Jacky's nidoking is massive.

There is absolutely nothing in this world that can prepare me against the massive behemoth of a nidoking. Just one look at it is enough for me to pin it under the 'Do-not-engage-unless-absolutely-necessary' label in the confines of my mind. It's obvious that this nidoking is more than just simply powerful.

Still, I have to put up a show to solidify my standing here. I have to prove to them why I deserve a spot among the 1st Regiment. There's only one pokemon on my team that might have a chance against this monster. Only the powerhouse on my team will stand a chance.

"Go, Tino!"

My dragonite announced her appearance with a loud roar, immediately wary of the nidoking standing opposite her. Both pokemon began to growl and shift themselves menacingly, waiting for the start of the battle.

"Wow, a dragonite."

"I can tell, weirdo. We all have eyes."

"Shut up, Adam."

I saw Commander Pyral simply rolling his eyes and let out another long sigh, like he's so done with the people standing behind him.

Without further ado, he announced the start of the battle.

"Begin."

"Fly, and Safeguard!"

I'm not taking any chances with Jacky, who is obviously a Poison Specialist. If even the other members of the team who are fellow Rangers of the 1st Regiment themselves, claim Jacky's nidoking to be a monster, then I absolutely cannot allow Jacky the chance to poison Tino.

Nidoking had wasted no time in firing Ice Beams at Tino, who had immediately taken to the air while protecting herself with a veil of Safeguard. Tino effortlessly dodged the Ice Beams before retaliating with a massive Hurricane.

Jacky's nidoking simply stared at the Hurricane in a bored manner before responding with the largest Blizzard I had ever seen. The fierce winds of the Blizzard were just enough to quell the violent ones of the Hurricane, putting Tino's attack to a stop.

Alright then. If this is how Jacky is playing the game, then we keep our distance, then fire away like no tomorrow.

"Dragon Pulse! Keep at it!"

"Charge right in! Bring it down!"

Nidoking crouched down before doing a powerful leap into the air, charging right in towards the path of the Dragon Pulse Tino had fired. Nidoking let loose a blinding Thunder that engulfed the air in a humongous explosion big enough to shake the ground we are standing on.

To my surprise and horror, Jacky's nidoking actually managed to brave through the explosion and had managed to grab onto Tino.

This is bad.

"Smack down!"

A powerful downward swing of nidoking's arm hurled Tino back onto the ground. Tino roared in defiance as she used a Dragon Tail to force nidoking to back off before it can do any further damage, followed by using an Incinerate to create a huge wall of flames to deter the nidoking.

"Surf!"

Tino's flames was immediately extinguished by an equally huge wall of water. Nidoking came charging right back in with a Poison Jab which Tino greeted with a Dragon Claw. The two behemoths began to duke it out by exchanging of series of attacks with their claws, horns, and tails.

Tino is not weak by any means. She is a dragon, and her species is classified as a pseudo-legendary on top of it. She is easily strong enough to face off most pokemon from Elite level trainers and even then, she is steadily getting pushed back by Jacky's nidoking.

We cannot win by brute strength alone. Jacky's nidoking obviously had us beat in that department.

"Tino, Supersonic!"

Tino immediately let out a piercing screech that got nidoking to take a pause in its attacks. Tino used the opportunity to push the nidoking away with a Dragon Rush to quickly gain some distance before taking off into the air once more.

"Nidoking, Dig and then hunt it with Rock Slide!"

Nidoking burrowed into the ground without hesitation. In the next second, rocks rained from the skies and pelted down on Tino, who immediately went to dodge the rain of rocks with the aerial manoeuvres I taught her. Any rocks she couldn't dodge, she destroyed it with her claws.

Tino wouldn't be able to last at this rate. Ever since the start of the battle, she had been receiving more damage than what she can dish out. We need to quickly flush the nidoking out in one big AOE attack.

"Dragon Dance, then Aerial Earthquake!"

Tino acknowledged my commands with another roar, using a Dragon Dance to power up before sharply diving down with Aerial Ace, using the speed gained from the attack to further boost the damage of her Earthquake.

"Now! Grab the dragonite!"

The whole thing was a bait for Tino to get down? Shit!

"Tino, swing up!"

In an impressive display of skill, Tino managed to spread her wings and abruptly stopped in mid-air just as nidoking burst out from the ground, the tip of its horn sparkling with an Ice Beam that is about to be fired at any second. Tino barely managed to escape the attack with an Extreme Speed as she changed direction at an almost ninety degree angle and flew to her left, quickly gaining altitude.

"Nice one!" I heard someone from the side cheering out the moment they saw Tino's moves.

"Not bad! Keep going!"

"Hmph."

I cannot help but allow a smile on my face at the reactions from my other three comrades cheering on from the side. Pyral didn't comment nor was there any change to the expression on his face, but there was a faint twinkle in his eyes that wasn't there before.

Hopefully the aerial manoeuvres Tino did impressed them enough.

Tino had immediately returned fire with blasts of Dragon Pulse and had also used a Tailwind to further help her with her flight and speed in the air. Nidoking now adopts a more offensive approach by continuously raining rocks from above while spewing various ranged attacks from its mouth and horn from where it is on the ground, effectively sandwiching Tino.

"Blow it all away! Hurricane!"

The skies were immediately cleared with a bigger Hurricane that Tino had created with a single flap of her wings. Nidoking had leapt into the air once more, charging right in with a Giga Impact.

Two can play at that game. As long as Tino is in the air, her power is at her peak.

"Tino, Outrage!"

Tino roared her own challenge before covering herself in a shroud of draconic energy and flew to meet nidoking's charge head-on. Jacky and I quickly backpedalled to find some cover. The impact from the resulting clash might result in some collateral damage that might even harm ourselves if we are not careful. Our pokemon are just that strong.

Just right before Tino and nidoking could collide, a wheel of fire dashed towards the two before erupting in a massive Inferno. Even before I could make out just what is going on, both Tino and nidoking were sent flying backwards from where they came from and crashed back down onto the ground.

"Alright, break it up. Fight's over."

The slow clap of Pyral's hands grabbed our attention as everyone, our pokemon included, turned to him. Where the wheel of fire is burning stood Pyral's typhlosion, barely looking winded from punting both Jacky's and my powerhouse with a single strike. I only recognised the initial Flame Wheel followed by the Inferno. My eyes didn't manage to catch what that last attack was that sent our powerhouses flying away.

"Good job, Skye." Pyral spoke slowly in his zombie voice. "Those aerial manoeuvres were honestly impressive. Haven't seen such a good flier in years among the Rangers. I still don't think your dragonite could hold against Jacky's nidoking in the long run, but the fact that your dragonite could fight it on equal standing for that short while is good enough for me."

"Yeah, no kidding. Jacky's nidoking is impossible to beat one-on-one unless you are boss himself." Rufus chipped in with a big grin on his face. "Welcome to the club, Skye. Speaking of which, shall we go on a date?"

"Ignore him." Amy brushed Rufus off as she stood protectively in front of me, arms akimbo. "Rufus is only interested in getting into women's pants."

"Excuse you, can you stop slandering my name? I hold women with a lot of respect. I am just a gentleman who appreciates the charm and beauty of the fairer sex. I've always been a gentleman."

Tino throat rumbled as she lumbered back to my side. I raised a hand and patted her scaly hide, whispering my thanks to her. She's injured and bleeding slightly in several places, but nothing that she cannot walk off after a few hours of rest. I will still send her for a medical check-up after this though.

"Good job, girl."

Tino sang out a reply as her wings wriggled a little in joy. Her head turned to gaze at Jacky's nidoking, who is also now standing behind Jacky. Tino lowered her head slightly at nidoking, an indication of her respect towards the poisonous behemoth. Nidoking reciprocated the action.

"That was a great battle. We should have a full six-on-six battle some other time." Jacky commented with a smile on his face that equalled mine as we both shook hands once more.

"If your nidoking alone is this strong, you will probably annihilate me." I replied honestly. My team isn't really made up of heavy hitters even if they can all hold their own in Elite level battles. Tino and Echo are currently the only real heavy hitters on my team.

"First of all, you need to get more pokemon on your team." Pyral cut in blandly, his typhlosion giving a lazy yawn. "From the records, you only have seven pokemon on you currently, which might work well for you in the 9th, but trust me, you will need more if you plan to stay here in the 1st."

"What boss means is that in the 1st, we handle all and any types of missions thrown at us, not just search and rescue. Because of this, while your flying types are good for search and rescue and having only seven pokemon might have served you well in the 9th, but it won't be enough for other situations that we often face in the 1st." Rufus explained further while doing some vague hand gestures.

"All of us here have at least ten pokemon on our team for that reason, because we need at least this many to be able to do our jobs properly." Amy gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. "You should think of what other kinds of pokemon you want to pick out and add to your team before the week is over."

"I recommend picking pokemon from the League's pokemon reserve that are already somewhat trained, although you are free to train any pokemon of your own liking from scratch." Pyral added as he sipped on his cup of coffee. "However, you may not have the time to do something so time consuming, much less train a few of them, so the first option is still the recommended option."

"Make sure to not pick pokemon just for their battle strength. We are Rangers, not the STAR forces. We focus on saving lives, not fighting criminals even if we sometimes do that. Sometimes having pokemon that provides more utility may be a better option instead." Jacky said joyfully.

"You might need one that can help you to fight in cramped places. Flying types tend to not do well in enclosed spaces, so pick one that can do the job." Adam spoke in grumpy manner, finally breaking his long period of silence.

"Glad to finally have you join us, Mr Dark and Edgy." Pyral drawled at Adam before turning around and walk towards the exit. "That is all, you guys are dismissed. We have the next two weeks easy, that is, if no emergency pops up. Use this time wisely, Skye."

"Team dinner!" Amy exclaimed with her hands up in the air the moment Pyral disappeared into thin air.

"After Skye and I got our pokemon treated." Jacky insisted as he recalled his nidoking back into its pokeball.

"Hey, how about a quick trip to Mahogany to try out that place we always wanted to try out? You know, the one we were talking about a week ago?" Rufus suggested with enthusiasm.

"Whatever." Adam said with a slouch as though his life had been sucked out of him.

"Sounds good!" Jacky laughed out before turning back to me. "What do you say, Skye?"

"Sure, let's go." I smiled back at Jacky.

It seems that we are off to a great start after all.


"So that was the real reason behind the Olivine incident a few months back?"

"Surprised?" Rufus did a dramatic gesture of opening his arms out like he had just showed everyone the truth of the universe. "That a fight between wild granbulls for the perfect mate somehow ended up nearly ruining the city?"

"There was this other time where we assisted the STAR forces in apprehending some Rockets. Some bastard Rocket thought it would be a good idea to release his entire cargo of illegally caught magcargos in Ilex forest. We had a field day in putting out the fire for that one." Jacky laughed as he downed another glass of alcohol.

"You mean I had a field day with that one." Rufus retorted. "I'm the Water Specialist here."

"I remembered that incident being reported on the news." I nodded as I sipped on my own drink in the bar we are at. To my dismay, my beverage is non-alcoholic. I'm still not yet old enough to drink in the eyes of the law. At least Amy is in the same plight as me, so we are not alone.

"So, what's the most ridiculous shit you've been through back in the 9th?" Adam asked, surprisingly polite when he's drunk. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around for most people?

"Well." I tilted my head up about thirty degrees in thought. "There's this one time I had to rescue some lost guy in a pineco infested forest…"

From the immediate collective winces on my teammates' faces, I already know that none of them are fans of wild pinecos. No sane person will due to pinecos' explosive tendencies.

"No one really managed to map out the entirety of that particular forest that I was searching the guy due to how dangerous it is to even go there in the first place, which made that rescue operation so difficult. We cannot just teleport in without a care in the world because what will happen if we accidentally teleport ourselves into a group of pinecos? And I was alone. No backup for at least the next thirty minutes, because time was of the essence and I was the first to reach the scene as per usual. Then there was this guy, probably a hiker, stuck in the middle of a pineco colony that we were tasked to rescue."

"How did he even get there in the first place without triggering all those pinecos?" Jacky asked, puzzlement clear on his face.

"Will you believe me if I said he literally fell from the sky and ended up there?" I challenged. Upon seeing the lack of verbal response, I continued. "Yeah, I thought so too. I didn't believe that guy either when I asked him the same question. Till this day, I never did manage to solve that mystery."

"So what did you do to get the man out?"

"I had Cotton." I commented as I idly reached for Cotton and patted her lightly on the head, dozing off from where she lay beside my chair. "A burst of Sleep Powder did most of the trick."

"I sense a but." Adam slurred, the effects of the alcohol kicking in.

"But." I carried on. "That forest we were in is also somewhat near the northern end of the Lake of Rage."

"By the name of the holy Ho-oh." Amy gasped out with her hands placed on the sides of her face. "Did-"

"Yes." I emphasised, already relieving the annoyance I felt from that day. "Some stupid gyarados, for whatever unknown reason, decided to get out of the lake that very day, at that very time, and somehow stumbled into that very section that we were at and freaking fired a Hyper Beam upon spotting us. Pinecos plus gyarados, people. It's not hard to imagine what comes next."

"Boom." Rufus helpfully added.

"Thank you for the sound effect, monsieur." I thanked Rufus with a curtsy, which he returned with a gentlemanly bow. "Thankfully, I have a Skarmory. She's called Dia, I will have to introduce my team to you guys soon, maybe tomorrow." I added the last part as an afterthought. "Dia tanked the blow for us before throwing up a Protect that lasted long enough for her to fly us out of there."

"But…?" Amy added hopefully.

"Thankfully, that was the end of the story. Anymore and I might not have lived to tell the tale."

"That was some really shitty luck." Rufus laughed it off. "Don't worry about it, all of us here in the Black squadron tend to face shitty odds on almost every mission! You won't be alone!"

"I think the correct reaction to that statement should be one of worry."

"It's not as bad as it sounds. At least you have interesting stories to tell at parties! Gets the ladies all the time! Right, Jacky, Adam?"

"That part is actually true." Jacky agreed with Rufus while Adam is now snoring away with his head on the table. He didn't strike me as the type to be unable to hold his own when it comes to alcohol. I guess looks can be deceiving.

I decided now is the time to ask the question I always wanted to ask.

"If you don't mind me asking, who was this Liz person before me?"

"Rock Specialist, second-in-command in Black Squadron." Jacky explained as he helpfully refilled my glass for me. I brought my cup up close to my mouth only to pause and take another whiff to do another confirmation.

Did he seriously just added alcohol to my drink?

"Liz was badass." Amy said as she snacked on some chips she procured from somewhere while I decided to just down the glass of alcoholic beverage, screw the age limit. "Very strong too. After she left, the position of second-in-command went to Jacky since he's the only other commissioned officer. Boss decides that we need someone to replace her, and so he sent out the news that we need a competent Ranger to fill up the slot Liz left behind. Then we got you."

"Why did she-"

"Leave the force?" Rufus completed the question for me with a grin. "She's gotten herself married, decided to have kids, start a family, that sort of stuff. Our line of work doesn't really allow us to lead 'normal' lives, as you already know. Most people tend to quit the force when they start the next chapter of their lives, especially the women. Hard to be a good mother when you keep getting called for missions at the least expected times. Men don't have it as hard."

"Both society and the Ranger force is unfair towards women like that." Amy shrugged. "The ugly truth, but it is what it is."

"Heard Liz found some stable job as a security consultant, last I heard. Private companies that need trainers tend to hire people like us the moment we leave the force, because we are good at what we do and we were trained by professionals. These private companies snatch us up like hotcakes every time they heard another Ranger had quit the force." Jacky said as he poured us another glass of drinks. At this juncture, I'm very sure that he is aware of the fact that he is trying to get me drunk, but I play along anyway. This wouldn't be the first time I did underage drinking.

"Actually, I have a question for you." Rufus pointed a finger at me while holding his glass. "Your full name is Skye Bale, right? As in, that Bale?"

That question again. I get it wherever I go. I was wondering when it will pop up.

"Yes, that Bale. Falkner is my older brother."

There was another round of 'ooooohhh' from the three of them (Adam is still knocked out). I think they are doing it just to be dramatic.

"That explains your skill with flying types."

"My brother did teach me the basics, but most of the advanced skills that I now possess had nothing to do with my brother." I emphasised. "We aren't really on speaking terms right now. Last time I saw him, we were screaming at each other."

"Ouch." Jacky replied, suddenly looking sober. "Something happened?"

"You could say that." I did a dismissive gesture with my hand. "He's just… never mind."

"Hey, if you don't wanna go home you can always come over to my place to stay!" Rufus joked in an attempt to lighten the mood as he slung an arm around my shoulder. "How about we go for a date?"

"How about you stop flirting with every woman you see?" Amy retorted as she pinched and pulled at Rufus' ears, making him yelp in pain and begging for Amy to let go.

"Cheers!"

Jacky raised a mug into the air, and we all toasted to a fabulous year ahead. We even managed to get the still unconscious Adam to toast too by grabbing onto his arm and doing a toasting motion with it.

Yup, I will fit in here alright.


Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 9th Ranger Regiment, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Code Name: Zephyr

Pokemon Team:

1. Pidgeot (Crown), male

2. Gliscor (Glide), male

3. Skarmory (Dia), female

4. Crobat (Beats), male

5. Jumpluff (Cotton), female

6. Dragonite (Tino), female

7. Noivern (Echo), male

Name: Jacky Marsh, 19, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: First Lieutenant

Code Name: Venom

Pokemon Team:

1. Scolipede

2. Crobat

3. Tentacruel

4. Nidoking

5. Skuntank

6. Venasaur

7. Toxicroak

8. Weezing

9. Dragalge

10. Beedrill

Name: Amy Rose, 17, Female

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Code Name: Powergirl

Pokemon Team:

1. Furret

2. Pidgeot

3. Lopunny

4. Ursaring

5. Wigglytuff

6. Exploud

7. Blissey

8. Tauros

9. Miltank

10. Cinccino

Name: Adam Clive, 20, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Code Name: Nightmare

Pokemon Team:

1. Houndoom

2. Honchkrow

3. Umbreon

4. Weavile

5. Shiftry

6. Sableye

7. Greninja

8. Hydreigon

9. Pangoro

10. Krookodile

Name: Rufus Grandell, 21, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Master Sergeant

Code Name: Torrent

Pokemon Team:

1. Poliwrath

2. Kingdra

3. Dewgong

4. Gyarados

5. Feraligatr

6. Slowking

7. Crawdaunt

8. Floatzel

9. Jellicent

10. Golisopod

Name: Pyral Furnes, 38, Male

Known affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 1st Ranger Regiment

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

Code Name: Cremator

Pokemon Team:

1. Typhlosion

2. Arcanine

3. Charizard

4. Magmortar

5. Magcargo

6. Alolan Marowak

7. Torkoal

8. Infernape

9. Emboar

10. Pyroar

11. Chandelure