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A friend that comes and goes as it pleases? Genevieve raises a brow. "Huh." She's making a quiet huff to that. Not out of disdain or anything like that. After all, she has no idea who the friend is. She can only hope she sees them after all. But seeing Reiner go for that tasty snack has her smile.[break][break]

"We'll be sure to get our stomachs filled then, while we handle this-" The sounds of rumbling hits the Meteor Falls to interrupt her, as they reach a large expansive clearing in the cave. A massive Steelix, moving through properly, roaring out as it slithers around them.[break][break]

Genny's eyes look their direction, taking a step ahead of Eris and Reiner, her big sister instincts kicking into overdrive, as she tosses back out Shale.[break][break]

"Bite down!" The Aerodactyl roars to life, she races towards the incoming Steelix, and lays in with a bite, chomping into the steel with force. It veers off-course of the girls

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Hearing that Swift is like a shadow of a beast. And Genny is hopeful that he will come to, that Josh will ride the lightning once more. But he's here, in flesh. No pressure, sure, but one day he will give that to Josh here.[break][break]

"You're going to get better." Genevieve's lips curve upwards, as she turns towards Josh. She has to continue to believe that, because if she doesn't, she'll falter and fall. For now, she stays upright. "And when you do, we'll have our ride again. Okay?" she holds her fist outwards towards Josh. A lovely smile on her face, the sun behind her. Even with the trauma she holds, with all the pain, she will shine on.[break][break]

The sun shines on, whether the clouds cover it, or the night comes, the sun shines again. And she will embody that to keep his spirits up.[break][break]

"And the day you can live out that dream, you'll cross it off that bucket list. Then you can aim for the next one."

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He grips her shoulder, and she looks down to his hand, and she breathes. Grouynded. And he begins. He speaks with an unflinching resolves, and his frowns cause her heart to strain. Was she making him mad? Probably. But he wasn't sugarcoating it.[break][break]

A soldier does not win a war, it's the unit. It's all of the League. That's victory. But Officer Concordas was able to take down the gods. Him. To her knowledge, he is no Avatar, not blessed by any gods. He's just a soldier. One of the strongest soldiers she knows, and to this day, someone she continously looks up to. He laughs, he tells her how it went...[break][break]

And then... he asked what was going on. And Genny collapses inwards.[break][break]

"I-" Shaking. She looks him dead in the eyes, and she's back to being just a girl, a victim of war's harsher truths. "... I keep hyperfixating. On things I could have done, should have done," she pulls out the Pokeball in her hands, and holds it up. "Commissioner dahlia goode thought I was strong enough for him. Tapu Bulu. I-"[break][break]

She was praised for strength, and faltered right after, falling, falling faster, plummeting.[break][break]

"Am I ever... going... to reach it," she whimpers. The vision in the Megalopolan Prison still sits in her mind. The flagbearer, to watch the red R of Rocket to burn, to rebuild the region, to have a happy ending.[break][break]

"Sheriff Navidson told me to remember this pain... I need to save Hoenn. I have to. ollie morales believes in me too. My friends believe in me. Isaac Merlo believes in me. I can't be afraid of anything," The complications of that vision burn in her mind constantly. She has to get there. She cannot just acknowledge her trauma. Too many people count on her.

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The hug is nice. It doesn't calm the storm in her head, it doesn't make it go away, but it quiets the storm that enraptures her mind. It's never-ending. War. It's a raw deal, and under bad orders, it's made all the worse. But it's fine! Isaac Merlo and Eris Halla are both alive. They're safe. But her hands still shake, as they grab the back of Navy's shirt, because she shakes. It's not just them. It's not just them.[break][break]

It's DESIREE BLOOMS, it's Yuina Higashi, Elise Calcifet, Andrea Vaneau, Shalin Nariya. It's Melody Miro, PENELOPE LIVY, ollie morales, and paxton concordas. It's everyone. She's still not there. She's not enough. She can't face the gods halfway up the mountain, so she has to keep climbing. She has to reach the top. The Rocket Avatars look down, declan walsh looks down at her climbing.[break][break]

But...[break][break]

'Remember this feeling,' he says. It'll push her ahead of it. Genevieve's hazel eyes pool with tears. She will never feel this way again. If she remembers this feeling. The feeling of war, of feeling helpless, of her own inabilities, she can persevere. When he pulls back, and she sees his eyes, she tries to smile.[break][break]

"Thank you..." her eyes prick with more tears. She's masking it well, but she's damaged by this war. She'll take time to heal.[break][break]

Wait.[break][break]

Her words come a short stint after he pulls her out of it. "You've... never talked about your brother to me before," she thinks, and tries to piece it together. "What was he like?"

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"What?"[break][break]

It was a cardio day. After a lot of support, and rehabilitation, thanks a lot in part by ollie morales's mandate and Nurse Katharina Strophe's physical therapy, she was able to get back to something close to normal. It still hurt. But getting full rehab for her body wasn't something she could just pull off. It took time. Problem was something more internal, and it had been a huge roadblock in getting better. But she pushed through. She persevered.[break][break]

Only to be met with the Black Dog of Rocket. Casual. He's standing there, scruffy, neutral, cool as can be. A massive revelation that a supposed person she had faced in hard combat, was not in fact, the source of trauma.[break][break]

That belonged to the king of the seas alone.[break][break]

Instead, what comes with it, is something else entirely. Not fear, no. His warmth is met with warmth in return, and though she's not the happiest to see him... it isn't unhappy either.[break][break]

"I live here," she smiles back, but turns her head both ways. A look of worry comes over her expression. "You sure it's safe being here in the open?" She shouldn't care what happens to Hitoshi, but the worry is still there. Even if he's with them.[break][break]

With Rocket.[break][break]

"I'm... fine," her words aren't exactly ones she believes herself, so her stance is unsteady, as is her breathing. But she is able to calm herself with a few seconds of inhaling, and a lot of seconds to exhale. "Mandatory vacation time. My boss said I need it." After all, that's what ollie morales said.[break][break]

"You, Hitoshi?"

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The visitor this time was ollie morales. Genny knew he'd be coming today. He needed to check in on his rangers, and Genny was no exception. But this visit would be less than cordial. Because here, in Ever Grande, aside from the physical therapy with Nurse Katharina Strophe, or the visit from Sheriff Navy, or the very realist talk she had with Officer paxton concordas...[break][break]

This one was going to hurt.[break][break]

She fiddles in her hospital bed, petting on the little Yamper she had with her. Lucky panted happily, looking up and getting belly rubs. But Genny would keep an eye to the door, awaiting for her Head Ranger, and a man she would follow without fail.

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It made sense... if the body doesn't have time to heal, it's not going to heal right. Easy and steady as it goes. Kat was a good nurse, immediately proving to Genny as much as she sits down to her gesture, letting the nurse do her work, never once making a fuss at the cleaning of her wounds and patching-up.[break][break]

"Of course, Nurse," she's quick to nod.[break][break]

Seeing it visibly, Genny's body was banged up, but being young she would come around. Even so, every now and then would Genny groan from the touch.[break][break]

"What is the plan for today?" she wields a smile as best she can, but at best it's unwieldy. Lucky, on the other hand, can wear it the best of them, and that little Yamper was just happy someone was helping Genny! He clacks around, now running in a circle, exuberant! The dog pants are so cute.[break][break]

"Lucky has a lot of energy today. Wow." Emotional support animals really do be that way.

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His words are sweet, met on deafer ears, and while it's nice to know that she was wrong about being useless in the war, she only fulfilled one half of what she was. She was the Shield to Hoenn, she had proclaimed a number of times... Shred's mocking words filled the void that that title gave.[break][break]

Tick tock, little tin soldier![break][break]

She wasn't a shield, she was a soldier.[break][break]

Navy's discontent and bitterness isn't lost on Genny, and it's reflected back in full. Kyogre is a ticking time bomb, waiting to bond with a Rocket, waiting to become the tyrant of the seas, with someone manning that ship. Knowing Kyogre is scared only means a manipulator just has to appeal to that fear, and boom; the half-water region will become a full-water grave.[break][break]

When the topic changes, she pauses. She frowns, glaring at her bandaged hands. "It made sense, when it was just Mossdeep. Protect. I don't even know if Petalburg is okay, I don't even know if Isaac Merlo is okay, but not Sootopolis-" she throws herself into her knees, pushing her head to hide herself. Eyes watering up, vision blurry from her own tears.[break][break]

Sootopolis was a disaster. A legendary brawl, where only those with power could dictate the direction it went. But when a stalemate exists, no matter how big the victory is, it only rung hollow when compromise came in as it did. "-I couldn't do anything," her voice trembles and breaks, croaking what it can. She shakes, a fist punching her knee softly. "This war never ends." She pounds the fist again.[break][break]

The Pokeball on the counter shakes. The one containing TAPU BULU.

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Lucky has moved to Paxton at this point, pushing into his leg, wanting him to help desperately. That little Yamper cares so desperately much, a big heart despite his little clackety wheels. Like a begging moment, telling Paxton to try.[break][break]

For Genny though, it's like she's taken back right to that moment. The rain falling down over her face, all around her as the tides continue to rise. The tree sits amidst the world, the dragons duel and fight, and the whale rises like the leviathan that it is, daring to obliterate everyone outside the fishbowl of Sootopolis. Her breathing gets harder, trembling pushes through the entirety of her body. She's falling again.[break][break]

And then it lets her go. Thinking about it... is a bad idea.[break][break]

She turns to Paxton, unable to look at his eyes, unable to meet his gaze. "I was useless the whole time," she begins. She failed to stop Hitoshi Inoue's goal despite her victory. She failed to stop that rider Rocket (Shred). She failed to make a single dent on Kyogre. "Only Avatars can fight the legends... right?" She has it in her head, and why shouldn't she? Kyogre was under a seafaring captain's control, Rayquaza followed freya morningstar, even Navy was just that.[break][break]

What's one David versus a whole flock of goliaths?

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