He almost jumps at the sound, turning around to find a trainer and their poochyena. Actually, it's that guy from the Christmas decorating event in Slateport Mall. He recognized him even now, clad in skin tight diving gear. "Well, I s'pose not."

Adrian can't help but fixate on the Poochyena. He'd heard of doggy paddling, but this was... this seemed ill advised, but he'd already seen enough to know this guy loved his dogs. Somebody show this man a Samurott. As long as they had something up their sleeves, he'd go along with it.

Slipping some remarkably uncomfortable flippers over his feet, snatching his goggles and deep water snorkel off the rocky perch in the same fluid motion as he stood upright, he'd hang the goggles from his neck until he was ready to dive. The breathing device remained in his clutch as he gestured to Kyle in greetings. "Great day for it."

The sea was calm, perhaps a deceptive ploy by the dark below. An unwelcoming abyss awaited them, one that Adrian certainly wasn't familiar with. Also he'd only ever dived a handful of times, and not into underwater caverns. He was a bit nervous.

"My name's Adrian, by the way. In case you have to write it on a headstone." He laughed lightly, but regretted having tempted fate.

"We're ready to head down, if you are."



kyle lopez

Adrian also takes a moment to do some stretches, prompted by Kyle's own display. Once he feels limber (sore; the word is sore,) enough from the warm-up, he turns his back to Kyle and tries to psych himself out. His heart begins to race. This was a horrible idea to begin with, why did he even believe he could accomplish this daunting task...

Greninja pads up beside him, its tongue extending until it reaches around his waist, tethering them together. It fixes its eyes on him, nodding in encouragement as if trying to express itself:

You can do this, because I am here.

Snapping the goggles over him, he inserts the breathing apparatus, lowering himself before he springs into a dive alongside his pokemon...

The plunge is the worst part. What was once a vivid, bright reality is suddenly drowned in a gurgling, unknown darkness that threatens his calm. He can feel the surge of the ocean water, the tugging of his pokemon via the tongue, the chill of brine against him. But just as quickly, it improves.

The world around him is a thriving ecosystem of aquatic pokemon, schools of fish and herds of seel, dewgong and sealeo paddling about while enjoying the warmth of the surface water. He stares in awe while Greninja swims deeper, dragging him along to an opening in the jagged rock formation they had landed on. Somewhere above, a Poochyena awaited the return of its trainer. Where's Kyle?

As he's being dragged into the fissure, he looks up and spots Kyle. He signals him with an OK gesture, before pointing at the rock formation he's slowly disappearing into. This was the way to luvdisc.

After swimming in a bit deeper, he realizes all of the cave is lined with luvdisc hugging the edges skittishly, as if frightened by some looming threat. They're trembling about something, and even Greninja casts a wary gaze towards the exit...

Was something still skulking about, lying in wait for the luvdisc? Kyle was still swimming out there...!



kyle lopez

[nospaces]

He might've been hoping for Kyle to masterfully handle the aggressive swarm of Wishiwashi, to make short work of them and less work for himself, but that was not the hand fate had dealt them. All Kyle succeeds in doing is agitating them further, drawing their attention to himself and his Milotic.

How bad can a bunch of angry little guppies be...?

Adrian tried shouting something, but it was lost in a ripple of bubbles, the warbled sounded distorted comically so while frantically gesturing at the impending school of Wishiwashi. Thankfully Greninja was quite keen, spilling out a murky Smokecreen that obscured their location. However, neither he nor Kyle could see in the situation...

Greninja had that covered, too. With a snap of its fingers, a Water Pulse echoed out like sonar, allowing his Greninja to gain some insight into the situation unfolding in the veil of its own smokescreen. The Wishiwashi were blindly rushing around them, splitting and folding in their formation to avoid solid objects, reforming on the other side of the inky cloud. Waiting them out...

Adrian couldn't communicate, much less see, but at least he felt secure in the embrace of his Greninja. He'd have to think up a cool name for it for sure; if they made it out of this mess...



kyle lopez

Adrian's dumbstruck by how effortlessly his pokemon acts without instruction. Perhaps he's not the trainer he thought he was, or maybe this Greninja was just a natural. While the smokescreen before him veils the wishiwashi from him, the amphibious hero of this dive has dialed them in.

Even as the cloud is parted by Milotic's draconic breath, Greninja is preparing a more concentrated move, directing its attention to the bulk of the school that Milotic has yet to finish off. A powerful snap of its fingers unleashes a tonal attack, a hyperbolic sonar wave rattling the dispersing fish, funneling them towards the surface and finishing off the stragglers. Even Adrian is left disoriented.

Greninja begins to take them to the surface as the wishiwashi disperse, but from the mouth of the cave a luvdisc can be seen peeking its head out, darting towards the Milotic and its trainer. It hovers before them sheepishly before pecking the trainer on the cheek, quickly flitting away afterwards, only to be followed by the swarm of luvdisc that were holed up down below. Adrian reaches the surface.

"Huuuuaaaaaaw-" It's strange breathing from normal air after their brief dive, and he's forced to acclimate rather abruptly. His head snaps left and right, trying to find Kyle in the waters around him.

"I think we did it," he said as a question.



kyle lopez