"How's your off day?"
I looked up from where I am in the pokemon feeding room, feeding my pokemon food that is specially prepared for flying type pokemon. I spotted Jacky walking in as he released his own team as well, reaching for the cabinet to take out large bags of food that he uses to feed his poison types.
"It was off to a shitty start." I said, filling up Emi's food bowl before opening up another bag of pokemon food. "Got into another argument with my older brother. Nothing new there."
"Sorry to hear that." Jacky said sincerely after a brief period of silence. "May I ask why?"
"He doesn't like the idea of me being a Ranger. Threw a big fuss the moment he heard I got posted here." I gave the heavily censored version as we both go about feeding our pokemon. "He's the type who thinks that the safest place for me to be at is somewhere that he can lock me in and watch me 24/7."
"Sounds familiar." Jacky drawled as he tossed his toxicroak the last remaining piece of pellet in the bag before opening another one. "My parents aren't supportive of my career choice too, but they accepted it in the end. They still disapprove of me being a Ranger, but at least we are no longer yelling at each other."
"Sounds like this is a common problem Rangers face."
"It is." Jacky laughed it off as he poured an entire bag of pokemon food into his venasaur's gigantic food bowl. "There is even a Ranger group chat where people like us can rant to our heart's content about the problems we faced in getting our folks to accept our career choice. It's a haven where we can all unite under the shared pain, comparing who had it worse. Some of the stories make for some good entertainment. You want in?"
I cannot help but laugh at that.
"A group chat? Really?"
"No kidding." Jacky affirmed as he opened another bag of pokemon food to feed his nidoking. "Although if I am being honest, your older brother doesn't strike me as the type of person to oppose your career choice. I mean, he is a Gym Leader. I thought someone of his position would understand why we stick on with our jobs despite the danger. It's more than just the prestige and money that comes with it."
"I know right?" My voice went a few notes higher at that before letting out a sigh. "Then again, I know he's scared of losing me. We already lost our parents, so he's scared of losing me and Ciel. I can understand that, even if his actions felt suffocating to me. Don't get me wrong, I love my older brother. He was the one who practically raised us up after that shitty Dad of mine just disappeared into thin air after Mum died, but Falkner really needs to realise that it's time for him to let go."
The both of us ended up sitting side by side in the room, watching our pokemon eat to their heart's content as we wait for them to finish.
"Thanks, Jacky. Glad to know that I'm not alone."
"As a responsible second-in-command, it's my job to make sure that everyone in the team is in tip top shape." Jacky mock bragged, which earned him a roll of the eyes from me. "Funnily enough, it was Adam who first brought up that you were acting a little off, which led me to you."
"Adam?" I parroted in disbelief.
"Said something about you not arguing with him with those snarky quips of yours when he made a jab at you, which is abnormal in his books. He's actually very lovable once you got past his moody and edgy exterior. He's kind of cute, really. All bark and no bite."
Our attention was brought elsewhere when Aria walked up to me, her now empty metal food bowl in her mouth. She dropped it in front of me, her eyes full of expectance.
"Eat anymore and you might grow too fat to fly properly." I jabbed a finger at her bulging tummy. After the initial breaking in, it still took a whole month for me to get her to properly work with others in team exercises and another two weeks for her to cooperate with the rest of my Ranger friends and their pokemon, but Aria is surprisingly docile once you earned her respect. She acts like a domesticated growlithe when she's not snarling and snapping at your face. The researchers weren't expecting this kind of behaviour too, saying that this is not something that they had observed when she was still under their care in the research facility.
Her big expecting eyes and the slow swinging of her tail from side to side make her all sorts of adorable and cute. She's a bit of a glutton and doesn't know when to stop eating, so I have to constantly remind her of her food intake.
"Never thought I would have the chance to interact with a living prehistoric pokemon up close." Jacky mused as his hands ran across Aria's head, giving her a good rubbing. Just a month ago, nobody other than me could come close to her without her trying to bite their head off. Now, she acts like an adorable growlithe puppy whenever she's not out in the field.
"I wonder if there is a poison type prehistoric pokemon?" Jacky wondered, now using his hands to stroke Aria at an area at the back of her head near her neck. " If there's one, I won't even mind travelling to the other end of the world just to catch a glimpse of it."
"I will wait for that day to come, just so that I can see you try travelling through uncharted waters to find that pokemon, oh great explorer." I teased. This world is huge, a lot bigger than the one from my past life. There are only seven known regions thus far, eight if you include the mysterious Orre, and they make up only a quarter of the planet at most.
Venturing beyond your own region to search for the next new continent is extremely dangerous in this world. The vast seas and skies are filled with untamed wild pokemon, making inter-regional journeys by planes impossible. Journeys by ships are still the most common mode of transport people use for inter-regional travel, but even then, there are only a few known sea routes that ships uses because they are the only known safe routes.
Even then, there will still be the occasional news of a ship getting sunk in the middle of the sea from a wild pokemon attack. Sometimes it's accidental, like a wailord accidentally capsizing a ship by sneezing or a gyarados simply having a bad day. Sometimes, pokemon attack ships just… because. We don't always have all the answers.
This world is not as safe as it portrays itself to be. There are many hidden dangers lurking about that threatens the normalcy of our everyday lives. My job as a Ranger is to keep those dangers at bay while maintaining that delicate balance between humans and pokemon. Obviously, this job has elements of danger in it. The Ranger force suffers casualties every year, sometimes every month. If we are unlucky enough sometimes it happens every week. Sometimes it does not matter how hard we tried because things are just that dangerous sometimes, but someone has to try. This is the truth of what it really means to be a Ranger beneath all that prestige and glory.
I can understand where Falkner is coming from, I really do. But what pissed me off is his top down approach in the way he handled things, the only-I-know-what-is-best-for-you holy attitude. It is how he never listened to me, it's how he is using the excuse of 'It's for your own good' as his default response to anything I say that really ticked me off.
Add that to years of accumulated disagreements from our differing views, his overprotective tendencies, my desire to fly high in the skies without restraints, and his blind idolism of our shitty Dad, you get an explosive mix of the Bale family drama.
"It will be lonely to travel across the world alone. It will be better if there's someone travelling with me." Jacky turned up the mood as he wagged a single eyebrow at me in a suggestive manner. How people managed to do that I would never know. I can only control my eyebrows in pairs, but never individually.
"Oh gosh, are you hitting on me?" I did an exaggerated gasp, covering my mouth with a hand in a dramatic manner. "I will have you know that I am still legally underage, mind you."
"Not for long, and it's not against the law for a guy to flirt with a woman."
"Isn't flirting and picking up girls a Rufus thing? I didn't know you had it in you, Jacky."
"He is a bad influence."
"I also have an extremely protective older brother who is a Gym Leader. I don't know where and how Ciel comes into the picture, but he is ridiculously smart. I'm sure he can make your life very difficult even without lifting a single finger if he ever knows that you are trying to hit on me."
"Hmm." Jacky took on a thinking pose to show that he is deep in thought. "I think I will take my chances."
I stared at him as my brain came to a halt.
"Wait, are you for real?"
Jacky laughed out loud.
"What if it is, what if it isn't?"
"I'm sure that I don't want to be in a relationship right now, so I will politely reject you either way. Not that I find you unattractive, because you are, but I have enough drama in my life as it is."
"How about this? If by the time you are of age and both of us still aren't seeing anyone, we give it a go?"
I took a few seconds to think about it before shrugging my shoulders.
"Sure, why not? I'm warning you first though, Falkner will probably turn you into bird feed the first chance he gets."
Jacky imitate my shrug.
"What can I say? I'm a highly sought-after delicacy."
"Hey, did you happen to see a human male about this tall, blue eyes, brown hair?" I gestured with my hands to a random wild pidgey I found while my squadron spread ourselves out to search for the last missing hiker. There was an avalanche and a large group of hikers were caught up in it. We were tasked to find the group of hikers ASAP because winter is coming and no one wants to get stuck out in the wilderness in this weather.
Pun not intended, by the way. The winter is coming part, I mean.
"Zephyr, there's no fucking way a wild pidgey will-"
"Hush, you." I shushed Nightmare up as I cradled the small pidgey in my arms, gently stroking it with a hand. She's a girl from what I can tell. "Don't be mean to little pidgey, she has feelings too. And keep quiet, pidgey's talking."
The pidgey chirped a few times before using her wings to point in a certain direction.
"That way?" I asked, and my question was rewarded with a nod of her head. I signalled Crown to get up and fly from where I am riding on his back. In a second, we are already in the air.
"Here?" I asked, which the pidgey replied with a shake of her cute little head. I repeated the question a few times by pointing at different directions until I got an affirmative.
"Well, I'll be. You are now officially a bird whisperer." Nightmare commented when we finally found the last hiker, who could not move due to a broken leg. He had lost consciousness, which worried us when we first found him, but upon closer inspection, his life is not in immediate danger.
Thank whatever deity up there that he is still alive.
"I grow up among birds and flying types." I scoffed as Nightmare helped me to strap the unconscious hiker onto Echo's back, taking great care to not further aggravate the hiker's injury. "Getting them to talk to me is as easy as breathing."
"I grow up among dark types and you don't see me fucking conversing with them like grannies gossiping on the market." Nightmare said gruffly before doing a last safety check to ensure that the hiker is being properly and safely strapped on Echo's back. Once satisfied, he gave me a thumbs up and I signalled for Echo to go ahead first. Echo gently nuzzled me with his head before taking off into the air, his passenger safely strapped on his back.
Nightmare reached for the earpiece in his ear.
"Cremator, this is Nightmare. The pipsqueak and I found the last hiker, we are sending him your way on her noivern's back. He is unconscious and has a broken leg, but it shouldn't be anything too life threatening."
"This is Cremator. Copy that. Now quickly get your asses back in here before the blizzard comes. That goes for the rest of you. Cremator over and out."
"Pipsqueak?" I crossed my arms and looked up at Nightmare.
"You are shorter than me." Nightmare jumped up onto his hydreigon's back as I climbed back up onto Crown's. I took out a Oran berry from the pocket of my jacket and gave it to the pidgey.
"Thanks for your help! You may want to hurry back to your nest. A blizzard may be coming."
The wild pidgey gave another chirp as she took the Oran berry with her little feet before disappearing into the woods.
"Crazy bird whisperer."
"Trust me, it's easy. You want me to teach you the ways of the language of the birds? I can teach you, o young one."
"I don't think you understand, you dumb birdbrain." Nightmare cut me off as our pokemon flew side by side at a leisurely pace. "No one should be able to talk to pokemon so easily like that. What you did was like you have a fucking superpower or something."
I looked at him quizzically.
"I've always been able to talk to flying types like that. And it's not like I understand what they are talking about. I ask them a question, then we start playing charades."
"Maybe it's because it's so fucking natural for you that you don't realise it yourself." Nightmare continued on his tirade as I kept my body low and closer to Crown's back to hide myself better from the frigid cold wind. "I've always found it odd how flying types, not just bird type pokemon, mind you, tend to open themselves up to you so easily. And it's not just me." Nightmare quickly added the last part when I was about to protest. "The rest of the squad agrees with me too. We just never told you about it."
"So, you think I have some sort of superpower that allows flying types to be more trusting towards me?" I said in the most sarcastic voice I have. "Wow. Yay. Because I'm so special. Wait, anyone could do it too if they live with flying types their whole lives!"
I might have been a bit of an ass when I said that last sentence dramatically in faux realisation, but in my defence, there's no need to be polite with potty mouth Adam.
"That aerodactyl of yours. You only needed one or two hours to get it to listen to you. It's not fucking possible, man."
"Well, I did the impossible, because I know what I'm doing because I've been living with flying types my whole life."
"I needed one entire week to get this bad boy here to even pay me any attention. You know how notorious his species are when it comes to taming them." Adam pointed at the hydreigon he is riding on, who replied in a weird rumble which I think is its way of laughing. "And that's when he's still a little deino."
"Just admit that you suck at it."
"Excuse you, fuckwad, very few trainers can boast to get a deino to mind them in just a week. Many trainers take at least a month or two to get one of these bad boys to even consider listening to them."
"Anything we missed?"
Powergirl, Venom, and Torrent joined us in the air as we flew in a Card Five formation. Powergirl has a pidgeot, similar to me. Venom's crobat attached itself to its trainer's back to transport Venom around while Torrent wedge himself onto his kingdra's back somehow. I know kingdras are capable of a certain degree of flight, but I've never seen one that can fly at such high altitudes and speed before.
Goes to show how well-trained Torrent's kingdra is.
"Telling birdbrain that her ability to get flying types to trust her is absolutely freaky and unnatural, but her pea-sized brain doesn't give her enough intellectual capacity to believe a single fucking word I said."
"Adam is actually right, you know." Rufus said from his position at my eight o'clock.
"He should phrase his words a little better though. I don't think it's freaky at all. In fact, it's so cool!" Powergirl cheered excitedly from my front left, pumping a fist into the air. "Imagine if I have the ability to get all normal types to-"
Crown suddenly screeched out a cry and immediately, our pokemon all did a sharp turn to scatter and break formation. A massive flamethrower torched the area where we were at just a second ago.
"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK?!"
"Don't shout through the comms!" Was what I heard next. This voice belongs to Venom.
"Eeeek! CHARIZARD! RUN RUN RUN!"
"Kingdra, Water Pulse!"
"WHY THE FUCK IS THERE A FUCKING CHARIZARD HERE?!"
"This is Cremator! What the hell is going on?!"
"There's a charizard attacking us, Sir!" I replied to the comms when I finally spotted said charizard in the air when Crown caught up to the rest of my squadron. They are all caught up in a dogfight in the air with the charizard with no way to fight back. Venom, Powergirl, and Torrent only have one pokemon each that they can use in an aerial battle, which are the ones that they are using to fly right now. They have no options to launch a counterattack.
"Zephyr!"
"I'm on it! Tino, Aria!"
I released Tino and Aria for battle immediately. Aerial battle is my specialty, not theirs. My comrades are sitting ducks in the air. Their pokemon cannot fight back effectively in the sky. I also cannot send out too many fliers against one single foe or there would be friendly fire instead from the congestion. Tino and Aria will have to do.
"Get to base now while I hold the charizard off! None of you other than maybe potty mouth can handle the charizard in an aerial battle!"
"You heard the pipsqueak! The three of you hurry back to base, you will only be a burden to us here! And get the Commander here! He knows how to handle a charizard! I will back birdbrain up!" Nightmare yelled out as he released his honchkrow for battle. "Just our fucking luck!"
"I'm on my way!" Our Commander's voice could be heard through the radio. "I've got a lock on your location! Don't get too close in an aerial battle with a charizard! Keep your distance!"
I couldn't spare much attention to the rest of my squadron. Tino and Aria are already locked in a fierce battle with an angry charizard. Tino is more than capable of taking on the charizard one-on-one, but we have to take extra precautions to ensure that the charizard doesn't escape to try and chase down Venom, Powergirl, and Torrent.
"Aria, Ancient Power!"
A blast of energy from Aria knocked the charizard back just as Tino pressed on with a Dragon Claw.
"Tailwind! Make it harder for him to fly! Retain aerial superiority!"
Aria whipped up a turbulent whirlwind that makes it easier for all pokemon on our side to fly while simultaneously making it harder for charizard to move about in the air. Nightmare's honchkrow is also getting its own attacks in when the opportunity arises, further annoying the charizard. Hopefully, the charizard will back down on its own. We can put down the charizard, but we don't want to do so because as Rangers, we are not supposed to interfere with the natural order of things. If the apex predator of the area was taken down, it may have adverse effects on the ecological system of the area.
Although at this rate, we may not have a choice.
"Aria, Smack Down!"
A harsh whip of the tail by Aria managed to knock the charizard out of the air. The rest of our pokemon followed up by firing ranged attacks of their own, sending the charizard spiralling down back to the ground.
Time to run.
"Let's go!"
However, another cone of hot flames cut our escape off as the charizard flew up into the skies again. A massive Heat Wave would have burnt us all if Aria didn't put up a Wide Guard in time.
"Oh come on! We just want to go back home!" Nightmare complained as his hydreigon fired three different attacks simultaneously with its three heads.
"Grab onto your hydreigon tight! Call back your honchkrow! Tino, Aria, to me!"
"What are you planning, pipsqueak?!"
"Aria, Whirlwind!"
A massive gust of wind was conjured, blowing the charizard away in one single sweep.
"Couldn't you have done that earlier?!"
"I forgot!"
"You FORGOT?!"
"I'm sorry! Okay?!"
The two of us quickly flew out of the area. Tino and Aria brought up the rear as I turned back every few seconds to check if the charizard is in hot pursuit.
"You think that damn fire lizard is gone?" Nightmare said in a soft voice after a tense half a minute.
"I hope so." I mumbled back. "I heard that charizards in the wild tend to go to the extreme when chasing their prey. Why is there even one here? Charizards are super rare."
"That charizard seemed trained. Either its trainer died and it was released here after the trainer's death, or someone released a fucking charizard here for shit and giggles. That charizard got to be wild, this attack is too random to be planned. We probably unknowingly crossed its territory or some shit like that. Just our luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"Still think we should report it to the higher ups for them to take note of that charizard. It will be dangerous for anyone to come here. We may even need to cordon off the area entirely. Imagine if another search and rescue operation was conducted here with the charizard around…"
"We are bloody lucky that it didn't find us while we were searching for the hiker dude."
"Yeah, so many things could have-"
My words were cut off prematurely when Crown suddenly did a barrel roll in the air and forcefully threw me off his back, leaving me to free fall in the sky. When I looked up, it was just in time that I saw a hot blast of fire scoring a direct hit on Crown from above the clouds. Crown had used his own body to protect me from harm.
That charizard! It gave chase to us from above us! Hidden by the clouds and the low visibility provided by the snowy weather!
"CROWN!"
I yelled out in worry as I quickly recalled Crown back to his pokeball. He is in no condition to continue fighting after taking a direct hit like that. I can see the charizard diving down after me, ignoring everyone else in its mindless rage. Tino and Aria are in hot pursuit together with Nightmare right after them.
I will really die if I don't do something soon.
"Dia! Metal Sound! Glide, Giga Impact!"
I released my skarmory and gliscor next. Dia let out an uncomfortable screeching sound to provide a brief opening for Glide to ram himself into the charizard, sending it right into Tino's waiting arms. Aria bypassed the crowd and quickly caught me, allowing me to safely land on her back.
It's time for our counterattack.
"Pipsqueak!"
"I'm fine! You head back first! This is going to be too fast for you to keep up!"
There was a harsh silence that lasted a total of a single second. I can imagine Nightmare thinking really hard about his options in the confines of my head. A foul-mouthed individual he may be, but he cares for his comrades.
However, he is of no help in an aerial battle against an aggressive and obviously trained charizard that had been released here for whatever unknown reasons.
"I will get the Commander here asap!"
I saw Nightmare's hydreigon turned and headed off in another direction. Good, now it's time for me to put the charizard in its place.
"Tino, get it down on the ground! Extreme Speed! Go!"
Tino dived down towards the ground in a burst of speed, the charizard still struggling in her arms. The rest of us followed suit.
A large cloud of dust and snow was kicked up when Tino threw the charizard down into the ground. Aria and Glide followed up with a Rock Slide while Tino shot a Thunder Wave to clip charizard's wings.
A huge Inferno was belched out from charizard's maw, which my team evaded with no problems. My heavy hitters couldn't get in close safely with all the flames the charizard was spewing out until Dia hit the charizard with another Metal Sound, allowing Tino the chance to head right in with an Aqua Jet. After a brief struggle, Tino managed to bodily pin the charizard down onto the ground. Glide held his pincer-like claws at charizard's neck, hissing at it to dare to try anything.
"We are not here to fight. We are just passing by." I spoke slowly with my hands up in front of me in a placating manner, still riding on Aria's back as she hovered in the air. "I'm sorry if we accidentally passed by your territory or something, we will get out of here immediately if you would let us go."
I don't know how long the charizard and I stared at each other in silence, but it stopped growling out threats soon enough and remained still.
"Tino, Glide, let it go."
Slowly and carefully, Tino and Glide got off the charizard. The charizard slowly stood up before gazing at us warily. It gave another huff, smoke puffing out of its nostrils, before spreading its wings and disappearing into the skies.
I heaved a sigh of relief.
"That's enough action for the entire day." I commented as we took off into the air once more, quickly finding our way back to base. I had lost my earpiece somewhere within all that struggle, probably lost it while I was free falling in the sky. I couldn't radio my squadron. Hopefully I didn't worry them from the sudden lack of contact.
I saw another charizard in the distance ahead of us. My team and I tensed up at the sight but relaxed when we saw a familiar figure riding it.
"Zephyr!" Commander Pyral called out to me when he got close. "Answer your damn comms!"
"I lost it!" I yelled back to him over the harsh winds, a single finger pointing to the lack of the equipment that should be attached to my ear.
We managed to reach our temporary base of operations after another fifteen minutes of flight. The injured hikers were all sent here after we found them. Paramedics and other Rangers are also everywhere in the base, trying to keep everything in order.
Not every hiker survived the avalanche. We had to transport quite a number of dead bodies back.
I reunite with Echo, who had done a splendid job in escorting the injured hiker we found back here. The moment the doctor on site cleared me and I handed Crown over to the pokemon nurse to heal him back up, I headed for the briefing room. I owe my life to Crown for using his own body to shield me from that charizard's attack. I would have died if he didn't protect me when he did.
Pokemon really are man's best friend.
Amy glomped me in a hug the moment I entered the briefing room.
"We were so worried! You weren't answering the comms at all and-"
"I'm fine, Amy, I beat that charizard back. I'm fine." I reassured her as I patted her on the back.
"Glad to see that you came back unscathed. Hey, how about a date to celebrate? Just you and I?" Rufus joked, lightening the mood immediately.
"I'm underage." I replied, and Rufus' hand clutched the area over his heart dramatically upon my reply as if experiencing a heartache.
"How did you chase that stupid charizard away?" Adam asked.
"Maybe she caught it like how she caught the aerodactyl?"
At Jacky's speculation, everyone turned to stare at me.
"Ha. Ha. Very funny." I shot back as Amy finally let go of me. "Why would I want to catch an overly aggressive charizard that has so many bad flying habits that I lost count of it? Whoever its trainer was, he or she doesn't know a thing when it comes to training a pokemon for aerial battle."
Seriously, that charizard was strong in terms of raw strength, but it wasn't very good in an aerial battle. The only reason it got Crown with a huge ball of fire was because it launched a sneak attack. We would have a much harder time trying to beat it back if it actually knew how to fly properly. Its previous trainer must be an idiot.
"I'm actually interested in how you got rid of it." Commander Pyral drawled in his usual monotone. "It's a possibly highly territorial charizard that we are talking about. You don't just beat it back."
I scratched the back of my head.
"I… uh… talked to it?"
There was a muted silence in the room.
"You… talked to it?" Pyral repeated my words slowly.
"Uh… yeah?" I replied. "What else would you have me do? I cannot just defeat it and leave it unconscious on the ground. What if some other pokemon ate it up while it was defenceless? That goes against our Ranger code."
"Do you even know how… impossible your words sound?" Rufus spoke up. "You don't just talk to an aggressive charizard that was out for your blood seconds ago and convince it to let you go."
"Tino and Glide were pinning the charizard down and hissing threats at it that I'm sure promised bodily harm." I replied sarcastically. "That might have helped."
"If it were any other pokemon, I might have believed it." Pyral cut in with a firm voice. "But charizards are prideful creatures, especially those in the wild. They don't bow down to anyone. They rather go down fighting in a ball of fire than to let their foe leave unscathed. This isn't normal behaviour for a charizard, trained or wild. When a charizard goes on a rampage, which it obviously did, they no longer listen to reason. When it comes to that, only its trainer might be able to rein it in and keep it in line and that's a huge 'what-if'. Rufus is right. You don't just talk a charizard into letting you go without a fight."
"I fucking told you shitheads that she's a bird whisperer." Adam muttered.
"Technically, charizards are not birds." Amy corrected.
"That's not the point here, airhead. You know what the fuck I'm talking about."
"As unbelievable Skye's words are, I trust her." Pyral stopped the argument before it escalated further. "What matters is that our mission is completed and everyone is back safe and sound. I will need to write the mission report differently because no one would ever believe me if I wrote that Skye verbally convinced a charizard to let her go. So, here's what we will do."
Upon seeing that he had gotten our attention with his words, Pyral continued.
"Whatever Skye told us today in this room stays in this room. If anyone asked, her flying types were too fast for the charizard to catch up and that's how she escaped, got it?"
"Yes, Sir!"
I don't see what's the big deal about the fact that I convinced a charizard to let us go peacefully, but if they want to cover it up, then so be it.
"So…" Rufus nudged me with his elbow the moment Pyral left the briefing room to get his coffee, mumbling incoherent words that I suspect to be something about an oncoming migraine and needing even more coffee. "You have some sort of superpower? The power of a bird whisperer?"
"I think it's more like the ability to get any flying types to listen to her, but bird whisperer sounds better." Jacky mused.
"Best name for a birdbrain."
"And I'm telling you guys. It's NOT a superpower." I threw my hands up in exasperation. "If you lived among flying types your entire life, it's second nature to be able to understand them and get them to listen to you!"
"She's living in denial." Amy pointed a finger at me while looking at the rest of the squadron. "What she just said was the very definition of a bird whisperer."
"I told you I'm NOT a bird- UGH! Fine, whatever. Suit yourselves. I hate you guys anyway."
The rest of my squadron merely roared in laughter.
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
8. Emolga, (Emi), female
9. Hawlucha (Hawk), male
10. Sigilyph (Cosmo), female
11. Aerodactyl (Aria), female
Name: Falkner Bale, 25, Male
Known affiliation: Johto Police Force, Johto Thirteen Pillars, Violet City Gym Leader
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeot (Majel), male
2. Noctowl
3. Fearow
4. Dodrio
5. Honchkrow
6. Xatu
7. Crobat
8. Skarmory
9. Delibird
10. Togekiss
11. Swellow
12. Staraptor
13. Pelipper
Name: Ciel Bale, 13, Male
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeotto (Queenie), female
Name: Walker Bale, 55, Male
Known affiliation: Ex Violet City Gym Leader, Ex member of Johto Thirteen Pillars
Pokemon Team:
1. Pidgeot
2. Skarmory
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
