He finds her intimidating.[break][break]
Fighting that feeling down, he tries to act cordial. Professional. Nevermind his friendship with Ollie, the fact that they’ve probably met in passing before. Eva’s a woman who commands respect. Navy plays it cool, sticks to the matter at hand. Thanks to a base he made within the Ultra Deep Sea earlier with the help of Colton Boothroyd and Hyakkaryōran Tsubaki , they’ve got an excellent FOB to work with.[break][break]
Don’t ask about Rayquaza.[break][break]
This thought dominates Navy’s mind. His friend’s sister, a woman who earned the respect of a Pokemon he revered as a child. Navy simply gulps, guides, helps direct. His maps help. They find their way to the omnipresent magenta organ soon enough.[break][break]
It churns and beats like the siren song of crashing waves. The waves carry whispers of past, present, and future. A blast of pink cascades towards them, deflected at the last moment by the iron machine that rescued Navy in Dewford. Their radiation counter starts ticking, as it usually does when he finds his way to an organ. If they’re going to mine this stuff, someone will have to bear the brunt of the radiation.[break][break]
It just doesn’t seem right to risk her.[break][break]
“Dr. Morales.” Navy says before realizing how weird it sounds to call a friend’s sister that. “Eva. You’re uh, important and all. You mind letting me do the heavy lifting? Better I take the risk than you. My dumb muscle can be replaced way easier than that brain if yours.”

[break][break]

+ Eva Morales

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Of all the higher ups in Hoenn. Eva is probably the least intimidating. Well, now maybe ollie morales held that revered title. She holds a rather soft, friendly demeanor that only disappears in the most dire of circumstances.

This might turn out to be one of those times.

Still, she shoots Navy a sly smirk. So willing to risk himself for someone he barely knows?

The foreign energy pulses forward again, bathing them in magenta light. She feels her own PRIMAL ENERGY stir. It’s a strange feeling. It isn’t compatible but that wouldn’t stop the professor from discovery.

“You’re no less important, Michael,” her hand reaches out to take his, “Besides, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you take it all alone,” she pulls him forward, determined to take on the radiation TOGETHER.

---

Michael Navidson

He marches forward with her into the jaws of this beast. It’s like they’re pulled through the gates of hell. Together, they can bear this excruciating load. Ordinarily, Navy would protest. He’d argue. Insist upon it, but she takes him and forces the issue.[break][break]
He doesn’t mind. After all, it’s that attitude that’s gotten her where she is in life. Poison drifts in around them. The ore is right there. Navy prays this is worth all the trouble, sending most of the League’s upper brass out to mine this stuff.[break][break]
“Alright, we’ve got a bit before somethin’ shows up. That’s how this usually goes. I’ll set up a defensive line.” Navy squints, trying to ignore the skeletal dragon’s poison which flows through his veins once more. Taking solace in the camaraderie, he throws out a few Pokemon.[break][break]
Flora, his Blissey, keeps them topped off. Between a light screen and a healthy dose of life dew whenever the noxious fumes of this place start to get to them, she keeps the duo and their Pokemon in fighting shape.[break][break]
Fenrir, his lycanroc, stalks about. Striking at the ground, he creates natural barriers with his stone edge. Anything that comes in will be funneled through thin passages. Not only that, they’ll navigate over stealth rocks.[break][break]
Waiting to hold the line, humming pretty as you please, is a Shuckle. Shuckle doesn’t do anything just yet, resting until the show starts.[break][break]
“So,” Navy tries to keep the conversation going, “what Pokemon did you bring?”

[break][break]

+ Eva Morales

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

A familiar fear ripples across the space between them. Their bond lightens the load to a manageable degree. Still, Eva feels the pressure. The pulsing energy of the toxic organ ignites a spark, a strange wave of her own PRIMAL ENERGY flares to life to combat it. The emerald in her eyes turns bright gold, cast a subtle light noticeable in the shadows.

Her gaze seems fixed, wide and entranced by the crystalized organ. The LIGHT SCREEN buffers some if it and the LIFE DEW gives some reprieve, but it’s not enough.

Her hand squeezes tightly around Navy’s, “I-” her other hands reaches for a pokeball clinging to her hip. A ZARUDE materializes from the flash of light. Their fists pound against the earth. Tendrils of vines explode through the cracks, emerald now fighting the magenta for dominance. The JUNGLE HEALING spreads across the mining sight, nourishing all those within its domain. They focus and HEALING and PROTECTING their peers and themselves to extend their time here in this foreign realm.

---

Michael Navidson

She’s holding his hand. Navy plays it cool, looking forward towards the impending battle. He’s been down here enough to know what’s next. They might have sacrificed efficiency, but their lives are far more comfortable as a result. The sight of the zarude makes him blink in rapid succession, as if the Pokemon might disappear at any moment.[break][break]
“Is that--- ah, a Zarude. Cool. Very cool.” He feels sixteen again, like he’s paired with an upperclassman.[break][break]
Eternatus, for all the ire Navy bears it, is a kind god. It’s in that moment, before Navy can say anything awkward, that the mist finally settles. This place peers into their hearts. It looks inside them, inside Navy…[break][break]
And a Gyarados greets them. It roars from the mist, flying towards them and their raised defenses. Its scales are beautiful, like something out of a dream. Blue and red mingle in random patterns across its body. It moves through stealth rocks and all the other tricks they have set.[break][break]
“Flora—”[break][break]
The sheriff doesn’t need to finish his sentence. As the Gyarados opens its maw, Flora chucks a poisoned egg inside. The toxic contents are sure to poison the creature. Fenrir follows up with a rock tomb, bombarding the creature with rocks from above.[break][break]
They’re doing well, but Navy’s grip tightens at the sight of the creature. Juvenile awkwardness turns to adult apprehension. This is not the first time he has seen this ghost in these troubled waters.


[break][break]

+ Eva Morales

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

Monsters that only live in their memories seems to haunt this place. Eva’s head tilts slightly as the shadows manifest into a Gyarados. Michael mumbles a name Eva can’t quite make out beneath the roar of the serpentine pokemon. She spares a glance in his direction,. It’s enough to read the room: he knows this pokemon.

The energy suddenly penetrates her like a dagger. She gasps, tensing in defiance. She can feel her own primal energy battling with the intruder, forcing it out like an infection. It still gets what it wants.

An enormous Kyurem dwarfs the Gyarados, reaching down with its open maw to devour the manifestation in a few quick bites. It’s Eva’s own worst fear, the one that could truly destroy them all. She’s stiff as a statue, her heart racing a million miles a minute. She only moves when it lunges towards them. She tears her hand away from Navy’s. Her emerald eyes flash a bright gold. Her DELTA WINDS rise around them into an impenetrable wall when her hands sweep up. With a grunt. She pushes it forward, forcing the beast back.

It doesn’t come without consequences. It’s exhausting, and she falls to her knees, momentarily weakened by the exertion of force.

---

Michael Navidson

He feels a flutter of fear at the sight of her nightmares. They’re creatures operating on wholly different scales. Old wounds, past failures, one dead Pokemon pales in comparison to the cold death offered by that monster.[break][break]
“Eva…!” Navy shouts before the winds form around her. He watches in awe as she, a mere mortal, pushes back against something far greater than herself. It’s easy to see why she’s caught the eye of something far them.[break][break]
Running to her side, he kneels, tries to help her up. He might not be a man capable of wrangling gods, but he can help one person.[break][break]
“We’ll catch a ride back to base. It’s time to go.” Different apartments aside, she’s probably his boss. Out in the field, he doesn’t want to dwell on that. Some of their ore is left behind in the haste of the retreat he intends to beat, but so be it.[break][break]
“No point taking risks here.” Letting Thin Lizzy, his Cyclizar, out of her ball, Navy mounts up, grips the clutch built into the saddle, and readies for the race back. They’ll have mist hot on their heels for a while, judging by past experience, but so be it. On this Pokemon’s back, he feels like he can outrun anything.[break][break]
Recalling his other Pokemon, he busts out of the cave like a Golbat out of hell.



[break][break]

+ Eva Morales

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

It takes a few deep breaths to recenter herself, but eventually strength floods into her limbs once more. Eva clasps on to his shoulder, accepting his aid in rising back to her feet. There’s no arguing the need to retreat, “Right,” it’s with a little reluctance she agrees. Her gaze lingers on the ore left behind for just a moment. The need for knowledge far surpasses her survival instinct. If Navy wasn’t so persistent on their immediate evacuation, Eva would have absolutely rushed back in to fetch what they lost.

Next time.

Eva runs after Navy as he takes off on his Cyclizar. She isn’t far behind him. In fact, she’s soon soaring above him, covering their escape on the swift winds of her Pidgeot’s TAILWIND. Together, they emerge with their sanity still intact.

---

Michael Navidson