[attr="class","genny1body"]

After taking that ORIGIN PULSE head-on, Genny fell into the waters as they had just begun to lower. But it felt like the plummet just kept going. She had fallen unconscious in the blast, and in the air. And for the majority of the time between then, and now, Genny had been unconscious.[break][break]

Days go by. She's falling.[break][break]

A good thing to come out of this, was the rekindling of a friendship, with the most unlikely pup. Lucky the Yamper, who she had met in a hospital far-and-away, a little charity work she had done, a moment only Melody Miro knew. But allegedly, while Genevieve was on oxygen, the little Yamper never once left her side, not for food, not for water. Despite having no back legs, and two little wheels that let him walk like a normal pupper, little Lucky stayed. Every morning when he woke up, he'd lick her cheek weakly, before crawling back to her side. Every doctor that shoved a needle found the most ferocious little man growling, as if to say 'Don't you hurt her! Ever!' Even though he couldn't take his two wheels to bed, he would growl. No matter how big, imposing, or scary the visitor is, Lucky was always bigger.[break][break]

Enough adhesive was around Genny that the ratio between skin and bandage was slanted closer to the bandages. The copious scars litter her body, covered by cheap linens, polyester, and broken dreams. But even so, she refused to wake up. She just kept falling. The blast had made her fall down endless, and in her unconscious mind, she would never know when she hit the ground.[break][break]

When her eyes open, she finally hits the ground. In the fluffy hospital bed, as she jolts upwards, like she just landed. The deepest breath in, like a dying gasp, as she looks around herself. She was freaking out, and as she grabbed to her side, she holds tightly to fur. 'Huh?' she looks down, and her hazel eyes burn in the light. Her heart racing so fast, she might have arrhythmia.[break][break]

Lucky, whining and rubbing into Genny's hand. Her face is riddled in sweat, but his is pleading. Pleading for Genny to come back. To be okay.[break][break]

She calms down. But she can't help but fall, every time she closes her eyes.[break][break]

---[break][break]

A visitor? Genny's sleepless-addled brain hadn't been able to rest fully. By sheer stubbornness, she kept awake. The fear of falling staved off the sleep. But, the visitor would help her greatly, as Lucky slept by her side.[break][break]

"Sheriff," she regards him, a little death in her words like the fall had taken from her. But Lucky would stay asleep, even with the sleep giving him the puppiest puppy dream around. Careless, thoughtless.[break][break]

She did well? She didn't. All she did was keep one life alive. Her own lives alive. She can still see that League member, who she believed she met before in Remiel Calcifet, letting him fend for himself to punch upwards at the heavens. She stays quiet, the failure pulling at her heart, and dragging her down into her own depths.[break][break]

"You'd have been fine without me, Sheriff." How insignificant she was, even with the thought of dahlia goode thinking otherwise. Even with every League member who might think the contrary, the contrary was a farce. She held no badge, she held a title of Ranger that meant she was in the game longer than others. Navy was an Avatar. They all were Avatars. They were all strong by gods in a game of gods, where only they decide how things go. Navy just happened to fit the mold. As many others did, League or Rocket.[break][break]

Many. Not Genny. Still not strong. Enough to see how far she had come, not far enough to clash with titans. She fell a long, long way down now.[break][break]

"But thanks," she wouldn't deny him his words though. All while Lucky whined loudly. Her other Pokemon, sat comfortably in their balls. Healed and restored. Bulu's ball was there too. Bitterness holds her tongue, resentment internalized towards herself.[break][break]

"Of course. Another fucking Avatar." Genny seethes, cursing like acid spit from her lips.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]




“Maybe I’d be alright without you,” he agrees amicably, “but I’m glad I didn’t find out the hard way. It’s way easier to fight when someone’s watching your back.” She did all she could do. No one can block nigh-infinite origin pulses. No one can black the wicked aim of glacial lances. His injury was inevitable. Genny simply ensured he survived, and others along with them both.[break][break]
“But Kyogre hasn’t avatared anyone. Not yet. Not as far as I can tell.” Even as the words are spoken, he wonders if they are true. Freya was swallowed whole and was released by the Leviathan. It reminds him of the story of Skyler Dross as he read it, swallowed and then given a bond with the great god of the sea.[break][break]
“And it’s scared. I know a girl who can read Pokemon’s emotions. Kyogre was panicking the whole time.” A pause lingers between them. He turns, looks at this girl granted power that will prove her damnation, should dahlia goode’s plans take root.[break][break]
“Arceus. I thought we were gonna assault the city, not…not whatever that was.” Some would call it victory, but the draught tastes bitter. “It seems ridiculous, don’t it? The plan we were meant to follow.”

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

His words are sweet, met on deafer ears, and while it's nice to know that she was wrong about being useless in the war, she only fulfilled one half of what she was. She was the Shield to Hoenn, she had proclaimed a number of times... Shred's mocking words filled the void that that title gave.[break][break]

Tick tock, little tin soldier![break][break]

She wasn't a shield, she was a soldier.[break][break]

Navy's discontent and bitterness isn't lost on Genny, and it's reflected back in full. Kyogre is a ticking time bomb, waiting to bond with a Rocket, waiting to become the tyrant of the seas, with someone manning that ship. Knowing Kyogre is scared only means a manipulator just has to appeal to that fear, and boom; the half-water region will become a full-water grave.[break][break]

When the topic changes, she pauses. She frowns, glaring at her bandaged hands. "It made sense, when it was just Mossdeep. Protect. I don't even know if Petalburg is okay, I don't even know if Isaac Merlo is okay, but not Sootopolis-" she throws herself into her knees, pushing her head to hide herself. Eyes watering up, vision blurry from her own tears.[break][break]

Sootopolis was a disaster. A legendary brawl, where only those with power could dictate the direction it went. But when a stalemate exists, no matter how big the victory is, it only rung hollow when compromise came in as it did. "-I couldn't do anything," her voice trembles and breaks, croaking what it can. She shakes, a fist punching her knee softly. "This war never ends." She pounds the fist again.[break][break]

The Pokeball on the counter shakes. The one containing TAPU BULU.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]





He crosses the space between them, sitting on the edge of the bed. A memory plays across his mind, a memory of his daughter in a similar fit of grief on one of the rare occasions when he was home. He did not know what to do then, but he does now. Reaching over, he pulls her into a fierce hug.[break][break]
“I know.” There is no lie in her words. This war marches on. This war has defined them all, changed them. It is not just Rocket they fight, but the forces of entropy itself.[break][break]
“It’s a raw deal. We’re fighting just to survive. We got bad orders, but the people we’re fighting are worse. The Dark Triad are lookin’ down on all of us, laughing. We must look like a right bunch of fools to ‘em, Genny.”[break][break]
“Isaac’s alive. I can tell you that much. Him n’ Eris both. They’re safe. It’s our job to keep ‘em that way.” He told her that it’s a hard path, and she’s finding that out with every blow, every death, every brush with her own mortality.[break][break]
“I felt the way you feel now, the first time Sootopolis got attacked. The day my brother died. So helpless it hurt.” He finally pulls back, looking her in the eyes. “Remember how this feels. It sucks. It’ll make you fight hard as hell to never feel this way again. You can get stronger, Genny. You are strong. It’s alright to be upset ‘bout what happened.”

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

The hug is nice. It doesn't calm the storm in her head, it doesn't make it go away, but it quiets the storm that enraptures her mind. It's never-ending. War. It's a raw deal, and under bad orders, it's made all the worse. But it's fine! Isaac Merlo and Eris Halla are both alive. They're safe. But her hands still shake, as they grab the back of Navy's shirt, because she shakes. It's not just them. It's not just them.[break][break]

It's DESIREE BLOOMS, it's Yuina Higashi, Elise Calcifet, Andrea Vaneau, Shalin Nariya. It's Melody Miro, PENELOPE LIVY, ollie morales, and paxton concordas. It's everyone. She's still not there. She's not enough. She can't face the gods halfway up the mountain, so she has to keep climbing. She has to reach the top. The Rocket Avatars look down, declan walsh looks down at her climbing.[break][break]

But...[break][break]

'Remember this feeling,' he says. It'll push her ahead of it. Genevieve's hazel eyes pool with tears. She will never feel this way again. If she remembers this feeling. The feeling of war, of feeling helpless, of her own inabilities, she can persevere. When he pulls back, and she sees his eyes, she tries to smile.[break][break]

"Thank you..." her eyes prick with more tears. She's masking it well, but she's damaged by this war. She'll take time to heal.[break][break]

Wait.[break][break]

Her words come a short stint after he pulls her out of it. "You've... never talked about your brother to me before," she thinks, and tries to piece it together. "What was he like?"

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]





“He was…” She spurs him to chase ghosts, dead twenty years in his perception, “good.” Too good. Many people are supposedly too good for this world, but Gabriel Navidson truly was. He was his older brother’s ideal person, a sheep among wolves. To him, strength was a leisurely thing. In another life, in gentler times, he would make a fine champion – perhaps the greatest in Hoenn’s history.[break][break]
“I sacrificed a lot for him. Made a lot of mistakes I regret to make sure he got the best of everything. Bought him a Charmander special from Kanto, hired some guy to dress up like the professors from the trainer movies n’ give Gabe him special. He had a way with Pokemon. Never met someone before or sense who could get a Gyarados to be that well behaved. Most people can’t love the way he did. Simple. Real. Unconditional. Pokemon are good at seein’ what’s inside someone and even somethin’ like that couldn’t deny he was just good.”[break][break]
He fought well in Sootopolis before he died, Navy is sure. Mist swirls with the kinetic energy of a gathering storm. Standing up, he goes to the window and smiles a mirthless smile.[break][break]
“He’d hate Isaac, ‘cause he’d have a crush on you. Kind n’ strong.” A pause. “Rarer combo than you’d think. Strength makes bullies out of most folks.”

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Being an only child sucked... because from the way Navy speaks of him, Genny knew well now, how much Navy loved his brother. The way he treated Gabe, the way that Pokemon flocked to his brother. He spoke so highly of the man, it made her forget, for just a moment, about the war on their doorstep.[break][break]

And then Navy saw just a girl. That Gabe would've crushed on her, has the redhead's cheeks heat up. DESIREE BLOOMS really did help her come out of her shell, and embrace that side of a girly-girl. But that was the warrior on the battlefield, reduced to a simple woman who wishes she could have met this man she'll never know.[break][break]

"Hah," she chuckles, and wipes her eyes. With Navy standing next to the window, he wouldn't see the way she pulled her knees in, and just quietly basked in the sunlight. "Kind and strong."[break][break]

Her eyes close, and Lucky, who has been patient nearby, waddles closer towards her, rubbing into her hip, as the redhead enjoys the moment. "With how you talk about him, I wish I could've met him."[break][break]

She thinks and says without so much as a second thought. "He'd be proud of you."[break][break]

While it still weighed on her mind, it wasn't so much right now. Navy calmed her down, kept her stable and still in-line. She hated this war, and what it did to them all. She had to become the hero. The flagbearer, the Shield of Hoenn. To stop it, so people like Gabe never die.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]





He doesn’t know what Gabriel Navidson would make of him now. Likely, his eyes would go wide at the sight of Zacian. Gabe would grin, tease him about how he hit thirty and his hair went brown just like dad’s did. More and more, he sees his father’s face looking back at him when he looks at his reflection. He knows what he must say to Genny, what he must ask of her. He thinks himself frightfully cruel.[break][break]
“He’d still be alive today if I hadn’t coddled him so much. Kept him safe ‘til the day he turned eighteen and it wasn’t my call anymore. Guess he thought he could be a hero. Got—” His breath catches in his throat, even as the mist swirls and tries to call him away. Not yet. Not until he’s said his piece to what might well be one of Hoenn’s key players.[break][break]
“Got himself killed, just like a whole bunch of other folks did.” He lets the quiet sit between them. “This is the warrior’s road. It hurts. No real reward for walking it. If you want out, I won’t think less of you.” And he won’t. He’ll tell himself it’s a job well done, that one taste of war was enough to make Genny recognize she’s selfish and wants a happy life.[break][break]
“…but this war’s gonna end one day. I’m scared ‘bout what the League’s gonna do when it ends.” They stand united against a common enemy, as united as the League will ever be. What of tomorrow, when there is no great enemy? No Rocket or Dark Triad? “If you decide you wanna keep goin’, I’m gonna need your help. You’d make a fine Elite Four or Head Ranger, if you ask me.” Positions he cannot simply give her, though he has a few ideas on how to open doors.

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

He thought he could be a hero. She sympathizes with that. But what she can't was that he himself killed. She was built different, but she knew that this was the road she was on. She knew, at the end of the road, she would burn. In a way, it was peaceful. To die a hero, to save Hoenn. She wanted to make sure no one else had to die.[break][break]

But getting off this path? To let others fall, while she lives a comfy life? The job isn't done until the war is over. She can't smile with her friends. The Girlygang. She can't live happily with Isaac Merlo, if she's always worried that the war will take them away.[break][break]

"You can count on me, Sheriff."[break][break]

Her gaze sits on Navy, and she smiles. "I told you before. The path to strength is the one I intend to walk. If I back down, more people die. If I can save even one, it's worth it." She seems confident in it. That this path was the way forward. At least right now, she had to.[break][break]

But... fear over the League? What did that entail, she wondered.[break][break]

"I'll get stronger, and be on the field. I'll do all I can."

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]




“For now, that’s enough.”[break][break]
For now. He thinks. You’re a rotten bastard, Navy. Two words, meant to remind her there’s higher rungs to climb. He needs all the help he can get, all the good fighters and ample warriors. If Genny can raise a battle standard, others will follow.[break][break]
“When you’re feeling better, we can train. Heard Goode gave you…” His eyes fall on a certain pokeball. Tapu Bulu, a guardian of Hoenn, is now Genny’s to command.[break][break]
I’m not the only bastard here. Damn you, Goode. She’ll be an avatar in time. Hoenn’s guardians know that the hour grows late. Before them stretches a dark night and it falls upon each of them to defend this land. She’ll never admit it, but she’s been trying to find someone for Bulu and the others for years.[break][break]
And why wouldn’t she, with the region at war? Dahlia Goode is no Ulysses Monroe. He must believe she simply trusts Genny with the burden, as he does.[break][break]
“Be careful with that thing. From how the reports read, it’s like if you took Kyle and made him into a Pokemon.” Just the thought of kyle lopez lounging about with all his easy strength, baited into action and grumbling all the while, makes a vein bulge on his forehead.[break][break]
“Has it made you…?”

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

When she's feeling better? Genny wonders... does she even have that time? She has no clue. Rocket could try to expand more and more, festering into Hoenn, and more people could die. More people could falter and fall, and all she can do is let them here in this bed. To train, sure. But there's no time.[break][break]

A true hero doesn't wait, they fight on. They save people, they fix the problem, even at the cost of everything. Even if it means, to burn. She has to be better. NOW. It doesn't if she's afraid, it doesn't matter if she's in pain. She needs better. Sitting here does nothing.[break][break]

Navy distracts her, Genny not realizing that she's clinching the blankets in balled fists. Pulled back down to earth. She hears him speak of Bulu, and she laughs weakly. "He can be. But he's really just a big teddie bear! He just needs motivation."[break][break]

Finally bursting from his ball, the bull spirit moo'd out, the eyes set now on Genny. A small vein of irritation at how she referred to him as a mere 'teddie bear'.[break][break]

"But no... not yet." She'd only just gotten him, after all. "When he's ready, and I'm worthy, maybe then I can-" she gets choked up. The roar of Kyogre fills her mind, like a shadow leviathan screaming at the top of their lungs, ready to kill. Sweat trickles her face, a cascading fear moving downwards, as she looks to the window.[break][break]

"... maybe." Genny trails off.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-title"]
MORE HUMAN[break]THAN HUMAN

[attr="class","Navypog3-tagged"]
Genevieve Cromwell

[attr="class","Navypog3-subtitle"]
HOLY DIVER YOU'VE BEEN DOWN TOO LONG IN THE MIDNIGHT SEA, OH WHAT'S BECOMING OF ME?

[attr="class","Navypog3-pkmn"]

[attr="class","Navypog3-post"]






“I hate Goode for giving you Bulu.” He bares his soul to her, just a little. “I hate her for keeping Jirachi in the kind of rooms you keep a kid in that you don’t really understand.” Dahlia Goode is as blameless as she can be. She is a leader in a time of war, fighting not against an insidious paramilitary organization but the forces of entropy itself. She weighs the lives of everyone in their world versus the untold trillions in others.[break][break]
It is a heavy burden, one he would not, could not bear. Genny is strong. He knows Bulu will find occasion to bestow gifts upon her. She’ll be great, yet another person in the histories written about this tumultuous time.[break][break]
“But I’m glad you like him, at least. Sounds like Ramsay had his hands full.” Navy manages a smile, fighting to hold onto himself. He has stayed here too long already. Planting himself in one spot while his physical body dreams is next to impossible unless there is a battle to be fought.[break][break]
“Bonding with something like that changes you forever. I— I don’t really sleep anymore, since I made friends with Zacian.” Mist gathers, pulling him at the seams. “I have to go for now. The Weald’s calling me away. When you’re feeling better, you should come down to Dewford sometime.”

[attr="class","Navypog3-bot-1"]

notes about this post

[attr="class","genny1body"]

Navy wasn't holding it back, and not that Genny could disagree either. There were... choices Head Commissioner Goode made, that had her question the League. Genny hated that. But for the moment, Bulu was gifted to her... but she didn't feel like she deserved that.[break][break]

With a sigh, she leans back. The problem wasn't Bulu at all. Why was it bestowed to her? Why Bulu? She fails to hide that frustration, unable to force a smile. Bulu is a teddie bear, and though he's a lazy one, even as he stares her down with irritation, and soon to Navy, they go to the open chair, and huff, floating just above, like a ghost seated atop of a chair for the sheer ironic enjoyment. Stupid humans.[break][break]

Hearing how the Avatarship had affected him... unable to sleep, her head perks up. It changes you forever? Would it change her? Huh. Even if it did... "Don't worry, Sheriff. I'll handle it when it comes." Lucky rolls onto his stomach on her sheets, as she assures him.[break][break]

Seeing the mist gathering, and pulling him away, she nods to his request. "Maybe." He ran a Gym there... hm. Well, used to. Maybe she should... She thinks. "I'll be there." In a bout of frustration, once Navy left, her eyes stared out the window. She could see it now; a region burning in fire. Her hazel eyes watching the flames consume everything on that mainland. With gritted teeth, she does something she hadn't in a while.[break][break]

Officer paxton concordas was here. Maybe she could meet with him. She needed to know if there was anything she could do. She HAD to. A quick text... a meeting.

[attr="class","genny1credit"]