After a long day of work Adam just wanted to get back home but instead he was called to do one last job.

Apparently there was some rampaging Pokémon terrorizing the nearby town and this route was supposedly the last sitting so here he was…..and there was a whole lot of nothing.

”Great.”

Still she fought against the help that was extended to her and it was what Adam expected. It was one of those situations that one didn’t want to be right about but there was nothing you could do about it. He pulled his arm back, releasing a deep sigh as he did.

The look on his face was more disheartened than annoyed or irritated. ”Fine, fine, have it your way.” Adam sighed, pulling back his arm and putting on his jacket. A real stubborn one she was but Adam didn’t blame her given the circumstances that she was in, a lot of people would act this way.

But if she wanted to free then that was going to be her problem, not his. An attitude like this was only going to get someone so far and her body betrayed her words. He’d watch as she again attempted to pull herself up and this time she had actually made some progress there despite Adam having a suspicion that if she stayed like that for some time she’d be back at square one given how beat up she looked.

What was also still on his mind was their surroundings, no real sign of where and how she came to be here was suspicious and he knew he wasn’t going to get a straight answer from her.

”You heard her, she doesn’t want our help.” Adam’s words put a full stop on Soul’s attempt to help the young lady, looking more bothered by it than Adam ever did. ”Alright then Jane if that’s how you want to do it then fine.” The ranger would sigh, rubbing the back of his head.

”You’re going to have to come with me to the station to answer some questions. Don’t make me have to drag you kicking and screaming.” Of course he didn’t want to nor did he actually plan on doing this but he couldn’t just walk away and leave her in this state so if he had to hardball it then fuck it.

Adam’s bewilderment washed away as the ‘girl in ‘er underwear’ spoke. Soul was still hesitant to move, still not wanting to get a poor reaction. It wasn’t until Adam nudged him that the Lucario relaxed. Looking around there was no telling how she ended up here and how she ended up in the shape that she currently in.

Well, whatever, it didn’t matter right and Adam doubted he’d get any answers from her if he asked. He did, however, smirk a bit watching her try and move only to end up back on the wall. ”Oh damn and you were soooooo close.” He snickered.

”Alright well if you got that out of the way let me help you.” The ranger would take off his coat and offer it over. Not only was it freezing Adam also didn’t want to talk to someone who was basically naked.

”Put this on and let Soul here heal you up. And before you hiss and snarl at me if I wanted to do some shady shit I would’ve already done it.” Honestly he could have just walked away and let someone else deal with this crap so she better be grateful. But he doubted he’d get any other than vile.

”So what’s your name? I’ll start first, my name is Adam.” Adam’s Lucario would try and approach the young lady, attempting to use his Heal Pulse to tend to the woman’s injuries.

Instead of having a wonderful day off where he’d be able to sleep in all day and waste away his life he was instead pulled from his paradise and out into the working world. From one place to another, the league had Adam jumping from place to place to take care of whatever job they decided to throw at him.

And unfortunately for Adam he had a hard time saying no and they of course took advantage of his kind nature and flooded him with jobs. But he was finally reach the end of this tunnel and freedom was his!

”Well since we’re here how do you feel about making a stop and getting some food?” He’d break the silence of walking by asking the Lucario at his side a simple question. Soul, the Lucario in question, seemed pleased at the suggestion which would set the course for the remainder of their time in the upper district.

The two walked down a few more blocks before the Lucario would stop, his ears twitching, something was distracting him. Without a single word, the Lucario took off, leaving his trainer who was still walking behind. It took Adam a few steps before noticing his Lucario was gone.

The Lucario tracked an aura he picked up on to an alleyway and was surprised to see who it belonged to. He wanted to help the person but didn’t want to spook them away either so he remained still. ”Hey why’d you run off like-“ Adam finally caught up and was immediately dumbfounded.

”Uh…..hi?”

Adam was still nursing his drink and watching the party goers as they went on with their speed dates. His gaze would then meet with his would be partner, her giving him a wave which in returned in kind. Her interest in Soul had the two grinning from ear to ear, Adam petting the Lucario who had just smiled back at the woman.

”He’s been my partner since the start, when I was just a dumb tyke and he was just a little riolu.” Adam gushed, causing Soul to blush a bit. This really took the man back, what a time the two of them have had.

”It’s a pleasure to meet you both as well, the name’s Adam and this looker here is Soul.” He replied, giving a wave to the Mimikyu on Persephone’s shoulder. Something about her was familiar, why did he think he knew who she was.

"What’s the story between you and that little one?”

”There we go! Now it’s perfect! Looking real dapper now buddy.”

Adam had finished adjusting the little black bowtie that his Lucario was wearing. Both had dressed for the occasion, Adam wearing a dark grey suit with a light blue dress shirt underneath with a dark blue tie.

Being here felt a bit strange for Adam, he’s never done anything like this in the past before so he wasn’t exactly sure what to expect from it. But while the idea of speed dating didn’t exactly sound like the most amazing thing ever he figured why not give it a shot, he had never done it before and it could be fun after all.

They found their assigned table and Adam took a seat, his Lucario standing next to him. Soon thereafter someone came by to offer him a drink which he gladly accepted. Leaned back in his chair, Adam took occasional sips from his glass and watched the goings-on inside the ballroom.

Despite his instincts pulling him to go help Iris he held himself back, allowing the rookie to handle this for herself for the time being while he focused on the enemies in front of them. The Swellow was just the first of five targets to deal with, now where were the others?

Crashing through one of the windows, a Mightyenna lunged forth firing a Dark Pulse from its maw. Without a word Soul jumped into action, sending off an Aura Sphere from his hands towards the dark type attack. The two moves collided, canceling each other out, causing an explosion which resulting cloud blocked the vision of both sides.

Something was moving within the smoke, something large and fast and was heading straight for Adam. Soul, catching onto this quicker than his human partner lunged for the white-haired male and pushed him out of the way. The Lucario then threw his arms up to brace for the incoming attack of the large creature.

”Help Soul out!” As Soul pushed Adam out the way the ranger pulled out a pokeball and released his Noivern who promptly used her powerful wings to blow away all the smoke revealing the large Pokémon that attacked to be an Obstagoon.

Well, this was one hell of an ugly pair but definitely top candidates for Pokémon some scum bag would use. Those who would be in command of these Pokémon would reveal themselves and called for Iris and Adam to give up the Wooloos before things got messy.

”Soul, Siren. Give em our answer.” The two Pokémon charged at their dace partners. Adam turned to Iris to see how she was handling her own problem.

”Hey no problem!” Adam smiled. He was happy that he managed to turn around what was probably going to end in disaster, though in a funny way Adam preferred that things were like this than a bunch of well behaved kids who didn’t want to get out there in the rough of it.

While that was fine in its’ own right, Adam much rather have some rowdy fun than sit around and not do anything. And it was a good way to tire the kiddies out so when you did want some peace and quiet they wouldn’t be able to fight you back on that.

”Well I’m looking forward to it then.” He replied, making sure all the kids were in order and not tearing the place up as they would wait to be treated with a tasty treat.

”Oh man you really don’t get it!” Adam laughed, putting the two pokeballs away. ”At what point did I say anything about getting soft?” He continued to laugh a bit more before then composing himself.

”You get to train and fight longer and harder if your Pokémon’s more motivated to do it. They’ll get stronger and more efficient this way.” Maybe in her time with Rocket she didn’t actually do that much battling against other people. Given how the league was treating her that wouldn’t be much of a surprise and it’s not like they had record of literally everything she did in her time with the team.

An abrupt sound coming from the barn nearby broke the peacefulness of their little chat and Adam turned to face the where the sound was coming from. ”You have Blue with you right?” Adam would ask the younger ranger as he pulled out a pair pokeballs and released his Lucario and Arcanine.

”Soul you come with me and Pro stay with the Wooloo.” The two Pokémon nodded, understanding their orders. ”C’mon then kid, let’s make our money.” Walking towards the barn Adam would speak with his Lucario partner.

”How many are we dealing with here?” He’d ask as the Lucario used his aura sensing abilities to scan the barn. With a bark and a gesture of his paw, Soul communicated with Adam that he could see about five living beings within the barn that were most certainly not Wooloo and were about to make their move.

”Look alive kid.” Adam said to Iris as he cracked his knuckles, ready to show the girl the fun parts of being a ranger.

Oh boy it was going to be hard to get this message through to her but it was definitely a worthwhile project. And it did seem like she was getting it slowly so at some point Adam was sure it was going to stick.

Honestly though, he was still curious as to what in the hell Rocket was telling this girl when it came to Pokémon. Was it just that they’re tools to be used and discarded and that’s about it? And she had no qualms with this? I guess if that’s all you really know you don’t think about it much.

”Sheesh! Alright then let me ask you this.” Adam stood up, stretching a bit. ”If you’re so smart then this should be an easy question for you.” He’d look down at her, two pokeballs in his hand.

”You’ve got two Pokémon, right? One of them you put into a lot of time and effort raising them. You feed them properly, play with them all the time, tend to them when they’re sick. Put a lot of TLC into the relationship.” As he said one he raised the Pokeball in his left hand and afterward lowered it and raised the other one.

”This one you’re trained more like a soldier. Taught them obedience, structure, how to battle, things like that. They’re a real disciplined and well-oiled machine right. You’ve taught the other Pokémon this as well along with those other things that I mentioned. Now, this Pokémon you don’t really know that much on a personal level right. So here’s my question for you. Which out of the two do you think would be more willing to put its neck on the line for you? Go that extra mile even though it’s spent. They both might get the job done but which one do you think will be more eager to do a better one?”