panic was never good. but panic here? anything that caused a real stir like this was nerve-wracking—especially considering the things that had already happened, and were confirmed to be about to happen to hoenn. hoennians were, to a large degree, desensitized to disaster.

what could possibly intimidate them like this now?

as remiel was speaking with the diplomats, iseult already had her phone in her hand. was reading the news, her heart sinking. a dome? an impassable barrier?

like remiel, her own mother was back in kalos, along with her friends and the rest of her family. cousins. all of them. all except her increasingly mysterious father who had brought her here.

she looked at remiel in shock.

”i…” her attention was involuntarily pulled to a couple of people running into each other as they ran out of doorways and into the hall to leave. ”i don’t know.”

she paused, blinking, trying to process. it wasn’t often that she was at a loss for words, or fumbling.

”i don’t think it bodes well, remiel.”

so what now?

”i need to talk to my father...”

Remiel Calcifet

she was a little taken aback by gabriel’s statement, and the irritation it contained. to her, it seemed selfish, for him to worry about his own money when the lives of hoennians were at stake. when they would soon be hungry.

then again, it wasn’t her wealth at risk. most of hers was still in kalos, waiting to be inherited…

but still.

”i’m sorry to hear that, sir.”

at his question, she shook her head.

”no, i’m quite comfortable, if that’s what you mean.” a lie, really. “is there anything i can do for you, mr. black?” before i return to my desk and pretend this didn’t happen?

GABRIEL BLACK

tucking away the TM, she continued swimming. surely her luck would turn up soon, and she'd find something more exciting? they were getting closer and closer to the end, so she crossed her fingers and looked for something shiny.

v3lrbMD1

+ pokeball

in her head, she was saying prayers to xerneas. her family, fire-type trainers for all of their history, had spent much time training to be as defensive as possible against water-types. while training was not iseult’s favorite thing to do, she did remember one tip: punch a sharpedo in the nose.

absolutely nope. it could take her foot first.

just as she was sure she was going to get bitten into, and she’d squeezed her eyes shut and kissed her ass goodbye, nothing happened, but the slight calming of the water around her.

tentatively, with a pounding heart, she opened her eyes again with a breath of air. around her were beautiful scales, and she looked up in utter shock at the milotic, not yet totally convinced this was actually happening.

if it was, it surely wasn’t over.

dazed, iseult at first struggled to locate the direction mars’ voice had come from.

”yes! i’m fine!”

a night slash cut like a sharp shadow through the water towards the milotic. the sharpedo was almost close enough to bite down.

Martín del Mar

okay. this was kind of gross, but also kind of fun. it was a small fish. not very intimidating. the right size catch for her. at least, that was what she thought, until she finished reeling it in and realized it was a sharpedo.

she dropped the rod, though it was quickly picked up and saved by someone else. soon enough, after a breather, she went back to try again.

loFLjLO5

8/17 - SHARPEDO (87) SMALL (25)
8/18 - WISHIWASHI (15) AVERAGE (48)

nope. that had been a terrible attempt. she watched someone else fail it, and then another person, and then someone succeeded in an impressive display. she wanted to do that too.

with a gentle, encouring pat to her mantine, she tried the magikarp splash again.

Mtc8BrqX

total points previous round: 5350
^{( 100 + 1000 + 1750 + 2500 )}

pokeball. she was tired of finding pokeballs, but she kept it anyways and continued looking. maybe she would find a mega stone this time?

_uE7KPKj

+ TM/TR

a salac berry? strange thing to find out here. she put it away, and continued looking for more finds.

this was kind of fun, regardless of the relatively uninteresting things she'd turned up so far. maybe this next one would be something grander?

tYkCoDil

+ pokeball

still no luck. she was in a bit of pain now, but she had a few more tries in her.

she got back on and tried another magikarp splash. they had to get it eventually. they were getting closer, maybe?

fNycnetc

total points previous round: 5350
^{( 100 + 1000 + 1750 + 2500 )}

fishing was not something iseult had ever done in her life. she'd been on boats before, though, and and was happy to board a nice one for the day and give something new a try.

once they were out far enough, she learned, with help, how to bait her hook and cast it out a decent distance into the deep water.

jVG|v6bU

8/17 - SHARPEDO (87) SMALL (25)