Chapter 115: A Bizarre Heist
Another morning. Will woke from his sleep and looked around in confusion at the total darkness.
But a Pokémon's night vision varies, and a Grovyle's isn't bad. He could see that he was locked in a cage, and the outside was covered by a cloth.
How is this possible?
Will wasn't panicking, just stroking his chin and analyzing the situation. With the high level of alertness he had honed from years in the wild, if anything had happened on the sea or if someone had approached him, he should have woken up immediately. And yet, he had slept right through being put in a cage?
It wasn't Captain Tom or his Corphish. So who was it? Will frowned. Although only Tom and Corphish had been on the speedboat when he fell asleep, he felt that they were both genuinely friendly, not just putting on an act. Besides, neither a human nor a Corphish could move without making a sound, especially on a flat deck, which would at least creak. He certainly would have woken up before they even got close, let alone let them put him in a cage.
Will reached behind him. His backpack was still there. He checked the weight; nothing seemed to be missing. This made him let out a sigh of relief.
"HEY-HEY!!"
BANG!
A familiar, spastic sound came from nearby, making Will relax with a small smile. Although the Corphish was obnoxious, hearing its voice in this situation was genuinely stress-relieving.
And, just as Will had expected, it wasn't Corphish and Tom who had done this. At this very moment, the Corphish was angrily cussing out their captor, hammering the cage with its pincers, spitting out all sorts of childish insults. They were just variations of "bad guy," "scumbag," "hateful jerk," and the like. Not very threatening.
However, the sound of the Corphish constantly smashing the cage was a bit of a problem. If a Lv. 40 Corphish couldn't break this cage, there was no point in Will even wasting the energy to try.
"So..." Will sat down cross-legged, sinking into thought.
There weren't many who could pull this off. The group of culprits was already fairly obvious. The perpetrator was either a Ghost-type Pokémon or a Psychic-type Pokémon. The former could approach without a sound. The latter could have used Telekinesis from a distance.
"And their level must be high," Will nodded, his mind made up. He was currently only Lv. 16. But you wouldn't find another Lv. 16 Grovyle on the planet with his stats. If any Pokémon below Lv. 30 had tried to pull a stunt like this, he would have reacted immediately and attacked, whether he could win or not.
We'll have to rely on the Corphish for now. Will sat quietly in the cage, waiting, closing his eyes to recover his energy. He knew the culprit would show up eventually.
After some time had passed, the Corphish next to him had finally exhausted itself and stopped shouting. Will felt he could finally get some peace. That noise was killing me.
Clack... rrrrr...
The sound of a metal shutter door rolling up echoed through the room.
"HEY-HEY-HEY!" The moment Will opened his eyes, he heard the Corphish start cussing again.
"My, aren't we energetic~ My luck is really quite good," a shrill male voice sounded, reminding Will of a stereotypical eunuch from a TV drama.
The cloth covering the cages was ripped away. Will squinted his eyes, adjusting to the light, and looked outside. Standing in the doorway was an alternative-looking man with long, sea-blue hair that covered the right side of his face.
They were in a ship's cargo hold. Although Will couldn't see the ocean from inside the cage, he could hear the sound of the waves. They were still at sea. This was bad news. The ocean was vast. Even if the police knew they had been taken, they wouldn't find them anytime soon. And even if they did manage to escape the cage, there was nowhere to run.
"Hey-hey~" The Corphish, seeing the light again, waved its pincers at Will in greeting.
"...What a genius," Will sighed, shaking his head at the dopey creature. The Corphish had brawn, but no brains. He would have to think his way out of this one himself.
He looked around. Tom was gone. Instead, he saw dozens of eggs in glass incubators.
Pokémon poachers? he wondered.
"Oh my~ such a strong and healthy Grovyle. Just looking at him makes me... quiver," the blue-haired man said, walking up to Will's cage to observe him closely.
Will remained expressionless, but a cold chill ran down his spine. Don't tell me I've run into some kind of pervert who's... into Pokémon?
If he just liked Pokémon, he could understand. After all, the official Diamond and Pearl version games had explicitly stated that in the past, humans and Pokémon did, in fact, marry, and it was considered a normal thing. But that "past" was a very long time ago, from an era when humans and Pokémon were considered the same. This was the League Era. Marrying Pokémon should have been unheard of for a long time.
Thankfully, the man didn't seem to have those kinds of intentions. He turned his attention to the Corphish. "Hmm~ looks like a dimwit. Shouldn't cause any trouble."
"HEY-HEY-HEY!" The Corphish immediately exploded in anger.
"Medicham, please explain the situation to our two little friends and get them to behave," the man said, pointing behind Will, and then turned to leave the cargo hold.
Will turned around. Standing outside the cage behind him was a pink Pokémon, seemingly dancing in place. The sight nearly gave him a heart attack.
Has that thing been dancing there this whole time? And neither of us noticed? Will swallowed hard, carefully observing the Medicham's movements. He realized it wasn't just dancing; it was a unique form of meditation. It was wrapping its entire body in psychic energy to erase its presence and continuously raise its internal energy threshold. What made it unique was that most Medicham accomplished this through yoga; only this one did it through dance.
"Cham~"
Hearing the man, the Medicham didn't stop its movements. Its eyes glowed with blue energy, and a telepathic wave entered the minds of both Will and the Corphish. There was no sound, but they understood its meaning.
Thieves, Will thought, raising an eyebrow at their bizarre operation.
This blue-haired man was a professional thief. He specialized in stealing eggs from Pokémon League-affiliated Daycares and Pokémon Hospitals in various regions. And his buyers... were the Pokémon Leagues of other regions.
It wasn't that the League was hiring him. Rather, the League had issued a notice years ago stating that anyone who found abandoned eggs or young Pokémon could turn them in to the League for a cash reward. This guy was farming that reward money. He would have dozens of subordinates from different home regions turn in the stolen eggs and Pokémon in small batches to their local Leagues.
It was worth noting that if any of the young Pokémon matured past their infant stage during this time, they would simply be released into the wild, not killed. So they have some standards. Not many, but some. Better than the poachers of the future.
As for the Leagues, since many Pokémon eggs and babies look identical, the receiving League would have no idea they were stolen property from another region. And since communication between regional Leagues at this time still relied on landline telephones, it gave these thieves the perfect opening.
This operation was just... wild. Stealing from the League to "sell" back to the League.
According to the Medicham, they had no intention of harming Will or the Corphish. They would simply be dropped off on a nearby deserted island. After they had successfully "cashed in" all the eggs, they would send an anonymous tip to the authorities about their location.
"Hey-hey?" The Corphish didn't care about any of this. It just wanted to know where Tom was.
"Cham~" The Medicham responded that the human was locked in another room and was in no danger.
Hearing this, the Corphish finally calmed down. The cargo hold fell quiet. The Corphish, knowing Tom was safe, lay down and promptly fell asleep. The Medicham continued its silent dance, training its psychic power.
Will sat cross-legged, studying the surrounding Pokémon eggs. He had counted 46 of them. That meant there had to be at least 46 people on this ship, right? After all, finding one or two abandoned eggs in the wild might be plausible, but three or four in one week would be highly unusual. If this crew was turning in eggs in batches, their numbers probably weren't far off from the number of eggs.
Assuming every person has one Lv. 20 Pokémon, we're definitely outnumbered, Will sighed, giving up any thoughts of a breakout. That Medicham alone was at least Lv. 40 and could easily handle the Corphish. No matter how strong he was, he couldn't fight 40 Lv. 20 Pokémon.
He had originally thought about trying to save the eggs, but now it seemed impossible. It was better to just leave it to the police. Anyway, the Pokémon wouldn't be harmed and would end up back with the League eventually. No need to risk his neck. In this era, surviving in the wild wasn't that difficult.
All he had to do now was wait. Wait to be dumped on an island, and wait for rescue.
However, something interesting soon happened.
That night, Will was awakened by a rhythmic flashing light. He opened his eyes.
One of the green eggs was about to hatch.
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