SEALING NOTHING

War, Lt.Greyson Connors, never changes. It remains stupid as ever.

"Thanks." The Captain replied dryly, his face twisting awkwardly; a most masterful attempt at deflecting with humor.

Tapu Lele continued to exist and legally own his soul, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

Unscrunching his face, the youth scratched at his cheek at Greyson's apology, waving his hand dismissively.

"Ya don't need to apologize. It's not like I wasn't sayin' stupid shit." He was drunk enough to let grief and anger talk but not drunk enough to not remember what he had said.

That feeling, what was it that other kids who actually kept up with the internet called it...? Ah, yes.

'Cringe'. He 'cringed' at the memory whenever it popped up into his head. It had been several months since then, and given where he stood these days, the words that he had uttered then were so foolish they made him want to bang his head on his desk.

"'twas a long day for everybody and my dumbass was drunk n' actin' up. Someone needed to tell me to shut up." He admitted with a sigh.

He didn't appreciate the 'glory seeker' accusations then, but who cared about that now? As Greyson said, it had been a long ass week.

And given what he needed to do to accomplish his current goals... it wasn't really inaccurate anymore, was it? The 'Champion of the HsT' had made more than a few appearances in stadiums overseas in recent months.

Shaking his head, Doug tried to move past the awkward subject of their last meeting.

"I meant what I said before. I've heard 'bout yer work- seen some of it too." He said, scratching at his cheek with a hum. "It's real good stuff. Matter of fact, I'll be revampin' m'own gym soon; 'The Operation' ain't really needed anymore, now that yer Siege Challenge is 'round."

He had been wanting to work on his gym for a good while; since before December 2021. Both Greyson's and a few other of the new gyms had given him a good reason to, if anyone important asked.

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MISSION: SEALING

SEALING NOTHING

War, Lt.Greyson Connors, never changes. It remains stupid as ever.

"Steppin' on my-?" Doug began to say with a confused look, before shaking his head. "Nah, man, it ain't like that. It's good that someone else is doin' that kinda challenge."

There were at least 3 cutesy, fun or just plain cool challenges around for every practical, real world scenario-challenge out there.

Problem was, they lived in Hoenn, and most people in Hoenn chose to either stay, or worse yet, come to bloody Hoenn. Might as well try and make sure they get to live through that decision.

Doug smiled at the other's next words.

"And ya were one o'me best challengers." He replied in kind. "Wasn't too surprised when yer name came up while discussin' new gym leaders soon after."

He wouldn't have been surprised if his name had come up for the Elite 4, even.

A hopefully comfortable silence settled between them after.

Doug realized he didn't really know that Greyson, and the other man probably didn't know him much either.

... Well, the silence was becoming too long now. Time to change that.

"You don't seem like the violent kind." Well, except for the threats back at the dinner party, but he had kinda earned that. "I heard ya got into a fist fight at the Soiree, though?"

An officer of the military punching a civilian tended to make the rounds; with a lack of context however, Doug hadn't known what to make of the information, other than simply store it for later.

If Greyson didn't get punished, there must've been good reason for it.

---

MISSION: SEALING

SEALING NOTHING

War, Lt.Greyson Connors, never changes. It remains stupid as ever.

"'Ey, someone's gotta do it." He said with a laugh.

If Greyson didn't wanna share, Doug wasn't about to pry. It was none of his business.

"Oh! I've heard ya run something of a Bee farm?" He asked, grinning.

He might've been playing into an stereotype of himself, talking 'bout bugs and all, but...

Well, you know. Bugs are cool.

---

MISSION: SEALING

SEALING NOTHING

Yoooo bees? POG Greyson Connors.

"Y'all built up entire hives all up by yerselves? That's amazing! Just how many combees ya got? Didn't know ya were a bugcatcher!" He said with a broad grin; what he had heard had been far too vague, as it turned out. "Mind if I swing by n'check out yer work sometime? I wanna know what massive hives look like outside the wild!"

Doug pocketed the name willow atkins; she sounded like a bug-catcher'ey type as well... Which meant only one thing.

The Unofficial Bug-Catchers Association (UBCA™️) had potential new members! He would need to tell angelo vestri all about this; the man would totally be excited about it.

He took the new water bottle with a nod, a grin and a muttering of thank yous, humming as he considered what the other young man had said earlier.

"There ain't much of a local honey market in Hoenn yet; not too bad an investment at all!" He observed as he took swigs of water.

Unlike Johto and Sinnoh, Hoenn imported its honey; there were a few local beekeepers, but they were small time; now he really wanted to see what Greyson and his friend had set up.

"That sounds pretty good, actually! The fresher the honey, the better bug-bait it makes." He said, scratching his chin thoughtfully while smiling. "Makes for a better snack, too. Any clue as to when y'all will start on that?"

---

MISSION: SEALING

SEALING NOTHING

Yoooo bees? POG Greyson Connors.

Doug's eyebrows flew up at the numbers, looking proper impressed. These guys collected bees like he collected Beetles.

Doug looked rather interested as Greyson explained to him the hierarchy of their man-made hive.

"That's incredible... I've never seen anything like that in the wild..." He said with a grin, looking excited. "Is it because of heavy human influence in the hive's development?"

Vespiqueen Colonies only contained a single queen in the wild, but human interference tended to have unexpected effects on pokemon behavior. Coordination involving multiple tiers of leadership was a feature of human bureaucracy...

He definitely had to talk to willow atkins now.

"Oh, I need to see this for myself now!" The youth said excitedly. It had been a long time since he had a chance to indulge his inner Entomologist.

At the word logistics, the youth's face scrunched up slightly, his tongue sticking out.

"Preaching to the choir there." The boy grumbled. The bulk of his studies in Military '''Science''' could be split in between Military History, Military Strategy, and Logistics. Naturally, as logistics involved maths, Doug cared the least for them.

"Every single time I've come close to losin' my scholarship, its about logistics." He huffed. He was lucky his staff had years of experience and enough good will to help him study on the matter- if only so their commander could be trusted to make the right calls in the future. "Glad to hear you guys are in business, though!"

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MISSION: SEALING