wtf, man

Our friend is gone, Arashi Akiyama

Doug is leaving the base in a rush just as Arashi landed at the gates, his sergeants following after him. He had meant every single one of his words when he replied.

"Arash?" The youth said as the chain fence gate rolled open, brow furrowing at the sight of the other. "... Didn't expect you to come."

He mumbled to himself for a moment, brows furrowed darkly.

"... Nevermind that. Come with me." He muttered, producing some quick protest from his sergeants- protest he silenced with a blank stare.

"... We're going to confirm the body."

wtf, man

Our friend is gone, Arashi Akiyama

Under normal circumstances, Doug would've happily thrown himself onto Arashi's Golurk if it meant saving time.

As things were however... He would much rather never get to the place. Never confirm whether one of his friends was dead or not.

With a tense jaw, Doug regarded Arashi silently while his sergeants awaited his response nervously.

Then, with a deep breath, his arm rose, gesturing at the men and women besides him.

"... Yer right. All of you, return to the base and continue your duties as normal." He said simply, softly.

For a brief moment, the sergeants seemed ready to argue... but after a moment, they simply nodded and saluted, the calls of 'yes sir's ringing in the air before they all turned back towards the base and Doug began to approach Arashi.

"All right... Let's go."

wtf, man

Our friend is gone, Arashi Akiyama

Doug shook his head at Arashi's words, sighing.

"It's already on the news, Arashi." He said in a mumble. "We're not goin' to the site anymore."

He swallowed hard as he considered his words.

"... We're going to the morgue." The youth chewed his lip hard as he said this.

He had hoped he wouldn't have to ever go there again- not for personal reasons, at the very least. But Hoenn wasn't kind enough to grant him even that wish.

Shaking his head, Doug gave Arashi a once-over, before swallowing.

"Sergeant."

"Yes Sir?"

"Your hat."

"... Sir?"

"Your coat, too."

"W- what?"

---

A moment later, Doug and Arashi were rocking away, both cloth items on Doug's hands while the Sergeant cried anime tears in the swiftly disappearing background.

"No." Doug said bluntly in response to Arashi's question. "We don't know anything else. The news report was... oddly informative."

Doug's brow furrowed as he remembered the ominous words that had apparently been left near Ruby's corpse, his jaw tightening.

"What will we tell the rest...?" He couldn't even begin to wonder on how he should go about helping everyone else through this. He didn't feel okay enough to help anyone through it.

wtf, man

Our friend is gone, Arashi Akiyama

Doug dragged his hand across his face, looking tired.

"I don't know." He told the other lowly, at first, before repeating himself at the second question, teeth grith now. "I don't know, Arashi!"

He wasn't part of whatever branch of the league handled this sort of... Circumstances.

"I only found out about..." He swallowed hard. "About what happened after reading the papers."

Nobody in the league thought he needed to know beforehand, apparently. But then, his friendship with Ruby wasn't exactly written in his business card.

"I had to scream a lot just to get them to tell me where the body is." He said lowly, lips set in a thin line.

After all, this wasn't just a regular murder. Everything about it suggested that it might be tied to recent events in Hoenn...

"... We'll find out everything once we're there." The young man said after a moment, his gaze focusing on their destination as it appeared in the distance, his jaw setting.

"Even if we have to beat the answers out of someone."

Hopefully it didn't come to that.

wtf, man

Our friend is gone, Arashi Akiyama

If Doug had even a bit of spirit left in him, he might've laughed at Arashi's words- if only ironically.

"I ain't FERNANDO SILPH, Arashi. I'm just a Gym Leader." He said bitterly. "They only tell me stuff when they need me to do something."

It had already been grating him for a good while now. This was as close to breaking the camel's back as it had come, however.

Captain, Gym Leader- neither was as important a position as he had thought them to be a year ago, back when he had been patting himself in the back for achieving both as seemingly quickly as he had.

A Captain was barely anything in the army, he now knew, and Gym Leaders? The League changed them like used socks the moment one left, disappeared or died. As quick as they were gone, new ones were there with their own colorful new gyms and challenges.

The position wasn't as important as people thought- and the proof was in how often those recruited to it were of little to no known background.

"... Yeah, we're." Doug said as the Golurk made landing, the youth leaping off the giant with a lip curled, adjusting his cap as he looked at the morgue. "Whatever it takes."

And with that, Doug chucked his Sergeant's uniform at Arashi's face.

"Now get dressed. This ain't the kinda business a random civilian's just allowed to look into." He said bluntly.