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Beau grunted, tilting his head from side to side as he rotated his left shoulder in an attempt to work out the stubborn twinge that had been harrying him for the past several minutes. He needed to be in top form for his first meeting with the Rangers, and a wonky shoulder wasn't going to cut it!
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As the station came into sight, he broke into a brisk jog, navigating over the uneven steps with practiced ease. He wouldn't say he'd lost sleep over this, but he couldn't deny his excitement at having finally made a go at trying something that felt like it really meant something again. After all, the world was getting crazier by the day, and running his (perfectly normal) little gym in Slateport just felt like it wasn't really...impactful, these days.
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He slowed to a stop at the door to the station, smoothing down the front of his shirt and adopting his trademark broad grin. Stepping inside, he looked around curiously.
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"Morning! New trainee here to do, uh, trainee stuff!"
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Had to be in his top five first impressions, if he said so himself.

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The barking should have been Beau's first clue, but as his eyes adjusted to the less aggressive light of the station's fluorescents, it was the sight of the lanky man rising from the desk that had his cheeks hurting in a disbelieving smile. "Jack! Watts! No freakin' way, brah!"
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He thumped Jack on the back, giving him a friendly squeeze for good measure, before crouching slightly to scritch Watts behind the ears. The questions were coming faster than he could process, and it was with a good-natured laugh that he followed Jack back outside. "Moonlighting in Petalburg, but yeah, better now!" he offers in response to the first two inquiries at once.
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"My uncle wasn't doing so hot, so I had to drop some stuff and take care of him," he explained, a slight frown wrinkling his brow. "Not gonna front, it wasn't looking good for a while, but I guess the woods did him some good, 'cause he finally got the doc's stamp of approval a couple months back!"
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He nodded eagerly, absently running a hand through his hair as he flashed an eager grin. "Totally, brah! All that time in the country just kinda got my wheels turnin', y'know? There's a lot of stuff goin' on lately, and if I can help keep people an' pokemon safe, feels better than sitting at home for sure!"
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He bent over to pat Watts solidly against the flank once more, then stood up and squared his shoulders. "So, what first, Mister Jack Sir?"

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Beau nodded agreeably as they set off, following Jack and listening to his explanation. "Yeah," he mused at the notion of activity in Dewford, "I haven't seen much going on out here since those Kyogre nutjobs."
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A wide grin stretched across his features as Jack admonished him, and he elbowed the shorter man in the ribs good-naturedly as they approached the shoreline. "Just teasin', brah!" He laughed. "It looks like you're doin' good for yourself, is all. In your element, kinda, know what I mean?"
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His smile turned thoughtful at Jack's question, and he tilted his head slightly as he considered. "Well, yeah. Me an' the boys have been trainin' hard still," he commented, doubtless referring to Torben and Nemo, his two closest companions. "I couldn't get far from the woods, really, so I spent a lot of time explorin' and learning about the local ecology. Y'know, plants and stuff," he added, as though Jack might have trouble understanding what 'ecology' meant.
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He stretched his arms upward, releasing a crick in his shoulders, and offered a satisfied grunt. "I guess more than anything, I haven't had a lot of experience with getting out there in the real wilderness, yeah? There's a ton of land that people don't ever really get to on their own, and I feel like I'd be kinda up a creek myself if there weren't any roads around."

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Beau blinked at the rejoinder, scrubbing at the back of his head awkwardly. "Teach classes? Yeah, maybe," he acknowledged with a nervous laugh. "I know what you can eat if you need food and I know what you can't eat if you want to wake up tomorrow," he grinned wryly. "Everybody's gotta start somewhere, though, right?"
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As they rounded the bend, Beau had to remind himself to stop as the wild Linoone jumped out of the underbrush, because it didn't register as an immediate threat at first. Then again, not everyone could probably punt the lithe Normal-type back where it came from without needing to even pop out a pokéball.
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His eyes slid to Jack with a self-effacing curl of his lip. "Definitely feels like a first assignment, brah," he grunted, tossing a pokéball and releasing his Pangoro. The towering bear rolled his head around as though working out a particularly stubborn strain, then cast his gaze around the path, as though attempting to find a directive to orient on.
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Beau caught the ursine's attention by waving his hand, then pointing at the hissing Linoone. "Hey, Torben, get that little dude away from people and back where he came from, alright?"
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Lifting a surprisingly expressive eyebrow, Torben turned to approach the Linoone, whose hissing intensified at the new arrival until, comically, its gaze lifted to meet the scowl of the much larger, much more irritated Pangoro. Baring its needle-like fangs, the Linoone darted upward in a QUICK ATTACK, headbutting Torben's chest with all the force it could muster.
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Torben, unfazed, brought both enormous paws up to seize the offending Linoone with crushing pressure, causing the smaller pokémon to offer a decidedly unthreatening squeak. Rearing back, the Pangoro executed a VITAL THROW that sent the Linoone sailing through the air, landing with a rustle in the underbrush some twenty yards from the path.
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"Whoa, nice, brah!"
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Beau jogged over to Torben and offered his fist, which Torben begrudgingly bumped with his own closed paw after an awkward pause. Beau turned to Jack and grinned, holding up the victory sign. "The streets of Dewford are safe again, yeah!"

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"Hey, I'll take it!" Beau laughed. He turned to Jack and gave a quick thumbs-up of acknowledgement, allowing Torben some personal space without actually recalling him into his pokeball. With a low grunt, the bear crouched down at the side of the path, plucking a long shoot from the ground that he began chewing on absently, falling into step as the little group set off once again.
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"Better you than me on the paperwork," Beau commented as he walked alongside Jack. "It's the one thing I don't miss about the Gym. One time I sent in a 402C instead of a 204C and this dude almost got shipped off on a Luvdisc trawling boat instead of getting his badge win logged," he grinned, abashed, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Bet you're too careful ta let something like that happen, though, huh?"
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The slight tension in his shoulders eased as he walked with his friend. He felt good, for the first time in months. It was more of a relief than he'd even expected to be able to come back to Dewford, and joining up with the Rangers let him feel like he was actually on the verge of something truly useful in this crazy world he called home. Heck, the fact that Jack, of all people, was the one to meet him for orientation felt like a sign all in itself.
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His grin softened into a small smile as he took in the afternoon sun of the island - Torben trudging behind him, Jack at his side, and Watts barking ahead at a Wingull, pouncing playfully after the bird along the path.
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Yeah, this was gonna be good, he could tell.

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