Chapter Forty Three

The pyukumyuku ship chugged through the sky towards Pulse City's docks. Its ungainly form turned in a bid to park between a gorebyss and relicanth. It ended up parking at an odd angle, leaving a sizable gap between the door and the docks.

The exit hatch dropped open, flopping uselessly down the side of the ship. Annie peered over Trojan's shoulder and he let out a groan, slapping a paw against the hollow hull.

"Guess we're jumpin'." The words had all but left Annie's mouth as she hopped over the edge of the ship and landed in a crouch on the metal docks. The almighty clang drew eyes from all directions, and an incineroar's jaw hit the floor as he stared at her.

She rose to her feet and grinned. "Land ahoy!"

Trojan landed beside her and eyed the space pirates, a frown creasing his discoloured face. "I don't like the look o' this."

An electivire, his right arm entirely replaced with a robotic limb, stomped towards them with a tyranitar in tow.

"What's this?" The electivire pointed a claw at Annie, but his question had been aimed at Trojan. "We already took down one monster today. Don't go draggin' another one into Pulse City."

"I'm not a monster." Annie folded her arms and closed her eyes. "You are."

"This isn't some school ground joke, dear," came Web's voice from the ship. The skuntank turned her head to the electivire. "I can assure you she's no threat. She's just a little lost."

"Just a little lost?" The electivire waved a huge paw at her. "What is she? Ain't no pokemon I ever seen."

"She's an archeops." Trojan's voice drew a confused sneer from the huge electric type.

"A what?"

"An archeops," Trojan repeated. "Apparently they can shape-shift."

Annie puffed out her chest and grinned. "Name's Annie. Now where can we find some beds?"

"What? You don't have any beds on your ship?" the electivire sneered.

"Nope. 'Scuse me." Annie moved past him, pushing him aside with her hand. Her entire limb filled with static and she shook it sharply. "Wow. Tingly."

A low growl came from the electivire and he turned his entire body to leer down at her.

"Rather bold, aintcha?" he said.

"Yup." Annie wiped her hand on her jacket and looked up at him, not a hint of fear in her eyes. "Now. Beds. Where do I find one?"

The electivire's mouth hung open slightly, then it closed as he brought his jagged teeth together.

"You ain't armed," he said quietly. He brought his bionic arm up, electricity bouncing off it like a storm cloud about to strike. "Foolish mistake."

"Oi."

The warning was quiet, but firm. Enough to drag the electivire's head around to spot the threat. Waveform leant out of the ship door, a green and red arrow drawn back on one of his vines. The entire lower half of his face was hidden behind a black neckerchief, and his red eyes were narrowed into slits.

"Step away, and I'll let you go," he said. "Touch her, and I'll turn you into a pin cushion." He then nodded towards the tyranitar. "The same goes for your silent friend."

The electivire looked from Waveform to Annie, then his eyes wandered over to Trojan. The scrafty placed a paw inside his trouser-like fur and wiped his other paw across his nose.

"You wanna throw the entire docks into a brawl?" he asked.

Web leapt from the ship door and landed daintily on the docks. Her tail fell over her back to rest on her head like the barrel of a cannon, but her expression remained soft.

The electivire took a step back and nudged his companion. They both marched away, casting glances over their shoulders as they vanished beyond the ships.

"Well done, crew." Annie turned to face them and beamed. "Shall we go look for beds now? Because I'm really tired and no one wants a grumpy Annie."

Waveform leapt from the door, using his wings to steer himself over the docks. Zip let out a cry of delight, his entire contraption held steadily in the decidueye's talons. He placed him gently beside Annie and landed on her other side with a gentle beat of his wings. He'd completely abandoned his silver quiver, leaving it on the ship.

He looked down at Web. "Can you recommend anywhere?"

The skuntank shrugged her shoulders and let her tail relax behind her. "It's been a long time since I was last here. Things might have changed."

"Then I suggest we ask someone," said Annie.

"What the jack kinda idea is that?" Trojan scoffed. "You saw what just happened."

"She has a point," said Web. "And I know where we can ask. We need to buy weapons anyway, so we'll pay a little visit to the black market."

Annie yawned widely and shrugged. "I was gonna leave that until tomorrow, but all right. If you think it'll get us a bed sooner."

They turned and marched down the docks. The incineroar turned his head to watch their every move, his jaw still hanging open.

Web led the way through the bustling streets, trying her best to ignore the shouts of surprise from the space pirates. Annie strolled along sandwiched between Trojan and Waveform, while Zip skittered along ahead of her, casting wary eyes over the rabble of pirates.

"Everyone's looking at me," he whispered.

"That's because you're awesome," said Annie. "Keep walking, kid."

The goldeen swallowed audibly and caught up with Web, trying to distract himself by engaging her in conversation. But the skuntank's mind was elsewhere as she eyed the passing buildings and billboards.

Annie folded her arms and huffed as they passed a magmar who reached for his laser as soon as his eyes fell on her.

"You'd think this lot had never seen a human before," she said.

"Of course not," said Waveform. "None of us have ever seen a human. Or an archeops."

"You're one of a kind," said Trojan.

"I am pretty unique," she said.

Waveform placed his wing around her shoulders and steered her away from a set of bared teeth. As she pulled back she realised they belonged to the enraged face of a kommo-o. The lanky lizard bounced on his feet then rushed at them, claws raised. Trojan brought his arm up in an arc and struck the kommo-o's jaw with a sickening crack. He went reeling backwards into an outdoor table occupied by a pair of cacturne, and sending playing cards flying into the air. They drifted down onto his dazed body like giant snowflakes.

The two cacturne snapped their heads up and leered at the scrafty.

He placed his paw into his trouser fur and tutted. "You guys head to the market without me. I'll be right here."

Waveform shook his head and sighed. "Couldn't wait to get into a brawl, could you?"

Trojan said nothing as he tugged a small electric saw from his fur.

Annie let out a long whistle and found herself steered away down the bustling street under Waveform's wing.

"We're going to lose Web at this rate," he said.

The skuntank strutted on ahead of them, casting an occasional glance over her shoulder. Her jaw went slack slightly when she spotted Trojan and she shook her head. Regardless, she didn't stop.

A large building spread across the road ahead of them, almost as though it was trying to look imposing. 'Market' was written across it in giant, green letters. Or it was meant to be. It was missing a 'k'.

Voices rose to a crescendo inside, amplified by the bare walls. But they began to fade out as Annie strolled through the crowd with her entourage. Mouths snapped shut or hung open as eyes - surprised, confused, angry, scared and worried - all fixed on her. The entire inside of the market was like a cocktail of emotions, and it washed over Annie like a harmless wave.

Web scanned the market stalls, eyeing the sellers and their goods. Many of them sold weapons, but the pokemon behind the tables did not look welcoming. As she turned her head to scan the fifth row of stalls, her shoulders jolted and she picked up pace, trotting towards the unmanned table.

Or at least it looked unmanned.

The pokemon behind it was rather... small. And green.

The small bug tried to look as imposing as possible, narrowing his black eyes at the towering human. He glanced at Web and stretched up onto his back legs.

"I think I recognise you," he said slowly.

"You should do. I was in here almost every day," she said. "The name's Web."

He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully then they snapped wide open. "Oh! Web! Yes... not a name that makes one dance with joy, I can tell ya. I recall you ripped me off more than once."

"What? You scammed this poor bug?" Annie raised an eyebrow at Web and shook her head. "Shame on you."

The skuntank shrugged. "Little Worm here scams his own fair share of pirates. The whole city does. But they don't like it when you scam them back."

"What do you want, anyway?" he asked. "'Cos whatever it is, I ain't got it."

"Weapons," said Web. "I can see you have quite a selection here."

"Aye, but many of them don't have coils," he said. "You can take that little dispute up with Hunter."

"Hunter?" Annie scratched her chin and looked up at the ceiling.

"He's one of Pulse City's most wanted space pirates," Web explained. She turned back to Worm and smirked. "I guess he scammed you?"

"Hunter's one of my main providers," said Worm. "But he did stiff me on some coils. I made him buy me a drink as compensation and I'm not done with him, either. He owes me several for that little stunt."

"Friends, then?" Web shrugged. "We'll take four guns with all their parts."

"That's ten thousand credits a piece, my fine lass," said Worm.

"Ten thousand?!" Web's jaw dropped. "Who has that kind of money?!"

"Space pirates," said Worm. "Cough it up."

"Pay the 'mon," said Annie.

Something creaked in her ear and Worm's eyes flew wide open. Annie glanced out of the corner of her eye to spot Waveform with an arrow held against his vine string.

"What are you aiming an arrow at me for?" Worm squeaked. "Fine! Seven thousand each, and I go no lower!"

Another creak.

"Make it five thousand," said Annie.

"Wait... what's with the change in attitude?" Worm stuttered. "All right, fine. Five thousand each. Just don't kill me."

He sobbed and ducked behind his table.

Waveform's vine snapped back into his feathers and he reached into his belt pouch. Two ten thousand credit bills landed on the table amongst the chaos of weapon parts.

Worm jerked his head up and removed his paws from his leafy head. An audible sigh left his throat and he gathered the over-sized notes into his over-sized bag.

"Four lasers." He fixed cold eyes on the two pokemon. "Grab 'em and go."

Annie leant forward but Web beat her hand aside. She reached for two guns and quickly examined them, her expert claws flying over the tiny parts before dropping one of them into Annie's hands.

"Put it in your pocket," Web instructed.

She retrieved another two guns, checked them over, and handed one to Waveform.

He waved a paw at her and turned his back to leave. "I don't need one."

Web's jaw dropped and she chased after him with Annie and Zip in tow. "What do you mean you don't need one?"

Annie faltered and looked back at the market stall. Zip skidded to a halt and turned to join her.

"What are you waiting for?" he asked. "We're going to lose them?"

"Oi, Worm." Annie marched back to the table, drawing the bug pokemon's attention.

His entire body quivered and he looked away from her.

"We need beds," said Annie. "Know anywhere?"

"Moonlight Lounge," he said. "If that's too pricey, you want Fuchsia Avenue. Little place on there called Bricked Inn. Place is a dump but you can get a week's worth o' nights there for the price of one at Moonlight Lounge."

Annie nodded and turned away. Zip's mechanical feet followed close behind her. She paused and glanced over her shoulder.

"Which way?"

Worm chuckled and looked up at her. "Newbie, eh? Follow the main road. You can't miss Moonlight Lounge. Fuchsia Avenue runs behind it."

Annie gave him a wave and turned to march through the market. She pushed through a startled crowd of onlookers then bumped face first into a feathered torso.

"What the-"

She wiped a paw across her face and looked up into Waveform's scarlet eyes. He narrowed them slightly then his shoulders relaxed with a sigh.

Annie raised a hand and pointed a finger towards the door. "I found us some beds."

...

Tracer leant on the side of the alomomola ship, now docked amongst the other space pirate ships. Regardless of Widget's concerns, he finished off his cigar, puffing smoke into the clean air.

"Pretty shoddy parking, huh?" Widget frowned at the pyukumyuku ship, situated at an angle so it was almost touching the relicanth beside it.

Tracer stubbed his cigar out on one of the bollards and popped the remains in his inside pocket.

"Given the creature driving it was likely not a space pirate nor a pokemon, I'm not surprised," he said.

"What makes you think the human were driving it?" Widget asked.

Tracer shrugged. "I'm not saying she was. Regardless, that ship and its crew are a hazard, and I'm loathe to leave Pulse City while they're still flying that monstrosity throughout System."

The delphox kept his voice low so as not to drag attention from the surrounding space pirates. Occasional glances were fired their way, but given Widget's little performance earlier on, it was likely more envy or repressed admiration than suspicion.

Tracer looked up from the pyukumyuku to the other docked ships. Standing huge and proud amongst the rabble was the familiar blue form of Wildcard Gamma. The schooling wishiwashi looked like it had seen better days. All its turrets were out, stationary around its middle. Every now and then, a muscular granbull appeared around the nose to stare at the ship before vanishing once again. Tracer had already been to see what he was doing. He was repairing a huge hole in the side of the ship where the detective guessed one of the turrets had been blasted away.

Likely in that attack the ship dealer had told him about.

He reached into his pocket for another cigar.

"Want me to get you some pirate cigarettes?" Widget asked. "Because as far as space pirates are concerned, you look like a fool. A posh fool."

"I'm not sucking on those vile sticks," said Tracer. "Let me mull things over, will you?"

"Then do it on the ship."

"I don't want to. It smells like sweat and wet fur." Tracer lit up his cigar and leant back on the ship's pink hull. "We have a predicament here, and I'm trying to work it out."

"Whether or not to ring Socket and cough up that we stole her ship?" Widget whispered, snickering slightly.

"You're enjoying this way too much for any sane 'mon," said Tracer.

"I just love winding up Socket."

"Well, one day, that might land you in the execution seat." Tracer removed his cigar and blew out a stream of smoke. "And I'm not willing to keep bending the truth to bail you out."

"Then use bribery."

"As much as I have suspicions about our lovely Mayor, I'm not going to bribe her. That's ridiculous."

Widget shrugged his shoulders. "Then say nothing. Wait until we've apprehended the human girl. Socket'll be putty in your paws then."

"You two keep mentioning a human." A huge, towering shadow fell over the two detectives. "And I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear you sayin' you're workin' for the Mayor."

Tracer looked up with as much confidence as he could muster, while Widget let out a nervous laugh. An incineroar stood over them, leaning on the alomomola's nose. He scratched his whiskered chin, sending a small flurry of dandruff down onto his broad shoulder.

"I dunno," said Widget. "Would it be completely out of the ordinary for Socket to hire a couple of space pirates to do her dirty work?"

The incineroar seemed to consider this. Then he frowned, his striped brow furrowing.

"Yes," he said.

The word sent a chill down Tracer's spine.

"Anyway, you mentioned a human," the space pirate went on. "I think I've seen one."

"Really?" Tracer stubbed out his cigar on the bollard again and popped it into his pocket. "What makes you think that?"

"'Cos there ain't no pokemon look like that." The incineroar tapped the side of his head with a claw. "I ain't no dense brick, delphox. I seen some weird creature with long black fur on its head walkin' through Pulse City with a water dweller on mechanical legs. And three other pokemon, but I don't remember what they were. I were too bothered by the strangeness of it all to really process everythin'. They came in that pyukumyuku there."

Tracer followed his claw to the badly parked ship.

"Yes," he said. "We saw them take off in that. Did you see where they went?"

"They were headed to the Black Market." The incineroar folded his arms and leant back on the alomomola. "What's goin' on? Where did a stinkin' human come from?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out." Tracer popped his unlit cigar back between his teeth then pulled out his computer. "I usually love puzzles, but this one has me pulling out my fur."

"It ain't related to that weird squid thing everyone saw earlier, is it?"

"Squid thing?" Widget's nose crinkled.

"The Kraken," the incineroar said. "It's all over Pulse City's news. You can't have missed it."

"No, we've heard about that." Tracer pulled up the relevant article. "As for whether or not they're linked..."

His voice trailed off as he read over it. The picture was as clear as day. A huge, jellyfish-like creature with no face to speak of. It looked eerie. Almost ethereal, as though it didn't belong in System at all. Pretty fitting, given it didn't.

In one of the photos, it was wrapped around a basculin ship, stuck to its head like a barnacle. The basculin had hold of another ship in its jaws, wrenching the metal away. There wasn't enough of the target to see the ship in detail as it was blocked out by Wildcard Gamma's spinning turrets.

Someone had thought to photograph the fight rather than flee... That was some bravery. It meant there was evidence that something very wrong was going on in System.

Tracer lowered his computer and tried to puff on his cigar, realising too late that it wasn't lit. He let out a small sigh and looked up at the incineroar.

"You want to know what's going on," Tracer said. "That's understandable. Your city has fallen under attack, and now there's a rowdy human walking around in it."

"Certainly were rowdy, aye," said the pirate.

"What's your name, sir?" Tracer asked.

The incineroar burst into laughter, sliding down the side of the ship. He caught himself before his tail hit the floor and shoved himself back to his feet.

"Sir? Ain't no one called me sir since I were a kit." He took a few breaths to gather himself and wiped a claw across his eye. "Wow, you ain't no pirate. That's for sure."

Tracer bit down on his cigar, bracing himself for the burly tiger pokemon to turn on him. But instead, the incineroar flashed him a toothy grin. Both unnerving and friendly at the same time.

"Name's N0ize," he said.

Tracer nodded and looked back down at the news article, looking over its photos again. "Very well, N0ize. How would you like to help us?"

"Help you?" N0ize frowned and looked the two detectives up and down. His eyes lingered for a while on Widget. "You ain't pirates. You bounty hunters?"

Tracer exchanged glances with Widget, noting the warning look in the eevee's eyes.

"I can assure you we aren't bounty hunters," said Tracer. He dropped his voice to a near whisper, and N0ize had to cock his ears to hear it. "We're detectives, asked to track down that human you saw."

N0ize's lip curled into a sneer and he looked away from them, folding his huge arms as he leant back on the ship.

"Pair o' runners, eh? Snoopin' around. Knew somethin' smelled off 'bout you two."

Widget flicked his tail and pulled his ears back, but if N0ize noticed he didn't perceive the eevee as a threat.

"You honestly must be curious?" said Tracer. "That creature. Now a human. Something is amiss, and it might be threatening System."

"Did the Mayor send you?" N0ize asked.

"Did she send us to Pulse City?" Tracer tapped his computer on his paw. "No. She did not."

"So you're here of your own free will? Just flew here in a government ship?"

"Then sold it," said Widget. "Yes."

N0ize roared with laughter and shook his head. "Mayor's own cronies sell her ship. Love it. You guys got guts, I'll give you that. Some real guts, just marchin' into space pirate territory. Couple o' little fuzzies like you."

"And you're just stood here talking to us," said Tracer.

"That's 'cos you guys puzzle me." N0ize scratched behind his ear. "Come here, and sell the Mayor's ship? Tells me you don't trust her."

"Where'd you pick that up?" Widget asked. "Just from that?"

"'Cos a space pirate's ship is his essence. It's his personality, right? Everything he stands for goes into that ship. You fly here in one of Socket's ships and sell it? It's like you're gettin' shut of her."

Tracer wiped a paw across his nose and looked back down at his computer, but he wasn't really seeing it. The incineroar's words were ringing around in his mind.

That CCTV footage. The human's words. A lab.

"Are you going to help us or not?" Tracer's voice came out firmer than he would have liked, given the circumstances.

He cast a wary glance to the large space pirate, but all that greeted him was a toothy grin.

"Go on then," said N0ize. "Let's track down that human. But I don't work for free."

Tracer readied himself to bring up his bank account. "What's your price?"

N0ize grinned from ear to ear. "Information."