Auron Vale was over the moon as he watched the entire Waterflower Team get swept ashore in one go.
"Big Brother Kyogre, thanks for that extra-large tidal delivery!"
He immediately directed everyone to tie up the Waterflower grunts, who had been battered silly by the wave.
As the group moved to restrain them, another surge came rolling in toward Auron and the others. It wasn't nearly as huge as the last one—looked more like an ordinary breaker—so Jace Rowan and the rest didn't think much of it and kept right on with their tying.
But then a blue Pokémon burst out of the spray, catching Auron's eye.
"Manaphy?!!"
(Eh? Where's Victini??)
Boy and Pokémon both froze. Auron standing on the sand, Manaphy bobbing on the foam—wide eyes locked, mutual confusion. This wasn't how either of them had pictured this going.
Unconvinced, Manaphy hopped down from the crest of the wave and drifted unsteadily through the air until it floated right up to Auron.
Manaphy circled him once, twice, as if searching for something.
(???)
It glanced at Auron's bare torso and swim shorts, and its eyes suddenly lit up. Under Auron's baffled stare, the little prince of the sea reached out a tiny hand, clearly intending to tug open his swim shorts to check whether Victini was hiding inside.
The moment Auron realized Manaphy was going for his shorts, he hurriedly backed up a few steps, yanking the waistband tight and staring at Manaphy with high alert.
Manaphy blinked, then its eyes brimmed with tears. It looked one breath away from bursting into sobs.
"Meanie! Give Victini back!"
Manaphy thrust out its small hand, teary-eyed.
The voice echoed directly in Auron's head, and he finally understood—so Manaphy was here looking for Victini.
He eased his stance and spoke gently to it. "You're here for Victini? Victini's not with me. He—"
Auron hadn't even finished when Manaphy zipped up close, floated right in front of him, and sniffed at his bare chest. Then, just like before, it reached toward him again, eyes swimming with tears.
Auron's head throbbed, but he kept his patience and explained, "Victini and I were playing together a few days ago. He's already gone home."
Saying Victini had gone home tugged at him. What a shame… If Victini weren't waiting for someone incredibly important, Auron would've tried anything to coax him into coming back first and sort things out later.
Manaphy went still. This time, the tears really gushed out.
It thought back: it had only just woken up and immediately sensed Victini's aura, then had rushed straight over. Not even a moment's stop along the way—whenever it got tired of swimming, it found help from a few friendly Pokémon. It had braved all that hardship to get here, and now he was saying Victini wasn't here?
Manaphy: aggrieved.jpg
Auron panicked the moment he saw the little guy actually crying. He hurried to soothe it.
But the more he tried to comfort it, the louder Manaphy wailed. At this rate, they were going to draw everyone else's attention.
Auron had no choice. He scooped Manaphy up and carried it over to the beach chair, tugged his backpack—tossed aside on the sand—upright, and pulled out one of Snorlax's treasured Pokéblocks for the crying Mythical.
It couldn't be helped. The snacks, Poffins, and little Poké Puff cookies in Auron's bag rarely survived half a day once Snorlax got a whiff.
Manaphy was still sniffling, but instinct had it take a nibble of the Pokéblock pressed to its lips.
Its eyes brightened at once. It hugged the block and started taking big, happy bites.
Auron finally exhaled. Say what you would about Snorlax's stash—flavor was guaranteed.
The Pokéblock vanished quickly. Manaphy gathered a little water in its hands to rinse its mouth, then gave an adorable shake of its head, mood visibly improved.
Seeing Manaphy calm down, Auron spoke again. "You're here for Victini, right?"
Manaphy nodded, then its expression dimmed.
Auron caught that look and continued quickly, "I know where Victini is. I can take you to him."
At that, Manaphy's head snapped up to look at Auron, those big eyes sparkling like stars—too cute for words.
"But we'll need to wait a bit," Auron added. "Let us finish cleaning things up here first. Then I'll take you over, okay?"
He pointed to the Waterflower Team members sprawled farther down the beach and gave Manaphy a careful explanation.
Manaphy bobbed its head quickly. So long as someone would bring it to its little friend, waiting a while didn't seem like a big deal.
Auron set Manaphy on the beach chair, tucked a blanket around it, then took out another of Snorlax's prized Pokéblocks from his bag so Manaphy could munch while it waited.
As he reached in, something about a Luxury Ball in the backpack seemed a little off. He didn't dwell on it—handed Manaphy the Pokéblock—and trotted back over to keep tying people up.
Manaphy reclined under the blanket on the lounger, sunning itself as it happily munched the delicious Pokéblock.
After Auron had trussed up a few more, Captain Li finally came hustling over with his officers in tow, all of them anxious.
Seeing Auron and the others safe, he let out a long breath. "Thank goodness you're all right—you gave me a scare."
Auron straightened up and glanced toward the beach chair. When he spotted the lump that was Manaphy tucked under the blanket, he smiled at Captain Li. "All good. Nothing major. Weren't you stuck in traffic? What happened?"
Panting, Captain Li said, "Don't even get me started. A bus, a taxi, a van, and a small truck all piled into each other. And the folks riding Dodrio and Tauros—total chaos. The whole road got jammed solid. We had to run along the landscaping strip to get here."
Looking at the captain and his team, red-faced and gasping, Auron couldn't help a little respect. "That's rough—thanks for the hard work. Take a breather. We're almost done—just need to finish tying this lot. Everything else is handled."
Captain Li waved him off, straightening with a grin. "It's fine—small stuff. We'll slap cuffs on them first, then rest. Handcuffs are a lot easier than rope anyway."
He led by example, and the officers went down the line cuffing the Waterflower Team one by one—oddly dressed in Flame Team uniforms, at that.
As they worked, the captain muttered, "Good thing I had the foresight to pack extra cuffs. Otherwise we really would've been stuck with rope."
With the police joining in, Jace and the others could finally take it easy. After all, if you've got handcuffs, why bother with knots? The officers clicked cuffs shut one after another, and Auron's group strolled back toward the beach chairs to catch their breath.
They had only just taken a sip of water when the others noticed Auron sidle up to Jace. He clapped a hand over Jace's mouth, then lifted the edge of the blanket on the lounger.
"Mmff—mmff, mmmff!"
The instant Jace saw Manaphy, he tried to shout. Good thing Auron had the foresight to muffle him first.
"Manaphy??!!"
Jace wasn't the only one liable to blurt it out—someone else still did, though not as loudly as Jace would have.
The group stared wide-eyed at the bundled-up Manaphy, then at Auron clamping a hand over Jace's mouth, and whispered:
"Are we sure that's Manaphy? You're not pulling one over on us with Ditto, are you?"
Auron spread his hands—what kind of person did they take him for?
He quickly explained why Manaphy was here, and that the huge wave from earlier had been Manaphy's doing.
Under everyone's grateful looks toward the Mythical, he posed the real problem.
"So, how do we get Manaphy over there? We can't exactly leave right now. There's a whole chain of follow-ups with the Waterflower Team on the police side, and Elite Four Member Yue wants debriefs. We're not getting away. Think it through—how do we get Manaphy to Victini?"
"Send it by express courier. Ship it over!"
(End of Chapter)