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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD SKARMORY APPEARED!

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD RHYDON APPEARED!

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A horn drill from a Rhydon broke through the wall beside Robin. She yelped and threw herself to the side. Quagsire immediately got between her and the Rhydon, but it was clear immediately that it was fighting a Skarmony who followed it from the hole with a brutal steel wing. "Get distance," she instructed to her Quagsire as she backtracked several meters from their fight. The two pokemon were large and powerful forces that shook the cave as they battled.

Robin nearly jumped out of her skin at the movement in her peripheral - she feared another duo of fighting pokemon - but it was just a trainer and his bladed partner. "Be careful," she warned as she tossed a hand out their way, using her Ranger Voice. "Wild pokemon are fighting right now." As she spoke, the Skarmony used wing attack and nicked her Quagsire, who yelped out. Then, Quagsire struck both pokemon with yawn to put the guys to sleep, becoming easy enough prey for capture.

the rugged sound of hard rock crashing prompted silverio and the ceruledge's immediate attention, rendering the two of them rushing towards the source. potential danger, courtesy of two wild pokémon, with one of them appearing to a sturdy bipedal menace. and the other? an metallic avian beast. only a few seconds needed to assess the situation; one whom the man could presume to be a fellow trainer and her partner coming under fire - a scenario most familiar to silv. nonetheless, he'd take her warning into account.

"got it..." he plainly replied.

alas, scouting and ultimately quelling would-be threats to nature was the very reason he was here after all. naturally, it could be said that two-on-one was hardly a fair fight, but soon enough, both of the aforementioned threats were lulled by the strangely-colored aquatic creature. in the event that they were to wake, the dual-bladed pokémon stood at the ready in any case. meanwhile, silverio directed his attention to the horned entity...

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD TINKATUFF APPEARED!

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[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD MACHOP APPEARED!

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With both creatures captured, the cave became quiet.

Too quiet.

"Are you sure you should be in here without a Ranger guide? It's dangerous." Her armband marked her as a seasoned Ranger, but he seemed unaccompanied. "Wild life has been erratic lately. The war effort has made 'em unpredictable." She was stating the obvious. She wanted to double down on her chastising, but she remembered herself and stopped. "Sorry, I know you must know that. We just can't afford to send out rescue squads to the caves right now. Everyone's spread thin."

She nearly stepped on a sleep Machop. Since the cave path had narrowed briefly to single-file, there was no way around it. She sighed and tossed a pokeball to get it out of the way. "I don't mean to sound like your mom or anything. I'm Robin. I am glad to have the company, if you insist on staying." The quiet really was unsettling. "Caves get weird, man."

"well...i appreciate the concern, but..."

right, the impending war...and the wildlife that would undoubtedly be prone to endangerment as a potential result...

there was no telling as to how it would affect a pokémon's pysche, but perhaps it could now be assessed that neither human nor pokémon were at ease in what were sure to be some trying times. although the girl has presented a valid point into the light, silverio would refuse to allow this to deter him from his own designated objective. his ceruledge eyed its trainer intently, feigning interested as to how silv would respond to the girl. shaking his head, he maneuvered a hand to tug at his own armband, tied firmly around his bicep.

"that's exactly why i'm here; my name is silverio, and i've been dispatched to survey this area - turns out i wasn't the only one, i guess. kind of a bummer for us to meet under these circumstances..." whether she was here for the same reason as he or not, it mattered little, but one thing certain: these grounds were unquestionably unsafe to tread along. or at least...not alone! the dual-blade pokémon then turned its attention to the weirdly-colored quagsire with a plain expression, but not without a hint of intrigue.

"but on the bright side, two heads are better than one. or so they say..."

continuing onward, faint banging noises caught the man's attention. upon surveillance, it turned out to be a tinkatuff looking to bust through a wall several feet off with its patented hammer. he would leave it to its own devices - best not to disturb it, he thought.

[attr="class","wildbgsaf"]

[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD ESCAVALIER APPEARED!

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD CLOBBOPUS APPEARED!

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She was glad he was a Ranger. "Silverio, I'm happy to see you then - we need all hands on deck in Dewford. With everything that's happened lately, I can see why they want to send more people into the areas around it to keep things, well, monitored." She couldn't blame dispatch for sending someone in after her. Pairs were better than solo expeditions. "What made you wanna be a Ranger?"

Ahead of them, Quagsire got into a wrestling match with an Escavalier that kept trying to stab him. However, her Quagsire was used to wrestling - usually in mud, the little demon - and pushed the Escavalier into the rocks. "You've got a lot of trouble ahead of you," she said to Silverio, though her tone was light despite the subject matter, "but you're in good hands. We have so many solid Ranger mentors. And if you have questions, I've got you, man."

trouble...

in the coming days. perhaps there had not been a single soul anywhere in hoenn that hadn't been made aware of the chaos that would soon ensue. the man would like to think that he'd been prepared to endure it for quite a great deal of time - at least physically. but mentally? he dreaded it, the imminent - unnecessary - destruction, and the many lives that would be put at risk because of it. perhaps millions at that. no amount of battles that he had once experienced as a competitor in paldea was nearly enough to prepare him for what were sure to be a slew of mass casualties. as for himself, he was taken aback by robin's inquiry, albeit being a fitting one.

what made him want to be a ranger...?

"well..." one might say that it was a 'spur of the moment' kind of deal, but how could he explain that!? alas, as his attention returned to the girl, his response would but a basic form of rhetorics. "...do i really need a reason to help someone?" whether it be a person or a pokémon, it did not matter; they'd been a part of his life for time immemorial. meanwhile, a clobbopus emerged, looking to throw hands. its fists flew, but one swipe of the ceruledge's blade-arms would render it immobilized. "easy there, pal." silv advised the knightly pokémon.

he would address the fellow ranger once more. sure, there must be a multitude of questions on his mind, but at the off-chance of receiving a shortage of answers. "thank you, but i think the answers i might need will have to wait for the time being. for now, let's just focus on getting outta here in one piece, yeah?"

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD HAWLUCHA APPEARED!

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[attr="class","wildtitle"]A WILD DURALUDON APPEARED!

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It was a good question. Unfortunately, while she had thought the same as a new Ranger herself, her time had soured her. Everyone seemed tangled up in some mess or another. Particularly, the council seemed to have their collective heads up their collective assess if the Notice was anything to go by. She could tell Silverio wasn't some total rookie, but she hadn't seen him around, so she suspected their time in the Ranger corps was similar.

"Sometimes, being a Ranger is less about helping people than it is enforcing order, even if that is really the work of the officers." She side stepped a sleeping Hawlucha. "I think we're about see much more of that once things start going down. I, um, I hope you're prepared. For that." She had once been a doll-eyed ghost-loving Ranger seeking to repair their collective reputation. Now, she felt like a soldier.

She felt amused as he focused on them getting out. "This cave won't eat us alive, I promise. You should see the power spots around Hoenn. Those get crazy. I'd love to take you into one, actually, if you're interested. They get fun after a while, but I know they can be freaky the first few times."

"seeing things out of order, you mean...?"

ideally, upholding order could also be seen as a method of contributing to a community and its peers. were the concepts of assistance and enforcement truly that much different? suppose that the duties of a ranger weren't all black-and-white, but all of the colors and saturations in between would often require a means of emphasis. on the flipside, how much of that coloring could be considered 'too much' or 'too little'? who knew for certain, really? "fair enough...i think i'm about as ready as i'll ever be." once an accomplished competitor, now a man that would soon to be involved in a fight for survival.

what a transition this was turning out to be thus far...

power spots? here in hoenn? if silverio's interest hadn't been piqued before, it surely was now. of course, there were stories told of their origins, but never before had he seen one at work - at least not with his own eyes. acknowledging the tidbit given as a form of invitation, he'd accept it with a faint hint of a smile. "yeah, i'd like that. it would be cool to-huh!?"

a crashing sound emanating behind him, and with it, a metallic beast downed. courtesy of the dark knight pokémon. "what the...you doin' alright back there?" asked the ceruledge's trainer, in which the blade-armed soldier offered a salute, indicating that it was still in one piece. and what a specimen that was brought down. tossing a ball at the duraludon nonchalantly, silv determined that the alloy pokémon may prove to be beneficial to his success somewhere down the line. "good..."

his attention returning to robin, he'd ask "so...what other tricks does hoenn have up its sleeves?"