So it's time to write another letter to Father Winter again, huh?

Well, this year I have a bunch of stuff I wanna do at least. TO start things off, I think I want to really work on myself. I've been so jealous of robin coello since we first became friends. I know she's got some family problems being psychics and she lacks the ability, but I've always admired how approachable and nice she is. I've wanted to work on that a lot and really pushed myself to step out of the inside of a computer lab in a while.

In the future, I really want to be somebody who can stand up to people and do good. Somebody like freya morningstar , who can build a cool sanctuary for dragons, or any of the Rangers that I work for. I hear Shalin Nariya is wild and crazy, and I want to have cool adventures like her and really go loose! It's hard to really pick just one thing to be. I guess I just really want to be somebody important to somebody else.

There was that question of if she was really cut out for the Rangers with a reaction speed like that. Somebody who froze up and accepted their fate instead of challenging it head on was certainly a point of contention. But Gwendolyn had remained hopeful that she could learn how to not be such a couch potato and stick to the sidelines all of her life. She looked at Freya during the awkward pause and di her best to seem hopeful.

"I'll, uh...Learn from this experience. Thank you for the reminder, though!" She said and then looked curious about what Freya had in mind for her. Out from behind her back was a pokeball that came into her hands. What did she mean by this though? Gwen waited and looked at the ball before Freya spoke about her wishes for Gishath. The younger ranger's eyes widened a gasp escaped from the older teenager.

Gwen looked shocked at the offer presented to her. How could Freya just give away something that she had kept in here for quite a while? "W-Wait, you want me to bond with him?" Why would somebody like her entrust a dragon in her own sanctuary to her? She was just some plucky loser who joined the Rangers not out of a sense of duty, but because she had nowhere else to go? The though of turning down the gift entered her head. The thing they had met over a while ago finally in her hands. But instead, she graciously accepted the pokeball.

"It would be an honor to bond with Gishath, Ms. Morningstar. I know it's not much, but I promise to make sure that he'll have a good home. Do you want me to update you on progress or something?...Actually, I think he should choose before I do."

For a moment, the girl's lack of self confidence and her doubt had all but vanished. It left behind the girl who had the desire to grow into something she hadn't dreamed possible before. Somebody who understood the chance given to her and would vow to do well by it. Gwen stepped forward up to Gishath slowly and held out the pokeball to the Gabite for him to choose.

"Gishath, I know we're still learning how to get along and we're not fully there yet, but would you like to travel outside of the sanctuary with me? I can bring you on patrols and help you get as strong as Minos. You can see the world and meet more Pokemon! If you want to stay here, I understand. Even if you don't, I wanted to say thank you for saving me. You're my shining Gabite in armor~"

The pokeball was held out for the Gabite to choose. Gwen smiled at him and would patiently await his answer.

Even after saving her, Gishath was just as grumpy as always. In the middle of defending Minos' attack from her, he had taken some damage from the larger Pokemon's Double Chop but managed to shrug it off. His hiss at Minos did show that he was still in good health though. "Are you alright?" Gwen asked Gishath before the Gabite didn't bother much to ensure she was in good health. She must have not been worthwhile in his eyes for that.

Freya asked her why she didn't dodge. A pretty good question considering the circumstances. "Well, I, uhhh..." Gwen tried to think of a reason other than "my brain stopped working and thought you were actually ordering a Pokemon to kill me." Nothing did come to mind, though she did start to connect why Freya had made the order.

"To be fair, I wasn't expecting you to order him to attack me." Gwendolyn replied back at Freya. "But I understand why, at least. Can you give me a heads up next time, at least? Other than that, I've been having fun volunteering here like this. I wasn't expecting Gishath to really jump in for me like that."

"Wow, what a view!" Gwendolyn said while exploring one of the floors of the great pillar. It had been her mission to patrol around the monument in case any Rockets or anybody had any ideas about trying to steal or plan something here. But so far, it looked to be as slow as any other patrol route. Gwen walked up a short flight of stairs and came to a room with a tall, open mural depicting some kind of scene from something or other. There was another woman there too with a Lucario. So they weren't here alone then.

She approached from behind and then looked up, observing it in full. Atop Gwen's head was her Goomy, which was jiggling around with every little head movement she made. "It's pretty cool, huh?" Gwen asked the other woman beside her. "I haven't really seen anything like it since coming to Hoenn. Do you know what it could mean?"

"He's pretty amazing, isn't he?" Gwendolyn looked back at Freya with hopeful eyes. She was sent to the moon over the progress she had made with the little guy. Even if Ghishath was still pretty young in his ways compared to Minos, she was still happy to see that he was putting up with her. She was surprised by Freya's reaction though, but trusted in her judgement. "O-Okay..." She stood in place with Gishath and watched her walk closer to the cave when a familiar sound caught her ear.

Minos stood in the lip of the cave with Freya handling a gem of her own. Gwen didn't have much of a chance to get as much personal time with Minos as she did with Gishath. The Garchomp was normally busy with something or had no interest in acknowledging her existence save for when a reward was involved. But now that Freya had a ruby for him, it had reason enough to follow her orders. "W-Wait! Ms. Morningstar, I didn't mean to..." she said, taking a step back with her hands outstretched. "Minos, wait! Don't-" It was too late, he was going to cleave her in half. She had a lot of regrets, but closed her eyes and tried to imagine Robin one last time...

But then, the sound of claws clashing against another another rung from in front of her. She opened an eye to see Gishath in front of her with his limbs growing a striking blue color, having used Dragon Claw to defend against the attack. The Gabite hissed at Minos, shaking its fin at the Garchomp and Freya while Gwen looked down in amazement.

"Gishath! You saved me!"

"I called you a- Wait, you can't walk up during a battle! Hey!" Gwendolyn spoke, frazzled about the woman just disregarding clear rules for how battles were conducted. The Magneton's Electro Ball was smacked off and away into the distance. Both Shroodle and the electric attacker were shocked by the sudden swap and taken off guard. Shroodle received a crunch for his trouble as he bounced backwards from the oncoming bite.

That didn't mean he took it down without a fight. Shroodle bounced back quickly at the Capskid with a glowing paw, striking against it with a Poison Jab. Magneton looked of their new enemy and let out a soft hum, charging up with electricity before dispersing a Thunder Wave at the Tinkatuff. Even gwen herself found it within herself to stand up.

"I've been attacked by vicious birds before. Does that count?" Gwendolyn offered some kind of reassurance for the man beside her, the ginger doing her best to remain upbeat despite the gap in experience between the two. "I was trying to work on fixing an electric fence when I was in middle school for my neighbor next door and Goomy got attacked by a passing Pidgeotto while on my head. That's the extent of my bird handling career."

Not exactly what the other man probably wanted to hear, but the ranger trainee was still sure to try and keep a brave face about their duties today. Dealing with flying types swooping down a fish market was pretty scary, but with her Magneton, they could handle this, surely! "I'm sure we can do this, though! This is way easier than most stuff you've done."

It had been a busy few days for Gwendolyn. She had been a regular inside of the sanctuary here that Freya had told her about so few days ago. So much so that she gave her full attention to the dragons, namely the pack of the Garchomp family that she had come into contact with. Ever since that day, though, Freya had only sent one of the workers to relay information to her with. Gwen didn't mind her absence but did wonder if she was in good health. So it came as a surprise when the councilwoman herself appeared one day into her work.

"Freya! Ah-I mean, Ms. Morningstar! It's good to see you again. Are you feeling well?" Just like always, the young Ranger was energetic and excitable as ever. Gwen stood with a clipboard in hand and had been in the middle of cleaning some of the loose shed skin from the Dragapault and Dratini herds. Her infectous smile did show that she was elated to see Freya once more. "Yep. I've worked with Gishath some more and I really think I'm slowly starting to get somewhere with him. I have some time to kill, so I can show you."

She walked up the mountain with much more energy than they had before. It was a sense with familiarity of things now. Even calming herself before entering near where the two had met the Gabite not so long ago. Gwen remembered to put a glove on beforehand this time and dug into a bin to fetch another brilliant looking gemstone, then held her arm outstretched as some of the workers would lure Gishath out. The top fin poked out of its horde while Gwen remained still as ever, waiting for him to take it from her.

Oh man, she was really doing it! Gwendolyn stood on a hill overlooking the damage done by the events that had transpired near the forests around Fortree City. Although not present for what had happened, she did feel empathetic towards the natural life in the nature centric city being disrupted by the nasty scar. She had agreed to come here at the request of ollie morales, the Pokemon Ranger Captain and leader. SO it was safe to say that she was on edge.

At his approach, Gwen launched into a full salute. "Captain Morales! It's such an honor to work with you in the field, sir!" She geeked out at the captain. Man, robin coello was going to be floored once she heard about how Gwen had met the captain of the bloody Rangers before her! There was enough time to ask for autographs and praise him lavishly later, they had a job to do.

"A-Anyway, I thought this would be the best spot to look for Pokémon who could be worked into the HOME program, sir. Even if most of the pieces are picked up, there's more than likely Pokémon here that are still wounded or affected by it in some way. Are we looking for something in specific though? Or is it anybody? Either way, I'm ready to go when you are, Captain!"



Mission: Pokémon HOME

Oh dear. She must have been too loud or poor Ghishath must have not been overly fond of them staying past their allotted time. The dragon type deposited its new ruby inside of his nest and seemed to threaten the two humans standing nearby. Gwen looked up at him and made mental notes of the little display with his fin. Freya did calm things down with a gentle hiss at the little guy. It was cute but only because Gwen's hand was nowhere near the little guy now.

Freya's offer was incredible to the tech head! A chance to work with the dragons here AND this new project with Pokémon rehabilitation? This was just a dream come true for her! "Are you for real? A Pokémon rehabilitation center?" Her eyes must have grown as wide as her glasses, but Gwen's head went up and down at a rate that must have been inhuman. "I'd love to help! This will be a great way to learn more about the Pokémon Hoenn has and get my hands on my tech stuff. Thank you so so SO much for this opportunity! I promise you won't regret it!"

It was a relatively quiet day in Dewford Town. Not really a whole lot was happening as Gwendolyn passed through on a routine Ranger visit. Just another minor patrol that she was stuck with in an attempt to get outside more. So it came as a surprise to her as her Magneton was suddenly attack behind her.

"Hey!" The poor thing was pelted by seeds as Gwen spun around to face the two Pokemon standing before her. "Pretty risky move to attack a Ranger behind like that! You okay, Magneton?" It beeped and booped in response. They were ready for a fight. Gwen reached for a second Pokeball and threw out another member of her team: a familiar shape of darker colors alongside some paint here and there called Shroodle!

"Let's go guys, show this hussie what us Rangers can do!" The Magneton focused its attention on the Capskid that had attacked it and shot out an Electro Ball in retaliation. The Shroodle made its way to the Tinkatuff and spat out a mist of acidic mist at the pink opponent, using Acid Spray.