RNP Chapter 98 The Song of the Wailord
Chapter 98 The Song of the Wailord
The Victini sped off at full speed and reached the sea boundary the detective had mentioned in less than four hours.
However, the crew paid a heavy price. After a grueling and turbulent voyage, there was no one left in the captain's cabin except for Captain Doug.
With her long, disheveled hair, Bilan barely opened her eyes, then groped to untie the ropes securing her to the pillar behind her, attempting to take a few steps to sit on a chair in the cabin. All the living quarters on the ship were welded to the floor, so there was no need to worry about changing positions.
But the lingering dizziness was too intense, and she could only stumble and stagger out of the irregular zigzag path like a drunkard. In the end, she had no choice but to give up and plop down on the wooden floor, disregarding her image.
The girl looked around—Captain Doug was ruddy-faced and in high spirits; the four hours of rough seas seemed like a leisurely stroll in a park to him. Old Man Naoki was also doing well; he hadn't died from a heart attack, but was currently leaning against the cabin wall, coughing loudly and forcefully, apparently choking on his own vomit. Azure felt a deep empathy for her, for this was a tragic experience she herself had gone through.
As for the detective in the white coat, Hugo, well, that guy's already passed out.
The detective's incredibly sharp senses, which were usually acutely aware of everything, finally succumbed to the jarring, churning motion and lost consciousness completely.
Upon noticing their master's unconsciousness, Piplup and Chimchar jumped out of their Poké Balls and busied themselves with first aid.
The two little ones performed the rescue very well, so it seems there's nothing to worry about over there.
"By the way, why was Hugo so certain that the Wailord, controlled by Team Aqua, would definitely pass through here?"
Azure left the cabin and went to the deck. Looking at the sea around her, which was no different from before, she couldn't help but feel confused—would Wailord really pass through here?
"That detective is quite capable."
Suddenly, a somewhat unwilling voice sounded beside her. Azure turned her head and found that Mr. Doug had also arrived outside the cabin.
The old captain, who was once a senior trainer, lit his pipe with a match, fiddled with it for a while, and then choking secondhand smoke began to billow out of his nostrils.
Seeing this, the girl couldn't help but think to herself—this old man who had spent half his life dealing with the sea looked more like a fire-type Pokémon when he smoked.
Doug then exclaimed, "I've been chasing Wailord in the outer seas of Unova for two or three decades. It's a Pokémon that's found all over the world. They usually roam in groups in the deep waters of the outer oceans of various countries, enjoying the cold seawater in the deep sea. But they also occasionally approach the mouths of continental rivers to forage and reproduce."
A lone whale roarer is a rare exception, and generally exhibits one of two behaviors: One type is driven out due to being ostracized within the pod; such whale roarers become extremely ferocious, rampaging through shallow waters. The other type consists of whale roarers nearing the end of their lifespan; they silently swim to the deepest parts of the ocean and sink quietly and alone.
The girl understood: "So, the target we're chasing this time doesn't fit the gregarious habits of Wailords, nor does it belong to either of the two types of Wailords. It's swimming along the warm current towards Hoenn—a direction that's quite far from the center of the ocean."
Doug snorted: "Only human ships and weak fish follow the currents. A huge and proud creature like the Wailord would never stoop to doing that."
"Will the guy we're chasing really come here?" Azure couldn't help but ask.
“If there really were tiny people living inside the whale’s mouth, it would definitely come here.” Doug exhaled a smoke ring. “This area is the boundary between the Unova-Hoenn route and the Alola region. Apart from that, there are no other entrances to the archipelago that can be entered by following the ocean currents.”
"Why can't they just swim directly to the Hoenn region? Why do they have to come all the way to Alola?"
"United States and Fengyuan are too far away; they need to replenish their supplies." The old captain's answer was succinct and to the point.
"Food, fresh water, and the sense of security of standing on the ground. Humans aren't Water-type Pokémon after all; even the most passionate seafarers have to rely on the land. Didn't that detective say they were trapped in a small bottle inside Wailord's mouth? That means their living space isn't much bigger, not to mention smuggling goods, which would take up a lot of space. So if we don't resupply in the Alola Islands during our voyage, those scum who rely on Wailord for smuggling will starve to death inside Wailord's belly."
"Even a fleet that worships the ocean needs the power of the land?" Azure pondered the old captain's words, and for a moment felt a sense of irony in them.
The sea shimmered, and the evening sun dyed the clouds in the sky crimson. The setting sun appeared enormous against the backdrop of the sea. Before the yellow fireball had completely sunk into the water, another white crescent moon had already eagerly appeared in the sky.
Did I hear something?
Azure seemed to sense a fluctuation in the air, as if a distant and ancient voice was entering her ears.
"They've arrived." The old man with a pipe in his mouth sighed slowly. "This is the song of Wailord."
The colors ranged from light to dark, and a huge black reflection gradually appeared on the sea surface before us, as if the Victini was about to arrive at a new island, with the underwater part of the island extending into the deep sea.
But there are no islands in sight.
In an instant, about two hundred meters ahead of the Victini, the sea surface swelled up as if distorted by a poorly edited photo editing software, forming a huge water bubble.
Immediately afterwards, the water sluice approached the whaling ship at an astonishing speed, and soon split into two giant waves in the middle, revealing a lake-blue mountain ridge in the waves.
"It's the whale king! It came over on its own!"
Before anyone knew it, the old man's pipe had slipped from his mouth. He grabbed the blue-eyed girl's shoulder, pushed her into the cabin, and then ran in himself, locking the cabin door behind him.
Immediately afterwards, a deafening roar, as if the heavens and earth were splitting apart, erupted from the top of the mountain ridge, and a massive column of water, nearly capsizing the whaling ship, slammed mercilessly onto the spot where the two had just stood.
The entire Bictini began to shake violently with an intensity that made it seem as if it were about to disintegrate; compared to this moment, the turbulence of the previous hours seemed insignificant.
Wailord's signature move is "water spray".
The higher the HP of a Pokémon using a move, the more powerful its "Water Spray" will be—and Wailord, which is tens of meters long, has so much HP that it could be sold off at a clearance sale.
The lake-blue mountain ridge then disappeared, replaced by the massive crescent-shaped tail of the Whale King.
When it is raised, the view of the azure outside through the porthole is reminiscent of the sails of a giant sailboat.
Meanwhile, the enormous sail was trying to lap against the hull of the Bictini.
Fortunately, the captain had already restarted the whaling ship, and the jet propulsion devices on both sides activated instantly, immediately moving them away from the Whale King's attack range.
"Drink! Hahahaha!!!"
Before the coughing old man, the unconscious detective, and the bewildered young girl, the dark-skinned old Doug burst into maniacal laughter.
"Come, come, come! The largest and oldest species on this planet! Does your massive body bear a noble soul commensurate with it? Prove it with battle! Ignore the petty sins in your giant mouth! Come! Let us weave the elegy of the ancient Unova amidst the intertwining of lightning and fire, like the battle between the heroes of black and white in ancient times! Like the myths of Hoenn, let the gods who rule the seas and the gods from the lands duel and slay each other! Ignite the seas! Conquer the oceans! Extinguish the volcanoes! Transform the land! Come and witness with me the insignificance and glory of life!"
The old man took out six Poké Balls and put them all into a device on the control panel. Then he adjusted the orientation of the whaling ship, pointing the bow at the blue giant that had resurfaced.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Six cannon shots rang out in succession, and six red and white Poké Balls struck the world's largest target with perfect accuracy!