheel fought Calder's grip and he had to allow it some leniency less the rudder snap under the pressure and leave them adrift in the storm.

Following the unsteady sway of the Pura Vida, he spun the wheel in time, trying to follow the drunken dance she was leading him in while gently guiding her towards the (relative) safety of the open sea. She was finally steadying herself, relaxing into Calder's navigation, when Chatot's shrill whistle cut through the air. With a flap and a swoop, Chatot was circling around him, repeating his whistles. One long note, piercing enough to make Calder wince, followed by two short ones.

"All hands on deck!" Calder shouted, the force of his words ripping at the back of his throat. "Now!"

Chatot gave a forceful flap, flinging himself back up into the buffering wind. Calder's words repeated from the bird's throat as Chatot flew off, heading for the depths of the ship to call to arms any not yet on deck.

Something was in the water.

Torn between escaping to the open sea to evade the storm or heading towards the shore to escape what was lurking in the depths, the wheel jerked from his hands as something struck the port side. Wheel spinning wildly, the Pura Vida turned starboard without Calder's guidance to keep her straight. Trying to time grabbing for the wheel so as not to have his arm wrenched or broken, Calder lunged and found hold on a spindle with his right hand. The Pura Vida lurched back port side at the sudden halt of the wheel but swayed instead of tipping. Trying to right the course, the storm's waves now beating almost fully on the starboard side, Calder had to heave his full weight to get the wheel to turn for him. He didn't realize the rest of the crew had fallen silent until he heard something above the waves and rain.

A high pitched sound, sharper and more breathless than a flute's, shrieked through the air before diverging into a series of bubbling noises. The noises repeated in various tones and lengths, grunts and other cries adding to it, before repeating the ghostly flute like sound. Strung together in some otherworldly song, other "voices" began to chime in from below the surface of the water.

Deciding facing the shoreline was preferable to the growing choir of unseen singers, Calder turned the wheel as far as he dared to port. It was a fine line to sail, keeping the storm waves rushing them on from the stern, but the risk was worth it.

A long flute note cut off into a gasp and the Pura Vida rocked as though something had struck along the bow. There were more impacts along the port, though nothing quite as hard as the first.

Keeping the wheel steady, mumbling prayers under his breath, Calder kept pushing the Pura Vida forward.

This time, the weight along his shoulder startled him as Chatot landed. With a flap, more to get the water off his feathers than to fly again, Chatot spoke in his slow and uneven voice.

"All hands are on deck, sir." Chatot gave a full body shake, his tail trembling long after the fact.

"Do we know what's in the water?" Calder asked, hoping Chatot might have seen something or overheard a crew member.

"Negative, captain."

"See if you can find out," Calder said, desperately hoping for a swarm of Tentacruel instead of something larger. As a small merchant company, Chatot was their only Pokemon. After this delivery, Calder had hoped to be able to afford a more seaworthy brawler but, at the time, communications had seemed the more vital occupation.

"Aye, aye!" Chatot said, giving a bob of his head before pressing his weight down and surging upward into the air.

Watching only long enough to see Chatot flying off, Calder turned his attention back to the steering of the ship. The waves pushed harder from behind, forcing him to adjust the wheel to take it along the stern, even though it meant reducing their speed. Small impacts struck against the port side but there were no shouts of damage or that she was taking on water. The whistling and broken cries of their unseen choir continued on but so long as none of them attacked it was an annoyance Calder was willing to put up with.

The Pura Vida rocked, her starboard side nearly dipping into the water. This time, there was a shout of "man overboard!"

Cursing under his breath, Calder called for all sails to be reefed. He didn't dare risk setting anchor due to the waves or trying to circle the ship for the same reason. The most he could do was try and slow the Pura Vidadown long enough for someone to throw out a rope and fish the man out.

Assuming whatever was in the water didn't seal his fate first.

Working on steadying the ship, Calder listened, wanting the sails back in place the moment the all clear was given. There was another solid sound as something hit the port side, giving the ship even more sway, and a crack that was heard over everything else.

Not a moment later, Chatot was flapping through the air. The bird didn't even light on his shoulder, in such a rush to deliver his message.

"We're taking on water!" Chatot said, panic making his mimicry more bird like than human so that Calder couldn't place which crewmate he'd overheard.

"Get it boarded!" Calder shouted above the storm and song, only to realize that the song had faded to silence.

Calder knew better than to assume the silence meant whatever was in the water had gone but still he swallowed back his fears and hoped.

"Do we know what's in the water?" he tried asking, only to find that Chatot had gone, presumably to deliver his last message.

When cheers broke above the rain, Calder tipped his head skyward, closing his eyes and thanking Kyogre that his man was safe. Drawing in a breath, listening for the "all clear," a shadow portside caught his attention.

"Are we good?" he asked, tipping his head towards the Chatot for his response.

When no answer came, Calder turned his head just as an echoing cry reverberated through his bones and the shadow he'd mistaken for the Chatot brushed along the side of the ship. For a moment, it looked as though the large beast was only swimming alongside the Pura Vida before the impact caused her to tip once more. This time, Calder tried to fight the upending of the ship. The blue beast alongside the Pura Vida only seemed to roll with it, the ship creaking in protest under the added weight she'd never been designed to take.

Bile rising, Calder gave the only command he could.

"Abandon ship!" he shouted, just moments before the Pura Vida's deck hit the water.

*****

When sailors told tales of Davy Jones' Locker it was either with reverent whispers or slurred speech brought on by too many mugs of cheap tavern ale. The "fate of those who died at sea" was pretty clear, regardless. Never to have the pearly gates of heaven open for them nor the chasm of hell swallow them, they were instead trapped in the depths of the ocean along with the bones of their ship.

All things considered, Calder had to count himself lucky that at least the Pura Vida had found a final resting place in a spot that allowed the sun to caress her remains.

He assumed the chill of the water helped to preserve the Pura Vida, though the damage of that stormy night left its scars along her frame. While the mast miraculously remained intact, the port side bore the blow that had killed her. The large creature which had rolled into their ship had crushed her wood inward, not allowing her the chance to recover once the deck had hit the water.

Reaching a hand to stroke along the edges of the gaping hole in her side, Calder took comfort in the feeling of solid wood.

Walking toward the bow, letting his hand trace the grain of the wood without fear of catching a splinter, he lifted his gaze towards the Dewgong carving that had been the pride of the Pura Vida. Carved from Ash Wood, the figurehead was designed in such a way that the pale Dewgong appeared to be emerging from the darker wood of the ship. Its tail and fins flowed like the silk of a court lady's dress, the creases frozen in a perfect ripple. Once, there was a horn proudly jutting forward, guiding the Pura Vida forward. At some point during the storm, it had broken and Calder hadn't found it to even try putting it back together.

Whatever kept him here made sure the he remained here. He could go only a few steps outside the Pura Vida's shadow before finding he couldn't move his body forward. It was as though invisible chains thicker than that which had bound the anchor kept him tethered and no amount of struggling could break the hold the ship or whatever had on him.

He'd tried looking for his crew but either he'd been the only one to go down with the ship or they'd departed to a different realm. His feelings on that changed with the tides; sometimes he was grateful they weren't stuck here with him, other times he was infuriated at being left alone. No amount of crying, pleading, or screaming had changed his fate, however, and he'd drifted into a sort of acceptance.

Time was a fleeting thing, now, easy to lose track of when he had no physical needs to attend to. The cycle of day and night was consistent enough but, while he didn't sleep as he once had, he would sometimes find his surroundings changed with no recollection of it happening. Coral beds once damaged from the wreck regrown, seaweed slowly creeping forward, and the like. When he'd tried to interact with objects outside the Pura Vida, intending to yank back the weeds growing closer to the ship, he found that his body like mist, not even causing the water to stir.

So, with nothing else to do, Calder waited.

*****

The next time Calder came to himself, the seaweed had grown right up to the Pura Vida and was about the height of his knee. Had it been months since he was last aware?

Starting with his ritual of walking around the ship, his hand along the wood, he looked for changes that had occurred in his absence, Calder stopped when he got to the giant hole, the fatal blow that had ended the Pura Vida. He couldn't see anything but something felt off.

Hesitant for reasons he couldn't explain, Calder fought past his discomfort to step within the Pura Vida for the first time since she'd sunk. There was a slight resistance, like a thin veil, but it parted quickly enough that he thought it imagined.

One of the few benefits of being in his current state (besides not needing air underwater) was his vision. Rather than seeing with his eyes, it was more an awareness of his surroundings. As such, while he knew the confines of the ship ought to be dark and shadowed, he had no trouble making out the shapes and forms within as if it was a bright summer day.

Drifting deeper within, Calder traced the once familiar walls. The echoes of laughter came to him as he floated by the old mess hall, pausing at the doorway as the vividness called to him in a way he hadn't felt since he'd first realized he was dead.

The ache within his core was enough to leave him feeling cold, causing him to turn away and leave the room and the memories behind.

Thinking he'd imagined the whole thing, he headed back to the broken side of the ship, intending to press the boundaries that kept him once more, on the off chance something had changed. He was almost through the jagged hole when a small shape inside the shattered ship made him pause.

He might have thought it seaweed, given it was the same height as the encroaching weeds outside, if not for the fact that it stood by itself within the ship. Moving closer, crouching for a better look, he jumped back when the creature lifted its head and pink eyes met his.

Remaining still while his form practically vibrated with surprise, the feeling gradually faded when he realized the Pokemon hadn't looked at him so much as it had looked up.

Wrapping his arms around himself, trying to keep the warmth the sudden excitement had brought him for precious seconds longer, Calder crouched back down.

It was a homely thing, that was for sure. Poop brown with a pale pink for an underbelly and muddied red fins that didn't look much good for swimming. Its tail fins were the same murky brown color but, unlike the rounded red fins, the three teardrops were torn ragged. Calder couldn't be certain but he'd have bet his last gold coin that the pitiful thing had escaped the teeth of a much larger 'mon.

Head tilting, the creature gave a slow blink before huddling in on itself.

"I don't suppose you can hear me?" Calder wondered aloud, not having had a chance before now to see if it was a possibility.

When the creature just remained in a semi-standing ball, not reacting, Calder gave a laugh as brittle as a dried sand dollar.

"Of course not," he muttered, shaking his head to himself. "Why would I think you could hear me?" Kicking at a broken plank half buried in the sand, he felt his voice rising. "It wouldn't be purgatory if you could hear me!"

A soft cry made him whirl, bubbles churning around him as he found the creature pressing itself tight against the wall of the ship, eyes so wide Calder could see it glancing from the plank of wood he'd kicked to the space he occupied.

"Can you see me?" Calder asked, words coming out in a rush as he took a step forward.

The creature's eyes remained wide but didn't move to follow him.

Running his hands through his hair, gripping it at the roots and yanking so as to feel something, Calder fell to his knees. Sand billowed up in a gritty plume around his waist, floating and falling while he blindly stared at it.

Sand... wasn't supposed to react to him.

He reached for it, swirling the sandy water around his arm, altering its descent as though his hand was actually having an effect.

Twisting his head, wondering what sort of magic this Pokemon had wrought, he found the small creature had taken his moment of distraction and departed.

Not willing to be left behind so easily, Calder abandoned the stirring sands to all but soar towards the opening in the ship's hull. Turning right then left, he found no discernable traces of where the creature might have gone but, remembering the state of its tail, thought that it couldn't have gotten far.

Opting to go right, Calder flowed through the water with a speed and grace that a Sharpedo would have had trouble matching. The world blurred around him as he moved, pausing in short spurts to check where the Pokemon might have hidden itself or gone to. He circled the ship three times, going slower each turn, before stopping back at the damaged hull.

Either the Pokemon was quicker than he'd given it credit for or it might have a camouflage skill, like the Vaporeons he'd heard about, that let it appear invisible even to his heightened senses.

Not particularly wanting to give up the search but not having a better idea of how to find the creature, Calder allowed himself to fall back into a seated position on the sand.

This time, the sand did not billow.

*****

Calder came to consciousness, finding himself still sitting. A quick glance showed not much, if anything, had changed. A short spell, then.

Standing, he gave a kick at the sand and frowned. Still, it did not move. He knew it had before and that the Pokemon, if it hadn't seen anything, had at least sensed him in some fashion.

Puzzling over the matter, Calder started his ritual walk around the ship, hand upon the wood, tracing the grain as he kept his eye out for any unfamiliar brown or pink that might be the Pokemon somewhere nearby.

A full circle, and even one more (just in case), and he found his initial assessment to be correct; he'd only been unaware for a matter of days this time, given there was almost no new growth of seaweed or coral. There were no signs of pink or brown in either the darker greens or the beige and whites, though he'd looked, and he felt the realization that the Pokemon was long gone pressing down within his stomach.

"It'd been a nice thought," he said, partially to himself and partially to the ship, as he gave it a light pat.

Calder lifted his hand from the ship and began to walk. Counting his steps as he went, lining each one up, he got to exactly fifteen and started with the sixteenth when that tug within his chest yanked back on him. Pressing forward against it, feeling as though he was ripping out his ribs or lungs or whatever his ghostly self had, he finally had to concede and step back, form shaking and twitching as though he'd touched a Chinchou and gotten zapped.

Fifteen and no more.

Waiting until he felt steady enough, Calder turned, shaking his head at the Pura Vida.

"Is it that you don't want to be alone?" he asked, watching as the wisps of sails still clinging gave a weak flutter in the ocean's current. "Is that why I can't leave?"

The Pura Vida gave no answer.

Scoffing at himself, Calder drifted lazily on a current back towards the ship. Eyes half closed, he was wondering if he might force himself into unconsciousness the same way he could have done trying to get to sleep when he was alive when a flutter of movement caught his attention. At first, he thought it was the sails and ignored it until he realized it was less of a floating wave and more of a curving hop.

Lifting his head, working against the urge to just curl up into oblivion, Calder saw what looked to be the Pokemon from before hopping along the decking of the ship. Either the damage to the fin hadn't healed or this was its normal method of travel; flinging itself into the air, kicking its tail fin to propel it, then landing and repeating. From the way it stopped now and then, lowering and lifting its head, it appeared to be examining the Pura Vida.

As quick as a thought, Calder went from here to there, now standing on the slanted deck of the Pura Vida. While the Pokemon tilted its head, as a canine might upon hearing a whisper, it gave no other motion that indicated it sensed him.

Holding still, just to make sure he didn't startle it as he had the last time, Calder watched as the creature gave a little sway. He thought it was going to make another jump but its attention seemed focused on the horizon. Following its gaze, Calder saw coral "brains" and "branches," fields of seaweed, and jutting rocks that faded into blue obscurity the further he tried to strain his senses. None of which looked particularly interesting to him but the little creature still strained, looking outward for something.

"Are you looking for your..." Calder hesitated, trying to think of the Pokemon or sea critter equivalent of "crew."

The creature stirred, giving a glance back at him as if it might have heard, before looking forward again.

"Or are you looking for what attacked you?" he asked, noticing that the tail fin was still as tattered as he last saw it.

There was an almost shudder from the Pokemon and Calder held still, wondering just how much it could sense of him. While he wanted to keep talking, to see if he could get a response, an acknowledgement, that it could in fact hear him, he was wary of scaring it off again.

Backing off when he'd have rather pressed forward, Calder had a fleeting thought. The crew had kept a few Potions onboard for their Chatot. Perhaps one or two had survived the storm and sea?

With a lurch, Calder found himself in the sick bay, almost stumbling into and through one of the overturned cots. Steadying himself, Calder glanced at the overturned chest and opened cupboards of the small room, the contents of the latter strewn across the floor. Any cloth material had started to decay, the once pristine bandages now covered with a slime and rendered unusable and the bedding in a similar state.

Bending down, Calder attempted to push the useless supplies out of the way and pulled back suddenly when he actually felt the slick coating on the cloth. Reaching out again, he easily pushed the material away.

A giddy laugh broke from his throat as he picked up one of the bandages and threw it across the room, its tail trailing like a ribbon in the water. Next, the sheet went flying and so did a pillow. He didn't throw the scissors, clamps, or other metal and rusted tools (having some sense) but he did set them in a pile to the side to clear the space and revel in the "cool" sensation the metal gave him.

His impromptu cleaning revealed no potions so he went to the chest. With a grunt, he used his shoulder to turn it the proper side up, surprised to find himself light headed afterwards. Focused on his task, he fought the urge to move his fingers along the metal locks holding it in place. Simple things, he was amazed they hadn't snapped open when the chest had fallen or already rusted by now. A faint tarnish was sneaking on the gleaming gold but nothing so bad as of yet.

With a swipe of his thumb, the first lock flipped and then the second. He couldn't really hear the metallic click of it, not in the water, but felt each one all the same. Another surge of stubborn energy and the lid (warped from water) lifted up and back, halting when the hinge stopped it from falling all the way backwards.

"More linens?"

He almost laughed, wondering at Dr. Fredrick's logic of it, before digging his hands in and throwing each rumpled but still folded blanket behind him. While through in his inspection of the chest, other than a bottle of rum Calder was certain he couldn't drink, it held no other medicinal treasures.

Sitting back on his heels, examining the room, Calder went to the cupboards. Throwing them open all the way, he found several bottles knocked on their sides. Corks kept the contents dry, it seemed, save for a few where the glass had cracked. Setting the damaged ones aside, he fingered at the paper labels, the ink Fredrick had penned on it long gone, diluted by the water. Setting the bottles down, he focused instead on the tinted glass, mixes of browns, blues, and greens and selected a small green one.

Not wanting to open it and let the contents escape uselessly into the water, Calder clutched it to his chest as tight as he dared before focusing on the desire to be back with the little creature. When he remained in the sick bay, he wondered over why he hadn't reappeared back on the deck when a hooked feeling sank into his stomach and yanked.

More dazed than the first time, he fell to his knees, still cradling the bottle. His vision swam, the blur of brown and pink taking time to focus into the still and shocked form of the little creature.

"Here!" The word came out as an almost shout, the feeling of his consciousness sinking into the unaware state without his consent making him feel panicked.

Before he faded, became immobile, or whatever else happened while he had no recollection, he twisted the lid off the potion bottle just as he pitched forward. His hand reached out, the bottle rolling free when he struck the deck. The Pokemon bunched up, as if it would jump away from the bottle, but its motions were sluggish and it didn't move fast enough before it got close to them.

Just as Calder felt his senses shutting down, he all but tasted the stinging properties of the medicine as it mingled with the sea. When the creature did leap, its tail whipped through the medicated water, effectively applying it to its injury. With a satisfied sigh, Calder gave up on fighting to stay conscious and let himself go limp. Before it all faded to nothing, Calder used what little energy he had to look up, sensing something beside him. He was able to make out the color pink before he was gone.

*****

When he next came to, Calder felt off. It was something akin to being hungover and having the flu. His form felt heavy, nothing like the floatiness he'd grown accustomed to. It almost felt like he had his physical form back, though from his ability to still breathe underwater, he knew that wasn't the case.

Unsteadily, he got to his feet. A quick glance showed he was still on the deck of the Pura Vida, though the little creature was not.

Taking things slowly, he opted to jump over the ship's rail and drift to the ground rather than doing so with a thought. The gradual descent gave him time to observe his surroundings and make a guess at the passage of time.

The seaweed vines were taller, now several inches past his knees. The coral hadn't grown as much so he suspected maybe only a week was lost.

Landing, the sand remaining still under his feet, he placed his hand on the wood of the ship. A slick, slimy feel met his touch and he could see a film of dark green now covering the wood. Rubbing at his fingers, the coating still clung. After a few attempts to fling it off, he gave up trying and touched his fingers to the wood once more, making sure to avoid the now darker areas where the algae had formed.

Tracing his way around the ship, a hint of pink caught his attention. Turning, he thought he'd imagined it at first until the current shifted and the seaweed wriggled, exposing the little creature's hiding spot.

Moving toward it, counting his steps as he went, Calder stopped just at fourteen to avoid the pull calling him back to the ship. He was close enough to see the 'mon hiding. He thought, at first, that it might be hiding from him, but if that was the case, why not go further than it did? Besides, it appeared relaxed, albeit still, in the bed of seaweed.

Fins spread, it looked as though it was basking in the few sun rays coming down from the ocean's surface. If that was the case, he didn't understand why it would hide itself amongst the seaweed instead of being on the deck of the ship, which was an open space and closer to the surface where it'd likely get more sun-

The creature's head snapped back, tilting upward and firing a short burst of purple from its snout. A school of silver fish, in the process of passing overhead, broke formation at the shot but not before one was hit directly and another clipped. Both went tumbling down, the first appearing stunned or dead on impact, the second flailing but unable to right itself.

Leaving the first one, the brown and pink Pokemon went after the second one, giving a kick of its fully healed tail fin to leap up from the seaweed. With a hard flap of both its fins, as if it were a bird and not a fish, it gained the extra distance needed to reach the injured fish. Curling its fins, it clutched the flailing fish against its chest and tucked its head. Calder couldn't make out from this angle what it was doing but, by the time it'd landed, the fish that had been in its fins had vanished.

Feeling sorry for the creature that its fish had gotten away, Calder watched as it hopped/swam to where the first fish lay at the edge of the seaweed, motionless. Based on the almost burn-like injuries the fish bore, the purple stuff must have been a Poison type attack.

The creature lowered its head, placing its snout on the fish. Fully expecting it to lift the fish and place it in its mouth, Calder was puzzled when it didn't immediately do so. Then, he began to notice a purple glow emanating from the fish's body. Bubbles formed along the skin, pustules that cracked and broke, surprisingly not releasing blood into the water but collapsing in on themselves. The creature pushed its snout harder into the fish's side and Calder watched as, from head to tail, the fish was all but absorbed and sucked in, leaving no bone, scale, or scrap behind.

When done, the Pokemon lifted its head, angling it away from Calder but, oddly, keeping its dark pupil fixated his way.

Wanting to ask if the creature could see him but fairly sure of the answer, Calder instead offered a small wave of his fingers.

The Pokemon turned its head, almost resting its cheek on its shoulder, before lifting the fin closest to Calder and letting it ripple.

Something painful and hot stabbed Calder from his back through to his chest and it took him several moments to identify it as "hope" and not an unidentified attack.

Before giving himself over to the idea that, somehow, this Pokemon could see him, Calder squatted close to the ground, watching.

The Pokemon, with its head still oddly tucked and turned away from him even while its eye remained focused in his direction, crouched its body low in response.

With a shout, Calder leapt, punching upward into the air as his form twirled and twisted in the water. As he was coming down from his literal high, the Pokemon was shooting up, one fin raised as it spun.

In some fashion or another, it could see him.

*****

Over the next few days, Calder remained aware, as if having a purpose somehow kept him more in the realm of "now" as opposed to wherever he went when he wasn't here.

From what he could gather, the Pokemon couldn't see him if it faced him directly on but, from the corner of its eye, it could make out a general shape or form. This was stronger, they'd discovered, when he was in or on the ship (as the creature didn't need to turn its head quite so far away to still see him).

Rather than being fearful of him, the creature seemed pleased to have his company. Whether it was because of his help with mending its tail or because Calder possessed no threat to it, he wasn't sure. Either way, it always gave a lifted flap of its fin when noticing him along the edge of its vision, apparently understanding it was a form of a greeting from when Calder had first waved at it.

A sort of routine emerged between the two of them. Calder would do his daily walk around the ship and the creature would follow, hop-swimming along. After, Calder would follow it to just before the edge of his tether, taking a seat as it basked in the seaweed and waited for a meal. Then, they would head back to the ship and Calder would go with it as it explored, nosing at this or that, before appearing content with its excursion and making its way to the deck. There, it would rest along the base of the mast, watching the world around it until its appetite sent it hunting once more.

Feeling the currents flowing through him, Calder watched as his little buddy gave a wiggle, apparently feeling the same sensation brushing over it. Not for the first time, Calder wondered over its gender, species, and even if it might have a name. However it did its "business," it was either discreet enough that Calder hadn't seen or didn't have the bits a human did that would have made it easily identifiable so Calder was left to speculate.

Calder absently ran his thumb along his stomach, looking away from the little creature and out towards the field of seaweed. The dark greens danced with the water, flowing and swaying as the tide lead them along. A thought popped in his head, wondering if the seaweed tasted anything like the darker greens he'd once shunned--spinach?--before becoming confused. While he'd certainly missed the idea of flavors, he'd never once thought about eating. Yet, here he was, contemplating the seaweed like he once might have a steak.

Hungry.

It was more sensation than word, the feeling behind it almost doubling him over.

A streak of brown and pink swam by, his buddy, pausing to perch on the rail as Chatot had once done. Pupil focused on him, giving a small fin wave, it dove from the rail towards the seaweed, nestling itself in a patch where green gave way to a sickly brown, Camouflaging itself.

The feeling of hunger faded, leaving Calder confused and empty, almost missing the sensation that reminded him of what "living" felt like.

*****

"This is the bow," he said, giving a light pat to the Pura Vida.

While his buddy couldn't hear him, it was still comforting to have someone to speak to.

The "hunger" hadn't come back all night nor this morning. Calder had started to wonder if he'd imagined it but the vivid punch of it in his gut yesterday made that an unlikely possibility.

Glancing towards his new found friend, he hoped it was a positive sign that the sight of them didn't illicit that consuming sensation.

Turning his head sharply away, not wanting to chance anything, he brought his attention up towards the Dewgong.

"That," he said, gesturing upward, "was the pride of the Pura Vida, her figurehead."

The algae had yet to make its way towards the still gleaming wood of the Dewgong, her pristine form marred only by the loss of horn. Closing his eyes, Calder wished he could leave to find it. After all his searching within his fifteen paces allowed, he had to assume the horn was somewhere outside where he could wander; a lost soul like himself.

Opening his eyes against the pain, Calder tried to rise above it. If there was nothing to be done, there was no use fixating on it.

Glancing downward, he found his buddy staring upward, oddly fixated on the Dewgong carving.

"Pretty, isn't it?" he asked. "You should have seen her in all her glory." A laugh startled its way out of his sorrow. "Then again, I suppose you wouldn't have, if that were the case, since she'd still be sail worthy."

Putting his hand back on the wood of the ship, trying to ignore how much more of the algae it felt like he had to work his way around, Calder went a ways before stopping, realizing the creature had yet to follow.

"Are you com-" his voice cut off, realizing that it was nowhere to be seen.

Worried, Calder moved away from the ship, glancing for any sign of it. When he couldn't find it at the bow, he moved ahead towards the seaweed patch, thinking it had gotten bored of the tour and wanted to eat, but it wasn't there. Looking within the ship and along the deck, he found no trace.

Heading back to the Dewgong, in case it had returned, Calder's creature still didn't appear, even as night came and everything faded.

*****

A brightness awoke Calder.

Batting it away, as if it a sunbeam that had awoken him from sleep, the sensation didn't fade. It did, however, change. The light faded, replaced with gray clouds and mist; troublesome sailing weather. Pops of pink blasted through the clouds, less of the jagged form of lightning and more like the piercing blare of a trumpet's bugel.

The lack of sense in that image was what finally brought Calder into full awareness. It was still dark, though his improved vision easily made out the surrounding area.

He was still at the bow but, before him, the creature stood.

The trumpeting pink became less blaring and soft around the edges, like a lighthouse's beam greeting the Pura Vida and cutting through the dark clouds and thick mist until all that was left was a soft pink feeling that brightened back to the original gold.

With an excited bob, as evident from the way the Pokemon almost fell over, it nudged something towards Calder, lifting its head up and slightly away, watching him as the gold sensation pulsed.

Looking at his feet, Calder felt his form still. Trembling, he bent down to try and touch what looked to be the broken horn of the Dewgong.

Cool to the touch, akin to what he felt when running his hand along the Pura Vida, Calder lifted the piece and held it within both hands.

"How...?"

Pops of pink, like fireworks, went off in his head and he looked from the horn to the Pokemon, watching its excited wiggles.

It was... happy. He could feel its happiness.

If that was the case, had it felt his sorrow? And... it had found the horn for him?

Cradling the horn to his chest, ignoring the slight dig of the tip that couldn't really do much more than poke at him, he reached a hand out. Brushing his fingers along its head, he felt a brief sensation of warmth before it pulled back, inadvertently causing his fingers to flow through its skin. The pink fireworks turning into jagged cuts of blue startlement and Calder was sorry the attempted thanks hadn't gone as he'd have wanted.

Wanting to try again, to express his thanks, he kneeled down as close to eye level as he could get. Hugging the horn to him, thinking of putting it back on the head of the Dewgong and all the sensations that entailed, he tied that in with his gratitude towards the Pokemon.

The broken pieces of blue melted into a dark pink haze that flowed just along the edges of his awareness, as if embarrassed at his attention.

"Thank you," he said, whether it heard or understood the words, at least he knew it could gather his meaning from his feelings.

*****

After their discovered method of communication, Calder had noticed Bloom (or, at least, that was the best translation of the name Calder could figure from the images and impressions given) becoming more restless. She (about half a day had been dedicated towards explaining and interpreting the mess that was gender) was more fluttery with her fins, gazing further beyond the seaweed beds and coral brains and branches. If the Skrelp (he was less sure this was right but had given up trying for accuracy when it had taken longer to decipher than gender) were a Chatot, he'd have been assuming she was readying herself for flight.

He tried sharing more of the ship with her, relating his impressions of the different rooms and what they'd been to him while alive. He tried, though wasn't sure how successful he was, of the images of the men he'd travelled with and the life they'd had. Oddly, he found that, during the course of his accord with her, some bits and pieces were missing. He wouldn't say "forgotten," as the memories were still with him, but a name here, a face there, were simply gone and no amount of concentration could bring them back.

It worried him but his greater concern was the way Bloom, despite her interest in his tales, felt to be pulling away from him.

Sitting on the deck, watching her peering through the railing instead of resting at her spot at the mast, Calder couldn't hold it to himself any longer.

Refraining from touching her, as she'd shared the chill his touches brought, he instead offered her the sensation he imagined feeling at being left at the dock as the Pura Vida sailed without him, too far in the distance for him to swim towards it, leaving him stranded on shore.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" he asked, surprised at the hurt he felt.

Bloom's fins fluttered, jagged blue mingled with dark pink haze formed in his mind before she canted her head to the side in a firm negative.

He countered her startled embarrassment, sharing the sensation of confusion that haunted him about his current existence and relating it to her continued gazes out past the horizon.

A reluctant purple tinted the edges of his mind before an image of people in the ship's mess hall, laughing and raising their mugs, him in the midst of it, came to him. For a moment, he didn't recognize the faces of anyone in the memory but, before fear could envelope him, the image shifted from him and what he assumed was his crew to that of Bloom with a mixture of other colored Skrelp around her.

"You're lonely?" he asked, trying very hard not to let his feelings slip of how her departure would leave him.

Perhaps some of it did slip or she wasn't done because the next impressions helped answer his question. Rather than lonely, expressed by a void within, she shared the feeling of an external void filled with dark shapes and slashes of red implying "danger" and "death," from the sensations of pain and shivers of fear that weren't his own. The Pura Vida, in her current state, was a bright sunrise of feelings: pale blue relief, safe yellow, orange satisfaction... but it was tinted with deep purple reluctance and an even deeper blue, almost black, along its edges.

She didn't want to leave but concern for her kind made her feel compelled to go.

"I understand."

He did. He might not like it but he knew, in her place, that he would have been willing to leave safe harbor to help his crew. Perhaps he was losing exact memories of them but the feeling of comradery ran deep within his being.

Restraining himself against the urge to wrap her in a quick, tight hug that would only feel like a ring of ice around her; Calder sent what he imagined it'd feel like to embrace her, if he had a form.

He held the answering feelings of warmth and the echo of an answered embrace as he watched her depart, her form not even out of sight before he faded.

*****

Calder awoke and faded several times after she'd left. Each time, he was conscious long enough to look for her before weariness settled back into him and he was claimed by nothingness once more. Each time, it felt harder and took longer to come back.

While he didn't doubt her intentions to return, he remembered her small form in comparison to the vastness of the sea, of the dark shapes of larger creatures and the ripping red of her fin being torn that she'd shared with him. Soon, he began to wonder if it might be better to let himself fade forever with the hope of one day reuniting with the crew he was slowly forgetting than to wait on the little creature whom he worried about.

When bursts of pink called to him, he had to fight to regain himself. Even still, upon waking, there was a moment where he forgot himself and where he was. A brief and terrifying moment where nothing around him made sense until he focused on a little brown and blue creature a scant distance away.

Skrelp?

That word, uncertain but with a sense of right to it, made him look around, knowing this was not his Skrelp. More words and memories came to him. He was on the deck of the, the, Puri Vidi? No. Pira Vada? On the ship. He had been looking for the other one, the pink and brown one, to come back. It hadn't, so he'd moved higher to look further.

From the deck, he made his way to the railing, peering over. While he couldn't get an exact number, a good sized herd of Skrelp was swim-hopping, picking spots within the sick areas of seaweed to hide or exploring the ship as the other had been.

From the right side to the left in a thought, he saw fewer Skrelp and no sign of the one with pink fins. Still, the pink bursts called to him and he moved in an instant to the hole within the side of the ship. He didn't recall how he knew it was there or what caused it, just that it was.

There, turning its -her- head this way and that, was the pink and brown Skrelp.

"Bloom," he whispered, the sight of her hitting hard enough to jar the name from wherever it'd been hidden in his mind.

The bugles of bright pink becoming softer hues, her head tilting while her pupil stared at him, a fin lifting in recognition. With a quick kick of her tail fin, she stopped just before him, bobbing and wiggling with warm beams of sunshine shimmering in his mind.

"You're safe," he said, answering her sunshine with pale blue relief, tinted dark around the edges. "I was worried."

A murky, apologetic green was her answer, the color brightening as the image of the Skrelp herd formed within it. A sort of, "look, here!" feeling with a golden pride mixed with the bright green.

"Yeah," he said. "You did good... but I'm glad you're back."

The wave of pale blue relief he sent to her was pulled, cradled close to her, before being sent back to him.

It appeared she was relieved he was still here as well.

"So," he asked, sending thoughts of the many similar looking Skrelp along with a sense of inquiry. "Who are all your new friends?"

Her pop of yellow joy at his asking and the introduction of the new Skrelp helped Calder to keep his silver fears tucked deep within where Bloom couldn't see them.

*****

Calder found himself staying conscious for longer periods, what with Bloom and the herd to keep him in the now. While most of the Skrelp had trouble with seeing him, there were two (Tide and Wave, both males, if the impressions were right) who could usually make out where he was and give the customary fin wave when they saw him. Their thoughts were harder to make out than Bloom's but Calder assumed that was because he'd been "talking" with Bloom for longer. He expected the more they worked at it, the better they'd get.

A new routine was established, upon Bloom's return. They still did a walk around the ship in the morning, marking the new growth of the algae that had Calder touching the ship less and less as it spread. Bloom seemed to like stopping at the front of the ship, giving bursts of sunlight, for some reason, at the sight of the carving on the front. An aquatic Pokemon of some kind, with fins and a horn (tied to its head by a rope, as it looked to have been broken), the wood was lighter than the rest of the ship and Calder assumed that was why she liked it so much.

After their walk around, Bloom went to go eat while Tide or Wave came to keep him company. As Calder had trouble with telling most of the Skrelp apart, they took turns trying to help him find ways to identify who was who. Tide, he knew, because his fins were a slightly darker blue. Wave had a white edge along his tail fin. Bubble had a scar along her back and Shell had an extra bend in her tail. Other than that, they all looked the same to him, despite how Tide, Wave, and Bloom protested otherwise.

Once Bloom was sufficiently fed, the Skrelp herd would either do a mix of mock battles or engage in play, the only difference being that one involved a large sized bubble that they would toss around on currents in the midst of tackling each other.

When Calder had asked about it, Bloom gave the impression of the herd, cowering before a dark shadow then becoming larger than the shadow and driving it away. He could understand their desire to be stronger though he couldn't help but feel a sort of lacking that he couldn't partake.

To make up for that, he tried to help by pointing out what he saw as weaknesses to their fighting techniques. One Skrelp (Weed, maybe?), usually left himself open while firing a bubble based attack, for example. Calder tried to explain his thoughts to Weed but appeared to confuse him more so, with Bloom's help, they had him firing his attack while moving instead of standing still. It meant Weed had to work on his accuracy but he wasn't getting hit as often by the other Skrelp.

Another suggestion Calder had was for Shell. The extra kink in her tail meant she didn't move as fast as the other Skrelp and tired faster. It didn't take much for her to get the idea that strengthening her Camouflage would be a better idea than trying to improve on her speed. Camouflage worked best while holding still so Shell practiced until she could almost be in open water and the other Skrelp would still miss her.

When practice or play was done, they'd get food once more before Bloom would join Calder on the deck, relieving whichever Skrelp had the turn of keeping watch. Most nights, Calder was able to help Bloom in protecting the herd. Of the two, his vision was actually better and he could sense things further out than she could. It almost made up for the fact that he couldn't fight alongside them, knowing he could help out this way.

Bloom would typically try and stay up the whole night with him but Calder could tell when her thoughts would suddenly drop off, startling back into being then fade off again. He would encourage her to rest and keep watch himself, only waking her if he felt himself slipping into whatever form of rest it was his being required. They happened less, with Bloom and the herd here, but every so often he'd feel the darkness creeping upon him.

He also could tell when Bloom was concerned for him, silver following him as he left and reappearing the next she saw him after he'd faded. He'd tried to explain that it wasn't intentional, his leaving, but that tarnished the silver and left an even more worried sensation in its place. All he could do was reassure her that he'd always come back and that it happened less frequently now that she and the herd were here.

The tarnished silver would reappear, from time to time, during their conversations, when she asked something or said something in relation to a past conversation they'd had and he had to admit to her he didn't remember. There had been red anger, as she'd thought he'd been brushing her off, until he reluctantly explained that he was forgetting things. Things like the significance of the creature on the front of the ship, the name of the ship, and those he'd once considered family, while alive, but now only had a vague sense of familiarity with.

After that, if she asked him something and he didn't recall, she would share with him the feelings and memories he once shared with her. It wasn't quite the same as recalling them himself, sort of like being told a story instead of living it, but he appreciated her holding onto them for him. This way, when he either forgot it all or finally vanished to nothingness, Bloom would remember the Dewgong figurehead, the Pura Vida, along with the names and faces of his crew.

Smiling a little, watching as her head bobbed with the current, Calder felt a sense of peace and warmth that was wholly his own.

She would keep them safe for him and he would do his best to keep her safe in turn.

*****

A high pitched shout from the lookout was all the warning they got before a large blue and white Pokemon was seen swimming on the opposite side of the seaweed field.

Six times or greater their size, the round Pokemon easily dwarfed the Skrelp. Scattering, they tried to take cover in the seaweed, coral, or ship; whichever was closest to them.

At first, Calder thought it just intended to keep swimming, the Pokemon far enough and high enough above them that it might not have noticed the movement or been indifferent to it. When it suddenly changed course, diving downward with the speed of a diving bird, Calder realized that wasn't the case.

As much as he wanted to, the Pokemon was far outside of his range to intercept or attempt to deter. Frantically, Calder tried to think of a way to help and focused, appearing in a room within the ship. It was unfamiliar to him, a room with a disarray of algae covered sheets on the floor and tools that were equal parts metal and rust. He grabbed the ones with the sharpest looking edges, clutching as many as he could in his hands before he was at the crow's nest; the highest point he could go without feeling the tightness tugging at his chest.

In the span he'd been gone, the blue and white Pokemon had curled up from its dive and was now circling the seaweed fields, tilted in such a way that Calder could tell it was scanning the weeds below it, hunting.

The Skrelp, hidden amongst the rotten spots and Camouflaged, made no sounds as the Pokemon gave a low, echoing cry that made Calder almost drop his weapons. An onslaught of crippling terror crashed into him, bringing him to his knees. Even though he had no immediate recollection of the Pokemon or its song, somewhere, deep within himself, there was a haunting familiarity.

Wailmer! a voice shouted within his mind, flinging him out of this moment and into a memory. A memory of damp clothes, of numerous thuds against the ship's side while he tried to keep her afloat, the shouts of his crew as his hands gripped tighter to the wheel and their songs went on and on-

When there was silence, Calder found himself back in the present, shaking but able to stand. The hope that the Wailmer had given up, deciding to leave in a fit of frustration, was quickly dashed when he saw it had finished sucking in a gulp of water and was now firing a pulse of water down at the seaweed below. While the impact didn't dislodge the seaweed from its bed, the roots deep enough down to prevent it from being ripped out, the Skrelp hiding there were flung outward from their hiding spots.

With a pleased, piercing hum, the Wailmer immediately dove, mouth open as though it intended to try and swallow the Skrelp closest to it whole.

Calder appeared at the edge of his border, unable to get close enough to use the weapons in his hands. Throwing himself forward, he yanked against the tether that bound him, having to stop when it felt like he was pulling himself apart.

Reaching out, willing any abilities he had to intervene and save the Skrelp, Calder's form began to shake.

Nothing happened.

The round Pokemon descended upon the struggling Skrelp -Shell, he realized by the kink in her tail-, the other Skrelp having been able to make it back into the safety of the seaweed. The pleased hum of the Wailmer as it opened its maw wider was cut off in a painful squeal as something silver and brown hit its side.

One of Calder's weapons was now embedded in its thick hide.

Calder didn't remember throwing it, didn't think he did, given the rest of the weapons were still in his hands at his side, but there was no mistaking the very un-Pokemon tool that was sticking out of the Pokemon like a painful sliver.

The impact caused it to flail and abort its dive, swimming suddenly upward, allowing Shell time to move. The Skrelp wriggled and hopped, aiming for the cover of the seaweed, when the larger Pokemon turned, making another attempt to go after her despite its injury.

Two more of the projectiles flew forward, one scraping its belly as it attempted to move out of the way while the other buried itself below the first.

The Wailmer circled, its song now a mix of piercing notes caused by its pain and anger. Still, it made as if to go after the Skrelp and Calder could feel his own answering rage.

This time, he could feel the weapons he'd grabbed slipping from his fingers. Instead of falling to the ground, he could sense them floating beside him, waiting, ready to fly forward.

With a few clicks, the Wailmer turned. Calder felt his weapons lowering, thinking it was leaving, when it circled back. As his tools lifted, ready to defend, the creature began to circle. Faster and faster, it tore after itself, the water beginning to spin with it. Before Calder could realize what it was doing and try to stop it, the Pokemon had created a large sized Whirlpool and was attempting to pull the Skrelp into it. This time, even the seaweed was yanked against its will, ripped and torn from the ground.

As the Wailmer watched, leaving the spinning Whirlpool to flow as it willed, Calder sent his last four weapons cutting through the air at it. Two of them got caught up in the Whirlpool, vanishing from sight. One missed and went sailing past, landing somewhere in the sand behind it. The last only delivered a scratch, so weak it didn't even draw blood.

Trying to call them back to him, thinking he could take another go at it, Calder realized that he either couldn't do it or he didn't know how. Thinking of them flying back to him or impaling the Wailmer did nothing and there were no more weapons on the floor of the room; he'd grabbed them all.

The Skrelp were no longer silent, their cries filling the water as they fought to swim against the Whirlpool but failed.

Calder had failed.

Calder could only watch as the Whirlpool sucked up the Skelp from their hiding places, spinning them around as the Pokemon that caused it waited from a safe distance. As the Whirlpool gradually dissipated, having no one to give it the energy it needed to spiral, the Skrelp began to tumble and fall, too disoriented to swim.

With a shout of victory, the Wailmer dove, only to be intercepted by a blast of purple.

Denied its meal again, the Pokemon's features turned absolutely thunderous as it ignored the easy targets and faced off against an enraged Bloom.

Perched on one of the larger coral brains, Bloom flapped her fins and leapt upward, her form blurring until there were multiple Blooms all swimming upward. Instead of backing down, the Wailmer shot towards her, firing off more pulses of water. The duplicate Blooms vanished when the shots collided, leaving the Wailmer to pull up at the last moment before it slammed its head into the coral brain.

Dead in the water, it turned too little, too late as Bloom appeared from behind the coral brain, riding a wave of purple tinted mud that slammed into the Wailmer. While it spun, flapping its fins to try and be rid of the sludge clinging to it, Bloom continued her attack. Flipping, her tail glowed blue as it swung upward, the energy causing a vicious wave to spread outward as she completed her spin. The wave struck and pushed the Wailmer back, a high pitched shriek rising from it.

Shaking as much of the sludge off itself as it could, an almost sickly purple hue tint its skin. Still, the Wailmer flung itself forward, intending to slam itself into Bloom and crush her between itself and the coral brain.

Bloom aimed her snout down and a thick black substance billowed out, hiding her form from view. It wasn't ink, maybe smoke? Whatever it was, the Wailmer swam straight into it, the tendrils of it curling in after the Wailmer, hiding it as easily as it had Bloom.

The ground shook, moments after, and the current dispersed the dark screen to reveal the Wailmer moaning, its fins clutching at its face where a bruise matching the cracked shape of the coral brain was starting to form. The weapons Calder had shot at it had fallen out, leaving the Wailmer's blood freely flowing into the water. Perched atop the coral brain, Bloom was staring down at the Wailmer, eyes narrowed as she let loose with a scathing amount of clicks and whistles.

The Wailmer ceased clutching its head, lunging upward towards her.

Bloom didn't flinch but let loose with a blast of water from her snout so powerful that it sent the Wailmer tumbling and bouncing backwards and away from her.

The other Skrelp, who'd begun popping their heads out to watch Bloom fighting, began to join in with their smaller jets of water, not allowing the Wailmer to recover as they pummelled and pushed it until it was just past the edge of their territory.

When the Wailmer righted itself, it appeared unsteady; floating at an angle no matter which way it tried to flap its fins. Even with that, the open wounds, the sickly purple hue tint of its skin, and the forming bruise, it still faced the herd as if it would try again.

With a long and low groan, the Wailmer pushed forward.

In response, Bloom began to glow.

Calder watched, thinking she was about to use a beam attack or perhaps summon some kind of tidal wave when Bloom's body began to elongate. Growing rapidly taller, jagged horns protruded from her head while her fins lost their pink color and became thin, long, and brown. The fin along the back of her head grew out, curling along her head like a lazy wave of red algae. Not quite as big as the Wailmer but nearly so, Bloom towered over the herd of Skrelp and gave a sound more of a roar than a bugle, daring the Wailmer to continue forward.

The Wailmer, apparently not hungry or stupid enough, gave a low hum that, even to Calider, sounded like a threat before it gave a flap of its fins and bobbed away.

*****

The rest of the day, the Skrelp herd was in high spirits. Together, they had gathered small fish and other sea critters, making for a decently large meal for the group to partake in within the safety of the ship. Brushing fins with each other in passing and touching snouts, Calder watched as the herd reassured each other that no one had been hurt.

After the meal, several partook of a game of chase, one racing to tag the others before that one then became the chaser. Calder moved just out of the way, stepping outside the hole of the ship to avoid one of the players passing through him, when he glanced upward and saw Bloom peering down at the ongoings.

Given her new size, she could no longer easily fit within the ship. Still, she had room to sit atop it, where she could keep watch of her herd and the horizon.

Moving to join her, leaving the others to their game, Calder appeared just to the side of her.

She gave a slow blink, her pupil moving from the antics below back towards him. One of her tendrils gave a lift, the fin at the end waving.

He answered with a smile and his own wave.

"You got big, didn't you?" he asked, feeling an assortment of colors at the pride he had for his friend.

Soft bursts of yellow, more full and fuzzy, bloomed within his mind. The edges were tinted silver, however.

"You're worried?" Calder moved closer, careful not to touch her, even as his eyes followed the lithe form of her body. He sent the image of the beaten Wailmer. "Why? You and the herd sent him packing."

Bloom drew a breath, her mane waving lightly in the touch of the current before she pulled back from the edge of the ship. Turning towards him, her head still canted so he was just at the edge of her vision, she shared the memory of him with his human herd. Then, the image of her with her Skrelp. Finally, with silver and black along the edges, the thought of a Wailmer surrounded by other Wailmer and those Wailmer overtaking the Skrelp.

Calder wasn't sure what to say to that.

Having gotten her point across, Bloom rested her head on the floor at his feet, her gaze looking up though not directly at him. The urge to stroke her head, to soothe her, was a strong one. However, knowing his touch would do more harm than good stilled him.

"We could have the Skrelp stay in the ship," he said, offering the image to her of the Skrelp safely within the wooden structure and showing her how large the ship was compared to the Wailmer. "Have the herd take turns for eating instead of everyone at once."

Bloom exhaled, tarnished silver worry still prominent in her mind.

"We could help them evolve, like you did," Calder went on, sharing thoughts of what Tide and Shell might look like as an evolved Skrelp.

Dragalge, a voice whispered, a hint of a smile to it. An evolved Skrelp is a Dragalge.

"Well, we'll do that," he insisted, thinking of how the one Wailmer had backed off and how the others would too if they were a herd of Dragalge.

Bloom lifted her head, having it almost eye level to his.

A possibility, the voice said, still soft enough that if not in his head, Calder wouldn't have heard it.

Reaching his hands out, careful not to touch her, he cupped his hands just meters away from her face.

"You did it," he said, that same array of colors flowing as he shared his pride in her. "If you can, the others can."

The tarnished silver gave way to a gold, Bloom bobbing her head in a nod that had Calder pulling his hands quickly away so she didn't suddenly feel as though she'd swam through ice.

Yes, she said, the gold becoming firm in his mind. We can.

*****

The day after the attack, Bloom made changes to the herd's routine. No longer did she swim along the ship with Calder following after her. Instead, she kept to the top of the ship, looking after the herd while Calder continued the tradition for her.

The herd had been split into three groups, balanced in terms of strengths and weaknesses. One group would go into the seaweed field to hunt while the second group would practice their skills near the ship and the third remained on the ship, rested and ready should they be needed to fight. After a set time, Bloom would give a single whistle and the groups would rotate; those who were eating went to the ship, those who had been practicing went to eat, and those who'd been on the ship went to practice. Four times they rotated with a break in the midday, leaving Bloom to eat while the herd took over watching for her.

Calder helped as best he could. Shell had retrieved his weapons for him (some bent and one broken) and he'd been working on practicing with them, out of the way of the Skrelp who might get injured if he did something wrong. He'd managed to make them fly true, cutting through the water in a straight line, but still had to work on retrieving them. If he was within his tethered area, he could do so with no problem. However, if the weapons left the area, he couldn't draw them back to him and had to wait for one of the Skrelp to fetch them for him. It was frustrating, knowing most of the battle last time had been away from the ship, but it gave him a way to protect those in the ship.

Bloom still had an edge of tarnished silver to her thoughts, the Wailmer and its possible pod heavy on her mind. Calder did what he could to reassure her; talked about how the Skrelp were improving, helped keep watch when she grew fatigued, and even explored the rooms in the ship for things he thought might help. As Bloom reminded him, the Pura Vida wasn't built for battle but for speed and most of what he could find were goods long past their prime thanks to the caresses of the sea water. The only weapon he could find was what Bloom called the "anchor," which she had humored him in breaking the links that bound it to the ship so he could attempt moving it.

"If only it'd be that easy for me," he said, imagining snapping the tether that had bound him as easily as Bloom had the chain. "I suppose if I spit Acid that might help."

His mirth was the only thing keeping him from being bitter, his inability to help due to his less than solid form frustrating. From what he experienced and Bloom reassured him, while he could touch things on the ship and the ship itself, he'd never been able to touch things outside the ship.

"At least I didn't forget that," he muttered, circling around the large anchor before giving it a go.

While he could sense it, trying to move it was another matter. The smaller weapons ("scissors and scalpels," Bloom had reminded him) were nothing to pick up and send flying. The anchor, though, felt heavy on his mind and didn't budge when he envisioned it lifting like the smaller items did.

Grumbling, Calder leaned back against the ship, only to jump away from the slimy feeling against his neck. Rubbing at it, he made a face when he saw the green algae now covering his hand.

Trying to brush it off, not sure how he could have forgotten that, Calder gave up trying when it just seemed to cling all the more desperately to him.

A silver and black spear of panic pierced through him just as Bloom's warning roar rang out.

The first word came as a rush: Wailmer! The second a whisper of dread: Wailord.

Leaving the anchor, Calder appeared before Bloom, the Dragalge just about to take flight off the top of the ship towards the pod encroaching from the horizon. The Wailmer had to number in the twenties with one particularly lengthy one in the center of them.

Even from the distance, Calder could tell the longer one was huge. If the Wailmer were about six times the Skrelp, the center one had to be fifty or more times the size. The Wailmer practically looked like pebbles compared to the, the Wailord, who looked like a ship. A ship?

The ship.

Thunder boomed in Calder's ears and he whirled, the sunlight gleaming down from the surface suddenly replaced by clouds, rain, and waves. Stumbling, he headed towards the wheel, needing to get to the wheel, he had to keep the ship from capsizing in the storm.

The boat, the Pura Vida, rocked under his feet and he slipped. Thankfully, the wheel kept him from falling over. Tightening his grip, the shouts of his crewmates echoed around him, Chatot shouting:

"We're taking on water!"

"Get it boarded!" Calder shouted, trying to have his voice above that of the storm and song (What song? There was no song.) only to realize that the song had faded to silence.

Calder knew better than to assume the silence meant whatever was in the water had gone but still he swallowed back his fears and hoped.

"Do we know what's in the water?" he tried asking, only to find that Chatot had gone (Everyone is gone!), presumably to deliver his last message.

When cheers broke above the rain, Calder tipped his head skyward, closing his eyes and thanking Kyogre that his man was safe (NOT SAFE! NOT SAFE!). Drawing in a breath, listening for the "all clear," Calder lowered his head and a shadow portside (Left?) caught the corner of his eye.

"Are we good?" he asked, tipping his head slightly towards the Chatot for his response. (Not good! Not good!)

When no answer came, Calder turned his head just as an echoing cry reverberated through his bones and a large form brushed along the side of the ship. For a moment, it looked as though it was only swimming alongside it before the impact caused the Pura Vida to tip, tip, tip, once more. This time, Calder tried to fight the upending of the ship. The blue beast, big beast, alongside the Pura Vida only seemed to roll with it, the ship creaking in protest under the added weight she'd never been designed to take.

Bile rising, Calder gave the only command he could.

"Abandon ship!" he shouted, just moments before the Pura Vida's deck hit the water and the Wailord smashed a massive hole in its side, flooding it.

*****

When Calder became aware, he found his hands clutching the wheel of the ship, just as he'd been doing that stormy night.

Frantic, unsure how much time had past, he rushed to the edge of the ship. From there, he could see Bloom in the distance. The Dragalge was desperately looping and curling, trying to keep the Wailmer from her herd while peppering them with an assortment of purple poison and blue water based attacks. For all its size, it seemed the Wailord was slow but kept steadily approaching. When one of the Wailmer broke free of Bloom's attacks, the Skrelp were ready. A good number began flooding the water with Smokescreens while the other Skrelp, hidden by the black covering, attacked as one, sending a merged Toxic attack.

The Wailmer swam up and was attacked from behind by Bloom, her tail shining an aqua blue as she slammed it down on the Wailmer, sending it crashing into the ground.

Unfortunately, this left Bloom open to a pulse of water that struck her side, a red and black cry echoing in Calder's mind as she pushed beyond the pain to retaliate with an Acid attack towards the one who'd struck her.

Searching for his scissors and scalpel, Calder gave up before he even got started, knowing they were still too far out for him to be much help.

He had to find a way to get beyond the tether holding him.

An errant Water Gun from a Wailmer, who'd been aiming at the hidden Skrelp but had jerked up as a Water Pulse almost struck it, hit the ship instead, shattering the steering column and sending the wheel spinning overboard.

Compelled to follow it, Calder found it on its side next to the anchor.

Reaching to the anchor, thinking of smashing it into the Wailord's face, Calder struggled to move it, his form shaking while the anchor remained steadfast.

"There has to be a way," he said, the cries of his crew becoming those of the Skrelp. "There has to."

Placing his hand on the ship, steadying himself, Calder tried to focus but the slimy sensation of the seaweed had him tearing his hand away, pacing. He couldn't affect what was outside the tethered area, he could affect the ship or the insides of it, so how could he get passed the tethered area? The scissors and scalpel he was able to move outside the area, though he couldn't bring them back once his will left them. If his will was always with them, then it would work, wouldn't it?

But how could he keep his will with them?

Rubbing his fingers over the algae, he found himself actually looking at the green coating his form.

The algae... wasn't a part of the boat but... it had become a part of the boat. He could touch it and it could touch things, things that weren't the boat, couldn't it?

His thoughts were breaking apart, the bugles and sharp whistles mixing with the sound of thunder and rain.

If... if he let the seaweed cover him, this thing that was the ship but wasn't, did that mean he could... take the ship with him? If he took the ship with him, then he wouldn't be leaving the tether, the tether would be going with him!

Not even sure the thought could be considered an idea but unsure what else to try, Calder began pulling strips of the algae down from the ship. First his chest, then his legs, his arms, his back, his face; every part of himself he covered in the cool green slime.

"Done!" he shouted, racing out to fight, a plume of sand following behind him.

Except, no more than fifteen feet out, he was frozen once more in place.

"Come on," he growled, pushing himself forward. "Come on!"

The ripping sensation only grew, leaving him to fall back or split himself apart.

"Didn't work," he mumbled, glancing around. "Why not? The seaweed is a part of the ship!"

No, he realized suddenly, the seaweed isn't.

The seaweed had started outside the ship and become a part of it but it wasn't the ship. The seaweed allowed him to interact with things outside the realm of the ship, like the sand, but he needed something of the ship's to move with it so as to move beyond it.

A pained cry, one he knew in his depths to be Bloom's, rang out.

Grabbing for the anchor and the wheel, summoning them to him, Calder held them tightly to him before pressing forward.

The tether still tugged, pulling him towards the ship, but the wheel and the anchor guided him and kept him from falling backwards.

16, he counted, the numbers spoken in his mind before they were forgotten. 17.

He felt himself being crushed but kept going, looking outward as the Wailmer pod broke free from Bloom, her body falling.

18! he screamed, feeling somehow smaller as he pushed forward. 19!

Had he the ability, the pain would have left him crying. As it was, his eyes held no tears, only rage as he saw the Wailord's mouth opening, Bloom right before him.

20.

There was a ripping sensation, pieces of himself being torn away until only the seaweed, anchor, and wheel remained.

*****

Bloom twisted, trying to get her tail to work. A quick flick, that was all she needed, and she could get out of the way!

The Water Pulse she'd been struck with left her floundering in her own body, Confused, unable to move or summon an attack to defend herself. Still, she kept her eyes on the Wailord, not intending to look away even as its mouth grew ever closer.

Bloom was not without regret. Not knowing the outcome of the herd was her second largest. Leaving behind the fuzzy one she'd grown to know as "Calder" was her first. Would he vanish forever now, without her?

Struggling again to break free of the Confusion, Bloom screamed her fury in the face of the Wailord who didn't even pause to acknowledge her.

As his mouth closed down around her, Bloom kept fighting to get free. Even as her body settled on the wetness of his tongue, she wriggled and squirmed. Just when she thought the bonds might have been loosening, his tongue curled up, intending to swallow her in one gulp.

Giving one last cry, urging her herd to continue their fight, Bloom faced her dark and wet demise with anger and regret.

The Wailord's pleased moan trailed off into something of a question before it became a pained scream, his mouth opening right before he could finish his swallow.

The Confusion broke.

Bloom gave a kick of her tail that sent her speeding towards the exit. She couldn't resist, however, giving him something to choke on.

With a twirl, Bloom kept kicking her tail as she swam backwards, pulling her head back as she gathered her most toxic poisons within her throat. Practically puking the Sludge Bomb, she angled it for a perfect shot down the Wailord's throat just as she zipped past his snapping teeth.

The Wailord's annoyed notes became pained, the telltale purple tint along his skin showing that even he was susceptible to getting poisoned if the dosage was right.

With a triumphant bugle, Bloom raced after the Wailmer who had broken free from the pod formation and dared to attack her herd.

While she dove, Bloom fired off blast after blast of her Acid attack at the Wailmer as she drew closer to them. As they sped away, she came to realize they weren't fleeing her nor her herd but heading back towards the bulk of the pod.

Gazing upward, confused, Bloom saw something flying through the water, as swift as the scalpel that Calder had thrown. This thing, though, didn't just stop after it struck a Wailmer, it continued to bash down on it for a good three or four strikes before hopping to the next.

Making sure her herd was safe, confirming that the Wailmer had all departed, Bloom streaked upward, intending to help drive the Wailmer and Wailord away.

Pelting the pod with Hydro Pumps, Dragon Pulses, and Sludge Bomb attacks, Bloom tried to catch a better glance at the herd's savior but it moved too swiftly. Finally, she just became focused on the fight and figured she could thank them after.

The Wailmer tried to defend themselves but between the two of them, they were severely underpowered. Without the Wailord making a nuisance of himself, his pained moans echoing as the poison ate him away from the inside, the pod didn't stand a chance. More to the point, they appeared so focused on defending one of the smaller Wailmer that she and the other were easily able to pick them off.

When the Wailord did finally seem to rally himself, making as though he intended to Rest to regain his health and cure himself of the poison, he had only just shut his eyes when the other swooped from below him and slammed into the Wailord's gut, bubbles erupting from its mouth and nose.

There was a grunt then silence before the pod erupted into startled notes.

The Wailord didn't respond. In fact, it began to sink, trickles of bubbles still spiralling upward. When the pod swam towards him, intending to aid him, Bloom sped to intercept them but they dispersed before she reached them.

Wondering why, she turned to look at the Wailord and felt herself grow still.

Something green was spreading along the Wailord's body.

Starting from its belly, it worked its way along the sides and then the top until the Wailord was completely covered. Not a speck of blue nor white could be seen under all the green.

Then, the Wailord began to shrink.

Similar to how Bloom's fish were consumed, the head and tail area began to squeeze inward before the rest of the mass collapsed. There was no poison, from what she could see or taste in the water, but the Wailord was vanishing all the same.

While the pod fled, scattering away from her herd, Bloom kept a distance but watched as the green squeezed and tightened, pulling the Wailord into itself until nothing but green seaweed, an anchor, and a steering wheel were left.

Floating closer, fighting against the logic that was telling her to flee, Bloom instead listened to the instinct that was insisting it was safe.

That he was safe.

Calder? she asked, admittedly not sure. It felt like her fuzzy friend but he'd never left the ship before.

Calder? he asked back, the heated red of the volcano waters slowly cooling to an uncertain blue.

Yes, she answered, moving cautiously closer to him. Of all the things he'd forgotten, the one thing she'd never thought to worry over would be him forgetting himself. But, perhaps in this form... Calder, my friend.

The blue solidified, becoming a lighter green than the seaweed coating the anchor and wheel.

That... feels right, he answered, the seaweed tendrils giving a wave that she answered with a flick of her fin. Yes, he said, sounding more sure. That's why I came, to help my friend.

Touching her muzzle against one of the five leaves along the wheel, she gave a little snort of surprise when it wrapped gently around her snout. He didn't squeeze, just held her, so she remained still, letting the other loose tendrils reach out to touch her, as if he was familiarizing himself with her--with this new kelp form of his.

My name is Bloom, she said, voice soft to try and keep the hurt from it, unsure what he could or couldn't remember.

How nice, he sighed, the seaweed pulling back to give a flutter. You're nice.

Come home with me? she asked, panic fluttering within that he might say no.

I'd like that, he said, giving one last brush of a tendril along her side as he followed her home.

*****

---

Calder (who'd thought he was Dhelmise, Destroyer of Wailords until Bloom had corrected him) found himself right at home with the herd. While they actually weren't made of seaweed, like he'd initially thought, they looked like it and Calder liked that about them.

The structure that was the center of their territory, what Bloom called "a ship" or the "Pura Vida," was somehow soothing to him. Something about the odd shape on the front of it or sitting on what Bloom insisted on calling the deck struck a happy chime within him. He couldn't place it but there was an almost familiarity to it, just like there was a familiarity when Bloom told him, and the herd, stories about those who'd lived on the ship before it had become a treasure claimed by the sea.

Calder liked the stories but preferred this time at night, when Bloom would curl herself around the mast (she was so happy when he remembered the words she'd taught him) and they would watch over the territory while the herd rested. Calder didn't need sleep like Bloom did and his favorite part was watching while her head bobbed in the current, lulling her to sleep. There was just something calming about watching her and knowing she was his to protect. She also wanted to protect him, he knew, but she had the whole herd to look after. Maybe once the herd was stronger, she could protect him then but, for now, he wanted to keep her safe. He didn't know much but keeping ones friends safe, that felt important to him and he fully intended to do it.

What are you thinking? Bloom asked, one eye half opened as she watched him.

For some reason, Bloom never looked at him head on, always from the corner of her eye.

I'm glad we're friends, he answered, a pleased yellow forming around his words.

Of course we are, she answered, sounding flustered. It made him smile to himself, the yellow brightening within.

Expanding his senses, Calder felt each of the Skrelp cradled within the ship and searched beyond, feeling nothing out in the ocean save for seaweed and fish.

Absently, he reached a tendril towards her and was pleased when her own rose to meet his. He could feel the warmth of her spirit residing within her but had no desire to drain it like he had the Wailord. Holding her fin, like this, gave him pleasure but also an insatiable urge.

I want to cover you, he admitted, a dark pink haze covering his words as he tried to explain himself.Feel more of you.

Bloom didn't laugh, just tilted her head and looked at where their tendrils were joined.

Not like the Wailord. Even though he could hear the need for clarification, she wasn't asking a question.

Not like the Wailord, he answered, sharing the bright truth behind his words along with the bottomless longing to touch her.

Bloom shared her own soft pink pleasure and shyness with him before giving a slight incline of her head, a nod.

Lower tendrils flapping, Calder felt Bloom's answering excitement as a wriggle of orange. Reaching out, Calder felt the yellow grow within him as she offered her other fin.

Slowly, not wanting to startle her, Calder spread himself along her tendrils, stopping halfway to be sure she was okay with this.

Bending her head, she watched him but made no sign she was afraid or wanted him to stop. Still, he felt compelled to ask:

This is okay?

At his hesitancy, Bloom gave a bubbling laugh.

This is okay, she answered, shining her own soft yellow his way.

Carefully, he constricted his body enough to give her a small squeeze of appreciation. At her fins' quick flutter, he retracted, pulling back to his anchor and wheel.

Oh. Her voice was soft. No...

Untwining herself from the mast, she swam in front of him, lowering her head to bump his largest leaf.

Don't go, she said, blue drops splattering over the yellow hue of her words.

Lifting her tendril towards him, he reached out before stopping, pulling back. Bloom pushed her fin into his embrace, forcing him to either hold her or let go. Calder squeezed her fin gently, once more savoring the warmth she carried within.

I like that I can feel you, she said, with some past ache in her words that Calder heard but didn't understand.

Me too, he said simply, stretching himself just slightly above her fins, not going as far this time so as to not scare her.

I wasn't scared, she huffed, red slowly glowing along her words. I was... merely startled. She gave her head a slight toss, causing her mane to sway. I hadn't realized you could squeeze like that!

Was it... bad, then? Calder asked, wanting to understand.

The red abruptly faded to pink and Bloom made several splutters that he couldn't interpret so he simply waited.

It wasn't bad, she finally got out, when the pink was at its brightest.

It was... good?

Apparently, he was wrong because the pink was near blinding to his senses.

It was good, she mumbled, curling her tail loosely around his anchor.

Sending her the blank sensation implying a question, she gave her tail an inviting flick before pressing it closer to him.

Reaching out, Calder spread himself along her tail, the warmth stronger here than her fins. With an experimental squeeze at the base of her tail, Bloom gave only a soft gasp but didn't move away or thrash.

Let me know if you don't like it, he insisted, waiting for her nod before spreading himself along her body.

He didn't have to go far to cover down to the edges of her tail. His self that covered her tendrils met up with the part of him stretching upward along her middle and he paused, feeling her body expand and contract with quick breaths.

Worried, he started to backtrack when her tendrils lifted upward, clutching him to her middle, trying to keep him from slipping back down.

It's good, she insisted. Keep going.

Only slightly reassured, he did as she asked. From the middle, he rose up along her neck. He stopped just below her cheeks, enveloping as much of her as he felt they'd both be comfortable with.

Her warmth had only seemed to grow as he'd covered her, a slow and steady burn that made him give another squeeze.

The sharp breath Bloom drew in was accompanied by a wiggle. Calder understood, easily enough, that she wasn't trying to dislodge him. From the bursts of yellow, orange, and pinks, something about his squeezing was enjoyable to her.

Pleased, Calder repeated the full body embrace before starting from her tail and hugging her in a wave up to her neck. A spot along her tail made the colors flash brighter as he rolled by and Calder began focusing on that area, intent on making her happier.

Calder!

He paused. He'd been so focused on her thoughts he was only now noticing how her body trembled within his grasp, a series of pants rushing through her as though she'd swam a great distance.

That... that's good enough. She gave a full body shudder. You don't have to--to do any more.

Calder mused on that a moment. But... I'd like to.

Thoughts hit Calder hard, almost knocking him loose from Bloom's body. The need and want to be filled, a thrusting motion accompanied by entry, and the full body embrace that he was currently giving her slammed into him at once. The first two left him confused. He didn't see how being filled would be pleasurable and had no real desire to do so. He did feel a slight curiosity at being the one to do the filling but that was all it was, a curiosity. From the impact of Bloom's thoughts, it was more a driving need for her, an almost desperation.

Purple bruised around the sensations as Bloom tried to take them back but they were already in Calder's head.

You don't have to, she insisted, with some urgency. Her eyes were wide and almost rolling. I didn't mean to-

Calder gave her a full body squeeze, causing the Dragalga's words to break off with a whimper.

I don't know that I'll like it, Calder said, wanting to be honest. But... I'd like to try it, with you, if you'd be okay with it.

Reaching a leaf to stroke her head, attempting to soothe her, he shared the feelings he had of her. Clear as ice but stronger, he didn't understand but knew, beyond any shadows, that he trusted her; trusted that he could be like this with her.

Closing her eyes, leaning into the touch of his leaf, Bloom reflected the same crystalline trust back at him.

Again, he insisted, if you don't like something-

I'll let you know, she readily agreed, half opening her eyes. So long as you do the same.

Having his leaf give a bob, the closest he could to a nod, he went back to gently squeezing along her body.

There was a tightness along her coils that hadn't been and he worked on steadily easing it. Focusing on areas where her warmth seemed cool or shadowed, he concentrated on pressing into just those spots. Rubbing them in a semi-circular motion, he worked on her neck before tracing down her back and belly, pausing right above her tail where the heat pooled strongest.

Giving an experimental caress, her lower body bucked within his grasp but didn't break free. Hazy sensations of yellow and orange touched along his mind and he repeated the motion, this time holding her tighter within himself. While her body tensed, her muscles jerking beneath her scales, the rest of her body remained still.

Keeping her afloat, he left that sensitive part of her for the moment, wanting to finish tending to the spots along her tail where stress had seeped. She tried to fight him, encourage him back towards where she insisted on his touch, but he held fast until she gave in and let him have his way.

Thoroughly pleased with himself, Calder took his time along the length of her tail but would throw in little teases against her lower body when she grew too relaxed.

Pops of red were beginning to work their way into the yellow and orange so he finally relented and worked his way back up her tail; the red fading to an almost invisible pink as she squirmed within his embrace.

The heat of her called to him, the images she'd shared of needing to be filled coming to his mind. Caressing along her sensitive scales, Calder felt a section dip, giving way to the liquid heat he'd been feeling above her skin.

This is okay, still? he asked, tracing along the edges of opening, waiting until she could answer.

Yes. Her words were shaky and he hesitated until he felt her body try to buck, pushing herself closer to him. It's okay. More than okay! ...please?

Her hazy pink with purple edged words reassured Calder. Gently, he pressed himself past her edges, slowly sinking himself within her where he felt her body give its own squeeze. The answering embrace encouraged him and he poured more of himself within her, mindful not to fill her too fast. Despite his willingness to ease into her, Bloom had ideas of her own and was fighting his grip, continuing to thrust her lower body up to him.

Given the red was flaring up again, Calder loosened his hold on her, allowing her the freedom to move her lower half while he kept her upper half still. Immediately, she began pitching herself upward, forcing him into her. Her inner warmth squeezed when her body flexed, the tight sensation startlingly pleasurable around his tendril. Lost in between savoring the feeling and trying to keep pace with her thrusts, he must have relaxed his grip on her upper body because warmth began brushing against the leaf he'd left up by her head.

Turning his senses that way, he found Bloom reaching her tongue out, caressing the edges of his leaf that she could reach. Curling it closer to her, Calder felt his other four leaves flutter when her tongue wrapped around his leaf, pulling it within her mouth. Tugging gently back on it, her head craned to follow his leaf, her tongue brushing the underside while she sucked it back into her mouth.

The twin sensations of heat, almost pumping in unison, had his body twining around Bloom, squeezing in a similar rhythm to her thrusts. Pinks, yellows, golds, and oranges flowed like the tide, washing into him, pulling back, then sweeping him away again.

On the next crash, the wave struck hard, her body writhing before her mouth parted in a gasp, his wet leaf finally free. The colors shattered, becoming sparkling motes as her inner warmth gave a hard squeeze that made all five of his leaves stiffen as a return answer of colors swept by him and to her. The brightness was blinding but gradually faded, leaving the two still entwined.

Maneuvering them both back onto the deck, the ability to keep them afloat slipping from him, Calder cradled Bloom to himself. Keeping his hold light, unwilling to let her go until he was sure she was okay, Bloom was content to rest within his embrace. Faint spots of yellow swirled his way and he gathered them greedily within himself, holding them tightly and sharing his own splashes of yellow with her.

When she finally showed signs of wanting up, Calder reached for his anchor and wheel, latching onto them once more while Bloom curled languidly around her mast. As she looked out into the sea, Calder traced the elegant curves of her coils with his senses, enjoying her twists and sleekness even more so now that he'd had a chance to fully embrace them.

Lifting a leaf, he caught her looking at him from the corner of her eye as she gave an answering wave, reaching between the space to touch her fin to his tendril. Her gentle squeeze answered his. A bloom of yellow spread between them as they settled to watch over their territory, happy to have found such a treasure at the bottom of the sea.

---

*=*=*=*

Pokedex Entries:

Skrelp: It's not good at swimming, so it clings to the seaweed. In the Alola

region, it's often found near Dhelmise.

Dragalge: This vicious Pokemon sprays a poisonous liquid on opponents that come

near. For whatever reason, it gets along really well with Dhelmise.

Wailord: When a small Wailmer is attacked by Sharpedo or Dhelmise, its

whole pod works together to protect it.

Dhelmise: Swinging its massive anchor, it can KO Wailord in a single blow.

What appears to be green seaweed is actually its body.

It wraps its prey in green seaweed and sucks away their vitality. It only likes to

go after big prey like Wailord.

Its chain-like green seaweed can stretch outward for hundreds of yards. For

some reason, it gets along well with Skrelp.

After a piece of seaweed merged with debris from a sunken ship, it was

reborn as this ghost Pokemon.