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[break][break] A gentle sympathy shimmers in his emerald eyes as he turns to Suicune's chosen.
"Of course she does," he agrees, nodding towards
Isaac Merlo.
"But that's exactly the point, Isaac."[break][break]
"She needs rest, and she won't take it on her own, so I had to force her into it." He shakes his head.
"Maybe Gym Leader one day, if she even wants it, but that sounds like the opposite of rest to me."[break][break] But in the end, he could only give suggestions to
Genevieve Cromwell. He hoped sorely that he would take it.
[break][break] For a moment, the Head Ranger rests his gaze on the other man — emerald green meeting that of everlasting blue.
[break][break]
'Are you doing enough?'[break][break] Was
he doing enough? Ollie didn't think so. Ollie doubted it. Lately, nothing he did to support those he loved felt adequate. Bitter
SAPPHIRE eyes weighed on his heart heavy as stone, until he blinked rapidly to clear his thoughts.
[break][break] Discussion about their future Elite Four quickly rippled through the room, but Ollie remained silent. (Even though a bubble of
ENVY surfaces when
PENELOPE LIVY mentions
CIAN MAHER that causes him to glance briefly at her.) After all, these decisions were in the hands of people who mattered more than him — he'd already said what he'd needed to.
[break][break] To protect his Rangers.
[break][break] Talks of Kanto stir his thoughts, to which he glances briefly to his sister and then to
PENELOPE LIVY when she suggests sending people over.
"I like that idea," he says, with a nod towards the Elite Four member.
"Eva and I could always use a reason to go visit our family — but also Matias, you too, right? You used to work in the military with Pax."[break][break] And, though he'd never voice it out loud, part of him felt more comforted by the idea of
MATIAS SILPH going — someone who already had plenty of experience with that kind of thing.
[break][break] Then
dahlia goode continues, speaking of an alarming discovery, and Ollie can't help himself. His brows draw up past his hairline, echoing
Navy's own surprise:
[break][break]
"What?" He hadn't heard about this from any of his Ranger. A frown worries itself into the corner of his mouth, a rare expression for the jovial man.
"I'll have my Ranger Captains look into those immediately. I don't like what that mean for the environment, or the pokemon near it."[break][break] However, everyone else seemed to be worried for even greater implications — one that Ollie is barely aware of, even as he hears the
whoosh of his sister's email enter his inbox. Wordlessly, he leans towards
PENELOPE LIVY to return her tablet, knuckles brushing at the touch — both a silent apology and remittance of his place here.
[break][break] This is the stuff that he doesn't know too much about. It all happened long before his boots landed back in Hoenn soil — back when he was living boyhood dreams and flying across the mountains of Kalos, carefree and without responsibility.
[break][break]
'You were being a coward,' a voice snakes through his mind, feeling something like undercurrents of
PENELOPE LIVY's
MAGMA that he'd seen bleed through Mossdeep's battered streets.
'While everyone here was fighting for their lives.'[break][break]
"Navy, let's talk after. I wanna talk about Dewford's Ranger Captain." Beau Fontaine and
Eduardo Hisakawa already knew each other; Ollie was sure it would be easy for them to work together and get to the bottom of whatever was happening.
[break][break] He opens his mouth — to ask about Sea Hoenn, or these alternate universes that apparently exist — but promptly closes it. Because once the topic of the DRK Triad is breached,
Navy decides that
Yuina Higashi is worth bringing to the conversation.
[break][break] And
apparently to jail.
[break][break] On the table, his phone buzzes with a notification. He ignores it.
[break][break]
"You're not serious, are you?" he asks, mind-boggled as he stares at
Navy. In the beginning of the year,
freya morningstar had notified him that
Yuina Higashi was being targeted. Since then, he and Yuina had shared many conversations; he'd gotten to know her on a personal level, just as he knew all his Rangers, and even the secrets she'd harbored. It was why he recommended her to people like
paxton concordas and
illeana reyes — her experience with distortions were valuable, but more than that, he cared about her. He wanted to protect her.
[break][break] And now people like
Navy were willing to leverage the words of a known criminal and murderer over one of their own.
[break][break] Ollie is a man known for his big heart. But even his bleeding heart has it's limits.
[break][break] Luckily, both
PENELOPE LIVY and
freya morningstar jump to her defense, so he doesn't have to.
[break][break] His mind rolls back to the beginning of the year when he and
dahlia goode had spoken about the responsibilities of him being Head Ranger, and how different he was than his predecessors.
FERNANDO SILPH had said the same. But here, now, at this table, unable to predict what might happen to someone he cared deeply for — Ollie doesn't know if he's any different.
[break][break] He still has to try.
[break][break] Another notification to his phone, also ignored.
[break][break]
"Penny and Freya are right," he says, mouth twisting into a frown.
'Bryan Delarosa?' Why hadn't
Yuina Higashi mentioned anything when he'd went to go visit her in her office? At the time, all she seemed to want to talk about was his budding crush on
GIDEON GRAVES.
"Freya warned me about her being a target, and we've been monitoring it ever since."[break][break]
"As for her amnesia..."[break][break] His phone buzzes again, vibrating dangerously close to the edge of the table. Ollie brushes it aside, leaning forward, his hulking form looming as a troubled expression settles on his face.
[break][break]
"We knew that too. I told Dahlia when Yuina first told me about it, and obviously the Council too. We even went into Fortree to look for Megalopolans after... that stuff on Route 119." [break][break] They all, of course, knew about the incident on
ROUTE 119, well-documented by several authorities on the scene, including Archeologist
howard slayte.
[break][break]
"We couldn't find anything though."[break][break] Not then, or the times after when he'd gone to Fortree with his rangers to clear the debris and lingering teracrystals from the area, just in case they were getting in the way of wildlife.
[break][break]
"But Yuina isn't a secret agent, or whatever you think." His eyes flicker once to
John Sullivan, nodding at the other's definition of
Sleeper Agent. "She's a target. A victim."[break][break]
"I don't know as much about it as Eva or Illie probably —" He glances at both Head Scientist and Head Professor, before drawing his gaze back to Navy.
"But from what I understand, she was sucked into a distortion prematurely. Crazy stuff has happened in them before — you of all people should know, Navy." Considering how different the man looked to the one that Ollie remembered prior to that collective Galarian feverdream.
"But Yuina's innocent — I just know it."[break][break] He shakes his head.
[break][break]
"I visited her a few days ago, and she's way too stressed after Sootopolis." Guilt worms it's way up his spine.
"Probably cause of me. I was reckless when we fought and would've died without her and Celebi's intervention."[break][break]
"But I can take a look into the GPS data that I mentioned before with Yujin Ha; I doubt there'll be anything of note, though. Last I heard, she's just been holed up in the museum... well, except for some indiscriminate location data just after the fight —" He frowns. He hadn't really been worried before, because like he said, he
knew her, but —
"But that could happen for loads of reasons." Rangers could turn of their comms or lose signal, and not every piece of Hoenn was located on it's map yet; that part was still being worked on, especially as they discovered new places like Area Zero.
[break][break]
"Yuina is a good person, and the fact that she's even willing to turn herself in should stand for something. She's just as confused about herself as we are. If anything, she needs those mental health services that Pax is always talking about."[break][break] Although, probably most of the people in this room also did.
[break][break]
"I can talk to her and keep a better eye on her, and maybe HBIC could talk to her —" He glances at
PENELOPE LIVY briefly, reminded of her wiretapping idea.
"Or we could talk about those security measures again."[break][break]
"But none of which means that we should drag her into custody," he says finally, with a slight huff.
"If we held everyone to the same weak standards, half the people at this table would be behind bars."[break][break] Ollie makes a sweeping glance across the room.
[break][break]
Remiel Calcifet, who had spent half his time fighting the people at this very table and yet considered concentration camps of all things;
Isaac Merlo, who despite his best efforts, could still be held accountable for his crimes due to his pending Amnesty Program status if not for the blessing of his purifying patron;
freya morningstar, whose involvement with
KING WAYLAND had been brought into question as recent as the previous AQUA meeting;
illeana reyes, whose interactions with Sea Hoenn had once gotten her passed over in favor of her fellow scientist;
Melody Miro whose communication of her bond with Meleotta had just been brought into question;
Navy himself whose apparent loyalty to
bryan delarosa's word was in itself a topic for discussion;
Greyson Connors whose former anger and tethering mental state had also been questioned by
Caleb Harcourt;
PENELOPE LIVY whose growing bond with Chi Yu was obvious, even to the likes of
ollie morales; and
MATIAS SILPH — who was, well, Matias and whose list of transgressions could create an anthology that they would be left pouring over for days. Even
John Sullivan who'd been suspiciously missing until this very meeting could be suspicious if they only needed such weak reasoning.
[break][break] Practically, the only innocents in the room were himself and
FERNANDO SILPH.
[break][break] Wasn't it innocent
until proven guilty? Not the other way around?
[break][break]
"Like Dahlia said, we should trust each other. And I trust her."[break][break] Ollie shakes his head, emerald eyes returning back to Navy.
[break][break]
"You know I'm all for giving people a second chance, Navy," he said, sighing, this time with some understanding for the other man.
"But Freya's right. Bryan's a menace — I fought him when we were getting Anna out. I don't think being nice to him would've changed that."[break][break] After all, didn't
XERNEAS leave the Lifebringer for that very same reason?
[break][break] Briefly, he glances at
Isaac Merlo. As a former Rocket, he would've probably known the man better.
[break][break]
"Speaking on that - actually, I agree with what Eva said earlier about the outhouses. When we were - " Looking for Anna illegally, he bit his lip. Oops, he can't say that.
"Right after Meteno, when the Rocket bases started cropping up, I know some of my Rangers came into contact with Rockets lurking around the outhouses. I can go over the reports and have them investigate again." [break][break]
"And of course, I can have my Rangers work with the local enforcement and Gym Leaders to make sure they're weeded out."[break][break] It was more work when they already had enough to do, but it would be worth it if it meant keeping at least one more person safe from Rocket's harm.
[break][break] And speaking of keeping people
safe...
[break][break]
"... Could we also get Solgaleo to help us find Hoopa along with you, Illie?" He glances quickly - almost remorsefully - at
MATIAS SILPH, as if sorry for bringing the topic of
kyle lopez up.
"It can do some freaky space stuff, right?"[break][break]
[break]
[break]
☀️ TLDR ; [break][break]
— ollie has a moment with
Isaac Merlo over
Genevieve Cromwell [break]
— is also surprised at dahlia's news, says that he'll have his rangers monitor and tells @navy he wants to talk to him after about collaborating [break]
— likes the idea of going back to kanto since he and eva have family there, though suggests
MATIAS SILPH for his military experience [break]
— ollie defends
Yuina Higashi with
John Sullivan ; vouching for yuina and says she's a victim/target and not a secret agent. he says that maybe they could have hbic interview her or use the wiretapping idea
PENELOPE LIVY mentioned earlier [break]
— agrees with
Eva Morales that they should send people to root out Project Lockbox, and then also asks if Solgaleo would be able to find Hoopa [break]
— also secret
Caleb Harcourt mention if you can spot it
wink 
Eva’s lips twitch into a small smile with 
[break][break]
[break][break]
"Jail. Was not my concern."
THE COMMISSIONER'S FACE HAS PALED. A few struggling breaths unravel from her lips as color slowly returns to her cheeks. Curiously, she feels as if the voice had spoken directly to her. She wonders if anyone else feels the same.[break][break]
