Pokemon: Radical Redux-Chapter 528: The Temple of the Sea - 6

Around the water, Manaphy was waving its antennae as they glowed, all pointing at the submarine.

The Water Pokémon all moved in unison, surrounding Wailord. Wailord turned its massive body to place itself between the temple and Phantom’s approaching vessel. Dozens of Wailmer broke the surface of the water alongside Wailord.

Beneath them, a multitude of other, smaller Water Pokémon had begun to congregate, Horsea, Seadra, Chinchou, Corsola, and even Sharpedo, moving in close defensive formations. The water itself appeared to move, whirling faster around the sinking temple.

Manaphy let out another cry, "Manaaaa!"

Its antennae flashed brighter, and then the ocean around them began to swirl into a whirlpool.

A strong current struck the submarine from the side, and it was thrown off course. Inside, alarms sounded, and sparks flew from the controls.

"What’s going on?!" Galen called out over the comms.

Outside, Wailord moved forward, their massive bodies pushing waves of water that forced the submarine back, meter by meter.

"They’re pushing us away!" another crew member yelled.

"Well, do something about it!" Galen shouted as the submarine shook again.

Sharpedo darted through the spinning current like living torpedoes, striking the hull again and again, beginning to indent the metal.

"Thrusters to maximum!" Galen ordered, "Hold us steady!"

As the submarine began to push water back, the Wailord and Wailmer moved into formation. The Wailord held their tails out, and the Wailmer climbed on before the Wailord began launching them up out of the water, sending them falling onto Phantom’s submarine.

One by one, Wailord launched Wailmer, and they began falling like cannonballs, slamming into the submarine over and over again, while below, other Water Pokémon rammed into the underside.

Inside, warning lights painted the control room in flashing red as metal shrieked under pressure the vessel had never been designed to endure.

"Hull integrity dropping!" one crewman shouted, "We’re losing stabilization!"

Another Wailmer crashed down from above, the impact throwing everyone sideways. Consoles sparked violently as seawater began leaking through hairline fractures along the walls.

Galen grabbed the nearest rail to keep from falling, "Return fire! Drive them off!"

But as he shouted, outside, May’s Wailmer climbed onto one of the Wailord and looked up at the sky. The Wailord launched it high into the air. As it soared upward, it looked down and saw the ship, and saw May watching him.

Wailmer’s eyes shone as it spun higher and higher. At that same moment, Ash jammed the crystal back into the crown, and from the water, light began pouring upward, shining into the sky.

The light swirled around Wailmer as he tried to copy one of the dances he had watched May teach the rest of her Pokémon. He knew he was too big and could never be a star, but that didn’t mean he had never dreamed of it.

To be honest, the reason Wailmer shot May with water that day in Dewford was because it wanted to dance just like it had seen May doing.

And now, as he spun in an arc, spiraling down, he began glowing and then growing, bigger and bigger, until he became a Wailord. As he came down, he hit the submarine like a hammer, slamming it so hard that they went back underwater together and made a massive splash.

And from the ship, May of course watched the whole thing with her eyes shining, and so was everyone else’s. It really was beautiful.

Back in the water, as the submarine was thrown beneath the surface, the crew inside nearly fell over. Now that they were submerged, the Water Pokémon could attack even better, and they began slamming into the submarine from all sides, all while the golden light danced around them.

Inside, Galen fell over, but he pushed himself up and dragged himself to the controls, "That’s it, activating sound speakers!" He slammed his fist into the console.

Outside, two panels on the submarine opened and a speaker revealed itself. Then it started releasing a loud soundwave that traveled through the water.

The Water-types, as soon as they heard it, began getting confused and slamming into each other in pain.

Manaphy cried out in distress, "Manaaa!"

Its antennae flickered unevenly, the whirlpool weakening as the sonic assault disrupted the coordination of every Pokémon nearby.

Inside the submarine, Galen laughed breathlessly as he steadied himself against the console.

"That’s right! Let’s see how brave they are now!" he shouted, "Maintain output!"

But there was one Pokémon not there. Far away from the chaos, beyond the collapsing pillars of the Temple of the Sea, a small figure hovered behind a pillar. It was Ash’s Horsea, holding the scale Ash had given him in his tail.

Horsea’s eyes narrowed as he lined up his shot. This was his specialty, the thing Ash had trained him specifically in, and now it was his turn.

Around him, the temple behind him began to rise, the stone becoming covered in light as it all started lifting toward the surface. But Horsea didn’t move an inch. He just focused on his shot.

Horsea inhaled. Light surrounded his body as he grew bigger and longer, becoming a Seadra. But immediately he started glowing again, because, remember, he had the Dragon Scale in his tail, and both he and the scale began glowing brightly.

He grew longer, his back fin extending, and his mouth cannon lengthening as he finally became a Kingdra. With the extra power, he lined himself up and then fired the [Snipe shot].

The water bullet shot in a straight path through turbulence, debris, and the other Pokémon so fast that no one could keep track of it, and it headed straight for the speakers.

Inside the submarine, one crewman barely had time to look up.

"What was th—" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

CRACK.

Both speakers exploded simultaneously, and the soundwave died instantly.

Then the Water Pokémon recovered, and Manaphy’s antennae flared brighter, "MANAAAA!"

The whirlpool roared back to life, stronger now, golden light from the rising temple spiraling through the water as every Pokémon surged forward again.

Inside the submarine, alarms screamed.

"S-Speakers destroyed!" a crew member yelled.

"Then get the cannon," Galen barked.

"On it!" the crew member said as he grabbed the controls. From the side, a gun with a camera extended outward and began aiming.

But before it could see anything, Ash’s Feebas swam quickly through the water and blocked the camera with her body, flailing against it and trying to break it so that it couldn’t hit anyone.

Feebas opened her mouth as she began charging a light blue beam. The crewmate operating the camera recognized it as an [Ice Beam], so he spun the gun around and slammed Feebas with the barrel.

Feebas got launched back, but at least she left frost on the camera so they couldn’t aim at anyone. Seeing how brave Feebas had been, protecting everyone like that, all the Water Pokémon stopped and looked at the specific thing that had hurt their little fish friend.

Meanwhile, Feebas spun out of control until none other than Manaphy swam up and caught her, almost falling back as well, but Manaphy managed to steady them both.

Feebas opened her eye weakly and looked at Manaphy, letting out a helpless laugh as she stared at the literal Prince of the Sea.

"Fee...[Ha, guess this is all i can do, in the end everyone loves you, i’m always in the way...]" Feebas said diegetically.

"Ma! [No that’s not true, look,]" Manaphy pointed with its little hands. As Feebas tilted her head, she saw the Pokémon attacking the gun that had hurt her, ripping it free, while others formed up to protect both her and Manaphy specifically.

Feebas’s eyes shone as she watched everyone. As a Feebas, her whole life had been about getting pushed around, getting bullied, and just trying to survive in a world that seemed to tell her she was useless.

That was until the day she saw a certain red-eyed human throwing Pokéblocks into the water. That was Ash, and out of all the Pokémon there, he caught her.

She tried to work hard to become strong, but again, Feebas were just pathetic in every way, or so she believed. She couldn’t get strong, and she couldn’t be pretty. It seemed like she couldn’t do anything, especially compared to all the other Pokémon that surrounded Ash.

But when Feebas felt like giving up, Ash sat down with her one night, looked at the moon with her, and told her, "Imperfections are beauty, so find a way, and be your own kind of beautiful."

And now she knew the kind of beauty she wanted, the kind that could protect everyone. As that thought came into her mind, for once she didn’t feel useless. And she began to glow, not in a metaphorical, smiling kind of way. No, she literally started to glow.

Behind her and Manaphy, the temple finally rebuilt itself and broke through the water. Now it stood above the surface in its full glory.

Back in the water, Feebas swam upward. Her body extended, and her scales shimmered in a beautiful pattern as she finally became a Milotic.

Above the water, all the gang saw was the temple rising from the sea, then a Milotic rising with it, her scales shining against the golden light coming from the temple. To be honest, Jack, Brock, and Kyle were about ready to jump into the water and break into the submarine themselves to deal with it, but it looked like they wouldn’t have to.

Milotic narrowed her eyes at the submarine and let out a high-pitched cry into the sky. Manaphy’s eyes widened, then it broke into a grin and nodded.

Then Milotic, Manaphy, and every single Water-type in the area all aimed directly at the submarine and fired a [Water Gun] at exactly one point, which, when you have a lot of Pokémon hitting the same spot, effectively turns the [Water Gun] into a high-pressure water jet. And in case you don’t know, those things can cut through metal.

So with all the Pokémon combined, they fired, and actually sliced the submarine in half.

In the chaos, all the pirates fell into the water, including Galen. But Manaphy let out an order, and the Wailord swam up, grabbing them one by one in their mouths before rising to the surface.

Manaphy led them to the ship, where it put its arms on its waist, looking proud and clearly expecting praise from everyone. It looked at Jack. It didn’t understand a lot, but it did understand that these guys were bad guys, and that Jack took bad guys away. So Manaphy had collected them for him.

Jack blinked a few times and looked back at Brock, pointing down at the situation like he was asking if this was real. Brock just shrugged.

"Uh, okay...I’ll take it from here, I guess," Jack said as he looked over at Kyle and Brock, gesturing for help bringing the pirates onto the ship.

As Jack, Kyle, and Brock worked on that, May walked up to the edge and looked down at Manaphy.

"You did it, huh..." she said, her voice touched with sadness, but she was happy. It looked like Manaphy really could be a good Prince of the Sea. After all, it had gotten all those Pokémon to work together.

Manaphy jumped up out of the water and into May’s arms. As May caught it, Manaphy hugged her and nuzzled against her, "Mana!"

"I know," May said, hugging Manaphy back. Then she looked up and around at everything before finally turning toward the Temple of the Sea, now fully above water. Everyone could see the temple in all its glory. All the pieces were back where they belonged, and it no longer looked like it would fall apart at any moment. Water Pokémon swam around it excitedly.

"It’s all back to normal..." Lizabeth said, looking amazed.

But there was one thing missing.

"Where’s Ash..." Max asked.

"...I don’t know," May said quietly.

"He can’t—" Max shook his head, "He just has to be alright."

"He promised, right?" May whispered, trying to console herself as she hugged Manaphy tightly, "He never breaks his promises..." Her eyes filled with tears.

Pikachu jumped up onto the railing sill, holding Ash’s hat, and gently patted her back, "Pi..."

A bubble broke the surface.

Then another.

Brock narrowed his eyes like he knew what was coming, "Wait—"

A column of water suddenly shot upward like a fountain.

Out of the spray burst a familiar figure riding on the back of a very smug-looking Milotic. Ash stood there, soaked head to toe, one hand on Milotic’s crest like he was surfing, the other raised casually, while Vee, back in Eevee form, clung to his back.

"Man, you guys start the celebration without me?" he called out.

There was a full second of stunned silence.

Max’s jaw dropped, "ASH?!"

May’s eyes went wide, "You—!"

Milotic arced gracefully toward the ship, lowering Ash close enough for him to grab the railing. He flipped over it smoothly, landing on the deck before stretching, "Not a bad dive."

Pikachu leapt onto his chest, smacking him with the hat, "Pika-Pika!"

"Ow! Hey! I saved the temple, didn’t I?" Ash laughed, holding him up.

May marched over, tears still in her eyes, then lightly smacked him on the shoulder, "You idiot! We thought you were—!"

Ash blinked up at her innocently, "What? Me? Nah, you guys aren’t getting rid of me that easy."

Behind him, Milotic rose elegantly from the water, sunlight catching her shimmering scales. The Water Pokémon circled proudly around the restored Temple of the Sea.

Ash glanced back at Milotic and grinned, "Besides, I’m not the one that decided to show off the most, huh~?"

Milotic gave a soft, confident cry.

But then Ash turned back to them. He tilted his head slightly, water still dripping from his bangs, and looked at May with an exaggerated squint.

"...Wait a second," he said slowly, leaning closer, "Are those tears I see?"

May immediately turned her head away, "N-No!"

"Ohhh," Ash grinned, stepping in front of her to peek at her face, "So you were worried about me."

"I was not!" she snapped, her face turning pink, "You disappeared inside a collapsing ancient temple under the ocean! Anyone would’ve been worried!"

"So that’s a yes," Ash said smugly.

May huffed, hugging Manaphy tighter, "Shut up, you’re so annoying."

Ash leaned back casually against the railing, "I mean, I did promise, right? And I never break my promises." He gave her a softer smile, "Still though, crying over me? I’m kinda flattered." He covered his face like an overdramatic blushing schoolgirl.

"I wasn’t crying!" May insisted, flustered.

"Sure you weren’t," Ash said with a smirk peeking through his fingers.

"I wasn’t!"

"Uh-huh."

Max suddenly stepped forward, pointing at Ash, "You’re such an idiot, big br—"

The entire deck went silent.

Max froze.

Ash blinked, then a grin slowly started growing on his face, "...Big what?" Ash asked slowly.

Max’s face turned bright red, "I-I didn’t say anything!"

"You definitely started to say something," Lizabeth chimed in, covering her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh at the situation.

Ash crossed his arms dramatically, "Wait...Max. Do you see me as a brother figure?"

"Shhh! No!" Max blurted, waving his hands frantically, "If anything, I see you as a bother figure! Because you bother me so much!"

The way he said it, half defensive, half mortified, only made it worse.

Ash stared at him for a second. Then burst out laughing, "HAHA! A bother figure? That’s the best you could come up with?!"

Max groaned and covered his face, "Forget it!"

Ash walked over and aggressively ruffled Max’s hair, "Hey, if you wanna call me big brother, I certainly won’t stop you."

"I-I DON’T!" Max protested.

"Now, now," Ash said, pausing to raise a finger before ruffling Max’s head again, "how about you call me that? C’mon, call me brother~"

Max’s face went completely red, "I-I’m not calling you that!" he snapped, his voice cracking halfway through.

Ash leaned down until they were eye level, grinning like a mischievous Meowth, "C’mon. Just once. You almost said it earlier. Finish the combo."

"I did not!"

"You did."

"I didn’t!"

"You totally did."

Max looked around desperately for backup.

Brock turned away, whistling, helping Jack and Kyle tie up the pirates.

Lizabeth was very clearly enjoying this.

May? Oh, May was absolutely not helping. She was trying to look stern, but her shoulders were shaking.

Max didn’t know if he should feel excited or mortified. Yeah, he wanted this, but not like this. It was so embarrassing. But even still, he didn’t stop himself. He squeezed his eyes shut, "...Big brother!!" he blurted.

He covered his face with his hands, hiding his embarrassment, but inside his head he was screaming, ’[YES! VICTORY! I HAVE BEEN PROMOTED!]’

Ash slung an arm around his shoulders, "Guess that makes it official. You’re my little brother now. You hear that, May? I’m his favorite now! Mwahaha!"

May’s eye twitched immediately, "...Excuse me?" she said slowly.

Ash flicked his hair, "You heard me. I outrank you now. I’m the cool older brother. I get priority status."

"You do not get priority status!" May snapped.

Ash tilted his head thoughtfully, "Pretty sure I do. He said it out loud. That’s legally binding."

"It is not legally binding!"

Max, still red, peeked through his fingers, "...Wait, it’s not?"

"NO!" May barked.

Ash smirked and leaned casually against Max, "Don’t listen to her, little bro. From now on, I’ll teach you all the important stuff."

Max blinked, "Important stuff? But I thought you were already doing that."

Ash wagged his finger dramatically, "No, no, no, my young Padawan. Those were the basics. Now I’ll start teaching you the advanced stuff." Ash wrapped an arm around Max’s shoulder and pointed to the sky, "Let us begin, Operation Mini-Me!"

Max nodded very seriously, "Okay, I see. Then I have more to learn."

May lightly smacked Ash on the chest, "Ash, I told you to stop corrupting my brother!"

Meanwhile, everyone else on the ship watched the scene and smiled. They had to admit, Ash had a way of lightening the mood after making them worry like that.

—

A while later, the Marina Group spent their time finally getting to tour the Temple of the Sea, something they’d always wanted to see, especially Lizabeth, now that she could walk around without worrying the temple was about to sink.

Jack finished tying up all the pirates and Phantom and had already called Ranger HQ to inform them the mission involving Manaphy was complete. He would be meeting up with them soon to hand over the captured pirates.

But right now, everyone was sitting on the ship, because about now the eclipse was ending, and the water temple would be sinking back beneath the sea again.

Which meant...it was time to say goodbye to Manaphy.

May stood at the edge of the ship, holding onto Manaphy for as long as she could. She knew this was coming, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Ash stood beside her, hands in his pockets, watching quietly.

Max swallowed, "...So this is it?"

The water around the temple began to lower, the massive structure descending slowly, majestically, as if bowing before disappearing. Light refracted across its pillars as it sank inch by inch.

Manaphy gently pushed away from May’s arms and hovered in front of her.

May forced a bright smile, "You’re going to be an amazing Prince of the Sea," she said softly, "I just know it."

Manaphy floated closer and pressed its forehead to hers, "Mana..."

Ash leaned in and tapped Manaphy’s head playfully, "You did good, you know that? You protected everyone. And you’re gonna keep protecting all your friends, aren’t you?"

Manaphy tilted its head, then nodded. Slowly, it pulled away from May and looked out at the Temple of the Sea.

But before returning to the water, Manaphy looked back at them.

Then it suddenly zipped forward and hugged Ash around the neck.

Ash blinked, caught off guard, "...Whoa, hey—"

"Mana! [Papa]"

Ash chuckled and gently patted its head, "Yeah, yeah. I’ll miss you too."

Then Manaphy turned and hugged May one last time, nuzzling into her shoulder, "Mana! [Mama]"

May squeezed it tight, "I know one day we’ll meet again," she whispered, "And don’t forget about us."

Manaphy pulled back, its eyes shining, and nodded happily, promising to remember. With one final hug, Manaphy stepped back and jumped into the water. Then it popped its head out and waved at them one more time, crying out, "Mana! [Bye! I love you]"

Ash wasn’t bringing up the fact that he did understand what Manaphy called them, but for some reason Max felt like he won something

And with that, Manaphy slipped beneath the surface. The Temple of the Sea followed, descending slowly into the ocean. The water rippled...then became calm again, as if nothing had changed at all.

May, who had been putting on a brave face and trying not to cry, looked out at the sea fondly, even as her shoulders shook.

Ash gently bumped her shoulder with his, "Hey, May. You okay?"

May paused for a moment, then turned and pulled Ash into a hug. Ash could feel her warm tears soaking into his shoulder as she spoke softly.

"Not completely...but I will be."

She pulled back and wiped her cheek, looking up at him, "Thank you...for what you said...and for keeping your promises."

Ash gave his usual goofy grin, "Hey, if I’m gone, who’s gonna be around to annoy you?"

As for the "thing he said," Ash knew full well May had overheard him telling Jack off for trying to separate her and Manaphy, but he didn’t mention it.

Jack finally cleared his throat. Behind him were a few of the Wailord he had befriended with his Capture Styler, with the pirates and Phantom tied securely on their backs since he couldn’t take them directly to the Ranger pickup.

"Ash, I wanted to say...I was wrong. And thank you for talking sense into me," Jack said, rubbing his chest, "Even if you had to do that for me to listen."

"No problem," Ash said with a wink, "But you can thank me by making sure you keep doing your job."

Jack laughed, "No promises," he joked. Then he looked at May, "And May, I’m sorry I thought you caring about Manaphy was a problem. I forgot that part of my duty as a Ranger is to protect relationships between people and Pokémon too."

May blinked, then gave him a small but sincere smile, "It’s okay," she said softly, "You were just trying to protect Manaphy in your own way."

Jack nodded, "I’ll be sure to act accordingly for the rest of my missions. So thank you. And if you ever need a Ranger, you can always call, I’ll do everything I can."

"Thanks. Might take you up on that one day," Ash nodded.

Shep walked up from his side of the ship, "Are you sure you want to go on your own? We could drop you off where you need to go."

But Jack shook his head, "No, I’ve troubled you all enough. From now on, I’m going my own way."

He jumped up onto the rail and backflipped, landing on one of the Wailord. Then he waved at them.

"So long, everyone! This is Jack, out!"

Then, with Jack’s word, the Wailord turned and swam off into the distance.

"Ah, finally, we’re done with everything," Kyle said, looking out to where Jack disappeared.

"So what’s next?" Lizabeth asked as she sat on the railing, looking at her father and grandfather. She was petting Phantom’s Chatot, which had been abandoned. Now it was kind of part of the family.

"I’m not really sure, actually," Shep said, "I never thought we’d get this far."

"Well, if I may, I have a suggestion" Ash said with a grin, "I did promise a certain Gym Leader I’d bring you all back. And since I’m pretty sure none of you guys sent that email, how about it? Care to go to Cerulean?"

Shep blinked, then barked out a laugh, "Oh, I forgot all about that with all the excitement! Haha!"

"Huh, actually, I forgot Misty asked us to bring them for that collaboration," Brock said, tapping his chin.

"Well, Brock, in your defense, Misty was the one that said it would only take a day this time," Ash shrugged.

"How dare she jinx us," Max muttered.

Meredith chuckled softly and looked up, "Well, I don’t see why not. How about it?"

"I’m down!" Lizabeth said.

"Same here," Kyle nodded.

"Alright, though it might take a few days if we go by ship..." Shep said, already mapping out the path in his head.

"Oh, don’t worry about that," Ash said as he pulled out his Poké Balls and returned Milotic and Kingdra to them, "I recommend everyone get their Pokémon back."

They were going to ask why, but then they remembered this was Ash. They weren’t going to get a straight answer. So May recalled her Wailord, and the Marina Group returned all their Pokémon.

"Ash...are you doing what I think you’re doing?" Brock asked, already heading to the nearest seat and strapping on a seatbelt.

Ash slowly looked at him, then very slowly said, "Yes." He snapped his fingers, and Abby appeared beside him.

"Alright, guys, hold on. Things might get bumpy," Max said, grabbing onto the nearest bolted-down object.

May added, sitting in the nearest chair, "Don’t worry. The sickness is normal your first time."

Before the family could question what they were talking about, Abby opened her eyes. The entire ship began to glow, then popped out of existence, teleporting all the way to Cerulean.

At the dock, obviously Ash wasn’t going to put an entire ship inside the Gym. He might like trolling Misty, but he still liked his friends, and doing that would be a step too far.

Now they were here. Never mind the Marina Group throwing up over the side of the ship from teleportation sickness, that was normal.

Ash pulled out his phone and sent a text to Misty.

—

PokemonEnjoyer: Yo, Mist, we’re here~