Genevieve Cromwell will fight.

Genevieve Cromwell will lose.

That was her fate, even if she refused to accept it as she trudged further than she had any right to, down a road that held no places to rest nor allies by her side. All that remained were the corpses of Team Rocket and Pokémon League members. A few have ranger uniforms. Reminders that Genny's group had not been enlisted for war.

They were people who simply loved Pokémon.

Then, suddenly, the route transitioned into ice. Trees became husks and leaves became daggers that fell to the ground and embedded themselves in hardened dirt. She went further, but Genny did not fall. Instead, she froze. Autumn into winter, with but the snap of a finger.

"You're a long way from home." An armored man sat atop a frozen colossus once sealed in an island that Genny's Pokémon had perished on. He held a frozen leaf in his hand, before crushing it in his palm. "Nor are you dressed for this weather."

The masked man let out a sneeze.

"Fuck, it's cold."

---

Genevieve Cromwell
armor
+10 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)

"The unstoppable human spirit? I respect that, but that won't change anything right now. What can you do with that battered body of yours? My will is stronger than yours, right now."

He slipped off the golem and fell against the ice. His steps caused frozen blades of grass to crack under his heels. His cape flapped in the wind, ice crystals dusting it with a gentle caress as he stood before his golem, facing down the ranger and her team of Pokémon.

"You remind me of the sheriff. He never stopped either, but he at least had the dignity to not destroy himself against a threat he need not defeat. Wait..." He peered at her. This woman was familiar. He remembered an island and a silent vigil for a lost friend. "Long time no see, Cromwell."

Navy was casting a longer shadow every day. The bull erupted in a flash of light, and swung a mighty strike towards the admin and his titan. Regice blocked it with an arm, which fractured with a latticework of cracks.

Tapus. Howard's eye twitched.

Unreliable guardians meant to protect the world, yet all they did was protect themselves. They were awful creatures.

"What is this? Do they think that giving a Tapu to a human is going to make them any more reliable? They're lazy. We call them guardians, but when have they ever protected us, hm?" Regice's pattern flashed as a Blizzard caused the ground to freeze, buffeting the deity with snow. "Turn around, Cromwell. You were kind on the island. Do not destroy yourself for a battle you cannot win."

He paused.

"Leave the bull, though."

---

Genevieve Cromwell
+20 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character

"The future..." The words are uttered through a tinny, static-fueled voice. Still, he nodded in approval. "Interesting. I respect that. Do everything for tomorrow, for the next generation."

Tapu Bulu made the admin wary. Even if it was a lazy, irrelevant slacker, it was still a brute that had cracked Regice's arm with one blow. Even now, its Ice Body filled the cracks with more ice, slowly erasing the damage as time went on. The Grassy Terrain offered it little aid, as the crippling cold killed any soothing touch that grew close to its form.

"I'm not gonna try to convince you that this is all a sham or that you're wrong to fight me. You're absolutely right to. I've invaded your home and burned your city." The Horn Leech struck the colossus, causing it to reel back slightly as the Tapu began to sup upon its life force.

The satisfying, nourishing sensation of Infinity Energy and the golem's mechanical life being drained was quickly replaced with the toxic taste of Dynergy, with Regice's Wishing Star beating Dynergy throughout the golem's body.

"I'm just going to kick your ass." Howard shrugged, his visor flashing. "Just like I did to Petalburg."

As Tapu Bulu send Regice reeling, it send an Avalanche descending from the heavens, burying much of the route in snow. The admin was quickly obscured by a sheet of pure white. Still, his voice rang out.

"This war has ruined you." His voice was casual. "It ruined the Pokémon Rangers.

"Do you know why?"

---

Genevieve Cromwell
+30 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character
+50 respect another character

"Because you are proof that the Pokémon Rangers were never meant to be soldiers." His cape flapped in the wind as Bulu disappeared. He waited for it to emerge, but it never did. He snorted in derision, before looking towards Genny and her Marowak. "You were meant to be saviors."

The Avalanche splits in half, saving Genny from the fate of her Legendary Pokémon.

He raised an eyebrow, impressed at Skulley's display. Not too shabby, all things considered. For an ordinary Pokemon, that was a remarkable feat. If all normal Pokemon could fight back with such ferocity, the League and Rocket wouldn't have needed to indulge in the poisoned chalice that legends often bubbled forth from.

"Do you remember Pokémon Rangers from before the war? Were you even in Hoenn before this war started? Half of the region consists of foreigners now, throwing their lot in with forces beyond their comprehension." It wasn't gloating, nor was it bleating. He was simply... talking. If Howard liked to do one thing, it was speak. His fighting prowess was mediocre, but his lips could blab for days. "Your sole purpose was to save Pokémon. Now, you have to fight people like me. Genevieve Cromwell, your purpose is to kill my Pokémon. That is the fate ollie morales has consigned you to."

The frozen titan roared in the distance. The wind frozen, similar to the icy kiss of the north wind that Isaac Merlo often traveled by. He wondered what the Liberator had to say about this.

"Doesn't it make you..." He raised a fist, where a Dynamax Band was built into his Sygna Suit. It glowed with Dynergy, a malignant star that cut through the whiteout that surrounded them. He grunted in pain as it sapped a smidge of Eternatus's power from his own body.

"WANT TO FUCKING LAUGH!?"

Above, Regice grew to the size of a mountain. With an arm the size of a highway, it flung a lance of glacial ice towards Genevieve. Max Hailstorms blotted out the sun.

---

Genevieve Cromwell
+40 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character
+50 respect another character
+50 (cast shade on Genny's loyalties)
+50 (dynamax)

"..." When the ice dissipated, the Marowak had fallen. How could she not, when faced with a machine meant to kill a being that had been old when the world was born? No matter her love for that Pokemon, no matter her empathy for others, no matter the tale that Marowak held in her heart as she fell on the field.

It could not compete with divine machinery. Nor could it compete with the purity of a machine. That was the will of humanity, and it stood as proof that she was not ready.

Skulley was not Vortigern. Genny was not Navy.

But they're similar enough. The golem does not attack again. It shares its heart with Howard, after all. If there was one weakness that the admin held, it was that he had far too many hearts. When he speaks, the static dirge from his helmet dissipates, leaving a tired voice.

"Have you ever been afraid of your own shadow?"

---

Genevieve Cromwell
+50 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character
+50 respect another character
+50 (cast shade on Genny's loyalties)
+50 (dynamax)
+50 (use a legendary to reflect your character)

She's hopeful. She genuinely believed that he could change. It was an admirable thought. He wanted to reach out his hand, take hers, and swear loyalty to the Pokémon League. Yet he would always be a freak. An outcast who had betrayed the world in order to chase his own dream.

"If I take your hand, I will become a craven without a home. The League will ostracize me, and Team Rocket will hunt me." He reached for his helmet with trembling hands, allowing the mechanism to unclasp. "I've seen what they do to defectors. For every Isaac Merlo, there's a thousand dead men."

Hiss. The helmet came off. Brown hair hung limp and ragged, and an expression of overwork and exhaustion covered his face. A white streak of hair that shined like a thousand Tera Crystals glimmered through the snow, a mutual reminder that he and Michael Navidson were brothers. Red lines of Dynergy flickered under the skin like circuitry.

A single magenta eye met two orange ones.

"declan walsh exists in every shadow. He's watching me now. He's watching you. There is not a single move I make that is my own. Not a single word I utter goes unheard. The only thing he can't know..." Howard tapped his forehead. "...is in here."

It was a trick both he and Naomi Sato used to hide their intentions from their superior.

"If you want to free me, Genevieve, you have to beat Rocket. If you want to beat Rocket, you have to get through me." He closed his eye, sorrowful. "So step forward and try to make your dream a reality, as broken as bleeding as you are."

He extended a hand.

"Rouse your Tapu, and beat me. Or turn around, and let your dream live to fight another day." The wind caused his hair to flutter slightly. "Choose."

---

Genevieve Cromwell
+60 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character
+50 respect another character
+50 (cast shade on Genny's loyalties)
+50 (dynamax)
+50 (use a legendary to reflect your character)
+50 (rock bottom)

"I'd like that. I know someone who could really hear those words right now."

Yet he suspected that june sleigh would not hear them.

A small smile flickered across his lips as he gazed upon his helmet for several moments, viewing the distorted reflection. This was the first time that he had ever revealed his face to a member of the Pokémon League. No matter. Anyone who knew Howard Slayte would not look for him under this visage.

This body that was not his own was a blessing and a curse. The helmet slid back into place.

"Uniting Team Rocket and the Pokémon League by destroying one side? I praise your efforts, at least." He watched as Tapu Bulu grew to the size of a skyscraper. "But Genevieve, have you not learned?"

A Wishing Star appeared in his palm, thrumming with Dynergy. A piece he had extracted for himself. Keeping them on his person was a risk, but they worked remarkably well as beacons. With all the Dynergy flowing around, it was a formality more than anything. Yet still he chose to use it.

"I'm going to leave you with a lesson to take back to the League. A humbling reminder that a pure heart cannot change the world alone, and that dreams are nothing without the will to make them true. That is why I am the only one who could stand in your way."

He clenched the Wishing Star until it threatened to shatter. The earth began to rumble beneath their feet as Regice took the Max Starfall and more barriers shattered. There was a bright red explosion of light.

"Now, show yourself! A stage worthy of 'Royalty' has been set! Appear...!"

Howard's smile widened as from a Tera Tunnel underground, something burrowed up using its size and affinity for the earth, acutely aware of the influx of Dynamax in the area. A massive explosion of ice and dirt was sent up into the sky.

Seven dots ignited, scorching the arena with the color red. Wild Pokémon scampered and fled, and the admin felt his communicator buzzing. He ignored it. If Genivieve wanted to stand tall, then he'd let her.

"REGIROCK!"

---

Genevieve Cromwell
MUSIC
+70 (Post)
+10 (Weather/Terrain)
+50 past thread
+50 tag a character
+50 respect another character
+50 (cast shade on Genny's loyalties)
+50 (dynamax)
+50 (use a legendary to reflect your character)
+50 (rock bottom)
+50 (regrettable decision)
+50 (pokeball 'throw')
+25 (music)