As Whittaker and his team sat despondently around the large, central office of their temporary base camp, each halfheartedly occupied by the materials they'd loaded onto their tablets or laptops, the communications radio crackled to life, and Rodel's voice came tinnily from the speakers, "Kingdra to Base, Kingdra to Base."
Everyone immediately looked up from their work, but Parks, who had seated herself closest, was first to react, and she took the radio in hand and gave her response, "This is Base. Kingdra, go ahead."
"Our divers found something in the sediment." Before the sentence was even fully uttered, Whittaker was out of his chair and hovering near Parks, transfixed on the radio. Rodel continued, "Looks like a piece of a pot, like the ones we found in the mountains. It's really worn away, but there's some evidence of decoration and-- Ah, well, you'll see when we bring it back. We're gonna keep looking for now - will let you know when there's more to know."
"Copy that, Kingdra," Parks replied, unable to help the awe and relief in her growing smile. "Standing by."
"10-4. Over."
All sound from the radio abruptly ended as the transmission was cut off. Parks turned to look at the other archaeologists as her awe turned to joy and excitement, and she exclaimed, "They're bringing something back today!"
"I know!" Whittaker responded, somehow even more excited than Parks. "Pottery fragments! What else do you think there will be? I hope they relied less on wooden architecture in this area; I'm not sure how likely it is to have survived for so long..."
"You'd be surprised," Herschel piped up from the other side of the room. He tapped a few things on the screen of his tablet and turned it around so the screen faced Whittaker, displaying a picture of a shipwreck lying on the ocean floor, "This was found just last year. 16th century Swedish naval ship, and just look at it."
Whittaker crossed the room and leaned to better see the image, intrigue lighting up his eyes. "Oh! I remember hearing about this. It really is in remarkable shape, isn't it?" He pushed a hand through his hair with a look of wistful anticipation, "Man, I hope we're as lucky...!"
Everyone gradually settled back into what they had been doing before the contact from Rodel, but the room was filled with a restless energy. The archaeologists were all filled with excitement and anticipation. Just knowing that they wouldn't return from their expedition empty-handed bolstered their morale significantly; even if one piece of pottery was all they had, it was better than having nothing at all.
Eventually the radio sounded again, and when Parks acknowledged the transmission, Rodel explained, "Had some pretty good luck out here - plenty of objects as well as photographs. We'll be coming back in for the day soon, but I don't think today will be our last day after all. There's something down there that I want to get a better look at."
"Something, like..." Parks shook her head slightly as she tried to think of an example, "...submerged architecture?"
"No, nothing that straightforward. It's hard to describe-- Well, no, it's easy to describe, but I still don't have a clue what the hell it is. It's too deep for us to get a good look at, though, so we'll have to try again with different equipment. I'll explain more when I get back to base. You'll understand when you see the photos."
Waiting for Rodel and his vessel to return from the sea was more painstaking than waiting for more news had been, and Whittaker couldn't help the wild conjurations of his imagination. Was it some kind of large-scale sculpture? Human remains? Arceus itself? The longer he was left to wait, the more grand Whittaker's suspicions became, until finally, mercifully, the ship's crew returned to base, carefully transporting the uncovered artifacts. As insatiably curious as the rest of the archaeological team was, though, Rodel still refused to speak until he was warm and fed. Once they'd finished their modest dinner, everyone gathered around Rodel's laptop at the central table to review the photographs that had been taken underwater.
"Okay, okay, I won't tease you all anymore," Rodel began, scrolling through his files and opening a few here and there. The one he finally enlarged to fill the screen was of a darkened ocean trench, a soft light illuminating it from deep within. The source of the light was indistinguishable, looking like little more than a plain, white sphere. "This is the Weird Thing," the older archaeologist said with a gesture towards the photograph. "The divers noticed this light down there and thought it must have been a Chinchou or Lanturn or something. Eventually we noticed that it wasn't moving at all, and when they passed by a little closer to get a better look, this is what they saw."
"It's a... an egg?" Whittaker hazarded, his brow furrowed. "Or egg-shaped, at least... I suppose eggs don't really glow."
"Not generally, no," Rodel replied as he tugged his mustache. "I wouldn't discount the possibility, though. The deepest depths of the ocean are probably the most mysterious place on the planet. Who's to say there's not a species of pokemon somewhere out there that lays glowing eggs?"
"In that case," Herschel said, "are you saying that we went down looking for Kodoan artifacts and wound up discovering a new pokemon species?"
Rodel let out a bark of laughter. "Wouldn't that be something? But we won't know for sure until we bring it up. I'll see what I can do about getting us a submersible. Until then, let's focus on looking over the stuff we already have."
...
In another week, Rodel had managed to borrow a submersible for the sake of completing the team's expedition. The quick approval had been the result of using the photograph of the glowing, egg-shaped object to pique the interest of Kodo's prominent pokemon biology authorities, and it came with the caveat that the craft was to be operated by a biologist from the institute that owned it. Fortunately, the submersible could comfortably seat one passenger, so one member of the archaeologists' team would be able to venture into the ocean trench. The others, it was decided, would staff the ship on the surface and observe the undersea goings-on through radio and a live video feed.
The evening before the investigation was set to continue, Rodel clapped a hand upon Parks's shoulder, "Parks, I think you should be down there on the dive tomorrow."
Parks, taken aback, fumbled for a response before finding one, "Me? This is your expedition, though! You should go, obviously."
Rodel made a dismissive sound and waved his hand. "Are you kidding? I've been out on that boat all this time; I'm just now getting used to being on land again. Not interested. You do it."
The other archaeologist's face flushed slightly, and she rounded her shoulders. "All right, I'll go. Thank you."
"Lucky!" Whittaker exclaimed as the exchange finished. "Aaahh, Parks, I'm so envious! Take lots of pictures! I mean, not that I have to tell you that."
"It is my job, after all," Parks laughed in reply. "Trust me, I'll take plenty of pictures." She paused and frowned slightly, making a somewhat dissatisfied expression, "It'll be a little disappointing if we're really dealing with an egg, though. A new species would be cool and all - amazing, even - but I'm not really into all that biology stuff."
"I know what you mean," Herschel said, emerging from the kitchenette area with a tray of snacks and joining the conversation. "The whole point from the beginning has been to learn more about Kodoan history. It's kind of anti-climactic if the last piece of the puzzle ends up being taken away by the Institute of Pokemon Biology."
"We'd still learn more about Kodo, though, right?" Whittaker suggested. "If it's a new species, then it's probably a species that's unique to Kodo. Even if it's not an anthropological discovery, that's still really significant to our understanding of the region."
"Whittaker, Whittaker," Rodel said as he took a couple of chips from Herschel's tray, "ever the optimist. It certainly always is a joy to have you around."
The younger archaeologist blinked and tilted his head slowly. "...Thanks, I think?"
...
"All right, we're beginning our approach."
For Whittaker, it was tough being on the ocean; as much as he tried to focus on the video feed and on Parks's voice coming over the radio, his attention was called back time and again to the ship's rocking, and he remembered over and over why he had elected to stay at their base of operations rather than accompany Rodel out to sea. Still, if it were for the sake of an important discovery, he could tolerate a little discomfort. His eyes remained trained on the monitor that streamed the feed from the submersible's camera, and he watched carefully as the white orb came into view, its soft glow illuminating the surrounding trench.
"That's... something, all right," Herschel said, his hand on his chin and his expression puzzled. "It really does look like an egg..."
"We're gonna try to get a better look at the surroundings," Parks announced from her end of the radio. "If there's a good way to get ahold of it, we'll go ahead and begin extraction, but for now we're just planning to check it out."
Whittaker and Herschel watched the screen as the submersible descended closer and closer to the glowing object, and then, abruptly, all movement stopped.
After a moment, Whittaker's anticipation got the better of his patience, "Parks, what's going on? Is everything okay?"
There was silence, and then Parks responded, her tone slightly strained, "Yeah, it's just that the pressure is getting to us a bit. Sorry, we'll get back to it."
"The pressure?" Whittaker said, turning to Herschel. "Isn't the submersible pressurized?"
A deep frown came upon Herschel's face. "It's sure supposed to be..." He turned to speak into the radio, "Parks, the submersible isn't damaged somehow, is it? Everything normal?"
"Yeah," the addressed replied, "no abnormalities. It's okay; we're just feeling a little sick. It's probably just breakfast disagreeing with us."
For all of Parks's reassurances, the pauses in the submersible's approach became more frequent and more lengthy until, just before reaching their goal, they began to back off. Parks came over the radio to explain the situation, "I'm sorry, guys, we can't keep going. My operator's already been sick twice and my head feels just about ready to burst. I don't want to risk picking that thing up only to drop it even deeper when we're ascending. We're gonna come back up, wait out this bug, and see if we can try again in the afternoon."
"We understand," Herschel replied, suppressing a sigh of disappointment. He shook his head briefly to rid himself of his negativity. "Your health comes first. That thing's not going anywhere, after all - it doesn't make good sense to force you to deal with it, especially if it'll put the recovery at risk."
The transmission ended, and Whittaker flopped backwards in his seat with a deep sigh. "I really wanted to get a better look at that thing before lunch," he complained. "Did Parks and that biologist even eat the same things for breakfast...?"
"Can't help what can't be helped. I'm gonna tell Rodel what's up, so unless you want him to hear your griping..."
"I got it, I got it. Sheesh." Whittaker removed himself from the table and went out to the deck to wait for the submersible's return so he could assist in docking it to the ship. After a moment's thought, he paused and changed course to the miniature refrigerator to grab a couple bottles of water as an offering to the pair staffing the submersible.
...
Even after taking medicine, Parks and the biologist remained in poor shape for hours longer than anyone had expected them to, effectively dismantling any plans the two had to make a second attempt at the glowing object. When it became apparent that the pair wouldn't recover before they lost daylight, Rodel approached Whittaker and Herschel with a proposition.
"Herschel, didn't you say that that was the same kind of submersible you learned to operate when you were doing your training for nautical archaeology? The forecast for tomorrow isn't looking good, so I'd really like to try to get that thing up today."
"Won't the biology institute be upset?" Whittaker reminded. "Us taking one of their people was their condition for borrowing the submersible, after all..."
"We did take one of their people," Rodel replied, wearing a cheeky expression. "He operated the submersible, just as we agreed he would. But they didn't say he had to operate it every time, now did they?"
Herschel laughed lightly, "That's some kind of loophole abuse. I'll do it, but only if you're taking the heat when they find out about it."
Rodel clicked his tongue and wagged a finger, "If they find out."
"Ah!" Whittaker, who'd just noticed the view from the room's window, abruptly darted to the coat rack in the corner to pull his jacket on. "If we're going, we have to go now! We've had some extra light since time changed, but it's only going to last for but so much longer!"
The younger archaeologist and his elected partner prepared themselves and headed out to the ship with Rodel. The two men boarded the submersible, leaving the expedition leader to man the monitor and radio on their boat. Before wasting too much sunlight, Whittaker and Herschel were already heading down.
"I've never done nautical archaeology before," Whittaker remarked, watching in awe as the rich blue of the ocean filled and darkened their windows. A school of Luvdisc passed by, and a curious Dewgong paused briefly in its passing to turn its head to and fro at the submersible. "I have to say, I feel a bit out of place..."
"It's only natural to feel out of place," Herschel replied as he orchestrated their descent and their approach towards the object. "We were born and raised on land, right? This is an altogether different world from the one we know - a world we can't even survive in, let alone explore, without all kinds of technology."
"Humans were too impatient to wait for evolution to meet their needs, and so we created technology," Whittaker mused, his eyes on the nearing trench and the first hints of the soft light within it. "I wonder what kind of pokemon would lay a glowing egg. It doesn't seem like it would be a very sound survival strategy. It's basically advertising to predators, 'here's my progeny, come eat it.'"
"Maybe that's why we've never seen it before. Maybe the eggs all get eaten up and the species is incredibly rare because of it."
Steadily, the object came into view, swaddled in its own light amidst the darkness of the watery abyss. Whittaker and Herschel both beheld it in silence as they sought some explanation for what they were seeing. By all rights, it looked like nothing more than an ordinary pokemon egg like one would pick up from a breeder or find in a wild nest, only pure white and unblemished by any marking that would indicate the species. Herschel brought the radio to his mouth and relayed a message to Rodel, "Staryu to Kingdra, we've got a visual. Making our approach now."
The submersible descended and descended until it was within the trench, drawing closer to the egg. Suddenly, Whittaker found his vision blurring, and he covered his eyes with his hands briefly. The action didn't go unnoticed by his companion.
"What's up?"
"Nothing; just my eyes playing tricks on me. I think the low light is messing me up a bit."
Herschel frowned and raised a hand to the back of his neck at the base of his skull, "Actually, I was just thinking that I could feel a headache coming on. Maybe the sub is compromised after all..."
"No, no way." Whittaker pointed out the gauges on the control area, "Look, everything's normal. If it were a pressure problem, wouldn't it have been detected by now?"
"I guess... but it still kind of worries me. Let's just grab that thing and get out of here."
They continued their approach, but within a few more minutes of descending, Herschel stopped, folded his arms, and laid his head upon them. Whittaker, not feeling much better himself, placed a hand on the other archaeologist's shoulder, "Hey, maybe we should surface. We can try again whenever the weather clears up."
Herschel shook his head, inhaled, and breathed out a shuddering sigh. "I don't want to have to call this off because of a damned headache."
"Remember what you said to Parks? Let's just-- just go back up there, and..."
Herschel lifted and turned his head just enough to see Whittaker, and his eyebrows rose in surprise and concern. "Are you okay? You're completely pale."
"Ah, n-no, I'm--" The rest of his sentence petered out into a slowing murmur, and Whittaker lost consciousness.
...
Whittaker awoke in darkness, and for a moment he was certain that he was still in the submersible, that something had happened and they had lost power, leaving them adrift in the unwavering night of the ocean's depths. Just before panic could set in, however, he became aware of the sensation of fabric, and the archaeologist realized that he was lying in one of the cots they had in their base of operations. He sat up and rubbed at his eyes, attempting to recall what had passed. He remembered being in the submersible, worrying over the pressurization, and then feeling absolutely terrible in every way. He remembered being concerned about Herschel, and it was this memory that ultimately moved him to extricate himself from the creaking bed and venture out towards the main meeting room.
Rodel, Herschel, and Parks were all gathered there, evidently embroiled in some discussion, and each looked up towards the opening door as Whittaker entered. Herschel rose partway from his chair, relief in his features, as he gave his greeting, "Oh good, good, you're okay. Jeez, telling me not to force myself..."
Whittaker gave an apologetic smile in return. "Sorry. It all kind of hit me at once. But anyway, what's up? You all looked so serious."
"Rodel thinks we're not dealing with an actual egg," Parks explained, passively volunteering to bring the new arrival up to speed. "Me, you, Herschel, and the biologist all started showing symptoms of severe illness when we came close to that thing, even though we were all perfectly healthy before heading down."
Rodel continued, "All signs point towards our 'egg' actually being some kind of highly toxic substance, perhaps something that was illegally dumped into the ocean that we just happened to come across. It could even be something that Team Rocket created, like a prototype of a biological weapon or something. Either way, it's clearly dangerous."
Whittaker frowned. "But..." He approached Herschel's tablet that was lying on the table, and despite its owner's surprised objections, he manipulated it to pull up some of the photographs that had been taken of the glowing thing. He then turned the screen around and pointed to it, "See, look, there are pokemon down there. Herschel and I saw all kinds of aquatic pokemon in and around the trench, and they didn't seem bothered at all - they weren't avoiding the area or anything."
A frown from Rodel, and a thoughtful tug of his mustache. "Maybe it's only toxic to humans? I don't know. What I do know is that toxic substances aren't our jurisdiction. I've already gotten in touch with the appropriate parties; they're coming out first thing in the morning to cordon off the site, then when the weather clears up, they'll conduct their own investigation."
"That's..." Whittaker deflated. "Does that mean we're done here?"
"We still have the building for the next couple of days," Parks answered. "We're done with our extraction, but we'll stay a little longer: get our findings packed up safely for transport and get all our stuff together, then it's back to Sagestone to conduct analyses. ...Why do you look so disappointed?"
"I just thought it would end in something more... amazing?" Whittaker shrugged. "Some kind of precious artifact, a new species... Nope, just some poisonous egg. Hand the site over and move on. End of story."
"I'll tell you something amazing," Rodel said, standing and placing his hands on his hips admonishingly. "It's amazing you lot all made it back safely! Be glad you're alive to make more discoveries in the future! And on that note, the three of you had better make sure to get checked up properly by a physician once you have the time. Who knows what kind of internal damage could have been done?" The older man breathed a sigh and turned to shut his laptop and organize his papers. "Well anyway, we're pretty much done for the day at this point. It's a little late for our regular evening meeting, so let's just go over tomorrow's business in the morning. Everyone make sure to get some decent rest. Whittaker, there's leftovers from dinner in the kitchenette if you're hungry."
A sound of acknowledgment rippled through the archaeological team, and the small group began to scatter in different directions, each member holding their own feelings on the way the situation had developed.
...
By the time the group awoke the next day, an organization from Kodo's government had already set up a wide perimeter around the coordinates Rodel had given them, effectively destroying any ambitions any of them might have had of trying one more time. The biologist, fully recovered after his own harrowing encounter with the presumed toxic substance, gave his farewells to the team and arranged to return the submersible to the institute from which they had both come.
Whittaker and his comrades went about their business, packaging their nautical discoveries with utmost care and attention. The weather forecast held true, and before the sun had risen too far into the sky, thick clouds blotted it out entirely, and a cold, driving rain began to fall. Though the discoveries the team had made weren't insignificant, the way the expedition had concluded left a sour taste in all of their mouths, and the late winter rainfall only served to amplify the gloomy atmosphere. The day dragged on in such a way, dissatisfying, until the late afternoon when there came a visitor to the base's doors. When Rodel opened them, the person standing beyond was someone who wore the Pokemon League's emblem upon her breast.
"You must be Mr. Rodel," the woman said, lowering her umbrella. "I have some news."
"News from the League?" Rodel replied, visibly confused. "For my team? Or just for me?"
"For you, your team, and also the people working out there on the ocean once I'm finished here," the League representative replied. "Tonight, a mandatory evacuation will be posted for this area as well as for part of the city. Since you've got some important work going on out here, I wanted to tell you right away so you'd have as much time as possible to prepare to vacate the premises."
"Hold on, hold on. Evacuate?" Rodel's tone drew curious gazes from cracked doorways. "I know they were calling for some heavy rain, but is it really supposed to be such a terrible storm that we have to evacuate? And in the first place, why is someone from the League coming to deliver this message instead of someone from - I don't know - the public safety department or something?"
"There's a pokemon coming," the woman explained, her tone firm but her brow creased lightly in worry and sincerity, "that's been known to exhibit aggressive behavior in the past, and we're concerned about what its intentions might be. At its current pace and trajectory, it's expected to arrive right around this area within a week. The entire coastal area is subject to this evacuation, just in case things take the turn we fear they might."
Rodel wrinkled up his nose in obvious incredulity. "What, so it's just a pokemon? What's the big deal, then? Can't you just lure it away with berries or stuff it in a ball?"
The woman's features fell into a frown. "Sir, it would take one hell of a berry to 'lure away' the legendary pokemon Groudon."