My Name is Loto [Pokémon Fanfiction]

16| All the Stars in the Sky

With the slightest of creaks, I slowly opened the door. I was greeted with the hum of the ship's engine echoing down a dark hall.

I tensed as I transformed again, readying a small ice knife in one hand after I did. There was no way or reason I'd risk missing with individual shards, and the large shard I'd used to break free was too impractical to use for me. I gave the fading lamp a considering look before closing the door. Again, there was no reason for me to risk anything, this time with being spotted.

Putting one hand on the wall as a guide, I proceeded down the hall. Small creaks and groans in the wood sounded around me along with an occasional fluttering sort of noise outside the ship's hull (maybe bird Pokémon?). They combined with the hum, creating a sound that put my nerves on edge.

My hand soon felt the lip of a corner, and a quick investigation revealed it was a narrow, steep staircase. Up the stairs I went to another hallway where the engine grew quieter. This one way narrower with what I was sure were a couple doors lining it. My hand passed over a door frame as I walked this next hall, though the attached door was closed. While I was tempted to listen at it, I pushed the thought away and continued on.

One last staircase, which I tried to hurry up. Instead of another hall, there was a closed door that barred my way. It, too, was unlocked.

The cool night air hit me in the face when I cracked open the door, fresh and uplifting. I took in a lungful, reveling in it after being cooped up with the stale below-deck air for the past few hours. A flock of Fletchinder flew through the faintly pink-streaked the sky above. I spotted the place where the ship's gangplank would go down, and I decided to just run for it.

"Where do you think you're going, Lotario?"

I had no time to react before a hand grabbed my wrist, pulling me to a stop. I cried out and whirled around, trying to yank myself free. There, of course, stood Rangi. I somehow hadn't heard him come up behind me on the stairs. But there he was, looking disappointed.

"You can't deny your fate," he said.

   My first instinct was to plunge the ice knife into Rangi's hand, so that was what I did. Rangi jerked his hand back, and the knife missed. But he had let go, and the moment he did so, I tried to run. I wasn't able to make it more than a few steps before Rangi cut me off.

"Lotario, I suggest you stop right there," he said.

"Shut up!" I flung a handful of Ice Shards at him, and his eyes widened as he threw his arm up and tried to sidestep them. Two skidded across his arm, and the rest missed.

Rangi ran a finger across one of the scratches my shards inflicted, grimacing. "So you'd raise a hand to your older brother?" he asked, unsheathing Justice. "I suppose we'll be doing this the hard way. Bellum."

The amber patterns pulsed with light before the metal of Justice reacted, stretching and warping until the flat was twice as wide and the length had roughly doubled. The sword was now over half my height and seemed to radiate an energy that made me flinch.