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[attr="class","textbox"] In the final days of April, as the region's fierce faction conflict comes to an unexpected halt and trainers vanish without a trace, only a handful are left behind. It's a strange thing to reconcile for ollie morales — to understand that you were left behind, when he was the one who had decided to run away all those years ago.

[break][break] And again after that, when he ran to Kalos.

[break][break] And again after that, when he ran from his responsibility as Head Ranger.

[break][break] And again after that, when he ran from —

[break][break] He was always running, wasn't he?

[break][break] It was about time that he got left behind.

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In the quiet of PENELOPE LIVY's abandoned apartment, the Head Ranger could be found curled up on one of her velvet couches, tucked away in the corner of her apartment that she'd once lived inside with CIAN MAHER. Ollie and her didn't live together, not officially, because they had never needed to. They shared the same apartment complex, so it was more like sharing a dormitory, with the ease that they flit into and out of each other's lives. They had each others keys. They had each other's hearts, even if it wasn't something that either was willing to talk about easily or at all.

[break][break] Sometimes, he thought, things were better left unsaid.

[break][break] But the aching silence of his own apartment had been too much, especially in the days after his and Thomas Benoit's visit to the Border a day prior. Especially in the wake of his lunch meeting with Gunner Graves a few hours prior.

[break][break] PENELOPE LIVY, annalise henderson, paxton concordas, freya morningstar, FERNANDO SILPH, Remiel Calcifet, Eduardo Hisakawa, Beau Fontaine, Josh Devlin ... the list of victims went on and on, and seemed longer still.

[break][break] Caleb Harcourt was alive, he reminded himself. GIDEON GRAVES was there for him, he said again for what seemed like the seventh time that hour.

[break][break] "Missing is better than dead, but not by much."

[break][break] An after-work lunch nap had been in order. It had only taken seconds for him to loosen the laces on his mountain boots before he slipped through the mahogany carpet of his not-girlfriend's apartment, glancing at the bareness of her paint-chipped walls (he would have to call Maintenance for her, at some point later that week), and ignoring the leaky faucet in the kitchen (he would have to call their Super for that one, probably later in the day.)

[break][break] You used to think Eva was dead, and she wasn't last time. They're not dead either.

[break][break] They can't be.

[break][break] Her apartment was almost identical to his own, except probably, a bit cleaner. She had always been that way, better at picking up after herself than he could ever bother on being, but without her sharp reminders to hang up his coat, Ollie shrugged off his Head Ranger gear and threw it on a nearby chair. He sludged through the living room space and curled up on the nearby sofa, pulling the fluffy throw that existed on the side of the couch over his bulky frame.

[break][break] He yawned.

[break][break] "Tofu," he muttered, putting his PokeNav on the nearby coffee table. "Wake me up if Gunner or Pax call."

[break][break] He shut his eyes, because somehow, at least for right now, the world of dreams was better than any waking reality.

[break][break] And if they did, it's because of you.

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