The seas seemed much less calm since Kyogre had returned to the seas. What had brought its disappearance to begin with? Did it truly slumber beneath the ocean depths or was there more to it than that? As the ship made its way forward, Schuyler made sure to read carefully through the documents provided.

Kyogre has recently returned to the seas [...]

Wait, returned?

His brows creased just slightly as he weighed those words. With a reliance on the power of deduction, he could only assume that someone who wasn't part of Rocket had ties to the underwater behemoth.

How arrogant of someone to think they could control such a creature.

The folder shut the moment that Zev advised him to be ready to drop the cameras. Hands carefully took hold of the cables used to suspend the device below the ocean depths. When the ship lurched to a stop, Schuyler pressed the button that he'd been directed to and carefully began to lower the camera into the waters below. From the small port, he watched as the water sloshed around and overflowed just a tad into the ship with the sudden submersion.

His attention turned to the screens before the trio and hummed thoughtfully. The Gyarados, Veluza, and other surrounding wild pokemon seemed to swim away almost frantically. As though they sensed the danger approach. Once they were gone, the screens remained clear. How ominous it felt to see the seas empty of life.

"I've been trying to read up on these...," he paused and moved his hand in a circle motion to show he searched for the word he wanted to say. "These beasts. Two of the legendaries native to Hoenn are allied with a few high ranking League members, correct?"

He never mentioned the names. Mostly because names didn't matter in this situation.

"By just simple deductions from the files, I take it Kyogre was also an ally with the League. If we can't get it to submit, what is our next course of action?"

'We' hadn't encompassed merely the party in the ship. He meant Rocket and its vast numbers. He emphasized that meaning with the lighter tone on 'we.' He could only assume they had no intention to kill the leviathan, but it wasn't a tactic that he'd put beneath Team Rocket. It seemed like a solution that screamed the lesser of two evils.

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Zev Harcourt

Silph. That seemed to be a name that floated around the Rocket Base pretty frequently. But what good was gossip when he knew nothing about the topic at hand? A hum to acknowledge the two names passed his lips. He'd tuck them away for a later time, but for now? They were not present and posed no threat. As Zev offered the second statement, he offered a nod as he kept his eyes on the screen.

"While we can keep them in our graces, it's best not to press our luck. We can curry their favor but we cannot control them."

Sure that much was obvious, but he remembered the dream he had of Zapdos. How he dreamt it tore apart someone who dared to proclaim itself worthy of the bird. Was it a warning hidden within the INTERDREAM MIST? Or just a sense of paranoia getting the better of him?

A breath escaped in surprise as the ship lurched forward once more. As they moved, he noticed the blue that Zev had pointed out grow bigger. They were getting closer. As they approached, the topic came to mind:

"And what of the Latios and Latias that were said to be flying around?" he inquired. "I'm assuming they won't be as amiable to coexist with us, but that leaves the possiblity of the Galarian birds that were said to have been spotted..."

This was mostly just him speaking his thoughts aloud. Once the boat came to a halt again, the folder in his hand slipped out as he stumbled forward to catch his balance. As the folder fell, a couple papers fell out of it, including one with an image of the BLUE ORB. Schuyler picked it up and tilted his head a bit as he offered it over to Zev.

"We don't have this, do we? If we're going to go after this thing and try to align it with Rocket's vision, we might want to consider finding this."

The Blue Orb is a tool said to contain ancient power. [...] The symbol imprinted on the face of the orb is believed to be a primal symbol of Kyogre, though further studies are required.

His brows furrowed a bit. While he wasn't an archaeologist in the slightest, symbolism seemed a popular thing in Hoenn.

With the papers gathered, he focused on the screen again and noticed as Kyogre had begun to swim closer. The way it moved in a slow gait posed no sense of threat. In fact, it didn't even seem to be curious of the ship. With the orders from the grunt steering their ship, Schuyler approached the controls and carefully began to use the buttons that had been pointed out to him to take photos of the leviathan.

While the camera didn't have flash, the sounds of the machinery within the camera were enough to stir the creature up. With a thrash upward, the boat shook. Schuyler flew back and met the floor of the ship.

"Fuck!" he seethed.

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Zev Harcourt

Once he managed to scramble to his feet, Schuyler took to the screens to keep getting data. Soon thereafter, he noticed the way the behemoth seemed to emit some sort of glow, as though it were corrupted in some fashion. (It was the effects of the tampered blue orb, but Schuyler didn't know that.)

As Zev sent out his Sharpedo and Dhelmise to handle the ocean-submerged titan, Schuyler released his Kommo-o from its pokeball. The Rocket Beast would take the lower depths, meaning Schuyler would take the ship's stability. A breath in as he saw how quick the Kyogre was in circling back. Despite its size, despite the pressure the ocean's depths had on the creature, it moved with impressive speeds.

And if they weren't careful, the oceanic leviathan would make sure that this ship became no more than a watery grave.

"Kommo-o, protect the ship!"

The dragon gave a firm nod as it placed its claws onto the hull of the ship and drew its own energy into a PROTECT to emit a barrier that managed to encapsule the ship. Schuyler continued to gather photos and video feed of Kyogre, and before long, he saw it begin to charge up its own attack. Eyes grew wide as he shouted at both Zev and the grunt at the wheel.

"Brace yourselves!"

If it weren't for the PROTECT the Kommo-o used, their ship would have likely been decimated. It seemed as though Kyogre had completely ignored the pokemon and went for the ship. Schuyler, despite the warning to brace for impact he himself gave, continued tirelessly to record the feed. With an ORIGIN PULSE fired at the bottom of the ship, his stomach sank, then rose to his throat as the ship fell airborne, then immediately came plummeting down.

His Kommo-o soon left its claws off of the ship's hull and collapsed, its energy temporarily spent.

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Zev Harcourt

The moment the ship stopped mid-air, Schuyler felt his body react before his mind could. Torso leaned over the edge of the boat as he gripped the rail. Once his mind caught up to the scene that unfurled, he looked to Zev in disbelief. Surely he hadn't been responsible for this. His mouth opened to speak, but Schuyler quickly closed it. This had to be Kyogre's doing, right? It seemed like the only logical thing in the moment. Schuyler withdrew his Kommo-o and readied for the second attack. This time his Falinks took the front, each soldier clanging its armor-clad bodies as a sort of battle cry.

"I won't ask how this is happening, it's better I don't know. But we need to ready ourselves. That big fish isn't done with us, I'm afraid."

The Falinks was to help safeguard them and the boat. His Ditto oozed out of its own pokeball and stared at the waters below. This was it, its trainer was definitely trying to kill it. The Ditto took a sharp inhale and fell into the ocean below with a 'plop.' Schuyler figured he'd save the Ditto's efforts and not try to mimic the oceanic titan, but rather taking a more rudimentary approach by relying on one of the pokemon Zev had already drawn out.

Ditto transforms into ally Zev's Sharpedo!

Moves Referenced from PC:
Agility / Crunch / Ice Fang / Liquidation / Night Slash / Poison Fang

As Zev no doubt surmised already, the camera was totaled. But they had picked up more than enough footage. The fight would be touch and go. If they had to flee, so be it. The Ditto-Sharpedo charged forward and sunk its fangs into the Kyogre's fin with an ICE FANG. Rain soaked Schuyler to the bone as he felt it begin to turn to sleet. Harsh ice pelted the ship as he realized: this wasn't the weather's doing, it was a last ditch effort to the ship. With a shout to his Falinks, the hexad spread about the ship and PROTECTED it from the Kyogre's oncoming SHEER COLD attack. It crashed against the forcefield and even began to crack the shield just a bit until it finally relented.

It didn't protect his Ditto, unfortunately, who was forced to take the brunt of the attack. Schuyler withdrew it with a displeased click of his tongue. The Falinks still stood strong, but Schuyler could only surmise that the Kyogre wouldn't stop until the ship was destroyed.

"The only thing I can think is for us to force it to flee. Do you have any electric pokemon in your lineup? If we can electrify the waters, maybe we can force it to flee from any danger."

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Zev Harcourt

The Genesect's move ensnared the Kyogre for the briefest of moments. With the beast immobilized, Schuyler took the briefest of moments to pull the destroyed camera back into the boat. With any luck, they might be able to repair it for future use. As the ELECTROWEB weakened the leviathan a fair amount, it did the smart move and dove down into the waters once more to flee. It needed to recover, a notion that Schuyler could understand.

Now that they could take the opportunity, Schuyler fell back against the railing and slid to sit down on the floor of the ship as he heaved out an exhale. The battle, though short-lived, left him holding his breath. Hands slicked his soaked hair out of his eyes as he took the opportunity to glance up at Zev and finally speak to him once more.

"The good news is that it didn't seem to attack us solely for a Rocket allegiance. In fact, I'd surmise that it holds no certain faction loyalty, and if that's the case, we could make an ally of this creature."

After he took a moment to peer at the broken camera, fingers fumbled around with the otherwise decimated plastic and metal until he was able to find a memory card to eject from the camera. Everything they'd caught on camera would be saved onto the card. At least this wasn't all for nothing. Schuyler stood up and dropped the SD card into the Rocket Beast's hand. After that, he turned to address the grunt at the boat's controls.

"Let's get out of here before that thing decides to come back."

It seemed the grunt felt the same, as they remained quick to turn the boat back the way they'd come from.

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Zev Harcourt