[attr="class","genny1body"]

Life is so fleeting. In those moments, the regret comes in. Molly races downwards, moving to slam into the Lapras, not watching the mammoth's trajectory. She is skewered on blades, torn apart on lava and fire. In her last moments, as she lands on Jubei, Genny's eyes are fastened on the death ahead of her.[break][break]

Again she's too weak to stop it. Again, it's because of this Pokemon wanting to help. Again, she fails to help. And in those moments, Genny's throat is coarse with a yell. To flee, to get out, to help the Ceruledge, anything. But the die is cast, and the mammoth burns, a funeral for two. No matter what she screams, and she does scream, it doesn't make an ounce of difference.[break][break]

The blood and fire has already etched into her mind. A double kill, both sides taking first blood at once.[break][break]

Molly. A sweet old girl, gone. Just like that. Another lost to this Rocket Dog. Another.[break][break]

Her head turns towards Hitoshi, seeing red. Her teeth grit, she mirrors the man ahead of her. "NO MORE." With her whole strength, the fire reignites as she moves to slam the blade onto the shadowy katana, uncertain of what insidious move is in store for her. Gram screeches out in pain, feeling as if the power is being stolen from him, and all Genny can do is look on. Red. She sees red, she feels red. She is the red hot flame, and she burns brighter than ever.[break][break]

All she wants is the power to put him in the ground. That's what he deserves. That what Molly deserves, to make the win, but all Gram can do is screech, his energy sapped from him in that SHADOW STEAL. "YOU WON'T TAKE ANYONE ELSE." she pushes down with her all her own strength with Gram, her wrist and arm burning from pain.[break][break]

From one of her spare Pokeballs, of four remaining, bursts out a Hisuiian Sliggoo. From below the two, the Sliggoo pulses upwards, a point blank DRAGON PULSE to try and split both of the fighters apart before Gram is taken too.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





There’s a moment, somewhere as their swords clash, where he thinks he has her. He forgets the pomp, ceremony, and strategy. All it takes is a little more pressure, applied in just the right way, and her life ends. There will be consequences for her death. No man is an island. The eyes of her loved one will blaze with hate. Hate will beget more hate. It always does…[break][break]
But he won’t see that world. A massive blast of draconic energy sends him flying back, damn near off Lapras. He breathes, looking up at the towering Pokemon. He sees it in the old thing’s eyes: it doesn’t want to be here, and it doesn’t want to fight. Lapras are known as gentle creatures. They are not meant for places like this.[break][break]
Life Dew falls fresh, and not just for him. The old Lapras’s tears wash over all of them, the leading and the dead alike. They wash across Ky and Annihilape, who have beaten each other to a pulp. They breathe life into his weapons, and give him the strength to stand up again.[break][break]
“I’ve killed plenty of people in my life.” He admits, heaving and holding his sword out, ready to fight once again. “Men. Women. Children. All ‘cause the one I’ve sworn my life to needed ‘em to die.” He coughs blood. “Your mons didn’t need t’die, but I’m gonna keep killin’ ‘til someone kills me.” [break][break]
In his free hand is another pokeball. Out comes Lancelot, an old Gallade the dog won the loyalty of upon the Isle of Armor. The knight surveys the battlefield, sighs, and falls into position.[break][break]
“Careful, girly. That l’il dragon’s gonna get hurt if he stays out.”

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Beachboy throws them both backwards, in different directions. It's defensive, but Genny finds herself tumbling backwards, body wrapped in pain, pulsing. Even in the fall break, something she learned to control the amount of pain she was dealt was tremendous, and she could feel it with every agonizing step upwards, like she was barely pulling herself up.[break][break]

Make no mistake. Her mind had her up in seconds. Bring it on. Her eyes still aflame, burning brilliantly like a funeral pyre, fueled by her friend, her partner Pokemon, all of Hoenn. To those lost who came before, and to those who yet live ahead.[break][break]

He waxes poetically about killing plenty. How he'll kill till he's killed.[break][break]

"Make no mistake," She holds Gram, the Honedge hanging onto consciousness. Her left eye felt like it was swollen, she pulls her tie loose and throws it aside. "If that's what it takes to stop you, then you die. So bring it on till there's nothing left." she declares, breathing heavily, her panting heavy as she takes a knee.[break][break]

Beachboy moves between them, while from the clap of thunder sounds, so too does the god of lightning, Ky, as he leaps from the battlefield below and lands. The yellow cat, bloody, bruised, but not yet broken.[break][break]

"Beachboy..." The Sliggoo looks her way. He would protect Genny over everything. She needed a second to breathe. He smiles wide, ready to face the titan of a foe, beginning with a RAIN DANCE. Within the cleansing tranquil cascade, the lightning wielder begins to clap, zig-zagging forward towards Lancelot, a starting PLASMA FISTS at half its efficiency, even as the rain ensured his mark. Why?[break][break]

Because the god of lightning and thunder could only feel one arm at present. The Plasma Fists was singular, and one of the Zeraora's eyes was pummeled in, completely busted.[break][break]

Genny calls out.[break][break]

"My name is Genevieve Cromwell, Elite Ranger, future Champion and Shield of Hoenn. And you! Will! Fall!" She was not on empty, not yet. She'll burn until her life is gone.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





The heavens seem to weep for their battle, though its source is apparent before him. Instead of marching forward, the dog inhales, listens, and starts to fix a mega stone into the pommel of his katana, over the eye. She has announced herself, and so in turn, he believes it only proper he announce himself in kind.[break][break]
“And I’m Inoue Hitoshi. I’m gonna be unrivaled under heaven, and nobody, not you or anyone else, is gonna kill me ‘till I’m there.”[break][break]
His resolve surges through the stone, a conduit for infinity energy. Pokemon are not meant to shift, once they achieve their final evolution. Some dark gods, looking at them from on high, call it blasphemy, an affront to the proper order. Hitoshi calls it strength, a blessing, and one he will use lest he call here.[break][break]
Lancelot charges, and he bursts with the energy of a hurricane amidst the squall. The blast knocks the dog’s hat off, tosses his mask off, reveals his face for her. Hitoshi finds, even in that maelstrom of battle, that he doesn’t care.[break][break]
“Genevieve…that’s a good name. Bet yer friends call ya Genny.” Lancelot rises to meet the thunder god. His sharp blade clashes with the plasma fists. His leaf blade cuts with a calm heart, an even expression.[break][break]
“It’s gonna suck t’kill ya.”

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

And then the monster reveals his name. And Genny's job is made infinitely harder. Inoue Hitoshi. A person. This isn't a dog of Rocket, this is a human being. A name makes it harder, a name has a history, friends, family, lovers. But to hesitate now, means she cannot defend Hoenn. A shield must defend from everything, and a crack means the shield is weak.[break][break]

She steels herself, and looks on with a smile. He was a Dog of Rocket. They sit in opposition, two flames within the rain, burning stronger, feeding off of one another. As he is unrivaled under heaven, she intends to transcend and defy even the heavens.[break][break]

"Inoue," she starts, as Ky moves to clash with the LEAF BLADE, the blast of thunder sounding across the field at a diminished consistency, the blade slicing over the Zeraora's fist, as he spins on one paw backwards, charging back with a POWER-UP PUNCH to try and get level out his diminished battle power, trying to reclaim the sky once more. One worthy foe below, out cold, and Ky would take another, as they rose to their own Mega power. Another hearty foe. What will Ky sacrifice to win this time...?[break][break]

Genny can't help but smile though. In another life, maybe they could have been friends. If two Pokemon's blood wasn't on his hands, if his Pokemon's blood wasn't on her own, this could have been amicable. "-I can't die yet. I'm sorry about Jubei... but I won't let you take anyone else. You are strong, but for every life you claim you'll take,"[break][break]

"I'll protect ten. I'll show I'm stronger than you." Genny makes the declaration, as Beachboy stares on, and utilizes SHELTER for the first time, hiding inside of his steel shell. A metamorphosis beginning.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





“People’re gonna die whether ya kill me or not.” Harshness has drained from his voice when he speaks the words. They’re said without pride, without some dogma binding him to Rocket’s glory. He is just a swordsman, fighting a foe, telling her truths he has reached after a lifetime of trial and effort.[break][break]
“Everybody dies, Genny. You will. I will. Jubei did.” What grief he feels at the fallen knight, who was once just a tool for him to use. Pokemon are friends, or so folks say. Friends. He never really understood that until now. There’s some part of him missing, a hole where Jubei should be. It’s like if Yumi Hasegawa or jayden cross died.[break][break]
It expands as realization eclipses rationality. Jubei was one of six who stayed with him for twenty years in a memory of a time not his own. The rest adored him, too. They all died, all save one, a Kingambit left at base. They all cared enough about him to die for him.[break][break]
At once, he feels a burning desire to live. Hitoshi’s heartbeat expands the hole with each thrum. No one will remember Jubei or the rest if he dies. They’ll go unmourned, unremembered, more corpses on the pile. He has to live. Not for Yumi. Not for Jayden. For himself, and that memory.[break][break]
“Don’t wanna kill ya, but I can’t back down either.”[break][break]
As he speaks, Lancelot fights his frantic battle to merely survive. While Hitoshi discovers his gift of speech, his gift of life, the old knight carries on as he has on many other battlefields. This power is new to him, just as his master’s dawning recognition of himself is new. They are both stronger for their newfound gifts.[break][break]
His blade turns the color of blackest night, a slash aimed at the weakened fist of his foe.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

"..." Genny's silence speaks volumes. Others will die. A shield cannot protect everyone. In this tumultuous world, this war designed to take and take, take and take. Her gaze lowering.[break][break]

The problem with it, is that now that Inoue Hitoshi has a name, and not just a blanketed Rocket, it's just like every other Rocket she gets to know. Each one is complicated, fighting for reasons, against an insurmountable 'good force'. A force that would turn on their own and kill their own. That would hurt each other.[break][break]

In these ways, they are the same.[break][break]

Both, workaholics for their faction, to be better, stronger. Two powerful forces, unstoppable forces, two unmovable objects, forced to fight at each other. Two who cannot die.[break][break]

And she remembers what she said to someone. A former Rocket, coal doe . A former Rocket who, despite everything, chose the other side. Her hand stretches outwards, into a handshake, a beckon.[break][break]

Ky fights on, a slash dark as night comes for Ky. But the morning sun blazes on, and if he cannot use the arms, he will compensate, jumping upwards, and kicking with all his might, the Zeraora firing in a BLAZE KICK. The pain is immeasurable, and Ky barely flops on his two pawed feet, leg raised up and bruised.[break][break]

And Genny speaks.[break][break]

Were Rockets ever truly lost forever?[break][break]

"I've lied this whole time-" she grabs towards her heart with the hand stretched out, the scorching flame burning bright. "Kill you? I've wanted revenge all this time... you and a number of other Rockets. You're the first who gave your name. Your the first I can see, with my two eyes in the heat of battle." She clinches at pain, her heart in agony over this. "I've stalled so long, because at the end of the day, I can't take revenge. I can't end you. At my worst, when I had a chain around my face and neck, I could've. When my mind was plagued by visions of a future I wanted to see, I thought I could do it. I still want to do it. I want you to feel pain."[break][break]

"I can't forget. But maybe one day, I can forgive. And maybe, one day you can too," she smiles wide towards Inoue. For a moment, in his humanity, he looked awfully handsome. "If you cannot stop yourself," then, as she feels Gram glow behind her, she flips him back to point to Hitoshi. "-then I will win."[break][break]

Like a shell, Beachboy's shell begins to shake.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





“I don’t want yer forgiveness.” It would be easy for the words to be callous, cruel, condescending. They’re none of those things. He speaks them with queer sadness. “I ain’t done nothin’ to earn it, and I ain’t gonna change my ways.”[break][break]
Just beyond them, Ky and Lancelot continue their clash. The old Gallade murmurs a soft hmm as the god strikes back just as fierce. A younger Gallade would take the bait offered by the god. Fire’s counter is water. They would think one step ahead and not see the electrical follow-up. They would fry, perhaps even die.[break][break]
Not him. Not while he basks in infinity energy with sharp senses to match a sharp body. Instead, he disappears. Teleporting behind one’s foe might be dishonorable, but he’s aiming to win. His sharpened arm blade aims a cut at the cat’s back.[break][break]
“There’s folks I can’t abandon who fight with Rocket. Wouldn’t be right to run away. They all throw their lot in with gods, so…” He raises his weapon towards her, its edge coiling with shadow. His dark sword senses the coming clash as he rushes forward.[break][break]
“…I’ve gotta be strong enough to kill those gods.”

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

There was no way to bring Inoue to her side... Genny's nose scrunches, as she looks downwards. It wasn't feasible. She knew that from the get-go. He wasn't the type to take the deal. Now, it just meant that there was ANOTHER Rocket with a name. The sadness in his voice, mirrored to the sadness riddled on her face. She thought maybe, she had a chance.[break][break]

This is reality, crashing into idealism.[break][break]

Ky was. Ky and Lancelot are in conflict, and though Ky comes with the magnificent BLAZE KICK, his kick goes wide, as he lands. Lancelot's TELEPORT unseen by a tired lightning god, and the NIGHT SLASH sinking into his back, the blood seeping from the yellow cat, as he's thrown onto his paws. The Zeraora twists around, on all fours. Charging with more thunder, more lightning. The storm ends when he dies. His eyes meet Genny's own, and begins to tear at the Lapras' back with HONE CLAWS. To ensure his next strike lands.[break][break]

This is why she must hold fast on her conviction.[break][break]

This is why she mustn't falter from the path ahead.[break][break]

She must wield it in her hands, so her enemies cannot win. So her enemies cannot inflict pain on others. She must take it all. As a shield, she doesn't need to win, she just has to prevent Rocket's victory.[break][break]

Gram begins to glow brilliantly, a light that bursts from the blade in all directions, to meet the shadows. The scarf this deeper blue, and the sword shines white and gold. Her hand still hurts, it still burns from the wound that would leave a scar. As she closes her eyes, Gram pushes all efforts into offense, utilizing a POWER TRICK to put all defense to attack.[break][break]

"There's no way to convince you, huh," the dejected, saddened look takes her eyes, any hope beaten out of her. She grips Gram's handle tightly, and waits for Inoue to reach her. "-then bring it on!" Her eyes reignite. With SACRED SWORD gone, there was no more aim assist. This was Genny's power, and Genny's eyes alone. But Genny's seen how Hitoshi fights now. She just needs to move. She watches, waits for Inoue to move his sword, and moves Gram accordingly.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





“Yeah.” One word that contains within it the resolution of a thousand. What more needs to be said? Both man and woman see that they must put the matter to a higher power. The dog glances down at his spare sword, which is no cursed blade but mere ordinary steel.[break][break]
“Lancelot!” He shouts. “Don’t push yerself! Get out of here fer now!” Lancelot, who was about to push his own body to maintain his mega evolution, cocks his head at his trainer, watching the claws tear at the Lapras. A slow nod ends with him teleporting once again, past the ice wall and onto shore. There’ll be somewhere a lone Gallade of unknown affiliation can rest. The mega stone goes dormant.[break][break]
Now, he has but three Pokemon left: the Hasegawa Muramasa, Lapras…[break][break]
And a god slaying sword.[break][break]
Hitoshi sees the ranger’s challenge, falls into a battle stance, and meets her head-on. Oh, how she’s grown since they met while dragon’s teeth were sawed apart. His feet rush across the ground, a grin spreading once more on his face.[break][break]
“There’s a reason Samurai carry two swords, y’know.”[break][break]
His Honedge disappears from his grasp, just as planned. Both hands slip to the other katana, normal steel ready to be brandished with deadly purpose. He cuts Genny from the front, drawing the blade in a flash, while from the back the Hasegawa Muramasa shadow sneaks from her bubbling shadow.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

The moment Lancelot teleports away, for the time being, Ky finds his body relaxing. He collapses onto his butt, still awake, still alive... but the damage is great. Far too great for himself to stay in fighting condition, at least without TLC and some medical supplies. This fight was up to Genny now, all he could do was watch.[break][break]

And he trips, when he sees it, attempting to get himself up, but unable to close the distance in time. As the redhead had pulled Gram up to take Hitoshi's steel, without realizing the blade that was just in his hand, had moved behind her. Inoue had made a fast move, and though Gram clashes with nothing, it's what slashes into her back, that makes her scream.[break][break]

Ky's fury bubbled. But all he can do is watch, as Genny falls to a knee.[break][break]

Her shirt is ripped, the blood splattering. It's luck alone that keeps her conscious. It's the shake in her eyes, and the grit of her teeth, that make it impossible to succumb. But letting go would be easy.[break][break]

"..." she stabs Gram into the Lapras' shell, her breathing more labored.[break][break]

Who did she have left? Beachboy was afraid, hiding in his shell... Molly was dead, Gram was out already, and Ky was barely alive over there. She mirrored Ky in so many ways. Their back pain mirrored now, as Genny pulls on her last two Pokeballs. She needed something.[break][break]

"Go..." she weakly cries, and drops the Pokeball. From it, a man of steel, standing sturdy and tall. Ajax the Aggron, snorting. The steel monster frowns deeply, and roars at the samurai, another mountain to climb.[break][break]

Without hesitation, Genny reveals her own ace in the hole; her earring. A Mega Accessory. "Shine... Ajax." She clinches tightly, the Aggron bursting with light in its own Mega Evolution. And when it finished...[break][break]

He begins with an immediate IRON HEAD down upon Hasegawa Muramasa, Genny barely able to defend herself.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-subtitle"]
THERE WILL BE BLOODSHED THE MAN IN THE MIRROR NODS HIS HEAD. THE ONLY ONE LEFT WILL RIDE UPON THE DRAGON’S BACK.

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-post"]





The Hasegawa Muramasa owes its life to a much older blade. Kusanagi detects the coming calamity and flies like its life depends upon what happens next. A tiny blade of paper, small enough to be imperceptible to some larger beast, flies and clashes with the rock beast. Sparks fly, and by the skin of its teeth, the younger sword is spared.[break][break]
Kusanagi cries out in its alien language, floating between its master and Ajax. It twirls about in the air, daring the larger creature to come forward and attack it again. This is what it was made for, forged to attack humans and Pokemon of this world upon alien shores.[break][break]
“Get up.” Hitoshi pleads with the warrior, barely holding into life. He clenches his knees, his blade returning to its scabbard, and looks her right in the eyes. “You wanna protect this region? Stop all these Rocket folks? Well, ya gotta go through me. Lemme tell ya, Blondie? The General? All the rest? They’re gods. Gods and monsters. If ya can’t beat me, you ain’t got a chance against them.”[break][break]
He stands up straight, and he shouts at both Ajax and his trainer.[break][break]
“Is that the kinda world you wanna see?! The one they’d build?! Stand up and fight for the world you wanna see, Champ!”

[attr="class","Hitoshipog-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Blood gushes.[break][break]

A yellow flash... and warmth...[break][break]

Glazed eyes wear upon the body that stabs Gram downwards, unknowingly striking into the Lapras.[break][break]

---[break][break]

It's deep into autumn. A month's gone by. She finds herself in Hoenn, a place that Team Rocket is frequenting. She's joined the Ranger core as a cadet, learning from her teacher, and trying to help the commonwealth. The way she smiled, to the common man. She wanted to help, no matter how silly. From a Litten in a tree, to even the world on fire from the red R, she would be there.[break][break]

She's older now, wiser. A trip into Ultra Sea, a friend since her childhood lets go of life so she and her friends can live. The Nihilego threat is real, the world is attempting to kill her at every turn. She rips from herself the weakness, to speak again, ripping her skin. The scar is nasty, even today, covered by makeup. But those who remember, would watch her fight on, her friends in lam logan and his friends Ikarus Rook and @elio.[break][break]

She's vigilant, even when no eyes are on her, she survives as the lonely bard within the barren land of ice, to fight a war not for her. Twenty years, she fights for those who cannot. If her heroes won't be there, she'll be there. She is her own hero. She must be. If she falters here, she is no hero, so she simply does not allow it.[break][break]

She's vehement, upon the shores of Dewford's island, she fights Rocket no matter the cost. Every fight (jayden cross, Tempest Quinn, Victoria Beckett, fern delaney, Lulu Flint), or those who she was forced to interact near (mint frost, @marcus, Aurelie Lefevre), she did so with a smile. No matter how many times the dagger digs through skin, she fights on, presses on. But it's ollie morales, it's paxton concordas, it's Josh Devlin, it's Navy, that all show her the path.[break][break]

She's exuberant, when she meets DESIREE BLOOMS, Yuina Higashi, Andrea Vaneau, Elise Calcifet, marilee beaufort, luka chêne, even now Shalin Nariya. No matter if a Gyarados is coming to terrorize, no matter if a world of swamp and alien comes to break her, not even when a simulated training regimen has her show her training. She loves them, and those fireworks on New Years, and the hotel visit recently, are the best times in her life.[break][break]

She's loving, when she helps a Fuecoco make a friend in a Totodile, a Watson that needed a Sherlock, and a blonde boy with a single eye, who looks at her now like she does at him. Even in snow, even in trauma, she stares at Isaac Merlo upon a bed in her birthplace, placed above him in a hope he returns her feelings the same as she does even now.[break][break]

She's vicious, as the prisoners are kept held down, when those she considered friends and foes are in constant disarray by an alien threat, where her only cellmate is a small Hideo Kino , who tells her to hold on, to keep on the path. By time the muscle grows by chain, she takes and takes, until she strips what is not her, and fights on till she reaches foreign land.[break][break]

She's conflicted, in moments of stress, as the redhead villainess (Sylvia Cousteau) stares down at her, the hero she wanted to see to save Hoenn. She cries beside her hero in PENELOPE LIVY, as she tells her never to stop. To Melody Miro, who she still has to challenge even now, having gotten so strong now, she cannot let her down. Any of them down. And when his voice reaches her, when he speaks, when he screams... she grits her teeth unconscious. The pain is great.[break][break]

---[break][break]

'Get up.'[break][break]

She hears his voice, and she steps forward. Who is she seeing? In a dream upon that measly ship, the vision of burning, she feels the fire and brimstone, every smack down of hammer to burning metal, slamming downwards to forge her in fire. She sees the burning red R, herself the one who holds the flag in this resolution.[break][break]

She pulls the blade out, having grit her teeth so hard, ember eyes burn bright, she engulfs in that flame. To save Hoenn, she would burn by fire, and send it all ablaze. This is her heart, her strength. She pulls the blade before her out of the stone, she pulls with what might sits in her, an adrenaline fire burning so harshly within, it illuminates all, as the blade shines.[break][break]

She sees the shadow before her.[break][break]

'You wanna protect this region?' YES. 'Stop all these Rocket folks?' YES. 'If you can't beat me, you ain't got a chance against them' I WILL.[break][break]

The shine mirrors the shine from Beachboy, the brilliant shine engulfing everything as the shell morphs. Glazed eyes look again, ahead, full speed ahead, as Genny can make it out more.[break][break]

'Is that the kinda world you wanna see?!' "NO." 'The one they'd build?!' "NEVER." 'Stand up and fight for the world you wanna see-'[break][break]

'-Champ!'[break][break]

"I WANT TO WIN. I WILL WIN. I HAVE TO WIN."[break][break]

---[break][break]

She ignites. Her eyes looking at Hitoshi with regained focus, and three steel foes stare down Inoue. He may have two swords. She had three. As Ky falls over, burning the wound closed with the last BLAZE KICK he can manage, he leaves the rest to them.[break][break]

Ajax screams, rushing forward to Inoue with a HEAD SMASH, while Gram is thrown with a GYRO BALL. And with their newfound physique, Beachboy's Hisuiian Goodra form fires again with a DRAGON PULSE. Genny races forward.[break][break]

Maybe... they could have been friends... once. She moves to, once he's dodged, once he's out of the way, to throw Hitoshi to the ground.[break][break]

Tomorrow was the answer all along. To smile for tomorrow, she lives today. For those without a tomorrow, she'll pave the way to make sure the sun rises again for them. No matter what the next day holds, she'll make it to tomorrow, and every day beyond it. If no one sees the way, she shows the path. If no one knows it, she takes their hand and goes. If no one will light the path, she'll be the flame that warms them all.[break][break]

Bell rung. Round two.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]