The Dark Organization, Chiyou was in a foul mood.
Especially the one who had made a military vow. He originally thought Nathan would travel by plane.
But what he never expected was that Nathan took a ship instead.
And not just any ship—a battleship.
He had planned to make his move on the plane—worst case, blow it up entirely.
But now? What, was he supposed to blow up a warship? That was clearly impossible.
Attacking at sea was basically out of the question too.
Even if they knew Nathan's route, with a military escort, how were they supposed to act?
Just rely on Pokémon? Nathan's Pokémon weren't exactly weaklings.
While the man was worrying over this, he suddenly saw a news report on TV that gave him an idea.
The report was about a ship in distress.
If they could pose as someone in distress and "happen" to meet Nathan at sea, then board the ship—everything else could fall into place.
Chiyou had always been quick to act.
Once the plan was set, a woman immediately set off toward Nathan's location, flying over with the help of her Pokémon.
In fact, when the naval ship had neared the coast earlier, the organization had already placed a tracker on it.
Initially, they had intended to wait until Nathan reached land to strike. But with a better plan now in motion, the tracker became very useful.
After roughly a day of tracking, the woman finally spotted Nathan's ship through binoculars.
She switched to another Pokémon and swam underwater toward Nathan's path ahead.
Meanwhile, aboard the battleship, Nathan had spent over a day fishing and only caught one Gyarados.
This left him rather disappointed. There were no surprises at all.
But with the system shop at his disposal, it wasn't like Nathan had no way to kill time at sea.
After browsing the store, he quickly found something interesting:
a pair of ice skates.
The sea had been calm for days, and with all that water around…
Nathan, who had a Frosmoth, certainly wasn't worried about lacking ice.
"Captain Burks, I'm heading out to do some ice skating. Just keep sailing as usual,"
Nathan informed the captain before disembarking.
Captain Burks looked at the skates in his hands, confused. "How are you gonna skate out there? There's no ice."
"If you were surfing, our ship could tow you," he added. "But skating on the sea?"
Nathan chuckled and released Frosmoth.
"I've got Pokémon, don't I?"
Captain Burks nodded in understanding—of course. This was the regional champion, after all. With an Ice-type Pokémon, ice was never a concern.
"Just don't go too far from the ship."
Since Nathan had his own method, Captain Burks was happy to let him be.
Nathan changed into the skates and flew out over the water on his Flygon.
"Frosmoth, start freezing the sea in front of me. Just be careful not to block the ship's path."
Following the command, Frosmoth began freezing a trail across the ocean.
An ice path quickly formed, and Nathan skated leisurely along it.
Whenever he was about to slow down, he would grab Flygon to pull him forward.
The military personnel on surrounding ships were stunned by the scene.
"City folks really know how to have fun," someone muttered.
Meanwhile, the woman from Chiyou had finally gotten ahead of the battleship and prepared to surface and cry for help.
But just before she emerged, a thick sheet of ice appeared right above her.
Seeing that, the woman could only curse.
She had gone through all that trouble to get ahead of the ship, only for Nathan to ice over the surface?
The ice was just a single layer, but it was exactly over her head.
Anyone would lose their mind in that situation.
With ice blocking the top, she tried to swim sideways.
But just then, the warship came into view.
Two battleships were passing on either side of the ice path, leaving her no choice but to change positions again.
By the time she finally surfaced, the fleet had already moved some distance away.
Left with no other option, the woman tried calling out for help—but no one heard her.
"Huh? Did someone just call for help, or was I hearing things?"
Nathan looked around the sea.
There was nothing—no floating debris, no swimmers—just the endless ocean and a few seagulls flying overhead.
After a few more glances, convinced there was no one there, Nathan decided he'd misheard and caught up with the ship using Flygon.
He kept playing until dinner time. Feeling hungry, he rode Flygon back to the ship.
Evelyn had taken over Nathan's fishing rod and had become absorbed in fishing.
Captain Burks even delivered her dinner to her spot.
Just as she was eating while fishing, Evelyn suddenly felt a tug on the line.
"A Pokémon took the bait!" she shouted excitedly, dropping her utensils and yanking hard on the rod.
Nathan, who had just returned to the deck after dinner, heard her and went over to take a look.
Evelyn struggled to pull in the line—it was too heavy.
Seeing her struggle, Nathan stepped in to help.
Together, they managed to pull the "Pokémon" out of the water.
But when Evelyn saw a human arm, she screamed and let go of the rod in fright.
Without her help, Nathan couldn't hold on alone, and the arm sank back into the sea.
The commotion drew the attention of the soldiers.
"There's a hand…" Evelyn pointed at the water, retreating in fear.
Captain Burks joined Nathan to help reel it in again.
This time, they pulled up a soaked woman onto the deck.
Seeing her lying there drenched, Nathan was speechless.
He had only caught one Gyarados, while Evelyn had caught a whole person.
"She's still alive!"
Captain Burks checked her pulse and confirmed she had a heartbeat.
The ship's medic quickly came to examine her and moved her to a room to rest.
"Still want to keep fishing?"
Nathan sneaked up behind Evelyn and whispered eerily.
Evelyn shuddered in fright and waved her hands frantically.
"I'm never touching a fishing rod again in my life!"
Too scary!
…
If it were daytime, it might've been fine.
But it was night—pitch black—and in this region, it got dark early.
Though they had just finished dinner, the sky was already inky.
Catching a person at such a time… Evelyn was traumatized for life.
"I'm never picking up a fishing rod again," she said, terrified.
Seeing her reaction, Nathan burst into laughter.
Fishermen really could catch anything—not just fish.
As for the woman they pulled aboard—she was none other than the Chiyou member trying to assassinate Nathan.
After failing to get rescued the first time, she had once again pursued the ship using her Pokémon.
Just as she arrived and saw someone fishing, she grabbed the line without hesitation.
But having spent eight hours struggling in the ocean, she was utterly exhausted.
So the moment she was hauled aboard, she passed out.
Originally, she could've been rescued hours earlier.
But thanks to Nathan's ice-skating fun, she ended up suffering for several more hours.
Truly, her luck was just that bad.
The next morning, Nathan got up early and went to the deck—only to see Evelyn already standing by the railing, gazing at the sea.
"You're up early," he greeted.
"Huh? What did you say?"
Evelyn turned stiffly toward him.
When she did, Nathan noticed the dark circles under her eyes.
"Pfft—" he laughed heartlessly.
Of course, he wasn't laughing at how she looked—he was laughing at the fact she probably hadn't slept all night over what happened.
"You're laughing at me!"
Evelyn was thoroughly upset.
She had stayed up all night in fear, and now Nathan was mocking her instead of offering comfort.
Weren't they supposed to be partners? Not even one word of sympathy?
Seeing that she was angry, Nathan tried to suppress his laughter.
But he couldn't hold back for long and soon burst out laughing again.
"Excuse me, were you the one who saved me?"
Just then, a voice interrupted.
Nathan turned around—it was the woman they had rescued the night before.
Her hair had covered her face while she was soaked, so they hadn't gotten a good look at her before.
(End of Chapter)