With the shadows, stacks of cargo, and Gengar scouting ahead and creating distractions, Shelly and Courtney slipped silently through the port fence and sneaked toward Berth 7 like two shadows blending into the night.
The Team Plasma Destroyer, disguised as a sailboat, lay quietly at anchor in the moonlight. Ripples gently lapped against its hull, and only a handful of portholes gave off faint light. Most of the vessel was shrouded in darkness and silence, as though it really were nothing more than an ordinary sleeping ship.
The two briefly exchanged a glance in the shadows.
Shelly gave a slight nod, and Courtney understood. They darted out together like cheetahs poised to spring, using the dock's mooring bollards and cargo crates for cover. A few swift bounds brought them silently alongside the hull.
Rather than boarding by the usual gangway, they used an inconspicuous maintenance recess and protrusions on the side of the hull, along with the miniature grappling hooks they carried, to climb as nimbly as geckos. They easily vaulted over the railing and landed in the shadows on the empty aft deck.
The entire process flowed seamlessly, without a single unnecessary sound.
Even Gengar gave them a thumbs-up in approval.
After boarding, they followed their previously agreed plan. They gave Gengar a headset, then had him scout ahead to locate the roaming sentries, following behind him to avoid being noticed by anyone aboard.
"Let's go."
At Shelly's whisper, the two women and their Pokémon moved at once.
Gengar passed through the wall into the ship, while the two women crouched low and followed the safest route he indicated, slipping inside through an unlocked maintenance hatch on the aft deck.
The interior was entirely different from the outside. The corridors were not particularly narrow and were solidly built, with