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The Seafloor Cavern is wet and cold. A misty chill seeps into every inch of its musty rock. Even then it's nothing in comparison to what Archie feels right at this moment.
Of course, he was warned that something of this nature could happen. Shelly had tried to stop him from awakening Kyogre because "something bad" would happen. It makes sense to him now that she was trying to stop him with general terms regarding his fate, but this is much worse than "bad". Archie isn't even quite sure what is happening but he's certain that he can feel his bones shifting underneath his skin, melding and refusing to more closely resemble the ancient beast before him: Kyogre. It can't articulate his face very well, so it leaves that alone and focuses on his arms instead. Underneath the slick fabric of his wetsuit, Archie's arms begin flattening, becoming fin shaped. Eventually, the sleeves burst open from the expansion, revealing the striking, glowing marks up and down his arms that he gained from Kyogre. His fingers, up to the second knuckles, fuse together, leaving five grey slabs.
Archie feels eerily calm. He looks around his...well. He wasn't sure what to call it other than a blue orb. He's trapped in a blue orb with an ancient beast and it's just staring at him with those deep, pitch black irises. He stares back. Neither blink.
A yell snaps Archie out of his thoughts. He whips around, searching for the source, only to find that for the last 5-10-...20? 30? How long has it been? The specifics don't matter, but Archie knows they've been there a while. And by they he means Shelly, the scamp, and Maxie. Naturally, Shelly and the kiddo look worried, but when Archie gets to Maxie, he doesn't expect what he sees, because what he sees is fear. Unbridled, aware, anticipatory panic. Seeing this causes a similar reaction in Archie. Truthfully, Archie had never been one for reading unless it was related to the sea in some way, so when it came to researching Kyogre, he let Shelly and his scientists work on most of the specifics, where in contrast Maxie felt the need to oversee every scientific procedure that occurred in his base. Archie almost felt stupid for not doing the same because he could tell Maxie knew what was going to happen to him, and if Maxie ever thought something was serious, it was usually serious.
Suddenly, Archie's upper back twitches. This time, he can feel his shoulder bones shifting, attempting to tilt so they're facing upwards and outwards. Archie sinks to his knees, wrapping his arms around himself. Much like bloodwork, there wasn't much more he could do other than sit there and take it as the bones began pressing against the skin from the inside. As the pressure grew stronger, Archie couldn't hold back his screams. The skin split under the pressure of the bones, giving way for the two shoulder blades to form fin like shapes on his back. Archie's scream died in his throat, the pain reaching an excruciating all-time high.