"What is that?" Robin pointed rudely at the fairy type before them. She had never seen it before. It's light color was pleasant on the eyes. The soft shape of it made her want to grab and squish it, but she held back. "Let's try a new approach." She pulled an oran berry from her bag and cupped it in her hands, lowering herself to a crouch to slowly approach the pokemon. "C'mon, y'know you want a little oran," she cooed. The fairy moved closer out of curiosity. Before long, it finished the berry, and Robin secured the pokemon with a gentle tap of her pokeball.

She had been nervous the first time she stepped in Josh's gym, but that felt like years ago rather than months. She had been painfully uncertain while he showed her around. It had been scary to try different mounts, but she had learned a lot. Now, seasoned by a culmination of odd events and strict training under the wings of gym leaders and high-ranking Rangers, she felt more confident in her step.

"How formal is this challenge? Should I call you Mr. Devlin?" She's only half teasing. They've been on several missions, but she doesn't want to overstep during the challenge. Her experiences for the valor badge (victory) and aurum badge (failure) were with folks she had rarely or never seen. Josh was far more familiar. She even recalled the names of most of the pokemon she met.

hey, we should catch up!
come to 4242 mist avenue, oldale on april 3 @ 8pm
it'll be a girls' night in, but you can totally bring your best companion

Robin's invite had been sent out with stickers and a touch of glitter. That was the hard part. The fun part was buying the candles, snacks, and face masks for them all to share. There were plenty of pillows and blankets laid out in the living room. The house wasn't broken down, but it was dreary and gray and just a little foreboding. It was perfect. Robin had plenty of ghost stories to share.

Sinistea chimed pleasantly as she moved the marshmallows closer to the empty mugs. Then, she floated over to the front door and waited. Robin oversaw the hot chocolate that was almost done on the stovetop, trusting Sinistea to let the other Rangers in when they arrived.

Robin couldn't place what was wrong at first, but then it hit her. "Um, is it OK to trust a Zangoose with eggs?" She was pretty sure they swiped eggs like crazy, though she was never one to study a dex. She preferred Josh's quadrupeds to large bug pokemon, but that was also because she associated him with fast quadrupeds. Flying bugs made her think of Shalin instead.

"I haven't flown with cargo before, but Hydreigon is far more settled than Dragapult. He'd probably try to do flips in the air." Indeed, the silly ghost-dragon was still prone to immature releases of excess energy. She hadn't yet gotten him to hone that energy into a sharp focus.

She hopes he's been doing better since last time. "Of course! I even got my first gym badge." She grins ear to ear and pulls out her Rotom phone: the lockscreen is an image of the badge in her hand. "I have been training in combat a lot. Annalise got me started on thinking outside the box, and I really put it to the test at the Dewford gym." Everyone around her had been trying to prepare her for the dark reality of Rocket. It was about time she started listening.

She puts her hands on her hips to sass him. "I hope you've been taking it easy! Stressing out all the time is bad for the heart." She places a hand on her chest emphatically. When her hand drops, it brushes across Sinistea's pokeball on her hip and the ghost releases. Robin relaxes a little more. She's had Sinistea by her side almost constantly, but especially since the ghost got into her bag full of crystals - which she later realized were actually tera shards. "I also learned about tera since we met," she says while leaving out the 'the hard way' part. She wasn't known for paying attention to Ranger lessons. She learned better in the field.

When you go, you take nothing with you. It's a hell of a sentiment. For someone surrounded by ghosts, the idea of dwelling and haunting and carrying something with you in the end or for eternity is a deep-rooted subconscious belief that rarely requires introspection. It's unsettling to think about, that clean break, but her head is already spinning from the combat and the whiplash of unexpected curveballs. She files the thought away for later.

She takes away from the entire conversation that there are choices one makes and none of them are ever objectively right. She accepts the valor badge with wide eyes that turn to his scar. She narrowly avoids grimacing. Quietly, she utters, "How did you survive...?" She quickly realizes none of her pokemon have the ability to heal others. She holds her first gym badge in her hand and feels how deceptively light it is. She doesn't know what that means. "Thank you."

The wall is special. She recognizes a few names, which brings a smile to her face. She takes her time reading the wisdom of others. She's really struck by the simplicity of lam logan 's statement on the wall. What advice can she offer? What mark does she want to leave for others? She takes a deep, steadying breath. There isn't a lot of wisdom she feels empowered to leave, but for all of her missteps as a trainer and a Ranger, she knows one thing that guides her. She writes:

Walk your own path and never be lost.

Robin ignored the igglybuff that appeared. Baby pokemon were not of particular interest, though she had of course made an exception for Toxel as a brand new trainer. "It might clash with our aesthetic." She snickered alongside Sinstea as the duo made their way down the path. "But I don't think I've ever seen an ace trainer with one of those. We want to be the best of the best. But in style, of course."

Apprehension filled her. She was still exhausted from running all over Hoenn these past few weeks for rescue and recovery missions on civilians caught up in poisonous attacks and terrains. She dished out so much medicine and kicked so many poison pokemon asses that she saw it all whenever she closed her eyes. She needed a solid eight hours of sleep.

But things were buzzing. Word was that Rocket was amping up for a big attack. The details weren't known -- or at least, weren't shared with her. She couldn't afford to drag behind when she had commitments to Hoenn to upkeep. "Hey!" She shouted from the pier, waving obnoxiously. "Long time, no see," she greeted, though it wasn't true. She wouldn't forget their assault on the DRK Triad base in area zero for a while.

Her face grew warm as he countered with his perspective. True, she had written off earthquake because it wouldn't land a direct hit nor immobilize Revaroom. He was right about abandoning the strategy. Maybe it would have slowed down the Revroom enough to even the uneven playing field. But he had such mobility and several abilities to alter stats, and she didn't have either of those.

"I planned to win..." she said softly. "Snorlax hits hard and takes hits like nobody else. My plan was to hit hard, but the movement on your Revroom was difficult to work around." She didn't have moves designed for strategy like trick room. Snorlax was straight forward. She was, too.

Robin flinched at the presence of a very odd-looking pokemon in her path. It growled, appearing defensive or perhaps territorial. "Go ahead," she permitted. Sinistea used giga drain to sap some health from it, but the creature wised up and fled before Sinistea could gather much from it. "Glad I have such fearsome protection." She nudged her ghost and laughed. Truly, she did feel safe with Sinistea by her side.

Okay, she lets her guard down a little.

He's talking about virtue and warrior philosophy, and she feels pretty proud of herself and her performance despite the faults in both. But he whistles, prompts her with a question, and his whole team is coming straight at her. She balks, but Snorlax is no slouch. He picks her up and tosses her far into the field, into the small ocean he's generated from surf. She squeaks in the air and lands hard into the water, with little dignity at all.

Snorlax has too little time for the coordinated attacks coming his way but creates a hammer arm on both sides to punch at the Cyclizar at his side and the Toshinori from above. Robin hears the impacts as she resurfaces and pulls her pokeball immediately, retrieving the fainting Snorlax. He upheld his end and then some; he proved time and time again a willingness to fight til the last breath.

She might need it someday. But not today.

"If fighting til the end results in death, but lying down and taking it does the same, what are you saying I should do?" Her heart hangs heavy in her throat. She'll owe both of her pokemon an apology dinner and day of relaxation. She still stood by her answer. She could never turn tail on Hoenn. Where could she go that would shelter her from the shame? How fast would she have to run to escape the guilt?

"Walking outside is nice when there aren't a dozen toxic hazards around." She walked beside Sinistea, hands laced behind her head. She loved being outdoors. It was a shame that the past few weeks had been filled with poisonous gases and toxins all over. People were still reeling from the outbreaks. Robin tried not to dwell on it. She wanted to enjoy her recovering health and the pleasant weather. Sinistea's spirits were not dampened, too.