Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"Good day, Ms. Morningstar!" He greeted cheerfully in response, still a good several paces away as he pushed his bike up the slope, his voice carrying strong as he brushed soot off the handles. "Awful weather we're havin', innit?"

Fallarbor's famously ever present soot— an amazing way to ruining what would've been an otherwise striking vista.

"Now then!" He said as he finally reached her, offering his hand. "Apologies for the tardiness— was taking the scenic route, you could say."

Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"Just join me!" He said as he waved the councilwoman to follow, pushing his bike forth to step onto the road leading towards Fallarbor. "It's nice having a member of the council willing to come all the here in person, you know?"

Without all the cameras and news crews, anyway.

"I'm sure the people would appreciate it!" He said with a wide smile. "Pity we can't tell 'em yet!"

He didn't think the dragon rider had been sworn in yet.

"You ever been to Fallarbor for long, Ms. Morningstar?"

Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"You've been in and out of the system." He said, nodding at her words as they slowly approached the town, the silhouette of buildings in the distance growing ever closer. "So you understand both perspectives. Well, almost."

She understood calling the shots from the top— how vast numbers of people became statistics, for the sake of one's own sanity. She understood the perspective from the bottom, how the shots called affected those on the ground.

"Some people though, they wish they at least got the repercussions of a bad decision. That would mean their leaders are at least paying attention to their problems." He said as Fallarbor came closer... the ash of Mt. Chimney descending upon it, never slowing, never ending.

"Fallarbor town is a place filled with such people."

Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"Some have left and never looked back." He said simply. "And that's fine, too."

Nobody was obligated to dedicate their life to a region. Those that chose to do so had their reasons— and those who turned away from it had theirs.

The question is warranted, though it still made him sigh. The disconnect between the league's priorities and its citizens' needs was considerable, If the report had led her to that as a first conclusion.

"'fraid not." He said simply, before reaching under his jacket to pluck a small umbrella. It popped open, spreading out into a much larger, transparent barrier for both of them to seek shelter from the ash. "It's rather much simpler. Something that's always been there. Something which brute force cannot solve."

He stared up into the transparent parasol, as the ash pooled and gathered, quickly painting the transparent fabric a dull, unbreakable grey.

Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"Yeah, well—" He snapped his umbrella sharply to the side, throwing off the thick coating of ash. "It hasn't been for a while."

Kneeling down, the youth popped open his case, producing a box facemasks and holding it up to Freya.

"A single day won't do any permanent harm— but it sure ain't comfy." He said, offering a wry smile as he snapped the case shut, before slowly rising to his feet.

"I've started looking into it recently." He said. "I haven't had the time to pay a proper visit to the Hoenn Weather institute, so for now, all I've got is what their articles online say."

He turned his gaze over to Mt. Chimney.

"For whatever reason, the radius has been growing. Somehow, the researchers in the weather institute didn't notice this change in patterns until the near eruption back in August 2021, though."

Perhaps because they had changed history in the past, just ever so slightly as it may be, according to the report?

"I can't imagine the silent ice plains are helping, either. Hoenn's a tropical, volcanic island area. It should be impossible, and the mingling of hot volcanic air and cold winter air is causing all sorts atmospheric effects."

He paused, before snorting.

"But that's just what I read. I ain't a climatologist. I'm just a physician."

He shook his head, before releasing a low sigh.

"In any case though... As you said, the people living here believed they were out of the ash's reach. Until they weren't.

Nothing about the city was ready for such an event. Not the homes in which the people lived, not the warehouses were foods were storaged... too many things were unprepared for these developments.

"Well, I'm no statesman yet, so..." He said, rolling back his sleeves. "I'll just undo the damage to their health. Much as I can, anyway."

Strays

'ullo, freya morningstar~

"She's busy as is. Maybe Rayquaza could settle nearby for a while, though." He said.

Doing so if no real help was coming, though, would be nice, but useless. A couple of weeks, maybe months of relief from the volcanic ash would only exacerbate the people's discontent once Rayquaza was gone and it returned.

Mercifully, it seemed Freya had the right idea, bringing a smile to his lips.

"Yeah. Systemic action is needed." He said with a nod.

As the dragon tamer summoned one of her pokemon to assist, the youth nodded, turning his gaze over to the local public hospital in the distance.

"Good idea. I'll go ask introduce myself to Community Hospital staff. I sent a letter in advance, but I should let them know I'm here before getting to work."

Tipping his hat at the councilwoman, he bowed politely before turning to leave.

"... Thank you for coming, Councilwoman. Truly."