She was really running out of things to think about, wasn't she? Every time she had to swim out of the water and back to the beach, and every time she had to sit throug a queue to get back on her Mantine. And yet, even during all of that time, her brain got her nothing. Nothing, except that same, immortal question:

Do Primarina Twist?

---

5K PLUS
Ak6|A0kU

"It's like, twenty or something!"

But no amount of knowledge of archaic numerical terms would help them where it mattered. Heck, even having good Pokemon might not be enough! The keystone was sent flying back, and the Spiritomb was dragged back with it, but what now? If they got close to defeating the spirit, what was to stop it from retreating into its shelter and biding its time? Sure, they could keep attacking it by the base, but what happened when the base broke? What would all of those one-hundred and eight spirits do when they no longer had a prison to hold them?

No, even if it felt like the right thing to do in the short term, "defeating" this thing was wrong in the long term. There had to be a better way, but what? How could they possibly stop it...?

"Ah. Aha!" The metaphorical lightbulb went off, and Mitsuru immediately scurried away, ducking and dodging Shadow Balls before hiding away into a nearby cleaning closet. "Rex! Lead it past here! I've got a plan!"

Just lead it past her door. Surely, it wasn't that big of an ask, right?

---

Althus Rex
13. Set up ambushes or strategic defenses to neutralize threats.

"Um... Maybe...?"

As if having to herd Grimer wasn't bad enough, she also had to do it with pop sensation Desiree Blooms. Seriously! Mitsuru's daughter had been obsessed with her way back when, to the point where it drove her half-mad. She had to admit, the looming shadow of celebrity certainly added to the pressure. What if she screwed this up? Would she end up in the tabloids? Oh, double bother...!

"Okay, let me try something here." Mitsuru said, pulling a Pokeball from her belt and releasing her beloved Trubbish. "Trubby! Could you please be a dear and ask those Grimer to move?"

"Trubbish!"

And so, the lovely little trashbag sauntered forth, wading through the bin juice of the trash compactor and waddling up to the largest of the Grimers with that sweet, kindly, slightly smelly look on his face.

"Trub! Trubbish, trub trub, trub trub trub, trub trub. Trubbish?"

And, after considering his offer for a moment, the Grimer responded.

"Grime!"

And then, the purple puddle proceeded to Pound his fellow refuse right in the face.

"Hey!"

---

DESIREE BLOOMS
19. Attempt to negotiate with poachers or wild pokemon.

Mitsuru laid there for a while. Maybe if she just stayed still for long enough, some higher power would scoop her up and whisk her away from this awkward situation? But of course, there was no such luck. Wherever the higher powers were, they weren't paying much attention to the sinking wreck of Sea Mauville.

So, after a moment, she peeled herself off the floor and accepted the helping hand. Getting back onto her feet, she tried to ignore the obvious green damp that stuck to the front of her Official League-Issued Safety Overalls™. It definitely seemed like it was seeping into the fabric, which was worrying, but fine. Probably. Not that she had much experience scrubbing damp off clothes, but from what little she did have, she knew that it'd wash off. Probably. And even if it didn't, that would be fine! There was no way the Ranger Corps would make her pay for it! Probably.

"Thanks, Miss...?"

Katharina. Lovely name. And Froschl. Cute name! And Concrete. Uh. Interesting name.

"I'm Mitsuru." She offered her own introduction, though it admittedly felt a little shallow in comparison. Maybe because she didn't introduce her own Pokemon? Heck, maybe she should do that now before it was too late! So, she hastily tapped one of the Pokeballs hanging from her belt, and sent one out. "And this is--"

"Varoom."

"--Varoom? Er, Varoom. This is Varoom!"

---

Katharina Strophe

Wow. She was twenty-seven? Just, wow. Mitsuru didn't know whether to be impressed that she looked so young, or horrified that she was still so immature. What was her skin care routine? Why did she think it was okay to talk to other people like this? What moisturiser did she use? Didn't her parents teach her to be polite? Did she have some kind of special diet? Why was she like this?

The floor beneath her feet sunk a little, and Mitsuru almost jumped out of her skin. Almost. Was it really safe to stay here? Maybe it would be better if they waited on the Corviknight. Yeah, that sounded good, maybe she'd just-- OW!

"Ack! Hey, you jerk! Why'd you do that...? What? Um. Oh! Uh, yeah, this is perfectly safe! We'll be perfectly fine. It's all just perfectly perfect right now, okay? Let me assure you, you'll all be absolutely fine!"

KRRRSHUNK! All of a sudden, the platform sunk another half meter.

"EEP!"

Like a spooked Rattata, Mitsuru scurried to safety, clambering onto the back of the Corviknight for shelter. Normally? That would just mean she embarrassed herself for no good reason. But this time?

Two chunks of rusted metal were flung high into the air, and came crashing down towards Mitsuru, June, and the scientists all at once.

---

june sleigh

She tried to hold on. She tried and she tried and she tried. But in the end, she was just a normal human in the battlefield of the gods, and even such a simple task proved too monumental a feat.

The blue stalactite struggled against her grip. Infinite energy warped her flesh, leaving bloody markings into her skin. Circles burnt themselves into her palms, tore lines down to her fingertips. Mitsuru grit her teeth as hard as she could, tried to keep herself calm, but she wasn't strong enough to grin and bear it. As a bloodcurdling scream forced its way out of her mouth, her resolve cracked, and that was all it took for the dark hole to pull the blue stalactite out from her hands and into Kyogre's maw.

"No, NO!"

But it was too late. All she could do was cling desperately to Entei and watch in horror as all her worst fears came to fruition. Getting what it wanted didn't satiate the leviathan's hunger, but only made it hungrier.

The God of the Sea had everything it could ever want, and now? It would take everything it couldn't get before.

For the moment, though, she was safe. Entei brought her to safer grounds beneath the Dyna Tree, doing what little healing it could, before turning its flames towards the tree besides them. Noel Parker offered her protection, the promise of evacuation, before rushing off to another fight. Both of them, while nice, felt like empty gestures. What did it even matter? Even now, the water was rising higher and higher. Tears streamed down her face. It felt like the end of the world.

N-no. It would be fine. It... It would be! Everyone was still fighting. The League, Team Rocket, they were both trying to stop it! Groudon, and Lugia, and that giant black crystal thing, and Ray... Was that...? No, no, it didn't matter what it was! What mattered was, they were all still trying! So even if it felt like there was no hope left in the entire world, she had to try, too!

"Come on, Okiku..." She breathed. Sore eyes looked to her belt and stained fingers pulled a Pokeball from her belt. "Confuse Ray, Pain Split, Perish Song, anything... Just please, help-- ME!"

As an Origin Pulse fired out across Sootopolis, she flinched. Her Pokeball slipped from her hands, bounced off the ground, and out from it came the absolute last face she'd want to see.

"Trub!"

"Trubby!" She froze. "Trubby. Trubby! Get back in your Pokeball, right now! This isn't--"

And then, a blast of deep blue hit her beloved Trubbish head-on.

---

d0hEm4hW
TL;DR - Suffering builds character.
kyle lopez Noel Parker

Primarina... Twist... Yes...? No...? WOW, she was really running out of things to think about. She needed to hurry up and clean out this prize list quick, before constantly repeating this one Primarina Twist drove her to madness. Which was actually a worryingly plausible outcome! Very worrying and very plausible!

---

5K PLUS
8DBdq6NT

To say that Mitsuru's volunteering experience had been going badly was an understatement. Between the incident with the Spiritomb, the room full of Grimer, and getting relentlessly insulted by the people she was supposed to be working with? It might well have qualified for the second or third worst day of her life. However, even now, she was still optimistic. Surely, she could still turn things around, and make a positive contribution towards the Sea Mauville, and also possibly meet ollie morales while she did it. Surely, that was still in the cards!

It probably wasn't even in the deck, but that wouldn't stop her hoping. Otherwise, what was today? A bunch of terrible encounters that resulted in absolutely nothing? No, there had to be some reward waiting at the end of this, and that reward had to make all the struggle and panic and general indignity worth it. Surely! Surely. Surely...?

At the very least, this next job seemed easier than the others. Meet up with her partner, do some environmental clean-up, and get out. Some simple tidying up! Surely, SURELY, SURELY there was no way she could screw up something so simple, so easy, so--

"--EEP!"

--On an unrelated note, Mitsuru's bedroom currently had no less than three cups and four bowls on the floor next to her mattress. And, having been thoroughly warned, she stumbled short of the dangerous plank, hastily attempted to hop over it, and then proceeded to loose her balance immediately afterward and faceplant into the floor.

"Ow..."

---

Katharina Strophe

She probably shouldn't be worrying so much about whether or not Primarina Twist. It's not like she has a Primarina, right? N-not that she wouldn't want a cute little Popplio, but that was neither here nor there! The point was, there weren't any actual Primarina here, so who really knew if they were twisting or not? And was it really her job to care about that sort of thing, anyway?

No, it was Mantine she was worried about right now. Mantine Surfing, to be exact! So, it was time to put the idea of literally twisting Primarina to the side, and focus on the metaphorical Primarina Twist she was going to hit now!

...But did Mantine actually Surf, though...?

---

A slick 4000 points, PLUS:
mKvRjodk
WE AT 5K BOIS !!!!!!!

It turned out, Primarina actually DID Twist. Which shouldn't have been surprising, given that she'd done a good three or four of them at this point, but still! Good to know things hadn't changed in the few minutes since she did her last one.

But, well, here she was again, back for another Primarina Twist. Would she land another one? She didn't know. All she could do was hope that the Primarina kept twisting.

---

4000 points...
eoPETVry

Mitsuru let out a high-pitched yelp as she hit the floor, a launched leaden pipe missing her head by mere inches. Ack! There was just no escaping this thing, was there? No, they could run through Sea Mauville and swim all the way back to Dewford, and it'd still be following them. It was just like Rex said - They would have to seal this thing back into its prison of a tomb.

And that? Was much easier said than done.

"Okay, um, sealing! Sealing it, weaknesses, how do we seal it... Spiritomb, the Forbidden Pokemon, a congregation of five score and eight evil spirits... There's not really much known about where it came from, but... The keystone! The little stone thing at the bottom of it! If you can force it back inside, then maybe we can reseal it!"

Again, easier said than done. But no matter how unlikely the odds, they had to try, because she REALLY didn't want to become the one hundredth and ninth spirit trapped inside that thing.

"Keizo! Fairy Wind!"

The keys oblige, and a perfumed gust filled the stale air and pushed against the spectre. Alas, her Klefki wasn't much of a fighter, and she wasn't much of a trainer, either. She'd provide as much support as she could, but ultimately, it would be up to Rex to take this thing down.

---

Althus Rex

What was she thinking? Truthfully, even she didn't know. Whether driven by a desire to be acknowledged by her hero, a need to try and prevent further catastrophe, or simple blind panic, it didn't matter. Whatever the reason, she acted without thinking. And only now, as the blue stalactite fell into her hands, did she realise what she had just done.

She had just made herself important in this war she wanted no part of.

"Uh..."

Her fingers gripped the primal shard tightly as her arms began to tremble. Five seconds ago, the idea of giving it over to Kyogre seemed so appealing, so sensible, so plausible a solution. Now, though? As she watched the Leviathan surging towards her, that didn't feel like such a good idea anymore.

She didn't know what to do. For better or for worse, Entei would make that decision for her. One moment, she's facing down the wrath of the ocean, and the next, she's facing a thick coat of brown fur. She's joined soon after by Noel Parker, and before long, they've left the Cave of Origin behind entirely. But where could they even go? Where could they take this stalactite where Kyogre wouldn't follow? Even if they climbed to the tallest peak of Mount Pyre, would that be enough to stop a God's single-minded determination?

One hand held on to the salvation, while the other clung to her damnation. She realised only too late that she had no room left to bring along her loyal companion.

"Ichi...? ICHI!"

Indeed, the Dusclops remained behind in the cave, even as it flooded higher and higher. Oxygen was of little concern to the ghost, but that didn't mean that the rushing water posed no threat. Still, ever the reliable servant, it remained behind. As the lord of the ocean rushed to close the distance, it clenched a fist and threw one solitary Thunder Punch right into the head of the beast, before it was swept away by the tide and dragged down to the depths.

---

Qc|Z8B4H
TL;DR - oh god oh fuck help me entei get me away from here! also dusclops is boxing kyogre ERM RYSA CALC THE THUNDER PUNCH
Noel Parker kyle lopez