"Do you have any final words?" William asked.
"Hahahaha! Get it over with, boy! The sea is calling me!" the voice replied.
With a final laugh echoing over the quiet waves, the man was pushed from the edge. The ocean roared as it swallowed him whole, consuming him in its endless depths. William watched his body sink until it was no longer visible.
He took a deep breath, breathing the salty sea air into his nostrils. It cleared his head. He had done it, he had finally done it, finally achieved what he set out to do. But this was only the start; there was still so much more to accomplish. So much more to do.
William turned away from the plank where he had just pushed off Archie's body. It had pained him to do so. In another life or in another circumstance, Archie would have been a good second-in-command, but his headstrong personality and refusal to submit to another meant he had to do this.
He had to kill him.
And that was that. Above all else, Team Aqua valued strength. So how could you follow someone who turned down a battle of precisely that? You couldn't, which is why William had issued the challenge in the first place.
A 6v6 Pokemon battle, Standard League rules, and whoever won would be the strongest, and whoever was the strongest was the leader. It was clear who had won. Archie had been swallowed by the ocean, while William now set his sights on ruling it.
William turned to see Matt, the now singular admin of Team Aqua.
"Boss!" he greeted with a respectful nod.
The ship, save for the two of them, was empty, reserved only for the highest members. However, around their ship, in a shape that resembled an arch of sorts, were half a dozen more ships, each with members of Team Aqua on board, watching the execution. Some of their Pokemon were stationed below. The grunts were close enough to hear Archie's final words, so they would be close enough to hear his words, words which would usher in a new beginning for Team Aqua.
He handed his coat over to Matt as he strode back to the plank. Sensing Matt's confused gaze from behind him, he spoke without looking back.
"Now is the perfect time for a speech, no?" he said, focusing on the ships that lay ahead.
Ships. His ships. Each with subordinates. His subordinates.
After a light cough to clear his throat, he addressed them, "Archie died how he lived: at sea. I'm sure most of you looked up to him. He was strong, and he never backed down from a challenge. I respected that about him, and it was because of that respect that I allowed him to die at sea as he wished. But it was also those very traits, the ones we admired, that became his greatest weakness."
"Now, I don't like to speak ill of the dead, especially the recently deceased. But it's important that I tell you this, because you need to understand why I made the choice to challenge Archie for leadership. Why, after all this time, despite all our growth, I decided that I couldn't let him lead us any longer."
William paused for a moment, allowing the words to sink in, "The reason is simple, I believe we can be so much more. Right now, we're little more than pirates, stealing and robbing passing merchant ships. We lurk in the shadows, living on scraps. We are scared to go anywhere near a city or a town with a gym leader."
"What does that say about us and our strength? I tried to open Archie's eyes, to show him the potential we have, to show him we can become something greater. We could be more than criminals skimming the surface of the water. we could venture as deep as the ocean floor. But he refused to listen, tunnel vision blinded him, as I'm sure many of you know first-hand based on your experiences with him." William joked, eliciting a chorus of chuckles across the ocean. "Archie wasn't a man who accepted change easily. He couldn't see what lay beyond the waves he loved so much. he looked towards the next day, whereas I am looking towards the future."
"Understand this—our goal, our mission, can't be just about the next ship we raid or the next stash we loot. I want us to rise above that. I want us to no longer use the oceans as a means of hiding, but as a means of exerting power. Our future should be about control and power, about shaping the very tides of the world." He pointed in the direction of the sea, clenching his fists to emphasise his point. From his perched point, he could see the faces of greed and ambition. He had them hook, line and sinker, now he just needed to reel them in and catch them in his bait.
"We can make the oceans ours in more than just the name of our organization. And that is what we are, we are not pirates, we are not criminals, we are not terrorists, we are an organization. and I will prove that." William said. "I want us to be feared and respected, to have the kind of influence that no one else on the seas can rival, a force that can shape the very regions we are now scared of. With the right leadership and vision, we could become a true empire upon the seas, not just a band of misfits clinging to a dream that no longer serves us."
"That was my vision, and it was a vision which could only be actualized by taking down Archie. It was because of this ignorance, this inability to evolve, that I felt the need to challenge him. His vision was narrow. I didn't do it out of spite or hatred or ambition. I did it because I believe he was leading us straight for destruction. I did it for this team. I did it for you. Archie's obsession with the seas blinded him. He saw the water as his domain, but he didn't understand its power. He never saw the potential of what we could accomplish."
"Look around you!" William's voice rose, his arms stretching wide as he turned to face the crew. "Look at the ocean! It is vast and boundless and holds all the power to control the world! Under my leadership, I swear to you, we shall rule every inch of these seas! We will fear no gym leader, no elite four, no champion, no region! Everything that will happen in the seas will happen because we gave consent for it, because we let it happen! We won't just ride the waves on our ships—we will command them! We will expand beyond Hoenn, far beyond, until no coast remains that isn't under our reach. We will reshape the tides themselves, make the currents bend to our will, and make ourselves the true masters of these waters."
He paused again, letting his words sink in, letting them feel the gravity of his ambition. "No longer will we be small-time thieves. We will become legends upon these seas. Our enemies will learn to tremble at the mention of our name, and those who stand in our way will be swept aside like driftwood caught in a storm. This is my promise to each of you: follow me, and we will create an empire that no one can touch. The oceans are our future. And together, we will be unstoppable."
A surge of energy rippled through the crew, the murmur of voices growing stronger as his words ignited a fire among them and their partners, or should he say scalding water? William could see the spark in their eyes, the way they straightened, fists clenched in newfound resolve.
Then, a howl of cheers spread through the air like a pack of wolves, sending a chill down William's spine. In that same moment, he didn't know why, but the thought came to him. It was a joke, born from the review of a certain game.
Too much water? He thought with a smirk. There isn't enough of it.