Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

"No." Doug replied flatly as they walked, eyes never leaving their destination. "No idea. 'fraid ya gonna have to ask goode ol' dahlia goode or FERNANDO SILPH for that one, cause I don't get it either."

Perhaps they had hoped to delay the leaking of information for a while longer by limiting the number of people he knew.

But then, it wouldn't make sense for them to invite skyler dross and angelo vestri. If they could trust two outsiders with the information, one would think the longest running gym leader in the region would be a no brainer.

"'Fraid the brilliance of our top brass is lost on lil' ol' me." He said, sarcasm dripping from his lips like venom.

Maybe his inability to see the point was why he wasn't in the council.

Yet.

"I'm sure it ain't nothin' personal, if nothing else." He said, finally shrugging as he turned his gaze towards Alexei and shrugged with an uncomfortable look.

He didn't like the state of things either. He knew that he didn't have the rank needed to be informed of anything immediately. He would learn of it as soon as the league needed him to do something...

His brow furrowed, a huff leaving his lips as he turned his gaze back to the long tunnel stretching before them.

"Just means we'll have to become part of the top brass ourselves." He didn't know if Alexei had anything planned- but he certainly did.

Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

"Then do something about it." Doug responded irritably, giving taller man a somewhat judgmental look. "Yer the longest serving Gym Leader in Hoenn. If ya stand up, we all will!"

If anyone could rally all of the gym leaders together to stand up to the Council, surely it was him. Who else could claim to have stuck through it all, thick and thin? FERNANDO SILPH?

Sure, maybe, but nobody liked him! Oh, and he was also part of the Council.

"The new gym leaders are still getting their bearings. Mr. Silph's clearly picked his lane." He said bluntly, brow furrowed. "If we don't stand up for ourselves, nobody will."

It was about damn time they all freaking did what needed to be done.

"Let's gather everyone up and unionize!" Doug said as he pumped a fist, looking with gleaming eyes. He almost seemed excited about it.

The whole talk of fall out shelters went entirely over his head; that was a nice idea and all, but he had his own plans regarding the meteor.

Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

Doug would've smacked some strength of will into Alexei if battle hadn't come at them fast and without warning. If the man wasn't confident in his group talking skills, Doug would've been happy to cover for whatever 'weakness' he felt he might have.

That said, his last words were just silly.

"Whatdaya mean ya 'didn't know'?!" Shouted Doug up at the man up in the air, before his eyes widened as the Watery Gyarados unleashed sweeping rays of destruction.

The youth leapt back as best he could, shouting as the destructive blast's shockwave sent him bouncing across the floor like a rubber ball, his jacket sliding across the rocky floors of the cave.

"Oof!" He wheezed, feeling his breath abandon him almost entirely. Rolling onto his side, the youth pushed himself to his feet before palming a net ball. "Damn it... Our whole mission's to fight off the Sea Troops! Didn't ya read the brief?!"

Had Alexei taken the mission just cause he wanted to talk about the AQUA stuff...?

Ah, Whatever! With a swing of his arm, his Galvantula took to the field, landing and immediately taking stock of its surroundings.

"Tie it up tight!" Ordered the youth, sweeping his arm at the watery Gyarados.

In response, lightning visibly coursed through the Galvantula before it suddenly released tendrils of electrified webbing, attempting to enwrap the sea serpent and take it out in one go.

Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

"Damn civvies!" Grumbled Doug as his Galvantula tied up the Sea!Sea-serpent tightly in its webbing and shocked it with lightning, bringing the giant monster down to the floor.

Sighing in relief, a disgruntled Doug turned a look at the strange sky as rain drops fell upon them. As Alexei said, this was little more than ammo for the others.

"Kimono." He said as he threw out a netball, releasing a Lurantis into the battlefield as he swept his arm. "Sunny Day!"

The best counter he could think of quickly, his pokemon beginning to trace elegant steps along the wet floors as she danced the rain away.

As she did this, the youth looked around, Alexei's words hanging in the air.

"We probably ain't." Doug mumbled lowly, right before several splashes filled the air. From the puddles that had formed from the prior rain, sea!pokemon began to emerge, surrounding the duo and drawing a click of the tongue out of Doug as he pulled closer to the taller man.

"Kimono! Goran! Form up!" He ordered his Lurantis and Galvantula, both moving to flank him in facing the several sea!pokemon. "Tch. I can't believe we let ourselves get surrounded... I'm never gonna 'ear the end o' this."

His soldiers would've a field day with it once they were back... But that was about it. Doug had no doubt that they would be able to force their out of this.

"Time to get serious, Ivanov. We can finish our talk once we're done 'ere." The youth said as he reached for another net ball.

Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

Lots of fighting happened, but the writer doesn't really care for detailing how he took care of faceless NPCs, so just assume Alexei and Doug whooped mondo ass all over the place.

"There's gotta be a point to these attacks... can't seem to figure it out, though." Doug said, looking over the unconscious bodies of the sea folk with a thoughtful frown. "These numbers ain't enough to keep us harried— not strong enough either; not by a long shot."

Where they unable to mobilize any more of their numbers? Now that he thought about it, during their first contact, there had been a lot less Sea!folk present than Normal!Hoenn; their numbers only equalized once they had been taken to Sea!Hoenn...

But that still didn't explain the constant attacks. This wasn't enough to even keep them busy. As a method of draining strength from the enemy, it was lacking. As a method of distraction, it was useless.

What was the strategy, here...? Or was Queen skyler dross just a berserker willing to throw lives away...? Maybe, but he couldn't shake his worries. Should he bring it up to dahlia goode...?

No. If he couldn't even name the problem, then doing so would be little more than wasting the woman's time.

"Tch! I should read the Art of War again..." He grumbled to himself, before turning back to Alexei. "Where were we before?"

Oh yeah; rounding up the gym leaders... something something not a great leader...

He rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry 'bout being motivational or whatever. If you speak sense, they'll listen, no matter how much you stutter."

Jeez, he hoped.

Warped Mirror

I can't believe I have to do this again, Alexei Ivanov

"Extremely so." Doug said with a frown as he overlooked the battlefield, gripping the brim of his cap tightly. "But I can't figure out what they're tryin' to do. No use stickin' 'round any longer."

He turned on his heel, cape flapping behind him as he began to saunter back the way they came.

"You don't need to talk to dahlia goode directly." Doug said, going back to Alexei's earlier words. "The rest of the gym leaders have their voice. Gather them all together—" Well, sans FERNANDO SILPH. "— and your combined voice should grant'cha at least some attention, some gravitas."

Such was the power of unionization.

"We can't change the course of the meteor by protestin' it really hard, but we can at least make sure all avenues have been explored 'fore we throw that giant rock bomb at another world."

Hopefully, exploring all avenues would lead to their way out...

---

Mission ACCOMPLISHED.