Gwen had been watching from afar. She had been keeping tabs on Robin ever since she had gotten out of the hospital. Gwendolyn felt shame in what she had been doing. The way she hid herself in her room all day and never came out without outside prompting. That would end today, her steps going across the Hot Springs while the aloof aspiring Ranger walked across the way until she found her. Robin stuck in training her Pokémon in the harshest environment in Hoenn. But even from afar, Gwen could tell they were in no shape to fight. She didn't even think once, just let her feet take her away.

”STOP!”

Robin could tell this wasn't the same, uncertain and cowardly bookworm she knew well. Her tone was deathly serious. Gwen put a hand to rip the other girl's hands off of her Toxel. Once she had her full attention, Gwen would look back at the Pokémon. They were exhausted, tired, every single synonym for those words. ”Robin, they're in no shape to fight. Look at them.” She went to the Munchlax and reached into her bag, offering it one of the berries she tried to keep on hand for her Goomy. The same was offered to the Toxel, along with a water bottle for both. Lucky she had kept her Ranger pouch on her.

Gwen looked at Robin and internally winced. She was hurt. Not that kind where it was a broken nose, but when it hurt inside. A knife embedded in the chest with any stray thought twisting it more and more. But she couldn't let her do this. Not somebody so close to her. ”Just tell me what happened. Please, we can sit down and just...talk.”

Robin's lip curled as Gwen stepped in, offering a berry to Munchlax. "Don't, Gwen!" She slapped the fruit away, snapping her fingers in the other hand and nonverbally directing Munchlax to step away from Gwen. "I'm doing this for them! They have to be stronger! They have to be better!" Her voice was hysterical. "Look! Look at how defenseless Toxel is. Still. It's been months, and he won't evolve."

She sniffled, then smashed the feeling down. She couldn't be weak in front of Gwen. They couldn't afford it. "Gwen. I was defenseless against Rocket during the battle on Route 105. It was a fucking warzone, and I could do NOTHING!" She yelled at Gwen, gesturing angrily as she ranted. "All of my pokemon one-shot. I nearly drowned. He - he had me - he broke my nose and was in the process of abducting me for ransom or, or something worse and I BARELY got out. Do you get it?"

She burst into tears at the reality of it, of how she very well could've died and there'd been no other Ranger around, no one to witness or know. "I've been training as a Ranger for months, and where did it get me? I didn't have back-up. It was supposed to be scouting in the ocean, that's it, and I was ambushed by a masked man and I have no leads, no information, no way to stop it from happening again if he came back." She wiped at her face, angry at how saying it out loud debilitated her. She needed it to be fuel, to focus her.

Quieter, she added: "They have to be stronger, Gwen. Rocket doesn't hold back."

Robin smacked the fruit out of her hand before the Munchlax could even take a bite. She could see that pained look on its face of being denied nourishment and a chance at rest. Her brows weighed heavy as her fury was reaching a boiling point. Somebody could make her life hell all they wanted but as soon as Pokemon came into the mix, Gwen drew her line in the sand. Robin wasn't thinking straight. Her heart of making Pokemon stronger had driven her off the rails. ”Robin, I know. But not every Pokémon takes the same amount of time-” She was cut off and her closest friend continued. It hurt seeing her like this. Robin was supposed to be the stable one, not her.

Her frustration at what had happened to her only made Gwen's chest feel heavier. She could have went with her and made sure whoever had done this to her would face justice. Gwen's fists were balled, knuckles a white color as she shook. ”I-I get it. There's people out in the world that can just step all over us. And I hate that what happened happened and I couldn't come with you and...But I can't let you do this to yourself. To your Pokémon. These are actual living things that we joined the Rangers to protect.”

She broke down and started to cry. Gwen remained quiet as she broke for air. She was a peaceful person by all definitions: kept to herself, only pushed back when confronted. But this time? She wanted to hurt whoever did this to Robin. Images of everything she could do. use her Magnetite to electrocute them into dust, Goomy to boil them alive, she wanted whoever did this to feel even worse pain for hurting somebody she cared about. Gwen stepped forward and tried to wrap Robin in a hug. Her hands went to pat the back of her shoulder while listening to her vent more and more. Once she was done, the dork spoke up.

”You're right, as usual. I'm not telling you you're not. But look at them. You're pushing them to the point of no return. These aren't machines that you can just do whatever you want with. I get you want to make sure this doesn't happen again, but you're hurting them like this. Please, Robin...” Gwen's hands fell on top of Robin's as her own expression faltered. She was desperate to try and get her to stop this madness. ”I know you're worried about "what if's" and what will happen the next time, but you have me. I've always stuck with you, and I don't intend on stopping anytime soon. Just let me help.”

”I'll do whatever it takes. I'll wake up early and train with you. I'll go on hunts, explore Ultra Space, pick out a good diet for our teams, set up exercises, whatever it takes. I want to get stronger with you and pound the guy who did this to you. Anything you want from me, I'll give it to you. We can be the best Rangers ever. But you need to let me help.”

The moment hung in the balance as Gwen offered a hug; Robin didn't want to show anymore weakness, wanted to gouge it out of herself through bloodletting until she was healthy and good and strong. But she knew Gwen before she had a real concept about herself, knew her longer than she knew what she wanted to be and she'd known that for so long that it was her sole truth, being that friend to ghosts everywhere. And so she relented.

She deflated in Gwen's arms and listened to all of the sweet promises the other girl had. The solutions were logical, they were determined and well-thought. But. "I can't be a Ranger anymore." She blurted it out, eyes tightly shut as she squeezed Gwen back. "I can't. I can't. I failed them. I can't protect anyone, not even myself. How can I be the liaison between ghost pokemon and people if I can't even get my own pokemon to listen?"

She could feel her doubt as Robin squeezed her back. Gwen quietly thanked her position of being unable to show how much she was blushing from the close contact. Gwendolyn's fingers found their way through Robin's hair as she declared that she wasn't fit to be a ranger. A pretty shocking remark from the very person who had led her down this path. It was what Robin had dreamed of doing and now she was going to throw it all away. Her glasses fell down her nose again but Gwen cared little for it right now. She didn't want Robin to make such a harsh decision by herself. Her hands continued to pat the other girl's head. What could even help her? Perhaps some kind of nudge for her to remember her accomplishments?

"Do you remember that time when we first met?" Gwen asked softly. Her hands still hung around Robin's while she could recall it so vividly, after all the time that had passed. "I was stuck near an abandoned house full of ghost Pokémon and was too scared to do anything. Just crying and hoping that somebody would come and save me. And then I looked up to see you. We got chased off in the end, but you protected me. And if you can protect some NEET that barely gets any sunshine, you can protect anybody else."

Gwen pulled away and faced Robin again. She was still conflicted about things and yet, there was little that anybody could do to stop that self doubt. It was something that she could only help and let Robin figured out for herself. She pushed her glasses up again and exhaled. "Let's just give it a while, okay? If you really want to leave the Rangers, we can find someplace else to go to. I'll be with you every step of the way."

Gwen's self-deprecating statement left Robin with a watery laugh. "I'm glad I met you then. And I'm glad we had that moment." She pulled from Gwen and wiped her face, still feeling miserable but with less of a hole in her chest. Her best friend was the ultimate comfort, even when Robin wanted to wallow in her misery.

But it wasn't so comforting to hear Gwen's adaptability. She was a Ranger, too; didn't she want to fight for it? Would she really abandon her post if Robin did?

"I can't be anything other than a Ranger," Robin said instead, opting to deflate instead of pick a different fight. "This is all I've ever set out to be. My connection to ghosts is all I have. My family, you know, they're all psychics. Talented, nationally or internationally recognized. They solve crimes and help people and... and all I had was this. And I can't even do it." Her breath was shaky. "I don't know where to go from here if I can't get Munchlax and Toxel to evolve. If they don't get stronger, I'm... I'm nothing."

"Likewise. I was lucky to run into you." Gwen let go of Robin as she pulled away. A part of her was glad that she had been able to meet Robin as a kid. They had been through so much that they were almost inseparable. She had heard of the rest of Robin's family. A well known and respected group of mediums and psychics that could talk with ghosts. It was hard being the black sheep of a family, especially you were the weakest out of a family with a special skill. Although Gwen couldn't say that she knew how it felt, being the only child of her parents, she did try her own little version of a peptalk.

"Your parents and family aren't you, Robin. You can't keep comparing yourselves to them when you've been through way worse. And who knows? Maybe one day, you'll find out that you're not giving yourself enough credit being a psychic. Even if it turns out you won't, nobody's going to think any less of you. And those who do shouldn't even be worth talking to you. So no more worrying, okay?"

Gwen tried to get a smile from her. She kneeled down and cradled the Toxel in her arms. Robin had been insanely lucky to catch something this cool. Gwen was jealous of missing the opportunity to catch one of these cute little guys! She handled it with caution, careful not to let out fall over and gently try to comfort it during its fatigue. Her hands went to carefully dab at the drooling poison by its mouth with her shirt. Her fingers stopped when Robin called herself a nobody. Turning her attention towards the psychic. "No." Was all she said, followed by a-

Boop.

Gwen's free hand had flicked Robin's nose. "You're my best friend and the best Ranger I've ever met. That makes you something to me." Sure she had left out a word there but the message was clear. Her eyes fell on the Munchlax nearby and did her best to try and show that she cared for it. "My calculus teacher always said that "nothing was just something waiting to be placed." And even if you still don't believe me, do you think your Pokémon think that same way? Why would they listen to you, even restless like this, if they thought you were nothing? I'm an aspiring Professor, but even I can see that these little guys care about you. You wouldn't want to let them down, would you?"

"Toxel and Munchlax will evolve and become stronger than you could ever think of. But you can't blame yourself for things you can't control, Robin. You escaped with only a broken nose; that's insanely lucky for a Rocket ambush." Gwen walked closer to Robin again, her thick rimmed glasses on the tip of her nose. Even this way, she tried her best to show empathy. It was so strange to be the one offering support now, when she had grown so used to the opposite. "When I'm working on my computer and trying to upgrade it, sometimes, things don't work out. I break something or misplace a part or completely fuck it up. I want to quit and throw my head against the wall for an hour, but I troubleshoot. What worked, what didn't work. What could I do better next time. Then, I do it again. And if that doesn't work, I troubleshoot again. That's how you learn."

"And maybe break five phones when you're on summer vacation."

Gwen's words were kind and logical, the type of thing she needed to here right now while she was stuck an emotional and negative rut. She wasn't sure she could agree that people wouldn't think less of her for never living up to her family name and birthright as psychics, but she didn't argue the point. There was too much baggage right here to bring up her longest struggle, too.

Her eyes went cross as she followed Gwen's finger when it booped her nose. It made the girl pause in incredulity at the action, and left her speechless, giving Gwen the opportunity to nail her talking points. She looked to her pokemon as Gwen asked if they'd follow her if she amounted to nothing, and perhaps that was true. Pokemon relied on respect for obedience and understanding, and they had followed her faithfully since meeting her -- with a few moments of malicious compliance from Gengar.

"Okay, okay. I won't throw in the towel. But luck? That's not enough to cut it. I was lucky to get out of Rocket's clutches, but I should've been smart. I should've been strong." She sniffled. "I have a lot of work to do and so does my team. I need their evolutions to stand a chance... maybe we can do some focused training later. After they rest. We can, uh, troubleshoot a training plan." She raised a brow at Gwen's final comment. "You're too dangerous for a lab, you know that?"

It was working! Robin was calmed down enough and talked down out of giving up on what she wanted to do. Gwen breathed a sigh of relief at the declaration from her friend and gave her another hug. This one was with one arm, as she was busy cradling the baby Toxel while listening to her start to think logically again. She was right though. They would need some way to train her Pokémon up to evolve before things got too bad. "We'll figure out a way, Robin. I promise. Just give me some time and I'll get us through this."

She did blush a little at being called dangerous, making the teen scoff playfully at Robin. "It's not like they were the top of the line models. Besides, Dad always helped me get a new one, provided I told Mom that I lost it." Those were fairly stressful times in the Conway house. But Gwen did appreciate the opportunities her parents had given her and wanted to make them proud. Although hadn't really contacted them since technically running away. Was it running away at this point? Maybe...

"If you ever need a plus one to any missions or outings, you know I'll drop everything for you. So don't be a stranger. And I'll find that guy who did this to you."