[attr="class","littleollie"] Did Kyle know he was going to die?

[break][break] Or had he just been so devoted to saving MATIAS SILPH, to his cause, to let his life waste away?

[break][break] Ollie didn't know.

[break][break] In fact, Ollie didn't know what he would've done if he'd been put in that position. Sure, he'd been part of the group to rush after MATIAS SILPH — to save him — but would he have been willing to do that at the cost of his life?

[break][break] 'Would you have been willing to do it if it were PENELOPE LIVY instead?'

[break][break] "No," he said instead, with a shake of his head. "I get it."

[break][break] There was a lot going on. There was too much going on. Ollie hadn't even had the chance to digest it himself. But he still pushed all of it away, deciding in that moment to put the other first. Because it was what Josh needed.

[break][break] His head tilted.

[break][break] "No - I don't think you did. I'm not surprised though. Kyle led the Minor League for a while."

[break][break] He'd been the one to open with it, before dahlia goode had taken over.

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Josh Devlin

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] kyle lopez was dead.

[break][break] The Champion's death had rocked the nation in more ways than one and although it was a fresh grief that Ollie himself was still learning to deal with, he also knew that there were many others who struggled with it more. To Ollie, Kyle had been a friend. But to others, he had been more than just that.

[break][break] He had been a champion, an idol, a beacon of light in a dying world.

[break][break] Ollie glanced sideways at Josh Devlin when he spoke, expression bordering on somewhere between pity and sympathy.

[break][break] "How are you doing, Josh?"

[break][break] For a minute, his eyes grazed the sight of the intimidating form of the Ash Raikou and it's alternate form. But there would be time to marvel at such legendary feats later.

[break][break] Right now, his friend needed him.

[attr="class","ooc"] Josh Devlin

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] 'Rocket?' [break][break]

His first thought went to Caleb Harcourt, which made his heart immediately quicken. There was no way, could there be? He remembered the report that the other had filed after the events of the Great Chasm. How Zev Harcourt had been there. How Zev Harcourt had been there to kill them all. [break][break]

Ollie was the kind of person to wear his emotions on his sleeve, but in this moment, he did his best to steel his expression. [break][break]

The DRK Triad admittingly was not something he knew much about, but maybe he'd ask the likes of freya morningstar or Yuina Higashi to see if they knew anything. [break][break]

And as for the last... [break][break]

"There have been an uptick in those swarms," he said with a frown, crossing his arms. Ollie turned around to his desk, shifting around to the pile of papers that annalise henderson had given him weeks ago. "But nothing we could pinpoint to any finite source." [break][break]

When the paperwork the other had was handed to them, his eyes flickered over to the broken idols from Rusturf Tunnel. [break][break]

"We can send a search party over there to see if anyone's spotted anything." [break][break]

He looked up. [break][break]

"Have you told anyone else? How long has it been?"

[attr="class","ooc"] Thomas Benoit

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] he'd been out on a run when Thomas Benoit had texted, surveying the grounds around evergrande as he usually did every morning. however, it was clear from the way that the ex-elite four had texted that this was urgent so he'd put everything aside to make sure that he'd be ready for when the other man arrived.

[break][break] for once, ollie wasn't in the middle of things. his office was actually put together, with enough room for the other man to sit when he entered.

[break][break] "thanks maggie," he said, pressing the button down on his speakerset. "let him in."

[break][break] he awaited for the other to enter and then when he did, he gestured to the open chair right before his desk. for once, the head ranger wore a look of seriousness, brows pinched together with concern.

[break][break] "thomas — give me the status update."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Thomas Benoit

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] Space Distortions were nothing new. They had been cropping up over two years ago, alongside the Wilds rifts. That being said, there were still no less dangerous than they had been before &mdash and so it was up to the rangers to make sure that any threats were well-contained.

[break][break] "Mels," Ollie shouted into the League communication line. "I'm on my way!"

[break][break] When he arrived, the Head Ranger was on the back of his Dragonite. The pokemon's broad wings formed a shadow over the back of newly-primed Champion status Melody Miro as he landed, boots hitting the soft soil of Fortree forest's coast, where the distortion had already begun to form. Lightning streaked across the sky as the Ranger reached for his belt, tossing his Wyrdeer's pokebalsl into the air.

[break][break] "Mocha, Mozz! Help the pokemon find shelter."

[break][break] A family of Skovet trembled underneath the trees, fearful of their fate. Both Wyrdeer were quick to work, using their PSYCHIC power to barricade the pokemon inside for protection.

[break][break] Ollie glanced behind him, looking out for the other two, as he called into the line once again:

[break][break] "Yuyu, Mels - you guys far away? I've landed on the coast."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] Yuina Higashi Melody Miro

☉

[attr="class","littleollie"] "i - "

[break][break] how was this happening? how was he fucking up again?

[break][break] it didn't matter to him that he got hurt. that sort of thing had never mattered to him. not when he'd been a kid, getting scuffed up and beaten up by the elements on the farm. growing up in a band of brothers who all had been raised to protect Eva Morales, it was all he'd taught to be.

[break][break] "that's not what i'm saying!" he said, his voice felt hoarse. whether it was from the shouting in the great chasm from their battle, or from this one. "i'm not saying it's alright, i'm not saying that nothing happened, but it - "

[break][break] 'it doesn't matter,' he wanted to say. it didn't matter because as much as she would try to push him away, he wouldn't let her. not again. but his words fall short when streaks of cold fall down her cheeks and then her voice spilled into the shape of dribbling diamond tears.

[break][break] 'you weaken me.'

[break][break] he stills, expression freezing. he stopped in his attempts to reach for her.

[break][break] 'what?'

[break][break] "don't..." he said, agony in his voice plain as day. "don't say that."

[break][break] why was it that - of all the things that she'd said to him, done to him - that hurt the most?

[break][break] "i'm just trying to help."

[break]

[attr="class","ooc"] PENELOPE LIVY [break]
POST-PSDT

☉