Thomas had heard that there was possibly some sort of treasure tucked away at the Shoal Cave. While he had never had the chance to explore the place, having only recently been assigned to the Region, he still took the mission. After all, it was a good chance to explore the caves when they were at their most accessible, while having the benefit of backup. The idea of claiming whatever resources the cave had to offer, rather than letting them fall into the hands of Team Rocket, also appealed to the Agent.

Not long after his partner arrived, he would spot a man flying in on a Hydreigon. The dark dragon seemed to be flying in with purpose, the man on its back clearly visible even from the horizon. Finally, the dragon would land, hovering above the sands leading into the cave. The tall, brown-haired man would give the Hydreigon an affectionate pat on the head after deftly sliding off the back of the dragon. He would then recall the Hydreigon, and turn to face the blonde.

"Alexei, right? I'm Agent Striker. I'm your partner."

The International Police Agent was dressed in durable clothing that was well suited for exploring caves, covering his body and acting as light protection. Otherwise, he carried a light bag that contained some rudimentary gear for the cave, in preparation for the fact that Shoal Cave allegedly caused pieces of technology to malfunction. While he wasn't the first to arrive, his timing at least ensured they had time to explore the cave before high tide kicked in.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov
notes: Thomas arrives via Hydreigon

In all honesty, Thomas lamented the fact that he couldn't get to the caves earlier, when low tide had effectively kicked in. But then, considering what his day consisted of beforehand, it was a miracle that he got to Shoal Cave at the midway point. As Alexei offered him a flashlight, Thomas would gesture to decline, before pulling out his own flashlight from his bag. The flashlight itself was a long and heavy model that was typically issued to law enforcement, with some modifications, chiefly a panel on the bottom that allowed it to absorb electricity from Electric-types to charge.

"Can you really blame them, at this point? After what those scumbags did to the Kanto Region, and to Slateport, I'd be scrambling to get my hands on as many vital or otherwise potentially valuable resources as possible, before Rocket could get their hands on them.", he would state in response to Alexei.

Thomas would nod in response to Alexei's last statement, before venturing into the cave with the native Unovan. As Thomas entered the cave, he would take note to just how large the place was. If anything, the sight of the interior of the cave made him want to come back later, to see for himself what Shoal Cave is like during High Tide.

"So which way we headed?", he'd ask his partner.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov
notes: Thomas enters with Alexei, and allows him to take the lead

While Thomas was familiar with what went down in Slateport, he was unable to reach the fallen city in time to help out. At the time of the attack, he was dealing with a fugitive hiding out in Lilycove City, a dangerous one at that. Considering he was the only person pursuing the criminal, and that dropping the pursuit would guarantee he'd continue to elude police for Arceus knows how long, Thomas had to maintain the pursuit. After a tense hostage situation, Thomas finally managed to capture the criminal, at the cost of precious time.

Realistically, his presence at the battle would've made a negligible difference in the grand scheme of things, but the Interpol Agent couldn't help but be saddled with guilt over not being there to assist in defending Slateport from the invading forces.

"Yes, I've actually encountered those clowns. I still cannot wrap my mind around how they successfully managed to convince entire congregations of people to release their Pokemon, even as their Pokemon were pleading with them not to do it.", Thomas remarked with a disgusted scoff, his free hand balling up into a tight fist at the thought of what went on in Unova all that time ago. Of course, he had quite a history with that group, including witnessing their rank and file commit abuses against wild Pokemon themselves. It was one of their operations involving stealing Pokemon to "liberate them" that caused his path to cross with that detective from the International Police, bringing him to where he is now.

Thomas remained silent as Alexei would go through the route, before leading him down the path. Thomas was not too far behind his partner, and would pull out his own flashlight as Alexei did, the beam of the flashlight projecting a bright beam of light, fitting for a tool trusted by law enforcement across League territories.

As they came across the blockade, Thomas would walk up to it, and begin to scan it with his flashlight. It was then that he flashed a quick smirk. "Stand back, this will get messy.", he told Alexei, before stepping back himself, plucking a Pokeball from his belt. A large Scizor would emerge from the capsule. "Ripper, I need you to bust down that rubble!", Thomas told the Scizor, who nodded, and started to pound at the rubble blocking the path.

The steely pincers of the Scizor managed to smash apart the rocks forming the wall with ease. Broken down pieces of rock and dust would fly around the Scizor in the process. Within moments, Ripper had smashed through the rocky blockade, opening the way for the trio to proceed along the path.

"Good work, Ripper.", Thomas told the large Scizor.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov
notes: Ripper smashes down the rubble blocking the way

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After having busted down the wall of debris blocking their way, the cries of several Pokemon, all of a familiar species to the Agent, filled the cave, somewhat distant at first, before the cries got louder as the Golbat got closer. "Shit!", Thomas called out. The poisonous bats were clearly attempting to get a free meal out of the two humans, with one of them diving down towards Thomas, only for the trainer to quickly lean back, and grab the Golbat, before chucking it back at another one that was coming at him.

Thomas would grab another Pokeball off of his belt. Unleashing the creature within, a Flygon. Kiryu, the Flygon, would immediately perform a Dragon Dance, in order to raise his strength and speed, before flying in to meet the horde of Golbat head-on, raking them with his Dragon Claw. While it managed to inflict harm to the Golbat, the claws of the Flygon would fail to knock the bats out, resulting in them just flying back at him and attempting to get a meal out of the encounter.

As his partner alerted him to something coming up from behind, Thoms would turn around to see a large cloud of dust kicking up towards him. The trainer would quickly roll out of the path at the last moment, narrowly avoiding the Onix that would emerge from the ground with a roar. Ripper looked up to the tall rock serpent, reinforcing his body with Iron Defense, before delivering a Bullet Punch to the Onix., The steely pincers of the Scizor would smash right into the head of the Onix, causing it to cry out in agony.

In retaliation, the Onix would slam down his tail, causing a light Rock Slide to come crashing down on Thomas and Ripper. While Thomas found himself dodging the falling debris, Ripper merely took the attack, which thanks to reinforcing his defenses moments earlier, barely did anything to phase the insect. Ripper would go in for yet another Bullet Punch, once again smashing his pincer into the head of the Onix, this time causing cracks on its head to form, before it would fall into unconsciousness.


With the Onix having been brought down, Thomas looked around, seeing that the Golbat were still coming, and didn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. While Kiryu had done an admirable job in holding them off, thanks to his enhanced speed allowing him maneuver quicker than they could, their sheer numbers threatened to overwhelm him quickly, if something wasn't done to either get out, or take out more of them with more efficiency.

Thomas would quickly fish out a pair of high quality ear plugs from his bag, and toss them to Alexei. "Plug those in. Kiryu's gonna use Boomburst on my command, to stun these Golbat, maybe knock some out in the process. After that, we make a run for the chamber. If we do this right, we can take more of them out while on the run.", Thomas would tell his partner. "Sound good?", he asked quickly, watching his Flygon swat back the Golbat with his claws, so far managing to wound five of them with his attack.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov
notes: Ripper takes out the Onix. Flygon sent out to fight off Golbat. Thomas hands Alexei high quality earplugs, and has a plan.

The boost provided by the Tailwind provided Kiryu with some extra mobility needed to weave through the barrage of Golbat coming at him, batting them back and slashing into their bodies with Dragon Claw. Despite this, he found himself eventually getting surrounded by the horde of oncoming Golbat, all of them getting ready to feast on the green dragon.

With Ripper being free from the skirmish with the Onix, the Scizor would turn his attention to the Golbat horde coming at the two trainers and their Pokemon. Ripper would perform a Swords Dance to boost his strength. A Golbat would attempt to Leech Life from the Scizor, only to find its fangs chipping off upon biting the steely armor. With an annoyed look, Ripper delivered a Double Hit on the large bat, knocking it unconscious. As one was attempting to fly in on Thomas from behind, Ripper would rush in with a Bullet Punch, sending it flying back several feet.

"Thanks, Ripper.", Thomas told the Scizor, who gave him a grin and a nod, before continuing to fight more off.

Once Alexei had put in the earplugs, and was ready to roll, Thomas quickly plugged in his own earplugs, and had Ripper recalled back to his Pokeball, to spare him from what was to come.

"Now Kiryu, Boomburst!", called out Thomas. As he shouted this out, he got into a stance to ready himself for what was to come.

As multiple Golbat go in close to attempt to suck the blood of the dragon, Kiryu would immediately unleash a loud and powerful soundwave that send many of the Golbat flying, those wounded prior to the Boomburst would drop to the cave floor, falling unconscious to the attack. Those that would remain conscious would find themselves dazed and badly injured from being subjected to the Boomburst, their hearing ringing from the loud noise. And while Alexei's Salamence and Braviary were no doubt tougher than the Golbats, they would still feel the shock of such an attack.

While Thomas greatly disliked using such a move, especially with the implication that the Golbat might not rouse from their slumber in time to avoid drowning during high tide, Thomas knew he had to do it, if they were to make it to the chamber safely.

Thomas would gun it down the path with Alexei, with Kiryu trailing not far behind. While the attack may have done considerable work to thin out the herd, there would still be several Golbat that would recover from the shock of the attack, and continue their pursuit.

"You alright?", Thomas would ask Alexei as they made their run.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov
notes: Ripper takes out one Golbat, and wounds another. Thomas recalls Ripper, before having Flygon use Boomburst to attack the entire group, using ear protection to give him some protection from attack. After the Boomburst goes off, the wounded fall, and the rest of the Golbat become wounded. Thomas rushes down the path with Alexei, Flygon behind them

As Thomas and Alexei would run, Thomas would take notice to just how many Golbat were dropping. He would take a moment longer before pulling out the earplugs himself, the familiar ringing from the aftermath setting in before his hearing would return to normal. At this stage, many of the Golbat were backing off, rather than continuing to attack after the assault. Many would continue on with their assault, flying after the group.

"Kiryu, Rock Slide, spaced out!", commanded Thomas.

The Flygon would call down a barrage of rocks on top of the pursuing Golbat, carefully spaced out so as to not clog up the cave passages. Rocks would drop on top of several of the pursuing Golbat, finishing what the Boomburst had started with them, causing them to join their fallen comrades. Whatever Golbat remained would see the Flygon threatening to go in for another round, and would summarily back off, not willing to deal with any of that.

"Thanks, Kiryu!", Thomas said, flashing a thumbs up to the green dragon, who would give a grin and a nod in return.

With the danger dealt with, Thomas would continue his way through Shoal Cave with Alexei, wasting no time in getting to this chamber. Thomas wouldn't recall his Flygon, making sure that he was covered, should more danger present itself. Thomas would spot the faint glow coming from a chamber that was within their sights, thanks to the Salamence pointing towards it with his tail. The Kalosian would respond with a nod to his partner's question, continuing his rush towards the chamber. Whether that chamber was their goal, or the den of yet more danger was yet to be seen.

---

tags: Alexei Ivanov shiv
notes: Flygon used Rock Slide carefully to knock out or drive off remaining pursuers. Thomas goes towards the chamber with Alexei.

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