Chatter at the Sheriff’s office dies when Gunner walks through the door. A pretty receptionist was in the middle of chatting up a deputy. Now, she seems to only have eyes for the man of the hour.[break][break]
“You that fella the Sheriff’s meeting with?” The deputy asks, making no attempt to hide his folksy accent. “That fella from the League.”[break][break]
“Obviously he is, Dave.” The receptionist says with a roll of her eyes. “He just said he’s with the HBIC. Sheriff’s right—”[break][break]
“Thanks, Margaery. I’ll take it from here.” Navy walks into view. Other than a badge on his chest, he hasn’t changed much. He’s wearing the same smile, regarding Gunner with a nod and waving him over. Just down the hall is his office.[break][break]
“So, you’re the guy HBIC sent. Thank Arceus. I need all the help I can get with Ultra Deep Sea.” Navy doesn’t know the agent very well. They’ve been but ships passing in the night by one another – always ending up in the same spots, never really talking. Still, Navy knows enough about the man to ask one question, just to break the ice.[break][break]
“You holdin’ up alright after Galar?”

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Sometimes, I forget I’m here. In Hoenn, I mean.” Perhaps it’s not the best move to admit that to an investigator, but he’s not the one under the microscope today. Practically every important person in the League government needs therapy after what happened at the Ancient Tomb.[break][break]
“But one look at the sky fixes me right up. It’s not purple like it was in the Galar countryside.” There’s more to it, of course. His eyes glance at a small carved figurine of the hero dog Zacian. Someone he’ll never see again made him that. He wants to talk about it, but he doesn’t.[break][break]
Men are such strange creatures.[break][break]
“World moves on, though. We’ve got quite the problem on our hands. You read the reports I sent to the League?”[break][break]
He’s prepared to slide a file across the table detailing everything he has observed. Rampant ghost Pokemon activity in the area, corpses animated by Nihilego neurotoxin washing up on shore and attacking local Pokemon, people that went missing after the battle showing up with no recollection of who they once were…[break][break]
This is a strange town, as Gunner will soon learn if he hasn’t already. Nothing routine about it.

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Absolutely.” He says without hesitation. “I’m not an expert on ghost Pokémon, but my best guess is that all the death and destruction back in April drew ‘em here like moths to a flame. It all ties back to the Ultra Deep Sea. Not only that…” He produces an old, water-stained journal. The contents detail a dying magalopolan’s observations on the realm where his life ended. It seems to act as confirmation, perhaps belated, that the space is inside some supermassive Pokémon.[break][break]
“The place is alive. A breeding ground for Nihilego. Sometimes, you can see ‘em glowing in the sea at night. They run before you can get close.” What might frighten someone else seems to merely frustrate the newly appointed sheriff.[break][break]
“It’s a mess. I can deal with it day to day, but it’s hard to tackle the heart of the problem without more League support. The only deputy I’ve got who can really hold her own in a Pokémon battle’s Baki.” Baki being his affectionate nickname for Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki , another alum of the Ancient Tomb raid. HBIC would know her as a Kanto refugee Navy helped smuggle out of the region in March. Since then, he’s practically adopted her.[break][break]
“Don’t happen to have some vacation days to spare, do you? Best beaches in the world, don’t let Alola fool you, and there’s plenty of action down here.” He frames a plea for help with a joke, a smile, and a weak laugh.

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Well, if you’re offering to talk to the council for me…it’d mean a lot if you could request backup. You’d be great for a start. If you could get Livy to rubber stamp my sygna suit requisition, that’d go a long way.” He says this with relaxed, easy confidence, as if requisitioning bleeding edge technology and manpower in the middle of a war’s no big deal. The fatigue at the edge of his eyes shows when he closes them, rubbing along black bags with his thumb.[break][break]
“As you know, lots of Pokemon died during the battle. Both sides. It was a bloodbath. Plenty of bodies couldn’t be recovered. There’s the problem: those poor Pokemon got left down there with the Nihilego. They got injected with their venom. It kinda…revived them. Not all the way, but enough to shamble about down there and cause problems. A few have made their way up here.”[break][break]
Trusting the man to hold his lunch down, Navy pulls out a manilla folder and slides it over to Gunner. Inside the folder are photos. Half a dozen different Pokemon species are on display. Many of them have growths like barnacles and coral growing on them. Their flesh is rotting. Their eyes are gone. These things shouldn’t be able to move.[break][break]
“It’s a full-time job playing defense between the ghost Pokemon and these things washing up. The rangers here are spread thin. None of ‘em have Pokemon that can fight these things reliably.”

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“You know how it goes, Graves.” Navy says, tired. “If it’s not one thing here, it’s another. The other ranger outfits help where they can. There’s only so much manpower. Not much to spare for a small town, even one on the edge of…well…” Gunmetal eyes fall onto the photographs. Some of them were taken in those hellish waters.[break][break]
“It’d be even worse if Eternatus was off the shore of Slateport or Sootopolis. That’s the one thing I tell myself.” Shaking his head, he realizes he didn’t answer the other question.[break][break]
“Anyway, I have my deputies and my faster Pokemon do patrols. If it’s a little one, a Froakie, Lotad, or somethin’ like that, they can handle ‘em without me showing up. Usually they’re way bigger. Some of ‘em seem to be attracted berries, so I’ve set up traps, but it’s not foolproof.” It doesn’t sound very good when he says it out loud.[break][break]
“A lot of monitoring. A lot of waiting. We can’t be everywhere at once. Sort of sounds like the League in miniature when I put it that way.” His smile is grim. “Don’t mean to be such a downer, my bad.”

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Ain’t that the damn truth?” Like attracts like. Navy’s smile is a mirror of Gunner’s own. He gets right on the other man’s request. Wasting no time, he pulls out the USB containing these photos. The email’s up. He’s about ready to wave the man off with a wave and a joke when the phone rings.[break][break]
“Hang on a sec, Graves.” It’s impolite to not say goodbye. Picking up the phone, he listens to what the voice on the other end has to say. His smile is gone in milliseconds. Whatever’s said on the other side of the line, it’s serious.[break][break]
“Fuck, man.” He whispers half under his breath. The conversation is over quick. “I’ll be right there.”[break][break]
“Graves, I need your help.”

[break][break]

+ Gunner Graves

[attr="class","pokeclass"]