It seemed that the situation was no longer Angel appropriate. Her voice reached Angelo’s ears before her image could become clear in the sea mist, Skyler’s shout sending shockwaves through him, the call of his name pulling him to her like a guiding light. “Skyler!” Yelling back through the fog on instinct, he pushes off towards her without a thought for himself, his head pounding with the need to see her in front of him. To make sure she was okay. He was sure she would be, she could look after herself, but… Back during the war he couldn’t be there to help her, to help any of his friends, that painful frustration of his absence – his failure to protect them – still a fresh bruise on his heart. Angelo had no intention of letting that happen again here.

Caelum floats above his head, chasing after its trainer as he plunges into the mist but Angelo spares little thought to the Magneton, knowing it will stay close, as the sound of battling sea serpents rumble and the clap of a thunder explodes loud in his eardrums. Suddenly the world is illuminated, the deck brightened by the strong electric attack, flashing both Skyler’s silhouette up ahead through the spray and an incoming Hydro Pump, one of the Gyarados looming over the side of the boat like a Kraken tentacle.

“Fuck! Caelum, send it back!” Ducking underneath the beam of water, ungraceful skidding underneath along the wet planks, Angelo feels the pressure skim the top of his chestnut hair as he refuses to stop in his goal; getting to his feet without pausing for breath. His Magneton, heeding its trainers warning, managed to float out of the way just in time too before pointing its magnets in the Gyarados’s direction, firing a super effective Zap Cannon towards it in a bid to herd it back overboard and into the deep.

Reaching Skyler at a run, Angelo’s fingers instinctually latch onto her forearm, like he’s checking through physical contact that she’s really there, his nerves crackling from adrenaline and a fury he’s trying not to let overtake. “You alright?” He breathes out in a tone that’s solid as an anchor, his expression sharp and serious, even though he feels frayed at the edges. There’s none of their usual light-hearted, easy going tunes now. His grip tightens as he searches her face momentarily, before reminding himself that this is Skyler and that of course she would be fine. She didn’t need him to look out for her like a lost child. He knew that and he tells himself it’s a relief, a weight theoretically lifted and yet, that urge to look out for her still resonates deep within. 

“I think most of the refugees made it below deck,” he lets go of her arm then and even though he glances around, she is always kept in the corner of his ocean blues. “But I wasn’t able to do a head count or anything. I was going to give the deck another sweep.” By his side his fist clenches again, brow pinched into a frown as a particularly rough wave rocks the boat beneath them, frustration curling like a hot iron around his gut as he braces himself. “Shit…”

skyler dross

Nautilus’s low, woeful wail serves as but a prelude to disaster; a warning call to those who had the misfortune of being mere bystanders caught up in an ocean’s wrath. Angelo’s gaze follows the noise, puncturing through even the chaos of serpentine hisses and his eyes widen as they trail up the wall of water that swallows them all suddenly in its merciless shadow.

They had to get off the deck… Now!

“Sky?” There’s something sharp and tight plunging into his chest as he turns to the sailor, made all the worse at the sensation of her fingers pressing painfully deep into his arm, nails pinching crescent moon marks into his skin as her silver eyes fade as if a distant fog had settled within. Angelo feels his breath catching in his throat. They needed to go and yet… “Skyler. Hey!” His free hand finds her shoulder just as she breaks out of her trance, grip on Skyler tight. It had been for just a brief moment, fleeting enough for him to question whether it had even happened at all but he couldn’t ignore the tendril of unease that shivered up his arm.

Then they’re moving again, Skyler bursting back into life with a yank on his hand and a fierceness in her voice, forcing Angelo to push aside any semblance of his former worries when there were more pressing issues crashing towards them. “Go!” He grabs her hand in return, urging her to run faster as he returned his Magneton, knowing that Caelum would be much safer in its capsule rather than risk a meeting with the colossal wave. “I’m right behind you!”

They charge towards the helm, Angelo ignoring the way his heart raced as he desperately fought against the urge to push Skyler ahead, nausea twisting not at the lurching of the ship below but at the thought of her not making it to safety in time.

Beneath them the boat tilts, wood groaning as it sways with the swelling tide and his body is suddenly thrown through the cabin entranceway with a push of ocean water and outstretched hands, his heart stopping with a sickening thud as his fingers are ripped from hers. Angelo hits the far wall, forced back by the wave that had sneaked in with him but he barely registers the collision nor the way he’s soaked through, instantly searching with frantic eyes for moonlight and gold but finding nothing. Skyler… She hadn’t just…

The dam springs a leak. Composure crumbling as anger, frustration and desperation takes advantage of a freshly opened weak spot; Angelo’s carefully constructed structure wobbling as Skyler is pulled away.

There’s barely a moment to think before he’s on his feet, hardly registering the lurching of the boat or the slippery wooden planks as he hurtles back outside into the chaos, everything white noise as waves crash all around and sea mist obscures his vision. Scenes flash in his head of Skyler being pushed overboard, of being dragged into Gyarados infested waters and every part of him burns, protesting at the mere concept. He didn’t care if he had to throw himself head first in there, Angelo knew he couldn’t stop until she was okay. That fucking idiot.

Suddenly there’s a brief flash of her sodden form through the sea spray and he lunges forward, moving purely on instinct and ignoring everything else around him until his hand finds her, snatching hold of Skyler’s arm with one and the railings of the boat with another. His heart starts again, painfully thundering in his chest and blood pushing emotions through him fiercer than any storm.

“You did not just do that to me!” His enraged shout is cut off as another wave slams down, his string of curse words muffled by the crashing of water and yet his grip remains tight, steadfast as the skin over his knuckles pale in desperation. There’s no way he’s letting go, not of her nor the railing in which he has them anchored to, even as the sea tries to claw them into the depths.

“What, you think I'd be able to steer this thing myself?! That I'd just leave you out here?!” Water drips off every part of him as another yell rips from his throat unbidden, voice shaking with complex fury and blue eyes burning like hot flames through the spray, Angelo's arms straining as he begins to pull them back in the direction of the cabin while the battle frenzied ocean fights to do the opposite. “Fucking idiot!”

skyler dross

Together they struggle into the cabin, Angelo keeping a tight grip on Skyler’s arm as the wind and waves battled against them, his hand pressing into the small of her back as he all but shoved her into the shelter before himself. Behind him the door slams shut and Angelo leans against it as he catches his breath, laboured from the exertion and the adrenaline that plays havoc on his emotions.

Their sights settle on one another and the thunder channels from the outside right into their shared space, electrifying the air until it was palpable with their fury and distress. Skyler hits out first and he grimaces, glaring through comet ice eyes as he finds he’s unable to correct her because, if their roles had been reversed, of course he would have done the same. They both knew it. “And that’s why you’re an idiot,” he counters as she proclaims that she’d do it again, wiping water off his face as his heart tremors, rage beginning to level into something manageable even if the pain still lingered like a bruise.

You shouldn’t risk yourself, least of all for me; was what his words had meant.

For a moment silence settles over them, Angelo digesting his emotions and reigning them back in, momentarily numb to the outside world as he tries to contain the fire within closed palms. Releasing his temper was something that he had long restrained, that he had kept under careful watch. Then Skyler had come along. Now all of those parts of himself that he’d long placed into a box were starting to be dragged out – the good and the bad. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it.

Skyler’s voice brings him back, returning him to the rocking of the boat and how his clothes stuck cold to his skin, although the shiver that raced down his spine originated from a ferocious roar from Volans; his frustration and pain scraping against Angelo’s soul. “Right... Volans can’t search either while he’s occupying the other Gyarados’s attention. We’ll have to find the source ourselves.” He wasn’t all too thrilled at the prospect of going back out there but he knew that they had to, not just to help out their pokemon but also for the refugees below deck. It was too easy to stick familiar faces onto the strangers as he remembers them scrambling down into the belly of the boat, even easier still onto the children’s scared expressions. Angelo had already accepted that he’d do everything he could.

They’re back outside again when Skyler releases the Salamence from the pokeball, Ata’s grumble like a hint of rolling thunder, not out of place amongst the chaos. “I guess we’ll find out now.” Truthfully, he had never flown on the back of a pokemon before, not owning one of his own but Angelo doesn’t let it deter him. He swings his legs into place over Ata, sitting behind Skyler, his arms holding tight on either side. Then they’re shooting up into the air, wind and sea spray colliding into their faces, as they soar over the ocean battle.

Angelo’s gaze seeks out the shapes of the Gyarados under the water, their forms inky and intertwined but he can make out Volans amongst two enraged others; less than before, he noted. Nautilus is there too, his bulk hard to miss as he protects the ship.

It’s hard to focus on the act of flying, of having nothing solid beneath your feet, when blue eyes and senses are zoning in on what was going on below. But he thinks he doesn't mind being up here.

“Down there,” Angelo leans forward into Skyler as he gestures towards a shape hidden close to some rocks, its serpentine body aglow with a mingling of tainted purple and blue as it lets out a low, melodious cry – Milotic’s song beckoning another wave to swell. Then it disappears underwater and out of sight. “It’s using the rocks as cover. But if one of us flushes it out, then the other can wait and ambush it.” Angelo lets go with one hand to find an appropriate pokeball for the task his friend won't take.

skyler dross

Skyler’s hand catches his before he has a chance to return to his place behind her, still leaning over her shoulder as the grasp on his fingers makes him stop from reclining back, taking a moment to return the comforting gesture. It’s a shared, silent reassurance. Blue eyes, hardened by determination and responsibility, soften a fraction under her gaze. “Always.”

Then suddenly they’re plummeting, Angelo’s arms winding tightly around Skyler’s waist, wind and sea spray a blur of cold against his skin as the Salamence plunges them further and further – faster and faster.

There was no time for a grace period to climatise a new flier to the skies. A long drawn out curse is pulled from Angelo's lungs as they descended at rapid speed, feeling rather than hearing Skyler laugh beneath his arms and suddenly his heart feels weightless in his chest; Atalanta pulling up to skim the surface of the blackened ocean at the last moment. He may have been unaware of just how tightly he had squeezed his companion throughout the entire plunge.

When they’ve levelled out again, obscured amongst the mist, Skyler releases a Primarina with the intention of flushing out their target. Angelo watches as the graceful water pokemon acknowledged the order and descended beneath the surface with but a melodic call, his own capsule still clasped within one palm, holding back until the right moment came to release it for the ambush.

They don’t speak as they wait, even when Angelo feels Skyler recline a little into his chest, motion slight yet not unnoticed. There’s a temptation to lean forward and press his forehead against her shoulder but he can’t bring himself to relax into her in return, his posture remaining tense and gaze drifting towards the boat out of the corner of blue eyes. Blood had intermingled with the ocean waves beneath them, swirling together like a paintbrush had been dipped into a cleaning pot and Angelo was not naïve enough to tell himself that some of it did not belong to Volans. He’d seen the way those Gyarados had dragged one another below the waves with jagged fangs and bone chilling screeches; merciless and full of rage. Something fierce crackled underneath his skin; hot, angry nails clawing against his patience.

Time seems to stretch on painfully slow as the sounds of the storm behind them thunder on, Angelo’s mind distracted by the furious battle cries that resonated in his chest, as opposed to the Primarina’s beckoning song. Then Skyler’s voice punches through his wandering thoughts, pulled back by a whisper of his name that ripples through him, alerting him to move.

“Stop that Milotic, Sagitta. Don’t let it escape.”

Angelo doesn’t hesitate to release Sagitta high into the air with firm words uttered on a quiet breath, the Decidueye plummeting through the skies down towards the two water creatures, wings tucked in for greater speed. Until suddenly they’re stretched wide, readying an arrow formed of purple, haunting energy even while falling. He lets the projectile loose just as the Milotic is readying itself to strike the other Alolan starter, SPIRIT SHACKLE streaking through the air to plunge straight at the water serpent, throwing it back and pinning it with its shadow to the rock behind with a sharp cry.

Sagitta lands on another rock that juts out of the ocean nearby, poised and ready to fire again. Above them the rainclouds slowly begin to inch away, a beam of light puncturing through the thick blanket of darkness…

skyler dross

Almost as soon as their feet touch the deck they splinter apart, Skyler becoming the point of authority while Angelo tries to keep himself busy, doing what he could to help out. There’s a lot of pent up energy and emotion bubbling underneath the surface that he knows from experience that hovering around would do little to help. Besides, there were plenty of people he could be lending aid to right now - who he wanted to help. It would be a good distraction.

Checking up on the refugees, helping out with the medical bay and making sure people were as comfortable as they could be given the events… Once that’s done, Angelo drifts off to attend to Volans. Whether he and his pokemon separate themselves from the rest of the souls onboard or they give the pair a wide birth of their own volition is debatable; the tense aggravation rolling off the two is palpable.

Angelo is quiet as he wraps both arms around the Gyarados’s skull, muttering words that become incoherent to those outside, Volans’s snarls and growls rumbling from deep within his throat snuffing out his trainers’ voice. Despite the aggressive sounds as Ankaa the Togetic sprinkles beads of Life Dew onto the open wounds, Volans’s irritation appears to be all talk as Angelo keeps a firm presence by his side – or maybe because he remains there – keeping him calm. He presses his forehead against Volans’s crest, muttering low Alto Marian words of comfort, reassurances and some warnings as a heavy tail lashes.

When Angelo pulls away and returns the battle-weary creature to its capsule, his palms are slicked with a layer of red.

He can still feel the frustrations, raw and rough, burning underneath his skin as he leaves to scrub the blood from off his hands. There’s a lot still on his mind, from the sensation that had claimed him of his rationale as Skyler pushed him to safety to the way that the oceans turned red, playing on his mind like a fresh wound. Then there was the way Skyler had spaced out for that fleeting moment as the wave towered… He's pretty certain it had happened, after reflecting on it.

Angelo shook his hands free of the soapy water, droplets flying off his fingertips like he was discarding those clawing thoughts that sunk into his skin, too. Now wasn’t the time.

When he walked back onto the deck silver eyes catch him and before he realises it, Skyler is at his side, holding his arm like she were an anchor all the while stirring the complicated mess of emotions within him. Angelo doesn’t pull away, a hand rising to squeeze at the hand that grips him instead, although he isn’t certain whether the touch is more to comfort her or if it was really for himself.

“We’re set to go already? Very efficient, Captain Dross.”

He doesn’t mention the fog that had settled over her eyes back in the fray and he doesn't bring up the moment she let herself be ripped away from him by the wave. Instead Angelo finds himself smiling genuinely at Skyler, even if it is small and somewhat weary around the edges. “Let’s get you home, then.”

Home, he decides, sounds nice on her voice…

skyler dross