One Last Beach Episode [S]

i used to dream in the dark of palisades park

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Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

our purpose was to play a role

honey we're screwed

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

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Ashley Shepard

One Last Beach Episode [S]

POSTED ON May 24, 2023 6:34:45 GMT

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Part of him wants to tell Isaac he's wrong. No. There isn't. But even Ashley believes it. Because he believes it, however... He tries to let it sit in the air a second, turning to Isaac. "There isn't a lot left to save. But I said you're one of the last things left. Doesn't mean the only one, man."[break][break]

It was so obvious.[break][break]

Ash had learned that lesson so long ago. Back when he left the first time. Rocket was the worst part of Rocket. It was the damning part of themselves. The skeleton in the closet was a mirror, because everything bad they embody is a reflection.[break][break]

Not all of them deserved to be forsaken.[break][break]

It was as simple as that. Even if it meant sinking further down, he would. Maybe he could get out himself. But this wasn't a self-vendetta like it had been. It was this part of Isaac that inspired him, after all. It sounds heroic, going over it in his head.[break][break]

So he spoke plainly.[break][break]

"... someone has to stay to help the people like you who need to get out, you know. Can't do everything from the outside." He'd try.[break][break]

That's all he can do for Isaac. He can't go with him. He's at peace with that. He may be here for the inevitable Rocket downfall. Maybe he dies. But if he can save Isaac...[break][break]

Who's to say he can't help save more?

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- MUSIC SHIFT 2[break]
- Ash corrects Isaac. There was still enough to save here. But... he is inspired.[break]
- He knows he can't follow Isaac. But he can help. In some small way.

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played by

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The Liberator

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April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

I've got a, I've got a

Pocket fulla sunshine

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

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Isaac Merlo

One Last Beach Episode [S]

POSTED ON May 24, 2023 14:37:50 GMT

[nospaces]

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[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]Isaac wanted to argue the point. He knew firsthand how long, thankless, and risky of a road it was. He wanted to share his own fears and insecurities that Ash would sink into the abyss and drag the people he thought he was saving down with him. The last thing he wanted was to see someone he loved suffer the same fate he was escaping.[break][break]

He was acutely aware of the irony. Had Ash not just tried to do the same?[break][break]

Memories of what Rowan Wrynn once told him drifted through his head. Rowan hadn't tried to force the issue, even if he likely thought Isaac's goal had been just as futile in deluded. Instead, he simply promised Isaac that he'd wait for him on the other side. He'd be the hand across the chasm that he knew Isaac could be. Now it was Isaac's turn to pay that forward.[break][break]

Rowan. Caleb Harcourt. Chu-e Choi. Remiel Calcifet. Johanna Joy. Raziel Beckett. Even Eris Halla, small and uncertain as hers may have been. How many hands did it take before Isaac could pull back against Rocket's barbed, blackened chains? How many lives needed to escape the same situation and touch his before Isaac could believe he wasn't alone? How long did they need to struggle, to fight, yet to nontheless survive before he realized this was not an ending?[break][break]

Now Isaac was part of those hands reaching back. Each life Ash touched, each soul Ash saved, would join them. How many would it take before Ash, once bitten and twice shy, would find the strength to take them? Isaac didn't care how long it took. He'd wait at the world's end for as long as it took to be by Ash's side once more.[break][break]

"There's nobody I trust more to pick up my work than you." He couldn't change Ash's mind. Not yet, at least. But just like those who had come before, he could give his undying support and care.[break][break]

"Don't think I'm not gonna keep fighting for you guys, either," Isaac said. "Arceus knows the way they're handling this mess right now sucks. And maybe hearing stories from the other side, the good, the bad, and the ugly, is the only way to yank their heads out of their asses."[break][break]

"I've got no clue where I'll end up. But it'll be a cold day in hell before you see me choking on Goode's boot."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!

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close tab

played by

Kiwi

Ash

He/Him/Them

December 2

Aspertia City, Unova

Pansexual

Picking up the pieces

our purpose was to play a role

honey we're screwed

5'11'' height

But I, I will, go on howling and hollow

awards

1,109 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @ashley

Ashley Shepard

One Last Beach Episode [S]

POSTED ON May 25, 2023 21:26:42 GMT

[nospaces]

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[attr="class","ashley1body"]

Part of Ash knows he might drown in the abyss. He may never come up for air, doomed to float to the bottom, with the Rocket cinderblock tied to his ankle, ensuring that the tar fills his lungs, ensnaring him to the doom that was to be a full-fledged Rocket. But...[break][break]

He wanted, desperately, to try. Ashley loves everyone in his life he's come to know. Naive as it sounded, maybe he wanted to do this and save a few more people from the claws of Rocket? Or maybe he was dilluding himself into this grand quest that's only ending was a tombstone, hoping he could convince goliath individuals to turn, but falling to earth to his own doom.[break][break]

Isaac can't convince him otherwise. He knows that he walks the line now. He balances left, he balances right. He goes back, and Rocket will never accept him again. He stays, and the League will never trust him period.[break][break]

Isaac was a beacon of light that was about to go out for Rocket.[break][break]

Might as well try to help fill in the role a little.[break][break]

"Glad you do trust me."[break][break]

The light may go out. But that doesn't mean it has to stay out. But as Ashley tries to find the heart to smile, he says instead.[break][break]

"Never stop fighting. You hear me? Not till the last. Even if Goode does shove her boot in your throat. Even if Gavin, or Zev, or hell, Walsh come down upon you. Never stop. Okay?"

Isaac Merlo[break][break]

NOTES

- MUSIC SHIFT 2[break]
- Bromance moment. Him happy to be trusted.[break]
- Tells Isaac never to stop. Not ever. No matter what... my heart, bro.

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close tab

played by

Wanderer

The Liberator

he/him/his

April 10

Lavaridge Town

Figuring it Out

Penitent

Renegade

I've got a, I've got a

Pocket fulla sunshine

Short King height

Turned on my friends and brought them pain. I have no right to show I can change. But I gotta try!

awards

4,402 posts

DOLLARS

part of

TAG WITH @isaacmerlo

Isaac Merlo

One Last Beach Episode [S]

POSTED ON May 26, 2023 1:20:16 GMT

[nospaces]

[attr="class","skullhover"]

[attr="class","skullimg"]

[attr="class","skulltitle"]導通抵抗

[attr="class","skulloverlap"]BUT HOLD YOUR BREATH, GUESS WHO'S RUNNING THE SHOW?

[attr="class","skullbody"]"The day I don't is the day I die."[break][break]

Did Ash need that confidence more? Or did Isaac? To this day, the scar left behind on his body and mind alike throbbed in memoriam. If Isaac had let his trust in Ash die that day, no matter how warranted, he would've lost something that he could never hope to rediscover. Was he clinging onto this trust as a safeguard, to refuse to lose someone more important than his own wellbeing? Or had it deepened to the point where he would genuinely put his life in Ash's hands?[break][break]

Considering he was giving up Ash and still entrusting him with all of this, the answer was becoming clear.[break][break]

"Arceus itself could come down and tell me the stop, and I'd tell it to go fuck itself." His declaration had all of the confidence that had bled away from him during his moment of weakness. Knowing that Ash, despite his own struggles, would continue to support him ensured that. They couldn't have each other's backs the way they used to. But, no matter what, they'd still have each other. Nothing short of both of their deaths could change that. "I mean, if even this can't stop me, what can?"[break][break]

Was a beacon of light going out on Rocket? Or were there now two beacons standing, equal and opposite in their placement? One was the beacon within, showing the best and worst of Team Rocket and guiding those trapped inside on how to best handle themselves. The other was the beacon outside, a sign of what they could be, where they could go, and how much they were capable of.[break][break]

Together, they would light the way, no matter how damned a Rocket thought they were.[break][break]

"But none of 'em are here right now, are they?" Isaac asked. "We are, though. And so's this beach. Be a shame to waste a beautiful day on all this gloom and doom, yeah?"[break][break]

"C'mon. Let's make this one count."

[break]

[break]

[attr="class","skullinfo"]MOBILE POST / Ashley Shepard

[attr="class","skullcredits"]TAIKO!