[attr="class","therivtop1"]

[attr="class","therivlyric2"]

i cleanse in the river

[attr="class","therivmid1"]



The ruins were dangerous. This should have been obvious knowledge; beyond the fact that the Association was quick to remind any and all to keep to their strongholds until the cleanup efforts were back in full swing, put on hold as they were by rising tensions between Parallax and, more recently, the Republic, anyone should have known that hanging around in loose rubble and crumbling buildings was a quick route to getting buried alive in stone, or mugged by those who would take advantage of wanderers if you were a bit more fortunate. Still not an ideal outcome, as most people would agree. What reasons a person would have for coming out here were generally pretty unknown to him. There were always the curious, he supposed, who liked to see the origin of stories with their own eyes before they truly devoted themselves to belief, or maybe the skeptics – although conspiracy theorists weren't likely to step far enough outside of their homes to see the proof in the pudding before their eyes. Otherwise, why would a person willingly submit themselves to the danger? To prey on others? To plot evil deeds? Whether it was an innocent soul at risk of being injured by the elements or an evil-doer in need of due punishment before they could be the source of aforementioned injury, Garett knew that it was his responsibility to aid or defeat those who would wander out into the wreckage of the world around them. Unfortunately, with all of his other self-imposed responsibilities, tracking people down outside the strongholds wasn't a very common occurrence. When rumors of a brunet periodically making the trek into the wilderness, however, were brought before him, he made it a point to sleuth and solve this problem before things could get out of hand. Friend? Foe? Either way, they were – unknowingly – calling his name.[break][break]

Sure enough, his unwitting target of heroism was off and into the ruins, fire-type Pokemon in tow, destination set on what the self-proclaimed hero could only assume was the old Hope's Path. All the worse. For the scheming, those old tunnels would make the perfect place to hatch a plan undetected; for the rest, those tunnels were still highly susceptible to collapse, and another cave-in like the one that had buried the underground city, cut it off from the rest of the world could claim just another victim. Unfortunately, the high ground afforded him a view of the stranger he followed, but the wind swallowed all attempts at calling out to them whole, his calls from the distance likely going completely unheard by the person he spoke to. In the event that this was a criminal he'd need to apprehend, though, it was probably for the better. Sneaking up on an innocent, though... Well, he'd done fishier things before, loathe as he was to admit. (Memories he did not wish to remember, best left rotting in the periphery of is mind; oh, the things he'd had to do for Imum to get rid of Imum.)[break][break]

By the time he'd caught up, the stranger was already within the tunnel, as far deep as one could go before the cave in cut off their path, its rocky slope scarred with the leftovers of failed attempts to dig further through. Both trainer and Pokemon were silent, heads bent almost as if in prayer, and if there was any doubt about their lack of villainy left, it puffed away like smoke at the sight of meager offerings to an invisible grave. Meager, yes – but still offerings.[break][break]

Guilt washed over him for having assumed anything but the best for this well-intentioned stranger, as well as for having born witness to a scene that very much felt private. Torn between staying around to issue his warning of staying safe (he couldn't really tell this man not to stop coming here, knowing what he was doing now, could he?) and leaving before he was noticed, he found himself doing as he always did when conflicted: paced. The, because he paced, he did what he didn't usually do when conflicted: tripped. The sound of scabbard and man hitting rock echoed throughout the cave, loud enough that any chance of fleeing undetected was banished the moment his footing was lost, and he was left to stare sheepishly at the brunet he had following and scrape up any excuses he could find. Or, since the decision had been made for him - “Ah – it's dangerous to go alone! Take this!” Wait, that didn't make sense. “Take this advice, I mean, and – don't go out in the ruins alone, or you might get hurt, or followed – … kind of like how I followed you. Well. Um.” Classy. Not suspicious at all. I really nailed this one...