I Want To Lay the Very Best!

314 – Flail-Girl

As a wild Pokémon clambered up the side of the boat, the rain pounding down and making every handhold painfully slippy, the sound of fighting above echoed over the edge. It would be so easy to drop back into the ocean and swim away from the furor above, leave this to the Pokémon who could handle it! But no, sea Pokémon had to stick together, so even if it was scary, she took a breath, readjusted her tiny crown, and climbed higher.

Danièle knew she only really had three things going for her. A gorgeous tiny crown, a cool slash over a letter in her name, which was absolutely the best gift she'd ever gotten, and a whole lot of friends. 

Wild Pokémon communities were usually quite small on land, but out in the sea, there weren't as many humans to go around. Water Pokémon had a little bit of a reputation for being as hot on each other as they were on humans. Not that there was anything wrong with it! All of Danièle's friends were crazy hot and were welcome to any of her holes, how silly would it be to turn down a good thing?

Danièle might be bad at fighting, kind of a mess when having sex, and always struggling to find her voice, but in the seas, she still found Pokémon who loved her, so she'd do her best to help, however little she could really manage. She spent most of her days trawling the oceans for shiny things to sell to humans by the piers so she could buy chips and croissants to bribe Wingulls. With enough bribes, the Wingulls would tell her when ships were leaving with humans, and that sort of information made you very popular.

Finding humans in the ocean was so hard. They rarely went out into it, and it was so big you could wander for weeks and not even catch a sniff of bond energy. Knowing where boats full of humans would be was the only way to survive, so if the Wingulls didn't swindle her, even little ol' Danièle could be a hero for a day!

The ship's railing was iced, and Danièle didn't know that until she stuck her hand right on it. With a yelp, she almost slipped right back into the ocean, but a Corsola below her snagged her with its white horns and helped haul her up over the edge.

"Thanks, Bitty." Danièle wheezed, doubled over with her hands on her thighs. "You're the best."

"This is your ship! You can't miss out," the Corsola grinned. Danièle loved Bitty, and a rare smile from her was a treasure. Usually, she was blank-faced, like most Corsola. It suited her pale skin and sunken black eyes with those always trembling red pupils. But when she smiled? The white coral growing out of her back like wings was eerily beautiful paired with some pearly white teeth, and her whispy hair was majestic as it wafted in the air despite the pelting rain.

"Hrhg-"

Speaking to pretty women was not one of the three things Danièle had going for her, but Bitty knew the poor Magikarp well and just flicked her tiny crown to make it ding. A nice gesture, but they both really should have been paying more attention to their surroundings. They were both pelted by an arc of hot water as a woman with a massive blue claw for an arm skidded back along the ship's deck.

"Bitty, help me block!" the Clawitzer yelled. Another unfairly pretty woman! You wouldn't think a blue shrimp lady would be smoking hot, but the long golden tendrils that came from the side of her face wafted back majestically, and you could see how defined her muscles were beneath her blue shell plating. A total badass, her massive blue fighting claw hissing as the hot Scald water sizzled against the skin. Would it be rude to say she smelled delicious?

Yes. Absolutely. But wow she really did.

Bitty ran ahead of her, more coral forming around her body in a lattice to give her a massive shield. It was just in time to catch screeching rings of water coming down from somewhere high up in the storm, and Danièle dove into the cover the Clawitzer's massive claw was giving as the edges of the rings splashed all around her. A vicious Water Pulse, it wasn't usually so loud!

"Most of the Seashells are down," the Clawitzer said. "No wonder Tamsin and Monique came out for this one. The blonde's team is kicking our ass. We haven't even seen the redhead."

"The Wingull said it'd be a tough one," Danièle said, tucking her knees in as she sat on the wet deck. "Can't you do your Aura Sphere?"

"Tried it. The Lapras ate it like I was flicking droplets at her, and they've put a sniper on me. Can you get her off us, Bitty?"

"Sure!" Corsola said, dropping her bone shield and raising a hand. Glowing white coral sprouted from her forearm. Her voice dropped deep into the spooky octaves, an evil whisper singing over the storm.

"Whoever strikes me down shall be owed a Grudge."

The water sniper didn't want to take a shot at that. The blowback from a Grudge made a Pokémon briefly so weak even Danièle could have beaten them.

"You're the best." the Clawitzer said with an exhausted sigh, shaking her hair and tendrils.

"Right? I was just saying that." Danièle smirked. "So what's the plan?"

"Hold out until more come." the Clawitzer said, brushing off her claw as Bitty sat between the pinchers, kicking her legs. "Nipper and Chew were trying to nab the Trainer from the Lapras, but she's got two bunny Pokémon who are a nightmare. One isn't taking their poisons, and the other hits like a Hariyama."

"Tess!" someone with a pretty voice called from across the ship. "Toxic on that Corsola! Mahi can't shoot blind with her on the field."

"That's bad?" Danièle said.

"Maybe." the Clawitzer said, pulling Bitty further into her claw. "The poison bunny, Tess, if she's not with the Trainer, then Chew and Nipper can probably get at her. Okay, gotta fight now. You okay with finding a spot to hide?"

"I'd help if I could," Danièle said, biting her bottom lip. "But I'd just get in the way."

"Don't worry, sweetheart. Just remember how cool we all were if you evolve someday." the Clawitzer said, giving Danièle a gentle kick to get her moving. "Go on, shoo. The Poison Bunny loves to throw Toxic Spikes everywhere, and you don't want to be stumbling around drunk out here!"

It felt rotten to abandon her friends, but Danièle was just a Magikarp. Their main move was to be so pitiable humans rushed to cheer them up, and while it worked really well, in a full-on brawl like this, it wasn't going to work. There is a time and a place for everything, and right now, it was running away time. 

As Danièle stumbled off into the rain storm, there was the sound of hundreds of darts thunking into the wood behind her and a lot of colorful Clawitzer cursing. She wasn't kidding about the Toxic Spikes, and Danièle looked down at the ground to ensure she didn't accidentally step on one. It'd be just like her to end up somehow getting a poisoned splinter right after being warned about it.

There were a few spears of ice stuck into the deck, a Krabby leaning up against one with blue lipstick kisses peppered all over her face. Danièle tried to shake her awake, she could maybe got help Bitty and the Clawitzer, but the Seashell was freezing cold to the touch and snoring lightly. Kissed stupid and then put into a cold sleep; soaking her face with a bit of Splash did nothing to rouse her, and her shell-coated skin was too heavy for Danièle to drag anywhere. The best she could do was tidy up all her pigtails back into a neat row and then get out of here. This place looked like the leftovers of an old fight, and she there was always the risk that someone was still prowling the area looking for more kissable victims. Danièle headed from the center of the boat. Maybe she could sneak inside and find something warm to dump in the Krabby's lap. If she could get back in the fight one more Pokémon, then she was doing her best!

The first door Danièle tried was locked, but working along the cabin walls and jiggling each handle, she soon found one that gave way. She cracked open the door and slid inside, face-planting into something soft and warm right away. What luck!

Danièle pried her face loose, shook her head, and looked up into the red eyes of a redheaded woman with an amused smile. Then slowly sank her gaze back down to the chest she'd just ran right into.

"Wow," Danièle gulped. "You're really tall."

"I am," the redhead grinned, putting her hand on Danièle's crown and tilting it back so her head was tipped up. "And you're just the cutest thing?"

"Hghehghrl-" Danièle stammered. The push had slightly parted her mouth, and the redhead was licking her lips at the opening. She could already imagine the taste of that tongue down her throat and it was making her shiver.

"Brandy, don't play with your food," a black feathered witch said. "We need to be quick." 

Danièle gulped. Well. No fear there. She wasn't going to last long at all.