"Board the vessel."
Ariel gave the final order.
The nine team members moved swiftly into the submarine's interior without making any unnecessary noise.
Yuki followed close behind; before entering the hatch, she glanced back at the rising dawn.
The horizon revealed a bleak, pale grey, like the whites of a dead man's eyes.
The submarine's hatch closed slowly, the hiss of the hydraulic pumps sounding exceptionally clear in the silent morning.
Ariel sat in the leather swivel chair at the command station, while Malamar slowly floated out from the shadows behind him.
Its tentacles swayed slightly in the air, emitting a faint purple glow.
"Depart."
With the command given, the propeller at the submarine's stern began to rotate at high speed, churning up massive plumes of water.
The black steel behemoth slowly submerged, disappearing into the dark sea.
On the harbor docks, the Team Rockets members who witnessed this scene looked at each other in bewilderment.
They didn't know what this strange squad was up to, but they could sense that the peace of these waters was likely coming to an end.
Inside the submarine, red emergency lights reflected off everyone's faces.
Ariel closed his eyes, sketching a topographic map of Blue Sea Cliff in his mind.
In the face of absolute power and unscrupulous methods, all obstacles were merely lambs to the slaughter.
For this first field mission, he wanted more than just Gyarados.
He wanted this "Team Evil" to be thoroughly blooded.
Only a blade that has seen blood is sharp enough.
The submarine traveled silently through the deep sea, its target set on the cliff shrouded in the shadow of death.
The pressure of the deep sea caused faint creaks in the hull, like something whispering in the darkness.
Ariel opened his eyes, his pupils reflecting the constantly jumping latitude and longitude data on the screen, as cold as the icy currents of the deep.
Blue Sea Cliff.
That would be the debut stage for the "Team Evil," and also the graveyard for certain Pokémon.
In the face of absolute evil, any struggle was superfluous.
Ariel's fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest, each tap sounding like a countdown from the Grim Reaper.
He was already anticipating the interesting scene when those violent Gyarados encountered a killing machine even more violent and cold than themselves.
The submarine's speed increased once more.
In the dark seabed, a black shadow sped past, leaving all light behind.
...
Ariel had prepared ten Electric-type Pokémon for this mission, with levels ranging between thirty and forty, all obtained through his former superior Laic's network.
This batch of Pokémon wasn't top-tier, but they were more than enough to deal with the wild Pokémon at Blue Sea Cliff.
The division of labor within the team was already clear, like the precise parts of a machine, fitting together perfectly.
Numbers One through Three were responsible for the submarine's radar monitoring and sonic induction.
Their task was "fishing," driving out the prey hidden among the reefs and trenches.
Numbers Four through Six were the long-range firepower group.
The Magneton in their hands were the guarantee of efficiency for this operation.
Numbers Seven through Nine were the close-quarters capture group, responsible for dealing with stragglers and high-value targets.
As for Yuki, she stood not far behind Ariel, her special pokédex flashing continuously as it precisely recorded the data of every captured Pokémon.
She was like an emotionless clerk, compiling the final statistics for this massacre.
"Begin."
Ariel's voice wasn't loud, yet it transmitted clearly into everyone's communicators.
The order was given.
A few minutes later, a low hum came from beneath the sea; it was the sound of the sonic induction device starting up.
Soon, the calm surface of the sea began to churn.
A group of brightly colored Azumarill and Goldeen broke the surface in a panic, like a pot of boiling fish soup.
Their round bodies leaped over the water, their eyes filled with confusion and fear.
They didn't know where the disaster was coming from.
"Number Four, Number Six, Thunder Web," Number Two's voice came through the communicator, calm and without a trace of emotion.
On the deck, two Magneton floated up, the Magnets around their bodies spinning at high speed, emitting a piercing hum.
Blue-white electric arcs jumped and connected between their three independent units, quickly weaving into a massive Thunder Web.
Zzzzt—!
The Thunder Web fell, covering that patch of panicked water.
The water surface instantly exploded into countless white plumes as the current penetrated the sea, shocking those poor creatures until they convulsed and floated up with their white bellies showing. A strange smell of scorched protein filled the air.
The Speedboat where Numbers Seven through Nine were located immediately followed up, their mechanical arms skillfully throwing out Poké Balls.
Red lights flashed, and the Pokémon that had lost their ability to resist were sucked into the balls one by one.
The entire process took less than five minutes.
Efficient, precise, and ruthless.
Ariel watched all this, expressionless.
"Report: fourteen Azumarill and twenty-two Goldeen captured. Average level fourteen."
Yuki's voice rang out, the data precise down to the single digits.
"Continue."
Ariel replied with only two words.
The massacre continued.
An hour later, the submarine's aft compartment was already piled high with Poké Balls.
The range of the sonic induction was constantly expanding, and the capture efficiency was becoming higher and higher.
The ecological balance of this sea area was being brutally torn apart.
Ariel knew very well that this kind of overfishing would inevitably draw out the true masters of these waters.
He was waiting for them.
"Lord Ruth, there's an anomaly underwater."
Number One's voice suddenly became serious.
"Sonar has detected multiple large biological signals approaching at high speed!"
The corner of Ariel's mouth finally curled up in an almost imperceptible arc.
They're here.
As soon as he finished speaking, the center of the sea area they were in began to swirl frantically. A massive whirlpool appeared out of nowhere, bottomless, as if the Sea God had opened a giant maw to swallow everything.
A sense of dread originating from the deepest part of life spread out along with the overwhelming water vapor.
"Roar—!"
Over a dozen roars of extreme rage exploded simultaneously from the center of the whirlpool.
The next second, over a dozen massive Gyarados, each over six meters long, burst through the water surface like dragons emerging from the sea!
Their hideous heads reared high, their deep blue scales shimmering with a cold, metallic luster under the sunlight, and their blood-red eyes burned with a fury to destroy everything.
These overlords of the sea, enraged by the overfishing, finally bared their fangs.
There was no warning.
Over a dozen destructive beams erupted from their mouths, weaving into an airtight web of death that swept toward the fleet where Ariel was located!
Hyper Beam!
The air was scorched and distorted by the high temperature, letting out an overburdened hiss.
"Evasive maneuvers!"
Number One roared inside the submarine.
He gripped the submarine's control stick tightly.