Beta Testing the Apocalypse 055 (Patreon)

Though she wasn't nearly as fast as in the air, Latias could have been mistaken for a Water-type Pokemon with how effortlessly she could move through the water. Her aerodynamic design allowed her to cut through the water, and since her coat was thicker and more hydrophobic than even an otter, she could retain heat even in the sea's depths.

'The view near the sea's bottom is quite something, isn't it...?' remarked Leon, admiring the expansive reef they were passing over and the many Pokemon and fish who inhabited it. He even saw a Dragonair swimming gracefully through the water, accompanied by a Dratini. However, as his desire to capture Pokemon had largely been sated, he didn't ask Latia to follow them.

'Which does Leon think is prettier? The sea's bottom or Latia's bottom...?' asked Latia, leaving Leon at a brief loss for words. From a purely aesthetic point of view, the seafloor was absolutely more appealing. But, if he were forced to choose between admiring it every day or fucking the adorkable Latia, he would choose the later nine-hundred-and-ninety-nine times out of a thousand.

'I prefer Latia's bottom...' replied Leon, causing Latia to hold the sides of her face and perform an abrupt corkscrew maneuver. She loved it when he praised or complimented her, but before she could get too excited and go off-mission, Leon calmly reminded her, 'Don't forget what we came here to do. We'll have plenty of time to cuddle and do other stuff once we return.'

'Okaaaay~!' responded Latia, performing a quick loop before accelerating toward their destination, a large, extremely dilapidated temple located on the seafloor, lurking menacingly at a depth sunlight could barely reach on even the brightest of days. Fortunately, as Latia also possessed a kind of sonar, emanating omnidirectionally from her crest, they could 'see' even in depths exceeding 1,000m...

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Though he anticipated it, as it would be difficult or impossible to face Kyogre otherwise, Leon was surprised when Latia took him up through a tunnel connected to a pool and a large air pocket. The interior was cold, dark, and wet, but thanks to Latia's vision, he could make out structures such as thick stone pillars and stone reliefs covering the wall, ostensibly depicting various conflicts that had occurred in a time before the 'Floor' was brought into the Tower.

While thinking that Cynthia would have a field day with the ruins, Leon also imagined the mature woman in her lingerie. It had been three days since that 'fateful' encounter, but it was still at the forefront of his mind.

'Leon...?' asked Latia, unable to read his mind while he was possessing her but still able to sense that he was thinking lewd thoughts. Luckily, as she was a tad self-centered, she naturally assumed he was thinking about her.

'Patience...' whispered Leon, controlling Latia's hands to rub her belly as he added, 'For now, be good and return to the surface. Once I'm finished speaking with the mean blue one, we'll go on a date.'

'You want me to leave you...?' asked Latia, anxiety filling her voice as she questioned, 'What if the mean blue one attacks you?'

'Don't worry,' said Leon. 'I promised we would be together forever, right? The mean blue one can't hurt me, but he 'can' hurt you. I don't want that, so you need to leave. Understand?'

Separating from Latia's body, Leon grabbed the sides of her head and pressed his own against her shield-like crest, whispering, "I promise to return to you, no matter what..."

"I understand..." replied Latia, her voice low and melancholic, but she still complied with Leon's words after licking his lips and sticking her tongue in his mouth, having gotten addicted to kissing.

Seeing Latia off with a smile and a wave, Leon waited several minutes before turning toward the temple's interior. He couldn't see any of his surroundings without Latia's senses, but there was a glowing pool at the far end of the spacious chamber, creating a beautiful refractive pattern on the temple's ceiling.

As he had become fairly confident in his immortality after a number of experiments, including subjecting himself to mental attacks, Leon was more curious than afraid as he approached the glowing, sapphire-blue pool. Kyogre was another of his favorite Pokemon designs, so while the odds of it attacking him were high, Leon wanted to at least try and reason with it before taking its orb by force.

Reaching the pool's edge, which reminded him of arctic water due to how crystal clear it was, Leon gazed into its depths and quickly spotted a blue, whale-like creature at its bottom. It was four, maybe five meters in length, and in place of ordinary pectoral fins, it had wing-like flippers tipped with four bone-white 'fingers,' giving it a width nearly as wide as its length. The profile of its body was roughly tear-shaped with two whale-like dorsal fins about two-thirds of the way along its back, and, in place of an ordinary tail or coddle fin, it had four streamer-like flippers that vaguely resembled a fork from above.

'Should I try possessing it...?' Leon asked himself. However, as he knew from experience that those with powerful wills could expel him, doing so was a double-edged sword. Kyogre was 'known' for being temperamental, and since it had the power to control the sea level and generate endless rain and tsunamis, pissing it off was a good way to get a lot of Pokemon killed...

Deciding to look around instead, Leon concealed his presence as much as possible before dipping into the glowing pool. It was 'considerably' colder than he anticipated, but Leon wasn't too bothered as he searched around for the tunnel the Kyogre must have passed through to reach the temple's interior. There were actually seven, but only one was even remotely large enough for the Kyogre to pass through.

After deliberating for several minutes, Leon decided against blocking off the tunnel and made his way over to the sleeping Kyogre.

'Hmmm...its fins made it seem massive from above, but it doesn't seem all that big up close...' Leon noticed. He had been to SeaWorld a few times in his past life and had seen several orcas and a blue whale. Even compared to the former, Kyogre appeared tiny...

Dismissing such thoughts from his mind, Leon began searching around for the orb mentioned by Latia. Zapdos, Moltres, and Articuno had kept theirs in their nests, so he assumed it would be somewhere beneath the Kyogre. The worst-case scenario was that it was in its mouth, but Leon doubted it.

'Oh, it's a girl...'

While checking around the Kyogre's tail, Leon couldn't help sneaking a casual glance at what it had going on underneath. Fortunately, even if he had inadvertently become a Pokephile, the Kyogre was much too big for a human dick, no matter how 'enterprising' they might be. Its slit alone was longer than his shoulders were wide, so he'd have to crawl up inside it to have a chance of satisfying it...

Making his way around to the Kyogre's front and circling it several times, Leon failed to find anything remotely resembling an orb. Even a dip in the ground beneath the Kyogre turned up nothing, so unless it was enshrined elsewhere, the orb 'had' to be in its mouth or belly.

Realizing something, Leon hammered his nonexistent right hand into his left palm as he reasoned, 'If it's powerful enough to command an ancient Pokemon, it should have a decent amount of Mana, right...?'

Deciding to test his theory from a safer distance, Leon sank into the ground before reappearing at the temple's entrance a few minutes later. Then, pulling out the Mana Radar, clicking it on, and giving it a chance to calibrate, he confirmed that there were two overlapping Mana signatures where the Kyogre was located, one inside the other.

'Looks like it's time to wake up...' concluded Leon, placing the Mana Radar in his Storage and returning to the edge of Kyogre's pool. There, he spent around twenty minutes setting up a banquet table, setting it with food and other items he had prepared as offerings. Then, to make himself seem as unassuming and benign as possible, he set out a cushion for himself a few meters away before removing his body from Storage, possessing it, sitting with his legs crossed, and meditating.

As Leon had anticipated, it didn't even take a full minute for the Kyogre to awaken, rising to the pool's surface with the red patterns along its wings and body humming with magical energy. Fortunately, as Leon exhibited no hostility, the Kyogre didn't immediately burst out of the water and go on a rampage, sparring the carefully set arrangement.

'Who are you...?' asked the Kyogre, its telepathic voice soft, pleasant, and distinctively feminine.

Opening his eyes and smiling, Leon replied, "I'd like to say I'm a friend, but that depends on you. As for my name, it's Leon. Leon Asheford. It's nice to meet you."

Raising its snout from the water, inhaling the fragrance of the mostly fish dishes, the Kyogre questioned, 'Is this an offering? Are you a descendent of the A'koa...?'

Shaking his head, Leon replied, "It's most certainly an offering, but I'm afraid I've never heard of the A'koa. I'm just showing you a modicum of the respect you deserve as the Lord of the Primordial Sea..."

'Approach...' said Kyogre, followed by it moving to the very edge of the pool and raising its head out of the water with its mouth open, showing off its sharp, orca-like teeth.

Understanding what the Kyogre wanted it to do, Leon grabbed one of the dishes, knelt as a courtesy, and carefully scraped the food into its mouth. He noticed the pulsing of Kyogre's lights quicken the moment the food hit its bright pink tongue, but while it obviously enjoyed the taste, it remained standoffish and commanded, 'Another!' once it was done swallowing.

As he had prepared 200kgs of fish dishes and other foods for the Kyogre, Leon remained patient and served the miniature orca a total of twenty-six plates of food before it settled back into the pool, its glowing yellow eyes closing contentedly as it stated, 'It's been many ages since I last received such an offering. You've done well...'

"Have you already had your fill?" asked Leon, smiling as he added, "We've barely gotten through a tenth of what I brought."

Though its eyes snapped open, the Kyogre remained silent for nearly a full minute before asking, 'What do you desire to come bearing such a plentiful offering? Would you have me decimate a rival kingdom? Protect your coastal cities as a Guardian Deity...?'

"My only desire is to continue my ascent up the Tower," answered Leon. "I was informed by a trustworthy source that you possessed one of the two items I required. However, as I respect you too greatly to take it from you, I decided to approach you as a friend rather than an enemy..."

'So, you've come seeking the Red Orb...' muttered Kyogre, leaving Leon a little confused as it sank a little deeper into the water and started blowing bubbles from its mouth.

Though he expected it to have the Blue Orb, Leon nodded in affirmation, stating, "I am willing to trade for it, and once this Floor has been cleared, I vow to return here and restore this temple to its former glory. A majestic being such as yourself deserves to be worshipped..."

'Ugh...'

Leaving Leon even more confused, the Kyogre began swimming in circles, clearly frustrated. He didn't know what he had done to upset it, but since it was clearly deliberating something, he decided to wait patiently to hear what it had to say.

'Fine...' said the Kyogre, returning to the pool's edge as it added, 'You may have the Red Orb, but only on the condition you return here at least once a week to supply another offering...'

Bringing his hands together, Leon unhesitantly replied, "Consider it done!" He had actually anticipated that the Kyogre would demand daily offerings, so having it only be weekly would save him and his Chefs a lot of time and energy.

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Following a telepathic silence, the Kyogre confused Leon a third time as it lazily rolled onto its back, presenting its belly. Then, in an almost bashful-sounding tone, it said, 'It's inside...' without saying where. However, based on the context of the situation, Leon knew exactly where she was alluding to, all but confirming his suspicions that someone outside Purgatoria was fucking with him...

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