I couldn't tell if we arrived at Blackthorn too late or if we had reached on time. All I could tell is that the city is starting to descend into chaos.

Like what Pyral had briefed us earlier, an army of Rockets are laying a siege on the city, both from outside and within. If I had to take a guess, there are Rockets within Blackthorn that had been lying in wait for today. By coordinating with the forces that are outside trying to break through Blackthorn's defenses right now, they are able to better sow chaos and mayhem throughout the city.

"The Johto 4th Regiment are the ones stationed in this city! Work with them to evacuate as many as you can! Leave it to the 4th Regiment to guide the civvies to the shelter! We evacuate those who are nearer to the frontlines and are unable to escape!"

We got to work immediately. Everyone else other than me disembarked from Tino's back and we quickly got to work. The Rocket's main forces are trying to make their way in from the south of the city so that is where we are headed.

Already, buildings are on fire. Infrastructures had been destroyed. Battles are being fought as members of the Indigo forces worked together with Blackthorn trainers to better protect the city.

"Skye! I leave you to check for stragglers that are on the higher floors of the buildings! Focus on buildings that have caught fire or are about to collapse! Everyone else, locate as many civvies as you can and hand them over to the 4th Regiment! Remember! We are not here to fight, but to save lives!"

"Roger!"

Pyral was right. There are a number of stragglers trapped on the higher floors of buildings whose staircases had collapsed or which had caught fire.

"Don't panic! Don't rush! There is more than enough space for all of you! Children and elderlies first, please! Then the ladies followed by the men!"

A few families on the upper floors of a particular building had been trapped. The building seems to be on the verge of collapsing. I had radioed for reinforcements but I am not sure how soon they will arrive, or if they will arrive at all. It simply looks as if we are short-handed on all fronts.

I guess I'm lucky today, because the families which I had found and had to evacuate did not panic as much as I expected them to do. My flying types quickly deposited them on the ground below one batch after the other where Rangers are slowly converging to assist in the evacuation.

"Venom to Zephyr, I have visual of your location! That building is about to collapse anytime soon, I repeat! That building is about to collapse anytime soon! Get out of there!"

"Negative! There is still a family left!"

"Copy that! I'm heading over!"

It's like what Jacky had said. It's obvious that this entire building is about to collapse even with my pokemon's best efforts to evacuate everyone within as soon as possible. We picked up our speed as my larger pokemon assisted in the evacuation while the smaller ones quickly scouted the building just in case there were still stragglers that were within the building that we had all missed out.

"Rockets are coming! Hurry!"

A Ranger from the 4th Regiment shouted his warning loud enough for everyone to hear. A turn of my head confirmed this fact. Even with Clair's best efforts, trying to simultaneously deal with the army outside while keeping watch of the Rockets that are stirring trouble from within is a little too much even for someone like her.

"WATCH OUT!"

There was a loud creak, then a crack, then the entire building crumbled in a deafening crash.

"Grab whoever you can! We are getting out of here!"

My pokemon all quickly grabbed ahold of anyone they could possibly grab as we quickly flew away from the collapsing building. Debris is raining down on us and we would have been seriously injured if accurate blasts of flames didn't blow the debris away in time.

No, I'm not joking. The accuracy of these Flamethrowers is something that even Pyral is unable to achieve. These flames are protecting us from the falling debris while not hindering our twisted path of flight in the slightest. That's some insane level of skill.

However, I also have more important things to worry about.

"SOMEONE, SAVE THEM!"

There are still people that my flying types were unable to grab a hold of in time or currently have their hands too filled to be able to take anymore passengers. I can only helplessly watch as they continue their freefall without anyone being able to be there in time to save them.

"Venom to Zephyr, I got this! You get out of there!"

"Roger that!"

Jacky's voice sounding out from my comms made me feel at ease immediately. I soon understood what Jacky meant when countless vines suddenly emerged from the ground and quickly pulled those civilians away from the danger. All this while, the blasts of flames didn't stop protecting us as they either burned away or hit the falling debris away from us.

Then a bigger explosion could be heard.

I turned around, only to feel my heart leaping into my throat when I saw that the collapsing building simply… collapsed even faster in a great ball of exploding fire.

"Yo, the Ranger in the air, keep calm and just keep flying! I will handle this! You! Yes, you! The guy with the venusaur, get back! It's not yet your time to play hero! Burner, let's go!"

An unfamiliar voice could be heard over the noise before a pillar of flame rocketed into the sky. My eyes managed to catch a brief glimpse of a magmortar propelling itself into the air using the powerful blasts of flames it releases from its arm cannons. Even when travelling through the air via artificial flight, it is able to fly so fast and smoothly that it wouldn't have paled to any other flying types.

The magmortar placed itself in between us and the collapsing building that is about to press us down into the ground. It is like a falling tower of jenga blocks, except that this tower is made of concrete and is approximately twenty stories high.

"Three! Two! One! NOW!"

The magmortar roared before lighting itself up and transformed into a miniature sun, emitting light so bright that it casted a dark shadow over us all. The heat is unbearable and it only spurred us to hurry and get the hell out of here.

"Burn 'em! Lava Plume!"

And the skies were set ablaze. The fire raged on and it was only after I landed on the ground with the civilians that I had rescued that the fire started to die down. I widened my eyes in disbelief when I saw that the entire building is no more. Gone. Erased from existence.

No damn way.

That magmortar just burned the collapsed building so thoroughly that nothing was left. This level of firepower is insane. Not only that, the fire didn't spread and is contained to a very specific area small enough for other pokemon to quickly put it out. That level of overwhelming firepower combined with that insane accuracy is something that I had never heard of.

Just who is that magmortar's trainer?

"Sup, nobody got hurt, yea?"

That unfamiliar voice caught our attention once more. A tall lanky man with red afro hair walked up to us with his hands in his pocket, acting like a twenty storey building hadn't just almost collapsed on us. The magmortar from earlier landed on its feet beside the man with a loud crash but only let out a dismissive grunt for it.

Why the hell is this guy here?! He is-

"Flint of Sinnoh's Elite Four?"

"That's me alright." Flint said with a large grin before jabbing a thumb in the direction behind him. "Unfortunately, this is not the time for me to be giving out signatures or taking photos with you guys. You guys mind moving somewhere safer so that I can do my job?"

"I will take over from here." A Ranger from the 4th Regiment volunteered as he took the civilians off my hands and quickly guided them to the shelters behind us. Flint merely gave us a lazy wave before running straight ahead towards where the main bulk of the fighting is together with his team of fire types, no doubt going to aid Clair in defending Blackthorn.

"I have enough near-miss for today." I grumbled as I signalled for Crown to take flight once more. The rest of my team followed suit as we moved on to the next area. I spotted Jacky and his poison types following close behind as they traversed through the ground. He gave me a thumbs up when our gaze met, an action which I returned.

My radio crackled for a few seconds as the static prevented me from hearing anything useful until Pyral's voice could be heard once more.

"-tor to Zephyr! Cremator to Zephyr! Come in! Come in!"

Oh shit, boss is radioing for me.

"This is Zephyr! Go ahead!"

"Go check on the west side of the city ASAP! Reports from the 4th Regiment has it that the Rockets are planning to gas the entire city starting from the west side! If so, save as many as you can before the gas hits!"

I stilled as Pyral's words continued to repeat itself when I didn't formulate a response. I am still trying to digest what Pyral had just told me.

Gas the city? But that's-

"Those bastards!"

Adam's voice snapped me back to reality.

"This is Zephyr! Roger wilco! I'm on my way!"

Without turning to check if Jacky is following close behind, I turned Crown around as we sped towards the west of Blackthorn. We reached there in less than a minute. Pyral is right. From outside of the city, a large cloud of purple gas is slowly closing in. There is no doubt that the gas is toxic. At the rate the cloud of gas is travelling, it will engulf the west side of the city in just a few minutes. Nowhere will be safe.

To make things worse, our forces are now concentrating their efforts on the south of the city where the bulk of the fighting is. There are not many members from the Indigo forces here to defend the west side. Enough to hold off a siege, but not enough and not well-equipped to handle a gas attack of such scale.

Just how cruel can those Rockets be?!

I clicked my tongue as my mind worked overtime to come up with a solution. Trying to save everyone that will be within range of the gas cloud is futile. There is simply not enough time because of the size and speed of the cloud. In that case, there's only one option left.

I am a Flying Specialist. Like Liam said, when the winds are not in our favour, we create our own.

"Everyone! Tailwind, Hurricane, Whirlwind! Blow the gas back to where it came from! Don't let it reach the city!"

My flying types obeyed and quickly did as they were told. Fortunately, our actions did have the effects we desired. People started to cheer and trainers quickly emulated what my flying types are doing, conjuring the winds to blow in our favour.

"This is only a temporary measure! We cannot keep this up forever! Someone needs to go and find where the gas is coming from and stop it!"

The words of a volunteer trainer got me to bite on the inside of my cheeks. He's right. We cannot keep this up forever. If we want to really prevent the gas from reaching the city we need to find who and what is emitting this cloud of toxic gas and stop it from spreading towards the city.

I am a Ranger, my job is to save lives. I am a Ranger of the 1st Ranger Regiment and a Flying Specialist. I am the best suited person for this task right now.

"I'm going to check things out! You guys keep the winds blowing, I won't take long!"

"Be careful!"

I flew off towards where the gas clouds were coming from the moment I was sure the defense force stationed at the west of the city had things handled for the moment. I could not help but clench my fists when I thought about how things would have gone south if we didn't push the gas cloud back in time. Those bastard Rockets. What are they trying to achieve by massacring an entire city with a gas attack?!

I can never forgive such people. I can never forgive whoever is creating the toxic gas cloud. Such an act is inhumane, cruel. Absolutely unacceptable. I will never forgive anyone who does such a thing.

Never.


I soon tracked the origin of the gas cloud to be originating from the forested area along Route 44. We had braved through the toxic gas unharmed thus far because of my flying types' ability to prevent them from coming too close to us. However, I realised that the gas clouds are getting progressively harder to get rid of the closer we are to tracking its source.

That also means that we are very close to locating whoever is orchestrating such a low and inhumane act.

We hovered in the air above Route 44, and we were about to pinpoint the origin of the gas cloud when an even bigger and more concentrated cloud of toxic gas suddenly blew in our direction from nowhere. The gas continued to spread rapidly as it rose into the sky, now forcing us to fly low and into the forest where the gas did not spread.

Found it.

"Huh, a little girl? Eh, I really don't want to fight against children, much less a little girl, so if you could kindly just turn around and leave without telling anyone that I'm just chilling out here, I would let you go just like that. How about it?"

A purple haired man with a goatee walked out of the foliage within the forest that my team and I were forced to land on. A team of poison types are accompanying the Rocket. The carefree attitude this guy is showing makes me even more on guard. He's confident that if we come to blows, he will win, I can tell that much.

Furthermore, his uniform's design is unfamiliar to me. That means that he is no ordinary rank and file grunt. He is definitely a leader within the Rockets and if he is of the same rank as the Rocket that nearly ended my life twice, then this spells overall bad news for me.

"Huh? Let's see, a pidgeot, a nasty dragonite, gliscor, skarmory, blah blah blah… Yeah, you have to be her alright. The one that Plague wrote about in his report during the attack on Johto National Park. He had high praises for you."

"Plague?" I tried to buy some time and glean some info off this seemingly loose-lipped Rocket. My mind ran through the options I have, which are not many. This purple hair guy is obviously stronger than me. I cannot count on reinforcements to arrive due to the shitfest that is happening right now in Blackthorn and possibly the whole of Johto. The large cloud of toxic gas is a problem too. It is a lot more dense and harder to get rid of the closer we are to the man's poison types. We cannot fly freely like this.

There comes the dilemma. Keep my distance, and I will have trouble knocking out the poison types that are no doubt responsible for the gas cloud that is threatening to engulf the whole of Blackthorn. Close the distance, and I might just be one-shotted by this man and his poison types, and that is not even taking into account the cloud of toxic fumes circling around us.

What should I do?

"That's one of our Executives. Super cool guy, although a little quiet and emotionally stunted." The purple haired Rocket said nonchalantly before stroking his goatee. "Although I have to say, what are you doing all the way out here? Trying to stop me?"

The Rocket laughed. He laughed hard, as if me trying to stop him is the funniest thing he had ever heard. I could have tried a sneak attack while he was seemingly defenseless when he was laughing, but something at the back of my mind told me that I would be killed even before I could get close.

So, I decided upon a different approach.

I subtly pressed a very specific button of my pokegear that I kept in the back pocket of my pants, out of sight of the Rocket. If my memories serve me right, my very last call was with Volkner. There's a nifty function of the pokegear that I do use sometimes on missions. If I press the GPS button followed by the redial button, my location would be sent to the person which I last called. It is a function built into the device just in case trainers need to let someone else know about their current location quickly, especially when they suddenly found themselves in an emergency. It is especially useful when they run into trouble far away from any form of civilisation on their journeys.

It took that Rocket a while to calm down and stop laughing and when he did, his persona got a little more serious.

"This is my last warning, girl. I don't like to fight against children but that doesn't mean I wouldn't."

"I supposed there's no way I can convince you to stop gassing Blackthorn? Many people will die if a gassing of that scale implicates the city."

It sounds foolish trying to convince a terrorist to stop killing people, but at least I did try.

"Hello? That's exactly what I am trying to do. Are you right in the head?"

"Does it not bother you at all?!" I said through gritted teeth and clenched fists. "That thousands of people will die?! It's a gas attack! Even if medical aid were to be given immediately there's no guarantee that the victims will ever fully recover! With an attack of that scale even with the advancements in medical technology in recent years there wouldn't be enough to save everyone!"

"I know. Your point being?" The Rocket said with a shrug. "And you should count yourself lucky, girl, that you are born a Johtonian. Johtonians are always blessed to be privileged, always having access to the best healthcare services Indigo has to offer. Kanto's healthcare… meh."

The Rocket waved his hand flippantly without a care in the world at the last part.

"Alright, I've wasted enough time and you've wasted your only chance to get out of here alive. Muk, go-"

There's no way I am going to let him have the first move if I want to live.

'Cosmo, get the guys to use a Whirlwind, then Hurricane. Tailwind out of here.'

It was instantaneous.

A large gust of wind howled and ripped through the area we are at as my flying types launched a collaborative attack that blew the purple-haired Rocket and his team away. The Hurricane dispersed the toxic cloud of gas above us as we took to the skies immediately. A Tailwind boosted our speed as we zipped straight for Blackthorn, not wanting the Rocket and his poison types to catch up to us.

There's no way I could defeat this guy, so I shall not fight him. All I have to do is to stall until someone who could defeat him arrives at my location. Volkner should be smart enough to deduce that something very wrong is happening at the location that I just sent him. He did tell me to contact him if I run into trouble and that his porygon-z will be keeping an eye for any messages from me.

The buzz of a beedrill was our only warning as a ferocious beedrill suddenly appeared among us and began to attack Tino with its oversized needle. Heli intercepted it with a Water Pulse but the beedrill dodged it. Emi fired a Shock Wave but the beedrill somehow took the hit without even flinching.

The hell? Since when could a beedrill be this strong?! We are definitely outclassed!

Crown gave a squawk and we were forced to fly low once more when another cloud of toxic gas suddenly appeared in front of us and steadily rose up into the sky, cutting off our escape route. We didn't even have time to disperse the cloud of poisonous fumes this time when vines emerged to snare us all.

"Glide! Aria!"

Glide's claws and Aria's sharp wingblades easily tore through the mass of Vine Whips that was snaring us, freeing us instantly. A muk rushed at us with its mouth opened wide but Cosmo flung it away with a Psychic. I can only curse at the shitty situation we are in. We cannot run because the poison guy will just cut off all our escape routes faster than we can flee and we are unable to fight him head-on in battle because he is so much stronger.

However, it seems like we might not have a choice. Running is not a permanent solution if we want to live through this.

"Tino, Dragon Dance! We are going in!"

With the effects of Dragon Dance, Tino can fly a lot faster and use a lot more aerial maneuvers that are much nimbler. Tino fired a powerful Hyper Beam at the muk, vaporising a large part of its body in the process but the muk simply reformed itself. A nidoking emerged from the trees as it tried to ram at us with a Megahorn only for Dia to knock it off balance with a Steel Wing before pushing it back with Drill Peck.

"Into the air! Tailwind, blow the Poison Gas back in their direction! Aria, Glide, Rock Slide!"

To my horror, the rocks from our Rock Slide were forcefully blown away with an explosive force that got us to temporarily scatter. The purple hair Rocket looked up at me from below with a grin that really gives me the chills. By his side are many poison types that are looking at us with a predatory gaze.

Combat is not what Rangers specialise in and we have protocols to dictate when and where we can and cannot run away from battles when things turn to shit. This is one scenario that I can totally turn tail and run without anybody blaming me for it but considering what just happened to our nation and what will happen to Blackthorn should no one keep this Rocket in check, I still decided otherwise.

Thousands of lives are at stake. I cannot risk leaving this Rocket alone simply because I am afraid.

I am a Ranger first and foremost. To protect the delicate peace between humans and pokemon, that is my job. As a Ranger of the 1st Ranger Regiment, I am supposed to embody that very statement and if there is one thing that I take pride in, it is that I am damn good in my job.

So, I will stall this Rocket long enough for someone skilled enough to defeat him. As long as the Rocket is unable to continue with his attempt to conduct a gassing on Blackthorn, the situation will always be in my favour.

Although it does not change the fact that I am really in a difficult situation.

Given the big din we created in that few exchanges of blows I had with the Rocket, I'm sure that even without that SOS signal I had just sent Volkner, someone must be coming over to investigate soon. I can only hope that whoever is coming will be someone reliable that can bail us out of the situation.

A Rocket of this calibre must be stopped before things escalated to a point of no return. He cannot be allowed to continue to roam free any further, not when dark and chaotic days are sure to descend upon Indigo after what has just happened at Indigo Plateau live on TV.

My job as a Ranger is to protect the delicate peace between human and pokemon. My codename may be Zephyr, a soft and gentle breeze, but that doesn't mean it cannot change into a raging hurricane capable of ridding everything to shreds. I don't like violence, but that doesn't mean I will shy away from it.

If I have to be a raging cyclone to do my job as a Ranger, then so be it.


This… is really not what Petrel had in mind when his turn came for him to play a part in Operation Skip.

Like, it's supposed to be simple. All he had to do is to infiltrate the stadium and attend the celebrations at Indigo Plateau. His men are all there, the disguise and infiltration unit. They took over the control room and once he was satisfied that his men had things handled, he took his leave to prepare for the siege on Blackthorn, the hometown of Johto's Dragon Tamers.

But somehow, as if Indigo knew about their plans beforehand, most of his men got silently taken down one after the other shortly before the Second Phase can be officially put into motion. Technically, Team Rocket still succeeded in reaching their objectives, but the impact is not as great as he had expected it to be because without him knowing it his entire unit had been reduced to just a fraction of the original number. When he got wind about that unexpected development he had already left the Indigo Plateau for Blackthorn, so there's nothing he could do about it other than placing his faith in Plague that he can make the most out of it.

In any case, the situation is still heavily in Team Rocket's favour, that is the most important part.

Still, he cannot help but puzzle over the fact that the latest reports from Indigo Plateau had mentioned something about Elesa and Volkner helping Indigo's Elite Four in restraining Mewtwo. And then there was that report from Blackthorn that Flint was spotted there and helping Clair too. It is one reason why Petrel chose to gas the city instead of heading in directly to conquer it through brute force. He knows he's strong, but a fight with a Gym Leader or an Elite Four is not something he needs right now.

And come to think about it, isn't it weird? Suddenly members of the Thirteen Pillars from different regions just popped up and helped Indigo like kind hearted samaritans, at the right place and at the right time too.

So here he was, minding his own business, using a method that would be the most painless for his victims and yet also the most efficient in clearing out an entire city to ensure a swift victory for the organisation. He'd like to think that out of all his fellow Executives, he's the kindest when it comes to his methods. If it were up to, say, Proton, he would not have hesitated in brutally freezing the entire Blackthorn into a gigantic ice cube before painfully shattering it into a million pieces.

Poison can be dangerous, but they can also make death swift and painless. That in itself is a form of mercy.

However, his plans cannot be stopped now. Not for him, but for the organisation which he had swore his life to. For the leader which he had chosen and swore to follow for the rest of his life without hesitation.

Team Rocket cannot be allowed to fail. Not today, not now, and definitely not in the future.

For the sake of their dreams, their shared beliefs.

That Ranger was getting dangerously close to figuring out his location and the last thing he needs is for anyone with the power and skills of a Pillar to seek him out. So, he intercepted that Ranger with a large cloud of Poison Gas so thick that it forced her to land lest she wanted to fly face first into the cloud of toxic. He cursed his luck once more when he saw that the Ranger is merely a child. A child in her teens, yes, but still a child.

Carrie would be around her age right now if she were still alive. Okay, maybe a few years older or younger than this Ranger, he cannot really tell for sure. It was Carrie's dream to be a Ranger to help save every human and pokemon. Fate sure is a cruel thing, to pit him against a Ranger who is a female who is a child.

And so, he let himself be uncharacteristically nice for once and offered the Ranger a way out. Leave him alone, keep mum about what she saw, and she gets out unscathed. A great deal, right? Win-win situation for everyone. He was planning to uphold his end of the deal too unlike what he usually does when he goes around doing unlawful acts as Executive Petrel of Team Rocket, because he seeing this girl somehow reminded him of Carrie. He really is getting sentimental.

His little baby Carrie. His little sunshine.

The girl was obviously trying to buy time to either stall him or to think of a plan to escape. It doesn't matter to him either way, so he indulged her curiosity when she asked him questions he wasn't obliged to answer. That Whirlwind and Hurricane really blew him off his feet though. It's been a long while since he felt such a strong gust of wind.

And when it became obvious to him that the girl has no intention of following any of his suggestions, well, he's forced to be a little more rough on this Ranger. He really doesn't want to kill her or anything. Even in his years in the organisation the one group of people he will never kill had always been children, especially young girls. Maybe he would kill a pokemon or two in her team to ensure she cannot fight back, maybe more than that if she proved herself to be too troublesome to be taken down, but he never had the intention of killing her.

Not when Carrie should be like this Ranger right now, a Ranger going about saving lives like how she wanted to be when she grew up.

It's all Indigo's fault that his baby girl is no longer able to do so.

"Sludge Bomb!"

As one, his team of poison types launched a salvo of venomous projectiles. The girl and her pokemon had decided to stop running and fight back. She had made her resolve then. She is definitely not planning to let things be and is going to stop him using any means necessary. If she has a working brain, she will be thinking of how to call for reinforcements and get them to their location. This is not a battle that he wants to take part in for too long. The longer this drags on, the higher the risk that the girl might successfully convey her location to someone else.

So how is he going to end this as soon as possible without accidentally killing the little Ranger girl? Hmm…

The Ranger's flying types had dispersed the Sludge Bomb with their own volley of Air Slash while he was idly musing over his options. He is really in a pickle. Poison types are not really the best typing you want to use if you want to do a non-lethal takedown. This is why he always left these kinds of things to his subordinates or to Proton and Plague. Proton can just freeze anybody he wants to capture and Plague is all about precision.

As for poison types? All they care about is to let you rot from the corrosive venom and die as soon as possible in the ugliest way available. They are the very definition of lethal and they don't do precise.

This is really a pickle.

"Gastro Acid! Take away their options!"

He's no expert on pokemon abilities but taking any abilities away from the pesky flying types will definitely be a good thing for him. Arbok is a pro in this move but the problem is that these are flying types they are facing. They are so damn fast in the skies and near impossible to pin down. Physical attacks are not an option because they are out of their reach. Any ranged attacks his poison types throw their way got easily dispersed with a blast of wind. The Ranger is playing the waiting game by playing defensively, obviously waiting for reinforcements to arrive or a chance to make a breakthrough and run for it. Maybe she is planning to escape in order to tell someone else where the toxic gas originated from? That is also a plan to consider.

This is really too damn troublesome, all because of him and his reluctance to hurt children. Yes, this girl is still considered a child in his eyes even if she is obviously over fifteen years old. He doesn't care what anybody else says. Anybody that is not over the age of twenty one is still a child to him.

If ranged attacks are not going to work, then he has no choice but to get physical.

"Garbodor, Gunk Shot! Beedrill, crobat, clip their wings and bring them down! Nidoking, Rock Slide!"

His poison types acknowledged his orders as they did exactly what he told them to. With Rock Slide from above, Gunk Shot from below, Beedrill and crobat running interference from within, the girl and her annoying flying types should drop down in about three, two, on-

Not.

Wow, she's good. How is she and all her flying types evading everything like that in midair? That's hella impressive! Super cool!

He narrowed his eyes a little when he spotted the pidgeot doing a Feather Dance. Not like it will have much of an impact when the difference between their pokemon's skill levels are that big, but it definitely will be annoying to fight her with such a handicap. Now that's not cool.

A flurry of Air Cutter and Air Slash rained down at him which his tentacruel blocked and returned with a Mirror Coat. He really needs to do something about her flying types' mobility. Gassing the skies with poison had already proved to be only a temporary measure with flying types like dragonite and noivern within her team. To stop this stalemate from going on, he needs to make it physical and restrict her movements.

"Salazzle, Flame Burst. Cage them in but try not to fry her."

Columns of fire burst from the ground and into the air, trapping the girl's flying types within a fiery box. Beedrill and crobat rushed in for the decisive blow and immediately dropped the emolga and hawlucha, forcing the Ranger to recall them back into their pokeballs. They would have dropped the jumpluff as well if it wasn't for that annoying masquerain.

"Tino, Surf!"

"Eh, soak it all up, toxicroak."

Petrel's toxicroak utilised its Dry Skin ability and prevented the Dragonite from putting out salazzle's flames. His venusaur used this chance to fire a Solar Beam, clipping the skarmory's wings a little as nidoking used this chance to leap into the air to prepare for a Smack Down. A Supersonic from the aerodactyl caused his nidoking to falter and fall back down to the ground. Huh, aerodactyl? How did she even get herself one of these living fossils?

A Stored Power released from the sigilyph got him on instant alert as it sent his own crobat spiralling. The girl's own crobat was on it in an instant, roasting his crobat with a Heat Wave. Nothing his own crobat cannot recover from but it really is getting annoying.

"Weezing, Thunderbolt them down. Skuntank, Flamethrower."

His weezing wasted no time in firing huge arcs of electricity to force the girl and her flying types to scramble while skuntank assisted with Flamethrower. The aerodactyl dove down with a Sky Attack as his arbok slithered ahead to meet its charge.

Petrel cannot help but sigh as his arbok and the aerodactyl began to duke it out. Is there another way to convince this Ranger to just go away quietly and leave him alone? There must be a better way out of this, right?

Or if he just gets a little more violent and takes down all her pokemon in rapid succession? Will that be more convincing?

Never hurts to try.

"Kill that aerodactyl! Muk! Venusaur!"

On cue, his muk leapt forward in an attempt to bodily curl itself around the aerodactyl as his venusaur grew thick vines to snare the aerodactyl. The aerodactyl unleashed a powerful Heat Wave that blew muk away while burning the vines down, preventing them from getting near it.

That aerodactyl should really look downwards though.

Right on time, nidoking appeared right below the aerodactyl and hit it with a nasty Thunderbolt. An Iron Tail swiftly knocked it out and Petrel watched in delight as another of those annoying flying types was forced to return to its pokeball. How many of those flying types are left? One, two, three… nine? Huh, that's still a lot.

"Weezing, Smokescreen! Rest of you, Poison Sting!"

Obscuring the girl's view of them proved to be the right choice because they are now forced to disperse the Smokescreen as fast as possible while trying to avoid the barrage of poisoned needles. With that, he had bought himself a small window of opportunity for his toxicroak to leap into the air and get the drop on the jumpluff. A Poison Jab took it out for the count. It's obvious that the Ranger is starting to panic.

Eight left.

"Salazzle, keep up the heat!"

The girl's sigilyph would be turning the entire place upside down with Psychic if it wasn't for his skuntank running interference and preventing them from getting caught up in it as well. Salazzle is still working on permanently trapping them into a fiery prison so that they can all finally get this over and done with. She might lose a pokemon or two in the process, but he is sure that the Ranger can get out of salazzle's trap before she gets cooked alive, so it's a win-win for him. He gets to finish his job, she lives. It's a happily ever after ending.

However, he is starting to suspect that the girl had somehow called for reinforcements a long time ago and is simply trying to buy them for them to arrive. If that is really the case, now is the time to run before more reinforcements from the League arrives. They had made the show a little too flashy and it is just a moment of time before he gets surrounded or something unfortunate like that.

"Beats, Mean Look!"

Aw man, why?!

The dragonite forcefully charged through the wall of flames with what he recognised as Extreme Speed and his nidoking went forward to block its charge. An Ice Beam was fired at the rampaging dragon but the dragon braved through the assault while using Roost, mitigating the damage received. A noivern blasted a Dragon Pulse at them from afar and tried to separate him from his pokemon. Well, it would have worked if it wasn't for Venusaur literally growing a forest of thick vines to block the attack. He trained his beloved venusaur a little too well, it seems.

"Weezing, Shock Wave! Crobat, Assurance!"

With a single zap from his weezing, the Ranger's crobat was barely managing to hover in the air. The Assurance from his beedrill took it out soon after. There, Mean Look gone and problem solved.

The skarmory is hot on arbok's heels as it fired a series of Air Cutters to presumably bisect his precious pokemon into two but arbok's too well-trained for that. At least, this skarmory doesn't have what it takes to take on his arbok. The girl is a good enough combatant for a trainer and definitely good enough to be classified somewhere in the mid or upper class of the Elite level trainers, but she isn't a pro.

That alone makes a lot of difference. The skill gap between an ordinary Elite trainer like her and a pro Elite trainer like a Gym Leader can be as wide as the distance between regions and even further.

He was once somebody who was the reigning champion of the underworld tournament for three years. It takes more than a simple Ranger to put him down. The Indigo would need at least a small army of them and even then, it might not even be enough.

He is a Poison Specialist. Taking on a large group of foes and playing the long game is his specialty. Ah, if only his little sunshine can see how cool her papa is now.

"Let's wrap this up. Acid Spray! Get all of them!"

He watched with fascination as the girl's flying types did impossible twists and turns once more while firing blasts of air to escape the rain of falling purple acid. What did Plague always like to say? Close the curtains, was it? Plague always did have a flair for the dramatics when he's involved in an exciting battle. The report on how he snubbed Falkner and Pyral in the face had him laughing for a solid ten minutes when he first read it. The Acid Spray does look like a large beautiful curtain of falling acid if you ignore the smell. Nothing as mesmerising or dramatic as what he remembered seeing from Plague's zoroark and what it can do with Night Daze but well, nothing can be done about that.

By now, he's convinced that the girl had somehow found time to call for reinforcements while he wasn't paying attention. It's no longer safe to stay here. Time to run.

His venusaur pulling him aside with its vines was the only thing that saved him as powerful bolts of lightning rained down around him, trapping him in as his surroundings blew up in miniature electrical explosions. Another huge blast of fire burned up the area that was supposed to be his retreat route. Ah crap. Who is it now?

His arbok hissing a pained cry caught his attention and he watched in shock as his darling arbok got its body sliced into two. An infernape swooped down and tried to attack him, only to be blocked by his muk. Was that a Shadow Claw that cleaved his arbok into two? That was really one powerful Shadow Claw if he did say so himself.

His arbok hissed irritatedly as it immediately grew out the missing portion of its body, the high regenerative characteristics of its species kicking in. In the wild, arbok often purposely cut away their tails behind to distract their predators and are able to control the discarded portion to a certain degree for some time after the amputation. Natural selection soon made it favourable for arboks who are capable of high speed regeneration after cutting their tails off and these are the more commonly seen arbok variants today. A wound of that level cannot put his arbok down but he has to make sure his arbok wouldn't be forced to make use of its regenerative abilities over and over again. There is a limit to how much it can regrow.

His right eye cannot help but twitch in annoyance when he sees just who he is facing. Flint of Sinnoh, an Elite Four. Oh this is bad news alright. Why the hell are foreign Thirteen Pillars so actively involved in Indigo's affairs anyway? How did Flint even track him down- oh, that showy display earlier. Either that, or the Ranger had pulled a trick somehow.

Shit, he had dallied here for too long because of his reluctance to hurt children and it's now here to bite him in the ass.

"Ranger, leave this Rocket to me. I will bring this guy in. Meanwhile, send a message to your higher ups. Executive Petrel of Team Rocket is at Route 44 and that Flint had engaged him in battle."

Oh no no nononono NO damn way he's going to let anyone call for anymore reinforcements. A single Elite Four is enough trouble for him.

"Don't let her escape! Crobat, Mean-"

"Mach Punch!"

Flint's infernape beat him to the punch, quite literally, when the infernape closed the distance in the blink of an eye and punched his crobat out of the air. Flint's fire types enclosed them in with a ring of fire and Petrel frowned. He's confident in his strength but Flint is an Elite Four. Give him any Gym Leader and he could probably hold his own just fine. An Elite Four? Now this is a little more than just a little pickle. To make things worse, Flint is a Fire Specialist. A Fire Specialist on Flint's level can only spell certain trouble for him.

Type advantage wise, fire and poison do not hold any advantage over the other. However, most poison and sludge that poison types produce are flammable in nature. That alone restricted the options he can use. Should he run to catch up to the Ranger and prevent her from running away and call for reinforcements, or cut his losses and try his best to escape Flint?

The answer is pretty obvious. Nothing he can do about the Ranger now. The only silver lining in this situation is that he doesn't have to hold back against Flint because Flint is not a child.

"Toxic Spikes! Poison Gas!"

Tentacruel immediately spread the Toxic Spikes out to mark out a safe boundary for the team as his team employed Poison Gas once more. Poison Gas can be specially modified to be highly flammable. With the amount of naked flames Flint's fire types are waving about?

Boom

He wasn't disappointed. That alone is more than enough to buy enough time for him to make his getaway.

Of course, things didn't really go as planned because his luck is just that bad. A talonflame that was soaring in the air wasn't caught in the blast and flew down to rain fireballs at poor old him. Crobat did bat a few of those flaming hot things away but damn. He could feel the heat even from here! It's really freaking hot!

A stream of flames coming their way forced him to command his garbodor to block it after using a quick Amnesia. Flint's magmortar strode out of the blast with a nasty looking grin on its face before pointing both its cannon arms at him.

Ah crap crap crap crap crap this is so super not cool-

A bigger boom erupted as the magmortar blew up the area he was at. Garbodor had started a Rain Dance in an attempt to douse Flint's fire types a little but honestly, it doesn't really seem that it affected them all that much. The amount of sheer firepower Flint and his fire type possess is not something he can match. Among the known 18 different pokemon typings, fire is one of the most destructive and dangerous to control. However, once you get both the destruction and the control part down pat, you are going to be a nasty opponent for all of your foes.

This is one matchup that he really doesn't need right now.

"Toxic!"

The magmortar had cleared the area of any Toxic Spikes by creating that massive explosion earlier. If he wants a chance of even carving a way out of here, then he needs to poison Flint's pokemon somehow. Gassing them won't work since the heat from the infernos they are creating will just create a strong gust of hot wind to blow everything away. Toxic Spikes had failed spectacularly so all that's left is to forcefully inject the poison through physical contact. Once the poison is running in the fire types' bloodstream things will get easier for him and all he needs to do is to wait it out.

"Inferno!"

Oh hot hot hot hot HOT!

That was definitely the hottest Inferno he had ever experienced. Just that one attack by Flint's rapidash, houndoom, and chandelure was enough to push his entire team back. Not even his tentacruel can put out those flames as quickly as it usually should.

"Hey, can we make a deal?!" Petrel found himself shouting at Flint as they both commanded their pokemon to battle against each other. "You let me go and I don't poison you?!"

It's a really bad deal in all honesty. If he were in Flint's shoes even he wouldn't accept it but it never hurts to try, right?

"How about you surrender and I don't burn you into a crisp? Flamethrower!"

Oh well, he tried.

Petrel gritted his teeth as he commanded his nidoking to temporarily raise a wall of stone with Stone Edge to block these fiery hot flames for a moment. His team is not made to fight against an extremely well-trained team of fire types. He is no stranger to facing fire types in battle but none of them he had ever seen or fought against are as insanely powerful as Flint's. That magmortar alone can easily evaporate his muk if he wasn't careful.

Petrel sighed. It's always fighting against fire types that he has to be extremely cautious, simply because of the unfortunate hidden weakness of the flammability of the sludge that most poison types use. Psychic types are another form of headache but at least that is easily solved if you disrupt their focus with dark or ghost type techniques. Against an inferno as hot as Flint's? Even an entire lake of water might not be enough to fully douse it. In fact, it is more likely that Flint could evaporate it faster than he can blink.

Today is really not his day.

There is only one way to turn the tide in his favour. With Mega Evolution, his venusaur would become Mega Venusaur and gain the Thick Fat ability, offering it protection from the heat. It may be just what he needs to make his getaway.

"Venusaur, we are doing it!"

Venusaur acknowledged his orders with a bellow and as one, the both of them invoked the process of Mega Evolution. Flint was obviously a little taken aback by the sudden change in the flow of battle but Petrel knows that it would take more than this to beat Flint back.

Is Mewtwo done with massacring the Indigo Elite Four already? This is the moment where they need its power dammit!

"Earthquake!"

His Mega Venusaur unleashed a powerful Earthquake that fell all the trees in the area. Most of them are already burning from the fire Flint's fire types are spewing out but nevermind, the state of Route 44's forestation is not what he cares about right now.

"Give up, Petrel! Hand yourself over and I won't be forced to take extreme measures! I am an Elite Four! Even with Mega Evolution, you still cannot beat me!"

"Hey papa! Papa! You are strong, right?

"Uh, yeah? Papa's really really strong!"

"Like super cool kind of strong?"

"Yeah! Super cool kind of strong!"

"Will you be like, uh, an Elite Four one day?"

"For my little sunshine, I can even strive to be the almighty Champion! How's that?"

"Cool!"

Come to think about it, he never did get a chance to show his little sunshine how strong her super cool papa is. Might as well start now. Carrie must be watching her papa from somewhere right now.

"Sludge Wave!"

His poison types belched out a massive tidal wave of sludge which Flint's fire types immediately got to work on burning it away before it can drench them all and poison them. It is the perfect opening they need as his physical fighters rushed in and immediately hit as many fire types as they could with Poison Jab.

There. Now it's his turn to make a play.

"Venoshock! Take them down!"

The effect was obvious when even Flint's fire types flinched from the inflicted pain of Venoshock. With Venoshock available, things will go a lot more smoother for him. He might be able to even bring down an Elite Four if he played his cards right.

"Lava Plume!"

"Mega Venusaur!"

With Thick Fat and Amnesia available, he now has a fireproof wall in the form of Mega Venusaur. Not only that, Mega Venusaur has a range of recovery moves at its disposal. This is his answer to problematic fire types. With Mega Venusaur, he stands a chance against Fire Specialists the likes of Flint.

"Don't let them rest! Nidoking! Earth Power! Don't allow them to even have a place to stand!"

Nidoking ruptured the ground around Flint and his fire types with Earth Power as his team immediately followed up by spraying a toxic volley of Sludge Bomb. Flint's rapidash broke through the assault and hit nidoking with a Flare Blitz, pushing it back. Petrel tried his best to ignore the sweat dripping down his forehead as he commanded his poison types to press on. The toxin will slowly work its course within Flint's pokemon. He just has to hang on till then. Playing the long game is his specialty.

For his daughter, for Giovanni, for his comrades, for the glory of Team Rocket, for their beloved motherland. He cannot lose. He won't allow himself to lose.

He had already lost too much.

"What do you mean incurable?! She's only four! Four! How is she suddenly stuck with an incurable-"

He was a talented trainer. His ego got into his head from all the wins he snatched under his belt since he first became a trainer. He had a lot of so-called bros and got himself acquainted with too many sluts who just want to latch onto his success by allowing him to get in between their legs. He had a drink too many and fucked around one too many times. All he knew was that he became a father at the young age of seventeen years old, not even a legal adult. He didn't even know which slut he fucked that resulted in him becoming a father. All he knew was that he found a crying baby on his doorstep one fine morning with a note saying that it's his. The blood test he took confirmed that the child is indeed his flesh and blood.

He didn't want to be a father, but one look at his baby daughter's face and his heart melted faster than what his poison types' acid could do. He decided to keep her and raise her as best as he can.

For his little sunshine, he will be the best papa in the world. A super cool one, the coolest papa in the world. It doesn't matter even if she doesn't have a mother because he will be such a good father that his little girl would never think that she needed a mother.

He named his little girl Carrie. Carrie Amon, that was her name.

"Garbodor, tentacruel! Wall them! We are playing the game like we always do! Don't give them the time to rest and heal! Beedrill, toxicroak! Go for the kill!"

"Heat Wave, cremate them!"

At the young age of four, his little sunshine was diagnosed with a rare and incurable disease. The medical costs were hefty. Trying to keep his baby girl alive was costing everything he had even with the amount of money he rakes in from the large number of Elite trainers he challenged on a weekly basis.

"Papa? Am I dying?"

"W-Who said that?! Your papa will kick their a- er, behind! You will be okay, Carrie! You said you want to be a Ranger, right? So sleep well and eat well and you will recover in no time! Your papa said so so it will happen, got it?!"

"Papa? Did you almost just say a bad word?"

"N-No! Since when?! That's so not cool! Super not cool!"

He likes to see his little girl smile and so like a clown, he often acted in the most comical of ways to get her to laugh. He wants his baby girl to be happy and to be always smiling. He saw how awed she was when she saw some random person on TV showing off their disguise skills, able to switch from one face to the next.

So that was exactly what he learnt. He kept her entertained and distracted from the pain of her sickness by disguising himself into any person his little girl wanted to see him transform into.

"Uh, Lance! Lance! The Champion!"

"Okay, one Dragon Master coming right uppppp and... TADA!"

"Wow! It's almost like the real thing! Papa's so cool!"

"Of course I am! I'm your super cool papa!"

It was hard to find a decent job that pays well while enabling him the time to take care of his little sunshine. He really needs the money and he knows his precious little girl will be scared if he isn't around to keep her company. She doesn't like to be alone or to be with strangers. Out of desperation to earn enough to pay for his daughter's hefty medical bills, he soon found his way into underground tournaments.

Underground tournaments are where life and death battles are held. It was what paid for his baby girl's medical fees for three years as he held the top position for that same length of time. He earned the moniker of Toxic Mask because of his skills in commanding poison types and his abilities to switch disguises at the drop of a hat.

Disguises that nobody could see through. That was the claim he made and till date, nobody had ever managed to make him take those words back.

For his little girl, winning his battles was the only option. In order to win the tournaments he participated in, all he had to do was to quickly poison his opponent's pokemon and let them rot to death as soon as possible and then he can collect the large sum of prize money before quickly going back home to keep his baby girl company. Carrie loves how fluffy skuntank is so he would often leave his skuntank at home to keep his baby girl company and to also protect her in his absence.

"Your poison won't work against me, Petrel! Trap them in, Fire Spin!"

"Don't insult poison types! Poison types are super cool, lousy hair! Salazzle, Venom Drench!"

"My hair isn't lousy! It's afro! AFRO!"

"Poison types are like super cool, papa! I want to be a Poison Specialist like you too! Can I? Can I?"

"Of course you can! I will get the best doctor I can find to heal you like a magical fairy and then you can be whatever you want! You will be the best Ranger in the world!"

"Rangers save lives, right? The upholder and protector of the delicate peace between humans and pokemon! That's what the TV ad says!"

"Uh huh! You can save lives with poison types too! Want me to teach you?"

"Really? That's super cool!"

To be a Ranger is to save lives. However, poison types specialise in doing the very opposite. Still, his little sunshine had a dream. She wants to be the best Ranger while being the best Poison Specialist. She wanted to follow in her papa's footsteps and make him very super proud of her. He promised that he will give his little girl all the help he needs. They even did a pinky promise.

But first, he needs to find a way to make that incurable disease curable. He needs the money to find the best doctor available. If Indigo doesn't have what he needs, then he will scour for a cure even if it means travelling to the other faraway regions.

So, his stay in the underground tournament continued in his quest to earn more money. Even then, the medical costs just keep rising and his little girl's condition just won't get any better.

"Sir, you and your daughter don't qualify for the financial aid scheme-"

"What do you mean we don't QUALIFY?! I am also a citizen of Indigo just like you! We should be insured!"

"You are using the medical services of the Johto region, sir. You and your daughter's citizenship is Kantonian. Kantonians don't enjoy the benefits of being insured under this plan and neither do Kantonians qualify for the financial aid scheme if the medical services are provided in Johto."

"Wha-"

He remembered going home to surf the web and immediately checked for the validity of that ridiculous statement. Due to Johto's climate being more mild and favourable to Carrie's frail health, he and his little sunshine had moved to stay in Johto. The fact that Johto's healthcare services are a lot more advanced than Kanto's was another reason.

What he doesn't get is the preferential treatment Johtonians enjoy over Kantonians. Kantonians don't enjoy the same medical and healthcare benefits in Johto as they do in Kanto, but Johtonians still enjoy the same priority and benefits in both regions.

Pardon his language for once, but what the fuck?

Aren't they all citizens of Indigo?! Don't they all pay the same taxes?! So why?! His little girl doesn't even have the priority to see the doctor the moment a Johtonian cuts into the waiting line for a goddamn harmless common cold! For what fucking reason is that the case?!

He did a little digging using his contacts in the underworld. As it turns out, Indigo may be a nation made up of two regions, but the population sizes are different. There are significantly more Johtonians than Kantonians in Indigo. So if you are a no good politician who is only concerned with retaining your position of power through votes, which side do you appeal to?

It's obvious. Johtonians.

As a result, many unfair policies and treatments were institutionalised as law in Indigo over the years. Little by little, the subtle implementation of unfair rules seeped in like untraceable poison. Such things became so common that people no longer notice it until the poison finally reaches the lethal dosage. The stupid healthcare policy that affected his unfortunate daughter was one.

"Papa? I'm fine, see? So don't stress out too much over me, okay?"

"Papa's fine, Carrie. I'm super cool, remember?"

Carrie's not fine. She grew up too fast because of her sickness. She doesn't want her super cool papa to worry so she acts like she's fine when she's not.

"Burn them down! Fiery Dance! Fire Blast!"

"Mega Venusaur, Ingrain, Synthesis! Block the blow!" He hid behind his trusty Mega Venusaur as he said that and gave his team his next commands. "Arbok, restrain the houndoom! Wrap!"

"Fuse, Shell Trap!" Flint barked as a humongous turtonator defended the houndoom from harm. "Bel, Dark Pulse!"

Due to Kanto's lack of medical infrastructure and ill-equipped hospitals, he and his little sunshine was forced to remain in Johto and he was forced to continue bearing the exorbitant medical bills there. There was no help given to him by the government. The medical costs continue to rise. It slowly got to the point that even the money he earned from the underground tournament isn't enough.

If he were any lesser being, Carrie would have died a long time ago. Reason? The medical bill is the one killing them instead and the fact that they are born to be Kantonians. Kantonians don't enjoy this, Kantonians don't enjoy that, but Johtonians do. Why?

You are a Kantonian.

What a load of shit. So much for the Two Regions One Nation slogan that the Indigo likes to declare to the entire world.

In desperation, he asked his underground contacts if there's a way to earn even more money. They pointed him to the rapidly emerging underground group known as Team Rocket. If he can work his way up to the upper echelons of the criminal organisation, he can definitely earn enough to pay off his little girl's medical fees.

He knows that the moment he walked this path it will be a path of no return. But for his little girl, he will make his way up to the highest rank achievable, Executive. He discarded his birth name of Henrik Amon and picked a codename of Petrel, simply because his sunshine said that it sounded cool.

Till this day, he has no regrets.

His strength, wits, charisma, skills at disguise and infiltration soon earned him recognition in that backstabbing hellhole. Combined with his prior reputation as the undefeatable reigning champion of the underground tournament, it soon garnered the attention of the true leader of Team Rocket, Giovanni.

At no point in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine that a Gym Leader would be the leader of one of the largest terrorist groups in the world, but he doesn't care. All he cares about is his sunshine.

"I heard you have a daughter, Petrel."

"I do, Sir."

"I heard about your daughter's condition. Team Rocket rewards those who serve the organisation with undying loyalty, Petrel. Give me a week, I will arrange for your daughter to be moved into a private hospital under our organisation's control. You would not need to pay a single penny. Team Rocket will bear all her medical costs."

"S-Sir?"

It was like a dream come true.

"She will be given the best medical care in the world, Petrel. Not only that, Team Rocket will find a way to cure whatever is ailing her, that I promise you. Not just a promise from a leader to his subordinate, but also from a friend to a friend. All of my Executives are my trusted friends and comrades, Petrel, do not forget that. I will do anything for a friend. You are my trusted friend and that's why I will treat your daughter as if she's my own."

He could tell Giovanni wasn't lying, not a single bit. He was moved by the sincerity of Giovanni's words and the actions he took. He swore his undying loyalty to Giovanni right there and then.

"Another hospital…?"

"This time, you won't be moving around anymore. Papa found a very very very very good hospital that has a very very very very high chance to make you healthy again. No more sickness. Like, woosh! Gone! Ain't that cool?"

"But the money…"

"Don't worry about the money, sunshine. Papa got it all settled, promise."

His little girl is really too mature for her age to be worrying about money at the age of nine.

"Really?"

"Since when did papa lie to you? Just one week, sunshine. One more week and you will be in the safest place you can be. It will also be easier for papa to visit you. In fact, I can come over to visit you almost everyday in that new hospital! Isn't that great?"

"Really?! I can see you almost everyday?"

"Really!"

"Cool!"

There was a particular tricky infiltration mission that needed his skills at disguise and infiltration. He said a quick farewell to his little baby girl before going off, saying that her papa is going to be out of the region for a few days due to his new work. Her super cool papa just got himself a promotion, see?! That's why!

It's just a few days, that was what he reassured her before he went off doing unlawful acts behind his daughter's back. When he comes back it will be just in time for him to shift her into the new hospital Giovanni promised him. Within that promised one week, Giovanni even bought the most advanced medical equipment for the hospital his little sunshine will be moving into because his daughter's medical condition needed very specific and expensive medical equipment to stop her health from worsening. Giovanni promised him a week because a week was the shortest length of time needed to procure those medical equipment.

For that alone, Giovanni has his eternal gratitude. He will never forget the kindness Giovanni extended to him.

Who said terrorists are evil? In his eyes, terrorists are kinder than his own government because in his greatest time of need, the one who extended a hand to help him and his sunshine is Giovanni and Team Rocket. The government which is supposed to protect him and his little girl never helped even when they are law abiding citizens. To second class citizens like them, abiding the law gets you nowhere and only leads you to certain death.

Then, it happened.

It was just one day before Carrie was to be moved into that new hospital. He had only just successfully completed his mission when he received a call from Giovanni himself. He rushed back immediately. His leader was right at the front of the operating room, sitting on the bench outside with a worried frown on his face. The doors of the operating room were closed and the light was lit up, signalling that somebody was inside undergoing surgery.

"S-Sir?! W-What-"

"I called you as soon as I got wind of it, Henrik. Take a deep breath. I used my influence to get the doctors to operate on her right away the moment I knew about it. There's still hope."

"Shouldn't they operate on her the moment she had a relapse?!"

"It was unfortunate, but a Johtonian was given priority to the Operating Room. He was wheeled in shortly after your daughter's relapse happened."

"The fuck?! Carrie's relapse is no joke! Everyone in the hospital knows this! If no medical help is given within ten minutes of her relapse she WILL DIE!"

"I need you to CALM DOWN, Henrik! I managed to get them to wheel her in before the crucial ten minutes were up! All is not lost yet!"

"S-Sorry, Sir, I…"

"It's fine. I understand."

"...Why? Why the difference? We are citizens of Indigo too. We pay the same taxes, breathe the same air, use the same road. Why is it always Johtonians over us? Why do they always have priority for everything even if they don't need it but we do? Just… why?"

He had been wanting to ask this question for a long long time.

Why?

"As sad as it is to admit it, you know about the inequality that exists between Kanto and Johto, Henrik. It's not just the Kanto ban or the corruption in the cabinet. The corruption seeps into our nation's healthcare laws and policies as well. Kantonians simply don't enjoy the same basic healthcare services that we are entitled to even if we are all citizens of Indigo. All because of the dirty political games the Johtonian ministers purposely play to hold onto their seats of power."

"Bast- I will give them a piece of my mind! Let me go! I will kill them!"

"Henrik! Don't be rash!"

It was an excruciating eight hour long wait. Giovanni kept him company throughout the entire time. When he saw his little sunshine again, she had left this world before him.

That just wasn't right.

His little sunshine is supposed to be smiling at him, not sleeping away in an eternal slumber. If medical aid was given to her in time when her relapse happened, if Kanto had the same high-end medical services that Johto has, if Kantonians enjoy the same healthcare benefits that Johtonians enjoy in the first place, she might not have...

She was only nine.

His sunshine was the one who brightened up his world. With her gone, his world descended into the darkness. He didn't get the chance to teach her what he knew like he promised. He didn't get the chance to see her grow into a splendid Ranger like he promised. He didn't get the chance to show his little girl that he can take on an Elite Four and even go toe-to-toe against a Champion like he promised. He was supposed to show his sunshine how super cool her papa is but he never got the chance.

All because of some stupid preferential treatment of Johtonians over Kantonians. It's always Johtonians first then Kantonians second. Kantonians had always lived like second class citizens.

Always

Giovanni was right. Kanto had always been suffering under the tyranny of the Indigo who were being led by corrupt Johtonians. Indigo will never spare a thought for Kantonians because they are not Johtonians like the bulk of the Indigo cabinet. The economic inequality that lasted for the past 500 years said it all.

As Team Rocket's Executive, Petrel knew the true purpose of Team Rocket. To free Kanto from Indigo's tyranny is their true purpose. Like Giovanni, he wants to see Kanto's children smiling and happy just like how Carrie used to smile at him all the time. He wants to see them grow up happy and healthy, long enough to grow up into proper adults and fulfil their dreams. He could not protect Carrie's dream and he failed as a father. That is not something he would want to wish upon anyone.

After he was done mourning for Carrie, he made a vow. He will ensure that no father will fail their children again, not in their homeland. That is the promise he made to himself.

For that end, he worked hard. He poured everything for this endeavour. Majority of the schools in Kanto that were secretly set up by Team Rocket over the years were mostly managed by him, and so are the hospitals and childcares. He himself had done many dirty deeds to ensure that Kanto's healthcare standards have been greatly improved. It's still nowhere near as he liked it to be, but it's still a lot better than before.

Like Giovanni, he feels that Kanto's children are Kanto's future. So, they will protect Kanto's future at whatever costs necessary, even if it means becoming a hated terrorist.

"Scorch! Now! Let's do this!"

Petrel watches on as Flint and his charizard invoke their Mega Evolution as well and a Charizard Y now joins the battle. Finally using that power? Is that how Flint wants to play this game?

Mega Venusaur blocked Charizard Y's Fire Blast and healed the burns quickly. With Mega Venusaur around the super cool Executive Petrel cannot be taken down.

For Carrie. For Giovanni. For Team Rocket. For Kanto.

He will not fail because he is the super cool Petrel.

"I WILL PROTECT KANTO'S FUTURE! NOTHING CAN STOP ME BECAUSE I'M SUPER COOL LIKE THAT! I WILL DEFEAT YOU, FLINT, BECAUSE I CAN!"

Mega Venusaur unleashed another powerful Venoshock that affected Flint's entire team. His other poison types weren't idle either. At this stage, it's just a matter of whether Flint can burn him down faster or his poison can run its course quicker.

Watch well, Carrie! Papa's going to show you just how powerful a true Poison Specialist can be!

Muk had finished accumulating the required amount of sludge and upon his command, belched it all out in the form of Sludge Wave. As expected, Flint's fire types moved to burn it down. If Flint took the time to take a good whiff, he might realise that something's not quite right with this brand of sludge.

"DIE!"

Like a bomb, the extremely flammable sludge that was released by muk violently exploded into a gigantic fireball upon contact with Flint's fire. The force of the explosion alone is enough to rip anyone into shreds and kick up a large cloud of dust and smoke that could be seen even from the air. Even then, Petrel knows better than to underestimate Flint. There's no way that killed him. This is an Elite Four he is facing.

"Nidoking, sink the earth! Everyone, Gunk Shot! Cave them in! Drown them in poison! Don't let them breathe in a smidgen of fresh air!"

The earth around where Flint and his pokemon were at was dropped to create a large hole. Solid poison in the form of Gunk Shots rained like artillery fire and filled the massive hole up. A massive rock created from nidoking's Rock Tomb sealed the hole shut, burying Flint in there forever.

Petrel waited for half a minute. Half a minute turned into a minute. A minute turned into two and he knew that Flint's never getting out of there. Nobody can hold their breath for that long.

See that, Carrie? Your papa won! Your papa beat an Elite Four! Super cool, right?!

Petrel let out a sigh of relief. It was a close battle. There is a set amount of sludge and poison every poison type can use in a single day and all of his pokemon had definitely hit the limit in this battle with Flint. Should the battle draw out for even longer, then he will be at a severe disadvantage if his poison types no longer have any poison to use. This was why he adopted such an aggressive tactic the moment escape wasn't an option. He needs to end the battle before the sludge levels in his pokemon reach rock bottom.

"Let's go. We need to find the Boss and tell him that we might need a change of plans. Something doesn't seem to be right with how Volkner, Elesa, and now Flint are actively helping the Indigo in such an organised manner."

He turned around to leave as the effects of Mega Evolution receded from his venusaur. Any longer and the harmful side effects of Mega Evolution will start to kick in so it's best to cancel it out now. He doesn't want his pokemon friend to overheat and get fried through overusing this mysterious power. This battle had been very destructive and he wouldn't be surprised if the aftermath can be spotted all the way from Mahogany. He needs to quickly make his escape before even more problematic trainers get drawn to the commotion and appear before him.

The unfamiliar sound of a click from below sent a wave of dread permeating his body as he looked downwards. A small speck of red could be seen beneath his boots, hidden beneath the dirt.

This is no dirt ground they are stepping on. This… This is the shell of Flint's turtonator! How did that stupid turtonator get beneath them without them kno-

"SHELL TRAP!"

The next thing he knew, he and his team were blasted sky high and screaming in pain.

His entire team were all rendered temporarily defenceless from the unexpected counterattack thanks to Shell Trap. Torrents of flames of different shades and colours burst out from underground from different angles and collapsed on his team immediately. An infernape burst out from underground and leapt into the air before latching onto his venusaur. That fire monkey put its flaming fist inside venusaur's mouth and started to burn his partner from the inside out with an overpowered Fire Punch.

"VENUSAUR!"

From the corner of his eye, Petrel spotted Flint emerging from the hole infernape had dug with his Charizard Y and threw several pokeballs into the air, releasing the rest of his fire types once more into battle.

Flint! That crafty bastard! He must have recalled most of his pokemon even before the explosion from the ignition of muk's Sludge Wave could take them out! And then Dig! Flint must have escaped using Infernape's Dig and used that time when he was waiting it out to plant a trap with turtonator's Shell Trap!

Flint's magmortar flew into the air by releasing a steady stream of hot flames from its cannon arms to propel itself into the air, charging towards them. Flint's fire types started to emerge from the ground one after the other where they fired their sneak attacks from and started to enact their plan.

"BURN THEM DOWN! BLAST BURN! INFERNO! FIRE BLAST! OVERHEAT!"

Petrel screamed in pain from the blast of flames exploding into a fiery inferno so near to him. A cool sensation enveloped him and shielded him from the worst of it. When he finally landed on the ground, he spotted his tentacruel lying limply next to him and with most of its tentacles burnt off. His friend must have used its body to block the worst of the flames from burning his body.

With much effort, Petrel turned his head to look around. He didn't fight back the urge to let his tears out when he saw the burnt corpses of his trusty partners that had stuck with him through thick and thin throughout all these years. Tentacruel is the only one left but it's obvious it's about to draw its last breath as well.

"Give… up…"

Petrel spotted a panting Flint and his fire types surrounding him. The poison is still working its course in Flint's fire types and it definitely took a toll on them, but his poison still did not work fast enough. His experienced eyes told him that they will live. From this alone, Petrel knew that he had truly lost this battle even if it was also obvious he had pushed Flint to his limit too.

Mega Evolution has a time limit if you don't want the side effects to kick in. Flint must have purposely chosen to mega evolve his charizard much later than his venusaur to ensure that his charizard will outlast the mega evolution process way longer than his venusaur. That really was a mistake on his part. Without his venusaur being a Mega Venusaur, he no longer has any defences to use against Flint's flames. Flint obviously recognised this so he waited until the time limit of Mega Evolution was up for venusaur by hiding underground, right when he was so sure that he had gotten Flint too.

Crafty bastard. Got to admit that was a super cool strategy though.

Petrel's eyes wandered and he finally spotted the extent of his injuries. His hands are a scarred mess and so are his legs. In fact, he's surprised that his legs are still attached to his body after that Shell Trap.

Petrel fought to stand but found that he could not. He settled for kneeling straight and tall. He is Executive Petrel, the Toxic Mask and the infiltrator of Team Rocket. He will not die with his back lying on the ground. He has his own pride as well. He needs to be super cool for Carrie's sake.

He did manage to get his words out despite the injuries he suffered. It is the last gift he could give to the person who reminded him of his beloved sunshine.

"She's... the coolest... Ranger I ever saw. Super… Cool. Tell that… to that girl for me, yeah? The Ranger just now."

He was supposed to help Giovanni see to the completion of Operation Skip. That won't be happening now. That's not much he can do now in his current state, the least he could do is to give some encouragement to the one girl that really reminded him of his little sunshine. The girl who fulfilled the dream his sunshine could not. The courageous girl that stood up against him despite knowing the impossible odds she faced. The girl who willingly stares in the face of death just to uphold her belief of peace.

She's a real Ranger through and through. A pity he wouldn't know her name.

Flint narrowed his eyes as he gave a hand gesture to his infernape, who is now walking up to apprehend him.

Not happening.

For a high profile terrorist like him, getting himself captured by the League is worse than a death sentence. He would rather die. Not only for the leader and friend that tried his best to save his daughter. Not only for their shared dream of a better Kanto where children can grow up healthy and happy. Not only for his friends and comrades. Not only to protect Team Rocket by ensuring that they would never know what he knew, but also to preserve the last of his dignity.

He gave his dying tentacruel a sideway glance, who knows what its next orders are. He gave his long time friend a small smile and a slight nod. With a swift stab, his tentacruel used a single tentacle to inject a lethal dose of toxin into his body at his neck.

"-it! Quick! Kill that tentacruel! Get the poison out of the Rocket's body! We need him alive!"

Sorry, Boss. I tried. It's all up to you now. Please make Kanto a better place so that Kanto's children would never experience what Carrie did.

Sorry, Jacob, my dear friend. Operation Skip was your brainchild. It wouldn't have been possible without you and it really is a masterpiece. I'm sorry that I failed. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to execute it properly. I will apologise to you properly in the afterlife when we finally see each other again. Where I had failed, please succeed for our sakes.

Sorry, Alice.

Sorry, Arawn.

Sorry, Olwen.

Sorry, Silver.

Sorry, everyone.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. In the end, I could never help anyone. I'm always too slow.

Petrel closed his eyes and felt his body slowly falling back onto the ground. He tunes out whatever is going on around him as he lets a sense of peace fill him.

Hey, Carrie?

Did you see that, sunshine?

Papa just went up against an Elite Four. Papa didn't win, but he sure gave him a super duper hard time and a battle to remember for a lifetime. See what a true Poison Specialist can really do even against insurmountable odds?

Sunshine? Papa also wants to say that he is sorry. Papa is so very very sorry.

Papa is sorry that he cannot save you. Papa is sorry that he didn't win. Papa is sorry that he left you alone down there for so long. You must be lonely, right? Don't worry, papa's coming soon. Not just papa, the whole team is coming to greet you anytime now. We have all the time in the world now. You can hug skuntank for as long as you want. You can let venusaur swing you with his vines for as long as you want. I can continue to teach you about poison types for as long as you want. Super cool, right?

Hey, sunshine. Last question.

.

.

.

Was papa super cool?

.

.

.

Papa sure hopes he is.


AN: I teared up whenever I read Henrik's battle. I love this chapter so much and yet at the same time, hate it so much.

Here's hoping that I squeezed you guys dry of your tears. Brb still trying to find tissues after rereading this for the n-th time since god-knows-how-many months ago when it first came into existence on my laptop.

Character and pokemon list:

Name: Skye Bale, 16, Female

Affiliation: Indigo Ranger Force, Johto Region, 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

12. Masquerain (Heli), male