Orion's expression paints an accurate picture of his thoughts upon glancing over at Annie: concern that shifts to shock and back again, eyes tracing the reddening mark upon her cheek.

He wants this to work out, for her. He remembers his own anxiety upon applying for the Rangers fresh out of high-school, and he'd both been of age and with a sparkling clean record. He can only imagine how much worse it is to be in her position.

"You'll do great," he encourages, praying it's the truth. "I mentioned you in my report for the forest fire, and I made sure to get that into his hands before today. You've already got a good starting point."

Of course, he'd been unable to mention much beyond a name and a basic description of what they'd endured together at the forefront of the Fortree blaze, but Orion's reputation within the rangers had been inflating as of late. He considered the Head Ranger to be something like a friend: as foreign as the concept tended to be for the socially-inept councilman. (That Annie was unaware of his promotion had completely slipped his mind, a hilarious oversight.)

He's about to knock when the door opens of its own accord, and he's visibly taken aback.

"Arceus, Lars, are you trying to give us a heart attack or what?"

He laughs, shaking his head as he follows the head ranger into his home's interior. He's overwhelmed by the distinct aroma of pepperoni pizza, and he tears his wandering gaze from the living room to fix it eagerly upon his fellow ranger.

"'Anything nicer'," he parrots. "It's pizza, man, who doesn't like pizza?"

Vegans, he supposed, and several others, but Orion didn't count himself among those sorry few. From what he knows of Annie, he doesn't think she'll have any objections to a hot meal, either. He gives the girl a reassuring smile once Anderson disappears from view to retrieve the goods, his voice barely above a whisper: "See? Nice guy."

Perching on one of the couches at Laurence's return, Orion selects a slice of pizza and pours himself a glass of soda.

---

~
Laurence Anderson Annie Mei

Having hoped to diffuse the situation with his passive, gentle approach, Orion is visibly alarmed at the threat. He tenses and takes another step back from the much larger man, hand closing around a pokeball just in case.

Curiously, his Alakazam merely opens her eyes to watch Balder, calm and expectant.

""All right, first of all, I found you entirely by accident," Orion says quickly. His heel connects with loose rock during his hasty retreat, the stone clattering noisily in his tense pause for breath. "And second, I'm already half-deaf thanks to the explosion, I'd really appreciate not being blinded as well — and I am not affiliated with Abiatti."

His tone sharpens with the name, eyes narrowing. With the way she'd conducted herself during the Slateport attack and the mess of the council meeting that had followed, he had no desire to be associated with her way of doing things. Opinions of her as a person were still being formulated, but as a politician, the die had been cast.

Huffing a frustrated breath, he elaborates: "I know she acted like she spoke for all of us, but she doesn't." The processing power of his brain finally catches up in the wake of his alarm, and he hesitates. Though he certainly gave off the impression of a green, inexperienced politician, Orion had grown up in a tank of sharks. "The second councilman, you said. It wasn't Abiatti who found you, before. Fernando?" His guess is based on deductive reasoning: Kim didn't seem the type to go out of his way, but FERNANDO SILPH... "Well, you're still here. No sirens, no police. If I'd come to hunt you down, I wouldn't have come alone. I don't have a death wish, contrary to what you might believe."

His attempt at humour is dry, tired.

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This is a test post filling everything out for the Ultra Space adventure. I'm writing this to make sure the template doesn't break with the addition of the items and whatnot.

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The next Pokemon to cross their path does so on dainty paws, twin tails flicking in unison. It's not to Orion but to his Braixen that she directs her attention: judging by the end result of their conversation, in which they took up positions a reasonable space apart, the competitive feline wished to test her mettle against Altair.

Their sparring session starts off in Meowstic's favour: she lunges forward only to fake out her opponent, causing Altair's will-o-wisp to flare harmlessly past. Not to be bested, Altair's clever use of magic coat sees its negative effects reflected back upon the Meowstic; his psyshock rattles her hard, the graceful feline wavering on her paws.

A second attempt to fake out the Braixen ends in failure, but a barrage of shadow balls is sure to see one land. Braixen recoils, and Orion wonders if he's hurt... but the glow that surrounds him is not like any attack he's ever known. A startled Meowstic finds herself face-to-face with the newly-evolved Delphox, the determined dual-type spinning his flaming stick around in his paws.

Meowstic chirps something and dips her head, apparently ending the fight before curling up to groom herself.

"Guess you won," Orion mumbles to Altair, astounded.

When he looks over to see the white-furred cat dozing off, he tosses his last Safari ball. He had a feeling she'd get along with his other newly acquired cat.

---

catch!

Olivia releases her Pokemon into what little space remains in the Pokemon center, and Orion's expression is pained as he looks down at the faint light emanating from Schism's pokeball. He clings to it like a crutch: so long as he doesn't release the Swampert from its stasis, he can believe that his beloved partner is all right. Alive. That he'll recover.

He needs to face it eventually.

Like ripping off a band-aid, the councilman closes his eyes and swallows before pressing the button.

He can't help his horrified intake of breath when his partner emerges. The normally ocean-blue hide of the Swampert has shifted to a pale purple, as if the toxins themselves have changed the colour of its skin. Orion's owned so-called 'shiny' Pokemon before, and most were healthy, but — but the coincidence of this was alarming enough to blind all reason.

Schism is unresponsive, unconscious, but the hand that Orion braces against his chest registers the weak thump of a heartbeat. His fingers tremble as he presses the button to recall him, looking up at Olivia with a conflicted expression.

"I'm worried what'll happen if I — if the poison hasn't run its course." He feels suddenly dizzy, like he's going to faint. There are no available chairs left in the lobby, and Orion steadies himself against a wall instead, forehead damp with a cold sweat. "Your Pokemon, did they all make it? The bombs, I saw..."

It had been a whirl of chaos, but he vaguely recalled Olivia and her Kingler being in danger at some point. Had it survived?

Orion's body temperature begins to acclimate to the water as he waits for Stormy to follow him into its depths. He admires the Kingdra she sends out, clutching onto his Swampert as soon as the bulky mud-fish swims back up to the surface. Grips on his gloves allow him to better find purchase on the slick hide of his aquatic companion. This is not the first time they've done a dive like this.

Perhaps that's why, when Stormy asks him to lead, Orion does not hesitate.

"Take us down, pal. Follow Neph."

Sunlight's comforting embrace is quick to leave them as they venture into the depths. Luvdisc were known to roam warm, shallow waters: that they could not be found in their usual habitat was a clear indicator that something had gone awry.

Swimming close to Nephalai's light, watching the shadow of a Sharpedo pass below, Orion pirouettes in the water to face his diving companion.

"There's a cave over there. Should we check it out?"

She'd told him to lead, and normally he wouldn't have asked, but... she'd seemed unnerved, earlier, and his concern is for her comfort.

---

~
Stormy Silph

Orion's request for civility is honored for mere minutes before everything devolves into chaos. He surveys the expressions of those in the room as Olivia makes her speech, his own features an unreadable haze of exhaustion, and carefully slips one of the earplugs into his damaged ear. He has a feeling he's going to need it.

He's right.

It's Laurence Anderson whose temper burns the hottest, his tirade taking Orion aback. It's not unusual for the man to be grouchy from what Orion knows of him, but this is something else entirely. He finds himself agreeing with several of the points, especially in regards to the Rangers, but his expression falters near the end of the rant. Brows knit together, and it's clear the newest councilman wants to say something.

He almost holds his tongue. As he still holds a position within the Rangers, Laurence is technically still his superior in one sense. He doesn't want to cause problems, and yet... his new position demanded his input. He can already feel a headache developing, pulsing insistently.

He sighs, pinches the bridge of his nose.

"I understand your frustrations, Lars, but I don't think Olivia's suggesting men to be incapable." She was the only woman on the council, and the one of two women in the room at present. Petra and Freya were former council members themselves, so it caused no affront to Orion that their names had been mentioned. She'd included FERNANDO SILPH in her plans as well, flawed as they were. He turns his gaze on Olivia Abbiati, and finally makes his opinions known: "However, I also take issue with what you're suggesting, Olivia. If the Rangers and our Elite Four are considered by you to be incapable of taking on the threat that these 'Ultra Beasts' pose, how is this new 'initiative' going to fix anything?"

While Lars' fury had burned hot and bright, Orion's simmers low in its intensity. He is choosing his words carefully, but there's a set to his jaw that suggests his ire.

"To answer your question, Lars: no, regular pokeballs have virtually no effect on these creatures. I myself witnessed one PIERCE WILDE attempt to capture the clown-beast. It bounced right off. Whatever swallowed the creature at last was no regular containment capsule."

He circles back to thoughts of what kim cole-essam had said earlier, finding himself agreeing with the man even if he still wasn't sure of his first impressions.

"Regarding Balder Schwartz: aren't the Council meant to come to decisions together? You'll have to forgive me, I'm still new to this, but that's certainly the impression I was given. The situation was already being deescalated before you stepped in: we could have discussed what to do about his apparent confrontation with kyle lopez as a group, in private, instead of a fairly public confrontation in front of several witnesses that ended with one of the region's respected gym leaders denouncing the league."

Orion has never seen, nor heard of Applin before. Spotting what he thinks to be someone's discarded lunch — there are no apple trees nearby it could have dropped from — the ranger in him sighs and bends down to pick it up, intending to dispose of it. He didn't know if the tree it had come from had been treated with pesticides, or if the apple contained some sort of contaminant unsafe for the safari Pokemon, so it was better safe than sorry.

He nearly has a heart attack, however, when the apple squeals and wriggles in his grip.

"Ah — what the—?"

He drops it in shock, his Braixen reaching out to catch it with excellent reflexes. Altair seems more amused than anything, setting the apple down in the grass. What Orion had thought were leaves quickly retreat inside of the fruit.

"Sorry, buddy, didn't mean to give you a fright."

They move on, the ranger shaking his head all the while. Must be another one of those Galarian Pokemon.

---

pass!

A pang of empathy resonates with Kaida's words. Hadn't he been much of the same, once? He knows what reports used to say about him: icy, closed-off, pessimistic. It had taken years of working with the rangers for Orion to grow into his position. Slowly but surely, he was gaining in confidence.

So rather than being critical, as another superior might've been under the circumstances, he is understanding.

"Hey, I know how it feels. But you've gotta have faith in yourself — or if not yourself, then your partners." He gestures over to where the Servine had worked her magic alongside his Trevenant. The Pangoro wrestled in the grass, growling playfully. "Even if they don't end up mating, we've made them happier. We've done what we can for the Pokemon."

After all, that's why he'd accepted the job: not for the reward, nor for the ranch, but for the Pangoro.

"If they don't, I'll just have to track Laurence Anderson down myself," he laughs, speaking of the Head Ranger. "But don't worry, I'm sure they will."

---

these poor rangers
Kaida Adachi