"And now, Red Ranger, it is time for me to destroy you. I must be victorious for my queen!"
- Unknown Poet
A LITTLE BIT OF SALT ALWAYS WENT WELL WITH CHOCOLATE. The interior of the Water Gym was painted with the same white and blue pastels as Nessa's swim trunks. She was like a black pearl floating in a brightly colored sea.
Today she had two challengers to contend with.
"Prepare for trouble!" said Jessie.
"And make it double!" said James.
"Aren't you guys from like 10 seasons ago?" the gym leader asked. Hands on her hips with her center of balance shifted to one side. One eyebrow slightly raised. She rolled a single Pokeball in her right hand the same way as a gypsy with a crystal globe.
"The author's going for like a Viper thing. The first episodes are always better," James answered.
"Uh-huh." Nessa nodded as she rolled her eyes in suspicion. She shifted her weight to her other hip as she tucked her hands behind her shorts, juggling her Pokeball back and forth between her palms out of boredom.
"So what brings you creeps to the Galar region? I hear you're in the underground market for exotic creatures." She lowered one eyebrow while raising the other. "What are you trying to snatch from me? My Seismitoad? My Wailord? My Gyarados?"
"Why darling, you're what we're after," Jessie said in a way that made just the tiniest of chills ripple through the narrow channel of Nessa's spine. Jessie was suddenly standing behind her with no explanation and a slightly deranged look on her face.
"And how, pray tell, do you plan on catching me?" Nessa blinked.
"We'll just have to spook ya first," James said with a sly voice.
Nessa glanced toward Jessie. Jessie only gave her an ambiguous smirk. She glanced toward James. James gave her the same smirk. She glanced back to Jessie, who was now pointing her index finger to the ceiling. Nessa looked up and noticed the Dynamax-sized Haunter floating five feet above her head.
The Haunter opened his mouth and vomited a colossal waterfall of darkness on the unsuspecting gym leader. She was engulfed in the shadowy sludge like a helpless siren caught in a raging sea storm.
Jessie and James were conversing with each other while Nessa was in the background screaming and getting dunked in all of the horror and despair of the universe.
"She does have a good point. What are we going to do with her once she's cursed?" James asked. "We can't exactly stuff her in a ball."
"That's what makes it perfect," Jessie said with a devious smile. "She's practically a living Pokeball herself. When she's under our control, all of her Pokemon are under our control."
Nessa looked more annoyed than disgusted when it was all over and the Haunter disappeared in a puff of black smoke. Her hands were planted on her hips with a Pokeball in each fist. She stood in silence and let the sludge naturally ooze off of her body. After a few seconds, she calmly brushed her clumped hair off of her forehead and let out a sigh that sharply expressed her discontent. If the Haunter's goal was to wash off hours of personal grooming and make slimy be the new clean, it passed its test with flying colors.
An ominous purple haze emanated around her as if her suppressed rage was coming off in literal fumes. As she wiped off her face without saying a word, she revealed her eyes had changed from blue to pulsating red.
"Well, are you ready to join Team Rocket?" Jessie asked the quiet gym leader. She was practically rubbed her palms together with glee.
"Yeah," Nessa said with no further hesitation, "But I think you guys need someone who's more fit to run the show."
Nessa proceeded to show off her fitness by throwing her hands out and opening the two Pokeballs. Instead of materializing into Pokemon, the stored up energy inside of them shot straight out in blue beams. Jessie and James were instantly vaporized in small hydrogen explosions, never to blast off again.
Nessa snapped the Pokeballs shut and clipped them to a holster on the back of her trunks.
"Wipeout," she quaintly said with a smug face.
The inner workings of her mind were a strange and dangerous combination of how she normally felt and the dark things the Haunter had infected her with. She already decided she was tired of hanging around in the gym all day waiting for the next pimply-faced amateur to challenge for her badge. She had bigger aspirations than just being the greatest athlete in the entire arena, the entire city, or the entire continent.
She was going to conquer the world in watery domination.
Author's note: I hope her boss theme is Wheel of Fortune from Magical Drop III.