“Doesn’t matter who.” Navy says at once. “The point isn’t that someone else could do it better. Point is your branding sucks.” Navy will never like this man. He will never enjoy the ironclad certainty with which this man, who has had to be a council of one through Hoenn’s tumultuous history, speaks.[break][break]
But he has been told too much to deny there are things he can do which others can not. That is what the mind tells him. The trouble, as always, lies in the heart.[break][break]
“I know probably one one-hundredth of what you know about the shit Hoenn’s going through, and that’s generous. It’s enough to know we need your mind. Hoenn’s the people who live here. We’re still at war. If we lose them to Rocket, everything’s for nothing.”[break][break]
Ruminating, he considers who he would follow. Who would make someone good to put in front of the cameras. He remembers Rayquaza’s descent in a whipping whirl of green wind. He remembers a Salamence scorching the beasts that would ruin them all. He remembers how that made him feel.[break][break]
“I wouldn’t replace you, but I’d put freya morningstar or Eva Morales in front of a camera long before I would your grim mug.”

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

There was only one price he could think of, and it comes at once.[break][break]
“They’d have to be able to bring the dead back to life.” He admits, only to scoff. “But there wouldn’t be much point, considering they’re the one who put the kid there. Plus, we’d all just die again anyway.” That’s only half the story.[break][break]
“There’s a guy who probably would’ve in me, once. I’ve starved before. They pay well.” He says this with certainty he hopes the man doesn’t dwell on. “But the guy who would do that died in Dewford while all of you fought for the seal stone.”

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“Then tell them the truth!” His voice is raised before he can contain it. “Tell them what they’re in for! Not me! The kids who volunteer to help us and then run around like torchic with their heads cut off! Put out a statement. Double down! Don’t quietly tell the truth behind closed doors and then let people believe what they want!” He says, even as some rational part of his brain tells him people will believe what they wish to believe either way.[break][break]
“Or turn ‘em away! Or anything! How many more kids does Rocket have to kill? How many kids are you planning to kill? That was a child you almost killed when you collapsed that tomb!”

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“I am, councilman.” The gym leader snarls. “And it’s probably winning me even less friends than you have.” He himself knows that Silph has the right of it. People sneak past him into the Ultra Deep Sea all the time. Navy, who is supposed to be the guardian of the place, the frontline of defense against the dangers of the place, and the lead investigator all rolled into one. A more rational mind would see eye to eye, build a bridge of understanding if not friendship, but he is beyond that now.[break][break]
“Every starry-eyed kid I send away from my gym crying’s one less person we’ll see on the battlefield.” There will be exceptions. Navy very much doubts Vanilla Kingsley is going to stay away. But for every Vanilla, there’s ten that finally understand the truth of Hoenn beaten into him by the likes of Kouji Matsubara and Cillian Quinn.[break][break]
“I promise you this, too: I’m not goin’ anywhere. The revolving door you call the gym circuit isn’t gonna crush me.” As much as he wishes he could. Take Tsubaki, try and convince Eris, and just leave. But he can’t. Not while duty and ghosts chain him.

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

His hand is a fist against his knee. This man insults everything he stands for. He sneers at him. It would be so easy to raise that fist and…[break][break]
…prove he’s the thug from Slateport his dad always told him he was. And trust me, Michael, I can hit harder than you. He hears his father’s ghost say from some burning corner of his mind.[break][break]
That’s not the sort of animal Navy is.[break][break]
“…saving the universe is pointless if we can’t save the people who live in it.” He meets Fernando’s eye. He speaks with a warrior’s voice. “Or if we can’t defeat the monsters who live here.”

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

“…heh.” He smiles, despite himself. Despite the anger, despite the hatred.[break][break]
“I’m not saying anyone’s death was pointless…I was saying sure, Silph. Sure. You save the universe, I’ll save the people in it. I’ll be blunt: from everything I knew ‘bout you before today, I didn’t think I’d like you. I still don’t. But if you’re so sure you can save the world, save it. I’m gonna honor the memory of everyone who’s died by doing my part.”[break][break]
Gunmetal eyes are on Silph. Sacrifice is written across his face. It’s written in the dead eye hidden behind the lid.[break][break]
“I told Young this, too. I’m just a guy with an Urshifu and his fists. I don’t have the brain to invent pokeballs. But I can fight. So I will. Just like you will.” That, alone, he feels they have in common.

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]

I’d do more than cry if— He cuts the intrusive thought off.[break][break]
“What can I say, rumor mill told me you’re the best free therapy in the League.” If he can’t punch him, he can hit Fernando in other ways.[break][break]
He has to bite back the urge to add “dick”.[break][break]
Instead, Navy leans back in his chair. Tsubaki is alive. Nothing the council of one has done has changed that. He’ll just have to be more careful in the future.[break][break]
“First assignment, huh?” He frames it as a question, letting the man take the lead.

[break][break]

+ FERNANDO SILPH

[attr="class","pokeclass"]