Somehow, as reassuring as it was for someone to call you good... It didn't stick to the wall. After all, he was beginning to wonder if they really were the good guys.

"..."

To him, it feels as if Genny has cemented some recent misconceptions. That those in the league, their dreams... It always seemed to be some self-fulfilling mission.

He believed she could do good, but becoming champion wasn't necessary for it. She imposed that on herself. Welcomed the burden. It was admirable, but also...something else.

"Maybe not as good as I lead on, though." He chuckles.

"You're not so bad yourself. I'm glad we had a chance to work together, even if just this once."

---

tl;dr
- 50 MP for PARTICIPATION
- 60 MP for POST (6)

SUPPLY: DG | Genevieve Cromwell

☉

...Guess that's my answer.

While Ollie is steadfast on their mission, the lower-ranked ranger finds his footfalls slowing to a standstill as the scene plucks away at tender heartstrings.

The head ranger might not understand who they're speaking of, but Derek is sure of it. A sleight of hand summons his pokemon, it's light of ruin eradicating the paradox pokemon from existence. He hopes to destroy them before they could reveal anymore than they had.

But the other two of them still remained, breathing life into a well kept secret from their time in Galar.

there were others before you! the false derek continues mouthing off incessantly. 'maybe even myself!'

As they stare onward towards the illusion, Derek has to wonder...who did she kiss...who did she choose first?

'what makes you so special compared to the rest of us?!'

SMOG (OD)

☉

"Sure." A gentle fist bump would meet the pokemon as he follows along, averting his gaze from the pikachu before it could provide much distraction.

Eager footsteps press on through the fog, waiting to see what they might find. And perhaps another chance, he thought, to compare himself to the head ranger.

His leader, and king...once upon a time. As the fumes make their way through his mask, an amalgamation of his greatest failures poke through.

The scene presents itself as the clash for the seal stone in the Ultra Deep Sea. The Brute Bonnet before them is an obvious challenger, though there are two more figures obscured by the mists. The practiced eye would notice a gun pressed against one of their heads. "What a pain..."

Could Ollie see this, or was it just him?

SMOG (OD)

☉

"Well, start with me if you'd like." Never did he mind being a stepping stone for another to go higher, to reach further. "But it's the world you're trying to prove wrong in the end."

Having noticed her unchecked emotions spill out for a moment, the ranger pauses in quiet for some time as they continue along. Considering the pokemon, the friends she's lost. Maybe she'd be able to see some of them again, like he did with Apollo...

But there was greater pain when these reunions were cut short.

"Wish that I could offer you some clever advice." A hand guides itself, rubbing frustratedly at his temples. "But I'm afraid you'll have to find that somewhere else." Some thing or person that had a better grip on life than his current self. That could offer more than hollow ridicule. Suggest something other than the same old routines.

---

tl;dr
- 50 MP for PARTICIPATION
- 50 MP for POST (5)

SUPPLY: DG | Genevieve Cromwell

☉

"I am." His words come through after a brief pause to survey what he could through the fogged terrain.

His effort proved fruitless.

A hand clings to the cloth bound around his face, bringing it tighter as he hopes to delay any of the effects they might soon feel taking place. "What's your call?"

SMOG (OD)

☉

Unable to maintain his stand against the coming horde for long, there is little delay between it and his retreat towards the megalopolan ship. Others taking their stand allow him to manage this unharmed, as well as the LIGHT SCREEN quickly projected by the mega-grimmsnarl following close behind.

It was all becoming a bit much for what he expected to be a typical search-and-rescue. He would've liked to gripe about it, though Derek gave pause upon observing Thomas Benoit's apparent injury. And the manner in which he handled it.

It made him think about the face of the league when he first arrived in the region. When Thomas was still a member of the elite four, and how different it felt to stand with all of them back then. In the mix of it all, what could one more leap of faith cost him?

pgWFdLKJ

---

tl;dr
- CHOICE 1
- mega-grimmsnarl 2/3
- Mega-Grimmsnarl uses LIGHT SCREEN
- Derek proceeds towards the megalopolan ship

BLOOD, MUD & IRON

☉

With the study of their findings swiftly interrupted, Derek watches the toxic chains making a foe of their many friends and allies. As battle is instigated between them, he fixates on the marching troop that feels to be approaching in-sync with the undetermined party his leech seed trap had alerted him to.

Allowing everyone to act as they would without interfering in their struggle, the ranger makes a rotation in order to bring out his Grimmsnarl once more. Mega-evolution would soon take place, allowing the ogre to unleash it's GMAX SNOOZE upon their adversaries.

F06VGQhd

---

tl;dr
- switches out flygon for grimmsnarl, which mega-evolves
- mega-grimmsnarl (1 of 3) uses gmax snooze vs. marching troop (but not their chain'd teammates if possible?)

BLOOD, MUD & IRON

☉

[attr="class","icon"]

Whatever becomes of his Machamp before it falls to the ground goes unnoticed, favoring a piercing pain in his left leg.
[break][break]

The pain is fresh in the mind, bringing with it some adrenaline that helps one to avoid collapse (unconsciousness). Though Derek can't exactly move right now either. The Suicune coming to his side was the best bet in avoiding a fiery peril, so he takes it while recovering his fallen pokemon.
[break][break]

It would eventually bring him closer to the group (kyle?), with the question of who needed help coming up. It wouldn't be him.
[break][break]


Whatever (healing) aid was provided gave the ranger enough spring in his step to dismount, leaning against the Suicune until a Skarmory was brought out to get him the hell off the island.

[break]
tl;dr[break]
- derek's machamp faints (non-mechanic)[break]
- derek's leg(bone) is pierced by a crystal[break]
- recalls the machamp while taking help from suicune[break]
- eventually releases his skarmory to avoid sinking

[attr="class","bottom"]THE CICATRICE[break]

Listening carefully to it all, Derek can't help but click his teeth at the end. A huff of air as he thinks about his own situation. He can't stand to look at her, nor the Impidimp who reminds him of a young Jonesy any longer. A brisk pace brings him ahead of the girl, noticably agitated hands running along his face and through his hair. Rubbing, wiping, struggling to keep it together in front of a stranger...

"So you're worried about the whole wide world, huh?" The sentiment is one he often courted himself, but it was becoming much too fanciful these days.

Fuck the world.

"You can go ahead and put it first. Doesn't change where it puts you." In the dirt, some day. The lives (and deaths) of the individual were largely inconsequential, and even so, no good deed went unpunished. "But I would worry about saving your pokemon first if I were you." Though he could find himself in everything she said, he rejected it.

"Were you able to avenge them, at least?" Whether it came in the form of more corpses or a sound victory, he'd hoped to hear something positive that came of all these tribulations. That she could stomach such a thing.

---

tl;dr
- 50 MP for PARTICIPATION
- 40 MP for POST (4)

SUPPLY: DG | Genevieve Cromwell

☉

"You could say that about a lot of people in Hoenn." But it certainly could be said for Derek, now many years into the life he lead in Hoenn. It wasn't what the ranger expected it to be as of late. Though his every stride matches Genny, he remains quiet in contemplation. For him, this sort of thing was difficult to answer. Too many ways to go about it, although the easiest way to sum things up?

"...But, I suppose it's easier to say that I changed."

His reluctance to overshare or annoy her with needless baggage would be obvious.

"Sometimes you get tired of the status quo. People have always suggested that change starts from within, so..." Should Derek wish for something different, then he had to start becoming something other than what he already was. Exert a different kind of influence.

"Guess it's finally starting to sink in." All the way to the bottom.

His eyes cast themselves over towards Genny, waiting for her to laugh, or be annoyed. Or maybe she'd simply resume her sunny disposition. Might as well take the time to ask her something back in return.

"Have you only ever seen yourself as a ranger?"

---

tl;dr
- 50 MP for PARTICIPATION
- 30 MP for POST (3)

SUPPLY: DG | Genevieve Cromwell

☉

[attr="class","icon"]

Though feelings of paranoia press their fingertips onto the surface of the mind, their conversation helps to prevent the ranger from losing his cool.
[break][break]

"You think? I don't know if I am ready to be some kind of content creator, though." Smirking with a soft laugh, he recalls the time at the Star Soiree, where Jonesy and him performed a dance the amphibian used to do every morning with it's other trainer.
[break]
[break]

But these pleasant notions don't last, as the two find their workzone being encroached by some odd creature resembling a pokemon...well, two of them to be exact.
[break][break]

"Holy shit that thing drew the short stick in life." His words are followed by inaction for a time, though a nod towards hi Gyarados suggests that they should deal with it. You know, before it spreads the ugly.[break]

---

[break]

ooc: battle pkmn fusion (+50 RKS points)