The sounds of dirt being shifted and crumpled by a pair of shoes resounded as the Wingull squawked in the sunny heavens above. Below her, the waves crashed against the vertical face of rock and dirt she stood upon, falling apart before returning to crash once again.

Anyone with a pair of eyes could tell that the young woman did not belong there. Her blazer, ribbon, and skirt reeked of a person who was neither a fisher nor a swimmer. Her hair ornaments reeked of someone who had failed to leave something behind.

Elaine had been hired for a job—one that took her to the Lilycove shoreline. Such was the life of a freelancer who still clung to her glory days and stayed stuck in the crags of those days.

And as she stared off, almost listlessly, into the sea and the horizon before her, something had dared encroached her field of vision—a Metagross floating above the water, carrying a single person who had decided to call out to her.

As she turned her head to focus on the new person, she pinned a piece of paper folded twice between her fingers.

“Yes, that would be me.”

On second thought, that’s probably a good idea. Would beat walking around here.

She pulled out a Pokeball and released a Metagross of her own. After placing her hand on the Metagross’s front leg, she directed her gaze to the one calling herself Selena.

“You can call me Elaine. May I ask what brings you out here?”

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Selena Desmarais

The lady's question can mean a lot of things, but Selena does not expect she knows about her. Or maybe she knows about her, and it is a matter of great curiosity how she finds herself several nautical miles away from her home city.

“They say fishermen are having problems with their catches. It's not like they don't catch anything; they catch fish which are a lot bigger than the usual.”

While the benefits of larger harvests are immediately better for the locals, in long term, Selena knows this is a problem that shouldn't be overlooked. She has witnessed a similar story of smaller fishes being decimated by larger predators who came from the deep underwater. And if that's also the case, they should know what is underwater that scares these large fishes away.

“You want to team up?”

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Elaine Highland

That sounded about right. Elaine was surprised that Selena would just candidly spell out why she was here, but that made things easy, as strange as it was. She could at least be a bit thankful that Selena was being forthcoming.

“That sounds about right.” Elaine sighed as she scratched at her head with her free hand. “The changes in the local fauna are concerning. I had figured to start checking the shoreline first for any possibilities, but that turned up absolutely nothing. I had figured an it could be a spike in the predator population or something man-made, but as far as solid ground is concerned, there’s nothing here aside from some jostled fishers dotted across the route.”

So, if that was the case, then the source was likely somewhere she hadn’t checked yet.

The bountiful blue expanse that had stretched to the horizon. The body of water over which Selena was floating.

With a quick hop, Elaine got on the back of her Metagross and spoke softly to it.

“Up, Ginga.”

Within a few seconds, Ginga had broken away from the bounds of gravity and was floating as well.

“Teaming up sounds like a plan, Selena.”

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Selena Desmarais

“You've come at the right place, but I'm afraid we're not there yet.”

Her eyes trail the deep underwater that is below them. The ocean's blue is alluring and provocative, seducing them beneath the waves that continuously roars with the wind. Whatever is causing the changes in the seawater activity is not something they can just tap on the ocean's surface; they must make a deep dive below.

“I hope you and your pokemon can make it underwater.”

With her words, the metagross she mounts on glimmers with a shade of pink, an outer glow enveloping the metal creature like a safeguard against the currents. Then the carnation wisps crawl through her fingers, into her arms, and into her head. Selena is covered with Mordred's PSYCHIC powers; the one around her head expanding as if to gather air from around her before they plunge.

“This might take long so we need to do it in intervals. Dive with me?”

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Elaine Highland

With that seemingly playful taunt, Elaine could feel an eye twitching, but suppressed it all in hopes that nobody would notice. There was something far more pertinent happening at the moment. She watched as a boundary had formed around Selena, placing her into a protective space for the dive she had been planning.

“Ginga. Can you do the same?”

With a low grunt, the Metagross had began to emit a pale glow of its own, that had expanded to encompass her inside, sealing in air for her as well. Once it had finished the initiation of the boundary and began to maintain it, Elaine rubbed its head gently next to where she had taken a kneel.

But, her eye twitched once again.

Elaine wasn’t sure whether Selena was doing it on purpose, but the way she had asked the question had almost seemed like the she was beckoning her on as if she were the one leading her on.

So, rather than waiting to get her approval, she decided it was best to start taking the plunge.

“Of course. Let’s not hold up. Time’s not going to just put itself on hold for us, you know~”

After flashing a smug grin and a v-sign with her fingers, Elaine and Ginga initiated descent.

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Selena Desmarais

Elaine plunges first into the ocean; Selena and Mordred following after.

The pinkette does not anticipate the darkness that looms the water. Goldeens and magikarps swerve as they dive, giving way for their realm's visitors. With only the metagrosses's faint light from their PSYCHIC powers illuminating the deep sea, it is getting more difficult to check the pit of the fishermen's problem.

“Can you see anything down there?”

Her words are muffled, drown in the air bubble that struggles amidst the underwater pressure. There's a certain point underwater that even their lights cannot penetrate anymore. Selena waits, observes how the sea pokemons enter the void of blackness. She does not see anything but she hears something. As she lingers more in their place, she hears turbulence.

Schools of relicanths and lanturns surge from the depths of the sea bed. One of them hits Selena's metagross in the process, disturbing the steel-type from using its power, bursting the air bubble that protects its trainer.

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Elaine Highland

“Nothing yet!”

Even if it was muffled, Elaine could still try to make sure to properly communicate. Though she questioned if Metagross could use Psychic to enable some telepathic communication, she decided not to push further considering that method was what was keeping oxygen in and the torrents of the sea out.

It didn’t take long until Elaine could see the light of the sun getting almost completely refracted from within the water, leaving only whatever weak light Ginga’s own Psychic was emitting out to illuminate the depths.

In the meantime, she made sure to keep an eye returning to Selena as they darted around, trying to pick up any information from what minimal visual stimuli she could get.

And as she did, she noticed the light she had been keeping her eyes on flickering.

“Ginga, up!”

Without any hesitation, she and Ginga flew upwards until they could see Selena and her Metagross.

“Get on! Hurry!” Quickly, Elaine stood up and held a hand out to Selena. She could only hope she would take it.

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Selena Desmarais

There is something about being at the brink of danger that always get her closer to her Tapu.

The impact from the clash sends them soaring from the deep waters. Elaine offers her a hand and the pinkette is quick to grab it, but the other lady will feel the jolts running through her nerves then through her spine. Selena's figure is engulfed in golden glow, electric terrain webbing out as they surge through the waves and into the surface.

“T-thank you.”

Her voice is marked with the tone of exasperation, bewilderment catching up as she realizes they are finally back in the air.

“I didn't see anything. Although I think I notice a gleam on the darkened part of the waters.” She takes a few moments to breathe in air before she continues. “It can be some kind of water vessel that is disturbing the biodiversity underwater. I hope it's just that; if it's another legendary pokemon, it will be another huge problem.”

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Elaine Highland

Elaine winced as her hand made contact with Selena. What had felt like a shock seemed to course through every epineurium in her hand all the way through her spine. It was quick, but it was enough to make her muscles contract and keep holding tight. Even if she wanted to, Elaine was completely unable to let go.

But that was not the crux of the whole phenomenon. Far from what she was feeling, it was what she was witnessing that drew far more attention from Selena.

The woman had taken on a glow that resembled an electricity. The light emanating from her and the sparking of the air spread out like branches on a tree or a snowflake to the point where it had even gotten onto Ginga’s head.

Even as Ginga had resurfaced and undid the barrier to allow new air in, Elaine could still feel that.

Really, what was that all about?

After letting go, taking a deep sigh, and clenching and unclenching her fist, she heard Selena’s words of exasperated.

Yeah, I’ll leave it for when she’s a bit calmer.

“I didn’t really catch a glimpse of that, so you’re going to have to guide the two of us back to that. But why would there be a submarine out here for long enough that it’s causing disturbances in the fauna?”

Wait a minute. Wasn’t there something even more jarring about those statements that she had just heard?

“Wait! Before that, what do you mean by another legendary Pokemon?!” Clearly, it was time to rip the bandage off of that wound.

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Selena Desmarais

Selena realizes that she activated her avatar powers unconsciously, Tapu's energy doing everything it can to save her from trouble. She rarely displays her powers in public: the only time she does so is during the war.

“Submarines tend to move from one place to another. I think this is just its current stop.”

But other than that, there is no telling who owns the vessel. It is another corporation in the region? Macro Cosmos? Or worse: Team Rocket?

“You know, legendary beasts come and go in this region. A beast they called Kyogre appeared in Lilycove during the war.”

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Elaine Highland

Given that Elaine hadn’t seen the submarine that Selena was talking about, she could really do nothing more than make idle speculation after speculation with what little information she had. Rather than trying to force her attempts at piecing together the minimal knowledge she had, she turned her focus to Selena.

“Huh. That’s it? The way you were speaking about it, I had figured either you had personal experience with a legendary Pokemon or you had logically come to a conclusion that it was an expected outcome. Either way feels a bit outlandish, mind you.”

As much as she felt like she wanted to press further, she could hold that off for later.

“Were you able to catch any more details about the submarine when you caught a glance? We’ll have to dive back down anyway, but it’s better to get all the necessary information out of the way so we can narrow out possibilities. Shore out what we know versus what we don’t.”

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Selena Desmarais

The pinkette raises her brow at her comment, an attitude that she does not expect from the lady. She is close to boasting that she is Tapu Koko's chosen one, if only to command respect on her, but she decides it's best not to speak any of it. Besides, being an avatar is not a matter of pride more than being a responsibility.

“I haven't seen anything. I only catch enough details to know it's larger than usual marine pokemons. What it truly is is still a matter of discussion.”

Selena reveals her rotom phone, hovering from inside her bag as it spins to wag off any excess moisture. She clicks on something on its body until it is coated with a thin layer of polymer.

“So, let's dive again?”

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY
Elaine Highland

In other words, the amount of necessary information they had gleaned about their supposed underwater vehicle was zilch. Given how quickly the situation had gone awry during their first diving attempt, this should have been an acceptable result.

Yet, she could not help but find it somewhat disappointing that more details weren’t elucidated, even cursing the fact that it was not her who had seen the submarine first in the first foray and gleaned off some information.

“In that case, no point in hesitating.”

Elaine knelt back down on the Metagross’s back.

“Ginga, let’s go back in. Try a different angle this time, though.” It was best to try to avoid the current of fauna that had intervened in their descent before.

With that, Ginga formed another barrier, trapping the air in before it descended back into the waters.

Round two of the deep dive had begun.

---

MISSION: SOMETHING FISHY

Selena Desmarais