HECTOR

            “Shhhh! They’ll hear you!” Hector whispered to Luna as she laid in his arms giggling and laughing. His dead friend’s mother must have gone mad. Her left eye was a purple mass, she had bruises and congealed blood under her skin all over. And how she was shaking! Hector could hardly recognize the strong woman that he had once knew. “What have they done to you?” he asked quietly.

            Brandon was still wiping water off of himself. “She’s gone mad. Just look at her. Whatever you can imagine they did to her, it’s most likely ten times worse,” his voice was a raspy whisper.

The six of them sat in the wooden boat under a bridge: the Huntail driver, Hector, Brandon, Luna, Combusken, and Gardevoir. They were hidden in shadow. This was the rendezvous point that Apollo had said to meet at if one of them had found Luna. They had been there for a good half hour after they had rescued Luna from her tower prison.

Luna began to cackle louder again. “Shhh,” Hector said as he rocked her in her arms. Hector dreaded each noise she made. “They’re going to find us.”

“I feel sorry for whoever they are,” Brandon Brightflame said as he dipped his sword in the water again to clean off the blood.

Soon, they heard footsteps. Soldiers were running all over the place, over the bridge to and fro. They shouted things like, “the dungeons are empty! The prisoners have escaped!”

            “Hehehehe,” Luna’s voice began to get louder again.

            “Just a little longer, my lady,” Hector consoled her. Was he really consoling her? Did she even know he was speaking to her?

            “I can’t wait any longer,” Brandon said. “Apollo and the others know where we left the sub, let’s get back there. It’s too dangerous under this damned bridge.”

            “Our orders were to wait here,” said Jasper the Huntail tamer.

            “Plans have changed,” Brandon said as he stood up in the boat and pointed his sword at Jasper’s throat. “I don’t want to wait here like a sitting Pelliper waiting to get attacked. We’re not leaving anybody behind, just getting to safety.” Jasper looked at him angrily, but Brandon pushed farther up against the Huntail driver’s neck.

            They were being pulled through the lagoon again. The white cliffs of Sootpolis loomed all around them. The marble palace began to disappear behind them as they neared the little cove where they had left the metal sub. Hector turned to look at the palace. The tower where they had found Luna was smoking rubble at the top. Pelliper were flying all around the castle in confusion and panic.

            Finally, they reached the rock where they tied up the boat. Brandon and Combusken were the first ones out of the wooden boat. Hector stood up and helped his friend carry Luna out. With Gardevoir helping with her Psychic powers, it was easy to carry her.

            Jasper leaned forward to untie the Huntail from the boat. “What the-”

            CRACK!

            Hector flinched as the wooden boat shattered and splinters flew everywhere. When the mist cleared he trembled at the sight of the huge blue sea serpent Pokémon that reared in front of them out of the water.

            There were muffled cries coming from Gyarados’s mouth as Jasper waived his arms around inside of it. There was a crunch and a spray of reddish-pink drops as the screams were silenced. The rope that held Huntail looked like a noodle in Gyarados’s mouth. It slurped it up as the eel Pokémon tried to wiggle its way to safety. The poor Huntail was devoured, too.

            “He’s come! I told you he’d come!” Luna laughed and cried at the same time. “My husband has followed me to hell!”

            Hector was frozen with fear as the Gyarados loomed farther out of the water, blocking the sun in the sky. It was then that he noticed the dark shape of a man riding it.

            “Damn,” Hector heard Brandon mutter. “I told those fools not to waste the poison on that one ship’s crew…”

            “Give back my wife,” called the scratchy voice of the man on the Gyarados. “Give her back to me, and I promise your dying will be quick.”

            There was a metallic clang as Brandon tapped his sword on the wet rock in front of him. “The mission isn’t over,” Brandon eyed Hector as he said it. “Get her to safety, and get under the water.” Brandon and Combusken stepped in front of Hector, Luna, and Gardevoir.

            “What about you?” Hector said.

            “I’m not a fisherman’s son,” he said. “I can take care of myself.”

            Hector nodded as he and Gardevoir each helped carry the broken Luna away.

            “You don’t think I’d let you get away that easy?” mocked the man on the Gyarados. He leapt off of the sea serpent’s head and landed on the rocks in front of Brandon. “Go get them.”

            Hector and Gardevoir ran as fast as they could while still carrying Luna. The fisherman’s son heard swords clanging and Ahab and Brandon began their deadly duel. Gyarados swam beside the rocks in the water and tried to blast them with high-pressure sprays, which surprisingly, Gardevoir was able to deflect with flittering shields of Psychic energy.

            Don’t look at it, Hector said. The Pokémon’s jaws were huge, it’s teeth terrible, and bits of Jasper’s entrails still hung from them whenever it opened its mouth to unleash an attack. Hector kept his head on his goal: a small cave behind an entryway of stalactites. There was his safety… Or was it? The Gyarados would surely just follow them into the cave.

            Hector was slowed to a stop as Gardevoir faced Gyarados. The Psychic Pokémon emitted a blinding flash of light, and Gardevoir only just covered Hector’s eyes to protect him. The sea serpent had begun to strike like a snake at the green Spirit Pokémon. However, Gardevoir was able to teleport away in just the nick of time… Until Gyarados grabbed the leg of the Psychic Pokémon and pulled her into the air.

            There was another flash of light and a mighty roar as Gardevoir gracefully fell onto the rocks. Hector looked at what had happened: Gallade had teleported to them, and embedded a knife between the sea serpent’s scales on its side. Gyarados fell into the lagoon with a mighty splash.

            The cave was so close, but Hector felt his eyes drawn to the battle that was being waged between the humans a couple hundred feet away. Somehow, Ahab was matching Brandon and Combusken both, blow for blow.

            Hector watched as Brandon slashed with coordinated attacks and Combusken leapt and shot fire at their foe, but Ahab was too fast, too wild, and too unpredictable. Ahab rained blows all around them like a typhoon.

            “Busken!” cried Brandon’s Spirit Pokémon as Ahab kicked it into the water. Hector saw Brandon freeze for just a second in shock… a second too long.

            In a flurry, Ahab had disarmed the rightful King of Mt. Chimney. Brandon Brightflame’s sword spun end over end into the water with a splash. Hector could hear Ahab laugh as the wicked man moved in for the final kill…

            Then there was a flash of light, and Brandon was gone. Another flash, Luna was gone, and then Gardevoir. Am I going mad as well? Hector thought before Gallade and Apollo appeared beside him in another flash of light.

            “Of course,” Hector smiled. “The teleportation!” Gallade nodded its head and reached out for the fisherman’s son’s hand. Hector turned back to where Ahab was standing. He’s looking right at us! Even at such a distance, Hector could see Ahab’s eyes shining with fury.

            “Go, Hector, wait on the ship,” Apollo said, who was standing next to Gallade.

            “I’m not waiting,” Hector pleaded. “And you shouldn’t either! We have your sister, now come with us.”

            Apollo looked down at him and smiled. Hector and he looked at Ahab who was angrily walking their direction, the clang of his sword on rocks sent shivers down Hector’s spine. “Let me try and kill this whore’s son first, and then I’ll join you.”

            Ahab broke into a dead sprint with his sword raised high. Apollo ran to meet him, steel in hand. “AAAAAAAARGH!” sang his battle cry. Just as their swords were about to touch, there was another flash of light, and Hector found himself inside the metal sub.

            Brandon was busy using a rag to dry off Combusken, who had fainted. Gardevoir was laying down, holding Luna who was muttering to herself and shaking and laughing again. The green Pokémon’s leg was bundled to stop it from bleeding.

            Hector looked out the wide window at the front of the ship. Gallade was underwater, encased in a Psychic energy bubble. Hector gasped as he saw Gyarados under the water, still alive, and fighting with Apollo’s Pokémon.

            On rock and in the water, a battle was raging, Hector knew. “Please Apollo,” Hector said quietly as he put his hand on the window. “Please win, or Gods save us all.”