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OCCUPIED OCEAN MISSION WEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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"Hm?" the eccentric islander had at first thought he'd misheard Miss Elisabeth, looking back to her with a quaint, squinted smile as he was about ready to hand her a bottle of water. It wasn't until a sudden lurch had thrown him off-balance, a grand wave crashing into the side of the barge, nearly causing Rayne to fall face-first into a table, though he'd managed to catch a hold of his balance with his good arm, at the expense of the bottles falling to the ground.[break][break]

"Right! So I didn't mishear!" he'd said, more for himself than anyone else, a slight laughter in his voice despite the potential gravity of the situation. Nonetheless the eccentric had clambered up the stairs, only to be greeted by dark skies and his Raichu who'd come rushing to her trainer at the first sign of potential danger—it seemed she'd noticed the signs herself, even if Rayne hadn't quite picked up the heavy humid smell of an oncoming storm, himself—"Excuse me! Everyone drop what you're doing and get to the barge or into the ship! Whichever's closer!" he'd shouted out once more.[break][break]

He'd been a bit too busy to notice the wave coming down upon him from behind, threatening to topple the Alola-born Kalosian and even drag him out to sea if he unlucky, yet a well-timed REFLECT from his Raichu had caused the worst of it to be a spray of water right in his face and at his legs.[break][break]

"Yup, on the double, gentlemen!" he'd shouted out once more. Yet for Miss Elisabeth to potentially notice, while there was urgency in his voice, he seemed rather calm despite the potential dangers, and despite seeming to understand how dire it really could be.[break][break]

"Miss Elisabeth, we ought to make sure the rest of our pokémon and the crew are safe," he'd said, giving Elisabeth a smiling nod, before hopping right off the ship and running to the crew—and where he'd left his Palossand, Dusknoir and Joltik, alongside Miss Elisabeth's own Toxapex. While he'd been sure Nocturne and Miss Elisabeth's Toxapex would remain safe, he wasn't quite sure about Sable or Gem, and returning them to their balls was the safest option. He'd hurried forward, despite the rising tide and the aggressive nature of the waves themselves, he'd struggled to make much distance however, his movements slowed as he'd have to brace himself not to get toppled by ever-growing whitewater.

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OCCUPIED OCEAN MISSION WEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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At first Rayne had been ready with a concerned rebuttal—typically speaking the barge should have been safer, especially with all their emergency supplies and rations on there, it'd hopefully be able to survive this sort of extreme weather—yet, this wasn't your typical storm, with the riled pokémon and the extreme squall kicking up, he'd barely been able to hear Miss Elisabeth... ultimately he'd have to agree that taking shelter in the Sea Mauville was the safer option, they'd just have to pray that the storm would blow over quickly... or that they weren't cut-off from any temporary base set-up within the gargantuan graveyard while they waited.[break][break]

"Be safe!" he'd shouted one last time, quickly bringing his hand to his throat, rubbing at it, a strange metallic feeling in his hands as he'd massaged his already strained throat. The little accessory his own personal badge of honour of sorts, he'd shuddered slightly remembering his own ghoulish figure, and the phantom pain that sometimes kept him awake at night, that the small diamond-like piece near his adam's apple was the only thing keeping him alive and standing for the last few days.[break][break]

Nonetheless, he couldn't dare to stand around reminiscing about his own distorted fears, he'd continued wading through the crashing waves, his plastered hand kept close to his body, and his free arm covering his face, eyes squinted to keep as much of the salt spray out as he made his way to the construction site.[break][break]

With the Corsola out of the way—Rayne found himself in still a bit of a predicament, dogging him in their own bout of panic, his presence as an unfamiliarity deeming him the root of their problems, stray Sharpedos and Tentacool that had managed to bypass Miss Elisabeth's Toxapex, practically nipping at his heels. He couldn't dare send out Chance, his Rotom, the living bolt of plasma was already quite the bouncy ball of energy, letting it get excited and potentially throw out a random DISCHARGE could spell out a disastrous end for Rayne.[break][break]

Instead, Rayne had to think on his feet, still barely protected by his Raichu and her frequent uses of LIGHT SCREEN and REFLECT to defend herself and her trainer. He'd thrown out a poké ball, his Inteleon coming out to assist, "Tireur, gather them up with a Whirlpool, but stay close!" he'd said briskly, not letting up a step as he continued to push forward.[break][break]

Yet at the site, he'd seen a colossal structure that hadn't been there before, something he'd immediately recognised as his Palossand, which seemed to have taken the action of SHORING UP as much sand as possible to grow, hiding within its namesake sable sands was his Joltik and a handful of workers, alongside his Dusknoir keeping watch for any dangers.[break][break]

"We ought to get to safety!" he'd shouted, his voice still somewhat strained, he'd returned his Joltik immediately to its ball, he'd pointed towards the grand Sea Mauville, "even if Sable could last the storm, the water can get dangerously deep and turbulent, higher's better, gentlemen!" he'd shouted over the high winds and storm.

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OCCUPIED OCEAN MISSION WEEEEEEEEEEEEE

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"Well yes, of course, but... how?" Rayne had said in response—a slight streak of narcissism mixed in with cluelessness, it had only been when Elisabeth had brought out her Vileplume, the grass-type bolstering his Palossand's sandy barrier with strong roots from its GRASSY TERRAIN that he'd had an inkling of an idea of what she'd meant. He'd had half a mind to correct her, the ingenious method had been the sentient sandcastle's own doings to preserve itself and its friends, but this was no time for such a thing.[break][break]

As the Palossand broke free of the sand layered with roots, slowly shifting down to a smaller and manageable size, Rayne was puzzled to see a STRANGE GLOW in the distance, yet it shortly disappeared almost as soon as he'd seen it... and he had no time to focus on trivial things like this when people were in danger, at worst his eyes were playing tricks on him or it was a flash of lightning in the distance. Yet lightning was even more danger.[break][break]

"Soaking wet, but hopefully the worst of it is a bit of hypothermia rather than drowning or getting struck by lightning!" he'd said, his voice raised over the billowing winds and crashing waves. He'd moved his cast-arm in an attempt to point, but quickly pointed with his healthier hand soon after, pointing to the temporary stairway up to the Sea Mauville, "We ought to get to shelter, high up, it's safer there!" Rayne had added on, omitting the risk of a rogue wave in this inclement weather, causing panic was the last thing he wanted to do. Given his seafaring childhood and his knack for collecting information, while he was unsure of the origin of the storm, he was very well aware of the potential dangers it presented.[break][break]

He'd begun ushering the crew members towards the Sea Mauville, another well-timed REFLECT from his Raichu protecting him and those close-by from the waves as he moved forward with the crew members.

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Rayne had helped usher people aboard, his Dusknoir assisting with the boarding procedure—to a far lesser degree than Elisabeth's Tropius, but every extra second counted—his Palossand utilising its WATER COMPACTION and SHORE UP to continually create as sturdy of a sand barrier as it could muster as they'd quickly transported more of the crew members.[break][break]

On its trip back, his Dusknoir had hurried with an ICE PUNCH to freeze the barrier and help it hold, though Rayne had quickly shouted to his pokmon, "off we go!" hastily returning his pokémon to their balls before he'd reached for Elisabeth's hand. The eccentric islander's hand had never reached Miss Fiorelli's however, the sudden crashing wave sloshing over him, his silhouette disappearing in ocean whitewater...[break][break]

Yet it seemed Rayne had managed to hold onto the Tropius' leg, just barely avoiding being washed away as he gasped for air, his lungs burning—it had seemed Rayne hadn't expected the sudden bath, though he'd wasted no time jumping aboard the Tropius' back rinsing his eyes free of the sea water and slicking his hair back, "I'm okay!" he'd croaked out, turning away to cough out excess water that had gotten into his lungs.

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"That's most certainly the best plan, Miss Elisabeth," Rayne had said, clearing his throat after it finally seemed like he could breath again without the stinging salt in his lungs. His eyes squinted as he tried to see through the rain that was heavy enough to threaten drowning them even this high up.[break][break]

"We'll wait things out, all the crew should be up there, after all, I don't think we missed anybody," he could see them approaching the deck of the dilapidated ship, "we get inside, somewhere dry and sheltered from the rain, dry ourselves off to the best of our abilities and stay warm, if the storm goes on for a while, any one of us suffering from hypothermia is a potential death sentence for the unlucky chap," he'd explained, adding further; "there's surely some emergency communications installed by the higher ups somewhere inside, we'll use that to let people know the situation, and we sit tight, the barge won't go anywhere, well, aside from potentially the bottom of the sea if we're very unlucky, but that's for a particular handful of people to worry about, not us," he'd flashed her as jovial of a smile as he could, "our focus is not losing anyone out here, and staying alive and warm, we wait out the storm and pray it passes by, at least long enough that we might be able to get supplies from the barge."[break][break]

As the duo landed with Elisabeth's Tropius, it seemed the construction crew had already figured out where to hole up, the foreman in charge attempting to flag them down and bring them to shelter. It seemed like some sort of old crew's quarters, an old common room, rusted and worn by time, yet, old furniture remained, if a little dusty, some crew members had been resting on old couches, others looking through a kitchen area. Others had come back after searching deeper for things to dry off with. Yet, despite how old and rusted everything was, the power seemed to work—perhaps a preliminary generator installed first thing by the higher ups—and what more, something out of place was a radio, pristine and modern, at the very least it seemed that this area was one that the higher ups had some foresight to use as a central area during the remodelling.[break][break]

Rayne had given Elisabeth a warm smile, it seemed they'd at least be able to let Mister Wrynn know the situation, and be able to coordinate with him. He'd quickly grabbed a towel and handed it to her, taking another to dry his hands before he'd fiddled with the radio. Smiling once more as it seemed he'd managed to make a connection.