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Caleb Harcourt is an ex-rocket.[break][break]the thought remains at the forefront of her mind, snapping its teeth to mangle any connection that could be established between them. he's a ranger, a man captured by rocket and burned by the league's inactivity just as much as she had been — but he's her enemy above all of it. [break][break]she feigns neutrality, offers wordless, hummed responses to his theories and explanations, but the air between them feels heavy and tense like the quiet before a thunderstorm. [break][break]"i was."[break][break]and that's all she gives him. succinct, cool, nothing like the bubbly annalise that used to attend ranger meetings with him.

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annalise opens her mouth to say, but what? and the question catches in her throat. a thrill of FEAR shoots down her spine, as terribly familiar as an old friend. [break][break]"yeah," she says in a small voice, shrinking towards MATIAS SILPH 's side. in the dark shapes in her peripheral, she catches glimpses of her tormentors, of Felix Gallagher 's masked face. her iron leaves lets out a series of tones that lilt questioningly at the way the two are acting, but she hardly hears anything over the sound of her own racing heartbeat. [break][break]"make it stop." her voice wobbles as she shuts her eyes, wanting to see no more of it. "please."

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"okay."[break][break]annalise cradles the pokeball a little closer as freya morningstar walks past her, wishing she could somehow communicate something through the warmth of her fingers and into the cool, painted metal. maybe this is for your own good or please don't eat anyone when i let you out of this ball.[break][break]the ground vibrates beneath her feet as lyune follows after his partner, prompting annalise to fall in line between them. the councilwoman takes her to a cavern, explains (briefly) the intricacies of dragon taming, and leaves her with the difficult task of taking her own pokemon down. [break][break]she draws a stressed breath and releases two pokemon. her roaring moon explodes from its ball, shrieking and flapping impotently. it gets halfway off the ground, once, then collapses back onto stony floor once more. for a moment, it rages at nothing, lashing its tail against the cave wall and spitting fire as it reorients itself after a long time of confinement. [break][break]it turns back, sees lyune and annalise's dragapult, smells the trace scent of Remiel Calcifet lingering in the draciary — and whips itself into a larger frenzy. [break][break]the roaring moon lunges and snaps at one of the dragapult's copies, turning it into a wisp of shadow between its teeth. annalise steps back and watches, offering commands to the ghost-type every so often. a hail of dragon darts become a crawling infestation that gradually steals the primitive pokemon's energy away. [break][break]it fights back hard until both pokemon are teetering on collapse, but it's the roaring moon that falls first. [break][break]"is this enough?" [break][break]but she approaches it regardless, pausing once at the lip curled in her direction. her dragapult hovers beside her, its ghostly tail drooped wearily through the floor.

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robin coello commands one thing, but gengar does another. annalise makes a mental note of it with a quizzical tilt of her head, looking between the flushed trainer and her pokemon. the dark pulse ripples through the confined space between the two pokemon, latching itself to the hinges of metal joints and slowing the paradox pokemon's movements. [break][break]the robotic pokemon doesn't express pain, but the wear-and-tear is evident after both attacks. [break][break]"that was very creative," annalise praises, accepting the other trainer's ploy at face value. "the less your opponent knows about your next move, the better."[break][break]she lets the iron leaves calculate its next move, running through algorithms within seconds. unsurprisingly, it chooses psyblade again. a psychic horn erupts from its forehead, sharpened by the mind wielding it. with a whir of machinery, it tucks its chin and jabs the psyblade at the gengar.

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"oh."[break][break]fucking doesn't define a situationship, but the undercurrent of emotion does. she thinks of Rory Faust and her science partner. they were friends on paper, too, but the want blurred the edges of their relationship. [break][break]"did you want to be just friends or ... ?" [break][break]june sleigh doesn't let her pry too deeply into the matter, redirecting the conversation back towards her. it's like a tennis match of sympathy, each of them allowing the sensitive topic to be on their side of the court for a moment before sending it back. [break][break]"yeah, i think so. it looks like the main control panel, at least." she takes a step away from the equipment, nodding with approval as the other woman gets to work. "just do what you can. if it doesn't work, we can always try to look for like, a circuit breaker or something."[break][break]june bends down, sticks her flashlight in her mouth, and rifles through her toolbox. the words that slip between the plastic are barely intelligible at best. [break][break]what happened on your end, anna thinks she says, then something else she can't quite grasp. she follows the jerk of june's head with her eyes, over and over as she motions towards her ceruledge. annalise looks up at the ghost-type, but finds no decipherable answer in its flickering eyes. [break][break]"wait, what did you say?" she asks, blinking in confusion. her ceruledge raises a flaming arm above june's makeshift workstation, providing light with a grumble.

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"i know." [break][break]annalise doesn't need MATIAS SILPH 's decades of tracking experience when she has her own lived-in experience as a ranger, but she appreciates having him here nonetheless. she takes her phone out of her pocket to take a picture of the footprint, her brows furrowed in concentration as she zooms in with her thumb and forefinger. [break][break]"i didn't really — " her attention lapses as she checks the image quality. " — have the luxury to choose. we were kinda busy, like, fighting hundreds of these pokemon."[break][break]she puts her phone away and looks at the iron leaves. it turns its head to look at her. processing some hidden analytics about her, probably. [break][break]"hm, i guess it does remind me of you, though."[break][break]but more specifically, it reminds her of his elusive legendary companion. [break][break]"is virizion still mad at you?"

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"hm?"[break][break]annalise stops, map rustling in her hands as she turns back to june sleigh . at her request, the ranger captain folds the map neatly and holds it out for her to grab. between the two of them, this league research station shouldn't be this difficult to find, but annalise is starting to feel like the map is wrong. june traces their path and voices the very same doubts that have begun to take root in her mind. [break][break]"it should be."[break][break]she leans her head to one side to look at the map as june draws out the route across the paper with her finger. her brows furrow, seemingly offended on behalf of the rangers, but then she shakes her head and reaches for the map. [break][break]she makes an adjustment, rotating the map around in june's hands. [break][break]"read it now," she says, punctuating the command with a laugh that cuts the tension that's been building since they traveled down here. "it was upside down."[break][break]she points at an approximation of where they really are on the map, dragging her index finger distractedly across it as she looks up to get a sense of direction. "we're here so the stream should be ... over there?"[break][break]she gestures vaguely toward their right with her other hand. [break][break]

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despite herself, she checks her phone again after a few minutes. [break][break]no new messages. [break][break]the absence of a reply from Greyson Connors feels deserved. she hadn't messaged him in far longer — and had done it more than once since returning to society. though she can try to rationalize his silence as much as she wants, but it doesn't burn her any less. [break][break]it shouldn't matter at all, considering everything she's rehearsed in her head. but it does. greyson has always come when called, has always been there when she needed him, has always put up with her shit. if he has given up on her, she really is lost.[break][break]her phone dims in her hands and her knitted expression stares back at her. at some point during the hour, she moves to her bed, staring at the side of her phone until it finally vibrates with his message. [break][break]annalise sits up and reaches for it, but distant knocking make her abandon her bedroom without reading the text. she knows it's him. she knows he's here. she takes a deep, shaking breath once she reaches the front door, preparing herself for something herculean. [break][break]she opens the door.[break][break]"greyson," she says. her voice breaks on his name, sounding terribly small. "hi."[break][break]the door squeaks on its hinges as it swings wide behind her. she doesn't step aside to let him in, doesn't give him the chance to wonder about what's wrong. her fingers fidget anxiously at her sides, and she just says it. [break][break]"i think we should break up."

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annalise doesn't flinch as her ceruledge cuts the door open for them. she trusts the ghost-type's precision with her blade, knows it wouldn't let june sleigh get hurt even if she hadn't scrambled away from the front panel. there are few times when annalise feels in control — especially involving someone as fiercely independent and stubborn as june — but this is one of them. [break][break]june offers consolation and she realizes with a pang that she does want to talk about it. it's another wound, however self-inflicted, that wants to bleed everywhere. everything before rocket, everything after rocket. it all hurts.[break][break]"thanks," she says, swallowing down the burgeoning desire to spill her guts. "i appreciate it."[break][break]she joins her inside. her ceruledge takes up the rear of the group, purple flames casting cool light that shrink the shadows thrown by june's flashlight. annalise touches her chin, gaze following a thick cord rooted across a control panel. in the unnatural silence of the dilapidated building, june speaks. [break][break]"your friend sounds pretty smart," she praises softly. but june is right, it isn't the exact same. Greyson Connors is the best man she knows, and june's ex-guy-friend sounds leagues away from ever coming close to comparison. [break][break]"was it like, a situationship?" she approaches the equipment that had caught her eye earlier, fingers tracing its dusty surface. "that sucks, though, i'm sorry."

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"hey, i think i found something!"[break][break]annalise waves MATIAS SILPH over. in front of her is a footprint of a creature far larger than any paradox pokemon she's run into, the imprint partially filled with muddied water. more tracks spread out on the ground ahead of them. each are a significant distance apart and each one is less defined than the previous. [break][break]"whatever it is is pretty big."[break][break]her iron leaves beeps in agreement. annalise looks up at matias, resting her hands on her hips. [break][break]"it must be what we're looking for, right?"

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the peal of thunder makes her look up. a droplet of rain lands on her cheek, then another splatters against her ranger jacket, then the drizzle comes down. she swipes a hand across damp skin and meets eyes with MATIAS SILPH . [break][break]"yeah, i have. i put a tracker on it last time." she frowns. "those trackers never seem to stay on for long, though."[break][break]her gaze trails lower, toward the bandages on his leg. she points them out, asking offhandedly: [break][break]"did you get that from kyogre?"[break][break]annalise pulls one of the pokeballs from her belt with a small click!, then releases her togekiss. omelette doesn't shy away from the elite four member like it used to, but it does blink up at the storm overhead with some trepidation.

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coworkers.[break][break]annalise dips her head, accepting the answer — even if it sounds like a safe answer. Gunner Graves turns the question on her.
[break][break]"we're coworkers," she echoes, an edge of amusement in her voice. she still remembers the day he became the ranger liaison: she'd been huddled around some boxed coffee and donuts with ollie morales in the 4am chill, only to find out that they'd been called out there to welcome paxton concordas into the fold. [break][break]in the most exaggerated sense, she had hated him then. but now?[break][break]"i don't see him much outside of ranger jobs, but i like him a lot."[break][break]the path slopes beneath them. her iron leaves takes each step with calculated precision. [break][break]"i feel like he's one of the only people who agrees with me on the amnesty stuff."

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