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Part of him was curious if Sootopolis had been burned to the ground, like Rocket had attempted with Fortree some months back. The only thing he missed about that time was that he had four functional limbs. Of course this special tree he had expected to be a blackened stump as well. Unlike the locals, Andy wasn't familiar with the tree.
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Ever since Katherine Fairburne's hospital visit though, the boy was examining things a little more closely. Perhaps Rocket had some use for the tree themselves, and if so, he wanted to know about it. From what he knew, even the League were picky about people visiting the site. That meant something had to be going on with it.
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Infiltrating the city hadn't been exactly childsplay. Rocket didn't allow just anyone in, and the Galarian wasn't sure if they knew who he was, or wanted him detained or dead since they had fought previously. Thankfully ghost types could allow for some degree of stealth over other pokemon. A shadow tainting the verdant terrain might startle those present.
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''Drifblim!'' The balloon pokemon emerged first before Andy and a psyduck slid from the darkness beside him. The boy was still worse for wear. A crutch was sunk into each armpit, a cast for an arm and leg. His chocolate eyes narrowed at those present until he saw familiar faces.
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''Well, well, well, what's all this then?'' A dreepy clambered up onto his suspender clad shoulder to cast a goofy glance at the other youths. ''I expected to find Doug here, but Hideo? What you doing snooping around on Rocket turf?'' There was an unknown blond as well, but so far as Andy knew the Kantonian syndicate didn't recruit children.
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''Who the hell are you?''
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Balancing on his crutch, the Galarian gingerly counted his tips. It was meager sum for someone with such means as he, but money was money. And how could he complain when all he was doing was stumbling around behind a cart? Tucking the buck away into a chest pocket in his shirt, he clumsily leaned on the cart to push it back towards the coming meals.
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''Whose doing the dishes around here?'' Transitioning fully from cart to crutch, he gave Doug a look. ''Don't say 'you.' I got one hand in a cast. I can't get that shit wet. And I am not attempting to do dishes one handed.'' He would have crossed his arms defiantly if his crutch didn't require attention for him to remain standing.

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While he was certainly curious about the security of Quinn Riley's facility, the discussion from the hated Silph's and company were drawing his attention away. After all, information was ammunition. Wandering closer without trying to seem like he was, his faux bespectacled eyes pouring over some brochure on a nearby table.
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There was a brief wonder he'd been made when FERNANDO SILPH's bodyguard mentioned problem people. Had he seen that scarred man before? Was he at Mauville? None the less, they didn't come to shoo him away, so the boy assumed someone else was the problematic individual. Thomas Benoit mentioned that Fernando had rustled plenty of feathers before.
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The guy had to have a long list of enemies.
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Wondering nearer still, the presence of poipoles and the naganadel prevents him from getting as close as he loves. The disguise does little to hide his disgust, going against his earlier caution. The fiends were well remembered from the Three Days War. Were they megalopolan? He didn't know, but it would figure Fernando Silph would be so morally vacuous to toy with such things, especially in such volume.
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His chocolate hues poured over the signs with some interest, wondering just how many suspect matters the man, his firm, and its subsidiaries had their fingers in. Such knowledge was out of his reach, for now. The ginger girl nearby Fernando reminded him of his sister somewhat, but such a thing wouldn't distract him from his eavesdropping.
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Watching from his distance, arms crossed, there was plenty of good information here. It startled him somewhat that pokemon could be corrupted, but there was some comfort that there were remedies for such afflictions. How pretty of a penny would one need to acquire such a cure he wondered? There was the hope that he would never need to find out.
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The blonde woman asked a solid question, and 'Pasqual' hoped that a solid answer would be provided.

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No clearer answer came. Was it so indescribable, or was the woman merely being eccentric for eccentricities sake? One the one hand, a pokemon so ancient would surely have some peculiarities. On the other, Andy didn't believe in outright magic. Information was ammunition, so he could see why she would want to keep everyone's clip empty.
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''So you were at Mauville too.'' There were a number of trainers present to halt the invasion. It was one of the most chaotic things the boy had ever been involved in. It was no surprise he had missed her among the sea of faces. Although he was unsure what she meant by freeing the elder god. Had the megalopolans captured it?
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A frown creased his face at her smirk, but perhaps it would go unnoticed, bruised and misshapen as it was for the time being. The response wasn't as condescending however. The words sounded in line with that of a religious zealot, which was answer enough. No wonder, the Blackadder boy had never been zealous when it came to anything considered 'spiritual.'
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Superstitious perhaps, but not religious.
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''It's request? I got to know. What does an ancient god want out of this region?'' The former bit of her response seemed par for the course from what he knew of other avatars. Picks were never made at random. However that was unimportant compared to the tiny revelation in her murky response. Giratina had come here to Hoenn for a reason.
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Which must have meant something was here. Some things started to fall into place. The megalopolan invasion, Rocket activity, the appearance of other strange pokemon he had seen and fought due to the construction of towers and lighthouses, they all arrived in the region with gusto. What made Hoenn so important outside of it being chosen arbitrarily as the setting for this forum?

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The doctor's floppy cheeks seems to freeze at the edge of the woman's response. Perhaps he had been too brazen. Money was typically a hardship for most folks, especially with all that was occurring within the region. A glance at her hands made him wonder if he was about to get socked. Alas, she seemed only interested in seeing her offspring.
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Perhaps it was indeed best he become scarce.
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''But of course. Please don't be too alarmed, Miss Blackadder. He's only recently from surgery.'' Stepping to open the door, he would remain at the handle just inside after she entered. Within the only sound of an EKG beeping by the bed met her ears. The rhythmic chimes assured nothing unusual was happening with the boy's heart.
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His appearance was not encouraging however. Hair disheveled, skin paler than usual, a dark bruise clung to the left side of his head, squeezing the eye there. A blanket obscured most of the rest of him for the sake of modesty, but even the bare shoulders peeking from underneath were decorated with small bruises and cuts.
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Right leg elevated by a frame bolted to the bed and the left too sticking out from under the covers, both were wrapped in thick casts. A lump under the blanket revealed a similar fate for his left arm. An oxygen mask strapped to his face occasionally fogged and cleared, confirming what the EKG should have already told her.
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He was alive.
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''Do you have any questions, or should I leave you with him?''

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''Yeah, I know how it is.'' His mother might have been, or not been, many things but at least she wasn't like Hideo's folks. She even agreed that it was the best priority for now. Peering through the shrouded crowd of pokemon, Andy searched for one in particular. ''Ersatz! Where are you?'' After a few moments a claydol spun out of the darkness.
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''Claydol!'' It hovered up to the trio after called. ''Alright, I need to you get Hideo here back to the festival grounds in Slateport. Or at least close enough.'' Long distance teleportation was something he wasn't too familiar with yet. The limits were still uncertain. None the less, the pokemon didn't seem discouraged.
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''Claydol! Claydol.'' It spun in place once before moving nearer to the youngest present human. ''Oh, and Ersatz?'' The creature's head spun independent of his body to look at him. ''Keep an eye on him until his family picks him up, eh?'' A little motion was made with his arms. ''Claydol!''

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In the midst of shouted commands and pokemon compliance, sizzling and sauteing, a familiar voice called out. Andy peered out from the food prep area to see a familiar blond. It was odd how even in the midst of such a public event like this, the boy was surprised to see folks he knew just wandering by. Was he popular now?
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Surely not.
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''If you got some dough plant your ass in a seat, Arashi. If not bugger off. We don't serve bums.'' Of course he assumed that the older boy knew it was in jest. And as jests went, he thought Doug must have been joking with his demand, given his injured status. Alas, it didn't seem so. Looking around the kitchen, he found a cart to place the meals upon.
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Using only one crutch for his bad leg, and his casted arm to gently push, Andy wheeled the food out to their respective destinations. A blush couldn't be kept from his face as he felt a little self conscious about hobbling through the customer's to provide their meals. This was no work for rich kids. As he reached Arashi's table, he fumbled the dish, but managed to not drop it.
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''Enjoy and all that shit.''

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The door swinging open made him jump slightly in surprise. A wince immediately followed. Such sudden movements were painful. The blond's question went almost unnoticed. The aches passed quickly though, thanks to the drugs being fed intravenously into the boy. Clearing his throat in the hopes that such an unrelated action would help ease the hurt, he answered.
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''Yeah, sucks to say, but that bad.'' His eyelids only blinked a few times as the boy commented on his name, at first uncertain what Arashi meant. Then the realization came that the hospital probably used his full name on whatever files or charts they had. ''Yeah...'' came the reply after a disgusted sigh.
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''Guess you weren't paying attention to Buzzer in the forest. Which would be a good thing. Guess it doesn't make a fuck now.'' This perhaps would have led to a rant, if Hideo hadn't slid through the door not long after. The Galarian's eyes the focused on the container carted within his arms. What had he made? So many of his friends were much better cooks than he was.
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''Yo, Hideo.'' The greeting was returned before the kid mentioned the low light environment. ''Never thought I would hear a blind kid gripe about darkness. My eyes are still kinda scorched from the cave. Hours and hours of pitch fucking black.'' Before anything else could be said though another noise startled Andy to a miserable flinch.
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It was Doug, dressed in his League's best.
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''Hey! Wait asshol-'' Of course the older boy went right for the windows (after providing headpats to Hideo, naturally) and threw the blinds aside. ''Ah! Mother fucker!'' Face crinkling, he covered his eyes with his one working arm. Calling him Andrew was insult to injury. ''I was enjoying bloody eyesight until just now! Want two damn blind friends?!''
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Rubbing his burning eyes the voluminous parcel placed at his bedside did not escape his notice.
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''What's all this then?'' Eris sneaking in after the Captain's gaudy entrance too almost went unnoticed, especially with as sore as his eyes were. The quiet little voice stood out more than the action. ''Hey, Eris.'' If it wouldn't have hurt so bad to chuckle because of his bruised lungs he would have. ''Even if you were, you wouldn't be the only one.''

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''Well... he started, considering a while slew of things that he should and shouldn't say. ''Initially, I just wanted to see some aliens, and it seemed like the League was taking anyone they could get. Guess I just kinda blended in with the crowd.'' Leaning onto the table, he rested his chin atop steepled hands.
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''When everyone arrived, I kept out of sight, or I tried to. I was going to just cool my jets in the woods and snipe off those cunt purple dragon things with the needle asses. But then that disgraced gym leader Balder Schwartz set the bloody woods on fire. So I couldn't stay there anymore.'' The tone of his voice betrayed it was still a sore spot.
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With the waitress coming back around, the reminiscence ceased.
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''Double bacon cheeseburger, with chili, and a shit ton of mayo and ketchup if you would, lassie. If he was going to eat Unovan, then he wanted to go big. There was no way he would finish such a thing in one sitting, so he could take the leftovers home. While he had money, they boy found ways to be remarkably cheap.

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