participants delve into Sea Mauville's depths to retrieve crucial League intelligence and data before it's lost to the ocean, facing challenges posed by sinking corridors and unstable terrain.

saskia looks at the very sorry state of the building as it slowly succumbs to the sea. from where they stand in their little boat, the ocean a hungry beast around them, she has no freaking clue where to start. 

"haha, who's gonna...go fishing...for that intel though?" 

come on, sasky! put your big girl ranger pants on!

she sucks in a breath. "dmitry and frogger can find us a way in. when we're on stable ground, i've got some psychic buddies who can help keep the building upright. and...then i guess, we get in and get out?"

she looks to the other for approval, feeling big sister energy from her. 

keiko mori

04. Direct a pokemon to scout ahead for reconnaissance.

☉

participants focus on protecting Sea Mauville's diverse pokemon population from the escalating crisis, ensuring their habitats remain intact and secure amidst the sinking structure.

water laps at her toes. she's on a sandbar. her air tank is half empty and after losing one of her flippers to a Great Tragedy, she tied the other one onto the back of her waterproof bag. dmitry and frogger are pouting. well, dmitry is. frogger is on the verge of a panic attack and won't leave saskia's ankles alone. 

"ranger volosenkova requesting a pick-up," she tries again into her radio. "i was separated from my group."

she had dived headfirst into the water when she'd seen a sharpedo struggling under the weight of shifted coral, gills flaring as it slowly suffocated to death. she couldn't leave the poor thing. and then her boat had pulled away to handle another crisis because this whole place is one big crisis. 

and anyway, the sharpedo was not very nice afterwards, which, okay, she understands, but a thank you still would have been nice. at least dmitry was there. 

"ranger volosenkova requesting pick-up again. hello? can anyone spare a boat?" she says, hopping from foot to foot, trying not to panic. 

silverio delfino

15. Coordinate with other teams or local authorities.

☉

participants must rescue stranded people and pokemon from the sinking Sea Mauville, coordinating efforts to evacuate them safely amidst rising waters and crumbling structures.

she nearly trips into the skiff as rangers file quickly down the docks, all of them donning life vests and grabbing equipment as captains bark orders and assignments. on her way down, she grabs two life preservers, fresh bottles of water, and ensures her own pokemon are strapped to her suit. 

"hey, okay, i know how these things work. are you set to go?" she asks in a rush as she clambers over to the motor, dunking it into the water and fingers fumbling with the ripcord to start the engine. 

Yuina Higashi

12. Ensure efficient supplies are available for the operation.

☉

Participants are tasked with exploring the submerged areas of Sea Mauville to salvage valuable resources and artifacts.

they have a little skiff with a motor on the back. saskia slaps her little flippers against the bottom of the boat, liking the way they sound, much to the chagrin of her marill and, probably, her ranger buddy. 

it's not her first time scuba diving, but she hasn't done it in a while. water's not really her specialty and being deployed in landlocked oldale doesn't really give her any reason to work on her skills. but it'll be fine. 

it's super dangerous and the earth itself is sinking, but hey, she survived area zero and that's practically a death sentence!

"frogger, why don't you go on ahead, buddy, and see if it's worth diving from here?" she says. frogger looks nervously into the water, but sasky pushes him by his rump. he dives clumsily into the surf and sasky peers overboard, then shoots a toothy grin at her fellow ranger. 

"roy, right? that's what the cap'n said? anyway, i'm sasky, and also you know how to do this, right?"

Roy Aker

04. direct a pokemon to scout ahead for reconnaissance.

☉

she wipes her brows. oleg sits down, completely pooped, and saskia gives him a little pat on the head. "aw, tired, buddy? want a little nap nap?" she opens up her arms and he's more than happy to leap into them. cradling him like a baby, cursing herself for not bringing her sling, he kicks his little feeties around her waist. 

she drops another ball at her feet, feeling better knowing another pokemon can watch her back.

natalio chirps happily and pecks at some stray sunflower seeds rolling on the ground. part of some forgotten picnic maybe? 

saskia gasps. "oleg. oleg, see? i told youuuu." one of the fabled pepper heads forages in a bush several yards from them. natalio picks up his head, erm, body, and fluffs his plumage. oleg wriggles, but saskia holds him back. 

"let natty have his turn, ol. 'sides, i know how tired you are."

natalio is even more nervous about battling than saskia is and without oleg's gumption, he struggles through the exchange. the good thing, at the very least, is the wild capsakid also seems just as bad. and eventually, with oleg orchestrating and calling shots with various beeps, they end up felling the pokemon so saskia can throw her last safari ball with a confident squeal.

PREMIUM SAFARI
0/4
catching

☉

not too soon after they've left the spot where they found the gible do they come across a scyther. one of its blade arms swings down over on saskia and her quick, catlike reflexes help her evade it. (oleg psychically trips her and she falls flat on her face.)

the little alien has already tussled with quite a few pokemon so it's not a clean dispatch with this one, but he does manage to scrape by. 

kind of. 

the scyther stops halfway through the battle, cocking his head at the little creature, and then looks toward sasky in challenge. hesitantly, she throws another safari ball. 

PREMIUM SAFARI
1/4
catching

☉

oleg makes for a very good bellhop. he is adorned with an adorable little black bow. he stands at attention, flashing the lights that make up his fingertips a soft green whenever someone talks to him, which is often, because he demands attention.

so far, he has gotten sixteen head pats, five "hey, little buddy"s, and twelve high-fives. during that time, he has moved approximately 0 pieces of luggage. 

saskia is there beside him, dressed in slacks, a crisp white shirt (with a tiny mustard stain on it), and a matching bowtie. she has been loading all of the pieces of luggage and getting them up to where they need to go. but she doesn't mind. 

it'll be a nice bit of extra money so she can bake her dad a medovik this weekend. his favorite. 

PSYCHIC SERVICE

☉

oleg won't give up the ghost. he keeps on chattering on, in series of beeps of course, and there is a chance he's actually not saying anything, but saskia likes to think he is. that he actually has conversations with her. 

they're so busy talking they don't notice the gible until it nearly chomps at saskia's ankles. oleg flicks him on the nose with a psychic hand and saskia totters away, but then frowns. 

"aw, wait. look, its scales are all patchy. hey, little guy." whining beeps. "girl, sorry. can i help?" she gets her hand a little too close and it snaps, but oleg is there, whisking her into the trees. 

saskia grimaces and takes out another ball.

PREMIUM SAFARI
2/4
catching

☉

"umm, what do you think for a name?" she says, looking down at the shiny ball in her hand. oleg gives his input and she snaps, exasperatedly, "it's not a pepper! this isn't the pepper one! we're not naming it pepper! and we're not naming the pepper one pepper either."

PREMIUM SAFARI
3/4
skipping

☉

oleg points and beeps hastily. saskia plucks a leaf out of her mouth. he'd careened through the bush and hadn't been kind enough to psychicaly stop a branch from smacking her in the face after him. 

at least there's no spinarak web to get caught in. he's done that before. 

"no, that - oleg, does that look like a pepper to you! no!" but he has already started playing with it. by teleporting near it, grabbing its kelpy mane, and then teleporting back out when it frustratedly twirls around.

when it sees sasky, though, at least oleg doesn't frame her. it bats away one of the dhelmise's attacks and then pummels it with its own psychic waves, dee-lee-looping sadly when saskia pulls out a ball to catch it.

PREMIUM SAFARI
3/4
catching

☉

the sunshine doesn't come back. not really. not entirely. but it's more out of concern for him than it is anything to do with her. he gives her a half-grin and she looks at him with a frown, then a decided nod, and brushes delphox!greyson aside so she can bodyslam herself into human!greyson and yank him into the world's tightest hug. 

she hangs there, silent, and then extracts herself, hoping enough happy juju got forced into him. 

"right. okay, it's puppy time." she unclips his ball, which sits right next to kirin's. the only time she can really let him out is when she's in the woods behind her house and she's sure no one's around. 

he always comes back, in the end, but he certainly doesn't come when she calls.

the white that announces his entrance hasn't dissipated before his hackles have already risen, ears flat against his head, and eyes locked on greyson in territorial display. saskia wilts. 

Greyson Connors

☉