Chapter 34: Golden Hope

They quickly ended their break in a much brighter mood than before. Although it may not mean much to others, her Growlithe had always been an issue that caused her a great deal of anxiety.

Seeing that Jenny had such an amazing Pokémon, it made Ark feel that he needs to start building his Kanto team. Honestly he was very surprised that he did not catch the first Pokemon he had seen. It would have made sense but currently Ark only has a single Pokeball on him. Following this, his money is reserved for accommodation and food.

"Ark, you need to pay attention. We will be ready for you to dive in a minute"

Jenny and Sylph were currently getting ready for Ark to dive. They had to prepare enough space for him to quickly get out in case there was an emergency. They had no idea how dangerous this Seaking was, so it was best to have a quick way out.

After a few minutes of preparing, Jenny looked Ark into the eyes before saying.

"Everything is ready, Sylph and I are ready too. So when you are ready, jump in."

Though she was very curt with her instructions, the concern in her eyes betrayed her true emotions.

Ark nodded his head before looking down at Sylph.

"I'll be counting on you"

A small sound escaped Sylphs mouth as she wished Ark good luck. Despite her raging urge to hug him and speak to him with her Telepathy, she settled for just making a cute noise and hugging him when he gets back.

Without further hesitation, Ark dived into the blue water. The moment his head went under, the usual clarity his ears were used to disappeared, leaving only distorted segments of sounds. The diving equipment Ark had on him allowed him to be underwater for up to 30 minutes. Not wanting to waste time, he dived further down, the further he went, the darker it got.

A glorious sight was before Arks eyes. Had he been here for leisure, he may have spent hours just observing such a beautiful scene. Bright and fluorescent colours filled the lake floor. It was mystical sight as the lake plants gently swayed creating a miniature live concert effect with a wide variety of colours all swaying together.

Additionally, a plethora of water type Pokemon were gently swimming amongst the plants. Everywhere Ark looked, there were Psyducks, Magikarps and Goldeens. It was like a miniature city of water Pokemon, each one getting on with their daily lives without a care in the world.

"I better get searching. I can spend a whole day down here once this is all over"

A tingling excitement bubbled in his stomach as he thought about being able to spend a whole day down here with Jenny. It would be nothing short of romantic.

Swimming around at a slow pace, Ark looked out into the deep darkness that was in front of him. Even though, the lake floor was filled with neon colours, he could not see anything further than 4 meters. His muscles tensed as he progressed further into the unknown, a tense atmosphere deepened every time he moved forward.

"This is worse than a horror movie..."

While Ark was scanning the surroundings, he sensed fast movement to the left of him. A frowned appeared on his face as he turned and started to swim towards the movement. It was completely abnormal when compared to how all of the other Pokemon were swimming.

Suddenly, Ark could see three figures swimming at him with a panicked pace. As they got closer, the distinctive bright orange and oblivious face highlighted their identity. They rushed past Ark, treating him as though he did not exist. The torrent of water they left behind bashed into Ark from three sides causing him a small stinging pain.

With a slightly irritated expression, Ark glared at the direction the three thugs came from.

"Whoever said Magikarp could not deal damage were mistaken. It annoys me that I managed to get hurt not only by a Scyther but a Magikarp too. Time to increase my training ten fold it seems."

Distracting himself from the embarrassment of being hurt by a Magikarp, Ark swam closer to the direction that the movement was coming from. It seemed that the previous Pokemon were not the ones creating the strange water movements.

Seconds felt like hours as he inched closer. Checking his oxygen levels, he had enough for another ten minutes underwater. With this in the back of his mind, he gathered his courage and sped up. His courage seemed to be immediately rewarded as he saw a large burst of water go flying past his shoulder. A lingering sensation was left behind.

Searching for where the attack came from, Ark got into a defensive stance with his feet on the lakes bottom ready to launch himself up at any moment.

He waited but nothing else came.

Squinting his eyes, he could make out two figures in the distance. One laid upon a rock, while the other was aggressively circling around it.

"I take it that is our mark. Better get it's attention on me before it causes severe damage to that other thing it's battling"

Ark propelled himself forward as he quickly closed in on the battle. The closer he got, the clearer everything became. The Seaking was massive, something that could easily overshadow that angry Scyther from before. It's entire being radiated dominance whilst it's tiger like patterns struck fear into the hearts of those that angered it. Continuing on, Ark hardened his resolve as he bolted through the water directly towards the Seaking.

Noticing something was wrong, the Seaking turned around to witness a long figure draped in a black scuba suit head charge into it's side. It froze at this sudden development. Until just a moment ago, it was dominating the few Pokemon it saw yet now it was being challenged by a strange entity it had never seen before. Finally comprehending what happened, the Seaking thrashed about in a fit of madness, it's actions were feral and nothing like the normally docile species they were.

Sensing the change in its attitude, Ark sunk down to the lake floor again and got ready to speed to the top once it was following him. Out of curiosity, he looked to the side towards the Pokemon the Seaking was fighting.

Excitement burst from the core of Arks very being. An excitement so intense that he completely forgot about his current situation. Laid atop the rock was a single small Pokemon. One that radiated a deep golden colour much like Jennys Growlithe. It was a Pokemon that Ark has always loved from the Kanto region, and now lady luck was truly shining upon him.

The injured Pokemon which seemed to be resting now that the Seaking had switched targets, was a Shellder.

Unexpectedly, the Seaking charged at Ark with pure malice in its gaze. Snapping out of his dazed state, Ark pushed himself against the floor with all of his strength and shot upwards. Luckily his trained body paid off as he pierced through the water even though his muscles screamed out in agony.

As the suns rays touched his body, he frantically searched around for the boat. Surprisingly, he was only about 30 meters away from the boat.

Seeing Arks frantic expression, Jenny immediately got ready for battle, as did Sylph.

Only a few seconds later, a large shadow burst through the surface of the water as Ark swam towards the boat.

"First the Seaking, then the Shellder"

A look of determination replaced Arks frantic expression as he saw Jenny and Sylph ready to battle.