A straight path to Arkos was evidently not what they were taking. A few days into their journey, Shula informed Greninja that they had to take a last minute detour to avoid a place the cartographers called The Tempests Cradle. Apparently they only remembered it a day or two before the ship would have entered the area.

As the name suggested, The Tempests Cradle was an area of ocean prone to storms and strong winds. These winds created powerful waves that could claim even the largest of ships. According to the sailors they'd rescued, thirty six ships have been reported to have entered that area, with only three ever returning.

The exact location of the cradle shifted slightly every few years, but the cartographers and sailors were almost certain that they would avoid it. Greninja took this info with barely a second thought, before returning to a routine he'd adopted over the past few days.

He'd start his days with a simple breakfast of Oran Berries, followed up by a brief three lap jog around the entire ship. When he was done with that he'd drop in on Freya at the bridge. She and Ziva had recovered shortly after the sun set on their second day in the ER. Their illness disappearing as suddenly as it had appeared.

Freya had resumed her command of the ship a day after recovering, while Ziva hung out with Saru's kids on the sports deck, which was where Greninja would head next. He'd discovered a few devices there that shot everything from Footballs to Tennis balls, and had taken the liberty of converting them into a training game with Ziva.

He'd count to thirty while she and Saru's kids positioned themselves and the launchers around the deck. Greninja would then run around the deck trying to tag them while they shot all variety of balls at him. Except Bowling Balls, those were ruled out after one broke the ceiling.

Occasionally Freya would join them in this survival game, but for the most part she remained at the helm, only relinquishing it when she was too tiered or desired a break. When she did join though, the game would last for at least two hours. She was able to coordinate the positioning, supplying, and repositioning of the launchers with such efficiency, the shortest time Greninja was able to tag them all was two hours and fourteen minutes.

After they were finished 'training', Saru would round them up and force them to sit through her three hour long lessons about Pokémon culture, politics, languages, etc. She would implement at least two lessons a day, stating that even if they no longer had a home they could still have a future if they worked for it.

Greninja, Ziva, and Freya all tried to evade Saru's lessons. Freya was the only one she let go, on account of her basically running the ship, and that she had a unique ability to absorb any information Saru gave her. Saru still implemented an education plan for Freya though, writing down everything she taught that day for the young Pokémon to learn later.

She almost let Greninja go too, believing that a Pokémon of his age must have already received some formal education. But upon discovering he didn't know basic Pokémon history, she hauled him off to class; literally. Greninja didn't particularly hate Saru lessons, some of them he found quite enthralling, but there was a lot more he would have preferred to do instead of learning about the Pokémon community's hidden around the world.

Sparring with Shula and Martin was top on Greninja's list of things he would rather do, and would be exactly what he would do once Saru let him go. In general he spent an hour or two sparring with Shula or Martin, depending on who he found first. They'd fight on one of the six battlefields of the third deck, and would often draw a crowd whenever they started.

For the first fight the crowd of Pokémon was mostly composed of Helianites, most of whom had witnessed Greninja's prowess in battle and thought he was sure to win. Unfortunately they hadn't taken his injuries into account and were taken aback when Shula beat him in just under five minutes.

Greninja didn't accept the loss laying down and  fought her again just a few minutes after his first defeat. This time Shula has to work harder for the win, exchanging blows with him for nearly twenty minutes before he submitted. The following day he challenged her again and managed to bring her down in just over half an hour.

Martin then challenged Greninja and beat him within half an hour. But again Greninja got up, dusted himself off, and went again, earning himself a victory in just under an hour. This pattern of win lose persisted, and made it all the more entertaining for the Pokémon watching.

When he'd had his daily fill of fights Greninja would grab some food and his belongings, then climb to the highest point of the ship and look towards the horizon. He'd watch the waves rising and falling in the seemingly endless expanse of water, and think of his home and friends. Wondering how they were doing without him. If they even missed him. If they even remembered him. If Saru was right and he didn't have a home anymore.

Occasionally he'd get a feeling as if he wasn't alone, but after a quick survey turned up nothing he'd climb down, help with some maintenance or minor task, head to bed, then repeat everything the next day. 

This cycle continued until three days after the cartographers notified Greninja of the change in course. He was up a top the ship, starring at the picture of him and Braixen, when he felt the wind change. The slight breeze that had been accompanying him for the past hour grew stronger, wetter, and saltier.

Greninja stood up, stashed Braixen's picture inside Ash's gloves, and surveyed his surroundings. To his right the horizon was dotted with puffy clouds. His left tuffs of darknesses blotted the sky. Ahead a thinning strip of blue separated the two skies. And behind him like an oversized zipper a massive thundercloud was sealing away the blue.

Greninja didn't have the best sense for sea weather, but even he knew this was going to be a rough storm. He promptly climbed back to the upper deck just as Ziva's voice came over the loudspeakers.

"All hands below deck! Seal all doors and windows, fasten down anything that could damage the ship! Get yourself a life vest! We've entered the Temests Cradle!"

Greninja hesitated when he heard Ziva give mention to the cradle. They were supposed to have sailed around it, how did they end up inside it? His thoughts drifted back to what the sailors said, how only three ships had ever made it out.

A bolt of lightning broke him out of his thoughts and propelled him to move. He ran across the deck, helping Pokémon fasten down tables and seal shut several doors. All the while making his way towards the bridge.

When he finally reached it the storm was practically on top of them. The cold winds whipped water around him as he entered the bridge. Inside he found a nothing but locked jaws and stoic faces staring out the large windows.

Freya was the first to acknowledge him, which alerted the rest of the room to his presence and sent everyone into chaos. Many broke down. Apologies and explanations were the tossed around the room like a hot potato. Freya barked at them, shutting them up for the time being.

"Sorry 'bout that Greninja," Freya apologized, "they're all a bit on edge."

Greninja could tell from her voice that she was just as nervous as the rest of them, but he made no mention of this. Fearing that her unease would cause the rest of her crew to panic more than they already were.

"It's fine," he said, "just tell me what happened and what we're going to do to fix this."

Freya nodded and had one of the cartographers step up. She was a young rabbit Pokémon known as a Buneary. She wasn't much older than Greninja, yet composed herself better than most of the Pokémon in the room twice her age.

"We lost our bearings for a brief while and drifted into a storm break inside the cradle," she stated. "We only figured this out ten minutes ago, but by then the cradle was already closing around us."

She looked at Greninja to see if he had anything to say. He simply nodded and gestured for her to continue.

"We can't outrun this storm and if we continue our current course the waves will beat against our side until they capsize us."

"Our only hope right now is to sail diagonally into the storm," Freya cut in. "If we do that we should be able to take on the waves and get out before things get too bad."

"Then take us through this, captain," Greninja said with a grin at Freya. She didn't return his grin but he saw a flicker of joy in her eyes when he called her captain.

"Ziva, tell everyone to hold on. Things are gonna' get rough!"

Ziva relayed this just as Freya steered them about face, into the storm. Greninja watched alongside the rest of the Pokémon as the rain dramatically intensified. Going from a moderate drizzle to a torrential downpour in a second. The wind, feeling challenged by the rain, upped its power, tossing everything that hadn't been secured enough flying overboard.

Not to be out done by wind or rain, the ocean responded by increasing the power and size of its waves to the point that climbing them became a heart stopping experience. The waves were so massive the ship threatened to fall back down into the deep black water below.

As they dropped off to the other side of one massive wave, most of the crew breathed a sigh of relief as the ocean seemed to calm. They had landed on an expanse of water that was exceptionally still, the only movement came the rain hitting the water, giving them the impression that they had made it out of the cradle. Some Pokémon celebrated, others broke down into tears of relief.

Greninja looked hopefully at Freya and her helmsmen, only to find that they were all pale faced. Their terrified eyes fixed on the water ahead. Greninja followed their gaze to a mound of ocean that appeared to be a ten to fifteen miles away. He moved closer to the three frightened Pokémon and quietly inquired into the wave.

Freya couldn't yet force the words out of her throat and gestured to the Pokémon right of her to tell him.

"That wave is going to sink us," the Pokémon whispered. The wasn't a shred of doubt in his voice but Greninja couldn't understand what he was saying.

"It's so small though. How can it possibly sink us?"

"It's not small," Freya whispered, "it's just far away."

"How far," Greninja asked, dread creeping into his voice.

Freya looked up at him, a fear of death resting in her eyes. "About thirty or forty miles."

Greninja looked at the mound again, for the first time realizing how much danger they were in. If the wave was already visible at that distance it had to be colossal. The odd calmness of the ocean suddenly made sense, all it's power was being sucked into that monstrosity of a wave.

"What can we do?" Greninja asked, his voice now dry with fear.

Freya conversed with her helmsmen for a few seconds before answering Greninja. "If we can reach the wave before it starts to break we might be able to get over it..." Freya said. Leaving the distressing part to her helmsmen.

"But we're already moving as fast as we can and we don't know if we'll make it there before it breaks."

Greninja grimaced at the news. They had no other option but to watch and wait for the wave. Time seemed to slow as the gap between them and the wave slipped away. When they were within twenty miles of the wave the rest of the crew stopped celebrating. Some continued to weep but their tears were now out of terror. The wave had more than doubled in size  during the past fifteen miles.

Greninja looked at Freya, wondering if they would make it. But by the way she looked at the  wall of water he knew they wouldn't. As he fixed his eyes back on the wave, wondering if that wave would be the end of them, he heard a voice whisper in his head. "Go".

An idea flicker in his mind, replacing the voice. He instantly knew what he had to do and ran into the storm. He heard someone shout his name but didn't turn back to see who.

The rain pelted his skin and the winds tried to throw him clear of the ship, but he fought through them both, running as fast as he could towards the bow. As he ran he began forming a Water Shuriken between his hands, making it grow as he breezed through the wind and rain.

By the time he was halfway to the bow the shuriken was already as large as him, and still growing. Greninja strained to maintain the shuriken. The last time he'd made one this large had been during the Kalos League finals, but back then he was bonded to Ash and could draw on what had felt like an endless pool of power. He didn't have that luxury now and needed a shuriken larger than anything he'd ever made.

The wind seemed to catch onto what he was trying to do and increased its intensity, forcing Greninja's pace down to a near standstill. As he inched along the deck Greninja felt the shuriken begin to fall apart, he couldn't maintain it much longer.

He looked ahead at the wave. It engulfed the entire horizon and he had to crane his neck just to see its peak. It was too big, too close.

"I'm not going to make it. I'm not strong enough," he thought and sank to his knees, letting the shuriken dissolve into the wind and rain.

As he kneeled there, defeated and drenched, he heard the voice again. Ringing loud and clear despite the wind whipping around him.

"Get up Greninja! Don't give up, we're almost there!"

The voice seemed to reawaken something in Greninja, and he felt a familiar energy course through him. He stood up, fixed his eyes on the wave and began amassing energy again. He felt a warm hand press against his back, urging him forward. Shouting a war cry he charged at it with renewed vigor.

The wind, the rain, even the ship all disappeared from his mind. It was just him and the wave, and he refused to let it win.

He reached the bow just as the ship began to climb the wall of water. Without hesitation he thrusts two enormous shurikens into the wave, screaming bloody murder as he released all his energy into the water.

Greninja wasn't entirely sure what happened. He remembered attacking the wave, screaming a lot, being swallowed by water, and a whooshing noise. But he blacked out for a little while after the noise. He only regained consciousness when he splashed down into the ocean, some thirty feet behind the ship.

He saw the ship bob up and down as torrents of water poured off its sides. Then it righted itself and continued its course, unharmed. He cracked a smile, realizing that his plan must have worked and he had weakened the wave enough for them to pass through it.

He raised his arms above his head and shouted at the ship, trying to alert them to his presence. He managed to shout for a few seconds before a wave of fatigue washed over him. All the energy he'd felt onboard vanished, leaving him with barely enough energy to stay afloat.

He tried to swim after the ship, hoping that by some miracle he'd be able to catch up. But his body failed him after just a few minutes. Leaving him at the mercy of the ocean.

He floated for ten minutes, only able to watch as the ship sailed further and further away, before the water claimed him. A wave crashing over his head forced him down towards the ocean floor. Greninja could only watch as the light from the surface dimmed until he was left in perpetual darkness.

Being a water type he could still breathe,  despite being several meters below the surface. But there were limits to how deep he could go. Too far down and the pressure would be too much for his body to handle. But that wasn't something Greninja was worrying about, his strength was already starting to return. And if worst came to worst he was prepared to hitch ride after ride on the waves until he made it to land.

He began to swim back towards the surface, following bubbles he made to figure out which way was up. He couldn't have swum more than twenty feet before he felt a rush of movement beneath him. There was just enough light filtering through the water for him to see his feet, but nothing beyond that.

Greninja began swimming harder, whatever was down there he didn't want to mess with. No sane creature would live in these waters, but whatever did had to be something strong.

He could just see the dark skies flickering through the water when he felt something slam into him. It was a glancing blow to his side, but in his weakened state it felt like he'd been hit by a sub. Whatever had struck him caused him to spin in the water.

As he spun he managed to spot movement out of the corner of his eyes. He was alarmed to discover that there was not just one creature but multiple beasts hunting him. There was nowhere for him to run, these things were too fast. And that last blow had taken away almost all the strength he'd muster up, leaving him with no option but to wait for them to finish him off.

As he waited he heard what sounded to him like a song, but he could tell that it was just the beasts taunting him, teasing him with the eerie ocean tune. His wait ended abruptly with a sudden blast of air from behind him.

Greninja has just enough time to question how such a powerful blast of air could have reached him underwater, before he began to pass out. The last thing he saw before closing his eyes was a flash of blue and white making its way towards him.

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Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter I had fun writing it. Hope you all will be able to wait for the next chapter. I'm going to try and write for my other story for a bit, probably get out a chapter or two before coming back here.

Also the actual depth where light cannot penetrate the water is around 3,000 feet or 1,000 meters. Greninja didn't reach even close to that depth, but because of the storm blocking out most of the light I took the liberty of raising the darkness level, or Twilight Zone, a couple thousand feet.

I would also like to thank Jcking17 and R0ck3t_FiRe for their comments. I always look forward to getting feedback 😁. And to everyone who has voted on my stories, (there's too many of you to list), I offer you my deepest thanks.

Anyways thanks for reading, and I'll see you guys in the next installment. Later 🙃