Chapter 55 - 55 - The Vandals

Later, by 10:01 a.m., still in the ferry heading for the climax of the tour, Rico was eating a small box of lightly salted crackers while looking at the deck in peace. Wild Water-type Pokémon are showing off their strength, power, and abilities, entertaining the crowd with immediate effects. Others took pictures multiple times in amazement. Children either watching or playing around with their Pokémon and toys. After watching the spectacular show, Rico went back to his seat, and browse in his phone's gallery, swiping from one photo to another. Grey then take a look of it, and became surprised by it, mostly photos of Rico and his team having bonding times, often with poses.

"Wow, you had a lot of strange Pokémon in your team," Grey commented. "I never had any of those."

"You do?" Rico responded with attention.

"Yeah, never in my life," replied Grey back. Rico became concern about Grey's lack of discovery of new Pokémon, putting his phone back in his shoulder bag.

"Well, I think you should, you know, go somewhere new and see new Pokémon you haven't heard," Rico gave him some advice, "so you could have more knowledge about them." Listening to him attentively, Grey replied back with a slight smile, "You're right, but, I'll think about it." Rico then smiled in positivity in response, and Litleo responded with happiness.

Then, the ferry arrived at the Galenus Bridge, a millennium-old ruins of a long and skinny bridge that used to connect Philas to Sinnoh and used to be one of the longest bridges ever existed. And as the ferry parked at a right distance, the tour guide grabbed her megaphone, stand up on a platform, and explained about the bridge, "This is the Galenus Bridge. It's one of the history's longest bridges. Over a millennia ago, this links the kingdom of Galenus with the Sinnoh region, and as long as the bridge exists, trade and communication was stable and prospering. The men back then used stone and mortar, but for the most of the bridge, hardwood and other strong woods were used. Before the collapse, it used to have elaborate carvings and decorations that stretch from beginning to end, handcrafted by history's best artisans. As you can see, there are still any carvings left untouched by the quake." Then, one from the group raised his hand in questioning.

"Yes, sir?" the tour guide responded positively upon noticing it.

"How could an earthquake destroy such a beautiful kingdom?" the same man raised a question.

"Good question there, sir," replied the tour guide back, "let's jump to that question, everyone." Everyone then applause for the next part of the tour. Amidst the applauses, Rico thought in his mind, "So that's how the name Galen came from. It must be one of the remains of the kingdom." Then, as the sun rises to the middle of the day, the tour guide continued, "Well! Over a millennia ago, after centuries of prosperity and peace, suddenly, an earthquake struck the kingdom. Destruction and death were everywhere. It was so powerful in fact that it created a fault line right in the middle of the bridge underwater, which, according to experts, is a hundred kilometers long and one kilometer wide. It was so strong that it also triggered a volcano eruption at a volcano right in the center of the kingdom, destroying with so much force and power it blew up almost all of the entire land where the kingdom was, sinking it and most of the stone bridge to the sea, never to be seen again." The crowd was surprised and gasped by it.

"But don't worry, everyone," the tour guide gave them a good ending, "the volcano is now gone and the remaining survivors moved to the place where our city of Galen is located. And so, almost two-thirds of the population today are the descendants of the survivors of the former kingdom of Galenus." She then point them to Galen and said to them, "This is what the former kingdom had, the modern-day Galen City, and now expanded beyond the former borders. We had also, for a long time, restored our trade and communication with Sinnoh through new ways of travel, especially ships and cable lines." The crowd was amazed by her honest information, with Rico thinking, "Woah, I was right. The name came from that kingdom. So amazing. If mom and dad are here, they would have heard this story." It was a happy and pleasant tour, with histories and reasons behind it being presented to those who joined the tour.

Then, just before lunch time, suddenly, without any warning, a dozen ski boats, led by a psychopathic and rebellious teen named Anton, surrounded the ferry in invasion, climbing up and rounded up the passengers and crew. Everyone on onboard got surprised and terrified in the same time, with Rico saying, "What the...?"

"No! It can't be them!" the tour guide added in terror.

"What do you mean?" Rico asked her.

"It's the Vandals!" replied the tour guide back.

"Vandals?" Rico responded back.

"It's a group of bad guys who vandalize and destroy our monuments of history," the tour guide explained in fear and with tears. "They done this type of crime for years and we had to restore and clean up. That affects our tourism year after year." Anton then stand on the platform, masked and holding a pirate's sword, and announced to the crowd with a psycho smile, "We'll be taking this ship!" His gang then rejoiced in victory and started to tie up the passengers, crew, and their Pokémon with ropes and even robbed most of them of their money and valuables, even an expensive jewel necklace a female passenger just wore. Rico, however, was too stubborn and hard-headed to give up his possessions, especially the wallet his father gave to him and his journal he have to keep private. As a result, the Vandals beat him up with no regard for him, causing Rico to feel pain and suffering. And so, the passengers and the crew are in suffering and desperate for help. To make matters worse, the coastal guards are really far away back at the nearest shores and the crew had robbed of their possessions and Pokémon, and they were locked up in their cabin.

And as the others are wailing and suffering, Anton, holding the said jewel necklace, approached to Rico, bend his head closer to him, and asked him like a psycho, "So, you don't want to give us your stuff, huh?"

"No, I won't!" Rico resisted stubbornly with resentment. "These are my stuff, and I won't let you have them, neither my Pokémon as well, you know!" Offended by it, Anton hit him in the face and left him, saying, "You're an idiot."

"Well, you and your gang are the idiots, you know," Rico said in his mind as he endure the pain. "Bunch of, bunch of psychopathic idiots and pirates." Anton then returned to platform, stand beside his Pokémon, a Skorupi and a Electivire, both masked, and said to them, "We do whatever we want. We're not mere teens who always obey our parents and the government. That's just boring. We wanted fun and freedom above all expectation." He then grabbed a glass of water and shattered the glass itself with his bȧrė hand.

"Freedom? Such a misconception of that word," Rico thought in dismay and disbelief. "You guys are really psychos who doesn't care of others and only themselves. Oh, Blue Ninja, if were here, you would have save us." But, will that happen, or not? Surely Blue Ninja and his team are just nearby to their location.