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”i was captain of rustboro. left to work on a farm for a while.” he’d been born and raised in rustboro, along with the other maher siblings, including gym leader CIAN MAHER. it was a family name the city knew, however they were disliked by some for their well-known past involvement with team rocket.[break][break]

he gathered natural debris with thick rubber work gloves and pulled it together, pushing it down into the mud and working it into more stable soil for a sapling’s roots to take hold.[break][break]

”i’m back in, actually, in fallarbor. not captain, but ollie morales’s is a friend and he’s pushing for it. they really need somebody.” a sapling was picked off the cart, handled with ease and planted into the mud. "you were in the war, i'm guessing. what front?"

[break]




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he waited for ollie to approach under the beating sun. the annoyance of that morning earlier in the summer had faded.[break][break]
when the head ranger had gotten close, he turned and opened the door to the barn. a fan blew above, and a mudsdale stood in a corner of its stall, watching them.[break][break]
bo turned, thumbs hooked in his pockets casually, if not a little nervously even.[break][break]
“it’s been tough around here. farm work’s no good if the farm’s not producing anything. will was talking about selling the tauros the other day.”[break][break]
perhaps ollie would sense what was coming next. he had pushed for bo’s return for so long before, and always the answer had been no. now, after months of silence, his answer was changed.[break][break]
“i want to join the rangers again.”[break][break]

[break][break]




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staring at his old friend, he realized that this deal probably wouldn’t last. if it came down to it, he would fight for caden maher . it pained him to think of his brother alone in an organization that hated his family enough to kill them.[break][break]

”yeah. willow atkins , and roman maher – that kid you attacked in the ultra deep sea. no hard feelings though, he’s a bit of an asshole anyways.” his tone was dry, the look in his eye giving away the suppressed desire for violence. [break][break]

what did he offer in return? ”i won’t kill anybody.” he paused then, knowing he could die right there and cillian would simply go about the rest of his evening. ”i won’t fight. they’ll expect me to, but i’ll fake it.” [break][break]

”i’m going back to the rangers. it’s looking like i’ll probably be fallarbor’s captain. i’ll turn a blind eye to things, give you whatever intel i can.” not everything.[break][break]

”and i’ll tell you what i know about the league’s max honey.”[break][break]

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bo was inclined to agree. in fact, ollie should have not come over at all so early in the morning, banging on the door, unless it was an absolute emergency – and even then, surely the head ranger had other reliable friends between ever grande city and fallarbor, considering literally the entire region lied between them.[break][break]

spatula in hand, he turned to glance at willow when she told ollie to sit down and stay, realizing he was still cooking for him too. the cast iron was situated on the stove, and he turned it to five.[break][break]

”thanks.”[break][break]

willow’s hand on his back softened out a crease of grouchiness in his forehead. however, it did not keep him from speaking up again. his pettiness had been roused.[break][break]

”i don’t want your apology, ollie. i want you to not pound on the door at the ass crack of dawn.” it slipped from his mouth, and even though he didn’t technically live there, and maybe it wasn't quite that early, he was too tired and annoyed to correct himself.[break][break]

”you should apologize to will, though.” he pointed at her with a spoon before sticking it in the bowl of pancake batter.[break][break]
[break]

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“the slice.” where else? it was cheap, and besides the many sandwich shops he had familiarized himself with for lunch, he was a creature of habit. the slice was special, too. though funds dwindled, the money was there, put away for a special occasion. ”i’ll buy.”[break][break]

he slipped on the mask, and as they went to work, another plan began to lay out in his mind. gold eyes glanced over at her.[break][break]

“i hope you know i’m gonna stick with you through everything now. no matter how hard it gets, we’ll push through it together. things will get easier.” they had to. ”i promise.”[break][break]

and while they both knew there was no way for him to keep that promise with any certainty, it felt right to assure her that he wasn’t going to leave her high and dry if things got any worse.[break][break]

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upkeep was a varied job, stressful enough to fully occupy his mind and hard enough to be cathartic at times. there was a special kind of peace in the earthy breeze at the end of a long day, and, of course, there was her.[break][break]

the nights were less that he spent by the phone, fading in the white noise of anxiety and competitions on tv. the farm had become as much a part of him as the shackles of his incessant worrying.[break][break]

he tromped down the stairs. ”pasta sounds amazing. zucchini bread, too.” he paused, then suggested, ”give it a little bit on the bulls, maybe. if i’m going back to work, i can ask around and see if i can find any good deals.”[break][break]

ideas began to get away from him, then.[break][break]

”let’s go out tonight.”[break][break]

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”oh, i mean it.”[break][break]

bed hair flared up on either side like horns made him look wilder with bloodshot eyes. glaring a second longer, bo turned and took up the whisk again. the bowl of batter rocked loudly on the counter as he mixed. if they made it to the pan, they would surely be very chewy pancakes.[break][break]

though he intended to focus on breakfast from there, he was unable to shut it off in the background. he thought back to that night he guessed willow presumably referred to, a deep haze in his memory, but not enough to black out the feel of her skin after years.[break][break]

”no, not that night. it was way before that. before the meteor.”[break][break]

as far as not kissing friends went, bo wasn’t sure of his stance. he didn't care. his stomach growled, and he set aside the whisk, dripping with batter on the counter. there was a clatter of cookware before it went briefly quiet.[break][break]

”will, how hot do you cook pancakes on?”[break][break][break]

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he didn’t want to walk with theo beckett and his equally cursed tool of a companion. even without knowing the man, he wanted nothing more than to beat him until his sharp stone face was unrecognizable – a fitting call to old times.[break][break]

knowing it would bring him nothing but death if he tried, however, he reluctantly obliged. ”c’mon, pompy. it’s alright.” his heatran joined him on the other side as he walked with the underboss.[break][break]

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'your father is dead.'[break][break]

the chill passed, leaving behind only a numbness. a strange hollow feeling in his chest, and for some reason, his first thought was, then why don’t i see his ghost too?[break][break]

an even greater mystery was the first and only word out of his mouth on the matter. ”good.” he surprised himself.[break][break]

the moment felt surreal, the breeze only the soft fingers of deceptive demons, reaching out from another realm to call him to some distant home. perhaps it was at the bottom of the ocean.[break][break]

like a wave, coldness returned. the ebb and flow of a familiar torture.[break][break]

caden maher was alive for now.[break][break]

for now – if he didn’t make the same damning decision as CIAN MAHER .[break][break]

”he won’t.”[break][break]

he will.
[break][break]

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waves rocked against white stone, their sound not far. the power of the ocean lingered in the susurration, a taunting song from the beast that rested there.[break][break]

marsh mud squelched under his boots. a blastoise waded along with him, helping pull a raft of saplings through knee-deep, murky water. rangers from all over the region had found themselves there at one point or another, contributing to restoration efforts of sootopolis’s devastated wetlands.[break][break]

he looked over a tall shoulder at his partner. ”watanabe. you’re the new captain of lavaridge, right?”

[break][break]




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