Open Tides Under Siege

The Gyarados seemed far away, as if half-listening. What is he, defective? Angel thought. The snake was motionless, and then it's eyes were on him. It's gigantic, fearsome eyes...Angel hated how they seemed to see through him, and look at whatever he was really feeling. This one is no stranger to scars, he thought. Well, let him. Let him see. Because right now, all that Angel felt was strength. He was a prince, soon to be a king. He had power that this thing knew not of. Where others spoke only with words, and turned their tails when the blows came to blows, he struck hard and fast. Diplomacy was a first resort. War was the second, and always the final. Whether he was sound enough in mind to know it or not, this Gyarados was very close to waging a war he could never win. Suddenly, it made another move, and brought a nearby house. This thing...it's probably killed. How many of my people...how many innocents did he trap in rubble? How many years of work has he ruined? How dare he! In MY town!? In MY kingdom? To ME!? Even as his commander spoke threatening words, as well as he could, Angel did better. He pushed himself, until he was mere feet from the Gyrados' face, and cried "These are my people, this is my city, my kingdom. But they are their own too. They own it as as well. So when you anger them, you anger me. These are the homes you've wrecked, the lives you've taken. Only one more will go to death now, if any, and that is yours". With that, Angel summoned up a monsterous Dragon Pulse, and fired.

He shot backwards, propelled by his own move, flying back to his commander. He hit the ocean floor, and ground roughly against it, coming to a stop by Phish. He turned to the Crawdaunt, "Two men. Send one to Castro. Tell him to fetch the Net, he'll know what I mean. Send the other to find the yellow Carracosta. She'll be useful for what's to come. Quickly now, Commander".

He turned his back on Phish, and turned to the enemy.

The tension between the creatures and himself was rising and it made him writhe in place. The Crawdaunt continued to try and reason with words, words he nearly tried to understand. Phish was growing angry and the serpent could feel it with every sound that emerged from him.

Alabaster snaked the length of his tail towards Phish as if to reach out to him, his intentions of harm masked by his confused and pained expression. The Gyarados knew no sympathy for them, he was alone, always alone and his kingdom had become their land of waste. His attempt to strike the bold fellow however, was cut short when the Kingdra roared at him in a fury.

Angel was prepared to take the Gyarados' life if he needed to and he demonstrated it well by aiming a Dragon Pulse directly at Alabaster's face. The murderer flailed and cried out in an earsplitting shriek. The audacity of that twerp to strike him like that!

"Graaaaagh!!!!!" came his battle cry before he slithered ramming his head into all Phish's men in his path and snapping at Angel in practically aimless lash outs.

Alabaster was surprisingly quick and what's more, he was heavy so he left many of the already damaged buildings he was being punished for in piles of debris every time the length of his body whipped about. His main goal was Angel now. He had forgotten his previous and only now thought of revenge. As he rose from the sea floor, shock waves erupted from his body, his hissing and roaring continuing. (Dragon Rage)

~Phish


Phish was moved slightly by the Gyarados's gesture of potential goodwill, but Angel was quick to realise the deciet, and acted quickly to force the Gyarados away, a move that had the consequences Phish feared would happen. Just as quickly Angel issued orders for two messages to be sent. Phish clacked his claw, twice, very quickly. Two Remoraid, decorated in scout uniforms arrived within a split second.

"You, find Castro, and tell him to bring this Net, make it clear that it was Angel who wished his presence." The first remoraid makes his equivilant to a nod, and takes off, the second anticipating his order. "You, find this Caracosta mercenary, make it clear to her that Angel is interested in her services." The remoraid, as fast as his counterpart, left to deliver the message. Phish turned to see that the great behemoth was now lashing in fury. Phish clacked his claw twice again, no bracing himself for a potential impact.

"You two, deliver a message to Beauty and Rafael respectively, we may require their assistance as well." Phish suddenly was hit by the dragon rage, and managed to brace himself under the impact, thankful that the two messengers had already left. Phish then slammed his right claw against the seabed, causing the rubble that had been pushed upwards by the Gyarados's fury to fall like a rock slide across the back of the Gyarados. Phish's expression was now stern, focused, and calculating.

"Lanturn artillery, fire a couple thunderbolts across his flanks, hope fully that will make him understand the fault of disrupting life in our kingdom in the means of violence!" Phish commanded, still standing fast against what will be a clear rampage.

Castro was somewhat lolling about, nothing to do, somewhat due to a lack of possible distractions. He could hear the roaring from the west of him, but assumed that it was something outside of the city, or something pertain to one of the commander's several drills. Not his concern, why would it be, he was but one Sharpedo, and a disreputable one at that. It wasn't long until a remoraid outfitted in a scouts armour appeared. Phish... Castro thought dryly.

"Sir, I am to take it that you are Castro. I have an urgent message from Prince Angel. He has ordered that you make your way to the palace with great haste, with something he only described as, the Net." With no hesitation at all, the remoraid left, an expression of slight disgust of having had to speak to such an antisocial such as Castro. Castro groaned, he knew what Angel was referring to, and quickly made his way to a small alcove not far from his present position, grabbing the item in question carefully in his well developed teeth, and took off to the palace faster than almost anything else down here, bypassing even well trained atheletes on good days. Carlos looked ahead as he saw the figure of a Garados loom ahead, as well as Angel and Commander Phish in front of the being, holding their ground, Carlos flinched as heard the Lanturn corps fire their Thunderbolts, narrowly missing the flanks of the great being. Carlos knew well enough that the miss was deliberate, a last ditch effort to force the foe to stand down before real business went down.

Carlos let go of the net to address Angel. "Hey, so I'm here with the Net, what now?"

Alabaster had not seen such action in may years but was prepared to do the worst whenever necessary. His dreaded hisses as the debris struck his back made him use his tail (Aqua Tail) to swipe away at as many of the ones yet to pummel him as he possibly could. From the corner of his eye he saw glowing soldiers with static dancing about.

More...? Where coming from?! Stupid- stupid... !!! he thought in an inner tantrum.

And to his dismay a Sharpedo arrived on the scene wielding a net. Alabaster had no knowledge of such tools for his faint memories only told of being his own weapon, his own tool of destruction, death and creation. Taking the net lightly he writhed once more using Twister on his own tail and lashing at them with it like a sword.

Takida was sure at this point that there had to be some sort of god of fate on her side. It hadn't even been five minutes since she said she was working for Angel, and then the noble himself had the courtesy to show up and agree to make some kind arrangement with her later on. And to make it even clearer that the Kingdra was interested in her work, a Remoraid swam up to her and informed her that Angel did indeed have an interest in what she did. From the top to the bottom, she thought, satisfied, as it turns out, I don't need the help of that Gorebyss or that Relicanth after all. The Carracosta smirked - all of this was falling into place better than she could have ever hoped. All that had to happen at this point was that Angel had to survive this tussle with the Gyarados, and Takida had little doubt that he could be killed that easily. She didn't even have to dirty her hands this time to get work - Angel himself was doing that right now.

But of course she wouldn't help in the battle. That Gorebyss was still in the vicinity, and there was no need for her to endanger her own life against a savage Gyarados - not when there was a very potential assignment in the works here. Once again, she just had to be patient, and this all would fall into her hands. And the utter collapse of the kingdom would be further in progress.

Rafael meandered his way through some of the less occupied corridors of the castle, deep in thought. The talks with the emissary hadn't gone as well as he had hoped, but they were probably still salvageable... The noise of buildings crashing down came to his ears, and he quickly swam to a the nearest window she could find. He sighed in frusteration: He left them alone for an hour. Just an hour! And look what happened. He found a nearby exit from the castle, and swam toward the commotion. What exactly was going on... He looked around, hoping to see someone not actually fighting at the moment to ask for the story of the current fight. There! A Carracosta. A yellow Carracosta. Did not father hire a yellow Carracosta once? He wondered as he swam. Yes... "You there! Mercenary!" He said to Takida. "What is going on here?!"

"Ah, my brother!" Angel cried. "Wonderous, wonderous timing. We were just saving the city from a rampaging Gyarados. How are you? Good, good, moving swiftly on, we have a net of highly conductive copper wire. We toss it over, then hit it with some electric attacks". He waved around the corner, clutched in his tail, as if to show them how to do it. "Okay, so if we could all just grab a corner? Don, Phish, Takida, Rafeal, as you please. We charge on ten, up over the beast, then down. He'll be unconscious in no time!".

The Net had been of his own design, though the black smiths had aired our the small bubbles of making the thing. There were always huge Pokémon and armies to contend with, and so Angel had had this made, as well as many others like it. Any electric shot that hit it, instead of fizzling out, traveled all along the net, making every electric attack many times more powerful. This hulking creature would be wishing it had never been born by the time the first strike hit it. Then they would clap it in irons and bring it in for some serious questioning. This is a great day for me, he thought. I have saved our kingdom from this most notable menace with nothing but my mind! Well, it isn't saved yet...no. Talk later, action now!

"Remember, on ten, we charge. Gran the net, quickly now. One, two, three..."

She had to face the problem, exterminate the threat before it become lethal. If there even was a threat. Was there? Was her safety in any way compromised?

Of course. Her answer came in the form of a scarred kingdra, flying past her with a nod that seemed in a way threatening. Of course he is threatening. He is... always a threat. A threat to her dignity, to Rafael's, to her image, to Rafael's, to her secret... (Her sanity as well.) If only she could be rid of him and his complications. So many accusations, glittering lies made of false pretenses...

... Glittering? She should have avoided that word. He had displayed several instances in which he seemed to know, wherein his horrid face stood an unsettling wisdom (why was she thinking this? He was unintilligent, unimportant!) full of falsehoods that would bring her down; full of true assumptions that could only come from brilliant mind. Rafael had been... she didn't know lately. Was he fit for the throne? Better than Demon, yes. Better than me, better than him! Or was he? She was questioning things for no reason; had his accusations made purely to rile her succeed? They couldn't, they shouldn't. That was the case. She could not allow this to continue. She was going to pay a visit to Deepshell, mull over how best to foil his plans, and then go on with her day trying to help the true candidate win. It was that simple. Simple as I am a gorebyss, simple as I am not a huntail. Simple as being exactly the same.

The gyarados was causing more trouble. It would be best to help, if Phish hadn't objected. Would that reflect badly on her to ignore him? Or would it show the "spunk" that voters usually liked? Political things were usually so easy to her, and yet somehow now she was unsure. What to do, what to do...

According to yet another remoraid sent her way, what to do was to help. Fine enough, if this is necessary and helpful. I must be decisive. Swimming over on the other side of the Net and taking a place at the Net, she herself chose to grip it telekinetically. "I assume I am invited to the "party" as well?" She said calmly. "I shall take this side." Indicating where she was concentrating her power with a flick of her tail, she readied herself for the motion. To take the credit away from Angel, I must put it onto Phish. To put the credit onto Phish, I must point out the Net was ordered by him. To keep anything from straying, Rafael and I must be the ones to make the final blow. Yes, whatever is needed to stop Angel will be necessary. He is not fit to rule; Rafael must be the true king and take the throne.

What else had she prepared for?

~Phish

Phish watched as Castro, his ex-sub-lieutenant, arrived with a net made of copper filament, thin, but durable, and conductive enough for the lanturn corps to do their thing. He coulc hear Rafael addressing the Carracosta mercenary a distance away, and even Beauty had returned, it was a pleasent feeling in Phish to see that they all could potentially work together, even if each had their own underlying ambitions, ones that would no doubt require taking part of the credit of the defeat of the Gyarados to do.

"All right, I'm ready!" Phish declared, holding the Net with his left pincer, the right one co-ordinating his soldiers through series' of clack that they understood, a form of communication that the enemy couldn't very well interpret without exact infiltration and training under Phish.

"Castro, I hope you remember your training this time, I don't need you to do anything, [stupid..." Phish addressed the Sharpedo across from him. Phish regarded in his mind that this was Angel's idea, and Angel's invention that they were using, and Phish palace guards, and local military that were to be electrifying the net and distracting the enemy while the five or six of them pulled the net over the Gyarados.

"Yes, Boss!" Castro responded somewhat enthusiastically, he enjoyed helping Angel succeed at any situation. Castro took his position at the net as per Angel's orders, he noted that the other Prince, the bastardized princess, and a mercenary were also present.

"Oh, thanks for the confidence, Commander, now I really have no chance of messing up." Castro retorted, angry with Phish lack of confidence in him. I'll show him, just because I didn't live up to my dad's legacy means nothing. Castro thought, fumingly as he grabbed his section of the net with his mouth, signalling Angel and Phish with a grunt. He had all intentions that he'd prove himself to Phish, even if Phish was right,Don't do anything stupid, don't play hero, you'll never hear the end of it from Angel. I can't have that... He thought, shuddering internally as to his knowledge of failiure under Angel, somnething he hoped would lessen if Angel were to take the throne.

Takida felt a bit happy that Rafael had gotten the answer to his question from someone else (she was actually amused that it was the brother that he hated so much that gave him the answer). The last thing she needed was for her to start double-dealing so quickly; Angel had approached her first, and she had already falsified an allegiance to the Kingdra (one that she had no intention of making permanent) and it would be all too reasonable for some eyebrows to be raised if she immediately tried making a deal with Rafael so quickly after she agreed to meet with Angel once this crisis had resolved itself.

There was also the fact that the condescending Gorebyss was aligned with Rafael, and she would certainly distrust Takida after the Carracosta's failed attempt to enter the palace. Takida admitted that part of what was fueling her current allegiance was just a means of spiting that Gorebyss. And Takida was certainly a spiteful creature.

Takida did feel a bit of apprehensiveness going into this deal with Angel, however - Angel had been one of the first nobles that had enlisted her, and thus he was one of the first nobles that she'd betrayed when she was enlisted by another noble. Several of the nobles were tough to predict when it came to their reactions to Takida's betrayals. Some of them came to terms with it and would hire her again later down the line, but some of them were very bitter about the backstab - Takida had to quickly distance herself from those particular nobles. She had no idea how Angel would react, and he was one of the few nobles that worried her. Simply because he had power. Lots of power. And he was certainly smart enough to point it in her direction. She had to be extremely careful when dealing with Angel, because this could very well be an assassination attempt on his part. She would had to watch herself every step of the way.

The growing numbers put Alabaster on edge and in a greater depth of fury. Small fish darted in and out of the scene on command and a strange contraption was on its way. They communicated to each other in words he failed to keep up with and within moments had him surrounded. Creatures of all shapes and sizes were taking part in this attack, some he had never seen before. Despite their differences their motives were united and would be his demise.

Alabaster hissed, warning they come no closer as he waved yet another Twister into play, this one headed for the worm he had confronted only minutes ago. Meanwhile an abnormal looking sphere began to grow at the tips of his stretched lips, fierce energy preparing to be launched as it grew in size. This Hyper Beam was steadily aimed at the tallest building he could see. The serpent knew not that this attack would not escape him before the net would be upon him.

Angel smiled. "Of course you're invited, sweet sister. There is no party unless we invite you! Takida, if you would be so kind as to take a corner...? Nevermind. Three will suffice, I suppose, although I would rather have one per corner... Just prepare yourselves. An Phish, have those electrical attacks ready! Alright, on three".
And hen the panic ensued.
"One!".

What was he doing, what was he getting himself into? What if it failed. what if it ripped? What if he or his sister were to get tangled, they would surely die...He would be ruined, ruined, absolutely ruined, Rafael would get the throne, he would be blamed for all of it, he had to back out, he had to-Breath. Breath. This is it. This works. It was tested. You'll be fine. We'll make it happen. Come on, come on, come on, get it together. This is a moment they will sing about. Alright... the creature offloaded another Twister, striking Angel bluntly. He swung wildly backward, off balance and seething, striking a nearby building. He shook his head, cleared his thoughts, composed himself. He felt warm and burnt all over, this creature would have hell to pay for humiliating him like that. All of a sudden it's lipped puckered, and a huge ball of energy gathered. No...no, if that move loosed, the city would be decimated, his city...No. He closed one eye and cocked his head, preparing for his own move.

"Two!".

He fired a small Bubblebeam, and a concentrated stream of small pockets of air flew towards his target. They would do almost no damage to a person, but hopefully they would be enough to disrupt that Hyper Beam....but he wasn't certain. Sure enough, bubbles struck the glowing orb, but whether or not they had the desired result he couldn't wait and check, because that move could loose at any second. Without letting himself think about it, he screamed "THREE!!!" and shot forward as fast as he could, bringing the net with him, hoping to hell the others were following him.

~Phish

Phish braced himself, clacking firmly to the Lanturn Corps to prepare themselves for on the three. A twister flew by and struck Angel, slamming him into a wall, something that clearly did not make him happy, and used a Bubblebeam as retort. Phish watched as the prince shouted three, and Phish, with a clack of his claw, pulled with all his might helping ensure the Net landed on the Gyarados, the electrical lances from the Lanturn a second from being fired.

"Everyone, let go as soon as you can, this will most certainly hurt, and clear away too, I'm certain that there will be a slight blast radius of electrical energy!" Phish shouted as he let go following pulling the net over the adversary.

We're in the ocean, for Kyogre's sake! "One!" Well, I guess all we can do is hope that the net absorbs most of the charge, otherwise we're all fried... "Two!" Of course the net's going to absorb all of the charge, Angel may be a horrible diplomat but he's good at this sort of thing, he wouldn't use this is if were dangerous... Just... Keep thinking that... "Three!" Angel charged forward, holding one corner of the net, and Rafael dragged himself out of his thoughts to sprint forward as well, barely a beat behind him. Following Phish's lead, he threw his corner of the net at the Gyrados, and replied to Phish "'Slight' blast radius? We're living in a giant liquid wire! Try to get behind something that isn't conductive to electricity!" And, folloring Phish's lead yet again, dove away from the net, more specifically into the sand at the seafloor.

What did this mean? Her brother was steadily getting better at diplomacy, it seemed; there were no more easy things to pick up on. She... needed to rest, consider things and figure out what to do. That would be best. To defeat the threat that was not a threat, she needed to be careful. And aggressive, as well. She had to be forward, proactive; not too proactive, though. She couldn't risk coming off as too bloodthirsty. Or would that be a respectable thing?

I just need to resolve this. Once the city is saved and the credit foisted onto Phish all will be well. Her Demon began to call out the numbers; she tightened her mental grip on the copper to show that she was ready. Yes, this is the way. No questions needed. When Angel called out three, she looked at him with a pointed glare that seemed to show that she was only just accepting him being on the same side as her. Trying to focus her hatred and concentration, her psychic nearly crushed the corner of the net she was controlling as the gorebyss pretended that by flinging the Net forward she was flinging a dagger at her brother's head. This is simple, rivalry is easy...

Quickly sparing a glance at her comrades who had taken refuge, she afterward looked at her foe. Haven't taken refuge, have you? Can't let you be the last to leave... Deciding to keep at least as close to the danger as the kingdra, she leveled a signal beam at the gyarados who had dared allowed Angel to save the city. I must snatch the credit for Phish, be modest and the last to go to safety... "Can't have you be the last to leave, dear Angel. Come now, before they begin the assault!" We need to shift the glory, from you to Angel and Phish. You being in the line of assault is fine.

Alabaster felt the sting of a flurry of bubbles at the side of his jaw, making him snap down on his own Hyper Beam, dispersing the energy into short sparks of light. Ready to Thrash in all of his frustration and agony, the serpent raised his heavy tail only to be greeted with a strange object laced over it and a good portion of his body.

Turning his head to try and pull at it, he felt a surge of power rush though him. A horrid shriek and hiss echoed while his body trembled under the bright light and net. His mind seemed to be blotted out with dark clouds, only to be followed by a heavy thud.

The king sized Gyarados fell into a pile of debris, unconscious and without a further grunt or snort of spite.

~Phish

Phish nodded slightly to himself as he watched the Gyarados slump to the ground, and clicked his claw once. The Palpitoad lieutenant from earlier arrived within a couple seconds.

"Yes, sir?" He asked, awaiting orders. Phish turns to him, a look of thought splashed across his face.

"Take as many men you feel will be required in moving our, guest, and place him in a cell large enough, and resilient enough, but do not go with them, instead take the net, the quagsire corps, and the lantern corps to the briefing room." Phish waved his claw to dismiss the Lietenant, and turned to Angel.

"Sir, I'd like if you could accompany me to the briefing room, as well as your brother, and solely the two of you, we need to figure out a proper way to obtain the reason as to why the Gyarados attacked, as well as how to properly employ the use of these nets on the battlefield." Phish began making his way to Rafael not wishing to have Angel gloating to him that it was Angels idea that allowed them to prevail.

The net dropped on the unconscious Gyrados, totally useless now. The creature was already totally incapacitated, his brilliant plan rendered completely unnecessary. That stung, a little. Stupid good fortune, he mumbled to himself. What where the odds the ingestion of his own hyper beam would kill him...Argh! For a few moments, rage surged inside him, before subsiding. He was successful. The kingdom was safe from this threat, for now. But something...

"Can't have you be the last to leave, dear Angel. Come now, before they begin the assault!"

That was his sister. But what could it mean? Before he could figure out any answer by humelf, Phish swam up to him. Without dispersing the slightest bit of gratitude, he summoned Angel to the briefing room along with his brother, then swam away as quickly as if he we were some sort of plague. For a moment, he stayed still, floating slightly in the tiny underwater current. He had expected cheers, screams of gratitude, he thought. But that was stupid of him. All he heard were the cries of the homeless, and all he saw were the stares of those who had so much less than him. He felt there eyes on him, envying him, hating him, felt their gazes crawling up his skin. He shook his head, suddenly becoming incredibly uncomfortable, and swam over to Phish and Rafael. "What of my sister?" he asked. "Should she not be included in this?"