Teleporting was a very disorienting experience, especially since Nina had never experienced it before. An apologetic sentiment invaded her mind alongside some images and concepts to explain what had just occurred.

“Whatever is jamming our communications is also messing up Eric’s teleportation,” was what Nina concluded from the ideas that she was sent.

Just as she was trying to get her bearings, a bolt of darkness slammed into a barrier that Eric hastily conjured. Causing Nina to fall on her butt in fright.

The girl looked around, and found that she was on the roof of Melanie’s mansion. And to the far side of them was a trainer from Team Rocket, carrying a weird device on his back and being guarded by a Honchkrow.

Nina frowned. “How in Arceus did a Team Rocket goon get his hands on such a rare Pokemon.” Not that the Honchkrow line were particularly rare, but they aren’t commonly found in Kanto.

Bolt after bolt of Dark Pulse assaulted Eric relentlessly. But the Slowking wasn’t a Gym Leader’s Pokemon for nothing. In fact, he was the one who trained the other Psychics in charge of maintaining barriers in the Cerulean Gym.

Despite facing a Type disadvantage, the barrier being maintained by Eric simply flickered ever so slightly under the onslaught.

“Tini, are you alright?”

“Tiin!”

Nina got off her butt and whispered into her partner’s ears. “Dragon Pulse and Water Pulse at the Honchkrow to distract it. Eric can’t teleport right now and he’s fairly slow, so we need to create an opening for him.”

Nina could have asked Tini to target the trainer, but doing so would invite attacks onto her which would cause Eric and Tini to split their focus unnecessarily for defense.

And in accordance with his trainer’s instructions, Tini began reciprocating the enemy’s Dark Pulse with his own Water Pulse, occasionally mixing in the more demanding Dragon Pulse to catch the Dark Type Pokemon off guard.

This provided Eric with enough leeway to steady his aim, lower the barrier and shoot an Ice Beam at the evading Honchkrow to freeze one of its wings solid.

“No!” Cried the Rocket goon as he hastily dug into his pockets to retrieve something.

“Dragon Pulse on the trainer, Tini!” Cried Nina in return. Which in hindsight might have been a bit overkill because Tini sent the screaming man flying off the rooftop and crashing down into the pond below.

Meanwhile, Eric took advantage of his opponent’s fall and did a Body Slam on the Honchkrow. When Nina looked over, she could see that the regal Pokemon was sitting atop the Dark Type and throwing Focus Punches repeatedly at the poor crow with that same indifferent, and derpy expression he always wore.

“Yikes, didn’t expect Eric to be so sadistic,” thought Nina, only to get a pulse of disapproval from the Slowking in return, prompting her to shut off her mind instinctively.

Letting out a sigh, Nina looked towards the front of the mansion to see Martha swooping down on a bunch of Rocket goons in a flash of light, then whipping up a Hurricane to mop up the battlefield.

“Seems like Uncle Ali is about done on his end. Which reminds me…” Nina took out her Pokegear and checked on the signal, which was still a little weak, probably because the jamming device wasn’t entirely destroyed. But it should still be sufficient for a simple phone call.

And so Nina called up emergency services, telling them a summary of what happened and providing them with their coordinates. At first, Nina was not taken seriously due to her youthful voice, so she had to rely on her clout and throw around her status as a Gym Apprentice and Professor Bill’s sponsored trainer. It was one of those frustrating things about being a child, so it was a good thing that her phone number was tied to her records.

The bitch on the other end of the line became a lot more cordial and said that they were dispatching local Rangers to confirm the situation, evidently still a little bit skeptical of the girl’s claims.

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“Alright Eric, that’s enough. Let’s get down to the pond and find that asshole Tini knocked down. It’d be troublesome if he drowned, or managed to escape for that matter.”

Turns out there was no need for concern. Honchkrow’s trainer survived the fall and managed to claw his way up to shore, only to be met with a very angry looking Drapion looking down at him.

“Good work, Nina,” praised her Uncle Ali as he was tying up the ruffians who had assaulted them. But before the man could continue any further, Nina jolted up in surprise at a sudden realization.

“Wait, Where’s Kumiko and Tiffany?!” Bobby and Nancy were with Nina and Melanie earlier so they’re probably with the brewery staff. But Kumiko, being a competent trainer and a defacto Sea Ranger wouldn’t have just hidden away during such a crisis.

Ali caught on to her concerns immediately and called for Martha to scout the Estate for any signs of their companions.

As it turns out, the group that Ali and Nina faced wasn’t the entirety of the Team Rocket invaders. There was another group that was sent towards the Berry farm to hold back the Beedrills that guarded the place.

When Martha caught sight of Kumiko, she and her Pokemon were holding off the goons all by their lonesome while trying to keep the hysterical Tiffany safe. All around her, the raven Pokemon could see the unconscious bodies of Beedrill littering the ground, preventing the Water Type Specialists from using any big moves, similar to Ali’s predicament from earlier.

Just the sight of all those injured Pokemon were enough to trigger Martha’s rage as she swooped down with an angry screech and picked up one of the Rocket goons before lifting them into the air. And the best part was? There were no pesky flyers around to stop her this time.

One by one, the Rocket goons were picked up and then dropped screaming onto the ground. Their legs crumpled and breaked like little twigs. A couple even fell the wrong way and snapped their necks, which Martha did not feel the least bit guilty about. These humans had come here intending to do harm, they should have resolved themselves to be harmed in return.

Kumiko shielded her daughter from the gruesome sight and made a mental note to talk to Ali about the cruelty of his Pokemon. But regardless, she still felt relieved at Martha’s timely intervention. Her Dewgong, Seaking and Golduck were on their last legs.

Kumiko sighed. “The one time I decided not to bring Gary with me, shit happens!”

***

It wasn’t long until a pair of Rangers flew in with their Pokemon, cursing at the carnage that had been wrought on the Hidden Valley Estate.

The Rangers immediately moved in to help secure the incapacitated Team Rocket members and sent out their Pokemon to scout the surrounding area for any stragglers. They also made a call to the Saffron City Police Department for backup, who teleported officers over almost instantaneously.

Nina was a little annoyed by their expediency. It meant that the call center lady she spoke to never took her seriously. She reminded herself to file a complaint later when they inevitably asked to take her statement, a process which ended up being surprisingly tedious. For the adults that was.

Maybe it was because the officers didn’t want to put too much undue stress on a child, but Nina only had to give one round of statements before she was let off with a ton of commendation and praise for her bravery. They also promised to investigate the handling of her report and severe penalties for the representative involved.

Misty, on the other hand, was grilled quite intensely about her dereliction of duty. And Ali was practically interrogated about the death and injury caused by his Corvinight.

Causing intentional harm to other human beings via the use of Pokemon was considered a felony in the Pokemon world, as it should be. It’s easy to forget that these cute creatures who coexist and live amongst them as companions and pets were all capable killing machines.

Nina was not worried about her uncle, Team Rocket were considered terrorists. It was likely that Martha’s actions would be filed as justifiable self defense, and her trainer be let off with a slap on the wrists along with a severe warning to better discipline his Pokemon.

The person that Nina was really worried about was Melanie who had been all jittery and restless since the conclusion of the events.

“Hey, Melanie… You okay? It’s over now, the Pokemon are free and being looked at by the nurses,” assuaged Nina as she slowly approached the woman to avoid startling her.

But Melanie simply looked at the girl with wide eyes and frantically shook her head. “No, no… this shouldn’t have happened in the first place…”

After sensing that the woman wasn’t going to lash out, Nina moved next to her and held onto Melanie’s hand. “Hey, it’s okay… This wasn’t your fault. No one could have predicted this. You already did your best by standing up to them when it mattered.”

However, despite Nina’s best efforts, Melanie refused to calm down. “No, you don’t get it! Parasect… Parasect is the guardian of this area. She would have stopped Team Rocket’s intrusion and chased them away before they even reached us.”

Nina frowned at the implications of Melanie’s words, finally understanding the core of the woman’s anxiety. “She’s worried that something might have happened to the local Alpha.”

“Stay here,” said Nina as she went off to look for the Rangers who had arrived at the scene just now.

Ranger Williams frowned as well after Nina relayed Melanie’s concerns about the Alpha Parasect. “This is indeed a problem… Displaced Alphas can severely disrupt the neighboring ecosystems, causing Pokemon stampedes or turf wars in the worst case scenario,” he said.

“But what I’m really worried about is if Team Rocket has employed some unknown means to suppress the Parasect,” continued the Ranger. In which case, the Alpha represented a ticking time bomb who might go berserk at any moment. “Dealing with a berserking Alpha is no walk in the park.” Williams sighed.

After thanking Nina for bringing this to his attention, the Ranger walked off to ask for more information from Melanie. He also interrupted Misty’s interrogation and recruited the Gym Leader, citing an emergent situation.

Despite her blunder, a Gym Leader is still the most capable battler even amongst all the Rangers and trained police officers. Calling upon their help to deal with nearby Alphas was common practice among Pokemon Rangers.

Misty, of course, enthusiastically volunteered her services in order to redeem herself and to escape prolonged scrutiny.

Melanie asked to tag along as well. The woman simply could not bring herself to sit still knowing that her friend might be hurt somewhere.

Ranger Williams reluctantly agreed, since Melanie insisted that she could guide them to Parasect’s nests and help talk to the Pokemon if it came down to it. But he also made the brewer promise that she would stay behind them at all times and follow their instructions.

Nina also asked to come along, only to be shot down by stern glares from all the adults around her. In the end, they even tasked a junior Jenny to come and babysit her, lest the girl wander off on her own.

Nina was obviously indignant as she puffed up her cheeks in displeasure. “I can understand not letting me go, but the babysitter is going too far!” She whined.