patience growing thin...daylight passing...will he land this trick once and for all...?

qhat a pull...suppose this obscenely large pearl may account for something of value...but there was still much to be won...

coincidental, indeed...

"you don't say..." maybe it was suffice to say that hoenn was a smaller world than he might have initially imagined. still, there was still much to see in this region - things that the man himself hadn't gotten to experience for oneself as of yet. furthermore, there were still folks that silv has yet to meet - especially those within the line of profession that he somehow had gotten swept into.

but one name in particular...

"elise...yes, we've met - only recently though. she once told me a story about her exploits as some form of ambassador, which i found strangely interesting..." suppose that the part about the galarian princess being his station's captain might have been omitted by elise herself, or maybe he hadn't recalled that specific tidbit...oh well, it didn't matter right now.

he could feel the strong steps of a hulking plant-based behemoth shaking the soils beneath him, of which his ceruledge deemed to be an unwarranted disturbance, looking to wave it away with his hard-edged blade-arms. not much of a runner, the wild venusaur, as it appeared to have tired itself out by fleeing from the dark knight pokémon's incurred wrath.

"yeah i don't think you'll have to worry about that much..." he states, half-jokingly, alluding to the captain's own aforementioned pokéfriend of the same kind.

the waves begin to settle down, the tides calming, giving way to a serene evening. or so he would think; bigger, more erratic waves take shape, wrestling around silverio's ankles. the source? his own amphibious companion. "hey buddy, you alright?" the ranger calls out to his pokémon friend.

what the man fails to see is that the greninja's legs are shaking within the low surfaces of the waters, then the frog suddenly takes a fall. how does that happen? before silv can think of possible theories for this phenomenon, a odd-looking fish emerges from the not-so-deep blue, its grip on the greninja's by way of its teeth released.

the bruxish seeks to wave crach into the frog ninja, only to be met with a swift ice punch to the dome, which immediately brings the gnash teeth pokémon down. whether that fish is native to this area or not, it matters not, for it is deemed by silverio to be a threat to this natural habitat.

perhaps by capturing it, suppose there was a means of keeping the fish's apparent mean streak in check.

all this work...

was sure taking its toll on the human body, his body. regardless, this venue wasn't going to save itself. the setting sun was a sight to behold, but unfortunately, there was no time to embrace its radiant beauty. instead, silverio and his patented frog ninja opt to take a stroll through, a means to wind down and eventually call it a day. shallow waves swaying around the soles of the paldean's feet, and his companion chooses to dip his own two feet into the low depths.

suppose that the hour of dusk was a fitting time for exploration. after all, someone is bound to be volunteered as tribute for ops team's night watch, right?

he has come to acknowledgement the perils that hoenn would soon face, but the rest of the world, too? it's true that silverio had never faced a challenge like the one looming over hoenn's horizons, but in days past, being a person in the situation he finds himself in now? it's safe to say that he has never envisioned it. not ever. but as his eyes wander to view the tainted scenery around them, reality begins to settle in. like a virus beginning to spread amongst the people, questions sought to plague the ranger's mind.

and yet, there appers to be no answers in sight..."unbelieavable..."

to prepare oneself, or an entire region for that matter, for an inevitable doomsday is an unquestionably tall order. but even so, what better way for silverio to learn more about the what lies beyond paldea's borders than to endure a potentially life-changing crisis? is he truly ready for that? only time will tell...

"we need to be ready...and we will be...hopefully." prayers up, indeed.

perhaps only a sliver of hope rests at the back of silv's mind, but as long as there was one, he'd believe that there was but a chance - if only little - of the region to see better days ahead. best not to dwell on this for the time being. that would be 'then', and the man opts to focus more on the 'now', that being to ensure that this venue would be clear enough, safe enough, to inhabitat once more.

the oil has been dispersed and its sources contained, but there was still the task of securing the archway. "give the big fella a hand, will ya? but do be careful with your arms around it, 'kay?" he commands his ceruldge, who moves to stand other barrels, then cautiously pushes them away from the shorelines with its capable legs. the frogadier returns with metallic sheets and pipes, which the dark knight would use his piping hot blade-arms to meld into the shape of arch - a part that was lost in the rubble perhaps.

just as they had mended the two wall pieces just moments, the same procedure is conducted on the broken points of the archway. "that should do it..." satisfied with their work, their trainer offers a thumbs-up, then directs his attention back to his impromptu mission partner.

"no big deal, i'm happy to have been of some help at least. you and your pal there have done good too, miss..."

uh oh, did we forego introductions through all of this work!?

"no worries, i got this. i'll be alright here. silv out."

but does he really have this down pat? he couldn't say with any hint of certainty, but he needed a way of assuring his partner that he would have the situation under control in the lower depths. somehow. besides, the two rangers would be able to cover more ground via the 'divide and conquer' method, or so the paldean had been led to believe.

deeper in the lower compartments, two workers are found to be on the verge of completely submerging into the unforgiving waters that plagued their facility. rescuing them will require silv to expose to those continually rising tides as well. so be it. he steps into the waters, along with his frog and bug warriors.

"we're here to help you, but we're gonna need you to stay calm, okay!?" as if it were waiting for a cue, broken sheetrock that had been dangling from the walls and ceiling goes crashing into the deep blue, frightening the two victims. at that moment, golisopod swarms forward and uses its muscle to hold the said material away.

swiftly, silverio and his frogadier dive into to recover the victims. and yet, the waters continue to rise to a point of potentially no return. with what little air remained on the surface, he rings up the comms - thank arceus they're waterproof.

"josh, it's silv! i've managed to locate and secure two people down here, and we're on our way back up to-huh!?" at the moment, sounds of rubble crashing down can be heard...

every little bit does help make a difference in the world. with that much, silverio can undoubtedly agree. but the efforts to relieve the poor unfortunate souls here today? that may prove to be insufficient in the long run, but alas, some effort was always better than none. in the wake of the wreckage, the damage - at first sight - appeared to be irreversible. and honestly? it may very well be just that. for a pokémon to lose their habitat to the very fabric of nature itself? and for the folks who resided there to be rendered asunder, without a roof over their hoods for an indefinite amount of time?

tragic...

one thing was certain, and it was silv had never experienced a catastrophe such as this one during his upbringing. but then again, he was just a boy on his own mission back in those days. here, however, the objective was clearer and more distinctive than any he had ever undertaken before. silv's partner for the day appears to be in high spirits though, or maybe not. hard to tell, really. the paldean nods when asked for confirmation of his own identity. "yeah, that's what make birth certificate says." he answers half-jokingly. "but there's no need for formal addresses here; you may call me 'silv'."

he inspects the immediate vicinity once more: greninja receiving more corroded materials to then discard quickly, and the golisopod moving to assist in breaking down larger debris by use of his razor-sharp claws, then using said pieces in attempts to refurbish tampered structures and patch up damaged edifices. help proving to be more than a little. regardless...

"well, you know what they say: a little can go a long way. the question is how long of a way we need to go in order to salvage all of this. and from the looks of it, it's looking like at least a couple miles..."

downtime has never come easy for the rangers, especially for one foreigner in particular whom to this day has been swept up in just about any ongoing or impending debacle imaginable. in fact, just recently, he had assisted in efforts to relieve the inhabitants of sea mauville from the suffering endured after much of the venue had been sunk - quite literally. and what a grand ole time that was; the man himself had come close to visiting davy jones' locker on a great number of occasions during that stretch.

and now...

a well-earned break from the job, and possibly from society, would be invested in time for himself. accompanying him today was an emerald-eyed quadraped baring fur akin to the setting sun at dusk. no better way to enjoy a day off than a stroll on serene streets with one of your poképals. as if he had just mentally jinxed himself, screams can be heard in the near distance.

naturally, the paldea native would have to report such a development. and so...wait a minute..."what? the comms are down!? how...?" wrong time for that to happen! silly networks, they always seem to find ways to glitch out when silverio would need them most. his lycanroc barks, signaling that it may have just spotted some unusual behavior in the near distance. turning towards the direction of where..."no way..."

what appeared to be an oversized morpeko - either that or a person in a mask - is giving chase to a wild porygon. with such a being notorious for being a technologically advanced pokémon, silv deduces that..."i think you may have just found the problem, good job buddy. let's go!" and sadly, he would have to go it alone on this impromptu mission to stop that porygon.

the wolf pokémon speeds ahead of his trainer en route to the culprit and its apparent pursuer, barking all the while.