"Kyogre's tits!"

Her stomach glues itself to her ribcage, shoved there by the abrupt swerve of Angelo's seaplane as he dodges yet another long-range attack.

Sparks shoot off from Dragapult's Protect where it meets the shriek of a Hyper Beam that would've otherwise made them kiss the ocean. It flickers into nothing, leaving the vessel - and themselves - unprotected.

A white-knuckled grip finds the closest handle, and she braces herself against the seaplane's floor before leaning out the sliding door to peer at the thick jungles of the approaching island. 

Blinking against the howling wind, she manages to catch a glimpse of ant-like figures over a stretch of otherwise pristine white sand. Ah, there they were, she thinks, the fuckers.

"There. One o'clock, on the beach." 

There's barely any time to register the flash of light against a cerulean blue background. Skyler hears it before she sees it, a high-pitched whistle that overpowers even the wind in her ears.

In fact, there's barely any time to do anything.

In the lull between one Protect and the next, a bright white beam crashes against the seaplane, rocking it violently and slamming Skyler back into the aircraft, so much so that she nearly ends up in Angelo's lap.

Alarms blare. Red warning lights blink frantically. And a plume of black, toxic smoke obstructs their vision.

"Angel?" Still conscious, okay. Good. "Shit, the fuck's happening?" 

It's about then that they start falling.

[mission]
angelo vestri

☉

Angelo needn't have bothered with the command; the word 'go' is barely an idea on his lips when Skyler leaps from her seat and onto the paradisical beach, hellbent on vengeance. It doesn't matter that, indeed, she feels like a bean in a maraca after a Cha Cha Cha show - aches don't register when her blood's boiling.

It doesn't help that those idiots actually think that they can get away with this.

The last stragglers would be able to see her coming, a vision of storm-tossed eyes and unbridled aggression - soon accompanied by an equally ferocious Jones and a levitating Dross. They launch themselves at the bandits, and a squeaky scream from a spooked bandit precedes her dive forward into the foliage.

Jones and Dross follow suit, snarls barely muffled by the thriving jungle. 

She doesn't even think to look back, trusting that Angelo wouldn't be far behind once he secured the seaplane. Branches and greenery fall victims to her warpath, as do a few bandits - which she doesn't bother with, because they don't have what she's after.

The relic.

She does kick one in the nuts, for good measure. And because it brings her an untold amount of savage satisfaction.

Up ahead, the sound of an engine causes a bolt of alarm to shoot through her system. "They're escaping." The thought is spoken aloud in a furious whisper turned snarl. "Fuck!"

Propelled forward by a new sense of urgency, Skyler emerges into a clearing that opens up to a lagoon - and further, the wider ocean. And there, a mere 30 feet from her, the grounded boat with a few wide-eyed escapees still piling in.

Got you.

[mission]
angelo vestri

☉

Skyler doesn't fault the bandits for attempting to escape, not when Angelo joins her with unholy fury simmering behind his eyes - the likes of which would've sent an anticipatory shiver down her spine had her brain not been so busy with committing violence.

She liked him this way, wanted him this way. Dangerous.

In all likelihood, if she waited for the bandits to set sail, she could easily capsize them and have them swallowed by an oversized cetacean. But 1) that would mean that it'd swallow the relic too, which was slightly problematic, and 2) these bastards weren't getting away without a thorough bashing. 

Thankfully, that plan is out the window the second fists start flying. 

The captain throws herself into the fray with bloodthirsty enthusiasm, dodging meaty arms and throwing her elbow back to crack someone's nose. From the corner of her eye she sees that Jones and Dross have also joined in, jaws clamping around the nearest opponents.

It's an all out brawl, but Skyler - and Angelo to a lesser extent - were intimately familiar with these things. And, given that Skyler had already showcased a tendency to end a few family lines, they were not beneath fighting dirty either.

Bones crunch under a wide uppercut, interrupted when someone slams a closed fist into Skyler's belly. She bends double with a wheezy groan, and dodges a knee to the face at the last second.

Gulping air down greedily, the captain wipes blood from the corner of her mouth and launches herself at the perpetrator with a snarl. He cries out in surprise, and falls back into the shallows where a booted feet stomps him down.

It isn't long before the tides of battle become clear enough for anyone to see. And with it, the frantic attempt at yet another escape.

Silver finds blue in the chaos, a silent inquiry.

Do you have it?

[mission]
angelo vestri

☉

In that moment all Skyler can think is fuck, my husband is hot.

Her eyes catch angelo vestri's over the last few stragglers seeking refuge in the small boat.

She could capsize the boat and all those within, she thinks. She could breach the distance between herself and Angelo and pin him against the closest vertical surface.

She would taste the fury in his lips like one did the finest of wines, twist her fingers around brown locks and claim it for her own - and the rest of him with it.

The moment is unfortunately interrupted by a straggler undoubtedly attempting to recover some lost shred of pride by launching himself at her. The captain's attention barely shifts, elbow cracking against the guy's nose and hopefully bestowing some common sense onto the fellow.

It must've, because he stumbles back and decides to join the others.

Skyler leaves them to the business of running away as she strides across the golden sand to Angelo. In his hands, she sees the glint of treasure.

Sweet Arceus, she was going to ruin this man. Not even thoughts of revenge manage to sway her focus.

When her skin, kissed warm by sunlight and adrenaline alike, presses against his, it is a terribly gentle thing. 

Fingers whisper up the sharp line of his jawbone, less a touch than an impression. When they wander up, it isn't to twist in brown locks. It's to carefully cradle the side of his face as a blue glow casts shadows across the dregs of violence in his expression.

And Skyler watches, hungrily, all of it. Even after the black eye is all but a memory. Even after the bandits have departed shore.

With a flick of her wrist, the ocean swells and swallows the boat.

[mission]
angelo vestri

☉

They dive back into the jungle.

Skyler follows after Angelo, navigating past twisting branches and treacherous greenery with ease. Even before they're spilled onto the initial beach where they'd more or less crashed, Skyler can smell the thick noxious fumes.

She side-eyes the tense curve of Angelo's shoulders, pulled back not in confidence, but in-

violence.

Skyler’s well-acquainted with rage. Can feel it wear at the fraying edges of a cold, mercurial temper that seldom sees the surface. Sinking its teeth into beloved sky-blue.

Is it too strange that she wants to taste it for herself?

Closer to the land-bound seaplane, Skyler can study the damage and immediatelly winces; she's no mechanic, but she highly doubts that the plane would be airborne anytime soon. Which puts them in a bit of a bind.

"Shit." Understatement of the century. "They really got it good." 

Somewhere along the way Jones had acquired a stick. He sits back in the hopes that one of the two humans would notice it. Unaware of the brewing tension.

"Might have to go back for a mechanic, Angel. I don't have many seaworthy pokemon that could carry us though." She knew he didn't either. "Preferably one that could carry the plane too..."

She drifts off, eyes sliding away from the damaged seaplane to the cerulean ocean behind - and an idea starts to brew.

angelo vestri

☉

Skyler would've climbed in after Angelo if there had been any space for it. Instead she hovers at the edge of the open panel and tries not to inhale a lungful of toxic fumes while keeping eye contact with the pilot.

The abrupt fit of coughing suggests she isn't entirely successful.

"I'm not saying to leave the seaplane behind." Angelo emerges back out and she moves back to give him space, booted feet splashing in the surf. "But I don't think that that small tool box is going to do you any good either," not in the condition the plane's in, is what goes unsaid.  

His comment has Skyler huffing. She crosses her arms and digs her feet into the sand, physically standing her ground as she continues, increasingly confident. "I don't have a Wailord always at my beck and call, no, but- I do have something else out in the ocean. Something which could potentially take us and the seaplane safely back to Lilycove."

Granted, using Kyogre as a glorified towing ship hadn't been her brightest idea yet, but what else was new.

"And then we can bring her," and she motions to the beached seaplane with a tilt of her head, "to a proper mechanic and call it a day."

Win win, right?

angelo vestri

☉