Doug had smiled as he read Zac's message, eyeing the item Devin had given to him. He understood why he had been given a flare, but he wouldn't need it.

Turning his gaze back to the desert below him, his smile slowly faded, his jawline tensing.

The desert again.

He had plenty of experience with the place by now; probably more than most rangers. Yet, he had chosen this location when asked by Zac 'which biome?'.

He hadn't chosen it for his familiarity. He just knew that he had to get over what he had seen there eventually.

New year, new him.

His grip on Guirus' reigns tightened, and his Flygon took it as a sign to speed up, zooming through the skyline of the desert fast enough to dash away even Doug's memories, the hot, dry wind buffeting the youth's cheeks as they followed the coordinates shown on his PokeNav.

Before long, the three pillars that Zac had mentioned were a silhouette in the horizon- and three tiny dots along the sand became visible to the youth's eyes.

Despite all the sand surrounding them, the youth managed a smile as he recognized Zac Ramsay's large, familiar silhouette.

His Flygon swooped down towards them, and came to a booming halt several meters away, his flapping wings whipping up the sand as he swung his legs off the Flygon and into the sand.

Doug spread his arms wide, approaching the man.

"Zac, you magnificent bastard! Waited darn long to let me know 'bout this promotion o'yours, eh?" He said as he approached the man and swung his palm at his shoulder, clapping it. "Good job, friend! Congrats on being chosen for the job! High brass is finally getting its crap together!"

He laughed, before looking over his shoulder and gesturing to his Flygon to come closer.

"Zac, Guirus. Guirus, Zac!" He said as the dragon came closer, reaching over to pet his head playfully, hugging it closer. "He'll be tangoing with you and your boys today!"

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TAG: Zac Ramsay

The youth laughed as the man wrapped his arms around him, the towering man easily lifting him off the floor for a hug.

"Poster Boy sounds 'bout right! Don'tcha dare stop vloggin', tho! That'll make my Saturdays a lot longer!" He said, suggesting at how much the large man's interviews and filmed expeditions helped get him through the slow days.

Zac's attention finally fell upon Guirus, and honestly Doug had been expecting it. Zac seemed to be possessed of an interest in most pokemon that matched Doug's own for bug types.

"Guirus'ere I met at the Safari zone, actually." He said, reaching under the dragon's neck to pet it playfully as it shyly ducked away to his chest, running away from Zac's attention, ever self-conscious of its appearance. "He's a bit shy, don't mind it. He warms up quick."

Zac presented his own pokemon shortly after, and Doug had to whistle at the sight of the Garchomp, a pokemon species of infamous strength. Large and imposing... Or so it would have been, had it not been staring up at them from under the sand.

Doug grinned, waving his bandaged hand at Rocko. Trying to do the same for the Maractus proved useless- he and everything else went unacknowledged, unfortunately.

"Yeah, no worries. I mainly came to talk with ya anyway. Battle can wait." He sais, patting Guirus under the neck once more before grinning at him. "Why don'cha go stretch your wings, Guirus? I hardly ever come'ere, but I know you love this place. Enjoy."

Soon enough, the dragon was zooming into the horizon, becoming smaller and smaller. The bug catcher looked after the shrinking silhouette for a few moments, before a strong wind buffeted his checks, his hand immediately catching his straw hat as it almost flew away. He suckled in a hiss.

"... I've been thinking hard." Doug finally said to Zac's questions, his smile growing smaller and smaller. "Trying to, anyway. Been hard to focus on anything after what happened at Evergrande."

---

TAG: Zac Ramsay

"I wonder too. Maybe I should go visit her again." Said Doug, a small smile beginning to gut at his lips as he remembered his last encounter.

As Zac kept speaking however, Doug got the impression they weren't on the same wavelength.

"The empress ain't that bad!" He said with a huff, both arms coming akimbo at his sides, drawing a flinch from himself.

... Wait.

"Huuuh... Oh... OH!" He said, blinking at Zac before face palming soundly, immediately hissing and yanking his hand away from his face, waving it about as if he had just burnt himself on the stove.

"Sorry man, I was completely checked out on that!" He said, turning his gaze to his bandaged hands. Nowhere near as bad as they had been several days ago. "I just... blanked on everything before the church burned down."

Off in the distance, Guirus realized he was part of an impromptu race- and naturally, kicked it up a notch with a croon, grinning wide as he tried to leave the Garchomp in his dust.

Finally on the same page, the youth's eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze back towards their pokemon in the horizon.

"It is pretty serious stuff. Never a good sign when someone like that's in a position of power." He said, lips growing taut. "For the long time Mauville Gym Leader to act n'such a way- and to be related to Godmon's reject son..."

He really didn't know what to make of all this.

"Well... If nothing else, at least we know where to find her." He said, crossing his arms, almost not even flinching as he did. "I could go check out her place if ya want. She can't possibly steal my piece."

He pursed his lips and brought his brows together, clearly in deep thought as he cupped his cheek.

"I think it was being jackhammered last I heard of it?"

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TAG: Zac Ramsay

"I would tell ya to curb yer expectations, given it's the league and all... But Ms. Stormy Silph was there and saw it. She's an Elite Four, and a Silph. She's gotta have enough clout to get an investigation going." He said, reaching over to tap Zac's chest with the back of his fist, tilting a brow at the man. "But remember yer a Gym Leader too now. Yer both on the same level; ya can make a report yourself if nobody else does. There's plenty of witnesses."

Stormy's brother FERNANDO SILPH had been there as well, amusingly costumed, if not so amusingly inactive. Hopefully his sister would pull him off his ass to do something.

"I dunno what she wants, but Stormy mentioned Godmon's reject son then. Kath might well be an avatar- whatever that means." What did Avatars even do? For wielding the incredible power of legendary pokemon, they didn't seem to have a whole lot of duties or responsibilities associated with it.

If only he knew.

"Can't take credit for the experimentation, but glad to know ya don't mind." Hopefully, he would continue to not mind even after they drew it into Mount Doom. "I'll make sure to keep ya updated. But, until I've got news for ya..."

"Might not be what she wants, but what 'Giratina' wants... if that makes any sense." He said, crossing his arms behind his head, before shrugging with a grin.

Oh well. Just another God to the list.

"I did see the portal- barely. Came and went so fast, I thought I made it all up for a hot second. I didn't really have much time to think about it then; ya poofed with it." He said, scratching at his chin. "Where did you guys go?"

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TAG: Zac Ramsay

"I dunno. I ain't a physicist nor nothin' of the like." Doug said bluntly, locking fingers behind his head and almost not even flinching as he did, leaning on one foot as he took in Zac's words.

He both could and could not imagine what Zac was saying. The way the larger man spoke of it, it should've been otherworldly, but as with most things that defied human knowledge, it was not something one could grasp from words alone.

"Every time these avatar folk come into the picture all logic flies straight out the window; no point in tryin' to figure it out without any info." He said, scratching at the back of his head before turning to look straight at Zac.

"So let's go get it straight from the source."

Regular folk might not be privy to information on the AQUA initiative... but Zac here was a Gym Leader, and had already suffered at the hands of a League sanctioned Avatar.

Time to make dahlia goode and FERNANDO SILPH spill the beans.

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TAG: Zac Ramsay

"That ain't what I..." He began to say, but... Eh. Zac got to the correct conclusion eventually, so did it matter? "... Eh, nevermind. Sounds like a good idea. With the whole 'AQUA Initiative' Garbage they've got goin', she should be under the commissioner's thumb, right?"

The youth, sadly, did not really have any connection to the commissioner dahlia goode. He hadn't even directly spoken with her yet.

On the other hand, he had met and spoken with FERNANDO SILPH- but it had been a Gym Battle; not exactly a social gathering. He doubted the man even remembered his face.

"No plans'ere, 'm 'fraid. I ain't got any clout with the upper brass. And I've got some... business to attend to m'self." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was as far down the commissioned officer ranks as one could get. There were no strings for him to pull. "'Tis one's up to ya, big fella. Let me know if I can be o'any help, eh? Wouldn't wanna stay too outta the picture."

Meanwhile? He would just... hunt down whoever or whatever was behind the Church Incident.

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TAG: Zac Ramsay

The youth chuckled even as he stumbled forth from the clap, his gaze turning towards the cloud of sand that swallowed up their dragons.

"'ppreciate the vote of confidence. Yer head ain't too bad either, eh? I'm sure ya'll have this nonsense sorted out all lickety-split like." Nothing left to do but to wait and hope. Zac was an influencer in more than a few ways; with any luck, Silph would be coaxed into action soon enough.

"'nough talk, huh?" He said with a grin, rolling his shoulders and neck for a second before crossing his arms over his chest. "There any need to ask, really? Let's go."

The youth felt his blood pumping underneath his skin as he rose his arm high in the air and waved it lazily towards the sand clouds in the distance.

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TAG: Zac Ramsay