"Ah. A good nap." In a lapse of better judgment, Citrata had slept on the bleachers. "But there's no accommodations!"
Did I mention Citrata would be heading to the forest next? Well, this narrator hasn't forgotten about the ball's tantalizing secret! Making her way back through the ballroom to take in its beauty one last time, our heroine hears an oddly mechanical voice.
"The rocks we wanted aren't in this town." The speaker lacks emotion, in the unnatural sense of the word. "Yes, our forces will be departing shortly."
Perhaps inspired by Misty's suspicion earlier, Citrata gives chase to the shadowy figure.
"I want a word with you!" More athletic than her quarry, it doesn't take long for Citrata to corner them in a supply room.
"Interference detected." The robotic-looking person looks around, as if scanning for an escape route.
Whoever this fellow is, their taste in clothing is highly irregular. They're wearing some sort of head-to-toe black battle suit. The only possible identification is their mask's large panel of electronic lights, displaying the letter "E".
"Hey, I'm talking to you!" Citrata is no doubt annoyed by how the suspicious character seems to be completely ignoring her, other than wanting to get away of course.
"Alternate exit not found." The figure's tone slightly changes, as if they're processing data. "Obstruction identified as a Pokémon trainer, battle protocol initiated."
An unexpectedly adorable Pokémon materializes.
"It's a fight, huh?" Uncomfortable with computers, Citrata taps some buttons on her new Pokédex. "Come on, tell me who this cutie is?"
"Selected target is not a Pokémon." The Pokédex mistakenly attempts to scan the opposing trainer.
Expecting to be attacked before she can call upon her own Pokémon, our heroine dives under a desk with folded dance costumes piled on top of it. Instead, the diminutive feline creature seems to have taking a liking to her.
"Hm?" Despite her efforts to maintain a rebellious image, Citrata can't resist petting the Pokémon. "You want to be nice, don't you?"
"Espurr. A psychic-type Pokémon." The Pokédex proceeds to identify the critter. "It keeps its ears folded to regulate its energy."
"Error." The masked trainer's lights flicker. "Opposing Pokémon not found."
"Cut it out already!" Standing back up, Citrata slaps the mask's light panel.
Perhaps in response to the commotion, another person charges into the room.
"Why did I take this janitor job?" A man mumbles to himself. Citrata quickly recognizes him as the guy in a tuxedo she met at the dance. "It's you!"
"Hi. What happened to your tux?" Citrata is amused by the man's very different appearance.
"We're talk later, lady." The man pushes our heroine aside. "Essentia here has been causing trouble in Lumiose City! Go, Braixen!"
A determined fox Pokémon jumps out from the man's Poké Ball, startling Espurr.
"Confusion." Regaining their composure, Essentia points at Braixen.
Disorienting psychokinetic waves surround Espurr, inducing dizziness to everyone in its vicinity.
"It's in my head!" Citrata stumbles around, unable to maintain solid footing.
"Xen…" The affliction meanwhile prompts Braxien to attack without instruction.
A sizzling Ember flings into Essentia! Although the suit's embedded armor protects them, the heat stirs something inside their consciousness.
"System malfunction." Essentia begins to shiver, tumbling to their knees.
"What now? Have we won already!?" Holding onto Chespin's Poké Ball, she prepares to summon her partner.
"It'll be fine." The relieved man pushes Citrata's hand down. "I think the fight is over."
Uncertain where they are, or what's going on, Essentia unclasps the head portion of their suit. The true face revealed is not a robot, but a teenage girl! Citrata hesitantly helps her to her feet.
"Ugh…" Essentia groans in discomfort. "Is that you, Espurr?"
Delighted her partner is safe, Essentia embraces the worried Pokémon.
"I want some answers." Impatiently, Citrata slams her fist on the desk.
"Eep!" The sound rattles Essentia. "My name is Emma! Please don't arrest me."
"I'm not my father." Citrata laughs, her thoughts turning to the all the stories of her dad compelling suspects to confess to him. "Call me Citrata, for short Cici."
"The name's Looker." The not-too-convincing janitor takes off his apron. "I've been on the trail of Team Flare, the crumbs led me to several incidents involving Essentia."
Emma explains she has little memory of her activities as Essentia. In response, Looker says he believes the mind-manipulation was a side project, likely unconnected to Team Flare's ultimate objective.
Grateful to not be taken in for whatever crimes she may have been involved with, Emma removes the rest of the tight-fitting suit.
"That's better, but you can keep the costume." Looker disconnects the device that was controlling Emma's actions, then places it into an evidence bag.
Looker bids farewell to everybody, leaving Emma puzzled why she would want to look like a machine again. With the battle settled, Espurr and Braixen are then returned to their Poké Balls.
"Wait!" As Looker walks away, Citrata unsuccessfully tries to ask him more about the conversation they had during their previous encounter. "Darn, he's gone."
"What should we do now?" Lacking any particular destination, Emma turns to her new friend.
With the enigmatic person or Pokémon named "Yellow" weighing on Citrata's mind, she suddenly experiences a moment of inspiration.
"We're not going to let the good detective outsmart us, are we?" Citrata begins turning over and studying objects around the room.
Not really understanding what our heroine means, Emma directs her to the hallway.
"You think we should investigate that hallway?" The suggestion surprises Citrata, but she follows Emma anyway.
"We might learn which direction Looker went!" Emma checks the area for recent footprints.
After a few aimless minutes, Citrata points out that hundreds of visitors attended the dance and Pokémon competition. There's far too many prints to narrow down.
"Why didn't you say that first?" Emma's disappointment soon vanishes though, upon opening the door to the magnificent ballroom, which had captivated even Citrata. "It's all so, so, sparkly!"
"I get it." A security guard places his hands on his hips. "But visiting hours are over, kids."
When Citrata describes Looker to the guard, he shows her an old photograph that was dropped nearby. Our heroine's eye's widen in disbelief. The image depicts two eerily familiar men enjoying a meal together.
"They look happy." Emma smiles, yet she's oblivious to the revelation at hand.
"That's a young Looker, with my dad!" Stunned, Citrata sits down on a bench.
Our heroine proceeds to tell Emma about her father's own amnesia.
"Wow. The kooky cactus is your dad!?" While Emma has seen news reports on Cacnea-Man, she doesn't know his family.
"Pathetic, isn't it." Citrata feels she still hasn't discovered the whole story behind what scrambled Cycas' memory. "Even Mom only humors his useless secret identity."
"Heroes don't need capes and tights." The guard offers some invaluable advice. "We might not look impressive, but us common people save lives without it."
"I'm not sure clothing is the point there." Citrata pretends to shrug, yet it ever-so-slightly eases the resentment she's felt for some time.
The guard decides to shuffle off to the side, allowing Citrata and Emma to further investigate the ballroom.
"Cici, help me move this!" Emma pushes her weight against the podium the emcee was using.
"It's just a podium." Uncertain what to make of the request, Citrata inspects the object from various angles for anything unusual. "Here goes nothing."
Snap, crash! Pushing in unison, Citrata and Emma manage to detach the podium's upper portion, and it falls to the ground. Predictably, the noise alerts the guard nearby.
"I look away for a minute, and you two have already broken something?!" The guard gasps at the podium split apart. "Eh? I've never seen a podium do that!"
"Emma! You've had your fun, there's no hidden candy in there." Citrata clearly thinks she wasted her strength.
On closer examination, the top of the shaft features an unnatural-looking gap. Emma tries to insert a coin, as machines often require, but it won't fit.
"Aww. It's not a video game either." Emma pouts a little. "What else can we try?"
His interest piqued, the guard slides the photo across the slot, to no effect.
"Oh no. No way!" Her mother having retired from professional baseball, Citrata is fairly financially secure. "I'm not letting this thing eat my credit card."
"Don't be silly." Emma pats Citrata on the shoulder. "Do you see the letters A-T-M anywhere?"
"Card! That's the ticket!" With a firm grip, Citrata inserts the black Braixen card into the slot.
One of the ballroom support columns opens up, unveiling a fire pole leading down to the building's lower levels.
"This just isn't my day." The guard fears he'll be fired for not stopping Citrata and Emma.
"It's closing already!" Oblivious to any potential dangers that lurk below, Emma rushes to the pole and disappears from sight.
"Maybe it has a glitch?" Citrata makes an excuse, as she isn't used to underground spaces.
"Get going!" The guard nudges Citrata toward the hatch. "I'll fix the podium for you."
Fears or not, our heroine slides herself down the pole. Upon landing, she finds herself in a dimly-lit room lined with runes on the walls. A teenage boy in a yellow trench coat is seated at a desk, using a magnifying glass to attempt to decipher a chunk of a stone tablet.
"Is that you, Looker?" The boy swivels his chair around. "No. Pretty girls! These catacombs are playing tricks on me again."
"You must be Yellow." Amused by the coat's banana hue, Citrata speaks sarcastically.
"Yes, wait, no." Thinking for a moment, the boy's voice changes to astonishment. "How did you get in here!? That pole entrance is secret!"
Our heroine shows off the Braixen card she used.
"Very well." Getting up, the boy introduces himself. "Senna. Yellow is the color of my card."
Senna goes on to elaborate the black card belongs to his missing colleague. Looker had borrowed it, along with Braixen, to assist in the search effort.
"The tale sounds fishy to me." Emma has a sinking feeling the explanation has omitted something.
"Don't say that. It'll make me hungry." An empty wrapper in a waste basket, is the only remains of Senna's most recent snack. "We'll talk in more, er, pleasant surroundings."
Senna opens the door to a creepy tunnel. From the faint animal chatter, it's apparent nocturnal Pokémon have made themselves uninvited guests.
"This strange writing is, like, everywhere." Too bad Citrata can't read a word of the ancient script.
"It used to be." Senna draws attention to the numerous crumbled sections and caved-in rooms. "Stay sharp, the local fauna don't recognize you!"
A herd of stone-like Geodude roll past, through burrows too small for human use. Although Citrata has encountered trading cards of these widespread Pokémon, she still decides to ask her Pokédex to describe the real deal.
"Geodude." The Pokédex's display is almost too bright in this environment. "Commonly mistaken for boulders, it swings its arms to attack when stepped on."
"Yeah, let's not disturb them." Emma prefers friendlier Pokémon."Ahh!"
The remaining Geodude hurriedly scatter upon hearing a childish roaring sound.
"Something's wrong." Senna grabs a Poké Ball from his somewhat too long belt.
A green, reptilian Pokémon falls from one of the burrows, stamping its feet in anger.
"Axew." Continuing its scan mode, the Pokédex identifies the little tyke. "It uses its tusks to crush berries. They regrow quickly if damaged."
"Save this one for me, Senna." Citrata excitedly calls upon her own partner. "Chespin is just about its size. Cool it down with Vine Whip!"
Chespin lashes its vines near Axew's feet, tripping up the unruly Pokémon. But the attack is ineffective!
"Pay closer attention, Cici!" Emma stands in front of Chespin once its vines retract. "Axew doesn't want to fight, it's having a tantrum."
Senna shines his lantern further into the burrow, where a pile of berries has been flattened by the Geodude swarm.
"I only have Espurr food." Emma sifts through her belongings.
"No, feeding it here is too dangerous." Not especially interested in green Pokémon, Senna passes an empty Poké Ball to Citrata.
"Boo, it's empty." As Citrata juggles the ball a bit, nothing happens.
"Is something the matter?" Senna shakes his head. "It's a Poké Ball, it catches Pokémon."
In reality, catching Pokémon is rarely simple or easy. Most Pokémon must be weakened in battle first, before they can be captured. Different models of Poké Ball also vary in effectiveness depending on the target's type, or other conditions.
A few Pokémon however dislike residing inside a ball; they instead travel along with their trainers. The rarity of this phenomenon has stumped researchers thus far.
Furthermore, to discourage theft, standard Poké Balls refuse to capture Pokémon already assigned to a trainer. Thieves generally must either steal the ball containing the desired Pokémon, or resort to kidnapping before somehow placing the captive into a new ball.
"Am I ready for this?" Due to the lack of trainers back home on TCG Island, Citrata has only witnessed Pokémon captures on television. She touches her cheeks to check she's not dreaming. "Okay! Poké Ball!"
The thrown ball's trajectory is exceptional, but to the chagrin of trainers who'd like to show off, athleticism doesn't substantially improve Pokémon catching. Poké Balls have a slightly larger capture range than they appear, to correct for minor throwing errors.
"It's rattling in there!" Emma gleefully stares at the ball.
Axew continues to raise a fuss, straining the Poké Ball's activation.
"The Clovers won't lose!" Citrata performs her mother's team's old cheer, the nearest thing to a dance she can muster. "Lucky!"
"Any moment now." Concerned how long the ball has been struggling to close, Senna rests his hand on it.
Click. It's the next milestone on our heroine's journey! Citrata has caught her first wild Pokémon! Though it doesn't seem like she's celebrating much…
"That's it?" Citrata picks up the ball, let down by how Axew barely actually fought back. "Thanks, Senna."
"You're funny, Cici." Emma clasps her friend's hands, shaking them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" New to catching Pokémon, Citrata doesn't quite get why most trainers are so jubilant every time.
"It's customary to goof around after a Pokémon capture." Having a more dignified personality, Senna dismisses the idea of posing or dancing to celebrate catching a Pokémon. "I don't recommend it."
Accompanied by some laughter, the group reaches the end of the tunnel. Dilapidated ruins are all that remain of the main fortress' structure. On a positive note, it is properly lit, and kept free of wild Pokémon.
"We can rest here." Senna lays a blanket over a worn stone table.
"Camping food, how wonderful." Opening a jar of marshmallows, Citrata rubs together some sticks probably left behind by the previous visitor.
"It's not much of a fire." Emma checks the vicinity for flammable objects, but only finds a spider web and several berries.
"Don't mind the cobwebs." Happier than he's letting on, Senna holds back a chuckle. "White was training her Spinarak a few days ago."
"Is White her name this time?" Citrata giggles as she melts cocoa onto some large crackers.
"Agh. Looker has me doing it now." Using a portable press, Senna squeezes the berries into a thick juice. "Shrine maiden Heather holds the white card."
"So let me figure this out." Citrata's mouth dribbles from eating several s'mores before they cool. "You're Yellow, Heather is White. Black has gone missing. Am I forgetting someone?"
"That would be telling." Senna pours some juice for his friends. "But we had to restrict the available colors, fussy candidates asked for everything!"
"I'm getting some sleep." Emma yawns at the conversation, curling up on a rickety bed tucked away in the corner of the room.
Full and refreshed, the group proceeds outside to Santalune Forest. On the edge of the woods is a majestic castle! The architecture resembles what the tunnel and ruins may have been like, centuries ago. Statues of Fenniken and its evolved forms Braixen and Delphox line the pathway toward the moat's finely-carved drawbridge. Decorative orange and red bricks adorn key areas, such as the roof of the central keep.
"You're knights, and you have a castle." Citrata's sarcasm is palpable. "Are we going to rescue princesses from dragons next?"
"The castle isn't mine." Senna ignores the remark about a princess, for reasons that will soon become clear.
Emma darts on ahead, ecstatic to meet all the traditional figures she thinks live in castles. A king, queen, servants, horses, as if out of a storybook. Several minutes later...
"What gives? The drawbridge isn't listening to me!" Emma complains as she reappears.
"This is Senna." Senna speaks into an intercom mounted to the side of a guard station. "Akane, open the gates!"
"Sweetie, you're returned to see me!" An irritatingly-cutesy voice responds. "Akane can't pick up the phone right now."
As the drawbridge opens, trouble lurks in the bushes nearby.
"You better not have lost the remote." Jessie peeks her head up to scope out the castle.
"Yeah, yeah. I've got it." Meowth stands on top of James for a closer view.
"Oww!" Pain from the cat claws shoots across James' face. "Why did you have to climb me!?"
"Zip it." Meowth directs his gaze to Citrata and company. "The new twerp is walking right into that snazzy castle!"
"Would you tell your family to buy the place for me!?" Not-so-secretly, Jessie is jealous of the rich lifestyle James ran away from.
Meanwhile, Citrata enters the castle's audience chamber. The interior is strikingly less medieval than its outward facade. Very much the opposite, in fact, advanced technology is strewn throughout the premises. At every turn is a computer monitor or some other gadgetry our heroine has no idea of its function.
"All these computers are making me dizzy." Emma isn't sure what to focus her eyes on, until an older gentleman enters the room and sits down on one of the luxurious throne-esque chairs.
"What brings our guests here today?" The man's regal tone is firm, yet not uncaring.
"Ulp! Your majesty!" For certain, Citrata has no experience speaking to royalty. "My name is Citrata, and I'd like to return this black card to its owner."
"Sir will do." By upper-crust standards, the man settles into a more bearable mode. "I am Commander Sirius, leader of the Knights of Fennekin."
"You AREN'T a king?" Emma asks in haste.
"No, young miss." Sirius adjusts his overcoat for a clearer view. "Please observe these badges on my lapel."
Military activity and development on the Pokémon world is uncommon, yet by no means unknown. Kalos legend tells of a devastating conflict approximately 3,000 years ago. Some historians even claim the "ultimate weapon" utilized was so formidable that it brought Mega Evolution into existence.
"An army big-shot, fantastic." Citrata grumbles under her breath, as presents the card to the commander.
To our heroine's bewilderment, Sirius hands back the card and invites her to meet the rest of Senna's team in the Heptagon Hall.
The gigantic room feels like it genuinely could oversee an entire nation's armed forces, if it was equipped and staffed for the occasion. Yeah, and if it didn't have a seven-sided table in the center.
Mounted on the wall above the primary monitor screen, are seven symbols. From left to right, they represent Pink Shellos, Yellow Morpeko, White Snover, Green Flygon, Red Gloom, Blue Heracross, and Black Braixen.
"Welcome back, my Senna!" A frilly-gowned, fairy tale princess of a teenage girl hops into the room. The pink card is nestled in her sleeve. "Regina is so happy!"
An odd couple, if there is one. This loud "princess" Regina and Senna somehow are becoming attracted to each other.
"Akane." A shy dark-skinned college-age woman of few words flips her long, dyed bangs aside to greet Citrata and Emma.
"Red, as in stop talking to her." Senna tells a deadpan joke.
"I'm your support guy, Aldwin." This eccentric man approaching his thirties has a habit of wearing swimming goggles on his head anywhere, aimed in any direction, except in front of his eyes. Their location is rumored to indicate his mood. "The blue card is mine."
"Alright. Would someone please tell me who Black is?" Citrata pretends to nibble on the card.
"Just don't eat that key card!" Aldwin moves his goggles to the back.
Aldwin's brother Davy is, or I dare say was, an intellectual prodigy. He remodeled the castle, and selected five promising knights to form a task force to take on missions impractical for classical, armored peace keepers. The seven color-coded cards serve as identification to activate special equipment not provided to the standard knights.
"I don't get it." All the talking has Emma drowsy.
Having a good idea what Emma wanted to ask, Citrata explains it's weird that only seven knights would be able to access a secret passage to their own headquarters"
"Hoho. Making ID cards isn't the problem." Aldwin smiles in response. "Those Pokémon nests halted construction.
"Hello there." Soft-spoken Heather is not at all the image of a knight, though she has admirers for the miko attire celebrating her Johto lineage. "Please call me Heather."
Senna directs Citrata and Emma to a row of lockers painted his team's colors, plus several other designations not presently in use. The front panel lights of the lockers for colors such as gold, orange, or purple aren't lit.
Akane, Heather, and Regina each put on their respective trench coats waiting inside. As Aldwin and Sirius fulfill operational roles, they rarely wear the field-duty coats.
"No fair!" Emma eagerly tries on the black coat. "It's way too big!"
"My brother made it for himself." Aldwin's gaze turns to Davy's desk, a framed portrait of the missing man is on display.
"He is about my…" Although Citrata has feminine proportions, her sentence trails off as she estimates her overall frame is of similar size to Davy.
Our heroine takes the coat from Emma. To the amazement of the rest of the trench coat wearers, it fits close enough!
"I like it." Emma skips in joy.
"Uh, I'm not sure about this." Citrata makes some hard-boiled detective poses.
"It looks good." Akane sets down the book she was reading, and leaves her team in awe by speaking a complete sentence to a stranger!
"Akane likes private eyes." Aldwin points toward the book. "She's always reading these stories of cold cases and rainy cities.
Sensing an opportunity to build friendship, Citrata describes her father to Akane.
"Is this lady finally going to speak up?" The long silence has Emma fidgeting.
"I see." Akane absorbs herself back into the book. "Do not lose hope."
"Thank you for a most enlightening speech, Akane." Senna slyly makes fun of the woman's terse nature.
"You'll get used to…" Aldwin's sentence is disrupted by the facility's warning alarm system. "All units, report to your stations! Enemy activity has been detected nearby!"
Ruuummble! A ground-shaking sound outside sends the area into a frenzy. Scores of forest-dwelling wild Pokémon race toward any shelter or underground cover they can find.
To no one's astonishment, the culprit is none other than Team Rocket! The trio this time is piloting a huge mechanized Meowth.
"Hahahahaaa!" James pulls a lever that fires giant coins from a slot on the machine's forehead charm. "The knights want to be rich, they can have my money!"
"Watch where you're aiming!" Angrily, Jessie tugs her partner's arm. "You'll flatten my castle!"
"I'm trying to drive here!" The dispute nearly knocks the remote control from Meowth's grip.
"Why is this thing remote-controlled if it has such comfy seats?" James leans back, satisfied by the cockpit's design. It's located where the nose would be, as a Meowth's tiny nostrils are typically hidden by its fur.
Back at the castle, Commander Sirius has gathered the knights and company for an emergency strategy session.
"We have determined our adversary is affiliated with Team Rocket." Sirius displays a complete diagram of the castle grounds, with a blip indicating the Meowth mech's present course. "Yet the monstrous weapon they've deployed is neither person nor Pokémon. As fate would have it, our absent but not forgotten technician Davy had been preparing us for just this type of foe."
The commander carries on, describing how many experimental Team Rocket mechs have been sighted throughout the world, and that most of them fall to the determination of Ash and his Pikachu.
"My tummy won't survive another lecture." In boredom, Emma munches on a cookie.
"Those treats are for my sweetie!" Regina pretends to be upset, but takes a lollipop for herself too.
"Ramen." Even Akane, difficult to read as she is, pokes at her noodles with chopsticks.
"Pardon me, Commander." Senna whispers something to his boss.
"It is decided then." Sirius brings up schematics of a Flygon-shaped machine. "The Flygon-One shall mobilize in our time of need!"
Citrata, Emma, and their new allies enter a massive hangar packed with machinery. All throughout the space are catwalks, ladders, cranes, and other means to move objects about.
Standing in the center, is the Flygon-One. Its imposing dragon-like construction is an engineering marvel. Since the Knights of Fennekin are not in the demolition business, however, the machine's armaments are unconventional. The cannons are equipped with defense mechanisms such as nets, smoke pellets, and water.
On the top of its head is a crown reminiscent of giant robots from decades-old animated television shows. While the long, serpentine tail is flexible enough to serve as a secondary weapon.
"Cici! This is incredible!" Emma gasps at the mech towering above her.
"Yeah, but who's gonna fly it?" How something so large could possibly take flight, consumes Citrata's imagination.
"There's no time for details." Senna uses a nearby control panel to lower Flygon-One's head, down to an airport-style mobile staircase he can climb into the access hatch. Akane, Heather, and Regina quickly follow him in.
Not wanting to join the showdown without looking the part, Emma puts on the costume she wore as Essentia. She has some lingering memory of the suit being called an "expansion suit", but doesn't recall how or where she heard that.
"All systems normal." Regina checks the machine's status display as she inserts her pink card into a slot. Beneath her sugary surface, she is a gifted aviator. "Regina is ready to soar!"
"Gloom, activate." Akane is the tactician. Favoring quietly calculating an opponent's weaknesses, over brute force.
"Lend me your strength, Snover." Amounting to the team's medic, Heather's forte is more tending wounds than combat.
"I shall not hesitate." Collected Senna fights on his terms, keeping a distance for long-range attacks.
"Why did I agree to this?" Brought aboard untrained, in place of the mech's creator, Citrata is out of her element.
"These buttons look like fun." As there wasn't time to reconfigure the cockpit for a sixth operator, Emma doesn't have a set of controls. She'll back up the team.
The launch is a success! Once the hangar doors have opened, the Flygon-One enters a hover about the ground, speeding forward toward its objective. In the interest of conserving fuel, the hover mode is generally only used during takeoff or landing.
"Excuse me, Jessie. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" James pulls down a set of binoculars for a closer view.
"You hand is blocking my…" The sight of the Flygon-One sends Jessie into a panic. "What is going on here!? Nobody told me the knights wanted a fair fight!"
"It's not a fair fight, they brought a dragon!" Slightly less fazed, Meowth shifts the machine's aim toward the new target.
Bracing its feet for recoil, the Meowth mech fires an energy beam toward our heroine's machine!
"They're attacking first!" Citrata watches the scene unfold, as Emma clings to her for safety.
"We'll have to evade, fasten your seatbelts!" Regina rolls the mech's flight angle, letting the beam pass under the left wing.
"Are you listening!?" Meowth activates the short-range communication channel. "We're Team Rocket, and we're not in the mood to play nice!"
"Transmission incoming." Akane double-checks the Flygon-One's own systems.
"We hear you." Citrata replies, being the most familiar with Team Rocket. "Stop this nonsense, you're outnumbered!"
The immediate danger averted, the Flygon-One lands near its opponent.
"What does she mean by outnumbered?" James' eyes pan the area, but he doesn't spot any other enemies.
"Look at the screen, pal!" Jessie points out their sensor reads six lifeforms.
"One, two, three…" James pauses for an instant. "Six! That's no fun. Why don't we have a cabin big enough for six people?"
The Meowth mech wobbles around, as its occupants squabble among each other.
"They're acting really funny now!" Emma lets out a small laugh.
"Target confirmed." Akane aims the Flygon-One's right hand at the center of the Meowth mech.
"Fly true, rocket punch!" Heather claps her hands in a wishing gesture.
It's the legendary technique of giant robot animation! The Flygon-One stands proud, launching its fist at Team Rocket. Bam! The Meowth mech weathers the impact itself, still standing upright, but steam begins to emerge from various places on it.
"What do we do!?" James presses random buttons, trying to cool the machine down. "We're overheating!"
"Ow!" A cup of coffee splashes onto Meowth. "Dummy, that was the coffee machine!"
"Mm! It takes pretty good." James tries to drink some of the spraying liquid.
"Oh no." Jessie nudges James' eyes up toward a blinking red light.
The Team Rocket trio blasts off through their exploding mech's windshield, disappearing from sight! Another chapter in our heroine's journey has drawn to a detonation of a finale.
Some might argue the Knights of Fennekin deserve the credit today, but getting sidetracked from her quest this time was more rewarding for Citrata than she knows.
Unlike defeating Team Rocket, catching her first wild Pokémon is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The future is looking bright! New allies, lasting memories, the path to the Pokémon League continues...