The vessel that Mary and Anthony, alongside their proctors, are using is named R.V. Green-4, the 4th research vessel assigned by the Kanto unit of the world government to the Center of Green Development of Kanto for their underwater expeditions. The vessel is very strict in its protocols; it even has flags that say 'This vessel is not for harvesting anything underwater' and 'If you find this vessel having any nets bigger than those prescribed by the government, report to the Police Headquarters'.
This is normal, however, since research labs are equipped with advanced and quite powerful equipments that is not only used against Pokemons and people because of the code of ethics of the scientists who use them. Anyone who had their ethics compromised or those who have no ethics at all inside the laboratory may be able to use it in nefarious ways. This is especially the case as the research world is still in shock that some Team Rocket double agents were able to infiltrate the Pokémon research center of the whole Kanto region.
Through the gigantic oxygen tanks inside this vessel controlled by a control panel to give Mary and Anthony continuous supply, who has long dipped in under the sea where a school of Magikarp is idly doing their own stuff, the two can breath just fine underwater and by theory they can stay underwater for 5 hours straight, but because they're about 50 meters underwater and they're just children that are still not allowed by their parents to improve their upper body strength and can only do jogging, they're strictly instructed to finish everything in 30 minutes. Lest they wanted water pressure to damage their lungs.
Again, Anthony felt like this was something that children shouldn't do and wouldn't do when he was on Earth. But still, since he can't cower out of the activity after saying all those things to Mary, he still bravely dived in alongside his friend, intending to take the lead. Surprisingly, however, Mary insisted on being the one to put the Magikarps in their cages and just make Anthony the one who makes the Magikarp drift near her.
This made Anthony happy, as that means there's use in saying such things to her. Well, this also means that his mom's example is not well-suited to Mary, as the latter is not as stubborn as Anthony's mom. So, such an arrangement was done, the collection itself is not that hard as Magikarps, due to their weakness as a species is easy to physically control; the hard part is getting used to moving under extreme water pressure that seems to chain their limbs tight, with them having to use great strength to move their hands around.
Thus, they decided to finish the collection fast as Anthony carefully wafted his hands in the direction of Mary, who was holding the syringe in her left hand while the cage was tucked between her waist and right hand. She seems to be locking on the Magikarps in front of her and readying herself for her task. Anthony saw this through the light flashed by the vessel, he nodded to Mary, who also nodded as he started to stir the heavy water in the direction of Mary, which caused the almost muscleless and limping Magikarps to also go in that direction without any difficulty.
Mary tightened her grip on the metallic syringe that had only exactly 5 shots left in her waist and waited for a Magikarp to come close, and soon, one did come close, looking at her with its eyes that seemed to be so weak that it struggled to resist the water going inside it. Mary gulped once before raising the syringe and swiftly puncturing the needle into the frontal lobe of the Magikarp, hitting it dead on the spot. She then pushed the plunger, making the sedative go inside the brain of the Magikarp.
The process, alongside the waiting time for the sedatives to work, only lasted for 10 seconds before Mary put it in a cage. She then used a hook to cling it to the belt that's a part of the surface supplied swimming equipment. Mary once again nodded to Anthony, who then started to repeat the process. Just like this, the 4 other cages are filled with max efficiency, or at least the best efficiency they can muster with their small frame.
After checking themselves and counting all disposables to see if they're still within their body, Anthony and Mary made an ok sign of a scuba diver, which they learned in their briefing before they simultaneously pressed a button on the belt of their equipment. This is another standard protocol, as they were instructed to push this button at the same time to indicate their successful data collection.
On the surface, upon seeing this, the sailors started to slowly yank up the two interns with a manually controlled lever. The head of the lab smiled and sighed in relief as he saw his interns successfully doing their first data collection without using any emergency button sequences. Besides them are Miltank, Zubat, Pikachu, and Skitty, all of which started to cheer with 'Zuu!' 'Miii' 'Pikaa' and 'Skii~' sounds while high-fiving each other and the head of the satellite lab.
"Your trainers are good interns."
The head smiled before hearing the splash of water that signified the return of the 2, making everyone in the control center immediately dash to the deck of the vessel. In their eyes, they saw the panting and almost unconscious Mary and Anthony, who had to endure extreme (for their age) water pressure; they also seemed to be grunting due to body pain and the fact that they were breathing deeper than they do on land for the first time underwater.
The scientists inside the vessel all clapped to the interns whilst the head scientist spoke and handled the two interns who had just barely sat down with two white towels.
"Are you two alright? Do you feel anything other than heavy and sore muscles?"
The head's tone is that of worry, which is appreciated by Anthony and Mary, who seem to realize that it's harder to be inside the site of data collection than to collect data itself.
"... I know that we would feel sorer tomorrow..."
Anthony said whilst stripping off his equipments, something that Mary is also doing. She seemed to have recovered as she suddenly stood up.
"Right... will we have more data collection activities tomorrow?"
Said Mary while looking at her Pokemons, who were worried about her as they saw her trembling, seemingly under her own weight. Anthony also started to stand up, lamenting the tiredness that he had felt that he never did in this life of his, and while this is already expected, he was still quite shocked at how interns will really get dipped 50 meters underwater to teach them how to collect data.
_Ugh... I have to get used to this... or get a Pokemon that can do this for me..._
Miltank and Zubat are also quite worried about Anthony, specifically Miltank, who Anthony leaned on forward while barely making his breathing normal. Seeing this, the head scientist replied, his eyes filled with melancholy. This made Anthony somewhat annoyed, though he is too tired to retort or anything of the sort.
"No, according to Prof. Josie, you will be given a break of one day to think of your research titles, though there aren't any data collection tasks for you two as of yet, so you can relax for a bit. Ah, also, the Professor said that you can sleep in the satellite lab and further think of your research topics, as you two might be too tired for another trip using a Lapras."
Hearing this, Mary and Anthony sighed in relief as they looked at the sky. It seems like they still have around 2-3 hours before the sun completely sets, and of course, precious time to rest.
In truth, the two planned to look around the route to find research topic inspirations and have a goal of making at least 3. Mary seems more eager to do this, while Anthony will do this whether Mary is eager to do so or not. After all, they would still be dragged around with tasks other than their research; it's best to do it anytime they can.
Muscle sores of tomorrow shall be thought about tomorrow.
Such were the thoughts of the two interns as the vessel slowly moved back to the port of the satellite lab.
______________
After taking a bath and putting on their spare clothes, which they had alongside their lunch, Anthony and Mary saw how the Magikarp were dissected and had their stomach area mushed and put in a compound microscope's slide holder. As aspiring trainers, they felt quite uncomfortable seeing this live, though they had eaten broth dishes with Magikarp as a base, thus finding such feelings quite hypocritical, so they decided to gulp it down.
"Zuu! Zuu!"
"Miii!"
Whilst Anthony and Mary are about to find Zubat and Miltank that went missing somewhere during the time they took a bath, the two said Pokémon's sounds were suddenly heard coming from the left wing area of the lab.
_As far as I know, that's where the training gym for Pokemons is..._
Mary, who was cradling Skitty while Pikachu was above her head, sitting on its butt, seemed to also notice this and knew what the Pokemons of Anthony wanted. Indeed, the moment the two Pokemons went near Anthony, they immediately got hold of his lab gown and started pulling him towards the left wing, making Anthony look at Mary
Mary, who was having a little smirk on her lips, glanced at Anthony, too.
"Well, we don't have anything to do for the next 4 days, so I guess we can move the exploration for tomorrow."
Anthony sighed as he looked at the Pokemons of Mary, also nodding excitedly. It's 5 vs. 1 at this point, so he decided to just follow along. In any case, there's still tomorrow, though they would be walking funny since they're very sore from the water pressure they have just endured.
"Alright then..."
And so, the group of humans and Pokemons started to tour themselves in the contents of the left wing. In here, the rooms are mostly about training pokemons and checking them up, and surprisingly, some trainers, especially of fighting types, let their partners be trained in here as the training grounds simulate the water pressure that they have just endured.
This is what they saw when they got inside the very spacious training grounds that looked like a place filled with multitudes of gigantic aquariums, except that instead of water type Pokemons, there were normal types and fighting types. Lucarios, Buneary, Lopunny, Machops, Machoke, and even some rare Sawk and Troh are present. Alongside that, there are also water-filled training grounds for Flying types, which, instead of pressure training, are focused on being able to 'fly' underwater and dodge non-lethal blade-like air bullets underwater.
_Man, talk about extreme... but it would really benefit Pokemons here, given that they don't overdo it, and from what I can see from the many scientists monitoring the time of each Pokemons and immediately pulling them out when they're times up, whether they like it or not, it should be safe._
Anthony decided to just use his cheat in this world called 'being the son of two of the most famous trainers of the current generation to sue the ass of the satellite lab if Miltank and Zubat got hurt' when push comes to shove. It's quite powerful, though Anthony may never be able to use it.
And so, the 4 Pokemons officially got permission from their trainers to knock themselves out in trying out the training facilities whilst their trainers are trying to decide if they should ask the defense of their first published paper to be online so they can be here and train their Pokémon more. While thinking, Anthony looked at Mary.
"Can you watch Miltank for me? Zubat's can be reckless sometimes, so I need to personally look out for them, so..."
Mary nodded in affirmation while Zubat snapped its neck to Anthony, whilst saying 'Zuu!?' and pointing at itself. However, Anthony ignored such wronged gestures and registered Zubat into a very short exercise, which is just 10 minutes, just so it can familiarize itself with the exercise. After that, it will be yanked up, by force if necessary.
"Good luck."
Anthony made a fist while Zubat nodded in excitement, which made Anthony wonder if it could go sonar mode like a submarine underwater, or if it would be a complete newbie and fail. This is an interesting training prospect that Anthony never thought of until now.
"Go Feebas, go go!"
While Anthony is silently thinking of such, he hears the voice of a young girl, probably in her mid-teens. Her hair is golden with two black hairclips on both sides of her head, she's wearing a black school uniform which has the same color as her eyes. As if on instinct, the girl glanced at Anthony, who became frozen and had his face contort a little, seemingly for the first time.
"Cynthia..."