[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia beamed proudly at both her work and the praise. Chester's middle head tilted up with the same pride with its eyes closed and beak partially open in a facsimile of a smile.

[break][break]"Thank you, Captain Vollans," she said, unable to hide her joy at hearing that. "He's been my partner since I was a kid, so we've had a lot of time to train together."

[break][break]With the Primeape pushed back, Julia turned to check on the Passimian pack. Most of them were still fast asleep, but a few had started to stir, looking confused. "We should probably hurry and investigate," Julia said. It was times like these that she wished she could talk to Pokémon and just ask them why they were fighting. "Let's see... I guess we can check if there's enough food growing around here first?"

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"Wait, seriously? I could have swore it was open right now..." She pulled out her phone to double-check the listing. "They must have their old hours listed or something. Dang, I thought getting an early start would make this easier."

[break][break]Chester's left head drooped in disappointment, while the right glared in the pharmacy's general direction. His middle head, ever the optimist, leaned down to nuzzle Julia reassuringly. Julia smiled and petted him. "Aww, thanks, buddy."

[break][break]"It's okay," she said to Josh about his outburst, if it could even be called that. She got a closer look at his Pokémon as they were introduced. "Oh, wow, I've never seen an Arcanine like that before!" She wanted to join in with Craggo's energy and maybe offer pets, but they were on a job right now. Julia may not have been the most professionally minded Ranger out there, but she did her best to take her job seriously.

[break][break]"So what do we do now? We can't really do a medicine run without the medicine, can we?"

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Julia didn't consider herself someone with a bucket list beyond the extremely vague "Explore the world and enjoy life." But when her friend Shalin Nariya had asked for help exploring a place on the Fiery Path known as Mirage Palace, Julia realized there was one concrete item on there: "Get over my fear of caves." After all, it had been a cave-in that had taken her leg from her. Despite her Ranger work taking her to every corner of the region and its environments, she'd still avoided caves for all these years. But she couldn't keep doing that forever, especially if she wanted to keep helping people like the Rangers had helped her. Maybe she was diving into the deep end by agreeing to help, but Julia wasn't one to do things half-heartedly.

[break][break]She wasn't one to do them carelessly these days, though. Unsurprisingly for a location buried in Fiery Path, Mirage Palace was supposed to be home to a lot of Fire-type Pokémon, so she'd selected her team based on that. Well, mostly, at least; Chester was always her first choice unless it was too dangerous to bring him along for some reason. The rest of her team consisted of three Water-types, a Fire-type, and a half-Rock-type. That should be enough to cover whatever the Palace threw at them, right?

[break][break]As she rode into Lavaridge Town on Chester's back, she took a deep breath. She wasn't just doing this for herself; she was doing it for a friend, and that meant that backing out now wasn't an option. She could do this. She'd studied wilderness safety of all kinds for years now, and she'd put it into practice in nearly every other way possible. One little cave wasn't going to beat her.

[break][break]She spotted Shalin waiting north of Lavaridge Town and waved. "Hey, Shaliiiiin?" Her shout of greeting grew confused when she saw the giant Beedrill Shalin was riding on. "Whoa." Chester's left head squawked in the same amazed yet mildly afraid tone.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Josh Devlin was transferring? Julia really wanted to ask why, but she didn't get the time to before the meeting proper started.

[break][break]Julia loved Captain Guillermo Marceliño already. He was handling paxton concordas's jab a lot calmer while still telling him he was wrong. He was right: There wasn't much that could be done about the fact that Fortree was where they were setting up one of these "Primal Points." Instead, the Rangers needed to focus on what they could do to mitigate the damages to people and Pokémon alike. "Thank you, Captain," she said, sitting back down.

[break][break]The fact that she was starting to relax again didn't stop her from cowing under Josh Dragomir's speech. If anybody here did secretly not care for people and Pokémon, she wanted them gone. But she knew that it was because people were concerned that tensions were running high. She felt bad for snapping. Though she was pretty sure that saying to "keep -shit- civil" wasn't civil in itself, and that made a little smile pull at the corners of her mouth.

[break][break]And then Calliope Marks had to open her mouth and shake up Julia's anger like it was a soda can. Julia narrowed her eyes and was prepared to say something in retaliation, but then Jax Cox came in and loudly announced that he had brought pie, and Julia's anger flattened into disbelief. Normally, she'd be bursting into giggles at the comedic timing, but all she could do was blink a few times as her head tried to sort itself out. She was feeling way too many emotions in rapid succession, and they were taking a moment to process.

[break][break]She didn't like being indirectly accused of not caring by Zahra Belsky or of being a coward by Raziel Beckett, but Josh Devlin spoke up against the latter before Julia could say anything. The fact that he was yelling was surprising enough, but... what the heck was he talking about with having seen a future that ended in extinction levels of death?

[break][break]"Sorry you had to see me like that, too," she mumbled. "But what do you mean, you saw a future?"

[break][break]When Captain Guillermo Marceliño spoke up again to say that even Rangers were allowed to be scared of this, Julia's heart swelled. She'd thought she was being stupid for letting herself tunnel-vision in on the safety of her home. But she'd been scared, and that was okay. What wasn't okay was letting herself stew in it until all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and hope that everything bad went away. She'd spent so long trying not to worry about the meteoroid because there wasn't anything she could do about it. Now there was something she could do, and she couldn't waste this chance. She nodded at her captain, determination returning to her face.

[break][break]At least she'd calmed down without having to be threatened by Josh Dragomir to not be allowed to play with the shiny new toys. She was eager to see just what those were.

[break][break]She caught Matt Vice's eye when he returned and offered an understanding smile, though it probably looked more tired than she intended for it to. He seemed like the shy, quiet type, so Julia wasn't surprised everything had overwhelmed him... but maybe that assessment wasn't quite right with the way he spoke to Razz before glaring from the wall.

[break][break]Then, it was Callan Young's turn to call everyone to attention. Unlike a lot of the other Rangers present, he was calm as he explained the Primal Points and reiterated that they should be putting their energy toward mitigating any problems, not bickering or getting angry at each other. Julia nodded, thankful that someone else was thinking clearly about this. He was in TERAVOLT, wasn't he? Maybe Julia should listen to more of their music...

[break][break]When LANCE VOLLANS said he didn't think the evacuations were necessary, Julia felt herself go back on the defensive. But he did have a point that the disruptions should only last for a short period. Julia hoped he was right; it'd make things a lot easier for the residents of Fortree if they didn't have to uproot the entire town. "Wouldn't it help to at least have a safe zone or something?" she asked. "Just in case something happens?" She turned back to Guillermo Marceliño, hoping he could weigh in.

[break][break]Holy heck, when did Sénon Game get here? He'd even brought his baby with him. He also had a point that people would be counting on the Rangers and other League officials to protect them. They had to keep their cool; otherwise, things would get even more hectic.

[break][break]Finally, Laurence Anderson took the floor again. Julia felt hot shame wash over her when he mentioned that the rest of the League would see the Rangers as a laughingstock if this kept up. She hadn't exactly kept her cool, after all. She glanced at Josh Devlin when the Head Ranger addressed him. Apparently, something big had happened that Julia wasn't aware of, and Josh had been involved.

[break][break]She was surprised when the Head Ranger addressed her and the other Fortree Rangers to say he trusted them to keep the city safe. Her smile returned, lit up by the pride returning to her. "I'll do everything in my power to help, sir." She could get angry at people later. Protecting Hoenn was more important than getting sucked into more arguments.

[break][break]Apparently, not everyone felt the same way. Matt Vice's parting words weren't directed at Julia, but they still stung in a way that reflected in her eyes. Elinor Anderson at least stepped forward with reassurance, as both a Ranger and Councilwoman, that every branch of the League would be helping out. Maybe that would help quell people's issues with lack of personnel.

[break][break]Julia's jaw dropped so hard that she worried she'd dislocated it when Calliope Marks threw a pie at the departing Matt's derriere. No way. There was no way that had just happened. Julia had to be having a weird dream, right? She absentmindedly pinched her cheek. Ow, nope, that hurt; this definitely wasn't a dream. Not even the part where it turned into an all-out pie fight that had Julia reflexively ducking when one flew in her direction.

[break][break]For the past several minutes, Julia had been worried that she had acted immature. She knew her more happy-go-lucky personality didn't lend itself well to professionalism, something she tried to make up for when she was on the job. But after seeing this? Julia felt like she should have worn a suit and tie to this meeting. Her one outburst felt like nothing compared to this madness.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia was prepared to put on her firm face and tell Isaac that yeah, it'd probably hurt, but hurt was better than dead, but he seemed to come to that conclusion on his own. She nodded back with a determined smile. She'd get him out of this, no matter what it took.

[break][break]Poor Flapjack was starting to look tired from holding Isaac up like this. Julia knelt down to gently pet her between the antennae. She wanted to offer soft words of encouragement, but she had to conserve oxygen. She just hoped her feelings made it through to the Mantine.

[break][break]She saw the pain flash in Isaac's eyes, but he covered it with his determined resolve. Still, Julia kept a close eye on him. Even if he didn't say anything, the last thing Julia wanted to do was make this worse. When his breathing grew rapid and desperate again, Julia put a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him to focus on her. "Breathe," was all she said before demonstrating those slow, deep breaths again.

[break][break]An unexpected memory rose from her internal depths. Earlier during Splashfest, she'd chased down a Rocket smuggler and almost gotten seriously hurt because of it. To her surprise, the Rocket himself had helped her calm down by walking her through a grounding exercise. Julia had already known it, but having her enemy bring it up still left her confused. If it weren't for the limited oxygen, Julia would be using that same technique on Isaac right now. Though maybe that'd be a bad idea; she didn't want him to focus on the water or his arm, so directing him to focus solely on her and his breathing was probably for the best.

[break][break]If only she knew the irony.

[break][break]She glanced back at the cliff to see that Isaac's arm was moving more in its restraints. Her breathing remained steady, but in her heart, she sighed with relief that her plan was working. "Almost there," she said. "Just breathe."

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia laughed more at ollie morales's suggestion that she use that nickname on their Head Ranger. "I'll think about it." She probably wouldn't—she liked her job too much to risk that—but it was still funny to think about.

[break][break]"I'll have to give it a try the next time we hit up the arcade," she said to Josh Devlin. She looked down at his phone to watch the chart video he'd pulled up. The first few seconds didn't look too bad... and then the fast footwork started. There were some off-beat notes that Julia didn't know the name of later on, too. "Man, if that's 'not too bad,' I'm scared of what the really hard stuff looks like." She said it with a smile, but how the heck did anyone learn to move their feet like that? Julia was a fit, coordinated girl, but high-level SSR still eluded her.

[break][break]She perked up a bit at Josh's mention of being transferred to Mauville soon. She'd have to ask him about that later. For now, the more serious side of the meeting was beginning. She sat at silent attention as Laurence Anderson began to speak. Apparently, the other Head Ranger was on paternity leave? But more importantly was the incoming meteoroid. Julia's fingers tightened, making the edges of her map crinkle. Installations were being set up in the marked locations to send the meteor "elsewhere," and her heart sank when Laurence explained how they would make the local populations go "crazy."

[break][break]Four out of the five locations had large concentrations of wild Pokémon around them. The Rangers would need to defend the installations. They'd need to disrupt the habitats they'd sworn to protect. Normally, that'd be more than enough to draw Julia's concern. But she knew before Laurence even said it that Fortree—her home—was the fifth location.

[break][break]Another Ranger (Kaida Adachi) spoke her outrage before Julia could. There was a flying sanctuary in Fortree that would be affected by this, and that was definitely bad, but Julia had other concerns. Concerns that Guillermo Marceliño echoed: The people of Fortree were in danger. Not only that, but he brought up the point that Fortree seemed targeted, something that Julia wouldn't have thought of.

[break][break]"Yeah, why Fortree?" Julia asked, echoing SACHA ROSIER. "Why put all those people in danger? We're going to evacuate them, right?" But Arceus, what an effort that'd be to uproot an entire city. Her parents would be fine, but other people had small children and elderly relatives to take care of. How would they cope? And where would they even take them?

[break][break]She appreciated ollie morales's optimism in this situation. Heck, normally, she would have added to it with her own. But she couldn't stop the dread creeping into her heart like tendrils of ice. Why? Why was she so scared? Why couldn't she trust in her own power and the power of her fellow Rangers to make things right? That's what they did, wasn't it? This was what they had to do to protect the region, so why did it feel so awful?

[break][break]All those dark, gross feelings swirling inside of her coalesced at paxton concordas's words. Julia had never even met him before, so it wasn't fair to make a judgment call on him. And he was totally right. But none of that mattered in Julia's clouded mind at that moment.

[break][break]"'Self-obsessed'?!" Julia snapped. "We're worried about our homes and families! How is that 'self-obsessed'?!"

[break][break]But it was selfish, and Julia knew it. The whole region was in danger. If something wasn't done, everyone, not just her family, would die. And yet... and yet...!

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Normally, it'd be like watching a flock of cute, fluffy clouds fly across the sky to better climes as the seasons changed. But with the barrier around Hoenn, this normally calm event was a lot more stressful. Altaria squabbled for nesting space in this cut-off region while longing for the chance to spread their cottony wings and soar to new skies. It was sad to think about, but Julia didn't like dwelling on sad things. She preferred to act.

[break][break]She couldn't break the barrier, as much as she wanted to, so the next best thing was to catch one and give it a loving, comfortable home. She wished she could catch all of them. Not just them: every Pokémon who needed help, especially in these turbulent times. But she'd have to stick with doing what she could wherever she could. Thinking of the what-ifs would just make things worse.

[break][break]A lone Altaria stood beneath a copse of trees, looking up sadly. It seemed that there wasn't enough room for it with all the Pokémon already claiming their territory. Julia slowly approached, not wanting to startle it. "Hey, there," she said softly. "It's okay, I'm a friend. I'm here to help."

[break][break]The Altaria tilted its head and took a tentative step forward, seemingly sensing Julia's good will.

[break][break]"That's it," Julia said with a smile. "There's not a lot of room around here, is there? Why don't you come with me? I'll make sure you're loved and fed and can fly around all you want." To prove her offer was genuine, she took a berry from her bag and held it out for the Altaria.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

[break][break]Julia snickered. "Larsy-pie? Are you allowed to call him that?" she asked teasingly.

[break][break]There was a commotion as Josh Dragomir started Josh Devlin into dropping his plate. Luckily, there were immediately plenty of people to help clean up the mess. When that was done and Josh had gotten his new helping of food, he approached Julia. She tapped her feet on the floor like she was doing a much simpler pattern ending with a left-right double to greet him back. She wasn't nearly as good at the game as Josh—her lack of practice and inability to feel with one foot didn't help—but she still had fun playing it. Plus, how many games actually gave you exercise?

[break][break]"That's awesome!" she said about his incoming red uniform. "You totally deserve it. And it sounds like Matt had a good tutor, too." She smiled over at Matt Vice, hoping to break the ice. He seemed pretty eager to get away from these strangers, and sadly, Julia was strangers.

[break][break]The compliment toward her sausage balls had her smiling even wider. "Thanks! Yeah, they're a family classic." She looked at her own plate, stacked high with various foods. "I'm gonna have to do some extra exercise to work off all these carbs later. So worth it, though."

[break][break]Envelopes were passed around to the Rangers in attendance. Julia, ever the curious type, opened hers right away and saw the marked map of Hoenn. She knitted her brow in confusion. One of the marked locations was her own hometown. What the heck did it mean?

[break][break]Ollie's sharp whistle drew her attention from the map. Oh my gosh, that Pikachu is so cute, she thought, watching it nibble on a cookie. But she forced her attention to the captain as he spoke. Seemed it was time for the serious business to start.

[break][break]The first order of business was promotions. She joined in the applause for the promotions, especially for Guillermo Marceliño, given that Julia was a Fortree Ranger. "Congratulations!" she said. She'd have to go introduce herself when the meeting was over. Julia couldn't help but feel like he seemed a bit off, though. Maybe he was worried about the map, too? Hopefully, that would be explained soon.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Julia's travels, both as a budding trainer and a Ranger, had taken her all across Hoenn and its varied environments. She was used to spending her nights under the stars, away from civilization and most people. Yet she'd rarely ventured into Route 111's desert with its searing heat and blinding sandstorms. Now, she was here on business with a fellow Ranger she only knew in passing, Talia Celes.

[break][break]"Yeah," Julia said, a rarely heard venom lacing her tone. She didn't like being angry like this, so she flashed Talia a determined smile. "But that's why we're here: to stop them and protect those Pokémon."

[break][break]She resisted the urge to wipe the sweat that had been pulled from under her skin. As gross as it was, it was apparently important for staying hydrated out here. Julia had brought plenty of water, but you could never be too careful.

[break][break]She lowered her voice to a whisper: "Oh, I think I see something." In the distance, the sands shifted and morphed over serpentine movements. If that wasn't a snake, it was doing a real good impression of one.

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"Good," Julia said softly, not wanting to use more air than she already had. She kept her own breaths slow and steady, both to serve as a good example and to keep herself clear-headed.

[break][break]Easier said than done, though. Julia didn't have any tools with her, and it wasn't like she could just go grab some and come back. There was one thing she could do, but it made Julia's blood run cold with dread. No. No, she didn't want to do that until she was absolutely, 100% out of options. In fact, she wouldn't even think about it until then.

[break][break]She ran her hand gently along the side of the salt cliff, keeping away from where Isaac's arm was for now. It felt softer than normal rock, but it wasn't grainy or loose like she would have expected salt to be. Still, the seed of an idea took root and began to bloom.

[break][break]"I'm gonna try something. Stop me if it hurts." That probably wasn't super-comforting for Isaac to hear, but Julia had to be up front about this in case something did go wrong.

[break][break]She patted Marina's head to get her attention. Once she had it, she pointed to the hole where Isaac's arm was trapped, then spun her finger in small circles. The idea was to use Whirlpool to "sand" the gap in the cliff until it was large enough for Isaac to pull his arm out. She just hoped it worked.

[break][break]Marina angled herself so she was looking up at the cliff, then narrowed her eyes in concentration. The water around Isaac's arm began to swirl, putting some pressure and friction on the cliffside. Julia glanced back at Isaac to make sure he was okay.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

"There," Julia said once she'd tied the last saddlebag to Chester. "How's that feel, buddy?"

[break][break]The Dodrio's left and right heads craned their necks to inspect their cargo. After a few moments, the middle one nodded, looking satisfied.

[break][break]"Good!" Julia clapped her hands together, proud of her work. As part of the League's VALOR initiative, Julia had been tasked with delivering medicine to a gated community in Lilycove. Many of its residents were former Sootopolis citizens who had been affected by the Darkest Day, so they were in need of whatever aid the League could provide.

[break][break]Julia wasn't alone in this endeavor, either. Although he'd recently been transferred to Mauville's Ranger division, Josh Devlin would be helping Julia with the delivery. And with his expertise in ride Pokémon, she couldn't have asked for a better partner.

[break][break]"How you guys doing over there?" she asked. "Need any help?" She hoped there was enough storage space between their various rideable Pokémon, but if she needed to, she could send out Sparkie or Spot to carry some things with telekinesis or good ol' arm strength.

[attr="class","juliaw"]

Did Beheeyem usually do that? "I don't think so," Julia answered. "I don't see many Pokémon wearing clothes unless their trainer gave them to them." Especially not entire coats. Some wild Pokémon picked up accessories like sunglasses or bracelets either left behind by or plucked from humans, but this was a new one.

[break][break]"I don't think we can arrest Pokémon, but if she has a trainer, we might be able to arrest them." Julia used "we" loosely here; she didn't actually have the authority to arrest anybody, but she could call for an officer, if needed. "But unless she's got some sort of identification on her or Elga can ask her, the only way we can find that out is to try using a Poké Ball on her." And the Beheeyem didn't seem happy about that suggestion, if her glare was any indication.

[break][break]Hideo relayed Elga's suggestion that they talk to the farmer. "Oh, that's a good idea! We still need to find out where the missing Wooloo are, too." Hopefully they were okay; they wouldn't need to be harmed—or worse—if this Beheeyem just wanted their wool, right?

[break][break]She motioned for Spot, still holding tight to his prisoner, to follow. "Let's go," she added for Hideo's sake.