That's the Spirit! - Chapter 19

[Hau’oli City Harbor]

“Hehehe… Take that, Captain. This is what you get for kicking me off the boat tour… Bothering the tourists, am I? Well what do I care about a bunch of hokey tourists hanging around where they’re not wanted?”

Yoma muttered to himself continually as he defaced the tour boat. So far, he’d painted the Team Skull logo in three different colors, a cartoon Wimpod looking mean, and was currently attempting to come up with a particularly scathing critique on the tourism industry in Alola. Sadly, Yoma’s surprising talent for the arts didn’t extend to wordsmithing.

“Aha, got it: TORISTS SUK! Heck yeah, yo. Broseph, check it out!” Yoma turned around with a grin, popping the top off a fresh can. “Want me to do a Mareanie? Actually I’m running out of space, maybe I can do a Cutiefly…”

He trailed off when Broseph didn’t answer him. The taller grunt was standing at the end of the pier, supposedly keeping watch. Instead, he was staring out over the sea. In particular he was keeping an eye on the beach across the way, where a bunch of people were lounging, swimming, and just generally vibing with tropical living.

Broseph scowled under his bandanna. What a bunch of losers. All happy and whatnot. Jerks.

“Bro!”

“What?!” Broseph barked, turned to glare at him. He looked over the graffiti and relaxed a little. “Huh. Not bad, man, not bad at all.” He squinted. “Is that a Cutiefly?”

“Yo!”

“...Why?”

Yoma tapped his fingers together. “I like Cutiefly.”

“...Well, alright then.” Broseph grabbed his own satchel full of cans and smirked. “Looks like this canvas is full. The next dock over belongs to this fishing trawler that threw a Magikarp in my face once, so--”

“Hey, you punks!”

The two grunts turned, eyes wide, as the tour captain stormed down the pier, looking furious. “Oops, look like we overstayed our welcome. Where’s the boombox?”

“Yo!” Yoma pulled it out and started up the theme song. When the captain arrived, the pair were posing all over him.

“Look at what you’ve done!” the captain wailed, stomping angrily. “I have a tour scheduled in one hour! I can’t let anyone see this! You two are going to pay for this…” he growled.

Broseph grunted. “You think you can make us pay?” The sound of the sea punctuated the beat.

Yoma grinned. “You’re better off running away!”

“You’re dealing with Broseph--”

“--and Yoma!”

“Worst of the worst!”

“Baddest of the bad!”

“You steppin’ to us?”

“Buster, you’re had!”

With each line, the two Skulls switched poses, and the captain’s eyes widened. Broseph enjoyed the look of fear in his eyes as he took a step back, then another. Ah, finally. Respect. Feels good.

“Team Skull, represent!” Broseph shouted, showing off his new skull-charm necklace. He got it made in gold, like the Boss’s. Well, actually it was the standard silver that he spray-painted yellow by accident, but whatever, it was cool.

“Yo, we messed up your boat, yo!” Yoma shouted. “What you gonna do about it?!” He sounded a little uncertain, but Broseph didn’t notice.

The captain, looking pale, suddenly cut and ran, not sparing them a second look.

Broseph laughed. “Yeah, you better run!”

Yoma scratched his head through his beanie. “That was weird.”

“It was awesome’s what it was,” Broseph corrected smugly. “Finally people’re showing Team Skull proper respect.”

“No, you’re right, yo. It’s just…” He trailed off, frowning.

“Just what?”

“I could have sworn he was looking past us, not at us.” Yoma hummed. He turned around.

“You musta been seein’ things, Yoma,” Broseph said dismissively. “He was terrified of us, yeah, and he shoulda been. Now let’s go to the next ship, I’m gonna paint a Wishiwashi on it.” He waited for a response, and was greeted by silence. “Yoma? I’m talkin’ to you.”

He turned to see Yoma staring behind them, eyes wide and pupils shrunken. Scowling, Broseph went to see what the hell was so interesting.

A glowing green diving suit stood at the end of the pier, examining their graffiti.

“It’s a good start, boys,” the apparition said, his voice echoing oddly. The entire world faded, until colors were washed out and the figure seemed to pop into the foreground. The sky was turning overcast. “Stupid tourists, taking the sea for granted…”

Yomas was frozen in shock, but Broseph recovered quickly. Ignoring the goosebumps crawling up his arms, he smiled nervously. “Uh, th-thanks, man. Uh. Nice… paint, job? I like the, er, the glow. Very spooky.”

“You think so?” the diver asked sincerely, turning to look himself over. “I always thought I could use more color, personally. But that’s for later.” He walked over to the glass-bottom tour boat and placed a hand on its hull. “Yes… This will do nicely…”

The world turned sideways, and Broseph struggled to stay upright. When he had a hold of himself again, the diver’s odd aura had spread to the boat. Its engine started with a roar. Then another, further down the pier. And another, until all six boats currently docked were powered up.

“Yo, what are y-you doing?!” Yoma asked, terrified. “And how?!”

The diver threw his head back and laughed. “I don’t know!”

Ropes untied. Sails snapped open. The wind shifted. Every boat in the docks rocketed out to sea at once.

The seas rose to wash over the pier, and Broseph and Yoma screamed, pulling each other close. When the waves subsided and they could stand again, thoroughly soaked, the ghost was gone.

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[Hau’oli City Beach]

All across the city, people looked up and frowned. There wasn’t any rain in the forecast, they noted. It was supposed to be sunny all day. Some of them also noticed how choppy the sea was all of a sudden. On the sand, beachgoers all looked up at the distant sound of engines and saw a fleet of small ships zooming out of the harbor. 

Some of them wondered if there was some kind of show going on. Some worried if there was an emergency at sea being attended to. No one thought the beach itself was in trouble until a number of wild Pokémon began emerging from the surf in a panic.

Krabby and Crabrawler crawled onto the beach. A Mantyke flopped its way out, aided by an Octillery that had an easier time on land than the young ray. Wingull glided in and flew through the city to the inland woods.

The lifeguard blew his whistle. “Everyone back to the shore! Something’s happening! Everyone back--”

He gasped as one of the boats turned towards the beach and accelerated.

“OFF THE BEACH! GET OFF THE BEACH, HURRY! HUR--!” He leapt off the tower and made for where a man had been buried in the sand. The lifeguard released his Sandygast, who took in the situation calmly and helped un-bury the man so he could run for it. “Sandy, look out!”

The boat hit the shore. Sandygast slinked under its partner’s feet and carried him away from the crash as quickly as it could without sending him spilling. The ship’s glass bottom shattered, and the little sand pile had to swerve and dodge to avoid the flying shards as the boat turned on its side. The engines stalled loudly, and an eerie light emerged from the cabin.

“HAHAHAHAHA!” A glowing man in an old diver suit appeared on the tour ship’s bow, laughing madly. “YES! FLEE, pitiful beachgoers! Shore-ly, you recognize your DOOM!”

“Sand Tomb!”

The lifeguard instantly identified this crazy weirdo as the culprit and took action. Normally, he wouldn’t use even a weak move against a human, but the suit would protect him from the sandblasting and the move was an entrapping one, keeping him in place until the authorities could arrive.

Sandygast fired a ball of loosely-packed sand at the diver, and it exploded on impact, swirling into a small twister that scoured the target with grit and sand.

“AGH! Sand in my eye!” The diver raised his hooked hand and--the lifeguard’s eyes bugged out--retracted the hook into his arm before firing a water blast from the hole.

It hit the lifeguard in the chest, knocking him onto his back, and Sandygast squealed in shock. It tried to help him up, but it was shocked into inaction when the diver turned translucent and stepped through the swirling sand.

“You cannot defeat me with mere sand, foolish…” The diver paused, taking Sandygast in properly. “...sandcastle. What?”

Sandygast blinked, squinting at him, then sneezed. “What… are you?”

“I feel like I should be asking tha--AGH, leaves in my eye!”

“Hit him again!” A random trainer from the beach returned, a Sewaddle perched on her head. The little bug fired a Razor Leaf, pelting the monster.

Another trainer arrived to join in, sending out a Kirlia who fired a Psybeam.

A Darumaka used Ember.

A Plusle and Minun used Thundershock.

A wild Krabby used Bubble.

The diver yelled incoherently, bracing himself against the attacks and flinching as they hit. “You fools! You face the mighty--” A Rock Throw from someone knocked his helmet askew, muffling his voice.

“Keep it up!” The first trainer yelled.

Sandygast pulled its trainer aside and attempted to plea to him. The lifeguard knew it well enough to know it was scared.

“Everyone, fall back!” he ordered. “Something’s not right with this guy!”

“We can tell that, dude! We’ve got it handled!”

“graaaAAAA--!”

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Kukui’s lab was not, in the grand scheme of things, very far from Hau’oli at all. It was really only just outside the city limits; it was a fifteen minute walk and a five minute run to get to Hau’oli Pokémon Center East, and only a little more to get to the city beach.

It might as well have been hours as far as Danny was concerned. A creeping chill danced up and down his spine as he followed his ghost sense towards the city.

“Danny, you’re the closest thing we have to an expert,” Kukui said, keeping up easily. Incineroar jogged behind him, and Braviary was soaring overhead. “How dangerous is this guy?”

Danny grunted. His breath misted and he adjusted course. “I don’t have a clue. Until the Portal accident my parents didn’t even have proof ghosts were real. But they definitely thought they’d be dangerous, or else they wouldn’t have spent every waking moment working on stocking the armory.”

Kukui muttered to himself. “...I need to familiarize you with the interregional ranking system. I understand it’s not possible now, but it would be helpful if we could just say ‘Oh, this ghost is a four-badge challenge, prepare accordingly.’” He grinned. “Are you still against enrolling in the Trainer School?”

“I’ll think about--wait.” Danny stopped, panting slightly. A massive plume of mist billowed out. “He’s close--”

“--aaaaaAAAAAGH!!!”

They finally arrived at the beach, and took in the scene. A tour boat, beached and glass everywhere. Trainers in swimsuits directing attacks, Pokémon attacking. Rebreather was huddled on the front of the boat, taking the moves. As they approached, the ghost retaliated with a huge blast of green energy, radiating off him in a wave. Pokémon were knocked back or even knocked out. A familiar lifeguard was thrown back, and a mound of sand moved to keep him away from the glass.

“Insignificant shrimp! You’re all prawns in my game, you just don’t realize it yet! The ocean, she is MINE!”

The water started to pull back from the shore, and Kukui swore. “Braviary, Superpower!”

With a piercing cry, the eagle dived, talons extended.

Rebreather looked up at the sound. His net moved to intercept, and Braviary was swiftly tangled. He landed easily enough, and while he was a lot more awkward on the ground, he wasn’t defenseless. He still struck true, but the Fighting-type attack was phased through and did nothing. Rebreather swiped with his hook, and Braviary cried out in pain.

Kukui grit his teeth. “Incineroar, get in there!”

“Grar!”

“Danny.” Kukui grabbed him by the shoulders and looked him in the eye. “Listen. I’ll keep him distracted. You get the other trainers out of here.”

Something deep inside him rebelled at the idea… but Danny shook it away. He had no idea what he could do against a crazy ghost, so best to keep to where he was useful.

He made his way to the lifeguard. As he approached, Zorua hopped off his shoulder and shifted into a copy of Danny, with added tail.

“Gast, san san?”

Danny looked down and saw the weird sand castle Pokémon looking up at him with a worried expression. “Don’t worry, we’re getting you to safety.”

“Zur!”

A deafening crash made Danny flinch, and he turned to look. Incineroar was grappling with Rebreather. The ghost was trying to phase through him, and apparently frustrated at his lack of success. The bipedal cat smirked and Taunted him.

Rebreather responded by pulling his head back and headbutting him. His helmet rang like a gong, and Incineroar was thrown back, holding his nose in agony.

“Eurg…” The lifeguard stuttered awake at the sound. “What happened?”

“There’s a situation,” Danny explained, hauling him to his feet. He slung one of the taller man’s arms across his shoulders, Zorua taking his other side.

The lifeguard’s eyes crossed as he tried to take in the scene. “Ugh, I might have a concussion again…” He frowned. “...Why can’t I hear the waves?”

“There’s kind of a battle happening,” Danny said, looking over. Rick and Robin were helping another Trainer whose knee had been sprained by the ecto-wave, and far too close to that Rebreather was fighting an Incineroar on the backfoot. “Something’s going on, it’s like he’s getting stronger…”

“No. I should be able to hear the waves.” He smacked his forehead with his palm.

“Hey, don’t do that! You just said--”

“I know what I’m doing, I took First Aid courses.” The lifeguard finally got his eyes to focus. He looked back at the shore, where the water was still pulling back. There was an unearthly glow to it. “Oh no.”

They got to the stairs back up to the road, and Danny let go of him so he could lean on the guardrail. “What oh no?” Danny asked, worried.

“That crazy… thing… Is he trying to make a tidal wave?!”

As if on cue, Rebreather burst out laughing. Braviary, who’d been trying to untangle himself, was suddenly wrapped tight and thrown back on the deck. The ghost cut the net free from his shoulder with his hook and directed his entire focus onto Incineroar.

“You cannot stop me! The ocean came for me, and now it comes for all of you!”

------------------------------------

Kukui frowned. While Danny was taking care of the lifeguard, the Professor was doing much the same with some of the other trainers who got knocked down.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

The kid stood up on shaky legs. “I think so?” Her Sewaddle crawled up her leg, chewing on her shorts worriedly. “What’s going on with that guy?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Kukui said. He pushed her towards the stairs and turned his attention back to the battle.

Incineroar had backed off. The ghost had taken to slashing wilding with a harpoon, and the tiger Pokémon had lost some fur and wasn’t keen on losing more. He wasn’t the best at range, but it was still better than getting cut to pieces. Incineroar took a deep breath and let out a stream of fire, which washed over Rebreather, leaving singe marks on his suit.

Braviary had only managed to get more tangled, so Kukui returned him. “Lucario, your turn!”

Lucario appeared with a grave look on its face. It took the scene in with a glance and charged forward… or started to. It stumbled, looking confused. “Lu ri?”

“What’s wrong? Aside from the obvious…” 

Lucario barked, and Kukui looked closer. Incineroar’s Flamethrower didn’t seem to be doing much. The ghost had his arms up to block, and as he watched, Rebreather took a step forward, then another.

“Is he… glowing brighter?” Kukui murmured. His eyes widened. “Wait, Lucario, is he?”

“Rio!” the jackal confirmed. It darted forward and slammed a Force Palm into Rebreather’s stomach. The impact knocked him back, but only seemed to annoy him.

Hurriedly, Kukui pulled out his phone, nearly dropping it in his haste. He speed-dialled and practically shouted when it connected.

“Ku--”

“Burnet! You still have some of that ectoplasm from Danny, right?”

“Yeah? What’s going on, are you alright?”

“No time! Have Cutiefly use Fairy Wind on a sample!”

“Why--”

“Now!”

His grip on the phone tightened as he waited, watching his Pokémon exchanged futile blows with the ghost, who barely seemed to notice as he tossed them around.

“...Interesting.”

“What happened?”

“The slime started glowing pink. It faded back to green afterwards, but it’s almost like it absorbed--”

Kukui hung up. “Darkest Lariat, now!”

Incineroar charged forward without questioning the order. Rebreather took a Dark arm bar to the face and yelled in pain.

Professor Kukui’s specialization was in Moves. He’d made a successful career studying them, and had done well enough to stand alongside the likes of Professors Oak and Rowan at a relatively young age. The way moves worked was the vast majority were directed Aura constructs composed of a particular Type of energy. Getting hit with special Moves barely bothered the ghost, and he seemed to be getting stronger over time. It was only a theory, but if ectoplasm was able to absorb Aura, then using moves would only strengthen him.

On the other hand, if he was a ghost and he was absorbing Aura, he’d be taking on more of the properties of the Ghost Type, and so therefore:

“He’s weak to Dark, and I’ll bet Ghost too! Keep it up Incineroar!” Kukui called. “Lucario, you remember Shadow Ball, right?”

It wasn’t a move they used often; Ghost was only super-effective against Ghost, and Lucario wasn’t his first choice against those. The jackal nodded uncertainly.

“See if you can figure out Shadow Claw!”

Lucario frowned, but nodded assent.

“Kukui, what’s going on?!”

The Professor turned and nearly collapsed in relief at seeing Hala. “Thank goodness you’re here. Do you have any Pokémon good at punching ghosts?”

Hala stroked his mustache. “Of course I do. But what’s going on?” He looked around and his eyes popped. “Kukui, the sea--”

“I know! He’s causing it!” Kukui pointed at Rebreather, just in time to see the ghost roar in rage. The receding ocean surged back, partially, carrying a sailboat on a small wave that slammed into Incineroar, knocking him out. Lucario avoided it, but barely.

“What on earth?!”

“Don’t use special attacks! I think he’s absorbing Aura!”

Hala rolled up his sleeve. “A challenge, then. Bewear!”

Rebreather looked up, startled. “Box--?”

He took a Brutal Swing to the faceplate.

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[Melemele Sea]

The water was still receding. It was possible now for those in higher-floored buildings to see the building mound of water a ways offshore.

The Pokémon were taking notice as well, as the coral reef was exposed to air for the first time in existence.

Corsola, being able to work just fine both in the sea and on land, were ferrying smaller Pokémon who’d been caught off guard back to the water. It wasn’t easy; they were not fast Pokémon on land and were only just able to catch up to the receding waters.

One Corsola in particular had just finished throwing a Magikarp back into the sea when she was distracted by a loud noise. She turned around and squinted; from here she could just barely see the light from moves being used on the beach. Fire, shadowy Ghost attacks, and a strange green glow that looked like Grass but… she instinctively knew it wasn’t.

Just like that boy.

The shiny Corsola had no way of knowing what was going on, but she had a feeling. This tidal wave that was building was unnatural, she could feel it in her core, and she didn’t want it to strike the island. There were people she liked living there.

With a determined look, she turned and galloped as fast as her rock body would let her back to the wall of water. “Hey! How many of you can use Surf?!”

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[Hau’oli Beach]

Rebreather was angry. No, worse than that, he was mad. It was so hard to think. The air was… heavy, he felt overstuffed. It was almost like his distant memories of being drunk, something he had almost forgotten. Maybe if these blasted freaks of nature would stop attacking him he’d be able to figure out what he was doing.

What was it? He was trying to… save the ocean? Destroy the ocean? Kill the sea? Kill those who would disrespect… It was so hard to keep it straight, and that was normal, but was it always this hard?

He was on a beach, yes, good. That was a good place for him to be. Between land and sea, just like him. He was… near a boat. Several? No no, just one, no, two, but he still had several boats under his control. Was he always able to control that many? From such a great distance?

He was being attacked. By a weird bird, a weird man in a tiger costume, a weird dog… the bird and the wrestler were gone, but the dog was fighting. And now there was a bear who was hitting him, and it hurt about like he expected getting punched by a bear would. He hit it with his harpoon and a bunch of fluff came out, so was he being attacked by a man in a costume again?

He felt bloated. Just like his corpse must have been after his line broke. Oh how he hated the sea.

It was like he was swimming in a sea of ectoplasm, more than he could ever need. But wrong. It was too much, it felt… good, actually. He could take on the world. He could drown the entire world.

“Go, Venusaur!”

A hideous frog appeared, with a flower on its back. Of all the strange things he’d seen today, that was the strangest, and it actually collected his entire focus for a moment. And in that moment of clarity, he saw a man in a lab coat catching a red and white ball, further up the beach, watching.

“Use Power Whip! See if he’s Water-type or something!”

The frog hit him with a thick vine, and Rebreather ignored it. It barely hurt, even if it did knock him about. That man, he’d given an order and the frog hit him.

That man was the one attacking him.

-----------------------------------

Danny got the last person off the beach, thankful Hala was here. His Pokémon were strong, surely he’d be able to--oh, no. Bewear went down. Lucario wasn’t doing too well, but Venusaur was fresh.

“This is crazy,” he said to himself.

“Zo ra ra,” Zorua agreed. 

Rick and Robin hovered on either side of him. Rick was impassive, staring a hole through the ghost, but Robin looked stressed.

“Hey girl, don’t worry,” Danny said, pulling his owl out of the air into his arms. “I know it’s a lot, but Hala and the Professor have got this.” He really hoped he wasn’t lying.

Robin cooed nervously.

Zorua gave her a sideways look. “Zora.”

“Rowwwl!” she snapped at him, whatever he said upsetting her.

Danny pulled them apart, keeping one eye on the battle. “Guys, save the fighting for--Professor look out!”

Rebreather lifted off the ground, kicking Lucario in the face and not sparing Venusaur a second glance. Instead, he flew straight for Kukui, sharpened hook outstretched. Kukui and Halla, both so used to not being a combatant in a battle, were caught completely offguard. Venusaur wasn’t able to turn around in time to help, and Lucario was still recovering.

“Sucker Punch!” Danny shouted.

Zorua and Rick responded at the same time. Rick slammed into Rebreather’s stomach and Zorua into his head, arresting his momentum entirely just before he got into swinging range.

Rebreather growled. “It’s time for you to sleep with the fishes!”

Danny’s mouth moved without any input from his brain. “I’ve haddock up to here with you!”

Rebreather stared at him. “...What.”

Kukui remembered himself and pulled out another pokéball “Danny, don’t--”

Zorua bit the ghost. His teeth sunk straight through the diving suit and Rebreather flinched.

“Agh! Let go, let go! My suit’s going to leak! My air! My air!”

Danny pointed. “Bada Boom!”

Rick stuck his tongue out, and it exploded. 

Everyone present was knocked off their feet as a bomb the size of Rick himself burst in the middle of it all. The ghost was thrown away from Kukui by the force of the blast, but sadly so was Rick. The Gastly drifted in the air with swirls in his eyes, dazzled by overdoing the move.

“Good job, buddy,” Danny said hoarsely, returning him.

Kukui sat up with a groan. “...you named it Bada Boom?”

“Focus on that later,” Hala said gruffly. He released his Primeape and pointed. “We need to make sure that--”

From the lingering dust cloud came a beam of energy. It knocked Primeape away. Then another, hitting Hala in the chest.

Rebreather floated out of the dust, all expression gone from his helmet. “No more games.”

Everyone went still, waiting for whatever he was going to do next. Kukui fingered Empoleon’s ball. Hala sat up, rubbing his chest through the hole in his shirt. Robin hovered. Zorua growled. Danny raised his arm, preparing to fire a beam of his own in retaliation.

The only sound was of the ocean waves.

…

Rebreather slowly turned to look at the sea. “What?”

It wasn’t all the way back, but it was starting to return, whatever hold Rebreather had on it slowly being pushed back. It was hard to see why, but as the dust and sand settled back down, someone on the sidewalk, some absolute moron who hadn’t run away yet and thought it was okay to open his big fat mouth, yelled out.

“Look!” Yoma shouted, leaning over the railing. “The Pokémon are fighting the tidal wave!”

Danny squinted. From atop a bit of exposed coral, a blue and white Pokémon was directing a team of Sharpedo and Tentacruel. They were doing something with the water that was pulling it back towards the shore, creating smaller waves that were diminishing the wall of water that had been growing. And now Rebreather knew it was happening.

“...I always knew the sea would betray me. It always has before.” With those words, the ghost ignored them all and left, flying towards the Pokémon.

Danny moved.

“Wait, don’t--” Kukui reached out to stop him, but Danny phased through his hand and kept running.

The returning water was only ankle deep, so it didn’t slow him down much, but it was still slowing him. Danny’s eyes were locked on Rebreather as he approached.

He barely took notice of Zorua catching up to him and jumping on his shoulder. He also felt Robin flying beside him.

“Danny, stay away from--!”

Rebreather raised a hand, and the wall of water wobbled. One of the ships, a tugboat, crested over the wave before the glow around it intensified. It rose into the air, leaving the sea entirely.

Danny turned intangible, reducing the drag from the water, but he still wasn’t fast enough.

Rebreather grabbed the boat’s stern and lifted it overhead.

Danny fired an ecto-blast, hitting Rebreather in the side. The ghost noticed it, looking at him impassively, before dismissing him as a threat.

The shiny Corsola, noticing a shadow falling over it, looked up and gasped.

I need to get there faster.

Rebreather swung the boat down.

There was a crash of metal and wood. There was a splash of water. There was the crunch of crushed rock.

Dann’ys vision went white…

---------------------------------------------

Zorua didn’t know what happened. One second, they were sprinting to save the water Pokémon. Kukui’s Empoleon was behind them, trying to catch up, but the water wasn’t deep enough for him to swim and prevented him from running. Robin was preparing some kind of attack, but hesitating. The diver ghost was attacking their Corsola friend, and then…

Zorua got blinded by a bright light washing over them, and he felt something inside them like he’d eaten something that disagreed with him, and suddenly they shot forward and Danny was beating the ghost’s face in.

They were also floating over the wreck of the tugboat.

That realization was so startling that he fell off Danny’s shoulder, but thankfully Robin caught him. He started getting ready to launch a new attack, probably a Sucker Punch, when he noticed Danny.

His hair was white. His eyes were green. And he was wearing the suit Zorua had first found him in, but with the colors reversed.

“Zor?”

---------------------------

Danny’s face was furious as he grabbed Rebreather and pounded him into the seafloor. He punched once, twice, and thrice, knocking the hatch on the ghost’s faceplate open before firing a beam directly inside.

“ARGH!” Rebreather threw him off and tried to fly away, but Robin flapped her wings. Danny didn’t know the move she used, some kind of purple wind, but it swept over Rebreather and made him stall in midair, giving Danny a chance to catch up.

“I’m done with this,” Danny said, voice hard. “And so are you.”

Danny grabbed him by the netting and started spinning. He spun in place, swinging him around and around, until--“So long!”--he let go, and the ghost was launched back to shore.

Rebreather sailed over the beach, over the road, and into the glass facade of some hotel or another. Cracks spread from the point of impact, and the ghost slumped.

Behind Danny, the ocean started falling back into place, but he paid it no attention as he zoomed after him.

He flashed past Kukui and Hala, past the crowd of idiots who were still here, what the heck, and grabbed the front of Rebreather’s suit.

“What is your problem?!” he demanded, slamming the ghost into the wall. “Why did you do all this? Why did you attack the city? Why did you go after--Why? Why? Why?!”

Rebreather hissed, glaring at him. “The sea is harsh, and deadly. And so am I.”

“That’s not an answer!”

Danny pulled back his fist. Rebreather cringed away.

The glass windows shimmered. Danny looked up, and gasped.

He wasn’t the only one. Everyone present let out some exclamation of shock and surprise, as the entire side of the building twisted and distorted, until an image filled the whole facade.

A dark shadow with glowing red eyes glared down at them all. The air felt heavy, and Danny had trouble standing. He could only imagine what everyone else felt. He dropped the ghost and took several steps back.

The wyrm spared him a glance. It nodded. Then, four red-tipped tendrils extended from the wall and wrapped around Rebreather. The diver ghost struggled, shouted, fought--to no avail. He was dragged into the mirror.

And then it was over.

Danny stared at the perfectly normal windowed building. The sun started peeking through the clouds once more.

He looked down at his hands, noticing them for the first time. He pulled at the white gloves.

“Danny?”

He turned. Kukui was there, looking roughed up but okay. Alive. Hala had a hole in his shirt where he got hit, but he was okay. The waves were returning to normal.

Something nudged his foot, and he looked down into the wide, worried eyes of Zorua and Robin.

Danny blinked, feeling unsteady all of a sudden. “H-hey, bud. What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“Danny, are you okay?” Kukui asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The teenager flinched as though stung. “Don’t! Don’t touch--”

His vision went white, and he felt so weak.

Danny passed out.

--------------------------

Corsola opened her eyes.

Corsola closed her eyes.