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Uphill battles. The Glimmora threat had been quelled, taken care of, but not without some trouble on the horizon. Namely, Vanilla Kingsley had gotten the short straw there, as well as a few others. Kouji Matsubara , the guy near Elise Calcifet (Cadeyrn Osmond ), and nagi miwa . Their Pokémon included. But so was the bear, and that... was concerning. He was their guide.[break][break]

She feels so frustrated she's not more use. Though Akane tries to console Genny, it feels irritating how she's just not intimidating. How she was always needing saving, protecting. She was the person who was intending to keep people safe.[break][break]

Yet here she was, wishing she was more intimidating.[break][break]

"I'm fine." she answers to Yuina Higashi , a poison on her tongue that colors her tone darker, and Genny can feel it pull at her. She doesn't mean for her words to come out so cutting, especially to someone she just met, but her lack of ability was starting to burn her. DESIREE BLOOMS was more capable. Isaac Merlo was more capable. Old wounds resurface, wounds Genny doesn't even realize she has. She feels powerless again.[break][break]

"Sorry. I-" she says, grabbing towards her face to cover her embarrassment. What the heck was that? Poor girl didn't deserve sass.[break][break]

Others go to inspect a bowl, and Genny just eyes the various plants. They were flora that she'd never had a moment to even recognize, but with clean hands she decided to try her best to retrieve a little. Desi seemed interested in the pink ones. Made sense. Pretty and pink. Capable.[break][break]

Deciding to snip a few for the road later, taking those spicy and sour ones, she placed them somewhere safe, preferring to inspect the Herba Mystic themselves. Curious over them.[break][break]

At least some people were having a blast. From what it seemed, howard slayte was having a ball with that bowl, among those interacting with it. Genny presses on, unlike herself and disinterested.[break][break]

The closer she got to that sudden cliff drop though, after this subterranean grove that grew things ancient, forgotten, or maybe new and mysterious, she found her eyes on it down below. A correct deduction, too far away to bother moving towards. Hazel eyes squint.[break][break]

"Bingo."[break][break]

She'd called it earlier. A massive spacecraft in the distance.[break][break]

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Off-duty and exhausted, Genny was no longer dressed in her Ranger uniform, casuals accented by the bandages that lace her arms, legs, and her face; specifically the bridge of her nose. Exhaustion kissed her, and she had been granted vacation leave for a few weeks. When clocking in seventy hour weeks, that's how things rested.[break][break]

On her side, Fawkes the Torchic would walk by with his talons, clawing into the dirt. Guardian the Duskull rested in her chest, in case he needed the assist.[break][break]

As she does her own off-duty recon, she needs to rest again. She was so tired of this island. She almost started to curse because of it, but she keeps it in. At least for the moment. What was she even doing? Hoping to find someone, and for what? To fail again? To test her mettle?[break][break]

Fawkes and Guardian can tell something is wrong, and though they don't approach Genny on it... they do keep it in mind. Guardian begins to sense something nearby.[break][break]

Fawkes prepares himself. Genny keeps walking, ever diligent, before seeing in the distance someone under the cover of one of the palm trees here on the beach. She freezes.[break][break]

"Name and purpose here." No chances. A Ranger Badge is out at the ready.

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That's a kindred spirit right there. Genevieve can feel the wear and tear over the years for Derek. How Hoenn continues to run him down. Part of her wonders if it's just the region itself. It's like an annual kind of thing, and for him to say something like that pulls at her heart a bit.[break][break]

Finally, things started sinking in? The tiresome status quo that needed to be maintained? Innocence would beget her trying to inspire it back into him, but... that's not the Genny of today.[break][break]

Today, hazel eyes stare forward with a heap of troubles weighing her down. Her shoulders were loaded to the brim.[break][break]

"I guess not." Her time with Melody Miro, short as it was, fills her mind. She's smiling. "Someone I look up to told me there were different career paths I could take... and more and more I'm realizing how weak I really am." The stride is slow, but the conversation is nice. Being so short, it requires Genny to keep apace at four foot eleven, but Genny would.[break][break]

"I've lost a couple of Pokemon over the past couple days. I lost more and more... more than a lot of other people." she looks at the ground as they walk, Donnie grabbing onto her back like a backpack, the little goblin hanging on.[break][break]

Up until recently, Genny had only found herself being a Ranger. But the idea of keeping her Pokemon friends alive... "I wanna become the Champion one day. Or at least, gain status for it and stay as a Ranger. Maybe then... I can keep the world safe myself." It was a drive right from the heart.

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Everything moved with such speed. Protecting her face, she can feel her Ranger outfit being torn at every opportunity, and unable to see that labor had nor bore fruit, and she instead looked up to see the horror that nothing she had done had worked. In fact, her strategy was faulty and flimsy, and it showed the cracks immediately. With Zagreus frozen for the moment, it left a barely up Vanilla Ice, and a fresh Serenity. And Serenity would never let harm come to Genny.[break][break]

The fatal flaw of her oldest friend.[break][break]

As the Rocket came in for close combat, taunting her with strength Genny didn't even realize she had, she could feel her lungs deplete of air, and her hazel eyes glazing over in panic and fear. Had she lost? Each blow was heavier than the last, and each was precise. A solid jab to the abdomen, and Genny fell to a knee. The air was out of her lungs, as she wheezes and gasps.[break][break]

The exact scenario that led to Serenity leaping forward to protect her.[break][break]

And with it, the mistake was made. Vanilla Ice saw the scheme twist before anyone could circumvent it, and he, in his inability to stop it, utilizes anything to stop Serenity from death. With a final AURORA VEIL, Vanilla Ice attempts anything. But the ICICLE SPEARS are too much. Even to cushion the blow... the Frosmoth had failed.[break][break]

And now, they lay together. Vanilla Ice had taken the less of it, and reduced damage by enough to just become unconscious, not even in direct line of fire... but Serenity...[break][break]

Genny's hazel pupils shrink, as she stares at the damage that this Rocket has done. This was Hazel all over again... the sheer spear work, leaving Serenity a kebab. She's not breathing, not because she cannot, but because she's not letting herself. The sight destroys her. She has no more will to fight.[break][break]

And landing in front of her, an unfrozen Zagreus, who ROARs with such ferocity, intending to spread fear. He can move fine in the ice and snow, and will kill everyone on beach before they take more friends away. No. MORE.[break][break]

"Serenity..."

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The redhead doesn't see it coming, but Pet Shop does. As soon as Pet Shop realized what was going on, she attempts the fastest drop she could, almost throwing Genny from her saddle, as she gets a moment to look at her foe, flourishing in the air with a pierrot, a barrel roll, and a means to caw angrily.[break][break]

Genny saw the Rocket now, face-to-face, the Charizard ahead of her, and looks to Pet Shop who took a good portion of that strike, despite her dodge. Her breathing was heavier now.[break][break]

"You don't belong in the sky!" She holds her Ranger badge out, brow furrowing as she calls back. "I may not have authority to take you in, but I have authority to take you down! Senior Ranger Cromwell. Remember the name!"[break][break]

One day, she hoped it would be a name Rocket fears.[break][break]

"Give it back to him!" With a clap of wings, a TWISTER funnels outwards, coming after the Charizard and the Mad Dog of Rocket.

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Neon had effectively gotten Ebony and Genny out alive, keeping her alive. Which meant that chance means of escape, the only one she saw, had worked out. It might cost two lives today... but Neon had Ebony's respect. In another life, maybe she would have a chance to thank him properly.[break][break]

But Ebony had gotten Genny out of the cave. With little energy left in her system, Ebony stayed on her feet.[break][break]

That thanks came now.[break][break]

Genny, barely conscious, looked towards Ebony, who licked at her face. The redhead stares on, and Ebony turns her body. Beginning to walk away. Genny holds a hand out for her, never reaching the Absol.[break][break]

"Eb... ony..."[break][break]

She slumps over by the entrance. She was alive. That's all that mattered to the Absol.[break][break]

For as little of a time as she and Genny had, this was okay. The energy she has left, she begins making a beeline into the cave again. Red eyes peeking back into the future, another usage of FUTURE SIGHT as she races, and before the Brute Bonnet can make their mark towards Neon, attempting to get the jump on him, she cleaves it in two with a SLASH, before mewing at him to go.[break][break]

The same order he gave Genny moments ago. To run or die. Running into the fray, Ebony fights. She was covering his escape. But the wounds had caught up to her.[break][break]

The only way for Genevieve Cromwell to have lived was for Ebony to die. She's at peace with that now. With the swarm threatening to consume her, Ebony breathes her last.

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Had it been another few minutes, Genevieve may have fallen asleep atop her Pidgeot. Pet Shop was warm... and she was busy thinking about Hazel, Ebony, and Serenity. Eyes prick with pain, but unfortunately for her, the suffering didn't stop.[break][break]

The Iron Moth that glows like the sun is imposing, as Genny's head pivots upwards to the threat that looks down upon her, and her face mats in fear.[break][break]

She could lie. She could lie, and get out of this. But there was an honor in her, that pulls her to her feet atop of Pet Shop, heavy breathing. Shaky legs. She pulls out her Ranger badge, as Pet Shop flaps her wings from below. Genny didn't fear the deep blue sky anymore. What she feared more were the predators the sky was filled with.[break][break]

The badge comes out.[break][break]

"Senior Ranger Genevieve Cromwell."[break][break]

And hazel eyes fill with exhausted determination, as shaky legs barely keep her up. Her bandaged face, and tattered and bruised body took too much of a beating this whole mission.[break][break]

"That's my line... name and purpose..." She fears she already knows. She was already slightly embarassed that she attempted to arrest one of them before. So she holds that to herself, and just... waits. Maybe he was friendly.[break][break]

Unfortunately, naivety had already beaten and battered her hopes, and even compromise didn't seem likely, even if she strived for it.[break][break]

Her shoulders tense, as she prepares for their first move.

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The mention that the missions don't matter as much as they used to... does something to Genevieve. Her expression softens from the giddy Ranger ready to prove herself, into something else. Fear? Maybe. Curiosity? Perhaps. Burden of tenure, something Genny feels something for, as to annalise henderson. Didn't she step down from Head Ranger?[break][break]

Hazel eyes seem to travel to find anything to focus on. When Joker turns around with a face full of dirt and mud, the tension shatters, and Genny grabs at her face and begins to laugh. Joker stalks on over like the little goblin he is.[break][break]

"It sounds like you've been through a lot, huh?" the question sits in the air, tenderness to her tone. A curiosity and attentiveness to what must have caused that, but the answer already in her own head. Genny witnessed too much pain.[break][break]

It stopped bothering her so much. But Rocket was still Rocket, and they needed to be stopped.[break][break]

"If you don't mind me asking, what changed?" she asks him, still curious. If they were going to be traveling together, it was important to know. This was a higher-up member, and someone she could learn from. And, it was small talk.[break][break]

Something Genny liked.

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The path down the foliaged way is nicer thanks to Neffatari Nzingha, nagi miwa, and @kouji, the trio allowing for a much easier way forward. Genny's focus breaks as she moves to talk to DESIREE BLOOMS, a little more pep in her step. She never untenses, but the small talk is a means to help Desi, and others calm. She'll take that any day and be taken by surprised over too worried and causing more problems.[break][break]

"Same here, Desi. We really need to stop meeting when stuff like this keeps happening." First the Gyarados in Pacifilog, now the cryptid alien threat and a bear. It was exhausting to say their friendship was built on intensity, but it was. They needed to go get tea, coffee, baked goods. Anything. Anything that wasn't murder water snake or resident alien attacks.[break][break]

Though she didn't know the other girlies, Genny waves a hand up to Yuina Higashi and Vanilla Kingsley. "Call me Genny, nice to meet you b-"[break][break]

And then, she was rudely interrupted by a sudden influx of Glimmora. And for once, Genny was visibly angry, her brow furrows. One hand out. "Knock'em out." Being interrupted was rude, and the Fennekin would utilize the opportunity to PSYSHOCK at the swarm, adjoining with those using psychic attacks already.[break][break]

Akane was mewing out, as her eyes glow light blue, as a wave of purple energy fires outwards to strike at the Glimmora foes, mirroring her Trainer's discontent.[break][break]

It was rude to interrupt. Especially when she's trying to look cool.[break][break]

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It's that same grotto again, the little cave that Genny has buried more of her fallen. Her face is bandaged, her body bruised, and emotions all over the place.[break][break]

A bracelet is on her left wrist now. A permanent fixture she fashioned recently to never forget. Eight stones upon it now. One for each of the fallen. She holds onto each of them. She looks at it. MB. LB. MC. DR. CB. H. E. PS. She takes a breath in. Her bandaged body covered by her boodie, though not her face.[break][break]

She was here off-duty.[break][break]

Her hands are pocketed now. Trying to enjoy a beautiful day. The sun is out. It's colder, October. The war is going around... life is so fleeting, but days like this, its good to remember what it's all for. A better tomorrow? That's certainly part of it. To remember those who helped along the way?[break][break]

Once again, she finds her mind going to what Melody Miro told her. The excitement to take the challenge. A means to get stronger, so she doesn't have to add another bead.[break][break]

Wiping her eyes, she moves towards the shoreline again. She did her best. She really did. A sniffle here or there. She closes her eyes... a quiet hum from her heart. With it, she kicks off her shoes, and feels the waves splash against her feet. A tiny wood gecko politely on her shoulder to let her mourn, chewing on a twig as she hums too, slightly off-key. But harmonizing best she can for a little wood gecko.[break][break]

Her voice begins to sing. 🎵 "Remember me..." 🎵

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The Absol is fighting with everything in her heart right now. One down, another down. Slice, slice, slice. Mincemeat. The Absol slices another down with a NIGHT SLASH. The wall of Brute Bonnets come, tumbling down. Her eyes panicked, the Absol watching Neon with held breath, as the knife is pulled...[break][break]

And he rips upwards into the Brute Bonnet. He had the easiest kill imaginable. The variable, going the way it should. His efforts save Genny's life for the moment. Genny's eyes coated with black bags, as she grabs at her chest. Double vision claims her eyes.[break][break]

Once more into the future... Ebony knows what needs to be done. The Absol races, another sliced in twain, the mow coming from her like a cry.[break][break]

Neon is at the exit. His words, cold. Get up, or get left behind. It's cold, it's devastating, but it is trademarked as a Rocket. Genny claws upwards, pulling herself up. Her body is cold. Hazel eyes move towards Ebony. She wouldn't leave without her.[break][break]

Ebony would never allow that. Racing, and gripping Genny with her blade ripping into her Ranger uniform, Ebony would feel the onslaught of no Mega Drains, but a dozen GIGA DRAINs. All aiming for Genny, but taken by Ebony. Each time, as she is hit again, and again, attempting every DETECT she can. Failure on some.[break][break]

Genny feels so sleepy... Ebony isn't giving up though. Even if she slows down, even if her body is drained of every bit of life energy there is. She runs. She pulls Genny along.[break][break]

To safety.

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She didn't have time to escort them, but with her softening expression, she nods. This Dwayne had won for the moment, as she agrees. While it was strange he didn't realize the warzone for what it was, stranger things have happened.[break][break]

Like the dog mission, for example.[break][break]

"Sure. The nearest town is probably Petalburg up north. Do you have a Water Pokemon on you?" She didn't exactly have a Water-Type on her at present, save for Bubbles, but she was hardly a ferry kind of Marill. "If not... I can get you to someplace safe while its going on." She offers Dwayne a smile. She didn't seem worried.[break][break]

She trusted Dwayne. They were right at the beach, and it wasn't that far of a walk to get him to safety. As she takes a step forward, she actively turns her back on Dwayne.

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Exhaustion has Genny struggling. Her body was on empty already, but she still accepted the recon mission in the skies. Rocket never seemed to sleep, so neither should she, but in her efforts, she had been beaten, battered, bruised, but not broken. Whether it was the Rockets who came near the shoreline who took her on head-to-head (Tempest Quinn, Victoria Beckett, fern delaney), the ones in the sky who forced her to adapt (mint frost, dorian westcliff), or the ones who abused her trust (Aurelie Lefevre, marcus kotov), Genny was on empty. She couldn't take much more.[break][break]

It was supposed to be an easy scouting mission. Pet Shop wasn't as tired as she was, but she took the reigns, and Genny could relax. As much as she could. Covered in bandages and bruises, some of which that came directly from her recent fight (fern delaney ), Genny holds on in the sky on her saddle. Her eyes weakly stay open.[break][break]

"Stay steady, Pet Shop... we're almost done."[break][break]

The bird looked back in fear, but stayed the course. She'd keep Genny safe as much as she could. A flap of her wings beat harder, as she soared in the sky, over the clouds.

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